Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

[Applause] Uh, welcome to Parks and Reccks April meeting. Uh, would somebody like to call to order? I'd like to make a motion to call to order. No, I'll second it. Okay. Uh, pledge of allegiance. No. Yeah. Okay. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Were you adding a new verse or did we forget something? I was jumping out of No. Can we get some lyrics, please? All right. Roll call. Uh Kate Smith here. Dennis Kapalinsky here. Sharon Parka here. John Jones here. Bridget King here. Jennifer McConnell here. Robert Smith here. Kathy Copchek here. Rob Jones here. Okay. Um before we approve the agenda, um we would like to move old business number two, secretary and chair appointment up to right above presentations. So right after approval of the minutes, we're going to um do the secretary and chair appointments. Somebody like to make a motion for that? I'll nominate Kate. We have to make a motion. Oh, I'll make change the agenda to approve the change. Yes. We just want to approve a change. Yes. I'll make a motion to approve a change to make Kate the secretary. Nope. To move it up. I make a motion to move secretary your appointment before right after the presentations. I'll second.

Say after or before after. I sec I make a motion to move secretary and chur appointment to after presentations. Right. Is that what they wanted it? Yeah. I think she might have said before, but I don't think it matters. I did say before, but I'm sorry. I don't know if it really matters. I don't think it matters. I thought we were I thought we were moving it to between approval of agenda and approval of minutes because then we're going to have to change the minutes if we move it, right? No. I make a motion to move secretary and appointment to after approval of agenda. There we go. Need a second. Second. I will second that. All right. All in favor? I opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes 90. Okay. [Music] Um, so secretary and chair appointment now. Anyone have to approve the agenda first? Oh, okay. Somebody like to make a motion for that. I motion to approve the agenda. I'll second it. Okay. Um, now secretary and chair appointment. You have to vote on it. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. 90. Okay. Now, somebody has to make a I'll make a motion to have Kate Smith be the secretary. I second. All in favor? I I opposed. Hearing none, motion passes. Welcome. Welcome to your new job. Thank you. I

appreciate that you guys. It's been a long time coming. It's a dream come true. Um, now we vote again. Now that vacates our chair. So, we need We need a vote on this, right? Or did I already voted? Now I need another motion for chair. I can't do that. Yeah, you can't. Correct. You cannot. Oh, I make a motion to for John Jones to be chair. I second it. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. I carries nine to one. I just want to like switch chairs or Yeah, we can stay where we're at cuz we got But next time it's got to be the right way. And they're both in the center. It's fine. You're up. I'm up. All right. So, we have So, are you going to have to change? Somebody's going to have to change the agenda because we moved it up or does No, in the minutes we'll we'll show the changes. Okay. All right. So, now we're on just approval of the minutes from March 25th. I needed approval of the minutes from March 25th, 2025. I motion to approve minutes for March 25th, 2025 from the regular scheduled meeting. Second. All in favor? I I 90. Yeah. presentations. Garden City Skating Club. Yes, that's where we're coming from. So, we are with the Garden City Figure Skating Club. I'm the new president. I'm getting my feet wet. Um, but our club is putting on our annual show next week, May 8th, 9th, and 10th. And we really wanted to come out and invite our parks and wreck, our city council, all the residents, the mayor. Um, we have over 50 to 70 skaters within our learn to

skate program and they're really eager and excited to showcase what they've been working on all year. Um, so the show is going to have skaters of all ages, all levels. Um, you're going to see a lot of fun stuff. So, we do put on holiday exhibitions. So, we have our Halloween, our Christmas, and our Valentine's exhibition also. Um, but this one is our big grand event. So, we're really really excited about it. What time will it start? 7 p.m. So, and the number of participants, how does that uh equate to versus last year? It keeps growing. Um, I'd have to look at the numbers from last year. Mike might even know. I'm bad at that. No. Um, I'm I'm still new, so I'll have to look at how it's grown since last year, but I do know it's continuously growing. It's one of our biggest shows that we've had. So, it's a big production. It is. It's three nights a week. Spotlights. The lights are The lights are a big thing. So, we have a whole blackout number. It's really cool. The lights go out. Um the girls skate in the dark. So, that's a pretty fun number to watch. But, um they're very excited. So, we have a big audience. Lots of people from all over come. Families from all around the city come. I I think my family comes all the way from Howell. So, we have people My family coming from Chicago. So, they like to come out. So, what what date is it? May. Uh May 8th, 9th, and 10th at 7:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. each night. Yep. 7:00 p.m. each night. I'm sorry. It's the same production every all three nights. Every all um so every night it's the same production May 8th, 9th, and 10th. Yeah. So they have three opportunities to come. So if you can't make it one night, the other nights are also the same to come in. So adults are 12, kids are 10. Uh kids three and under are free. So concessions will be open as well, right Mike? Yes. Awesome. They will now. So yeah, you're all invited and it's called Into the Wild. So it's

all jungle themed. So you will see all kinds of safari like animals and fun things. So yeah, that's it. So we're going to go back to painting. Thank you. Ladies, [Applause] anything else from the public hearing? You two in the back. Okay. Right on. No public comment. Items for consideration. We have old business. Number one, 2025 volunteer workday review proposed dates. All right. I did pass out a flyer. Should be at your seat. It says proposed park cleanup days for 2025. So, there's three right now that have not been confirmed or finalized. I wanted to preview them with you all. Um, but basically I talked to Mike and we selected some days in June. Um, so Muller Park, we're looking at Sunday, June 1st from 1 to 3. That's where we're going to work on the playground. Uh, adding wood chips. It's in May and well in April, it's really underwater a little bit. That's what I had heard from Joe. So, uh, we thought June would actually be a better time to get out there and we'll be able to see the weeds because May is a little too early. Um, so we're just going to Who's Whose park is Mhler? That's my park. Okay. Maybe you could check this date and see if that works for you. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I see June 17th. Um, but like all of them, they'd be open to you all, but we've got a pretty good volunteer base with the kids and, you know, others in the community, so we'll just promote that. Um, we'd like to get over Dominic work with soccer club, too, because Mhler Park, they use that park a lot. So, we have soccer parents to come help talk, too. Hopefully. Mhler. Yeah.

