It went >> [clears throat] >> I'm honored to give me afternoon everyone. I welcome all of you to our regular November 10th, 2025 city of New Alm Park and Recck Commission meeting. Let's start with our roll call agenda
item two. We could do an introduction. Sher, we'll start with you this time. >> Carol Corman, staff. >> Jim Jensen, commissioner. Uh Kurt Johnson commissioner. >> Amy Johnson, commissioner. Carissa Bugler commissioner. >> Uh Dave Christian, city council.
>> Lenberg, commissioner. >> And Joey Schugle, staff. >> Okay, very thanks all for being here today. We'll move on to the agenda. Item number three, looking for approval of the agenda today. Looking for an approval or to amend approve the agenda for the regular park and recck meeting
for today, November 10th. >> So move as submitted. >> I'll 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. Moving on to agenda item number four, the approval of the minutes which are
included in your packet back on September 8th. Looking for um an approval or an amend. Approval. Is there a motion to approve or to amend? >> I would approve. >> I'll second it. >> Approve. Okay, we have a motion to
approve and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Motion has carried for the approval of the minutes. Moving on to agenda item number five, which is a city council meeting recap. There is a
link in your minutes with a few highlights. Director Schugle. >> Thank you, Chair Bugler. commissioners. Uh at the September 16th regular meeting, uh our city council accepted donations. At the October 7th regular meeting, there was approved surplus
items that included some fitness equipment from the recreation center. Uh on the October 21st regular meeting, there were no items park and recreated due to us not having an October meeting. Uh however, there was an October 21st work session uh with some discussion
with the city council on how they would like staff to proceed with the restoration of Herman Monument. So, I'm just going to give a little bit more recap on that since we see this on old business from time to time. Uh so what was presented to our city council was a
proposal from McDonald and Mack who are the architects who did the feasibility study um and the um and the building assessment as well in 2019 2019 for the assessment 2024 for the feasibility study. And what they are
proposing is some cost estimates some hard numbers. So, uh, when it comes time to ask for dollars from the state, whether it's legacy dollars, that, um, we actually have some costs associated with that versus just asking for an amount of money that we really don't
know what the total project would would cost. So, McDonald and Mack provided that. Um and what we were looking for at that work session was um some feedback on is this the right avenue that you want us to go or should we look at option B potentially which could be just
demolition of the monument and private fundraising a rebuild if that was a wish. So um but council uh was in favor of proceeding with that. that then did go to the November 4th meeting, regular meeting, uh for that professional
service contract to be worked up with a proposal uh with that proposal from McDonald and MAC. Uh that proposal then would come back to city staff within 8 weeks of being executed and then we'll have some numbers and the goal is in 2026 to get this in front of legislators
and hopefully have a bill um [clears throat] presented to our legislators to see if we can um get some legacy money. If it wouldn't happen in 2026, then we could continue to to go. But that that's our update right now with Herman Monument.
Will Herman remain standing until that time? >> We hope so. We do have it inspected every year. Structural engineer inspects uh Herman Monument. It has other than the interpretive center, there has been no issues with climbing to uh the top and viewing the Minnesota River Valley.
