Then the meeting to order. Uh Sarah, would you do us the pleasure of giving us the roll call, please? Absolutely. Laura Greenley Karp here. Sarah Zaraka here. Lloyd Grachek here. David Andren here. Ben Hansen is excused. Ingred
Kohler here. Rachel Lucas here. And Cassidy Schwear is excused. All right. Um can I have a motion to adopt the agenda? I make a motion. Second. Wonderful. Any
discussion? Uh, all those in favor? I All those opposed agenda adopted. Um, okay. And now let's have a motion to approve the minutes. I make a motion.
The minutes. I second. Wonderful. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. All those opposed. Okay. Minutes approved. meeting open to the public. We're no longer doing Zoom and we have no one here, so
we will cross that off our list. Great. Um, so our first commission business item is a budget update. Please enthral us with the budget. Uh, thank you, chair, vice chair. I and
commissioners, thank you very much for that. No, that's going to be tough to over overcome. But no, I I'm going to show some information and hopefully we can get into some dialogue and then there's kind of an assignment because we're started the the 2026 uh CIP
process and so I'll kind of walk through that part to it. Stop me at any time if you have any questions. Um want to make sure that I'm giving the information. If you need additional information from what's given tonight, please let me know or in a different format or whatever you
need. Um um first of all, I want to thank you all. Um obviously, you're volunteering your time um to this wonderful city and helping out with our park and wreck um you know uh needs in the city and and thank each and every one of you for for
giving time um to the city because it's very very valuable. Um tonight's agenda kind of going to look at quickly going to look at the park and recreation funding from an operating standpoint. just kind of explain a little bit about that. The capital and it'll give you kind of where you're at as far as dollar amounts in
your um uh park dedication fund. Um and then um the park fund itself uh kind of take a look at uh what was uh approved for the 2025 the 34 CIP. I'm going to take a look and it ties into we do a
10-year financial plan on all of our major funds. So, I'm going to show you what your park fund looks like and then um talk about the 2026 CIP process that's has started and then um my understanding is that there's uh kind of a desire for some items to be
potentially done this year in 2025 even though they haven't been approved. So, I'll kind of walk through um kind of what the process would be for that and then um if there's questions or discussion that um from that, but again, stop me at any point in time. Um from an
operational standpoint, basically all of the day-to-day um needs are funded um in the general fund, either in the parks budget, the recreation budget, and all of the facilities and the needs in the facilities are covered through the
building maintenance fund. Uh so none of that is coming out of a park fund um per se or the park dedication fund. So that's all covered underneath those. Um there's two primary capital funds
that uh parks has and that's the park dedication fund and that has a little bit of restriction onto it per uh Minnesota state statute and it's it must be used only for acquisition and development or improvement of parks, recreation facilities, playgrounds,
trails, wetlands or open space based um based on the approved park systems plan cash payments but not be used for ongoing oper operation or maintenance of parks, recreational facilities, playgrounds, trails, wetlands, or open space. Um, and then you have the park
capital fund. This is uh kind of a a snapshot of the balance sheet of the park dedication fund. As you can see, you've got a little over $456,000 in cash. Um, and there's no
additional liabilities or assets or anything associated with that. Um, and so you you basically have that in cash. Um, as of March 31st. Um, to date there's been revenue of $3,400. It's really um through
investments is where the revenue has come from. Okay. Um, so there hasn't been any park dedication fees that have been collected this year so far through March. So this is uh basically there's two components. There's a market value adjustment that needs to be done um and
then there's an investment income that um is done. So that's what amounts to that $3,400. Now right now when we look at um the the capital plan and and we look at where the funding sources are right now
we have nothing dedicated out of this park dedication fund. No. So we have nothing earmarked for from 25 to 2034 that's being funded through art dedication fund and I believe uh few years back um we did have it as an item
and uh thanks to Sarah um had uh she's got some historical information and that she shared um and so we switched that away from that. um doesn't mean that the park can't make a decision to use some of this fund funds in the future again
with the restriction from the Minnesota state statute that that I had just previously read. But right now, we don't we're not identifying anything coming out of out of that fund. And then the other fund um that is uh that you have and this is a revenue and expense report
off of our uh financial system um is the park dedication fund. And so from the revenue standpoint, you're going to see um this is for this year through March. Uh there's been a market value adjustment. Um year-to- date actual is a
little about $1,100. Investment income is just under $2,300. Again, there's been um no park dedication fees that have gone to this um fund, which there shouldn't be. Um and so there's been $3,400 in
revenues. Um there has been um no expenditures to date um coming out of the uh park uh fund uh or maybe no is that the revenue side to it? I'm not sure. Out of the park fund. I'm sorry.
There has been one expenditure. I'm sorry. Um matter of fact, I'm going to back up. The revenue expense report that I just showed you is just the park dedication fund. So that kind of shows you I'm sorry. Um, when I showed you the balance sheet, you see the revenue, the
3,400. This is the detail of that 3,400. So, my my mistake, apologize for that. Then we'll move over to the park fund itself. This is the balance sheet. Look, and then we'll look at the revenue and expense. Um, and so there's uh cash of
$763,000. Um, there's a fund balance of $729. the differences that you're seeing there are are are from the liability that there's, you know, accounts payable pending. In other words, there's bills that, you know, is in the process um of
being paid. There's a park deposit. Um again, rental income goes into here. There's two components. there's the actual revenue that you get from the rental, but before it's actually realized, um there's a park deposit that'll end up getting refunded if if
they've followed all the rules and regulations that are required for renting our um our property. Um and then there's the deferred revenue. And deferred revenue just means that it's been collected, but it hasn't been recognized at this point in time. So, it's not full revenue, but revenue to
date is 29 a little over $29,000 through March. And the composition um of that is park rental fees have been about $23,500. Again, there's a market value adjustment of about $1,800, investment
income of $3,300, donations of $55, park advertising of 300, and miscellaneous of 300 to make up that $29,000 in revenue. On the expenditure side, there's only been one expenditure for approximately
$4,600, and that was the last payment to HGA um for their study. Okay. So, are they paid up complete now? They're paid up complete. Correct. This is um the park fund um
2025 2034 CIP plan. As you can see, there was nothing that was identified and or approved for 2025. That's where we'll talk a little bit about um looking at some potential requests that that you've made and how we would go about
doing those. Um but um nothing has been approved um this year. So nothing's city council hasn't approved um the allocation of funds to to be expended. So um so be aware of that. And then you can see all of the different um
other items that have been identified and estimated costs um from 2026 through 2034. Um there are writeups on attached in the very back of the document for each and every one of these. Um, and that'll be a part of the request as we
move into preparing um, this CIP for 2026 to 2035 is to make sure that these are aligned to what your plan is. Um, if you have any updated costs, if there's something that's out, something that's,
you know, you're putting in, um, this is where it it it, you know, it'll end up showing um, for that. But we want to get your um approval and recommendation on what you want um to be um in the next
10-year plan um based upon you know you know all the studies that you've done and everything else. You have to um understand that um the city um doesn't have a lot of extra money to
just do some of these those bigger projects. especially when we look at some of those projects that HG had had talked about. So my recommendation would be to try to break those up as as possible. Um so kind of in a in a
overall kind of mechanism way of how things are done. It's very critical that we get this is as close to what you want as possible. And here's the reason for it because it's based upon this that I'll then show you the financial plan. I take this information, incorporate it
into the plan, look at what your cash balances are. Um, if there's any operating costs, which this this fund doesn't really have operating costs, and I project out what would need to be raised to be able to afford what you're
looking at. Um right now city council has three um components based upon this CIP and they're all pretty much infrastructural needs that we are actually levying separate dollars that are going into these various funds. One
being the street maintenance. Um if you drive around the the city, you see that our our streets need a lot of help. Um so there's a dedicated 3 and 12% um in 2025. It's my recommendation that they continue um doing that for a number
of years. Um and then there's uh a 2% that's going to our facilities. Um last year we um completed a facility assessment of all our facilities including parks facilities. Um that's incorporated into the CIP. And then
there's um and there's 2% for that. And then there's a 6% to be able to fund this park and recreation plan through um 2034. Obviously, when there's changes that are made to it and costs that are increased, you know, the first look
that'll do is what will that cost us to do? Can we cash flow it moving forward? There's always different options, but we'll we'll take a look at that. the city if um was fortunate enough this year we went out for a bonding um for uh
street uh street reconstruction project. Uh right now we're doing major bonding on street reconstructions on the odd years 257 and 9. Um and uh we um were fortunate enough to get a bond upgrade.
Um, so we have moved up from a double A to double A plus. There's only one more step to go. That's AAA. We will never get there. Uh, there's other factors that are there. To me, the biggest reason that we've got that upgrade um to be totally honest is because we since
I've been here, we um in the city manager and and with the support of city council have really pushed into planning, planning, planning, planning. Um it's these CIP plans. Before I came here, there wasn't a comprehensive capital improvement plan that was trying
to come in. Again, it's a living document. It's supposed to change over time. There were not 10-year financial plans. Um, we upped our finan or we upped our fund balance policies. Um, uh, we have a fantastic set of department
heads that are in the city. Very conscious, do a heck of a great job. All of those contributed to to us getting an upgrade to it. But with that what we have shared with the rating company S&P
um is that our intention of bonding was 25 27 and 29. So it's going to be very difficult if we're going to do additional bonding in those years um because part of that upgrade um is what they consider.
