It looks like we got more. Yeah. No? Yeah. Yep. Mine did. More? Perfect. Let's roll. Good evening. We will call to order this meeting as a Dilworth Park Board, Wednesday, 07/09/2025. We welcome our guests. If you guys could please come up to the microphone and microphone and state your name just for the record and what you're here to discuss so we have a little bit better idea. With Dayton Schwieger, scheduling of Cottonwood Park. Okay. I'm Dennis Schmidtke with, Long Range Planning at Dewworth Lutheran. And hold on a second. Dewworth Lutheran with Long Range Planning.
Alex Rasmussen, Dewworth Lutheran, church council president. Thank you. We will take a roll call of the park board here. We'll start down with Lynn. Lynn Park. Melanie Filling. Nate Dix. Andrew Randall. Lyle Carrington. Tim Taliesin. Amber Bora from city council. And Payton Astaire with the administration. Next item on the agenda is the agenda approval. If it's okay with everybody, just looking at what people are here for tonight. I can we move the Paws in the Park event down till after the scheduling
of the Cottonwood Park project or the scheduling of the Cottonwood Park? Of course. Stuff that way. I I second that motion. A first time motion? Oh, yeah. You first did it. Sorry. I'll just make the recommendation. That way, you just move it around. Okay. You're just moving the order? Just moving the order, so moving pause in the park. All second. Or down to under the scheduling part. Just so First, all second. Sounds good. Just so we don't make these individuals sit here and Right. Have us discuss that. All in favor? I see. Opposed? Sounds good. Next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from the May 14
Park Board meeting. Have we all had a chance to look through that? If we have, I will take a motion to approve the minutes from May 14. This is Nate. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from last meeting. This is Melanie. I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Sounds good. So that brings us us on to the discussion. We'll jump into the Ash Tree agreement with the Dilworth Lutheran Church. Thank you, mister chair, members of the park board. So we were recently contacted by the Lutheran Church with respect to Ash Tree Park.
Ash Tree Park is at the northeast corner of their property as you can see here in the aerial image. And sort of the background and history of all this and sort of the impetus for their reach out to us is, just from a long range planning perspective and evaluating their, you know, own situation insurance, whatever it may be. They're at that location. Just trying to get a more defined sense of understanding,
responsibilities, and things of that nature. Sort of the issue with, Ash Street Park through the years is that it's always been on private property, church land. And, sort of the the thought process or sort of what is thought to have occurred through the years is that in exchange for services, we'll say, you know, there used to be snow plowing that would go on, piling the snow, other maintenance responsibilities that the city would utilize the parkland for in exchange for that.
A park was allowed to be located at this site. Issue is there's no agreement, you know, bringing this together. There's it's all just these understandings and stories through the years that, like, well, there was a handshake agreement type deal, which is a bad way of operating. I think any side would agree to that. So in really trying to bring this all together, there's two sides of this. There's a component with this that's more of a policy level decision, you know, not really getting into, you know,
how much this should cost or anything like that. You know? Really, what the park board is being asked tonight is since it was determined or not determined, since that land is not within the city's property right there, is that something that the park board would like to get reinstituted, we'll say, or get instituted? Because I'm not really sure when the last time any investment was made into the park. I mean, I know we put out a new sign out there and trash cans and such.
But beyond that, the equipment, everything is obviously incredibly dated, and you can see here as far as, like, what's out there on-site currently. Again, it's not much out there, to begin with. But there are some liability concerns that go along with that with that, part area being on private land. And so the question before the park board is, you know, is this really is this a area of town, piece of land, the park itself right there? Is that something it would like to see come back under,
say, our capital program where it gets, you know, programmed every few years, which we've done a good job. The park board's done a good job over the years of updating equipment at all the parts. So, naturally, this one would rise up to the list pretty high, if it were to be, you know, brought back under the umbrella of the, you know, city park board there. So, that that's really the question at hand. It's not again, getting into ownership, lease agreements, things like that hasn't really concerned the park board. Again, that's more of a policy level decision.
So, yeah, with that in mind, I would, you know, open up the discussion as far as, like, how the park board feels about that, specific park being under its purview. Pete, can you go back to the map picture? Yep. So one thing I just noticed is, really, on that side of town, that's about it. And I know we've discussed the regional park Right. Going, but also noting the size of Ash Tree Park. And we're we're not gonna be putting large pieces of equipment just based on how
much room is needed for those, and, you know, like, we're probably gonna keep that more of, like, the smaller children, I would say. I would think unless I know the only constrictions with that is, like, the trees and then going towards the parking lot and then the sand volleyball pit that's there as well. But, really, without that, there's really not a whole lot else of, like, city style parks that are close. I mean, I'm pretty sure everybody on the other side maybe is going to Whistle Stop, but, again, you know you know, for just, like, a smaller park for that area within a couple block radius,
I think it's I think it's still a good I could, impart for the park board to kinda help maintain that, in that part of the area. Obviously, there's the area that is owned by the school, which I guess is sort of a I don't know if you'd call it a park necessarily, but it's an open space. It's a recreational area Yep. That's pretty sizable over there. The city obviously purchased land north of here. But from my viewpoint, those are two separate that's a totally separate park. I don't feel like that fulfills a neighborhood need necessarily that has is gonna have
more regional impact. Mhmm. And even at that, who knows when all that would come together? You know? And if this is gonna if the work that this group will be making and the investment in that part, that's probably gonna be north of Eighth Avenue most likely. Mhmm. Future Eighth Avenue. So I to me, it's they're separated enough to you know, they're not really tied with one another there. But, yeah, I agree. This serves that area most certainly. What is the park we're talking about? Are we talking about just the playground corner, or are we all the way into the sandpit volleyball area?
Well, I think that's can be part of, like, what's defined Mhmm. With all of this. What are you guys thinking? The whole thing, or are you thinking just the corner? Well, I guess, yeah, this sort of came up, you know, fairly recently, and and for myself we need you up at the commercial. For myself, and the other guys probably probably have their own ideas as well, but, I go to Dover, obviously. And, my grandkids are six foot two and on up and this big, so that's not on my radar. But recently, when this all came up, we started looking at the at the park itself and,
yeah, it's like you mentioned, it's very dated. Something needs to be done with it. Part of the question was who owned some of that equipment, and there's nothing apparently in writing any place and how that would have happened, I don't know. But I spoke with, Pat Colwell, who lives like right across the street to the east from the park. And she's been there since, I believe she told me she was the first house built north of First Avenue. So, in their day when she was building the house,
which was like 1962, it was about that time, a little bit later, that the park actually went in. It was her comment that the city put the park in, which would have made sense. That part of town started to grow a little bit, I suppose, and has taken care of the flowers and all of that. What Dortheastern has done over the years is simply take care of the lawn. And that's fine. That's good. It saved probably a lot of money for the city in doing it. We got a couple of guys that like to mow. We got a John Deere tractor and a Husqvarna or something like that.
And so they take care of all that stuff for us, and they just mow whenever it's needed, which is kinda nice. That's the volleyball pit, the sand They mow the whole thing. No. Do you consider that a park you want us to involve? Are you just talking the corner? Say that question again. So when you're talking about you're asking if the city would update the equipment and you guys would take care of the yard, their lawn, grass, are you including that whole section or just the little corner where there's the play equipment? It's the volleyball Are you including that whole volleyball?
At the park? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's And I think as a church, we are open to discussion on what that vision looks like. Mhmm. Right? We've discussed as a church potentially moving that on the Northwest Side of your Ocean. Closer to time long time because then the kids, you know. Because another one of our constraints, the the church is parking. We are extremely busy on Wednesday night, so we're trying to figure out as a church how do we expand our parking. And one option obviously is go to the North. And so that's where we have the idea of potentially moving it to the Northwest
Side. And also that is closer to the fields. It would be a real community asset on that side and provide playground equipment for Well, we did go over this months ago, last year, I guess. So and the answer was that the church had plans for building in future. And so we just said, yeah, we're just we're not gonna upgrade that. That's private property. Is the plan you move the equipment as well then? Because if you're going to expand to move, you would get rid of it. What oh, I mean, like, when you're parking like, when you expand the parking,
would you want the playground on the other side of the building too? If it comes to that, we would. Yeah. I mean, so you can't have a parking lot and a playground. Right. So then that would probably have to be moved to it. I think the other comment was people aren't using that park much. It wasn't a well used park, except for some special needs kids from the school would come down and use that park. And so I guess the question is, do we need another park to maintain? Going back to a comment made earlier as to, what's available in that area for the residents, I mean, it's North Lutheran isn't the one that
it's not our park. We just it's nice to have it there. But, just driving around the area, like you said, there's really nothing else around it. It would seem like some type of smaller park would be a good fit for the for the area there. Yeah. I mean, do we use it for our ministry? Yes. Sometimes we do. It's not a main part of our ministry, obviously, but we are we wanna be good stewards to the community and really be a partner. And we have a lot of land right there, and we would love to offer that to the community.
