Parks & Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

Are you ready to go?

All right, it's 5.30, so we'll call the Parks and Rec Committee meeting for June in order. For roll call, we have everybody here except for Alder Ruckelberg, who is excused. And then so we'll move on to public comments. Is there anybody here that would like to speak on anything germane to the Parks and Recreation Committee?

Going once. Going twice.

Miles, you want to speak? Anything about parks? No? All right. Here's your opportunity.

Okay. Anybody online?

Still more time, Miles. Any equipment you want to see? Okay. Then public comment is closed. We don't have any presentations on the docket for tonight, so we'll move on to the consent agenda. Is there anybody that wants to remove anything from the consent agenda? Seeing none, then we'll be looking for a motion to approve. So moved. Okay, that approval, motion by Alder Norrell.

Second.

And a second by Alder Bry. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. And passes unanimously. So we'll move on to our discussion and action items. The first item is 26-0560, updates on park projects. And Brock, go ahead.

Good afternoon. So we just saw with having a few park projects I was with a consultant, and I said, how can we get this done? And she thought, you know, we could find some grants. We could do this fairly well without really That was well within what we were looking for. There may be some other costs for maybe parking and restoration, things like that, and construction management costs. But at this point, we are going to start constructing in June 20th. So we do June 20th. You might wonder why so quickly. Well, our construction window on the Great Lakes Tribute Area is in July.

Yeah, as you said, that was last week.

We are starting July 20th, and we hope to be done around September 11th. We have a pretty tough meeting today. It sounds like with some things going on, we may be able to tighten that window and get done sooner. So we're not worried about that. So yeah, so that's exciting. Very exciting. So the Lincoln Park Zoo Wetland Aviary. This is Yeah. Council budgeted another $100,000 match. So with that funding, that project went out for bid. That will start with deconstructing those ramps this weekend. So ACE has donated its labor. Well, mid-July, July 20th, I believe, is when the contractor for the state department of apartments are developing these ramps. And the arts is doing it. There's not a whole lot of plans to it, which makes me a little bit nervous. But they've done this before. They've done it. They did these documents. It's art. They've got to figure out how this ramp drives this ramp and so on. So I guess it's... That'll be starting soon, too, with the end of August finish date. So that'll have to be fairly quickly as well. So then our last project, Red Arrow Park. So we are on track for opening next week, prior to July 4th. Asphalt paving starts tomorrow. Once that's done, it's gonna look fairly finished. There's some pavers that have to go in in the event space. Some showers that may or may not be in a few outstanding items, including railings. The contractor couldn't order railings until the steps were built. There's a custom railing, and there are, we didn't want to bolt that, just have to build perfectly the plan, and then buy railings. There will be temporary railings, which will not probably look the prettiest, but they'll be there, so safety-wise, it will be good to go next week. So in regards to the open air shelter that we provided last week, or last month at this meeting, we did excavate for that, for the footings. Our goal was to get the footings in underneath the... of the onsite geotech was sampling every foot that we went down, but not finding the proper soil. So we went down all the way to native soil for probably deep down and deep down, which is also added cost and so deeper for the foot. That's where they found soil that would work, but we were right at the water line. So at that point, we realized this is probably this design probably not feasible at this point. We filled in the hole, built the event space over the top. That's all going to be done for next week. But the initial plans for the shelter, including underneath the event space is not there. So we are Thank you. throughout what you've always intended on going. I want to make sure that hopefully or

All right, thank you for the update, Brock. I appreciate it. Are there any challenges with the first one? I'm just going to mostly focus on the Red Arrow project part. I mean, the Silver Creek seems like it's self-explanatory. It's early, obviously, going to start. The skate park is, you know, same aspect. Probably pretty good there. With the Red Arrow piece of it... It's good that we found out early, obviously, in the project, that obviously you'd have to pivot on that open air shelter piece of it. I do think that that pivot, though, going to the pavilion area with the outdoor space where you're talking and rehabbing that whole building, I mean, personally, if we can, you know, do that, if the building is structurally sound and then, you know, obviously your dollar probably goes further on a remodel, if it's fully structurally sound and we can get it to look amazing the right way, I think that's a great pivot, honestly. And then you, I mean... We weren't gonna get that open air shelter done this year, I don't think anyway, but there's a chance you could maybe pivot and get that other piece done this year that way, at least I'm assuming.

So I think that's a great pivot and that gives you time then to figure out where you wanna go with the shelter or that open air piece and we go from there.

So that's my two cents on that, but I'll yield to the rest of the committee. Alder Dunbar.

