Parks & Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, it's 5.30. We will kick off the very first ever Parks and Recreation Committee meeting. Let's see, we got the mayor in attendance for it for this historic moment. You got a ribbon you want to cut or anything like that? All right, as far as our calling to order, we have everybody present except for Alder Norell. Alder Norell is not here, and I did not receive notification that he was not going to be. With that, then we'll open up to public comment. Anybody in attendance have anything they want to say for public comment for the committee? Is there anybody online? Nope. Yeah, yep. Going once, going twice. Public comment is closed. All right, then we'll get into presentations. And we do have a presentation this evening. It's going to be on the Red Arrow Park Beach Access Improvements Update. So with that, I'll turn it over to Brock.

All right, can everybody hear me? So I wanted to do an update on our kind of our biggest park and rec project this summer is our Red Arrow Beach Access Project. So basically what we're doing is we are We're at Red Arrow Park. We have our existing parking lot and beach. And you all know this, but just a quick update. We had some issues with access from the parking lot down to the beach. Parking lot's up high. beaches down low, some steep grades, not great paths. So with this presentation, we're gonna kind of go through the goals that we had with this project, our funding sources, the planning and permitting that went into this. Currently we are in the construction phase, so we'll give a little update on that, see where we're at with our timeline, and then what's next with this project. Project goals, improved accessibility to the beach area. Like I mentioned, We've had comments in the past, parents, everybody trying to get down to the beach, struggling to pull their coolers down the hill, through the sand, through the beach grass, just not great access. We didn't have steps. We had some steep concrete ramps that we wanted to kind of replace with better accessibility options. improve safety. So we've had some accidents in the parking lot with people traveling at high rates of speed and doing kind of dangerous things. So with this project, we wanted to improve parking lot safety. We wanted to improve pedestrian safety and the combination of the two. And then the last goal here was to create a kind of a lakefront event and gathering space that the whole community can go to and enjoy. um funding for this project so the city graciously uh the alders approved uh capital budgets in in uh 2025 and 2026 500 000 each year so phase one five hundred thousand so we kind of made a design that you know if something were to happen where we didn't get future funding we could do something for five hundred thousand um 2026 we we got the phase two funding um bringing the project up to a million. We can do a really great project, everything we hoped for for a million dollars. And then with that budgeted funding, we were able to get Wisconsin DNR Knowles Nelson stewardship funding in the amount of another $500,000 and then a T-Mobile hometown grant for $5,000 and then the Mantua County Board of Realtors Also donated $7,000 through a National Association of Realtors grant. Other than that, we had a few various individual bench donations. So that being said, our total budget was up to $1,557,000. So the planning phase. So going through over the years, we kind of developed this plan. So here's the overall. Kind of difficult to see, but we turned the two-way plan Road here we are designing a one way into the park. This is still two way the South parking lot. Once you go through the curve now it turns to one way. All the way through opens up to Green St with a path out to Green St. So with that we were hoping you know to reduce the amount of traffic because you're not having back and forth traffic. It's just one way. This also includes these bump out islands or not really an island, bump boats. That narrows the driving lane, also slowing down traffic. We went back and forth with doing speed bumps, but we've gotten some concerns with speed bumps and how cars handle them. So what it came down to, we just narrowed the driving lane. We added angled parking. There was slight reduction in parking, but as you can kind of see, we also included a walkway from green street into the park so that kind of opens up lincoln high school's parking lot green street parking this distance from here to here is about the same distance as here to here so it's not it's not a far walk it's pretty close so we weren't overly concerned with the loss of about 20 so parking spaces Because with that loss, we got a lot of safety improvements. Other part of this plan is the main reason for this project was better accessibility to the beach. This path right here is a fully accessible walkway. grade's less than 5% all the way to the beach. As you can see, it's switched back, so it's long, because with that steep grade, we have to account for that. So to get our walkway grade pretty low, the slope, we had to switch back through. With this path, though, we have access to what is a stone seating area, kind of an amphitheater-style seating area. You have access to the main walk and stage and event plaza area, and then you also have access down to the beach. So that ADA access kind of covers all the gamuts, and then it crosses right to the bathroom, right to the ADA parking stalls. It's a good thing for the park. I mentioned the event gathering space, large center area where people can get together, concerts, events, lots of options for that space. Three stairways going down to replace kind of those steep concrete sloped ramps that were there in the past. Yeah, just walkways from here all the way through and up. So that was the plan. Here's the rendering everybody saw, really neat. I think a lot of people were excited with the gathering space, just the whole aspect of this park. Permitting, that was a little, it wasn't a lot of permits, but there were some things. So basically, there's portions of Red Arrow Park that are historic landfill. There are costs associated with testing for that, disposing of that waste. So anything we excavate that is landfill material, we have to take to a licensed landfill. So doing that, so getting just the permit for that was complicated and time consuming and kind of right at our deadline where we wanted to start construction. Another kind of interesting aspect was the rare species survey that was triggered by our stormwater permit and the Knowles Nelson grant. So when we received our grant and when we were trying to get the permit, they let us know that there may be a species called sand reed grass along the lake there. So we had to get plant surveys done and make sure that wasn't there before we could do any excavation. But we got those surveys done and right on time again for the start of construction. So timing couldn't have worked out any better. Here's where we are today. Here's a picture kind of right where you enter. So the left picture, the entrance, the curve is behind us where you come in off of 9th Street is behind me looking down towards Lincoln High School. So those are the bump outs that shows you how narrow that space is. So you have to go pretty slow, raised curb, You can see the walkway, that's the main walkway that goes down to the event center or plaza area. Here is an increased patio area off of the existing bathroom building. So that just gives a little more space for people to congregate up top. Here are the sets of stairs, the north staircase going down that circle, there'll be pavers in the middle. But here's the north staircase, closer to Lincoln High School, goes down to a sand trail or the main walkway, goes right through there. Here's the south staircase, same thing. Your switchback comes through this one. And also, I think there's another sand walkway that goes this way. So you have options. You don't have to follow the pathways, but they're there to help. Here's the main staircase. View from the top, looking down. This has got one set of stone seats down already. This picture was taken today, I think. But you can kind of imagine the tiered stone seating going up the hill. That's the ADA access path right there. And right there, there's a gap by the steps currently. Pedestrian access to Green Street. This was something we wanted to see a lot of kids from Lincoln High School come to the park for lunch or after school. We wanted to increase that safety and give them a path. Previously, they would have had to walk down here and then come up a steep concrete slope to get into the parking lot or jump a barrier. But now we have a path that goes right down through there back to the school. Here's some overhead shots. I know the mayor shared these recently, but they're worth getting another look at. It's kind of neat seeing where we're at. You can see there's a gap there yet, that gap there yet. But yeah, it's starting to take shape. Another view, here's the beach. We have probably 60 more feet of beach this year than we had just last year. The water's down on Lake Michigan. In 2020, the water was up to here. So we just have to plan for Lake Michigan and how she moves. Here's a view towards the south. You can see the extent of the beach. That's a stormwater outfall. But basically, Silver Creek Park is right up there. and then a view the other way. So we have a lot of beach right now. That's MPU. There's a lakefront beach right there. There's the treatment center, wastewater treatment center. timeline we're still on schedule for getting everything open for july 4th weekend so nothing has changed with our current timeline there's a few things railings we're going to have some temporary railings in place because our railings aren't going to be created aren't going to be made until fall but um Other than that, there's some landscaping that might need to be planted, but for the most part, we're right on schedule. All right, so what's next? So with our budget, with our grants, we do have around a quarter million available yet in our funding. So something we've been discussing since the beginning, unsure if we were gonna have funding for this, it wasn't included in the renderings or the plans, but we would like to do an open air shelter over that event space. So something that provides shade, something that provides a center point for events or concerts or just people wanting to get out of the sun at the beach. So here are some renderings of something we've been working on with Abacus Architects. of a sort of shade shelter area at that. This is the big event center, the big circle. This is the stone seating. This is a sort of a cantilevered shelter we've been designing. Here's the view from the top. We incorporated the Red Arrow Infantry Division symbol. It wouldn't be super visible from the ground, but we get enough shots from airplanes, local airplanes, and we take drone shots, and I think it would be kind of a neat aspect to this project, kind of cap it off. Here's a night view. Yeah, so that's all I have for presentation. We do have an item on the agenda where we can discuss, so...

