Planning and Parks Committee - Regular Meeting

I haven't seen you out on my trail lately. I used to see every I saw I know I saw you before when I was walking one day or riding your bike. Well, this week the missus and I have grandchild duty. So, 6, 4, and 2-year-old for about uh 9 days while their parents are in Hawaii. Long needed vacation. I don't know if I can do that like I would like to. We are live. Very nice of you considering they're 6, 4, and 2. Yeah. [laughter]

Uh welcome to the City of Wildwood Council Planning and Parks meeting um for today, April the 21st. And we have 11 items ready for action this evening. And we need a roll call. Um uh Chairwoman is absent tonight and so we have Acting Chairman Hutchens. Yes. Uh Council Member Rambo. Here. Council Member Dobbs. Here. Council Member Ottenad. Here. Council Member Rubleske. Here. Council Member Kraenzle. And Council Member Chiodini. Our next item is approval of the minutes from Wednesday, March the 25th. Does anybody have any corrections to the minutes? All those in favor of approving the minutes from Wednesday, March 25th, say I. I. I. Any opposed? Nay. Chair, can we get a motion and a I'll motion. for the minutes Oh, yes, we can. I'll motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I. I. All those opposed? Any abstentions? Thank you, ma'am. The minutes passed. Uh public input for any um comments on the action items on tonight's agenda, ma'am. Would you like to say something? Oh, yes. Yes, now you may a little bit worried. My name is Karen Bressler. I live here in Wildwood. I have a little farm here in Wildwood. As most of you have been doing and I've been doing You've been following the news

about the Strait of Hormuz being shut. And although we're doing a lot uh hope and it seems to things to be getting better. It's been going up and down. Um if our gas prices go up to $7 a gallon, that's going to put a big strain on our community members. And I was just thinking that maybe the city ought to have some thoughts about uh the poor, the elderly. Uh if God forbid something happens, I know there's food banks, but if people have trouble getting around, uh if if if the gas prices go up like that, obviously it would affect everything else. So, I was thinking I know what they did during World War II is they asked every you know, family to have victory garden, at least something for people to do and then they can always help and share with their neighbors. So, and I was thinking with the parks and recreation, I know you have a wonderful uh garden areas uh city garden. But even if there was like in the parks, even there was like if there was a section uh to plant corn. I know a lot of farmers are bending corn right now. All the fertilizer is the price is going to go way up because what a third of the world's fertilizer goes through that strait. So, hopefully everything goes well. But it it would be nice even if you put it in a newsletter uh to encourage people to have a victory garden because times are uncertain. And the worst thing worst case can scenario, they can donate it to the food bank.

So, that's my suggestion and I think that would be a way for people to help each other in the community. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Karen, um could you spell your last name for us, please? Bressler. B R E S E S S L E R. Okay, perfect. Thank you. And where's your farm at? Uh right here in Wildwood. Whereabouts? Uh Woods Road. I have Woods Woods Road. Okay. All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comments. [clears throat]

Do we have anyone online? Uh if anyone online would like to say um something, please use the raise hand feature and we will promote you to a panelist. yourself. So, our first action item under planning matters is city contribution to the second publication and Leader Press Route 66 magazine. It applies to all wards. Mr. Bunevich. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair and members of the committee, welcome. Thanks for being here tonight. We certainly appreciate it. Obviously, without you we can't get through our agenda items, so your attendance is very much appreciated. Um tonight we do have a special treat. We bought some cookies um to honor Ms. McCutchen and Mr. Gallani since this is their last meeting and we want to at least have something to make it special for them. So, help yourself. The item that is first on tonight's agenda relates to the 100th anniversary of Route 66. Um as you know, 2026 is that 100th anniversary. And over the course of 2025, our Historic Preservation Commission and our City Council have been working on events, activities, and plans for the future. And the future is here now. One of the first things that the City of Wildwood did was participate in the development of a one-of-a-kind magazine that was done by Leader Press out of Eureka Pacific. Eureka Pacific and Wildwood contributed to that particular magazine.

And as it's referenced in the memorandum a number of copies were prepared, 3,000 to be exact. And of those 3,000, all have been distributed and all were distributed in less than 2 months. The Leader Publications um was very pleased with the outcome of it. And the cities of Eureka, Pacific, and Wildwood still get requests for the magazine. Obviously, the distribution was greater than they had initially thought. And now um others are wanting it as a keepsake or to have it through their businesses and distribute it. So, Eureka and Pacific have already made commitments to Leader Press to contribute $2,200 to the second publication. The second publication will not necessarily be identical because the first publication, we as the City of Wildwood, had not finalized all the dates of our events. The second publication would allow us to update that information as well as the other two communities. So, tonight the department is respectfully requesting authorization to proceed forward with the expenditure of $2,200 to participate with the cities of Pacific and Eureka in the second publication. Mr. Lee, our city administrator, has been advised it's well within his purview to spend that amount of money, but he and I both thought it's best to bring it to committee and advise by Mr. Rubleske the demand. And we think it's actually just a wonderful opportunity to kind of update again and if we can um there is money in the department's operating budget for the particular expenditure.

So, from that perspective, we feel we have all the boxes checked. And we just like the endorsement of the committee. I. Um if we go with a second printing, would it be possible to change the front cover to depict the Big Chief Grill? Uh we can certainly ask. I think obviously Leader Press leans more toward the south than the north relative to our boundaries as cities, but I can certainly ask. I can't guarantee it. Yeah, that's fine. But if you want to make that a contribution contingent to that, that certainly could be part of the motion.

No, not necessarily contingent, but the worst that can happen would be they say no. Would you accept if I can convince them maybe a insert? This is Red Cedar, which is now not a restaurant, but the museum. But maybe we could get an insert of the Big Chief or something cuz it it is a restaurant and equally as important and historic relative to Route 66 is Red Cedar Inn. Yeah, any exposure that we can get for something in Wildwood would be good. Yeah. See what I can do, sir. Thank you. Katie. Um I'll make a motion that we proceed with this, but I also have a question in regards to how many copies the city's going to have. Does a leader send it out to their own address list or No, we only have I uh I'm going to draw a blank. Hopefully Melanie will remember. I think we got 500 of the original. Oh, okay. And I And we distributed them to city council, to the historic preservation commission. We also had them available at a couple of our events in the national uh um And then we had them here. Uh we gave some to the Wildwood Historical Society to distribute. Um but let me find out for sure

Yeah, I just want to make sure we get some to Yeah, yeah. We We um we got a good number of them. I remember it was like six or seven boxes. Okay. Cuz I had to lug them off the floor on the county truck. So. Did we get a second? I'll do it if no one else has. Katie made that motion, Scott seconded it. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I.

