Arts in Public Places Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

All right, good afternoon, everybody. We'll call this meeting to order. As we open, any public comment for any items that are not currently on the agenda? Okay, we'll move on. First order of business, approval of the minutes for May 14th, 2026. Any discussion from board members on those minutes? Okay, anybody like to make a motion to approve those minutes?

I move that we accept the minutes from the May 14th, 2026 meeting as presented. I second the motion. All right, vote.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Vote.

Paula, are you online? I'm online. Yes.

All right, thank you. All right, next item, presentation and possible action giving recommendation on Ashley Pond safety improvements design. Everybody should have a copy of that in their packets.

Hi, Chair, members. Thank you so much for letting me do this presentation today. So the whole purpose of this presentation As you know, when we get on to see news in the media, we often see where a car has either intentionally or accidentally departed from a road. And it results in often pedestrian injuries and sometimes fatalities, especially when it's a purposeful departure. And so it came to the attention of the county that, We have large crowds out at Ashley Ponds, and this could be a scenario that would be really horrible for the community. So the county's been moving forward with taking safety measures. As you know, we got the Jersey barriers out there right now. And we were hoping to have some bollard items in place for this year, but we learned that there are a lot of options of bollards out there. There's a lot of different ways you can go. And at Anne Lawrence's suggestion, we moved forward with a landscape architect, Groundwork Studio. And I'm so glad that we did, because I think this really gave us some good ideas, just having the graphics, because before we were just looking at bollards and trying to imagine what they would look like in that space. We did go to the Historic Board yesterday and get a recommendation from them. And they... and also to make sure that all three of these designs met what they would consider keeping the historic atmosphere. We do know Ashley Pond is a marquee location for Los Alamos, so that's really important to us to make sure that we keep that ambiance and that feel for it. Okay. Okay. Oh we're good. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. All right. So we worked with the landscape architect, Groundwork Studio, and they came up with these three options to move forward with. And what we're looking for is we're looking for input on which option is the preferred option. We currently have a survey out. Well, let me go through the options first. So our first option, we're calling it the peer option. Oh, looks like we lost it again. Oh, there we go. It has, they're basically bollards that can, they're crash rated and they can be used as seats. As you see, there's three different slides of each one. The first one shows down the sidewalk. The second one shows the view from Ashley Pond looking out at the road. And then the third one shows the view from Trinity looking into Ashley Pond. The second option that we're moving, looking at is the planter's option. And let's see if they can pull that one up. Yeah, that's okay. So the planters option is a mix of bollards and planters that can be put different choices of flowers and such. And once again, we have a view from all directions of the from the sidewalk, from the park, and then from the driveway from Trinity Drive looking in on it. And if you notice, both of these, the bollards, we looked at using a darker color. We talked a lot with parks and about another concern. You know, safety is our first concern, and keeping the ambiance and the historic is another concern. But we also need to think about O&M and the operations and maintenance of the parks division, obviously. And some of the things that we talked about when looking at some of the different options is making sure that our choices would mitigate things like the desire for skateboarders to go on them, to mitigate people wanting to tag them. And we looked at darker colors as well so that if they do get tagged, it would be more difficult to see as well. And so that was one of the reasons you're seeing the darker colors with the bollards on these ones. And the third option we looked at is it's rocks with some native plantings that are actually in the ground. And give that a sec to come up. And once again, here's are the great graphics. I really think these are amazing, what the groundwork studio provided. I think that really helps you understand what your options are and how they are going to look when we get them put in place. For this, in your packet, we have flyers that we put out on last week. We have flyers. And then just today, this one here is actually a banner. We got our banners in today, and I was out there this afternoon hanging them on the jersey barriers facing into Ashley Pond. If any of you guys are out at the music tomorrow, please look at the barriers, and you'll see there are three different banners along there for people to vote. To date, well, as of yesterday morning, we had 386 respondents to the survey. I have a feeling this weekend we're going to get a lot more with those banners up. So far, the natural rock, the option three that you see right now, is by far away the largest winner at 271 votes. The planners was 65 votes, and just the peers was 50 votes. And we got some really fun comments with these as well. The survey does close on June 28th, Sunday at midnight. And with that, I will take any questions.

I'm just kind of curious, was one of the design considerations

like access through it doesn't appear to be like the Jersey barriers obviously make it so nobody can walk either direction this obviously opens that up but was that one of the design considerations when we were looking at the bollards we were looking at leaving a five-foot space between them because a vehicle wouldn't be able to fit between them the Jersey barriers are back-to-back because They are engineered to be designed back-to-back so that when someone hits them, they're supposed to have at the ends, like they're not supposed to be leaving the ends open, right? And so if we left that five-foot gap, you have a bunch of locations that would mitigate the purpose of the jersey barriers, right, that would become more dangerous if someone hit those. So those were installed as they were engineered, but we do want to put the gaps in in this final design.

With the rocks, like the boulders, you mentioned that the piers were crash-rated. Is that part of the engineering system for the boulders? I assume there's a certain size.

Yeah, the boulders, it's a four-ton rock becomes the equivalent of a crash-rated, and that's about a four-by-four-by-four boulder.

Okay.

And we have a bunch of boulders that we might have access to, actually, down in White Rock with that construction project down there.

So with all of these, any of these options, are they actually anchored, or is it just the weight of the object itself?

Chair, member, it is for the ones that are piers. Those actually have an engineered design. They have a foundation, and it's actually a concrete foundation with a four-inch metal pipe that sticks up. And then the seat itself, the bollard itself, has a four-inch PVC sleeve. built into it, and so it just slides right down onto that metal sleeve, and it creates a crash rated barrier.

And my only other question was just, no matter what, this is better than the Jersey barriers. Anything's better than those. Is there any concern about just emergency access into, like when you've got a parking lot full of food trucks and people, if you've got to get something into somebody? But I guess it can all come down that sidewalk. It comes down towards the stage, so it's not a concern.