Hold on one second, we'll open it up for discussion. So the presentation is done, so then we have the first discussion and action item, which would be 26-0470, Discussion on Red Arrow Park Beach Access Improvements. So first off, Brock, thank you for the presentation. Thank you for the updated pictures, by the way, with literally it being today. So that was nice. I did see the Mayor's post on Facebook today, which was nice as well. Just a couple questions that I had off of that. since I knew we had a discussion for today. I don't usually like to read comments on Facebook, but I do, just sometimes I can't help myself. There's a lot of them with the 20 parking stall reduction, and then obviously it's mitigated, which I'm glad you pointed that out, mitigated because we have the Lincoln parking lot over there, and then the trail is connecting kind of close to that, to Green Street. Is there any... I haven't, it's been a while since I've actually been in the parking lot for Lincoln. Usually I, you know, drop my kids off on the street. Is there any, like, barrier, like, because isn't there a fence around it, around the parking lot?

So we used to have, like, bollards. Is that what you're asking?

Well, I guess I don't know what I'm asking. There's no barrier. If somebody parks in Lincoln parking lot, they can literally just go right into that far corner and go uninhibited. There's no fence or anything like that.

There is a fence, I think, but nothing blocks off the entrance to the parking lot. So basically, if you were to measure where you enter the Lincoln High School parking lot off of Green Street, know you would park in there you walk out that same entrance and just cross green street you'd be on the path to um get into the park so okay um it's i i measured it today um just on online just to see like what is the distance and it's basically the same from the south parking lot in the park to the bathroom building compared to lincoln high school's parking lot you know the entrance into the into the back or to the bathroom building so it's kind of interesting and then lincoln doesn't i'm assuming doesn't have any issue with people parking in there to go and and use the beach like that we're not going to have issues later on i mean we've done turkey trot and things like that at the park like our family has and we've always parked there i'm sure a giant event we would discuss that with them but just a sunday or saturday morning If there's nothing going on at Lincoln, I can't speak for Lincoln, but I wouldn't see there being.

I don't know if you reached out or anything like that or had any discussions that way. Okay. And then is there parking on Green Street or is it a no parking area? I think there's parking.

Currently there is.

Okay, so that's not included in losing that 20. So realistically, we are probably adding more, given the fact of the trail kind of going to that piece of it and feeling like part of it then at that point.

