Parks and Arts Commission - Regular Meeting

Can you put Good afternoon. This is the City of Liberty Lake Parks and Arts Commission. Today is Monday, December 1st, 2025, and it's 4:01 p.m. We'll start off today with our call to order, including our roll call. I'll call up the commissioner's names. Nancy Hill, that's me, present. Uh, please note David Heimbaw is absent. Laura Frank present. Katie Ferris present.

Please note John Bar and Noel Otter La Parkco also have called in and will be unable to attend. Uh I don't see Bob Schneidermiller. Evan, is he online? Okay. So Bob's not here for now. Hopefully he'll be joining us. Joanie Haye present. Gary Edwards. And I don't see Megan Ballinger, our new student commissioner here. Is she online? Evan.

Okay. Just let us know if they join. So we'll show that Megan is not in attendance yet. Staff today we have uh no tape. So we have uh Jen Camp and online we have Derek Muel and John Finn Johnny Finn. Muel's online. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, we have Derek, MueL, and Johnny. Johnny attending via um Zoom. All right. Approval of November 3rd, 2025 meeting minutes. They're in your packet. Did everyone have a chance to review those? And if so, are there any um edits or corrections? And if not, a motion to approve. I move we approve.

Second. It's been moved by Gary and seconded by Joanie to approve the meeting minutes from November 3rd, 2025 as written. All in favor? I I oppose. Please show the motion has carried unanimously. Next up, citizen comments. I don't see any citizens in the audience for comments. Is there anyone online, Evan? No.

Okay. Seeing no citizen comments, we'll move on to item five, which are action items, discussions, and presentations. Um, the first item is for discussion or at least introduction for developing an SOP for art installations and uh basically our artist selection process. And we'll um Laura, did you want to speak at all to that as how we came to thinking about this and potentially using our consultant to start that the first of the year? Just want everyone to get to thinking about it.

Yeah. So, we uh met with city staff last week just to kind of go over. So, for the the Kramer Parkway art installation, there were some requirements that we had been unaware of um in terms of permitting and structural engineering. And so we just wanted to have a better understanding of how to be able to plan for that in the future. And so there's um some action items that came out of that, but the the main takeaway was that maybe this becomes part of the the scope of work for our consultants being that they've had vast experience and uh you know large municipal art installations. and to kind of guide us through that process. We we kind of have some loose uh guidelines in place in terms of the selection panel that's in our parks and arts policies and procedures. Um but really just kind of formalizing it and assisting us and being able to better plan for and budget for it. Um, as well as being able to more clearly communicate what those the expectations are of what the artist is responsible for versus what the the parks and arts commission and city staff are responsible for. Did I Yeah. catch everything? And then on on the installation side, we've discovered that some art installations may require a sign permit, some may require a building permit. if they're potentially in the rightway, that may bring on some additional requirements, some may not. But what we know overall is we always want to keep risk management in mind and make sure any of our installations are safe. So, we'll kind of also look at developing that into, you know, kind of a guideline so that future commissions going forward will know um there are certain things to consider and certain things that may add more to the budget. And uh we'll get into some of the details on the Kramer Parkway uh

sculpture installation and which did run higher cost for the installation process because of some of those requirements and we can go over that when we get to that update. But I just wanted to get you guys thinking about it and then when we uh our consultant agreement has that come? It will be on the December 16th agenda for approval.

Okay. So, as soon as that comes through for approval and we get to January, uh when our new budget takes effect, um I don't know if we're going to have a subcommittee possibly that can do a little workshop with her and report back to the main group or how we'll want to handle that, but we'll kind of work through that uh the first part of January. So, be thinking um about that as well. Anything else on that, Laura, that I'm missing? I think you got it. All right. Next uh rainbow bridge discussion uh next steps uh including location as you recall uh Mara from Popular Companions had submitted um a project application which we had approved moving forward and today we have a representative from Popular Companions. You want to come step up to the podium and let us know your name for the record. Thank you. Is this okay? Uh my name is D. Scott and I'm the manager at Popular Companions and Mara couldn't be here tonight so she had me come in her place. So I um uh first want to thank you for considering this project. I don't um I'll briefly go over what um we submitted just so that everyone is up to date on it. Um several years ago I was in Lake Lure um North Carolina and ran across the um a rainbow bridge there and what it was it was a I don't know are you all familiar with the rainbow bridge story. Okay. So I saw that and it always was in the back of my mind that it was something that I might like to present to Mara. And last year during the hurricanes that bridge was damaged and completely damaged and they're still finding callers. I just did some research the other day. So, um it was um they're they're rebuilding it if they have I think it is rebuilt now. And um so what we want to do is um we have this dream to build the Rainbow

