Board of Park Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I would like to call to order this meeting of the board of park commissioners on Thursday, 11/20/2025. It's 05:33. And commissioner Littlejohn is excused. Commissioner Cleary should be joining us shortly. Otherwise, everybody else is here in chambers. And our first order of business is approval of the minutes from our previous meeting.

Commissioner Olson? Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Olson, seconded by either second by commissioner Young. Okay. Thank you. Any discussion on the minutes? Alright.

If if there's no other discussion, then let's please vote to approve the minutes. The minutes are approved. Five yeses and two abstentions. Our first item of business is 25Dash1338. Request to approve Petipone Resort 2026 flood evacuation plan. And so Apologies. If we could do notices and discussions. Oh, yes. Alright. I see that.

Are there any notices and discussions? Okay. Alright. Deputy Director Tussoni.

Thank you, President Troost. Just to take a quick minute here to update all of you on some staffing changes that we have coming up. We were recently given notice of resignation effective December 1 by Leah Miller, our Parks, Forestry, and Natural Resources manager. Leah has been with us in a full time capacity for the last seven years, has played a vital role not only in our day to day operations but played a leadership role in improvement projects in the Blufflands, the Marsh and the Parks. So we wish her well her new endeavors.

I want to thank her for her time in civil service to the city of La Crosse. She has informed us that she is making this move to spend some more time with family. So I wanted to keep you all updated on that. And then at a later meeting, we'll come back with an update staff wise of what our plan is moving forward. So thank you.

Thank you. Great. And I'm sure members of this commission would all want to convey their thanks and wishes, well wishes. Right. Any other notices and discussions? Ah. Commissioner Cleary has joined us. Hi. All right. Our first item is 25Dash1338, request to approve Pettibone Resort 2026 flood evacuation plan. Are there questions for staff? Commissioner Olson.

Thank you, chairperson. Oh, Jim's coming up. Jim, compared to last year, we do this yearly. Is there any changes in this that we need to know about? I didn't notice any, but is there anything that we need to know about a change of any sort?

No. Basically, we changed the dates on it and brought it back. We think it's a really good plan moving forward.

Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.

Any other questions? Okay. All right. Thank you. I would entertain a motion. Commissioner Young. I'll make a motion to approve. Motion to approve by Commissioner Young. Second by Commissioner Kirsch. Any other discussion?

Okay. Then let's please vote. That item passes unanimously. Eight to zero. Our second item of business is 25Dash1339, request to approve the renewals of annual community event park, shelter, or trail agreements contingent on the required approvals and issuance of all other city and county permits, including the special event permit through the city through the clerk's office.

I would turn it over to our staff. Yes. So this is the yearly bunch that we typically get. These most of these are three years, so we will not see them back until three years later. Some of them are online if there are questions specifically for their events. Otherwise, I'm happy to assist as well. All of these have taken place in the parks for many years. So yes, this just helps lock in their dates for multiple years, as well as lock them in before the public has access to those dates. Any questions from staff? Yes. Commissioner Kirsch. Thank

you, president Trausch. I just I mean, I appreciate their ability to be able to do this. And, you know, it really cuts a lot of time. But I gotta say some of those things were hard to read. They were very small, and my eyes are still pretty good.

I can read. But I was wondering if there could be another format, like a bullet or two about what the event is, where it's going to be, and then all the other questions. Because some of these, you know, I don't remember, and I can clearly see who is asking what organization they're for, but what is it exactly and where is it along with the date. It would be great if that was just floated right to the top so we can go through boom, boom, boom, and then look at the other details would be awesome.

Thank you for that feedback. Any other questions for our staff? Commissioner Olson?

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Olson, second by Commissioner Kirsch. Is there any other discussion? Okay. So then let's please vote. That motion passes unanimously eight to zero. Our last item of business here is 25Dash1375, update on downtown parks. So I will turn this over to director Odegaard to give us an update.

Thank you, Chair Troast. Yes. I just wanted to put this on the agenda tonight. So we had an update to provide to the park commissioners, as I'm sure you all might be fielding some questions. Also, give the public an opportunity to hear some explanation, but then also have an opportunity to come up and make some public comments that both city staff and the commissioners can hear.

And we have mayor Shondell Washington Spivey with us as well. Kind of my plan is for me to do an update. My my request would then be to allow for public comments if the board so choose to. And then I know the mayor would like to to make some comments as well. And then both myself and the mayor would field any questions that the board has.

