Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

I second it all right let's do Pledge of Allegiance I to the flag of the United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible with Li and did you yeah okay I'm going to take roll call Kate Smith here Dennis kinsky here Sharon parola is um absent and excused she's sick Jon Jones here Bridget King here Jennifer McConnell here Robert Smith here Kathy cop yep here Rob Jones here okay uh any questions or comments about the agenda nope okay would somebody like to approve it I'll make a motion to approve the agenda I'll second it okay questions or comments from the January minutes okay would somebody like to approve them I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of January 28th 2025 and I'll second it no presentations you saw take vot oh you got to take a vot vote you have to take the vote for the approval done we got to go back and take two votes have to make sure everybody approve it right okay um all in favor of the approval of the agenda I I okay motion passes all um approval um of the minutes I I okay motion

passes there eight of us okay okay no public hearing um public comments agenda item only gentlemen nothing Rush up there you guys all right items for consideration nothing for old business and new business 2025 Park assignments so as most people know everybody has a park that they're assigned mhm normally this is the time of the year where we pick new parks right so if we would like to pick those so we can do that tonight we're going to put our name in in a hat and we're just going to draw them out now no did we say we were going to keep them for one more year if you wanted to keep your didn't we say we were going to keep for one more that's something that you guys want do that's you guys because really there's going to be different people at the parks because we do have same Parks yeah the only one missing is Helen right that didn't have a name next to it yes we're not going to fight over that one right I mean it's a small Park a um I don't neither of you Nei you were signed on no I had it one time me I I did too I had it before I moved to kuas okay so we have one park that needs one person but we have two people right cuz City Park had and in the past City Park used to have two people I think City Park should have two cuz I remember we should go back we had two we should go back to par I mean we have enough people to make that work so I think that like between the two of you guys you're probably at city park more so do you want to take city park and then Helen I'm yeah I'm at city park and okay so you guys will be at city park together okay and then Helen Park okay and whoever's at mhler I wouldn't mind oh yeah you're at M too yeah okay I'm at

I'm at mhler so he's at mhler a lot too so that you guys he's there just for personal reasons but he can also help take a look at that part I mean if you see something you can always look I live by Florence so I mean I guess it's good just to look at all of them the more the better mhm yeah so we'll keep ours and then add those two Y and was there any anybody have any suggestions on or input on the inspection form did was there anything you guys want to changed or anything I've never seen the form so I don't know you that one email from ER did but was it form attached to it oh I didn't look at the it's one of the last ones I think I must have scroll that for is that something new so what we will send it out we'll print it out that way you have it too I was a but you just haven't used it in years past no we've used it a lot yeah we've we've used it since I've been around the thing is is that we asked for them to give us what they should be doing like if it's due in March then in February when we get these packets we should get the inspection form in February so then that way we can do it between that night and then the next time we come back or drop them off early what they used to do is we used to drop them off early then somebody would make copies of all of them and then at just one meeting we would go over all of them and that way everybody gets an idea of what you're looking at you get an idea of what I'm looking at we all get an idea of what everybody's looking at because we all may look at something different yeah okay great and you may go oh shoot I should be looking at that at my Park you know so it kind of helps out well and maybe I missed it in the email but I mean how often are we checking these or put turn it's quarterly okay yeah it's basically it's like quarterly we haven't done it in a while because

there's been so much um with the millage and the you know the park and re millage and stuff like that we've kind of just I think it was due I pulled the form up March is due I think it says Park inspection should be done quar early March June September December on the 1 of the month and turned into Parks and Rec director by the 15th of each month all right so do you want to aim for having that March 15th yeah turned in okay I um turn it in either to the ice arena to Mike or at redcliffe Erica or you can scan it or email it to him and he can print it off digital and usually right when I get it I start if there's anything on there that needs to be addressed immediately I had out there pretty quickly to try to get that addressed you know I I actually have something I was just walking the dog today and it's the garbage can that is at city park that is um at the Henry Ruff entrance yeah we we haven't we haven't been able to get back to that one because of the snow and so but I'll make sure I get to it this within the next day or two yeah you can need a few people to help get that one okay any other questions or comments regarding Park assignments no okay moving on to volunteer workday um so this was trying to pick days or just kind of get in everybody's mind on the volunteer workdays that we're hoping to do in the upcoming Park season um what she what Erica kind of has down right now uh early April would be mher Park that way we're getting that done before the Kerwin classic and all the baseball