So, we hope that you know if the project if and when the project happens that we can keep it open until that point. >> Okay. Any further questions on Herman or other updates from city council recap? Okay. Hearing none. Um look for a motion
to receive and order the city council past action report. Do >> a 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. Moving on to agenda item number
six under old business, the park and wreck comprehensive master plan update. Director Schugall. >> Yes, Chair Bugler and commissioners. Uh on October 3rd, our consultants ISG held a staff workshop uh with a visioning
activity and kind of a recap of where we're where we're at so far with the the master plan. So I do want to walk through um some slides that are in front of you here and and give you the an update and then talk about our visioning um exercise that went went on. So uh at
any time as I'm going through this, if you have questions, please ask. Um so first purpose of our master plan is a 15-year vision as we've talked about before for our parks and rec system and how it's going to meet our community needs going forward. [snorts] and going through our planning
process. This is kind of how work with our consultants has has has gone. So to establish uh that vision and evaluate our current system, engage our community um and then initiate some of that that vision and plan and prioritize and then
identify on how we're going to get there over that 15 years. This is our the schedule that was provided. And if you can see on the schedule, we're we're sitting in November, which is where we're at with our 50% plan draft. So sometime this
month, we expect to have 50% of that plan draft provided to us, which I would hope to share with you at our December meeting on here. Then it talks about next steps going forward that there's a public open house in December. That hasn't been scheduled yet, but as long as that stays on schedule, I would
expect having some communication um for hopefully engaging the public in December for a public open house. A lot of that would be with that 50% plan draft and then an opportunity to provide feedback on not only that, but um that kind of envision phase phase as well.
So, as part of the master plan, uh, our consultants have used our prior documents. Um, you know, a couple of the the closest relatable ones were the comprehensive plan and the strategic plan that both happened in 2024. So, working with those closely um, but then
also providing some of our what we felt were per pertinent plans, whether it's the housing study or the Minnesota River Regional Parkway master plan that uh, can be updated as part of this master plan as well. Next on here is is some of the community
demographics. So this this slide is showing Brown County's population in New Alm. So although Brown County is slightly declining, New Alm's population has been increasing over the years and continues to. And then kind of shows our population by
our age groups and where we're expected to go in the next few years. Here's our racial and ethnic data. And then our household income information as well and where we expect that to be within the next 5 years.
Education levels. So those demographics are are brought into the plan on on some of the recommendations that will come through it. Um so important information to gather and then what we looked at is recreational trends. So a lot of I was
excited working with ISGs thus far is a lot of master plans focus really heavy on parks and um but our department's more than parks as well. So really looking at um recreational trends as part of this. So when we have facility improvements, are we meeting
recreational trends with this? Are we offering the right programs, stuff like that. So um and some of the things that came from the survey is pickle ball is very prevalent still here and all over the place. Um interest in water
amenities um which uh we know and uh have worked to serve the community on that, but what does that look like over the next 15 years? And then growing demand for trails. So, as the city continues to expand, how do we continue to prioritize our current trails, but also connect um new areas with with our
current trail system as well? Here's those community engagement events thus far that uh we've we've talked about. Our consultants again were very happy with the feedback that was provided. Um so, we've had nice engagement thus far.
And here are some themes. Uh and this is a lot that came from the all of this came from the engagement. So maintenance and safety. So um our maintenance uh crew is is really tasked with a a big job. So it's not only when you think of
maintenance, you you think of our parks and wreck system. Almost I would say 25% to a third of the maintenance we do are on non city parkland properties. So there are areas within the city that are under um city control that we don't
necessarily have a department to handle. So that is whether it's snow plowing, maintaining, mowing grass, things like that. So that is um to give you some examples of that, that could be city-owned property that doesn't have a developer yet. Um, so we're mowing those
areas and maintaining those areas to the standard that um we expect our residents in the community on their private property to to um maintain as well. Um so just an example on that, but we maintenance scored very high which is
which is great. Our our maintenance crew works very hard. um we put resources into that, but uh we don't have an unlimited amount of people to do that. And what they're asked to do are they're hitting on um at least what our perception of our community is that uh
we have a safe um and clean park system. Uh expanded amenities. Residents desired for more restrooms, more fixed restroom, better trail connectivity, enhanced aquatics, and diverse recreational features. Um so um
good information there. Communication um is something that I'll show in a future slide. Uh access to river access. So that was a big thing in the comprehensive plan if you remember that arts and culture as part of our programming and maybe public art. Uh and
then uh continuing to emphasize community partnerships which are important. New Alm has a lot of uh community interest groups. uh very unique I I would say for the size of our community community with how many interest groups we have um and it I
think it [clears throat] makes new a special place to be involved in um so how we interact with those groups are very important as well. So here are some survey question responses. I think we've we've kind of seen this at least once before, but just
to reiterate this um asking how far you live uh from your nearest park, which is in our comprehensive plan. Um so we're hitting on a lot of that. Now, keep in mind some of the people that took the survey might have live might live out of town. Um but high representation that is
close to a/4 mile or a half mile um from your nearest city park. which local park do the community visit the most. So, if you look at that, is is there anything that surprises people on there? Um, you know, some of our community parks are on here, but um we
have a neighborhood park listed on here, which is unique. Uh some of the things that might be driving people to Lincoln Park would be pickle ball and and and the waiting pool, which which drives um I think more people than just the neighborhood there.
