##VIDEO ID:yauiWQOg2cg## all righty it is 4M and we will call the September 24th Park Board to order and we'll start with roll call Burns here Sandy here schaer yes ship here Miller here Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all and we'll move on to the approval of the agenda looks like we're going to add um a new 8h for a special special event application and an 8i um for um the approval of prizes for the 2024 adult pickle ball leagues I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as amended second motion and a second on the amended agenda any questions comments or concerns all in favor say I I all oppose same sign uh amended agenda approved we'll move on to the consent calendar notice to the public that all matters listed are considered routine by the board and will be acted by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless good cause is shown prior to the time the board votes on the motion to be adopted by roll call move to approve second motion and a second Jesse please call the RO Burns yes Sandy yes schaer yes sh yes Miller yes and we'll move on to 6A presentation by the YMCA the 2024 youth recreation program thank you Mr chair um YMCA Mr riffle is here to uh present on the 2024 Youth Season M of hardboard thank you for having me um I think this is our fourth year uh running the program and presenting so it's always a pleasure to be here to share a lot of the highlights and successes that we had throughout our summer program um really not much has changed except that participation continues to grow we continue to have more impact which is what we all want um so just running through I've believe do you all have a copy or uh yes in our packet okay I'm just going to run through the highlights um but marketing and everything is very similar we put ads in the brainer dispatch um a lot of time on wjjy radio with all of the dates there and then uh Facebook Impressions so things like that add up and we're very cognizant um about the partnership so every time that I'm on the radio you'll notice that I mention um the partnership with the city of Brainard and also that the logo is on all of the prr program materials website and whatnot recognizing that so we are quite proud to be partners with you um I referenced that one thing that had changed Is the participation and this year we added more daytime programming so if you go back to about 2021 we had about 342 participants in the summertime and then this year we had 570 so that's pretty solid growth every year and it seems that you know it's going to keep growing and our goal is to make sure that every kid has the opportunity to engage in a program make it affordable make it quality um something that we can all be proud of um just reference quality and we have a national survey that we use at the YMCA so you can see a lot of those indicators how we stack up against the national average one of the ones that's really important is that um parents report this and they say that the sports program is making a real positive impact in their child's life and 80% 82% of the parents report that it does and compared to the national average about 42% so you can look through a lot of these um impact Matrix and see that we overperform um our peers nationally new for 2024 uh we had fast pitch softball at Buffalo Hills Park um and we are going to actually another benefit of this partnership is we run programs actually not just in the summertime but throughout the winter and the fall as well and we consider that just an extension even though by contract it's its summer program but we see ourselves as you know one of the core providers for the brainer Sports for the kids in the community so that kind of goes year round um on the last page it's always interesting to see where the participants live and on the pie chart um you'll notice that by and large it's probably 55 60% are from that brainer zip code 5641 um with others from the bra Baxter and other surrounding communities um I think that we hope that you will approve um a continuation of the program and we're going to propose that we operate on the same type of agreement that we did this year um with a $20,000 request and that we continue to grow have more impact and go again um does anybody have any questions questions for Shane at all this year's program care um Shane where's the other because other seems to be kind of like a large little do you know where that's I mean other there's about six different zip codes um I would guess I couldn't tell you off but just small communities yeah I was just curious because there's already a lot of them that are represented so um but that's great yeah cool great job I would guess about 10 different communities that have like just one or two participants from that zip code Dave so just a reminder to everybody as well that 56401 encompasses much more than just the city of Briner 2 so we just got to make sure we being cleared on that that that is not just the city Briner that goes all the way to Garrison thank you thank you Dave any other questions for Shane comments Andrew uh how did the fast pitch softball go I didn't see participant numbers but I figured it's probably wrapping up now so I wasn't sure it I don't have the specific numbers but it's it's done well that's a sport that we're seeing more and more participants um also volleyball is becoming more and more popular as we look at new space and the the future why and um some program space volleball is definitely something we're looking at um and I know that we do have so our chief operating officer Jess Ericson she spends a lot of time meeting with the different sports leagues and we see ourselves as that recreational kind of introductory type program and we're being very careful that we don't overlap with other programs so Jess meets with their boards making sure that we fill in the gaps and that we're that kind of entry program um for others and eventually one of my goals is to bring and I know the sports boosters would be a key part of this but as we look at that that progression through our high school sports program that we're building the foundation for for what the High School coaches want um at that recreational level so relationship system those types of things so that's kind of where we're going cool but yes softball is something that we're going to be growing and expanding on we hope to awesome very cool other questions for Shane comments concerns and a lot of the growth you said came from more of those daytime programs um from 23 to 24 yes yeah the the soccer were pretty consistent a little bit higher than last year but yeah and that was something that you know parents have different schedules uh so offering different times of the day where they could um participate was important also um we are we offer free lunches so kids could grab a free lunch in conjunction with the the sports program very good yeah I think that's it no more questions very good well appreciate Shane thank you so much appreciate you all and we will move on to 6B the presentation by Community Education 2024 youth recreation program good afternoon thanks for having me my name is an Mar locker and I'm the community ad director for Briner public schools and I have um Tim search with me today he is our um multiple hats with within our department but is uh coordinating our parks and wreck program for Community ads so um and I apologize I brought my sunglasses in instead of my reading glasses so I have a little bit of hard time looking at my details here but um I believe this is also our fourth year now um running some of the programming for brainer um parks and wreck um we have shared some participation reports and lots of other information with you that should all be in your packet um we had a pretty good year we had a lot of transition this year if you remember when I came and spoke last fall um Joe p camp who'd been our longtime baseball coordinator had um retired so um Kyle Crocker was um hired this year to take over that baseball program so it was all new for him um new for Tim as well as he supported him from the community ad office so as far as far as the baseball or yeah baseball program there was a lot of change um softball uh Corey was back to organize that program um and participation number wise a lot of our um we saw increases in a lot of the areas we still are struggling with some of those older kids so both baseball and softball we ended up not having a 12u fast pitch team we only had I think six register for that we were able to give them the option to um to go to the uh slow pitch um program the junior program or a lot of them chose to play travel ball cuz that's part of the issue why our numbers are down as they're just choosing to play travel softball at that age similar issues with the baseball program and I talked last year too about how the travel baseball league get used to require their participants to also play on the parks and rec league and they removed that requirement a couple of years ago so numbers are down with the older kids but there's if you look at the numbers with the um with those younger groups you can see there's still a need for this Recreation Level Baseball um kids that aren't traveling yet or um also kids who don't ever want to play on that travel team they either doesn't work for their family to put in that much time maybe they don't feel like they're good enough and they just want to do it for fun whatever reason that they aren't wanting to travel but they're wanting to play so this year with that oldest group of kids for baseball we have the Pony League 13 to 15year olds we only had enough kids for two teams so we were kind of bummed about that and we didn't want those kids to not have an opportunity to play at all they've already probably decided they're not going to be on the traveling League if they haven't done it by then there was probably a handful of those registered who were also on travel but anyway Kyle was able to and our office was able to arrange with the communities of Aken Crosby and Pillager to play against their team so we had a total of five teams in that League um the parent you we we contacted parents I think we ended up having to change the night but but to make sure they were willing to take their child to those neighboring communities for their games and end up working out great those kids got to play they got to enjoy their summer for it coming together as late as it did yeah it it really went very smooth and and the feedback was really positive yeah and I think in the past the we have played with other communities but it had been a while like pre-o so that was kind of anyway we were really glad to get that worked out um I've also included on those participation reports some of our other um parks and recck programming that we run there both fall and spring soccer and flag football those numbers have also grown that's primarily um a backer program but they it's open to all kids you know and they're mostly after school so we're getting kids that go to school at Forest View or whatever and participating so they're kids both from both communities um so I just wanted to share all those numbers with you and from Community ad side we look at that Park Centric program as a whole program not just oh these are what we went for Boxer these are what we run for Brainard so and then there is a breakdown by City Sport and I did try to um kind of map out so you guys have a visual cuz I I know I do understand that you know 56401 is not just the city of Brainard but this can kind of give you we imported our addresses into this Google Maps um just to kind of pinpoint one thing interesting that we found I just I cropped in on the city here for this um graphic that I shared but we actually had a relatively large handful of kids who came from Metro and when you're asking Shane about the other I'd be willing to bet that some of their other is Metro as well and we even had one from somewhere in Arizona and I'm guessing they summer up here you know and the families are here for the summer or maybe grandparents are hosting them for the summer and they're signing them up so it's kind of interesting but it does make for a nice number of kids participating in the program so we can run run some uh good programs anyway I can't anything else you can think oh I did also include the sponsorship list um that is uh kind of integral to funding our program um we do print a thank you that we put in our community ed guide which is mailed out to everyone in the Brandon Public School um area so they see who those sponsors are you think of anything else or do you guys have any questions for us any questions for anarie or Tim on the Community Education Program Andrew do you see the Pillager Aken kind of baseball partnership continuing in the future I hope so yeah I mean I think all the groups involved had a positive experience so yeah it was I think it was Crosby that reached out to us kind of in a similar situation couple teams the idea so I as positive as it went I I wouldn't see any reason not to continue from everybody's perspective yeah very good any more questions or comments your Tim all righty well thank you guys so much thank you you and we'll move on to 8A new business approval of the event application for dangerously thrilling decb Jesse thank you Mr chair uh so the applicant is also here to uh discuss the event uh attached is the event application to be held on Thursday on Halloween in Gregory Park uh the applicant is looking to have the event take place from 3:00 to 8:00 uh within the Pavilion a band stand um consisting of um Halloween decorations music handing out uh goodie bags um what they're looking to do is begin setting up at 5:00 uh which is prior to the normal Park hours of uh city code of 6 uh 6:00 a.m. um but with your approval this would allow them to uh begin setting up ahead of time they're also requesting access to the power within the kitchen at the warming house and the bottom of the Bandstand um obviously the power sources for speakers Subs the fog machines uh so there's a few different requests that are included in the event application one is the allowance to set up at beginning at 5: another one is vehicle access to set up the decorations and the sound and another is to request that the facility rental fees be waved uh I did include that the rental fees are $75 per day um we do recommend approval of the event application uh with the following conditions one uh the approval includes the five am uh start time for setup um that there is no vehicle access allowed that we do have the carts