Yeah, that's how we felt about it. Okay. Yeah, and looking at just the safety aspects. We did go through different parking angles. We went straight ahead where we would get the most parking, but then... With the one way, it didn't make a ton of sense to do straight-in parking. We looked at, I think we ended up doing 60-degree parking. We looked at 45-degree parking. That took away more spots. So we went through a lot of things to try to get as many parking spots as we could. We added some parking on the curve coming in, that first curve. So we did add parking spots there, which helped us from losing less. So, yeah, we did look at it quite a bit.

yeah and i i agree with what going with the one way and then how we do the parking like i think that's perfect like you said especially for safety and everything else i mean even if you look you know what nishoto did they went one way traffic as well you know on that part i mean it just makes sense given the fact of everything um so that's good there uh the only other question i had and i do like the um shelter idea you know um on that and then however you guys go with that um that's good was the only question i had is uh Do we put volleyball like nets and stuff down there? We used to and we're planning to. Are we going to?

Yes, because right now we have a lot of beach, right? So we do have it in our renderings and we do have quotes for the equipment, seeing how there's already sand there.

Yeah.

It's fairly inexpensive to install some holes and some nets, so.

Which is good. I've gone to Nishota a bunch of times and played volleyball just because it's fun to be on the sand and stuff, and I was like, oh, if Red Arrow does that, that'd be fantastic.

Yes, so that is in the plans.

Okay, sounds good. That's the only questions I had. Alder Eckeberg.

Yeah, the shelter, whatever you call it, the last thing, that's Pretty neat design. I kind of like that, and I think what that does is it adds permanent lighting. I'm assuming that, you know, otherwise what do you do? Put up a telephone pole and shoot a light out? That would be ugly. This really dresses it up. And just don't go spending a million dollars on neat lighting. We could get by for a couple hundred thousand probably, but... I had a question on the stone seating. How high are those, I guess, or what are we shooting for as far as the height of those stones that you sit on? I mean, the picture made it look big, but that doesn't mean anything because you're honing in on it.

Yeah, yeah. I believe they are 24 inches buried two inches. So 22 inches.

So about 20, okay. Okay, that's fine.

Between 18 and 22.

And the other thing is the parking lot. I forgot which one I went to, whether it was the sand sculpting or one of the other things that go on down there at that park. And I don't even look for parking. I just automatically go into Lincoln's parking lot. And you're right, there is a fence up. But there's also an exit for your car at the very far end. And so all you do is walk till the end. And as soon as you cross the street, you're basically in the park. So that's my two cents.

All right, Alder Dunbar.

Yeah, I have a few things. One, I'll touch on the parking as well. I'd like to see some contact with either Lincoln or MPSD just some form of yep we're okay with city parking there just so in six months or whatever it doesn't become an issue there's a fender bender out there and somebody's wondering who do we complain about that i just like something written or something you know done about yes people can park there The other part, I'm actually on the opposite side with the shelter that you showed. The way it's leaning and all that, even in the rendering, you brought up like it's a little bit of a shade break, all that. Well, it's east facing. The people are on the west. That's going to cast shade on the band and or the people sitting from 8 a.m. to about noon. And after that, it's just going to be some random shade off into the sand. And if we are doing it for some sort of that purpose, of shade, either A, it needs a rework. If it's for a rain shelter, it would probably work. But how many people are going to get to a beach day parade in a rainy day? So if we are going the route of some sort of a cover, I do think it needs a rework from the rendering. I know it's a rendering. It's very far from the final project. I get that. It's an east-facing stage from the audience. So again, the sun's coming up that way. It's setting behind. Everybody's still going to be in full sun from noon on. That additional money or whatever, I would love to see put back into the concession area. I'd like to see a bigger concession area, and with that bigger concession area, that's somewhere that the Parks Department could possibly see a little funding. Rental space for parties. Maybe an area that companies or corporations could rent out for a brat fry or the city could donate the space for a brat fry. You know, American Legion just did one at like Festival has one almost every weekend, you see it. I feel that that additional funding could do a lot more good in that concession area. Obviously, it wouldn't be as much, so a nice sign, something would be good, but that's where I'm at with that lean to coverage area. That's all.

All right. Just kind of expanding off of that, is that rendering the only thing that we're considering like that way, or is that just like a kind of a concept?

So, well, yeah, so it's in construction design, at least for the footings, because we need to get footings installed for something, maybe if it's not now, in the future. We're... not scrambling close to scrambling because we want to get that footing done before the the concrete circle is installed so we're not tearing that out in the future so we're at the point where we're designing that it's not funded or anything the design is funded but um but that could be a future phase as well it just we want to get the footings for that structure done asap before they uh the circles complete so

So then in the phase of where we're at and everything else, I'm assuming, but just kind of for record, but assuming then that shelter piece, that's not a July 1st type thing, that would be just a complete separate... whatever funds we officially have over after July 1 when it's done, then so we can be like, hey, do we want to do this? We have footings or whatever else.

The foundations will be done before July 1st with the covering of the patio. Okay.

So then there's nothing we have to do on that. That was just a...

Well, you're sharing it and seeing what everyone thought. And I do want to talk about, I guess, to touch on Alder Dunbar's, the angle of it. So we talked about what kind of angle we want. And I know the sun is in a certain direction. There are trees above that portion. So you would still get shade. We chose that angle. Because if you're up top and you're looking towards the lake, that angle matches kind of the slope of the ground there. So you're not seeing this giant obstruction in front of Lake Michigan. And then when you're at the bottom, it's kind of that same angle going up. so it's not we we wanted to be something that wasn't super obtrusive because we don't want to block like michigan view but we want something that was also kind of looked neat and you know kind of a an anchor area an anchor for this project so that was kind of the angle you don't want to block the entertainment for the people sitting more up on top you go you can't see it yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah but but yeah so the yeah the shade is there you know during midday for people to hang under, but that was kind of the idea.