starts but it still be on a Saturday that that would be up to you guys um in May City Park Manor Park sometime in the spring uh during the summer maybe like early June would be Florence Park adding even more wood chips to that and then Kanas Park too and then during the fall ARA Helen and rotary was the initial thought um if if you guys have any suggestions on dates or we can obviously come back to the dates too if you guys want to think about that did rotary this summer right got it all set you got so it can wait that's why I think he was saying rotary in the fall whoever else we went who did we go to after rotary who was next Florence Florence Florence okay so then that would make sense that you had rotary and Florence in the fall because we just did something with them so Florence was actually during the summer because we still needed to add some more wood chips to that I think she was thinking June cuz then the student the kids at Tipton are still in so we can have that volunteer and help us again CU we kind of got some much there but not like the full amount that we needed has that always been that like split them up I it's just it doesn't make sense to me to put wood chips in the fall just because they get washed away or but is it more of a time thing just to kind of crunch it yeah I don't know if we've even had any like mulch days since before Erica came on the past few years we really need there's really not a line item budget in the city's budget for things at the parks for 20 years we didn't have a whole lot of money how's that I'm I'm doing some [Laughter] cash well and Joe had mentioned I mean Muller Park's going to be pretty much

covered right I mean uh when it comes down to GCA I mean I mean I know GC will definitely help out for sure once we get into that I I believe Erica is going to set up a meeting with Joe uh to talk about the park cleanup that she wants to do for it so okay yeah it sounded like he was willing to pay for the m and you know more of a donation so that's awesome to take that so like I said we don't need to pick days right this second but at least kind of start putting in everybody's mind yeah try especially if it's your Park see if you can try to figure out a good day for it that would work should we try to pick out the early ones I mean we we absolutely can 100% which one was listed first uh the first one would be mher Park in April my that was that was early April um yeah because the tournament is when the the kwin classic is April 25th through 27th so preferably before that weekend what about the week of the 7th through the 13th that week there because we have what kids are coming back from spring break on the 30 was it March 31st or 30th that week they'll go back to school and then Easter is on the 20th so the ker classic is what was it again the following week oh the 2 okay what about the week that 7th April 7th through 13th any days in there weekdays or weekend 12th 13th

or weekends would probably be the best just because everybody will be available do do we have Spring ball that starts do you know I mean we can set a temporary date and I can get with Joe checking on that ask Joe if the 12th or 13th that's Saturday Sunday are available you know he'll have some of his kids out there too right oh yeah mhm yeah and then the next one would be uh city park that would be in May do you guys have anything with the city um I know the um the ice show that's at um the ice rink that is the eth n9th and 10th so that weekend is pretty packed May yes in May so the week before week after would probably be preferred for that CU we do have Pavilion Rentals that did open up March or May 1st so pavilion rental will start being picked up by that point May 3rd or 17th anyone have any any community events anything going on that we need to no I don't believe there's any community events at this time right now okay so let's maybe determine between the 3rd and 17th for City Park are you guys good with that anyone have a preference solidify it all next next meeting yes MH but just throw those dates at I guess and the last one would be Manor

