21. Alright. Since it is 06:30, we will call to order this, meeting of the Dilworth Park Board on Wednesday, February 11. So we will start with roll call. We'll start at Tim, and we'll kinda work our way around. Tim Tolleson. Lyle Carrenta. Jerica Lyon. Andrew Randall. Nathan Dix. Melanie Kelly. Terry Lewis. Amber Gora. And Peyton, from the city. Alright. First item on the agenda is the consideration of the twenty twenty six park board officers. If anyone has a
motion on any of the officers, let us know. I make a motion for Andrew to be chair. We'll do this as a slate. Oh. Potentially. Are you, nominating everyone for their same positions again? Sounds like it. Yeah. Can't change it around. Can I leave myself out? Sure. Make a motion to keep the same. Oh, this is Lyle Carinto. I'll second that motion to keep the current ones. They're doing a good job. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Regulations. Alright. So we will keep the same officers for 2026.
Next item on the agenda is the agenda approval for tonight. You've all had a second to look through that. Do we have anything that needs to be changed or moved around? If not, we will accept the motion to approve the agenda. This is Lyle again. I make a motion that we approve the agenda. This is Tim. I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? And the next item is the approval of the minutes from the 11/12/2025, Park Board meeting. I'll give you a second to look through that. And if we've had time to look through the minutes,
we will accept a motion to approve the minutes from November 12. This is Nate. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from November's twenty twenty five's meeting. This is Jerica. I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Alright. So first item under the discussion for tonight is the review of the holiday lights tree lead tree lead event. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'll start off here. We just wanted to we always do a recap after all of our events to see what we can improve for next year and get your overall feedback.
And Angela and other staff members will take notes on it, and we will revisit this come next fall. So what did you like, not like, anything else we need to be modifying for next year's event? Personally, I thought it went over incredibly well. We had a good turnout. Weather was cooperative. You know, the wind had died down just like we had planned for, so that was a good call there. You know, it was, yeah, well spirited event. I always get a little hesitant, doing these events because I do think it's always important to be trying to think
of ways to not allow them to get stale. You're not doing just the same thing over and over again. I guess there's only one way to light a tree. But if there's ever but always just be thinking in that term so that we don't get to a point to where, yeah, it's just kinda getting old for everybody. But, I mean, I know the old adage, if it's not broke, don't fix it either too. But so that that's and we do. We always do, like, little tweaks every year, and I think that's good to offer up different, things to individuals. So that said, go ahead. Lyle? Yeah. This is Lyle. Things that I thought were improvement over last year's as I,
don't remember their name. I apologize. But the ones who did the wagon ride this year, I really they were more organized. They were more efficient, and, they really interacted with the people waiting too. The only thing, that I think we need to do out there is make sure we get a fire pit out there for people to warm. Is it out by the wagon ride in the area? By the wagon. Yep. Because we tried it the first no. Second year, we tried it, and it didn't work out too good. Last year, we didn't put it out. And then this well, this one had just passed. We didn't put it out again. But I think we should really try to make sure make an effort because as
the night goes on, I believe it's needed. Another thing I like is how, it really went a lot better with the s'mores station this year, how that was done. The the two gals, you were I think you were the one who made the comment. They were already out because you made up a bunch already, And they did, like, I think it was a 100. Was it? Went out there. Yeah. And it was like yeah. I mean, it it was done so much better than more people participated. And, that went really, really well. And, so those improvements,
I did like adding the fire thing by the wagon would be better, because I was outside, so I don't really know about what went on inside the building. But from the outside, that was good. It it really went good. So that's all I got to say. Try to refresh me on the people were going around to the stations getting stickers for certain things. Scavenger hunt. Yeah. Maybe a stamp would work better over stickers because I could not get those stickers.
Because the stamp will freeze. It will freeze. So we can't use stamp. Put that in my pocket. Kept it warm. You can sure try it. Yeah. I don't know. The stick I had I I struggled with the stickers. Or the one that I was gonna say. Or a mole punch. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. That would be good. Yeah. I mean, it was good. I I just really struggled with stickers. Well, the scavenger hunt was one of the things we kinda decided more towards the end, so maybe that's something that we tweak every year. Like, maybe next year we don't do a scavenger hunt, but just something. Mhmm. Something else.
Yeah. I think we need to I mean, there were just so many people at one time, and no one knew what they were supposed to be doing at each of the stations with the papers, I think. And so, I don't know, You live and learn, I guess. And then the prizes, there were a lot of questions on when. We forgot to say what time we were drawing. We did last year, and I have no idea why we didn't think of it. So need to make a decision, must be present or not, and put up what time because Sure. I was inside, and I probably had that question, like, 50 times. I didn't know the answer.
The process thing always seems like a mess at any event I go to. Yeah. It's It like, one out of seven kids are there or parents. What you know, everyone's come and gone. Yeah. There's no organization. I mean, personally, I almost think we should go with you don't have to be present because it just gets awkward when you're out there 12 names later having to it's the same kid again or something. Yeah. And then, like, this year, you could see the line for the carriage rides. Right. Like, you could it was a long line when we were drawing prizes. Like, too bad? I don't so I agree.
Maybe leaning towards not be present to win. I think, like, when they sign up for it, you know, having a phone number. So if you're not we'll call you if you're not present. So is it something that we even have to call? Can we draw names at the end of the event and just call the people that way? Yeah. That's why I think just take that. Call it during the event. That awkwardness. Out. I mean, it's not awkward all around, but it's just like it's like, people can't hear. You don't know when you're doing it. Yeah. And maybe if you have, like, one grand prize, like, you're giving away a bike, like, you have to be present for it. But, like, when we're doing, like, smaller things Yeah.
Yeah, it's not worth it. You guys heard that Peyton's donating a bike for a price next to it. Do that. For the wagon rides, I was kind of away from a lot of it for most of the time, so I don't have a lot of comments on the rest of it. But the wagon rides seemed to go really well. Those guys that were because this was the first year. That was. Yeah. We had to pivot to somebody else. They, they seemed to really enjoy doing it. They liked interacting with everybody. They said there wasn't a single person who was rude or Oh, that's good. Pushy or anything. They said every single person handled the wagon wide really well.
