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all right welcome everyone I'll call the meeting to order on this day of February 10th 2025 this is the city of New all Park and wreck commission meeting welcome everyone why don't we start with uh Welcome to our guests who are here uh with us tonight why don't we start with introductions um Cheryl let's start with
you this time Cheryl Corman staff Jim Jensen uh Kurt Johnson Amy Johnson Carissa bugler Jeff Golden and Joey shle staff all right welcome everyone all right let's move on to your agenda uh agenda item number 3.1 approval of the agenda for today looking for a motion to approve or a request to re um amend so moved second we have a motion and a second to approve the agenda
as presented all those in favor please say I I I oppose same sign motion has carried to approve the agenda now we have the approval of the minutes they were not in our packet today there was just a technical error that led to that so they are presented I'll give everyone just a minute to take a brief preview of the minutes
and Commissioners just a quick update on that they they were in your packet depending what browser you were in we were just having issues with was Google Chrome for some reason not showing them but if you were on edge or Firefox they showed so we'll try to get that figured out before next month maybe I'm the only one that didn't see them okay I did not see them okay I'll make a motion to approve the agenda or the minutes excuse me the minutes
okay we have a motion do we have a second I'll second we have a motion and a second to approve the minutes from our January 13th 2025 meeting any further discussion all those in favor please say I I I oppose same sign motion has carried to approve the minutes moving on to the city council meeting recap you a recap was included
in your packet thank you chair bugler Commissioners uh just uh pretty quiet uh based on our uh schedules of City Council meetings and our meetings so the only update I have is from the January 21st meeting uh the service agreement with front burner Sports was approved by the city council with which you approved in January as well uh I will t i touch on a few more updates uh that have happened since uh with a kickoff meeting in our staff report related to that and then there was no Park and wreck related business at the
February 4th council meeting any questions related to the city council meeting recap if not I will look for a motion to receive an order file the city council pass to action report I'll move that motion I'll second it we have a motion and a second any further discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion has carried to receive and file
the city council pass action report we do not have any old business so we'll move into new business agenda item 7.1 the new AL Baseball Association History Center concept um director sualin over to you and we do have some guests who may want to address us as well tonight thank you cheer bugler Commissioners uh as you may recall uh last April during a work session the New Alm baseball association first presented the idea of a History Center uh at that park and
rec commission work session at Johnson Park um since that work session the the new all baseball association has worked on putting together a concept and some images with that and some plans um and also investigated desired locations and and um uh which is on the hillside of the third base bleachers with access off of German Street uh so now the new baseball association is looking to take the next steps with that process and and looking to privately fund raise for
uh that facility within the Johnson park facility I do want to point your attention to um the the images here here are two images of what this could look like I I want to say that the the baseball association did have some early um feedback from the city uh when we first heard third Baseline we were concerned about sight lines with the grand stands over here is that going to block left field the block
the scoreboard block some a play the new AL Baseball Association has taken that into account and with this design accurately um solve that issue um one other thing if uh if this continues to move forward and uh fundraising efforts are successful the city and the new AL Baseball Association then would have an agreement in
place for operation and maintenance so the goal is for the city not to have any cost associated with this facility this is a a facility that with intent of the new AL Baseball Association operating and maintaining um throughout its life uh there um so we would look to put an agreement in place in writing that would come to this commission if we got to that place just a Clarity around what you just said is when you say end of life is it through the depreciation of the
building or long term or is it a 20-year contract yeah so I great question cheer bugler so that you know end of life maybe wasn't the great phrase that way a building can last far long throughout an agreement timeline and and we'd probably look at revisiting that agreement more frequently than you know a 20e cycle just to make sure it's it's it's good for the city as well you know and there was an some unexpected cost that we didn't
see within that agreement sure questions so just in general terms the uh the baseball association own the building and we would just give them this round to put it on yep another good question commissioner Jensen um so the the facility would be owned by the city since it would be on city property you know any we have um with but it would be privately fundraised and privately um all costs associated with construction
and operation maintenance would then fall on the new AL Baseball Association good question and and the reason we do that is someday if the new AL Baseball Association would fold and um hopefully the city doesn't fold at the same time I wouldn't expect that but um the city would have to take on you know then on their property or would have to have it removed or you know City would probably have
a little insurance cost though huh and and that's one thing we'd look at the agreement if if uh yes it would affect our insurance because it's another facility on our property but we could ask the association to add it on their insurance as well all right I see we have a guest Mr skillings I don't know if you'd like to address the group or anything you'd like to share in addition to what director shugal has shared with us okay come forward