Park and when would that be it you it just say early spring probably trying to achieve that goal before soccer starts okay let me look okay so triy outs are the 7th they'll be at Rotary well how's rotary the situation with rotary so the snow just all the snow just thought out today so I'll probably be out there later this week evaluating it even more trying to figure out what's going on with it I mean we can still do Manor Park on on on tryy out day anyways because they'll be at Rotary so Manor could be available that day mhm so what if we do aim for City Park the third and then Manor the 31st because then Florence has to come within the first two weeks of June if you want to ask the school to help before it gets out oh right okay the 31st of May for Manor you said is that unless somebody else has anything else okay first May sounds good and then Florence will probably want to do like on a weekday just because the kids will be at school the kids are already school yeah that's what Bri just said the weekday yeah so it has to the week day for Tipton might be better because you've already got them there and if parents are going to stay they might you might have more luck having people stay than having people come back that's the only thing you got to think about there yeah like right after school gets out like maybe they'll have like a little Lee time of like have a snack and then go over to the park and start so that might make sense yeah I'd probably do it that like first week of June because I'm not sure

when they get out of school if they get out the same week we do in Garden City or not so maybe like the second or third I don't know either that or it's going to have to be like May 26th through the 30th then if they get out early in June well 26th is memorial oh it have to be like the 27th through the 6th of June there third fourth or fifth or yeah anything as long as you're still in school then I mean I don't know if they have half day so we kind of want to check with the school to see we we'll check with the school yeah see yeah and we've got time we got plenty of time anyway these are alterative so at least we have that we're good on Spring yep okay okay anything else for the volunteer work days okay um moving on to secretary is anybody interested in taking notes who's a good note taker are we the only commissioner board that I not I not takes our own notes I'm not 100% sure on that okay I'm pretty sure we are city council doesn't I think we were talking about getting a high school student at one point to come and take our notes don't you remember that we we needed to volunteer uh High School remember talking about this don't you remember this I don't remember that trying to reel reel the kids in judge Hammer I got to that's your Penance take the parks and wck [Music] notes don't everybody anyone anyone no I don't want that job on Lally nobody does ever well we'll just move past it

all right if we're going to have to go to see yep okay um other business uh is the r connect coming out for spring summer I know that we were getting a electronic version done I'm not I don't believe it's out yet and I believe we're putting it on hold for a little bit um but we'll have at the next meeting I know we'll have a better answer for that okay yeah I can ask Erica yeah um anything I do actually have one other thing for the other business the addition to the playground at city park they were out there today they started working on it but the ground was too still too Frozen so they're going to try to come out next week to start working on that project how many pieces are going in wasn't it one long one I don't think so I think I can't remember what we decided it's been so long yeah I I don't remember the complete drawing no maybe it was like multiple I I I thought it was a couple pieces I remember we were deciding on One Long piece or multiple for like a certain age group so but hopefully they'll be out there next week to start getting that ready for the summer how long take for them install us or don't you know don't know for sure so we have it all on premises just wa they haven't delivered it yet they were working on seeing where the ground was at first before they just dropped it off and left it there okay so they don't have to like do major like tree removal any no I no there's a lot room for it was they're putting it on the opposite side of the sidewalk that they put on

which there was wide open room there um but yeah they they came out with the bulldozzer today and they're like we're gonna have to wait till next week yeah so well it's only the second day with warm weather so I'm not surprised does anybody have anything else for other business okay uh moving on to public comment no public comment okay uh report from Parks interact director Radcliff updates and Grant status um I don't have any update obviously Erica will have a better update next meeting okay upcoming events and programs um Friday February 21st uh was parents set out that week um Saturday March 15th will be the daddy daughter dance from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. it's $220 for adult $10 per child that is at the backlift Center also on March 15th will be the charity hockey game that is at 700 p.m. at the ice arena that's Garden City police versus Westland Fire Department and that's just donations to get in um Monday March 17th is the senior St Patrick's Day lunch from 12: to 2 that is $15 Thursday March 20th is the volunteer appreciation dinner that's at 6:00 p.m. at the racka center please make sure on your invites to RSVP for that and then on Tuesday March 25th will be the next parks and recck commission meeting oh it says right here R connect spring is in electronic form but on hold