I shared something last Tuesday with our city council. Um, and I'd like to share it with this group, too. There there's since I've been here, there's been a lot of times where there's comparisons, whether it's the police department or something else, and and they'll compare us to the city of
Mounds View, and they'll say, "Well, why can Mounds View do that?" You know, they have a staffing level of this versus what we have in this city. Um, and so, you know, I said, "Yeah, we're about the same population. Um, size-wise, we're
not all that different composition of property. They have a little bit more commercial base than we we do. We're very heavy on our residential base in this city." So, but the biggest difference is is debt. So, I kind of did a little exercise with city council and I said,
"Okay, I pulled out the last published financial statement that Mounds View did." And so I got ours of the same year. It was the end of 2023. And there's two major categories that you kind of look at. Governmental, which includes your general fund, what you actually have to levy for. And then
there's business type or enterprise um things. And those are utilities. And so I said at the end of 2023, Mounds View in their governmental had an outstanding debt of $5 million. And so I said, what do you
think North St. Paul's at um I had one council member say zero um and the truth is is that we're I think it over 16 million um in our business side to our
enterprise our utilities um View was at about 5 million um we're at 20 um so you compare those two at the end of the year total debt they have is 10 million we had $36 million But if I just take a snapshot of just
what your debt and interest payment is per year, we were so much higher. We're and and what it translates to is at the end of the day because I've been trying to get city council to understand this and they do a very good job with this is
that's why we have a high property tax rate. That's why we have higher utility rates than you'll see in comparable cities around this area is because we're carrying too much debt. Part of our plan that we've been doing and part of the
the success of this financial plan in planning out 10 years is that and and by dedicating levy to the parks, the facilities, to the streets is I'm generating cash. Mhm. I want us to move
into more of a cash basis versus carrying this debt. And one of the rule of thumbs I'll just kind of throw out there is that if I go out and bond for a million dollars at a 5%, I'm going to be paying a principal and debt um pay in
interest and principal payment of approximately $80,000 for a 20-year term. At the end of 20 years, I paid $1.6 million for that $1 million. we need to do a better job of moving this to a cash and that's what that plan is. But what it means is that we can't
vary from that plan greatly and start to increase more and more debt and going out and bonding. So when we take a look at this plan and and you go and you pull in some of those HGA components to it, the question is could you could you could you afford to pay $8 million? The
answer is going to be no. You smaller amounts could you? I think we can figure out ways to be able to to do that. And that's kind of the challenge that we we'll end up having as we develop this um updating of the CIP. And then it's
going to come down to that. Okay, now we need to look at that. We need to really start to get into prioritizing. And it's not just prioritizing parks and wreck. It's prioritizing everything that's in that CIP to make sure that we can afford it. So that's kind of just kind of a
backdrop so you kind of get a bigger picture of kind of what the city is faced with and and what we're trying to do to put ourselves in a better position. And this is our financial plan. And I know it's very hard to hard to to look at. Um but you can see at the
at the it what this does is it takes the revenues. It it'll show you from a actual of 22 three four. It'll show you what's budgeted in 25, the proposed budgets moving from 26 all the way through 2034 with some assumptions on to
it. I think you're most of you are all aware that we, you know, we have $100,000 that's shown that we get local government aid. Um, you know, that's something that may be in question again. Um, especially when we move into the
state's bianium for 2028 and 2029. Um right now I I think the last projection that is I've seen from the state is that they're anticipating a $16 billion deficit for the bianium of 2028 2029. What does that mean? Normally
there's uh a good um chance of what happens is that they start to cut funding of programs to counties and cities. um and local government aid just happens to be one area in which um they could get us um the the city. So we have
to to keep our eyes on to that. But right now we're projecting out that to be 100. And then we have um kind of projection of again there's they add valium taxes the levy that's that's out there um right now. Um and then we'll be
projecting that upwards as the city adopts every single um year as they move forward. And then you can see um we put in you know the capital plan is underneath in the capital and then try to project with what the cash is and we
move all the way through it. Um, and you can see that even on this plan in 2026, if we were if you were to do everything that was on the plan 26, 27 all the way through 29 would have negative cash. Um, so to make that happen, um, what we
would end up doing is we'd end up having city council pass a resolution. We would just borrow from another fund um, at that point in time. But as you go through all the way through 20 um, 35, you can see we're positive. Um, so to me, yes, there's ways that we could fund
what is currently in the capital improvement plan. However, that doesn't address the HGA because that was never a part of this plan. It doesn't address maybe some of your other needs and other desires that you have um coming up, but
let's get them um out there so then we can take a look at them and see if can we move ahead. Um so for the 2026 CIP process um there is a template um that I had attached. Um so
the first step that in the instructions that I give to all the department heads is that want them to review all of their projects um for the years of 2026 through 2034. um adjust any costs that they believe, their description, justifications, priorities, anything else that they need
to change, and then any new projects that they have uh through 26 to 35. And especially 35 cuz 35 is not on there yet. Um that there's a template that they can um do a write up and they'll um
put a project I'll assign a project number to it. They'll put a project name, um, department, you know, it'll be parks, um, a contact person, you know, there's drop downs for types, useful life category, and then we'll get it into the CIP plan and then roll it all
together. Then I run it through the financial um, plans and see what we have to do to be able to afford um, what's happening onto that. So, for those items that you're looking at that weren't approved yet for the
2025, you'll fill out one of these forms. Um, attach any supporting documentation, maps, whatever you have, designate a project sponsor. Um, staff will review all of the documentation. Um, we'll set up a
meeting with the sponsor, sponsors, and and staff to kind of go through the project. You know, obviously staff will include public works to find out is it is it feasible? Um have we covered all the costs? Is it everything looking good? If it looks like it's a feasible
project and we can move, you know, move it's something that could be moved forward. um um identify a uh possible uh funding source for it and then we would end up having to put it together and have it presented to city council
because ultimately it has to be approved by city council um and the funding has to be approved by city council. So that's kind of the mechanism and how we will go about trying to address some of those 2025 um items that you um have um out there.
So project sponsor. Who's the project sponsor? You know, if there's somebody who wants to be kind of more of the spokesperson for that project. Yes. Would Yeah. Yeah. So in this case like Laura, you would be
maybe the the prison being she's chair. Would that is that how it works? cuz my question is uh I don't know were any proposals from uh HGA that was submitted to city council.
Did any of those pass or is city council still waiting for feedback from this commission or where do we sit with that? So, you're talking about the specific the three parks that we were just looking at developing. Mcnite Fields, um
the one on Third Street and the one down here by uh BFW. So, so has any of that been looked at or any kind of approval to move forward with those plans or is this something we have to write up saying this is kind of
where we would like to be? Okay. talking about the HA like plan itself or are you asking the question about the finances that came from the plan? No, that's there was some financing, but we haven't
really gotten a a go-ahad to start developing like the one on Third Street, which you know, I think we should. Um, but we haven't heard back from city council if they said yes, they like these ideas. Let's go to the next step.
Um, have they gotten to that point yet? Um, I believe it was presented to city council. Mhm. Um, and I don't believe they didn't agree with it. I think they moved forward. There was no funding attached.
There was nothing that was approved from that standpoint. I think from a conceptional standpoint, they they agreed with the the report. Now, this is where kind of the rub kind of comes into it. Right now, we need to get it in to the financial side to it and the
planning. And yes, to me, this would be the mechanism. fill out a form onto it and you can just reference it's this park or whatever and and again my suggestion is to try to break some of those out like when I look at you know the Mcnite field again you know don't
mean to be the bearer of bad news but you're not going to be able to afford a $6 million project um so if there's components that we could move forward with and try to get estimates for I would write them up as a separate um document and and then just you know the reference part is kind of talk about
that that specific component to it and reference the HGA um report that's there. Once it gets into this, then I can see what we can do and make a recommendation from for a funding source to it. Obviously, it'll be passed by by you because we're working we will work
with you know definitely work with you and that's why you're a part of the whole process the sponsor and then if if we've everything is working the city manager in agreement we'll take it to city council and we'll have them make the final decision and it'll include approval of the project the project
budget the financing source and everything so we can move it forward. And I don't uh to answer your question I don't think I would have to be the project sponsor. Well, I just you for an example. Yeah, it could be any of us. Um, be
Rachel. Should be a good one. What did they run to pay? What did it cost to pay HGA to do what they did? Um, I believe it was $60,000. Well, that ain't bad. You know, for the contract that they did, the agreement. One question about
that just a as a question in the notes because I know it's popped up a lot in the budget is the parking lot which keeps coming up as like a $500,000 Mcnite and we did discuss last meeting that would be rolled in like and wait till we do the project parking lots I
guess was my bigger question. Are those out of the park fund or are those out of roads? And um cuz I guess I don't ever recall paying for a parking lot at any of the other parks. I mean, we don't really have parking lot. I mean, Silver Lake,
those were done as part of the road project. Casey Lake, they resurfaced when we did the building, but we didn't take that out of the park fund. So curious like cuz that's a big amount of money coming out of our budget which obviously as we budget for Mcnite like
would have to be done but just curious like where the city budgets come in with things like that versus park funds. again I don't submit these okay to me and that stuff but and and and I love
coming here with you because you very good things you you make you make some very you make a very good point um and so what I'm going to do based off of this is I'm going to look at how would it flow into it would be part of that whole street maintenance and throw that in take a look at throwing that in there
that would be great because I think about when we think about using our budget we want to make it to make the parks be beautiful which a parking lot certainly does help, but it certainly doesn't preserve natural landscape. So, I'm just thinking like you could have some angry people coming if they actually got into the nitty-gritty
saying, "Why is our park dollars being spent for a parking lot?" I absolutely agree. Especially if it if it's I'm going to say more of a maintenance item. Yeah. I mean, it's certainly if you were to say, "I'm going to build a whole brand new parking lot." Yeah. And I
would make more of a I think and and I think what you make very good points and for my time being here what you've stated is correct. Okay. Um so it does look like it's more consistent with that and I definitely will that would be great because that's a lot of money as we talk about. Well, we also got uh
500,000 for Mcnite Fields for the the sports complex to be redone. Yeah. I mean I think we can go through that. I just had a question about that one specifically because it's next year. Well, my concern there is if we are able to do any upgrades with some of that
area, do we want to put money in to something that we're going to be either taking out or won't be part of the the new design? That's my question. No, I don't think so. I And I think what he's saying is I think what we need to do is as we plan these out and break them out
is to say, okay, we're going to break Mcnite Fields into 10 projects. Honestly, we're going to say what's that grass turf area. If we don't have to take care of the parking lot, we'll say that's part of the roads and whatever. But then we can say the ninja park, the playground, the pavilion space. I think our best bet is to write those up
separately. Start from the bottom up where that parking lot's going to be and then try to get them approved if we can't tackle it in one big thing. And that's what he's saying. That way they can get the cost estimate broken down. We never had thought we could do Mcnite all at once anyways. No, we we were
thinking too getting that 500,000 back. It's a big deal. You know, and that is a part of what we're going to do uh after we're done talking about the budget, too, is Sarah and I took our notes from the last meeting and helped uh put together kind of like the top four
priority things that we discussed. So, um, if we could if we would be willing to put like a pin in that this discussion so we can finish the budget and then bring it into our next one, I think that would be really helpful. All I can say from that discussion right
there is that is spot on. Yeah. Um, that's the the right approach to go about this. And yeah, so consider that that Mcnite parking lot out of there. Awesome. and then it'll be updated and I'll incorporate that you have in there.
