Heat. [music] Heat. >> [music] >> call.>> I will Christie. here. >> Hanley>> here. >> Lurman>> here. >> Schultz>> here. >> Samurski>> here. >> And chair Ingraham>> here. Okay. Next on the agenda is the approvalof the agenda. Are there any comments or do we have a motion?>> I move to approve the agenda. [clears throat]>> I'll second. >> Christie,>> yes. >> Hanley,>> yes. >> Lman,>> yes. Schultz, >> yes.>> Samurski, >> yes.>> And Chair Ingram, >> yes.We have three sets of minutes from our two meetings, well, a special meeting wehad with the attorney and Mike Funk about the roles of the board and thenour last meeting in August as well as the September joint meeting. And I'dlike uh if uh any questions or comments otherwise, we need three motions, onefor each set of minutes. So, if there are any questions, uh, uh,a motion for August 6th special meeting. >> I move to approve the minutes from theAugust 6 special meeting. >> A second.>> Uh, Christie, >> yes. [clears throat]>> Hanley, >> yes.>> Lurman, >> yes.>> Schultz, >> yes.>> Samurski, >> yes.>> And Ingraham, >> yes.Uh, same thing for the August 6th actual full park board meeting. Any comments orquestions or >> otherwise a motion to approve?>> I move to approve the August 6th regular meeting minutes.>> A second. >> Uh, Christie,>> yes. >> Hanley,>> yes. >> Lairman,>> yes. >> Schultz,>> yes. >> Smerki,>> yes. >> And Chair Ingraham,>> yes. And finally, uh, any comments or corrections to the September 3rd jointmeeting? Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion for approval of that.>> Um, I I move that we approve the September 3rd joint city council andpark board study session minutes. >> I second.>> All right. Christy, >> yes.>> Hanley, >> yes.>> Larman, >> yes.>> Schultz, >> yes.>> Samurski, >> yes.>> And Chair Ingram, >> yes. All right.>> Uh, now we'll move on to uh I don't see anybody here, but are there any citizensonline or looking for input? >> We have none online>> and we have no special matters tonight. So, move to business items uh 7Auh city mana climate action and adaption plan overview.>> Yeah, thank you Chair Ingram and parkboard members. So, a few meetingsago, we did talk a little bit about sustainability and climate and felt thatit would be a good idea for the park board to uh hear more about what thecity is doing, some of the initiatives and programs and especially focusing onthe climate adapt climate action and adaptation plan. We also call it the CAPum that the council approved in 2024. So, we have Ally Sutherland. She's theuh sustainability coordinator for the city. Um she's been here for a littlealmost a year, a little less than a year.>> Um and so she'll be presenting on the plan tonight. Uh we have Julie Wishnack,our community development director here as well. She's been very involved, soprobably uh could answer questions as well if you have any. But I'll just turnit over to Ally. Um she'll present. There's no action on this item, so thisis really for information and questions. >> Thank you. Hello everyone. [clears throat] Excuseme. Alias Sutherland, sustainability coordinator. Thank you to Leslie and youall for inviting me here. Um, as Leslie mentioned, I've been here sinceDecember, so not quite a year. Uh, but it's been really fun to be in this role.Um, I was previously working for the city of Inenver Grove Heights in a verysimilar role. Um, but I did grow up in Minnetonka, which I might have mentionedto a few of you. Um, so it's been really special and fun to come back and workfor the community that I was raised in and have, um, family still living hereas well. So, um, my position is housed within the planning division, just tokind of give you an idea of where I work. Um, and then the planning divisionis within the community development department. And my role is predominantlyfocused on the climate action and adaptation plan implementation with someother you know work mixed in but generally speaking that's where most ofmy time is focused on and then I am also the staff liaison to our sustainabilitycommission. So I'll talk a bit about that group as well um later. Soawesome. Um so for the overview I'll be talkingabout like 20 25 minutes today. Um, I'll first talk about how the city embracessustainability and that kind of falls into one of our strategic prioritiesthat the city has. It's the sustainability, resilience, and naturalenvironment priority that Leslie maybe has talked to you about in the past oryou've heard of. Um, so we'll go through some highlights of stewardship over theyears um that Minnetonka has done related to sustainability and this um uhstrategic priority in general. We'll talk about who's involved in all thatwork. Then we'll get into the climate action and adaptation plan. Um, and thentalk about kind of next steps and where we're at with that implementation, whatwe've done and where we're headed. So, talking about highlights to ofstewardship. Um, so the sustainability, resilience, and natural environment umpriority is one of six strategic priorities. This is selected by the citycouncil and then staff selects um action items in order to achieve the desiredoutcomes that the city council sets up. Um it's a three-year work plan. So rightnow we're in the first of the three-year series I believe the 2025 through 2028.And this just helps to set priorities for our work and helps just drive um theoutcomes of our work as staff. So um city council sees this as a priority ofour of our work. Um, but we know that the community also values this workbased on regular surveys that we've um, received results for for both residentsand businesses. And I was really excited to see how engaged businesses are onthis too because that's not normally something that you would expect to seemaybe, but in Minnetonka it is um, it is real and I I've seen the results. Sothat was really exciting to see. Um, and then also wanted to make a note thatalthough it is a current strategic priority of the council to focus onsustainability in this realm, it's also something that's been happening fordecades. And um, even despite having, you know, various distributions ofwhoever's been on the council over the past decades, it's it's remainedsomething that the city has been consistently committed to.Um, so this is an example timeline that II've created. It's it's certainly not comprehensive. It's just meant to callout some highlights over the years um that demonstrate that the city has veryintentionally been a leader in this space. Um has been consistentlydedicated and just wants to be a steward for both sustainability, resilience, andnatural environment. Um, you can see here, you know, I'm notgoing all the way back in time, but as early as 1976, I've been told that ourcity made an intentional stance to um go above and beyond federal and stateregulations for wetland protection in 1976. So, I think that's prettyindicative of how um the city wants to be an early adopter in this space. Samewith the 1989 organized recycling, um, curbside recycling for our residents andI believe businesses as well. Um, if it's not just households, but ingeneral, I mean, you can look now and there are cities that are still notdoing this, even um, neighboring Minnotonka or locally. So, it again justkind of goes to show how Minnetonka has wanted to be an early adopter of thesepractices. Uh, same with the Tree City USA designation for tree preservation.Um even in 2008 there was the US Conference of Mayors climate protectionagreement signed which is quite early on in terms of climate action work. Umagain I'm not going to review all of these but just some other highlights.Minnesota green sub cities we uh began participating in 2013.The sustainability commission that I'm the staff leaison to that body was umcreated in 2021. And then I did include some natural resources and parks relateditems on here that you may recognize. One of the more recent ones was yourpost update the parks open space and trails um systems plan in 2022 you mightrecognize. So um and then sorry I also wanted to showcase some morerecent stewardship examples with actual like quantifiable results that we have.Um starting in 2022 anywhere between that year and uh this year we've we haveinstalled six public electric vehicle charging stations. You might have seenthose those on our on our city campuses. So, um, three are, um, the fast chargingin, uh, infrastructure and then the other three are just the level two, butthey're, um, they're located at Williston, our city campus at city hall,and then also the community center. So, we have six of those. We have fiveelectric vehicles within our fleet. We adopted the climate action plan in 2024.Um we have three solar arrays that are if not installed they're being installedthrough the public on um the solar on public infrastructure buildings grantprocess that we went through and the city helped to subsidize that. So wehave three solar installations um as of this year and then we recently as ofFebruary of this year have enrolled just over 2,700 residents in curbsideorganics recycling. So that's a lot for just having started. Um, and I think itgoes to show that it's not only the city that wants to participate, but weclearly have residents that want to participate, too. And I will say umafter talking to Darren, which he is here, um he's told me that I think thatthe number is higher than we initially anticipated, which is really a greatproblem to have in in my um opinion. So, who's involved?Um we have several groups involved. So, city council in terms of the leadershipand policy direction and decision-m they are the decision makers in this case. Wealso have commissions. We have our sustainability commission and then parkboard for example related to park items. Um those are our recommending bodies.They make um you know they're the advisory boards for this sort of work.We have partnerships with other governments. So the state of Minnesotafortunately is extremely supportive of climate work. um not all localgovernments have that uh benefit to have a state that is also supporting your ownlocal priorities. So we are um very fortunate in Minnesota to have that. Andthen Henipin County is also very supportive of this work. I've come tolearn that they have their own climate department with I believe over seven oreight staff working on this which is really exciting to see. And they alsohave grant opportunities that come out of that. Um Leslie's team works morewith our four watersheds within Minnetonka, but it just goes to showthat it's really not only the city working on this work and it really doestake a village um and deep collaboration between all these different governmentbodies to to make a difference. Um every city department is involved in this workas well and I just have a handful of staff up here. It's certainly notcomprehensive, but myself and Leslie as a natural resources manager working onthis. We have the city forester facilities manager. Um Darren, thestreets and parks operations manager is also our recycling coordinator and wehave a water resources program manager. So there's a lot of diversity here andall of us fall within different departments. So um have collaborationequals success because I've come to learn that in this work in order to besuccessful it is fundamentally um needed to have collaboration betweendepartments. It's if you don't have that, you really cannot move this workforward. And that was something that I noticed um as soon as I got toMinnetonka, how people here as staff recognize this as a priority. Theyunderstand it's a city council priority and they're just ready to collaborateand that allows us to move so much more quickly to actually implement work. So,it's a really fun place to um be working because of that.Um in terms of the sustainability commission, so again it was umestablished in 2021 as an advisory body. So their duties are as assigned by citycode. There's um the code language is a bit more lengthy than this, but I'vesummarized it within four different components of their roles. So first andforemost, they're sustainability adviserss to the city council. So,they're reviewing and creating and um advising on plans, programs, andpolicies for the city council to essentially consider theirrecommendation. Um the priorities are pretty expansive again within the citycode, but between 2021 and this year, we've focused mostly on climate actiontopics, energy efficiency, clean energy, and solid waste. And that's more ofbased just on um you know, regional priorities that we're seeing in our owncity priorities. And in 2026, uh we're working on the draft work plan right nowfor the commission, but it uh will focus predominantly on the climate action andadaptation plan, which in a sense actually focuses on those previouspriorities. It's just more um consolidated and organized, um goingforward. Another role that they have is that they are sustainabilityambassadors. So, when they're appointed to this position, um they know thatthey're going to be volunteers and they're really excited. They'reextremely passionate residents of Minnetonka and it's so fun to work withthem. They come out to our events. Um they're our face of sustainability andit's so much more impactful I think when you talk to your neighbor that's doingthis work and encouraging you to do this work other than you know if you'retalking to staff it just maybe feels like a interaction between staff and umfrom government and yourself. So it's really important to have these um folkson board with us. Um, they also kind of act as just like a neigh neighborhoodchampion, if you will, for their for their neighborhood related tosustainability topics. That kind of blends into the third action is tocultivate these community relationships. So, not only are they connecting us withother residents that they might know, but um if they frequent businesses, ifthey're a part of a place of worship, for example, if they're familiar with afood shelf or that sort of thing. like just trying to help us get moreconnected with the community because um as you'll learn, we we really need thesecommunity connections to make this work successful. And then lastly, we do havea work plan every year. Um it's just to keep us on track. We only actually meetsix times a year, every other month. So that work plan is pretty important toprioritize our work. And um that is approved by our city council and wereport on that every year just to kind of keep track of where we're at.Um so now I'll dive into the climate action and adaptation plan. Um so thisplan began development in 2023. We utilize a very extensive engagementprocess. So we had a consultant on board. Um that specialized in climateaction planning and framework. So they they assisted with this process. Therewere staff workg groupoups which I believe were about between 20 to 30staff that were a part of these um and there were many many meetings um youknow collecting everyone's feedback. We also had several months of communityengagement. So that all happened within 2023 2024 um in April of that year thisplan was approved by city council. And what I've come to learn is that thisguide is created for the community. So, while we do have um information andactions related to our city facilities, there's a common misconception that thisis just our city facility or organization plan. It's really meant toguide and inform the entire community on how they can participate in climateaction. Climate change is a very um deeply complex issue. It includes, youknow, multiple aspects of life such as our energy