Bridge in the city of Liberty Lake. And what we want is a very serene place where people can go and reflect, remember, commemorate their past pets. Um at one point we were thinking placing their collars on the bridge, but we do have some options for that. Um, so we were looking for a a perfect location for that. And um, what we have done in the meantime is we had a local artist from um, Cordelane actually paint a beautiful um, scene on our wall at Popular Companions. I brought a couple pictures of it, but it has the rainbow bridge poem um that um that is in the clouds and the clouds a big paw print and then we have a beautiful rainbow and then dogs awaiting. And so we have an ornament that we have sold there. Um and it's $10. The the sign says, "No longer by my side, forever in my heart. We will meet at the Rainbow Bridge and we will never be apart." So for $10 a person can buy this ornament. It talks about the love of our pets and the rainbow bridge and then we have a little cloud and then we put the dog's name or the people can put the dog's name on the cloud and put it up on our back wall. So we were doing that um in lie of the rainbow bridge and it's been extremely uh popular especially during the holidays a lot of people have dogs or cats that they want to commemorate. So um we have had a huge response for it. Uh people just love the idea. So, um that being um that being said, um what um we we think um is that um that we would I I just really feel like this um rainbow bridge can be um a beautiful piece of art in Liberty Lake. And I think that it will there are only a few rainbow bridges actually in the United States. Um even just a few years

ago, there were only two. So, when you do the research, it's amazing. Um, and people from all over the United States and all over the country will go to those rainbow bridges and they will place their dogs collars or a tag or whatever on that bridge. So, um, I think that it will draw locals, but it will also draw visitors. And we have um we are you know we're so close to Cordelane which is obviously a destination point and so many people are traveling that it would be awesome to have this rainbow bridge someplace um that would be easy accessible from the freeway because I do believe that it would just be um a huge addition to the community um not only because we're dog lovers here and you know pet lovers but because um um just because there are so few of these in the United States. So, it really could help put Liberty Lake on the map even more. Um, for we would want I think easy access. So, if people are traveling on I90 on I90, they could um pop off the freeway do that. That could be part of our marketing, you know, in Liberty Lake is that we are one of the few in in the nation that have a brain rainbow bridge. um what I think that um would be kind of a neat spot. Um and I know very little about all this, but the current farmers market area, I don't know what you refer to that as, but you have an RV park there. It's EVC access often on the freeway. A lot of traffic passes by there, and it's also um high visibility just for our locals with the farmers market. So, um I think that it would also bring local money to, you know, people that are stopping there. Um they, um you know, we have restaurants nearby. We have easy parking. It's things we don't have to reinvent. On the corner of Signal and Mission, there is a tree sets back a little bit. But how we kind of

envision this is that we would have a a tree. We would have um um we would have a bench where people could sit. Uh ultimately it would be fun to have this should be a beautiful work of art. So we could have you know pop I've seen um like rocks that look like paws. We could have paws like a like um like a almost like a stream looking and then we would have that rainbow bridge. Uh, one of the things that um, Nancy, you had mentioned was the uh, you know, the the problem of people stealing uh, the um, dog t or the dog collars that are on there on that bridge or people don't have a dog collar but they want to remember a pet. That would be something we'd like to explore. We could almost make them the the if we did metal um beautiful metal and and um chained with metal. Uh could be hearts, it could be bones, it could be a paw, could be whatever. But the tags actually could end up being like almost like a windchime, which I think would be really pretty, you know, and again go with that that whole art thing. Um involving local people would be really awesome. Um, you know, because we we could um we could um I got my notes here. Just a second. Uh we could Oh, yeah. So, um like this, there is a sign that would talk about the bridge, you know, what it is. Um we could in have a local artist be involved in that. Um we could have um I think the the beauty of it I, you know, see it with flowers. as I see it was just very uh we could have you know gardeners local gardeners you know if there's an association uh be involved um there um uh and we would have sponsors I would think I think that we could ultimately

get sponsors to um either construct or maintain um or to donate benches um I I don't think that would be a problem I know for for us the popular comm companions too we would have a lot of people who would like to be involved in some in that regard.

Um we at some point maybe running water, you know, we could we could do whatever. But I you know, the the the picture that we're envisioning is a very peaceful, beautiful place that people would come from all over to commemorate their dogs and cats, you know, and and that would be a beautiful piece of art for Liberty Lake. So, um um I I like that spot simply because of its something over there simply because of its high visibility and if we're going to do this it's worth doing well. that's worth doing. Beautiful. Beautiful. You know that that's the town square as it's called and it's

it wouldn't be able to probably go there because that property is in limbo over what the city wants to do with that whether they want to put a library there or community center or have it parkland or whatever. I mean I I is it is a nice little spot there but we'd probably have to look at others. I know uh Derek, you're online and some of your team. Have you guys took a look around at any locations that you thought might be good?