Everybody was fine waiting in line. I had it timed eight to nine minutes for the whole thing to come back, so it wasn't too long, not too short. They really liked it. A fire pit would be good. It got cold over there. Awesome. They said they'd be happy to do it again. So very happy to do it again. Awesome. I think they were a little more cheaper too if I remember correctly. I just got a random meme from somebody. Yeah. And I was like, I don't know. So I didn't know how it's gonna turn out. So I'm glad it just Yeah. The the the funny part is and I may I think maybe I told y'all
this last time. The group that we normally or previously hired, they are no longer doing it. They're retired, whatever. And everyone that we asked about doing it, they kept recommending the people that retired, you know, to no longer do it anymore. One of the just as an aside too, the when the horses fell Did you see that? Yeah. There weren't many people there, like, when they were packing up. Oh. Pitiful. Really? Yeah. I felt terrible for her. That was one thing they were concerned about because it got very icy. It was icy out there. So they did. They were concerned about that, but, I mean,
there's not There's not any much we could do about that. So they they take it slow. Four shoes on the ground. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, even that fireplace was a good idea. I tried to Yeah. Interact with everybody. I'd walk out to the street, see if I could see them and say, alright. They're on their way, and all the kids would get excited or just trying to talk to people, making sure I have their stickers, for their scavenger hunt. But the there was, you know, quite a few people where waited there for some of them waited almost a half hour because they got there at the back
of the line, and that was when the line was pretty long. So they had to wait, like, three Same. Rides before they got to go. So if there is something to keep people entertained or at least warm, that would be a really good idea. Can we put, like, baits over there or something? I mean, activity? It is dark over there too. That's all that light? Yeah. Yeah. So it always seems pretty dark. Mhmm. Yeah. I got cold and dark fast. Yep. It was like you could feel it getting really cold. Mhmm. I thought about that. Even just having a small generator with a light over there might, you know, help a little bit even
Yep. Farpen, they work. I don't have much else to add. I know I probably took thirty, forty pictures of the kids all night. Like, that was hot. He did well. So Andrew said he really likes being I can do it. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. I might look for a different costume next time, so I'm not bending over all night. But How did Santa Claus and the warming house go? Is was anybody in there for it? Oh, yeah. No. Yeah. I mean, like, anybody here? The ambulance. Oh, okay. Yeah. It was there were people in there constantly. That's what you did first. Where's my candy cane clown?
Did the, Tic Tac toe boards ever get used? They did not. Okay. They were just leaning up against the wall, and I don't know if anyone knew about it but me. I don't think anyone noticed them, forgot to put them out there. Oh. Yeah. Or I don't know if no. Actually, they were. They're around where the No. I don't think s'mores were, but I don't think anyone knew what was going on. Made things to use for the tic tac toe, and those never came out of the warming house. Yeah. Remember the trace of that? Yeah. I Yeah. Yeah. Because I had a couple of people ask me what it was. Now that I sneak that up. Yeah. Yeah. It's a scavenger a true scavenger hunt.
Mhmm. It's a hashtag. Yeah. Mhmm. Is there anything else? Like always, I really appreciate all of you coming out and helping and supporting the event. It means a lot. And just your overall presence there brings about the whole community spirit and Mhmm. You know, so we are very appreciative of you guys. Sorry. I just thought of this thing. Maybe it was because I was inside, right inside the door. But so many people, like, this year were like, we love this event. Yeah. It's a great like, I've never talked to many people about it, but they purposely wanted to say something,
I guess. And so, I guess, that's why we do it. And and just so everybody understands, because I talked with Peyton that night, we were in direct competition with our bigger city neighbors. Same night. Same night. So, I mean, we held our own when we went ahead and had with the other two big people in town here next to us. So I thought that would, in itself, was a really good tribute to our local community of Dilworth because, yeah, the other two are going on the exact same night because the other one got moved because of the cold. And and so, you know, that was that was good that we were able to draw in that many people.
Yeah. Alright. Moving along here. Next item under discussion is, soccer net at Woodbridge Park. Yes. Thank you. So kind of a fun one here where I was contacted or city staff or the mayor was actually. There's a young resident in the Woodbridge subdivision area asked about the possibility of putting in a soccer net out in Woodbridge Park. So over in this area, if you're ever out there during the summertime, there's a lot of kids that set up some,
yeah, yeah, have baseball bases, all around and just kinda do a little makeshift thing out there. So maybe that's where the idea came from. But, yeah, she was just asking about the possibility of having the soccer net out there. She thinks it would be heavily utilized by some of the kids in the area, and her suggestion was to put it in a direction where it backs up to the hill to ensure that the ball doesn't go flying other directions and everything. So, just wanted to get the art board's blessing or any thoughts that you may have
regarding it. So you're talking like that area from, you know, that start there and then go towards the street south. The hill's right here. Yeah. So I think it would, like, back up to the hill. So, like, you'd be hitting it back that way or be over here potentially. I'm not exactly sure because we do have that one little that structure, drainage. If you start there and then go Yeah. I think over on that other side where you pointed Up here. That East and west there? Yeah. And and it baseball and that other Yep. Right here.
Yeah. Then they wouldn't be conflicting. Are you stuck at, like did they ask the mayor for, like, just one net to, like, shoot at or two nets like Just one. Just one? Mhmm. What does everybody think about putting two there so you can now just kinda, like, even, you know, pick up games for lack of a better term. Yeah. Yeah. The only thing I could see with the two in Etsy, how are you gonna position it so it doesn't go into someone's backyard. Yeah. Well, you do the hill and then there's a lot It's a it's a really long Yeah. Area. And I don't think there's That's just that.
Yeah. I mean, I think they can be any distance. Yeah. I mean, regulation is Yeah. We're long, but Right. Yeah. I I think it's a great idea. I didn't think of that. You know, we can get two with my this is Lyle again. I'm recommending to the board that we would get two. Start there on the north side going east and west. And because, you know, they're obviously gonna be portable and not, you know, cemented into the ground, as the summer progresses, if we need to make some adjustments with one, we can adjust on the go. And it's it's just kinda playing a pickup game.
