Board of Park Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Council president Dickinson, can you hear us okay?

Yes. I can. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you.

Okay. Let's let's everyone finish their premeeting meetings. Okay. I'll call to order this meeting of the board of park commissioners on Thursday, 08/21/2025. It's 05:31, and commissioner Alberts is excused, and commissioner Cleary may be joining us.

Otherwise, all of the other commissioners are here in chambers. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? Request to speak. So so the way that we'll be doing this is requesting to speak, and then you'll verbalize the motion. And then our assistant will enter it, And then you can push the second button without verbalizing it.

Commissioner Kears. Move to approve the minutes. Okay. Motion by commissioner Kears. Can I get a second? Second by commissioner Olson. Is there any discussion or changes to the minutes? K. Alright. Then please vote.

K. We have five yeses and two abstentions, but they pass. Okay. We will move on to notices and discussions. Are there any notices and discussions? Yes. Director Odegaard.

Thank you, chair Trost. Yes. I just wanted to bring up a more of an FYI for the board that today, we did remove the temporary dog park at Cameron. So if we go back to I'm trying to remember what month it was, but we had approval from the board to have the temporary dog park to the August. And so today, the company came and took down that fence. So that is something that internally staff and myself will just kinda wait to hear what comes out of the public moving forward before we come back to this board. Thank

you. Okay. Commissioner Littlejohn?

Yeah. I just wanted to let everyone know that the annual Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration will be coming in October on Monday, October 13. We have a lot of activities. The dedication of the statue at the International Friendship Gardens that morning at nine Things happening at the Nature Place during the day and in the evening, performers and a speaker named Amy Lountree at UW La Crosse. Hopefully, we'll have flyers out. And I wanna thank park staff Kate and Hunter because they meet with us pretty much the whole year for some events. So I wanted to let everybody know that was coming up.

Anyone else? Okay. All right. Thank you. Moving on to agenda item 20 five-nine 20, Request to approve alcohol at Black River Beach Neighborhood Center on Tuesday, 09/02/2025 for sister city celebration.

This is just a formality. They're wanting alcohol with their reservation,

and

they are here if you have any questions. But the whole building is reserved, which is one of the requirements. And then the other requirement is coming to this board. Okay.

All right. Irene Barmore is here in favor of the legislation, but only here to answer questions. Commissioner Olson?

Motion to approve.

Okay. Motion to approve by commissioner Olson. Gotta push the button. Oh, second by commissioner Kirsch. Any discussion?

Alright. Then please vote. That motion passes unanimously. Item 20 five-nine 11, request to approve Veterans Suicide Awareness March to use the Marsh Trails on Saturday, 11/08/2025, contingent on the required approvals and issuance of all other city and county permits, including the special event permit through the clerk's office. So this is helping our helping our American helping our American heroes.

Darn it. Is there a staff member who do we have anything to

say here? Yes. This is a new event they are bringing to the area. A lot of what they are gonna be doing is at the La Crosse Center. And then they will be making the track. I'm sure you took a look at the map. The only area that they use for parks is the trails, but that did require because it is a fundraiser for this permission, they do have their special event permit in, and it is circulating through departments for approval.

Any questions or discussion from commissioners? Commissioner Littlejohn. Motion to approve. Okay. Motion to approve by commissioner Littlejohn. Second by commissioner Olson. Any discussion? Okay. Then please vote. That motion passes unanimously.

Moving on to item 25 dash one zero one nine, request to approve beautification application for 1047 Redfield Street. Is Audi Olsen out there? Okay. I think he's one of my constituents. Okay. Anyone wanna speak about this? We have several of these. Are any of the other applicants here? Then if it's acceptable to the commission, we could approve all three of these? No. No. Okay. Alright. That's fine. Does staff have anything to say?

I will just give an overview. So this is for Beautify La Crosse applications. Again, we've had a few in the past, but today, there are four on the agenda. Prior to coming to this board, which is a requirement of the approval of the app or permit, they do circulate through the engineering and inspections department. In order to come here, we make sure that both of those departments issue approval as well and that all of the applicant details are in alignment with existing ordinances. So all of those processes have been approved, and that is why they're all on the agenda for approval from the board tonight. Okay. Any questions for staff? While they're up there?

Yes. Commissioner Olson, you have a question for staff.

Yes. Thank you. Sammy, going over the list of all the flowers and that and the plantings, is anything invasive to our area?

That is a requirement. That's something that the park department goes through before we bring it here. So there would not be anything listed on the applicant's plant species list that would be classified as invasive. If it is, that's a request that we make that they either remove it from their plant list or remove it from their planting area if it's something that's existing there.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions for staff? Okay. Yes. Commissioner Kears.

Thank you, chair. One of the applicants actually has ragweed listed. I think it's the third one. Sure. And that's not obviously invasive, but it's a lead.

Yeah. And I can touch base with them on that and have them correct that.