Isn't it where um the soccer field is over? You're talking about Manor. Oh, Manor Park. She'll she'll talk to Dominic on Sorry. I'm like, wait. Yeah. And and uh Mike's going to follow up with the Soccer Association. We are proposing Tuesday, June 17th from 4 to 6. So you can see we've picked different days and times just to provide some variety. It seems like all of them have done well as long as the weather's good. Um that would be Manor Park again, Playground Wood chips and general park cleanup. And then later in June, um I did talk to Kuanis today. they are um they've got their own committee working on some park improvements and ideas that they have short and long-term goals for Kowanas. So, they're working on some of that still, but um we had talked about just doing a a workday to include them, but also other volunteers. And um you know, I was just trying to be proactive. I said, "How does the state sound?" So, they were I just sent an email to that committee. I talked to uh one of the people. So, that could change, but I'm just proposing dates as just a way to like get us moving towards something so we can make flyers and start promoting it. Um, but that's the plan for um through June and then we still would hope to get to our Cola, Helen, Rotary, and Florence in the fall. You know, I just could not I was getting ghosted by Florence or not Florence, Tipton. You know, we had a great contact uh in the fall, but I don't know if they're just really busy. I just haven't made contact. So, I thought maybe we'll u visit that in the fall. That might be a good idea. So, I don't know. Any any thoughts from the park? Are you going to have all the games that you had or the little different things to keep people kind of occupied? How about sort of combining it as the work day and then make it um like somewhat of a fun day

for the people that come help work. Yeah. To set out like like how we did the engagement days last year, right? So the idea would be we could get signs out in advance um in the park can promote and recruit volunteers uh get on our end get the wood chips um and try to get get the uh surfacing improved at these parks. Does it seem like the people from Kowanas are going to show up? Oh, I think so. Oh, I mean, I think Kana, you know, they're like older, so it's good to just open up the the um invitation to everybody, right? Neighbors, kids, um Kuanas, you know, we're not going to exclude anybody, but we could. No, it just seems like those organizations are having problems because the younger kids just won't sign up for those things like the Kuanas to be in the club or for Yeah. Yeah. member membership wise it seems like the groups like Kowanas Elks Rotary all those places are having younger people yeah they're having a hard time with memberships yeah well that's what we kind of pitched like maybe it'd be good for them good for us to do you know like people could learn about Huanas and then we could also have some fun and do some right it all it's all in how they look at it you know they should look at it that maybe this is an opportunity for us to recruit even if they recruit two people That's still better than what they're doing. Yeah. Yeah. So, so any thoughts from anybody or next steps would be Well, I would like to see if each person whose park that is or at least have one person from our commission represent our parks and rock. Um the 17th's good for me. And then so I'll reach out to the soccer club too and okay get with them and see if they want um to come out. So, okay. Should be good. Kowanas me I believe and that's that data is fine with me. This

works for you. Okay. And then obviously if things come up but so we'll finish our checks and then if we get some confirmation from the other groups that that works then we will complete the flyer and I'll probably send that out to you all so you have it and you'll see it. We need a motion to approve these dates. Sure. Okay. Uh somebody made a comment. Can we get a motion to approve the dates? I'll make a motion to approve the dates of the proposed park cleanup days. Is that I'll second? All in favor? I 90 we don't have to worry about we already took care of that. On to new business mural possibilities for City Park bath house restroom. So, I think did everybody I sent in the email an attachment. I don't know if I wanted to look at it. I printed off only four. So, if you didn't see it and you want to share with the neighbor I didn't want to bunch of paper copies of that, but um if you remember, we've gotten a lot of feedback on the restrooms at City Park, the bath house. Yeah. And uh one of our ideas was to to paint. Paint is a really affordable, quick, um you know, uplifting change. So, we had gotten in touch with this muralist and he gave like three ideas and so I just wanted to share with you all and get some feedback on what your thoughts are um both for those designs and then maybe a process for selecting like whether we should collect more designs, whether we put it out to a community vote or if there's concerns about whoa that's too loud and wild. Um I just wanted to hear from you all. I mean, it's for the kids, so I don't think it's too wild, right? Like, we should just like vote amongst it ourselves. Something that would be that

something that would be simple simple to paint. Can't hear your other commissioner. You have an idea. Oh, go ahead. I just think that we should try to make something amongst ourselves. I think you try to go out to everyone, it just takes longer and then we might not get much reply. So, which a good point. I think this is a good idea for the fact that that is such a, you know, area of um graffiti and people trying to vandalize that if you brighten it up like this is now. That's the first thing I thought of is it's more inviting instead of really like when you walk under that awning, it's like the walking into the dungeon. So, something like this I feel could potentially help with not getting vandalized so much. Um, and I I I think these are good options here. Yeah. Um, I I have one that I'll vote on. So, well, let me ask you this question. Do you think it invites somebody to want to destroy it? I don't think so. I think so. I think when you make things Yeah. I don't think so. Pretty, it doesn't right right now when it looks like it's abandoned and paint's coming off it. That's what draws I think kids in to want to destroy stuff. I think we try to make things beautiful again that they it might deter them but there's I mean obviously we have no guarantee we know if it gets destroyed do we know what they're going to charge us to come touch it up I'm sure no we don't know that but to answer that there it is a graffiti deterrence anytime you do art and that's one of the biggest motivators a lot of cities have murals and stuff because it does it's like the psychology of vandalism is always just like you said when something looks uncared for and run down that just invites problems Yeah, when you start putting color on uh or art, tidying it up, it really cuts down. But that is a good point because sometimes something could get tagged and