It's like sure. I said it's not regulation field or anything like that. And then that way, the ones who are used to the South End, doing their little, you know, baseball, softball games. And there again, I'm sure, you know, that those balls end up in the neighbor's yard there too. So, you know, I I don't think that's really a preventive thing, whether it's a soccer ball or a softball floating around. You know? I just don't want it. Frisbees are out there too and everything. I see them throwing that in the summer. And How big of a net? Was this gonna be,
like, a regulation soccer net, or is it gonna be, like, half that size? Or That, I don't know. We're I think we're gonna be limited a little bit. Mhmm. I think we're just gonna have to go out there and measure it a little bit and have because I don't wanna get to a situation where we don't it's gonna be so narrow or it doesn't work well and make sure that drainage structure doesn't get in the way if I have to put it over here. I know we're talking about up here, but looks big up on the screen. But I think once you get it out there, it's gonna feel a lot Yeah. More constrained out there. Yeah.
That drainage, actually, you can see it actually off of the bench. Go to the right and down the road. I'll look at that thing. Yeah. Right there. So it's in a really weird spot. Yeah. But we can tweak it. We'll play around with it internally and see what we can Mhmm. Come up with. You could even go the long way parallel to the park. Yeah. I I thought about that as well. Again, it doesn't have to be regulation. I know. It's not like we're doing a Yeah. 100 yard for It is just for, you not like we're doing a Yeah. 100 yard for It is just for Yeah. Good Saturday, Sunday afternoon goal. Yep. If we don't get one in work,
we'll only put one out there. I did appreciate her letter. Yes. Absolutely. To get teenagers out so they won't scroll, be scrolling and see as much. Absolutely. It was persuasive. Mhmm. So just for a guesstimate, do we have any idea what this would run us? They run the they run the gamut. They really do. I've looked at a few calls from several $100 to $2,000. Okay. It's not gonna break the bank or anything. More so do we think it's a wise investment for the park. That's really more so what I was asking. Yeah. Well, this is Lyle. Again, I make a motion that we,
go ahead with putting two nets out there so that we can have little pickup game spot for soccer and then adjust as we need through since this will be the first summer on exactly the parameters and all the little minor details. This is Melanie. I second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Alright. Motion carries. Moving along. Next item is the goal setting for the Dilworth Parks for this upcoming year. And we use that term kind of loosely. It was just more so just to have a general conversation when you're thinking about your own parks and just thinking about the recreational
elements of the community as a whole, how we should be thinking, what other improvements can be made. The big thing that this group has done since I've been here is gone through every part one by one, tried to make some sort of improvement. The last time we had this conversation, I believe, last year was about maintaining that and adding on, doing little tweaks as necessary. The last park that has to be done is the one adjacent to the Lutheran
Church, which we're still working with them on a contract for some things. And then also the other thing that you're being tasked with, which we'll talk about the next agenda item is at the community center. But just, yeah, thinking overall, big picture about recreation and the community, what, you know, just kind of what how we wanna orient things. We've moved more towards a park promotional organization, which I think is good. Mhmm. And, yeah. So just just wanna open up the conversation to the park board to see if
there's anything that we need to be considering internally. Tim? Are these like, do we know what improvements are going into Ashtree? We do not. So, at Ashtree, I'm waiting to so just get everyone up to date on that following every I think of gosh. I was back in September Yeah. If I remember correctly, when we move advanced that forward and went to council and so forth, I had our city attorney begin drafting a contract with them,
a lease agreement, we'll say, for it all, and still just haven't received that back from them. But once we get that back from them and we have some parameters laid out, size and scope of the the the area out there, we'll bring that back to the park board to determine what, equipment will be going out there. So I was hoping to do that this month last month. Sorry. I guess January. We had to postpone. And that was really the main reason I was postponing it. I was still waiting for them to get, and they, you know, still don't have anything. But Your your hope is that by our regular March meeting that he'll have that?
That's what we're hoping for. Yeah. Yep. Because then we can, you know, decide the money and allotments on what goes in there for spring so we can count. That's what we're shooting for. So hope that works. Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess the next the next item is the community center. Am I correct? The next agenda item is. Yes. We we can pile the list, I think. Was that two meetings ago? Mhmm. Before that, just people just had just random things at their parks, maybe just equipment pieces that needed replaced or other things.
Right? Yeah. We we all went through all our parks pretty thoroughly, that meeting, and it got recorded for the needs for this year. And I know those meetings move along, like, faster than you think they do. I think it was a lot longer ago. Was it? Thinking it is. Yeah. Let me see if I can find where we had these books all spread out everywhere and we were Yep. All like, oh, we should put this. And I think we were I think that same meeting we were talking about at dog park too at some point. And so I was just trying to refresh on where we're at if we had already kind of decided on a priority list of those items.
What I recall this is Lyle. What I recall is, yeah, we so I know you we're here we're we're discussing the dog park need, and, one of the options was, obviously, in the summer to use the ice rink because, you know, it's already got sides and it it's be there, you know, and then responsible pet owners would, you know, clean up after their pets. And and try utilizing that. So, okay, wintertime, it's a nice ring. Summertime, it could be a dog park, you know, for that. So that was one option we're looking at.
I do remember Lynn mentioning maybe something out there in oak, but there was so many things going on out there that, you know, community garden and planting stuff and a lot of other things. So that is what I recall off the top of my head about, adding to that and kinda utilizing something we have also year round like. No. I know from a staff perspective because I've thought a lot about it, and I've applied for grants before to have that redone. I just personally don't know if that's a good use of Citi funds.
Yeah. Just given the size and scope and the limited amount of use that we say that the utilization of it even after it gets replaced too? Yes. Exactly. I'm hoping at some point in the future as part of a revamp of the depot as a whole Yeah. That if we can have something included in as part of that. And, Frank, so I've been here eleven, twelve years now. I'll tell you what, guys. It's like every winter, the warming house is open less and less. Yeah. Last year,
we are open maybe three or four weeks total. Year before that, ten days, just because of the weather just being warmer every year and just whatever the reasons may be, it's we're just not getting a ton of utilization of it. I mean, we'll go, yeah, we'll go week or two sometimes where it's not open or, you know, like, right now, the ice is too soft out there because we have some sunlight. It's 38 degrees outside in early February, and it's yeah. It just seems like it's getting open later and later every year. So, yeah, this point being is that,
yeah, I think we can do something with it. It's just, how does that need to look? And, yeah, I was thinking and I think we talked about that during the budgeting process too a little bit. We just we didn't feel like it was worth the investment to keep trying to tackle it. We tried it for a big couple years, and I was unsuccessful in getting any funding for it. So to answer your question, this is March 2014. Oh, so I did it. Like, three meetings ago. No. K. And we were just going and I think we were going through just things that we had done at the time. Don't get too caught up with what the numbers are.