that are provided and that the rental fees are not a waved for this uh but we are open to Park action on what the approval and conditions would be very good thank you Jesse um questions comments or concerns on the application itself since we have our applier uh in front of us uh I have one question what it's a fourth year of this event right yes correct where was where was the event held at previously okay so first year it was held in Gregory Park um I had teamed up with the smiles for Jake movement and we had it there for the first year the last two years it was right across fromti of Health um but the issue with that is the people inside the hospital had some noise complaints along with the guy directly across the street um so that's why we wanted to move it back to Gregory park because with to being such a big Park um there's a lot more space and not as the houses aren't as close so then it kind of helps with those noise complaints cuz the first year we didn't have any noise complaints so I figured bring it back there and that would help with that issue any further comments or questions for our presenter okay Cara uh do we have any other events in there I don't remember any other events in Gregory Park on that date on Halloween yep uh not right now and we made sure to reserve the facility just in the event that this be approved I have another question okay um what is your um you must love Halloween or what is your drive for doing this okay so yeah Halloween's my number one holiday um um my my drive is I live outside of town I always have like when I lived for the past up until I was 21 so a couple years ago I lived all the way up by marfield no trick-or-treaters there so I was like well I how can I you know take my Halloween passion and make it something that the community can enjoy too and that's kind of where it came from I was like well I could bring it into the city bring I used to have a DJ um business so that's where all the sound equipment already came from and then the Halloween decorations I just buy more and more every year like most Halloween people and then I just set them up and try to keep it new and you know not repeat stuff so that every year it's a new event in its own way so that's kind of where it comes from is you know me not having access so I brought it into the city so everyone could enjoy it yeah good neighborhood to choose yeah I agree um any further comments or questions for the presenter Dave I just want to say that I love it uh actually the last couple years over at the hospital was it was a nice location I'm sorry to hear that that didn't work out cuz it seemed like a good little spot but Gregory Park is a sweet spot as well I read on here something about a giant fog machine how big we talking here well they're the ones I've used the past 3 years so but it's I mean it's five of the biggest ones I bigger the better bigger the better i' say but I as a resident of North brard I just want to say thank you that it's a great addition it adds a lot of ambiance to the entire neighborhood and uh you know as well as I do that there's a lot of kids out there on during Halloween and they're not all just Brandon residents people come from all around to hang out there so I think it's a great event thank you thank you definitely appreciate it all right any other questions for our presenter all right thank you so much for for everything um and then uh discussion on the action from staff um approval yeah 9:00 a.m. not really or 5: a.m not a big big deal but vehicle access of course been a Hot Topic so still going to have to say no on vehicle access even though um folks have been doing it um we'll stick with the carts and then um uh rental fees again back to the policy of just not waving rental fees but um any comments or questions or concerns about staff's Direction ENT do we think we have enough carts how many like speakers and subs and I mean I I have my own carts the issue is just how long it takes like with the amount of stuff I set up um that distance difference between being on the outside or being right where my setup is and everything it's the difference between me getting more things set up or it it just makes a big time difference cuz I'm a oneman show so as it is that's why it's you know the 500 a.m. setup because it takes me every second to that's what I Look to was like 3 p.m. start time but you're starting to set up at 5:00 a.m. that's that's impr process that is a process so um take down too I mean right last two years when it was at Essential Health where I could back right in and was literally at 20 where my main stuff was even then take down probably took me seven eight hours thoughts from the board possible I could remove the vehicle come up to yeah if you want to come up to the mic again and uh yep just asking if it's possible that I could remove like my vehicle and trailer before that 3:00 start time I feel like my concern is certainly pulling it in at 5:00 a.m. and it's dark yeah I hope nobody's in the park but yeah um it would be hard to see right especially if you're backing up around obstacles and the trees and stuff and then similar at night right 1011 I would expect there's more kids out again it's hard to see so that that does make me nervous I don't know I just I really do want to let you do it honestly just because you are oneman show and this is such a great thing and would save you I mean such a such a good amenity for the community at this time but I just again it's we already had issues with vehicles in the park on the last event that took place there so I I I just can't I can't say yeah I mean we have to just kind of blanket say no on a lot of this stuff and stay consistent with it Andrew Jesse is there a possibility to coordinate with the PD to have somebody make sure the the path would be clear I know that's like super early and also pretty late well at that time there shouldn't be anybody in the park it is before normal park hours so at that point there shouldn't be anybody within the park so are are you talking about from a pedestrian standpoint correct yes yeah there shouldn't be anybody in that Park so if it's a matter of reaching out to PD I can reach out and see if they want to just verify if that's the case I can't commit any resources from them but I can reach out but I would anticipate at 5:00 a.m. that there is not anybody in there yeah I would certainly hope to um but yeah he thoughts from you guys on this one yeah I I kind of agree we've had issues with it it's just is it's just one of those things where you know again we just have to say no on this one and just continue that kind of policy like like I said I really appreciate everything and I really wish we could make it easier for you but I just uh you know like we've had too many problem it's one of those things we've been battling for the two years I've been on this board and so I yeah just us even we we haven't even approved people to drive on to the park and they still do it so allowing people to really just completely count contradicts everything that we've been trying to do but you know like said I yeah I wish there was a better solution than than going in to the park itself but I would make a motion to approve it as written with the conditions um 5:00 a.m. start time is okay uh the vehicle access is prohibited and rental fee does not get waved I would second that motion in a second any discussion about the motion comments questions uh Andrew we've had some donors for friends of Gregory Park who would like to make an impact and so let's talk about the fee I think we'd like to cover that separate from the board but I think what you're doing is awesome and other hat uh we'd like to cover that so okay thank you so much parkwise yeah I think you want to wave that yeah very good yeah there's plenty of money out there to um rent facilities so um yeah so I guess any other further comments on the motion all right all in favor of the motion say I I all post same sign uh well you've got an event application approved so um and then you guys can sync up on the I'll get Jess but again very thank you so much serly for for doing this it's a great program so all right moving on to 8B the approval of the recreation specialist job description and recommend councel authorized advertisement Jesse or uh Chris actually it'll be Chris good afternoon Park board members um Recreation specialist blank um submitted her resignation effect of September 16th um before we had hired Haley last year we had the council ask that the park board look at the job description and make a recommendation as far as which classification we should be hiring at that point the park board had recommended that we hire a recreation specialist and that's what we did um in your packet is the job description for both the recreation specialist as well as the recreation coordinator position that was the position that you had had before Haley was hired at this point staff is recommending that you um approve the job description for the recreation specialist position we do not have any changes to it and then also recommend to the city council authority to hire for this position to back fill it thank you Chris comments questions or concerns on the recreation specialist job description no um do we feel like we needed a coordinator did we need something a little bit more less or maybe less entry level do we feel or so included in this year's budget is a recreation specialist our s my suggestion anyways is to try that position first see how your applicant pool is and then you can always look at it and see if there may be a need to look at some Advanced positions from there excellent Andrew it's maybe not about the description I guess so we had a toxic environment where Haley did not feel safe do we think hiring somebody else into the same environment is going to lead to the same result like I guess that's my concern is Haley came in and did an amazing job and it turned into a toxic unsafe Cesspool for her like what what can we do do to change that before we just throw somebody else to the Wolves sorry I'm a little fired up because this is really frustrating it's tough I can't talk too much about the the motivations behind the letter obviously the letter is what's in the letter um I can tell you that uh we feel very confident that uh the workplace that we provide is going to be a safe and and a welcoming work environment for anybody uh and I've strived very hard to try and provide that at least in our department um and I will continue to do so as long as I'm try and delad it and and do what we can uh from that perspective and I think um we've had some pretty good support from um not only just folks here at staff at City Hall uh but as well as some of the participants in our our Recreation programs uh we saw that at at the uh postseason meeting uh there there are some pretty good supportive folks out there too uh that want to see the the recreation specialist succeed obviously it makes their program succeed too so I I think there's a lot of uh very supportive folks there too so I I don't anticipate that there is going to be an issue long term yeah and I was not trying to criticize you Jesse I don't think you are the the cause of this but I did see on the the blast Facebook page there was a post saying Haley's gone and there were 10 likes so I I know that meeting went well but also I see that and I'm like like does that group actually want her to succeed and then I see some of Katie's posts talking about how if she were in this job she would be doing it differently and I don't think that's helping and I know we can't control it's on Facebook I'm just really worried that we're going to hire somebody else in and it's going to be a repeat especially with the softball group I don't all right so my thoughts on that are a we're in a government public type employment we're going to be subject to the public so that person that comes into that position needs to be aware of that and accept that responsibility and I would think that when they accept the job they would know that um you know to I I don't want to get too far into it but I from things that I've read based on the meeting versus the resignation I feel like there's a lot more contradictory items that don't need to be discussed any further um I think we need to stop looking in the past look forward find the right person um and that maybe it takes time but instead of looking in the past and what if if something was different we need to look forward I think a recreation specialist is probably what's needed Dave did you have a comment yeah I was just going to say haven't been involved in the conversations that happened surrounding the blast or the communications I think the city handled that very well I think um you know it's it's unfortunate that that's the way that Facebook works and how social media works but when it became clear that it was no longer something the city needed to be involved with we acted very quickly and appropriately um now whether or not that led to this or not I I'm sure there's definitely some um overlap for sure but uh in some of the conversations we had with the softball players there's just a lot of frustration and I think we need to do a better job of running a program that um is exess ible and is um I would say more of a a front so that people have uh a firsthand experience with us that we have a front of house um presence there and I think that's what was lacking which led to a lot of the comments that were happening so I I think it's unfortunate that that stuff happened but the Facebook stuff I think is the Facebook stuff I think the city handled that very well I think that um whether or not that's a cause and and leading to this I think that now has been completely removed and so the city's just not participating in that part of it anymore so which is again that it's unfortunate but I think we removed the piece that would be your biggest concern so car so moving forward and hiring a new recreation uh specialist what would be the plan for like HR and the city to help them like who's going to train them you know like um just so that we don't have the same kind of thing that happens it might be easy to get sucked into just the softball world like not to talk about the past but like that has happened in the past you know Haley was able to kind she was starting to be able to balance the two until she kind of was like pulled back in so just so we set ourselves up for success with this new person is there a plan for that for you guys and maybe you haven't thought that far ahead I can speak a little