##VIDEO ID:yPLWHbvKXBw## e e e e e e e e e e e e e inventory on all the plants oh all right well welcome we're not used to having a crowd here this is a crowd more more than one person has a crowd uh so I'd just like to call to order um parks recreation advisory commission uh meeting it's 5 o'clock and it is uh October 3rd um so can I get a motion to approve the agenda for tonight I'll make a motion to approve the agenda I'll second um all in favor um and then can I get uh a motion to approve August 1st 2024 minutes I motion approval of August second all in favor motion carried um next we are just going to move to our open Forum um so first is there uh I suppose I'll just open it oh actually we'll start with Amber do you want to start with City Park phase one presentation I'd love to um yes thank you all for coming tonight um I am Amber I am the park and recre director here in niswa um so this is our regular Parks Commission meeting um we've tailored this meeting specifically to City Park um and talking about the the phase one improvements um so I'll I have a presentation for you guys tonight I'm open to a few questions we do have a second presentation after that um so we'll have some questions if you guys want to stay for the rest of the meeting we do have um one business item to attend to and then after the meeting you're welcome to stay look at pictures talk with any of the commission members and myself so we do want to open it up to a few questions in case you guys do need to leave but if you're um able to and you want to stay for the whole meeting this entire meeting is geared toward City Park and City Park improvements so with that um to provide you guys a quick overview of niswa Park and wre we have two full-time staff we have myself and a park maintenance technician um we have four to seven winter seasonal staff we do not have any summer seasonal staff um with that we offer over 15 programs a year we need the assistance of about 12 organizations and over 20 volunteers to make that happen every single year um we oversee about 40 acres in Parkland as well as 3 and a half miles of pave Trail um the new G Lake Trail as well as about 2 miles of crushed concrete Trail and so we will be constructing just over another half mile of the gck trail along Casa 77 um anticipated for next summer and then the last bit of infrastructure that we oversee is the niswa community Event Center as well so just want to give you guys a high Lev overview of just kind of what park and rec does what we oversee who we are um as we go forward I think it's a important that we understand our why um so we want to start with why before we get to the what um so I have a couple questions for you guys this is interactive you didn't know that nobody knew that my question for you is why is Park and Recreation an essential public service Shout It Out brings people to town gives them something to do you bet so according to the National recreation parks Association some of their examples are economic value so things like value of property taxes um and you mentioned it the increase in tourism in the business industry um there's health and environmental benefits you mentioned it's physical and mental health um it helps improve water quality and air quality and then obviously a social impact um it's Quality of Life Community Pride and helps reduce crime equally important to understand why are parks trails open space and Recreation important to you also interactive all most stated values we're all interested in that okay so I think you've already said it yeah I would say you wouldn't be here if it wasn't important to you if it wasn't something you valued like to stay busy we'll hire you so yeah it's all of those things it's important to different people in different ways right sometimes it's to connect with others and that human interaction sometimes it's for physical activity to reduce your stress or connect with nature so those are just a couple examples of why it's important to different individuals um conversely we need to understand why not why are people not participating lack of lack of infrastructure knowledge yeah totally what's available what are the options um so just to list a couples some people don't feel safe in the space so they don't go time cost prohibitive um social or physical barriers um might be Transportation they don't have a way to get there um and then like you guys mentioned options and activities offered they may not know about it so I think it's critical that we understand why people are coming here that was a huge part of our plan it's part of our mission and our vision we need to understand the why those are our um that it it provides our purpose and our goals it gives us a direction to go in um so the mission of the park and wre advisory commission is to provide reward rewarding recreational opportunities and facilities for residents and visitors alike regardless of age economic status race Creed physical or mental abilities or limitations so these statements speak to our goals and our purpose it's the lens that we went through the master plan with and it speaks to nisa's why it's the foundation that we build upon that guides us through this process um everybody feels different they have a different sense of space and place and so we need to keep that in mind as we go through this um we want to hear people's feedback we want to hear how they experience a place so we're really looking to you guys to stay engaged in this process to provide us your experiences that helps us continue to plan to continue to try and achieve this Mission so as we go on to um implementing some of these things we went through a master planning process the um city did a comprehensive plan um in 2019 and that called for a recommendation to make a park and wreck master plan um a key point of the master plan was city park we knew that the playground and the hockey rink were nearing the end of their useful life and we have already removed the skating rink boards and the hockey Refrigeration from the system so we knew focusing on City Park was a critical element in the planning process um in June of 2022 we started the master plan and it took about eight months to get through it a large component of the master plan was community engagement this plan is based off of the feedback we received whil trying to stay true to the mission and vision um that we have so we did several Community engagement opportunities it started with an online survey in July of 22 we had 208 respondents um from those survey results we created three different Concept Designs the goal was for them to be