So with that, if everybody is okay, I will get kind of started. And when we look at this particular situation, one of the first questions I would like to answer is why did this not come to the Board of Commissioners, to be approved? And for those of you that have been on the Board for a while and those that are new to the Board, this is something that the city city staff and and the mayor's office have done in the past, especially in this situation when it's directed to public safety concerns. And public safety concerns in any on any public property or city facility needs to be addressed immediately because of the liability that comes along with those safety concerns and potential negligence that the city can fall under. So when we and I'm going to kind of break it up into a couple different areas here when we're speaking specifically about Burns Park, Cameron Park, and then the later addition of fencing to Copeland Park and Black River Beach Neighborhood Center.

Initially, starting with Burns Park and Cameron Park, the closure was decided upon between myself, chief Kudran, and the mayor. And that decision was made because of the public safety issues that we were dealing with, but more importantly, the increase in those public safety issues. So when we talk about the public safety issues, we're talking about needles, fights, open drug use, theft, and those were occurring on a very common basis. So when we when we have this public safety issue, it isn't that we solely are putting that on one specialized group in the community Because as somebody that has worked on this issue for almost a decade now, I would say, we see that there are people that are that have housing that choose to use this population of unhoused as a place to either prey on or a population that they can use as a smokescreen, so to speak, and operate their illegal behaviors and activities within that population. And it's it's almost like a safety in numbers.

So throughout the course of this evening, there's gonna be times that I'm gonna use, you know, unsheltered, homeless, but this is not solely focusing on those that community as the one that was creating these problems. This is a a collaboration, so to speak, of lots of different individuals that are create that were creating these safety concerns that we had. Unfortunately, this is not a new problem for this department or the city. This goes back to, really, what created the camping ban that was approved by the common council, which that encampment really started back in what was referred to at the time of 10 city. That kind of shifted more into the Cameron Park, at which point the city took a look at moving a a true campground destination to Husqvar Park.

That is something that the park board at the time did approve. We tried the Husqvar Campground for two years at which time it was decided upon that that was not, you know, solving our problem, and it was potentially creating more issues at which time we went to more of an unsanctioned camping type situation at River Point, which was the the old tent city location, and then that moved due to flooding purposes to the End Of 7th Street in the Marsh area. I give you a little bit of that history because I think that history is in part a reason why this current closure has lasted as long as it has is because the city, and I give a lot of credit to Mayor Shonda Washington Spivey on this and Chief Kudran staff putting together the you know, waiting to open this up so that we're not right back to where we've been. And that's what's happened over the last six, seven years of my time as parks director. And our goal here is to make sure that these parks are open back up when there's a plan in place to eliminate or at least greatly minimize the issues that we've had in the past.

So when we when we talk about Burns and Cameron, those were really the big safety concerns that we had there. And being that they are in a very visible location, they commanded by far the majority of our attention. These same issues were also happening at Copeland Park on the North Side and that because of the proximity, we were seeing some of these same issues at Black River Beach Neighborhood Center. Those issues didn't garner the attention because they weren't as visible as Burns And Cameron. That's just kind of the nature of the beast when you're looking at downtown anything, but parks specifically, they get seen a lot more.

So in collaboration with the mayor's office and the police department, we closed Burns And Cameron Park with the chain link fencing. Now the Polytechnic School across the street, we have given a key so that they can still utilize Cameron Park for their recess. So that's been something that's kind of been running around. So if people ask, why are the kids still using that? We felt very strongly that that park could still be utilized by Polytechnic, which is really their only green space that's close enough in proximity for the students to walk to, whether it be for their lunch, recess, or or, you know, whatever whatever class they needed to get outside and take advantage of of having some open air.

So that's why those two parks were closed. The problems we were having specifically in Copeland and the problems that we were having at Black River Beach Neighborhood Center, again, didn't rise to the level of the safety concerns that we were having in Burns and Cameron, but were creating a significant issue when it came to the respect for our parks and recreation staff and those specific facilities. And so you're aware at Copeland Park, it is one of the many shelters that we blow out all the lines and winterize at which time everything's locked up. Those shelters are not open or be been able to utilize by the public, and they kind of take a nap for the winter. Prior to us winterizing Copeland, we had a very large number of break ins to those to that shelter, much of which was bolt cutters, break cutting the lock.