bit to that so it's a little bit tough because we I mean we're got a couple steps ahead here it it's tough to know let's just say hiring the person we don't know what their background is going to be and what their experience is going to be um my experience is not in Recreation programming by any means and what I've always expressed even with Haley is using her networks especially with folks that are much more experienced in that um obviously we have a lot of folks out there that are participating in our programs that have experience but there's also a lot of other programs out there so we have a lot of different networking opportunities that that person can leverage into if they don't already have a lot of that experience what we can provide at least in my perspective is kind of the our our perspective from the local side of what our experiences are with our programs and what's benefited us a lot better in this last year is the amount of documentation and the things that we've really done a much better job of writing down uh especially when it came to like the postseason meeting taking all those notes of things that we learned things that we've seen and how can we do things better um I think that's going to set us up much better uh not only for next season but many seasons beyond that of what are the things that we are hearing from those folks and where are their most biggest concerns so that way we can address those and that person's probably going to be set up a lot more uh more set up for success by knowing what those those key points are going to be and being able to address them quickly rather than be surprised at you know a month in so I think we've done a much better job of documenting a lot of that stuff so we can be more prepared for it thank you other questions comments or concerns on the sorry Chris I apologize so just a side comment to that Jesse's talked about what we plan on doing next year in the short term we've had City Hall staff really kick in to try to help as much as we can last year Haley came in and she had no idea on a lot of things at least we have some City Hall staff that are working on tournaments right now working on con the concession stuff working on reservations so hopefully that will make it a little bit easier for the new person coming in as well very good Dave can I just make one comment on the actual description itself I'm just not a huge fan of um education requirements in 2024 I just think the world is the world has changed and as a person that has two kids one at at the U ofm and one about ready to move into college um it's just difficult as a parent to tell your kids jump right into college you know and so I education to me at this point is becoming a completely different thing you can learn a lot without being at a university so I I just will speak up against education requirements in most of our descriptions at this point except for licenses we should have licenses Andrew did you have a comment uh Yes actually two now that I'm reading uh the first one is probably a very minor thing it says the person must possess the following certifications upon date of hire Department required concussion training that reads like they have to be here to take the training but they have to have it before they start am I reading that wrong yeah the way it's the way it's written is that they should have that before they're on board and going correct the way it's written but there's no way for them the way I'm reading that is there's no way for them to acquire that certification before they start that we would coordinate it with them it' be part of their onboarding package to let them know this is needed and so that we would provide that opportunity for them to do that um either right before they start or maybe on the date of hire but at least they would have the opportunity from what I'm understanding it isn't like it's a long course or anything like that so no concussions on day one and the same with the first aid yes cool sorry just reading way too much into that one um second question Jesse I know long-term you're moving to city engineer role I think is what I read at the council is the timeline on that such that whoever fills in public works director would be a better fit to make this hire or is that like so far off that we shouldn't worry because we really need somebody in right away we do need somebody in that role because we as the position is pretty cyclical position we're already going to be moving into getting ready for our winter season so that's prepping for our winter sports starting the hiring process for our warming house attendance so it's starting that prep season and then obviously recapping our our 2024 season and then as soon as we basically start the winter season you're also already prepping the next summer softball season so it it really the winter is a little bit slower than obviously the summer season but you're not really not doing anything you can't just not have that position in place you have to already start prepping for the next year Cool Chris do you recall how many applicants there was roughly a year ago for this position ballpark even I'm sorry I cannot after the top of my head maybe you know Jesse I believe it was over two dozen if I remember correctly it was probably about two dozen I'm just as I'm looking at this experience in education um I I just feel like it's upon data hire could turn off someone or it could prevent someone who is very qualified or could be a really good person but if they don't meet those requirements they're going to be dropped down in their score I would rather instead of it seeing upon date of hire you know the concussion program is going to be provided by the city I assume um the way it's read right now it's going to be someone that's in that role in another city or potentially like a State High School League official or really one of the only ones or a high school coach that has concussion training um I just would rather see it say you know maybe within 14 days of hire give them a deadline so they know that that's something that is going to be provided for them uh that's that's my thought and I agree with Dave that I don't know that this position needs an entry level position needs to have a four-year college degree to be a recreation specialist I Jesse yep so if I can clarify so this does not have a degree requirement it's 3 years of college courses or 3 years of field experience or a combination of both the degree a four-year degree is desired the recreation coordinator does require a degree so that that one is a step up obviously there's an increase in salary because of that extra requirement of the degree The Specialist is a step down uh that one is kind of an either or very good any other comments or concerns or questions on the specialist description right anybody like to do we I mean do we need a motion to authorize the the job description or yes okay we will be looking for a motion to authorize this job description and send it to council okay I'll make a motion to approve this job description only though if we're changing are we changing the 14 days is that what you guys would want possess the following certifications upon within 14 days of hire is that what you guys are thinking I I don't know that I have a specific data I need I just don't like Aon hire I I just don't like how it's written more so I I understand the premise behind it I just don't like how it's presented to them and I also don't I don't like the college aspect of it so I don't know that I would support it with a college degree yeah it doesn't really say it's required to have a college mean I guess when I read it I didn't see it as that it it is highly desired but yeah maybe degree is not the right word I just don't I don't like the college aspect of it well it says the fir the second one says is desired but the first one says graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework Recreation leisure studies physical education sports management and that is under special requirements or equivalent combination of education and experience not where I'm reading determined by the Public Works director so you still at the discretion of the higher higher e down though that's it's on the same bullet maybe I'm looking at the second one now so it's on page I'm on the coordinator excuse me yeah yeah um yeah uh okay I approving the recreation specialist as written but we would like to change possess the following certifications within 14 days of hire do you feel like that is manageable as a team yeah okay yes we provide that training so we'll make sure and get that taken care of as soon as we can okay that's my I'll second that okay Motion in the second comments questions or concerns on the motion itself I said yeah it's just simply just a clarification of that particular um education experience or special requirements so any other discussion mayor Dave I just going to speak against it again I still just don't like the way that that's written because it's I mean it's a minimum of three years experience in Recreation program field I that that is eliminating a large portion of your potential of your potential uh field I because that means if you're if you don't haven't went to for school for it or are not currently working in it that that removes a lot of people that I think could potentially do this position I and I'll speak for myself I I I think this is a great position that I would love to do I'm not going to do it I'm the mayor and it would require me to step down I could not apply for this job I don't have the background to do this job and I think that I could handle this job so that to me puts a large number of candidates in in a pool that we could find someone with different experience to do something and this is very specific it says three years experience in the recreation programming field do you have a suggestion of how we could word that to ly I the the main thing is minimum of three years that's the main thing minimum of three years of experience in Recreation programming field or equivalent of combination of the two can we put it as a desired qualification instead of a minimum requirement or special requirement we're here to serve you so if you want to change it to that week can um what having some kind of qualifications in there we have to score all of our applications so if we receive two dozen applications with the same criteria before I we've been getting some applications sometimes close to 40 50 employees or applicants I should say so we're just trying to help people understand what we're looking for it does say as determined by the public works director as well so if they look at someone's information and say you know I think that that would work out that's fine if you want to reduce it if you want to change it you tell us what you would like to have this person have for requirements but with the determination is after the combination of the two so it still has a requirement a minimum requirement of three years either in the field or in college to have it it's still there the the the equivalent combination determined by the public works is an equivalent combination of those two things which are very specific things how about if we did three years of experience in event coordination management SL management or I mean we can also have the recreation and slash Recreation programming I mean we can that would be some like that's my biggest concern is that this is very specific this is very specific to either you need to either be in college for it or have been doing the job previously for it which I think is just with wickedly specific for this particular job I think there are other things that you could be good at that could make you a good candidate for this job that are not specifically in college for recreation or currently working in Recreation Cara what do you think about event or program management because that's like that's like basically what I said yeah get better yeah oh sorry no we add like Marketing in there like a lot of that job is marketing it is I'm like I mean a mark marketing and program management Mar that's what I'm getting at is there's other parts to this job that we that we were requiring them to do that I think we could find somebody that's really good at another aspect of that job and also maybe doesn't have the exact experience with running adult softball I mean I I look at this as the minimum requirements or and an entry level position should be a high school diploma or J G Ed and for this position a valid driver's license the rest of it if we have the right person we can train that person we can get them the certifications they need but ultimately you're looking for like unteachables you're looking for the right character the right attitude the right drive the right energy the talent the passion the mindset you can't teach that stuff any entry level position you can teach anything else that you need if you have the right supervisor doing it but you can't teach those unteachables so I would put those as your minimum requirements and then find that person by meeting them but because we don't have the recreation coordinator and we're having Jesse play two roles he might might not be able to have them be like super new but I totally get what you're saying but like if they're like brand new and have never planned an event before and having their boss like kind of be not directly not like the coordinator to just them that might may or may not work but again if they're teachable yes but it might be nice if they had a little bit of experience planning an event or marketing we do need an arrow to pull down a little bit for staff so they can make yeah but we're not hiring off of paper we're going to interview right yeah I mean we're going to learn more off of an interview than we are on paper that is true true other opinions are totally fine I'm just I just don't I don't like too specific I like the program management marketing and leaving it kind of open-ended to that um because I think you do need someone with a little bit of similar experience not just coming in not having planned a program before or an event um yeah I mean this is just simply to help staff be poting in the right direction to hire the right person so um you know just a general idea again when we crafted this last year what we thought this person would do for the department and so you know whatever adjustments or requirements or things like that we'd like to change and make not necessarily mandatory or have staff look under a microscope for specifically you know college