But, yeah, I think I think Angela had gone in, like, what put down what we had spent for some of the projects and what we were working on at the time. And what else? And then we she'd provide some other estimates for other things on here too. Well, you can see just like at Ashtree, you know, we didn't even have that listed as one because we decided collectively, you know, it's kind of a park or a church thing. We're not gonna even mess with the park at the time, but that's, you know, been, yeah, back on the table now. Yep. At the blue Park? Yeah.
I think universally that that's probably a good thing to look at benches and I mean, more seating everywhere almost. Yeah. Yeah. I think of in terms of just, like, better user experiences. We obviously know park equipment for kids is ideal, but that's not who's all out in the park. And just so yeah. How can we make the a better experience, whether it be potty bags for dogs or what whatever it may be. Right? Like, little simple tweaks like that. Yeah. I agree with you, Amber. This is Lyle. If we're looking at using what funds we have, I would much rather see them put it into Woodbridge because there's it's big enough.
And there's a lot of things we automatically do fall to, the whistle stop because it has the bathrooms in it. And then secondly is Cottonwood because that has the porta potties there. So those two end up and there's no reason why, even if it's porta potties, we would not put something up in Woodbridge and then be able to utilize that more. And then the old thing about, oh, parking. Well, when you look at Cottonwood or or Whistle Stop, people have to park on the street. I've lived two blocks from Woodbridge,
you know. And I know that, yeah, if you go there, people park along there and, you know, part of the thing is I'm walking to the park, you know, and they like doing that too. So that that doesn't really fly with me, the parking thing, because there's but the bathroom thing does. So rather than trying to revamp a warming house for a minimum used thing, I'd rather take the money and put do something there. You know, even if it's like Cottonwood, you know, I'm doing porta potties there or something where they can come in and service them quickly. You know, that would be fine. And then the rink,
I recommend it would stay to be used as dog park, you know, you know, spring, summer, fall. At least get three seasons out of it. So that part of the whole thing wouldn't you know, all that wood wouldn't just be wasted or whatever. You know, we'd have something already established. So for long term shuffling and using of what we have, I kinda like that. I think a lot of the especially when we talk about cotton, what I think the big reason behind putting the porta potty there was the field gets utilized by a lot of the athletic Mhmm.
For practices. So, again, people that aren't from that neighborhood or using that park. So I think that was a lot of the rationale behind trying to put a porta potty there. But I don't know a lot of people that travel into, like, Wood Woodbridge. But just thinking about it for, like, utilization of funds and just being good stewards of stuff, I'm not sure, like, the use. I mean, it's convenient, obviously, but a lot of people, you know, just ride their bikes there. You know, like, my kids go there during summertime too. But No. I I was thinking if we you know, because of its size and location, if we would add, like, Paws in the Park,
you know, move that there. Yeah. So that's why I'm saying initially to start up with, you know, do a porta potty thing so that when we do Paws in the Park at Woodbridge, you know, you would have facilities for people coming in. So that's my train of thought on it. Okay. Yeah. And, that's that's why I thought, okay. Start with that. See how that goes, you know, before, you know, in a large investment of, you know, plumbing in and putting in, you know, the bathrooms. Yeah. So I thought, you know, start small. See how much you get utilized. Maybe it's it's fine where it's at, you know, but then that's how how we kinda build without blowing everything in one shot.
Right. And then I think another thing and I think we discussed this, Peyton, correct me if I'm wrong, on the utilization of this the hockey rink structure being so close to other residents' homes and if having a dog park where they're gonna be? I think if that's something that the park board wants to do and put forward a recommendation to the council, we'll say even to do it. I think we would need to do a public hearing on that. I just Yeah. Don't know if there's any statutory requirement for that or anything.
But I just think that's a wise move for us to do some kind of I just think of, like, Moorhead Dog Park. Like Yep. There's nothing around. Like, nobody's Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. Mhmm. No. I think that's good. You know, cover cover ourselves, you know. Yeah. I'm sure that anybody who wants to hear us speak now for a rudely beastly. So Is that something that the park board would like to entertain? Do you think it's big enough? Because when we do have a pause in the park there, we do open it up for that event. There's quite a few dogs at one time in there,
and they still have enough space. So it's not like boxed in like some of these little chain link facilities you see throughout the city cities. I think it's got ample room for it. You know? Would the ground need to be redone, though? Because if you're having a lot of dogs in there and it's just grass and dirt, if it rains, it can start getting muddy. I know. Yeah. That's another thing we'd have to look at. But I think that's where we've we always kinda end there. I mean, this is a recurring conversation, and it always, like yeah.
Who is that on? It looks like it's 72 by one twenty. So it may not mean anything to go on this. So if I understand you right, Amber, you're saying do a trial period? Could we make it like a mini event? Like, hey, let's pop up dog park on Saturday. Yeah. I mean, recurring through the summer, that gives the homeowners there a chance to, like, I mean, feel it out if if we have to have a public hearing. You know? Like, I kinda like that. Yeah. And if it's no use, low use, or large complaints Then we have the it's like,
okay. We gotta stop it. Mhmm. You know what? We did the pop up dog park. What's to stop somebody from just kinda using it at Right. After the event when it's not officially a dog park at the time kind of thing? I don't think anybody's yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I don't know if it's stopping anybody from doing it now. I think the big thing for us is if we did do this, we would look at securing it a little better, like, on the doors. Yeah. Technically, anyone can walk out there right now and use it right, but the doors flimsy and all that.
