Board of Park Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. I will call this meeting of the board of park commissioners, thank you, order here at 05:30 on Thursday, 02/19/2026. The commissioners are here, though Commissioner Cleary is excused. And so our first item of business is approval of the minutes. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes?

Commissioner Kirsch? I move to accept the minutes. Okay. Motion by Commissioner Kirsch. Second by Commissioner Littlejohn. Any changes to the minutes? All right. Then let's please vote on the minutes. That that passes unanimously eight to zero. Our next item is notices and discussions. Are there any notices and discussions? Yes. Go ahead and come on up.

Thank you. I just wanted to take a moment to share that we have an intern joining us from UWL for this spring and wanted to give him an opportunity to introduce himself. So I'll turn the floor over to him.

Hello. My name is Ryan Fitzgerald. I'm an intern here at the parks department for another nine weeks after tomorrow, and I'm a recreation management major. And, yeah, I'm just looking to learn more from the people here and hoping to work on a major project that'll, help benefit the city, help benefit the parks department. So

yeah. Any questions? Alright. Thank you very much. Nice to meet you.

Thank you. Yep.

Any other notices and discussions? Yes. Director Odegaard.

Thank you. I just wanted to share that, February, we're gonna be doing a R and B live event at the La Crosse Center, to honor Black History Month, and it's a free event to the public. And I think doors are gonna open at six. So it'll be education and then, a pretty good music group out of Milwaukee. So we're looking forward to that. Thank you.

Any other notices and discussions? Any commissioners? Alright. And then with unanimous consent, I would ask to move agenda item 26 dash zero one seven nine, which is request to approve the twenty twenty seven, two thousand and thirty one capital improvement projects for the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department up to our first agenda item from its place on the agenda as a last item. And so is that okay with everybody?

Alright. So now we are here to talk about item 26 Dash0179. So would any staff member like to come up and say anything about it? Can we just take

a quick break? It appears we do not have sound on the Zoom, so I'm just gonna try to restart that quick. Okay. Alright. Test.

Test. Test. Test. Test. Test.

Oops. Where'd it go? Test. Test. I mean, last time this happened, it was a complete fluke and nothing worked.

Have they?

I guess if Legistar is able to hear, we will just move forward. So I apologize about that technical issues with Zoom. For the CIP, I'm happy to kinda introduce that a little bit. So the CIP process are items that we enter, and then it has a long process with different committees and evaluation processes to see what actually gets through. So what we did this year was we mainly focused on maintenance for what we entered, the areas that we saw the most need, some new items that we did enter.

Otherwise, the rest are reoccurring, maybe different amounts, maybe different years, but the new items that we entered, Ericsson Pool, for one, for a slide replacement due to the, study that came back, not sure how long ago, but it's five years ago, said that that would need to be replaced at this time. Myrick Park Center, HVAC replacement, and the granddad roof with a replacement of that. Otherwise, I guess if there are specific questions for projects, we are happy to answer those.

Commissioner Olson.

Thank you, chair. Jay, I got a couple questions here. The Green Island tennis facility, $70,000 in 2027 for a reservice outdoor courts. This says general obligation bond. Is that correct?

No. That, did not transfer over correctly. That $70,000 of resurfacing the courts is going to be paid for out of our Green Island improvement account, which is funded through our user fees associated the Green Island tennis facility. So, we have to have it in here because then it's recognized as a capital improvement for the city, but it will be paid for, like I said, out of, user fees. So that's something we'll make sure we change. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Also, for 2030, Municipal Harbor Campground, is there gonna be something coming to us showing us is it tents and campers and RVs? Is it I mean, where is it gonna be? Are we gonna get anything before 2030?

So we were moving at a pretty fast pace with trying to do a campground on what we call the Back 40 there at Meany Harbor. That is the the the price that we were looking at. However, when we started doing the soil boring and the methane testing down there, because, again, Isle Of Plume is the old dump, It it it just came to the point as of right now that we think that, you know, the the juice isn't gonna be worth the squeeze on that expense. But we still have it in there to follow out this year in case something might might change. But our our the results, as I said, of the soil boring and the methane testing is gonna take that expense to put in the water lines specifically to just cost too much money.

K.