Yeah. Commissioner Littlejohn. So you said that none of those plants listed as invasive. But the lilies on the first one, they have to be more specific because there are several lilies that are not indigenous to North America, tiger lilies being one.

Sure. I can clarify with them what specific lily they are hoping to proceed with. Fifth it doesn't. So to clarify with the application, 50% of the species have to be native to the state of Wisconsin. They are permitted to have other species in their boulevard as well. However, at least 50% of the total plantings do have to comply with that native to the state of Wisconsin rule per the DNR's list of acceptable species for the state. Making sure that tiger lily is one of them and that it is not invasive is something that I can follow-up with them on.

Alright. Any other questions for staff? Okay. Do I have a motion? Okay. Motion by commissioner Weston. Second by commissioner Kersh. Any other discussion? Alright. Then can we please vote?

And that motion passes six to one. Moving on to agenda item 25 dash zero, zero nine one two. Request to approve beautification application for 304 19th Street. Any questions for staff on this one? Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Motion to approve by commissioner Weston, second by commissioner Kirsch. Any discussion? Okay. Then please vote.

That motion passes unanimously. Twenty five dash zero nine one four, request to approve beautification application for 914 Avon Street. Any questions for staff on this one? Okay. Do I have a motion? So moved. Motion by commissioner Weston. Second by commissioner Olson.

No. I have a

question. You have a question?

I have a question.

Oh, I'm sorry. Alright. Commissioner Olson.

Oops. Sammy, I got another question. Eileen mentioned the ragweed on the one. Is this the one you were speaking of? Okay. I thought maybe it was on the first one also. So I guess I made you come up for nothing. Sorry.

Any other questions that I missed? Okay. Second by so we'll go back to the motion. Motion by Commissioner Weston, second by Commissioner Kears. Any more discussion? Alright. Then please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. 25Dash0917, request to approve beautification application for 502 Hood Street. Any questions for staff on this one?

Okay. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Motion by commissioner Weston. Second by Commissioner Kearsch. Any discussion? Yes. Commissioner Young.

Thank you, Chair. Just a question for staff. Since this is a it looks it says it's a drainage area, runoff area, I'm assuming. Are there any different rules on what goes in there or what we want to see in there or as long as it's thirsty?

Can you repeat that last part for me?

As long as it's thirsty, are we happy?

I do recommend for the applicants if they are pursuing an area like this that they look into rain garden standard, plants that thrive in a rain garden. There's not specifically any different standards that we would hold to this type of area. That would be more something that the engineering department would review. They did review this twice and requested the applicant make changes and come back to this approved permit, which they then approved. It is the version you see in tonight. One of the requests was to remove the description of mulch in there for fear of it floating away in the event of an overflow or flood in that area.

Any other discussion? Okay. Thank you. Alright. Then can we please vote?

And that motion passes unanimously. Item number twenty five dash zero nine one three, request to approve the use of Upper Hixson Forest Trail System for Outdoor Recreation Alliance's Progressive Bike Clinic, which charges a fee each Thursday from August 28 through October 2, contingent on the required approvals and issuance of all city and county permits. Do we have questions for staff? Any questions for staff? Did you have a question?

Yes. Thank you. So this is a new thing. Right?

This is a new program that

I'd like to see more detail. I don't I I mean, I mountain bike, and I it's the first I've ever heard of it.

So Sure. We I have a short description I can share some information. Jillian from Aura is also on. So if they're more specific, I might just turn it over to her to kinda describe the program. Before I do that, it is in front of you because they are charging a fee. So they are renting the space from us each day of request. And then because the program does charge a fee, would be the requirement to come to the board for approval to allow them to host that program and charge money for it. So I'll turn it over to Jillian to kind of give a little bit more description. She's online.

Can you hear us, Jillian Olson? Yep. Okay.

Yes. Can you hear me?

Yes. We can. Thank you.

Okay. Great. I can give a general overview. Or if you have specific questions, we can go that route also.

I think we have a specific question.

Well, actually, I'd like a general overview. Okay. And then we can see if we've got specific questions. Thanks.

Okay. Did you get that? Sure. Okay.

Yep. So, this particular clinic is, geared towards beginners, folks who know how to ride a bike but don't have a ton of experience on trails and features that you find on trails. So it's really just trying to build up people who, you know, lacrosse has a lot of topography, and it's not easy to just jump right into the sport. So this is geared towards folks who are looking to build some skill and feel more comfortable and safer on a bike. Upper Hixson is where we'll meet, and it's progressive.

So we'll start with basic skills and kinda just add on a little bit each week. It's a six week series, and we have it priced pretty appropriately. It's, about $25 per person, each week, and they sign up for all of those as one package.

So, yeah, thanks. What time of day is this offered, and how how long? And and what kind of attendance do you think you might have?

Sure. We would cap it at 12 adults. We're gonna start with three coaches. These are certified through the BICP program, the bike instructor certification program. So they're all trained to do this. So Thursday evenings for about ninety minutes starting at 5PM. Does that give a good enough picture?