systems, public health, foodsystem, transit, building performance. It's a really big topic. It's global aswe all know too. So, it can get very overwhelming as a business owner inMinnetonka or a resident, one resident in Minnitonka, like asking like what canI do? So the point of this plan is to to understand there's no simple fix, butit's to um consolidate this complex issue into actionable item or actionabletasks that you as an individual can take to make a difference. um looking at thisplan, staff prior to me um were very intentional about creating thechecklists that I actually handed out and we'll go through those in just alittle bit to to make it easy to as um you know a resident or business owner toopen this plan and understand like what can I do today? What can I do tomorrow?What can I do 5 10 years from now to to um feel like you have um you'reempowered to be able to make those those decisions. So um let's see. So thisguide breaks down that action um into two different actions. So we havemitigation you'll hear when talking about climate action. There'smitigation, there's adaptation. Mitigation is to slow the growth ofgreenhouse gas emissions. So to reduce the amount of emissions that we'reproducing um and eventually we want to transition away fully from fossil fuels.So that's the f fossil fuel gas that we're using for for building um heatingand cooling. adaptation is um not necessarily related to emissions, butit's adapting to a changing climate, a changing world. So, making sure ourinfrastructure is resilient to that changing world. And then also ourecological systems, which you all talk about in parks, like when we'redeveloping a new park, are we taking into account that our climate ischanging? And we need to think about that when we're planting trees orselecting um our native communities that we're we're planting or mayberehabilitating. So um we focus on two both of thosetopics and I will say that's actually quite unique. Um earlier on in theseprocesses when other cities were adopting these they did not focus onadaptation. So natural resources had a big um impact I think on the uhdevelopment of this plan and so that's why you're seeing that emphasized somuch. And I think as you all know um Minnetonka you know really um findsvalue in our natural resources. So, it's very clear to me that yeah, that ofcourse that would be part of this plan, which is exciting to see. Um, sosections, there's a lot of sections in this plan. It's several hundred pages, Ibelieve, is the full plan, but today I'll just cover um kind of the mainsection. So, the first is existing conditions. So, what does our city looklike now? Where what are emissions? Um what is the land use in our communityand what are the impacts of that land use in terms of greenhouse gasemissions? our community profile. Um we'll talk about that goals and targetsof this plan and then the strategies and actions that the plan lays out.Um so this plan um part of the plan was that it it laid out climate hazards thatexist today and are anticipated to exist um in Minnotonka. So, we are alreadyexperiencing and plan to continue experiencing hotter summers, which canlead to poor air quality and unsafe temperatures for being outside, forexample, like at an event, let's say. warmer winters we're experiencing andplan to continue experiencing which um leads to icy conditions, heavyprecipitation which uh can lead to flash flooding and increased hail damage whichI wanted to stop here and just share um a quick story. As we all know, if youwere home um a couple weeks ago, you probably experienced this pretty severehail damage storm. Well, internally, I sit next to the front uh desk andbetween Julie and our permitting staff, we had, I believe, 52 businesses camein, 52 new businesses came in to receive a soliciting permit to be able to godoortodoor um to households in Minnetonka to dothese door knocking. And it was over 192, I think, individuals that are apart of those businesses that got these licenses. And>> they all knock on my door. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure.>> Yes. Yes. And so I just kept hearing how unprecedented that was. How people likeJulie who've worked here for >> Yeah. 20 years um have never experiencedsomething like that. So we just felt like that really shows the severity ofhow severe that event was. Um and it does make you think that, you know,there's a lot of implications that come with these severe events. propertydamage, insurance rates um you know potentially increasing even I wasthinking like staff time. I mean we had Fiona as our um permitting licensing umstaff and so her time she has to do a background check for every single one ofthose people and that u affects I believe the police department. So I meanthere's you know ramifications for these type of events. Umand then continuing on, prolonged droughts is anticipated and has alreadybeen experienced which can lead to low water levels. And um just to summarizethat there's adverse effects on health and safety for residents. It includesworkers here, ecosystems as we know, even recreational activities, which yourgroup probably thinks a bit more about, but you know, sporting events issomething that this can affect. And then of course infrastructure too. So, justwanted to let you know that I know we tend to think of this on like a globalscale, but we know that this is happening in Minnetonka and I actuallyrecently just attended a meeting with Henipin County and their their emergencyservices manager is even thinking about this. So, it's not just even, you know,as like a resident experiencing it like there's every division department thinksabout this and and how it impacts their work.Um, let's see. Oh, okay. community profile. Um, some of this you mayalready know, but I figured we could just review it. So, in the climateaction plan, it gives a kind of a snapshot of what our community lookslike. So, we have 56,162 um individuals living in the the city ofMinnotonka. And that's population estimates as of 2024.We have 25,240 households as of 2024. Again, estimates.Um, generally speaking, the population of Minnotonka residents on average havea lower poverty rate here. And that's based on the average of the state, whichis good in the sense that it actually lowers our climate vulnerability.Um, it also then lowers our average uh energy burden. So, an energy burden isthe ratio of income you spend on your energy bills. So generally speaking,average-wise, we have a low energy burden within Minnotonka in comparisonto other communities locally, but the climate action plan does note that thereare still potentially at least 900 households with a severely high energyburden, which means that they have at least 10% of their income going towardstheir energy bills. Um, and it's important for us to know this and thinkabout this when we do when we move towards implementation because we canprioritize implementation to alleviate the burden that energy burden for thesehouseholds. Um, we can help provide equal access to home energy efficiencyimprovements and clean energy for these folks that may not be able to afford itotherwise. Um, so trying to figure out like how can our programming assist withthose two actions. And another thing to think about is it's it's not always thecase, but it's more likely that these households are probably older and lessefficient and haven't been upkept as much. So, in terms of emissions andsuch, they're likely less efficient um and probably emitting more moreemissions there. So, there's just a lot of um you know, possibilities that cancome out of that for us to be considering um in terms of our land use.So we want to think about this in terms of how the space in Minnotonka is usedand how our land is used. So 50% of our land is used as residential um land use.We have sorry these numbers are really small so I will read them.>> What was it? >> Institutional.>> Oh yeah. Um institutional is 3%. So that would be like our schools. Parks andrecreation um constitutes uh 12% of our land. commercial is 6%, multif family is7% and industrial is 1% and after I made this slide I learned that theagricultural and undeveloped um component is likely wetlands. So 11% iswetlands which I thought this board might be interested in.Um so this is some of the existing greenhouse gas emission conditions umwhen this study was completed. So this is a snapshot in time of 2021 becausethat was the available data um as of 2021 in Minnotonka. So this isactivities that occurred within the Minnotonka municipal boundary um that umemitted 615,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. So umthat can be broken down into a few different topics. So 54% of thoseemissions were due to building energy. Building energy was then divided betweenum commercial and industrial and residential is essentially split. So theamount of emissions that are coming from buildings is both split betweenresidential buildings and commercial buildings. So just kind of showing theimpact of that land use that we looked at on the slide before. Um in terms ofthe building energy, it's coming from equally actually 27%each uh between electricity and natural gas or fossil fuel gas. So it's splitbetween there. The other 44% of our emissions come from vehicle travel. Sothat would be either transit or personal vehicles. And then the remaining 2% isfrom waste. And then again, that's that same graph.So looking back at 20 or sorry, 2007 to 2021, our emissions actually as a wholecommunity. So this is looking communitywide reduced by uh 32%.And it actually included reductions from the the building emissions, the wasteemissions, and travel emissions. Um in terms of electricity from buildings, uhwe know that that was reduced. So you can see it here reducing over time. It'sdue to energy efficiency becoming more normalized. Just when you go to buy anappliance, it's likely more efficient than the 10, 20 year old appliance thatyou previously owned. It's also due to um cleaner energy sources. So, if youaren't aware, XL Energy is our only electric uh utility provider withinMinnotonka, and they have um committed to the state to to be providing 100%clean electricity by 2040 um and are already doing that. They'realready accomplishing these goals. They've continued to say that they areon track to meet these goals. So, it's important to to be aware of that becausewhen we talk about electrification, like switching your um heating fuels in yourhouse to an electric um airsource heat pump or switching your electric vehiclefrom a gas powered vehicle to an electric powered vehicle, it's becausein Minnesota in particular, our grid, our electrical grid is becoming cleaner.And by 2040, it should be 100% clean energy, which is pretty amazing. Andit's really exciting to see that uh Excel is saying that they're on track tomeet that goal and that's a statemandated requirement now for theutilities to do that. Um so and then another thing that'sinteresting is that as this electricity emissions are decreasing that means thatyou can see it's actually now lower than these other two sections. So it'sactually putting an emphasis now on uh focusing on gas or fossil fuel gas thatwe use for heating of buildings as well as travel. So going forward now we kindof as an industry like the clean energy industry they kind of feel as if youknow electricity is kind of handled. So now we not we need to convert everythingover to from being a fossil fuel piece of equipment to now electric powered,but how do we get those remaining um you know pieces of equipment off of thatheating fuels? So and then you can see some variation in time. That's reallyjust due to temperature fluctuations if it was a hot or cold season throughoutthe year. Um, but generally speaking, emissions from heating fuels such asnatural gas have stayed consistent from TW 2007 to 2021. And then travel hasgenerally stayed consistent except for the last little blip there. And that waspredominantly because of CO 19 pandemic. Um, it's still uncertain to see how thatwill um how those reductions will remain, if they will continue or not.But and then lastly, waste has mostly stayed consistent as of um the lasthandful of years. Let me just make sure I covered everything.Um so this slide is talking about our cityemissions and it this slide is uh to kind ofshowcase where as a community or as the city operations where we fit into ourentire community greenhouse gas emissions. And what we found throughthis study is that the city operations only account for 1% of our entirecommunity gas uh greenhouse gas inventory. Um so although it's only 1%we know that it is still very important for us to obviously make changes withinour city facility. We want to be a leader in this space. We want to showthat this work can be done. Um so we are continuing to do that and we have donethat for decades as shown in that slide before. Um, figure 13 on the left kindof breaks down our greenhouse gas activity. This was specifically from2022. Just over half of our greenhouse gas impact came from our cityfacilities. A quarter came from water and sewer distribution to our residentscommunity and then another quarter came from our city fleet and then theremaining 4% came from street lights and signals. And then looking at figure 15on the right, um this breaks down nontravelgreenhouse gas emissions. So excluding the city fleet section, it's breakingdown um what what are the different segments with within the remaining one.So in this case, it's water distribution and recreational facilities make up theum largest uh sections, I guess, if you will, of the remaining greenhouse gasimpacts. So, uh, the wreck facilities would be our ice rink, our WilsonCenter, and our community center for example. And then the remaining, youknow, city hall is actually called out in there. So, just kind of showing thatbreakdown. So again, just wanted to recognize thatagain, it's very important for us to consistently focus on our ownfacilities, but this also um shows the importance of community collaborationand engagement in in order to meet our very ambitious climate action plangoals. Uh we did have a population vulnerability study completed as part ofthe uh climate action and adaptation plan. And this was essentially todetermine uh which areas of the city would be most vulnerable to our changingclimate. Again, this is really small and hard to see, but the first the the slideon the left is regarding population vulnerability. So, the areas that aredarker are concentrated to be individuals that most likely fit intodifferent socioamic um status and what have you um and and most likely be moreconcentrated within those areas. So we can do target outreach for examplewithin those areas to try to um engage that group. Um on the right we have landsurface temperature. So areas of red are typically hotter on average. So being umaware of that. We have building age on the left. So it's showcasing whichbuildings are older than others which relates to energy efficiency and otherum items. And then lastly we have flood susceptibility. So, these are allincluded in the climate action and adaptation plan. And if Leslie's groupor the park board ever want to use these for your own work, you're more thanwelcome to do that. And, you know, potentially as we continue on withimplementation, perhaps we will do more of these studies. Um, because I thinkthose definitely help with prioritizing our our implementation.Um, in terms of CAP goals, so there were two different series of goals. Therewere greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and then there was these communityresiliency adaptation visions as well. Um so the first is related to thereducing so it's aiming to reduce communitywide greenhouse gas emissionsby 63 per% per person per business by 2030 and that's from our uh 2018baseline levels. So what that means, I'll try to break that down, is that itmeans that by 2030, we are hoping that people will reduce their carbonemissions by six metric tons by 2030. And I wanted to give you a little bit ofa visualization. So we measure carbon dioxide as a mass,but if you wanted to observe it or picture it as a volume, this is what itwould look like. It's about 30 feet tall in this bubble. Um, this is anotherexample. It's kind of hard to see here, but you can see that tiny little personon the left. Um, again, about 30 feet high. And um they also give some weightequivalents which again are kind of hard to see here but it in terms of theactual weight of this it would be like two grand pianos one female walrus ababy humpback whale you know 80 bars of gold if you happen to know how um heavya bar of gold is. I don't but um just just some visualizations of like whatdoes when we talk about one ton what what does that mean because this thisstuff is pretty challenging to you know it's it's not tangible it's hard toenvision. Um, the other thing I wanted you to think about is that the averageAmerican, and it differs depending on your um, economic status and then alsowhere you live within the United States, but on average um, an American has acarbon footprint of around 16 metric tons per year. So, individually, we areresponsible for emitting 16 of those bubbles per year. Umso going back uh you know our goal is to reduce six of those by 2030. So how canyou do that? How can you >> annually?