distinctly different to elicit feedback we wanted to know what you guys liked what you didn't like we wanted to know what people wanted here in niswa um we had three inperson public engagement meetings as well as an online form for people to comment that way as well um and then from those Concepts and the feedback we received we found themes to create a preferred concept um and so that is what you have seen that is the pictures in the room that is what has been um approved in our master plan are those that preferred concept um when we went through the planning process they did estimate that currently we have over 7 million in existing infrastructure in our system so that is um quite a large investment this community has made in Parks and Recreation um it's a lot for us to keep thinking and as we talked about you know space and uh financials are certainly constraints that we had to try and work within so we're we're going to go through um a video here this is the preferred Concept in 3D form um so to just help Orient you guys we have the baseball field here that is right out back um the baseball field the community center and the softball field all remain in the same location those are um largely untouched there's minor improvements that would be projected um but most of that infrastructure isn't coming due for updates for another 10 years or so so I'm going to hit yeah it was a combination of the major feedback we received so with the likes and dislikes from all the different concepts um we kind of took the overwhelming majorities um as well as looking at replacement cycles of things what Staffing abilities cost of things um and just kind of kept working our way down to this yeah okay so this might move fast I hope no one gets motion sickness um but this is just again conceptual it doesn't mean everything on here is fact and I'm talking like what type of picnic shelter it is not inside warming house new a new warming house facility yes correct an uncovered hockey rink so the question was asked if there is changes um to the community center the answer to that is no not internally on this um what you are seeing though is a reorientation of the parking lot um and and so one of the goals of the master plan was to improve circulation so you're seeing more sidewalks coming into the park um you see a drop off area kind of over by the playground and to help cars cycle through um more effectively um commity Center and then right behind that isn't that where the firehouse is and where the recycling center was yes correct can you my head to where the is is that that same space no so um the question was helping everyone Orient if you're looking at this screen this is where the firehouse is this is um to the right if you're looking at the community center it's to the right of the community center so we have Main Street is coming down on this side and Church Street is over on the top right of your screen correct yes that is already on city land yeah yes yeah like where that tennis where that tennis court is is approximately where the current basketball court or you know basketball court is we will get to that there's currently open land land there City so this is all City own land um this was from a grant in 1976 that they acquired this land for Parkland um in perpetuity so we must maintain it as Parkland um within this there is a little bit of a domino effect so we will be get I'll be talking about that um and how the the space is going to be laid out but it is all city land right now we're going to figure that out so yes this while this is to scale it is conceptual so um all the things still need to be figured out I'll say when we're when we're looking at concept this is um we're talking the preferred concept called for six designated pickle ball courts as well as one tennis court so that's really what we're looking at we have a desire to have seaing and shade features it doesn't mean it's going to be what's on the picture um so if we keep that in mind um we're going we're going to figure out our space based off of six courts and a tennis court um so conceptually phase one includes this rendering um of the pickleball court so six pickleball courts and a tennis court and then the other component of phase one improvements that we've been discussing is an inclusive playground and so an inclusive or the playground in general can have a different shape to it generally the size of the pickle ball court is going to be the size of the pickle ball court and it's going to be rectangle um but a a playground can change shape to help figure out the space um so when we say an inclusive playground it's looking at varying physical abilities you're looking at social emotional neurodiverse we're trying to consider all of those different abilities um and have a welcoming environment for all we do not have a splash pad in this it was a part of one of the concepts that we worked through and did not um become part of the preferred concept comp yes L yeah so it is something that we did talk about splash pads in general um we're on one of the concepts actually two varieties of splash pads um and it's something that the Parks Commission talked about quite a bit um and it is not in the preferred um concept so it's not an Avenue we're planning to pursue um but there are a lot of couple of options options in the area one is what you talked about in brainer and the other one is in peat Lakes now so to the question of where does it all go um site planning we did get approved to begin site planning in August um and so this is a key step in moving it from concept to be able to implement um in large part I have some of the tasks listed um we're looking at the existing conditions preparing a base map um looking at any environmental concerns that need to be assessed and addressed um looking at the concept verifying everything and the space that each amenity is going to need so we need to lay out where each piece of the park is going to go um with that they'll prepare some preliminary plans as well as a timeline and refine the cost estimate um probably one of the biggest questions I get asked is what's the timeline it's a very tough question to answer as we go through site planning we're going to look at how long it'll take to actually Implement what we don't know is when we'll be able to implement it because it is based on when we can secure funding so that's why it's a tough answer um we'll figure out how long it's going to take to construct it but when construction will happen is still to be determined we have educated um figures so when we worked through it um the plans with our