Go ahead, Johnny. You're on mute. Can you guys hear me? Yeah, we can hear you now. Perfect. This is for the Rainbow Bridge, correct? Correct. Um, you guys are looking for locations. Mhm.

What uh what size is it exactly? Like, do we have parameters at all? We don't have any parameters, but I can hear from what D's saying that we we may want to have the potential for it to be expandable. You know, the concept from from what I've seen before is probably some kind of a bridge with sides, you know, fencing sides that um would be probably at least I would say minimum 15t in length um with the possibility of expansion over something that could be developed into like a little dry creek or something like that. And as she said, in an area in which there would, you know, it wouldn't be right next to a playground or something where it would have some sense of reflection and serenity, but um you know, this is ground zero, so the you know, do

Oh, are you guys able to hear me? Yes. Um, so one location that I did have, um, or kind of a few locations in, uh, area was off of the golf course on that, um, it's actually the water department's property, but that, uh, trail runs through there, um, offset of Liberty Lake Road. There's a few chain link fences in there that I was actually thinking uh, might not be a bad option. Uh, a lot of people do walk through there, especially with dogs. Um, and it does also allow us a chain link fence that would give us access to hanging those collars.

Well, there's also a culvert where there's actually a bridge already essentially over the culvert right when you come come down like from the trail head clubhouse that first kind of bend in the trail as Yeah. As you approach the fallen heroes course, you mean? Yes.

Yeah. Just after that or just south of the fallen heroes. So D, they're talking about Liberty Lake Road, which is the road that goes between um the two grocery stores. And as it heads down to the lake, past the light on the left, there's a trail that runs that whole length down along the side of Trail Head Golf Course. And they're talking about an area um there, but there wouldn't be any parking there. Correct. That that is correct. It is just a walking trail with no actual designated trail head for parking. Our golf staff suggested the arboritum could be a good place. It's uh definitely more peaceful down there than u our other parks.

I had just written that down. The other one that I was thinking is do we does the city own any property over in River District along the river? Can you talk about wanting peace? Just uh just the cent the Harvard trail head. There's no we don't own any property over there. My first thought was uh by the farmers market. Uh there's a swale between the farmers market and the star Starbucks. Might be a nice place for a bridge city in there. That's that's probably not city proper. Yeah. Okay.

Is Pavilion Park um an option? Uh you know they there's the the actual hill and a lot of people go up there. a lot of kids park there and stuff. Or the one corner that would be on be the north the north side whatever that road is on the north side. Oh's going to go where unless they at the new stop sign um there which is uh Molter and Country Vista. Yeah.

Um there's going to be there's we have another citizen le project and there's going to be a rock garden there. But there is if you go along Country Vista to the east, I don't know what that side street is, but there's another corner there.

Um, which would is visible because Country Vista is right pretty big. And then there's parking along the residential street to the side or they could walk across the park from the main parking lot. that corner was under consideration as a possible rock garden location, but that could possibly be um a location for that. I Derek, given activities that happen in a park, do you know the corner I'm talking about?

Yeah. And what one corner I was actually just uh going to bring up as well is uh at the southern basketball court. Um I know you mentioned the hill. I didn't know if you were talking about the um the hill more towards Settler, but where that southern basketball court is at pavilion, there is that little 4 foot fence there, and I want to say it's 4 feet, probably by 75 ft, maybe 100. Um do you you know that location? I know where the basketball court is. What's the purpose of the fence? I'm trying the basketballs don't go down the hill um and run into uh neighbor or adjacent homeowners fences. Is the fence on the south side of the basketball court? Yeah. Yes.

Oh, that would be kind of uh out of a little bit secluded down there, that's for sure. And then it's right off the the main parking lot. Yes. It would be just just forward from uh the first um ADA or handicap stall south of the basketball courts. Is that what he's saying? Right. Not over the single court. Yes, the single court. Most people don't even know it's there. I'm telling to Dean now because she doesn't because there's the big ones by the tennis court. It's not that. Um on the very southern end of Pavilion Park. Okay.

Um just off one corner of the main parking lot, there is a basketball court there. And so that's below it. Would there be enough room there, Derek, to make something that looked more like a bridge by, you know, making a maybe a second fence? So, it was a some kind of a corridor you could walk through with some kind of more aesthetics to it than just a fence blocking balls. Um, to be honest, probably not at that location just because the fence is on a hillside. What about the area where they put the goats? That's Yes. along the Moulder. We call that the dog leg.