I. I. Any opposed? Any abstain? Motion passes. Thank you all very much. Pretty exciting time and um I don't know if you've seen the flyer that we've done for that July weekend. Uh it's really kind of coming together, but we'll talk about that probably next month. Mr. Vunich, the architectural review process. Thank you again, Madam Chair. Madam Chair and members of the committee, as you may recall from our meeting of the city council meeting in the past well, a couple of weeks ago actually, we had a discussion relating to all the different commissions, boards, committees, ad hoc groups, special um entities that are formed. And ultimately, I believe Mr. Lee did a nice job of kind of tiering them. Tier one, tier two, tier three. As you know, tier one was those entities that we have to have to basically function as a legitimate government under state statute and under our local code. Tier three were those that are have one task and one task only, and once that task is completed, they kind of sunset themselves. An example of that is the watershed erosion task force, the partner park ad hoc group, etc. The tier two ones were the items that generated a lot of discussion here as well as city council. One of those tier two boards was the architectural review board, and there was consensus across the board, administration, public works, planning and parks committees to dissolve it and reformulate it again. So tonight, the department is providing you some background on how um discussions prior to that uh that decision at the April city council meeting

would basically reorganize that board. And so in terms of next steps, which are described in the memorandum, the first is the recruitment component. Creating what we will call a request for qualifications and send it out to architectural firms and individual architects to provide this type of service. The intent would be to create a one or two page request for qualifications and then have that draft back to you in May for review. Make sure it's inclusive of all the key components that you would like to have in it as we proceed forward. Um we believe we'll get a pretty good response. Um what we'll also ask for, as we do with professional services, is um if they've done this role in the past, and if they've done this role in the past for what communities and how successfully. Professional services, unfortunately, we can't ask for hourly rate. We have to select first based on qualifications, then negotiate. That's a state statute, as I found out early on in 1995 when I was here. Secondly, uh the department and the city attorney would like to begin a legislative component, which is to amend the current requirements as they are reflected both in our zoning ordinance and the municipal code. I included the current regulations that established the board and its authorities and roles, and for the most part how it got to be what it was. Then finally, um the department has identified a 10-step process uh relative to when we have the new board constituted and how that would function. And I kind of alluded to this and

identified some of the steps at the April city council meeting. And I thought it best if we put them down in black and white so you could see it on paper. Um like any submittal, it would start with the department of planning, the applicant submitting to the department of planning. And in this particular case now, there would be also a fee required to cover the cost of the consulting architect. Um Noelia and I talked how many country or their board of adjustment, they used to basically say $2,500 or I think it was 3,000 um like an initial um uh amount, and then depending on the number of hours that we put in, our legal fees, or whatever. So larger projects tend to cost um more um towards and and smaller projects tended to be um less expensive, and the balance would be returned at the end of that. Um or if it exceeded $3,000, which on occasion it did, we would reach out to the applicant and let them know. So she's the way to do this so that the taxpayers aren't paying for the service, but the taxpayers obviously are getting the benefit, and the process continues forward, which is key to the applicant as well. Uh secondly, and I did mention this at the April city council meeting, the department does now for our architectural review board, has in the past since its establishment back in the late 1990s, does that preliminary review, making sure the application's complete, all of the components of the architectural package are available, and meet the requirements, etc. And then we also if there's an ordinance like a PRD, planned residential development overlay district, or a CA, planned commercial district, if there's specifics in there like using hardy board versus vinyl, architectural shingles, um penetrations through the roof, matching shingle colors, we'll check all of that just from the ordinance perspective to basically make it a

little easier, a little cost-effective, then as well as more timely for the consulting architect. We'll send those comments back, so what we send to the consulting architect, hopefully, is a pretty complete package, and they can spend their time basically reviewing against the town center guidelines and the general requirements for other buildings outside town center. Step three, excuse me, step four is the architectural package is returned to the city, and we send that on to the applicant. And then we kind of if there are additional comments, we kind of recycle those steps again. And then finally, once it's determined complete, we take it to the planning and zoning commission. And the intent is to have a new uh standing agenda item on the planning and zoning commission's agenda each month that would be architectural review. And then planning and zoning would provide that service. And then ultimately, as with any site development plan, conditional use permit, zoning, it comes to city council as a receipt file, and ultimately, you have the authority to review that if there's something that you've heard from residents of nearby the development or the the applicant themselves. So generally speaking, that's the 10 steps that we think would accommodate um a reasonable, timely, and complete review process for the architecture. So tonight, the department is respectfully requesting three things from the kid committee. First, authorize the preparation of the request for qualifications, the RFQ. Secondly, authorize the city attorney and the departments of administration and planning to prepare the necessary legislation once we're at that stage to

be introduced for consideration by city council. And then finally, endorse the 10-step process so that we can basically begin getting those steps finalized, and if we think of any others, bring them back to you. If there are any questions, the department would be glad to answer them at this time. Thank you. Uh [clears throat] Director Vunich, are you looking for three separate motions, or can we do it all in one? I would prefer just one. All of them will be back to you um in final form. So for that purpose, I think one motion on all three would be uh sufficient. I'll make the motion for Director Vunich to proceed as he described. A second. Matt? Did You second it. Okay. I got a question.

[clears throat]

Are you going to be providing this document once it's finalized to anybody that's doing any kind of development as like in our in their initial meeting with the city before they even start building plans out so that they know what they're going to have to do. Okay. Yes, ma'am. The only thing I think it's missing right now and that's the reason I say this document will be back to you eventually in final form. I like to put some time frames with it. Yeah. I was just going to Everybody knows here's what their expectation on your part is as the applicant and here's what you should expect from us as the city. Yeah, it'd be nice to see we need this first within so many weeks, this within so many months or whatever your time frame is and then if something comes up that requires that be adjusted for some reason they find that they start digging a hole and guess what it's going to take That our cell ourselves. It's going to take more time but just somehow so we put together a project timeline on this so that was going to be my other statement is can we somehow on this proposed process indicate that they provide us their initial project timeline. We'll add that definitely. That's a great That puts the onus on the developer rather than you guys and then you you can determine is this going to be within our scope of operation or do they need to scale it back a little bit and put some extra time in between steps so we Thank you. Good suggestion. Any other comments? Scott. So, Katie makes a a good suggestion there. So, do we need to amend the motion or

That'd be fine if you would have said Or can we just and we just sort of withdraw and say motion for Director Bunevich to proceed as described to include Ms. Dodwell's suggestion. Yeah. I think with five of us here tonight as committee members, I think that we can be a little more informal and say withdraw and then we I'm okay with that. All right. Everyone okay with that? Yeah. Okay. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Abstain? The motion passes. Thank you very much. We'll keep working on them and get them resolved. So, then next item is recent development trends within the city of Wildwood including zoning authorization for building permits. Scott department is that you, Joe? Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair and members of the committee, if there are any questions I I'm not necessarily a a greedy soul but I do want to note that as of uh the first three months of this year we've collected $10,000 in authorization fees per the city council's action approximately two years ago to actually raise that cost from zero to $50. Um as you can see from just the the the girth of the report meaning the number of pages we sure have a lot going on in Wildwood right now. Are there any questions about any of the information? Just Mr. Pinto and I do our best to answer them. Any questions? Comments? No. Do you need a motion? Thank you, though. You're welcome. Now we're into park matters with seven items ready for consideration. The first one is park and recreation regulations proposed changes in the

Village Green use. Mr. Bunevich. What I do? Um thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair and members of the committee um the department has prepared a memorandum for your consideration tonight relating to potential changes to our park and trail regulations. As you know many years ago we adopted these regulations as our park system grew and our trail corridors increased in length. Along with just our traditional parks and trail corridors, we've also been picking up areas of public space through our public space ordinance that's part of the zoning code. Um Those regulations I think have served the city well and generally speaking I think we have a very safe park system, safe trail corridors and I think they are well maintained and people respect the improvements we have in there in terms of their use. The thing I love about our residents is they let us know when something's broken and generally help us out very much in terms of there's vandalism or graffiti things like that so we can stay on top of things. The regulations contain one specific item that is the subject of tonight's discussion and it prohibits prohibits alcohol in our parks. The drinking the carry etc. perspective we've been fortunate in that we don't have problems like that and as you can see from the last time we discussed this as a committee several years ago we had two incidences that the police