I know we had to do some makeshift things even at Paul's In The Park that day. So Yeah. I would have somewhere you don't use Yeah. So I'd have maintenance take a look at the security of it to ensure that there's actual door on it out there to or better gate system and set up. So we have to invest some money into it a little bit out there. And Mhmm. And and the reason about the grass question out there is, you know well, I'll let Mike answer that better than I can. But when I read about this idea where a lot of cities do this, it's not usually the best ground anyways because it's usually utilized for a park or
a for ice skating rink. And, so it's not like it's the best ground to begin with out there. Just don't let it roll. Whatever happens, happens to it. Right? Yeah. We'd have to probably put in the garbage and dog bags. Gotta do it all. You know? Yep. Again, it's an investment, and not everyone is going to clean up. Just like not everyone cleans up right now in Woodbridge Park after their dogs. So but no. So that's a, you know, it's a maintenance issue that comes down to it. So I have summer help, I guess. And this last year, we did have,
like, a part time park someone that was hired to kinda help with the parks or Well, we have our summer maintenance crew. We're gonna try and we had hired somebody, but it didn't really come to fruition like we had hoped. Well, let's just say that. He didn't have the time to do it. And so we're gonna try again to really identify someone that's just strictly for parts and upkeep and maintenance. We're still budgeted for it again to try it out. Not many hours, but that wasn't supposed to be one that's out there all year. It was more for Just a seasonal?
It was more on the front and back end of the park season to trim back things and just kinda get it prepped for the season and so forth. K. We're still trying to think how that would work. But if that's something that we that the park board feels like it would like to do, you don't have to make a decision on that tonight. We can have it again next meeting. Just sort of talk about it again. And if you feel like we wanna do a public hearing on it, we can certainly do that in May or whenever. I do think you'll have some people attend a park board meeting.
Yeah. So is that a rec set up a few more chairs? Yeah. So is that a recommendation that we want to do is Well go forward? No. I'm sorry. No. Mr. Chair, just, it sounds like there's still a little I don't know I think there needs to be some level of consensus just more talking about it as a group first just to make sure y'all do want to go forward with it and just a little histrionics on it this came up comes up regular with the Park Board so the last time it really kind of advanced in discussion. I don't know if anyone in here was on the Park Board at the time, but it was determined by the Park Board then.
It was pretty unanimous. No one even really wanted it. Logistically, this wasn't gonna work in the community, but also they felt that the one in North Moorhead was close enough that we don't need one in town where we had no dog park just at a dog park. That said, you know, different group up here now. There's a lot more, since COVID, there's more people with dogs than our kids too. So I think the attitudes and beliefs and all that have changed too. So, yeah. I mean, if the group collectively feels like you wanna go forward with it and ready to
make that decision, we can, you know, talk about more about having a public hearing later on in the springtime or early summer. But or if you wanna marinate on it. I didn't mean to make that big point of discussion tonight. If you're not ready to make that decision, we can always talk about it as its own action item next meeting. Mhmm. Yeah. I guess I'm doesn't matter to me one way or the other because I don't have a dog. So I don't have a dog. So I don't have a dog in the race. So the skincare so or however the saying goes. I think it'd be something to mayo I like the idea to marinate on it.
Do we consider it next meeting and just kind of make that its own? Yeah. I think that's a good idea. And also, it gives us a little time to to just to talk internally about what improvements we would have to make there. I need to talk to Mike again. Yeah. No. Before we certainly. Just before we haphazardly go about it, and then we're like, oh, well, we can't even afford to do it or whatever the reason is and check with insurance and, you know, things like that. Yeah. Okay. This is why I make a motion that we, do what you recommend, table it for this meeting. We can put it on as its own line item for next meeting a month
from now and see what happens. You know, maybe it works and maybe it don't, but we'll just kinda move along that direction. That's my recommendation. Yeah. We're not really looking for a motion. They'll just be on the agenda next time. Okay. Good job. You did well, though. Thanks. I got you. But anything but but let's getting back to the big picture conversation here, is there anything kind of larger scale or just be we should be thinking about as a community? I think the I think the dog park discussion is a really good one. I really do. I think the community center is really kind of like our next big Mhmm.
Yeah. Until we get info on Ashtree Yep. Yeah. We can't really Yep. Go any further like that. So I would agree with Lyle. I think the benches could be in included this summer, but how does that all look financially too? The last thing I wanted to mention, kind of just thinking big picture about the community is just with the Highway 10 reconstruct coming in 2031 and 2032, they are making provisions. Provisions. As part of the project, you know, there will be a shared use path that goes along the entire perimeter of the
corridor, which is cool. That's awesome. And, you you know, so I just think about certain amenities that may go along with that, how this will talk to the Heartland Trail whenever that comes about years from now and all those things. So the it it'll just be a different renewed focus on the recreational components of the community at that time knowing that we'll have potential, you know, pedestrian traffic flowing through the community differently. So I think that's interesting to think about.
That's something Trailhead or anything like that that would fall into the purview of this group at that time. Yeah. Alright. And then we'll look at, the twenty twenty six park programming up next. Thank you. The only thing so these are the three events that the park board oversaw last year. We did our Southside social event. So I just called it spring slash early summer event, Paws in the Park and Tree Lighting. The first one, the group had talked about going to different parks every year. Of all the events we've done,
I actually think that was maybe our most well attended event that we've ever had. I was really Soft sliced social? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah. It was really well attended. Despite the train. Yeah. Despite the train. Right? And, yeah, I was really proud of that, and I believe that, it's something about the inflatables. The inflatables bring out parents always love to bring their kids to inflatables. So, anyways, we just I just wanna bring that up for programming for this year, what this group would like to do if there's any additional events. As you know, you end up being the ones that are working these events.
So, if you're throwing another one on there, you're throwing yourself on there too. So just be mindful of that. And maybe what we have is enough as well. You know, I think we did a really good job kind of spreading it out there through the year and taking a quick, you know, break during the wintertime. And if you do want to keep that spring, early summer event, would it be similar in nature to what was done last year and what park would you look to have this in? What were the recent parks within the past few years? That we've done events at. Mhmm. We did Constitution one year for Possum Park Mhmm.
Before the community center Yeah. Thinking that. Birchtree. Right? Birchtree. Is that the one where we added basketball? You know? That was the opening. Yeah. Birchtree. We did something. And we did Woodbridge Park one time. Yep. Just an event. Did y'all say this one right over here? What is that part? That? I'm not sure. Oh, my tree. Whatever tree park down the street. Did that one. Fill up the blank fill in the blank tree part. Yeah. And we do some of that whistle stop every six weeks, it seems like. So yeah. So Yep. Yeah. Yeah. If we wanna a lot of room. Yeah. Mhmm. It wasn't that set up for it.