>> Uh nope. By 2030. So I guess you have five years to do it. So [laughter]>> start now. >> Yeah. Exactly.>> One time or >> Yeah. I think it's in general I meanit's an average right. We're hoping that umlooking back at what your emission was in 2018, hoping that you can reduce yourcarbon emissions by six tons by 2030. So based on whatever your levels were at in2018 and we don't know, we don't all individually know, right? And so when wetalk about this, we don't we don't sit there and calculate and talk about thesenumbers, but it's just more of to get a sense of like this this is what it wouldwhat it would look like. And actually, I do have another slide that kind ofhelps. Um, so these are different, you know, some another entity did thiscalculation, but they just kind of graphically showed that. Um the the onethat I have circled is if you were to convert your gas powered vehicle to abattery electric vehicle, you would then be eliminating two metric tons ofgreenhouse gas emissions per year. That's how much you're avoiding. So Imean if you if you drove that >> and I done [laughter] this>> doing our part. Yeah. So, in theory, if you drove that vehicle for, you know, 6years, 246, you you already there's your six metric tons that you've done yourpart, I guess. Um, but yeah, we're we're hoping I hope that we can maybe get to apoint where we're explaining it in in some easier sense to residents to kindof really make I think it helps to see some of those numbers because you canactually feel like, hey, I I've done this um instead of just being told it's,you know, of value. Mhm. >> Um so again, six metric tons by 2030 andthen so going back to the bullet points, there's there's two under the greenhousegas emission reduction. So um we have a 2030 goal and then we also have a longrange goal. So we also have this uh net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.And if you're not familiar with net zero term, um it means that essentially nogreenhouse gas emissions are emitted. None. or if they are admitted they'rebalanced by a removal of sorts. So like carbon sequestration or what what haveyou. Um that's that's the vision for 2050 and alot of other communities the state um you know nationally that's that's thegoal that people are headed to. So Minnetonka has also committed to thatgoal through here. Um, we also have another goal to um,you know, community resilience and adaptation vision where we're hoping tothen strengthen our community to have resilience against a changing climatewhere we're preserving natural resources, strengthening communityconnections, and then also preparing our infrastructure for this changingclimate. And it kind it's kind of hard toenvision like what does 2030 look like? what what what would Minnetonka looklike if we were to achieve this six ton per person reduction goal? Um and thisis what a couple examples that the plan gives. So it says all new buildings willbe all electric and as energy efficient as possible. One out of four buildingswill complete an energy efficient retrofit or have switched to electricityfor space heating and cooling. 80% of the community will be uh powered byelectricity from carbon-f free sources. One out of three vehicle trips have beeneliminated. One out of five cars are electric vehicles. Every resident hascut their waste by 1.2 pounds and 75% of our waste is recycledor composted. So just to give you an idea of like that's what we're strivingfor. It's not necessarily that each individual action is what we're lookingfor, but this is just one example of what the world could look like um if wewere to achieve our goal. And then in front of you, we have thesechecklists. So, these are the ways that we're really hoping to, you know, makethis climate action plan actionable. And we give people a menu of options to say,"Hey, which which one do you want to do?" We also um the consultant helped uswith prioritizing it in terms of the impact. So you'll see the little iconsthat show like which impact is more um impactful or not. And then on the otherside there's this checklist to say this is what I'm committing to and you canwrite that down. So we often hand this out at community events and I'm sureover time we'll uh you know update this checklist but this is what we have atthis time. Um so we have another one for businesses as well.And then the municipality has one and you know there's multiple differentsections. It includes both our facilities such as our um you know citybuildings our fleet talking about natural resources so like parklandresiliency related to that multi-jurisdictional so how can wepartner with other entities engagement and education um with those other groupsso I would say maybe half of this actually relates to our city facilitiesbut because it's only 1% of our greenhouse gas emissions it's reallyimperative that we get those other groups to um work with us andcollaborate Great. So, that's a big component of these strategies, too, inhere. Um, and next steps, we have a variety of next steps. Um, I'll beworking with the sustainability commission to complete u a 2026 actionplan. Staff will also be completing an action plan. It'll include a variety ofthings. We'll be um meeting more regularly with the climate action andadaptation team um that helped to create this. will be moving on more of animplementation basis. We'll create or we'll continue on with our sustainableMinnitankka awards program where we award uh businesses and residents andshare their success stories. Whole variety of things um you know residentoutreach, business outreach and definitely developing like developmentresources. So if a new development comes in, helping them um understand how to bein alignment with our CAP. So that sort of thing. But with that um that's all Ihave for you. So, thank you for bearing with me and listening to the climateaction plan. We are happy to have more collaboration with other groups such asyourselves. So, if you have any questions or comments or ideas tonightor in the future, please reach out to me. Leslie has my contact. Um, but I'malso happy to answer any questions now if the board has any. So, thank youagain. >> Thank you. Very informativepresentation. Any any questions or comments? Yes,>> I just have a a quick question. Uh, does the sustainability group review themaster plans of the park system, park system, individual master plans?>> Great question. So, I can only speak since December, but my understanding isthat they do not. Leslie might uh have an additional answer to that.>> Yeah, at this point we have not had the sustainability commission review any ofthe master plans that we've worked on. >> And I think staff,>> if I could, sorry, chair, if I may. Um, I think part of when the structure ofthe sustainability commission was um set up, the counciluh didn't envision it as a project review committee. That's kind of likenot like the planning commission. Um, but they talked a lot about beingambassadors and being out in the community and getting the impact donewith their outreach and education. That was a really big deal to the council atthe time. Um I don't know if that shifted or not, but that they weren'tmeant to be a project review committee. Um that wasn't the intent.>> That's where I was thinking like sustainability of building andremodeling or uh design. [clears throat] >> I think it's inherent anyway. I meanthat is something all of our departments I think when um Ally went through thedifferent people involved in the city um that is always on the the front end ofany planning project that that happens. So we have a lot of conversation anddiscussion about all of those things. If I recall correctly from a naturalresources perspective, I think sustainability also looked at the likethe tree um I don't know the right terminology ordinance,>> but the tree plan in that >> you gave some feedback on that.>> Um >> yeah, the tree ordinance has been>> that's a hard ordinance. I mean that it is one of the tougher ordinances aroundthe metropolitan area which is for good reason. I mean we have>> I don't know do we always say 59%? I don't know. have different numbers.>> 59% tree coverage, 57, whatever. Um, but it's one of the highest, right? So, andit and it pertains to >> I think a lot of people think it's justnatural resources, but as a community development person, it's all about ourimage and our vibe and the s sustainability of what I call our it'sour marketing for our city, frankly, and it what it's what keeps people here.>> So, that that also plays into sustainability. It's not just naturalresources or one particular subject matter. So>> Brad, thank you all. Really, I know there's a ton of data here toencapsulate. So thank you for doing that in 20 minutes. That was great. Um>> 40 so much of in my opinion thesustainability is aspirational. Uh there's a lot of goals, a lot of data toreach this by 2025, by 2030, by 2040. And I notic in your orange box here inyour checklist that one of the items here is about behavioral change. And I'mreally interested if you work with any form of behavioral psychologists orpeople who are dealing with actual behavioral change components to give youincentives, meaning the population in Minnetonka, incentives to achieve someof these goals because just saying something like buy less. Well, that'sgoing to ring really hollow. That's sort of tonedeaf. No one's going to listen tothat. But what are the incentives? what are the opportunities in behavioralchange for that to happen? I'm wondering if you work in that capacity.>> Yeah, I I appreciate that. So, I think first off, you're you're noticing howsome of these are somewhat vague. You know, um I when I saw this, I think it'svery helpful and it makes, you know, opening up a very long document a littlebit more engaging. Do I think this is the only flyer we're going to hand outto the public? No. So, I would like to honestly expand on multiple of these.like I could see, you know, materials being designated for each item withinhere. And then we elaborate to say like what does that mean to buy less? Um, youknow, we're hosting events, for example, like our clothing reuse swap. That's anexample of actually being able to buy less, you know, reuse and swap um items.So, you know, >> Yeah. Yeah. So, um trying to giveopportunities for that. We have other uh nonprofits and um other energyefficiency teams that we work with like center for energy and environment andthey specialize in um teaching people about energy um behavior changes likethat that includes both residents and businesses. So in that case you knowwe're working with other specialists in that capacity. So yes um that it'sdefinitely something that we're we're working on for sure.>> Ask him the question. Okay here's a question. How many have taken advantageof the energy audit? >> Not everybody.>> Okay, let's do it. So, I mean, that's the point, right? You try to geteverybody in your neighborhood. You try to get everybody. And you talk about Imean, we know what happens. Like, there's great light bulbs. There's um myuh water heater was wrapped, you know, from the garage to the house that wasweather stripped. I mean, so there's some really cool benefits that you mightnot know about. Um, but definitely getting the word out about changing howyou approach these things. And they're little things, right? But they add up asas the list kind of um kind of tries to get you engaged enough to do somethingdifferent. So, um, working on it. >> Good. >> Yeah. So, you know,I as a personal consumer have gotten almost all of my uh assistance to makesignificant energy consumption changes in my own family and home through thefederal government. And Donald Trump is dismantling that and setting back ourclimate um and sustainability goals perhaps by a generation.And that's that is uh kind of I think eviltowards future generations. And the state doesn't have a lot offinancial uh skin in the game. It's a lot of encouragement as well forpersonal households um to make a lot of these changes andhow they use their energy and and and what they're changing utilities out oruh you know uh HVAC products out for or vehicles out for. So when I think aboutthis at the city level, it seems like there's even fewer levers. Now, one wasalready kind of alluded to with business planning or developments,right? Like I know in housing, uh, most cities have some sort ofbenchmark of how many units have to be available forlowincome members, right? And so I'm curious what le what levers we're usingor could ratchet up in the city to basically have as a integrated componentto new builds or significant renovations or tear down and rebuilds where you canuse at those at those levers or those instances rather uh opportunities tobasically say if you want to if you want to tear down a house in this city. Ifyou want to tear down a a building and build a new office or if there's ifthere happens to be a plot that's empty uh and you want to build something new,it has to be so future forward on an energy conservation levelthat uh if you want to do it here in our community. Now, there's a hit, right?There's a hit to doing that because you might have people say, "I'll do it. I'lldo it elsewhere." But is that part of our is that integrated? Is that builtinto the what the city does already? Is that something the sustainabilitycommission is working on? Um because again those the only things it seemslike most cities can do other than just educate, encourage. I think the composthas been awesome, >> right?>> We love it. Everybody around me is paying for it. We're the only ones witha bin out. >> I I still don't get it. And I think tomyself, do you not look at your do you not look at your like trash bill to seelike what's this bill here >> for that for? Yeah, I wanted you to doit. >> So that was great. That's great. Um butuh I just hope we're being kind of aggressive>> and thinking about how to be even more aggressive with citybased lovers.