But I gotta stop guming here because every time I come here she she that's why I'm divorced. But I I remind it's not my money. It's not my but very good points. Thank you very
much. Thank you. Other questions? No, the mount looks nice, but in reality, we're going to have to focus down to a but it's in reality for the long term because I know we're never going to have 15 million to do McNight. No. So, I like
what you said, Sarah, is maybe we had to piece me it piece it together into little parts because and then over the course of 10, 15 years, maybe we'll get it all. Yeah. Well, I think doing that in conjunction with the city is important because we do know that parking lot needs to be refinished. But
the pro part of the reason Cassidy said it was held off was because why do the work when we hadn't solidified the plans. So, we want to do things in conjunction and smart, but yeah. Yeah. And it's in the in the point that, you know, um Sarah had had talked about um
David when you brought up the point, do we do something and then later on have to redo it? And you wouldn't want to do that. Yeah. So, it's going to be you you have a a lot of work a lot of work to kind of break it out and plan it and to make sure that it's in line with your
vision. So, when we submit these um plans to you, do we get a little bit of grace because it's not our day job? Like how thorough does this need to be? Oh, you have great Yeah. Yeah, you have grace. Yeah. Don't don't Yeah. Sarah, is there a way you could send us
that slide individually of what we need to fill out and then maybe by the end of meeting tonight we can divide and conquer of it's May 30th. It' be by the next meeting. It's actually an Excel spreadsheet template and drop down menu. So, and I have sent it to you do have it
or I I can reset it. Yeah, you can resend. I didn't want to send it before anyway. Yeah. Yep. Perfect. And then to clarify, we're submitting all the projects we want specifically to be added to the next 10 year. Well, in for
this year, no. Um there's actually two different components to it. Okay. Um one for the next 10 years, 26 to 35 is one component to it. And then my understanding is and there's some some attached that'll be discussed later on, some um desires in in 2025 that haven't
been approved which will need um a form that will be filled out. And in the form you you know you you identify what year. So then it'll just get when I enter it all into um our software, it'll end up pulling into 2025. So they'll be
separated. But yes, so basically you're doing 11 years now. In the next month, right? Yesterday. Yesterday. Yeah. So Dann So wait a second. I'm not finding a problem with No, I'm just kidding. Sounds like a
totally reason. Yeah. Oh, reason. and and and let me kind of give a little bit the thing is that we it is more important to looking at your 25 and your 26. Mhm. the remainder
of it if at least you put it in there out in the years and and to be I'm going to be totally honest with you, you could put one request for those future years broken up by years and and not and avoid having to do a description in each
component to it and and just say this is a phased approach, da da da da da, right? Um because I need to have the money amounts that are in this plan to run the financial to see what would the city would have to raise to be able to afford to be able to do this. So could
we potentially say like half a mill for Mcnite 2026, half mill for Mcnite 2027 and not like break it down into what that entails? No, there has to be some description to it. But no, you don't have to say exactly
what h is happening each and every year. Reference again the report, you know, you have to have enough that let's say all of you are gone next year that somebody were to pick up that piece that they would have an idea of what that
intention was to be be doing and enough to convey to city council so they understand your desire because they're the ones who are ultimately going to approve or not approve. Okay. Like realistically you could probably do that for like five to seven years out but if
you're doing it for right now the whole model is based on the numbers that we have in real time now. So unless if we don't get those numbers right it's going to mess up the projection long term. So you want us to get our foundation right so that it can build the model so he can
predict the money that we need in the future and basically so more detail up front less detail on the back end but as realistic as possible. So Dan, I got a question on some of the projects that we already have. Like for
instance, in 2026 Casey Lake open air shelter, we got uh 44,200. Is that already set aside for this project or is this something that's got to be resubmitted?
So if you're okay with that's a project that's that you still desire. Yes. um that's a part of the plan and that 44,200 is good. Nothing is needed. If let's say you decided not to do a
project um then you would you know send me information that says basically it's being you can remove that project or let's say Casey Lake open air shelter you know you're now thinking it's 60,000
then we need to adjust that 44 to 60,000 so we're get capturing as best we can the cost so again that's that 10ear look from okay then Like for instance, we got um for Polar Park um we have that for the
new playground equipment. We have that for instance at 191,000 um which is earmarked for 2027. So if we have it here and we think that's okay, we don't have to change anything or don't have to change anything. Okay. And
so I'm just asking to look at that review right up in the back. make sure that that's as accurate as possible, that your cost is accurate as possible, and that this is a project that you still want. And if it is, there's nothing that needs to be done.
Yeah. Cuz I guess uh with some of the numbers that you we do have in front of us, were those generated from public works or how were those figures uh come about? Unfortunately, I can't really answer that.
Um, for the most part, these were submitted by the prior um community development director. Um, uh, well, two of the prior Yeah, I was just going to say, yeah. Um, so I I believe there was
some conversation with public works, but I don't know if there, you know, to to what degree. Um, so I can't really answer that. I I know that there was some communication that was going on between the two of them when it was submitted, but cuz I I know there's no one on this commission right here that
came up with these numbers. Somebody had to come up with these numbers according to what we were asking for. Mhm. Which is good. But like for instance, on the one website, the the one link that was sent to us uh this
Friday from Sarah, uh some of the playground equipment for a couple of the parks right now is on sale. It's huge savings um on a lot of that stuff. So that's why I was wondering if this was generated by public works
or whoever came up with this. You know, some of the stuff if we have the money, we know it's going to be two years out. Maybe it's something we can purchase now and then have it installed at that time or sooner.
Um, obviously you have to be concerned about storage of something that you're buying ahead of time and that stuff, but if that's your desire onto it and and we'll just we'll stay on this um polar park improvement, you may want to then put a part of the funding in 25,
part of the funding in 26, part of the funding in 27. Yeah. I cuz my question was the money that we have allocated and the sheets in front of us for the different projects that we have projected for our 10-year plan all have some kind of a number attached to them.
Um I can speak to that too. Last year the commission did talk about a lot of these projects and you guys also came up with some of these numbers like so for instance the um the observation deck bridge at Southwood that was something
that was developed here and the cost. So yeah it was partly the commission partly our former community development director partly public works all coming together to make these numbers right. Do we think the projected numbers are like valid and accurate? We don't need to if
we want to proceed with the plans that are currently projected. Those numbers are good. Do what do you think? That's hard to say. Yeah. They're probably like over a year a year ago. I would just just maybe rather than us get stuck on the exact number and I know what you're
saying Dave like you want to have a good estimate so that we can project out, right? I would say like going higher than lower is going to be important. Always better. there's a good chance that all these playgrounds are coming from China and now there's 114% tariff on that. So, you know, go high and then
like we'll get to the nitty-gritty on those years that we get those approved. You know, like as we talk about 2025, like we're going to get real numbers and it may be lower than what we're projecting out. But I wouldn't get stuck on it now because it doesn't matter. Even if we project something's $90,000
in 10 years it might be $500,000. like we can't if we spend all our time on that we're never going to get anything done, right? Can I ask about what is the opening of shelter at Casey Lake? I don't know. We don't know. That might be a collaboration with
public works. It is a public works thing. They're looking at either removing it, which is the one near the back parking lot, um because at least for now it's dangerous. Um it's getting really old. Which open air shelter is it? There's one um in the back ball fields. Yes. Oh, okay. Um, they're also
looking at replacing it. So, that is a public works. No, we none of us talked about that. That was probably from public works, right? So, that's where we can go in and say, do we want to That's what Dave was saying. Do we want to do that or no? Yep. And so, again, the the like the action part of this is is
coming after we finish this part. So, just know that we'll get to make some of those decisions in like 10 minutes. Okay. Any other questions? Thanks so much for coming. Oh, you bet. Again, if you ever need any additional
information, um, send me an email or get a hold of Sarah. Sarah knows where I'm at. Show at me. But, uh, no, always a pleasure to come here and and anytime you want me to come here, I'd be more than more than willing to do it. It's always a great job when you come. And
Sarah, stop doing that. That's why they pay me the big bucks. You know, it's in her blood. No, actually, sincerely, I actually appreciate it. So, thank you very much. Well, thank you. She's very good at it, isn't she? Yes. Laura usually talks me
off the ledge sometimes, but I No, get on my pedestal sometimes. You're welcome. All right. Thank you again. Thanks, Dan. Oh, that's okay. Remember that? I might have done I can Yeah,
I'll start. Recapping goals in the thing that you got forsa. Thanks Dan. She's cool. She's cool. My role is not important on this commission.
Yeah, she's like when I even February meeting or Marching whatever. Wow. Okay. My mic has been off the whole time. Oh, has it? Yep. Let's just redo the whole thing. Remember, you got the eject but the ejection button there where you can cut
us all off and Oh my god. Okay. Wow. All right. Thank you for that reminder. Okay. So, oh my god. Like I mentioned a couple of times, um, we Sarah and I, Sarah's and I, which is
what I'm calling you both now. I hope that's okay. Um, put together kind of like a informal list of potential projects for the parks commission which um is coming from the meeting last uh last month. And
so it's kind of it looks kind of formal, but it's it's literally called an informal list. Like um we just tried to tie it back to the CIP uh for the city manager and the finance director. So, if if y'all want me to like clarify any of this or answer any
questions, let me know. Um, but the top kind of four priority projects were Polar Park, Casey Lake, Urban Ecology, and then the smaller parks where we talked about adding small oops,
lowcost uh but high impact elements. And so Sarah Zaratka went through and found um a bunch of different like possible playground um elements for each one. And so maybe what we do is we just talk
through uh we start with polar um maybe talk about what we are uh ideally looking for in revamping polar. Um, and then just note that we have 90,000 budgeted
in 2026 for that park. So, it looks like Sarah, you have I found some deals. Um, I want to preface this by saying that I was scoured the internet and went to commercial places, but these are companies we've never used in the city.