consultant um they gave us a lot of behind the scenes numbers that um they've seen in the industry as well as just looking through magazines talking to Consultants talking to um other other cities um so I'll say at right right now it's an educated guess on those cost estimates um you guys may have seen some of this right now for phase one the estimated cost is just short of 1.2 million so we started the nisat enrichment fund last fall um theis enrichment fund is housing the donations we have partnered with the brainer Lakes Area Community Foundation to host that fund um and so Terry will be speaking to that here after after my presentation um the idea here Parks Commission set a goal of raising 600,000 by February 1st so 600,000 is half of what we estimate the project cost to be um the idea is that we would use those funds raised as matching dollars to apply for a DNR Grant the one we've um kind of had our eye on is the DNR outdoor R Grant it has um an award value of $350,000 so the February 1 timeline is in conjunction with being able to apply with for that Grant uh that's where that comes from it's an annual Grant um we would have to determine if we're going to submit it by the end of March of 2 so that's what we're working on um you've probably seen some of this marketing City staff and the Parks Commission by extension are very limited in what we can do in terms of fundraising and so I'm going to put it out there while your feedback is super helpful super valuable we want to hear from you we want to hear how you experience the parks if you're able to contribute financially that's help ful if you're able to donate time we need individuals Community businesses organizations um it we're going to need everybody to make this happen um so we're asking for help the city is very limited in what we can do for fundraising um and so it's going to have to be a community effort to lift this up and be able to implement it question I will put this PowerPoint on our website a lot of the information's already there um it's City of.gov it's on um under the parks page a fundraising tab so you can watch the flyth through video you can see specific images for pickle ball playground all of those things um but as we go through this and we're trying to put together the funding um every Grant has different requirements and every Grant has different timelines and so we're trying to find a way to put it all together am I'm that's my main interest I have used all the recreational for many of them and I I'm grateful for all of them there are a lot of models out there and when you say City lied fundraising um models out there for cours and for playgrounds is the DNR Grant the only um pursuing there a of other grants that may be available other monies that may be available talk there's definitely options um it does take time to research all of them which you know which ones fit best if there's one specific for pickle ball um if there's one specific for playground timelines and requirements of all of them um going back to the site planning a lot of the grants require you to be close to project ready um and so getting to the site planning portion of it to get the park laid out is a critical component to be able to start applying for Grants so like I said even even getting 300,000 on top of 600,000 there's still a gap so there's still more funding that would night likely need to come into play another question the master plan portion um we I have been here for four years um we did a rink feasability because the rink is in uh it's close to the end of its useful life um and so we kind of started there seeing the magnitude of that project realized maybe we should look at the whole park maybe we should look at the whole system um and so we started on the master plan uh in 2022 so we've been at it two and a half three years um but fundraising since May so we're very early in the fundraising portion of it correct included anyal citypa since they were establishing the master plan that was going to requ some Capal Improvement on good question yes um so since I've been here city council has had a strong priority in setting strategic a strategic plan planning for the future um we have spent significant amount of time looking at long range planning whether it's from an operational standpoint an infrastructure standpoint you know employee and safety things like that um and so as I mentioned it's projected that we have about 7 million in existing infrastructure so we've started putting money aside um to help with future Replacements but not necess neily implementing the master plan so there's components of it like the playground and the hockey rink and pickle ball to some level that are currently existing um that we'd want you know to start planning for replacement however we started planning for replacement two years three years ago critical but it seems to me that we would start out with a master plan knowing nobody would be surprised that the master plan would for improvements replac and the city council have yeah so we we are putting money away but it's not necessarily to implement the specific master plan it's to replace things within the park system so it's a minor distinction between the two question limited in our fundraising abilities yes um so from and Jenny hop on in if I don't get this totally correct um simple short answerers we can kind of do education very passive efforts we where it gets tricky is we're not meant to be doing like active fundraising and hosting events and doing the silent auctions and hosting the Galas and door knocking and things like that that help answer potentially yes so if it's something that you think you're passionate about if you have an expertise in if you are involved in an organization or a business that you think you could help in some way shape or form please just come talk to me yep [Music] yep obviously when you talk about economic opportunities this can be d c for other businesses is it within your perview to engage in conversations with them to support financially what you're doing or are you saying that's going to be function of um want go hey we like you to make a donation of million to support this can the city do that it gets very touchy on on what city staff can do go to get funds um the city staff people that work for the city can work with an organization like this and put up the fundraising that they did this the the One Fund as far as going out and soliciting private entities and so forth they cannot do that that's why a lot of municipalities have what called people have formed um friends of the parks um usually it's an LLC they