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Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes 03-22-2018PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES I MAR 22, 2018 MINUTES PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING THURSDAY MARCH 22, 2018 - 9:15 A.M. "To enhance community pride through developing and maintaining City parks with a high standard of quality. " Members Present: Lynn Anderson, Anna Bohanon, Bill Fair, Jack Gregor, Julie Jelen, Nancy McCaffrey, Brian Stoll Members Absent: Karen Vetsch Staff Present: Beth Green, Sara Cahill, Tom Pawelk, Angela Schumann, Sue Seeger 1. Call to Order. Chair Brian Stoll called the meeting called to order at 9:15 a.m. and declared a quorum. 2. Approve Minutes of Regular Parks Commission Meeting, January 25, 2018. NANCY MCCAFFREY MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 25, 2018 REGULAR PARKS COMMISSION MEETING. MOTION SECONDED BY BRIAN STOLL. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY, 7-0. 3. Consideration of adding items to the agenda. A. Pioneer Park. B. Movies in the Park. D. Dedication of park space in vacant lot next to Wells Fargo. 4. Citizens requests and comments. Bill Fair said someone approached him and asked about whether or not the playground in West Bridge Park was being planned for removal. Tom Pawelk said that it will not be removed this year but is scheduled for repair in the next few years. The city has received a lot of questions about where Swan Park is. Pawelk said he will look into better directional signage for the park. 5. Introduction of new Parks & Rec Commission Members. Monticello City Council approved the appointment of Lynn Anderson, Anna Bohanon and Julie Jelen to the Monticello Parks & Recreation Commission. The new members introduced themselves and were welcomed by the group. Page 1 of 5 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES I MAR 22, 2018 6. Motion to appoint Parks & Rec Commission member to the BCOI Advisory Council. With the resignation of Larry Nolan, the open seat for the Monticello Parks & Rec Commission representative on the Bertram Chain of Lakes Advisory Council needs to be filled. This is a voting position. Attendance of meetings is required with meetings the first Friday of each month at 8 a.m. at the Bertram Lake Chalet. NANCY MCCAFFREY. MOVED TO NOMINATE LYNN ANDERSON TO REPRESENT THE MONTICELLO PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION ON THE BERTRAM CHAIN OF LAKES ADVISORY COUNCIL. MOTION SECONDED BY ANNA BOHANON. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY, 7-0. LYNN ANDERSON MOVED TO NOMINATE ANNA BOHANON AS AN ALTERNATE FOR THE BERTRAM CHAIN OF LAKES ADVISORY COUNCIL. MOTION SECONDED BY NANCY MCCAFFREY. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOULSY, 7-0. NANCY MCCAFFREY MOVED TO NOMINATE BRIAN STOLL TO SERVE ON THE BERTRAM ATHLETIC SUBCOMMITTEE. MOTION SECONDED BY JACK GREGOR. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY, 7-0. 7. Creative Arts Consultant Update (Sue Seeger). Tom Pawelk introduced Sue Seeger as the new Creative Arts Consultant for Monticello. Seeger said the arts initiative slogan is "Creativity through Connectivity. She has had three public meetings and multiple one on one meetings. After only a couple of weeks, she is already uncovering a number of creative groups in Monticello that are already formed, as well as many individuals and families interested in the arts initiative. She is still collecting information and so far there is a really strong interest in seeing more community arts in Monticello. Seeger will need to collect information for another month before a decisions can be made on what the first event may be. In the future there may be a need for a physical space for programs and meetings to take place. This is more of an interactive process right now with the purpose to build community within Monticello and to help creatives connect with one another. Another goal is to get the people of Monticello to start thinking of the downtown area as a lively and dynamic place with exciting creative things happening that they can attend and participate in. Through those events the goal is to change the look of downtown and maybe look into displaying public art and pursuing funding options. 8. Discussion of using MCC space for community art events. Through the new arts initiative, there may be programming and events put on by Seeger and it will be necessary to have space available for such programs. The MCC has room rentals, as do the park shelters. Pawelk said that if the programming or event is funneled through the arts initiative, then the room rental fee should be waived in his opinion. Page 2 of 5 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES I MAR 22, 2018 JULIE JELEN MOVED TO ALLOW MCC MEETING SPACE TO BE USED FREE OF CHARGE FOR THE MONTICELLO ARTS INITIATVE PROGRAMMING AND EVENTS. MOTION SECONDED BY NANCY MCCAFFREY, MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOULSY, 7-0. 9. Discussion of Walk `n' Roll parks booth. Tom Pawelk noted that the annual Walk `n' Roll event will be on Saturday, June 9th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The parks booth will be set up in the gazebo at East Bridge Park. Bill Fair said that it would be a nice gesture to offer "Future Park Volunteer" t -shirts to kids who visit the booth. Parks & Rec members Julie Jelen, Nancy McCaffrey, Lynn Anderson and Bill Fair volunteered to work at the booth during the event. 