Yeah, first off, way too close to that. Sorry, I'm a loud person anyways. First off, I want to say thank you to the city and to Brock and the Parks Department for the skate park. Having citizens come in, the Hugs crew, the skateboarding group come up and, hey, this is something we want. And I know how hard you guys work together, and I know it's been a very interlaced finger sort of a thing with them. But I just want to say thank you for listening to citizens and moving in a direction people wanted to see. It was a great way to show what the Parks Department can do when you have a dedicated group of people that want to get something done that betters the community. So thank you. um for red arrow uh you know as i kind of brought up before um as you mentioned i think that renovating or fixing up or modernizing whatever the the word we want to use the existing building is the right way to go um you know spend i don't want to say as little money as we can obviously there's an appropriate amount but you know spend that money into it and then we're like hey five years down the road we're like this place is slammed every weekend somebody's wanting to rent this or everybody's it's packed and all that then we look at maybe

starting over and building something bigger but yeah I would definitely support and would like to see that shift any other feedback all right that's it for the updates in all right no action needed for that well you have actions obviously so carry on The next item is 26-0561, Exports Donation Tube Request Phase 3 Skate Park Project. And that's, I'm assuming, to go and proceed forth with whatever monies that donation tube has to put in towards the project. I see no issues with that, but I'll let it up to you guys if you have any questions. Then we'll be looking for a motion to approve. Motion to approve. We got a motion by Alder Dunbar.

Second.

Second by Alder Norrell. Any discussion? All those in favor?

Aye. And passes unanimously.

Pass that for signatures. I already got her.

Next one's 26-0562, zoo donation tube request for bioactive vivariums. I think I said that right, vivariums? Yeah? Well, come on down.

Hi, my name is Kelsey Kurtz. I'm the education supervisor over at the Manitowoc Lincoln Park Zoo. I've been there for a couple years now. I'm requesting $1,000 from the donation tube so that I can update our education center exhibits to bioactive vivariums, meaning that each exhibit would be its own ecosystem. There would be cleanup and provide humidity that the animals need to assist themselves and everything. So it would cost us, if upfront it's going to cost a little bit more money, which is why we're costing $1,000, but overall, every year I'm spending a good $200 to $300 just on the substrate to clean and disinfect the tanks every year. So instead of spending that yearly, I can That's pretty much what I'm asking for. I did a breakdown, which I believe got sent to you guys, on exactly what I would need, how much each of it would cost, and then I kind of rounded up to the thousands to kind of adjust for different prices and stuff.

All right, well, thank you for that. Educational session for me, too.

I have by no means an expert in your job.

But I would assume then with that, that it would also be more healthy for the animals in there as well, given the fact that it would be a natural ecosystem, essentially.

Yes, it would be healthier for our animals overall as well. If you have some amphibians, that it is better to not handle them as often. So having to take them out of the tank to be able to...

Sure which it's better for the animals you got my support so Any other yield to the rest of the committee? Go ahead Alder Dunbar

Yeah, so you brought up the $250, $300 annual. Another thing I just want to point out is you also put a little report. It takes about a week every year to do. So not only is it the $300, it's 40 hours of labor as well that obviously will be getting back into the zoo and doing more support. My only question on this is you have your breakdown down to the penny and you round it up, but you only rounded up a few dollars. I'm just wondering if it'd be easier to do 11 or 1200 just in case something, and then that can be returned. I don't know if it can just be returned. I guess I'd rather, you know, you get more than $14.31 of leeway, you know, sort of a thing. So that's more my question is, do we need to do $1,100 or $1,200 just to make sure this goes off? I'd hate one tank to be like, well, we got to go through this whole process because Fred's tank, the frog's last tank couldn't get done due to what we have. So that's my only question on that.

Go ahead, Brock.

Perfect. Yeah, so that'd be my one thing is bump it to $1,200 authorized just in case, like I said, I don't know, that $14 makes me a little weary that we're going to be back here next month asking for it again or something like that. So I'd rather authorize $1,200.

Is $1,200 a good enough buffer, you think?

$1,200 would be great. I do actually have another tank that somebody was looking to bring me, so I did not account maybe that one in my calculations. So yeah, and...

And Brock, do you think that $200 is doable with the fund and all that? Yeah, I saw your breakdown. I was wanting to make sure you see it a lot more than I do.

I would agree with Alder Dunbar because typically in a project, you should put in probably 15% to 20% contingency anyways. So adding it up is perfect, and I think that's a great idea. Now, you said how many does this tank? How many does this do? this will do the entire education center okay so that is the question i would say 15 to 20 tanks so 50 bucks a tank essentially right yeah yeah exactly if you do get an extra tank and you come in i think you'll be you'll be good at 1200 yeah one item could cause that 15 exactly exactly so do you need a motion

Yeah, so we will need a motion, and then to set, we'll say, so the motion would be to approve up to $1,200.

Yes, I'd make a motion to approve up to $1,200 of zoo donation tube money for the bioactum vivariums, if I said that correctly. I second.

Okay, we got a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor?

Aye.

And passes unanimously. I'll send that around for... Signatures. And that concludes all the business that was discussed. Anybody else got anything they want for the good of the cause? I'll make a motion to adjourn. We've got a motion to adjourn and a second. We are adjourned.

If you've ever been part of one of those, you sit in a room by yourselves, like you talk, and then you get together. And then you go back to your rooms. Oh, my gosh. You go back to your rooms and come back together. No, no. And you just wait, and you wait, and you wait.