depending on the design, we could either repair it quickly. Um because that also deters future vandalism if you go out and quickly take care of it because people don't want to waste. There's like no coating that they can put on there that the paint. I have somebody's I did a lot of murals in my last job and we looked at so many things, but then you start getting into really toxic things and it doesn't really work. The the best is you just paint it and if something happens to it, you go out and you repair it. All right. What is the best way that we could get the majority vote? I mean, I know you said go out, but like for the Santa Day parade, um I mean, there was a the they did a vote on three different things, right? How did they go out about that? Was it like a survey like a monkey? It's via fa It's via Facebook they use they have the vote on there I believe. Well, do we really have to go out for a vote if we're going to put That's not what I recommend. I recommend we vote amongst this. I feel like I just if you wait and you put it on Facebook and you have people vote for it, you may or may not get people and it just takes us longer to get the project done. Yeah, that's why I'm thinking that we should just keep this in house and we vote on it. Well, I would like if you guys make a recommendation and vote then um I mean we are there's a lot of sort of um you know a lot of interest in everything we're doing in parks like council's very interested in our stuff and this is really highly visible so I don't want to blindside people but I would like to move it forward and and uh on my end get approval and once I have like the backing of you all that helps me move forward. If if I'm told we want more input, then we would have to do something else. But you can if we approve it, you can take it to console with our approval. So hopefully they'll say yes. Okay. So, can we kind of help you out and then just give me some direction? I can't do it. Can somebody make a motion and can we pick one and can we vote on it tonight and you've got it in your pocket when you need it and then it's done. You don't have to come

back to us at a later date. Well, I think first we need to make a discussion like what what do we all like? Like we need to decide on what we like and then we can kind of vote if we all want to go with one or so we're going to pick between A, B, and C. So we pick B. I pick B. You like B. I love B. Okay, we got I like B. So hang on. Hang on. So A is the the Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute. Hang on. So if we're going to do this, we better do Okay. So just for the moment, we got A, B, and C, right? Yeah. Okay. I like B. B. I have B. Three to B. B. Four to B. A. If I have to pick one as is, I suppose. A. C. That's fine. But I don't mind them all. So, I know they're all great. B. I like B, but I actually like the font of C. You know, the Garden City font. Yeah. Sorry. It's okay. I would love to hear more what you all like about B or A. Okay. The background for B I think is fine. Like the wall. You mean like the three color? But the ground I don't like those flowers. I like the way they did garden city. Yeah. Yeah. And then but but with that mural for B. But I like how they use a city logoish in A. Wait, Rob, what's your choice? What what's Yeah, A for me. And the reason I I think Garden City stands out the best in A. Um A. Oh, you're right. I would like the Garden City from A on the ground part. Oh, yes. Like even for B, as long as we have the Can we make a D? Yeah. You have a hybrid one going proposals,

right? So, we could certainly come back and say we would like to see this logo with the underground. How well do you paint? You want to just take how well do I paint? No, this is somebody's going to do this for us. You that that the regular garden city logo. Okay. So, let's call in B. You want to call a model D? Sure. Call model D. All right. Now, do we all agree that we want the A? Is that the one we want? A B. No, no, no, no. I'm sorry. They want to take and make a hybrid, right? From what we've got. And what they want to do is, if I'm understanding it correct, and stop me anytime, guys. We want to take the bottom part of A. Just the logo. Just the logo. Or even the logo from B I think is classic. The logo we would like would be the the logo on A in B. Put it on B. Huh. And put it on B. Put it on B. Right. Right. But what about the logo on the ground? Yeah. Like this part. Put instead of the flowers where the flowers are. What if you had the put the logo the logo with maybe some smaller flowers but not as big but um same color scheme same use the same color scheme as the put that that logo. Yeah, I see what you're saying. The logo would be on the wall. No, yeah, I feel put it on the wall and I I wouldn't I feel like it'd be one you got to go back to the painter see more money to do multiple logos. That would be Yeah, we probably don't need multiple. I think I think one is fine. But regardless, wherever. I'm thinking two logos. One on the ground, one on the

wall. Why do we need or maybe just words like Garden City bath house or something or whatever they're calling it now? Garden City restrooms. Yeah, same way. Don't graffiti here. Okay. So, it looks like we're saying take the logo from A, put it on B, and you're okay with everything else on on B. On B. Is that what we're saying? I like that. Is that pretty much? You like that? Yeah, it sounds good. Cool. I keep waiting for Yes. Okay. Everybody else was nodding their head. I kept waiting to see. So the logo would go on the on the ground. You could. Yeah, I think just cuz the wall is so busy. I think you could make a logo up here. So are you saying just so I'm clear two logos? I would say one. I think just to the ground. Move it to the ground. Right. Right. I can ask him to do that. I think Kayen mentioned you didn't love the ground. Would you like different flowers? More of the flowers? No. Well, less more flowers and less flowers. Yeah, maybe smaller around the logo or Okay. Yeah. Okay. We're going back to the 60s7s. Yeah, it does look a little busy, doesn't it? I think that's why I chose just cuz the geometric is just too Yeah. And and they're talking about putting it on the floor. Yeah. And then you wouldn't have the logo on the door, right? You just have Yeah, you had the logo on the door. You just have So then I will ask the artist to update the version and I can send it all out. 60s and 70s and then you take that to council and say what do you think about this? Oh yeah. Some good. I don't think you have to bring it. I mean we don't have to but I

feel there's decisions that I don't think you have to bring it back to us if we approve it. X amount approve it pending revisions so we don't have to come back in a month. Okay. Yeah. Because that'll take longer for the council to approve it then. Right now you've got the go ahead. You've just got to get someone. The question is though like there are some things that as a committee we can make decisions on if we're not spending over x amount of dollars. Isn't there that we don't have to go to council? That's a good question. Uh right now not really. I wouldn't say so. Yeah. I agree. The council wants to be involved. interesting policy. Yes. But there's just so much uh microscope on us that um there's really no just out of curiosity, where is the money coming from to pay for this? It would come out of the parks budget. So, we have a little bit left. So, we're getting near the end of the fiscal year and we have some money. I mean, it's not a lot. There's enough in there to basically do this and do some of our wood shipping stuff. I mean, partially because, if you remember, we did um we had a grant for the $73,000 playground, and they actually put it into the parks budget, approved it, and then it's also put in a capital budget. So, it's in there two times. So, I'm not saying we can go and spend all of that, but for bottom line budgeting, there's money there that nobody I mean, that we can spend. If council approves it, we're all If council approves it, we're all set. This is just so new. It's something to beautify our park. I would think that council Well, we've gotten so many complaints on this. This isn't like a long-term, you know, because the hope is eventually this whole thing could be bulldozed and they could update that. But in the meantime, you know, the awning was removed last fall, if you remember, so it's not there anymore. And I do think if this happened and we could paint the inside just either a bright