Uh, how often do family members use our parks and trails? Um, so really good response here and what they use it for. And then how often do they visit a city park in one year? So I see um pretty
high use uh for a number of days if you just think about yourself on how often you can get to a city park. So and then these are the top five results. uh for the for priorities within our master plan is to update existing
facilities, grow the trail system, uh expand access with Flandrew State Park, uh recreation, enhance recreation programming, and promote physical fitness and wellness as well. So, um >> question for you, Joey. >> Yeah. >> The update existing facilities, was it
just overall or did they have buildings mentioned? it it didn't list specific amenities to update, but it it talked about the the current infrastructure and you know to update that. Um, also on there it it did say um
there was a question about develop new areas as well, right? >> Uh so that is in the full survey results. So that does score that as well. These are just the top five. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> Three park amenities that would benefit the community.
So again, you're seeing some consistent things. You're seeing permanent restrooms, trail connectivity, uh aquatic facilities on there, community gathering areas was was number one. So if we think about the future, you know, we we do provide a lot of those, but maybe how are some ways uh to
further um enhance that in our system. Is that a is that a shelter? Is that just creating open space? you know, that that's that could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but as we make decisions and this commission makes decisions in the future, um thinking about how we're bringing community together with those
decisions. This one uh from the top down would be we scored highest if you if you look on satisfied and very satisfied is in the gray. Um but overall we scored either neutral or satisfied in kind of all of these. It looks like um marketing and
programming of programs and services is one that we um was identified maybe as um finding additional ways to get our information out to the community. Um but good feedback here. Here's parkw walk times map and then a
distance to the playground map. And then if as we jump into visioning um after we reviewed that or at the October 3rd workshop then we went into a visioning activity that we're going to talk about a vision statement going forward. Um so not only for a vision of the over a vision statement for this
plan but a department vision statement um for our staff and our community and our stakeholders to um understand [snorts] that that's our process and our goals and objectives uh for the future. And then uh this is just an update on
again on where we're at um with our schedule. We're in then envision well we're in the envision phase implement will be coming we're almost completed with the envision phase implementation will be our final phase and then our last part of that workshop was a recreation programming and
planning uh where we had um discussed different trends in in in recreation programming uh what we're currently offering um what we feel really good about and what are some challenges we're facing as part of programs and activities. activities and then some
trends and some things that affect programming that we don't always think about. You know, uh for one thing that was brought up is uh air quality. So, in the summers now, we have far more instances of air quality issues. So, as we're offering outdoor programming, how
can we have backup options if that air quality continues to be an issue with the wildfires? Uh, for instance, over the last few summers, of course, we we like to spend time outside in Minnesota and in New Alm. So, um, you know, weather impacts that heat.