So, whether public works would let us get away with it or not, I don't know. Um, but from everything I read, it looked pretty good. And I was like, I'm assuming this means this is the non assembled price, right? So, we would either, my thought maybe with Polar Park
is like, could we do, you know, a community, we've done that before where it's like two days and a lot of times someone from the playground equipment company may come out depending on how that works and then with public works and maybe the community, we could shave off some costs to put somewhere else.
But that being said, I don't have approval for these. So just because you like it doesn't mean necessarily it's going forward. My idea was to get a bunch of ideas and put visuals to it. So as we talk about it, you guys could say, "I really like that." And then Sarah might be able to go deeper and say, "Okay, here's what I found at companies.
We have agreements or whatever." So that's my two cents on my visuals and my prices. So I did include links for you though, Sarah, on all of them. So, it does look like it looks like you went for like a
middle range, like couple of different options for activities, but would meet the needs of some younger kids and some a slightly older kids. Is there anything else that you took into consideration that you like want to highlight? Well, one thing I want to consider is we did
replace the swing sets at Polar Park not that long ago, within the last 5 years. So, it's not a complete playground overhaul. Um, and I think that one had did that one have a merrygo round? Can't remember cuz we replaced the springs on those or whatever. But, um, so I do
think we can probably come under that 90 depending on whether public works with mulch and curbing and stuff what that costs. But, um, my thought was this isn't the kind of park that would get the like $100,000 playsets. So, these looked pretty nice for the value. Um, I
know my kids like monkey bars. I think things where you can climb and reach are really good for older kids. Of course, everyone likes a curly slide. Um the one on the right I thought had a little bit more for everybody. The tubes, the big slides, the climbing elements. Um I
thought something like that could be great. And then there's a thousand colors, so we just choose whatever color scheme goes with the swing set that's already there, which usually blues. Yeah, blues. Yeah. I I went on the site earlier today. Oh, good. And they got
they they have like four different reasoning price. They're actually on sale right now. Um different playground equipments like what you had here. So I went on both these uh Oh, good. And I I really liked what I saw there. Seemed
really good actually. So, but then it would be one of those things we would kind of I think we should have public works input a little bit cuz you know sir I'm all for public build. Yeah. Um
and if that's what we have to do then to get something like this done. I agree. Um I didn't see too many things for more of the the older children. Yeah. So there again, I think we should look
at maybe some more of their equipment rather than saying, "Oh, I want this one tonight." Being they do have other options, something that we can look at and say, "Yeah, kind of pick and choose." And so we have some pricing. Um, and then maybe someone from the
commission here reaching out to the company to get better ideas of what we can and can't do. That's kind of what we did years back. Well, I think maybe it's a conjunction of like Sarah, if you might want to research this company and maybe reach out and ask, okay, this is
the price, but what is shipping? What is freight? What is construction? Um, or, you know, is it possible for public works department to do this without, you know, someone on site? Maybe just kind of get more of the information so we could have more of the totality. The other thing Dave I would
suggest is because I did put a lot of these other elements for older kids on here, we could take a look and maybe it's a play structure plus a gaga pit or something else. I'd also argue, you know, Polar Park is a little bit hidden, it's a little bit tucked away,
I would say like while I want things for older kids there as well, I I think it's important in the play structure to kind of have a little bit of A and a little bit of B. Yep. I also think that may not be the park that we want to funnel all the money into just because it's not as accessible to the rest of the public. It's not the parking isn't as easy that,
you know, um and then Sarah had brought up a point of potentially could we make this park more accessible, which I thought was a really um fair point as well. So, um because we don't actually have any accessible playgrounds, right?
Does this include this total include uh the surface that we have to provide? No. And that's yeah what I was going to bring up too is we if we're replacing the parks I read through the whole ADA manual for playgrounds. Um we would have to make it accessible. So therefore we'd have to change we can't have mulch and
all that anymore. So it would have to then would increase the cost. That mulch was access was ADA accessible just not the rubber mulch. Mm-m. It has to be that bouncy stuff that like there's a couple different materials, but I can provide that, too. Okay, that's news cuz
that's like $100,000 for soft surfacing. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So, maybe what we do is keeping the May 30th deadline um front and center for this. Uh I think we just
as a group we need to decide like are we okay with roughly this idea of these playgrounds roughly this price range and then we can ask you Sarah can you fill in the things that are missing y um and
then our meeting our next meeting is before that deadline so we could have drafts of the CIP plans put other already and then at that meeting we can say are we ready to actually like submit this and move forward. Yeah. Does that
sound okay to people? Yeah. Okay. So I don't think we need to do a motion or anything but does anybody have any like uh oppositions to generally like this playground overall vibe price range for Polar Park? Nope. Good to proceed. Yeah.
Okay. So, we'll proceed with that as our guideline and you'll fill in the the gaps for un not an all-inclusive playground at this time at Polar, just like what we would need to do to bring it up to where we need it to be. And then, do we need to assign who's going
to write the little the little things like because I feel like this needs to be a divide and conquer so not one person is sitting all day writing these. Whose park is Polar Park? Who owns Polar Park? jump in. Could Could I ask the question that we assign
who's writing the CIPs after we all of the parks so we understand the full scope of Great idea. Okay. Okay. So, if we're good, we're going to move on to Casey. Um we're going to talk about adding Ninja Play equipment around the walking
path. We do have uh this budgeted for $100,000 in 2027, the park revitalization, and then it lists Casey Lake Park Active Playground at 500,000 in 2027.
So that is that talking about Janie's specifically? I don't think that needs improvement up. And then the one thing I didn't take into account here is that open air shelter uh that's listed for next year 202. I
can make a motion to remove that as I've never seen anyone in it. Yeah. Um so that would if we decide not to move forward with that and not prioritize that uh that would free up some money too for 2026. I second the motion. Which
one are we which one are we moving? I just like to say motion. um that there's a budget item for either next year or 2027 to spend 40 something thousand on Casey Lake shelter oh fixing and so we're saying like just take it down
versus we build it cuz it's not in a place people it's not budget though for a couple of years so yeah that's what she's saying but he's saying we still want to like say if we want to remove something from that line item to take it out of the projected budget this is a
little shelf Will that shelter be missed? I know. Do people use that for baseball anymore or softball? No, the fields that field does not that field doesn't get rented out for softball. That back it's where the army park used to be. It's back there and then Yeah. And then back. Okay. My
other question is uh ninja equipment around the walking path. Are we weren't we all in agreement that we don't want to space it out? Yeah. No. There it's going to be one unit kind of like army park like in an area. Yeah. In an area.
Okay. The wording of this just threw me off a little bit. Yep. I can we can easily fix the wording to the walking. Yeah. It just I to be more specific. Yeah. So near near Yeah. Yeah. That that was throwing me off. Um, and then, uh,
active playground at 500,000 in 2027 where I think those are the I don't know what the reutilization is, but the active playground would be the ninja park, but Oh. Oh, I I don't I think if they're talking about two separate
things, Laura, I didn't look at that that closely. If you look in the the descriptions of all the stuff from the CIP are in the packet. So, the reutilization was something that was actually proposed by Ben last year was to remove Casey Field 3 to open a green
space or have soccer field because Casey Field doesn't get used. Um, and then yeah, it looks like the active playground um is the ninja course. Okay, thank you Sarah. Yeah, no problem. Cool.
Okay. Um, do let's talk about that in two phases. Do we want to make it a point to change up that field? I think it's a great idea. Field. Okay. So, it's a it's where the army
park used to be. So, it's back by that. Okay. Sorry. Where the fishing dock is. If you walk around that side there that there's a baseball field that's basically just a fence and then there's a shelter in the outfield. That's the field. So, it's not where the It's basically the furthest from the two
parking lot. Okay. Okay. Okay. in the back corner by that neighborhood. Okay. Um I'd say especially as we're talking about taking out that shelter, it gives even more reason uh to reutilize that field. If it's big enough for a soccer field, I think that would be amazing.
Sounds like it could be for at least a mini pitch. So, yeah. Yeah. something. Um, I think if we can just leave it grass and not like do what we're talking about at McNight where it's just like where kind of leave it what it is, but like make it maybe we could actually put in some soccer those metal soccer nets
that are grounded in or something and then I don't know. I can't imagine that costs $100,000 to do, but So, it's rem is it just I'm not familiar with fencing removing fencing and the shelter. Okay. And then we would just leave it green
and possibly uh by goals. Yeah. And I think I've seen ones that are like soccer goals slash football post. I don't know if that makes sense, but like Well, at the school we used to use portable soccer
uh goals nets and stuff, so it's easier to move around there. They stay there almost all year, but they got wheels and stuff, so you can move them over. um to maintain the fields if necessary. So that would be my recommendation rather than having something permanent.