That part of the of the that block, the Northeast corner that we're talking about, there's no plans that we can really consider for any type of things right now. We talked about a parking lot expansion, but it wasn't practical. Our cost was just stupid, yeah. There's infrastructure around in there, and so we got involved with all of that. And, so that's not going to be that's not a factor. Maybe I shouldn't be speaking that way. But the fact is that that's not really anything happening there right now.
Do we count, like, the school's playground as I mean, I know it's not our park, but that is a big playground. It is. Or something. They moved it to the front. Other side. The what I could see nice is, like, on the other side for all the families and stuff that go to the baseball fields, there's no one for the kids to play. That's just that's what I think think of. Like, if it were on the other corner, I wonder if it would get used more. Well, yeah. I know you also think of the future of the baseball fields maybe being on the other side,
it's future expansion. But that might be too far away for them to play. So that's that's what I worry about is the new regional park. How far away is it? Is it twenty five years away? Is it we never know. Yeah. It's twenty five years. And then we're investing playground because our budget is tight. Yeah. And playgrounds cost a minimum of 30,000 and then maintenance fees. Could it ever be, like, co managed? Is that ever an option? Like, go in from both sides for playground equipment? If it's on their land at least.
And I'm sorry. Would you be willing to pay for part we pay for part? Like, she's saying, currently. Again, we're not I don't wanna really get into some of those details right now because I think there's gonna be some other things worked out as far as, like, lease agreements, land acquisitions. Yeah. I think that's really the question at hand. And, Donnell, I'll mention, you gotta keep in mind, Eighth Avenue, when it goes in, in that park, keep in mind, going on the North Side, we're getting to probably close to half a mile away at that point. So it's a pretty good it would be a pretty good distance up there. And this would be its own defined neighborhood.
Where this is right now is how I would look at it. And then anything North Of Eighth Avenue is gonna be supportive of the entire community. I would think there'd be people coming up from South Side Of Fourth Avenue as well. But There's not much back in there other than getting back down to, what's it called, Locomotive? Bussel. Bussel. Bussel. Thank you. Yeah. The only real park you have in the center of town is is, Walnut Tree And then the school Mhmm. Birch trees. Yes. I remember birch trees were a vegetable tree. Yeah. Birch trees are good. Yeah. That's something.
I don't know. I guess I guess the issue is really that it's pretty worn out. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe safety issues. Right. I suppose the city has liability policies that cover some of this stuff. We also have extra insurance costs just because it's there and sitting on our city on the church's property. Not that we would need, I wonder? Oh, yeah. Yeah. You have you have liability. That's why the whole thing of that being private land separates it from city land because our other parks are covered by our city liability.
But but not now? No. They're that is private land. They're not getting covered. If somebody breaks a leg there, We'll be suing you guys because you own the land, and they'll be going after you, but it ain't gonna be us. So that was the whole thing, since I've been on the board was yeah. It's it's a conflict between private and city. But I do know on the website guess what? North Park shows Ash Tree as one of their parks. That's what he was alluding to is and he was also alluding to is somewhere
unwritten on whatever Yeah. It kinda, oh, this is just the way it is. So we're at the point is do we formally make it just the way it is or we just if you guys do whatever you want to, it's your land. You wanna tear it up? Fine. I think that's Or do we invest in it and put city money into a private land? Was that gonna be part of the policy? It's figuring out who owns the equipment kind of thing? Or have to do that, and then that goes up to the city council. It's beyond us as a board. Yes. What we're really being is do we
wanna invest our tight budget into a small part, either this side or this side? And then that's a yes. Okay, then it has to go to the council where they get into all the legalese and all that stuff, and then your guys' legalese, and then they would make that work. So, you know, I've been listening, and there's good points in of that. You know, okay. In the middle of town, stuff like that. I can see all that avenue, but it's like, yeah, there there is a lot of legalese, which we can't do in this room, but that is what's the 800 pound elephant sitting here.
Those are the factors. Yeah. Yeah. You know? So, So does this conversation become more productive after the policy discussions? Well, they're not gonna do a policy if we're not gonna support it. We're putting our part funds into it. They're gonna say, okay. It was nice while it lasted. It's not there anymore. And I know that sounds cold, but that's what it comes down to. It was good for the years that it was there. So, you know, that's what we're kinda deciding is between now and whenever the regional one kicks in. And, you know, I, you know, I know, when I talk to people who visited Walnut,
which you got right now, I had people that came there from that area of town. They also went down to Whistle Top. They so they they were going from this section of town out to them. So those two parks because they were the closest one from them. And they did have small kids, you know, and and strollers and that and smaller, and they liked it. So I know there's people that in the middle of town there that do like that and do want that, you know, accessibility. Because I would go around and stop and introduce and tell them who I am, you know, and pros, cons,
good, bad, ugly, anything at all. And so I know the people who frequent there, and that's the next closest one to this, and then it's down towards Whistle Stop. So, It feels like with that small spot, really, all you do is swing set, a slide or something. I mean, there's not much we're committing to that because you can't really do these other climbing things and spinners or whatever. It's just so small. And I don't know. Just that private land. I don't know. Well, it's kinda what you wanna make of it. Yeah. It's a swing set. If it stayed in that little corner, I'm saying.
But if you say, well, we're gonna take all that anyway. Let's think about it over here, then that's the other thing we have to think about. I I think it would be better to use if it wasn't in the Northwest corner. Cool. So it's yeah. But, again, it's private land. Does that start a precedent with doing parks in private land and other places? Yeah. And that's where we have to be careful as a public entity for the whole city. Yeah. Because then that opens up floodgates for these things. Let's get a little I'm sorry here. Let's just work through you here. Okay. So okay.
Alright. Again, all those details would be worked out. We're not going to decide or define where it's gonna be and just say, well, it's on private land. And and even if we do, that will be something that we would work out and actually have a formal agreement Yeah. With them at that time. I wouldn't make any financial decisions. We'll say when we're thinking about investing versus this versus what the regional park is, I think those are totally separate things. And I don't think the the park board budget that we're alluding to, the capital expenses that we make,
that's gonna be so minuscule. When you if just this one piece of equipment or two pieces, whatever it may end up being compared to all the amenities that will be offered up there, that one eventually, which that one's gonna be piecemeal over time, presumably, and everything. So, again, I wouldn't get too just my recommendation, at least, I would not get too consumed with, you know, thinking about what the future monetary contributions are to the regional part. Really just asking yourself, do you feel like this area of town is supportive of a,
you know, mini park, which that's kind of what we're known for here in town. Right? Whole neighborhood parks right there. May not support a ton of people. It would support the church quite a bit, right, if they have after school day care activities, whatever it may be, kids playing after church, and support kids in neighborhood too. So that's just really all you're trying to So really, really, all in logistics aside. Do you wanna see a part of that? Yeah. For the most part, I that's how I would look at all of this. And, you know, we get kinda more in the weeds as far as types of equipment,
everything like that. You know, we're you know, I'm thinking about, like, a the volleyball pit. We're not from a city perspective. I don't even know if we're really equipped. I mean, we can keep it out there. Right? But I don't know from a city perspective if we can maintain it to the degree that it should be. You know, that's a whole other thing, but, again, that's kinda defining the the equipment pieces itself. So, yeah, I think the part where it's just really saying, you know, is this really a suit is this a suitable location? You send a recommendation to the city council to say, hey. We would love to see a defined park here or maintained here at this spot.
I would personally be, I guess, more interested if you guys were willing to move it to the other side. I'd just that corner I mean, it's fine, but if you the baseball, like you said, the baseball kids would love it. All those little kids running around playing the dirt tail now over there. So I would appreciate not doing dirty laundry. I think it'd be a lot more on their side. Yeah. I think it's I think if it was said that that's where you guys want it and that's where you put it, I would be a supporter of that. So I don't know that I wanna support putting new equipment in the areas at now. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I think we'd be open to it as a Yeah.