Alright. Thanks. And I'm confident you'll keep us updated on that. Now my last question is about the Northside community pool. Is that going to be open in two thousand twenty six?

The Northside Pool in 2026 will not be open. The that that pool's closure resulted in a $100,000 cost savings for the park and rec department in our 2026 capital capital budget for that the council passed. Council member Troost, do you remember the date on that?

Operating budget?

Operating. I'm sorry.

We passed that in December. December. December.

Yeah. So that was part of the budget cut. That that capital request had been entered in 2025. We had asked that that be switched with Ericsson Pool's capital improvement request that had been in '26. Ericsson Pool was at a point where we had to fix it. It wouldn't be operational. And in the last two years now that, Northside Pool request of a million dollars has been moved out to 2028.

Okay. So correct me if I'm wrong, but if we're not open in 2026 for that pool and we don't fix it, it won't be open in 2027. And so there's a million dollars here in 2028. So we're gonna let it sit two years. We're going to let it we're going to hope that the cost is at a million dollars with rising costs, and then we're gonna have to pull again.

So we're gonna let it sit for two years before we fix it. It just seems a little odd that we're not I understand the the budget scenario, and we don't have the money to fix it. I I do understand that. But I'm just curious that this capital improvement project report is thinking that we let it sit for two years. Do we do anything to keep it functioning, or do we start it up in two years with the renovations if if that gets approved?

And we hope that those motors and everything still run. Do you I you may not have an answer for me, but I hope you understand my concern of hoping that in, well, three years, two years, we can start this back up.

Yeah. So I I I would love to answer that question. So our maintenance staff in our parks department maintain all of our pools whether they're open or not throughout the course of the winter. In the winter, we have to fill the pools with water to a certain level to make sure that we moisturize, you know, all the seals and and those, drains and everything. Every spring, when we go to what we call fire up the pool, we always, at every pool, find things that have failed over the course of the winter here in Wisconsin, and then those things have to be addressed.

So when we look specifically at Northside Pool and the capital, the capital request is addressing major infrastructure. So that's our HVAC system. That's the roof of the pool house itself. That's the liner of the pool. But, again, it's important here that we differentiate between the capital improvement request and the operating request.

So for us, our number one concern right now is addressing our operating budget and how we can get through the coming years and the budget cuts that are budget reductions that are gonna, you know, be a result of that. So when we look at Northside Pool, the participation numbers there that have been shared with the Parks board, it's far and below our other pools. Now I do my best to remove the North Side, South Side out of the argument because for us, we look at what facilities are getting the most attendance. I'll be honest, that million dollar request is probably far under what the maintenance and and renovation is going to be. Again, that number was set back in 2024, '20 early twenty twenty five at best.

So so that is continued. However, we we keep it in there at 2028. And if say if things if if there's other instances that occur, you know, then we always have the ability to move that request up or at least make that request to the council. And council members have that ability to make that request to the council to amend this this plan to move that up. But, you know, one of the big pieces, and I know I've talked with the board about this, is the ongoing potential partnership that we have with the school district.

And so when when we're in these meetings, our plan is to have a a significant amount of community feedback by May through public input sessions and through surveys to where we'll have a solid understanding of what the community's feel is for this potential partnership, which at that time, the school board is gonna look at options of fund 80 as we've talked about or potential referendum, bringing this funding through our mill rate. And so there's a lot of moving pieces. But in reality, we're still looking at the operational reductions in our in cost that, you know, we've already started looking at here for 2027. So in 2026, we were tasked with cutting 450,000 roughly out of our 4,500,000 operating budget. And so we're looking at, unfortunately, a similar type budget reduction in '27.

So we're we're trying to keep our eye on multiple things, and and it's a it's a system that's constantly changing, if that makes sense.

It does. It does. Thank you for all that information. We I won't get into any more depth here because it's kinda redundant because it's kind of everything's up in the air. So just I just ask that park department in the city keep this board informed. Just updates once in a while when things happen on the pool so that, we're aware when the community asks us what's going on, we can at least give them a decent answer. I'd appreciate that. Thank you.

Can the members of the pool collaboration committee please identify themselves? K. Thank you. And you guys have been meeting pretty regularly? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Alright. Commissioner Wilson.