Uh, technology and AI, how we can further implement that for the city and for our department specifically. Uh, we do a little bit of that now, but how how else can we plan for that going forward? This kind of breaks down our
demographics into a different area on um what people spend their recreation recreational dollars on. >> Joey, are those like national >> the these are >> some of these are national? Yes, it breaks down our our population here, but
then below our our national average of that, >> what you would typically see in a community of our size. >> Okay. >> How we're uh healthc care is very important in what we do and and how we can further enhance that in our community by offering quality um
opportunities for people not only for physical fitness but mental and um socialization as well. And then how the economy can impact on on what's what's happening. Um you know our families out there have do they have discretionary spending available for
them? Uh how are we serving our halves and have nots in our community as well. So a lot to uh go through there but uh any questions on that where we're at? I just wanted to give you an update as we are kind of reaching our 50% plan here.
Um, and have we'll hope to have some of that for you by next month as I stated earlier. >> It looks like well all well laid out and good a good plan to follow. So, it's going to be fun to see how it all comes together. >> Mhm. >> Any other comments or questions for
Director Schugall? >> Okay. If not, I'm looking for a motion to receive an order file the park and wreck master plan update. >> I'd offer that motion. >> I'd second it. >> I 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 seven under new business 7.1, the career expo fee request. There is a link um in your packet. Director Schugle, do you want to provide any additional context? >> Yes. Thank you, Chair Bugler.
Commissioners, this is now the third year in a row that you've you're seeing this request. Uh this is a request to have the fees waved for the both the north and south arenas at the civic center on this year on Wednesday, March 25th uh of 2026 for the career expo. Uh
and fees are set by city council. So in order to have a fee waved, it has to be presented to them. So the first this commission if interested in doing this would look for um seeking your approval um to recommend this to city council. But the career expo just a little
background is for 8th to and 10th graders. And it's not only for new almaria schools. It is also for area school districts. I think uh GFW comes down a number of high or middle school and high schools come down in their eighth grade classes and 10th grade classes. And uh years ago it used to be
at the civic center and then uh co kind of hit and then they paused and went to the high school and then realized that the high school couldn't quite give the vendors and the businesses um what they fully wanted to showcase what they do like the civic center can. So they asked are asking to come back. This would be
the third year of that. There is a letter um provided in your packet that describes the event um in a little more detail. Uh but just for instance, cost of uh an arena projected cost for 2026
is $83059 per arena. So you would be waving that cost in there in addition to the uh chair and table cost as well. >> Thanks, Director Shugo. I know this has been a request that we've considered over the years and I
think we just saw projections of our population in New but we need the county to be thriving as well and this is a great way to introduce opportunities that our community offers to our young people. Is there I'm looking for a motion to
recommend to the city council that we offer a resolution and wave the rental fee and all associated fees to hold the career expo at the civic center on Wednesday, March 25th. Do we have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. >> Call that. >> Sign. >> Cheryl, do you want a roll call? was a resolution. >> Sure. >> Sure. Will you call the roll call, please?
>> Chairman Bugler, >> yes. >> Amy Johnson, >> yes. >> Jim Jensen, >> yes. >> Bev Lunberg, >> yes. >> Dave Christian, >> yes. >> Kurt Johnson, >> yes. >> Okay. Motion is carried. All right. Moving on to agenda item 7.2
under park and recck donations. Director Schugall. >> Thank you, Chair Bugler. Commissioners, we do have a number of donations this month. So, I'll read them into the record. Uh Marsha Halverson and Ken Lamrech honoring Diana Lombre for $250 for the at the Pollinator Park. [snorts]
Elena Johnson honoring Michael and Carol Goblish for $200 with the German Park Paverstone. Kathy Calls honoring Roger, Maryanne, and Kathy Calls for $200 of German Park Paverstone. Again, a pollinator park donation. This is from
Marielleen Domare honoring Robert Butch Domeare for $250. The Riverside Environmental Learning Center, Mariellean Domeare honoring Robert Butch Domare for $100. A bench at German Park uh from Stacy Casper and Michelle Martin honoring
Connie Bezmer in the amount of $1,750. A memorial tree from Don Barstead honoring Doug Grahams for $181. That tree is located at North Park. a memorial tree at the Civic Center from Tim MCO under honoring Tom Maco for $290
and a memorial tree uh from Marge Miller honoring DJ Lepela for $236 at Lincoln Park and also an additional donation from Marge Miller honoring DJ Leppla for $92 and [snorts] for our general parks fund
a German park bench from the Lions Club uh which is located in the playground area for 300 $179. A Herman Run sponsorship that came in from Square Construction for $150. Uh New Baseball Association for $5,000
for Miller Backstop Project, Miller Park Backtop Project. And then a German Park PA stone from Lisa Bemer honoring Dr. Ashley Sweran for $200. So those are totaling $9,278. >> Wow. how generous of our community to
honor loved ones but also honor others and um support our park and wreck programming. All right, we are looking for a motion to recommend to the city council offer resolution and wave the reading to accept the following donations offered
by the city of New through the park and wreck for the identified purposes. Do we have a motion? >> I'd make that motion with great thanks. >> Second. We have a motion and a second. Cheryl, do you mind calling? >> Thank you.