As a church. That's just my view. But I do have a question. I'm reading your letter that you guys sent there, I think it was a view. And there again, you guys have been thinking long range too because you're saying, okay, take care of the equipment and mowing and everything twenty five years or a period of equipment whichever is shorter. So there, again, you guys are, you know, thinking like we are, you know, okay. Are they gonna come here? Are they gonna go this one and that? So you're kinda looking for this part. We have something here. And then, you know, as the city grows, as things develop,
we can relook at things down the line. So I'm glad that you guys are looking at that. And I guess my 2¢ on this is I think we need to do it would be in our best interest to do something up in this area of town because there's nothing up there. Yes. The regional park is something we've been discussing for ever since I've been in town here, and how many years away are we from that? So if we're talking our budget, which is just gonna be that small fraction, like Peyton said, of a multimillion dollar area, I think it's best to invest now because how far out are we from actually
breaking ground on that? I my family uses the park when it is over walks. I see kids playing there. I know after church and stuff they use it. I would hate to take a park away. Yeah. You know? I I would like to see it upgraded for sure too if it's gonna stay. So So I have a follow-up question. Price. How would we as a park board? Because I like Amber's suggestion of rather than going into the current location and trying to dig up and put stuff in there. And then two years from now, okay, we'll go if if it would work out to go immediately to the northwest side
of your property, place it in there, and then set it up. And then, yeah, like Lynn said, you know, get rid of the old junk. Okay. How do we recommend that as a motion, or how do we state that? Or, you know, just say it like that. And, yeah, if it goes to the Northwest, we recommend keeping Ash Tree there. Relocate it from Northeast to Northwest, and then do that. And then if you guys we can do the park part. And then, depending on, like, Pete mentioned, the the policy stuff, whether that volleyball would follow it or not.
You know, I'm I don't know about that. But at least that way, okay, then you guys should still keep your volleyball on that side if you wanted. But then we'd have new equipment, new area, would be more centrally located, you know, next to where people would see it and do it. So I think if we're still in favor of supporting an ash tree, I think ash tree on the Northwest, I would be more likely to go with that than trying to kind of patch and patch and put a Band Aid on the Northeast part. So that that's what I'm seeing in this discussion.
Who's gonna do all that work and that cost to remove and repatch and build and dig and Yeah. See the new one again? I don't know. I have mixed feelings. I guess I can go either way, but, I mean, it's not like the school playground's that far, Birchtree's that far. Yeah. But It's true. I can see, like you're saying, a a nice little swing set slide for the but then again, that's not close to the baseball fields. Now I, as a mother, would have to divide my time between watching my kid playing baseball or going across the street and watching the playground. I wouldn't be comfortable doing that. So,
and and I still have a two year old. A little easier. So if is that something you guys would have to take back to discuss? Like, if we hypothetically, if we agreed to moving it, is that something is it have to go discuss with the church again? Or Well, I think the way it would go is the park board has to kinda recommend something to city council and that's sort of the flow of things. Well, I mean, like, it it's okay with you guys already, or is there more discussion that needs to be done? No. We're not the final authority. Yeah. We can share that.
And that's kinda been our our thought process, guys. But so then we got, you know because maybe that's not something in the long run. Society, so we kinda. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, basically, you want that old park out and either replace or just take the old park out. You don't wanna have this old thing sit down. Yeah. Well, the old metal slide, you know, that's tough one because it's hot hot. Yeah. Yeah. So then it's a live it's safety. Too much when it's hot like that. So we need to upgrade the slide, get a plastic slide probably. And then if that's gonna happen, probably use more of those play toy things and and not worry about the volleyball
court because that can stay right there. I mean, if it gets used, it does. It doesn't. You know? But the main stuff is for little kids. And Amber, to your answer to your question, yes. I think it would need to be voted on by church council. I do not see an issue with that in passing. Okay. But still from a procedural standpoint, we need to vote on that. Yeah. I have a We've discussed it in length, and I don't foresee an issue. Okay. Perfect. Because I'm I like that idea, but what do we want to do? Vote? What should we do? Should we do a vote or just do a recommendation? Recommendation. I don't want to hate one. Yes. I guess getting back to
Lal's question there, if the Park Board would like to see this see Ash Street Park be continued and relocated, it would just make a motion to that fact to forward a recommendation to the city council to maintain Ash Street Park preferably on the Northwest corner, contingent upon, you know, meeting with the Lutheran church and coming to terms and agreement with everything. And then, then it has to be you know, fall under then the council just sort of adopt,
that that notion, we'll say. And from there, you know, we'll kinda work on those policy stuff that policy stuff, you know, at the same time. I had a quick question. I know I'm new, but so if we decided not to continue Ash Tree Park, that would would it be their equipment then, and they can do whatever they want with anything? Yeah. And we, you know, we've talked a little bit about that. You know, if the determination is made by the park board or maybe the Lutheran the other
individuals may say, you know, we don't want a park. You know, the Lutheran church may say that there. Then at that point, you know, it would cease to go away, and they could do with what they want to with it. But I've also offered for that the city would provide assistance in removing any equipment or anything like that out there. Is it fair to ask if the church has plans if it's declined? That's what I wanted to know too. I don't know if I can answer that. I don't know if I can even Does that have to be a discussion? Playground for your kids groups and stuff?
It's I can answer on my own behalf. I can't speak for the church. You know? If if the if the if the answer is no, then, you know, we would just probably take it out or or, you know, because the the church I mean, the park, we you know, it doesn't really do much for the church per se. I mean, it's it's it's something that, you know, for kids. Right? So we not just it's not just deal with kids. It's all kids. It's about how we look at it. So So city park. Yes. Okay. Yes. The discussion is tough with the ownership. We get all that. That's why I hesitate on determining the ownership.
Right. But then if it cease being a city park, it's a church park, church can do and design whatever park they want, playground they want that fits the church. They can put it where they want, and the community would still benefit from it. And, I mean, if if you said no, we're not doing the park, we don't have financial resources at this time to upgrade. K. We just did a building. Yeah. It's a $2,000,000 building. Yes. We don't I mean, we've never considered ourselves the owner of of the stuff. This is over there.
We've allowed it to be there if you will. Originally, I think the agreement handshake thing was, fine. Park can be there. Someone do our snow removal, and we'll take care of the grounds. And that's basically it ran. Well, that went away, you know, a number of years ago now. I don't know exactly when. I think maybe in Don Vogel's era possibly, but it was really nothing ever in writing. So now we're at this stage where the stuff is, you know, some 70 years old. So, we're not interested in I'm speaking for myself now,
but I don't think I'd be interested in owning this stuff. You don't need to slide on it? No. The metal ones are the good ones. Not on a 90 degree day. Any further discussion from the park board? If not, we will entertain, a motion to go ahead with the recommendation for the city council to go, proceed with the Ash Street Park project with the agreement with the church with preference to put on the Northwest Side. If that's the motion. If that's the motion. Sorry. I just went.
Just trying to get all out there. So I We got a lot of parks to do it, you know, for a little town. I don't know. Well, I will make a motion to continue to maintain Ash Tree Park on the Northwest corner of the Dilworth Lutheran Church property. I second that motion. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Nay. Let's I have to say her name. Motion shares. Yes. Okay. Move on. All right. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So next item on the agenda tonight is the scheduling at Cottonwood Park.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is more of a informational item. I would say the Cottonwood Park Don Vogel Field down there that we're all familiar with, obviously, is utilized by various groups at times. However, there's some hesitancy, for good reason, to utilize the park because we do not have a park department that does programming, anything of the like. Every facility that we have in our parks, shelters, equipment, baseball fields, whatever it may be,
it's always just used on a first come, first served basis. We don't really have the capacity to get into doing multiple scheduling and and not to get in full in the weeds here with how, all the baseball groups go because I don't know in full. You know, oftentimes, there's been competing groups that will, you know, have say on things. And so we've never just wanted to get in the middle of those groups, especially when we have such a limited resource, just the one field there at that location. But that all being said, I certainly understand the difficulty. If you wanted to come up with some kind of a schedule and you wanted
to utilize that field, how can you say we're gonna be here from, you know, five to 06:30 if there's no way of actually scheduling the grounds itself. We're trying to come up internally with some kind of low maintenance system, we'll say, that will allow groups to reserve it. There'd be limitations with it. Potentially, you know, how many you you know, we don't want someone coming in. We want every Monday through Thursday from four to ten.