Yeah. I I see there are two items in the budget for Marsh hydrological hydrological improvements, which I'm happy to see. Just wondering what's the difference between the two items there. And it says though the one that's a $100,000 in 2027 and 2028 includes construction, so is that really enough for construction?

So years ago, we realized the importance of addressing the hydrological, environmental, and recreational issues related to the marsh as the marsh is clearly a very important piece to our community. And when we look at the marsh, one of the things that I quickly learned was that, you know, this is this is gonna be work that deferred maintenance there in the millions and millions of dollars. And not only is that creating an issue with funding sources, it creates just an issue with time in general. So the plan that we had kind of developed was to go out and seek a $100,000 in the capital improvement budget each year. And and so this is actually our seventh year of receiving that 100,000.

In that with that agreement, we have hired, I can't think of the names. Smith Group to help us create a plan and then walk us through almost as, like, project managers. So the projects that have come forward to the park board through our capital improvement have really all kind of been predicated off of this major plan that they've worked on. And so we received the other one that that I'm I'm guessing you're speaking speaking of is the Westsell project

Right.

Which was a nest grant that our team was able to get in the amount of the $3,300,000. But I still feel that it's important to have that $100,000 placeholder in the budget because if if we don't have that as a, say, gentle reminder to the council, to the public that the marsh is still, you know, of it's still something that's a work in progress. And it probably should always have that 100,000 every year from now until, you know, I'm long gone. But the reality is if we pull it out, we oftentimes really struggle to get it back in. And so that 100,000 is something that, a, we utilize for the Smith Group, but it also addresses smaller projects related to the overall project, and we try to make sure that we expend that funding each year by the end of the year.

Does that make sense?

Yes. Thank you. And congratulations on getting the 3,300,000, by the way. I think that'll be a big help

there. Thank you.

Anybody else? I have a question. How come we are spending another $400,000 on Memorial Pool? I thought was a new pool.

In the realm of facilities, it is definitely a new pool. However, the wall is a significant portion of the wall is failing, and, we basically have a five year, warranty, so to speak, on that. And so that is a new request that came in, and it's something that's very difficult for us to bring forward to the council. But it's we're in a situation where we have this pool. Do we not operate it?

All things that are going to, you know, be tough decisions moving forward, especially as we plan our 2027 operating budget and as it coincides with the capital budget.

And so this 400,000 is borrowing. Right? This would be bar so you there's a mix of TIF money and grant money and user fees, but this particular ticket is this particular item is borrowing. Correct. Okay.

So in the in the funding scheme, the big one that has the most direct impact to our budget is our general obligation bonds. So that's that those are dollars that we are actually borrowing immediately to then perform that capital improvement, and then that's added to our debt service. The TID money in on here, it's TIF, tax incremental finance. That's money that is collected via taxes that is set aside to specifically improve that TID TID. So that's the tax increment incremental district.

And so when we look at the TID funding, while there is a correlation to you know, it's still money. It's still it's still dollars coming out of the community here. It's just it it's it doesn't have the direct impact on our on our borrowing like the general obligation. And then the others and grand funds, obviously, is that and others are are generally usually are are like, you'll hear from Keith Stoll tonight on Forest Hills, the maintenance shed. We're actually gonna be paying for that out of the revenue generated by Forest Hills or the user fees at Green Island for the ice for the tenants.

Right. So we're being faced with a fair amount of maintenance costs that it's not really clear what the long term affordability is going to be for us as a city. And so we're gonna have to reevaluate what we can actually afford.

Yeah. And so if I could for for just a minute, president Troost, I think, you know, one of the things when when we approach the capital improvement budget this year, our team took a step back and basically made a our our own kind of rule that we're not gonna put anything in for general obligation funds unless it's for maintenance. It's something that's falling down. Now I wanna make it very clear that our requests here are are not even scratching the surface of our true maintenance needs and our deferred maintenance needs. So five years ago, Jim Flopmeyer worked with Project Veritas to come in and do a citywide maintenance plan, and we're utilizing that to the best of our ability.

But how you know, this is one of those things where Eric Pool is a great example. All of a sudden or not Erickson Pool. Memorial Pool, all of a sudden, the wall starts falling in. So what do you do? Do you shut down a $4,000,000 pool that's five years old because we don't invest the 400,000.

