Board of Park Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I will call this meeting of the board of park commissioners to order here on Thursday, 01/15/2026 at 05:30. This is our first meeting of the year, and welcome back to all of the commissioners. Everybody is here in council chambers. So our first order of business is approval of the minutes from our last meeting, which would be our November meeting, right?

Because we didn't meet in December. Can I have a motion? Motion made by commissioner Wilson. Second. Second by commissioner Cleary.

Do they need to push the button? Button? You need to go first. Okay. Where do I push the button? It's not letting us. Okay. Motion in a second on the minutes. Are there any changes to the minutes that anyone has? Alright. Then yep. Okay. Please vote on the minutes. Minutes. And that motion passes unanimously.

Notices and discussions. Does anybody have any notices or discussions they'd like to to to share? Yes. Commissioner Littlejohn. I just

wanted to remind people that Monday is Martin Luther King Junior Day and to attend the, awards on Monday night at Viterbo starting at seven, and this year's winner is Vince the Prince Hamilton. So love to see you all there.

Thank you. Any other notices or discussions? Alright. Moving on to our first agenda item 26 dash zero zero two nine, pursuant to section two dash one twenty eight b of code of ordinances of the city of La Crosse. It is required that each committee member review the provisions of the code of ethics. So I would look to each of you to give me the affirmative that you have looked at or will shortly look at the code of ethics. Alright. That is affirmative from all of our commissioners. Alright. Thank you very much.

Our next order of business is 26Dash0035. Request to approve alcohol at Black River Beach Neighborhood Center on Monday, June 20, 06/15/2026 for the Democratic Party event. Does anyone have questions for staff? We have one person here who wishes to speak in favor of the legislation, if you'd like to come up. And you can just say your name and the city where you live.

Sure. Yeah. Gotta get new glasses. Maybe no. No. I don't read that stuff. My name is Fred Gizzi. I'm on executive board of the La Crosse County Democratic Party. We're an organization of about 400 members. Every year, we hold a summer social. We've had it for many years. We had it at Copeland Park. One year, we tried up a little bit farther north in Alaska, and and that didn't work as well. So we've been back at Copland Park. What we wanna do is we wanna but Copland Park, of course, is not available this summer for reservations, as I understand it.

So we looked at the Black Hawk or sorry. Black River Beach, and, and it looks like it would be good. And, what we do is we'll, we provide our intention is to provide canned beer, canned soda, and then people bring potluck dishes to pass type thing like that. We don't sell the alcohol or the beer or the the soda. We just, you know, just give it out. To be honest, we have 50 people come. Maybe I'd be ecstatic if 75 would come. And, you know, we're lightweights. Maybe not even a not even a case and a half. We're we're still drinking some of the leftover paps.

No offense. The paps store I I mean, we were you know? Anyway, that's what we'd like to do, and it's, it would be good. And I'd like to thank you folks for being part of this because I know you're taking time out of your busy schedule. And some of you are representatives, and some of you are just just plain old regular people. So thanks. If you have any questions, let me know.

Any questions from commissioners? Okay. Alright. Thank you, sir. Do we have a motion to approve.

Commissioner Young? I'll make a motion to approve. Okay. But I still don't have the little button on my screen.

Okay. Were there other comments or questions that commissioners had? No. Okay. Alright. Motion to approve by commissioner Young. Second. Second by commissioner Wilson. We'll we'll get ourselves sorted out here. Right. Is there any other discussion? Okay. Alright. Then please vote. That motion passes unanimously, of course, subject to all permits and compliance through the clerk's office.

Alright. 26Dash0033, request to approve Jack's Jog fundraiser to use Myrick Gun Club and the Marsh Trails on Saturday, 10/03/2026, contingent on the required approvals and issuance of all other city and county permits, including the special event permit through the clerk's office. Does anyone from the does any staff member have anything to add or ask? Do commissioners have any questions? Okay. We have one person here, Emily Meyer, who is in favor of the legislation but here only to answer questions.

I was just gonna note that this is the second year that they will be doing this event. They already have their special event permit in and just waiting for the board's approval as their final stamp.

