Board of Park Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Council member Weston, are you able to hear us? Yes. I can hear you just fine. Perfect. Thank you.

Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting of the Board of Park Commissioners to order here on Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 05:30PM. Commissioners Wilson and Kirsch are excused. Otherwise, everybody but commissioner Cleary is here, is in attendance. Our first item of business is approval of the minutes from our last meeting.

Do I have a motion to accept those? I need a request to speak, please. Commissioner Alberts? Sorry. It's okay.

I'll I'll make a motion to approve.

Okay. Motion by commissioner Alberts to approve, second by commissioner Olson. Is there any discussion on the minutes? All right. Then please vote.

That's passed, with one abstention. Moving on to item number 25 dash 1249, request to approve Forest Hills storage facility. We have a site plan, and Dave Clements is here wishing to speak in favor of the legislation. But I would first ask our representative, mister Flotmeyer, if he has anything to let us know. Or do do do any commissioners have questions?

Okay.

Oh, okay. Please let the record note that Commissioner Cleary is here. All right. If there are no questions for staff, Mr. Clements, you could come on up and state your name and where you live. And I'm going to need to have you push the button on the There we go.

There we go. Okay. Sorry. David Clements, 2026 Barnaby Road in the city of La Crosse. And, really, I'm more just here to answer questions if you have any. The the structure we are proposing to build would be a storage unit, storage facility, garage type unit, which would hold all the tables and chairs and other outdoor equipment that we purchased at the beginning of the season for the new pavilion. And so it'd be a nice storage area for all that stuff over the winter.

Commissioner Olson.

Thank you. Dave, is this gonna be for Forest Hills also or only for the shelter and things?

Well, it's for Forest Hills. Yes. Well, I mean, are

they gonna have golf equipment in there?

No. No. It's it's mean, well, I don't know what they're gonna use it for beyond that. If They've got the storage in the clubhouse for golf equipment and that. The only thing they're really looking at is they don't have a place to keep all these tables and chairs, and there's portable fireplaces and that kind of stuff. So that's really what's going to go in there. I mean, in the summertime, maybe they'll put a golf cart or two in there or something. But, yeah, it's a simple, small, out of the way, a little structure.

All right. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Any other questions or comments? All right. Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

If there are no other questions or comments, could I please get a motion? So I need a request to speak because we need to verbalize the motion. Commissioner Littlejohn. I move to approve. All right. Thank you. Motion to approve by Commissioner Littlejohn, seconded by Commissioner Any discussions? All right. Then let's please vote. And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you for being here. Yep. Good night. Item 20Five-twelve67, request to approve Petty Bone Boat Club slip fees for the 2026 season. Could I get our staff member to explain the level of increase or what we're looking at here in this document, please?

You got it. So as per Petty Bone Boat Club's lease each year, their fees need to be approved by the Park Board. The fee list in front of you will show a across the board 3% increase for slip fees at the boat club. And if there's any other questions related to any other fees, I can do my best to answer any questions.

Commissioner Olson?

Thank you, Councilmember Troost. Jared, are we still below market value around our area with our prices on this, even with the increase?

No. The Pitipombo Club lease, is a fair market system. We kind of disapproved their rates, but their rates are very similar to other marinas located around the city. They are higher than what we do, but

they

are

competitive. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions from commissioners? All right. If not, then can we please vote? Did we already do the motion? We did not do the motion. All right. Right. That was discussion. All right. Then is there a motion to approve? And could you please I so move to approve the Penny Bully rate increase.

I second.

Yeah. There we go. Okay. Motion to approve by commissioner Cleary, second by commissioner Littlejohn. Is there any discussion?

Alright. Then let's please vote.

No. It it bombed out on me, but we'll get back.

Yeah. That's okay. Okay. And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to item 20 five-twelve 50, request to approve final plan of Veterans Freedom Trail. And we do have an aerial map of that. Does anyone have questions for deputy director Trusoni? Any questions for staff? Oh, okay. Alright. Then, may I please have someone, yes, commissioner Olson.