color or just something fresh, you know, that would just change that energy of the building. I mean, it's pretty bad. Yes. Yes. It will be I think that it needs it. So, what is the time frame that you're trying to to look for on this? I mean, well, I was hoping to do it on Earth Day. Um, but I couldn't get approval. And so that's why I'm like, okay, I'm going to come to the I'm going to come to the commission. I'm going to get some support and see if we need to go get council support. So, it depends on what direction I'm given as far as uh what approval is needed because it's not really clear. Can I ask would as far as possibly getting the arts in the high school involved? Is there instructor that might be able to have kids do this for extra credit, college credit, something like to do a different design or to or to follow that design like a community paint by number? Is that what you're asking? Well, under strict supervision, obviously. Yeah. No, that's certainly something that I've done a lot of that's very popular. Um, I don't know. When I talk to this artist, it we could I could certainly talk to him about that because it's just a paint by number typically if he draws it out. So, we could do that and it wouldn't have to be just art students. It could be anybody. You know, that's certainly a way to gain uh community support because what we don't want to do is go paint this thing and people are like, "What is that?" You know, or they didn't know it's coming. they felt um you know so that's why I think it is important to be sensitive to making a bigger change even though um I mean I think it's colorful and fun it's colorful and it's fun you know so that's but if you take it to council at least it'll be out there and council will have a chance to approve it also so do you want to see if you can get a Dhybrid

made put it out online so people can look at it so they have the opportunity to say yay or nay no no because what she's She's saying Okay. So, council approves it, right? But like you said, now the residents see it and they're going, "Well, what the hell is this grant?" How can anybody complain about that when they look at what it looks like now? Right. Well, what I'm saying, you guys are in support. That's what I wanted to hear. What was the feedback from all of you? Um, and it sounds like everybody's positive about it. So, then we want to make revision. Then I can go to my boss and say, "Hey, this is where the w the parks and w commission is. Uh do you want this to go to council just because it's a community uh visible thing or is it enough for us to go ahead with it?" So that's kind of the process I would, you know, take from here. I would like to make a motion that we select model B for the painting with minor adjustments using model A's logo for the bath house at Garden City Park. I second it. All in favor? I 90 again. I think it's perfect. school. Yeah. [Applause] Only reason I said that is I've seen enough meetings that I've seen people cry about worse or not as bad. All right. So, the next item I'm just going to keep going. The commemorative tree program. Does everybody know we have a tree and bench program? Yes. Yes. Okay. I knew about the bench, not the tree. So, last fall I got the first request for a tree in the park, which was fantastic. I think a lot of our parks could benefit from more trees. Um, and I've been working with this

individual and there's a couple of challenges I'm having with our current uh policy. So, right now we ask for $650 for the tree and then we offer a tree plaque that is um like a concrete block placed in the ground in the front of the tree for 200. So, um, I I was trying to figure out, well, what is our process for this? And I don't think we've done a lot of these trees, but I was told, uh, DPW was like, "Oh, go through Davey. Here's our contact." So, I reached out to them. They charged $900, uh, to for the tree that I asked for to deliver it and install it. So, I was like, "Okay, well, that's not good because that's more than what we actually are asking for." So, I think we need to update it. Um, I mean, with that said, then I called a couple of other local nurseries like, "Okay, well, just there's got to be another place we can get it cheaper." Um, which you can, but um I think it's Artman's. Does that sound right? Yeah. Um, they had a tree in stock, but two days later it was gone. So, and that you can't pre-order, you can't hold on to it. So, there's like some logistical challenges of getting the money from the donor so that we can deposit it, then we can go buy it. Um, but they did it a lot cheaper. It was about 560 for the whole thing. Um, and then I had checked with Barson's in the fall about maybe they could special order. They don't typically do trees, but they obviously know people in the nursery business. So, we don't have a lot in place on it. So, what I was thinking about is getting your input on whether we want to um change up the program so that it could either be uh when you donate a tree, you pay for the cost of the tree and the delivery um and either you can as a volunteer dig the hole and and do the planting yourself or that's included in the tree donation plus like a $100 uh administrative fee.

So, in some cases, that might be a lot cheaper than uh what we're charging. Or we could just raise it so that it's a lot easier for us to call up Davey and say, "Here, we want this tree. We want to hear." And they kind of do all of those things for us, but you just pay a little bit more. I'm sure they have a machine that digs the hole and puts the tree in right away. Yeah, I think they're Yeah, that's what they do every day. So, so I guess you know I'd like this program to be more inviting for the community to be a part of, but we also on a staff side. These can be very timeconuming. Like I've already spent so much time trying to find, you know, partially because we don't have a thing in place. What size would the tree be? Um about a 1 and 1/2 in diameter. Um, and Barson's has no interest in like growing a tree for us or a couple trees. Yeah, I don't not from what I've seen. I mean, he's certainly interested in talking to me, but then I think this is a very busy time for them, so I just haven't gotten a call back. So, it's just, you know, it's one tree. Can I ask, did you try Randazzos? No, I didn't. They have quite a I could try them for sure. I don't know if they have a service that will come out. Atlantis. You know what? That's not that's not a bad idea because you know what you might be able to do is you might be able to get Randazzos to donate a few trees. Maybe. Yeah. Well, what we want is also ask them if they would give us a discount when we go. You can get it. What would be the cost of a tree? And we'd have to see if Randazzos has the trees that we want. Depends on Could we have people from parks and wreck go pick it up? Yeah. But you know how big of a He's volunteering himself. You got a tree. I mean, you couldn't even move. I've got involved with tree plantings that the if depends on what style like the root ball or the but they can be very large. Very let me