Yeah. Um then we could utilize them somewhere else if need be cuz we could just basically use that whole segment of the park as that revitalization. Like we could do the basically redo the ninja part there. We also talked about doing the ninja part over by the parking lot
um so it's more accessible. That was the other thing because there's swing set and America round over there. We talked about doing it over there, too. But it could be cool if there's room because it is weird because it loops out. Maybe, you know, wherever we decide to do it. I think it'd be great to tackle that all
in one project. Um, and I think that would get used a lot if there's room in the area by the third ball field. I think it could also be um useful to add another volleyball sand court section.
um that the one that's by 17th Avenue, the current uh volleyball net that's occupied almost all the time in the summer and I've seen people bring up their own volleyball nets and set it up in the back area of Casey Lake. I don't know if that area would have the room. I
would guess that like having that volleyball net accessible because I feel like people are always using that as they're barbecuing or as they're doing something else. that the problem with that corner of the park is you're kind of isolated and you're far from either parking lot. Um I
don't dislike the idea though. I just maybe that goes near where the other playground is or something or we see how much it costs. Would it have to be sand? What else? I mean just grass cuz I don't are people when when people are playing are they playing volleyball or they play
Mad Mitten? Are they playing like other net sports? Um, well, the people that I've seen set up, they're in the grass. So, yeah. I think I think something's better than nothing. I think grass would be fine. Okay. So, we could even I mean, we could pitch it as a flex pitch, right? Like you can Batman volleyball.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then we just free it up. We don't have to maintain. We don't have to spend more. I'm into that. But we still And I know that um like our M community, they spend a lot of time playing bad and also volleyball. Um, so just like and it it actually is kind of
ideal like tucked in that back because you can have it be, you know, like you have your party, you have your game, whatever over there. Um, so if we're okay with it, maybe we just we remove the fencing uh and the shelter. It's a flex mini pitch for whatever. Yeah. Have to line
it, right? I don't I wouldn't think so. With the volleyball, would you want permanent posts? And the reason I bring that up is because technically we don't allow people to stake in our grass now. Like you see them in the grass. They're not supposed to be um because of our
irrigation through there. So like they could easily get lines. Yeah. Through the whole park. So um that would be something to consider. Not that we couldn't think of that at the time when we're through this process and have public works go out and market and see like what we're working with. Um, and
maybe like give recommendations to folks that want to bring their own. I would definitely do permanent then because if you do temporary then people are definitely going to think temporary is acceptable. Yeah. So I would do permanent. I concur. Agree. But yes, I agree. The permanent polls would be the
option if that were the route to go. Yeah. But also, do we want people playing soccer on a pitch with two permanent volleyball holes on these? Sorry. Are we talking about I was thinking if there's enough room? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, okay. Sorry. I'm not
familiar with the space. So, I was No, you're good. I don't actually know how big a soccer field is. It's been a while, but I feel like it's a big Pretty big. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Is there space to do if we got rid of both fields three and four? Probably.
Don't we have a park? Well, say we could like Does the volleyball thing have to be written into this specific plan if it's 2027? Because don't we have a park meeting in Casey? We could walk it like in June or whenever we do that. Just take a look. I think that'd be good. Maybe public works could come to that
too and just give us their their feedback. I can certainly add that in here and that can always be discussed later too, but I can add it for now just as like a note that we were perfect. I'm okay with that. We'll remove fence. I'm sorry. You weren't done. No, I was done. You're good. Okay. Uh removing the
fencing and the shelter and then where where exactly cuz it's been a while since we been at Casey. Where's the shelter at that we're looking? Is that by the bridge to the um hockey rink? It's in the back corner.
So, from the new shelter, is it like across the park or is it kind of in the middle there? So, the lake the lake is here. The new building's right here. Yeah. The path goes this way. And so there's the big field right here. It's dead smack in the middle of the park. If you dropped a pin in the middle of all
of Casey, like it is the hardest spot to get to and the least accessible because you have to get there by foot on grass. So, okay, I'm on board with that. But I say even taking the shelter down, I'd say let's keep the picnic tables or something because if people are around there, we're going to need benching and
seating and Yeah. Okay. So ideally, we're going to plan on moving forward removing fencing in the shelter and then tentatively or in the future, we're going to talk about possibility of adding volleyball field space with
permanent poles and then a mini pitch over there with what makes sense, but we're going to wait to make that decision until we're all physically in the space to talk about. Right. Sounds good. Yes. Okay. Maybe calling it the reutilization is the best word for Yeah.
Right. Okay. Is there any more for Casey that people want to talk about? Did we resolve the emotion? We don't I I motion. Did you pull it off? Okay. So, what about the hockey rings?
That's That's I saw that on the plan for down the road. Um it's like 215,000 what they estimate 110 200 Is are we talking about a new one or are you talking about rebuilding them? Redoing the ones we have. Oh,
that's budgeted for when what year in here? That was budgeted uh one to five years. So, and this was I'm looking at an older one because I'm sharing my paperwork with What about our
CIP? It's 2028. 2028. So we we can talk about that. I would say we talk about that later because based on our four priority part uh projects for the next two years that's not a part of it and it can be future us's problem. Yeah. Y
great. Okay. So we chatted about hockey rinks. Any other Casey things that people want to talk about? Um, now we talked about the playground uh improvements. Now, is that that's not
talking about like Janie's playground or Okay, fine. That's it then. We don't foresee any in the next couple years. I mean, it's 11 years old, so I think we just have to keep our eye on it and make repairs. But honestly, I got to say that
I think um that Rex decking is held up better than a lot of those those metal posts. I mean, it faded a little bit, but the one thing the playground company said is we could paint it at some point if we wanted to if we feel like it's getting too faded, but I feel like that park has held up better than most those
metal ones. Great for 11 years old. Yeah. How much use it? Exactly. Oh, it's used quite a bit. I do have a question though. So, in the CIP currently, we have that Casey Lake Park active playground set for 2027. Is that something you're still
wanting to move to 2025? Cuz that was kind of what we were proposing right in the in the document that the three of us worked on was moving it. Um, which we could propose that. That's not like it's off the table or anything, but it is currently in the CIP for 2027. So, I
just want to make sure I have my notes. I think maybe I mean my thought is the reutilization is actually the thing we could do in 2025 like remove those posts then see what we're working with before we go and put in that play area. That would be my suggestion is like we
stagger that a little bit. Um because we also don't have Mcnite on here and we're going to have to talk bigger about that since that's a priority as well. So, I would say maybe we leave the reutilization on there for 2025, like have public works remove the net, remove the
shelter, and then maybe we can buy some soccer things goals. Back to your question. So, keeping it for 2027 is probably maybe maybe leaving the ninja part for 2026 20 probably 2 I would say
26. 26. Okay. My gut says Okay. Yeah. For the ninja park. Yes. Pitch 25 because we could get moving on some of it at least, right? Get it prepped. Yep. So, who then would want to be like the spokesperson for this one? Once we get
to that point, Ben channeled into me and said he wants to do that. We um know we're going to come back to that, but like I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to write that or we can have Okay. Yeah. Okay. It can be a group project. Yeah. Honestly,
I'd rather write them down at the end so I know what I own. But we will get that information to you. Of course. Okay. Any other question? We could have a little subcommittee for the whole Yeah. process. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Okay. Urban. Hold on. Did you
get your Casey questions answered? Yes, I did. Thank you. Great. All right. Urban ecology park. So, this was uh we talked about adding resting structures, picnic tables, benches, chairs, uh play elements. We have the these listed for
$100,000 in 2029. Um but I believe it was the commission's want to move that to a sooner action item and less money. And less money. Yeah. So, I gave you a whole
thing of where my mind was. I know Dave, you were concerned about playgrounds, but this this was where my head was when I talk about nature. Something that looks like it could. And I don't I walk past this park a lot, but um they did just clear a lot of brush on the side
between uh South or County Road B and the trail. And I don't know if that's what we own, but that would actually be the maybe the perfect spot cuz you could see it from the road like and be like, "Oh, that's cool. I want to walk past there." And then the benches or something could be on the other side. But I don't like there's not a lot of
room. So this isn't something that would potentially take up a lot of space. Just something that could be fun. I did think these little climbing with the rocks was kind of a cute thing to like these are more expensive, but um just like even the stones that look like they kind of
blend in or the log. Um I don't know. This was where my head was at with something that blends, but like kids can use their imagination to make it more fun. Yeah. I I love something like any any of these, but especially things they can jump up on
and jump from one to the next. Um, they love that kind of stuff. I'm looking at the top one top left, the one right underneath it, and the log, the log they can crawl through. These are all awesome and and easy. And even even a wooden
well I guess is this is this it doesn't have to be limited to this but I just I know there was a lot of we went in swirls last time about playground equipment being there and I wanted to be clear about what where my head was with what that looked like. I love the one at the top too left it sounds like this.
Mhm. Yeah. Okay. So, when uh do we want to try and move on this in 2025 or 2026, like that early? Is that something we want to do? I'd love to, but um that's me. I know it's not
necessarily a high priority compared to Polar Park or something as priorities go, but it would be low hanging fruit and a low cost, I think. and the area is already cleared. So, I don't I think it would be a matter of ordering the equipment, getting it approved, well, getting it approved by council and then they could put it in and we could have
it for this potentially for the summer for people who are riding their bikes. Yeah. Could we do a small portion this year? Kind of like how we're thinking of doing like a small addition to each park. Could we have that for this park rather than do the whole thing? I don't think it has to be that expensive. Um,
my fear of breaking something this small into two pieces is that it's going to get lost in translation. I'd say if you're only spending 20 $25,000 on a park, like just do it and get it done with so it's there. Um, it'll be around 25 rather than 100 depending on what you
guys choose. Obviously that rock wall thing was more, but if you're just getting like the log and the steps like like again those are 2,000 3,000 like they're not that much plus the bench or like a picnic table and probably a concrete slab for that. You're Yeah, I would guess that you're looking unless
you do the climbing thing you're looking at a pretty low cost. Okay. Yeah, if the cost is lower and it's small, I agree. I think just getting it done. We don't have a lot of room for stuff there. So, it's not like you could you could probably if you don't do the climbing thingy. Um I like the slide, but where I
was thinking that doesn't work. So, like just the stones and the log like those kind of things like I think we could Okay, so I note something too. Yeah. Just for whoever is going to put this like proposal together. So, we got updated quotes for the benches and
picnic tables with concrete slabs last year and like for a park bench we're looking at two grand a piece. Okay. Um, picnic tables are about 1,900, which is weird that it's cheaper, but it is. Um, it is. Yeah. So, we'll just consider
that. I think that would be great because then, and I I do think as we look at this, we should talk with um the DNR. Like, is there a point at which they need to know we're doing something along the trail? Also, their sign is like wretched and old that's
right there. like maybe they could replace that in conjunction with if we did something. But sure, it would be I think if we could make this a 2025, it would be something easy to do. Yeah. And maybe even tied in with our wayfinding like maybe we could maybe we could put a different sign there pointing towards
downtown because you can see it pretty predominantly behind the holiday now that they cleared it out. Sure. Uh Sarah, would you do you know if the spot that she's talking about that's cleared out is something that we have access to? That is so funny because we
were talking about that this morning with public works. We're figuring it out. Okay, cool. I will get confirmation on that and email that out. But I just walked there like today and I was like, this is the perfect. I didn't notice it before cuz all the brush that they cut it all out.