Okay. All right. Do we have a Commissioner Olson?

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Olson?

Second.

Second by commissioner Cleary. Any discussion? Alright. Then let's please vote. That motion passes unanimously.

Our next item is twenty six dash zero zero three one, request to approve Outdoor Recreation Alliance to host cold weather come together fundraiser at Upper Hixson Pavilion And Trail System on Saturday, 02/07/2026, contingent on the required approvals and issuance of all city and county permits, including the special event permit through the clerk's office. Is there any comment from staff? Okay.

Thank you. I just wanted to mention this is a new event this year. So this is the first time they are seeking Park Board approval. They have also submitted their special event permit, and it is before you tonight because there is a fundraising fundraising aspect to this event, which necessitates Park Board weighing in on an approval. And I believe there are members here from the participating organizations for questions, if there are detailed questions for them.

We do have Lewis McGuire and Kayla here in favor of the legislation, but only here to answer questions. I don't know if anybody has questions for either one of our applicants. Okay? So then I would entertain a motion commissioner Littlejohn?

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by commissioner Littlejohn? Second by commissioner Kirsch? Alright. Any discussion? Alright. Then can we please vote? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you for being here. You you folks can leave if you have other things to do, but you can also stay. But thank you for being here, and thank you for making good use of these public spaces.

Our next agenda item is 20 six-thirty two, Request to to approve the twenty twenty seven, twenty thirty one capital equipment requests. And do we have yes.

Thank you. What you have in front of you and the attachments that were included for this agenda item outline our five year plan for capital equipment requests. This comes before this board first every year before it moves through the remainder of the approvals required before equipment can be, allocated for purchase in the following budget year. So, highlight for this year would be upcoming 2027. The aerial lift truck is our most pertinent ask coming forward. And then followed by the remainder of the years are flexible as staff deems equipment to be insufficient or in need of repair, replacement. We can move them in and out of these years as we need them to be.

Are there questions from commissioners for staff? So to be clear, for next year, you're requesting an aerial lift truck at a cost of $315,000.

That is correct. The aerial lift truck is primarily used for, forestry work, but it's used throughout the department as well as La Crosse Center and can be utilized in other city departments as well for high to reach places. Do we have one already, or is

this will this be our first one?

We do have one already. I believe it's currently is a 2010. So it is reaching its maximum age. And since then, safety improvements, other things that can improve use for employees.

Commissioner Kirsch?

Yeah. Thank you. So I just wanted to point out that the, and it's not a big deal. I didn't know it was 315,000 that's thousand because the document that's attached right here says 02/1980. There's a glitch somewhere.

So

There there may have been the original attachment. We had since updated the agenda with the appropriate attachment. So but our apologies for that.

This is the one that I just pushed on here that said $2.80. Yeah. I I don't I just to make sure that all the records are correct.

Yes. The the request is formally for $315,000 in 2027.

Any other questions or comments from commissioners? Okay. All right. Thank you. Commissioner Olson? Here he is. Can you push your button?

Okay. A lawn mower that costs $75,000 that's next year. I just I'm curious what kind of a lawn mower that is.

So the one that is in for next year has about a 10 foot swath. And so they're Okay. Much higher quality in than your traditional, like, residential lawn mower. Riding lawn mowers require higher use in all of those spaces that need to be mowed throughout the city. So it is a high number. Yes. Can

you please push your button and speak into the microphone? Thank you.

Is that, like, for Forest Hills?

The lawnmower in 2028 is not. There are two. There's a regular lawn regular lawnmower and a zero turn, which would both be used in park spaces. There are some like, the turf gaiter you see on here, there are requests for Forest Hills in here, but those lawn mowers are not at this time.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions from commissioners? Okay. Okay. Thank Thank you. You. Do I have a motion to approve? So the so we're gonna try and request to speak. Yes. Okay. Tracy Little. And then verbalize the motion. Because then it takes a couple minutes to get it entered into commissioner, Littlejohn.

I would like to move to approve the capital equipment purchase plan for 2027 and the following years.