>> Yeah. I think I'm going to tell you a story about a housing um renovation thatjust recently happened. Um there was about 40 town home units and a developerkind came in bought the the whole project out. It's a rental product. It'sfor 30% AMI which is the lowest income level um of our community probably thatwas the best way to describe it. when the new development or the builder owneduh came in to own it, um there was a contractual obligation to do somerehabbing, right? So, there was a basic rehab. There's some funding from thestate of Minnesota for um low-income properties, that sort of thing. What thecity did on top of that is then spend money from our affordable housing trustfund to then elevate the green infrastructure in the project. And sowhat we did is try to get more energy efficient appliances, better HVAC, allof those things, which totaled over a million,million3 I think was the total uh bill on those things. But not only did thathelp the environment, it helped the people living in the unit so that theirenergy bills were lower. So I think that's kind of an example of where thecity steps forward helps kind of take that project toanother level and and we're using affordable housing trust fund money thathas been set aside for that very reason. Uh the council I would say probably themost aggressive I've seen uh to try to do these types of things and put moneyaside for that. So I think that's been going on for a while. But um definitelythat project resonates with me in terms of what you were saying. Um anyway, anda lot of projects are doing it on their own, which is encouraging because theyknow it's going to save them money. They're not going to build aninefficient building in the these times because it saves them, especially ifthey're a long-term owner, um they're not going to make short-term decisionson on sustainability matters. Um, you can look at Ridgedale. The solar onRidgedale is in incredible. Um, and they did that a long time ago, even before Iwould call it more fashionable. >> I mean, I grew up in the 70s. It wasstarting to become fashionable then. But, you know, there was just this moreum, >> what do I say? A more passionate uh,engagement in putting solar everywhere because it does save businesses money.So to appeal from them on a money standpoint that that definitely has beenour angle with the business community. >> Other questions, comments?>> Well, I want to thank you. That was very very informative. Um, very useful forus. Thank you. >> Thank you.>> Thanks for having us. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay, our next item is when I getback to the right page is uh the Shady OakBeach season summary. Thank you again. >> Awesome. I'm going to get started. I'llintroduce myself. My name is Chandra Rella. It's my second year managingShady Oak Beach and I thoroughly enjoy being out at the beach. Um, one, it'slike really fun to you enjoy the summer more. Honestly, I get to be in the warmweather and I'm not going to complain about that. [laughter] Um, I love thispicture because this was taken this year. So, you can see the people on thehigh dive, you see the people on the whitbits, there's people on the sand. Imean, the whole beach gets utilized. Um, this year we were able to open. Weopened up on June 7th and we remained open through um the 17th of August. So,we have a 10- week season. We take that week to um pack up the beach basically.So, um we set everything up for the beach. Uh and then we have to take thatweek to get everything put away. And then we opened up to the public free ofcharge without lifeguards or concessions from August 22nd through Labor Day. SoPE that just kind of becomes an open um lakefront, a waterfront for that periodof time. This year for our staff, we had 53part-time employees. I did reduce the number this year in gate and concessionsto provide more hours to the workers. They do typically want 40 hours. A lotof them are high school and college kids and they want to pay for college. Sothat was a great opportunity for them. Most of them took full advantage of thatand would pick up other shifts to get that 40 hours. There were overall 150applicants between all the positions that did apply for the beach. This yearwe had uh 23 new hires and 30 returners. this year. And I would say for peoplereturning, you'll see the next point says that returning staff do receive a3.3% increase in hourly wage. I would saythat people don't just come back for that increase. They want to come backbecause they enjoy like the community that we have built within our staff andthey enjoy what they do at the beach. So, it's much more than just the paythat they get. They find this job very rewarding. Uh they make lifelongfriends. They learn great skills. So it really does set them up for success.We have six different positions. We have two facility supervisors. We have headlifeguards, lifeguards, shift leads, concession attendants, and gateattendants. This was the these are pictures of our staff this year. Andyou'll see uh within a 10w week season between all the positions, the staffworked about a total of 11,000 hours. And like I said, it's just 10 weeks, butthey would probably work more if they could to be honest. [laughter]Uh, one thing that we really have tried todo is that we have really tried to create opportunities for staff that arewanting it to stay on for the season, like for off season. So, this is justfor the summer. Um, I work at Williston as well as the membership manager and Italk to the other um managers there and they look for people to work for therest of the year. So, we offer it to the people that are currently working and wewere able to take nine people from the summer and bring them on to Williston orat Marina's um what Grace Bay Marina uh and teach them new skills, help them uhcreate, help them get hours throughout the entire year and then we hope to beable to bring them back on again in the summer back at Shady Beach. So, we'revery excited to be able to offer that more this year. We did have, I wouldsay, at least five more people that were interested, but we do have limitednumber um that we can bring on. So, people are definitely interested inworking for the city of Minnetonka. Um here's the quick video of ourwibbits. You'll see we have the lifeguards that are kind of testing itout. Um if it works. We'll see. Okay,perfect. >> The lifeguards honestly have a lot offun. But you'll see the whibbits are for all ages, which is really great. So, wereally do have all ages that use it. I would say this is very uh popularamenity um with the public. We do get phone calls asking are you going to havethe wibbits up today? And thankfully this year we were able to have them up.My priority was to get them up every day. I felt like there's no reason whywe can't have them up. So we were able to have them up every day from 1 to 5.And in the past uh it usually takes about a month to get them really up andgoing. So we would have them about maybe 2 to three days a week, sometimes fourdays a week. and it was due to kind of dependent on staffing. So, like I said,that was a big priority seeing as how much of the public they want to come anduse those. So, uh and I would say we do typically have a line of patrons thatare waiting to get on them, especially as the once they're being inflated bythe lifeguards, the lifeguards have to inflate them, deflate them, hook themall up every single day. Um we try to get it down to like about that 10-minutewindow and do it in the um safety break where everybody's out of the water. Umbut you have all the kids lining up and there's like a mad dash to get on therivets so they are very um enjoyable. >> Any injuries? I mean that kind of>> Well, that's but definitely why we put lifeguards there. I would say we didn'twe didn't have any injuries. It would be more there was like once or twice wheremaybe um a kid fell off or in between and started to panic so the lifeguardgrabbed them and pulled them up and then they were okay. But>> they don't quue them up by by size range can go.>> Yes. Yeah. So the lifeguards tell them like oh you're good to go now like sothey have to wait their turn and everything. So that does help is thatthey facilitate that um to avoid all those injuries for sure. Um, so I'lltalk a little bit about safety and our emergency action plans. Um, so,uh, I would say that safety is probably one of the top priorities for us atShady Beach. We did have I keep I hold on to all the um, papers that are filledout, the incident reports that are filled out for we legally like have tohold on to them for a certain number of years. So this year going through them,we had 17 saves by the lifeguards. So that is literally somebody that isactively drowning and starting to actively drown and they were able to berescued within 30 seconds or less and it didn't amount to anything more. Theywere okay. And then and that can look like that can be from multiple things.That can be from the patron just getting too tired in the water. Uh, that couldalso be from a patron's overly confident when they're trying. They're like, Ithink I can make it to the big dock and they get halfway and they can't make it.Um, it's also we had somebody that was trying to keep up with their friends.Um, their friends were like, "Just come with us." And he was so tired. Um, andit was about he was in the water about about two times and he just went underand he just couldn't stay up and they were able to grab him. They watched theyknew he was like a weaker swimmer. They could tell they keep an eye on those.Um, it could also be somebody accidentally swallowing water whilethey're playing and they start to panic. That's very common with kids or they geta muscle that starts cramping. So, it can be a whole number of things that wecan't control. Um so to have the lifeguards there can be very beneficial.We also had 24 first aid assists. So that can range from somebody we had alot of bloody noses, somebody vomiting. Um the we did have heat exhaustionbecause there were days when it's so hot out. Uh some we had a couple times wherepeople did lose consciousness for maybe a medical reason. Um we had beastingsand the lifeguards are there immediately uh helping by their side doing what theyneed to do to help that person. Uh we so we do have specific EAPsfor a number of incidents. So we have a specific missing person last seen on inthe water. We have a missing person last seen on land. We have a medicalemergency. A medical emergency on the big dock. Uh a rescue turning into amedical emergency or a multi-save um rescue. Multiple people can startdrowning at once. Uh we also have a spinal injury uh for example fromsomebody hitting their head on the diving board. So these are all umdifferent uh action plans that we practice andhave set up. And so everybody has very specific roles that they play. So whensomething happens, they know exactly um how to take charge and what to do inthese roles. So then with that twice a month, the entire staff all positionscome in from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. before we open and they we practicethese drills and scenarios so that everybody is ready to respondconfidently in any situation. um which it is kind that is kind of a lot to askof teenagers in the summer to come in before work starts. They get paid still,but to run through these serious um plans.Um I'm going to we'll play a video in just a second. This is one of our umEAPs. One of our scenarios is that what happens if a lifeguard goes unconsciouswhile they're on stand? That's another thing we have to think about. We reallytry to think about every single thing that we can to try to prevent or knowhow to go into action when something happens. Um, so we can go ahead and pushplay. >> That's okay. Oh, I'll go back. There yougo. >> So, for this video, what you're seeingis that um there the lifeguard we're pretending this is training for them.So, the lifeguard goes unconscious and what they're doing is that the offdutyguards, they're in the guard shack. They're on their break. They heard awhistle blow and one person runs down with a tube and they are at the waterready to grab the person. Another person climbs up the ladder and tucks theirhands under the person's armpits and like thrusts them forward because that'skind of the only way to get them in the water. Um,>> in the water, >> you have to you have to get them in.Um, >> yep. So, we practice of like you have tophysically get them out of the way, get them out there, and then that person,that other lifeguard is there ready to scoop them up and swim them in rightaway because we don't know, do they not have a pulse anymore? Do they need CPR?And if 91, we're probably calling 911 and they need to help and they need theperson on land as well. So, we have to get them off stand onto the sand asquick as we can. >> Have you had that actually happen? Notthis one yet. >> Um but we don't want to, but we're stillgoing to teach them this is what you got to do in case so we don't panic. Umso we did have approximately 800 hours of training and prep and prep um tookplace between this took sorry the 800 hours um was basically all the staffdoing pre-season trainings weekly or bi-weekly staff trainings setting up forthe beach and postseason tear down. Um so we do take our training veryseriously. Um, the great thing about Shady Oak is that you don't have to be alifeguard. You don't have to be lifeguard certified to become alifeguard like to work at the beach. So, people can apply and when I dointerviews, I app I interview people that are lifeguard certified right atthat moment and people that are not. Um, and then we do offer that training forthem. So, people that are interested in it, we will train them um and get themthat lifeguard certification. And then you also need a waterfront certificationto work at an open lake um cuz it's a different level um of lifeguarding. Sowe provide all that for them. So this year we certified six new lifeguards. Sopeople that had never been certified before but were very interested or arelooking into um like health for their future and they want to start gettinginto lifeguarding to see what that brings. Um, and then we had 10 guardsthat we reertified. So, they're they were their certification expired and wecan uh do get them reertified so that they can get on stand again and helpassist the community. Um, in just a minute I'll show the wehave two videos here. Uh so like I mentioned, we run the EAP twice a monthuh with all the staff and every staff member has a job. So it's not justlifeguards that play a role. We have at the front gate, we typically have twopeople at the front gate and one person has to stay there and make sure nobodyleaves for a missing person and the other person will run and we havewhistles that have locations attached and they will grab a whistle and go tothese locations and start looking for that child. And then if the child isfound, they would blow the whistle so we know they're found. And then they wouldblow a different whistle. may believe it's three tones that this child isfound and now there's a medical emergency with this child. So we cancommunicate in that way and know what's happening. Um the same thing will happenwith the concessions attendance is that they'll close the concessions. They willget the whistles and if all the whistles are taken then they will head down tothe waterfront and a lifeguard is down there and they have started the shallowwater body search. So they ask for all able and willing patrons to help withit. You link arms and sweep your feet through the water because you don't knowwhere this child is. Like did they go to the bathroom and the parent didn't knowor did the child drowned in the water. So we do everything we can to try toeliminate and find where this child is. So we can go ahead and play this. So you'll see that's um the chain thatthey make. And so they'll go through the whole shallow end and then they would goback. So they would keep doing that until we called off the search. Uh andthen we would typically have patrons in there as well that are willing to helpwith that. So once um the maybe a concessions attendant gets down thereand takes over, then the lifeguard that started it, they are going to grab finsand a dive mask and they're going to help with deep water dives because we'regoing to try to check as much of the water as we can. So they are going toget their fins um and mask and they are going to get in a line starting at thebig dock uh basically touching the big dock all the way to our buoy line ifthey can and they're going to dive all the way down, sweep their hands and comeback up. And then they line up again with the furthest person back. Andthey're going to keep doing that all the way through. And then they're going toturn around and come back. Um, so we can play this for a second. >> You can see that these two things arehappening happening simultaneously. Um, so there's a lot that goes into thisand they uh, everybody honestly runs into action on as fast as they can andbecause we practice it. We do have a number of missing kids because they runoff and if we hear any parent that says, "I can't find my child." We're going toactivate the missing child's EAP right away because you can't with an open bodyof water right there. like you really can't mess around and question it.