Okay. So, we want to move forward 2025 roughly $25,000. We're again we're going like not big structure. We're doing the couple different play elements and you're going to get back to us on if that space works or not. Yep. Okay.
Awesome. Any other discussion on urban ecology? No. No. Okay. Uh so, smaller parks. This is specifically just talking about adding um gaga pits or some
like this page of different like there's a couple pages of different like kind of little activity things. It could be between the nature play and the back um I love the spider climber so much.
This thing Oh, yes. And those are uh you know there's one over by um you know kind of see that's not as expensive as you think it would be. I'm like that's a great deal to put in. This is that appeals to the older kids.
Kids love that. I like that. I like it too but I get stuck. Okay. So here's what we need to do. We need to decide what we like and where we want to put it. Cool. Um, and I think we all want to try and do this in 2025. Yep. Yes. Yep.
Okay. So, are there any specific parks that come to mind where you think we should Could we start with the Gaga pit because I feel like that's a little different than the playground equipment? Um, I'm a little wrecked, but like housy
now that we have that green open space could be a really fun one for that cuz it's kind of a like I think I go play pickle ball. My kids would probably love to go over there and um use the gaga pit. Casey is obviously big enough for one of these. Um but the problem is I
would want to put it near the playground and I don't maybe just Casey's a hold on this. Um I was also thinking like Northwood this could be good if we find a good place for this. Um well with Northwood we do have monies uh
kind of uh set aside for that. Um, let me see here, whatever year it is to kind of redo that whole park. And I think at that time would be a great time to to move that playground equipment and make
it more uh ADA accessible. Uh, cuz we have to do that. The shelter should be redone. Um, and then we can incorporate some of this other stuff like the Gaga pit and stuff like that. Well, this is this is movable. It's movable. It's
movable and it's a way to show some love to Northwood since it's going to be a minute. We we did want to focus on Northwood. Yeah, that was a priority before and then McD kind of bud fudged it out of the way. So, I think this is a way to show some love to that park. Um
Well, I'm I'm not I'm not disagreeing. I think we need it or incorporate. But if we get ones that I have two questions then. Yeah. With the Gaga pits now. We used to have them at the school. They were out in the grass areas, but we used to have sand and stuff underneath an area with
sand. So, being it's for the public, um, is there any kind of padding that they need underneath the the boards for the gaga pits? I don't know the answer to that question. That's something we would have
to check. And being portable, maybe we could put one or two up inside the hockey rinks. Well, that would be the most feasible cuz you put it on grass or something, we start getting rain and stuff cuz it looks like they got connection pads.
They can They have several types. Yeah, but if you put that in the in the grass area, I don't think it's going to be as effective as putting it in that in the uh hockey rink. I think it makes sense to put it in the hockey. You can Yeah. use that though, like to skate around in
the summer or No, no, not in No, they they use in the winter to play hockey a lot. There's only a couple people I've ever seen just free skating, but it's usually uh people playing hockey in there. How big is the gaga ball thing? Um put in the center and you
could still like skate. I would guess it's like a little smaller than that row of chairs. like maybe 1, two, three, four rows of chairs like that if you drew a circle around 15 ft in diameter. So it could potentially go in like the center of the hockey rink if someone wants to I would think it would fit in
there fine. Yeah. Oh, but wouldn't it be removed for winter? Yeah. Well, yeah, it'd be removable. Uh yeah, because you don't want to play hockey around that. No, no, no. It's Yeah, I'm trying to think of like other high you cuz silver I don't know that
there's room for this. Um so you couldn't do this at silver. Um Casey has the room for it, but we're already spending a lot of I mean this isn't a very expensive item but maybe this goes I mean I don't know Adrian kids but like if if you're saying the volleyball is getting used a
lot like this could get used if it was up in that area too by Casey. That would be my that would be the other park I could think of. KBY Hills has the area for this, but there's not high enough traffic. I don't think it's worth putting it in there, right? Um well, we also don't have to like equip we don't
have to become like Gaga pit central either. True. We just put in like we can do two and we can see how that goes. And um the awesome part is since they are portable, if it's a flop somewhere, we can try it somewhere else. Yeah. You know, great idea. So it just becomes a a
portable resource. So, are we okay with doing housy and Northwood for now? Yep. Yes. We're seeing how that goes. Okay. So, where's it going on Northwood or Howy? That's what I was going to say. Grass area. The grass area used to be the ball field. Yep. That whole It's
like perfect. It's like flat and just just west of the So, they're just going to play on the They're just going to play on grass. That's what they do at schools. Yeah. Okay. And then Northwood will be in the hockey rink. Okay. So, some of the other
smaller things, did you have a vision for that? Um, well, a couple of like I live by Colby Kby Hills. Is that my park? I don't remember. Um, Kobby Hills the structure is really it's new, but it's really small and like my kids most
I don't see a lot of kids playing on it. I think it's just too young. Um, I think something like one of these spinners or um even monkey bars or something like that would be great to add in. I love the spider climber and KBY Hills has that whole weird grass area that we do
flood, but I never see anyone using it. So, my question would be, do we need to keep flooding that waste the water and environmental impact? And maybe we could put this little spider climber there which would give kids it because it's got a really big park shelter that's beautiful. like we have that really big
pergola and I just feel like well yeah your kids aren't going to play on that playground cuz it's so small. Um so I would love to see something added there. Um and that spider climber could be really cool for that space. Um
do those need uh like a special foundation? We need to we'll need to find that up. I would Okay. I would speculate they would cement if anything. What' you say, Dave? We only need a
little bit of cement. Oh, I don't think they I don't think you'd have cement. I don't think they consider where they're going to fall from, right? Well, I'm just thinking to support the poles. Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, no. The rest should be chips. Well, I don't think they can do chips anymore, can they? I think we
need to look into this chip. Yep. Yep. Mulch. Yeah. I'll send you what I have. Oh, yeah. Send it to me. I just don't understand it's feasible. All I know is at the elementary school where I work, it's uh it's all soft and except for the chips on the side, but everything else is soft. It's soft padding. I love this
balancing. And I know how deep we had to go with Janie Janies. We had to go down like three, four feet. A couple feet. Yep. Yeah, that's cool. I think something like that near the um in Casey somewhere would be amazing. Especially if it's kind of near the ninja bar. It's
sort of a smaller version of, you know. Yeah, I pulled those out for the ninja. So maybe we when we break down Casey eventually we could look at those. Um see we got And I also me I also like the natural rocks climbing. That's
this one here. Yeah, that may not fit in as seamlessly at some of the other parks except maybe well in that area that you were talking about over at Kobe Hills. Oh yeah, that that and maybe the spider climber just a couple of those. It's more for the older kids and the other
ones are I know it's across the road, but the younger kids would be on the the one playground. I can see parents sitting in the shelter looking both ways. You know, I would say my vote would be if you're going to put in the spider climber, then do that little orbital spinner cuz it's got the ropes
and it kind of matches and kids love to make themselves sick spinning on things. Colby, that's what I would say is if you're going to do two things at Colby, then do those two. Um cuz we do have a quite a large space. We could probably easily fit them both. And then it kind
of adds a nice little element if you're renting that shelter out. Or maybe we give people a reason to rent that shelter out more. But Oh, this is Yeah. It's a spinner. Both of those. Yeah. And they kind of go together. They kind of work together. Okay. That makes sense.
We have smallcale additions coming to Howy Northwood Holy. Are there any other parks? What does that include benches? Are we including benches with this? Because how um Southwood might may need a few benches. That's going to be part
of maintenance. They got two benches that need to be I was going to bring it up later. You're going to they're going to Okay. But um my only other question I haven't been there in a while is Dorothy or is that Hi Travis? It's fine. It's just perfect structure and I don't think it
and Silver doesn't need Silver's got a lot of things. Casey has a lot of things. What other parks are we missing here? Tower urban ecology might get this tower. I feel like that Oh, tower. I feel like tower has a good variety. I mean, if we want to put something there, but is that yours? Yeah. Yeah, it's up
to you. I'm good with it. It's okay. Okay. Well, why don't we remain in a feasible like we could actually pull this off in 2025. And so, uh, for 2025, we have a Gaga pit
at Hy, a Gaga pit at Northwood, a Spider Climber, and a Starship orbiter at KBY Hills. Um, for 20 When did I When do you want to add the playground at Polar Park? Sorry, is that 2025 or
It's probably going to have to be 26, but we start it now. Maybe we get approval for it. Okay. But in 2025, we're going to get the um the fencing and the shelter removed from Casey Lake. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So
R2025 the the CIP templates that we need to write are the removing the fencing and shelter of Casey, adding a gaga pit at HY adding a Gaga pit at Northwood and
then adding Spider Climber and Starship Orbiter at Kobe Hills. Aren't we adding nature to urban ecology? Yes. Thank you. and then adding roughly $25,000 of nature play equipment to urban
ecology with the caveat that we need to know if the space that has been cleared is a space that we can use and put stuff in. But we can write up the the plan as if we can. Yeah. And then if we can't, we'll just modify. Yeah. Just throwing
this out there because it's low cost. Um and I forgot about tower. Like would we put a gaga pit in there too? It's close to the high school. It's close to the elementary school. Like it's it's far enough distance from Howy and Northwood that maybe it would be a nice option. We do. I was thinking we do have gaga pits
at Howy and Northwood which are relatively close. I don't know. I'd like to see how they work out at tower at the top corner like north the northeast corner. Okay. So basketball's on this side. Is is it flat enough and there's
enough space around trees? I'm I'm hesitant. I'd want to see. Maybe let's like check it out because I think that it'd be nice for the north side of town to have something. And because that's between an elementary school and the high school, like there's a lot of kids probably roaming around. So maybe what we do is we write up a
rough plan. Yeah. And then we check it out in between. Add one to possibly add one to tower. Space. And are we adding benches or picnic tables to any of these parks as well? I figure might as well just add
one and then if we don't I think we'd want to look at the inventory and see what we have because like Casey has quite a bit. I mean they don't in that area that we're talking about the field but we wouldn't want to add those till we finish everything. Northwood I don't have a good recollection whether there's benches and stuff in the mid part there.