reported and it was minors with alcohol. However, we face a new challenge today. Previously our concerts and Celebrate Wildwood were on privately held property and right of way. a park property Now that we moved to Village Green facing a um restriction in our own regulations relative to the property. And as you know over the years particularly with our concert series we've allowed the Lions Club to sell beer and wine spritzers I believe um in their tents as they distributed the hot dogs and chips and etc. Also at Celebrate Wildwood we have a number of different vendors. We have Pond Athletic Association that sells beer and their pretzels. We have a craft beer person that sells their specialty and then last year the Lions Club sold margaritas out of the can so to speak. Um All of that can't occur in our parks right now with that particular regulation. And so tonight the department is presenting to you a change that would allow alcohol to be on property for sale by an outside entity through a system of licensing via state, state those county and the city under temporary permits and all governed obviously by our liquor code. Um so as we can have the Lions Club or any fraternal or not-for-profit organization selling at our events if we choose and particularly at Celebrate Wildwood which is probably our major endeavor and for many of the businesses very good

fundraising activity as well. So, there is a proposed language um that language has yet to be finalized by our city attorney but by the if it is a favorable action tonight and turn it over to the City Council it will be finalized for all of you to review. So, the request tonight is to authorize that change so as we can continue to what we've been doing for many years in our new Village Green facility. Comments? Um that being said um our next City Council meeting I think is after our first event here and so do we need to do something now to allow for alcohol to be at that event? Well, surprisingly our city attorney said if we issue a special events permit which is in our zoning ordinance to the Lions Club and their liquor license from last year carries through the end of May we can address it. Okay. I wouldn't want to do that on an ongoing basis that's skirting the regulation. And so but thank you for asking because So, then can we have this back by next month so that we can then get it on June. June's Okay, so it would be July before Council got it. Um

[sighs]

What I would hope to do is to bring this back to you as committee in May, have it at the first meeting in June and ask for the legislation to be read twice. Okay. Okay. It would catch us at the June concert and then there Okay. Scott. Just to confirm this would apply only to Village Green, correct? That is the intent. I will tell you that internally we talked about potentially Community Park with the pavilion but and we know people bring alcohol to some of the events there because when our contractor cleans the trash cans there's a lot of bottles and cans. Um but I didn't think from the perspective of the department it was appropriate to kind of Okay, we've done Community Park. Now we have a pavilion at Anniversary Park and now we're getting into the neighborhoods. And so the thought was let's keep it simple. Village Green was intended to be our focal point in our downtown area. And I thought that was appropriate to stick there. Any comments? I can't think of anything. Um When you bring alcohol in and especially if there's young people, you're going to get trouble. Um I think if there's This sounds like a great idea, but maybe it could be limited like maybe have tickets for like maybe two drinks that they can purchase or something like that. I know hopefully adults behave themselves. Most crimes, I got a police officer here, they are people under the influence, most homicides, uh aggressive behavior, fights, usually there's alcohol involved. So you don't want to open a door for that. We certainly don't want to I mean this is my city, too. Um

I I mean just you know you think you have teenagers or grandchildren. Uh if you're going to you're going to have you definitely will have to have more police uh watching everybody and uh at least have something like it's I know like if someone's publicly intoxicated, I know I guess I guess you'll have to let people know that you know you're that drinking is fine as long as it's not go overboard, not get drunk. And if you are drunk, then you're going to be escorted out. There's fights, if there's anything like that. [clears throat] Um or any kind of aggressive behavior. So I'll let you know just consider that. Yes, ma'am. Any other comments? Mr. Dowell. Just a real quick comment in regards to that having worked the Lions Club um beer garden multiple times. Um I'm confident that the individuals who are serving said items, they want it to be a positive environment for everyone involved. And if we would see someone that had been by four or five times in an hour trying to get a beer, I will say no more. You got the two-hour drink [clears throat] limit, that kind of stuff. So I think a lot of the vendors are going to make sure that they don't want that on their shoulders, either. So So the policemen will be up to the bartender? I mean are you I I think I guess if the city can let them know we want people to have a nice time, but we don't want it to get overboard and give me a chance. excessive and try to limit

it to two drinks. Um maybe people can purchase ahead of time and the um part of the money could go to the city, some to the vet, however it works out. Some and then just say they purchase ahead of time and try to try to have two per person. So you we want to have a nice time. I guess people can bring their own, but if they get I just I'm just having two boys that you know they went through their teens and all that and you know being in the bathroom after words and and and the stories that they tell and what they're So just also nowadays so many young people just are not uh watched. They're not There's no guardianship. There's no there oversight and they get wild. So I just say try I feel I feel fairly certain that that people who are selling alcohol are very much aware of the age of the person who's buying the alcohol and it will not be sold to minors. Even 18-year-olds, even you know you know just Yeah. Actually

Mr. Rambo. Yeah, I know it's Yeah, I um I I I've never seen I've never seen any any problem whatsoever at any of the city events. And what we're actually doing is moving our city's our town center city events about 600 ft west with exactly the same vendors um except that it's now in a park. And so we're just kind of changing the uh technical aspect of the procedure, but um we we have had no problems in the past and I wouldn't expect any in the future. Joe, is there something that you can do between now and you when you bring this final this back to us finally to look into the suggestions of have of limitation and whatnot and just make a recommendation. There's a couple of things I want to mention. Notwithstanding Celebrate Wildwood, which is our longest event in terms of time, we start around 11:30 with the opening ceremonies and we go to about 9:00 when the fireworks start. Certainly if somebody were there at the event that entire time and desired to drink that entire time, they they certainly could get a little tipsy. And I I mean no pun by that. Um the concerts are very different. They're only about 2 hours long. And so the sale of alcohol isn't that extensive and it's done by the Lions Club, not a vendor a bar vendor or someone akin to that. And Officer Fisher can attest um since the inception of our concerts and large events, we've always had a substantial police presence and that's intentional. And that's because we want our families to come here and know that they are they are safe and that if there is an issue, there's an officer within easy reach to basically address it and not have them um to deal with it. And as I say, the

council has always supported that. There's a cost to having that many officers there, but I think there's a greater cost if we don't. And so we've been fortunate, knock on wood, but as Dr. Rambo said, we take a lot of precautions to ensure that what people see is what they think is, "Oh, this is great. This is this is happening because we're all nice people." No, there's a lot of things that go into it to make sure it stays that way. But we'll investigate what um uh what has been asking and been response for it. Thank you. And Just to address your comments and to clarify the issue, alcohol has always been present at these events. This is just because it's on city property, we have an ordinance that says we prohibit alcohol. So this would allow the same vendors who distributed alcohol last year and all the years before to do the same on the on city park property. Correct. Thank you for the clarification. Any other comments?

a change. We're not Yeah. Any other comments? Do you need a motion? Please. Uh we'll get uh get Mr. Young's final comments and we'll bring it back to you at the May meeting in final form. Thank So would you like a motion today? Yes. I'll make that motion. Scott. Rob. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstain? Abstain. Motion passes. Thank you. And then Melanie, we have bidding results for accessible improvements at Community Park. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh Madam Chair and uh members of the committee, uh as you are aware, um the city recently like as of last year went to uh through a an audit process uh for all of our existing parks uh to determine any kind of improvements that we may potentially make as far as accessibility is concerned. Um a lot of our facilities are 20 years old or so and um they were built to be ADA compliant at the time that they were built, but you know things change, times change, and so we wanted to make sure that we were still um at least meeting minimum standards or exceeding them in in many cases. Um so Unlimited Play uh at the time that they were working on our um Unlimited Playground, uh they conducted the audit of the other facilities and brought the results back to us. Um And there were several They broke it down by different individual parks and some of the uh um additions were pretty expensive including, you know, um flat work and stuff like that for a lot of the playgrounds and having um but a lot of the things were probably less expensive and things that we could do

over time um pretty like relatively easily like adding an adult changing table or communication boards. And so after uh and we evaluated the results of said audit, um uh they said uh we set a goal to begin the process of establishing a systematic approach to uh upgrade these facilities. And uh the first one uh that we're starting with is Community Park. And uh last year in 2025 uh the uh committee and council um agreed to allocate some of our community development block grant funds towards this endeavor. And so um the department began that bidding process and uh to you to to utilize $15,000 of our existing community block grant funds that needed to be sent anyway towards this. Um, and we began the bidding process uh which did not have the results that we would have liked uh So, we did we went out to bid once for 30 days and we only received one result from KB Contracting which is included um and it was for $17,690 plus a $2,250 consulting fee. Um