>> Chairman Bugler, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Johnson, >> yes. >> Jim Jensen, >> yes. >> Bev Lunberg, >> yes. >> Dave Christian, >> yes. >> Kurt Johnson, >> yes. >> Motion has carried. Thanks, everyone. All right, moving on to agenda item 7.3,
the vision statement. So, Director Shug, you alluded a little bit to this in your um tell us about the proposal before us. >> Yes, Chair Bugler, commissioners. Yes, as so as we talked about this, this came from our October 3rd uh workshop. And one thing I should back up at that
workshop was park and recck staff. So it was myself, assistant director Corman, program supervisor Malloy, our aquatics and fitness coordinator Ben Doden, and then city engineer Joe Stoddheim, community development director, um Dave,
why am I showick? He's only been here forever. Sorry, Dave. And our city planner, John Nisley. Um so had a good representation at at that and along with our consultants at ISG. And as we went through our visioning of this plan, we went
even larger encompassing a a department vision statement as well. And there was an activity as part of that. And it really out of that activity, we had two different staff groups and it came with two vision statements out of that. So I'm going to read those. Uh so it's new alms park system is rooted in historic
and collaborative efforts fostering diverse and accessible facilities and activities to promote active and engaging community. And then the other one in keeping with Turner philosophy new parks and recreation is a vibrant and innovative system that focuses on community
collaboration while providing fun and accessess and accessibility to everyone. So that kind of took two um vision statements from two different groups and then what happened is we came back to staff and um and working with our
consultants and and and came up with one proposed vis vision statement not only for this master plan but for our department moving forward for the next 15 years. So that proposed vision statement now would [snorts] be New Alms Park and Recreation Department is rooted in historic and collaborative efforts
fostering a vibrant collaborative system that offers diverse accessible facilities and activities to promote an active and engaged community. So, our goal was kind of to um encompass that that uh that workshop day, that
visioning activity, but also have something that we feel really good about recognizing New Alm's historic uh nature and our park system historic um nature as well and then talk about how we move into the future with that vision
statement as well. So open to um critiques on that or uh u a modification or uh if we feel good about that that we'd be looking to adopt that uh as our department's vision statement. >> I think it's very well written and uh
kind of spells out what new all about and our values and so I would make a motion to accept it as presented. >> I second that because I think it also is well written. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Dr. Schugle, I noticed the word
collaborative was used twice and I'm assuming that that's because just uh that must have been very important to the group that collaboration is a foundation of having successful
you know that. So that was one of my observations. Not that it needs to change. My other is it's more of a statement than what we're going to be like in the future. And I found that, you know, interesting of but it's looking back and it is saying I
like diverse. I like accessible cuz I know that that has been important um as well and I like the word activities just being focused on that physical activity. So I like it as well. But those are just
a couple of my observations. Any other discussion, questions, or comments? All right, we have a motion and a second to adopt the proposed park and wreck vision statement as proposed. All those in favor, please say I.