And these are the very difficult decisions that staff are making, but we're also bringing to to to the park commissioners. And, we're bringing it to the the common council. So, you know, commissioner Olson, to your point, this is this is kind of that rock and hard place we're wedged right now when we're talking about about Northside pool operations. Again, going into '27, you know, looking at a a very similar cut, if not even larger than '26, you know, it's gonna put a real it it puts a real burden. So that's where we have to get very creative, but, ultimately, we have to prioritize.

And anytime you prioritize, there are gonna be places, facilities in a community with 47 parks where there's gonna be parks that are gonna be left behind. And there there's not a solution for that at this time. And if there is, I would gladly sit down and hear it from whoever. But I think right now, especially in the sense that the common council approved $3,000,000 for our Copeland Park renovation, which, again, Copeland Park was falling down. That renovation in last year, the approval in 2026 here, really put us in a place as a as a parks department.

And and as we continue to try to work with the other departments in the city, we wanna make sure that we understand, like, we can't go after $3,000,000 in the capital improvement. For many, many decades, our borrowing improvements and capital equipments totaled 7 and a half million dollars. There was a very hard line on that here. And we generally borrowed probably a million dollars in equipment and 6 and a half in projects. Well, that due to failing infrastructure has kind of ballooned to recent years of over $20,000,000, and now we're working to bring that borrowing back down, you know, slowly but surely.

However, you know, our our our unofficial goal this year is to hit that 13 to $15,000,000 borrowing. However, this infrastructure maintenance is is it's mounting, and we're gonna continue to see facilities being challenged with keeping them operational.

Commissioner Kirsch?

Yes. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify. We're past that, five year warranty, and, of course, things go wrong after the five year warranty, which is

just Yeah.

It was almost like it was planned. Almost.

Council member Weston. Thank you.

Director, could you you just actually commented on what I was thinking about was the what did you say? 47 parks we have. Right? And there's actually on this budget, I only am seeing one, two, three, four, seven, six or seven needs. I have to imagine there's probably more than that.

And so although I know there's critique about taking away amenities, I'm curious if if there's conversations around parks that just aren't worth maintaining anymore. And whether that's selling it in whatever way is possible or you know, at some point, a park becomes not usable. Right? I once I I haven't been to a park that feels unusable, to be fair. But when you're trying to make priority decisions, I'm wondering, is 47 too many? And should we be looking at consolidating needs?

So I would say you're asking me if we should get rid of some parks. Right?

In consolidating needs, this is my choice.

Well, I mean, honestly, I mean, this is what we're dealing with. Nobody wants to be the parks director that says we have to minimize our park system. Nobody wants to be on the park board and say we need to minimize our park system, but the reality is the reality. The team here has been extremely outside the box thinking on how we can save certain properties and save the recreational value for the community, but still take that burden away from the taxpayers. So, again, if you look at our waterways account and the revenue that we bring in, what was our total expense this year, this last 2025?

Waterway. 1,200,000? 400? 400,000, you know, that is not a penny coming from tax dollars. Those are all user fees.

We've done things like we've done with the hatchery in Riverside Park to save that, you know, historic building. These are the things, you know, our conversations with the school district and potential partnership, Conversations with other entities that could potentially take over the operations of a park still have a benefit for them, but also keep that benefit of, you know, the green space and the park atmosphere for the residents all while removing our maintenance fees. And that's something that we're working on literally every day. I mean, that's the challenge. We we talk about 47 parks.

47 parks is kind of that catchphrase number. But when we sit down and we talk about, you know, four marinas, we talk about a campground, we talk about five boat landings. We talk about a golf course, an ice arena, blufflands, marshlands, trails upon trails upon trails, and we're not even getting into our programming. You know, the largest senior programming in the anywhere in the whole region is done by our department. So we have been fortunate enough over the years that parks and recreation has been a priority for the decision makers in this community.

The negative side to that is we've created infrastructure and a system system that costs a lot of money to maintain. And anytime you are seen as taking something away from people, that doesn't go over well. Some of you were here when I first implemented the pay to use the boat landing fee, and, you know, people's heads almost exploded. But now people see the value of us having what I'll argue with anybody is the best waterway system, boat landing, marinas in the entire area without even question, and they get it for $10 annually for their, you know, boating license, you know, people don't mind. But it's getting through that initial push.