[clears throat]

with and that was for one adult changing station in the family restroom and then two communication boards. Uh both of the boards in their bid were attached to existing like playground equipment or such so they'd be one-sided and attached to something. Uh and the original thing that we had looked at with uh Unlimited Play was a two-sided like a double-sided board that was uh ground mounted. Um so, we went out to bid again um as per required by St. Louis County's regulations for the community development block grant we had to put it back out for at least 15 days which we did and we received another bid from Ideal Landscape Group for slightly more. I think it was like $437 more with the uh for $18,125 um which includes one adult changing station and then it's two communication boards but one is affixed to um existing equipment. The other one is ground mounted. Um So, they're very similar very similar bids. This one is slightly over but it does have the double-sided ground mounted sign. Um so, the city reached out to your St. Louis County because uh we preferred the ground mounted and they uh recommended that we reach out to the original bidder KB Contracting and give them an opportunity to bid the double-sided um uh double-sided ground mounted sign which we did and uh we'll be sending all of this in to St. Louis County this week. Um who's running S favor? I'm a little busy.

[laughter]

But yes, so um hopefully we will um have that approved in the very near future. Uh in this case because it is a community development block grant uh St. Louis County does choose the lowest bidder and so they would go with KB Contracting um unless like in this instance we've given them the opportunity to um come back with the two-sided and I have not heard anything back from them so we'll be sending off that information and hopefully get this uh process started as soon as possible. Um We uh the department doesn't need um any motion on this at this time. Um we're just giving you an update on where we're at with that and uh that we are moving forward slowly but surely. Uh we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Yeah, I have one. I'm good. Hey, I missed it but where's the changing station? You're talking about a single station. Yes, in Community Park. Um so, yeah adult changing station would be in located in the family restroom.

Oh, okay. The family one. Yeah, right. That's what I was looking at. So, it would be accessible by everyone. We we talked to Unlimited Play and they thought that it would be excessive to have an adult changing table in all of them. It would also be way more expensive and require a lot of like reconfiguring because of the way the bathroom is set up. So, But we're going to talk about that this one in relation to Village Green but separately. Okay. This is just for our existing facilities. Got it. Uh remind me of the weight limit on the table. Oh gosh. That's a that's an excellent question. I want to say it's a 250 lb I think.

Okay. Something like that. So, more than enough. Okay. Mhm. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? I have one. Sure. Will you explain a little bit more about communication board? Um the communication boards there's there's actually quite a variety of them and I I'm by no means an expert um but I've seen them like at my school son's playground and uh a lot of them have letters, you know, so that kids that have speech impairments and such can point at letters or pictures or something to help facilitate communication um with with their peers and with adults um and so they're they're generally designed for that. And and there's going to be two per the entire park or Yeah.

one at each station? What Yeah, it would be two um for the entire park. One is affixed to existing um infrastructure which I assume over at Community Park would probably be, you know, the fencing along the slide or something like that. Um and then one ground mounted in the freestanding Yeah, freestanding in in the actual playground which is pretty standard. Uh they don't tend to have them at every facility but like children that are aware of them and do utilize them, they know where to go and they know where to bring somebody. Um so, they they tend to be effective. Great. Any other comments, questions? You don't need a motion. That's correct. No, this is just an update to let you know where we were at with that. Thank you. You're welcome. And then the department's going to discuss the Village Green phase one and Esson log cabin. Give us an update. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair and members of the committee as you know, this coming Saturday I do is sitting Saturday in over at Village Green. That tells me and hopefully tells you as we made it. It's been bit of a process but we're there and I don't know about you but I I think it's just a really special place. All that is left for Bombshell Construction is to provide paperwork to the city. That paperwork includes all of the finalized permits from St. Louis County for the electrical, plumbing, etc. The authorization and final permits from Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District for all the storm water improvements and equally important if not more in my mind the as-builts making sure everything was built according to approved plans. So, it's a lot of paperwork. Relative to the site it's done. So, congratulations to all of you. Thanks

for your patience and your perseverance. Esson log cabin if you've not noticed is moving along quite quickly and they're doing the chinking now between the logs themselves. Um if I were to offer a guess based upon conversations with um Mr. McDonald, the contractor that was awarded the project it could be as early as May we have uh um a almost complete facility. That being the cabin. There are some uh obviously ground improvements that need to be done an accessible sidewalk to the site entry for um for uh for our population. Um then we've got a some split rail fence that'll kind of be at the entry to kind of introduce it, separate it and then some landscaping that we've talked about in the past. Um That project is on budget. You've not seen a change order. Mr. McDonald is pretty amazing. Um So, tonight that's the update. Um also tonight in the memorandum I said this would probably be the last one that's acceptable to the committee. Um done 24 months of them approximately and I don't think we have anything really new to add after tonight. Uh certainly when Esson log cabin gets to that stage we'll let you know as a separate memo and some of the things we're planning to do there like we with the planning over at um Village Green we'll be having a ribbon cutting or something akin to that. But I think we're pretty close. So, with that I'll conclude and ask if there's any questions. Um you may have told us this already but is there some kind of placard that's going to be there that talks about the history of this house?

Yes, the Historic Preservation Commission wants to do something. Given the cost of our historic community markers as we've discussed back and forth. I apologize again. If you've seen those those interpretive signs along the trail system, they're composite material. They hold up pretty well. They're colorful. I was thinking that that would be something we would use there. And certainly will whatever text is proposed will go through our Historic Preservation Commission to City Council and also the Esson family. But can we get that accomplished before the end of this year, you think? Melanie? Maybe. We've had some challenges Melanie but we can definitely try. I know, Melanie.

[laughter]

Yeah, um first thought about the sign um a lot of the places like over at Faust Park for example, they have the sign inside and you look through the window and people are going to be looking in the windows anyway and maybe we can have a cheap sign that's not weather resistant that says everything we want and um you know, at least to start out and save us some money and until we get figured out but um that's just that's just neither here nor there. What I really wanted Joe were two things. First, um there's a there's a row of some columnar form of tree and I haven't walked over there and seen what species but couple of them are dead between us and the Village Green. Are we I mean, is is Bombshell supposed to fix those? What's the deal with those? Well, part of the paperwork are the warranties. I failed to mention that. We have a warranty on the planting. So, and Mike Walsh has done an inspection already, the city's arborist.

Okay. And there's about five or six he says need to be replaced.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah. Yeah, okay. And so finally, you were going to look into um this was a question I asked after a meeting, but you were going to look into the maintenance cost for the cedar shingles and see I haven't gotten those yet. In fact, Well, it's moving on, so maybe it's not worth it. Again, obviously there's those that feel the natural cedar shakes are preferable. Um the direction I received from city council was to stay with the original bid synthetic. We're getting samples of the synthetic shingles from our at the records. They should be delivered to city hall this week. Certainly we'll take a look at them, but um I didn't get a price um I didn't get a cost difference. So, the the discussion was uh synthetics last, you know, 10 to 20 more years. And the the quote that we heard for a whole house was 150 bucks a year for maintenance. It's you you got to clean them every year and seal them every few years. Um it seemed nominal for the reality that you know, rather than a rest per day we wanted to get away from the reproduction and have it a restoration and cedar made sense for me, but we decided not to even though we're getting cedar much more expensive shingles for the same cost because the contractor wants to do it rather right, and so it was worth considering um you know, the the cost. I understand, but again from the department's perspective, if Mr. Marshall mentioned that assessing the shingles on a yearly basis was $150, when a city does it, it's $1,500.

okay. Yeah, I mean, fair enough, and I voted for the composites and so I'm okay either way. I just it's it's I mean, out of the generosity of his heart, Mr. the the fellow running Shady Creek was offering a an upgrade. I mean, kind of shot him down and I I we didn't have sufficient information because it was apocryphal that's $150 20 years ago. Well, it was a whole house, etc. etc. So, And again, yeah, and that was that 10 years ago or 2 years ago? The cost of everything has gone up.