>> How often have they had how often do you have to do that?>> Uh usually once a week there's a missing child at least.>> Um we have we've had two in a day. We've had multiple in a week.>> Um >> no. Uh, so we do have a different EAPfor missing person, last seen on land, because typically if they're last seenon land, they're most likely going to be in that area and the person doesn't knowthey're missing. Um, so we'll announce their name and then we give the staff 45seconds. We'll announce it on our walkies and all the staff come out andstart looking quick and then the person usually hears their name announced andthey usually come out right around that area. So, we did that a number of timesthis year and the person was found within that 45 seconds. Um, so we didn'thave to go through all this, but if they were last seen on the sand or in thewater, then we're going to go straight to this.Um, uh, we did have this recognition from a patron this year. I'll read itquick. says, "I'm not sure who this note should go to, but I want to complimentthe staff at Shady Oak for the handling of the incident midafter afternoonWednesday, June 18th. A child was believed to be missing, and the way thestaff handled the situation was exceptional. Clearly, the staff was welltrained for a situation like this, and they handled it professionally, calmly,and quickly. After clearing the lake and beach, the staff organized searches inthe water. We could hear the directions being given to the searchers and applaudthe efforts to increase the search party by engaging some of those on the beach.When the emergency was over, I was so appreciated the lifeguards circulatingamong the crowd and explaining what had happened. Please know that theprofessionalism of the staff was observed and I want the recreationdepartment to know what a great job they did today. And that meant I shared thatwith the staff and like that meant the world to them. that empowered them oflike this is why we do it. I mean we do it to save lives and help and like wemake a difference and people see like people watch and I tell them that. Um sothe incident on June 18th happened to be like a large camp came in and they justdid not take attendance very well. Uh so thankfully on our end we were able to dowe have our protocol down so we're able to do everything in our power uh andfollow everything exactly um what it ended up being was they came to us andsaid we have a missing child and they didn't know who it was what anythingabout them. Um, so all we could do was put this in our missing person in actionimmediately. And the guards probably s did deep water dives, searchedeverything. We're looking everywhere for at least 15 minutes, which is a lot toask of the lifeguards. Um, so they would then they were then rotating. We senttubes out for them to take a break while others dove down. Um, and it ended upbeing that they realized they counted one of the staff members as a child. Andso they thankfully they were not missing a child. But um, you can see when thingsare don't go correctly and you don't have protocols in place, things likethat can happen. And thankfully we're able to have those protocols and doeverything we can. >> That's great.>> Yeah. Um the the um Twin Cities kind of does the annual lifeguards. So they justdid the 2025 annual lifeguard competition. It took place at the St.Louis Park Water Park. This was the third year that they did it. They had 18teams that participated and Shadoke Beach took second place this year andthey are very proud of it. They pride themselves and um I'm sure if they couldtake the banner home they would. >> [laughter]>> Um we competed all three years and since the start of the competition we'veplaced first or second each year. >> Uh to give you a little more insight onwhat the lifeguard competition is. Um each team so we kind of we can we put ateam together and each team is evaluated on their life-saving skills both in andout of the water, their first aid skills and their teamwork and knowledge andtheir lifeguard knowledge. So through multiple events, they're watched andgraded by multiple LGIS, which are lifeguard instructors. Um, and onesituation they had this year was that while guarding, someone started to drownand needed to be saved while another patron at the same time was sitting onthe deck. That patron didn't feel good. They went unconscious and started havinga seizure. And then another person started to drown. So it really pushestheir limits. and it's only five people on the team and they have to figure outlike how to spread out and communicate and um they have to do every practicealmost perfectly cuz they get graded very intensely. So you can see some ofthe different uh scenarios that they have where they're doing CPR, they'repulling somebody out of the water on the backboard, they're doing uh in watersave. This year also we had uh the lifeguardgrant. It was the Henipin County Lifeguard Services Grant. It's apartnership with three other cities. So, St. Louis Park, Crystal, and New Hope.Each city did receive 9,652. And we do have very specific uses forit. So, it can go towards training. It can go towards training equipment suchas the CPR masks that all the lifeguards have to have on them. Uh the lifeguardrescue tubes. It can go towards lifeguard chairs. And then it can alsogo towards uh things for the lifeguard staff like the equipment. So the fannypacks, whistles, pocket masks, uh very specific things. And that really doeshelp to be able to have uh the like the lifeguard chairs, they are outdoors allthe time, so they don't after so many years, they don'twithstand the weather so well anymore. So we were able to get some new chairs.We were able to get new rescue boards to be able to put more lifeguards out onthe water. So, this grant was very helpful.In concessions this year, again, we did partner with the two local vendors, BobaTonka, which is like that bubble tea, and then Freeziaak, which is frozenyogurt. New items this year were a hamburger and cheeseburger. And thosewere very popular, and I was shocked. Um, we brought those out just afterFourth of July and it almost became one of the top sellers, even bringing it outaround Fourth of July. Um, so that was just kind of fun. Uh, we do offerindividual food items and meal deals at low prices. So we offer candy, icecream, popsicles, chips, hot food items, sodas, and drinks. And like I said, wetry to keep the prices lower. So, the most expensive meal deal is $6, which ifyou're coming with your family to be at the beach, if you're going to goanywhere else to try to feed your family, you're never going to feed themfor like each child for $6 anywhere. Uh, so it's kind of nice. People know theydon't have to pack all their food. They know they can come here and they can getgood food um and enjoy it. We did, we actually had some calls this year askinglike, "Do you have your cheeseburgers? Do you have your pizzas?" And I was kindof shocked like, "Yes, we do." like or is that why you're coming here today?Um, one of our top selling items is our pizza by the slice, which does make aprofit of 76%. So, it is great that that's one of ourtop selling items in gate and admission. One great thingabout Shady Oak is that we do supply life jackets of all sizes for patrons toborrow at the front gate. So this is also part of our uh safety aspect isthat you would just have we just ask for an ID or something of value so that weget that life jacket back because they are expensive but anybody that wants alife jacket we will give them a life jacket. Um sometimes if they don't haveanything we'll still give them the life jacket and um the lifeguards what theydo is if they're wa they watch and like I said they talk on the walkies andthey'll say they notice weak swimmers and especially if they notice a swimmerthat's in the deep in that deeper area near the big dock. If somebody is notmaking progress forward, that's a large sign that they are getting ready todrown uh because they are losing steam. If you're not making any progressforward, you're going to continue using your energy in that same place. So, theywill usually grab a life jacket and bring that out to that person before anincident could occur. Uh we also offer swim we do swim tests for people. Um andtry we try to raise like awareness with families especially if somebody didstart to drown maybe we'll ask them to put on a life jacket and if they don'twant it we'll offer the swim test and say you know if you're able to do theswim test then you can go past those lines but we don't want you to drownagain. Um so it's it's just great that we can offer that. This year, one of thebig changes is that we did increase the season passes slightly and we did have a45% increase in revenue from the season pass from 2024 to 2025. Um, so you'llsee that the resident rate for a season pass, so that includes anybody living inMinnetonka, St. Louis Park, or Hopkins. I was like, I just blanked. orHopkins. Last year they paid 15 and this year we did $20. So we raised it by $5.And then for non-resident, last year it was 30 and this year it was 35. You'llsee that that really didn't affect the sales. We still made the same amount ofsales and more. And I was prepping to have people at the front gate pushingback, not happy. And we didn't get that once. We also increased just the dailyfee from $6 to $7. And the biggest thing I heard was like, I thought it was six.And I said, oh, this year we upped it to seven. And they said, okay. And likethat was the end of it. Uh so it was great to see that it didn't really deterpeople that we still had uh a large number of memberships sold and peoplewanting to come be at the beach. >> So St. Louis Park qualifies too. Yousaid 33. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um these are some of theexpenses uh over the years. You'll see thebiggest expense is our personnel. So that's paying for the staff. Uh like Isaid, I did drop down the numbers in gate and concession from last year tothis year. So that did save us some in the personnel. I would I would say and Ido feel that um well the biggest expense in personnel is the lifeguards becausewe have so many of them. Uh, but the fact that we're able to save 17 peopleto me feels worth having lifeguards. You'll see our revenues here. You'll seethat increase in season passes from 2024 to 2025 with that $5 increase from theuh non-resident and for the resident. And then um I wanted to point out thatlast year you'll see we closed 4 days for the entire day and we had five earlyor delayed closings. So we would close either due to heavy rain. So it's justliterally it's raining all day. Um or the temperatures are below 63° becausewe don't want to deal with hypothermia. People will get that. um or the airquality was above 150 which is uh very unhealthy for people to be out in especiand the staff were out there for eight hours as well. Uh and then this year wehad seven days we had to close the entire day and six where we had to closeearly or delay opening due to those um weather related incidents. Um, so I dofeel that even though we closed more, we still got very close to our numbers lastyear, which shows like we still had great attendance this year and we caneasily make just in concessions, we can easily make 500 to a,000 on a hot day.Uh, so if we had been open two more days, we could have easily matched or umgotten higher than our 2024 concessions. Um but due to the facility being anoutdoor facility, we do face that weather that we can't controlunfortunately. Um so we do try our best to be open ifwe ever can or to delay it so that hopefully maybe the weather gets justgood enough and we can open to people. Um otherwise I felt like we had a greatseason, a great year. Um and we were very happy with the outcomes this year.Uh, that's all that I have for you. Kelly and I would be happy to answer anyquestions that you guys have at all. >> Great presentation. Questions from theboard. >> Comments, questions?>> I can start. Great job. Wonderful summary. Thank you so much.>> Um, I was curious if season passes if that revenue line also includes thedaily passes too. >> That one does not include daily.>> Oh, okay. Because I was adding it up and just comparing revenues to expenses andcurious. Yeah, that's just the season. So that's just the season. Oh, the 8080,000 just season passes. >> Correct. Yes. That's not like your dailyguest fee if [clears throat] somebody just wanted to come for the day.>> Yeah. Okay. >> I believe the daily guest fee line itemwas about $95,000. >> Okay.>> All right. That closes the gap a lot. >> Additional. That'd be good to add thatnext year because then it looks like >> much less of a cost.>> For sure. Thank you. We knew I mean we knew you've always said you know it'salways positioned every year as a cost center not a profit center for the citywhich is absolutely fine. Um for the the extra cost at the end of the year doesit get split between Mitankka Hopkins and St. Louis Park or>> Minnitankka Hopkins? So Shady Oak Beach is with within our joint recreationdivision. Um and so yes it is split uh 2/3 1/3 23s Mitanka one third Hopkins.Correct. >> Okay. Thank you.>> And the the the reciprocal reciprocal agreement with St. park is that Menitakresidents get uh the resident rate at St. Louis Park's water park.>> Oh, didn't know that. >> Oh,>> new information. Okay, thank you. >> Um Caleb,>> uh do you guys ever have days where it's full? You you like can't bring peoplein. And how many of those occurred this season? And at what point in the day,you know, do you has that been experienced if it's if it's happened?