can do that kind of stuff staff can't do that um I would love to do it because I used to do a lot of that up North but with me being with the city I can't but um and I would say per from a perspective perspective perspective of the council um let's take the hockey rank first the ier that's been that was that's been on borrowed time for 20 years it was a uh a used chilling unit that was bought um city's been putting in thousands and thousands of dollars every year to just keep it going it's finally kaput realizing that is when set forth we need to redo this something let's look at the whole Parks um but it's yeah I wish I wish this we could just pull out the upwards of $10 million and say here you go it's just not feasible but at least we're looking at it to get started so that we can have something in so we can have this park yet in 10 years so I'll say this is a this is a pretty large undertaking that the city council has agreed to and supported um because that it's not a small bit of infrastructure um it's an extens Ive process you know we start with the master plan and then that takes two two years and now it takes another couple of years to get through fundraising and the planning efforts before you even get to construction so um it's definitely a longer process than I think any of us want it to be um it's extensive there's a lot of nuances to it so I'm glad you guys are all here and able to ask your questions because there's just a lot of layers and considerations to it um so the nisah enrichment fund um Terry's going to talk a little bit more about how that part works next um I just want to reiterate um just the importance of Park and wreck the importance it is to you as an individual the importance it is to our community um I appreciate you guys being here your interest your involvement I encourage everybody to continue to share their experiences places that they've liked places that they haven't um what you like about this space these Concepts um we're working through it we're putting we're putting the plan in place and we want ongoing feedback um we want to hear your questions as we continue to navigate this um we want your help we want your help if you can financially donate if you can donate your time if you have ideas um I want want you guys to feel welcome bringing those forward um so my contact information is up on the screen um you can stop by City Hall you can call me you can email me I do have some business cards over here if you guys are able to stay till the end of the event um with some handouts as well and then like I said again if you're willing to stay and you have more questions we can certainly look at the information um and go through that so I am going to switch out the screens our anybody Mark Mark can you pronounce the real name what's that can you pronounce the real name Between the Lakes Park there's a sound blip on the website you can practice he good evening I'm Terry Foster and for those of you that I do usually have a loud voice so I won't shout you out the window here um but I'm Terry Foster I grew up around uh the pat niswa area out on Cony Road 29 across from Hunts Point and um have a family uh we have four children my husband and I and one left in school at peatt and uh I have always loved this community and uh I've spent most of my life and about seven years ago I joined the Brainard Lakes Area Community Foundation and so I'm going to talk a little bit about the fund that Amber uh shared with you um but I I first want to also just make a note about making sure that everybody understands the complexity of this project um you already have staff as you said you know she's got a huge team over here um of two full-time two full-time two full-time employees they already have probably a pretty full plate and um you know the advisory committee for this group for the park and Rex um again would be volunteer many of people who have you know jobs and other obligations and so it's going to be really important to get the support financially and as they mentioned the city government it's kind of a a hard way to go ahead and fund raise for them so we need to support and I'm going to try and do that as much as I can and I'm asking that each of you also consider what you can do and in getting the word out and and helping um you know get this done so I think it'll be a wonderful project um and I also need to get my liability statement out of the way with here so that I am not an attorney I am not an accountant do we have any attorneys or accountants in the room past former okay I was going to say see them after all okay so so don't judge me I'm giving ideas and some ideas about what you may be able to give um besides some cash and um I just want to kind of spark some ideas that might help you okay but you should always seek your professional accountant and um legal advice okay so go ahead and we'll get into the uh Community Foundation here oh thank you Amber um so why a Community Foundation and who are we uh the Brainard Lakes Area Community Foundation um and I'm going to this is just what we're going to talk about here today was started um about 26 years ago and what a Community Foundation does you can see the legal definition up there tax exempt nonprofit okay it's a little dry over there reading the rest but basically a Community Foundation has started to connect people and resource es to help make a community Thrive and make giving easy okay and so we'll talk a little bit more about the giving easy um so it's kind of like with planting our logo is a tree when you're planting seeds and they're sprouting and you nurture them you can rape the impact sometimes those are endowed funds for a park okay sometimes those are funds that allow for fundrais amazing such as the Gul Lake Trail fund Friends of the niswa Lake Park fund the niswa fire department has a fund with us and that is for designated for their operations and their activities that they have um and this there we go so as I mentioned uh we are run by a group of uh 12 to 15 uh volunteer board of directors um some of those people you can see in the bottom um and that picture shows us several of them right now we have about $225 million in assets and about 143 funds so you're probably wondering wow we don't have to do any fundraising you already got the money I would love to say that we do but a lot of those funds are held in what's called a donor advise fund that means individuals such as yourself can start a charitable fund that is invest Ed and grows and they direct where those funds go um to their favorite Charities throughout their lifetime um other funds