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BCOL Advisory Council Minutes 06-04-2010BCOL Regional Park Advisory Council Minutes: 6/4/10 BERTRAM CHAIN OF LAKES (BCOL) REGIONAL PARK ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Friday, June 4, 2010 8:00 a.m. Monticello City Hall Advisory Council Members Present: Vice Chair Larry Hance, Pat Sawatzke, Rose Thelen, Wes Olson, Pete Stupar, Gene Emanuel, Marlyn Dibben, Janice Bergstrom Advisory Council Members Absent: Lyle Trunnel, Stacy Marquardt, Clint Herbst, Glen Posusta, Jim Lindberg Staff Present: Angela Schumann, Kitty Baltos, Tom Pawelk, Marc Mattice, Jeff O'Neill Others Present: Rachael Gardener, Mike Schoemer, Mike Franzen 1) Call to order. Vice Chair Larry Hance called the meeting to order at 8 a.m. 2) Consideration of adding items to and approving agenda. Marc Mattice added the Friends T -shirt item and discussion about cancelling the July meeting. 3) Approval of May Meeting Minutes. MOTION MADE BY JANICE BERGSTROM TO APPROVE THE MAY 7, 2010 MEETING MINUTES. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY ROSE THELEN. MOTION A... � : 1 4) June 12t" Family Fun Da. Kitty Baltos stated that she could use one more person volunteering in the afternoon for the information station. Rose Thelen agreed to help after working with the Friends group that day. Baltos suggested that volunteers wear their t -shirts from last year. Set up will begin at 8:30 a.m. If not setting up at the event, volunteers would be needed to help by 9:30 a.m. Angela Schumann handed out the event flyers for group distribution. She agreed to forward an electronic copy for further distribution. BCOL Regional Park Advisory Council Minutes: 6/4/10 5) Review outcome of May 18th Open House. Marc Mattice reported that twenty -six people attended the May 18th Open House. Comment cards are being compiled and will be directed to the subcommittee for review. Participants had great questions and were supportive of the project. There was a 20 minute presentation about the Bertram project followed by informal conversations with five subcommittee groups. Jeff O'Neill asked if anyone in attendance had signed up to volunteer. Several folks demonstrated interest in helping to work on the history of the land, restoration and the ballfields. There were a few residents of Big Lake present and one from Maple Lake Township. The majority of people were local area residents. Mattice noted that the upcoming Family Fun Day was being promoted through the Friends site, the City's Facebook page, the lake association, the township boards, council members, press releases in local papers, and meeting announcements. Tom Pawelk mentioned that he had gotten phone calls from parents based on notices at schools. Thelen stated that the Wright County has gotten mostly positive input about the project. O'Neill noted that Clint Herbst had said that he'd not gotten any negative feedback about the project at the Open House. 6) Master Planning and Section Reports. Mattice reported that section report drafts are due in August. He stated that once the May 18th input is compiled the concept plan will be revisited. The Master Plan draft is expected to be completed by the first meeting in September. Mattice confirmed that the document would be presented to this group for final comment before going to council and county board for adoption. Technical Resources: Mattice indicated that Technical Resources Committee did a site review on May 12th Friends of Bertram Lakes: The Friends of Bertram Lakes would meet later that morning. He noted that membership for the Friends has been growing and that folks are encouraged to go to the Friends website to sign up for email updates about the project. They indicated that it became necessary to create a Friends contact list through a bulk mail function through the Friends website because the previous list was being treated as spam. Park Use: Mattice pointed out that the Park Use Section would be meeting later in the morning. Larry Hance asked if there had been a resolution to the future of the motocross event at the park. Pawelk noted that staff hadn't yet discussed this with the YMCA. Pat Sawatzke suggested that the Advisory Council might want to consider working directly with 2 BCOL Regional Park Advisory Council Minutes: 6/4/10 Norseman as property owner rather letting the YMCA determine any future race arrangements. Pawelk stated that he'll find out if Norseman is even interested in holding the event at the park next year. There was much discussion about the significant amount of time staff has spent preparing the property