You know? But maybe have some limitations on it, hours, you know, maybe up to five visits, whatever it may be there before you have to schedule. And then if it gets too chaotic for whatever reason, maybe we can pull back the ring and say, hey. We're not gonna get involved with this. But with that in mind, I did wanna just bring it up for discussion at the park board level just to make you aware that we have been contacted, by coach Dayton and wanting to help see if we can move this along and
make it a possibility. It's a it's a great resource we have. The field looks great out there. And if we can find more utilization out of it, then maybe it's not a bad thing. So it is again, it's getting into something we're not fully comfortable with on the programming side of things. And if it's, you know, 06:30 at night, all of a sudden, you have two different groups, like, arguing with one another who has rights to a field. And I guess they're calling the police department at that point, not our not the parks and rec director. So with that in mind, you know you know,
if you'd like to open it up for discussion, mister Cherry, you certainly can. Yeah. At this time, we'll open up for discussion. We'll welcome our guest. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Sure. Just a parent of a baseball family. So I have a nine year old and a six year old. I've been doing nine new coaching for three years now. So, I'm not on the board. I don't I'm not affiliated with the baseball club or the community ad or anything like that. I've just always been told that we can't use it because we can't reserve it. Right? So, if we want to host Morehead for a doubleheader with our travel team, we kinda just have to hope there's nobody else out there,
and communicate amongst ourselves to make sure that there's no conflict internally. I've never ran into anybody else out there. I know that community ed, is primarily using big Bob, little Bob, right north of the the pool. So I don't think there's any competing interest with them. I think most of the competing interest is among the baseball club itself, between maybe their own age groups, nine or 10 or 11 or 12 or whatever it may be. I just would really like to see it used. I'd like to see the club be able to put some money into it. It's whenever we host games out there, there's nothing but good feedback. It's just we're I know that there's a weekly mowing schedule,
I think, out there. We've gone out there and done our spare share mowing and cleaning up just to make it representable as well. But, the ultimate goal, I mean, when I think back to the discussions I've had is, man, could we rent the field from the city for the summer? That's where my thought comes in now. I know, you know, we may think different on how this works, but, just to ensure it's used. It's a space that I don't think gets used enough. Me and my kid were buying sunflower seeds at Casey's before going to a game there this other week or yesterday, actually. We played out there because we had a game canceled in Morehead,
because we were playing DGF and DGF, and we couldn't schedule here. So we had put into West Fargo, Fargo, Morehead. So we canceled our Morehead game because the fields are too wet after the rain. Played our game at Cotton when there was nobody there. But the case he's attending said, man, we're selling a lot of sunflower seeds this year and just make, you know, comments like that. And if, if you can get, get kids out there playing, I think it's just gonna benefit everyone. I hate to see it sit empty. So that's kinda where I come from. But yeah. Yeah. Sure. I have a question as far as, like, scheduling and since you obviously had experience with that.
Yeah, we don't want I the general feeling is to have one person come in and book it all. Sure. Would, you know, like, two practices in a game with, like, three out of seven days? Would that work? You know? Yeah. So somebody else three days and then kind of a wild card whatever other day? Yeah. No. Good question. So that kind of in your experience with the different agent groups, would that be kind of a good starter kind of like if you can do three a week? Yep. You know? And then like we currently do first come first serve.
So if you come in and you got Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, well, that would leave the other days for other people. Right. That's kinda how it would kinda fall out right now. Does that seem workable, or is that too rigid? Or No. I think that's perfect. So coming from my seat, we have a tournament team and we have a league team. So, our league team is where we're traveling to West Fargo to play another Fargo team. We're playing traveling to North Fargo to play a a DGF team, whatever it may be. The travel side is more just like we're gonna call another coach and say,
hey. Do you guys wanna come play? We have a field. My initial thought with all this is the nine and 10 year olds play on Mondays and Wednesdays for league. We've never been able to schedule games, home games because we don't have a field. Right? So would be to say, let's Yeah. Monday, Wednesday, let's host a game Monday and a game Wednesday, so that you can have your nine year olds on Mondays play there. You could have your 10 year olds on Wednesdays play there. Each team, you know, in a two week span is now getting one home game where they can travel to Cottonwood versus having to go to Davies or having to go to the West Fargo Complex and be able to play it at the at home.
Which is why it was built. Right. Games. And like you said, you see where I'm going with this is to get people Yep. So initially, yeah, if if you could say what's the bare minimum that I would ask you for, I would say, could we have seventy five minutes two days a week? So What size would you say? Ninety minutes. The game's ninety minutes. We don't start a new inning after seventy five minutes, but it's an hour and a half game. We have two teams at the nine level, and we have two teams at the 10 u level. So, initially, my thought with the parking and stuff is that you probably don't wanna do two games out there at night just with two teams there and two teams coming in, and there's not parking to support it.
K. Two hour long. Do they normally start six or 06:30? 05:30 and seven. 05:30 and seven. Okay. So it's, usually, you'll have two you'll have four teams that'll play in one field that night. So when we go to West Fargo, they'll be if we play at 05:30, there's a team waiting behind us. If we play at seven, we're the last game. Yeah. You're saying at least two nights a week, we'd be doing that, but if we're gonna say, wait. The limit would be three nights out of a seven seven day period, you know, Monday through Sunday. So that that wouldn't be, like, too restrictive. No. I don't think so. And then they do your two, and you don't have to do a three.
I'm I'm not Right. And I I think it would get used as much as we'd be able to use it. I say the league and the travel are different. So league is very structured. Right? It's 05:30 and seven. It's Monday and Wednesdays. Now I do the travel team as well, so I'm involved with both. We've done two double headers out there. We hosted Fergus Falls and we hosted Morehead. And that was we started at 06:00 on a random Thursday. And we played and, you know, we kept the chalk lines and all that stuff ourselves and did it. So it really depends. I I don't wanna I don't think that the weekends are something that that would ever be an issue. I know that you guys have held events out there and stuff too,
but, I see Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, as time that we could fill on the field, and then maybe even a Sunday night. And just the fact that we can't do it, we can't sign up our teams for this Red River Valley League that we play in and we say, hey, we don't have a field. So now when we're the home team, we're traveling where if we could say, hey. You know, we can do one nine new game and one ten new game each week. It would get scheduled into that league, and we'd be able to now host a team and bring people into the community to to watch a game. Can a city create a spreadsheet? They fill in themselves with two hour blocks?
Yeah. I'm not worried about any of that. It's, just more of the initial things that I talked about there that we just don't have someone overseeing it. You know? Well There's not a point of contact for them if something goes haywire or anything of this sort. Isn't there simple softwares out there? A Google form to to submit it to and go to someone's email or something. Filling out forms and doing things like that. I I guess I was wondering more of, like, isn't there simple softwares out there for scheduling that you could link to and then people can just put in first come,
first served to something like that? And then there's just a link on the city parks site or the city site, maybe a sign out at the field saying to reserve or check schedule. Scan the QR code to see the schedule. There's a QR code or something like that. And then most of the oversight is just gonna be someone, like, looks at it once a week or something like that. Or At the start of the week, but it's up to residents to log in or go to that link, select the times, what they want.
So if there's a fight on the field, you go, well, look. There's something that anybody in the city can look at, that kind of thing. Have you had any conflict trying to use it? Like, have you had to change it? The only conflict that I'm aware of that have happened out there well, there are two examples, I guess, would be internally. So our 10 year olds are having a practice out there, and all of a sudden, nine show up for a game. Okay. That's within the DGF baseball club. So that's just a lack of sketch because we schedule it ourselves Mhmm. As an overflow for field one and two. So, hey, we're we're the only you know,
this nine year old team is the only one that's scheduled for Cottonwood. Now you're going out there at your own risk. But no. You haven't had any people, like, just No. And the other thing with with every the last two springs, I've gone out there, and picked up all the cornstalks and all the leaves and gotten the field ready. And you'll notice some vandalism type of stuff out there. That's my concern, is sometimes you'll notice, like, there was a car that whipped, whatever you wanna call it in the middle of the outfield. Right? So the big circle of tire tracks, or there's a two foot long by five foot wide hole that's dug in the infield. So stuff like that.
But as far as competing, like I said, I'm almost positive that all of the community ad stuff takes place in Glendon or takes place at Big Bob on Fields 1 And 2. I've never ran into anything other than a few homeless people and, maybe a dad and a son laying ball out there. So and I I would hate to kick them off. Right? But I think at the same time, if they know, hey. There's a game. Hey. Let's stay and watch, you know, or or something like that where but again, I just I wanna see it used. I I would love to benefit from that. I would love my kids to benefit from that. I would love to see the field have a permanent fence. I'd love to see covers in the dugouts. I'd love the infield to be level.