>> I. >> I. >> Same sign. Motion has carried. Very nice work. All right, moving on to agenda item eight, reports from commissioner and staff. Agenda item 8.1 under staff report. Director Schugle.
>> Yes, Chair Bugler. Commissioners, uh busy fall thus far for our our staff. Uh so just wanted to take time to go over a few things um here. So our parks have been winterized for the season. Uh so if nice weather, please uh plan accordingly
when you're out at at the parks. But winterized means no more water. Uh bathrooms are closed for the season. uh North Park dugout project is ongoing. We're hoping to have uh some concrete footings po poured this week. Uh so that uh that project uh is still um on
schedule to be done yet in 2025 which is important because sometimes the first time on the fields in the spring is for a ball game versus a practice just depending on weather. Uh Miller Park back stop project we talked about a little bit uh under donations but that is underway. So phase one of that which
is some concrete work is done. Some metal framing will then be installed for the bottom of the back staff at Miller Park yet this fall and that should be completed. Lincoln Park playground work uh continues. So after you authorized the the new playground equipment in there,
we have repurposed some of that and taken some of the the smaller area or the tot area out and and reworked that area in front of the waiting pool at at Lincoln Park to just open space now. So, uh, if you're by Lincoln Park, you can take a look at that.
Uh, Washington Park Bathroom Shelter is, uh, still planned to get some new siding this year. So, Washington Park has seen a lot of improvements, uh, this year. So, again, a very highly utilized neighborhood park in our system. Uh, so should have some new siding this year and then would be painted in 2026.
Uh and then I I do want to take a moment so um our facility maintenance supervisor Ryan Wy uh uh took a new position uh in the private sector. So I do want to take a moment to thank him for his eight years of service. Um he did a fantastic job in um a lot of the
projects that happened within our department have Ryan's stamp on it. So he he brought great expertise in um the construction world and uh renew projects were were really um a heavy workload for him and he did a great job getting through that. So wanted to thank uh him
for his time with us. Uh that position is hasn't been posted yet. Uh kind of a timeline of not a for sure timeline when we post for that, but I anticipate us posting for that position or a very similar position in 2026.
Any questions on that report? >> On behalf of the commission, we extend our thanks to him as well. I know he's been here to give us updates on facilities and we've always appreciated his insight on that. All right. I will look for a motion to accept and file the
park and rec staff report. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion has carried. Moving on to agenda item 8.2 under department activity
report. Back to you, Director Shugall. >> I'm going to have to bring some more people here to talk to at our meetings. [laughter] Right. You guys are going to get sick of me. Oh, thank you, Chair Bugler. Commissioners, we have two activity reports in our packet this month. Uh due to not having a meeting in October, one thing I wanted
to highlight in in September is we had a really nice uh ribbon cutting for Washington Park Playground. Mayor Backer was able to come and uh students from New Axe were able to who the students who got to vote on which playground was put in there got to come participate in
that day. So that was a that was a fun day for both the students and the mayor and and us staff as well to celebrate that new playground which is still being heavily util utilized yet this fall. uh in October. Uh wanted to highlight that
there are some new um family skate and teen skate nights. Uh so if you're familiar with the civic center, Rock on Ice is is not a consistent program this year as as kind of changing on you know um the amount of participation in that
event has has declined over the years. So trying some new things on you know family centered and then also still trying to hit that teen night. So looking to have at least one of those special theme nights uh a month going through the the I would call it the skating season through March. Uh so the
first one happened um and went over well so far. Any questions on either September or October activity reports? >> Questions here? No questions. Looking for a motion to accept and file the park and wreck department activity report for
September and October 2025. >> So move >> second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Oppos? Same sign. Motion has carried.
The date of our next meeting will be Monday, December 8th at 400 pm. Is there any further business? hearing. None, we'll declare the meeting adjourned. Thanks everyone. >> Thank you.