Motion by Tracy, commissioner Littlejohn, and then you can just push the second. We don't need to right. We don't need to verbalize that. We do not have is it one is it coming up? Okay. Okay. So second by commissioner Olson. Okay. Any discussion? Alright.

Then let's please vote. And that motion is approved unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Our last item of business is 26Dash0034. Update on the 2026 aquatic season schedule.

Alright. So I'll go here. So we don't normally bring things like this to the board, but we thought it might be prudent with kind of the adjustment to the aquatic structure, in 2026 to kind of let everybody kinda know what where our direction's kind of going for next year. So in your, attachments, you'd see the schedule that we proposed for the 2026 year. What I'll say kind of is some of it's kind of a reflection backwards going forward too.

So what I'll say is in 2025, we were open for seventy two days. And then in 2026, we'll actually be open for seventy seven days. What we look for when we set our schedule is kind of that in between sweet spot of when we can physically open the pools, when the school when the school district closes, and then when and then when it reopens. So that's kind of our window right now of opening on that Monday, which would be a little bit different for us because, typically, we would open up on a Friday or Saturday, but with school going a little bit closer to that Memorial Day timeline, and I was trying to get training and staffing done that Monday, June 1 was kind of the the earliest window that we thought it would be good to get the pools open. Right?

Because we still have to train and staff at all all both pools, so it does take some time. So so what we did and we kind of do each year is look at trends within whether it's swimming lessons or open swim or senior fitness or whatever to see if there's things that we can do better. Right? So not always doing the same thing and doing carbon copy each year. Sometimes that can be the easiest approach, but what we do is kinda look at trends and how the pools are being used to use the money and resources that we have efficiently and effectively.

So, generally, between the Monday through Thursday and Friday through Sunday slot, the pools are open for about eight hours. So that is something that we did again. We you know, with the closure of Northside Pool, one of the things that was that was quite popular up at the Northside was evening swimming lessons. So that was one thing that we wanted to make sure that we brought back, and that is something that we brought back and we we are now offering at Veterans Memorial Pool. So it did kind of adjust a little bit the Veterans Memorial Pool open swim time.

But what we did was kind of extend a little bit over at Ericsson, kind of opening up that open swim window from five and 06:00 to 07:00. But we did shrink kind of on the front side to kind of keep our average to be consistent. So one and and also when we kind of set these hours as kind of comments that we receive both at the pools and emails or phone calls or whatever kind of asking for different things. Right? So we kind of watch, you know, when when people come in, punch in, we can kind of identify trends of when pools are being most heavily used, and then we use that data to kind of set our schedule.

So, what you see in front of you is is our guide. This why we brought it now is because all of our information will be due in February for, registration in March. So even as cold as it is today, we will be doing summer registration here in the next two months. So it does come around quick. So with that, that's kind of our layout, and I'll take any questions that you might have.

Sure. Commissioner Olson?

Thank you, chair. Jared, what's the or Dan or Jay or whomever, what's the latest on Northside Pool? I guess I missed something because the last I heard last fall, the money was actually approved or last year. And so can we get an update on that? Is that possible tonight?

Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner Olson. So Northside Pool is not on this agenda, but I do want to be respectful and answer your question. We just have to be very careful that we don't cross over into other conversations. But as of right now, the Northside pool is slated to be closed for 2026.

That's an operational cost savings for the department at a $100,000. That is one fourth of the cost or of the budget that we as the park and rec department had to cut for our 2026 operating budget. So as we move forward, there is a request for a million dollars in the 2028 capital improvement budget, that is still on on the record, to do the necessary repairs at the North Side Pool. That's related to the liner, the HVAC, the roof, might be a couple other things. But, that's where we're sitting right now.

And then that is in collaboration with a potential partnership agreement on, school district, city of La Crosse pool. So there's a lot of different moving pieces there. But but as of right now, that's where we sit with funding for the Northside Pool is the 2028 CIP.

Alright. Thanks, Jay.

Yep.

Are there other questions from commissioners? Commissioner Wilson?

I don't recall when pools closed in the past, but August 16 seems kind of early. There's a lot of hot weather past that time.