Yeah, and absolutely. And if it's there to be kind of more of a part of the area, understand. If it's pushed as a shaded area, it's not going to generate that much. So even if it is something we go with, I want to make sure when the public and when we push, like, hey, this is going to be it. It's not called a shade shelter, you know, something like that. It's a part of the venue sort of a thing. Yeah.

I mean, I do think, and I get what Alder Dunbar is saying with that piece of it fully, but I do think from looking at it from if you just go to the park and then you see that, that adds that wow factor to just everything when you drive up to it. The only other question I have then, also going off of all the Dunbar's comments, is have we looked at the concession area and all that? What that would cost to revamp?

I don't have cost estimates, but we have looked at it with an architect. And currently, the south end of that, it's a little hallway that we call the concession stand. Just a hallway. But on either side, there are changing rooms. So you have a lot of space in the front of that. If we knocked out some walls and put in a legitimate concession window, we could have a legitimate concession stand there, whether that's just like for rentals or if like somebody wants to sell ice cream. I don't really know or not ice cream because we have Cedar Crest right there, but like something like that. that wouldn't be terribly expensive. Doing an extended overhang, so that is why we have the patio there as well, because future thoughts are an extended overhang to grow that area. So, yes, so we have looked at that stuff and we do think that's a really good idea. Right.

I remember a year or so ago when we first sat and talked about it, you know, I was red arrows in my district. It's something I've tried to closely pay attention to and all that. I remember that's something we talked about, you know, and I even mentioned at one point doing like the outdoor shower, like a rinse off shower kind of in that area or. Or the lower spigots to rent your feet off if you've been walking in the sand and that and that's more I just want to draw the attention to is, I think that existing building and or rework of the building. I think it's definitely worth taking a good look at because that has the potential of. bringing obviously you know something back into the city in terms of rental space and people being able to use it non-profits being able to use it uh sand sculpting if we actually had a space you know there's always the food trucks and all that but if we can get you know that area for people to use and sit in a comfortable spot as opposed to the city hauling 300 you know park benches and and picnic tables there that weekend if it's already something set It's that much I feel potential down the road and that's what I wanted to bring attention to.

So, thank you All the record guy so yeah, you You jury rigged what you had just said are we going to lose room in the changing areas and what have you? And if so, I would rather not personally I would rather not do it leave things the way they are and just fess up and say I Next year, we're going to put X amount of dollars in the budget and do it right. In other words, let's not, at this stage of the game, we're going to have, what, over, what, $2.5 million or so in this project. Now's not the time to count pennies. Maybe it takes an extra year or two in the budget because I know next year in the budget, I think, is another big project at one of our parks. So then the year after, what we spent there, we can spend there and let's do it right. even if it means adding on to the building or building a whole new building with more showers and changing rooms and a concession stand that actually works. So that's my opinion. And you should go to the bank with that, because usually my opinion means save money and I don't mind spending a little bit as long as we do it right. Right, Mayor?

Nope, denied. Mayors can't talk. No, just kidding. Go ahead.

Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. And I agree that the footers and all that, like I said, it's just the up. I have a 9- and 11-year-old. We go to Red Arrow twice a week through the summer. And every single weekend, my kids point at that and say, are they selling food? I've never once had them, when we go to Two Rivers, then point at the clamshell and say, can we get one of those in our community? And that's my biggest thing is I just feel like that rework, bigger bathrooms, bigger rinsing, bigger changing rooms, the community is going to appreciate more than a shade shelter and that's why i just obviously i'm not saying one versus the other right now i just want to make sure we've done our due diligence of seeing what is actually going to be better for the community before we invest a quarter of a million or so you said roughly where we're sitting at for the additional all right any other discussion all the right you haven't chatted you're good all right

All right, then we will take no action on this. This was a good discussion. Thank you, everybody, for chiming in. Next is going to be 26-0462, zoo donation tube request for rainbow trout. What? Oh, shoot, we got to do a consent? Yep, sorry about that. Thank you.

We did skip right over that because of that discussion piece. All right.

Yeah, so before that, we'll have 26-0468, or we'll, actually we'll, we have the consent agenda. Does anybody wish to remove something from the consent agenda? Okay, seeing none, then I'll need a motion.

So moved. Alder Reckelberg, and a second.

And a second, Alder Bry. Any discussion on that? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. All right, now we'll get on to it. 26-0462, zoo donation to request for rainbow trout.

Yes, so we have received one donation. We are planning to receive a second donation, totaling $16,281.20, both of which would be earmarked for... Purchasing, we already received these, but paying the invoice, I suppose, for 5,000 rainbow trout and associated feed and other things with our rearing pond at the zoo. So because these funds were and will be put in the donation tube, we're just requesting to utilize that funding. Total in the donation tube right now is $78,830.28. That does not include the 8,000 that we are expected to receive from the Zoological Society. So after we use those funds, it'll be down to 70,000 and change.