Some of you are one you know, part of the negotiations on the fish hatchery. You know? Another one. Boom. The negativity goes away when people see the positive, but it's it's each one of these that kind of helps, I think, dampen the next one so that people start to, a, have trust in in the city and our department as we negotiate these things, but also, you know, just have a little bit of realization that, you know, we can still do good things with a public private partnership.

Are we ready for a motion to approve our capital? Commissioner Olson?

I'll make the motion to approve the capital improvement budget from 2027 to 2031.

With a couple corrections?

Correct. With a couple corrections.

With a couple corrections in funding sources that seem to have been mislabeled in the document? K. Alright. Motion by commissioner Olsen, second by commissioner Weston. Any other discussion? Great. Then let's please vote. And that passes unanimously. Thank you to the staff for putting this together. And we know that you're asking for the bare minimum and that we have a policy going forward these days to focus on maintenance.

Thank you, Director Odegaard. '26 so we'll go back up to the top of the agenda. Twenty six-one hundred seventy two, request to approve the Central Conservation, Inc, doing business as the Nature PlaceWisconsin Conservation Corps to fundraise at Myeritt Park on Friday, June 5 and Saturday, 06/06/2026, contingent on the required approvals and issuance of permits from all other city and county agencies. We have a representative from Central Conservation. Are you here to speak or just answer questions?

Okay. Can answer questions. Does does anybody have questions for staff? Does the staff have anything to to say? Okay. Thank you.

I'll give a brief description of what this request is for. So this is annually come to Park Board. The recipient or the fundraiser, fundraising organization has changed. This year, it is staying the same. Last year, they did pursue the same fundraising opportunity as well.

So this takes place during the state track tournament, which occurs just across the street from Mayeric Park on June 5 and June 6, offering a very unique opportunity for us to raise funds in collaboration with these nonprofit organizations. So it is typically a fifty fifty split, and we'll continue to be that this year as well. And then the central conservation provides the volunteers, both Friday and Saturday to monitor parking in that area. And then all of the funds that we garner from our 50% go back into the Myrick Park improvement account, which can be used throughout Myrick Park to do infrastructure repairs, any repairs that may be necessary from parking, which we've not experienced, thankfully. But, this year, they are also matching UWL's parking fee structure.

So that will be $10 per vehicle, and then UWL also has, something new. I don't know if it was new last year, but we are moving forward with it. $20 fee for oversized vehicles and busing in that area. So inching closer towards a higher fee.

I request to speak. Okay.

Thank you very much. Commissioner Kirsch?

Yes. Thank you. I just wanted she answered my question in a roundabout way because I didn't know what the fundraiser was because it wasn't put here. It's parking. And so it's like, it'd be nice to just make it very clear that it's that's where the money is coming from. And, now it is clear to me, but, I guess for in the future, it'd be nice to definitely say what the fundraiser is. Thanks. In in in the legislation. We can make that reflected in

the item in the future. Thank you.

Okay. Do I have a motion? So moved to approve. Motion to approve by council member Weston, second by commissioner Young. Any other discussion?

Okay. Then let's please vote. That motion passes unanimously. Moving on to item 20 six-one 175, request to approve Maple Leaf Run Walk fundraiser in Riverside Park on Saturday, 09/26/2026, contingent on the required approvals and issuance of all other city and county permits, including the special event permit through the clerk's office. This is an annual event, right? So there's nothing new here? Okay. Any questions? All right. Then I would take a motion.

Commissioner Olson?

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by commissioner Olson, second by commissioner Kirsch. Any discussion? Alright. Then please vote. That motion passes unanimously. 26Dash0176, request to approve the thirty four Freedom event at Chad Erickson Park on Saturday, April 2026, contingent on the required approvals and issuance of all other city and county permits, including the special event permit through the clerk's office. This is also an annual event. Nothing has changed. K. Yes. Commissioner Littlejohn. When's the April?

That would be a typo.

Saw that too. Yeah.

We're on the February. So

is that the twenty fifth or the thirtieth? Or

Apologies. I would have to look in their document that is attached. Okay. I don't I would guess the twenty fifth. Yeah.