Yeah. I think so. Great. Thanks.

Commissioner Olson, do you have a question?

Thank you, chair. Yes. I have a question. What areas of the trail system are you going to be using?

Yeah. So funny enough, the instruction piece doesn't actually happen on trails at all. It happens on green space. So around the parking area is where it's safe and comfortable to be teaching skills. And then most likely, kind of the last thirty to forty five minutes, we'll be spending a little bit of time riding on trail just to put that skill into use.

Okay. Thank you. Just a request. When in the past, when new events have come up with Ora And Hickson Trails up there, we've always had some documentation and some drawings or something. I would like to ask that in the future, those, accompany the legislation before us Because right now, we're not seeing what we're approving. We're only hearing it for you from you, and I'm not denying what you're saying. But we're not seeing the documentation and the application and everything. So if something could be written up in the future for events, that would be much appreciated.

Sure. Yeah. I'm sorry. The the park and rec department should have those things. I apologize. They're not on the agenda, but I do have those available if you need them. We also have a flyer that's been, prepared as well.

And there was a a second nod for more information from commissioner Kears. Any other questions from commissioners? Okay. Do I have a a motion to

Sorry, I went out of order. Move to approve.

Okay. Motion to approve by Commissioner Kirsch. Second by Commissioner Weston. Any discussion? Okay.

Then please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. And I think the record will show that Commissioner Cleary has joined us. Okay. Item 25 dash one zero two zero, request to approve the resolution in support of grant grant funding through the Wisconsin DNR's Urban Forestry Group Program.

Coordinator, Sammy Meyer.

Thank you. This is a grant that is available through the DNR annually in support of communities urban forestry programs. We we did apply for and were awarded a grant last year. Through the same process, they ask that we take a resolution to our governing body, which is the Park Board. And so their process is open again this year.

Applications are due October 1. And so this is a combined resolution that would allow us to seek funding for potential urban forestry projects that would be cost shared with the Wisconsin DNR up to 50%, or where the combination comes in, a catastrophic storm grant. So if the governor issues state of emergency for our area that we apply for, we can apply for funding to help support our efforts in urban canopy loss, tree remediation from storm damage related to an issued proclamation. So by proving this resolution, it would allow us to seek either one of those funding opportunities. The catastrophic storm grant is 100% covered by the DNR.

So we are in an unfortunate scenario. We did actually apply for and were awarded a grant for that program as well last year. So last year, we were awarded a total of 30 about $30,000 from the Wisconsin DNR because of these programs.

Can you say what we did with

all that money? Sure. So the regular urban forestry grant is actually still in progress. We have until December 31 to complete that. So what we applied for was an opportunity to update our tree ordinance, which is in progress right now, working with a consultant to do that, which the funds are assisting with.

And then in conjunction with that, it allows for multiple projects to occur. We dedicated our new arboretum in Myrick Park. And so we were able to get some interpretive signage in that area as well as new tree identification tags to support the validity of an arboretum in our area. So that funding helped support those two projects. The catastrophic storm grant supported some pretty significant limb and tree loss from storms. I think they were early or late June last year. That one was about $13,000 that we were awarded.

K. Thank you. Any questions for staff? Commissioner Kirsch, did you have a question for staff? Commissioner Littlejohn, do you have a question for staff?

So I'm not clear. Is this an either or kind of grant, or is there a max that can be used towards either?

So the the regular grant is up to $25,000, which would be required to be matched by city dollars. So the total project budget would then be 50,000. And then the catastrophic storm grant, it there's no cap, but there's a cap to what the DNR has to offer each year. So they may prorate the funds based on what you're applying for, and that usually is related to the size and number of trees lost and staff time as well.

Commissioner Wilson, do you have a question?

Yes. I'm just interested in what the term urban forestry covers. That

covers our boulevard trees and park trees. There is about 14 different categories of projects that are appropriate to apply for. So that is everything from management plan to tree planting, really in those urban community settings where there's not a typical forested canopy cover where you'd like to reintroduce some of that canopy cover. Does that help? Okay.

Okay. Alright. Thank you. Motion to approve by

Yeah. Thank you. Motion to approve.

By commissioner Kearsch. Second by commissioner Littlejohn. Can we can we fix that? Okay. So a motion by commissioner Kearse, second by commissioner Wilson this time.

Any other discussion? Okay. Please vote. That motion passes unanimously. 25Dash0918, request to approve facility use agreement with Cooley Region Tennis Association. Deputy director Flick, would you like to say a few words?

Yeah. So the facility use agreement in front of you is for an agreement that has been kind of more of an understanding recently. We thought it might be prudent to kind of tell a story of where we've been and where we wanna go. We thought that it might be good to get something memorializing on paper as leadership within the the Tennis Association may change. So really what this is is kind of, like I said, memorializing what's in place.