degree or things of that nature yeah we can make those adjustments we we do have to give staff just a at least Point them in the right direction of what we're looking for I think to your point yes um we can have that candidate pool on an entry level area but what do we want to see out of out of these candidates when we're interviewing them and and what sort of skill sets do we do we want staff to take a little closer look at Jesse um one thing to note that this position does have some supervisory responsibilities over our seasonal temporary positions with warming house attendance concession stand workers umpires so there is some supervisory responsibilities that goes with this position as well and some amount of hiring responsibility correct yes so management experience that's what that sounds like to me yeah so and there are a few nuan things that you know again we need staff looking at you know in our vision for what this person would do so so we still want that um fifth bullet one two three like the graduation from an accredited for your college to be a highly desired and we're only changing the first bullet I mean it's still highly desired I'd have to think I mean we still want somebody yeah love to have somebody with a four-year degree apply for this job but I again my my biggest concern is just that we that first bullet point is very specific and I think it removes a lot of people that we could potentially look at and say is this given your background what you've been doing could you do this job and I think there are a lot of people out there that could do this job that do not have specific parks management experience I do hear a lot of clicking and clacking over here so maybe we have uh some semblance of a of a new you do have a motion right now oh we do currently have a motion that's correct yeah remove my motion can I change it since I me created it I would like to amend my motion someone come up with the wording please um or can I I would say add requirement for high school diploma or GED equivalent or whatever Chris that normally sounds like assume yeah cool um and then change the first bullet to be marketing program management and event management experience or equivalent as determined by the public works director is a highly desired qualification so then Jesse you have some leeway of like oh they did something similar and you're like that totally fits with what this role would to do and then continue the idea from Cara's original motion about within 14 days of hire those two certifications that's what I got yeah so you have to I have to say that right you just have to say that you would like to amend your motion to that and then he has to Second his original amended motion do we have uh something flushed out over here um that's I kind of like what we kind of came together so two years of experience in kind of keep the same topics right Recreation and Leisure Parks coaching sports management event planning marketing or related field or equivalent combination of exper of education and experience as determined by the public sure so just just kind of expanding the we can include supervisory in there sure okay so just kind of expanding what you know where those particular experiences that we're looking for or education sure yeah I think supervisory is a fine addition all right I'd like to amend my motion to what Paul just said I approve the change that's a second so we have a amended motion and and a second on the amended motion um do we have any other questions comments or concerns on the amended motion so that bullet point just for clarity what we came up with is two two years of supervisory experience in Recreation and Leisure Parks coaching sports management event planning marketing or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience as ay by the public works director very go and then high school diploma or GED and then clarification on the process or possess the following certifications upon 17 days of hire or sorry 14 17 10 to so arvary 17 like yeah you got you got two weeks and three days 22 and a half okay get that Chris any comments from staff on this that's why Chris doesn't like coming to [Laughter] park what Jesse is asking me is um we have a wage grid system and we are assigned points for education and experience by reducing the amount of experience does that impact the wage that should be paid for this position off the top of my head I can't I it's a spreadsheet that we work on and we would have to figure that out if the wage should be adjusted by changing it from 3 years to two years so at this point um yeah I mean I'm not stuck on two either yeah I'm not either do three years three years is totally fine you want to amend that can I would like to amend my motion to say three years instead of two years okay it's the secondary I approve the Second Amendment approval of the second amended motion um I guess my question to staff now that we've amended a couple times do we feel with this feedback that we can still get a quality candidate again I like not speaking to do we need to add this or do we need to add that given these specific changes to the experience do we feel like we can get a good candidate yes sir I think we have plenty of a pool there okay very good so we have an amended amended motion and a second to the amended amended emotion uh any other discussion you want me to email that to you guys perfect thank you very good otherwise I was going to listen to the tape so either way we're great thank you very good okay all in favor of the motion say I I all oppose same sign new description um for the specialist job uh we'll move on to 8C the 2025 Camp Campground host agreement Jesse thank you Mr chair so we have attached the request for the agreement for 2025 uh for the camp Ro host agreement at Lum Park uh Bill and Teresa were the hosts for this year as well as last year they continue to do a fantastic job for us they're um very involved folks out there helping guide um people as they get checked in over there at Lum Park and uh especially with the uh growth that we're going to have with the expansion it would be uh good to have them out there um so we're we're re commending to approve the 2025 agreement with Bill and Teresa again uh as it presented very good any comments questions or concerns on the host agreement Dave I I just want to say thank you to them oh yeah I think that it's been a great um last couple years so I think it's went great very good got rid of the green camper I think camper people are saying great things any other question questions comments or concerns on the agreement I make a motion to approve the 2025 Campground host agreement as written a second that motion and a second any discussion all in favor say I I all oppose same sign we have an agreement um 8D approv change order number one for the parks arpa project JC thank you Mr chair uh so we have some price proposals from some changes to um a couple items over at the Lum Park projects one at the campground one at the um the beach project uh so the first one would be the uh we'll go through the campground so the first issue was we had 1 and a/4 inch water m going through the campground uh coming to find out that it's a rather uncommon size for water M um for the from the supplier it would have been about a 10 to 12 week lead time for that material uh by going up to a 1 and 1/2 in uh this would allow us to get that material here in a relatively quick uh turnaround um most of the issue is the fittings this is also you even the long term a lot more easier for us to Source should we have issues with repairs um to be able to spend those funds in 2024 obviously that's something that we had to factor as well uh also the hydrants weren't clarified very well in the plans uh it did specify frostfree hydrant but it didn't specify exactly the hydrant that we needed um so they bit us certain type of hydrant but it really wouldn't fit what we needed uh out there so in specifying and clarifying further uh we do have an additional cost for what we need for hydrant for RV uh hookups uh so there's some additional cost out there for the campground um so what that would be would be the um let me see where I'm looking at here so the campground uh has about $8600 8654 36 for the change order uh for the campground about $2,000 is for the water main which is really the smaller the amount the larger the amount is the the hydrants but obviously when you're you're multiplying it over several uh it adds up pretty quick so that one's over $66,000 um the other change order here is the removal of the half block wall coming right out of Pavilion one we talked a little bit about this uh this last spring uh is this was kind of the I'll say priority number one of things to add uh to the parks arpa projects with some of the additional money that we had uh so this was the price that they provided to us to remove that slab as well as that block wall um so that's $1,415 uh so with what we have available in our contingency as well as uh kind of leftover money um beyond that uh we do have plenty of uh available funds to fund both of these uh so we are recommending approval of change order one has presented in the amount of $1,693 thank you Jesse any questions comments or concerns on change order number one yeah that awkward concrete wall thing needs to go for sure so not gonna miss it yeah no weird uh I'll make a motion to approve this do I need to say more than that I'll make a motion to approve the change order as presented Ed in the amount of 10,6 $1,693 second motion and a second any discussion on the motion hearing none all in favor say I I all oppose same sign change has been ordered um 8e we're going to discuss the 2025 Parks operating budget request Jesse thank you Mr chair so at the September 16th council meeting uh the city council requested that staff kind of uh bring a discuss item to the park board to see if there's going to be some opportunities to find reductions in the operating budget increase um right now we're showing an 18% increase uh over 2024's budget uh so there's a few different spots that we kind of identified here um so I'm not going to read through all of them uh I I will mention that uh one thing that uh personnel and finance chair Johnson uh did mention was do we need uh the two additional um temporary staff um temporary seasonal maintenance staff I know we had mentioned that we had taken on the downtown district uh maintenance and we did not accommodate for that as well as the new park and we didn't accommodate that with any additional staff um each additional person uh is at using that 18 to $20 pay rate uh is about $9,000 in cost um if I remember correctly that's roughly about 1% of our cost our increase um not necessarily the levy increase but the overall City living increase but um every $10,000 is about 1% of the um Park boards increase so um that's about one of those folks and again as a reminder half of one of those seasonal maintenance was a planned to be uh assessed over to the downtown district as part of that uh maintenance of there um and again I I listed a few different other items that could potentially be uh areas of opportunity um should the park board wish to go that direction or other any other areas where the park board would like to see any reductions or if You' like to see us go back with what is currently presented um we're looking for direction from the parkboard very good thank you Jesse any questions comments for jesseer Dave yeah so just coming from the city side if things our our budget is too high um and so we're asking all departments to take a look at what we can remove um so this is not Park related this is Citywide related we are looking at roughly an 8% increase and that's just not acceptable so um we've got to figure out what we can do to try and reduce some of this stuff um some of that will come from the council as well I've had a few conversations um about things that we've had as initiatives mine being being tree replacement so one of the things that I push for over the last handful of years is $25,000 to the parks $25,000 to streets to look at tree replacement that has been my initiative that's $50,000 um I would like to request you guys that I may present that to the um Council as something that I would be interested in maybe seeing reduced maybe not completely removed because I do think it's important that we're replacing these trees as they go otherwise we're going to be a Barren landscape in hand full of years but um as someone that has pushed for that and has been an advocate for it I think it's important that we set a good example as well so that is something that I myself would like to see reduced as a as an ask not just from you but from from streets as well um and being the person that has been pushing for it I'd like to um just request that from you guys to begin with I think my most important thing here Jesse I mean we need these folks right we need these temps for maintenance right like I mean we've talked about this before but we need the hands right I mean we got a lot of real estate out there oh and it's not all getting taken care of to our standards right it's in so what I referen to Chairman Johnson is it's up to the level of the standard that the park board and the city council wish to do if you cut our staff down to three people the three people will be busy for 40 hours they won't look the same as if you have 8 to 10 people out maintaining the park so it's really the level of standard that you wish so if we only get one additional temp staff we get no additional temp staff we'll make do with what we have and what we're allowed based on what budget we're we're provided um but what we're doing right now is the level of standard that we're able to maintain right now because obviously those guys are are working full Full Tilt right now but if we get an additional person obviously that makes us be able to get to those Parks a little bit faster and a little bit more often very good Paul so Jesse if I'm reading the agenda request right 133,000 is that just step in grade adjustments for the city's um wage grid that's a majority of the Personnel Services increase is just full-time wage increase I mean you have your labor contracts for maintenance which is a lar large chunk of that but also um a factor of salary for not only my position or portion of my position but the recreation specialist is in there um a portion of the Public Works admin is in there um so all those different positions have increases planned in 2025 as well um so there's increases there but um there is some of