thank you director shugal welcome Commissioners thank you for having me one thing I would like to bring up is is there you know there's talk about operating the facility and I I'll just let you know that new home baseball association is probably one of the best organizations in town for volunteers and you know we host
several tournaments each summer and we've been in business since 1939 and and have run by volunteers that whole time so this this would be a new element for us but I think a very exciting element in terms of new home baseball and the new home baseball association and I don't think we'd have a lot of trouble in in operating the facility and and doing
that for many years any questions of Mr skillings yeah skills can get to the ballpark or the stands from this drawing or from this from these buildings yes so from the third base bleachers there would be a ramp that that um that would be what is the
term ad ACA adaa ada8 compliant so from the ballpark you could get to the to the deck will that be locked routinely or how do that work I don't know you mean the building no no no that ramp I mean to get back and forth uh not during a ball game I don't think no no no yeah okay because we so the you know the viewing deck that's on the on the ball ball Diamond side uh that that would be used uh for
for ball games um for for the fans that the official entrance of of the History Center would be from German Street yeah I understand that I was just suggest wondering if somebody at the ball ballpark could get into the construction here your your Museum or whatever from the ballpark you mean when it's being constructed or after it's finished oh after it's finished yeah definitely yep we would we would want fans to be
able to access that building uh when when ball games are going on just a question ahead thank you Bob would that be open year around or just during baseball season so the reason we we wanted on the third base side and we want the entrance on German street is so that it we we could have it open year round and we wouldn't have to open up the ballpark uh in the off seon uh to be able to get access to the facility
so so there'd be a separate entrance from German Street well and then that that ramp would be locked in on the ball in the on the ballpark side of course so we're we're at street level um with the entrance from German park or from German Street and so the access for for handicapped would would would be there yeah that's
a big project and uh you know and will'll be a really I think a great asset for no but you know getting you're operating a business really I mean is going to have not customers well customers too but people coming in and out and and I think it will enhance that whole area are you working hand in hand with the chamber at all about this or don't not really the chamber is a is aware of it uh but at this point uh we
haven't collaborated I think that would be a real good thing to you know when they're when they no for because no's all about baseball and as we said before you know and we we work we are a chamber member and we work with the chamber with with the tournaments that we host and so at one point we were trying to get the uh State High School uh Class A baseball tournament and the Chamber uh was very involved in that process with
us MH and this is I think I asked this question one of the but this is not uh this is the city but you you'll kind of welcome the county if I all of Brown County for memorabilia and things like that is that true or did I miss well I I think so yeah uh right now the Brown County Historical Society has a great uh baseball history of Brown County on the on access on their website there's a lot of detail there and and
and they had an exhibition at at one time it was actually right around the time we were going to host the state tournament it was prior to that I think maybe 2019 is when when uh the Historical Society had an exhibition in the museum and uh it it was excellent and so they they they've put that online that that anyone can access now and and you go there and look and you see uh some of the history that that's what we
want to we want to part of this facility is is to show that history and not and and to keep it fresh as well there's so many stories uh there's a lot of a lot of good history not just new home but the area as far as baseball goes and so our goal would to keep it fresh will there be a um a charge for the general public to get in when there's not a game in the F just in telling you want to go through or is there no charge at all well I we
we haven't gotten to that that level of detail at this point uh my thought would be that there would not be a a uh charge um I you know if you charge them a buck or two bucks or five bucks I'm not sure how much money you really do collect and and that so with our with our ball games the Brewer baseball games we used to charge $3 and we we noticed that fans would come in the fifth inning when we
weren't charging anymore and and we thought you know hey interesting if three if $3 is a okay you know if if that prevents people from coming so we've dropped our admission cost and I think I think that would be the case with the History Center as well I'm sure you'll do a comprehensive business plan and lay all that out you know I mean because that's very important that you do that I'm sure you will yeah well I think it's
exciting it be a nice addition thank you so so if if the commission would you know approve the concept at this stage we we've made progress since last April as you can see with the designs Etc um and and so we need to take that next step uh for fundraising and so having having the the approval of the park and rec
commission I think would be important any further questions okay thank you Bob very much for the volunteer hours that you also put into this and for kind of fulfilling a dream of the newal baseball association so appreciate that all right any further discussion or questions I think we heard the concept the purpose of the space um potential timeline so what
we are being asked today is again just approving the concept to just carry on the conversation with the city of New Alm and New Alm baseball um just to continue to move forward with uh planning to so that we can get to probably a final decision on what the partnership may look like going forward so there's no further questions or discussion I would be looking for a motion to approve the concept of having a History Center