Like, all this stuff, I feel like if the baseball club were given the ability to schedule, we'd be able to put money into it now. Right? So the whole purpose of it out there. So we're looking for a motion to, yes, let's do scheduling, but we're not gonna be No. Officially. I don't know, Elizabeth. Actually What are you looking for? Are we looking for like, do we need oversight from someone, like, weekly on the park board? Or, like, what are we looking for there? No. I I was more so just bringing this as an informational item. Okay. Just to update everybody on it. We're we're trying we're working towards all this scheduling software,
everything. We encourage it. Yes. Yes. Okay. Any other thoughts you have regarding And I'm here for next year. Right? I I would love this to start next year. I I know we're we're in the middle of our season right now. You know, stuff's winding down, but I wanna get the wheels turned and I really wanna get the field being used. I I I know that there's people that we got equipment and we got, you know, we got hands that are willing to get dirty and and make the field nicer than it is. But, yeah, let's use it. It's there. I show up a lot of times and it's it's bare. It just doesn't get used a lot because I don't think a lot of people are able to schedule it, and that maybe goes back to why I'm here. But,
Well, if it's just the g GGF baseball club, can't you guys figure that out and we say it's yours on Monday through Thursday? I would love to. I again, parents figure it out for themselves? Parent has been told something, and and I've always been told that you you can't schedule it. We're not able to schedule it. So my my goal is to figure out how does this all work, and what can we do to use the field. Can we do something like that and say Monday through Thursday? The field, not the playground. No. And we don't. And I mean, obviously, if and and we're gonna take care. Like, we do work out there. Right? It's you gotta paint lines. You gotta mold the like, most of the time, the field is mowed, but maybe we mold the infield down a little bit more just because it's not
a stand you know, just to get it more baseball ready. Stuff like that. We do all that, and we have no I I love working on the baseball field. I love it. If we had to mow it, we would do that too. But the other thing I think is, hey. Now we have four nights a week. We have people committed to come out here. Well, now you can put up maybe a shed, and you can open up a window, and you can sell hot dogs. And you can make you can make money from the you know? It it just opens up options. Get people in there. Yeah. Like, Glenn alluded to, this is the use of the field. Right. But and if if if it's you guys, it's you guys. But someone should.
Right? If it's my daughter, it's it's my daughter. But, you know, we could, man, we could pay for our jerseys with with concession money. It's just all this stuff that if we were able to to definitively say we have games out here, you could just do a lot more. So yep. That's a nice bridge. Yeah. I support it. It's there Yeah. To be used. And since you're saying Monday through Thursday, if there's some other group or whatever, that's the least Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Yeah. I guess I'd three other days for people if they wanna you know, rent it for a family reunion or something and play a game. Yep. Because I know that happened when I was going if they get together.
Yeah. And if there's a conflict, like I said, we can oh, go ahead. Sorry. You call on me. Oh, Hayden. Thank you. Mhmm. My husband, again, I don't I've just my own perspective for the time being. I don't wanna get into a situation where we're saying one group has it all summer for these days. I'm fine booking it out, like, maybe a few weeks for various days, but that's the one thing we wanna avoid. When this park was being renovated a few years ago, we had competing groups. So there's more than Do you know those competing groups off the top of your
head? I don't wanna get into that. Okay. But we had, competing groups, you know, that were at, you know, in each other's throats about who's gonna do what out there, why hasn't things been upgraded and such. And, you know, if there's just one singular Dilworth supported group, but we also just like Dayton was saying, they have to go to other locations. We also wanna be opening and inviting for other people too and not just being just Dilworth only, individual so hopefully it can be an inclusive environment for a lot of different groups and maybe we can get someone else to come over here that may wanna rent
it on a day that they're not out there. That's good. But we can work through all those details. I'm not that worried about it. And I know just I guess, just based on your comment there, they do schedule the the whole year out. Right? So if we were given two weeks at a time access, I I don't think it would work just because, hey. Now all of a sudden we're trying to get a game on Monday while we notice on the schedule there's someone else out there. So, ideally, for us, it would be if it's Monday and Wednesdays, like I said, would be ideal. The field is set up with dimensions where it only is work both for nine, ten, and some 11 old game. So after that, it's the bases are too short.
The pitching amount is too close and stuff like that. So, but it yeah. If you could do it, it would be great. Like I said, I I'd love to see it used, because I know right now if there's competing groups, they're they're not there anymore unless they come out of the woodwork. I've never seen anybody else out there. And It's nice to have a whole field advantage. Yeah. Like I said, it's it's the nicest field that I've ever seen for a nine year old coming from someone who had to wait till they were a legion ball player to play on a grass and field. It's it's pretty cool, and I just I hate to see it sit there and no money go into it. And I'd love to be able to make it better and see it used. So Awesome.
Well, thank you. We do two things. Thank you. Is there anything I can do to follow-up or anything I can do? I mean, how like I said, I'm just a parent, but I would I would love to follow-up and and try to just make sure, like I said, I can do everything I can to to see it used. Nope. I'll be in contact. Awesome. Thanks, guys. Have a good rest of your night. Thanks, Daniel. Thank you for coming. I appreciate it. Not a problem, Daniel. Alright. Moving on to the next item of the agenda for tonight is the pause from the park event. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to bring this to the park board's attention since
the park board only meets every other month. You know, kind of looking at the calendar there. This our next park board meeting will be literally, I think, the day before, assuming the park board wants to keep the the same date that it had last year, that second Thursday of the month. So this year would be on September 11, I believe. And, you know, I guess, one, just in confirming or, you know, does the park board still wanna do the Paulson Park event? And if there's anything else that you feel needs to be adjusted or modified,
I do I did put a few notes on there as far as what came when we did our recap meeting last time for consideration purposes, but it's been a few months. You know? We've all slept since then. So if there's any other thoughts or considerations that go into that, we're all ears. Just a comment. Thursday's Farmers Market. Yep. Four to seven. So no reason why you can't incorporate this in with the Farmers Market. I would just encourage maybe you move the hours 05:30 to seven instead of six to 07:30.
But, there's plenty of room, and it would only enhance both of them to have them all at the same time. It's just if you could move it up a little half hour on each side. Because your mutts unleashed will already be there. There's another dog group that's already there too. So and then you would maybe include that in your marketing that there's a farmer's market as well. Yeah. Okay. I definitely think we should do it. I'm I was just It's possible. People came, and I can call the shelters and check with them to see if we can get out there again. Yeah.
And then, along with that thought, it went over really well. They brought their little kind of mini agility thing for their own people's dogs to go through. And that's why I expanded the dog play activity area. I think that's really helpful to this event where it could be a little bit more of that if they're able to bring more. I like that. I can't remember the Corgi races, though. I remember saying maybe the retriever clubs would wanna do a demonstration, but I don't remember the Corgi races. Does anybody else remember that? I think Jerica had brought that up as different.
Yeah. We wanted to see if they wanna come, and they are fun to watch. It's kinda funny watching some dogs run. So Have you ever invited, like, Fargo and Morehead's, V neck officers? Uh-huh. It might be interesting Yeah. If that's an option. Yeah. Morehead has one now too. She's brand new. I did hear that on the radio. She had her on the news here two nights ago. And they would do what? I don't know what the k nine office is. Is that just informational? Yeah. Probably. The k nine office and, you know, you can interact. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. But like a demonstration or We could ask. The more the merrier. You know, the more they see dogs being trained and doing different things.
Yeah. Well, when kids are there, they love police cars, so That's right. Mister chair? Yes. I think one thing to on the the dog play and activity area, I believe what that's referencing is the skating rink. We opened that up as a de facto dog park Dog park. Yeah. Where people could run off Felicia in there. And I think that's what we were talking about expanding on that, which I don't know how you expanded other than doing some equipment in there or a ball or something. But I believe that's what that might be referencing.
Oh, I know what's unleashed last year brought up. Yeah. They had their own thing too. Yep. Yeah. They can play in and crawl and jump. Yeah. We could I don't know. What? Throw some dog toys in there or Oh, dad. We fan ties. Yeah. Get the metal slide from Ashtree over there. And as he likes going on slides. And it may tie into the directional signs. I know that was an issue. I don't see an issue last year, but just something that we're learning about. I don't think a lot of people knew about it last year. Few people did and took advantage of it, but it's pretty cool to have that out there as an option. A lot of cities actually do that during the summertime.
They'll convert their skating rinks into dog parks. So when is the did last year? When's the last day the pool is open? Yeah. August whatever. Second Friday in August, maybe. Something like that. Like, the third week? I just know in past and I and I know I can't remember how the city does the pool, but in the past I've seen, like, events where they'd host, like, a dog swim. Warhead does that. On the pool. On the last day before they I didn't know if that would coincide with. Right before you clean it. Yeah. It's a new set that's cool with the water out.