Right. There are other access locations, like they can go through the Justice Center parking lot and through around the backside. We were looking mostly at the, you know, Trinity's your most traveled and your highest risk area.

Great. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Any other questions?

Well, Sharon?

Actually, I just want to clarify. So you said the rocks are about four tons. They're not anchored in any way.

No, they will dig out a little bit of a foundation, probably six to 12 inches down, just to give them a bedding so they won't rock or move or like they're anchored. but there's not an engineered anchoring system.

Okay, thank you.

Any other?

What are the cost estimate differences between the different choices?

Oh, I should have brought the cost estimates. Even just kind of ballpark how they compare. They're all about $100,000. The rocks will probably, if we can internally source them, which it looks like that's really feasible, It actually will bring that one down to be the most affordable as well, because then it will just be running the irrigation and buying the plants, and then it'll be the cost to choose the boulders, move them, and anchor them.

Oh, great.

Okay. Well, chair, members, I am here asking for you guys to put forward a recommendation of we want to take these options to city council, and we're going to all the boards. We went to historic board yesterday. Now we're here at Parks and Rec, and we'll go to T board. And we're asking that you choose which one of the three designs that you would like us to recommend to council.

Well, I'll start by saying I really appreciate, as always, the county doing the outreach to the community and getting that feedback. I think that's super valuable and super important. And so I would, you know, overwhelming preference by the community here. We'll see where that goes. But I suspect that our recommendation would be do what the county, do what the community recommends and what they vote for. I hope that's fair to say. And so, but it clearly, a winner is emerging. We'll see after. A COUPLE OF WEEKS OF KEEPING IT OPEN. WE'D BE HAPPY, THOUGH, TO MAKE A MOTION TO SHOW OUR SUPPORT AS WELL AS SUPPORT THE OVERALL RECOMMENDATION THAT THE COMMUNITY VOTES FOR. IS THAT FAIR? ANY OTHER DISCUSSION ON THAT?

NO, IT SOUNDS FAIR TO ME.

IT SOUNDS GOOD TO ME. I WAS SURPRISED THE ROCKS WERE SO MUCH MORE POPULAR. I DON'T KNOW WHY I WAS SURPRISED BY THAT.

I think the graphics do a lot for it, I have to say.

Yeah, it's just a long, boring line of, like if there's some plants in between, like the bollards, maybe they would have more of a chance.

All right, would anybody like to make a motion along those lines?

Well, I'll give it a shot. I'd like to move that we pass forward the recommendation that the community survey supports upon conclusion of the community survey on June 28th at midnight, I think.

Sounds good. Anybody second that?

I'll second. And I guess just discussion-wise, I don't know if that meets the – covers us for if they need a specific recommendation from us or if saying we support doing this go with the design that the community most prefers in the survey would be acceptable.

I guess my question would be to you is, does the board itself have a preference, or is the board's preference to support the community? So I feel like either are valid.

Yeah, I would say the latter, which I think is the motion that we just made.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah, I think to support the community, I mean, you know, the one thing you can say about option one is out-year maintenance is going to be, should be pretty cheap, right? Right. The options with the plants. That's something that the council will need to consider, you know, budgeting for that and things like that. But if the community thinks that's the most aesthetically pleasing and it meets the design requirements. Yeah.

Agreed. And I suspect the pond itself probably has a dedicated budget that this would be some new percentage of that because it's obviously, that's probably a maintenance intensive location in the county.

Yeah, Chair Watkins, board members, it is. And we do have dedicated staff and basically a division that works in what we call the entertainment district. And just to kind of touch on some of Jennifer's comments, I believe the rock design has appealed to so many people because as you look around the Ashley Pond landscape, that is what kind of fits in to what's already there as far as the color schemes, the plantings. And all in all, once those plants do get established, it's really just basic maintenance to keep them going. And if you're there on Friday nights for concerts, you'll see a little bit of the craziness that goes on with all the kids and all the action, running, jumping, skipping, hopping. And it survives pretty well if you go back out there on a Saturday morning. So I think once the plants are established, then you'll have that same look and feel across the landscape.

All right. I think we had a second, so we need to vote on that. You want to call a vote?

Member Knepper? Yes. Member Stephens?

Yeah.

Yes. Member Marsden?

Yes.

Member Bowman?

Yes.

And Chair Watkins?

Yes.

Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you. Thank you very much for the presentation. All right, our next item is a general working group discussion. This is a topic that we had mentioned in the last, probably the last two board meetings and wanted to get this added to the agenda just to have a little more focused discussion on kind of the point of the working groups and what those assignments look like and what that direction from the board looks like. And so we do have some new members, so I'll kind of go over again a little bit, maybe a tiny little bit of history on the working groups just for context and awareness for the members and then a little bit of discussion on kind of what the intent is. So there was a time in the last couple years where these were subcommittees, and those subcommittees had both kind of certain kind of quasi-authority to make recommendations, but also because of that, then, that invokes certain legal requirements, Open Meetings Act, for example. And so through a legal review and a lot of discussions, it evolved into converting those subcommittees into working groups. What came along with that is the requirement that the working groups are not independently or self-tasking. They're not independently assigning their own topics. That needs to come from the board. And when they are acting kind of on behalf of the board, they need to be acting kind of in the appropriate context of being somewhat representatives of the board itself, but also, you know, being in that, again, somewhat of a semi-official capacity gives them a little more credibility maybe is not exactly the right word, but, you know, it does, you know, they are in a sense acting on behalf of the board. And so they need to be kind of acting in kind of the intent of what those assignments are and also recognizing that by kind of declaring or identifying as an official working group assigned by an official board that they then are kind of representing the county in a sense. Not officially, but I guess I say that to be a little more blunt about it, like they shouldn't be out saying we're an official board assignment, we're a board group from Parks and Rec, and then kind of taking on more authority or more scope than really was intended by the board. I hope that's clear. I thought that was maybe worth a little bit of a discussion before we get into that. And so, right now I believe we have the Equine and Livestock Working Group, the Open Space Working Group, the Bike Park Working Group. Those are maybe it right now. Did I miss one? Are those the three? No, the golf course is not a group anymore. And so, yeah, so those are the three. We made some assignments a couple of years ago. Most of those have either kind of been continuing or did not have a definitive deliverable. And that is really kind of one of the hopes to have for these groups or these working group assignments is that there's a clear deliverable, there's a limited time duration, And it's something kind of a specific task to go and do or act or explore as opposed to just kind of being this rolling open organizational group that is just doing things that they like to do. Which again is, I think that's an important part of this is that they tend to be some of our more passionate community members that really like doing this stuff. And so they're getting engaged. They're doing, you know, they're pretty active, which is great. But, you know, again, it needs to be kind of in sync and at the assignment and kind of at the discretion of the board itself. So with all that said, we had a couple, a little bit of feedback coming in from some of the groups. So I'll just kind of really quickly highlight these, but this is just for some, for general awareness for us for discussion, obviously anything that we choose to either make an assignment for or not to make an assignment for or come up with something new on this list is totally fine as well. For the bike park working group, the team members working with Jerry had provided a couple of options. So I'll just read these. The first one was consult and advise with county staff on grant proposals. I think some of that happened last week or maybe the week before. They've been pretty active. They've provided a lot of really great input for the North Mesa project and plan. Next one, they have obtained letters of support for the bike park from national, regional, and local community groups. This is for county grants. Write and share language with the county to advise in the selection of contractor for the bike park. Consult, advise county staff and contractors on the bike park size and design. And then work with the bike community to be sure their voices are heard during the process. editorialize a bit on this I think that some of these things some of these assignments can get really close or maybe even overlap into county staff responsibilities and scope and I think that's not necessarily appropriate not for the board and certainly not for a working group so I think we need to be cautious there but working closely with the county staff I think is valuable because there is I think there is some benefit so And obviously we want to make that meaningful time spent and effort spent for those groups too. So I don't want to, you know, we don't want to make it kind of a shallow assignment that is not really worth anybody's time. So my quick thoughts on some of these, I think the engaging with the bike community, encouraging feedback and encouraging participation, those are always really valuable and I think helpful. Thoughts on the others? Or I guess I'll just open that. I've been talking mostly, so I want everybody else to have a choice or a chance.

Chair Watkins, board members, just to jump in right quick. I had some information shared with me, and Jasmine may be able to elaborate a little bit more, but I believe the APP board had created a form for their working group information to be submitted. So that might be really a good starting point as well for our board to maybe get a copy of that form and review it and then have that submitted to you guys. As the Parks and Recreation Board and something that you could include in a packet whether it be at a monthly meeting Or something we email out a little prior to the meeting for you to review And then have a little bit better information as far as the feedback on those items And if you don't mind we'll let you speak about that form a little bit Please do thank you I Don't like that I have to push a button because then I hear the echo and I'm like you

My voice. I can't really say much about the form because I don't know too much about what you're exactly talking about. If you want to.

Sorry about that, Member Stevens, to throw that at you. My understanding is that APP has a form that you guys fill out. for your working groups if you want, if a suggestion is made, yeah.

Okay, okay. I was like, what form are you talking about? Like registering? Okay, our project plan. So if we have like a working group that has a project, I'll give an example. Our mosaic that has a ribbon cutting on Saturday, please come to it. What we do for that is we kind of like write down what the idea is, what the purpose is, who the board members on the group are and like what community members are part of it too. We have a budget. We kind of have like a checks and balances of like what steps have we taken for the project to make sure like, you know, we cross our T's dot our I's and make sure everything is going well. And then I think there's a space on it that's like, did we put it out to the community for input? Cause we like to do surveys too.

Okay. That sounds like a good approach. Would that be, are those for items that are, that involve like a procurement?

Kind of, sort of. So we have one that's like for, if we're going to, if an artist comes and is like, Hey, I have a piece of art I want to donate. We have that. But then we also have, like, for our line sculpture, going through the steps of getting a line sculpture designed, we have a form for that. We have one for deaccessioning, like getting rid of pieces. We have that. Like, we have a different form for everything, but we have a form to keep track of what we're doing, when, and we update it per meeting with the working group.

I like the sound of that. At least it's easy to communicate and kind of everybody on the same page, so. Yeah, that would be good to see it. That may be a good starting point for us as well. Because I think we have kind of struggled with identifying those taskings, making them clear, putting a deadline. Our work plan, I think, is, that's kind of what I had in mind, you know, our overall work plan, but maybe that's a little bit better. And it gives kind of a clear charter to those working groups. Okay, that'd be good to see.

Perfect. Do you want me to email one to you guys? Do you want me to email one to you guys?

That would be wonderful. Thank you. Yeah. And we'll share that with board members, and then we can do the same thing and just, you know, create a spreadsheet and start tracking all the information and then have it at the monthly meeting so everybody can kind of see what's going on with all the working groups. Thank you.

Are some of these items, I mean, again, and I... I can share this, but like this consulting and advising county staff on things like contractors, grant selection, is that helpful? Is that not helpful? I think the working groups are more than eager and willing to participate at that level. I don't know if that's value adding for the county or that actually, I mean, in the case of getting involved with contractors, I worry that could actually disqualify a contractor from even bidding If there's a perception of some unfairness or inappropriate information shared.