the increases that are attributed to moving from the $4 to $16 pay rate of the temps to the $18 to $20 pay rate I guess what I'm getting at is that 133,00 ,000 is pretty much locked what percentage of that is um of the overall 18% increase do you know just to kind of figure out how much we're working with as far as if you take Personnel Services out of the equation because we have Union contracts and we have wage grid um on the side here which the city has adopted and is following what percentage is left over that we have to work with I can't say an exact number I I want to say it's somewhere in the realm of about 2/3 um but I'd have to get clarification from con there's probably 6% remaining so 2/3 of that is that 133,000 or two3 the 2/3 represents 133,000 of of the 133,000 okay yeah and that's I mean as I presented to council too I mean a lot of our budget is wrapped up in Personnel Services and then the higher utility costs I mean from year to year over year I mean again our request for capital is the same um but you know Personnel Service like the cost of people is going up and the cost of Utilities in general water and electricity have gone up and the usage of our Parks is probably at a literal all-time high um now that folks are out and about again so you know um I'm not I'm not necessarily for The Cutting of people I mean we need folks to maintain the system and is it a good faith effort to reduce it by one to the city council and try to to make some adjustment anything that you can present back to the city will be greatly appreciated so I mean the tree thing and then I mean just as a good faith from our side you know that we're looking at ours and trying to be cognizant of maybe our half of an employee right cuz we're we're talking about one and a half right one of those employees are half streets half Parks right what we're talking about before they split their time the the half a person is dedic in let's say about 20 hours to downtown maintenance is the intent and the other 20 half of the salary is planned to be assessed the other half is intended to be like Parks maintenance so it's not that we're hiring a half a just no for sure but if we were to take away that 20 hours that we would realistically be allocating to that person in Parks I don't know if we're going to find a halftime person though well I don't think so either but I think it's either one or or done yeah either remove the the one specifically for parks and leave the downtown one alone and have 20 hours of their time dedicated to downtown and 20 hours on Parks Andrew Jesse the downtown like that wouldn't go into the budget right that comes out of that assessment or is that in our budget but we know it cancels out later basically yes okay yep Cara so we've talked about concessions a few different times right and I know after this year we were going to get that new we were going to get that report that new system or POS so I don't know if we have that yet and I don't know when we're presenting or when we have to have this change do but looking at that because that would go into that other areas here listed with concessions and seasonal employees because if there's spots that aren't making money and then we know the past that there's been food that's sitting and gone bad or you know so knowing what that reporting is at the end of the season would be really helpful I think um but then warming house attendance I mean is and I don't know but like do we have to have attendance I guess they open up the building but like is there a way that we could change it up this season and I I'm not sure what that looks like but you know don't have as many warming house attendance but still be able to have everyone skate but how could we look at it like that cuz we I don't want to see anything change with security cameras or you know we finally just got those up and now we're not going to like pay that or I'm just trying to look at the options in the list here um something else with the water shut off I remember Paul had mentioned that at a meeting a few weeks ago with the um you know getting something that turns off the splash pad I know that doesn't don't we talk about that Paul like you something where the water down I think yeah maybe not as much water I don't know if anything ever came of that I get it it wouldn't affect we couldn't see the change this year but we could also say like we're putting this new device on our splash pads so the power not using as much water but so I can quick clarify the utility piece we do get reimbursed equally for our utility so utility cost doesn't really affect the increase overall on the utility cost or the operating cost because whatever we're paying on utilities uh we do receive on the revenue side as well okay but it would still be helpful to show that we're trying to save water um okay I guess that's it J um our our lease Vehicles we're doubling more than doubling our lease vehicle expenses what vehicles like how many vehicles are we looking at replacing this year going onto the lease program are those Vehicles actually in need of replacement or is that something that we could cut costs and not replace as many vehicles this year cuz it's $6,700 a month in vehicles and coming from the automotive world I know that that's an awful lot of lease payments am mon so I know two were moved so there was a chunk of time there a couple years ago where we weren't able to get any lease vehicles um so we're still trying to essentially catch up the intention is that everything within 5 years is the the direction from the council was that we under this program all of the vehicles after 5 years are sold and replaced under the lease program for a few years there we were having issues getting caught up because we weren't receiving any vehicles uh we are starting to see those Vehicles come through now uh last year we were able to replace two of them uh we are almost caught up now uh I believe there is one planned for next year um we've had discussions of that exact discussion is it a necessary NE to be replaced that is a discussion that necessarily has to happen with also the council is right now the council is moving on with this program and this is the direction with using this program is replacing the vehicles on the lease program but if they want to make a change that is something that we want to have the council make a direction of making that change before we as staff make that change um but it is something that we are going to start exploring as our vehicle and making sure that all of our vehicles and making sure that those are appropriately cited but um we as staff don't want to deviate from that direction yet are we doing a one-time lease payment for a $47,000 increase then if there's only one vehicle going for the parks department so the the increase on the lease programs is really us getting caught up to what um hadn't been budgeted before again there was two that were received last year um that we were anticipating and then with the one next year so we're just getting caught up a little bit so there was a big chunk of increase uh in these programs that again we're getting caught up a lot like the utility ones uh we weren't anticipating such a huge increase in the water bill as well as the Lyman P White Park so that it's just us getting caught up on those budget pieces that we just didn't if I'm going to make a recommendation I'm going to recommend that we don't do a vehicle then in 2025 I know the council says that they want that but if we need to cut cost for the council then we're going to have to start cutting somewhere like Paul said we can't cut Personnel that 133,000 I think it's actually 139 on the sheet I'm looking at that's fixed it's if we need to cut cost somewhere we're going to have to start cutting cutting things that they may want Lea on to the council any insight on the lease program or I'm just having a hard time understanding 47,000 um I don't so lease program is something that we do throughout the entire city now so that essentially what we're doing is instead of having one large payment for a vehicle and really it's the way we do it with fire trucks right you got a million dollar fire truck we can't we can't be budgeting one year for a million bucks it just doesn't work it's too much ups and downs so this has been something that's been going on for what eight years maybe think eight years about how long we've been doing the lease program but Parks but we got to be pretty close pretty CL yeah it's getting pretty it's getting I love the lease idea I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around a $47,000 increase yeah Parks Parks is an interesting one though cuz are we it's all going to depend I mean moving the vehicles over versus maintaining that on the lease the goal is to eventually get it to where we're just leasing vehicles and then that way we just have a steady cost on them so I mean that's the decision from this from this group is vehicles that you have work because if they're already in the lease program they're already in the lease program and that's the goal is to not have this type of increase so these are vehicles that are currently owned by the city that are going to the lease program and thus the increased cost some of it is catchup so like I said we had two of them that got replaced last year uh that weren't reflected and I believe there was another one uh that didn't get reflected and we're getting caught up on that um so there's just some of that catchup uh and then we have one in 2025 that's planned so they were budgeted for in a previous year we didn't see that cost because the vehicle wasn't delivered is that what you're saying I don't think we anticipated receiving it and maybe I'm overthinking it but if they arrived in 2024 we should just have the minimal payments moving forward right I mean I'm just I'm how many vehicles do we have in our department you have to give him a minute we have quite a handful of the ones that are on the lease program between uh we have different plow vehicles and and sorts and um different Vehicles like that it is a large increase but if we would have had it budgeted appropriately it would have been a little bit more of a steadier increase from 23 to 24 to 25 um again that was us getting ourselves caught up appropriately to the right number yeah and that's what I'm looking at cutting something I'm looking at what's our largest increases and how why are they and what can be cut from those because if if we go through and cut $70 here $300 there we're not going to make any substantial difference what I'll say is that 2024 we did go over on that budget because we didn't anticipate okay the 2024 appropriately so number that I'm looking at is not accurate correct that's why it's such a large increase correct do we think that the proposed cut of you know the little bit of Bills field and maybe one seasonal position is going to be enough for the council is it going to be enough for the taxpayers I mean if we only cut 10 20,000 from our budget 1% does that is that enough I mean if every Department hypothetically Cuts $20,000 that's a sizable decrease from the city's budget but you are absolutely correct we heard loud and clear from the public that 8% increase is not something they're interested in and you know we are the highest right now currently of any of the surrounding communi so or at least our comparable communities so we just need to be aware of that um yeah I mean anything is is a positive I think at this point is what the console is looking at is just and again it's not directed specifically at parks it's directed at the process I get that I just want to make sure that all of us do our fair share yeah and I think this is this is good this is what they're looking for they're looking for us to dive into the numbers and make sure that when we're then turning to the public we can say look here's the things that we were able to shave off of there and and that's because we got deeper into the numbers and that's what we're what the council's looking for so Jesse is that 2025 vehicle ordered already so the idea is I think we've heard so far it's probably the one FTE dedicated to Parks some amount of trees like 10 or 15,000 and then some reduction for the millsfield striping that went up 10 y so that would give us if we say five for millfield 15 for trees 50 it was nine 29 what about getting rid of the the one bench I don't know I know you said getting rid of small things but aren't what was the bench thing bench installation I mean do I don't know if we have one planned but aren't they usually donated anyway so I mean that's $5,000 that would be yeah yeah but they're usually and feel like we have a lot of benches yeah and we do have a lot of benches and we've tried to be clear with people now that yeah bench donation means life of bench right doesn't mean in perpetuity so that's another five because I don't think we should yeah the other stuff we need sign security CA I think the council would definitely support this 34 feels like a good start yeah and then yeah I mean next year can be a little bit more once we have a little bit better understanding of our concession plus minus um or maybe you know again following that program and trying to generate revenue for the system gives us a little bit more wiggle room on hiring fds and other things like that because the system itself s is generating enough money to do it I think the other thing too is we need to make sure we're doing a better job of making sure that our budget to our actual is is more accurate you know if we're getting hit right now with lease you know that's the whole point of the lease program is to not get hit it's literally the entire point so we just got to be better at making sure that our budget is closer to our actual uh very good move to reduce the millsfield maintenance by 5,000 remove 15,000 from the trees replacement eliminate our ask for the full FTE for parks and then zero out the 5,000 for the bench installation program we have a motion I get that motion in a second discussion on the motion he have more time it was 5 ,000 from millsfield so it be down to 10 from 15 remove 15 of the 25 for trees remove the one full FTE for parks and then remove 5,000 From the Bench installation program which would put that at zero any other discussion on the motion and any clarification needed from staff Jesse if I remember correctly the Ben installation bench installation program uh was more intended for benches along trail not memorial benches but benches along like the spurline trail for instance not necessarily