Again, we don't know who that was. Regardless, it was happening. When those shelters are open, we have staff that go there daily to clean those restrooms. They're able to check on things, make sure everything is fine. So when there is a break in, it's still a negative impact to us because oftentimes that break in comes with vandalism, but it's something that we catch right away and we're able to address that.

The three weeks prior to our our winterization or the two weeks, I'm sorry, prior to that winterization, Copeland Park Shelter was broken into three different times. That is what led to my decision on putting up the chain link fence that surrounds Copeland Park Shelter. That fence does not inhibit people from using Copeland Park. It's solely to help secure the shelter. We've had in the past shelter break ins when the water is off.

People continue to use the facilities, and that obviously creates some more issues. So that's why the shell that's why the fence is up at the shelter. My plan currently is to keep that fencing up at Copeland Park Shelter to ensure that our winterization process stays the way it is until spring. And usually, that's very weather dependent. Usually, we're looking at early April as far as getting in there and making sure those shelters are back up and open.

We are taking down the fence or I should say sliding the fence back for this not this Saturday night, but the next following Saturday for the lights over Northside Lacrosse event. But then the fence will go back up, and those restrooms are not utilized for that event. We have porta potties come in. We do have porta potties in the park, so we still are offering that for people that come use the tennis courts, the fishing pier, or just to hang out. When we go to Black River Beach Community Center, it's a little of both.

We have outdoor showers there that are utilized by beachgoers that we have to winterize. And so there's a portion of the fence that is blocking off those restrooms, again, just to to help secure the that shower outside shower and restroom. There's also a small fence around one of the outdoor gazebos that's closest to the neighborhood center itself, and there's also a a corner of a landscape, so to speak, corner of the neighborhood center itself that is fenced off. Those fences are in place, quite frankly, because of the fact that parks and rec staff were operating and working in a atmosphere that I did not feel comfortable with. There was a tremendous amount of things that needed to be cleaned up.

And, unfortunately, I'm not talking about empty cans and plastic bags. This is needles, a tremendous amount of human excrement to the point where at at one point, one of our staff there was poked with a needle and has had to go through medical help. And that's just not something that I'm willing to put my staff up there through. So there is a portion there where the general public cannot access that gazebo and cannot they shouldn't be in the in the flower bedding anyways. But, you know, that is really the only place there that is fenced off from the general public's use, the beach, the other gazebo farther away from the neighborhood center, those are all, you know, completely able to be utilized by the public.

That fencing is my intent to keep up again until the winter winterization is completed with the outdoor showers and restrooms somewhere probably in that early April, mid April time frame. So when we go back to Burns And Cameron Park, immediately following the closure, the mayor has had pulled together our team. Our team internally consists of about seven different departments. We meet on a biweekly to monthly basis on how do we address immediate concerns in our community with specific unsheltered issues. This group works very closely with the Pathways Home.

Obviously, the our hot team through Molly McCormick in the fire department, and this group has been meeting now for probably three to four years. That group was immediately tasked by the mayor to, you know, put together a plan, as I was saying earlier, that would allow us to open these parks and do so in a way that didn't take us right back to where we were. Because if we do that, in my opinion, we close the parks for nothing. You know? We we have to we had to fix the problem rather than try to move the problem, which is something that we have we had traditionally kinda done.

You know? We had just moved the problem around instead of addressing the true reasons that were creating these safety issues. Fortunately for city staff, some of which are included in the Pathways Home group, we now had more of a collaboration with the county and Pathways Home to help put together these plans. I can tell you that while it does seem like this has taken a significant amount of time, I I I I reiterate that this has been something we've been working on for ten years. So for this new group to kinda just come up with a plan in a week wasn't something that I I thought was going to be feasible.

And we have made very good strides on Wednesday this last Wednesday morning, we again met as a team and have put a a close to final plan on paper, and the mayor is going to be coordinating efforts with multiple different organizations along with myself, representatives from the police department, and Pathways Home so that we include all of our partners, so to speak, in in polishing this plan to its finality. And I think the the key to that and what maybe has not been done in the past as somebody who's been around here is getting the buy in from the other organizations. Because at the end of the day, this you know, the saying is it takes a community to raise, you know, a family. Takes a community to address problems like this that have so many different layers to what these different issues are. It's it's not as simple as, well, here's the problem.