Yeah, correct. Chair Watkins, board members, yeah, it is a fine line. So we would really have to kind of see what particular item they're interested in and what level of participation. Of course, as all of you know, as we go through our process, all of the meetings that we have with our community members to engage everyone to be part of the process, not just you know, one or two individuals that might have a preference for one thing or the other. So we really try to engage anyone and everyone in the community to step up and be heard about what their thoughts are. Certainly if we're talking about contractors, you know, that's something that goes out to bid, whether it be through a task order, an IFB, RFP. So there's multiple ways that the county would send that out. I don't know necessarily that they would be part of that process since that is a county operations process. and something that also goes through county council, certainly they would have an opportunity to weigh in as those things come back into the department as they're put out. But as far as participating in those, I'm not really sure what level that would be other than the regular system that we have in place as those things are bid out on the construction side. As far as just the design elements and all that, it would be no different than all the other projects that we've gone through in the last couple of years. We'll have multiple community engagements. We'll have surveys, kind of like Jennifer, what she talked about tonight with Ashley Pond, that survey that's been put out to seek our community members' input and make sure that we're on the right track and that we're meeting the needs.

Is the bike park official? Like, is that, I mean, I know we had voted, it's in the North Mesa plan. Like, is it official?

Yes, it is. Okay. grants needed I know there was some conversation about some of the working group members that had a real interest in getting grants counselor Cole might could speak to that a little better I believe that project has been funded I mean certainly if there are grants that could tie into it that could benefit the county it would be something that we would want to review and look at we would we would never say no to any type grant for any type program that we have and But as far as just the basic funding, council has been very generous in funding this project at North Mesa.

Okay. At this point, is that project in a space where, much like many of these, like a lot of the other projects you all have done lately, where now that kind of official, that kind of formal machine of the county where it goes in, where designers and the architects and the project management side Is it at that point now where, I mean, do we need a bike park working group anymore?

I would say yes to keep the working group for now. It could definitely be beneficial to us as we move forward. And we are at the very beginning stages on the bike process. So as far as that whole little layout and all the things that will go with it. So yes. I think they could definitely be beneficial in assisting and getting community members to the table, participating in the process, kind of like they did at the golf course and all the public meetings we had for the master plan itself. They did a fantastic job in recruiting and getting people to the table and really working with other groups to be heard and sharing information on how it would benefit the county. So I think having them in place right now would probably be good.

Okay. Is it helpful or not to have the bike park working group engaging with kind of national organizations that might provide letters of recommendation? Does that matter? Does that help with grants? Is that even necessary at this point?

I don't know that it would be necessary at this point. Certainly, they could reach out and talk to staff about what the purpose of reaching out to those groups would be. And as you commented earlier, we do have to be very careful because we have had a couple of the bike consultants and contractors that have reached out to us directly as a county trying to get additional information. And even for us, it's a... It's something that we have to be very conscious of because it is an official bid process. So we really can't share any information with them. And what I've told them is just to sign up on our portal with our purchasing division to make sure that they receive any of that information when it is publicized and goes out for those quotes and bids. Certainly, if they want to drive to Los Alamos and be part of the process with the general public and kind of see what's going on, they're welcome to do that. But as far as what we plan on, how it's going to be built, who our contractors will be, we can't share that information because we don't have it. You know, that's part of the entire process from beginning to end. So we, too, have to be very careful. So I'm not really sure what purpose it would play, but certainly if they want to come and visit with staff and we can have that conversation about what the goal of those meetings would be and letters of recommendation because... As Councilor Cole is sitting across from me, and again, Council has been very generous in funding this project, so I'm not sure what the purpose of it would be, but I also would not discourage them if they want to reach out. But certainly talking to staff would be a really good starting point.

Okay. Yeah. And they're very passionate and have done a great job so far, so I want to continue, maintain that momentum, but appropriately.

Absolutely. We totally agree.

So if I comment slash question. Yeah, I guess I agree that the enthusiasm is great. You know, my concern would be, especially with grants and, you know, working with contractors, the people who have to make the commitments are the county staff, right, and the council. And so I would think in our tasking there should be, you know, some clear guidelines, right? I don't have any problem with the idea of grants, but it has to be, I would think it would have to be done in a way that meets all the legal requirements. And the people that can make commitments, I think, are staff and counsel, right? I mean, we can't make commitments, right? So if we're tasking, I think there needs to be some guard guardrails right as to what's appropriate and i think wendy's right they can certainly approach council which i mean not council but staff which sounds like that is the appropriate and we just need to make that plain right and if if staff or council says yeah go out and call these guys well okay that's great but yeah agreed may i make a comment this is nepper paula nepper

Go ahead, Paula.

So we met with county staff as part of the bike park working group last Friday. And Corey and county staff indicated that there is a grant that they were pursuing to augment, like a matching grant available within the state. And they did task the bike park working group to reach out for letters. Sorry, I'm in Washington, D.C. right now. So it's a little, a lot of noise here. But they did ask us to reach out to national organizations, potential users, indigenous community members that would, that have biking programs that would find a utility in this facility. when it's built. And so I think that's what the bike park working group believes that we are doing. So I don't think any of us believe that we're doing anything outside of the direction that we have received from county staff.

Okay. Thank you. Chair, board members, thank you for that update. So let us circle back and visit with Corey. So unfortunately, I was not at the table on that meeting, nor was Catherine. I just huddled with her real quick. So we're not familiar with what all was discussed and kind of moving forward. So we'll be glad to circle back around. Okay. Thank you.

I'm happy to send you the email, which was the record of that meeting and all of the instruction that we were provided. So, for instance, I had reached out to the National Intersplastic Cycling Association and said, have a letter drafted for them, went back to county, county then revised the letter to amplify the messages that they felt were important. And so I'm getting that letter prepared for signature. But I'm happy to share that with you if you haven't seen the instructions that we have been, the written instructions we've been provided.

Okay. Yeah, that'd be good for the board to see that and just kind of understand the broader context of what's in the works. So, okay.