Sure, sure. Our craftspeople, our plumbers, our electricians, there isn't a bill these days that doesn't seem to be under a few thousand dollars even for the simplest task. So, I'm particularly [clears throat] attuned to that. And I know we want to be as historically correct as possible with the reassembly, but I think in two instances we veered, and in two instances we've improved. The two instances we veered are the synthetic shingles and the manufactured stone for the foundation. Yeah, I'm comfortable with either way. I just it was worth asking the question. That's all.

Improvements are we've got actually windows from a cabin that Mr. McDonald has provided. Um And they are according to him period appropriate and the door. Doors, I should say. So, I'm going to stick by the bid because I don't we got to the bid through all of you because we talked about it with Mr. McDonald. We asked him and just remember the vote was very close.

Well, I actually suggested the synthetics in the first dang place. And so right here. Thank you. Um and so um and we did it to save money, but if we're not saving any money except for a couple bucks in maintenance, but you pointed out you made the perfectly valid point that if a city does it, it's a it's 1,500, it's not 150. So, Yeah, just a matter of fact right now. Everybody sees us coming and thinks

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh uh Director of Finance, the sign for the cabin, um will it have a rail component? My chance for the second pair. Perfect. Thank you. Everything we Miss Clark has had an impact on us all and we recognize now that if there's a I wouldn't say simple approach to things, but if there's an accessible approach to things, we ought to take it. It may cost a little more, but in the end it serves the greater population, and that's what you all want That's what you've told us you want. Thank you. Any other comments? So, unless there's no objection, tonight we'll pray this is the last cabin. Thank you. I do have one question. Certainly. So, on the cabin, you said you're putting um wood fan fence around it, rail fence, or what? It's just as you come up to the sidewalk that will lead you to the cabin area, the original plan showed just two sections of three three rail split three rail fence. It's kind of just a kind of focus you to that entry area. So, it's just two sections. I believe they're 8 ft long. So, six six rails and how many posts necessary. That's it. So, is there any possibility of maybe having some kind of um period um activity at the Aslin cabin? Like when we have a a big event there. Oh, yeah. Maybe boy scouts at Celebrate Wildwood, they're always wanting to do something. Yeah, the uh historic preservation commission has been talking about a whole lot of things. Maybe getting some of our gardeners to plant things over there that are period relevant that period. I don't know what that would be.

I assume they didn't have tomatoes like we do today. Maybe I don't know. No, theirs was better. But you know, but all I would say is is there historic preservation commission is looking into it. And certainly um the Wildwood Historical Society has offered to help if we have certain events. They feel that would be um they would they would like to participate if they if if it if they could add something to it, which I think they always can. Thank you. Do you need a motion? No, it's uh I think we're all set. And the next item is um Oh, I've lost my place. Four. Four. Okay. Village Green Phase Two, third draft of the engineered plan for Oak Knoll playground. So, I'll start with an apology. Um Last week was kind of hectic as we got near the end of it, and I forgot to include the information on the restroom facility. So, I provided it to you tonight at your chairs. So, first of all, my apologies. And with the assistance that Mr. Ribitol will give, we'll also put it up on the screen. First, I I'd like to just talk real briefly about the engineered plan for phase two. And just highlight a few things that have transpired since our March meeting. First of all, um might see a new thing on the plan. It's storm water management facility. We were hoping the existing facility we built in part of phase one, which was a discussion we had with the engineering company in phase one, that it would accommodate the additional runoff. What we found is it doesn't, and the reason the reasons why are as follows. First,

the soft play surface is impervious. Second, it's almost an acre of impervious surface. And that relates to the safety concerns associated with another facilities. So, we have an underground detention facility. Secondly, um the paths have now been increased in width from 6 ft to 10 ft, which is the standard that we think works best particularly for accessibility purposes. The question tonight to the committee is a less expensive approach would be asphalt versus concrete. Concrete surfacing was shown first. Asphalt will be less expensive and in some regards easier to maintain over the length of the project, so to speak. So, that's a question for all of you. Um Dave Buckle, the general contractor with Ideal Landscape Group, says he's done both. So, it's really a question um I'd like to hear your all's opinion on. Katie. I'd make a motion that you go with the asphalt. It can be easily included in street repairs. And it doesn't cost as much as concrete, and it's a little bit more malleable. I'll second that. Yes, Katie. Asphalt doesn't have seams like concrete does. So, for a wheelchair it's easier to navigate on asphalt. Good point. Good point. It is rougher, though. The roughness is okay. It's where it's where the concrete does this. Um I'm just saying if I if I had if I had my druthers, if I was going to fall, I'd

rather fall on concrete than fall on asphalt. That's all. That's all. But yeah, what what's the cost savings? It's probably um 2/3. [laughter] We have little kids. They're going to fall. Well, you eventually as we get closer to the final design on the plan.

My pitch is always asphalt. Like when we do street slabs, you've got to break out the concrete. It sets. We got asphalt in City Park. This you just mill out and 24 hours later it's back to you can use it. You use it. So, it's just in a in a high high traffic area like this playground's going to be, I think asphalt also works better from that perspective. Does it offset any any um over overages or I'm hoping it helps with the storm water facility.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Okay. All right. Um couple of another positive way the grading is working out relative to the improvements to the site. The retaining walls that were initially thought to be fairly tall aren't and they'll be able to be seating walls in some instances. So, we'll have seating around the perimeter of the playground area itself. So, that's a real plus.

That'll be good. Two things we're still working on. First, the gates. How if an individual and an and the caregiver come up to a gate without the caregiver having to leave the back of the wheelchair and go to the front unlock the gate and then how does it stay open and get them through the gate etc. We haven't figured that out yet. Unlimited Play is still working on that. And then secondly, um we still show parking off of Crestview Drive. And unless you all tell me differently, it'll stay there until we figure it out because as as we talked and you endorsed, I'm not putting words. We can't have an accessible facility where the parking's 300 ft plus away. So, we'll figure it out. I promise. But it's still there. Well, hopefully we get that street figured out. What's the good of having a all inclusive playground if you don't have parking where the kids can get to it? Yeah. Bottom line. Yeah, I mean there are questions. So, that's the latest version. Some positives and some things that are still in the air a bit. Okay. The restroom. Yeah, that's what I was Yeah, I had a question on that. So, um the restroom facility as we talked is My piece. Um sorry. Um is We've got it all in front of us, so don't worry.

in terms of at $210,000 we'll get one toilet facility for men and women. Think for wash air hand dryer and two adult changing tables in each Pardon me. In each of the men's and women's facilities. We'll have a small storeroom in the back for the mechanicals and plumbing. It's very modest, but it's at $210,000. So, that's the proposal and you have the invoice that reflects the components and the the line item charges for each component. Also, at the last meeting I asked if you all had a preference for material and color. And McCutchin did send over some suggestions. Um thereafter, um and I have those somewhere. Do you have them with you? Um in terms of exterior wall colors, Mr. McCutchin identified oatmeal buff as an option. In terms of exterior stone, blend. Texture for the exterior walls, barn wood. And then the cedar shake underneath the barn wood. And I did say if there is others, write them down and we can talk it through. Thank you. Um I guess I'd like to call on Rob who is sort of our unofficial environmental consultant. Ian, as you look at these colors and think about, you know, the environment that we're in here in Town Center and colors of the Essen cabin and so on and