facility at Johnson Park I'd offer a motion to approve the concept and you know take the necessary steps to make sure everything's done right okay I'd second that we have a motion and a second do we have any further discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I approve same sign opposed same sign I mean motion has carried okay thank you Bob for coming tonight we appreciate it
all right moving on to agenda item 7.2 the Prairie Lakes arts and cultural heritage Grant request thank you cheer bugler Commissioners uh this is a request to for staff to apply for the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council art and cultural heritage grant for specializes in arts and music festivals uh and we're looking to um we're looking to request $6,000 if if allowed uh and that money would go towards the
summer concert series uh reminder summer concert series used to be Monday nights last year was the first year in 24 that we moved those to Thursday nights in German park at the amphitheater um in addition to um funding that uh with our partner KJ funding um bands it would also go to promotional materials uh along with other free activities that go on throughout that those Thursday
night concerts is that enough money so commissioner Johnson our our concert series we've been really fortunate over the years it's a free concert series to fans but our bands have been really generous and have have played for free and even with this grant award some of those bands would still play for free because they want to give back to New Alm like the exposure and just a free night there um but it's getting also harder and harder to find a
variety a new variet y so some of this money would go towards that um these grants aren't designed to be large Grant amounts so we we kind of looked at that 6,000 which which would break up uh you know at least cover costs for musicians traveling but then also be able to fund some of our free activities that we offer in the park at the same time as well Puppet Wagon is a is a there uh weekly as long as well as wreck on the go well I think it's a great idea it's really it's really outstanding uh and I want to
make sure you can say for that's a big deal yes and and uh along with KJ and the City of New Al we've been committed to this I I don't have the exact number of years but we're we're going on I think close to 40 years of this free concert series in New Alm wow how did the change in days affect if had any affect the uh concert attendance you great question so it it um we heard really really positive things Mondays we what we continued to hear Mondays is
Mondays is a a busy night where there's a lot of activities going on and um you know it's a start of a week and sometimes a 7 o' Monday Night concert is just tough for um families and stuff and anyone to get to go down there so trying to move it into Thursday create more of an event maybe start a long weekend with a with a summer concert we didn't see a drop in attendance usually what fluctuates attendance is who the band is you know frankly or the weather the
weather wether is always a huge one um it's been pretty hot at times you know and in the last years and um or if we get rain and and move indoors um that really affects attendance or the N mosquitoes or the or the bugs yes yes well I think it's a great deal too I mean you see people down there we've been down there and enjoyed it and it's nice Gathering you know it makes it kind of homey feeling and fun to see some of these bands maybe you haven't seen for a while or a younger group that's want to
be showcased a little bit I think it serves a lot of purposes plus gives you know makes new Al a little more interesting good deal any further questions otherwise we're looking for a motion to authorize the staff to submit a Grant application at the Prairie LX Regional Arts Council for the summer concert series I'd make that motion i' second we have a motion and a second any further discussion hear none all those in
favor please say I I oppose same sign motion has carried moving on to agenda item 7.3 the lccmr grant request for the pollinator Park thank you chair bugler Commissioners uh this is another Grant request um through the lccmr which stands for legislative citizens Commission on Minnesota resources and this is state state funded um directed money and we the goal of the
the money is to conserve preserve or enhance Minnesota's air water land Fish Wildlife and other natural resources and um so we've been working on in 2024 uh myself and isg and our our pollinator volunteers worked on a concept for expansion of of the pollinator park right now the pollinator Park sits on 2.64 Acres of kind of the focus
developed area uh there are 22 Parcels that the city owns directly abing that 2.64 Acres um that are 20 acre Parcels that we'd be looking to uh develop if this this grant area would be awarded or this grant money would be awarded and I did include the concept of what that would look like potentially in in the packet let me minimize this so if you see
now this this is the current pollinator area but these two Parcels are are 20 20 make up 20 acres of already City owned land the city actually owns much more land on the other side of the bike trail here but that that's in the flood plane so we're we're looking to focus on that 20 acres there and some of the ideas with this concept now it's just a concept at this point were um provided in some IM Imes
in your packet and really our goal is to get um some nature-based play down there uh when you think of the pollinator Park it's it's a fantastic um area for preserving our natural resources having native teaching the community about native plants and and pollinators and our volunteers do so much hard work down there and put in so many hours to to do that uh but we're missing kind of a a con a further connection where we
can maybe get youth more involved by providing nature play so there's some some concepts of potentially what nature play looks like on the on the the other part of that is uh with Chik Estates right there it would be a great connection with that neighborhood uh right across the street and providing uh you know more Park amenity type amenities for that for that neighborhood uh right there um so again these are Concepts if if awarded it doesn't mean it would look like this