Here's the solution. And I I I again, I understand understand the public's concerns on many different levels. We get complaints kind of from both sides of the aisle, so to speak. But, again, first and foremost, we have to ensure that our public areas, specifically, our public parks are a safe place for everybody to go enjoy. And so that safety is really what drove this decision and the decision that is on the table at this time.

But it's not a decision that we take lightly, and we will continue working on this plan. Really, it really, I don't like to say as fast as we can because that means haste to Lee in my mind, but it we we understand we have to get the parks back open. It's not a good look for anything, and it doesn't help anybody. So thank you.

Okay. Thank you, director Odegaard. So I have a list of a few members of the public who would like to speak. I would ask the parks board if they are willing to have a public hearing and and listen to public comment. Commissioner Olson.

Thank you, President Trois. I would like to make a motion to approve a public hearing.

Okay. Motion to open public hearing by Commissioner Olson. Second by commissioner Kirsch. Okay. A okay. Alright. Unanimous consent, folks. Alright. Thank you so much. Okay.

So I have a list, and we will the the policy of public comment is for folks to direct their comments to me, the chair, and then I can direct them where they might need to go. And we will, I think, attempt to stay at three minutes a person. Right? Okay. And I think we won't have any trouble accommodating everybody who is on this list. So I will first call Andrew Sherman. And when you come up, will you please say your name and the city where you live?

Hello. My name is Andrew Sherman. I am a La Crosse resident. I live in District 2, I think. I would first like to thank, you all for allowing a public hearing and hearing what we have to say.

Additionally, I'd like to thank director Odegaard for giving such a comprehensive history of the park closures in the community. I have three things that I would like to talk about today with my time. The first being transparency, the second being what park closures mean, and then I would like to briefly give thanks because it's sort of that time of the year. So the first thing that I'd like to talk about is transparency. So as a member of the community, I feel like I won't speak for others, but I personally feel like there has been a general lack of transparency surrounding the decision making process to close the parks.

I think that with a lack of transparency, comes a lack of insight into the decision making process here at the city, and I think that, as a community member, knowing what the decision making process looks like is extremely important to me. I also think that a lack of transparency does not allow for any sort of collaboration in the problem solving process that could occur surrounding the park closures. The second thing I'd like to talk about is what park closures mean. So I believe that park closures mean multiple things. Park closures don't just mean a loss of space, although that is extremely important given the location of the parks.

I also believe that park closures mean a lack of activities which occur within those spaces. So, for example, I think that by closing the park, you are stopping community members from gathering within those spaces. You're stopping them from playing in those spaces and celebrating in those spaces, and you're stopping them from talking and socializing within those spaces as well. Finally, I'd just like to give a little bit of thanks. So on November 15, there was a community meal at Burns Park, which was extremely successful.

So I'd like to thank the community partners which made that possible. We fed 70 plus community members, which I feel like is a huge success. The reason I wanted to bring this up was because I believe that this can serve as an example of what social programming looks like within the parks. And, I'd just like to end my time by sharing a few words from, some participants that joined us at the event. So they were asked, what do the parks mean to you? Some of their responses were community, fun, picnics, together, enjoy. So that's all I have for you guys. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you. Our next person is David Ellis. Again, let us know your name and the city where you live. Yeah. Good. Thank you.

Hey. I'm Lauren. Hi. I'm David Ellis. I live in DeSoto.

I just moved here in May to the Wisconsin area from Denver, Colorado so I could start a small business. I moved here specifically because I believe in La Crosse and what La Crosse stands for, and I've been proven right so many times with that over the last few months of being open downtown. I absolutely love the city, and I don't know why I didn't move here before. That being said, I have an analogy to bring. If a trash can is full, we as members of the community and we as a small small government can debate these solutions to a full trash can.

We can add trash cans, add trash can pickups. We can put recycling and compost bins. We can invest in an incinerator. Those are all things we could debate amongst the solutions. What we can't do is remove the trash can. That is an elimination of the problem. It is not a solution to the problem. And in what we've done here, which is very similar to what Denver has done to their 10,777 homeless people. What we've done here is we've created a new problem. I have seen tourists come through.