The agreement really does mimic the existing agreements between UWL and Aquinas. You'll notice that within the agreement, it does recognize those two associations as well. And really, what this does is just kind of tell the story and then put something in place and in paper for something that's been kind of going on. Currently, they've been a great partner through the way. I mean, they were instrumental in raising funds and getting the Green Island Tennis Courts constructed, and that's kind of where we are today.

Any other questions for staff? We do have someone here who wishes to speak in favor of the resolution. So can I please, can we vote by unanimous consent to open a public hearing? I see nods. Nods. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Commissioners, we are in a public hearing. So, Sally Rood, would you please come up here and say your name and the city where you live?

My name is Sally Rood. I'm with Shelby Township, La Crosse County. I'm the current treasurer of the nonprofit organization, Cooley Region Tennis Association. We're located here in La Crosse. Is there something you wanted to to tell us about? I was just going be here just to answer questions if there were any but Any questions? Jared covered it pretty well. We've been doing everything as Aquinas, the other users, and UWL financially. So we're an equal financial partner, and we'd like to continue. Any questions for our app?

Okay. Alright. Thank you so much. Thank you. And can we then please agree to close our public hearing? Okay. Public hearing is closed. Alright. Is there a motion on the floor? Second. So moved. Motion by commissioner Weston, second by commissioner Cleary. Is there any discussion? Any discussion or questions? Okay.

Then let's please vote. That motion passes unanimously. 25Dash0915. Request to approve boathouse repair for Les Pon Las Pona, Copeland Park West Number 10. Yes. Could you please come up? Do we need a public hearing for him? Doesn't he is he yes. We do? No.

Yeah. That's what I thought. Okay, so we'll consider you a staff member. Is there something you would like to tell us, and if anyone has questions? Sir, you need to turn your speaker on.

Oops. I thought I hit him. Sorry. Thank you, Commissioner Troast. My name is Gary Thurk.

I'm under contract with the Park Department, to ensure that boathouses that touch City of La Crosse property are compliant with DNR regulations and statutes, are compliant with City of La Crosse agreement rules, and I also help boathouse owners go through the process to apply for a permit to repair their boathouse. In front of you, we're asking for, this board's approval as a two step process. Mr. Lisbona has a DNR approved permit. The second part of the process is to ask for this commission's approval, and that's what I'm asking you for. I certainly would answer any questions.

Any questions? Commissioner Olsson? No? Any questions for staff? No? Okay. All right. Commissioner Olson?

Thank you. Motion to approve.

Okay. Motion to approve by Commissioner Olson, second by Commissioner Kirsch. Any other discussion? Okay. We can please vote.

That motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Item 20 Five-nine 16, request to approve boathouse repair for Marcos, Copeland Park West, Number 4.

Same same process. The app the person has an approved DNR permit. I ask for this board's approval.

Any questions for staff? Okay. Commissioner Olson.

Motion to approve.

Okay. Motion to approve by commissioner Olson. Second by commissioner Kirsch. Any discussion? Okay. Alright. Thank you. Please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

Thank you, commissioners.

And I assume you will be following up on our approval with the paperwork that you need to do. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Yep.

Okay. Our last item, 20Five-nine19, presentation of collaboration with the La Crosse School District for the future of the North Side Community Pool. And so I think I'll start off with, we have our guest, Doctor. Engel, here. Board member Neumeister wasn't able to to attend after all. But we'll start with a few words from Director Odegaard to give us some background.

Yes. Thank you, President Troost. So I wanted to bring this before the board because we've had some preliminary discussions with the school district. This is specifically focused on our Northside Community pool that's adjacent to Logan Middle School. The pool was built in 1999.

In 2020, our department had put in a capital improvement request for roughly around 250,000 to redo some of our pumps and and heaters in that pool. That that project was not awarded. And over the years, that number now has grown to $1,000,000 in capital improvement, which includes not only our mechanicals in the pool, but now the pool needs a new shell and a laundry list of maintenance to be completed there. In 2025 or in 2024, I'm sorry, that capital request was moved out a year. And now this year, that capital request has reached 2027.

What we're looking at with the Northside Pool is almost the epitome of what many of you have heard me come here and talk about before is the rising maintenance costs that we as a department are facing, not only in our parks, but then in our city facilities. And what began as kind of a open collaborative conversation between doctor Engel and myself has really steered over the last month or so to what type of partnership could we forge to not only help the city, the parks and rec department, and also the school district. And so when we look at going back to 2020 when the city council and we voted to replace replace the memorial pool. One of the studies that was completed at that time for a needs assessment really showed the need for an additional indoor pool that could be utilized year round. Obviously, the indoor pools are gonna come at a at a high expense.

You will probably hear tonight from doctor Engel the the current conditions of the their swimming pool at Logan. As you are aware, we did just complete a $1,300,000 renovation to our outdoor Ericsson pool on the South Side. The reality is we will be looking at these types of dollar amounts for deferred maintenance in our outdoor pools from now until the day that they no longer operate because we're running outdoor pools in Wisconsin climate. So this, to me, is another opportunity for us to look at what type of partnerships we can start to make in our community where a combination of user groups are going to more efficiently, so to speak, you know, provide themselves with these recreational amenities. Shared use is the future of recreation.