Sounds good. Yep. On the memo, it looks, I mean, that's what those funds are for, is for those trout. It'll be good at fishing there. Kind of piggybacking off the last discussion older Dunbar every time I take my kids to the zoo they go down and look at the TV and see if we can see fish and So if we have actually a little bit to upgrade that camera and TV, that'd be great But otherwise I think it definitely makes sense so I'll be looking for a motion to approve that Okay got a motion a second any discussion All those in favor aye And it passes unanimously Okay, it's second. Next item is 26-0465, request to utilize heirs and associates for design service for Henry Schuette Park Playground replacement design.

um yeah so basically we are requesting um to hire heirs as our consultant for this project we have hired them in the past they did our concept design for this there um as the memo kind of states they have a strong knowledge of the setup and we really enjoy working with them so uh there was 250 000 budgeted in for 2026 for design for this park. So we are just, I guess, requesting the ability to not send out RFPs again, which we did for the concept, or yeah, request for proposals, which we did for the concept design. So we don't wanna do that again, knowing that we really enjoyed working with them and think they did a good job previously, so.

Okay, and in my opinion, I would definitely agree that not having to send it out and do rework again is obviously fiscally responsible. So if you enjoyed working with them and they feel they did a good job and it's budgeted, then I would be looking for a motion to go and approve that.

So moved.

Okay, we've got Alder Dunbar and Alder Bry. Any discussion? Alder Ruckelberg.

Question. I have no problem, but... Can you refresh my memory? How did they charge us last time for the design? Was that on an hourly basis or a percentage of the

construction costs so for the concept design we uh asked for a lump sum from them so we gave them um a number uh we gave all the everyone we went out to a number and what they would give us with that so that was kind of what we did we gave them a number which you said not to exceed or not yes yes and then they put in a quote accordingly yep a proposal of what we would get for that number um and that's kind of what we were we are doing with them this time too i uh

I would have no problem with that, provided that their response to you is equal to or less than the method that they did last time. If it's more than, then I would be hesitant and I probably would ask for quotes. But otherwise, I would support this with that understanding that if it's equal to or less than the methodology on their first quote that got them the job, I wouldn't have a problem. I trust you. So I would support this, Mr. Chair.

Sounds good. Any other discussion? Then all those in favor?

Aye.

And pass unanimously. Then we are to 26-0464, discussion on Manitowoc Marine Band Fundraising Agreement. Were you here for that? If you want to come up now, if you had something for that, you can. Yeah, in our in our pre-meeting work paperwork we had Basically the memo and all this stuff on there that you want pretty pictures pictures.

Yep Yeah, the building being the oldest building in the city's Portfolio being over a hundred years old it needs some help and needs to get pretty is one thing But it would be more functional for our band because that's where we primarily practice but also since it's a rental facility it would I think help improve that and So we put together what we believe is layman, that what perhaps could be used, should be done to improve the building. That's what this list is about. I don't know that it's terribly all-inclusive, but we would hope so. So we're looking at how to do that. We've begged and pleaded with... the mayor in our finances every year and there's just not anything in the municipal budget to cover what needs to be done. So we're trying to be creative and come up with other methods to push it through. So getting private funding to help pay for it and then the city shares cost with that and get a discount repair, if you will, so.

Sure. Yeah, and everything was pretty self-explanatory in the packet, at least I think. The only question that I had with it, like right now for the fundraising piece, do you have a plan to... Because it was like a 50-50 split. I think it said $400,000 is what you anticipated is what it was. So is there a fundraising plan for that $200,000 that you...

that you guys not solidly some put together yet the first step from my perception is to see if the city will support it okay before we do all that work and just if you're behind it then we start putting it together and go with it

And then, so assuming, let's say it gets the full support and we're good to go, how soon do you think you'd be, or is it too early to even think?

It depends, probably. I don't know the process within the city and getting contractors and pricing and all that sort of thing. I'm not quite real sure. We'd probably be working together trying to figure that out.

Trying to figure it out, so it's too early for that, okay.

If I may, so we just kind of discussed timelines, right? So, like, we're trying to get our 2027 capital requests in, like, shortly. So I'm assuming this would take at least a year to get, you know, that's quite a bit of money. So I don't know that we have an exact date of when, you know, if the city were to want to – borrow for this for this match um if it was 2027 probably 2028 i'm not sure um it just looking at like looking ahead it'd be tough to budget i would think right now for this to happen in 2027 just because the fundraising we don't know

Yeah, there's only a couple months away, and we've got to shake the trees to see what fruit we can get out there.

Yeah, and I can totally understand that and appreciate it, just as asking the questions, you know, just so we had it on record at this point. But as far as the idea of it, I fully support. I mean, buildings, if we don't maintain them, obviously then they become junk, and then you get into a situation like the school district right now, And if we can have a separate entity help out with that funding to go and maintain it, and especially given the age, I'm all for it. It's kind of no different than a grant, if you think of it that way. Why not support it and go do it? And I think the official recommendation was refer to finance, because finance would have to go and get behind it as well. So I personally would have no problem going and making the recommendation to, or for us to go and refer it to Finance. But we'll open it up to discussion. Actually, we'll be looking for the recommendation to send it to Finance. If that gets support, then we'll open it up for discussion. Go ahead, Alderman Dumber.

Yeah, obviously, same with Council President, or Council Chair, sorry.

I'm Cummings.

