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BCOL Advisory Council Minutes 08-07-2015MINUTES BERTRAM CHAIN OF LAKES REGIONAL PARK ADVISORY COUNCIL Friday, August 7, 2015, 8:00 a.m. Bridge Room, Monticello Community Center Advisory Council Members Present: Martyn Dibben, Jim Hayes, Kim Hewson - Garber, Tom Jahnke, Jim Lindberg, Larry Nolan, Wes Olson, Scott Peterson, Glen Posusta, Brian Stumpf Members Absent: Mark Daleiden, Pat Sawatzke, Sandra Theros Staff Present: Beth Green, Brad Harrington, Stacy Marquardt, Marc Mattice, Tom Pawelk, Angela Schumann Others Present: Tim Hennagir, Michelle Hertwig, Summer Hertwig, Nancy McCaffrey, Brian Stoll 1. Call to Order. Martyn Dibben called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. and declared a quorum present. 2. Consideration of approving minutes from June 5, 2015 meeting. WES OLSON MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FROM THE JUNE 5, 2015 REGULAR MEETING. MOTION SECONDED BY JIM LINDBERG. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY, 10 -0. 3. Consideration of adding to and approving the agenda. TOM JAHNKE MOVED TO APPROVE THE AGENDA MODIFYING THE SEQUENCE. MOTION SECONDED BY LARRY NOLAN. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY, 10 -0. 4. Work scheduled for amphitheater upgrade /repairs. Marc Mattice said that an Eagle Scout will be working on the amphitheater improvements and noted that there is money budgeted for materials and the scout will start in work in September. Work will include power washing, replacing boards as needed, securing boards, redoing the treadways and doing some landscaping around the edges. Mattice noted that volunteers from the Friends of Bertram are welcome to help on the weekends in September. 5. 2016 rental facilities, available dates and fee schedule. Marc Mattice said that they will have the amphitheater available for rent in 2016. The Wright County Parks Commission will add that to the fee schedule and the reservation page. Mattice noted that if someone has booked a reception at the Monticello Community Center, they can go online to book their wedding ceremony at the park for a "package deal" so to speak. Reservations open the first Monday in January. Mattice said that he is meeting with the YMCA to determine the availability of some of their new facilities for rentals next season. At this time, they have agreed to the arts & crafts pavilion and the nature pavilion for weekend reservations to the public. BCOL Regional Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes: August 7, 2015 Wright County staff will coordinate the rentals including setup /cleanup. Mattice proposes that the Wright County Parks retain the rental fees since it is Wright County staffing and this will help to offset the maintenance costs. The rates will be consistent with current Wright County rental rates of $75 /amphitheater and $50 /shelter. The County Board will adopt the official fee schedule in September. TOM JAHNKE MOVED TO AUTHORIZE THE RENTAL FEES BE GIVEN ENTIRELY TO WRIGHT COUNTY TO OFFSET THE WRIGHT COUNTY PARKS STAFF MAINTENANCE COSTS. MOTION SECONDED BY SCOTT PETERSON. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY, 10 -0. 6. Phase 2 natural themed playground update. Michelle Hertwig said that the Rotary is interested in helping with Phase 2 of the playground and she would personally like to keep working with the group. A small tot area for ages 2 -5 has been identified as a need for the playground. Hertwig said she will continue to be the contact for the Rotary and she would like to meet with the Friends and the County to see where everything is at so that they can begin the next grant application process. Jim Lindberg said they have also identified a need for trees along the south side of the new playground for shade and that could be part of Phase 2. Marc Mattice will work on quotes for a small tot area and communicate with the group for the next phase of the playground. 7. Parcel 12 — Consider and review management options for 2016. Marc Mattice indicated that latest acquisition includes Parcel 12 and discussed options for management of the area in 2016. This is the area including the horse barn and pasture at the southwest corner of the park along 90th Street & Briarwood Avenue (a 40 -acre parcel). Mattice said that this is the last year for horses in the horse camp and without the horses in the pasture the concern is that the area will become severely overgrown with weeds. T. Looking at that we can't just pull the horses off and think it's going to be good and it will be one big mess. Options to consider for maintaining the area include: A. Grazing Pasture: Working with a farmer to rent the area for grazing cattle, sheep or goats. Concerns are that the grazing will cause the same issues down the road with weeds and compaction. B. Contract Farming: Working with a local farmer to till it up and manage the area for a future restoration project. Mattice noted that there are conservation partnership grants available for restoration projects; however, with the grant application and award process, it would put the restoration out to 2018. In the meantime, working with a farmer may be the best solution. Tom Pawelk said his recommendation would be to talk to Mark Holker and he worked on the east side of the project and he could row crop it. C. Horse Pasture: Ask the YMCA if they would consider keeping their horses there for a rental fee but not using other areas of the park. Mattice said that the rental fee would only cover the taxes as this option would be a higher tax rate. 2 BCOL Regional Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes: August 7, 2015 Larry Nolan inquired about the long term goal for the property. Mattice said that the Natural Resource Plan is to restore that area to Oak Savannah and other than that, nothing else has been decided for that area of the park. Tom Jahnke suggested treating the pasture with a broadleaf herbicide to keep it in grassland and then convert to forests after a grant is received. Mattice noted that the land is too heavily compacted at this time and needs to be worked up before any restoration planting can occur. TOM JAHNKE MOVED TO RECOMMEND PURSUING A CONTRACT WITH A LOCAL FARMER TO OFFER THE LAND TO THEM WITH AN AGREEMENT FOR THE FARMER TO DO THE SITE PREPARATION SIMILAR TO THE AGREEMENT AT NYE PARK WITH CHEMICAL RESTRICTIONS. MOTION SECONDED BY JIM LINDBERG. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY, 10 -0. 