Yep. I didn't know if that would coincide with the cement or not. No. I I think they missed. I think it's a good event. I think we got a lot going on there. I think having the farmer's market there is a great idea, doing that that night, as long as you feel like there's enough room for everybody. Well, we're just using that whole sidewalk area, soaking up that whole Whole x-ray. Back part with plenty of room. Yeah. It'd just be set up different than it has been in other years. Yeah. But plenty of room. And it would be great for people to see the farmers market and get more people out there. Get people to see it. Yeah. Win win for both of them.
I think so too. Did who called the microchip clinic? Was that you, Peyton, or was that sorry. No. You know, I'm not sure. Wasn't Oh, we did that. Angel did contacted them. Okay. Lyle? One of the things from our post thing there was streamlining the food setup. And when you were talking about the farmer's market being in there, is that gonna count are they gonna because we kinda run the food outside along the sidewalk from the depot. They're gonna be inside, then they ended up being outside. And you're gonna have the farmer's market along there. I understand. I don't know.
Was it the local lines or was it UC Hope that did the food? I don't remember. They could do it in the shelter area. Yeah. But it just just so oh, we're gonna do it here, and then you're coming in with the all your farmers to set it up. I don't want, you know. Well, the farmers market would already be set up at 03:30, you know. Oh, okay. So by the time people come for the parts in the park, that they would they would obviously be going, oh, where do we go? And we would show them. Or we would put signs in the ground or whoever's in charge. So I don't think that'll be a problem. Oh, okay. Good. It'll be obvious. Corgi races.
We didn't talk about that. There we go. You said retriever club Corgi races. That'd be fun. Mhmm. I don't know how you do that or who you coordinate with, but It'd be nice if we did one thing extra this year. You know, one thing a little different. Mhmm. So like you said, the canine club or retrievers or something, I think that would knock it off. And then you'll keep continually increase your attendance. And with that idea, do we wanna set the group of, like, three have, like, a little subcommittee to oversee this event so that way we're not
having 30,000 emails going out or whatever from next to that? And who would like to if if that's something you guys wanna pursue, who would like to be on that committee? I'll do it. Well, I'll be on it because they would you should call the shelters anyway, so I'll do that part. Was it Jerica last year too? I think so. I think so. Yeah. I know. She's not really a break. Yeah. I don't know anything about dogs, so I don't think I would be a great subcommittee person. I can Oh, man. I can see either Melanie or I. K. There you go. You three? What time?
Amber, Nathan, Melanie, and yeah. We'll just hash out some of those details. Come on, Ed. Yeah. I think otherwise Sure. Jericho's not used to Yeah. I wasn't there last year since I was out of town for work events. But I think we got a nice foundation that we just try to add another event or two to it. You know, at the farmer's market, we'll have another other vendor, some other things going on. So how much more do you wanna bring to a till besides, like, a dog race or whatever? That's what I think. Yeah. Yeah. I think that would be enough out there. So you have a free gift of first 50 attendees.
That was UC Hope last year, wasn't it? Are they willing to do that again, or or do you wanna not worry about that? I know I handed them out. They were just that. They showed up. Here. Hand these out. Okay. So before you put that on there, I guess you would have to make sure someone's got 2,000. Yeah. I walked up, got it in the box, and then I got I had them all on. You see UC Hopper does, like, the pet clinic or the pet motel, whatever, is on Highway 10. Sorry. Yeah. Do they have a little promotional thing that they wanna hand out to promote business?
Yeah. And I'll offer that to them. And I believe last year, they were just I don't even think they had opened Yeah. At this point. And I know we talked about that and making sure they're incorporated, oh, for obvious reasons. It'd be a good thing for the subcommittee to at least run it by them and see what their thoughts are on it. Definitely think we should invite them. Mhmm. Since they're just literally down the street. Yeah. Well, I tend to wonder because whether there's ever another place be, like, the free gift. You know? Like, maybe that would be a way to Maybe they'll sponsor something. I don't know. And if we get,
like, a free and I don't have a dog, so please correct me if I'm wrong on this. Like, a free night stay or weekend, whatever, if they wanna give that away as, like, a grand prize, we put that on here. Okay. Try to get people out. Whatever they want. Monday? Yes. I don't know what they call the weekend. I need some ideas. Honeymoon's day. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. Well, Well, no. I think we've got some good ideas there and let the subcommittee work on that. And if they have anything that the rest of us can help out with, let us know. And last item on the discussion for tonight is the Southside Social event.
Thank you to everyone that came out. I think everyone came out that evening. I thought the Southside social event went really well. It was probably our highest attended park event that we ever had, I would think. It was obviously a little more spread out being at a larger park, but I believe that was probably our most well attended event. I was surprised that, I mean I really was. Hopeful, but I was very surprised that that many people came. Also knowing that there were probably people that turned around and were invited traffic or
the train or anything. So I think that was very, you know, something the park board should be very proud of. They're not all like that? Yeah. They did wait forty three minutes. So I was told No. Wow. So they they didn't turn around. They waited till that train, and they got in there. So they did. And they're maniacs too. But but I think it's a but I think it's great, the park board identifying a specific park to host an event on an annual basis. And Mhmm. I believe those on that side of town from the limited comments I received from individuals over there, I think they were really pleased that we,
the city, our board, made an effort to include them. Yeah. I had several people I sat next to, and they were old timers and been living there forever. And someone had moved to another part of Delaware that came for this, but then there were some that moved to Fargo and came back for this because this is where they grew up, and it meant a lot to them. Right. So I thought that was usually, the word spread, and there's there's just a loyalty to that neighbor that old neighborhood. And so it's kinda fun to hear the stories. I didn't get that at any other park event.
No. Yeah. No. I think it's a good event. I would love to see it be an annual thing and just kinda swap different parks that we haven't been to yet too. Yeah. And thank you, Jerica, for the shirts. I thought that was Yes. Absolutely. And we try to look for that roughly same timeline in June every year. Yeah. That'd be a good way to continually high highlight the town and what's available there. Because we've had parks, at least since I've been on here, that we haven't even been to yet. So do we just kind of Whistle Stop? We did Birch Tree. We did Oak no. Cottonwood. And then there's one more.
We did Woodbridge. Mhmm. Where that's usually Did I just start with Woodbridge? Okay. So, you know, you would have your walnut and you would have your oak tree. Might be nice to do an oak tree one because that's a neighborhood that also kinda gets lost. Just a yeah. But yeah. Maybe Ash Tree. Grand opening. Reopening. That'll be in a couple years. They're on the list. But knowing that we're not to speak for the park boarder or what we're gonna do in this next year, but our budget, we're probably not putting in a whole lot of player on equipment. Do we just keep an event going on, like, a Southside social,
whatever we wanna call it Yeah. Around there. That's great. Park social. Yep. Exactly. So should we just think about doing this in June again? That's what you're getting at. That's somewhere else. What I would I think it would be worth radar. Put on the radar and bring it up a little bit later and see probably next January or something, start Planning. Planning on stuff. Good way to start out the spring, summer, fall season. It's a good way to get everybody out and see what's available for their summer here. You know? I think it's good to continue it.
Just have one comment. Nick? I think we just need to be I know we've mentioned some other parts, but probably need to be mindful about space, especially Walmart. On the well, just thinking of the things that we had set up, you know, that's all gonna be Well, I think we did that because we had space. Right. But I mean Yeah. Last time you guys had bounce houses. Now you guys didn't have bounce houses this time or, you know, vice versa. The fire trucks weren't there or, you know, like, you know Yep. It it No. But you I'm just thinking just as we plan forward. Agree with you.
Yeah. We can't do a lot more with Elm than there is right now. So it would be our our bigger ones would be the host ones. But at least, you know, going around the city, at least you're doing that. Yeah. Yeah. Because yeah. I mean, we would not do anything like this at Elmo. When we talk about the budget and this, what does it cost to put something like this on? This isn't too bad. Yeah. We get a lot of volunteers. Donated sponsors. Yeah. Most of it's all sponsors. We we've put a little money into it, but very minimal. Okay. So it doesn't have to be as much as we just needed?