Yeah, the dog leg thinking down off the trail. That's probably a little more. I know what you're talking about. I've thought of that, too. Yeah. Well, and I was curious if we've ever discussed a dog park or anything like that, like looking to the future if we would want to maybe put the Rainbow Bridge by a potential location for a dog park. We've brought up the dog park before and it's on the city's unfunded project, the council's unfunded project capital list. One of the problems we ran into in suggesting an off leash dog park was a place to put it. Yeah.

Because there's the city is doesn't have a lot of surplus property. I mean, we have our three three big parks and then the town square parcel which is

in limbo. There's not a lot of others. And I've worked extensively with um Mara on um private private funding of a dog park and where would we put it and it it's been a challenge trying to find a location. Well, it seems like the arburetum would be a nice place because it's a little bit secluded where people the Lion's Club already has uh family memory bricks and things down there for people to go down there with their picnics and things. And maybe that's a narrow piece of property. Would be there be enough room for something like that?

Does it widen out at the bridge? Yeah. Where's the arboritum? Help me out. See, people don't even know. We're back here behind city hall. Straight that way on the other the far end of city hall parking lot is the trail that goes down into the Oh, and that's what can Okay, I know what you're talking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a ton of dog walkers through that area. Mhm. And if we just I just think because we we would have people um you know we would have people coming by car, you know, stopping and visitors and there would be parking at city hall and there's also some parking at the lower end. There's a culde-sac. There's like two in the neighborhood though. Yeah. Yeah. There's like two parking spots technically, I think.

So city hall would be the parking area. Mhm. Well, it sounds like we need to do a little more research and yeah, figure out Yes, Gary. Uh, I had a separate question. Uh, what do you do with the money for the pegs and the uh how do you collect it? I mean, how do people sign up to get a tag?

Well, we we haven't determined that yet, but I think that would be something that we could do at our um we could easily do that at Popular Companions. And honestly, you can do we could do like some kind of I've I've seen it, you know, when you doing something remotely like um hiking or whatever. You can do things remotely. We could possibly put something there where people could order that tag, pay for that tag, and then we would make sure that it was on the fence. Um we could we could do that, too. You know, I think those are things that we can certainly work out. Yeah. You know, what does the money go for? I think the money could go to maintenance of the could go to maintenance of the project. that would be you know what let it pay for itself. Yeah. You know

Popular Companions has generously offered to fund the project initially so it doesn't come out of our budget. Right. So if and maintenance of course is always a um an issue. So if there were tags there would be cost and if there was some overage but if that went into a maintenance fund Exactly. and or expansion fund that could certainly work. We just I think we really need to spend some time on um on finding a location.

I mean, Derek, maybe you're in now that you've heard the discussion, maybe you and your team could um you know, look around a little bit more with with these parameters in mind. Yeah, I think now that we actually have a better understanding of exactly what you guys um want to see, um we definitely can come back with uh some better ideas um the first of next year.

Okay. Well, why don't we put you on the agenda to have that discussion um at our January meeting and we'll all of us can keep thinking about if you if anybody in here wants to walk around and has a place, you know, we can certainly have that discussion when we come together the first of the year. Do you guys have kind of an idea? I'm assuming you want to stick with probably something as a 4 foot fence. Do you guys have a length that you're looking for? A length of the bridge. A length of bridge or a length of fencing? Well, I would I personally would say a minimum of 15 feet. And that so that would end up being 30 feet because it would we want it to look like a bridge. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Do you have a concept sketch? Um, I have a I have a picture and I can have I can get a concept and we can make I can make sure that you all have it. We can get it to N. Just whatever the inspiration is picture of looking around. I have pictures of an actual um, you know, like of the lake. I mean, I can show it to you and pass this around. So, I have a picture of this. I can um, certainly put something together. We could sketch something out, have perimeters, have you know the uh, the concepts and a few ideas. Yeah, if you had that could get us to it either either drop it off at city hall for Jen and camp or send it electronically then um we can get that to Derek and that'll give them a little bit more of a guideline when they're they're scouting.

I think it's a little easier as you're walking around if you have kind of the video of what it's going to look like versus just seeing a fence because it's obviously a lot more than that. Yeah. And in my head you want it to look a little bit like a bridge. So whether it has a we make a little arch or a little something that goes over like a dry creek bed. I keep thinking about on the far side of I90 from here as you go uh from the I90 bridge to the Harvard. No, to the Mission. No, is that Mission?