8. Athletic Complex — Stakeholder interview between Advisory Council, Monticello Parks Commission and the consulting engineer, WSB & Associates. Angela Schumann noted that this is the Advisory Council and Parks Commission's initial opportunity to provide input and guidance on the development of the Athletic Complex Master Plan at Bertram. Schumann introduced Jason Amberg and Breanne Rothstein from WSB & Associates, the consulting engineer. Amberg explained that they are in the very initial stages of the planning process and they are looking for the Advisory Council's perspective. They are gathering all the information they can for the first part of the planning process by asking the various groups for input and brainstorming on three main topics: • Name your favorite things about Monticello Parks. • Name your least favorite things about Monticello Parks. • Name things you would like to see added to Monticello Parks. The Advisory Council was asked to put every idea on a post -it note to be added to each of the three categories listed. Rothstein explained that after they gather all of the information they will host a public open house on September 17th at the MCC to ask the public for community visioning and will incorporate those ideas into the plan as well. Schuman said that she will email out the detailed project schedule that was included in the RFP. 9. Status report on YMCA Day Camp facility construction. Marc Mattice distributed photos of the progress of the new YMCA Day Camp facilities. Mattice said according to the operating agreement the facilities will be open to the public outside the camp hours and the YMCA will be charging admission. The new facilities are expected to be completed by September with opening of the new Camp Manitou for the 2016 season. 10. Bertram programming and event updates. Angela Schumann shared the programming updates and noted the Blazin' Thru Bertram Phillip LaVallee Memorial Run is planned the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, September 5th. Race 3 BCOL Regional Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes: August 7, 2015 day registration begins at 7:30 with the run starting at 9:00 a.m. Volunteers are requested for the event. A schedule will be sent out schedule to the Advisory Council for volunteering. Marc Mattice said the mountain bike trails are very popular and the trails at Bertram have been ranked the #2 trails in the St. Cloud area and #55 in the state. 11. Friends of Bertram update. Jim Lindberg said that the Friends were at the Walk & Roll in June and that event was well attended. The combined efforts between the Rotary, the Friends, Wright County and Monticello Parks to complete the playground worked very well they have received good feedback about the natural theme playground. Lindberg said the Friends will be happy to help with the amphitheater improvements in the fall. 12. Joint Powers Update. Angela Schumann said that the BCOLAC agreed to the draft joint powers agreement at a previous meeting. However, at the county level there are some concerns about how the insurances would work together if there was an issue at the park. The direction appears to be to keep the structure of the agreement as is now with some fine tuning that will more clearly delineate the responsibility form an insurance perspective of the two organizations. The County will be primarily responsible for the larger passive area of the park and the City will be responsible for the active athletic area of the park. The goal is for the County attorney and the two insurance trusts to work through the final language and come to an agreement at which time the JPA will come back to the Advisory Council for final review before goes onto the City Council and the County Board for approval. Marc Mattice said they should have the agreement for review to the Advisory Council at the October meeting. 13. 2015 work plan update. Marc Mattice discussed the work plan progress thus far including: • Directional Signs: The directional signs to the park have been installed along the road right of ways. • Single Track Trails: Contractor work was completed and continuing to work with MORC on weekly trail building and maintenance. • Rotary Playground: The first phase of the natural playground is complete and will be working with the Rotary and the Friends on the second phase for next year. • Amphitheater Improvements: The Eagle Scout will be working on the improvements in September. • Beach Trail: The walking trail from the new parking area to the beach has been completed to allow users easier access with strollers, wagons, etc. • Park Road Extension: The turnaround at the beach has been completed and the Highway Department will need to come back this fall to complete the road with cub cutting, filling, grading and Class 5 after the YMCA construction is complete. Weather permitting the goal is to complete the end of October/November. M BCOL Regional Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes: August 7, 2015 • Landscaping Long Lake Fishing Pier: The landscaping improvements around the fishing pier at Long Lake will be pushed out to next year. • Landscaping Picnic Area: The picnic area has been completed around the playground but will push out the improvements on the east side of the beach to next year. 14. Maintenance of trails and park access. Marc Mattice said that crews have been working on the hiking trail system and maintenance. They are keeping the trails a little wider at this time as they continue to extend the trails. Mattice said there were some issues earlier in the spring with the treatment of buckthorn along the trail with herbicide and those practices have since been evaluated and remedied and it is a matter of educating the maintenance crews. The ski trails will be wider in the winter to allow for the grooming equipment to get through. In general Mattice noted the walking trails will be 6 -8' wide and the ski trails will be 12 -14' wide. It's also important that the trails allow access for emergency vehicles and the county maintenance equipment such as the ranger 15. Discussion of added items. None. 16. Schedule next meeting October 2, 2015, and take action to cancel September meeting. Marc Mattice proposed canceling the September meeting as it falls on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. Angela Schumann suggested to keep the meeting date but rather for members that are available to meet on site to tour the improvements to the park and the new YMCA camp. Consensus is to send out a notice of an informal meeting with no action items for any members interested in touring the park on Friday, September 4, 2015, at 8 a.m. 17. Adiourn. TOM JAHNKE MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 10:07 A.M. MOTION SECONDED BY GLEN POSUSTA. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY, 10 -0. Recorder: 6�3eth &rem Administrative Assistant Approval Date: October 2, 2015 Attest: M n, BC AC Chairman 5