10. Discussion of 2018 large park proiects. Pawelk discussed upcoming large park projects for the 2018 season including: • Bertram Athletic Complex: Irrigation of interim fields and expanded overflow parking. Could potentially be installing the well this year for the irrigation. If not, will be first thing in the spring for 2019. • Featherstone Park: Third project. New playground installation. • Rolling Woods Park: First project on schedule is the construction of an open air picnic shelter and to complete the pathway connection. • Cardinal Hills Tot Lot.: This will be the second project for the Parks Department. • Trail work: RFP has been put out for trail resurfacing. • Montiview Park: Continue with trail build and add electrical power/security. • West Bridge Park: New "Music on the Mississippi", first concert May 31St 11. Discussion of recording volunteer hours. Tom Pawelk said it will be important to start keeping track of volunteer hours. While the city hasn't done this before, they would like to start tracking for the entire season. Anything that commission members do to make the parks better, such as attending meetings, tours, events, etc. should be logged. Pawelk said he would like to see how many volunteer hours have been put in by the end of the year for record keeping purposes. 12. Spring parks tour date. The spring parks tour will be on April 24th or April 27th. All who wish to attend should meet at Public Works at 8 a.m. When the date is determined a notice will be sent via email. 13. Dog park discussion. Nancy McCaffrey said the core group would be interested in doing a spring cleanup, and asked about what would be a good date and when the water will be turned on. Pawelk said Page 3 of 5 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES I MAR 22, 2018 seasonal staff will start in May and summer staff will start in June. Water is depending on outside conditions. When a date is set, we will post the cleanup on Facebook and the City website. 14. General Park Updates: Tom Pawelk discussed general park updates as follows: • Ellison House: Officially cleaned out. All personal items are ready for the all -city garage sale week, May 16th. Garage sales start on Wednesday. At the meeting next month will be discussing potential sale or renovation process. The reno cost is approximately $200,000 to $300,000. • Community beautification program: The city is looking for a horticulture intern for the Parks Department. This is a new program. Person will be maintaining downtown landscaping and flower beds. Will work with East Bridge Gardeners and other volunteer gardeners. • Contracted mowing update: Awarded to Aqua Lawn. Will be maintaining both cemeteries and the blight properties. • Spring tree order status: Really positive response and a lot of tree orders. Pick up is Saturday April 21st • Street banners: An RFP has been put out for new banners. The proposal is to replace all of the banners on Walnut, Broadway and Highway 25. There will be four different styles, Downtown, Riverfest, Holiday and General. From there we will work with Sue Seeger to have creatives input their thoughts for designs. Goal is to have banners in place sometime this summer. • Safe Routes Grant update: The City, School District, Centracare and LiveWright submitted the grant application and will find out by the end of May if the grant is successful. This is a large community engagement planning exercise to determine the implementation steps that need to happen for safe routes in the community. Part of the strategic initiative is to build relationships with partners. 15. Discussion of added items. A. Pioneer Park: City and Monticello Lions are partnering to put in a splash pad at Pioneer Park. As a group Pawelk would like the commission to think about the bigger picture and what the park could look like in the next few years. Potentially looking at replacing the lower tier playground with the splash pad. May add an additional parking lot to the south. The commission members should bring back their ideas to the next meeting. B. Movies in the Park: Sara Cahill explained that Movies in the Park in years past have had poor attendance or have been canceled due to weather. The movies were always shown at Pioneer Park but nothing has been planned yet for this year. Another constraint is the cost of the license to play the movie is typically around $350-500 and it has been difficult to secure sponsors. The consensus of the Commission is to cancel the Movies in the Park this year due to logistics and cost but to gather Page 4 of 5 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES I MAR 22, 2018 together ideas for future movies potentially in a different location and to come up with other ideas for the movies. C. Dedication of park space in vacant lot next to Wells Fargo: Bill Fair said that he would like to see city -owned vacant lot (grassy area) dedicated as parkland so that it is preserved and not developed upon. Sarah Cahill also noted that the area would be good for summer programming for the MCC and for their Friendship Island programming. NANCY MCCAFFREY MOVED TO RECOMMEND DEDICATING THE CITY -OWNED VACANT GRASSY LOT NEAR WELLS FARGO AS PARKLAND. MOTION SECONED BY JULIE JELEN. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 7-0. 16. Next regular meeting scheduled for May 24, 2018. The next regular Parks Commission Meeting is scheduled for May 24, 2018, at 9:15 a.m. in the Public Works Conference Room. 17. Adiourn. Meeting adjourned at 11:15 AM. RECORDED BY: teeth C�qrcey DATE APPROVED: 05-24-18 ATTEST: zle_ Page 5 of 5