I you know, there's no question about that. And, again, I wanna just say that this is very preliminary, but I wanted to make sure that the board did not hear about these conversations in an outside manner and wanted to get that before you. And doctor Engel has been gracious enough to come and and speak to the board as well. So with that, I would like to turn it over to him for a short presentation, and then if possible, it up questions for both he and I. Thank you.

So can we agree to have a public hearing to allow doctor Engel? Alright. Thank you. So we are in a public hearing. Doctor Engel, could you please come up? And go ahead and say your name and the city where you live, please.

Hello. I'm Aaron Engel. I live in Trempealeau, Wisconsin, but I work here in La Crosse for the school district, and I'm the superintendent here. So thank you all for allowing me to come here and speak today. First off, the range of things on your agenda, it's kinda wild. So a lot of fun you get to have looking at all those different things. Yeah. Mister Odegaard and I had talked probably three months ago, four months ago, and just thinking about different ways that we could partner. And it started with our school board wishing to be a a more fruitful partner with city in an ongoing basis. Not just around this issue, about any way that we could partner.

And it's for a couple of reasons. First, we wanna make the city the best it can be and be, you know, the place that people choose to live, bring their children, and and get educated. But with budgets getting tighter and tighter, any way we can find operate operational efficiencies, I think benefits us all. We've already had great partnerships with the the police department on our school resource officers. We're figuring out how to do transportation and bus passes with our kids during the school day or to get to school and, you know, with long standing partnerships with the planning department to figure out buildings and traffic patterns and all that other stuff.

In in this case, we saw a particular overlap with parks and rec, whether it was programming, the use of the baseball field up at Copland Park, and in this case, just thinking about swimming pools. You know, we have a shared block up at Logan Middle School and so in the summer there's lots of pool traffic and in the school year there's lots of school traffic. And we both, after we met, identified that we both have aging pools. I wish ours had been built in 1999. It was built in 1979.

But it's an indoor pool, so it's held up, you know, maybe a touch better as a result. But almost as soon as it was built, it became undersized and insufficient for a lot of our needs. It's not deep enough to do competitions, you know, so we can hold limited practices there, but our swim team practices up in Onalaska at the the YMCA there. We have some adaptive swim events and things there, which it's perfect for that. It's only six lanes, so it's hard to do a larger events or some of those things.

And because of difficulties with staffing, you know, and I'm sure you have staffing issues as well from time to time, it's hard for us to keep it open and available in the summer. There's just not enough lifeguards or or maintenance pool or maintenance folks around to to help make it accessible. And then the way it's designed is it's not terribly accessible. You have to go through school to get to the pool, and so it's hard for us to share it with the community during the school day in a way that's particularly beneficial to all, you know. And so while we can't use it a lot of hours of the day, it simply can't be used a lot of hours of day for safety and access reasons.

And so we thought, is there an opportunity potentially to explore building something together? You know, we want students on the North Side to have access to swimming instruction. We're at Rivertown. It is crucial for kids to be able to know how to swim. So access to swimming lessons, access to swimming instruction is incredibly important to to us from an educational and a life saving point.

And then also, if we had something newer there, it would make our city even better. A real gem we could be building on the North Side potentially. And maybe we wouldn't have to send our kids up to Onalaska for swim practice. We could keep them here in the city close to home and continue to to build that program as well. We know that it's not just the city and the school district that have a need for pool space.

I know as I talked to other folks in the in the city, whether it's disability advocacy groups or rec groups, you cannot find enough pool time anywhere. And while we have some small experience in operating the pools, you know, the city has more, and there's other organizations in our community who have even more experience operating pools. And there might be some really neat collaborations there with other nonprofits, with health systems potentially, to bring a bunch of advocates together for swimming in our community, for swimming instruction, for therapy, to really do something special if we if we had an opportunity. I would say at this point, we're thinking about putting together a group that could maybe start to imagine what this could look like to, you know, explore what sources of funding there might be, what partnerships it could look like. You know, it's very, very early stages, but I'm really excited by the possibility of what it could mean for our students, for the city, and for all folks that live in our community.

I'm happy to take any questions or thoughts that folks have.

Commissioner Weston.

You started to hint at this, but I just want some clarifying. So we talked about a city partnership with the school district, and it sounds like you're exploring additional partnerships as well. So it's not just these two entities, but others within the community as well?

We're the only folks that have been talking at this point. Throwing out there I know when I talk to various folks out there, there have there's been pushes for more pool space from a variety of folks. And I don't want to speak on anyone's behalf before we've ever met or even mentioned their name in this space. But I know that there is broader interest. And if for some reason there wasn't enough, you know, oomph here in this room, you know, maybe we could involve some others. I'm pretty sure, though, that, you know, it'd have to be the right folks, you know, with the right interests. But my experience, the more partnerships we could develop, the better off we are.