>> Um, there are days where it's I mean, it feels packed. Absolutely. And I'vetalked multiple times with the fire department. Uh, what's hard is that thisis like an outdoor facility. So, cuz I've talked about>> do we have a limit? And when you look at limits for building, like when you lookat limits, it's for buildings to be able to evacuate and get people outside. So,what's hard is that it's an outdoor facility and there's so many places thatthe people can go. It's not they're not contained into the one sand area. That'sthey could be in the beach, they could be in the park. There's so many spacesthey could go to. Uh I think our biggest concern when we have that many people isif when an emergency occurs is that we keep everybody we try to keep people atthe beach for a period of time so that emergency services can get in because ifeverybody's trying to drive out they're not going to be able to get into thebeach very well. Um I would say so that is one of the trickier thingsthat we've come across and we don't have a good answer for it working withmultiple departments. We just try to staff as best as we can for these typesof days cuz it gets hot and everybody wants to be there.>> I would say the one thing that we would add is I know Chandra and the guards doa nice job of looking at the ratio of the people in the water though. So, wewere fortunate that we had enough guards to manage the amount of people in thewater. I think that was >> although we may not have countedeverybody, you know, on the grass or the the the sand. I think in the water iswhere the focus was as far as looking at ratios.>> Yeah. And it's hard to it's hard to tell maybe somebody you can't come in becausemaybe they don't want to be in the water. Maybe they want to be on thesand. I mean on on the hill. Maybe they want to play beach volleyball. So, ourbiggest concern is in the water. So, the head lifeguards are accountingperiodically the number of people in the water to be able to make sure that wehave do we need to put two more guards out. Um, where is there the most numberof people in the water? We're going to place a guard around that area to try toprevent any incidents. If I could just add, um, so obviouslyShady Oak Beach is a a real gem in our park system. Um, from a lakeperspective, it might be interesting for you guys to know. Shady Oak Lake isconsidered probably our highest quality lake in the city. It's a even in theregion, it's a very it's a really a lot of springfed water. It's a relativelydeep compared to other lakes that we have in the city. So, it's a very highquality lake. Um it is within the jurisdiction of the NineM Creek wersheddistrict which is a special unit of government that focuses on waterquality. And so the city and the district both routinely monitor waterquality in this lake which is you know part of the reason why this is so such aa high use lake. It has very nice water quality. It's clear.>> Um it's you know relatively clean compared to other urban or suburbanlakes. Um we have been tracking uh Eurasian mil foil which we first noticedin the lake in 2019 and it has been expanding um on along the edgesespecially and a lot of our urban lakes haveEurasian mil foil which is considered a non-native invasive species but thecity's been partnering with the nine mile creek wershed district and actuallymanaging that that aquatic plant. So, um, you know, I I always want to give ashout out to the district. They are putting resources into helping toprotect and improve the the water water bodies in our city and at least that arewithin their jurisdiction. And so, they've been actually contributing anddoing some treatment of the mil foil and and you know, it may not seem to berelated, but if it were to expand and you get vegetation in areas where peopleare swimming, it can become a concern. So, you know, just making sure thatthat's kept in check and not um you know, interfering with the use of thethe beach there. So, >> thank you. Question on that. Were thereany days where the beach had to be closed because of ecoli contaminationlike in other places? >> Not this year. And I mean, right awaywithin that first month in June, there were two or three other lakes in theTwin Cities that closed for E.coli or blue algae, I think it was. And sopeople called us asking if we had anything, how our numbers were cuz we dotest um I believe three to four times throughout the season to see where ournumbers are at and they were all each the year each time this year they weregreat um where we were never concerned or close to being concerned at all. Sothat drew people in as well because it is that springfed so it helps keep thatE.coli and some of the other stuff away. >> Well, I want to thank you. It's a greatpresentation. You and your team do a great job. It's a uh>> real summer asset and very popular obviously and and uh>> and and safety is job one there. So, it's what you share was very impressive.Well, thank you. One question. Do you have an idea what the ratio of residentand non-resident uh season classes are? Just just as percentage, not dollars,but percentage. You know, >> my best guess is 7030 resident, 70resident. >> That's that's good. Thank you.>> Thank you very much. >> Thank you.>> Great job. >> All right. Our next item is 7C, which isour restoration plans. >> Yes. Thank you, Chair Ingraham and Parkmembers. So, as you are aware, um we um are bringing or we're developing parkrestoration, these are habitat restoration plans to the park board forreview. Um we have actually you reviewed a few this past spring. Um our intendedcycle is to really do these in the fall so that we have them available andcompleted before we start initiating restoration projects. And so Matt willtalk more about that. But uh we have four that are slated for uh restorationdollars next year. This is NRCIP identified. And so it's Civic Center,Victoria, Evergreen, Kinsel, and Minnitankka Mills parks. And these parksare identified uh we have a priority list in the natural resources masterplan that we're generally trying to follow. So we're we're basically workingdown the list. And so as we're working down, we're we're kind of developingthese plans that we want to bring to the board for review. So this is forinformation and uh certainly questions. We'll take questions on these. There'sno formal action. Um, these are living documents. They're always going to bechanging as conditions change in the field. So, there's no formal adoptionthat we're looking for. It's really information and feedback. And I'll turnit over to Matt. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chair Anraham.Parkboard. Um, back with another round of restoration and maintenance plans.Uh, we've been lucky enough to sort of formalize this process. We're stillironing out some kinks as we go along here, but I feel like the development ofthese documents, how we look at the sites has been evolving. We're becomingmore efficient with how we perform this restoration work, what we're seeing inthe field um in terms of responses from our natural resources communities. So,it's really been an amazing process and glad to see it's sort ofinstitutionalized in the city um through you folks certainly and and through ourleadership that's funding these efforts. It's really been spectacular. So the theidea with these restoration plans is to present a habitat restoration vision foreach park. Um so we're going down the list as Leslie mentioned. Um thesereally serve as a planning and management tool um that allows staff toum determine how best to prioritize our resources. So we have several pots ofresources to pull from. We have a very robust volunteer community. We havestaff availability in terms of performing the work. And then we hirethe rest out with um frankly our our growing bench of restoration contractorsand consultants in the area. Um so what we do with these plans is to identifyrestoration management units. Um these sort of lay out a process of how we goabout restoration in in chunks of time essentially. Um these are livingdocuments just like these ecosystems are living. We have a good idea of how it'sgoing to respond. Um but there are certainly particulars site accessvisibility overall. There's a variety of criteria that we consider um when wemake these changes in the in the living ecosystems of our community. Um weleverage the volunteer tier community early and often during this process. Um,thankfully we're we're earlier in these plans going out, but that allowed forsome less time with the individual groups, but but now is the time of theyear that these community groups are working in on their buckthornne umremoval. So, uh, putting this in front of you folks tonight um sort oftriggered this this uh feedback that we're already getting from the volunteercommunities and they'll certainly be responding to these documents andoffering advice. And then I really like working with them um when the the workgets rolling. They're boots on the ground, literally in a lot of cases. Uhthey know the residents around these parks. They help to communicate theseefforts. Um and they're really just wonderful resources overall. And thesedocuments serve as a communication uh goal. So um they really um we've passedthis tipping point where folks generally understand what restoration is about.Why we remove buckthornne, I no longer get angry calls of why did you cut thatgreen tree down? Generally folks understand what we're doing. But thesedo function as communication tools to the community. We try to balance thisline between these being uh jargony technical documents but but more layperson available in terms of uh accessibility about the the process andwhat to expect out of the park systems, why we target certain plant communities,how it's going to change during the restoration project, uh those sorts ofconcerns. So, um, one term I'm going to use quitea bit and you'll see in these documents is target plant community. Um, this isthe ideal plant community for our direction of restoration. This is sortof if um money and resources weren't uh uh part of the process here. Ideally,this is where we'd be moving. But it helps us decide um what sort ofstructure the plant community would take over time, what we need to remove andintroduce to get towards these ideal plant communities. We often think a lotabout sun and shade conditions. Um what healthy plant community elements arethere now? Do we have uh you know a a strong robust canopy verse, um you know,an open area where there's a lot of sun where prairie or oak savannah might makea lot of sense. Um so we choose these plant communities based on the workthat's occurred in the past um the existing conditions in terms of the thedensity of the invasive species the surrounding land uses. So we talk a lotabout where we want we want the residents to see their money in action.We understand that the folks see the parks via our trail systems um and ourroads often. So we want to make sure that our restoration dollars are highlyvisible. you know, these key intersections and a lot of the trailsend up being spots where we'll start a restoration project to make sure thatthat that restoration effort is evident out in the field. So, those are some ofthe the key criteria when we're describing and figuring out which thetarget plant community should be. We also think quite a bit about climatechange and pressures on the land um via climate change. So, we're moving towardsmore um plant communities that can rely on fire and prescribed fire as amanagement tool, knowing that that's a highly efficient process for performingthis maintenance. But it also is very relevant to the plant communities thatare ultimately drought tolerant and can survive some of the pressures of climatechange. Um these native plant communities where the conditions areright are very resilient um to climate change and the pressures that that areapplied So, I'm going to go through each parkrelatively briefly, just one slide on each, just highlight some of thefeatures of the parks if you're not familiar with them. So, VictoriaEvergreen is primarily a trail system in the woods. It's a really beautifulcanopy. Um, there's no active recreation in this park, no ballfields or anythingto that effect, and it'll stay a natural resources gem. Um, there is a lot ofpotential for oak savannah at this park. There's been a significant amount ofvolunteer work. Um, I got initial comments from a volunteer out theresaying that we should be showing even more potential oak savannah on theeastern side of the of the park here that we show us oak woodland. And uh hecertainly makes a case that there's more sun on the ground there to move towardsan oak savannah rather than an oak woodland. So we use the term woodlandwhen we have more of a existing almost full canopy uh versus savannah which isa mix of canopy trees but a lot of sun on the ground so we can get a lot ofnative grasses and perennial forbes going. Um so getting feedback right awayabout expanding Oak Savannah and Victoria Evergreen. Yes.>> Um can you remind us what is the cultural area? I don't I've only beenthere a couple times. I don't remember what>> little it's a little piece of turf grass. Yeah, there's a little moan turfgrass and there is four or five picnic tables in there and a wall of buckthornaround it. >> It does get used. There are there isseating in there, so we do see people just go and hang out and have lunch outthere. Um, so we do like to prioritize opening those up a little bit more,making them more welcoming. I didn't frankly know about it either until morerecently. I walked the trails plenty but didn't even realize that there was thisc we call it cultural because of the turf grass and the and the tables there.Mhm. >> And there's a little like looks like acaldera in the middle of the in between the orange and the [snorts] green. Whatis that? >> Wetland.>> Wetlands. >> It's a wetland. Yeah.>> That's that really big wetlands right by the little boardwalk.>> Yeah, there's a boardwalk that crosses on the northeast. And uh Yeah, it's it's>> okay. So, the gray stuff is wetland. Yeah, we for these we focus on theupland plant communities in the document. The wetlands and tend to be>> sometimes they're they're limited as blue on some>> land. >> Yes. Yeah,>> we're working on some mapping consistency through this process. Wedivvy this FA e effort up amongst our restoration staff. Um and>> you can tell they were written [laughter]>> we're working on a more consistent template.>> It's great. Just move on. just the the visual language as a communication tool.We want to be able to flip through these and you're you're getting sort of thesame messaging. So, yes, it's on our to-do list.>> Speaking of which, >> [snorts]>> uh the Civic Center Park um >> can sorry, Matt, can I just ask anotherquestion about >> Yes. Yes.>> about that one? So the the to in what ways can can the restoration piece helpwith you know like the southern trail along the wetland that's often muddyuh or maybe even partially underwater orsignificantly water logged. Um, how does that play into to kind of differentefforts and focus of both time, materials, volunteer>> without too much, you know, disturbance. You don't necessarily want to burm upthis whole area or something, but it's definitely a consistent problem.