You know, I think it's a great idea, and I do believe it's something that is needed. One thing I would like to see before we pass it to finance, or maybe this would be a part of the presentation of finance, is a little bit of a plan of fundraiser in terms of You know, maybe it's just we're doing these three to five things. We sort of have them planned that way that finance kind of would know, like, OK, they are thinking six months ahead on this. And this isn't something that we're going to kind of put together once we get. I understand, you know, you don't want to. Say, hey, we're going to do this thing, and I'm not looking for you to set up a show or anything like that. But if you get like, all right, we're looking to do a show once a month for these three months and then due to win or whatever, it drops every two months. Just a brief idea of how the fundraising is going to go. um over you know make it six months one year 18 months whatever realistically you think that timeline is and just say like our plan is every three months to do something every two um this also comes from someone who sits on finance you know so i know i'm going to be seeing this you know at that point i would like to just see something a little more narrowed down um for that side of things um and i just think that would help with that finance discussion a lot of okay they've planned this there's Again, I understand it being loose because who's going to plan a concert or whatever it is 18 months out. But if you just say, hey, we're looking for something every three months, we want to do something every two, you know, that. I think that would be really good to see before we set it.

Our expectation for fundraising, if I can address that, is not so much doing what I perceive as, you know, I'm being sarcastic, but popcorn sales or bakery sales or anything. We're going to have to bring up a couple hundred thousand dollars and We anticipate we'll be going out to the West Foundation or Lakeside, Lakeshore, those sorts of organizations. to get lump sum things, and hopefully they'll go pretty quick. So putting a timeline together is putting together a handful of applications to various organizations.

Yeah, and if timeline doesn't work that, just saying like here's five other organizations that we're looking for, here's the five companies we're looking to talk to.

So more specifics is what you're asking.

A little bit more, and I'm not even saying that this, you not having this today is going to prevent me from saying yes, let's pass it to finance. I would just, before it gets to finance and before we get to the budget talk, just saying, like, here's the five things, the five ways. I would say maybe one and maybe ten. I'm just throwing a number out there. Check that box. Yeah, just saying, here's our plan. I don't need specifics on those plans. I don't need you to say, on July 4th of, you know, I don't even know that stuff. Just here's the checks, like you said, of what we're going to do. Because I think at that point when finance, because at that point we're literally, you know, we're looking dollar to dollar sort of a thing. And something comes across, they have five dates or they have five ideas. They have five letters that they plan on writing versus other person that says, we want this. Yeah. Every time I'm going to lean towards the people that have a plan leaned out.

Be prepared for their question before we walk in. If you will, yes. We'll do that. Thank you.

And then just as a point of clarification, that was great for you to give them the heads up for that. But for our business today, it's just to go and get past the first hurdle of saying, yep, we support them going to there.

Agree, I guess I meant it more as I don't see stipulation, but my vote yes I just want to verify that they're willing to do that before step two sure and if they're just like well know what we have is here Any other discussion before we open to vote good Alder Ruckelberg yeah with this this is a proposal I

We've had proposals in the past that we've approved. And so there are things in progress now that we've committed to. For example, and I probably got the title wrong, but the skate park or whatever over by Miracle Field. And so we're committed for, I don't know, whatever it was, $100,000 or $200,000. I don't remember the exact amount. And that was one of those kind of matches, 50-50, the guy that presented it like you did says, if the city does this, I will raise, our organization will put up the other half of it. So I know that's a done deal and in progress. I don't know if it's finished yet or not. And I think there might be one or two other things that I forgot about that are like that, that we've kind of committed to and either the mayor has put it in his budget or we finagled some money because we saved it here and we can put it there. So I have no problem passing it on to finance without any additional information because you either like the idea of a 50-50 or you don't. All I'm saying is that if you do come to finance, if we could have a sheet of paper that says, here's the skate park. It's 50-50. It's a done deal. Money's in the bank. Oh. Here's the $400,000. It hasn't been approved yet. So I know, what have we already approved and what we're committed to and what are people asking us for? Because his $400,000, I have no problem $200,000. If the mayor wants to put it in his budget or he says, hey, we found some, you know what I mean? maybe there's another organization out there before next month comes to you and says, well, we want, instead of the skate park, it's something else in the parks, and it's going to cost $200,000, and we'll come up with $100,000, you come up with $100,000. Once again, nobody's approved it. It's a good idea, maybe, but I'd like to see what have we committed ourselves to, and it's a done deal, and along with Here are the people that came forward and what their proposal are for the 50-50 or 75-25. whatever that's not approved, and here's for this year, next year, the year after, or whatever.

That seeks a question, and I have that. At what point are we actually, we being the city, committed to spending this money? I mean, it isn't today that you're committing, am I right? No, it's not today. We come back again.

Not today. We're approving the concept to move on to another committee who's probably going to worry more about the finances.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we'll be coming back again with, well, here's exactly what it is.

Yep, and then you'll have the financial blessing and it'll be you know, this is this is the full plan and we go from there Yep, this is just that first approval phase to say yeah, we support if you get the financing and that's all good Then let's you know figure out exactly you like the idea Well

That's an easier task than for us to say, okay, we approve it, and now we gotta come up with the money, and we have to fight over, you know, he might have use for this money here, and we've gotta use for it there. That's usually never a good idea. It's nice to come together and agree, so. It hasn't worked yet.

I've been on my knees with him, and it's just.

Yeah, so.

Brock, you had your hand up a little bit?

Yeah, I was just gonna mention that I think before Scott and the Marine Band start fundraising for this, that's where we need that fundraising agreement with the city. So I don't know exactly. I know finance will know better than I do, but somewhere that something's got to go first. It's a horse and a cart.

I can't approach the –

Well, you're going to get Sean involved because, for example, if he hasn't put it in and he isn't going to put it in, Sean has to present to us, are we going to take it from here, here, or here? And then is the mayor going to approve that? So I'll let the mayor speak, but I'm trying to come to what we can agree to, you know?