would be like the niswa fire department fund or this niswa enrichment fund right and so the reason why um well I'm getting ahead of myself hang on I know it's exciting but we have given uh through our generous donors and fund holders and the foundation we have some Grant rounds um over $1 million in Grants um since its Inception and uh we are averaging a little over a million dollars a year right now and I do anticipate as this grows in a few years we could be SE seeing several million dollars going out in grant funding to support nonprofits and our Lakes area communities so it's really going to be having a great impact um we are a part of a group and of community giving is what it's called and it's made up of local community foundations we're kind of like a co-op and why am I telling you this I'm telling you this because we kind of know what we're doing as far as a Community Foundation we have the secret sauce of community giving that's been around for um about 15 years longer than us um and we collectively there's about $250 million under assets right now with these um tones that are listed on the map there and um you know giving out you know $25 million in in Grants or grant funding to nonprofits and the really cool thing is they know a lot about the investment processes so all of these funds are invested they're growing they have really defined and refined processes that we get to take a part in and um there are two of us I'm actually hiring and just made an offer we had an open position so I'll have some help soon but in the brainer Lakes area but we can access a lot of help um through Community giving there's a staff of about 30 team members and they can also help us accept gifts and this is what's really important gifts that are not cash okay so we'll talk about that again in a minute I'm going to whip through this um again I mentioned we have different types of funds A Donor advised fund I'm not going to go through all of this what you don't even need to know but it is a field of interest fund is what this niswa enrichment fund is and the reason why it's a field of interest is it's covering an area of Interest Parks and Recreation for the city of Nisa These funds will only be used for this purpose okay and um it's going to it could be could have this fund for into perpetuity it could become at some point even an endowed fund right now the city um has full access to these funds they can pull them out they're growing interest and um as as they're fundraising so hopefully they'll have more to to give and pay out as they do each phase um but I wanted to also tell you about the donor advise funds especially or if you have a business a corporate fund because there might might be a way to kind of help yourself while you're helping this um Nisan enrichment fund so here are some ways of giving um right now does anybody have a guess how much of our wealth is held privately in cash versus non-cash gift what's a percentage I got a guess 20 it's actually um we have uh about 3% of our wealth is held in cash so about 97% of most people's wealth is held in non-cash gifts or assets so what does that mean that means real estate retirement funds stocks your life insurance policies it means um businesses and you know properties so a lot of noncash assets and yet about 85% of our giving is done through cash and cash is sometimes not the best way for you to receive a tax benefit or for the charity such as the niswa enrichment fund to receive that because they might not receive the full value some of it Uncle Sam might take out um or there might be some Capital taxes and so we're going to talk a little bit about some ways that you know that might be more smart for you to to give um and when I mentioned Community giving they actually have an arm of a real estate arm and they can help with real estate gifts so for example we're working on right now um a gift somebody has some lake property they don't necessarily need the that asset or the money right now they're getting older uh what is done to the market everybody knows here is substantially increase from when they bought it 50 years ago and so they might have large capital gains taxes and income taxes on those on that you know on selling that property you could there's ways to do all or part or a percentage into kind of a a trust if you will into another holding that Community giving would work with you and you could sell that property as long as it's done before you go into a contract with a realtor um you can go ahead and do this and you can sell again all or part or percentage to lower your capital gains or gift all of it and all of that money or whatever part you were going to gift could go directly into this fund here at the niswa enrichment fund um you can also do that with businesses um also agriculture um our community uh excuse me Community Foundation partner in Wilmer they actually accepted a combine and some egg equipment last year um some foundations are accepting cows I'm not sure exactly how they're working all that out but those are things that you know check with us if you're selling a business real estate all of those things it might be very tax advantageous for you and it might also help out your favorite pretty darn good Community here right um again stocks so stocks you can go ahead and um I'm gonna just flip forward here and then see if I can flip back this is an example of a stock gift so let's say you're going to sell some of your stock and on the left side it's a 20 the value when you purchased it was $20,000 okay and the current price is 50,000 so the capital gains if you were to just sell that and you know pay the capital gains taxes on that you would probably pay about $7,150 on that and then if you were to give the remaining cash to the nisah enrichment fund let's say you would be giving only $ 42,8 versus the full $50,000 for the stock plus your income tax savings would be more by donating the stock does that make sense at all um so some unique ways I was just going to say the other thing is is bunching gifts a reason why somebody might start a donor advise fund is right now if you are going to take um a tax deduction your standard deduction for a single person is 14,6 00 um married filed jointly is 29,200 most of us don't reach that threshold to take a deduct or to take anything other than that standard deduction we can't itemize but what if you are retiring and you're getting maybe a payout from your business or you know extra salary or what if you had a high income year and you say you want to lower your income and you want to lower that tax obligation you might throw instead