Thank you. Commissioner Olson?

Thank you, Chairman Schroffs. Doctor. Engel, has there been any discussions about where the facility would possibly be? And if so, can you tell us here, or is that something that will start with the group when it's formed?

Hey, we had two early thoughts where the pools are now, you know. So, you know, one would be on the site of the the North Side Community Pool at Logan Middle School. It's a pretty large site, and for an outdoor pool, you need almost more space than an indoor pool in a lot of ways. And so that site could be a great one. It's central to kind of the North Side neighborhood. It's easily accessible. It's not a terribly busy area. You know, parking's a bit of a premium, but, you know, when the community would be there, our staff wouldn't be, you know, so there'd be some good shared use there. The other site we thought about was the Logan High School site, you know, naturally. We have a pool there already.

You'd have to reconfigure some things to make it accessible to the public in the ways we would probably want. And at our high school sites, the the real estate is at a premium. It is very tight at all those sites. And while there's lots of parking, you know, for community, there's always events going on at our schools. So, you know, you might think, oh, there's gonna be all this parking available for a swim meet or something.

Well, there's also gonna be a basketball tournament and a football game and a softball game and, you know, some sort of open house at the school. So, you know, assets and drawbacks of both of those, but happy to explore other things. And if we have a committee get together and start thinking about stuff, you know, it could be, you know, anywhere from, you know, Veterans Memorial Park all the way over to the marsh somewhere on stilts. Right? Thank you.

Commissioner Littlejohn? I just want

to start. Like, I am just a huge proponent for collaborations. A lot of the events and things that campaigns that I am involved with, we're collaborating with all kinds of people, and it works so much better that way. I love this idea to move forward because it will make it more cohesive community. So thanks for bringing this up so that we can so we can support it. Right?

Commissioner Cleary? Are

you talking about reconfiguring the pool that's there? Right? You you have to make it deeper. Do you have a budget? What are you talking about?

Yep. Director Odegaard?

Yes. Thanks for that, commissioner Cleary. This is we haven't gotten to that, you know, level of discussion on this. We have talked through preliminary needs in regards to what this vessel will will have to, you know, be depth wise, length wise with to service as many different activities and events that we can have there. Kinda playing off what doctor Angle had talked about is, you know, right now, and I think it's important when we when we're looking at a partnership of this magnitude for this size of a project, you know, we kinda have to keep only so many cooks in the kitchen in the beginning.

But we are both very much interested in including a lot of other organizations. And and just with the designing of Memorial Pool, as we include those other organizations, there's gonna be needs that they are gonna have. So for us to put out a a preliminary budget is, you know, almost it's gonna be smoke and mirrors, and and that's not something that I think, you know, either of us wanna be doing. I I would just like to say that for for me anyways, when we look at this, you know, at at first, it was like, oh, wow. This would be a huge thing that for us to accomplish.

And historically, the city hasn't entered into a lot of partnerships because quite frankly, we haven't needed to. And I would go as far as maybe even saying that the school district is in a similar position. But as budgets get tighter, as recreational opportunities expand, we have to we're forced to look to our neighbors for assistance. And I think while this is a big opportunity, it'd be a it'd be a a big success. It could be the beginning of a much stronger relationship for many years to come.

And it could, in all reality, be somewhat of a flagship partnership that will draw other of our neighbors into these types of ideas, bringing really what our area these communities are offering their residents. This is something that La Crosse is gonna have to figure out how to do if we're going to keep attracting, you know, families coming into our area. So thank you.

As I think about features and, I don't know, cost estimates or anything at this point, but we we won a competition pool. You know, that's one of the primary purposes for the school district is to be able to offer competitive swimming and diving, and we know there's lots of youth organizations that are involved in that to support swimming lessons and physical education. When I think about the use on the the North Side Pool and and and some of the other pools, you know, also having some sort of zero entry play type sort of area would be lovely as well. I've been in some YMCAs around the the area, and sometimes they have them both in kind of the same spot but separated a little bit. I've seen others where they're, you know, in completely different rooms.

You know, of course, you add features, everything elevates the price. You know? So, you know, as we work through this, it'll be a a balance of, what are the various needs that we have? You know, do we want a water therapy pool that's a a warmer temperature than a competitive pool that would be cooler? So it'll be a balance between features and price and finding the the the right match for our community and what would meet our needs and best suit all the folks that could get behind it.

Commissioner Cleary, do you have another question?

Well, I was just saying it sounds to me like maybe you want an indoor pool potentially. Right?

Yes. That's definitely what I would be looking for. Yeah.

You know, it's not that warm and sunny most of the school year. So it would be

too Yep. An indoor pool is what I have been thinking about, and, you know, we've talked

through Okay. Because I thought I just wanted to clarify. Absolutely. Okay.

Yeah. We wanna do swim meets in January, So we'll be looking for Okay. Indoor.

Commissioner Kirsch? Yes, thank you, Chair. Where what do you see as your next steps and where would you like to be in about a year with this?