Chairman, if I could comment, I appreciate Board Member Knepper's conversation. You know, if we're using this form and we're updating it monthly, tasking like that could be fed into the monthly and it becomes part of the record of what the board does and the tasking of the working groups. I mean, it's great that staff has reached out. But how is that documented? Does it need to be documented? I could be wrong. It probably should.

So I think that would be good. Okay. Yeah, we'll take a look at that. I think maybe for the next meeting, and we don't have to have a real formal action because I think for working groups it's just assignment by the board. But it would be good to codify that and get that clear. So we'll get that information and then maybe put together sentence or two that we could provide kind of as an official tasking for that particular working group. So, okay, sounds good. The next one for the open space working group, And this is probably a little, I mean, I think Eric, you're going to actually talk about kind of the updates on some of this stuff. So it'd be probably good to hear that first, but I think for the, for the open space working group in general, the adopt a trail program is still kind of evolving and developing. So that would be a continuation of a previous tasking. And then that same community outreach aspect, I think is important. Just getting voices heard and getting, Getting folks engaged in the community, especially on the volunteer events. And then looking more broadly at the open space and trails management plan. So, any other thoughts or has anybody heard anything on that, on the open space one? Jerry's been the most active and he's unavailable this week. So, okay. Yeah, let's, I know we have it on the agenda to hear about the kind of the update there. So, we'll do that. And that may kind of inform a later discussion on future assignments for the open space working group. So, And we don't have to do this right now. We can make it at any point. To your point, it would be good to actually do this as a more routine agenda item. And it kind of is on there. I think we need to be more active on that, certainly in the summer because those things kind of spool up a little bit.

Okay.

That sounds good. Any other discussion on working groups? We don't have – we didn't talk about equine and livestock working group. I think they have a few active projects that they're still working on, but that'd be a good one too. So we'll wait till Jerry is back and we can talk a little more about that topic. But I do like the idea of having this as a recurring agenda item. All right, we'll get on to our next one, which is presentations, which is the open space presentation by Eric Peterson. Yeah, of course.

So for my question, the working groups you mentioned, you said Jerry was on all of them. Are other board members on working groups? How does that work here?

Paula is on the bike park working group, and Jerry was doing the other two. If you all would like to, you're more than welcome, because I think he would appreciate the help, too. I was doing the one, but then when I moved into this role, he picked up the open space one.

I'm on the open space, although I missed the last meeting that they had. Oh, okay. But I am on the emails and working with him, so.

Oh, that's right, perfect. Okay, yeah, if anybody, I mean, I think as long as not too many of us show up, we can go to any of those recurring sessions.

All right, you're on. Right. Good evening, Chair, Board members, Eric Peterson, Los Alamos County Open Space Specialist, here to give you a quick update on the stuff we've been doing since the last time I spoke. All right. So volunteer events. We've had a great turnout this year. I'd say we've had the best turnout so far, despite that showing up there. We had, I think, five more people that weren't part of the picture. So Celebrate Trails Day was back on April 15th. 15th we had 10 volunteers show up and they improved Tent Rocks Trail where we have built six rock bridges that were seeing some erosion from last year's rain so they were able to get those back in a more user-friendly and improve the overall recreational experience. May volunteer day was on May 16th we worked on Fireline which is pictured right there we had About eight volunteers show up. We moved five cubic yards of dirt. We filled in some severely eroded sections of trail. I helped some young Girl Scouts help achieve their bronze award. They were there. They're not in the picture. And we also built six water diversions to help manage erosion. And then just last week was National Trails Day, which I made this presentation prior to that. But we had Oh, 11 people show up for National Trails Day and we accomplished a lot of work despite, you know, the slight lightning threat we had. We had one large thunderhead over us and it gave off one siren so it kind of sent us back to the cars, but we're able to move a bunch more dirt. We moved five more cubic yards of dirt, built more water diversions, and kind of just spruced up this section of trail. And it was the Upper Walnut Canyon Trail near the Neenah Marsh Tenant Courts. And it goes up to Arizona Street. There's a section of trail. Brian's very familiar with that. We worked on that section. So if you have time, go take a look at it. They did a great job. All right. We had the Adopt-a-Trail Program, N3B. Many years ago, adopted School Canyon Rim Trail. Since there wasn't really a lot of work to do on School Canyon Rim on the trail itself, below the trail is a canyon that you can see is unfortunately covered in graffiti. So we tried our best to color match. It rained the day before, so it didn't do the best to match, but there was... LOTS. I THINK I WENT THROUGH ABOUT FOUR GALLONS, FIVE GALLONS OF PAINT. DOWN THERE WE HAD, I THINK, 15 N3B EMPLOYEES AND SOME FOLKS FROM THE PUBLIC COME UP AND HELP. WE WERE ABLE TO COVER A MAJORITY OF THAT. WE DO HAVE TO GO BACK AND DO A LITTLE TOUCH-UP SINCE WE RAN OUT OF MATERIALS TO FINISH THE PROJECT. ALL RIGHT. WE HAVE THE ON-CALL TRAIL MAINTENANCE CONTRACTOR, CM ARBOR CARE. ON THE LEFT THERE THEY REPLACED a bridge that was falling apart next to the roundabout. They built that to equestrian standards, and we got great reviews from equestrian riders that were crossing over. One lady said, my horse never crosses bridges, and they crossed that one. So kudos to Chris and his crew. They will also be doing some work. They actually finished a project just down there on the same trail. It's coming right off the road. It was severely eroded. They build some diversions, kind of the same standard we do on a lot of things, is bring in dirt, bring the tread back up, and help divert the water so we can keep the dirt on the trail. Some operational projects. So we spent a couple days retreating Kickanick Park. It's been about two and a half years. It's gone through two winters. The tread was holding up, but it was getting a little loose, and it was moving, so to keep... Kekonek Park accessible and to meet 88 standards. We reapplied and more adhesive and it is firm and stable and seems to be holding up pretty well. YCC started. They're out. They started June 1st. They hit the ground hard. I had them down in the canyon. Probably one of the hardest, harder projects to start. They built a very large rock wall. Very good team building. That's a new crew. So a lot of them were just learning, learning it, learning how to work with others and move heavy rocks and roll rocks and get them to point, you know, a different location from far away. So they did a great job. And if you, you can zoom out a little bit and you can see, or if you make that box a little bigger, that picture is a little cut off. There we go. That's the trail that was sloughing off into the canyon. So they shored up that side and it's usable now. So they did a great job. They're currently working with the Forest Service. We get them next week for a week. This year, their shorter schedule because of school, their summer's a lot shorter, and we're kind of sharing the crew, which I feel is pretty important for the youth to get experience. caldera the forest service in the county just to see what all these public land agencies do and how important it is to our community so um we only get them for about two weeks this year so it's it's gonna go by quick but we're gonna start focusing next week on white rock canyon the rim trail red dot and blue dot and if we have time hike them all the way down to the river trail but we might hold that project for next year All right. We've got more projects going on as well. So we've got the Biocanyon Trailhead Redevelopment Project. I know our contractors got a lot of other projects going on that's also doing this one. So we don't really have any updates on the next public meeting for Biocanyon. But Los Alamos Mesa Trail, we do have a public meeting scheduled for June 24th. It is the last public meeting for this. They will be reviewing their 90% design. So almost finished. So they're wrapping up. They're doing a great job with this. And then I believe on July 11th or 9th, I can't remember when the next Parks and Rec board meeting, but they will be coming here to do a presentation for you all at the next Parks and Rec board meeting. And there's our list of volunteer events. Our next one will be July 11th. And that information is updated on the website. So if you're interested, please sign up and spread the word. Thank you. Yep, that's it. So if you have any questions, I can try to answer them. Questions?