Village Green, like what might you recommend in terms of exterior colors and um um you know, that sort of thing. I would say I'm the worst person to to pick colors, but what I will say about that is um it's going to be, you know, associated with the playground and something that's little brighter and more kid like seems appropriate to me. I don't want it to be just a, you know, tan and a gray roof or something like that, but that's just my own personal preference. I really don't think the um I really don't think [clears throat] the building is close enough to anything else to have to match or anything like that. So, um I had other questions here. Okay, go ahead. Let me ask them. Um this is these are more prac- So, so I'm sorry. I I um it was not useful to ask me that particular, but I do have um a couple of others. The drawings, it's looks like you scratched out an additional um uh toilet facility uh on each side and then you're doing something with the walls and um then you added the adult changing stations and I'm not I'm not going to get into the details of the floor plan, but I do you want to know um uh if the if it's po- I'm not sure the I've never seen an adult changing station actually in use. Maybe they're in use more in the in the woman's side. It's not a it's not fair to have it in one side and not in the other, but I'm wondering if there's a creative way to like use some of your storeroom space and move put in an extra door and um have an adult changing stations cuz they're not looking for convenience as much as they are dignity and if we can give them a, you know, the privacy that they want um and disposal of whatever soiled items they have, um

maybe one uh is is sufficient and we can regain the restrooms and what would that do to the cost? So, I'm I'm changing things on the fly here and I apologize for that, but I really two adult changing stations, one in each bathroom just because we want to keep the gender separate doesn't seem like the most efficient use of that space and maybe I'm wrong, but How do the adult changing stations work? Do they work like children's? So, they fold up against the wall and they're out of the way. So, it's a moot point. Genesis of all this was a one of our meetings on Unlimited Play playground said that she got when she took her son to community park years ago she had to put her on the floor to change her. Oh, yeah, yeah. I remember all that and I I support the idea. It's just I'm trying to gain back toilet space because it's our only restroom and the alternative is to have porta potties more often than we normally would have to if we had a two holer instead of a one hole. So, Mr. Buckles working on the fly with me on this because this is kind of a late addition cuz originally as you know, we didn't have a restroom like the overall master plan for today. Um So, all of this back here will not be part of the part of the restroom. Oh, I see. Yes. What will happen is this space between the men's and women's will increase slightly to be that mechanical room. And that's why these walls are shown removed because it's just a single space now. Okay. Toilet, sink, changing table and the door will lock when someone's in, unlock when someone's out. So, it's really

take all of this away. If we had all of this, women's here, men's here, this would and I think your suggestion might be worth exploring. I think I think so because we're trying to I mean, we can solve the problem and still have a much more usable restroom facility, it seems to me. So, what we have to think about, too, is that there's that 60 circulation Yeah, yeah, yeah. Circle that we have to accommodate around all of the accessible. So, when you start factoring in 5 ft the 5 ft diameter. Um so, But it's just a sign that says changing station in rear and put it by the ladies, put it by the men's, then they go around to the rear or something like that and um that's your changing that's your single adult changing station. Well, we just in this instance, we just don't have the space. Cuz this is I say, it's truly just mechanical. It's the mechanical room for plumbing and electrical. Mhm. And that's it. It's worth perception, I think, that you're saying go around the back where we're trying to make it inclusive. So, I think

but we can make it inclusive at the expense of of utility for, you know, for everyone including folks that have um special needs kids because I I, you know, like I said the point is to give them the privacy and the facility that they need but having having you know dedicated the space to a an adult changing station in the men's and the women's restrooms for the for the once in a blue moon type of occurrence that that that you know that you know requires an adult changing station you know you don't you don't really doesn't seem to me like you need

often it's going to take for an adult changing station because we're creating a playground that would allow families to come where they can't come at other locations and so with that changing table that in each restroom um if for some reason somebody's already working in one restroom um another family could use the other restroom I would assume we would have a lock on the door so that they could turn turn the lock while they're doing that work and then open it when they leave Yeah I'm I'm just I'm suggesting that there would be in in that scenario there would there would be a queue outside the restroom while someone is locked in there for 10 minutes um doing the the changing thing and so I it was worth asking the question sounds like it was a stupid idea but stupid wasn't stupid I just no ideas are stupid if we had if we had funding for the larger we could explore it so it's 210 for the smaller one okay all right

[clears throat and snorts]

that that goes already so I hate to take this position because I don't like spending money um but I go to De Pere Park quite often with my kids on Saturdays and Sundays and they have a robust restroom facility on the men's side there are two urinals and two stalls two wash stations it's not uncommon for that to be completely occupied this is a lot of money for two stalls and I would make them gender neutral because I don't think you want to lock lock it up um but I'm just wondering it's a lot of money for just two toilets effectively and if this park is going to be as busy as we think it's going to be I think that you're going to it's a lot of money to spend to have people standing waiting to use the restroom Mr. Kradel I appreciate the committee if you'd like me to bring back the proposal for the larger facility which then does include additional toilets and a urinal see if we can add another sink I'd be glad to see what that costs not saying it's what we would do and again I don't like spending money unnecessarily but if we're 210 into this I don't think this is going to live up to and meet the need based on what I've seen in other parks if this is as busy unfortunately it works when there's a limited number of people and other than that when it's busy when you have little kids it's now yes Scott well I think um Councilman Burr I think he makes a good point here because um I'm thinking of the nature of the how do I phrase it population of children that come here that there may be a uh

somewhat significant percentage that may have to take advantage of these changing stations and so I I would agree with um his statement yeah I don't necessarily like spending money we don't have to but um considering what the playground is intended to draw in [clears throat]

it may be worth us considering uh if this was a hundred thousand I'd say do this yeah but now that we're 210 you know seems like can we try to squeeze any more out of this it will take it up to 320 well does it have to be the modular one can we get one that's um I mean cinder blocks are cheap and they go up easy according to Mr. Buckle the the pre-manufactured types are the least expensive okay okay because we did explore that that would be yeah we went through this whole discussion in Anvers it cost um what was it $185,000 for the restroom in Anniversary Park and all this we're kind of like holy that's expensive but these things aren't something's better than nothing I just foresee issues so God so [clears throat] children or grandchildren and you want them to be successful and retire early in life give them a playground equipment how does that sound no it seems to be a lucrative field Scott uh so I I think the suggestion was made too and we didn't really talk about it much regarding birth versus the men's and women's can we make this unisex and what is required for you to do that do we need a motion for that or what do you need from us if there's consensus on you all that's what I'll do with Mr. Buckle and say let's let's see if we can let's unisex unisex so both sides available for whenever the need is there and then I wish I could say I I'd find a solution that a a less at least cost solution but I is there enough room Joe to do that I think so

is everybody comfortable with the unisex oh yeah I'm sure but family restroom what you could call it I would make them both family yeah family I think is there water like building this is there water to this or is that another expense they actually uh um extended the water line to the edge of the western edge of the oval okay when you were building okay it's there uh sewer line there's two options one comes from this direction here by city hall up and the other is up the main that parallels the south okay I just was wondering if phase one was going to be affected by phase two um when they did the extra restrooms in the back did they give us a cost when they initially proposed that