I'm the one of the closest cafes to the La Crosse Center and the hotels in that area, and we have tourists come through this city every day. And what does the message say? What are we saying about our free green spaces inside of the city? We're saying that they're not welcome. They're you you come through. It looks like Mad Max over here. It looks like they're blocked off. It's just jail centers. It's just it's not a good look, and it's created a problem that I think in the long run will hurt the tourist economy. So I'm advocating for opening these parks, but I'm not advocating just to open the parks and do nothing.

I think that we need to work with all of the departments to do a lot. The gentleman said himself, if we open it right now, we have done it for nothing. And I I truly believe that we've closed these parks off for nothing because I don't believe it's good for anybody, and I don't believe it helps anybody. I think that we need to work with different departments and find solutions to the problems in the parks. Because right now, they've just moved somewhere else.

I don't know where people are allegedly using drugs. I don't know where the needles are going now. I don't know where the fights are happening now. But all I know is I can't play a game of chess in the park, and I would really, really appreciate the opportunity to do so. Thank you very much.

Sure. Thank you. The next person on the list is Kelly Leibold. And again, your name and the city of where you live.

Good afternoon. My name is Kelly Leibold. I'm on the North Side Of La Crosse. As one civically engaged person to another, I thank you all for being here and for having this discussion. This is what a healthy democracy looks like.

I am your colleague on county board. I represent District 1, so I'm glad to hear that Pathways Home was brought up. We know that this is the first time the city and the county has truly collaborated on a data driven approach such as this. We know that the camping bans last summer steered us off course of the plan a little bit, but the park closure has contributed to that problem problem as well. I personally had the opportunity to vend my artwork, some drawings and paintings at the farmer's market as well.

And I absolutely loved the vibe of Burns. I don't necessarily go to the farmer's market to make a huge profit, but I go to interact with the other vendors and the community members, and I just love that sense of community that I got. It was a little frustrating to have the farmer's market season, not necessarily cut short, but to have to move to the parking lot here. There was still decent foot traffic, but you could definitely tell that the attitude has changed. Other comments have brought this up much more eloquently, but I would encourage you all to zoom out and consider the perception or precedent that less transparent options like this result in.

Again, as your colleague on county board, I encourage you to reach out and look for other opportunities to collaborate. We're all on the same team, and we should continue acting as such. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next person on the list is Robert Weeth.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Robert Weath. I've been a resident of La Crosse since 1965 when my family and I moved up here. I have enjoyed the parks and the recreations things for this city since I was eight years old. I think it rocks. Thank you for all your work. It's really awesome. My brother was actually one of the people that founded the Ternley Festival that you just approved, so thank you for your help keeping my brother's tradition going that way. We lost him three years ago to addiction. My brother was one of the homeless drug users in this town.

I was one of the drug users in this town. I am a wounded soul. I had ADD, and back in the sixties, they had no idea what that was. Sit down. Shut up. Focus. So I turned to drugs because I needed something. Something. So we don't have a public safety issue, we have a mental health epidemic. These are wounded souls that have fallen through the system and tried to find something so that they could feel normal, and they thought they'd found it in drugs and alcohol.

Many of these people that are down at these parks go to the same meetings that I go to. They are trying to get better. But with the predators that you were mentioning, they are a problem. They need to be attended. I have a person that I am helping.

I can't save the world, but I can save one person's world, and I'm working on that right now. He can't go to Salvation Army because it's too dangerous for a drug user trying to stay clean when there are drugs around the neighborhood and the predators pushing on that, literally pushing, and inside as well. The staff tries their best, but we are addicts and we are conniving and sneaky and we will find ways to make it work. We are that devious. I have twenty three years clean, just in case that hadn't been mentioned, so I still go to meetings.

So I don't know what the solution is, but I know we just moved the problem from one place to the other. I know that needles are a real problem. I have a 13 year old grandson I wanna take to the parks. I have dogs that I like to take places. I don't want stepping on needles. I'm sorry your person got hurt. I wish we had a solution for that. I'm willing to be part of that solution. I think that we could have community service, help people come down and clean it up, some of it's their own mess. But please go after the predators.

I had a bicycle that was stolen when I was helping as an election official at the Black River Beach facility. I didn't lock it properly, so that was mine. So thank you very much. I hope to help solve this problem.

All right. Thank you. Our next speaker is Joella Streibel.

Good evening. I'm Joella Streibel. I live in District 1 in La Crosse. Thank you for the opportunity to address this topic here tonight. My appreciation to you as park commissioners and to Director Odegaard for your service to La Crosse and for your attention to this complicated matter.