for the event. Martyn Dibben pointed out that, even after restoration, the annual motocross event doesn't allow the resources to regenerate and that invasive species are on the increase. Sawatzke indicated that it might be good to give Norseman a heads up that over the long term the Advisory Council is not necessarily in favor of allowing motorized vehicles in the park. Bergstrom suggested that the Advisory Council might want to discuss such intentions for next year this fall. Schumann suggested that this may be a good point of discussion for an upcoming agenda. Hance pointed out that the Advisory Council is a partner in ownership with the Y and as such may not have ultimate authority at this point. Wes Olson agreed that the Advisory Council is still a minority land owner and will cooperate but that the other parties should be made aware of the longer term intention for the park. 7) Funding and Purchase Update. Mattice stated that the City approved the purchase agreement and 2nd Addendum to the MOU and that the YMCA is currently reviewing it. He will bring the agreement to County board on June 8th. He indicated that the appraisal came in as expected and the closing is set for June 17th for the purchase. He pointed out that the Committee will hear about the status of the Legacy Amendment by July. Mattice explained that the LCCMR asked staff to break down their grant request into phases. Upon submitting a phased funding request, the LCCMR then asked that the Committee to resubmit a full funding request as they will be planning funding scenarios for more than a single year. He noted that the LCCMR met yesterday to prioritize grant needs and will meet next week to decide about funding. Jeff O'Neill stated that the 2011 budgeting process is underway and that information is expected to become available by mid -July. He noted that the City's Finance Director may have some ideas to fund the city share of the match. He pointed out that the City has now used all of the available park dedication funds so it is time to begin looking to other sources of funding. He noted that the Advisory Council would have to be aggressive in applying for grant funds and may also need to ask council to levy for future purchases. O'Neill suggested that perhaps one option might be to find a source to pay the City share and then reimburse the City with park dedication funds in the future. He indicated that the City has a great tax base and could possibly generate a considerable amount of money with a small tax increase if that is what council decided to do. Bergstrom asked how that would affect citizens. O'Neill estimated that it might cost in the range of $15 -40 per home to cover the debt service. He suggested that families might find the benefit of the park to be worth the small cost. He also indicated that another option might be, depending on the real estate market, to consider the sale of commercial property as a funding source. Sawatzke indicated that the County still has funds from its capital reserve account to pay for additional land purchases. 3 BCOL Regional Park Advisory Council Minutes: 6/4/10 8) Consideration of adding items to agenda. Friends T- shirts: Schumann asked if the Advisory Council would like the Friends of Bertram Lakes to pay back the $500 given them from the farm lease funds to purchase t- shirts or if the Friends could use any profits as seed money to continue to establish a presence in the community. Thelen noted that the purpose of the Friends was not to raise money but support for the park. She pointed out that the $5 profit from each shirt could be redirected to consulting costs for the web site. O'Neill asked for confirmation that the funds could legally be given to the Friends. Sawatzke suggested that the Friends retain the funds and report back to the Advisory Council periodically. MOTION WAS MADE BY WES OLSON TO ALLOW THE FRIENDS OF BETRAM CHAIN OF LAKES REGIONAL PARK TO RETAIN THE $500 DONATION FOR FUTURE FRIENDS NEEDS. PETE STUPAR SUGGESTED AN ADDENDUM TO THE MOTION THAT THE FRIENDS WERE TO REPORT TO THE ADVISORY GROUP IN MARCH, JUNE, SEPTEMBER AND DECEMBER. WES OLSON CONCURRED WITH THE ADDENDUM. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY PETE STUPAR. MOTION CARRIED 8 -0. Cancel July Meeting: MOTION WAS MADE BY PAT SAWATZKE TO CANCEL THE JULY MEETING. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY GENE EMANUEL. MOTION CARRIED 8 -0. 9) Adjourn. MOTION WAS MADE BY PETE STUPAR TO ADJOURN. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY WES OLSON. MOTION CARRIED 8 -0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:59 a.m. 4