And the shelter's there. Mhmm. Yeah. That's kinda convenient. We have electricity there and all that. Yeah. And if we wanna kinda brand it a little bit, we can't call it South Side Social if it's, you know, up at Apple Orchard. So I yeah. Maybe nice to get back to Woodbridge, I think, just because it's so heavily populated over there to do something, but it's just not as yeah. It's not laid out as well. Is there a pow there there's power to that. Which where? Is there power in the shelter there?
No. It's just a over the awning over the picnic table, though. In Woodbridge? Yeah. There's a little yeah. There is actually, some electricity that we have off here off our little Oh, okay. So we'd have to run some major extension cords to Yep. Get bounce houses set up. She probably wouldn't wanna set them up in the concrete. Right. Yeah. You know? Mm-mm. Yeah. You'd have to run them all the way over that boot park. I agree with Derek. Derek, I really think keeping something in Cottonwood, whatever the name will become. But I think having something there in the spring like it was is a good
kickoff for our spring, summer, fall event. And, Yeah. I mean, I personally well, I think I was standing next to you where the guy found out there waiting. Yeah. It was worth the 45 minute wait for freezing their things. So they they waited forty five minutes for the train to go by. Mhmm. And so I mean, it was well attended. So I think something there, you know, with a different name, but I'd like that one. That might be nice for Paws in the Park too. Like, there's a lot of room there. Good. And what what's your park, Tim? I always get I always get a whole lot of walnut.
The only thing you can really do over there is, like, a block party. Yeah. Yeah. And there's no, like, parking or anything. You gotta walk into it. Which I don't know if that's the worst talking about getting back a while, but parking seems like people just figure it out. Yeah. Eventually, I'm not advocating for it. I mean, there's a lot of parking By the way around. In the driveway. In front of everybody's houses. Yes. It's a it's a good sized park. And everyone would use your bathroom? Yeah. I think it'd be fun to do something back there one time when you actually had, like, a cool block party that the party board was a part of.
There's quite a few houses Yeah. In there. So But it's tucked in back there. I don't even know how many people in the rest of town even know it's there. I know. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. Yeah. Unless you walk in there or walk through the neighborhood, you wouldn't know that it's there. I mean, it gets used a lot, but it's, like, you know, the immediate people, because it's a regular walking path. It's back when when I had it, I would, you know, walk through there, like, a report, and I would talk to the people there. And I had people from North Moorhead coming over to, you know, from when I'd ask them. So I know North Moorhead,
people will drive Over and park and walk in, they like that because it's it's not overcrowded. It's, you know, because they have smaller children, so they like that. So I I know we draw people from that park over to it. Where? Yeah. The one by Walmart. Oh. That one just seems so open. Is it by the apartment? Yeah. Yeah. It's just the playground. Serenity is here. Here's Oak Park. Then Yeah. Oak Park. There's a Walmart over here to the west. It's at the end of the dead end. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's somewhere. We did the drillings. No. I kinda like the idea of moving it around just because we haven't highlighted some
of those other parks, at least since I've been here, which wouldn't be a bad idea. But then Southside is pretty cool. Yeah. So it's kinda Yeah. Yeah. So we got new name. I agree with both of, like So it's back and forth a little bit on that. Yeah. You know, I have social, Westside Social. We'll win in every direction. Or you or you throw another event on there. Yeah. And I don't think we should add another event. I I agree. I feel like this is Especially with the rail district, they have I mean, they're doing their things for every holiday. Mhmm. And it just gets to be, like A lot. So much.
I mean, aside from the I Like you said we don't wanna plan more ourselves. But besides that, you know, it's just something. There's since they wanna do something at Christmas this year. Yeah. And like Lyle noted, we don't wanna be competing with a lot of other events for individuals that are Yeah. There as well. I think, Melanie made an interesting point because I do think we could do pause in the park on at Cottonwood down there. It's big enough, and it has some amenities. And it does have electricity. So I don't know if it's the best,
but it could be done there because it has the kind of basic needs there. So doing that in the fall when we do pause in the park habit at that one and then pick one of the other parks to do a east, west, south social for spring, you know, kinda flip them around, that might be nice. Can we still do something at Cottonwood? Is that what it's called? Yeah. That's the one on the south side of the track. Then we still have something there. I liked the Paws in the Park at this stuff this year in conjunction with
the farmers market. Yes. I talked to a couple farmers market vendors, and they appreciated it as well, I guess, compared compared to sales in other weeks. So I don't know how it I thought that was a great turnout too, so I don't know if that was because of the farmer's market or how it all went together, but it doesn't really matter. It was good for us. It was good for them. And so It was a really good integration. It was. Yeah. They went well. I think yeah. I would recommend doing that again. I was I mean, I was also thinking,
just because a lot of the farmers market earlier in the spring summer, they don't have a lot of stuff, and so it's just a lot of people that maybe have, you know, like, the bee guy or, some of the other folks that have different things, if that would be something we could integrate in with the spring summer event as well. Mhmm. Is this like another draw people in kinda thing? Depending on where we put it. I mean, I'm I'm in favor of keeping it to Southside Social, but it's just my opinion. Oh, do they have a problem? Definitely. And could we move the farmer's market down there?
So I think Well, that's what I was Yeah. That's what I was kinda or opening yet, technically. It's hadn't technically started, but if we invite the vendors that we had signed up for for it. I know we're supposed to have somebody that's supposed to be a liaison with them, if that would be something we could put up, like, hey. We're having this event over at Cottonwood if you would like to set up during these these hours, and then then just add something to it. Or then we could try to advertise it that way too. Just thinking of trying to change it and add something to it. And Makes it more something for adults to do. Mhmm.
Right? Like, the bouncy house has brought in some kids, and I those should continue, but some Police and the fire and, I mean, all those brought Yeah. But it freshens it up and gives, you know, a new air new harassment for air. Yeah. Mhmm. Feels like we're doing the same thing next year for everything. Right? I mean, that's not my favorite. Yeah. You mean, like, those three again? Yeah. Yeah. That's Location, everything. We'll ask the farmers market people to come down Mhmm. To the South Side and call it a day. That's easy. Sounds good. Alright. Same tree.