I'm here tonight as a taxpayer in La Crosse, a parent of a polytechnic student, and a worker in the realm of public health serving populations that include unhoused individuals and people who use drugs, though I'm representing only myself tonight and not my employer. I'm here to advocate for the immediate opening of burns in Cameron Park as well as the immediate removal of fencing around the shelters at Copeland and Black River Beach Center. These fences are an unsightly blight on our community, a symbol of cruelty, and evidence of ongoing failures to address matters of homelessness, public safety, and drug use in evidence based ways that work. Crime and unsafe behaviors are prevented by meeting the basic needs of all individuals and communities. Fences.

They are only relocated, making those in need of services and support more difficult to reach by those very services and supports. Outreach workers are having difficulty locating individuals who they previously had regular contact contact with. With. The camping ban and park closures have not been done in accordance with the Pathways home plan, and yet it seems the Pathways home plan is still expected to solve the problems that following it as written was intended to address. Closing the parks with no meaningful plan or timeline to reopen them was cruel and irresponsible.

The messaging around the closures has been vague and misleading, and rhetoric vilifying and blaming vulnerable unhoused individuals has run rampant and unchecked. I understand that the park commissioner's board was not included in the decision making process and was not even aware of the fences at Copeland and Black River Beach until several weeks after they were erected, so I am especially grateful for allowing this space for public comment. I do wanna speak specifically as a parent of a Polytechnic student about the Cameron Park closure and the placement of that fence. My child who attends there has expressed he feels like he's having recess in jail. He's shared that it upsets him to see people sitting and laying on a sidewalk when they could be resting on the grass or a park bench instead.

He tells me he never felt threatened or unsafe sharing the park during recess. Further, because the fence placement has blocked access to the sidewalk, I have significant safety concerns during school pickup and drop off. Like many parents, my husband parks along Cameron Park for drop off and pickup. Previously, our child could exit the vehicle, walk a few feet to the sidewalk, make his way to the corner to the crosswalk, and safely cross to school. School.

Now the children either have to jaywalk to cross that street or walk behind a row of cars eager to back out in order to make it to that corner. I'm far more concerned for my child's safety during drop off and pickup without access to the sidewalk than I ever was with him sharing a public park with the public at recess. Fences did not and will not solve any problems, and as a homeowner and taxpayer, I expect to have access to the public amenities my taxes fund. To further further prevent harm from these closures, I ask you to remove these fences. And if you won't, I ask that you remove the signage stating that La Crosse Parks are welcome that all are welcome as that does not seem to be the case. Thank you.

That is the last person who has registered to speak, but we have other people who have signed in. Jessica Thill, Dusty Carls, I'm sorry. Carls, Gabriel Eaton, and Mirgo Robinson. Thanks to all of you for coming down and coming up to the podium to tell us that you care about the city and the people who live here. So thank you very much for coming.

Are there any other people who wish to speak during our public hearing? Okay. So I would ask for unanimous consent to close public hearing from my commissioners. All right. All right. Thank you very much. So unanimous consent, we have ended the public component of our time this evening at this meeting. I will now turn it over to Mayor Shondal Washington Spivey.

Thank you. So I just wanted to come today to really kind of talk through decision itself. So I want folks to kind of understand from not just my perspective also no. Actually, I do. I want you to understand from my my perspective. Alright. So check it out. I went to a class, and I'm not going to do the same exact exercise that I did with them today. But just know I processed this with them as well after this decision because they had some concerns. And I said, let me walk you through the process and of all of this.

Right? So I was elected April 1, sworn in April 15, started my job on April 16. Right? So from the time I was elected and walking around in the community, I heard concerns about specifically Cameron and Burns Park to the day that I started my job. Immediately when I got my email, there was nothing but emails about Cameron, Burns, dumpsters, a bunch of other stuff, right, as well as the phone calls from business owners, neighbors, people in the park.

And I said, okay. Let me go to the park myself, hosted a root beer float party in in Burns Park, talked to the individuals that were in the park because one of the stereotypes or, I guess, preconceived notions or whatever you wanna say that constantly kept getting pushed was that it was the in house folks in the parks causing all the issues. And I said, okay. Let me go see it for I talked to people at that park. I talked to folks who said, no. Actually, I have a house. I just like coming to the park. You know, I like this community. Or I was recently housed, and this is my community, and I wanna come back, you know, and support my community. And and it was good to hear.