Yeah, Mission roundabout. They have that dry creek bed that's between the north and southbound lanes and to me something like that would be nice. So you have more of the idea of it being a bridge. I agree. When you when you imagine even this room, you know, if you if you just you could just, you know, imagine a bridge like so. And then a dry creek underneath it with the paw prints out of the rocks, flowers, the chimes would hang, you know, it have the the um I'm saying the chimes, but the tags that could end up ultimately being chimes, you know, they look pretty if they were like that hanging, you know.

Yeah. Um, I don't know if many of you ever went over um there over it's a donkey island off of the off of the it crosses the Spokane River over by Argon below Arborrest in that area and there's a fence and they used to have all the people would put locks on it and locks and their hearts and stuff and actually they ended up taking it down but but it was actually very cool and um you know with the river running underneath it. So, so I, you know, if we're going to do something like this, I think we really want to do it nicely.

Well, why don't we plan on you presenting maybe some pictures of what people have already done and then a concept drawing of what you think we should do and if you, you know, the sooner you can get that to Jen, then the more time her team has to look and then we'll reconvene in our January meeting and put it back on the agenda for discussion. And we certainly uh thank you for coming and it's a it's a great idea. Yeah, I think it'll be very well received by the community. Thank you so much for having us and entertaining it. All right. Thank you, D. Thank you so much, De. All right. Next up, um Jen, do you want to take that?

Yeah, this will be brief. Um I received information from Mark Makavoy that he had met with someone at Visit Spokane and they had mentioned a potential project called a sculpture garden. I I have zero details on this. Um, I do have a couple of messages into Rose at Visit Spokane to complete a proposal form to share with you all. I have not received one yet. So, hopefully on the next agenda uh we'll have something um little I was hoping to have that today and have discussion on it, but we don't have I don't have anything yet. So, more details to come.

So, when we get that project proposal, then we can get it back on the agenda. It's an interesting concept. I I am a personal huge fan of sculpture gardens. I'll be curious to see if they want to create a areawide sculpture garden with different stops or they want us to have a whole sculpture garden. I wonder if it's a a permanent or a temporary. Oh yeah, could be. All she All I know is that they mentioned it because of potential for tourism in the city of Liberty Lake. So yeah. So what is a sculpture garden? A sculpture garden to me is um a lot of sculptures uh clustered in an area in which you can walk through. Are they political or religious or stuff like that or artistic? Artistic.

Okay. Yeah. Thanks. I Yeah, they have several at I know there is a a museum in Raleigh that has a big art museum and then outside of it they have all these walking trails and then there's sculptures. Periodically there's a little map and yeah, a lot of cities. Seattle has kind of one down by the waterfront. Se Yeah, Seattle is a beautiful one. Um yeah, I'll be curious because we've we've explored um the idea of a temporary where citizens can engage and uh vote on what their favorite is and then the parks and arts would procure it. Mhm. So, and when I was a lot of good locations

couple years ago, I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens in the Phoenix area and they had a it was all the same sculpture artist, but among all the gardens, they had randomly placed the sculptures work around and it stayed there for a set period of time and then it went away. And I noticed when I went back the next year that they had kept one or two pieces. Maybe the sculpture had donated. I don't know. But I I don't know if they're going to do anything else. But it really enhanced the the experience at the gardens by having these, you know, just random sculptures out there. That's cool.

All right. Thank you. Um the next is the 2025 budget allocation. And I just kind of wanted to put that on there because if we have extra monies in our 2025 budget, monies that aren't earmarked to carry over that it would be nice to spend that. I know it's December in the final hour, but we do have the ongoing home for the holidays project um which we can always buy more lights or decorations for even if they don't go up this year. So, I know Jen, you have given us an updated copy of the budget recruit.

I'm looking to what we've spent. Uh, looks like we spent we've spent beautifification programming. We've already allocated that 8,000, but it hasn't been spent or he has used 2600 for um lights and I do believe the invoice that I saw today for the Christmas trees was around $700. So uh 30 let's just say $3500 of the 10,000 has been spent. So we is we've already voted and approved that. So is that going to be spent? Mikuel, are you on?

Yes, I'm on. Yeah, I mean, if we originally had put it, you had all put it towards the battle of the branches. I bought everything we needed for that. I did have one more order, so probably another 400's going to come out, but everything else was earmarked for the battle of the branches. So, I wasn't sure if we could spend it for anything else regarding home for the holidays or if that's what the commission wanted. Well, if we if we decided to vote today to spend the remainder on just general home for the holidays at Would you be able to do that before the end of the year? Uh, yes.