Next step is the New York's been doing it for how long, Peyton? I know. They draw a big a big ton of people every year. I mean, at least we're not bringing a big tree on a semi through town and Yeah. That's true. Next item on the discussion is the playground equipment at the community center. Thank you, mister chair. And wanted to I know we've talked a little bit about this, about the community center going in. And just to give you a quick update on where we are with that, it's set to, we'll be opening doing our bid opening for that, or I guess, bid openings technically because it's multiple contracts at the end of this month,
the twenty seventh through twenty sixth. So everyone cross your fingers extra tight that we get get some good numbers back. But through the facility, obviously, we're gonna have multiple recreational components, whether it be the mall style walking, track that will I'm saying track loosely, but that will kinda go along the Walking path. Yeah. Perimeter of the facility, pickleball courts, you can also do some make into a volleyball court as well, but the playground system,
I know we've you know we've loosely talked about a little bit And Angela's gonna be reaching out to the vendor or vendors to and she's just wanting to help hone in a little bit on any information that she can do to deliver to them on what the park board would like to see, ages at which it should be geared towards certain pieces of equipment, whatever it may be. It doesn't look I now I can't remember the size of the building right now. I think it was 35 by 35.
But we Yeah. 40 by 35. Yeah. Fiber added. Yes. Added a few feet onto it, now added, yeah, additional five feet, which doesn't seem like a lot, but I know it's gonna feel like a lot more. And I was just going back and forth. Now by doing that, we're obviously squeezing down the two rooms next to it by two and a half feet either side, but it still has the same 50 person capacity and with the ability to open it up for a 100 person capacity, meeting room space. So this is a internal rendering
that I think you have in your pack is that was the original rendering. The back wall has been modified now. The north wall has been modified. It's gonna look a little more like this. And I shot a few in the middle last week, and I appreciate your input on it. We didn't have a share we didn't have a door that was going between the meeting room space and the playground, but, you know, it's not reflected on here, but there will now be a door in this general area that will open up.
So if someone's renting out this space over here for a birthday party, they'll have direct access instead of having to go out to the hallway to, check-in on their kids or whatever else is going on in there. So, yeah, we thought that was a where everyone thought that was a worthwhile investment to make that change for the time being. It will only be accessible from the other side, so you can't be on this side and push it open, but you'll be able to unlock it from the other side, the the electric strike and everything key fob access so that's a whole other issue.
So we're working on we have a little ad hoc committee that's been started right now and we're going to be looking for the inclusion of a part board member or two as we work through this whole process and trying to work out some of the finer details of the facility, thinking about hours, not that we're going to come here and say what hours do you want it open, but it's all going to be part of the dialogue from an operational standpoint, how it's going to be staffed, programming, you know, who else is going to be involved in the facility and the like, so we're still kind of laying out a framework
internally and then we will be expanding that conversation to a few other groups as we go along. But yeah. But for tonight, Angela was just looking for a little feedback that she can take when we're gonna be connecting with our vendors here pretty soon. Because we'd like to get the not that we have to make a determination right away. The construction window is gonna be approximately eighteen months, we'll say, plus or minus. So think of, opening 20 later in mid to late twenty twenty seven most likely on the building but by the time it's open it will have a new park in there.
Yeah. And that's gonna be kind of cool and so, you know we're gonna be so think in terms of again setting hours for it but yeah if you're having a birthday party over there what would your kids like to see, ages it should be geared towards, if it's just open to the public what ages is it most attractive to during a normal day. Mhmm. So when we're coming up with kind of a framework of what to go in there as far as age wise. Is this under park board budget or is it under They have Full community center
tasks. As far as like the yeah. That's actually part of the development of the building place system. And that's just a placeholder for the time being. Doesn't mean that won't go above a 100,000, doesn't mean be less either. The indoor obviously will be indoors. It's gonna be a more of a padded surface inside. So we'll be incredibly ADA accessible, which is good and, you know, provide an ample opportunity for everyone to enjoy year round, which I think is gonna get decent utilization, right, even during the winter months Mhmm. Or especially during the winter months.
Well, it's a while. Thinking about age groups of kids that would utilize it during the day, not just evenings and weekends, I think, a top end of 12 would be the highest. You know? And I'm thinking, like, days off from school and everything, something like that. But otherwise, you're looking at probably, at least seven or eight and younger. And majority of most daytimes who would bring somebody there during the day to use it would definitely be, your preschooler, kindergarten type. Maybe maybe like even some people at homeschool for their gym credits or whatever,
they would bring it over. So, I think if you just or I think 12 would be the max because if you're gonna do that, then pull over the volleyball, pickleball type areas, well, that's where an older type, teenager would be. So as far as our gym system that we put in there, I don't remember if they break it down by age in those books, but, you know, I think they break it down, like, 10 or younger or something like that where you could do it. It also have, like, a two to five and then, like, six to 12, I think, is primarily mostly So I wouldn't plan anything in that room for over 12.
I mean, I just wouldn't. But I think during the daytime, it would be primarily, yeah, homeschooled or when school is not in session. You know, they got days off or whatever. People would bring them over there just to, you know, get them out of the house, the apartment, the trailer. I want to make one other notation as well. You can see right here on the south wall, this will open up, be like a big larger sliding door with also the ability to even if it's if it's not open, it'll be like a big glass door that you can see through there but this
will have the ability to be opened up and we'll probably have some kind of netting or fencing that will go across right here to this point to the sliding door so, someone would have the option or we would have the option to leave this door open and expand this play space to out in here as well. What they have at Russet Center and other facilities are inflatables that can be brought out potentially. How that all that's gonna be negotiated, I don't know.
But that's we're leaving that flexibility. Do something so that could be a possibility for, you know, renting out the facility. That makes sense. Peyton, how high is the ceiling gonna be where those pickleball courts, volleyball courts are gonna be at? I can't remember the height of it right now. K. I was just thinking of some if that'd be something, like, if we decided to maybe put, like, a rock wall or something as part of that. That's what I was wondering. What's going on on the east side of the east wall of the playground? So that's why I was thinking to,
like, a climbing wall. Over here? Yeah. I mean mhmm. I don't know. That would be fun. Climbing one? Yeah. I'm just, like, I'm just curious with, I know there's specifics on clearance around structures and different things too if that would be that's why I was kinda wondering if we just if it wouldn't fit in there, if we could put it out as Peyton was kinda saying you can expand into the maybe that first court area or something if The only reason Oh, sorry. Yeah. I was gonna say the only reason why that probably would not go is and I guess it still could.