ask you this question. Don't we have the thing that can take a tree out like that with a big root ball? Not in parks. No, not even in the city. No, that's maybe in the city, but that's a whole different department. And but that's a very special. No, no, but if they have if they have the thing that they put that wraps around the root ball and they can go punch the hole if the I don't think the city would have something like that. I would think cities do have that. Well, I know when I call DPW, they're just like, "Here, call Davey." Yeah. Right. Because Yeah. Another and that probably means that they don't around here. So it's it's that's these are timeconsuming things like we want to be able to have a program that if people want to do a memorial tree that it's you know we're not here trying to make money but we're trying to cover our costs. Would Davey give you a discount if you did multiple trees at once and say you collected a a few orders over x amount of months. How many would have to be 25? You know what I mean? It might have to be a lot. Um and then again it might be two or three until you ask. You don't know, right? And the other thing it's probably going to depend on, are they going in one park or multiple parks? And if they're going in multiple parks, you know, you're going to pay more. If they're just at one park, then they just show up with the equipment, do three trees, and they're done, right? They don't have to go anywhere. Three donors. I guess a project for John tomorrow to make calls on. Yeah, you should make some calls. So, and then the second thing I want to get your feedback on is the commemorative plaque. So sometimes these they sound like a good idea and then if you get a lot of them in the park they start to look like they're uh like a memorial stone, right? So I know in the park system I was at they started doing this and after many years they said we're not going to do that anymore because people are like are there bodies in here? Like because the tree may die and now you just have uh

like a gravestone in the park. So, you know, that's something that I would like your thoughts on because I, you know, I think we'll honor this person who because we're advertising it. Um, but I think we should remove that and instead offer an online memorial tribute where we maybe take a photo of the tree and we place it online and maybe there's a dedication or something that they could you know the family could have but that it's not um a cement block in the park that um you know is an expense. That's the other thing. Um, I'm pretty sure that's a low cost for at least installing and uh a heavy duty outdoor plaque or put a plaque. So, I think we're just like a little underpriced for what things cost now. Um, but also we don't have, you know, a great plan in place for executing these efficiently. So, is there a way to word it to where we don't put a dollar amount on it, but it has to be at the cost of the tree, the delivery, and that? Yes. The prices are going to fluctuate. If you call one company one time, another company another, and then next year, who knows? Maybe there's And it could vary based on the tree. The tree. Yeah. Or if if a resident is like, "Hey, I was at Costco and they had a $45 red bud because this is a true story. they had these, you know, and if they buy them, then I would love to be able to say, "Okay, then um, you know, we could either as a volunteer thing dig the hole like on a workday, right?" Like we have people that could probably do that. I mean, there's still you need permission from the city. You need to do your mist dig and have permission. We don't want people just buying trees and go putting them in parks. Um, but having it more affordable, I I actually did that. Um, I think I believe there's two trees at Rotary that I know that I've done a memorial tree. I've asked them. Oh,

okay. And I wanted to do all the work myself and they wouldn't allow me to. They had to dig. I could pick the tree. Was that here? Mhm. Yeah. Well, we could change that. Exactly. And they would not allow me to dig the hole. And there it might be a liability thing maybe if something happens. It might have been a thing. any volunteer did that younger then we could certainly do it. I the other thing I'd like to have is like when you donate a tree that donor should help water for the first two years because watering can often be the other factor that city staff trying to get city staff to go water trees can be challenging. So, if the donor lives nearby or it's something important to them, like to me that seems like a fitting request. Does it take two years to water it to get it established? Is that why you're saying two years? First two years are, you know, you said if you plant a tree and it dies, especially with some of what about those wraparound things where they could actually fill the fill it years? I mean, depends on who you talk to, they're kind of miss hit or miss. They can um attract bugs. They can create different algae and things. I mean, I don't know if you I' I've heard it all. So, stagnant watering. You can try them, but some people don't like them. Like, some foresters don't and some people do. So, I don't I've seen them both ways. And it sounds like you have to water it the same amount anyways. Normally with anything, you're supposed to use the same amount of water every day if you're watering every day or ever how often you're watering. It's not just give it a cup today and then a half a cup tomorrow. Normally, you're supposed to stay pretty consistent with it. Well, I mean, if it rains, you don't have to water it. Yeah. Well, I I can just say that was the biggest challenge for me was keeping the tree alive cuz Okay. We just didn't have

enough rain. And depending on when you plant it, you know, it could be in July, it's the hottest weather, and it needs the most amount of water. Is it still alive? Um, actually one of them is, the other one is not. Okay. It depends on what what the ground is like and deep. Okay. It was below the brute flare. And but anyway, yeah, the I don't know why it they just told me I was not allowed to dig the hole. I even told them I said, "Well, let me know where you want me to put it and I'll put it there." But well, I would say it would it should be like staff involved, right? But but like I said, I know I mean I've definitely in other public lands done many of those type of it was actually I was able to pick choose the spot I wanted it. Yeah. They had to come and dig the hole. Actually, you got somebody else who can go to bat for us. She can go back and find out if that's true cuz whoever you were talking to might not have wanted anything to do with it and said, "Oh, no. We're not going to start planting these trees." But now if you go back and say something, all we can do is ask. If there's some reason that I don't know about, then I'll learn about it and I'll let you know. But from a park professional point of view, there's nothing wrong with that. And you know, I I'll give you my sales experience. I've called the same place and talked to three different people and got three different answers. That's why I'm saying I keep that in the back of my head because dealing with people, if people don't want to help you, they'll, oh, no, we can't do that, right? Well, guess what? Yeah, we can do anything. We can do anything if we want. If you really want to. Yeah. Yes. And many like, you know, adopt a park programs, many places have that. That's often a common aspect of those programs is tree planting, you know, and and just a suggestion going back to the plaque. Yeah. You know, maybe we could have something that's temporary almost like, you know, the ribbon program that they do in cities