On the agenda. Then I

will go back to their special event permit that they've already submitted, and I will update that. Apologies for the small typo.

Okay. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Young.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Young. Second by Commissioner discussion? All right. Then we'll please vote. That motion passes unanimously. 20 six-one 174, request to approve the resolution authorizing support of City of La Crosse Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department application for grant funding through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for Recreational Trails Program, RTP.

Thank you. Another wordy item. So thank you for bearing through that. This is our request from this board to approve us to apply for this grant. This grant is through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and its category is the recreational trails program.

And so what we would be seeking with this grant is $100,000 of funding to supplement donations that have already been received towards the Veterans Freedom Trail construction. If you recall, we did seek funding for this same grant last year for the same project as well. We were denied. So we've received feedback from the department and how we can improve the application, and we're invited back to apply for another year. This year's application deadline has been moved up a little bit, so March 1, which is why you're seeing it a bit earlier.

But this resolution is something the DNR seeks from the governing body of the department essentially to give your vote of confidence in us being able to pay for any remaining costs that the grant would not cover. The grant is an eighty twenty grant, and so we have already surpassed our 20% match that this would require. And so $100,000 would get us very near towards completion of funding the entire project.

Commissioner Kirsch, do have a question?

Thanks. I move to approve.

Okay. Motion to approve by commissioner Kirsch, second by commissioner Olson. Any discussion? Discussion? Alright. Please vote. That passes unanimously. 26Dash0177, request to approve the acceptance of SFR fishing pier grant from the Wisconsin DNR submitted by the city of La Crosse for the Veterans Freedom Park fishing pier totaling $42,600.

This is just a hoop to drum jump through with the DNR. This board saying, yes. We'll gladly take your $42,600.

Okay. Alright. Commissioner Olson?

Thank you, president Troves. Before I make a motion, I'd just like to say thank you to Park and Rock. Motion to approve.

Motion to approve by commissioner Olson, second by commissioner Kirsch. Yeah. I need discussion. Okay. Then let's please vote.

That motion passes unanimously. Some of these projects are of great significance to members of our community. Twenty six dash zero one seven eight, update on Forest Hills 2025 season.

I'm not sure if you're excited to talk golf, but I'm happy to. So it's almost that time of year we can get her going. Last year, we had another outstanding season.

Can you actually introduce yourself?

Sorry. Yeah. Keith Stoll. I'm the general manager of Forest Hills.

Okay. Alright. Thank you. And do work for the city or do

you work I work for Kemper Sports. Okay. So Can

you spell the name of that with Kemper?

Kemper, k e m p e r.

Okay. Alright. Thank you.

Yep. So we've been managing the golf course now since 2009. I think we have a contract through 2028 and then hopefully two five year contracts after that. We're looking forward to continuing this. We've come a long ways. I've been here seventeen years. Basically, when Kemper took over, I came in with Kemper to to operate. I'm pretty proud. This year, we did over 35,000 rounds, another fantastic season. I have to give a lot of props to mother nature because mother nature treated us kindly, and that's usually the dictating factor to get at outdoor sports.

So we had a, really, a fantastic season. Last year, we we did 35,800. This year was, like, 35,200, but we lost most of March this in 2025 compared to 2024 where we got started March 1. So a really good season. I I think you guys have this little sheet. No. Oh, I can read it to you. Alright. Couple things that that that just to update on some some progress things we made out there this year. One, obviously, was the opening of the pavilion, which I think I was here last spring.

We were talking about the pavilion and the opportunity we had with that. It went wonderful. We opened it in May. I know several of you were at the grand opening, which was a pretty special thing to to know that that, really, members of our community put forth the effort to really make that happen. And it turned out really well.

If you haven't seen it, please come take a peek because it it we make great pizzas. It's a great place to relax and enjoy a cocktail at the end of the night or a drink of your choice. So one thing that it really enabled us to do is increase our our outing play, and outings are a big part part of our business. They're also a great way of revenue drivers for a lot of charities that that host those those outings. Also, we have several coinciding with the lacrosse center.

We have a lot of conventions that are in town that also like to add golf to their repertoire for their their their participants. So that went really well, and and it really looks good for this year. We've seen that growth number. We were up about percent last year. This year, I anticipate another 30% growth in our revenue from outings, which for us is a is a significant factor.