of just maybe you do $5,000 a year for charity you might actually put in 50,000 this year into your fund and that fund remember is invested and will grow and you can use that fund however you want to give gifts for the next many years or for the rest of your life and maybe even have your children or someone else succeed on that fund and so those are ways that you could help yourself you could say hey I'm going to give so much a year to the niswa enrichment fund through my donor advise fund but I can also support my church or my other favorite Charities um Ira minimum distribution again don't look at the age on this because any of you that are over the age of 70 and a half or weren't over the age of 70 and a half a couple of years ago ago you may know that the IRS decided to keep changing and raising that limit um and I believe it is actually at 72 right now but correct me if I'm wrong if somebody knows that but right now if you're over the age of 72 let's say and if again if I'm wrong I apologize I know it says 73 up there you are required to take a required minimum distribution from your IRA what if you don't need that and what if it's not a Roth IRA what if you're going to have to pay again more taxes well we actually have somebody in this room that was smart enough to know what to do and so that person said hey I want to turn that check directly over to the niswa enrichment fund and that will be a great way for me to save taxes a great way for me to support my favorite charity and you can do that um there's also another thing that started in Janu anuary of 23 um whereas you can do a legacy qualified charitable distribution so another way again I don't want to bore everybody I do see a few eyes glazing over so I will keep moving forward here but again I just want to Spur ideas around what you can give and to know that you can ask us for free we will talk with your accountants with your attorneys your financial advisors work with Amber and and Jenny at the city um and so if you have questions um you know please let us know we do have charitable gift annuities um and then I just want to ask you know like what do you want to leave behind for the Next Generation some of you may recognize that third picture anybody know who that is Millie gson yeah Millie gson um wanted you know she she scrimped and saved for most of her life as many of you know and um she ended up helping out several charities in The Lakes area after her passing and and even before so the nisah Lake Park a lot of those um improvements and additions to the park were because of Millie and so I ask you you know think about your favorite your favorite community and um a lot of you in this room are of the age if I may say that are a little more experienced and perhaps part of this big baby boomer group and I don't know if you're aware but you worked really hard and um you saved a lot of money and um right now we're going to be seeing continue to see for the next 10 to 15 years the biggest transfer of wealth that has ever happened in the United States history from your generation to the next and and I also ask you to think about your favorite communities where there's pretty darn good shopping and pretty darn good community members yes and pickle ball and I want you to think about what would happen if you were to give maybe 5% of your estate to your community can you imagine the endowed fund that we would have in 20 years we wouldn't have to wait for pickle ball courts or whatever the next you know craze is of that right we if we have the next covid pandemic you know that we could have never expected we'd have a fund there that would be able to meet needs of the community um and so again through your estate planning um we've done some estate planning workshops some of the attorneys that we've worked with have said hey if you want to really give yourself some uh leniency and allow yourself to make some changes in your trust or your will put a message in there that hey I want X percentage or after we pay out all of these folks um I want the rest to go to my donor advise fund and then you can give us directions and say hey every year I want the city of nisah you know through their enrichment fund to get x amount for maintenance of this park or building a park um you could also then take care of those other Charities that you want to such as church or whatever that might be um so it's a really good idea to just think about that and um also Memorial gifts can be made directly to you know the niswa enrichment fund um like I said payable on death we also have somebody that recently gave a large life insurance policy to a charity of their choice so lots of things to think about and uh I appreciate all of you because I think it's uh the people that make nisah so special and wonderful and the lakes area um and so again this is um how you can help as Amber mentioned I think um if each of you were to consider contributing and finding five of your closest friends and saying you know could you do this would you support that that would really help so I also have a few brochures some business cards and if you have any questions uh please feel free and ask me thank you for your time and uh I appreciate everything does anyone have any questions for Terry right now oh oh no the the legal professional over here okay just kidding okay in terms of yes yep yep so and that usually that's something that I'm really proud about uh some Community foundations or other organizations similar will endow those funds or maybe only allow you to have a certain percentage out annually that is not the case I want to to assure you that um they they can request the full amount when they're ready and um you know well as long as well remember the the first part where I said it is limited to Jenny do you remember the exact verbage yes yes yep and there is a phrase in the fund agreement that is around the but it's for this the city of niswa for enrichment yep those funds be for this particular project or anything the city council made no I I think so the right now this is our primary use of the funds this is what we're going for and then if you do choose to make a cash donation or a check donation if you wanted to go specifically towards pickle ball um you'd write make sure you're write this one enrichment fund and make a note that that's the designated Source you wanted towards happens if we don't that, like the funds stay there um but that's going to be a real tough question that we're going to have to answer and city council is going to have to answer if we don't um yep we'll keep it there we're going to try to keep