but uh money's out there this project in my opinion would score very well it it all depends there's there's 103 million dollar to that the state has to give away so our ask is for 246,000 it it will be one of the smaller asss I think that a lot of communities put forward um so um and the application is due March 19th and then if awarded this is for projects to start after July one
of 2026 so then we'd have time for that more specific design and looking back at the concept adding some other features like a picnic shelter um Native Prairie development and and also clearing out some of the invasives in the area as well and have have a a fresh restart in some of the areas what does the application do for the initial March 19th okay and director shugal of the of
the about 250 000 budget what would that potentially fund is it just kind of that one area that we saw or would that do a picnic shelter and others great question so I'm going to point it out here and then I'll talk in the mic so section A here MH A and B and and C would be the phase one Focus okay of the areas so that that would include um that nature-based play area potentially uh a picnic shelter area you know in that kind
of where be is and then more Trail development there are Trails down there but further Trail development and then continuing with the huge piece of education so having that educational signage and um you know we have a goal of telling the story of the monarch butterfly and its life cycle within that within um that that area or throughout the Park area um which could be a really
unique unque feature and and do some sculptures and some really cool things to to make this both a neighborhood serving Park but make this also a a community and Regional attraction guessing maintaining this would add on to our staff to maintain the area and and that's a great question as well so our our staff in in this area is already doing things in this area because the bike trail runs through here we're doing some some of the trail um mowings our volunteers are putting in
countless hours of this and yes adding things and enhancements like this would for sure add to our maintenance um of the area but we are down there already um and on the trail Corridor for our newer Commissioners a couple years ago we did um an assessment of the community and we looked at different neighborhoods and we looked at where all the parks were located within the community and there were a couple of areas that we felt like um we didn't have as much opportunity for the
families or children or individuals who live in that area to have a park or a Gathering Place that the city would offer like a park and so the pollinator Park was born and and it's been around for some time but um this wasn't exactly the area but this was one of the areas that scored really highly given the number of um families who might be living in this area especially children who have a lot to gain from a space
like this and that area of the community has seen some growth as well so it would definitely be a an asset to that that part of our community as well additionally one of the one of the great things about this funding as well so many times there's matching requirements of 5050 this does not have a match requirement so this would be um all state funded any additional questions there's no addition questions I'd
be looking for a motion to authorize the staff to submit a Grant application to the legislative citizen Commission on Minnesota resources that would fund enhancements to our pollinator Park I'd make that motion this is a really great thing I've been we've been to the pollinator Park it's really outstanding good use of this property too I'd second that we have a strong motion and second for this any further discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I oppos
St sign motion has carried our best of luck to you as you and your team write this grant thanks director shugal all right moving on to agenda item 7.4 um acceptance of our donations yes thank you cheer bugler Commissioners uh a couple donations this month both from the Isaac Walton League the first one is for the Riverside educa environmental Learning Center uh $2,000 towards programming and General supplies for
that facility and then $5,000 for the S Valley Gun Club trap range and and those that those dollars would go towards a potential new building um as as the city and the Su Val uh gun club uh are working towards um looking for funding sources for that a new facility out at the Trap range so $7,000 total so thank you to the Isaac Walton League for their generous support
AB absolutely any questions if no questions looking for a motion to recommend to the city council offer a resolution and wave the reading to accept those donations that were just presented um to the city of New Al through the park and wreck so moved we have a motion and a second any further discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion has carried moving on to agenda item number eight reports
from Commissioners and staff we'll start with commissioner reports do we have any reports from the Commissioners tonight hearing none we will move on to agenda item 8.2 Department activity report Dr shugall yes thank you cheer bugler Commissioners a few things to point out uh from the month of January so with the um mild winter in terms of
less snow and not so much in cold um our staff was really able to continue to hit our ashree inventory and and remove um both remove stumps from ash trees that have been removed previously but also hit new ash trees in in our Parks um we also have uh that I touched on last month in RFP that will um be awarded soon that will go towards more Ash rep or removals in our Parks uh they also staff is maintenance staff was also repainting Park signs so if you're around and see our Park signs
they look really good as well as many of our historical signs in our Parks uh so they they were able to get refreshed assistant director Corman put together another graph this month to show you the meals at uh the community center um that Orange Line in um on the activity report there on that graph shows the amount of meals that went outside the community um and also the amount of meals monthly that that program serves and then