no we never got that far this was the diagram they submitted and then everybody started talking about oh that's going to be expensive so these don't even look like extra restrooms from the rendering here it looks like that's it looks like it's effectively one restroom

lockable yeah there's they're they're both in separate yeah they're separate doors on those ones on the back side it's separate doors how close is this to the playground between it it's in between between the tables a little more toward the oval but and certainly that part of that bridge is a lot of just not having to build another water line got it so any other comments Scott in between [snorts]

it's a you had mentioned some color recommendations you made in I mean I don't really have any particular preference on color I don't know if anybody else does or not but you need something final from us on the color or I was hoping maybe we could narrow it down if not I think we could wait till May if you want a little more time because um I'm going to take back and see now I'm going to get that price for the larger facility okay and I'm going to make sure we can do the unisex there's not not a particular ADA prohibition that for example for just to make sure so if you want to if you if you would would like to look at the color selections one more time but I'm probably going to ask you in May to make a decision that that's fine with me I guess my my only comment is I I've been down to the um small playground down there I think they call it Green Pines and um I've noticed restroom that's in there and I mean those colors look perfect to me for that facility I would be in favor of something like that but again I don't necessarily have a strong oh did you okay so I think you did a good job down there I mean to me that and all the equipment colors yeah I like that then Pat Tell and you know they I stepped back and said you don't want my opinion so the landscape architect park designer and Miss Pacucci and did most of the color selection I I mean I like those colors no I I agree with you I like the restroom colors there my final question the cedar shakes fake right since we just had a big discussion on it yeah cedar everything like I told you if there is a siren warning of a undeniable nuclear attack head to the restrooms folks they'll stand withstand it cuz they're nothing but concrete reinforced concrete

stiff Rob if we're going with we're going with unisex which I think is a great idea um and we're exploring the cost alternative of two toilets in each side or something like that it seems as though we can get creative with a sign that says adult changing station in one of the sides that you can go in and lock it and instead of having two maybe maybe I'll save a few bucks it's worth ask well if we do unisex restrooms, um and we have just a one adult changing table because it's available to both. Uh-huh. [clears throat] That frees up space in the other one for another uh water closet.

Yes, that's that's that's that's my point. So uh so Cuz as you can see from the note, they had to remove the one because the size of the adult changing table. Yeah, so

can minimally pick up another. You can look into that. And my final operation is I bid on a lot of these things and there's only one thing I want. Um And but but it is not that well publicized and I'm wondering I don't know if there's anything more we can do to publicize it. Is it in West magazine and those kinds of things because now it's push come to shove and um That's our next agenda item. Oh, is it the next agenda? I I thought it was just I'm I'm sorry. Jumping ahead. Anyway, that's my question and you can answer it in your spiel. So I have a request of all of you. You'll have to ask Mayor Garitano to put you back on the committee so you can take action on this in May. Can I come, too?

[laughter] You're more than welcome. But um but if you don't mind, I'll do this the additional research, get some final things, and we'll work our way back to you. That's awesome. Okay. Is there some kind of um disposable pad for sanitary reasons to go on these changing tables? Yes. Basically, you put them down and then they just go in the trash for something.

Right. So are we finished with that item? Yes, thanks for your input. Good good discussion and a lot to work on. So we'll get something back to you. Um Melanie Village Green phase two fundraising efforts and upcoming event. Hi. [laughter] Thank you, Madam Chair, and uh Council members. [clears throat] So ta-da. Um just a quick update on the uh T-Mobile grant that we discussed at the last meeting um for $50,000. Um just as an update, we I don't get excited. [laughter]

Uh we did get the application submitted on time. However, um uh they uh award the grant in June, I think June 26th of 2026. Uh so we won't hear about that until later on. But it was submitted and it was actually submitted I think a day or two early. We we really were on it. You work You work. [laughter]

Um so hopefully good news there and that was for $50,000. Um as to our other exciting news, um it is getting very close to our fundraising event {slash} Village Green grand opening, which will be happening this Saturday. Um the fundraising event that will happen beforehand is going to be at 10:00 a.m. So 10:00 till about noonish before hopefully the very large crowd of people that is here to uh uh learn about our playground and donate to the uh uh Is the 10:00 one here? Yes. So down here um and so we'll have kind of brunch and um a Bloody Mary bar and uh then it'll be opened up to um the silent auction, which you see out there, which is uh only available online. So the baskets that are out there are just so the people can see them and we've got all our very high dollar items in the fancy cabinet. Yeah, so um including our Taylor Swift guitar. It's very exciting. So yes, so we have the online auction. We haven't advertised. We sent out um things on social media um and Unlimited Play also has it advertised. It has been putting it on their social media. Uh we sent out links to people um that that we know and have encouraged people to share the links with others. And so we do have some bids. If you pull it up, you can see if there is no bid on it, there's a little thing here that says no bids. Um but if not, then you can actually click on the item and you don't even have to set up an account in order to see what's been bid. But so there's one bid on this one and so um it's pretty intuitive. And I learned today something about a max bid.

Yeah, you can put a max bid. So when you look at it when you go in, if you don't want to keep following it, but you have a certain amount that you want to um go up to or spend, you can put it in and then it'll automatically bid up until it hits your max bid. Mhm. So it's very exciting. notifies you by email if somebody if you've been outbid, right? Yeah. Yeah. So if you want to increase your max bid [laughter]

We encourage this. Yeah. So yes, so the live auction it went live on Friday [clears throat] and uh the struggle was real, but it is going and we do already have bids on a lot of the items. Um and so yes, I would encourage you to check it out if you haven't yet and or pass along the link to um everyone you know. Can we do it like on [clears throat] Nextdoor and um Yes. Pinterest, TikTok, all those kinds of things? By all means. You can send that link out to whoever, wherever. They don't even have to be, you know, local as long as they have somebody that can come pick up their item because we have not worked out shipping arrangements and that sounds a little complicated. Especially when it comes to like alcohol or things like that. So we have not given anybody that option. It is pick up at City Hall. Um so yeah. So uh that [clears throat] being said, the fundraising group has been working very hard on getting all of this together and um getting the event going. The event um will [clears throat] of course consist of kind of brunchy snacks as well as a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar and um it's not going to be real presentation heavy. Uh just kind of a welcome and overview. Uh Chelsea Value, uh one of the um women that came in to speak to us when we were originally starting these conversations, will, you know, share a little of her story and and things like that. And then Natalie McKay will also be here to kind of give a little a little spiel. Um um we'll also have the playground um mapped out outside on site. Um Oh, yes. Yes. Um so we're getting ready and so we started putting up posters um for for the event. And so we'll have this room more festive and set up as as more of a social environment uh so that people can chat and get to know each other and and we'll have um tablets as well as like a laptop so that people can use uh those two bid on things if they

want to or to even just look at the story map. I'll probably have one set up with the story map unless you want make an individual donation at the time? So yes, donations are absolutely welcome as well. Unlimited Play will also be here and they can collect checks while they're here. Checks or can they do it debit, credit? Yeah, so they can do credit do it online. The very first thing is donations when you Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We have um uh again, they can do donations without even being here. But yeah, so the sponsorship opportunities um we'll have something set up so that it will go to this and they can donate here also um and

they cannot pay the $10,000 for one particular item, how do they make Well, that's down below.