A couple other things that were really important to us is is we're really seeing growth. One is in season pass members. We had 94 new season pass members this year, putting us up over 250 for total membership, which in our world, that's pretty big. I can go back ten years and tell you we were barely hitting a 100. So to have 250 is a is a huge number.

We have over 400 Players Club members, which is another micro down still offering a discount. Basically, what I call it is our locals card. If you're a local and you don't buy this and you're gonna play three times, you're kinda foolish because we're giving you everything we can to say, here's your discount. We we want the tourists to pay the higher fee. I mean, I'm not gonna lie.

That's that's just the reality of the business. You know? Those that are gonna frequent us and live around here, we want to make sure that they're taken care of and they they receive a discount. With that program, we offer all of them La Crosse residents all receive a discount. So we we try to make sure that we take care of those that are gonna be around us a lot, and and we try to make sure the ones that are coming into town are gonna help supplement that, and it works pretty well.

Another thing I I I guess I'm really proud of is is what we've done for junior golf and the local schools that we have here as far as golf goes. We had over a 150 kids participate in junior clinics. We have a free program that all middle school students can play for free. We we utilize a foundation, the Russ Heiser Foundation. I've been on that board since it began in 2010.

It's it's our way of giving back to junior golf. The foundation, we raise money out there. We pay the golf course for every round that's played by the juniors. So the golf course is not losing revenue on juniors playing. It's just being paid for by our foundation, and it's really affording kids a free opportunity to learn the game. So I have two assistants that did almost over 20 free clinics for juniors. Kids had to pay nothing. They had three hours of instruction. When they finished, they could take a test. If they passed the test, they got a card that offered them free golf at five area golf courses.

If they didn't necessarily weren't quite ready to pass that and be out on their own on a golf course, they still got a card that said, you you can just go with a parent or a guardian or a grandpa, grandma. Somebody can take you to that golf course. It's still free for you to play, but it it just maybe you'll get ready, come back next year. We'll get you past that test, and we'll get you the next step. So try to do some things that that obviously build the future of our sport.

For us, it's pretty smart. I mean, it gives jobs forever if we can keep growing the game from the youth on up. And I think college this year was was was probably we've seen it since COVID. The whole rush to golf with the the younger people and the college students this last year were unbelievable. That that first until May 15, it was college students. You could go out there any day at 03:00, and it was gonna be loaded with college students practicing. Our driving range is done. Unbelievable. Again, we we sold over 10,000 buckets of range ball. Mean, over 650,000 range balls hit on our range.

The practice facilities were virtually full every day. So it's great growth to the game, and and that's really key for us. The things that we tried to do and and take this is utilize this into exactly what Jay was talking about. We this isn't a new go. It's a 125 year old golf course that was neglected for a long time that didn't see the infrastructure improvements that maybe needed to be made.

You know, last year, I think I was telling you about the big one was the irrigation system where we've committed almost $300,000 into just being able to put water on the golf course. We do it in our yards. We need to do it on the golf course. So we made a big stride to make that happen this year. Obviously, with the pavilion, we're changing perception of the golf course. It's no longer just the old muni that that's been out there for a long time. You know, we we we needed to take that next step. This year was a parking lot. We've done it over three phases. Every year, we've put a piece of that parking lot together.

The first was just driving into the place because you about have to have your car aligned every time you drove into the place. So we took that 35,000 and said, we're fixing this so people can drive in and out of here. Then we fixed another section when we did the pavilion. This year, we're we gotta finish this. This is we have to have it repainted every year because it the paint's gone by the end of the season. The the the there's no pavement out there. So this was a big one for us is to to clean all that up. Perception when you drive into a business means a lot. We are a business. We're out there trying to make improvements to that golf course, and the only money we're really gonna do to get that is to improve our business.

So we've been able to do that. We've been we've continued we we put over $600,000 into capital improvements this year. We have new equipment. We have new golf carts. Looking into this 2026 season, we're adding GPS to our golf carts.