I don't think there was a lot in the south part. Granted there's there's that shelter in the north part but yeah. No, there's not really like anywhere to sit over Yeah. I think a picnic table and a bench would be good for Northwood. And picnic tables are cheaper than benches
for some reason. Save that 100 bucks. Yep. Picnic tables for all. Okay. What uh tower? You're hesitant. But if we've I'm game to I'm game to do the request and then if it doesn't work out, would you add like two benches by
it? They have a shelter right in between. That's pretty That's pretty new. But I like the idea of adding a bench by the gaga. So should we add a bench to housy too then? Should we do they have one at that far end the other
two parks and see how probably cuz we don't want to become I just said we didn't want to become the gaga pit central is excessive. Is it? So maybe we just do the gaga pit, but we don't do a bench there yet because if it's a flop, then we have a random bench. Okay. And
we can't move. But if it's for Okay. For Northwood, I'm still going to have the bench though cuz we were thinking about doing the Gaga and the hockey now that I remember. Yeah. And those benches would be good around the hockey rink anyways. Yeah. Okay. So, we have five. We have
um my brain's turning to mush. Uh removal of removing fencing and shelter. Casey, urban ecology, natural play area, housy gaga pit, Northwood Gaga pit tower possibly gaga pit. That northwood uh request would also include a picnic
table and a bench and then Kobe Hill Spider Climber Starship orbiter. Would that need benches? I don't think so. I don't think so either, actually, because the the shelter has a ton of seating, so you just couldn't sit on the same side, but you can see it's fine. Perfect. Aren't
there six? Yeah, there's six. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Um and we're we're sure that people aren't using that. So I I sometimes get a little worried about use um you know it's hard to find like nice
open spots to throw, you know, throw or play football. The problem is it's not big enough to like play soccer or do something. But I drive past it almost every day and I have only ever seen one person and their dog was pooping on it.
So, so yeah, people walk their animals through it where you throw a football, you know, it's it's it's weirdly like a lot of space but not enough for like I wouldn't go there to throw a baseball cuz it cuz someone's fence is right there. So, the likeliness of your ball going over the person's kind of
depressed, right? It's kind of lower than the road. No, no, no. It's they flood it. They flood it for like a ice rank. So, we just wouldn't be able to flood it anymore. But again, I never see anybody. I never see anyone ice skating there. And I pass it. And And our
seasons have been really short the last few years. So yeah, that's true. Okay. For a sake of time, are we okay moving forward to our next agenda item? Yes.
Yeah. Okay. So I believe Rachel, I'm so sorry. Should we assign who has Yeah, because we did say we were going to do that. I can I can do Casey. Okay. And I'll do
ecology. I'll do uh Northwood as well. Okay. How about this? I'll do urban ecology and then I will write out the ones for Mcnite in separate entities. That's a good idea. Should I write the one for the gaga at housing? Sure, that'd be
great. Okay. So, that leaves uh I can do the KBY Hills. Okay. But I'm missing one, aren't I? Uh tower. Tower. Tower. Yep. I can do that, too. Are you sure?
Yeah. That hard. Okay. That's why I picked her. She was going Dave, do you want to write up the future ones for the third street in downtown? I'll do Mcnite. Yeah, I can write up something just for future like I know those aren't going to be like the next couple years,
but just so that we have them for that 2035 plan. You and I can divide up that HGA. I'll do because I'm going to write Mcnite probably in five different parts, maybe more. Yeah. Putting the parking lot in though, guys.
Okay. Yeah. Uh do you need help with housing? Let me know. Okay. We can work it together then. That might be effective too. Sounds good. Okay, Sarah Lang, do you have who's doing what? I only caught half of it, so Okay. So,
yes. Uh, Rachel is going to write up Casey, uh, Northwood and Tower. Gotcha. Sarah is going to write up urban ecology. Mhm. Uh, I am going to write up KBY Hills. Sarah is going to do
Mcnite. Dave is going to do Third Street. And and we're just going to do housy and ingride is doing housy. Yep. Uh Dave's doing the third street and then the um Yes. Downtown downtown. Yep.
Down one by the VFW. I I had work. I had a meeting after work and then I have this meeting. I am not professional anymore. Okay. So, and this this all has
to be in by what? What date? uh next next park meeting you want to like submit this to the Sarah and then he's gonna send us the Excel template which I just did the deadline as well. Unfortunately I won't be at work during
that so it will she's getting married. I am. She's like trying to look at my she's like I want to get out of here. So, um, it will I'll have one of my co-workers put it in the packet, but I'll need this stuff will have to be submitted by May 22nd. So,
May 22nd. Yep. And is this like does this need to be re like are you going to review it? And if it's not good enough, it needs Well, I won't be here. Okay. Yeah. There you go. When do you want it dubai? Uh, okay. Our next meeting is When's our
next meeting? It's later. It's the 28th of May. Like a long break. This one was an early one. But you're saying we should have it to you by the 26th. Yeah. Because we have to get the public. Yeah. So it get published. Uh May 15th. Okay.
Okay. The 15th. May not May 15th. No, it's fine. It's good. Okay. May 15th. So all of those are due to your taxes and send your things to taxes. Home taxes are due April. No, home taxes are due by
May. Property. Yeah. Property tax. You don't escalate. Nope. Oh, I already got mine back. Okay. Well, anyways. Okay. Hey. Okay. I'm a weirdo. I don't want to pay for parking lots and I want to pay my own property
taxes. I was fighting city hall. Rachel, pitch us your park passport program. Do I need to stand somewhere? No. No. Can I see my Yes, it's Can I see my thing? Is that an option here? I don't
Okay, she's got it. No, we're good. We're good. She's got it. I don't mind sharing. I actually do want to say anything. Oh, okay. Okay. You're gonna pitch it to us. Yes. Okay. Okay. To go to the microphone then and talk officially. Yes.
Hello. Just make sure it's on. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for coming to my presentation on the park passport program proposal PowerPoint. Thank you. Okay. The purpose is to incentivize citizens to visit all of
North St. Paul's parks, encouraging personal and positive interaction with the city's park system. Okay. So, how would this work? Um, and an individual would visit all of our parks, 12 to 14, depending on whether we want the extra
two or not. Um, the individual would take a selfie of themselves with either the park sign or a notable object. came up with another idea while I was doing this presentation. I think it'd be really cool if we had a snowy in each park. Yeah, just FYI. Okay. Uh then the
individual would submit their selfies to a new city web page. Um and then once that is reviewed by a city employee, they would come and collect their prize. Oh, wrong way. Okay. The particulars I could see this
working for all ages. um children, teens, adults, elderly, whatever. Um it's self-paced, so there's no deadline. You can take one day to do it. You could take 12 years to do it, whatever. Um you can also do it any time of year. You
could do it summer, spring, fall. There's no restrictions. I was thinking for a prize pickup. If it's during city hall hours, they could pick it up at city hall. if they need outside city hall hours possibly we could do a pickup at the library. I don't know. There's
ideas. Um there's also opportunities for growth. We could do a component of like a hiking have like a hiking trail at each park uh with like a password along the way. There could be a geocaching segment sometime where we have a little bury your little treasure somewhere.
There could also be a naturalist component sometime in the future where you identify a a flower or a tree or an animal at uh different parks. Okay. Ideas for prizes. Um I wanted to stick with the theme of a
snowman. The snowman, excuse me. Um otherwise city branded or city business branded. Um I was thinking we would do a Midway prize. um small like a sticker, a pin, a magnet, or like a $5 gift card
for a local business. Um and then upon completion, a larger item such as like a t-shirt or baseball hat. Okay, pricing. Um I'm guessing I I don't know. 300 participants was just the number that
came to mind. Don't ask me where that came from. That's what we're going to go with. Um, so based on I don't have my little speaker notes here, so please forgive me. Um, I did list these by cheapest to most expensive. The magnet
was like under a buck. Sticker was under a buck. A pin was like $3. Local business card was $5. So for 300 participants, the midway prize would range between $150 and $1,500. the completion prize. I was thinking
either a t-shirt where you could do youth to uh 4XL size or a baseball cap. Uh the t-shirts were 10 bucks each. Baseball cap was um $15 each. So the completion prize for 300 participants
would be $3,000 to $4,500. Um and this pricing is based on purchasing the items 100 pieces at a time. So, the upfront cost would be1 to $2,000 for the midway prize and the
completion prize, purchasing 100 of each prize. Um, and then we'd also need to create the program web page where the individual would submit their selfies uh for the city to review. The annual budget for this program for 300
participants would be about three to $6,000 and would take about 20 hours of employee time, which is reviewing the selfies and distributing the prizes. Um, basing this off of each individual, the cost per participant is $10 to $20
depending on the prizes. And then for five participants, it uh added one additional hour of employee time. Um, how do we promote this lovely program? Uh, you got the sign at Casey
Lake. Um, I don't know. Flyers maybe. Uh, we could put flyers at the parks. We could put I don't know if we're allowed to put flyers in like schools and churches. Um, at the car show we could have a flyer or signage. Um, and then at
future park events, we could advertise future park events. Um, and then I'm sure they'd add something to the city website, the city newsletter, and the city socials. And I'm done. Could we uh could
we choose them from the park commission instead of having the city pick them? Choose what? Choose the winners or whatever. We're going to up the price. Why is it's not um no one's like competing with each other. It's uh you you you do it all and you win. It's like a like a race. You finish the race and
you win. Okay. Okay. So, it's just an administrative thing for the city and that's about all we got. Correct. If they complete it. Okay. But I mean if someone if there was after hours and the commissioners wanted to or we could tell them they have to come to our meeting. Yeah. I like that. I like that. Yep. Ava
did volunteer to review them. Um which is I love that idea. Take photos of the winners. Good idea. Was it you that said something here? I'm looking at this promotion piece um and
I'm thinking you know flyers physical flyers are not as effective anymore um sadly as QR codes and wasn't it you that mentioned so I how hard is it to put a QR code oh it's so at Casey and say you
know uh oh here's a full program you know yeah so that's I think the best way to handle that is to combine that so put a flyer with like the the title and whatever and then a QR code for more in Yeah. Okay. So,
yeah, normally I'm kind of grudgingly I can't believe I'm the one saying this, but uh normally I'm like QR codes. I just want to talk to a waitress or waiter. I don't want it at restaurants, but I think this would be a good idea. But this because you Yes, because you want to get people keep their interest.