one other thing I wanted to point out is you'll look at the the rec center memberships uh that uh as assistant director Corman indicated it's a deceiving number with uh snowbirds and the change over from a lot of our um supplemental insurances at the first of the year until they come in for the first time are renewed aren't showed accurately in our in our numbers there so that those will come back up um as either snowboards return to the community
or others come in and we get to renew their insurance any questions regarding the activity report the meals get are being provided on by the community say are they coming in Frozen and then reheated has it changed a little bit that is a new change uh that uh Lutheran Social Services has closed a number of kitchens around the state and now operates less kitchens and then those kitchens provide
frozen meals to communities and we're one of the communities now that get frozen meals is that back are we doing that down here now again or not that that that's what's happening right now so the frozen meals and and they use our kit kitchen for storage for that we have the walk-in freezers um we have a we have a great kitchen for that um they chose to use a man kitchen versus versus ours um but still providing that service
to the community however um as you can see in the meals um that were provided in January any further questions hear none look for a motion to accept and file the park and wreck activity report for January of 2025 do we have a motion so moved we have a motion and a second any further discussion hearing none all those
in favor please please say I I oppose same sign motion has carried moving on to agenda item 8.3 the staff report director shle again yes chair bugler Commissioners uh wanted to give a few updates um the Civic Center sees a lot of tournaments throughout the year but right now it's Rec Center at the recreation center we're seeing large tournaments so uh the just within the past few weeks the rec center hosted a large gymnastics meet had the
first weekend of new Al basketball association's two-day uh boys tournament and next weekend we'll see the girls tournament um so our facility is a desired use for for that Association and and sets up really well for um what they're trying to get out of it it was a busy weekend and we anticipate another one on Saturday uh for the girls tournament our park and wreck Master Plan update so RFP closes on Friday of this week uh there's been interest from consult ANS I've received a lot of
phone calls and had some short meetings just to clarify some things in the RFP for Consultants so I do suspect that we will have um we be well represented with uh the proposals that are submitted and have options on on that uh I wanted to highlight at the end of February is National invasive species week and uh working with commun a community volunteer and and the city on putting out some information around invasive
species isues to to citizens in the community um not only about Parks but all for private property and and and really why it's important to try to control our invasives in our community so look for more information coming on that for that week and then I I did want to touch on a kickoff meeting with front burner Sports so uh as you recall Front Burner Sports is the uh consultant that we've retained um for naming rights and sponsorships with the city uh we had
a kickoff meeting last week uh went very well they're they're very excited to get started and get right now we're at the stage where we're Gathering more data in the community and we're providing them all this information so they can put together then proposals that they feel um match what what we have here so uh there will be far more information coming up um one thing I wanted to note on the service contract is on the on
the first page which which we approved last month and city council also approved so there were six facilities listed on our service contract and they are it was worded as the primary city assets to be evaluated so just uh looking at those one of them on there was Miller Park and um I do want to note that front burner Sports um will not be evaluating Miller Park for naming rights or sponsorships um this agreement is designed
to look at our whole system and we notated we notated six facilities Miller Park was on there to start um due to the advertising we already have down there and our agreement with new all baseball association um but no intent to look at changing Miller Park's name or anything like that so I just wanted to point that out um to all of you um overall though but uh so um we may have Consultants reaching out to to some of
you um if you know to gather information they're looking to get in touch with more community members and like I said I'll have more updates as we go throughout this process um it's a year and a half process but uh I suspect really in the next first three to six months is when we'll have more updates for all of you and then lastly I I wanted to um or first off any questions on that kickoff meeting with front burner okay lastly then I I did
want to highlight are the city recently celebrated employee mil stones for years of service uh and this included Park and re staff so I do want to take time to um celebrate our our department employees who had a milestone so for five years we had Kyle Keane who's a maintenance full-time maintenance worker Mike sanwick is also a full-time M maintenance worker and Jason Tom also who was a custodian all saw their five-year anniversary with us and then we also had Josh Alman and Patrick
bachan who are both skilled laborers who are part-time employees for us regular part-time employees who qualify for this and then at 10 years we have Rachel Sturm who's a fitness instructor and then 15 years we have Sarah cyer as a fitness instructor so appreciate all of them and the time they've put and committed to helping our department do what we do and that concludes the staff report hey excellent report any questions for
director shugal before we move on okay um we'll I'll look for then a motion to accept and file the department staff report don't move second we have a motion and a second any further discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion has carried agenda item number 9 date of our next meeting will be March 10th right here at 400 p.m. is there any further business hearing none
I will declare the meeting adjourned thank you everyone have a good night thank you