Okay. Yeah. Nancy, uh, I think we had a couple ideas coming out of that event and just hoping to recap a little bit of like things that we could do moving forward to improve it. And I think that that would then we would have items that we could spend money on. Okay. Cuz I mean we're down to the wire. We have to And then and then it looks like we still have some money in our Smarty Board line item. Almost $500 there. Um and then I think everything else is a carryover if I'm not mistaken. We're going to be about 200 $300 over on the Liberty Lake Kramer art. Mhm. So if you subtract that overage from the underage, yes,

under programming, then that just leaves you probably about 200 b $200. Uh we do have where did I see? Oh, we have the funds for the utility box wraps the 4,000 there. Okay,

that um is freed up because we have received the check from STCU. So, if there's something we want to do with it, we could do a blanket um vote to use the remaining funding to go towards whatever it was under probably most likely the home for the holidays category because I don't know what else we could accomplish in a month because it would have to be purchased and invoiced and paid in December because none of it's carried over. What? So, you had some some thoughts, Joanie?

Uh, yeah, just a couple thoughts. I first of all, I think the event went awesome, especially given that it was the first year. Um, so everything seemed great to me. Um, we were thinking Katie brought her own Polaroid camera, but I think it would be and she was doing like selfies. Um, but then I was watching the parents go up and then it was kind of a jocking of there's two parents and two kids and who's going to take the photo? There's nobody there to take the photo. So, I was hoping that in the future, and I definitely volunteered to do this to um either take the photo for the parents on their own phone, but I was thinking if we provided the Polaroid and just gave them their Polaroid to take then and there. We did have some ornaments where they could put the picture in the ornament, but we didn't provide the photo, so I thought that'd be relatively inexpensive. Um, and then for outside, um, turned out to be kind of a cold day, so I was wondering about just heaters or tents or things like that. Um, I think parking was also kind of an issue there because the vent space was the parking lot, but it was full of cars, so it was hard to see. You could hear the police cars coming in, but you couldn't really see Santa unless you were like up in the very very front. Um, just some things like that.

So, it sounds like those are are logistics, not necessarily something that we can purchase this year. And those that's great feedback. The Well, I think the tent and the heaters of those are things. I think maybe it would draw more people. I was a little bit surprised that there weren't more people. We were through the line of kids to see Santa by was it six gen about? So, I don't, you know, I don't know if it's the advertising or the event itself or it got, it did get really cold that night. So, male, did you have any thoughts on on what you might spend um funds on this year that we could that could be, you know, paid for this year?

Yeah, I would first probably try to look towards a few more displays. Uh that may be hard just how their billing works and just the time crunch we're in. And then kind of based off of Joany's comments, um me and Jen did talk about purchasing heaters for the future. So that would be something that we could easily purchase and get coded out in this year. And one of the comments was also line of sight of those talking and like John like was said with Santa, not everyone could see Santa. And there is we've talked about purchasing a potentially like a portable stage um which you can get some pieces of a portable stage that are 3x3 and then you connect them together and those are fairly you know with some funding we could have a little portable stage up there where the speakers could be more visible and Santa came he could be more visible. So, just off the top of my head, I would say displays first, but then if timing doesn't work with those, then some of these auxiliary items to help make the the programming more functionable.

No, that sounds great. Um, commissioners, do you have any thoughts on that? Katie, you were there. Yeah, we I brought this little like those little stand up uh it was like a Santa elf that you could put your face in and take a picture. That's a weird I was doing with a Polaroid camera I already had. So uh you know you could get a couple of those. It was kind of fun having them do things while they're waiting for Santa. So, they were making ornaments. They're taking these little pictures and then they got up to where they were with Santa's

and a lot of the parents were very appreciative and thankful and told us what a great idea it was to have the the crafts that we were doing. So, that was great. Um I didn't think the weights were that long at all. They'd start on their craft and then their parents would be like, "Let's go." Waiting. Um and but yeah, everyone did a great job. Great ideas. Well, um, Jen, is that if we if we do a motion to spend money for the home for the holidays, would and is that something you could make the final financial determination on based on seeing the budget on we could spend?

I I think I would defer to Muel. He has a good sense of what what we really need. Um, so yeah, I mean, what we actually have to spend. Yeah. So, I mean, what I'm looking at here is the 4,000 from the utility box wraps and then the balance in the programming um minus the the receipt that I have on my desk today for the trees and then whatever else Muel needs to purchase. So, it' be whatever the difference is in the programming and then the 4,000 for the What about 200? Yeah, the 200. I can I can punch the numbers on that. Yeah. I mean, we need to make sure that we So, the balance of each. Yeah. Yeah.