for April and beyond all you had to do is look down there tell you is there like an email list that people are on like how are they going to get this out to people so on Sportsman when everybody makes an account we have their email and then what we've actually been doing for the past couple months we've been sending an email blast like a a small newsletter type thing to everybody on that so that that is the plan with the reconnect we would send that out we'd put it on the website put it out on Facebook and that okay okay uh commissioner comments Rob would you like to start no comment today Kathy any comments no comments I've got nothing nothing here I have nothing oh boy thank you um he's like let me look at my list no what happened was at the last at the last meeting a couple things I just wanted to try and catch up with you guys because I was around when some of the this was going on um if somebody wants to jump back in at one time we looked at lighting programs with DTE right and I guess we missed the window but now I guess Marc Jacobs has a good connection or he seems to have some type of relationship with DTE so maybe somebody could go back and see if they could restart that to see if there's grants or discounts for putting in the lighting cuz we looked at the ligh out there if we were to change the lighting the amount of money the city would save it would pay for itself within a short period of time and I'm sure you could go back and find that out today the other thing I saw that you guys talked about is you guys talked

about Little Caesars now here what you might want to do is if somebody wants to catch up it's been 20 years back in 2004 they met we met with Little Caesars three or four times it seemed like it was going good and then all of a sudden it went South really so what if anybody wants to jump in what I can tell you is as you might want to talk to Jaye Lynch she's probably a good one um we were trying to figure out who the park and wreck director was at that time it was probably P Pat Mar it was either Pat mcard or Dan plamondon back in 2004 or 200 5 back then it could have been Pat mardge so I mean that would be another one to go you know go back to see what Pat knows see what Jay Lee knows hang on let me get uh let me check here uh let's see uh Dave Harvey would probably be another good one to talk to um let's see and if Tim Woodson is still around Tim Woodson would still be somebody to reach out to those are probably the main ones cuz it says they met with them two or three times and then all of a sudden everything just went stagnant but the the point I'm driving at is the people you might meet with today may not be the same people we met with 20 years ago so maybe you might be talking to people that'll go oh yeah that is where we had our first store and was in Garden City yeah maybe we can help them out with the rice Arena I don't even care if we have to bribe

them and tell them we'll call it LCA 2 or whatever you know I mean come on junor you know what whatever you whatever you come up with I mean we just have to try and you know I noticed you guys were interested in that so I gave you what I know if somebody wants to grab the ball and run with it you've got as much information as we had back then and the DTE thing um at one time we had remember when God Greg Sandberg anybody remember Greg Dennis would Dennis he came in when I first started Greg worked at Madison and then that's when he was telling us about that DTE every once in a while would have programs for discounts for LED lights and stuff like that and about the amount of money that we could save if we could get the lights ch turned over to LEDs are you talking about city lights or Park lights like the Park lights yeah we we at city park yeah oh okay I'm thought you were talking about but you can look at any of the parks I mean at City we just looked at city park because City Park back then was the biggest park with the most lights right so we wanted to reduce the energy cost at city park yes then we figured maybe we could Branch out to the other ones and put the LEDs in there and then save money for the electrical that way but I don't think anything's everever happened are the lights on the ball field um upgraded LED no I think DTE just gave up my I don't know if they gave up on it that's the problem that I have I so I can't tell you about month maybe two months ago I did reach out to DT um asked them about their found the DT Foundation they did email me back saying it was by invite only I asked them how

to get on the invited list and I never got a reply back so I can definitely talk to the mayor I you know see that might be one where you want to go back to the mayor and say hey this is what I've done I've hit a stalemate can you get me a name or somebody or help me I'm I'm sure myself or Erica can we'll talk to the mayor and see if he can make a phone call or two to see if we can possibly get on that invited list so any other comments that would be all I have that'll catch you up for where I'm at Dennis I have no comments well my comment is going to be when you start putting the wood chips out cuz they have a tendency to blow all over everywhere if we could find something to kind of make them maintain so it won't be all over it kind of look sometime sloppy you know the wood chips that's the city park so and there's a barrier around okay so there there's a plastic a plastic barrier that goes around the wood chips obviously according to the how the playground wood chip should be they're supposed to be right to the top of that maybe just underneath but they're supposed to be right at the top I believe so you're always going to get a few that come out but I know I've instructed the park attendants to constantly go around and try to if there's any big piles to scoop it back in there so anything that's it no that'll be it anything else okay I'll make a I'll make a motion to adjourn I'll second it all in favor I yeah see

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