We're we're good. No. I will in this year's budget, I think we will have more delineated line item for events and programming, just a few thousand dollars. Again, most of it's sponsored your time. Right? Sponsored or volunteered time. And, Carpet One's awesome. You know, they come out and supply the food, and they knock it out of the park every time. And they seem so happy to do it too. They're always, like, smiling and talking to people. You see hope. They've been amazing. Mhmm. You know, they donated. I think, really, the only thing we were out,
we and we split the cost with UC Hope on the bouncy house stuff, and it wasn't that expensive. Yeah. Few other miscellaneous stuff, but it wasn't that expensive for us. Yeah. We got a lot for we invested. We got a lot of happy people, a lot of good use, a lot of good PR. I mean, so we came out really good. Mhmm. Yeah. The park was doing a tremendous job of promoting its parks. That's cool. Alright. We'll move on to the existing park reports. We'll start down with Lynn and kinda work our way around here. I have a couple of things. I talked to,
Mike with maintenance about too, and he said you have to talk to the park board. Apple Orchard Park, Birch Tree Park, Oak Tree Park have large areas where, the grass, the ground needs to be tilled and reseeded. These it's apple orchard is because they had a road and it's it's nasty up there still. And the tree that was nearby died, so it needs to be taken out. But it will never look good until it's tilled up and reseeded. Birch tree, they seeded the area where we used to have a community garden and it didn't
seed because it was the wrong time of year. We didn't get rain. I don't know. But it's pretty ugly, nasty, weedy looking and so it doesn't fit in with the rest of the park that was nicely seeded. And then, Oak Tree, you have the old rose garden that they're choosing to mow over. And and so we need to just it's it's nasty thistles and they're just gonna spread into the whole park. It's something that has to be dealt with. You can't just keep mowing over rose bushes and thistles. And the gentleman that was gonna do the community garden hasn't really done anything out there. So, I got a call from Carol who put in the trees at Oaktree,
and she wanted to save the rose bushes and put them in where a couple trees died. I said, more power to you. Go for it. You know, if it fits in where you already had the plastic down. But then, the day she went over to do it, the city had just mowed over the rose bushes again. So she's like I said, well, you have to talk to Mike. I told her that. You have to tell him that you wanna save the bushes because they know we wanna get rid of them. So it's not Mike's fault or anything. But, anyway, so I guess that is a question is he needs direction for doing that, and then he would rent a tiller and get that done.
And then the other question is the volleyball court in Apple Orchard is nasty, and nobody uses the volleyball court ever anymore. Most of those teens are gone. Maybe someday more teens will come and use it. But it's just it's a weed nightmare, and they don't yeah. He talked about maybe digging it up and putting down landscape fabric, putting down the surface again. He says, but then you just have air blown seeds that will come in and grow again. So the question is, do we wanna keep that volleyball cord or we wanna take it out and reseed it and not deal with the weeds? So that's just something to think about apple orchard.
What can be done with that volleyball court that no one's using and it looks nasty or and then reseeding dead spots in our parks. Otherwise, the parks I'm responsible for are good. So I don't know if that goes on another agenda item next meeting or if it's something we can recommend, maintenance can work on. I think so. There's just, like, a general thought of what you would like to see. You know? Yeah. We don't have to make an agenda. I don't think the whole thing just he just looked wants some direction. He doesn't wanna do the wrong thing.
Right. I That's all I'm saying. Yeah. I'm just saying. I didn't know if No. I mean, procedurally, we're good to go. And then volleyball court, I guess, the decision is do we wanna keep it, or do we wanna that's something we'll have to decide because it looks terrible. Like, it looks bad not used. And Well, I think you already said it too. Like, we're not super equipped to maintain a volleyball court either. No. It's not being used. Yeah. Especially if it's not being used and it's I see more kids playing catch than I do. Right. Yeah. Not in the volleyball court.
But that would be direction we would give to Mike if we want to change it. I'm not that familiar with it like you are, of course, but, if there's you've seen a consistent couple years or a few years or whatever where it's not getting used, then, yeah, it would be better to take it out, put some green in. I think going that route would be better than k. We got something that's not used. Let's make it all look pretty. Let's get sand in there. We'll get all these bolted and still not be used. I'd rather invest the funds we have in planting green in some form where that
was And weed spray. Yeah. So that that's how I look at it. That was a worthwhile. You got it. My check's not gonna be used. And hasn't been used in at least four years. I live across the street, so I would know. That's all I'm saying. That I have not noticed it. The hills to China have has been happening, then that's about it. Is that enough direction for him? Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Okay. I thought I took Birch Tree from you. So I also looked at Birch Tree. There is, like, a little that little green playhouse there. There's,
like, this little orange circle window that is cracked and starting to get maybe we should probably replace that just because I can see it. It's cracking more and more so I still want to get sharp edges just for the kids. And then the basketball hoop on the old basketball court is ripped. I don't know what we do with what we do with that. Replace it. Yeah. I don't know if it's ripped or if it just needs to be stuck back up there. I don't know what it'll notches, but and then the wood chips, there's getting to be some big weeds in there too.
I was trying to pull some of them, but I didn't have my meeting gloves. So Wasn't that something we talked about having summer maintenance help? Do some We have a new park person, but I don't know. Might say he hasn't given a list yet, so I don't know what's going on. I got something for him. Just do some of that weeding, some of that little stuff that That's what we wanted to do. Yeah. Yep. And then for what's that one? Pine tree. That looked pretty good. It was just the, the wood chips again were all, you know, moved away from everything. But I could tell they put new wood chips in. So I was trying to kick them all to fill some of the holes,
but around that, the big merry-go-round thing and stuff, we might need a shovel window. You know, push it in there. Where was that? The rest of that was okay. Nate? Same at Cottonwood. We're looking at a picture up there. Just go out there with my foot and kick some of the wood chips back in around the merry-go-round, but outside of that, everything looked fine out there. So Is there a better way to keep those wood chips in place? I'm like, it's not playing. No. There's I know. Plant twice a year, so it has to go out and rake rake a min That's or monthly. Make that a maintenance thing.
Yeah. You know, you're not gonna keep it. K. Not with a merry-go-round. Right? Right. No. At my parks, I'd get nothing that I saw whilst I was out there. Well yes. And I think for once, I got there before you. In the lawnflower build and elm in the middle, and I got pictures to prove it. I don't know because, obviously, by the root, and I'll leave these with you on if you wanna give it to our our maintenance guy who's supposed to be doing maintenance. Yeah. It's a tree. I even had my wife verify it because we were out there cleaning the weed, and so that's when I got there before you this year because you can usually
hear her say the tree in the middle. Yeah. I have no idea if that's actually supposed to be there or not. So I thought, well, before I start up my chainsaw and cut the damn thing out, I better ask because it's butt ass ugly. It's just got these green shoots growing out of the dead ones from year after year where it got clipped. But if it was originally planted there to grow, well, then, okay, I'll let it grow. But I can't Elmet or Elmet. Algae. The big long flower bed, and then there's a short one in the middle. With the big long one, you got nice flowers, bushes nice flower bushes. And in the middle,
you got this ugly beat up stump. Supposed to be done. So I, you know, I figured, well, before I start it up and cut it, it's like, okay. Or is that something that our new park slash mowing maintenance person should be handling to tear that sucker up. I thought they were gonna try and dig it out a couple years ago, but I think it just turns out so we just cut. Yeah. It just cuts everything I get right here. And then so I took pictures Yeah. From several angles. And Yeah. It's like to be removed. Yeah. So that is the biggest pain in the butt there in Elm.
Otherwise, me and Malang went in there, and we, hauled out seven bags of thistles and various other weeds and got got at least where you can see the bushes and everything. The grass part, no problems at that. They mowed nice. Bench is good. Everything is just the flower beds themselves, were out of hand. But we're gonna go there, like, next Sunday too and look at the the progress and that. So yeah. Hopefully, what our new maintenance person is doing, but, part of it. I didn't go at all this year because my car is super bad.
I can't do it. Bothers you, so you always get there before I did. Yeah. You know, I got I was surprised. This year. So I don't know if he needs the pictures or not, but I may print them off. And if you want, even some of them, you can. But it's like, yeah, it it's gotta go. But I just wanted to make sure there wouldn't be tearing up something that's supposed to be there. So but, Elm is in good shape. It's, nicely taken care of otherwise than that, and it's pretty good. So that's all I have. Alright, Tim. I have walnut. There's some graffiti on the backside of one of the park signs.
For the entrance into the park, there's three sidewalks through the houses that come in. I think it's the South 1 sign. It has some graffiti on the back of it. It doesn't look like there was any, like, bad words or anything like that, but it's been graffitied. So, and then last month, we actually lost a piece of equipment. There's a big I don't know if anybody's been out to Walnut. There's a kind of a big blue plane that's on Springs. Mhmm. And I was out of town when it happened, but at one point, it broke.