They're like, "Oh, what do you want?" Um, and then of course the website, the city website. But, but I recommend we move forward. Yeah, I would just say let's look at the t-shirt baseball cap cost. That seems really high. I just placed an order for like 200 shirts and
it was around like 500. So maybe like we could I was on like Red Bubble or Okay, totally. I was on that was the only thing that was like, oh, that's like almost our Southwood budget. But no, it was I'd say I I bet the city has like even graphic traffic or something as as long as we could keep that like
manageable. I think it could be much lower then if the staff time feels okay then the there was a few concerns I just want to talk through. So the first one was the midway prize and for us to like have to keep track of who did it and who hasn't done it so far was kind of a
concern for us. Okay. So, we do like the idea, but it's there would have to be some like logistics worked out, especially depending on who's like actually in the office to do it if we you know what I mean? Yeah. Um, so I think we need to really think about if we want to do the Midway prize. Um, the
t-shirt thing was like we don't like that because we have to keep all the sizes in stock and that's hard for us. That's what I was. So, like a hat is nice. Yeah. Um or even like they sell graphic traffic has like cheap blankets also that we could look
at. Um so I can certainly put some ideas together that way too and get some other costs. Totally open to other options and that I think that does make sense of the difficulty with the logistics of a midway prize and like we only have 12 right. Yeah. I would also agree that's
more management. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. What about would it help to have an available commissioner help her or come down to the city and help you guys out when these things laid lay out if if we get
like a ton of submissions potentially. Are you okay with that? I'd be more than happy. I got time during the day. Run down here and people are happy to see me. Oh gosh. The other thing is maybe it's a participant prize like that just like that you guys like a pin something you
guys have like writing into something that like if you participate stop by city hall and like you know that way it's kind of just honor system you guys don't have to check for a photo you just say hey I did the passport thing and it said it anytime you know like you can say well did you complete it or did you do it okay well here's the like
something you would give I don't know if it just gets people and gets them more engaged versus like a checkpoint point. Yeah. And we as a city have stickers kind of being developed already. So that's something that we wouldn't need. Something you guys already have that doesn't have to be ordered that like you
would just you don't really care. It's like honor system. Maybe start small and then we'll grow from there. Yeah. Have a see how the stickers go. This really lends itself to a scavenger hunt kind of thing too. Like if like for example a photo of you in front of this right you
know mysterious object. Where is that? And I could see people going, I know where that is. That's down at the base of the snowman. You know, that's that weird that that's what I envision if um in the future adding like a geocaching component. So that's where you kind of use like GPS coordinates and figure out
where the the treasure chest is or what have you and then that's kind of secretive. So maybe that's a future idea. Yeah. Okay. So just do this and have it really kind of work from there. Yeah. And I think it would be best if they were like separate programs but
related. It would keep that interest going too. Exactly. Interest completed it. Exactly. Do you ever do anything like that with your kiddos? Uh kids summer things like No, but I this would be absolutely a thing that our summer
programs would love to be a part of. So I could definitely see it being more than 300 participants. Um, so I would keep I would keep your prize uh smallish. Um, and I Yeah, like I think your completion prize could be magnet
sticker pin. Um, and then if you wanted to do it annually like 2020 I don't want to over complicate things but as Sarah's like no. Um, what if it was I don't know you know maybe it's you tweak the design slightly
every year or something. Yes. So I'm game for that. But I think I think small I still think people won't be in it. Um maybe like a a nice magnet or something. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Or maybe like a magnet and a sticker like two little things. I'm good with that.
Off some of those nicer items too and be like in a little raffle for a bigger prize. There you go. And then you'd have a winner. Then we'd have a winner. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm for that. I like that. I think it's great. I think logistically now we just need to figure out like what
the next steps are going to be. Okay. Um so do now that we're like yay let's do this. Do you want to maybe work on like a sample flyer or sample of what what would be in the park to bring to the next meeting? When you say what
would be in the park like the flyer that we would put in the park or we'd have an event or whatever. Sorry. It's just a selfie that they're taking, right? So to be like with a picture like a specific thing. So I'm not I haven't been to all the parks yet. So that's why I didn't
say specifically what it was. So I'm thinking probably the best option would be like the park sign, but I wanted to like visit the parks to make sure that was feasible, accessible we've done in four years we
Oh, sorry I said that incorrectly. Um, we it's one of the big things we've done in the last years. Rachel, let me know if you need help or I'll I'll just I'll more than happy. She can send her my email. Well, she probably got it, but send her my email. Same. Paul, you know. Yeah. And uh I'd
be more than because I got time during the day. Okay. And you know, if you can't do stuff cuz you're at work, I can always help with stuff at work or go take you around with the parks and we'll go give you the history of each park. There's a whole lot of history going on in these parks. We should give a history
tour. That would be fun. We could do that. Yes. Let's talk about that in the future. We'll put that on our CI. Yes. I love it. Imagine the city council. Finalizes eventually. I think we just
need to take the next step and you just need to like write out what the program is going to be. Yeah. You know what I mean? So like a written like Yeah. Like if I proposal, I don't know what's going on and like give me a document that we
can give to the city. Okay. City council. Oops. City council. Oh yeah. Know what the program is. Okay. Just like one pager. Okay. And then we can move forward. Okay. So do the onepage uh description and then an example flyer if
you want. I'm not super attached to the flyer. Okay. I meant I was the example picture in front of a specific thing. Okay. But if you just get us the program so we can be like, "Hey, this is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to do it for the next meeting." I
think that's we're good. Okay. Okay. Reports from staff. Don't you want to do commissioner discussions? Well, no, I do not. Wow. Okay. So, want to do D. I got a couple
things. Yeah. Okay. Hear you on that. Um, okay. For the sake of time, yes, we're going to do commissioner discussion, but if we could keep it as brief as possible, really, that would be wonderful. So, we'll just do a quick
down the row m commissioner discussion. And this is just an opportunity for us to talk about ideas we might have or just general things we want to bring up. Okay. So Lloyd, would you like to start? I'm good. Let's keep rolling. Sarah,
nothing for me? I I have nothing. I do. Imagine that. Yeah. Well, I had a call from one of our citizens. Um, this has to do with Southwood and because it it
sounds like the prediction for u wood ticks are going to be high this year. She informed me that the DNR is asking like our parks, like our nature preserve, have the the path cut, clear 3
ft from the path. And then if any citizen does come across a taken, the way it sounds, it doesn't matter if it's in the in the from the park or from their backyard. Um, I guess they were asking that save the tick, put it in a a
plastic bag, give it like a notation, and then send it off to the University of Minnesota so they can kind of track and see where there's Lyme disease and stuff like that. So that's all I had is just to to um it's been recommend the
recommendation is to have public works cut three feet on either on both sides of the trails to help to uh so you're not walking up against Right. So they kind of cut down on uh the transfer from ticks to humans. Does
public works know about this? No, that's I just got the call this this afternoon. Okay. They will tomorrow. Yeah. Okay. Was gonna And Sarah, are you just gonna let them know Dave? Yeah. And that particular resident was in today talking to staff, so they're also aware. Yes.
Good. Perfect. That's all we got. I got no update. Okay. Motion to adjourn. No. You don't want any reports? All right. Reports from staff. Oh, I thought we were going Oh, I will be super brief. So, last meeting.
Last meeting it was asked of me to find out the cost of inserts into the utility bills. Ah um I did get that cost and actually there is going to be one for the up my mic wasn't on um for the upcoming events. Uh they're hoping to
get it into the May utility bill. Um but it might be June. But either way they're going to have something in it. It's designed um and if you do like a half sheet or like the little they call it a buck slip sheet. um it's about
$640 uh for 7500 inserts. Um if we did the full size 8 1.5 x1 um it's roughly $1,700. So just as a general cost. So you said there's a a version in design now. Correct. Is that for that's all
events including park events? Yes. So it's just going to promote um because we're doing the buck slip so it's small we can't fit everything on it. So, I was just going to talk about um check here for more uh event updates, sign up for our newsletter, check social media, all
that kind of stuff for our events. So, okay. Is that coming out of the parks budget? No. Excellent. Communications, but because I was asked, I brought it back. So, if we wanted something like that, 640 totally reasonable. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. It's like it's kind of ridiculous. It's like two months. Two months lead time. So, okay. Cool. Um, Howy Park windscreen was requested by Sarah last time. Um, or one of you. I think it was you. Yeah. Um,
and so public works is working on that. Um, the it's not coming out of your budget also, but it's about a $5,000 cost. Um, and they're looking to have that installed sooner rather than later. So, we'll see that up soon. Um, it's out of the maintenance budget is my
understanding. steady, steady. Um, the only other update I have is that the park and open space master plan was officially approved by city council at the last council meeting. So, we can have that as an official document. Congratulations.
Thank you, city council. So, that's all I got. Amazing news. Okay. Reports from commissioners and park leaison. any super pertinent things from your parks that you would like to share? Uh Rachel, we're gonna start with
you. No. Yeah. Southwood has a couple of fences that have to be redone. I'm sorry you guys asked. Oh, and there's still the sun does come up in the east. And there's still uh a couple of huge piles
of uh wood brush that should be removed. That's it. Thank you, David. Nothing in silver or direct nothing. Good. Wonderful. Okay. Now we
can make I make a motion to adjourn. Okay. But who made? I second it. Second. Okay. Oh, we got a vote. I just for the record.