those Investments growing so it is gaining interest as we go um but if we don't have enough money to do we can't do the project until we have the money to do it that's well we have existing infrastructure like I said the playground and the hockey rink are on their last couple go arounds um so we know that pickle ball is a huge desire we know that the courts we have are far from ideal um so it's going to be something that we may have to wrestle with hopefully that's not the case hopefully we can find a way to you know rally the community and find a way to make this happen um but yeah it's it's it's tall ask it's a big project we already have a lot of infrastructure that we need to deal with um with some experience in this with similar numbers seems like we're Miss in a linkage in terms of IE we raise X dollar we will get you know the quid proo the approval and the construction and you know the digging starts that seems to be a little squishy here if the money was suddenly in there how do we know that the shovels are going to hit ground that's why we're working on site planning right now um so the city has invested already 20,000 into the Nissan enrichment fund and they just approved a $25,000 contract to begin on site planning so we're making those small strides to get closer so it's kind of you know a little bit of a chicken and an egg we got to have some plans to get the money we got to get the money to finalize the plans um so we're kind of trying to work in step with each other so that when the money is there we're going to be ready to execute it so the city council would have to obviously have a budget at that point and whatever you're going to do and then we would know how much needs to be in the fund yeah so part of the site planning is we're going to try to refine some of the educated ballparking we've done so far um try to get that closer to actual um and then so that'll give us a better idea realistically where the funds are um all while keeping an eye on our existing infrastructure because if it becomes unsafe it's removed Amber maybe you could address the primary grant that we're looking at right now is the dnrs park um I don't remember the exact name of it but it's got a April 1 deadline and it's a $350,000 Grant and we need $350,000 we're we're trying to raise 600,000 but we need the full match of $350,000 in order to proceed with applying for that Grant by April 1st that would be the referred based on um that we have joined pick a ball in the playground as phase one um so again the estimated cost of that is close to 1.2 million we're going to work through that we're going to refine that but when the grant is only $350,000 Max and it needs a 50% Mach match you're only at 700,000 so there's there's a gap and so that's we're trying to reine our numbers we're trying to raise the funds so we can apply for that Grant there's other grant opportunities as well that we can apply for some are pickleball specific some are playground specific most of them need site plans that you got to be close to shovel ready the DNR Grant has a two-year window so we have to be ready to implement it within a construction season so at that point trying for this first and it's something that this commission has talked about in theory and wrestled with there is no necessary there's no plan or direction as of now we're still going for the goal right so once unfortunately if we don't make it then maybe we kick it out one more year if the infrastru existing infrastructure can hold out if not then we may have to adjust what we apply for a lot of scenarios a lot of different scenarios could play out seven that mean so you're talking about the hoey board the structures yep so within our Park system it's the a lot of the physical elements so it's the warming house it's the hockey rink um into the lighting of the fields the fencing a picnic shelter um so that's what you have now and then what you're saying is at some point some priorities are going to have to be established into Shing up what you have versus going forward with something new is that what I'm hearing you say I'll say so when I say 7 million in infrastructures within the entire park system um we need to be able to plan for replacement on everything um some things are going to go faster some things are going to go slower right now we don't have the money to replace most of it we don't have that kind of savings um the city can't Levy for it that's extensive um and there's not a lot of funding streams for Park and R we've run a couple of programs that's not going to cut it um right now one of the options we had been looking at was a local option sales tax the state um it requires State legislation there's a moratorium on that so that's another in the back of our mind a potential way to um have a cash flow for it so if we're looking at phase one being 1.2 million if there's a shortfall on that and infrastructure needs to be addressed it's going to have to run through the Parks Commission it's going to have to run through city council maybe there's a different funding source a different way something at that time but until we see what reality holds it's speculation the money that you're asking this may be a question one does that need to be tangible assets already transferred can it be pledges comination there how does that look well I'm gonna answer this and then feel free Amber if you have anything else to say or something different but I think at this point anything that you would like to pledge or give would be very much appreciated um in my from my understanding it sounds like there's going to be a need right for enrichment and Parks and Recreation for many years to come and so whether all of that is given now or if you're able to give to more of a you know a pledged gift that would come later maybe that helps with the next phase of development would you agree but in regards to your DNR oh from the DNR standpoint I believe um it will score higher if we have the cash I'm sorry yeah you you can also true yeah you can put those down as pledged but again they do prefer that you have the money in hand and there are just so you know too I I can only do so much too as a staff of one right now with two soon but um we also want to see this done right it's good for our community I I love this area and so we're trying to work with some of our donors that's kind of some of the benefit of of working with us as well is you know remember that 22 and a half million that we have right now seeing if some of our donors would say either from their fund or personally hey I'll do this or I'll set up a match pledge you know