Yeah, I was going to say there's there's lower price items down below. There's 5,000, a few of those um going all the way down to I think 500. Um or there is also right here, you can see this is one-time donations or monthly donations. I'm like, that sounds great. But yeah, one-time donations. If people do uh do donation online or sponsor equipment online, there is a 3% fee that they have the option of paying or not paying. Uh we've been seeing it both ways and if they do if they opt to not pay it, it just becomes, you know, 3% less going towards the playground. And will you have some banners with that web address on it? Um so that being said, I Did you notice our banners out here for Village Green? We are definitely getting ready. They're lovely. Um and we also have a banner at the end of the park that shows where the playground's going to be because that is also a question that we get asked quite a bit. Um but from what I understand from Unlimited Play, they are actually going to on the equipment that is out there, they are going to have individual signs so that with a QR codes that will take you to it in case you decide that you do want to sponsor a piece of equipment for $10,000 while you were out there looking at it. And so um yeah, I think I even saw But my question

find that page. My my question was Uh it's on the story map. Um it's I can't get into it. Yeah. Well, so there's a QR code QR code also on all of our posters and stuff that will take you to it. Um also if you go into the newsflash on the website, there's several different links. One is for the story map, but there's also one that says I think sponsorship opportunities in the newsflash. If you click on that, it will take you to this catalog. Um yeah. And so yeah, it looks like now there are items. So it's now they are set up as individual items so people can bid on it while they are out there on the playground. So I guess the magic really is happening. Um but yeah, so it's very exciting and they say buy now. Um closed. Yeah, so it's set up just like the auction. That's really cute. We are discovering this together at the same time. [laughter] So Yeah, so I assume that that's where this is going to take people with the QR codes that are out on the playground so that people that are here for the Village Green Grand Opening will also have the opportunity to um you know uh bid on items while they're here and so uh it won't just be limited to the more exclusive fundraising group that's happening beforehand um and uh Unlimited Play will also be out on the field [snorts] um to help you know guide people answer any questions things like that they'll be sticking around for the for the actual uh full events. Um as far as the ribbon cutting is concerned um that of course will be um Mary Garritson will be you know addressing uh everyone there for that but we will have a couple of special guests. We'll have Miss Missouri Teen Greta Clark and the winner of the Wildwood logo contest will also be announced. Um and aside from that

uh Oh, I do have other exciting news. One more thing and I will quit I promise. Um Miss Bellew uh was interviewed um by Mike Bush uh with Five on Your Side. I won't play it now but um oh of course it's but yeah at any rate it came out this past weekend I think it was first played on Sunday night um but it was sharing her story um and bringing light to the park which has been at least somewhat affected because I had Lindell Bank um Can you put the links in the article? Oh, it's here. Uh Let me see if I can get the volume. The intent was to do that but I don't know that that's happened. I don't know if it's going to do volume.

[clears throat] There we go. Uh But yeah Has Mr. Troy been ahead suggested I think the the link for the article would be good but I also think direct links for the silent auction Mhm.

and the bidding on equipment. Mhm. If you could send that to the council members me telling somebody to go to the website versus giving them the link it's right here. Absolutely. Yeah.

a little easier. Yep, that's no problem at all. We'll get the link out and then we will also um I'll send you a link to the article. It was a a really good article and it's just basically saying that you know we will soon have a park here. They did not hit all of the subjects that were discussed at the actual interview but I did. pre-discussion on what would be discussed They didn't mention the fundraising. But Frankly though if if anybody's got business contacts um giving a link to a news press article and a link to the kind of solidifies it. Absolutely. And Lindell

I know there's stories embedded but it The owner of Lindell Bank actually reached out to us today because he saw the news article and so I do feel like it is it is and it's wonderful. And getting coverage is good and they offered to donate a thousand dollars so Awesome. Uh with that that concludes all of my updates regarding our event but we hope to see you there. Um and uh if you have any questions And then the auction's going to end at one after the ribbon cutting to give people the opportunity to bid until it's over. If you believe all the weather apps it's supposed to be a beauty. Yeah, yeah. So I have an observation. Um the YMCA a few months ago had a silent auction and it was miserable and myself myself and the desk folks could not collectively figure out how the hell to place a bid and so they didn't make it a lot of money on it. This is this was spectacular. It was incredibly easy to use no muss no fuss and um it does all the follow-up stuff that you guys were just talking about. So whoever picked it out or whoever designed it or whatever they did a fantastic job and I'm I I you know I was I was thrilled to be able to place my bids without a hassle so

Excellent. I agree yeah. Good job Yeah, Unlimited Play they actually regularly use the fundraising app and so we had to get all of them all the information and all of the Oh so they did the the silent auction as well? Well, they did Yeah. It was a lot of work. Yeah. No, I meant the web facility the bidding Yeah, they cut and paste everything we sent them. Okay. Okay. Um they did a great job and they helped me a lot. That was [laughter]

that was very good. Good job. Excellent. Scott Um something that we didn't cover here and I didn't necessarily expect you to cover it but I guess I'll just ask a question. Are you still accepting orders for those paving stones with the inscriptions on them? Oh yes, absolutely.

Okay. All right. We yeah that was uh part of the Village Green effort not necessarily part of the fundraising effort but yes. Can you find it on first group out at the western end of the old pool so Yes, so when they're purchased we usually wait till we get a few of them it's less expensive shipping wise. Okay. Yes, we're still we have something in the newsletter. I don't know about social media like certainly get back to it. Do you have a PDF of that form or something that you could send out? Mhm. Please.

Absolutely. We also recently created um a page on the website that is kind of like a how do you I or like get involved with my community that we've tagged in several places so that you know businesses can find it residents can find it and what have but it's it it's it's basically just kind of a landing center that brings you to the different memorial options or getting involved with city council you know or you know volunteering for a board committee commission and so we do have a page on We're doing our best to make things more accessible for things like that and then also so that people can go to one specific place and see all of the different ways that they can sponsor um you know help sponsor the city so that it's they don't find out about Celebrate Wildwood after they've already given money here you know people can allocate the funds where they would like to. We talked earlier on about having a uh something out there during the ribbon cutting about the pavers too. Mhm. You said. So it'd be nice if we could have a QR code out there for the pavers as well. Kind of forgot Maybe right over by the pavers.

Yeah, by the pavers yeah that's a great idea. Mhm. Excellent. Yes, if you have any other suggestions or thoughts on the event we're coming up on it pretty quick but I'd be happy to hear them if you think of them or want to email me. And with that [clears throat] that concludes our presentation. Thank you.

Thank you. Um usually for information is the Wildwood recreation programming does um the department have anything to add to that? Um the concerts are about to start May so kind of the official start for us here at City Hall is summer so it's coming up pretty quick. And then facility reservations registrations and uh maintenance costs for parks and trail facilities do you have anything you want to add to that? Well, we're um under budget right now compared to three months ago last year so good news there too. And now it looks like we have an executive session. Yes. Do you want to do it in here or We can just go into the council chambers. We'll need a motion motion motion roll call vote and need me to recite into the secretary that particular We got it. And the voters. So do I hear a motion to go into Robin Yeah. Seconded by Katie. Roll call please. All right, um uh Vice Chairman Kutchin Yes. Council Member Rambo Yes. Council Member Dalbos Yes. Council Member Attenberry Yes. Council Member Wolweski Yes. Council Member Trasky Yes. All right, we have four.

I'm coming. I just have to get this uh up on the screen and then I will be there.

means It doesn't make sense.

Miscellaneous. Miscellaneous. Comments. No. I have a just if I don't see you in May, thanks for all you've done in the past year. Uh helping us out with all the things we do here in the city. We certainly appreciate it. If you're back, I promise we'll have all the things we talked about. Well, you'll see us Saturday. Oh, sure. Well, we appreciate the staff and you guys keeping us um on our toes and providing us with what we need. Thank you very much. You do us about 20% of it what you do is about 20% of it. I actually think it's 50/50, but I'll take it tonight. [laughter]

So, do I hear a motion to adjourn? So moved. And Second. Katie and Vicky? All those in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion passes. Thank you all very Thank you so much. See you Saturday. So, if we get here