where it just says this tree donated by maybe like a sign or something and that way, you know, over time it might deteriorate like a yard sign, a yard sign to note that somebody donated it. Yeah, that's a good that's a good Do you still have the information regarding the bench program? I think is uh is that not um because I know there are two in the city park. Yeah, somebody did one in Florence and that has like a small plaque on it. Yeah. So maybe if somebody wants a plaque, they could do a bench instead of a tree. Yeah, that's what I think benches like plaques on the benches. Yes. Right on there. I think the trees a temporary sign I'd be supportive. I'd be supportive of an online tribute that we could track for years and years. So someone could say, "Oh, my grandfather plan, you know, but and back to what you originally said. I mean, the cost is 650 that's got to get increased, right? Because well, we could change it so that it's how much does it cost? Um the donor is responsible for purchasing the tree and arranging delivery. um they could have the option of planting it themselves and the only thing we would want is like a $100 admin fee just for the time involved in coordinating because staff would still have to do a misdig have an approval process for trees you know in the park system but so in a way I feel like it could be cheaper unless we just wanted to be hands off um where we say just a dead just $1,000 It doesn't matter which tree you get. But then I feel like no one's ever going to donate trees if we do that. Yeah. I'd like to see it be a little more flexible, cheaper. Yes. Me, too. I think you'd get more people more. I agree. More trees. Hello. Oh, so uh I love the idea with obviously continuing. Um

potentially like our sign out front for the fallen heroes of the city. What about one potential stansion of concrete that has all of them on it? Still have the resident potentially provide the tree, plant it, and water it for the two years, but then we have one area that has all the dedications to all of the trees in the park. So like one in each park kind of the key dedication or just like if it's city park and you have you know 100 people that want a tree you can put another concrete structure like that and cover all of the plaques on that that say some trees in this park have been dedicated to you know Erica Smith or so in other words it's kind of like the Stanley Cup. We just keep putting another name in like a central place for memorial. Yeah, that's a good idea. That's just an example. You could probably get a little brass whatever. Yeah. And even if you know some of the expensive, but at least it'll hold up. And some of the signs that we make, obviously, you would do the plaque afterwards, but you know, maybe if it's you take a picture of the tree, do a negative of it, and on the plaque itself above the name has, you know, the negative of the baby tree as it's planted. Something. Why don't you even go one better? wanted to take a picture of the person who supplied the tree and the tree together and then put the plaque out there and then they'll really be happy. I put my picture on the plaque, but just an extra idea to throw into it. Idea like a central tribute section or or stone or something, you know? Yeah. Cuz if you made something that was two foot square, you can put a lot of trees in that park with that. Okay. Especially if it's six feet tall. Yeah. I like something physical like that instead of the online. I mean, the online's all right, but it's hard to connect the two. Yeah. You know, yeah. And now here's another suggestion. Instead of making it sound like a memorial, Yeah. some people might just

want to celebrate a anniversary within here for 50 years and Yes. in lie of gifts, please donate it, you know, a tree to the park. Yeah. So, you know, yeah, just say more dedication more of a dedication than a memorial life event or you know, somebody's having a 50th birthday party instead of gift. I think get the memorial the memorial get that out of there cuz that's like you said that's like okay who passed away and who donated donating a tree makes an excellent gift for any occasion. Trees symbolize growth, strength and success. their unique present for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations. Oh, yeah. You got a tree. That's what it is. Yeah, I don't even actually see that memorial on here. I don't either. Maybe just cuz as we've talked about it, but yeah, it should absolutely just be commemorative if you want to do for indication. I'll let you guys all get me a tree this year cuz I turned 50 this year. I already figured out at the old price at 6250 each. I'll be taking money after the meeting. Okay. and we'll put in a tree and all our names will be on it. How's that? Solve that problem. So maybe what I can do is uh change some language, propose a new sort of program, bring it back in a month and then you guys could vote on it. Okay. So I'll take this kind of input because you've given some different ideas. Love it. So but are we only letting allowing them to buy red maples? No, that's not true. So, what I didn't include that I could send in a followup is an approved park tree that is more natives, a whole selection. So, I can show you what I've proposed. It's not been approved. So, I probably should have you guys approve it, especially if you've got background in trees because I found that really restrictive. And in my last job, we spent a lot of time making a native uh

planting list for trees in parks in particular. So, I took I borrowed from that and it and so when somebody or the one time somebody reached out and wanted information on trees, I sent him that list and I said, "This isn't like approved, but this is what I'm proposing." And it gives you the tree name. It gives you the best soil type that it works for, you know, features about the tree. Um, and then people can look it up to see photos. Um, but I think that's important when you do a tree program is to give people um, you know, some choices that are that we want in the parks. You think the price might vary too depending on Yeah, depending on the trees for sure. Yeah, because Did you guys find out which ones you can plant close to the buildings and which one's not? Well, it depends on soil, depends on anything and and you don't want to have somebody pick out a tree that is totally not suited for a park. The other thing we didn't talk about is, you know, we just don't want everyone just buying all these different trees. And the other one was supposed to be um not an elm, but it's a substitute for an el, but I honestly I don't think that tree ended up being what it was supposed to. I don't know if that bill of goods or what. Okay. So then you'll bring it back to us next meeting. Yeah. So I'll bring it back and I'll bring maybe I'll bring the tree list and everything and we can that would be better. Um but this is helpful for me to kind of see where you all are at. But okay, no action required. Is there any other input from the the public? Community public any comments? Yeah. What do you want to go back to? Oh, we can go backwards if you have something