Because we went a little bit over on the boulder painting. We have to absorb somewhere. Yeah. Okay. I have a question. Yes, sir. So, uh is there any possibility of providing money like for live music during the holidays like brass band or uh or um carolers? I mean that we did we did have car carolers and I think the cheerleaders were there but I mean that's something that could be budgeted for but that would be in whatever budget that will come with growing the event and that's going to take us baby steps as staff to do every year. I mean that's not money we can spend this year but certainly an idea for next year

um because we're looking at spending only the remainder of this year's money. Yeah. So, if if as a commission we have an interest in that, we would just need a a motion um to direct funding any remaining funding as determined by Jen for to the home for the holidays program. I move that we spend the remainder of the home for the holidays budget before the end of the year. Second. Okay. If I'm understanding your motion, because there isn't a home for the holidays budget. So, if I'm understanding your motion, you would like to see the remaining balance of our

2025 budget. Yes. The unspent to go to home for the holidays to be spent um in before the end of the year. Okay. And so we have a motion by Joanie and a second by Katie. Any discussion? All right. All in favor?

I opposed. Okay. Please show the motion is passed unanimously. I think it's you guys, your team, Jen, you did a great job, male, and I know how much hard you worked on it to get this program up and running with very little notice. So, we thank you. All right, next up on the budget is the utility box updates. So, yeah, I have a an update. Um, we went that went to council last, no, two weeks ago or was it last Monday? Oh gosh, I can't remember. Um, and they approved the STCO donation. We received the check last week. Uh, so we'll we'll process that check. It will go into the public art fund to fund um all of the wraps. Uh, and the stipens. I think the total was 4,300 and some change uh that STCU donated. So that covers us there. And I spoke with CW Wraps. They are going to attempt to install the wraps this week, weather depending. So, I don't know with this uh temperature change. They they can only go to a certain temperature before they can't install. And if that's the case, it'll likely be um spring or if we got a warmup, you know, an odd warmup in the winter, they could maybe come out and do it.

And that donation is for Kramer Parkway and the Legacy combined. Yes, it pays for four boxes, two boxes at each location of the two locations. And Laura, do you have any update on the Legacy? Have we heard from the artist? No. No. Okay. Well, it's probably going to be too cold, so we'll Yeah, we'll work through selecting that art as when we get the information back um from the artist on that. All right, that's exciting. So, goat sculpture update, Jen, is that

uh the only update I have right now is that um it is on the agenda, the artist agreement for the goat sculpture and for the city birthday art, which is the next item on the list. Those are both on the council um agenda for tomorrow night's approval. Tomorrow night. Mhm. Okay. And then it looks like that we'll be able to invoice the birthday art artist before the end of the year.

Yeah. But the the money has carried over. So, yeah, there's no pressure. Um but we're ready to go whenever we get this the artist agreement signed for that.

Okay. And then the Kramer Liberty Light together 2024 project update. Um it's installed. So that's really exciting. Um it was last week, last Monday. My dates are running together. Uh they installed last week. They uh removed the forms and wraps. Um and so the panels are up. You can drive by and see it. The glass uh the fused glass portion will be installed on Wednesday of this week and then they'll they'll be done and ready for lighting and landscaping in the spring. So awesome. Plaque and a plaque and a plaque. Yep. Sorry. Yes.

Um is the the final um invoice from the artists on tomorrow's approval or is it uh Yeah, it's in the vouchers. Uh, it'll be in the vouchers appropriate. Okay, that's what I figured. Yep. Side of relief. Yeah, it looks fantastic. I think I mean it's going to be stunning once every once the glass pieces are in. So, if you haven't driven by it, I haven't. I haven't seen it without the braces. So, I'm excited. It's really like driving it. I was like, "Oh, this is going to look amazing." I think the placement ended up being nice, though, because it sits up just a little bit and then the the foundation.

Well, you can see it from every direction too coming in. So yeah, come coming or going. So Wednesday, nice job, Laura. Thank you. All right. Oh, this is a big sigh of relief. Yep.

I just wanted to make everybody aware because Jen made me aware that um the vote for the chair will be in January. Apparently the chair is for two years. Um I've enjoyed being your chair. I would be happy to do it again um because I have the time being retired for the extra stuff. But if somebody else wants to be the chair, then just be thinking about it and that will come up on our agenda for our January meeting. And now we move on to the staff report. Um so the only items I have I pretty much mentioned already. Um and there's one I'm forgetting that you asked if I would weigh in on. What was it that you asked me to weigh in on? Uh just the event.