Right? Also, I heard all the eviction stories and all these other things. But one of the other things I heard is we try to do a good job of policing ourselves, but it's hard. Right? So when you have individuals that are selling drugs in the park, doing drugs in the park, drinking in the park, and then the drinking right? Because let's be honest. We can all for the most part, if you drink, you probably say, I opened a can of beer in a park before. No big deal. Well, the the beer can wasn't the big deal. The problem was as folks drink more, things escalate into unhealthy and now public safety issues.

So when I was talking to folks both in Cameron well, at Burns at this time, they said, people just you know, hey, mayor. Excuse the language. I'm a say it. They just keep fucking up, and we don't know what to do. And I said, well, I'm I'm hearing that there's a lot of issues going on at the park. So how can we work together to solve this issue? Like, what's going on here? And so we talked a little bit. Also did the same thing at Cameron Park. One evening, I went to Cameron Park because I had to go to another event. And I walked past, and I saw some of the complaints that folks were having. I saw the yelling. I saw the fighting. I saw the the trash that was abundant. Right?

And I said, okay. Let me go back to the team. So we have an unsheltered meeting biweekly. I called that team together. I say, here's the issue. Here's what my email is saying. Here's what the phones are saying. Here's what I'm seeing. And and so I've been walking alongside folks in this decision process this entire time. What led to the final decision was there was this big commotion that happened at Burns Park, and I said, we gotta we we can't continue like this.

So, yes, I did say, this is my option. I had at the time, there arguably were three. The first one was, can we find an organization or work with our pathways program to get people out there into the parks to help us out? Alright? That didn't happen.

The next option, which is not my favorite, you increase policing in that particular area, which we also know what that means. And that's, to me, is unfair. So the other option at the time was increase police or close the parks so that we can restore order and figure out a better plan to work with the populations that were in the park because it was not going to be okay to continue to have public safety issues in the park. And let me also be clear. So when it came to weighing down this decision, I'm listening to the complaints.

Right? And I'm weeding out what what needs to be weeded out. Right? If you don't wanna see an unsheltered person in a park, sorry to hear that. I I I'm sorry. I don't care. Right? Because the reality is they have a right to be in the park. Now if you wanna talk about the public safety issues, let's talk about the public safety issues. And that is the reason why when those issues aren't being addressed, we have to figure out a way to address those, and that is what the plan is supposed to be doing.

A coordinated plan between parks, police, pathways, other organizations. Because Because after the parks were closed, I went out, and I started having conversations with people. I went to the TNT team at REACH. I talked to them. I pulled executive directors of some of our housing agencies together.

I talked to We talked to the police. And like we said, we have our unsheltered team meeting that happens all the time as well as our pathways meeting, which is myself, the county administrator, the county board president, the council president, and a couple other folks from city and county that are present in those meetings, and we've talked about this as well. And so that is why that's why I did it. That's why they're still closed because I also feel very strongly about needing to have a plan. I don't wanna keep going through this.

The city doesn't wanna go keep going through this. Nobody wants to keep going through this. So, yes, there's a point of we need to make sure that the individuals have the housing that they need as well as the services, and we need a foolproof plan that's going to address the public safety issues that are happening by folks who have houses and choose to go to the park as a cover up, as a drug dealer, as a whatever you wanna call it. And until that happens, I just don't deem it to be safe to do that. And so I recognize it's not a popular decision.

I didn't wanna make the decision, to be honest with you. I just said, you know, how about y'all just go figure it out? But that wasn't working either. So, unfortunately, we are where we are at, and I swear and I pray and I hope that this is the last time we ever have to go this route. So I get it. I understand the frustration. I understand, you know, I've had friends call me and talk about this, and it's it's it's just as how it's just what it is right now until we can figure out something better. Because you're right. Public parks should be open, and everyone should be able to use them, and they should be able to use them safely.

Thank you, mayor. So I would open it up to our commissioners. If you have questions that you would like to ask of either our staff or our mayor. Questions from commissioners? Commissioner Weston?

Thank you, madam chair. To the mayor or director Odegaard. What I with many city issues, what I often hear are people saying, this is the result we want. This is the decision we need from you. And what I have also I've heard some of that tonight with public commentary, and I'm so appreciative of the folks here tonight who shared their own personal stories and impact of life and how we got here.