Comments? I think that we had one kid who I think building that rock wall was very educational for them and they realized that being outside in the sun all day moving rocks was not for them. But the rest of the crew is super fired up. Perfect. Yeah, you know, that's tough work.

And, you know, I don't want to give a false impression of what this summer is going to be like. You know, they're going to be spending time in Bandelier. I know Tom over at Bandelier, he's got some big projects for them as well. So just trying to get them ready for potentially hiking into White Rock Canyon.

It's going to be a hot one this year, too, so that's good to break them in early.

Start out a little tough, and then by week two and three, I'll stand on the trail with ice cream sandwiches as they're hiking out.

All right.

Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you. All right. Next item we have on the agenda is Chairman's Report. I think we've talked quite a bit about working groups and some of these other topics, so not a lot more to add there. So, let's go to staff report.

Good evening. It's always a fight between Wendy and I who's going to go first. JUST A FEW UPDATES, NOT A LOT. BUT SINCE WE TALKED ABOUT IT PREVIOUSLY THIS EVENING, ASHLEY POND BARRIERS, WE INITIATED A PROJECT for the community to come out and paint those barriers so they look a little bit prettier. I went out there and numbered them, set up an online form, launched it last week. As of yesterday morning, they're all gone. They have all been reserved. So hopefully in the next few weeks we start to see colorful barriers going up as people start creating on them. So it's exciting. Hopefully nobody's painting your grass. I didn't. I was good. I painted one. So that's really good. Activity guides are now available. Everybody should have one. I apologize for the delay. But we have gotten them out in circulation, and they're running around. If you can't get one paper, we do have them digitally. We also have them at the summer concert series for anybody to pick up. They're also available at various locations within the county, visitor centers, hotels, peak, FSN, et cetera. A few updates on Pinyon Park Pool. A couple weeks ago, I put out a press release stating that Pinyon Park Pool was down after a week of running. There was an issue with the boiler. We've had a technician look at the boiler. Our internal county staff looked at the boiler, and we got the report back a couple days ago. they are recommending decommissioning that boiler. Sad news, but good news is we are able to maintain the temperature of the water with the warm weather that we're having now, in addition to covering the Pan Am Park pool at night to keep the heat in. So we were able to reopen this past Tuesday. Been happy to see patrons come in. They're happy that we're open. especially today since it was very warm. And the main reason why we shut down was because we didn't have gas to be able to light the water heater to have hot showers for our patrons because that's a requirement, got to have hot showers. So our workaround, we have gotten some outdoor solar heated water showers. So they're warm and they are on deck. And that's allowing us to be open to the public right now. Hopefully in the next couple weeks we get the hot water heater back up and running and people will have either option to shower on deck or they can use the showers inside. So that's, yay, good news. We got Pinon Pool back open. Some events that are happening that involve Pinyon Park Pool, Splash and Dash is next Wednesday. Those are training opportunities for the triathlon. We have them every other Wednesday. So that'll be good. In relation to the triathlon, the triathlon is virtual this year because we didn't have a dedicated... Let me back up. Because... Pinon Park pool is not big enough to throw that many bodies of water swimming laps at the same time. So that allows us to spread out the competition. And we will have an award ceremony at the Ashley Pond. I believe it's on July 18th is what we have. Additionally, we're going to do some dive-in movies at Pinion Park Pool. We're going to put our large LED screen out to work for us this summer. We have a nice big space to the east of the pool where we can back up the trailer, raise it up, and do an outdoor floating movie. Our first one is next Tuesday at 6 o'clock, and it's homeward bound in case anybody wants to come. Additionally, the big reason why we have Pinyon Park Pool is to be able to provide a space not only for our community, but also for our swim teams. And our swim teams are scheduled Tuesdays, Thursdays for one team, Mondays, Wednesdays for another team in the mornings. So they do have time allocated for them to use the swim lanes. Other than that, the golf course is now open beginning Tuesdays at 2 p.m. through Sunday. So that's really good. We've had several tournaments that have been very successful. Everybody's happy with the course. And then the only other updates that I have are just some events that are coming down the road. Mud volleyball. July 11th and 12th. The big difference with that event is we have added a kids tournament to that event. Previously it was 18 plus and no kiddos. Now we can do 12 to 17 on the 12th. So they can register for that. And Fair and Rodeo is August 7th through 9th. Anybody who wishes to have a float or walk or ride, please enter. It's totally free. Registration is online and it is open. And then finally, 4th of July. We put out a press release earlier this week. Sad to say, we're not going to be able to have fireworks due to the Stage 2 restrictions plus the governor's urge to adopt the no fireworks policy, for lack of a better word at the moment. But the good news is that we are planning on having an extended drone show, just like we did last year. It will be maintained down at Overlook Park. The additional big thing about that one is it will not be on Spirio Field. Wendy would murder me. However, it will be on Dara Jones soccer field, which is directly east to Spirio field. And we will allow people to be on other softball fields around Dara Jones to be able to make that space workable. And I think that's it. I'll stand for questions.