Technology that is only increasing, one, the happiness of golfers, two, the ability to manage golfers and the golf course. The time it takes them is a key factor for happiness of golfers. So GPS gives us the ability to watch how the golf courts are moving. If there's a backup on the course, we can see it from the front counter. We can immediately get somebody out there to take care of the issue.

We can track rotation of golf carts. We know when they've been used, how many times they've been used, how many hours they've had, so we can equal out the fleet, make sure one cart isn't getting a lot of use and one cart's been sitting in the back for two weeks. Not that that ever happens. But, you know, so we're we're trying to move things forward. System called Notify this year. Just like when you go to the the dentist, you're gonna get a text message that says you have your appointment in two days. Just hit 1 to confirm. We're gonna do the same thing with golf. We're to utilize it because every tee time, that every ten minute tee time needs to be filled. If somebody doesn't show, it's gone.

It's just wasted money at that point. So our goal is just to make sure we can make sure we can use every resource we have to capitalize on those things. So we're kind of looking forward to how do we use technology in a fashion that's actually going to help us manage the golf course better and raise revenue at that point. The biggest piece we are looking to do that I guess I'm driving this bus and trying to push it as far as I can as a maintenance building. If anybody's been out and seen our maintenance building, it was really awesome in 1943 when it was built.

I mean, it's got, you know, 10 foot ceilings. You can't lift a piece of equipment. Everything going up in the air is being it's hard to get a mechanic. It's hard to get employees who really are going to care when you don't have a facility that you can even work in. We use a pellet stove to heat it in the winter.

It's not somewhere you look at a quality place and expect to see this. So to drive this to where we know that this golf course is going to be here for the next fifty or one hundred years, we got to keep and it's only going to get more expensive to do this stuff. So I think there's good times and bad times. Right now, we're in a good time for golf, which is a great opportunity to take care of infrastructure that has to last a long time. I don't see any of that stuff getting less expensive as we move forward, especially when it comes to buildings.

Started this project several months ago, and we're already running into roadblocks and having to twist and turn and try to figure out more ways. Little did we know we have a 20 inches waterline that runs right under right beside our maintenance building. I never even knew it was there. Now we know it's there. Thank goodness we didn't dig.

So, you know, we're finding a lot of stuff. There's not a lot of as builts to that golf course. I think it was just added on over the years, over the years, over the years, and the country club did what they wanted to do. And I don't think there was a lot of records that were happening at that point. So I guess we're we're trying to change some of that so that, you know, the operators in the future know what we're doing now so that they can make, you know, wise decisions later on down the line.

One more one more thing I'd just like to add that that I'm also very proud of is is we we do surveys. So when somebody plays golf there, they're gonna get a survey. I mean, it's it's the the realities of life is we do everything now. There's always surveys to ask what is your opinion. Usually, people that fill those out don't always they're filling them up for a reason. Usually, they're mad about something or they're really happy about something. Right? I mean, the in between person doesn't always fill that out. This year, we we scored a 73.9, which is the highest rating we have ever received out there since we've been running surveys, and that's been the last twelve years. I think we've had a system that sent out surveys.

So NPS on a national basis averages somewhere around 60. Our goal within Kemper Sports at all facilities is 70. We have to achieve 70 to to get our little plaque that says we we've done our job. So this year, I'm proud to say that we achieved that, and and it's certainly high on our priorities. So we look at those on a weekly basis as a staff to see what they're saying.

I mean, people will tell us, you know, it's did they have a real can we change something? They they they made a good point. What should we do to make a correction and and make it better? So so, again, maybe it's internally makes me happy, but, hopefully, as a whole, it it it kinda says something about us. Any questions that I

Council member Weston.

Thank you for that thorough report. As someone who is married to someone who frequents Forest Hills and someone who's dragged me all over the hemisphere from Torrey Pines in California to Iceland. When I told him you were on the agenda tonight, he said, quote, give Keith everything he wants. He doesn't vote, though I do. And my seven year old's request would be that we look at a mini golf edition. So but and, honestly, it's a great addition to the city, so thank you for everything you do.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

Any other questions? Okay. Great. Thank you for that report.

Thank you.

Yep. And that is our last item on the agenda, so I will call this meeting adjourned. Thank you to all of you being here and asking important questions and being good stewards of our facilities here in the city. Okay? Good night.

When is the range gonna open, Keith?