Go ahead, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Alderman Rucker already brought up a perfect example at the skate park. That was probably a two-year process because they came to us and said, We would like to do this. It wasn't on the city's list of things that we had on our parks, right? Because it just wasn't. We had other things that we have to do, just like this field house. We put a lot of money into the field house over the last few years with ADA accessibility and other things as well. But this never rises to the high level of going over Schuette Park like we're talking about next year, right? So that's where the skate park, we talked one year. They said, yep, we would like to have this fundraising agreement. It was a little easier with them because we had one with them in the past for the first time we went through it. But this is going to be no different. And we said, you can go ahead and start talking about raising money. We're not going to put money in the budget this year. So I'll tell you we're not going to put it in 2027. But there will be a footnote, just like there was for the skate park, that this is coming. Council, if you approve this now, I ask council to just approve and say, if you raise the money, yes, we will commit to putting it in the next year's budget. That's exactly what we did with the skate park. So there was a little footnote there that said $100,000. It's not in 2021. five i think at the time or 24 or whatever it will be in 25 if their part of the fundraising agreement is is um raised so that's what i would recommend doing this year so you would look at work being done if everything is is perfect in 2028. yeah so i would recommend going in the same route which is what you're doing tonight yep okay any other pre-discussion

Okay, then I'd be looking for a motion to pass this on to finance so we can get to that next step.

Motion to pass to finance.

Okay, got a motion and a second. Any more discussion?

Just real quick again, like I said, with finance, the more set numbers there are, the easier and quicker. You go to finance, you say, we want to raise some money. We're going to say how much. So obviously, motion it and all that. Just if you can say, hey, we're looking to raise X amount if you match X and or something along those lines, it just helps. helps the number crunchers that we have to kind of process that across. So yeah, that's all. Thank you.

Any other discussion? Seeing none, then we'll be looking to make a vote. All those in favor? Aye. Passes unanimously. Going to finance. You guys will see this again.

Thanks for coming in and appreciate the effort.

All right, next is 26-0466, resolution dissolving the special events committee.

uh i guess it's kind of pretty self-explanatory yeah i move to approve okay we gotta move we've got a motion a second any discussion go ahead alder eckelberg since he didn't want to speak on it did you explain no no i'm just kidding you got to have a sense of humor in this world you know um since we're i'll just do that

All right, so then we got the motion and the second. Discussion's done. All those in favor?

Aye.

Pass it unanimously. It should be a consent or council. Yeah, it is a resolution, you're right. All right, the next is 26-0467, special events policy update.

Okay, so since we are planning to dissolve the special events committee, we have a different process for special event applications and approvals and fee waivers moving forward. Basically, without the Special Events Committee, we have a group within the Parks and Rec Department that has a lot of experience with this, and we will review these events, these applications, and kind of using the same parameters that were used by the committee without having to have representatives from all of these different departments in one room for an hour every week we're able to kind of make those decisions within our department we'll still send out to fire and pd any public safety concerns legal if there's concerns as well obviously we won't work in a silo but we think there's a lot of uh i would i It'll be more efficient just within our kind of department instead of making this whole thing. One thing I wanted to note, kind of a point of emphasis with this was to figure out a way to close streets better. We've been doing it obviously for years with the special events committee and streets will have input and everything. But I don't know that it was always done to the best of everyone's ability. I think just time-wise and personnel capacity, it's been difficult. So we are intending to add a non-waivable fee, which you may hear about from people who want to hold events. If you were to get a call about this, that's kind of why we – We noted it here, but a $250 non-wavable fee to create a proper street closure plan, which takes time from probably our streets department doing this. So that is something we want to incorporate for new events with street closures only, existing events that have a proper plan that can just be tweaked a little bit to meet these standards. wouldn't be charged, but a new event requesting a street closure, we would charge that. So that was kind of an addition that I wanted to note and for your kind of review.

Okay, Alder Reckonberg.

I probably didn't read it right, but I understood it to be 250 for you said for a new event. But if I pay the 250 and I have the event, next year if I have the same event, i don't have to pay the 250 because it's a repeating event right yep yep and we have a base even if it's like a little tiny change like we can deal with that sure base of the the street closure uh i mean i'd have no problem as long as it's uh you know you're estimating that's what it's actually going to cost city time to yes to put it together in a few hours for just If you want to do something, you got to pay for it, and we're not making a profit. We're just trying to cover our costs. So I wholeheartedly, I like the idea, especially that once it's done, you don't pay again unless going from the south side to the north side, maybe you go, yeah, that's not just a little change. Thank you.

Okay. Any other questions for Brock?

Yeah, when we were working on this, I had the same question about that. It's kind of a forever thing. Have we looked at the difference between things that plan on being a one-time? Recently, we've had the bike races in town. It's kind of a one-time thing. Has there been any thought that's going to be the same fee for a one-time use versus a permanent use? Has there been any thought on... maybe $300, this is a permanent thing, and then like $100 if it's a one-time thing.

We have not talked about that, but I mean, it's the same time to develop the street closure plan, either way, whether it's- Yeah, say if it's not worth it. And maybe the $250, they don't have to pay it again, they'll come back. I don't know, but- Okay. But, yeah, so it was the same amount of time, so we just kind of – I didn't think of that aspect of it.

No, I just didn't know if there was any dodge. No, so that's fine. Thank you.