No questions.

Cool.

Thank you very much. You're welcome. A lot of good things going on.

Chair, board members, a few updates. So we just had our public engagement meeting on Dinosaur Park playground. So our next meeting will be July the 8th. So mark your calendars for that one. If you can attend, that will be at Fuller Lodge. I do not have any additional updates. I think Eric touched on it a little bit as far as Bio Canyon. No additional updates there. Let's see here. If you've been up to North Mesa lately. You can probably see the sod going down on Bunrine. So this will finish out last year's project where we started Spirio, Senior Field, and Bunrine Field. They are making some changes currently at Spirio. putting down some seed and putting in some sod on some places that they had cut out that did not take last year. They're also still working on irrigation issues and some areas that are low, low areas on the field, and just trying to get all those things addressed. We're still hopeful that we will be able to open the field, crossing our fingers, sometime in August of this year. As Catherine said, for the 4th of July, I think we brought it up at the last meeting, Spirio Field will be closed during that event, and we'll be utilizing all the fields around it, which she's really worked hard with the committee and has come up with a really fantastic plan for 4th of July activities. So although we won't be on Spirio, I think people will be pretty excited about everything going on there. As far as... rose garden fence. We had the ribbon cutting last month and that seems to be working well. I don't think our furry friends have been able to open the fence and gate and let themselves in for a snack. So I think so far so good. We did put up signage just reminding people to please make sure they keep the gate closed because as always we're aware that if you're going in there to work you might have a lot of tools and accessories and other things that you're carrying in with you, so taking a rock and propping the gate open is probably logical for most of us, but we're just hopeful that we also remember to close the gate when we leave after all of those activities take place, because we don't want our little furry friends to get in there and have snacks, which they apparently really like the roses. Brewer Arena construction is underway. If you've not gone by the arena, the contractors started a week or two ago, He's currently working on the restrooms, sidewalks, ADA areas, and the piers for the grandstand area. So we did have some folks reach out a little concerned about the grandstand area because that will be officially after the rodeo this year that all that kicks off. But they are working on the basic foundation. And from my understanding from the project manager if they're not able to place the piers and all that could impact some of the concrete pour for sidewalks and some of the other areas, but We'll kind of see how that goes as far as compaction testing and all the things that they'll have to go through but As far as the restrooms those will be renovated and up and running for the rodeo in August We talked a little bit about the gold medal award at the last meeting. So this meeting we would like to show you the video for the gold medal award. And Catherine and Linda were instrumental in really kind of driving the bus with the contractor to get this put together. And it's a pretty fantastic video. So I'll let Linda show that one off for you.

Easier said than done.

In just around 109 square miles and with a population just under 20,000 residents, Los Alamos County demonstrates that a community's impact is not determined by its size. The Community Services Department is investing in programs and facilities that strengthen community health, promote inclusiveness, and enhance overall quality of life. Our recreation system in Los Alamos County is built around more than 150 miles of interconnected trails, over 4,000 acres of protected open space, offering easy access for hiking, running, biking right from your neighborhood. We maintain dozens of parks, playgrounds, sports fields, and courts, along with unique amenities like disc golf and community recreation spaces across Los Alamos and White Rock. Our facilities include the Aquatic Center, ice rink, golf course, and year-round recreation programs, support activities for youth, adults, and seniors. Because parks, trails, and facilities are all closely connected within our neighborhoods. Recreation here isn't something we travel to, it's something we step into every day.

We are the first county in New Mexico to earn full CAPRA accreditation, meeting all 154 standards on our first try. This reflects our focus on planning, teamwork, and using real results and community feedback to improve programs and support physical and mental health. These efforts have also helped Los Alamos County be recognized as the second healthiest community in the US in 2024. In 2023, we created Los Alamos County's first integrated master plan to help guide future parks, recreation, and community projects with input from our residents from the start. We're continuing to keep the process open and easy to follow by sharing updates and giving community members simple ways to stay involved and share ongoing feedback. As a small community, the Community Services Department maximizes more than 125 shared spaces, community partnerships, and volunteer collaborations to expand access, reduce costs, and strengthen cultural events and social services across Los Alamos County.

As a volunteer with community services, I've seen firsthand how our small community comes together to care for our parks and public spaces. Participating in trail and open space cleanups has given me the opportunity to help keep these areas clean, safe and welcoming for everyone. It's rewarding to know that this work not only protects what people enjoy every day, but also encourages residents to get outside, stay active and support the outdoor recreation culture that is central to life in our community.

From moments of enjoyment at concerts to connection through CSD programs and spaces, we create experiences that bring people together, removing barriers, fostering belonging, and inspiring healing in nature.