That is a direct reflection of the school district changing their event calendar. So now with the schools starting, I believe we close on a Sunday. Schools start that Thursday, so that's about as far as we could go. And I would say 95% of our staff are high school kids.

Commissioner Kirsch? Sorry. And so is that why I'm gonna be flippant. But is that why the pools open so late? Or is it just because it costs that much more to have people for that half of a day. You know, like, if you opened at six. I know a lot of people like to swim early. Yeah.

Yeah. So the the morning swims and everything, it's just we we look at the trends. Right? We've had morning lab swimming stuff at veterans. We've had them at other places. It just they get some attendance, just not enough to, you know, put four, five, six guards out there. Right? So you have to you have to man the pools by load. Right? So you have to have your expectation of what that is. So as soon as you start it, it's hard to stop it. Right? So we watch trends. And if it's not being supported in the manner that we think, then we have to kind of look the other way. Right?

And we used to close we used to start earlier and close earlier, but then we started getting complaints about the pools closing at 05:00. So I was trying to meet the needs of the general, the whole public, which just say, alright. Well, most people work till four or five. How can we get to how can we get to that six or 07:00 hour to kinda make sure that we can get everybody in the pool? And that's where I kinda went with that. About eight hours a day is kind of where we can do the math to make sure that we meet budget on expense and revenue. So that's kind of how we can work within those those eight hours.

Commissioner Weston. Oh, commissioner Wilson, did you have another question? Okay. Commissioner Weston.

Thank you, madam chair. I just want to thank you for considering the evening swim lessons that has as a working parent, that's the only option that I have been able to use. So thank you for using that. We have loved the Northside Pool for that, and I'm sure Memorial will be great as well, but thank you for that acknowledgment.

Any other questions from commissioners? I was wondering if you could give us a rundown on the condition of these two pools, what sorts of repairs we're looking at for Erickson Pool or Veterans pool, and that we've either are expecting or that we've actually or have not been expecting and have come up. So I'm asking you about the condition of these two pools.

Thank you, chair. You said Erickson Pool and Veterans Pool? Erikson Pool was remodeled last year. A lot of that has been taken care of, a lot of the major upgrades. However, we do have some annual maintenance such as caulking, painting, cleaning, that kind of stuff we have to do each year.

So we're in the process of actually starting that now, and we'll do that as the weather warms. We'll continue to do that more and more before the pool season begins. And then Veterans Pool, we do have some larger, I guess, improvements there that are needed, and that's reflected in the CIP as well. We have, I believe, it's a $400,000 request in twenty twenty nine, eight, twenty nine probably, 2029 to address some concrete issues on the sidewall, and then have we some surface level issues as well. But, again, with Veterans Pool, we have repairs annual repairs we have to do again with the clocking and and painting and and maintenance to get us up and operational for this year. Did that answer your question?

Yeah. And then last year when we reopened up Ericsson, I thought there were a few little hiccups there at the beginning of the season too. At Ericsson?

Yeah. Yeah. We had some some water leaking at Ericsson. We attributed that to a lot of the construction and vibration kinda caused maybe some openings. We have patched those. That's kind of the some of the improvements we're doing right now because we can do that in a heated space, and those have subsided. So cross your fingers that it stays that way. We do we do have some leaking as well as veterans, but that we are hoping to address prior to the season opening with the caulking.

And can you talk just a minute about how we open up the pools for the season after having gone through? You talk about the freeze and the thaw and what what the winter season does to those pools as we get as we open them.

Yeah. Yeah. We get a lot of calls this time of year that the pools are flooding, something is broken. That's not the case. We actually put water in the pools, minimal amount amount of water in the pools to kind of insulate it this time of year. And it helps with that that freeze thaw, and it's easier on the mechanicals as well. But what takes about a month month long process to put water in the pools, get the chemicals treated, flush out any issues that we have before we can open. And, actually, we open for the guards first for training, then before we can open to the public. It takes quite a process.

Thank you. And

are we voting on this? No. All right. This is for our information. All right. So that brings us to the end of our agenda. And I want to thank everyone for coming this evening and for continuing to serve on this important commission. So thank you very much. We're adjourned. Good night.