>> Yep. [clears throat] Um, so generally that falls under thepark maintenance dollars. So, we like to separate these restoration dollars fromthe park maintenance. But what ends up happening is during this restorationprocess, we identify those better and we're often having to go into repairtrails that get damaged during the restoration process. Just recently, wedid significant woody removals at Meadow Park and that led to some trailrestoration work that we had to do after that. So, we end up doubling down. Weknow there's a lot of activity happening in these parks. We'll note trailconditions and then roll out our crews to repair those as necessary. So, itsort of just generally shines a spotlight on these particular parks whenthis work happens. Um, we just have staff out there. We assess and quantifywhat needs to be repaired as best as possible. Civic center, everybody knows this well.It's really a mix of isolated plant communities, but they are essentiallyvery high visibility. We have boardwalks and trails that connect to other parks.So, Jadana to the west, um, and some residential neighborhoods to thenortheast. Um, here again, like many of the parks we talked about recently, uh,we have this very significant ecological corridor of Minihaha Creek. So birds andinsects and wildlife are going to trans are going to move along this thisecological corridor, Minihaha Creek. So that gives us an opportunity to leveragethose plant communities and focus on restoration for increased diversityalong that creek corridor. We just know there's um quite a diversity of plantsand animals that are going to be moving up and down that creek um and reallyfocusing on some oak woodland restoration towards that creek. very umbeautiful bridge that crosses the creek there. A lot of foot traffic coming andgoing from the back of the civic center there. Um north of the marsh, we have ahigh quality prairie restoration. Before the city owned the marsh, they weredoing prairie restoration work out there. So, our effort is lighter interms of us maintaining adding diversity and managing that, but really makingsure that that's a focus so we don't allow it to degrade into invasives atall. Um so, a a lot to do here. There are some sort of funky islands andthey're not quite islands, but out in the wetlands you can see the buckthornnefrom the road. They're harder to access. They're lower um priority becausethey're impossible to get to and they're a little lower visibility. But um youknow, we'd like to tackle them eventually. That's where these documentscome out that you know 5 10 years when we're revisiting these what did we do in2026 verse what could be um enhanced upon or or push the limits further inthe next iteration of these plans questions about civic center.>> Uh was there a map that showed the areas that you're going to work on like in theother one you showed us >> I think there were some circles abouthere's where we're going to focus. >> Yeah. So in the document we have likeinitial priority areas. Okay. And that's for us to when we start walking withcontractors we like to say hey we want to spend a bulk of our resources interms of budget and focus in on these locations knowing that we'll have toreassess during the process. How far did we get? Did we not get far enough? Do weneed to expand those? But it gives us a good place to start those conversationswith the contractors. >> Yes.Um on since while we're on this chart, uh any thought or possibility in theacross the creek, the oak oak aspen woodland of ever being able to add somesmall loops in there or not? Cuz it's really pretty, but it's over. It'sreally dense. >> Well, these these restoration andmaintenance plans and the CIP budgets allow us to really take another look atour park systems in in terms of trails, where trails make sense. For instance,Hillway Park, which was in the first batch of these, we're about to mow a newtrail in. >> Oh, great.>> Um, >> where is that going to be? On the westside. >> On the west side.>> West side. Great. >> So, the west side of that park isessentially new park. It was so choked with buckthornne and prickly ash andinvasive species. You couldn't walk through there now via this restorationprocess. It's really open. We're still in the process of managing buckthornnerespouts, but it's really >> trending towards prairie and oaksavannah. So, we have an opportunity to cut a brand new walking trail in there.So, we're going to see opportunities like this after that buckthorn comesdown. >> Where does the new trail make sense? Andwe want to ideally lay out that trail where it makes sense rather thanallowing footpaths to develop, which they would.>> Yeah. >> Um but yeah, we view these asopportunities to and that's why we do these plans prior to the masterplanning. >> Mh. So, we would then identify what'sopen and what could be an opportunity for additional trails.>> Well, I guess I'll put my plug in here before the before I get to uh MitakaMills. We've talked about this, but this section in the what's the darkgreen? >> Oakwood.>> Oak woodland. The oak woodland above the pink cultural area cultural area.There's that informal path there now. And when you throw in Minnitanka Millswhere there is no real good path, what's spectacular is the visibility of thecreek. Yep. >> And especially at Minnitanka Millsbecause there's no um cattails. >> Mhm. But as we're doing the restoration,really thinking hard about opportunities to open the creek up from a moreaccessible, you know, use vis because it really, youknow, the biggest area is obviously Jadana and Mooney and stuff, but they'reso overgrown with all the cattails. You, you know, you can only got a couplespots you can see the creek. Uh, this is different. It'd be really nice.>> Absolutely. Um, we've had some visionary leadership at the city decades ago nowwhere we were buying parcels in Big Willow, um, parcels in Minnitaka Mills,which I'll show in a second, and making sure that we're getting folks>> to the Creek Edge to experience that. Um, we're very fortunate to have thoseopportunities. So absolutely these restoration plans and leveraging theecological value of the creek and how we can get folks down there to experiencethat is really is really >> and don't forget the futurebridged across to Mooney. >> Yep. Out of that northwest corner there.Yeah, >> that's another master [laughter]planning conversation. >> Thank you.>> Uh Kinsel, this is over by Glen Lake Park. This is primarily a wetland. Thereis a a boardwalk that moves through the park here that was um unfortunatelyunderwater for several years due to an outlet issue south of here. Um butthat's since been cleaned up. Um out of the post plan a couple years ago, it wasidentified that um more boardwalks through wetlands would be appropriatefor the city. There's a good opportunity at this park to sort of showcase whatthat experience could look like. Um, so we do have a lot of high visibility um,coming off of Excelsier Boulevard to the northwest here. Um, we do have a almostbotanic garden of volunteer work in the in the mixed deciduous area there.There's >> Yeah, there's quite a a high diversityof plants and a lot of hours spent there from a volunteer.>> A lot of lot of name tags. >> Yeah. Little signs. Yep. So, it is alittle bit of an arboritum out there to some degree. Um, but just enhancing thatwalking experience in what is primarily a a wetland with a little bit of parksliver around it. >> Oh, what's your what's the city'sperspective on >> once it all freezes up? That bluewetlands south of the boardwalk is all cattailtrails. Is that okay use? You guys have a problem with that>> in the winter? >> I'm sorry. Are are you referring duringthe winter? >> Yeah, in the winter. I mean, once itfreezes up, I mean, there's just all these great little paths that go outonto the onto the onto the lake. >> In the past, we haven't sanctioned,you know, trails in the wetland. We can't call them city construction.>> No, but >> what are we going to do about it?>> Are you talking about dogs and >> No, no, I'm just talking out there. Willthey pick up the waste? No, I'm talking about people that, you know, snowshoeand and cross country ski and and some people have dogs, but there's just a tonof people that like to go out on the >> on the Glen Lake.>> I I find it similar to the lake freezes over people walk out and>> Yeah. >> Thankfully, we don't have people drivingout here. Maybe we do, but >> there's there's nothing there's no, youknow, regulation that would regulate that kind of activity.>> I'll keep doing it then. >> That was the pick up.Yeah, >> and finally, Minnetonka Mills Park. Uh,again, this ecological corridor, the Minihaha Creek, certainly the BurwellHouse and the and the grounds around the Burwell House. We have quite anopportunity along the creek corridor to open more views. Some of those treeshave gotten a little tall and have sort of um choked the view from thatintersection there. And as you drive by, being able to see the Burwell House Ifeel is a bit of a priority. but leveraging our opportunity to enhancethe creek corridor and its diversity um from an ecological standpoint whileopening views of that historic house um are really amazing opportunity. And thenas Dave mentioned to the west there um it's parkland that's basicallyinaccessible at this point. Um so looking at doing some work to the farwest to open that for um some future trails possible. Um and the yellow theoak savannah along Minnitanka Boulevard. That's where we did buy some homeproperties about a decade ago and that's all turf grass now. So the those couldrepresent uh a fairly easy opportunity to install native um prairie grasses inthose areas. spraying out the turf grass and eliminating that is a lot easierthan buckthornne or these very aggressive um invasive species. So usingthat as an opportunity to do some um what we call soft landings. So there's alot of big mature oak trees there to have a diversity of native plantsunderneath where those uh caterpillars and other critters can fall off and havean area to nest and bed um rather than getting mowing up under the turf grass.Um, so it offers a really unique opportunity to do some fairly easy oaksavannah restoration >> and it would reduce mowing which wouldbe good sustain helps budget. We're all working together.>> Yeah. >> And this is where I if I can put a plugin you you guys drive by that all the time.And on the street, because of the the the grade, what you see where the yellowis for the oak savannah, you just see sort of like a top of a little ridgeline and don't realize if you just get out of your car and walk>> or park and get out of your car and walk.>> Uh up to the top, you look straight down on the creek and the creek, like I saidbefore, there's no no cattails. There's no it's you see the creek. It's really,really pretty. >> And there's really no trail connectionfrom the bridge that gets you easily down this area or would encouragevisitors. So many people come and like take prom pictures over here. They'll goto the br the bridge and then they'll be like, "Oh, I guess that's it." And turnaround, >> but they are missing out onopportunities. I helped design this garden a decade ago now. Mhm.>> Um, and I remember at that point looking across thinking at some point we coulddo restoration on that other side and get people over there. So,>> and there's a bench in the on the on the north side of the creek in the darkgreen. That's is that a city bench? >> Yeah. Oh, up here. Yes.>> Yeah. How do you get to that? >> Yeah. So, it's the end of thisculde-sac. >> Oh, that's how you'd walk down that.>> Yep. It's the end of this culde-sac. We own this bit of land in here. Now, therewas a house here that we purchased and there is just a random bench in themiddle of a turf lot. >> That would be an opportunity to do somenatives in there as well. >> Lonely bench.>> Yeah, lonely bench. It's a nice little spot though.>> You've been everywhere, Dave. >> I just have.>> Uh, questions about Mills Park. Let's see. >> So, open to any more questions.Otherwise, our recommendation is um to provide>> questions or comments. >> Yeah.>> I'm imagining some giant poster somewhere in somebody or print out insomebody's office of every park and what year it's in. And>> it's not a poster. It's a very alive database. So we use ArcGIS, okay,and we're adding polygons of what works, happening when, and and it's a veryrobust data tracking system. How to turn that into deliverables. We use it forreporting certainly. We use it to get cost estimates from our contractors. Weuse it to send out to our crews on how what to do. Um, but it's not a nice neat>> Oh, I'm sure not. I'm just I I just was trying to imagine from a projectmanagement standpoint how you would keep track of all that. And I'm sure thatthere's some pretty sophisticated software to do that. So>> yeah, and this GIS, it's a database of activities, but it's also mappingcapabilities. So that's where these maps are coming from.>> Um so we're we're actually mapping these out. We have them as a as a living umlayer, data layer >> in a geographic system. So>> very good. >> So we can track the target plantcommunity but also the the work task. So if it's going to receive seeding or isit initial buckthornne removal or secondary buckthornne removal. We'reconstantly tracking. >> And there's is there also a layer forum results? I mean so this worked thiswasn't so good. That >> ideally the the steps would highlightthat it was successful. So we'd go from initial buckthorn removal, secondaryplant uh seed install to monitoring and maintenance.>> I understand those are the the tasks that you would do. But then isthere also like comment space or something to>> Yeah, we have we've in the past collected lots and lots of comments andpictures of you know stuff out there and sorting through that and making surewe're efficient in terms of the data collecting. That's we're working on thatwith staff >> because we have a lot of interns thatcome and go or seasonals that come and go that perform work and we want to makesure that the data is nice and legible. >> Sure. Future.>> Well, and We've been working on this for a longtime and we've learned a lot. Yep. And we don't want to lose any of thatinstitutional knowledge. >> Absolutely.>> Yep. Absolutely. >> Well, I want I want to thank you. Ithink um it's interesting because these are allthree of these parks are pretty small. >> Yep. But they're each unique and are uhreally worthy of of good restoration efforts. And the civic center, I thinkmost of us, or at least I generally always think about it largely as uh youguys would call cultural, >> you know, between buildings and officesand uh arenas, but there are, you know, pockets of some really high potentiallyhigh impact uh natural areas. So that's I'm glad you're really focusing on that.So, >> and even pockets are important forinsects and being able to move around. >> Yeah. Well, like Kinsel, I mean, I'mKinsel's near me and we go there quite often and it's really small. It's if itif the boardwalk wasn't there, it would be tiny because you couldn't do a loop,but it gets a lot of use from those local residents, particularly out ofthose apartments and that. So, um it's really nice,especially in the winter. Yeah, thank you. Okay, so that brings us to item eight,the reports from staff. >> Yes, thank you. Um, so our first item isan update on the Lone Lake Trail. No, Lone Lake Park Mountain Bike Trail. AndI will turn that over to Jesse. >> Yeah.