and that's what one of the things that we're working on right now is also to help with that also have some other connections for some other grants but again Amber's right it really helps to have that um site um the word planning yes site planning site plan done so so another question yeah there's um various rules where you can only apply for like one park at a time um but yes you can apply the same park um just once probably one cycle is closed you can apply again for another round right I I think you're going to have to have that closed out completely which would correct yep awesome well good questions thank you Terry um we have one order of business to attend to here but like I said you guys are welcome to stay and ask questions after um the one bit of business we have is regarding an RFQ for city park playground um and so as part of the site plan and as part of the DNR Grant they require certain um certain things one of the biggest things is knowing what playground elements are going to be in there what's going to stay what's going to be new fall Heights things like that so we need to um have a preliminary plan for the playground uh in order to apply for that to be in the grant um what you guys had in your packet is uh a slightly different approach um so the proposed or the estimated cost of the playground replacement would require bidding um the bid requirement is 175,000 we estimate that the playground is going to be over that um we're proposing to go through sourcewell or estate contract who has already kind of checked that bidding box um so it's going to streamline the process a little bit um in a lot of approaches uh the playground company will design a playground for us that's not what we're asking for we are asking for examples of what they've already completed um and so that's why you have kind of a list of guiding principles there those are taken um kind of from the the master plan um as well as some of the feedback I've heard as well as the goals of the grant um so looking um at sourcewell there's probably three playground vendors that are a really good fit for this project um but wanted to get the uh commission's feedback on the RFP trying this process um the timeline puts it if we get it to city council here in October we can open the RFP um in November we'd be able to review it in December at The Parks Commission in the city council meeting and then they could be awarded and start um an initial plan in order to be ready for the DNR grp um Amber before we discuss that um the council approved that wsn would do um a site planning yes process so this is are they doing anything related to the playground or are they doing a site planning for the pickle ball courts what exactly is wsn doing the council approved them to do they that um the list that I had on the screen there was a lot of it um it's looking at the the space as a whole so every amenity gets its area um in terms of the playground they need to determine the size of the container okay so they're going to figure out how big in the foundation of it in in the park space and then that information will go to the playground company and they'll know how much space they have in the shape of it in order to then build the playground on top of so the playground company will work with the engineers okay um and understanding some of those things and you know topography and drainage and all those things are going to be looked at utilities um but in terms of who's picking the swing to the twirly slide to you that's going to we're going to work with the playground company to determine which elements are going to be in the playground okay so the r Q is a subpart of the total site planning that wsn is doing correct because we'll need specific information from them for the grant are they addressing the specific requirements uh for the DNR Grant yes that would be a part of will be what you need to submit um as documentation for the grant proposal okay so they'll have to work kind of jointly um my first reaction to the RFP is I I mean I really like it I love that we are not seeking necessarily a certain dollar amount being that it's an inclusive playground it's a destination playground we're looking for a marriage uh between the city and a company that's willing to work with us design with us learn our our community versus somebody else's community um and take a lot of these important values in place versus um just coming in with who can provide the best number uh because you know if it was a a one-off playground you know but this is you know this is going to be something that uh is a little bit different so I appreciate that we're taking this versus sending out to see who the lowest bidder is because um I mean as you guys know I have a background in this industry and so I appreciate this method versus versus you know different one my only question relates to to the timeline that you included here so it appears that this commission which I won't be a member of in February but um the February 6 Parks Commission review does that give you enough time to get the council to review the recommendations of this committee and and be prepared if you do proceed with Grant applications um I think it'll give us a good Baseline and the to we'll see what the actual deadline is for the grant coming up in December but historically it's been the end of March beginning of April so I think that would allow for another month um and it doesn't have to be the final design yeah right we just have to have you know a good good progress on it in order to apply apply for the grant and get that required information so I think it does allow for a little bit of revision feedback um but it's definitely a tight time frame okay you ready for a prop a motion to if you guys are ready I'm ready oh happy to answer questions or take any other feedback any other comments guys well I was just going to go ahead and make a motion um that we proceed with uh submitting the this it goes to the Council next to the council in a couple weeks for approval to submit the RF Q for the playground yeah assessment I'll second that moment um can we get a vote all in favor all opposed awesome carries um next meeting is November 7th any other final comments and discussion topics well um you might start discussing my replacement yeah I try to save everything else for November so see you in November I got a list you could never be replaced I think I've done done her Civic duties but awesome yes so we will have um agenda items in November otherwise motion to adjourn okay looks like can we get a motion to adjourn anybody Jerry second wck all in favor