That's a good point because the bike races used to be an annual event. Then all of a sudden they haven't showed up for a while, then they're back. So let's say they come back and they haven't been here for a couple years. Let's say you charge them the $250 because you've got to set it up. If they – don't come back for the next four years and then come back in the fifth year, would you charge them the 250 as long as their layout is the same and they didn't change the layout? I would assume that once the layout is done for that, it doesn't matter if you're annual or whatever. I like that idea. I could certainly support that.

Yeah, we would have the street closure plan in place. If it's the same thing, we wouldn't have to do any more work and it would be proper street closure, safe and everything.

Thank you.

Yep.

Okay. Any other discussion? Okay, then we'll be looking for a motion to approve.

So moved. Second. Okay, got a motion to second.

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Okay, the next, the last item is a discussion on date and time of future Park and Recreation Committee meetings. So I know this is the very first one. We had it scheduled on here, or scheduled initially for the fourth Monday of every month at 5.30. And then obviously this one we moved because that was Memorial Day. But I thought, you know, even though I can go and say, hey, this is one we're meeting and that's it, I thought it'd be good to have, in Brock's recommendation as well, we have a discussion on when we officially want to make that, which obviously, like I said, we can change, but I just want to make sure that it's good for everybody. So is there any other time or that we would want to meet or date? Go ahead.

I don't really have a recommendation for time. I'm fine with the current schedule. I just wanted to do a second check that at this point we're technically operating after council meetings, right? Normally meetings meet before, so stuff that's being presented is voted on at the next council. Is there anything that would ever come about like this needs to be voted on by the end of the month But if we're not meeting until the 23rd or 24th, then it's not going to make it to council. So I guess it's not necessarily a do we need to change. It's just we need to be vigilant enough to be working 30 days ahead of any deadlines we may have. Because, you know, taking this next one into account is what, June 15th? It's a really early one, right? It's June 1st, so I think it's June 15th. If the deadline for something is... June 14th, we're kind of hurt because we're operating after, you know, that sort of a thing. So again, it's not so much a need to change. I'm happy with this data. I think it's fine. It's a reminder that we all need to make sure we're operating essentially a month ahead due to operating after the council meeting.

Yeah, and... Not the first time in the city that a council's happened. I was just going to say, I've been the chair of many committees before, and if there is ever a deadline or there is something, then I'll be getting a hold of everybody saying, hey, either this is going straight to council or we say we're going to meet right before council and we hold, instead of like a committee the whole week, come in at 530 and then say, hey, we're 6 o'clock and we're having this meeting, we've got to hammer this out, and then it goes to council at that time.

Yeah, absolutely. We've done it before. I just wanted to... Do the due diligence of bringing up the fact that we're operating after.

But realistically, that can happen for any committee, no matter when you meet.

And that has happened, I think, in every one that I've had at some point where there's been something.

So, all the record, bring your hand up.

So you said the fourth Monday of the month.

That's what I initially told the mayor, yep.

Okay, and you already brought up the two points. The committee chair has the right to bring it right to council if there's an emergency. And in the past, usually the chair has not only just brought it in, but he's made a few phone calls and says, oh, boy, by the way, here's a heads up. I was surprised at the lack of 10-minute meetings or five-minute meetings we have before council. I mean, because at the county board, it was almost a religious thing. Crap happened. You've got to get a grant in. It's got to be signed yesterday. And so they say, show up five minutes before the meeting, and we're going to have a committee meeting. And you get there, and you go, motion second. It's done. It's there.

So we have a way of handling this.

Thank you. Absolutely. Again, just due diligence.

I brought that up, so I wrote my note correctly. All right.

Alderbride, do you have any?

Brock, you want to bring up?

Go for it. Just for special needs.

Now, that all being said, here's one quick thing, just so you guys know. Our next meeting then would be June 29th. I will not be here June 29th if we meet on June 29th. As you know, I run the flight football program. That's our last night, our Super Bowl. My team fully plans on being in the Super Bowl that day. And then I do a pizza party for all the kids after the fact, which has been our end-of-the-year tradition. Would it be, was it? It's June 1st, it's on Monday. Oh, it'd be the 22nd. Oh, I'm sorry. Because I won't be here the 22nd. I was going to say, either way, that would be the game to get into the Super Bowl. But I would be available on that Wednesday, the 24th, if we want to just move it for that one.

June, I may not be available for in-person or even because of my surgery situation.

Yep, I fully realize.

I will do what I can, you know.

Yep.

I can tell them, wake me up, put it in front of me or something so we can have a quorum.

Does June 24th work for everybody else then? Does it work for you, Brock?

Yeah.

Does June 24th work for you? Okay.

Okay. How about June 25th?

That works too. Just be another Thursday?

So do we want to do the 25th work? 25th work? All right.

All the Dunbar's 25th work? 25th.

25th work for you, Brock?

All right, so then our next meeting will go off schedule again to the 25th, which would be good anyways, because then I wasn't the only one. Jody probably would have, or Alderbride, sorry, probably would have missed it. Obviously, Ruckelberg would have missed it, so good. Oh, I'm glad I didn't have the only conflict.

I felt bad a little bit, but... At least it wasn't the first one.

Until I punched my ticket to the Super Bowl. No, I remember second place.

I thought you would probably say something like, why don't we just meet at the end of August? The water will be warmer. The beach will be ready for us.

Yeah, we're going to change the location to Red Arrow. So, all right. Any other discussion on that? Okay.

Well, thank you guys for being flexible on that.

And then I'll be looking for a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

And we're adjourned.

There we go.