Yeah, the event. We kind of discussed that. We agreed that growing the crafts would be a hit. We agreed that opening at 4:30 or a little earlier pre-event for people to come in and and congregate in the warmth um and do activities. Just that worked out really well that we did that. Um let's see. I think I think that's all I have. Muel, did you have a couple of quick items you wanted to mention? Yes. Just real quick, I wanted to let the commission know last week I discussed or last meeting discussed um doing a potential Lego camp that's going to be put on hold currently um with the city's requirements for um SAM insurance. Um the vendor couldn't uh facilitate that currently and so that's going to be put on hold. It's something we're going to review hopefully for the future. And then just so commissioners are aware, I'll send out an email probably next week or this week, I am looking for I need three commissioners that are willing to volunteer and be judges for Battle of the Branches to pick the top uh tree that has been decorated and then also potentially some volunteers to do the home uh decorating contest, be judges for that. So, I will um shoot out an email this week to see if anyone's willing. But just something to keep in mind if anyone is willing to do that.

Yeah. Could you send us the dates again? Yes, I will. I'll send all the information and all the the potential requirements for for judging.

Thank you, Muel. And I will mention that um last Monday we had a special uh budget discussion meeting with city council and it it was interesting the way that it went. Um I would encourage you to watch that uh meeting if you're interested. Um nothing nothing was cut from the budget. Um there was a lot of discussion on public art. Um uh the only thing that we did reduce was the uh special events professional services line item which is not an art line item. It's a it's a wreck line item um for the drones that we were hoping to have on for next year to the tune of $150,000 which I completely understood that. So,

um, but it it was an interesting meeting and if you are if you're interested at all on following our budgets particularly, I would recommend watching that. Could you email out a link to that meeting and give us an idea at what time? Yeah, we should start listening. Well, it kind of it kind of spanned through sections of the meeting, right? Does that if you just pull it up on YouTube, you can fast forward on your computer. It's really easy. You'll see me up at the podium quite a bit. I was every time we meet you when we're stop. This was just last Tuesday's meeting. Monday. Monday or Monday. And then we have special budget meeting the 24th.

Yeah. And then we have continuation of budget discussions tomorrow night and potential for any budget discussions next Monday. Next Monday, they will also be uh interviewing the candidates to backfill the open council position. So, we are hoping as staff that the budget would get finalized tomorrow night, but we'll see. Oh, so it's not possible. This is still with the existing council or new council members. No. Okay. Yeah. told you they wanted the the the council um wanted to approve the budget for 2026 prior to bringing on a new uh council member. So

Oh, okay. So that's all I have. Okay. So we'll look for that email. Then we have our December 10 joint meeting with the planning commission. It's in this room. It's at 400 pm on December 10. I don't remember what day of the week it is. I think that's a Wednesday. It's a Wednesday. Yeah. So, as many of you guys can come as possible. It's kind of a discussion workshop. And do you want to remind them a little bit of an overview of what it is for the it's for the scope of services, right?

Level of service discussion is going to be the primary discussion with the park comp plan. Yeah. And so, yeah, I think it's beneficial for us to be there and weigh in so that, you know, we have some say and and it will be on Zoom as well as in person. Um, so either way, I'll uh be publishing an agenda of um notice so that we have we don't have to worry about having an open public meeting with no notice. Uh so you'll see that come through and probably by the end of this week, I would think. Is there some materials we should be reviewing in advance?

Oh, I I have we have a meeting with SCJ tomorrow, so I'll ask that question. I'll also send out uh NY's Nancy Lisa's I'm tired. Sorry. Lisa's uh agenda for the planning commission and she put us on early in the agenda just so that we don't have to hang around. So, and 400 p.m. on the 10 p.m. Yeah. Is SCJ participating in that meeting as well? Okay. Yes. Yes, absolutely. She will lead the discussion on that. Is it a meeting where we can uh discuss with them or do we just sit and listen? No, absolutely. It's a workshop. It's a combined effort. Yeah.

Gotcha. Okay. All right. And then our next meeting is January 5, which should be past the holidays. Hard to believe. And then when is the council report? That will be December 16th. Oh, I forgot to put that on there. December 16th. Does anyone have a a strong desire to do the council report on December 16th? If not, I am available. But I don't want to take away your thunder if you would like to do it. I think you should do it, Nancy, because you have the most background in the budgeting.

Yeah. I don't I think the budget would be finalized by then. When's the second budget? Well, yeah, it it we hope that it will be, but it might not be. Okay. So, all right. Well, I will do the council report on the 16th. Keep me out of trouble. All right. Anything else for the greater good? And if not, is there a motion uh to adjurnn? I'll move to adjurnn. Second. It's been moved by Laura, seconded by Joanie to adjurnn. All in favor? I opposed. Seeing none, we're adjourned. Thank you. You