That's a great question. I think we probably Doctor. Engel and I probably have, I think, the same thoughts for different reasons from a city's perspective, and then I'll turn it over to him. But from a city's perspective, we are in a period of time where the common council is going to need to make some major decisions with our capital improvement project budget. And so, obviously, a million dollars related to the North Side Pool outside right now is you know, sitting in in '27 is you know, do we move that forward?

Do we pull it back? How does that relate? The the condition of Northside Pool is tenuous at best, but it is still operational at this point in time. But I think for us, you know, there is some haste in moving forward. We need to, make kind of those next steps.

This being, from a Citi's perspective, our first step in sharing it with the park board. I would my my wish is that we, as a park board, appoint two individuals that serve on this committee that will meet with doctor Engel and, you know, people that he so chooses, and we begin to put a little bit more, lead to paper in how this is going and then, you know, start to I mean, it's going to involve public information sessions and, you know, presentations to the park board, presentations to the council, presentations to his necessary board. You know? So there's a lot, obviously, that would need to be done before this has the ability to come to fruition. But, you know, our immediate next steps is I will more than likely be coming next month to the Park board to request, appointments of two Park board members to officially serve on and I don't wanna call it a negotiating committee.

That's generally how we operate, but we haven't even gotten to the arm wrestling yet. So we'll we'll you know, planning committee or whatever it might be.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Thanks. So at what point do you envision, approaching other potential partners, or are you more thinking in terms of looking at other organizations for input as opposed to monetary buy in? And and, you know, would that happen be I mean, that would probably have to happen before much planning. I mean, a general plan, but, I mean,

nitty gritty.

I think and, again, I'm gonna I'm gonna defer this to to doctor Angle on the school district side, but I think both he and I have an understanding that this is going to take community involvement. And so we have to be very strategic, so to speak, in what organizations we're reaching out to and at what time. And I think those are discussions that, you know, I foresee school board members and park board members assisting in in our in our conversations.

I think like Odegaard said, we'd wanna start relatively tight. You know, this is initially a collaboration between the city and the school district. Start there and see if there's some strategic partnerships. There's folks in our community who are heavily involved in the pool business who might be great partners, and then there's others who might be, you know, add ons at other points along the way. You know, there's only a handful of ways to fund something. You know, it's it's not gonna be a million dollars, right, you know, to to build an indoor pool. And so that kinda dictates a lot of the timing, you know, is it through referendum? Is it through fundraising effort? Is it through a levy? You know, there's only a handful of ways to, you know, arrive at money.

You know? So that will in part dictate the strategy and the process as well.

And, you know, when we start talking about the funding, that's when people start kinda clamming up. Right? So for us, I think it that that's why it's it's good for doctor Angle and myself to have these conversations because as he stated, there's only so many ways that we're gonna be able to come up with the funding. And I personally would rather have park board members that are going to be more open to looking at what are the needs of the community and kind of let us worry about the money because we're the ones that we're gonna are gonna have to come up with that, but the options then will come to those people that make those decisions.

We're in the dreaming phase right now, I think. You know, we've got two aging pools. We would both like to, you know, see something amazing for our community that lasts the next fifty years. And so how do we think big, inspire our community, develop community support? Any of those funding models will only happen with community support as well. It's not gonna be one or two people making decisions on this. So just excited to kinda see what our community needs, find a inspirational big picture, and see if we can find something that can work.

Commissioner Weston?

Thank you. I'm with commissioner Littlejohn. I love the idea and where we're headed in the collaboration. I'm curious as you've started talking about this. Are are you aware of any other area communities that have done a similar partnership like this? Sometimes I think in La Crosse, we think we're the only ones that have ever done anything, and we could do a little more homework sometimes.

These sorts of partnerships are all over the place. Just, you know, as we're working on some elementary school buildings and additions, and so I asked our architect, hey. Has you ever worked with the city, school, you know, you know, nonprofits on on these sorts of things that they could list off a dozen projects that they've worked on or know of, you know, around this the state of Wisconsin. So whether it's MOUs or mixed funding formulas or, you know, campaigns, like, there's all sorts of evidence for how to do this well. So I I don't think we'll be, you know, treading new ground, but it can also be special.

Yeah. Thank you for that. I think sometimes when we talk about public input, reminding folks in this community that there are other great things happening that we can emulate is a good idea too. Thank you.

Absolutely. And and so director Odegaard, are you concerned about whether the pool on the North Side will even make it through a 2026 season?

Honestly, I'm concerned if it makes it through the winter. Okay. But, I mean, we have great maintenance staff, you know, and we've been able to, you know, really make it operational, you know, for the time being. Our maintenance cost there is, you know, not not cheap, but, you know, the the concern is when is the the the catastrophic failure gonna happen because it will happen at some point in time. But our plan is to op continue operating it, to the best of our ability here even in 2026, and moving forward.