Thank you, council member Schulz. I make a motion to approve.

Motion to approve by commissioner Olson, second by commissioner Alberts. Is there any discussion? Alright. Then let's please vote. That motion passes unanimously. Our last agenda item is 25 dash one two four eight, request to approve the lease between the La Crosse Queen and the City Of La Crosse. Do we have a member of representative here? Is she is she here? Okay. Alright.

Yes. Mister Flotmeyer, could you come up? And does anyone have any questions for? Yeah. Go ahead.

Thank you, Councilmember Schulz. Jim, I was reading through this, and I found one section. It's strictly administrative air where it could be the they shall or whatever. It could be twice in there. I can't find it right now, but it's an administrative thing. So when I find it, I will bring it to the attention of you and the park department and the legal department. You can pass it on. It may be correct in legal terms, and I don't know legal terms, but it may just be a typo in the lease. So when I find it again, I will let you know.

And I can look also. Yep. Just send it my way. We'll make Sounds the good. Thank you. You're welcome.

Any other question? Any commissioners have other questions? Yes. Commissioner Cleary.

Their

current lease and all its extensions have expired. So beginning in 2026, this is a brand new lease. It's a ten year and then two five year extensions. So they have a they pay us basically 2.5% of their gross revenue per year for the first ten years, then it goes up to 3%, then it goes to 3.5 which is an increase of 0.5% from the current lease. They're a great partnership with us. So it's a great attraction to our park.

Commissioner Young.

Thank you. This might be hearsay, or maybe it doesn't matter. But were they going to be looking at relocating to River Point North District at a levy to be built in the future? Future? And would that require rewriting this lease or changing that? Doesn't matter. We had had some of those discussions from both parties. I don't think there'll going to be a place for them up there because of the it's considered a barge traffic area, and for them to turn their boat in and out becomes a hazard. Maybe we can deal with that. But they're quite happy where they're at.

There's also one hundred and eighty day out for either party on this lease. So if something comes and they want to move, it could become a discussion.

Any other questions? My question is that the lease has the percentage of gross income, but it also has a minimum of $12,000 And can you say if we get more than that minimum regularly? And maybe how much? Since I've been here, it's always been over that dollar amount. Okay. And we might anticipate even more because we're increasing our percentage. Correct.

All right. And I know they've had a great year. So Kathy told me that.

Okay. All right. Thank you. I think that question is along the lines of Commissioner Olson, which is, are we valuing what we do appropriately? Any other conversation, discussion, questions? Yes. Commissioner Littlejohn?

So I see oh, I don't even know what section this is, but it's a J. And it says, licensor agrees to limit the number of separate excursion boat operations in Riverside Park during the term of this license to no more than four operators, excluding the La Crosse Queen LLC. Can I ask why that is limited at four?

It used to be three. And then when we had ACL, Delta Queen, and then Viking was coming, we added one to take it to four. Well, now the Delta boats, that steam company is gone, so we're down to three. It gives us room for growth of an additional boat company. Do I anticipate one coming? I don't know. I anticipate additional boats from the other two companies eventually coming because they're in the process of looking at building more boats. I don't anticipate another company, but it still gives us room for an additional company if they desire to come here.

And if, let's say, because it's actually getting pretty popular to come up this part of the Mississippi now, are we able to come back in and address this if we need to, say, up at $2.05?

I would assume with that one hundred and eighty day out clause for us, yes. That would they were very amenable to the last time when we took it from three to four.

Okay.

Most of the time, that adds business to them. So they're very willing to work with us.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? All right. Thank you.

Thank you.

So can I please get a, request to speak to verbalize a motion? Commissioner Olson.

Thank you. I make a motion to approve.

Motion to approve by commissioner Olson, second by commissioner Young. Any discussion? Alright. Then let's please vote. That motion passes unanimously. That's the end of our agenda. I will adjourn the meeting, and I wanna thank all of our volunteers on this committee for their time and conscientiousness in, conducting the business of the Park Board. Thank you very much.