for the men Memorial bench those are ones we charge specifically to those folks that are installing those um we do have a handful that we are in have installed this year um but beyond that um we can not obviously install any more provided the budget is zero thank you for that clarification Jesse actually very important um in this discussion so yeah cuz I mean support yeah very is I was thinking the opposite so thank you yeah thank you Jesse any further discussion on the motion all right all in favor say I I all oppose same sign we have made some cuts um moving on to 8f the information on the Rice Lake weed treatment Jesse thank you Mr chair so I've included a few different uh proposals and information uh from a couple different vendors uh this came up as uh former Park Board member Troy rushmeyer presented at the public forum regarding some of concerns that he had regarding the uh aquatic weeds that were in the beach area as well as kind of by the fishing pier uh so staff kind of did some research met with a couple of folks out there uh just to get some idea of what the process was uh how to address this CU it's not something that I'm very familiar with myself um so it was kind of a learning process for me and uh so I had both dive guys as well as uh I think it Waterfront restoration kind of take a look at visit this and provide their recommendations of what to do uh and how to better address this and both of them have very similar recommendations uh you can do a a single treatment but both of them are um recommending kind of a I'd say multi- a multi-treatment throughout the year uh to address as the weeds grew out grow throughout the year um it and really it seems like it kind of Falls within whatever you're kind of looking for from much like we talked about with maintenance kind of a level of service or level of quality um but uh I did include the the proposals that we did uh did request from them uh so you can review that and get that information kind of wrapped around you um to get your head WRA understanding kind of what that process looks like uh what the scope of work would be what they're proposing to do um I did have dive guys one of their uh recommendations is not just to do the area within the fishing pier uh and in the beach proper uh which is what we originally chatted about um with scoping this but uh potentially going kind of beyond the fishing pier out more water word if you're looking at helping those folks that are using the fishing pier for fishing out the end and then as well as towards the bolt launch area um just because of the potential for that to carry from i' say the west side of the fishing pier into the beach area uh there is that possibility as well uh so there was some recommendation to look at those as potential treatment areas as well uh so those are included in the proposal Al as well uh I did IND indicate to both uh that you know we're kind of beyond the the budgeting process at this point but uh I did ask for some numbers so that we can start wrapping our heads around uh what those kinds of numbers do look like understand that uh if it's a future year that the numbers may be different but if this is something that you want to explore for future budget years um that is something that uh you could potentially include as we look at maybe Springtime uh as part of the capital budgeting process um and we do have I believe it's Noah rushmeier here uh with dive guys uh if you have some more specific questions I'm sure he'd be uh much more experienced in in the process and could provide some more insight into this uh Beyond which what I've provided in here very good appreciate all the research Jesse and all the work on that uh any questions for Jesse or um for our potential presenter I think it's good information but like Jesse kind of indicated we're kind of past the budget season so Ian it's something we should dive into next year no pun intended yeah dive into next year literally but Jesse is there ever any grants available for for this type of item I don't I don't know if there could be or not but if it's something we've explored or haven't explored I don't know if there would be it'd be something that I would potentially reach out to either soil and water or the DNR um my initial thought is probably not but it's something I could reach out to them and see I mean that's kind of my initial thought because I think it's more cosmetic but I think it's something that we have due diligence on so looks like in 2024 the DNR made $400,000 available to local entities L associations Watershed districts cities and counties to receive state funding for control of just these specific curly Leaf pondweed mil foil flowering rush and Starry Stone wart so if there's any of those in there yeah then then we might be cooking I mean we've got you here I mean is there any additional info you can kind of give us on on like the scope and everything yeah absolutely so I guess first of all thanks for your time um my main concerns just looking at the area and the types of weeds you're dealing with the two biggest things is one off to that left side of the pier on the South Side you do have some Cattails coming in those are a dangerous weed to see because they'll take off they'll explode and it's not just going to affect you know visibility and how pretty the area looks it's going to turn that whole landscape into bog which then in the future if you decided that was something that you wanted to take out that's going to require tools as opposed to hand pulling um which would be easy right now um and then that would push your price up if it were a future thing you wanted to take care of um and that'll that'll go as far as you let it I mean that will take over your Shoreline um secondly is the lily pads um those also they affect the soil it's going to turn you know it's going to go inside of the soil the root system they can get up to 20 30 ft long and what that does is even if it's sand it's going to turn that to mck I mean we've had jobs where we're dealing with 5et of mck and a foot of water um so that's something you want to watch out for and those seeds especially in a lake like that that's fed through the Mississippi those currents they can take the seeds they're this big and it can explode anywhere in the lake so that's something to be cautious of that's something to think about um I know you have that first area from the pier to the end of the beach I think it'd be a disservice to not be doing everything to the left of that I mean you have a definitive weed line um and that's good that's good for now it's not going to stay that way it's going to continue to go it's going to cost more the more years you wait to get it done and I love the idea having that beach at Lum Park just being someone who as a community member I lived 10 minutes away from it my whole life that would have been awesome I mean that would have been super sweet that would have changed the course of my Summers as a kid um and so allowing these weeds to go they're going to take over that beach it's not going to be swimmable in 10 years um so that's just my concerns not just being you know an advocate for dive guys but as a community member I don't want to see that happen I'm excited for the beach I love the idea of it um for years I've wanted that Park to be something more so I think I'm just here to offer some insight and maybe answer any questions you guys have but that's my thought process as of right now I don't think I would even let my dog swim in that water um and the other risk that you run with that is when you get weeds that tightly compressed and and especially around that peer area it becomes a breeding ground for algae which breeds bacteria and I mean that's later in the season kind of end of July that you start to see that if you go there now it's a cake I mean it looks like you could walk on the stuff um and that can be super dangerous to swimmers which is I mean what the beach is for um and those are just things that I noticed going down there um but I I think it would be a disservice to that beach and to the community to not push it further um whether that's going through us or waterfront that's just my personal opinion on that and from what I've seen um yeah any any questions for me yeah any questions for the presenter I mean I appreciate all the info because I mean that's you know when you start thinking of like those plant systems and things like that the Aquatic side like I have no idea but I mean as a Layman you know or a park goer just over the years how much nastier it's even been since the uh the paper mill hasn't been cooking um it's still just been getting gross so um yeah um I appreciate all the information you anybody else questions for the presenter nope very good I appreciate your time really do I mean it's awesome it's really good information AB you know obviously we want this beach to look nice if we're going to overdo or overhaul the entire system here so well and I can imagine how much money is going into that and it would be a shame to put all that money into that and have it be useless in a few years and that's just me not speaking from a dive gu standpoint that's me as a community member saying like from what I've seen these specific plants that you're dealing with there it's going to make the beach unusable at some point um and I think it's worth you know the board really really thinking about it and diving into it potentially next year with what we got um whether that's like I said through us or someone else I would just like to see it done um total Fair Point yeah we're spending we're spending good money well grant money I suppose to uh to make those adjustments to the beach so um you know cleaning that water up uh is uh would be a very good service to the public so very good thank you so much no problem absolutely um any other questions for Jesse or comments Dave if you're trying to get that done in a couple of years you may want to add that to your future budgets not for next year but future budgets because we know how the council is very stickers about adding items for the following year certainly um keep the conversations continuing but everybody keep this in the back of their minds cuz I mean that beach will be completed relatively soon soon yeah I would like to see if if staff could see if there is any funding opportunities out there to get that done and then that is something that we should look at for future cost because I would like to see at some point Lum Park become kind of our Park Gem of the city I think there's so much potential there that it could be the one so let's make it there I was hoping ob' Brien Park could be the gem of the system but um Hidden Gem the Hidden Gem yeah literally um yeah no I I think so too I mean whether it's through grants I mean maybe we can get uh some of our organizations that are utilizing Lum Park's aquatic area to kick in some money too um but yeah definitely really want to put some momentum on this just because we'll um have a usable Beach but maybe less than usable water to go with it here in the in the next year so um again information only on that one so we'll move on to um 8G um the information on Memorial Park softball utility costs Jesse thank you thank you Mr chair so uh request at the last meeting was to get some information on the softball fields uh so included the trailing 12 months of cost for the softball fields um I had to put this together a little bit differently than other ones so there's three different columns that kind of go to it uh the first one is softball concessions and restrooms um this kind of Encompass obviously the concession room the rest rooms that are over there but this also has the uh softball lights um the field lights come out of here too uh so that costes in there um the softball water only is likely the irrigation that goes through there and then the Memorial Park electric only uh this is likely the uh scoreboard for field three only uh now I'll also note that there is also um some power pulled for the Mills the millsfield scoreboard but I'm sure it's a minute usage compared to what's used for field 3 so I would attribute most of the usage here for field 3 scoreboard uh so roughly about $144,000 for the last 12 months very good thank you Jesse for pulling any and all of this information questions for Jesse on this information Dave yeah I just want to make sure that we're using this data for our discussions about the cost of running the programs because that is a direct cost to the programs absolutely very good any other questions comments that I mean I mean technically we are reimbursed correct so we do factor in some cost of the field rental usage in the cost of the fees MH but he's asking are we reimbursed through Public Utilities for that correct our our utility cost is is reimbursed at the at the end yet yeah so reflection of the cost is more maintenance side of things you know and but you know we get a little rebate at the end of the year yeah they are costs y they certainly are um very good any other questions or comments on the utility costs for softball very good we will move on to the new 8h which is the approval of the outdoor play Lab special event application Jesse thank you Mr chair so this event application came in after the packet went out uh so Wonder Trek is looking to have an outdoor playlab over at Lyman P White Park uh it would be a Sunday October 20th from 9:00 a.m. until 400 p.m. um I would say this is very similar to kind of the setup they had at the uh Grand Opening so they use the of the Green Space there behind the restroom building uh so they want to set up kind of that nature Place uh escape with a couple canopies so a little bit bigger than they used during the uh the grand opening event uh where they only had just the one canopy and and some of the play play area uh so it's a little bit bigger than that but kind of similar to that um kind of a setup in area uh but staff is recommending approval of the event application as presented very good thank you Jesse questions on the special event app application yeah this does look almost identical to their setup at the Grand Opening um any questions comments or concerns um okay is there any other events going on that day or they're just setting up is like fund fundraiser for them or just like come hang at the park and play with our stuff which is also great but just curious not as far as I know I think this is one of their events that they schedule kind of throughout the area where they um just have these play Labs that they invite the public to come out