I'm wondering, from either of your perspectives, if folks are interested in working towards a solution, not just saying this is the solution we want. If they're interested in working towards a solution or if they have ideas or thoughts or opportunities to connect with agencies, what have you, what is the path for that?

Contact me. Contact my office. Call me. Email me. We can sit down. We can have the conversation. I'm not opposed to having the conversation or listening to ideas. Yeah.

Commissioner Kirsch?

Is probably best

I'm Got to use the mic.

Are we looking at potentially needing more funding for any sort of plan that is on the table? Or are organizations able to do what is potentially in the plan with the resources that they currently have?

Yeah. So I would I would say for the most part, everybody's gonna be able to do the plan with the resources they have. And and, ultimately, what you wanna look at is there's kinda like two different plans happening at the same time. Right? Because there's the plan to deal with the public safety pieces. And then there's the plan of recognizing that our unsheltered population need housing, which is Pathways Home. Right? We're trying to right fit housing and make sure they get the correct services. And then there's the other stuff. And so that's the part of the plan I think we're figuring out or or working on on the last kinda tail end, so to speak.

And then the next part is getting all those entities together again to say, okay. Let's redo this. Let's walk through this. Is everybody in agreement? Cool. Let's move forward.

So since this is kind of different than anything that comes before the Park Board, Is is this something that would not necessarily require but would benefit from public input during implementation. It's still kinda like a public hearing sort of thing. During implementation or just before, you know, it's kinda like if you bring legislation up, you like to air air the air the ideas out first. Just curious how what your thoughts are on that.

Let me make sure I'm understanding that correctly. Mean in terms of, like, okay. So before a decision to close the parks is made, get public input about the no? Okay. Let me make sure I'm Sorry.

No. As far as the plan that's being put together, will there be a chance for people to take a look at it?

Oh, okay. Alright. I see what you're saying. I'm not opposed. I know we do have some community members that have offered to kind of vet through the plan as well. So, yeah, we haven't necessarily made it, like, a public plan yet, but possibly. Possibly. I'm not opposed to Let me talk to the team about that. No. The the team of our team.

Commissioners. This this is essentially for our this is for our commissioners. Yeah. Did you have

appreciate what, the public comments were made today. People really care about the parks and are concerned about what it means to the city to have them closed, and, I agree that if a visitor comes to La Crosse and sees fences around our parks, what does that mean about the community to the to the person visiting? So and I feel like the parks are innocent bystanders to on further problem here of safety concerns that may just be moving elsewhere. It just seems like a really tough problem that I don't certainly don't have answers to, but I just wish it didn't affect our parks the way it is and if there's some way we could get them open again.

Thank you. Commissioner Olson?

Thank you, president Charles. This could be for you, mayor, or for Jay. Since the closure of these two parks and then the two on the North Side partial closures, closures. Have has the police department or the city seen an increase of the activities that were happening in these parks? Has there been an increase in the other parks? And if so, it you know, I I know you can't go into details, but if so, are we looking at possibly doing this to additional parks?

So I'm gonna have, lieutenant Kernst come speak to the first part of that question, but I'm gonna answer the second part. The goal with the plan is to be able to take this and use it in different areas. So in essence, my my thought process is that you wouldn't see another part closed. Instead, what you would see is an implementation of action from several different entities before that decision even have to be made, if that makes sense. Yeah. We

have seen issues displaced. I think that there are fewer issuers total. This is my opinion and my take looking at the call screen daily. A lot of the public safety issues that we're primarily concerned with were interpersonal violence, where two people find something to disagree about and then get into a fistfight. There has been less incidents of that because there has not been a concentration of people in a park drinking all day using drugs getting into those fistfights. Does that answer the question?

Yes. It does. Okay.

Are you okay? Did you get okay. Sorry. Commissioner Young, did you have a question? No. Yep. Any other questions or comments from commissioners? Okay. So you now know where to get information and where to take your concerns. And again, I do want to thank all the members of the public for coming out here and taking advantage of this opportunity.

And I hope that to some degree oh, does someone else have something? Okay. To some degree, you've gotten some answers, even if you don't like the answers. So right. Okay. That brings us to the end of our agenda. I'm sure some of our staff will be able to stick around for a few more minutes if you wanna have personal conversations with folks. So thank you again to everybody for coming here, and I hope that you can figure out a way to be part