Just the fact that someone may rent out this entire space for a wedding or whatever it is. I don't know if they want a rock climbing wall. I don't know. So I don't know. Maybe they do. Well, that There there's Depends on what time There's things you can hang over top of them too. I was just just thinking of other things to add. Sure. So You said dream big, Peyton, so I'm dreaming. Yep. And so that's the dream spot. That's for the older kids. But to your point though, Nate, I think that's something that we can check on given the size and scope. Wish that thing wasn't I wish this wasn't shown on here.
It almost it seems like we gotta do this. And but I would maybe we can have the consultants just take a look at it with the measurements as your possibility. But, even if it's something on there. Right? It is something. Mhmm. And what all goes into that? And just kind of briefly looking through these catalogs, just space wise, is it something we can do, like, one structure that hits both hits couple age groups, or do we have to do a couple little different play systems or whatnot? Because most of them are 20 by 30 or whatever. Mhmm. I don't know. That's why we're here. So you could consultant question,
can we incorporate into one, or do we have to have a couple little different ones and then how's the space around it look? This is the fun part. Yeah. And I know they did that original one based upon the size constraints of the room. And I think on one of the details, I don't know if you have that one, but it shows like the whole perimeter layout thing that we're used to seeing, you know, when we're looking at these profiles, where nothing can be just in proximity of it. But I'm not sure how that works, but I don't know if there's a preference either,
if anyone cares or would like to see ideally, you have two big structures, right, like, sort of what you have in the images from Rustad. But No. Yep. Yep. But this yeah. Your right one's a lot bigger. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like hitting the middle mark. Yeah. You know, like, one to two year olds maybe aren't the target because that's what this smaller one at rest at is for. Right? Like, those new walkers. So yeah. And kind of a preschool. Yeah. And this is not the exact size,
but the main reason I really got, kind of in my head about increasing the size of it even by five feet, I was at the y otherwise, Y West, and, you know, they have the upstairs area up there with the play system, the barn system, whatever it is up there. And I wanna say that room was 42 feet in length maybe and similar width or so so it's somewhat comparable as a Tisch smaller. But if you've ever been up there and taken a look at it,
you'd have somewhat of a framework of what we're dealing with here. Yeah. I'm almost wondering if we did something like a sensory wall or something, like, for the youngers instead of trying to put another structure in there. Because I feel like if we try to put two structures in there, we're gonna end up with very minimal equipment just for spacing and everything else. So if we maybe utilize some of the wall space or something to do something for the Youngers in there, better utilization of the space. And I think the younger kids, they can still use the equipment. Their parents just have to go up with that. I think we have a few ideas for,
yeah, Angela to connect with consultants on and see what different concepts that they can deliver to us. Yeah. I like Nate's idea of Mhmm. The wall space for the stuff that doesn't need a certain perimeter, which younger kids and, you know, whatever that might be. I don't know. They have drums and I don't think we want drums in that small space, but something's I didn't mention any music questions. You said century. But, yeah, I think that's good. Excited for that. That's gonna be cool. Yeah. Mhmm. Alright.
Next item is the existing park reports. We'll start with Tim and kinda work our way around. This is Tim. I was able to stop by Walnut, actually, walk through Walnut before I came today. It's plowed. The walking path is clear. I brought it up last time about that kind of rotting book stand. Looks like that was removed, and it looks good. I didn't see any graffiti. Everything looks good. Still eventually maybe add something to that playground too because of the big plane that we lost that broke. It got replaced with a much smaller piece of equipment than what was there.
So I don't know if it needs a little bit more or something else somewhere. I did see a cool idea on that one about stuff around the walking path too. But Yeah. Otherwise Okay. I got it. It looks good. Take one of those. Alright. Lyle? Hi. I'm Lyle. I got Elm Tree. Elm Tree is in winter hibernation mode, but thanks to the warm weather, it's half snow and half snow. But, it's it's doing well through the winter season. Not much activity down there during that. You know, warmer months there is. So until we get to the warmer months and discuss the thistle population in there,
It's it's okay. Alright. Jerica? I have constitution and oak tree, and I was running late and didn't check either of them. They're they're hibernating right now. Yeah. Yeah. I guess this is Andrew. I don't have anything in my parks. I was gonna do a drive by and then get caught up before getting here, so we flew in light. This is Nate. So, with Cottonwood, I was out there before the last little warm up, and it just you know, it's there's doing this thing. It's open there. It's south facing, so anything that's blowing, it's blowing in there and dirt and everything else.
But it didn't seem like there was really anything that needed to get checked in on. I'll probably head over there later when it's now that the weather's a bit nicer and just kinda check out, see if there's anything else over there that needs to get looked at. But, now I'll just follow-up with the city if there's anything that needs to get attention to it over there. This is Melanie. I have Birchtree and Pine Tree, and I also did not get to my parts. It's sad the lights aren't on anymore. Alright. Amber council liaison report. Only other thing I was going to bring up and not that our board has to make a change.
This meeting is held at 06:30, obviously. I don't know if there's any appetite to adjust the time. I always periodically just like to ask that question because the time has shifted from the times that originally started. I think it used to be at about seven or 07:30 or something. But moving up here, I always find it fascinating how late meetings are. Not that 06:30 is too late, but, seven or 07:30, whatever originally it was. Yeah. There's a lot of that's a northern thing. There's a lot of me's.
They're just held a lot later than when I'm Mhmm. Grew up doing. So if you ever wanted to move the time, we're always all ears to, you know, the city council at six. Planning commission, they meet at 05:30. So totally up to this group, whatever's most convenient for you. I guess, personally, I like 06:30 because it gives me a little bit of time to get off work and gets usually get supper and quick. I like 06:30 too. Alright. Well, there we go. That's all. I'm semi retired, so I'm not even gonna mention anything else. Well,
I got so much stuff going on. Yeah. You guys you guys set the time, and I I don't really see any earlier than six personally. But, you know, you guys figure it out because you got kids and you got work in that. So I wanna make sure you guys can No. I think we're good. Anyway, I'll just sit around and go around everybody. But, no, with that being said, unless anybody has anything else quick, we will be adjourned until March 11. There you go.