and and play when when able great very good um I guess my other question is can we promote this on our internal page as well um after the I I'd like to see these events if they're going to take place in our park we can coordinate with the organizer just at least put out a little shout out hey this is what's going in the park on this particular day or this pter like can we just get this on our Facebook so I know they have it shared on their Facebook and so I think we could just as well do a share very good yeah I'd like to see more of these events yeah more of these events on our Parks and Recreation page um mother you know um looking for a motion to approve I'll make that motion second Motion in a second Andrew O snuck in no no no that was you I think motion at a second any further discussion all in favor say I I all poos same sign outdoor play lab is on the books and then moving on to the new 8i the approved prizes for 2024 adult pickle ball leagues Jesse thank you Mr chair so this is um one that also came up uh after the packet uh was released um so we were notified that something similar to last year that uh gift cards were presented as prizes for the adult pickle ball league winners and uh runner UPS so first and second second place teams of the end of season tournaments in 2023 um so theyve reached out to staff on the 2024 distribution um the instruction to Haley this year uh was to not make any changes uh as she was still pretty new to the position uh in 2024 um so really everything that we did was we recycled pretty much everything fees um setup and all that stuff so there was no additional clarifications on on this on this stuff so um we definitely did not uh talk about gift card distribution by any means um but when this came up so we had to do some more more digging into this to to find out uh what had occurred and indeed there was gift cards that were purchased and distributed to Winners and runner runner-ups in 2023 for the pickle ball leagues um so as there isn't uh further clarification in the 2024 leagues although there isn't mention in the um in the signup sheets um we are recommending that uh we continue that practice again in 2024 however we also do recommend that we get some good clarification of how the parkboard would like to handle this um moving forward so I did give an additional breakdown of how our fees um for the pickle ball leagues generate Revenue uh based on the number of teams that were there uh versus the expenses that we um incurred through this year so that's the $50 that we or the $25 each uh for pickle balls as well as the amount of plaques that we need to uh purchase uh for the first and second place teams um So based on that we're roughly having an an additional 1,27 $5 for summer pick ball and $300 for fall pick ball roughly um we do not have any costs associated with use of the facilities obviously it's a pretty minor um maintenance uh facility it's not like we have to mow this facility by any means or anything like that obviously there's utility costs but beyond that there it's pretty low maint maintenance facility um one thing we did have to do is replace a couple of the Nets this year uh that was not cheap that was a $5,000 expense or not quite $5,000 pretty close to $5,000 expense um obviously that's not uh within this this dollar amount um but we do have some expense for maintenance on on those uh on those courts however based on the practice from last year staff is recommending to provide the gift cards similar to last year not exceeding what we have generated in revenue and then just getting clarification on how the parkboard would like to handle J setting fees versus prizes for future Years thank you Jesse uh I think my initial question is so last year we our entire net revenue was paid out in gift cards as prize not entirely well most of it what like so I mean in in our example right now we're talking about potentially $1,275 for the summer leagues being paid out in gift cards all things equal cuz that's our net for summer right if you give me just a moment here I can pull some information up for you yeah and Katie did maybe just didn't did she get these donated or did she maybe buy them herself I don't know you know we purchased them yeah I was going to say you have the record of all of this so we roughly netted about 200 $70 after the purchase okay after everything after everything and then we distributed $270 worth of gift cards no no this was after the purchase of the gift cards after the purchase of the gift cards the city probably netted about $270 of profit what do we do with that money it offsets the overall Parks budget I mean for me yeah we'll do it again I mean cuz I mean I I suppose we have an expectation with the people that played I I know the face but I mean let's be real I mean it's if you expected it you're getting it but what so here's my thought on this we recently went over softball budgets presented it to the softball players everything part of the wiag is the rental fee of the fields I think we need to if if we even think that we want to do this again this year which is a whole another topic but we need to put the rental fees into the expenses like we do any other Recreation sports but I which I mean that kind of takes it because it's using the rental rate it would exceed the amount generated so we wouldn't have made anything do we have prizes for any other leagues does softball get paid in gift cards as well no those are plaques plaques only but we also give plaes to the pickle ball folks correct yeah so they get double I don't I'm just step in if I can you may yeah certainly giving gift cards is crazy to me unless they're being donated that's crazy I I don't think there's an expectation as a pickle ball player that you're getting gift cards that's crazy yeah I I who reached out about I mean how did we find out about this one of the players that uh was in the tournament and then we again verified this through through the purchases and obviously their photos taken with with those gift cards last year too for the tournament not for the for the end of season tournament it wasn't every participant so only the first and second place teams did do we know how much the gift cards were uh it was 610 for summer and 7:35 for fall total oh between but it's was first and second place that's first and runner up in the tournament were the ones that were first place teams and second place teams receive gift cards not every team right on a team though I'm sorry oh two yeah there's only two people on a team sorry I was like oh my gosh holy um had a little bit um okay um thoughts on this where will the money come from well the money comes from the I assume the registration fees that everybody's paid is in part of the yeah we have a net of1 12275 from Summer that doesn't account for any Administration time or any maintenance maintenance is the big thing yeah they should be paying for themselves over time holy moly um no I would be in favor of not no card I think plaques are great plaques are great plus you know part of this is when we're talking talking about you know the softball and everything that what the players want and the improvements they want to the field we can't wrap up literally all of our net revenue and emulate it on gift cards to try to improve the experience I mean it's just going to end up costing folks more like if they want to get into a tournament that's paid they can organize one but the city shouldn't be Distributing a cash or gift card cash equivalent prize for Dave no I this is something that would be the front end we would if you wanted to do a sponsorship with someone and they're gifting gift cards that's one thing but for the city to go purchase gift cards for I mean this is an activity that we're allowing and we want people to participate in activities but I I have a hard time with that dollar amount being just gifted back we're we're trying to allow participation in activity but giving back all of the revenue that then should be paid for the maintenance and we just cut our budget yeah we have a sponsor cut our budget if we have a sponsored tournament you know that we're hosting and officiating sure I I fine if it's being donated or given us to us by a sponsor sure but we can't be taking money out of our do we need a motion I think we do yeah do you need a motion one way or the other staff would like direction from the Park Board of how you'd like to handle this yeah I make a motion that we do not provide gift cards to the pickle ball league and we ensure clarification in future years that we will not be providing any monetary or prizes outside of normal plaques second Motion in a second discussion on the motion further I just want oh Jesse yes Jesse sorry could I get clarification for future years do we want to look at fees to include so the the issue we run into is the maintenance side of it we don't have a really good feel for like I said the pickle ball courts are pretty minimal maintenance compared to like mowing a softball field for instance so allocating a certain amount of M amount to maintenance how do we want to set the fees for future years do we want to include a certain nominal amount for maintenance or a certain amount of dollar amount for rental how how would the park board like to see that done motion ER or motion e I think it's a whole different topic than the motion but I don't agree with rental fees being included in leag fees personally yep I agree with maintenance being included but not rental fees Andrew um could I don't know if this ties in your motion could we start our discussion on fees maybe at next month's meeting because I know we've had some like fee waiver questions come up and now this and I think it historically we've done it like November but I want a little more lead time in case we want to make changes and allow the public a little bit of time for input as well my intent was October to have this discussion a awesome okay um so let's see as far as clarification is concerned I think that's we'll just have that discussion in October then do we need to amend the motion no so uh Motion in a second on the motion to deny the payout of the net revenue to gift cards is what we got on the table any further discussion on that motion uh Andrew to contrast the beginning of our meeting we have somebody who spending I don't know 20 hours of Halloween putting on a concert for free in the park and we're charging them $75 and last year we spent $1300 to buy gift cards for people I'm glad we are stopping yeah I like I said I I feel like you know when we're we're having ongoing discussions about new courts and things like that like the money that we're we could be spending or putting inside of the fee structures and things like that for improvements on the fields I mean 1300 bucks is 1300 bucks already we're talking about that sort of thing Dave yeah if the Nets are $5,000 what's the life expectancy on the net 15 years haven't we already had to replace them like twice $1,300 every single year is eventually going to pay for the Nets in order to play so this is a lot of dough we're talking about to just be handed out for a program that we don't do this in any other program that we host um love people participating yep love the participation thrilled with outside sponsorship tournaments if we want to go that route love it but in housee we shouldn't be Distributing cash equivalent for we got to vote on it yep so further discussion yes no hearing none all in favor say I I I'll oppose same sign no gift cards um we're going to move on to the public forum time allocated for citizens to bring matters not on the agenda to the attention of the board May impose time limits we'll open that up at 556 if anyone from the public wants to speak on anything not on the agenda seeing nobody we'll close the public forum at also 556 and move on to staff reports um parks and recck maintenance report Mr D thank you Mr chair uh so some updates from the last meeting uh so there was a discussion I I'll reference right back to it cuz I had this kind of sitting here so the the amount of water flow at the splash pad per button press I guess so thinking like any faucet we could turn down the amount of water uh by restricting the flow um however the features were likely designed for a certain flow rate through them so it it may cause some unintended issues so like they may not function properly or they may eventually clog or have some other maintenance issues we haven't fully vetted that um but it's just like anything you you crank down the valve it's going to use less water um so there's always that potential it just may cause some other issues that we don't know so that's just something that um talking with maintenance that we could do that we just know that those those I'm going to call them toys I guess those toys and sprayers are designed at a certain amount and changing those flow rates may affect them differently um there was also a question about the counter on the splash pad um there isn't a visible counter per se um that shows how many times it's been pressed um or activated uh there is a computer or a controller um that could we could potentially Connect into that might po uh provide us that usage uh we haven't had time to look into how to get into that and what the process would be to connect into that um so there's not something something that you can just look at a screen and say oh yeah it's been pressed 10,000 times or anything like that but um potentially that computer or controller would allow us to get that usage um and then we did have the uh gentleman that um reached out regarding the private pickleball League uh regarding that reduced rental fee from the last meeting um per the parkboard action they elected decline at this time based on that uh reduced fee um staff also had some additional funds left in the sign replacement budget for the 2024 year uh the two signs that appeared to be the oldest were the JC's and the Bane Park signs uh and we do have the new signs in our possession and they're getting the frames built right now um this works actually really well for the JC's with the new improvements that we're doing right now um so it's actually going to let us let us better site that sign um with the concrete pad and get the sign lined up with the new parking lot and the entrance once it's completed um however Bane sign is it's surrounded by those Juniper bushes right now mostly in the front um so staff would like some thoughts from the park board if those Juniper bushes should be removed so the sign can be placed on a concrete pad um and