Nature-based therapy is a therapeutic approach that utilizes interaction with nature to improve mental, physical, and social health. It makes sense to offer this kind of program given our natural forest setting and trails to help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression while increasing emotional well-being.

We measure what matters using data and community feedback to guide every decision. Smart investments such as battery powered equipment are helping us work more efficiently and sustainably, while cleaner, quieter technology has helped us reduce the environmental impact. And by creating pollinator friendly spaces, we're protecting our environment and building a greener future for our community. Working together with our community, we continue creating programs and places that help people connect and stay healthy. Every improvement is the result of community teamwork and making the most out of our unique size and minimal resources. Small County. National Leader. Big Impact.

So there is the gold medal award video. So I just want to say a huge kudos to all of our staff as well.

So thank you all so much for coming out tonight. I know the weather is beautiful outside.

Sorry. Hold on.

So. All of our staff in the Community Services Department, just kudos to everyone in the library, social services, Parks and Recreation. As you can see, all of the activities and programs and parks and things that are offered, it is a huge effort amongst all of the staff that are part of that, all the way from our casual to full-time. So big kudos to everyone. Great job.

Yeah, thank you very much. All right. Next item we've got is the working group and task force assignments. We already talked about that. But for the upcoming sessions, again, I think as we chatted, we'll spend more time kind of being more, spend a little more time on this and looking to future assignments and keeping those groups active and not that they haven't been, they've been very active, keeping them, you know, in that kind of that spirit of those deliverables and fresh assignments. All right. Next item we've got is council communications. Council, recall.

Thanks, Chair. Since our last meeting, we've had three council meetings, although we did have two weeks off during the election time. But I'll just cover a few highlights from those meetings. On May 12th, it was a work session, but we had a lot of discussion on transportation safety, and that actually resulted in the parking spaces along Central being blocked off near the crosswalks, in case you noticed that. We also kind of I don't know if I'd say direction or permission, but to the county staff to go ahead and implement things and not necessarily wait for council to approve things that are within their control. And so they did install, after a study, a four-way stop at Urban and Rose as well. even though they were supposed to come back with their recommendation to the council at some point. Anyway, some things are happening quicker than maybe in the past. I think some county staff are a little gun-shy on some things and were concerned about talking to the business owners along Central before they deleted some of the parking spaces. If it's a safety issue, it needs to get done quickly. On May 19th, we approved the bid for the construction of the Trinity Drive Safety and ADA Improvements Project, which will be happening soon. I think there's a couple of public meetings just to remind the public of what's going to be happening and what to expect during construction. So that's going to be a bit of a mess, but it'll... It'll be a big improvement, and it'll make it more of a continuous bike path along Trinity as well. June 9th was a very long meeting because we had a couple weeks off. So if you saw the Daily Post today, you saw that council did not approve the gas rate increase. Everybody's probably celebrating, but I can tell you that that will come back to council at some point soon. some of us it was a four to three vote I voted for it just because I know it's inevitable but I think what we what we asked for was a little more scrutiny on next year's increase and it may be that BPU comes back with just a one-year recommendation we had quite a bit of discussion on charter changes additional possible charter changes we did approve the the resolution or ordinance, I guess it is, for extending the boards and commissions from two terms to three. That, again, has to go before the public in a vote in November. But that has been approved to go to the ballot. The other things that we talked about were the The makeup of the boards, political makeup, we've had some difficulty or some boards have had some difficulty filling positions or maintaining positions because of party affiliation. So the recommended change would be to only restrict party affiliation to the boards that are not strictly advisory. And so those would be planning and zoning boards. personnel and the Board of Public Utilities. Those would be the only ones that are restricted to the party affiliation. Again, we'll have to have an ordinance come back to council for approval for that change to make it to the ballot on November 3rd as well. The other thing that was approved was the Board of Public Utilities discussion about operating profits. And there's an item six that basically says all remaining operating profits shall be transferred to the county general fund. And the proposed change is to delete that item. And so that will come back again as an ordinance that would be approved. We talked a little bit about filling of vacancies for elected positions and trying to make that to what the school board does I think it was really too complicated for the amount of time that we have remaining to put something together on that so there there won't be any change recommended there We did approve the several positions on the Historical Preservation Advisory Board, which were really necessary because they were down to one person. And so they were able to meet last night as a result. We approved, I think, one position on planning and zoning and a couple on the County Health Council, trying to keep those boards and commissions fully staffed or at least staffed. adequately. We approved the FEMA grant match for the Jemez Mountain Fire Protection Project Phase 3, and that's basically to bury the electrical lines. I think it's a 25% county, 75% FEMA match, and I think the total was about $3.9 million. We talked a little bit about the gymnastics building, the purchase of that, but it really wasn't much of a discussion. That'll end up coming back at some point for a vote from the council about whether to purchase that. I don't think we have the purchase agreement in place yet. And more will be discussed probably about what the plan might be for that building. And then I think you heard already that we did approve a proclamation on fireworks restrictions, even though we have a phase two restriction in place. This This has additional restrictions on the purchase, I think, of fireworks in the county or nearby.

So it's a little more restrictive.

And I think that hits most of the highlights. Do you all have any questions? Questions? All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Cole.

All right. Preview of next meeting.

we're looking at there was a mention and the county staff is going to provide another update on a project I don't remember what that one was yes chair Watkins board members so for next meeting we have a presentation from BHI on the LA Mesa project we also have on potentially discussion and possible action on relocating the Grand Canyon playground and rezoning and And then, of course, I've added the working group summary spreadsheet and form to be discussed as well.

All right. Sounds good. Any further discussion on that or future agenda items for the board? Okay. If you think of anything else, obviously send those in. All right. Any last thoughts or comments before we adjourn? All right. Meeting adjourned. Thanks, everybody.