res the the sign or the mural. The only thing I recommend because this has happened in the past. We've asked the residents to to give us their opinion on something and then we just went the way we were going to go and a lot of residents were really upset and said, "Why'd you waste our time? You asked us and you didn't do." If you don't do what they want, they get a little upset with you. I like the idea of just you making the like you said, Bridget. Yeah. Because you get a lot of criticism when you don't listen to a group of people. You're bringing So you're bringing an avenue that I didn't think about because you said something about, you know, you need to touch base with people. Now you're saying you've touch base. So there's problems no matter which way you do it. I think you also have to be clear because when you're saying to get a group of people to agree like first of all you're never going to get a group. It just has to be we're going to take the majority we're going to do a vote and so not everyone's going to be happy. So we have to really clarity of where how your input is going to be used. So we should take the responsibility of picking something up. We should we did and it's been years ago. I'm we're talking a few years ago um a survey asking people what they wanted and people were sending in these ideas and you were like we're not going to put a giant ferris wheel in the park. Well, people were mad because we didn't listen. You can't. So, I'm just saying be careful when you do that because you get people mad that you they filled it out, they sent it back in and then you didn't even listen to them. Yeah. And I've gotten mad because I thought you had no with our council. have gotten mad in the past and said, "You had no you had no intent on ever listening to what we were going to say. You already had your minds made up." And I came up and I was very angry because they are and that's what happens when you and I just want to make sure that as

a has to be a genuine intent to have feedback, but it can never be what what do you want because you can't accommodate if you get 20 things like that just would never Well, I always think my ideas are the best. Well, we all do, right? I like how she looks right at Kate. I'll tell you, I always think my idea I'm just I just wanted to bring that up because I mean, that's what we're here. We're here for to make decisions and Yeah. I would rather have it lie lay on you because then you're not asking people and they're not feeling like they're being heard. That's all I just wanted to. And you know me, if somebody says, "Why'd you pick that?" I'd said that, "Well, then why don't you join the committee?" I agree. Yeah. We make you careful what you ask for. I know. Make a decision. Next month's agenda, giant ferris wheel. I can I get a motion to add that giant ferris wheel to the park? Have we covered everything we needed on the tree donation program and the bench? Are we done? Can we move on? Okay. Other business. Park and recck commission. Radcliffe com committee update. That's you guys. That's you guys. Yeah. Well, one implementing the last meeting and now the next last two that I'm not working. I can't We're not having a meeting next week. I do. We have anything new to uh bathrooms there are getting remodeled to become ADA compliant. Um community kitchen is in the works. The stage is hopefully being removed from the gym. Lots of work going on over there at Radcliffe. I was surprised how much room that stage removal will put into the gym. Yeah, that stage removal will basically make the gym Oh, yes. Quite a bit. Same size, but tad bit

bigger than what was that proposed gym originally once you take that stage out. I'm still pushing hard for Imagination Station over there. We'll see what happens for that. Um, yeah, lots of just lots of grant money being spent over there before the deadlines. HVAC, lots of HVAC being done. So much needed. Much needed. Did they get the trim done over there? Are we all done with the trim? Yeah. On the roof. Yeah. Yeah. So, we got the warranty. Um, it's all set. They did some they took off some of the um fasteners to see if it would help with the oil canning or whatever they call that. Um I think we're still observing that. So they haven't gotten their final payment. No leaks though. No leaks. That's that's the most important. Yes. Yes. Is there was there a warranty on that roof? Yep. Yeah. That's what they just issued. A 20-year warranty. Oh, 20. Okay. Mhm. So that was the last part of the roof. The the edging was just a little different and there was some parts that looked wavy. So they came back, made repairs, and they undid some of the fasteners because they felt like maybe that was pinching and creating those that wave look. So the I should I need to follow up with them to see like are we done or what's you know? Um but comments find out what kind of maintenance it needs as far as keeping the roof clear of debris. So the drains can um I leave that for our DPW teams. Somebody's finding that out. So yeah, I mean we definitely have our DPW up on the roof all the time for just that with all the HVAC stuff, but um yeah, there's definitely I'm sure tips that are important. I know the place I I used

to work, we had one of those roofs put in and the problem was that it worked a little too well and we didn't keep up on cleaning the drain because there's and a flat roof and the it would actually fill up like a pool and every every so often yeah the boss would I would say the drains were one of the more significant issues they were It's just backed up. I mean, that created a lot of the flooding and the, you know, but yeah, and I missed it. It's Bridget and Kate. You guys are on the committee for and Sharon. Okay. And then there's three council members, right? Yes. How often do you guys meet? And then one man from PL, what is he on? Planning commission. What is Kelly on? Yeah. On the planning commission and kind of the house contractor. Yeah. And how often? Every Wednesday. Okay. It's every week, but we have missed last week and this week. Oh, we don't have one this week. No. Did I We got an email today. Did you check your email? The deadline for the last grant is October. So, all the money that's left has to be spent before that. You can do it. You can do it. Oh, yeah. So the committee is just trying to discuss um how to spend the remaining because everyone's got different ideas of what is the most important and so that's kind of a challenge of now we're being asked to finalize our budget of and it has to be in certain project scope areas. You can't just start making things up like they have to fit and qualify in the grant that we you know that we got it for. So I think in the next few meetings well I know I have to get the grant budget updated and accurate. So that's what the committee like I need help from them but the council is very involved right and they

want to be I think more at the ground level. All right, moving on. Public comment, general and non-aggenda items. Anybody from the public? Done. Good. Report from parks and rec. All right. Well, we just started talking about things, so I you should have a little report booklet with you. The front page just outlines what's attached. So, there are all the March participation and registration numbers. I think I'd just like to highlight um again 3,500 visitors in March coming through and scanning. Um that does not include all of the other renters uh or F FRC rental groups, Head Start, TAB, esports, etc. Um Spaceport has been really busy through March. Um so, this is just our monthly report if you want to look through it. I won't go through it all. Um, I did include the Radcliffe project updates. Uh, so you'll see I did note uh just waiting on the final invoice, the warranty issued. Our permit was issued on April 14th. So that's done. The imagination station project on hold. Unknown future. There's some uh ideas being explored that would potentially go uh you would set that aside for a renter. Um the ADA bathrooms that is underway. Very exciting. The community kitchen uh work has been done to start clearing that out and demo is I believe starting this week. And we you already mentioned the gym auditorium. Um HVAC, the bid's been awarded. We don't have a start date yet. Um and then the miscellaneous rooms, that's the other like project scope area that's quite broad. Uh, so that's where