But, again, that kinda speaks to, at least in my opinion, the need for us to continue down this path so we can give the park board and the city council our best projections and what we think is going to be best for, you know, the the aquatic, opportunities, not just on the North Side, but in with an indoor pool, you're talking about the community as a whole.

And so we've seen a decline in summer use of the North Side Pool and might turning that into an indoor pool potentially increase the use.

I think that that is the the understanding that we have. Okay. Not only the indoor aspect, but as doctor Engel said, our our North Side Pool, it you know, it's a great outdoor pool. Yeah. But there's just certain things that don't meet the needs of competition swims.

You know? And, obviously, we have such a enormous need for, swim lessons in this community. I mean, we're offering swim lessons that, you know, we're turning families away all the time because we're cramming them into such a short season that, know, nights, weekends, early mornings that we can't operate the outdoor outdoor pool, that that would obviously be a big part of the programming in in an indoor pool.

Yeah. I mean, with an indoor pool, you'd be taking, you know, what, three months in the summer, ninety days, and maybe, you know, four fifths of those, or you can actually operate it to three sixty five days guaranteed. You know, the opportunities then for swim lessons and other things are dramatically larger.

And so is it is it also clear that what the city brings to this partnership is the property?

Well, I think when we look at the beginning of this conversation, I mean, yes, it did definitely result in, hey. In Northside Pool, we have to do something there. So that's obviously my still my focus. However, you know, I I don't wanna close all the other doors at the same time because, you know, again, it's part of me believes strongly that this has become more than just that parcel of property. Right.

There's a lot of things that can be done with that parcel of property. However, I do think that, you know, that would be a contribution that the city, again, and I can't speak for the council, but that would be a contribution that, you know, the city could make up front in this partnership.

85% of our constituents overlap. You know, the city and the school district, you know, there's 65,000 in the school district, 52 in the city. You know, so by and large, you know, our our our constituency overlaps. And so whatever however we're making this happen, we're by and large serving the same people, you know. So, you know, how we navigate the operation of something, the construction of something, you know, that's what this planning committee would, you know, work out. You know, what is the capacity of each? How do we all contribute while we're able and use the goodwill of our community to further this project?

Any other questions from commissioners?

I think this is a great idea. Hopefully, you can get partners, more partners. I I think of, like, the Boys and Girls Club or some of these other groups that that would really benefit from that collaboration, and they would bring potential funding and, you know, participants. And I I you know, the seniors, I think, would be benefit for my the senior program. So, yeah, I've I think it's worth continuing

this conversation. Okay. Commissioner Young?

Thank you. Flip side of what Jay just talked about, does the school district see I'm gonna be very, like, coarse about this, and I apologize but value reclaiming their pool for school districts use, is that a consideration? Is there any element to that? Is that important to you? Because I'm assuming, you know, you put a big grand outdoor pool at Logan Middle. You're not gonna keep operating the small one that you have now at the high school?

Yeah. If there was a new indoor pool built in collaboration with the city, you know, we have maintenance issues of our own at the Logan High School pool. We'd be looking at likely moving on from that and not operating too. You know, so we find efficiency in partnership instead of operating an indoor and an outdoor pool, you know, with our entities separately. We could come together on a single pool that met our collective needs and become more efficient in the process. That answer?

Is there value to the it's Logan High School. Right?

That is pool. Yeah.

Is there value to Logan High School in reclaiming that pool for classrooms, green space, a locker room? Oh,

absolutely. There's like I said, our our high school sites are very landlocked and constricted. You know, an ideal high school site today for a full program for students should be 80 acres, and we're on, I think, 18 there. Maybe just over 20. Whatever it is, it's not sufficient.

And so if we had additional room, whether that was you know, weight room space, classroom space, updated locker rooms for our students, another auxiliary gymnasium, there's any number of uses over time that we could repurpose that, you know, short term, you just fill it in and you have a big open room you can use, you know. So absolutely there would be value in that space, whatever it may turn into. And obviously if it became an opportunity, we'd have to analyze what the best use of that space was.

Okay. Yes. Any yeah.

Thank you. If I could just say one more thing. And I I all I I just wanna reiterate or reassure the board that we are although we don't have a lot of these answers today, these are things that have gone through our heads and we've discussed many times. You know? And and especially when we talk about the partnerships, as I talk about all the time with the ongoing maintenance, the ongoing operations of a facility like this is going to be the lion's share of the expense.

And so I think that's where both doctor Engel and I understand that there are multiple entities that can assist in that operation. And, like, the Green Island agreement that you guys just approved, that's another example of a partnership involving Aquinas, UWL, the LTTA, and then the city, you know, to where we're covering expenses of ongoing maintenance related to that. And in the event this comes again to fruition, that we will have those checks and balances in place, before we bring that to anybody for final approval. So thank you.

Okay. Great. Thank you, doctor Engel. I wanna thank all the commissioners for their time and their careful reading of all the proposals. Deeply, deeply appreciate that, the care and attention to people's applications. So I will call this meeting adjourned. Thank you so much.