then just replace the area with turf grass or should we repost the sign kind of right where it is um and I'm just kind of looking for some direction that way they're ugly Paul thinks they're ugly um kind of random yeah I would my vote would be to PO them yeah I'm not really one for taking away green things but I'm not a fan of them I like the rock the one rock here any thoughts on the Shrubbery I mean are you attached to it no okay but is it like a memory thing for anyone like that those flowers or I mean I'm sure not but like is there a reason that they're there I'm not aware of that but and not a memorial Juniper bush is there um one of those electric boxes or is that a rock right there you're saying that's a rock oh it is okay uh yankum no no OPP opposition perfect thank you very good um are you attached to the Juniper bushes I they I just said maybe they're there for gin production I don't know oh maybe it's remnant of our boot leer days very good yank them okay um the Great Pumpkin Festival uh we planning on Saturday October 12th in Memorial Park uh with Haley's resignation administrator boals as well as some of our Community Development Department staff uh have been willing to assist with putting the event on uh most of the details are already completed with some are yet to be finalized uh the mayor was gracious enough uh to have run the event last year short notice and provide a pretty good guide of how things could go successfully this year um so between that and kind of the the Headway we already had made before Haley resigned uh we're actually set up pretty well already um so it's just within the with the few few weeks that we do have ahead of October 12th we're we're actually in in really good shape um so if there is any park board members that are willing to assist with the event let me know and I can get you in contact with the right folks uh that are organizing the event just let me know um the fall adult sports continue to move forward with the end of season tournaments beginning shortly uh in regards to maintenance uh we are moving out to what we would consider summer maintenance like Mowing and field maintenance and we're moving into the fall activity stuff uh so staff is working on assembling the Buster Pavilion and putting together some of the memorial benches that we have uh what you're going to see is things like uh the splash pad and the Gregory Fountain uh getting shut down and then we're going to start winterizing our facilities before things begin to freeze up uh which the winterizing usually takes a few weeks to get done uh when you think of all of the different parks and all the different water lines that we have and sprinkler systems so it takes a uh we do have all the antifreeze and stuff but it it takes quite a ways to to winterize everything so it does take a few weeks by the time we're through everything so uh we are going to get started moving in that process once we wrap up these these last couple different projects um as for projects uh the Dantel Excavating uh they have started grading JC's Park um you can really start to Envision I just walked it out this morning uh you can really get the scale of the new pleasure rink uh as well as the soccer field uh so they'll be getting work lat later this week in the Lum Campground expansion as well uh it's likely going to be a pretty busy couple months uh between all the different projects uh as they're trying to finish up before the end of the year um and then also high-tech continues to uh work in the Lum Park pavilion as they wrap up in the next uh probably a week or so um on that work with that I will entertain any questions that you may have on the report well I I just had a comment I know we had discussed the Great Pumpkin Festival moving from park to park annually no I we did all right oh I'm not saying we you I'm just saying we don't we don't have to I just wanted to make sure um you know that was uh you know my only remk talking about it you my only remark to that would be as the individual that ran it last year it worked splendidly and we had very good feedback from parents specifically on the Caged in feel of the softball field allowing the little ones to run with without fear of Disappearing I think the yeah I think the The Architects of that particular fenced in area were amazing I think they those those people maybe a metal maybe the mayor's medal for those folks I don't think people who designed softball fencing thought this is a great way to keep four-year-olds from running off but it is a unintended know special effect of such things yeah worked out great um actually I think I mean you were I mean we we well actually kind of popped in I don't know if you made it last year um but yeah it was it worked out good at Memorial actually so believe it or not so um I think that was my only question on the the pumpkin fessel was I just wanted to make sure you know we're you know we're moving it around we're moving it around but otherwise not um um and then I mean is I know this is really tough for you to know now but are we seeing the reason why ms1 we didn't have a lot of teams this season is that is there some causality with the summer league are you talking about for fall yeah or is it just you know do we have issu like you know are we close to not having enough every year for ms1 teams again that's probably a better question for a r specialist but um you know are do we not have an ms1 League this season because of the pains that we may have had in the summer or we just losing interest I know we had some teams signed up but we didn't have enough to feel a league got it um I did not instruct anybody to go and follow up on on reasons why so I couldn't tell you any answers why from what I've seen our softball Community is aging and their kids are not as interested in it y so numbers have started to dwindle because people like me get hurt at softball yeah so I just yeah like I said I want to make sure that you know again we're continuing the feedback and asking the questions here you know at these meetings and and making sure that we're getting as much feedback on these uh I mean because we only run a couple of them now so um we shouldn't be missing anything so nothing else Jesse though any other questions for Jesse K I was curious about remind me of again how we uh winterize The Kayaks or like the rent fund does it get locked up uh when we winterize the parks or we don't take care of that at all that's entirely by rent. fund they they handle the maintenance of that so I think they pull it at the end of the season um well they they don't pull the the the cage they I think they just pull the kayaks the equipment and when's the end of the season do you like is it you know first snow I mean when has people maybe want to go on the lake and cut when the Fall colors and I'd have to relook I think they they let it go for quite a bit until it gets pretty chilly but still a sweet deal that they come and get it so know right that is really great but I'm just curious thank Dave I I just wanted to request again I think I made this request last year but uh when we winterize it would be nice for us to look at potentially putting in porta potties or something one in in a park uh because we do have that basically most of October is when we're win winterized isn't it wasn't that what happened last year I think we had about three weeks last year when we were winterized until it was cold without any use of bathrooms in the park so I rental of of a porta on is pretty inexpensive depends on the park uh the one the one the the parks with warming houses are obviously year year round so those restrooms stay open uh it's the ones that don't don't have the warming houses those are the ones that we do winter Rise um like kuas park for instance um so that one we do not obviously maintain the full year round um it's tough to know exactly when part of the year uh that we'll get to winterizing it every year it's pretty weather dependent and when staff is able to get to it I'd just like like us to look at that as a potential option we've got a warming house in every neighborhood for a couple hundred bucks you could put a bathroom yeah we can look into that but I just feel like we we do have a park that's open to the public during the winter and in every neighborhood just a a second request from a lonely mayor well yeah we're trying to cut budgets here you know can't be adding Porta John's everywhere stop giving out gift cards and you yeah well that that will help the budget a lot um all right any other questions for staff just or Andrew sorry uh just about the Buster Park complaint with the wind screen is that something we could look at putting some flats or something up on one side of the building I definitely see their point it kind of whips right off the river but that would be challenging for us to figure out that one they're obviously steel post I'm not sure what we can I fabricate anything to fasten to the steel post but it wasn't obviously designed to have any kind of a wall so I don't know how that would affect it um adding an additional wind load to it I know that the previous wind screen was not in good condition I do remember that so I was yeah okay cool this is curious thanks very good any other questions for staff we'll move on to board member reports what start JD I don't have anything not a Paul um I think for me uh the main concern I think between meetings was the um again the vehicles in the park for in the park um I just want to make sure that we were able to resolve that and get a a letter sent out to them kind of explaining our position on vehicles in the park and I again I I I guess I'm trying to understand this they did we approve an event application for pride in the park I thought we had but we didn't I thought we had one at col that we that was like a run thought we did Pride like months ago I thought we had I thought we had done an application for that but we did not approve an event application specifically an event application uh so I did reach out to the event organizer um that did they filled out a a reservation a Park reservation a facility reservation um so I think that's where some of the confusion comes in so this this confusion actually came up with Wonder Trek um for this event application that came up in here is they thought that they had put in the application so I clarified you know for a for a public event uh this is something that Beyond just a reservation application that we would like to see um come into us as one so the park board is aware of a you know public event that is going in in our Parks uh but to it gives us uh an opportunity for especially our maintenance to make sure that we are prepared to facilitate for a large or potentially a large crowd of folks that are going to be out there so we don't have issues like toilet paper running out an hour into a 5 hour event or if there's not enough garbage cans you know being able to facilitate a larger event so having these event applications is important to us so I I did reach out to the event organizer one in indicating that we should be seeing those event applications come in um but also that Gregory park has a pretty strict policy of no vehicles in the Park yeah and I think the the only reason I really bring up the application was strictly because I think we're pretty clear on our vehicle um um polic policy on the application so I was like well if they didn't fill out an event application and they just reserve the park then maybe we're not saying in the Park rental application that oh we are okay so I just yeah I just wanted to make sure I guess for my my own sanity that you know if there was a benefit of the doubt here that you know they were driving on there without you know being 100% sure but also again we want to first of all we want to have that just for staff purposes but we also want to be able to promote stuff inside of our Park systems and things like that too so I mean again encouraging the public to just let us know you got something going on um we just want to be able to help you guys facilitate regardless of what you're up to Dave I would say that that goes to your statement earlier about promoting things that are going on in the park as well if we're more aware of that that's happening the bigger issue with not pulling the permit is it's not even legal to sell things in the park so you know if you're not pulling a permit you can't have any type of sales in the par yeah so it's disconcerning that that was the case but we'll get it clarified and we'll make sure that that's figured out in the future but we should be encouraging people there are bigger concerns there's policing issues there's um you know insurance issues there's that type of stuff that all needs to be addressed and that's all in the application yep so very much appreciate you reaching out and clarifying uh not only for them but for myself as well so um that is all I have though Andrew uh two quick things toer point there were Vehicles parked at the Gregory Park pavilion Wednesday of last week including one blocking the sidewalk which was a choice um so yeah still a challenge but it's I feel like been better since the boulders and things have gone in um second is it's family stuff come up couldn't make it to the skoon Rice Lake meeting on Sunday but uh generally positive report from Wayne at the race Leake Association thought this year went really well so I think 180 degrees from last year so sure that's really exciting to hear it's kind of been our dialogue for 2024 right open communication um whether it's between us and the organizations or groups or you know um whatever I mean just trying to be more open Jesse Andrew I was going to follow up with you directly but just as well for the entire board I did follow up on that incident regarding the vehicle um I didn't have a reservation for that afternoon at the park so my guess is that was just somebody showing up and having their event at the park very good Cara anything no nothing Dave would you like to add any I too will once again be at the Great Pumpkin Festival I've been asked to give my beautiful vocal skills for said races that will be happening so you can come by and enjoy the smooth smooth sounds of one marau as you bounce on a rubber donkey so but not a giant pumpkin no giant pumpkin has looking we're looking for still still looking out for it um yeah so very good um move to a journ all right we' got a motion to a journ second oh my goodness gracious me Motion in a second any discussion all in favor say I I all oppose same sign we are adjourned