the committee really needs to review the work plan and finalize the budget. On the back of that page, I just made a copy of this is kind of the result of the committee is this outline of projects that were um I guess supported by the committee so that when they go to council, they have a better chance of being um I guess supported. So these were all the things that just went through um at the April I think it was the 14th meeting for 162,000. So some of these have started some of them are in progress or about to start. Um the other page the grant updates. So the Wayne ARPA which you've already mentioned the grant completes in October of this year. Um right now we have around 577,000 to be spent. Um trying to think if I've updated this since that went to council. I don't think so. So, no, I think that's about right. Sorry. Um then, uh on the HUD, the um the application's been executed. Um we got the HVAC bid approved. Uh so around 1.9 is what that's going to come in at. So there'll be a little bit of money left. Uh but there might be things that pop up. Hopefully we'll get it all in our budgeted grant amount. That is the one where we have until the year 2031. So that one's not as urgent, but it is urgent and just operational cost because HVAC has been a mess. The bathroom I already talked about. Um, I am hoping to get a quote to update another set of bathrooms. If you all know Radcliffe, the dance hallway has a couple of bathrooms that have most of the ADA

accessible requirements. Um, so it's a smaller project and we're hoping that by using the rest of the money in that $200,000 bucket um that we can update the flooring, paint it, and get some new partitions and really uh make it a lot nicer. Uh so hopefully we'll see that. That also has to go in by June 20 by June. Um, and then just on the Wayne County millillage, you all um knew we had a ribbon cutting event and um actually today I just submitted for the reimbursement. So hopefully in the next week or so that will be approved and that money will come back to the city for that project. And then I'm crossing off the other uh grant that Muller Park this was that 500,000. Um it didn't none of the grants went through this year. They are recycling them for next year, but our city took back the Muller project and put forth like a water mane project. So, it's kind of a heartbreak for us in parks, but is what it is. So, those were all those updates. I think the last thing I was going to do is highlight some activities, right? Um, tomorrow is the Mother's Day craft. Uh, we have a kids art program starting on Thursday. This Friday night is the parents night out. It's also the Mother's Day geranium pickup. That's the uh sponsored program by the thrift shop. Um where you can call and get put on the list to get a free geranium. Um we have a junior volunteer event next week at Radcliffe. They're going to be working in the garden. We've got kickball starting in May, adult softball. Uh the bingos that got uh cancelled last month are coming back in May. So, next week we'll have all three bingos running again and our

bunko. Is that only for seniors? No, adults. Yeah, anybody can do that. Um, and then Friday, May 9th, is the Mother's Day celebration event. Um, we have revised this event a few times because it originally was $25 a ticket, which we felt was probably uh too much for a lot of the seniors. We weren't getting many people registering at all. So, we lowered it to 20. We opened it to all ages. So, um, if you're a mom or just want to bring your mom, everyone's welcome. There will be a a hot buffet. We've got entertainment, uh, a magician going around the tables. We're going to be doing flower baskets and some raffle items, and there is a flyer by your seat that is seeking sponsors for flowers that we want to raffle off. So, if you or someone you know would want to donate a uh flower basket, a bouquet, a plant, it doesn't even have to be a plant or a flower, but um we are looking for items to raffle off to everyone who attends that event. It' be like a summer hanging basket type. Was that going to be one of those like summer hanging baskets? Yeah. Okay. Any maybe you should make a Facebook post saying, you know, advertising the event, but also maybe asking for I think there is one get a bunch of them, somebody's going to have to water them, guys. If you get a bunch of them, somebody's going to have to water. So, we've got in some things. We got some gift cards donated to Barson's. We've got like another basket, a couple of the flowers. So, we're just hoping that everybody leaves with a cool flower or some kind of gift. So, um I think that's it for me. I think on 11 I think you've covered everything, right? Up and cominging events and programs. Yep. Um Commissioner comments. Commissioner comments. And we'll start with this side of the table. email. Nothing tonight. Thank you. Nothing. You've already said it. Yeah, Sharon.

I'm good. I'm good. Nothing tonight. I have nothing tonight. I do have a question. So, back when Doc and the mayor before Doc left, they were talking to some representative or some Oh. politician about some money. Yeah. Do we know where that ever went? Yep. That one didn't go anywhere. That was Pet uh uh Congressman Peter. Yeah, Gary Peters. Is that still on the hook or is that still a possibility or it's off the table? That's a nogo. It did not get picked up. Yeah. And he's he's not he's not running. Could we reapproach? Oh, every few years we've been to request and as it comes up, I'm sure to get something going. Okay. That's all I had. I have nothing today. I don't know if any everybody knows Carly from the Radcliffe Center. She left to take another job. So, I would just like to congratulate her. You guys, she'll be so missed. She was so great. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's hard. Couldn't keep her. No. when we lose uh full-time positions, these are full-time employees that are seeking full-time work. So, that's one of the harder things that we're left with is trying to uh maintain the same caliber of staff. I mean, not that part-timers can be great if we can find a right fit. But it is a big loss to lose full-time positions. So, we lost it in the seniors and the youth and our building manager. So, yeah. So, we're happy for her. Went to Leon and also our our senior coordinator is gone, too. So, we lost two key positions this this uh month. Carly went to Leavonia, I think. Yeah. Yeah.

And if you go over to Redcliff, my office is moved now. I'm no longer way down by the piano. I'm in the parks and office. Which office are you in? I'm in Carly's office. Oh, so you can't nobody can see you when they walk. Yeah, sort of. So, just part of the downsizing. I think we need a motion to adjurnn. Make a motion to adjurnn. I second. Second it. There we go. You get going till next month. Everybody have a great month. You too. Yes.