It separated from the Springs, so we saw it after. It was just sitting next to the Springs, and I'm assuming maintenance came and collected it because the plane wasn't there anymore after a few days. So we just have two big springs sticking out of the ground right there. And it's already a park that doesn't have a lot of equipment, so we just have the jungle gym now and then the swings is all we really have. And it it's a good sized park, especially the open area. So I don't know if we replace it or put,
new equipment in, But it it needs a little bit more something because we were already lacking a little bit. Now another one's gone. Are the springs a safety issue? Like, are they rough? I checked them out. I would remove them. I I mean, yeah, someone could definitely get hurt. I can definitely see kids seeing them and wanting to play with them a little bit, so they definitely should be removed. I don't know if they can be reused for another piece of equipment or not, but as they sit right now, they should probably be removed. Typically not. Yeah. Whether it's a smudtspringy thing, you have to take it out,
put it in there. They're definitely in the ground. That's for sure. Yeah. Otherwise, any, on the Northeast Corner. I think you brought this up too, Lyle, where it kinda grows up right there. Next door neighbor, to me, has been mowing all that down consistently Yeah. Because it looks like, maintenance doesn't mow it down. So he's been taking it upon himself to mow it all down. I don't know if it's weeds or not. It's hard to tell what kind of plant it is, but he doesn't let it get much higher than that now. So, that's being taken care of. Otherwise, trees look good. The grass looks good. It's being mowed consistently.
I do have to get with my mower where my backyard meets the park, I do have to mow a little bit into the park because they kinda swoop up to the trees and then just kinda keep going. So I have to go in and mow most of it down with my mower. Otherwise, everything else looks good. It's just that, graffiti and then our broken equipment that isn't there anymore. And then the springs maybe as a safety issue as well. Or is there any what does the part where I have a desire just replace that, or what would you like to see there in its place without making a whole
big production? Yeah. Bring in the, you know, the consultants and everything. I'd say replace it because kids like the bouncy spring. Yeah. They really do, especially the kids. You could fit two kids in it at so you could have two kids. I don't know if it was just where or someone was mistreating it. When I had the park, that's they were actually had their kids on there when I was talking to them about what they wanted to see. So I know they would get used. Oh, yeah. So if they could find a similar light product to put back in there would really I know my two year old was very upset when Yeah.
The plane left. So I think if we have something, you know, just like that, I think that'd be fine. Yep. I don't think we have to go big with anything. You probably wanna put Wallnet Tree back on your list of things to work on because we did as we went through all the parks, we did go through Wallnet, and it was decided to leave that green space as a play area because a lot of kids did kickball and stuff. Mhmm. But maybe that needs to be reassessed. I know my daughter uses that green area quite a bit. Her and her friends, practice softball. Yeah. So they yep. So they play a lot of catch. They actually hit balls out there. Any more equipment in.
So I don't I think we'd leave the green space, unless That was what I got told back when I asked them about it. Mhmm. They they liked it for that use, and, but I definitely think in the interim, put some more bouncy things in there for Yeah. There's still quite a bit of space in the other because it's a figure eight with the walkways there, and the walkways get used a lot. There's people constantly walking in through this park. But I think there's still plenty of room on the other side of the figure eight Correct. Where the park where the park equipment is that you could probably add a few
more things and not have to worry about taking up any of the green space in the other half of the figure eight. Yeah. Well, we talked about things you could do as you walk along the park too. Oh, yeah. It looked like there might have been something on the other empty part of the figure eight. I don't know. It might have been a water fountain because there's bricks there. Yeah. There was. Was it a water fountain? Or It was. Okay. So the amount of one that didn't work anymore. Okay. And I got I had quite a few people come up to me and call me and stop by, and it's, like, it's it's not gonna work. It was unsanitary,
so we had moved it over. Okay. So, yeah, there was one at one time. But but yeah. Amber? Whistle stop was still there. That's there's nothing going on there. I'm sure, grass is trying to grow. I mean, the yeah. That's just the same. There was nothing there that needed to be done that I've seen except for it's a broken oh, I forgot to look at the benches if they put them back. Because didn't they take one out of there? They fixed the one. Oh, they did fix it. Okay. I forgot to look at that now that I think about it. So we did ask them to put drain spouts all along that shelter of the train. Because when we did Farmer's market and it rained,
it just poured right on top of everything. Oh. So the whole on. Yeah. I think he's gonna he liked that idea. It was a really good idea to put a gather up there. So I think they're gonna do that, but I think this off season, we'll say. I don't think they can do it right now, but they are gonna do that. Okay. I forgot. I'm sorry. So you have Woodbridge. Right? Yeah. Okay. So the bench where it's I think it's a white and green bench. It's plastic. It faces the hill where it sits by the rocks where the rocks and the water come down. My husband sat on it and one of the things fell off the bottom.
It's cracked under. I put it back up in there but it is cracked under. So we might need to look at the crack is there. Bench facing on the hill. Yeah. Yeah. You wouldn't have noticed it because I tried to fix it, but it is cracked underneath there. It was their report exactly. Moment. Alright. Council liaison report. I don't really have much, but there are two, I don't know, open houses studies coming up. So there's one tomorrow, but for the community center, the input meeting right at the school, and that's at 05:30. And then there's a railroad study that they're doing at the whistle stop at on
fourteenth. Did I have my days right, Pam? Yes. Yeah. And so tomorrow I'm not sure if Angela sent you in she probably sent you an invite for tomorrow, I would say. So if you're available to come to round two of that Mhmm. There's been a little progress made on the architectural end. Start to see a little bit more of what the layout is potentially gonna look like, we'll say, because we don't know anything at this point. So just, yeah, the next step in the process and then hopefully October would probably be the next go around. By that point,
they should have a good conceptual idea of what the facility will resemble. And, yes, the rail needs study is on the fourteenth next Monday from five to seven I believe it is over the depot just more of an information gathering right now there so what the metro the rail needs study is looking at the going all the way across the entire area here and this train at grade crossing right behind us here on Main Street that would be BNSF's number
one priority to get shut down and you know with that would be a Fourteenth Street overpass and all of that so they're just soliciting input as they put together this out of the study will come various recommendations and the like it's a multi pronged process to get a multimillion dollar project underway, you know, when we're gonna talk about doing actual overpass there, and this would be the first step in that. The next one would be actually getting some,
environmental and predesigned work and the like. But, I mean, we're still several years out, but at least we're, you know, at the starting line of a marathon. Closing 30 Fourth Street starting Monday is gonna make people really anxious about getting another Well, we really will. Yeah. Because we're all gonna try that railroad crossing, and they're not gonna like that. Yeah. It's good. Good luck with that. Later. Okay. I had one other thing, mister Trudeau Yes. If you don't mind. Yep. I was at the local days meeting the other day, and they wanted me to ask about the scavenger hunt.
I think last year, Jerica ended up doing just some I think we did, like, a jumble letter thing where we put it under various pieces of equipment. The year before that, we've done, like, a little trivia with each of the parts, you know, like how many swings are here or whatever, and they had to go park to park to do that. And just trying to get some clear vision if we just wanna do what was done last year. Granted, Jerrica hasn't agreed to do the lettering, but that seemed like a it it was actually a little better system,
I felt, as far as making kids go out to the parks, you know, because they could steal answers about the other ones. They just come turn in their sheets. So that well, that seemed to work well last year. Got people going park to park there. I like the idea. Yep. I think I see someone on the ad. The flyer is doing find the locomotive. Yeah. That's That's kinda what the park board had originally said. Yes. There's, yeah, there's two different or there's two different contests. I didn't I don't fully understand the other one. I'll just be honest with you. I've seen all these meetings,
and I'm the only one that doesn't get it. So it's not that they're doing anything wrong. It's just I'm not. I just understand what I always try to visually. I just don't understand what you're talking about, but I understand this. I understand putting the letter l underneath a swing. You know? I I can wrap my head around that. It's about the capacity I'm dealing with here. So are we doing that again? Is is that what you're saying? Presumably. Yeah. You know? Asking. Part of our school with doing that, I guess. Yeah. It must be. But so we'll have to just come up with a letter or a word.
I'm sorry. And we have to unscramble to make a word. Supercalifragilistice. Oh, my god. Oh, put all the parts in Fargo Moorhead. We don't have that many parks. Alright. Okay. With that, we will be adjourned until September 10. See, this is so far away. Yeah.