>> Over there who's been waiting patiently. >> Yeah. [laughter]Um, for those of you that don't know me, I'm a program manager for the city ofMounta and the recre recreation department and um, one of the things Ioversee is the mountain bike trail and specifically the relationship with MORor Minnesota off-road cyclists, our local chapter here, which is really justa a group of passionate mountain bikers. Um, I also was heavily involved in justthe planning process for the mountain bike trail, the implementation of themountain bike trail. So, I've kind of seen it through this process and umreally happy to say we are reaching um that 5-year anniversary mark of thetrail being open. Uh so, it's fun to be here with you guys today. Um, for thoseof you uh that are aware, this used to be um a more robust report that was prepresented uh at the joint meeting with council and park board and last year wasasked to be moved to parkboard as an annual information item um to share withyou guys, but then also uh Kelly asking me here to uh answer any questions uhthat you guys have specifically about the mountain bike trail. So, for thoseof you that have seen the the previous reports, you'll see this is uh morelimited, but gives a really good snapshot of what we're seeing out on thetrail. And then also I can talk just a little bit about what we've got in storeand what the um Mor is currently looking ahead to do. And I say Mor um I wouldsay we probably have a mountain bike trail that um has more touch points uhworking with the city than other local Mor uh overseeing trails. So I'm very ona daily basis involved working with the volunteers um both out on the trail butalso just through constant communication because there's a lot that's going onbehind the scenes to to manage this trail. Um so uh as mentioned 5yearanniversary of the trail uh this time last year we were coming up uh we had aweek left to complete the construction of the mountain bike trail. We had tocomplete it by the October 31st. And you probably don't remember this but I do.there was a giant snowstorm that hit >> and so we had crews that we were reallyuh you know um hoping they were going to complete this trail before hitting thatthat October 31st point. Um but but we did it and shortly thereafter theweather actually turned rather warm and so we were able to do a soft opening inthat November. Um, so it's kind of fun to kind of look at the statistics andever ever since there's been a lot of data that's been collected because wewant to keep close eyes on this to both see usage but then also the restorationwork that's gone into the trail and surrounding area as well. Um, so forthose of you that don't know, the trail is managed by um a group of volunteersand uh we have what's we call dirt bosses. Those are more um heavilyinvolved volunteers. Most trail systems have one to two dirt bosses. We eventhough we're a smaller mountain bike trail system, we have 16 dirt bosses. Umso people that are very passionate about the trail and a big thing that they dois is daily we have dirt bosses out there that are sweeping the trail. Umthere's even on a a non- windy day, you could have a branch come down or anyhazards. So we're constantly checking for any obstructions, any changes to thetrail. And then also the big thing is um is moisture. um anytime it rains ofsignificance uh we really don't want people on the trail both foot trafficand bikers because uh that can cause erosion issues and um and just damage tothe trail in general. So we do have gates at all the main access points thatare opened and closed based on what the conditions are showing us. So every dayyou'll see in here there's a number of open days and a number of closed dayswhich impacts our um al ultimate user numbers. Um the dirt bosses they um alsogroomed the trail. So initially the first few years we were grooming thetrails actually with volunteers out there with snowshoes compacting thetrail. Um as you guys know fat fat biking with it which is mountain bikingum with just larger tires is a a growing winter winter activity and we seenumbers increase as we have good snow conditions. Uh Mor recently purchasedwhat's called a snow scoot um two years ago um two winters ago uh for the trail.It is a very small youthsize um uh snowmobile that they use with apolebehind groomer that you think of for Nordic skiing. Um it's got an uh 18 inuh track. So think of a Nordic Nordic skiing snowmobile pulling a track. Thisis 18 in wide. Um so the the volunteers manage that and we have certain um uhbest practices that they follow. Um and then there's also weekly trail workduring the dirt season. Um so we plan for from uh May through October. Lastnight was actually our last night doing trail work with the group. I mean wemostly end this time of year because the seasons start changing but alsosunlight. It's difficult to get people out after work um and be able to work onthe trail. Um, but we uh we also have an agreement with Mor that one of thosedirt those uh sessions, volunteer sessions per month are actually forrestoration. So, a ton of restoration hours has gone in. And it's kind offunny. I thought that this group would be more um interested in actually thethe dirt work, the m maintenance of the actual trail. But we see our rest ourour volunteers, the number of volunteers that show up for our restoration nightstypically are are larger than our actual um numbers for dirt work night. So thatis alive and well and everyone loves working with Janet. Um most of us know[cough] Janet. So um yeah, and then um so th this group ofvolunteers is going strong. um keeping them not burned out and engaged isalways something that we're aware of, but we we have a very dedicated andcommitted group. Um and looking at some of our numbers here specifically,um you can see with our volunteer hours, we've had this year specifically155 volunteer participations and of that 53 unique volunteers. So, a lot ofpeople that are involved in this and you can see a lot of people that arereturning to volunteer uh weekly and monthly as well. Um we've had uh as faras volunteer specific events, we've um offered 18 to the community. And thentotal hours, you can see for trail maintenance and management um mor uh park restoration specifically.And so a total volunteer hours is 414 hours. Um, and you can we kind of breakthat down from a costbenefit uh uh number. And so that's uh close to$15,000 of volunteer um value for the city that they're providing. And I haveto say just working with them, you know, the amount of communication that happenson our text thread and phone calls, that stuff doesn't get documented. And umthese guys are constantly thinking about the trail and very passionate as well.Um, and then just shifting to just some general numbers of of usership. I thinkthe good thing is you worry you're going to build something and invest insomething as a community and you're going to see a spike in users and thenas things go off you see less people utilizing it. But if you look at thegraph below, you can see there's really been a consistent usage out there. Um,I'd say that spike in uh 2324 is largely because we had a higher percentage ofdays open. We also had a good snow year that year. So, we had a lot more winterusage uh versus uh you know, this past winter wasn't wasn't as great. Umyeah, so this year we we estimate that we had just over 17,000 visits. And thenI think the the kind of fun thing to get this to this 5year anniversary is we canlook back at the data and we can see that we've uh estimate that we've hadover 12,000 unique mountain bikers visit the park and roughly um over 92,000visits total. So, um, it's been a long time getting this was a long timegetting this mountain bike trail. Part of the community there was worry aboutit, but we can see after 5 years that there's a lot of people that areengaging in the park and using using the mountain bike trail and and usage isconsistent. Um, and then just looking ahead uh to next year, um, we areworking with Mor to do a city and Mor uh event. We're not exactly sure. We'reactually doing our dirt boss retreat in northern Wisconsin this weekend. So,we're going to hash some of these things out. Um, it's a tough job I got. Um, butwe are going to kind of revisit that 5-year anniversary in May, which is um,uh, what is it? Bike month to c celebrate that. It was also the grandopening of the trail. Um, yeah. And then uh we we continue one ofthe big things is we did a lot of heavy buckthornne removal uh before the trailwas put in um and some of that buckthornne is coming back. So we arereally focused on increasing sight lines and then also really focusing onrevisiting some of that buckthornne removal and mitigation that's along whatwe refer to as the trail corridor which is where the trail is and then 15 ft oneach side of that trail. So that will be a lot of the work we do um next year.And then just looking ahead, uh, everyone's hoping for a good winter anda, um, get some of that grooming equipment out and, uh, see how it'sgoing to operate and provide just a good quality trail for winter biking.>> What's the status of biking at night? Is it open at night?>> Uh, it it is. So, the the park is open for normal park hours. I forget. I feellike that's at 10:00. Um, and so we do, um, bikers use, uh, special lights, um,that either can be attached to their helmets and or onto their handlebars,um, that allow them to ride, which is especially nice in the winter when it'sdark at 5:00, but they can utilize the the mountain bike trail. >> I'm I'm not a biker, but I use the uhthe trail for snowshoeing a lot in the winter. It's beautiful. It's great. So,you know, well done. question because there are days where it's closed forutilization. Is there any kind of like trail hotline or either on the websiteor a phone call so people could know uh without going out there whether they'regoing to be able to get on the trail or not?>> Yeah, there is. There's a couple different avenues to check trailconditions conditions. The the the main one is an app called Trailbot.>> So, we constantly update Trailbot and I we should at our trail kiosk have a linkto that where people can directly check that>> um trails. That would be good. >> All MOR trails have use Trailbot andactually I should say Trailbot almost every trail system in Minnesota is onTrailbot. So if you're traveling in Duth or um Cailluna, you can go to Trailbotand check those conditions and make plans.>> T R T R A I L do uh bot.com or >> uh it's an app.>> It's an app. >> Yep. So if you were going to go online,so mormtb.org, og. That's the the Minnesota off-roadcyclist website. You can go there, click on trail conditions. Um, and also checkthere. And what's nice is that Trailbot automatically syncs with their website.So, whatever you post on uh which is great for the our volunteers becausethey can use the app to to provide information to the community, but thenalso open and close it. And then that automatically syncs with Mor's website.And then we so when we have an a open or close event there's a a group uhconversation text thread that we use and uh you'll have someone on site that'slike opening the gate and then people on the back end will go to Facebook andmake an update on our Facebook page update trailbot which then syncs withthe website. >> We should is that in motthat that that link that's a great link I never knew that that's really helpfulinfo. Thank you. >> Yeah absolutely. I think we should plugthat in there. >> Yeah, it just it is the So, youmentioned all trails. That's an app as well.>> Yeah, there's an app and that's for people who are avid hikers. This isdifferent for mountain biking. >> So, it's not on trails. A lot of peoplehave All Trails. I've never heard of this one.>> Yep. >> Yep.>> So, it's not All Trails would not show you.>> No, all Trails will show you, if I'm correct, Lone Lake Park and the theactual like where to park, reviews, and then a map of Lone Lake Park. It mayeven link you to the the like Lone Lake Park Mountain Bike Trail web page that'son the city. Um but it won't give you open or close information.>> Okay. >> Has there been any issues with ebikes?We proved that in the past year or so. >> Surprisingly not. Um, I'm I'm not surewhat conversations you've had about people's experiences you using theregional trails in the area, but I also live in the area and I know some ofthese ebikes that are going 30 miles an hour, I see them and I worry that we'regoing to start seeing them um out on the mountain bike trail and there has beenno complaints or no issues. >> Does that include the I guess I callthem minibikes. >> Mhm. That's also when you say ebike, areyou referring to those minibikes as well?>> What do they call the razors or the ones that are much less a bike and more of amotorcycle? >> That one technically wouldn't be allowedin our park. >> Correct.>> Right. You have to be able to pedal it. >> Yep.>> Pedal assist. >> Yep. And we don't allow bikes withthrottles. >> Yeah. On the mountain bike trail.>> Okay. >> All right. Thank you.>> Yeah. Absolutely. >> Great.>> Great resource. >> Yeah.So, uh, the next item we have is just an update on the Glen Lake Park plan,master plan. So, I'll turn it over to Matt. I don't know that you have Right.There it is. Yep. >> Uh, Glen Lake Park master planning isjust about to get started. >> Turning on my>> um, we walked that site during the joint tour. We have yet to, um, put up theMinnetonka Matters page and start surveying the community. I have beentalking with local wreck organization, the Mighty Mightes organization, andI'll be presenting to their board. Um, but we haven't scheduled any outreach orengagement events at this point. Um, we were hoping to do that a little earlierin the season, but we're a little bit behind. But we'll be rolling that outbefore the holidays knowing that we need to perform conceptual design work umover this winter to get a better understanding of how that site um couldhave a skate park and other park amenities knowing that that Glen Lakeactivities center is going to be torn down at some point in the relativelynear future. So, we're a little bit delayed on that master planning. Um, butthere will be an updated uh Mitaka Matters page and outreach events comingup soon that everybody will be invited to. And I'm sure we'll get good surveyresults and a lot of a lot of eyes on that particular park. >> Questions, comments?>> I guess I'll throw one out. Um, >> from a demolition perspective, is that>> ideally being scheduled so it's not during baseball season? We're going todo our best to avoid any disruption to baseball knowing,>> you know, construction season happens to line up with baseball season.>> Um, but we certainly want to mitigate any disruption to parking and how wellused that park is. >> Um, but park improvements do at times>> just curious >> impact park usage. We're certainlygonna, you know, take in that into concern during the staging of theseparticular efforts and what that does in terms of impact. We're going to thinkthrough that stuff. Um, but park improvements come at a cost thatinconvenience at times. So, >> okay,>> great. >> Um, so just uh if you could pull up thecalendar. >> Yes. Uh uh for>> can Matt give us a little update on >> Yes.>> where because the off leash dog status >> and so this is not in the packet butMatt can >> um update>> following council recommendations or actions for us. We are designing um offleash area signage for Purgatory Park. Um there are two off leash areas on thesouth side of the park that have been identified by the council and a offleash corridor from the parking lot down to those areas. Um we hired a consultantwith a graphic designer and an understanding of the park. Bolton and Muhelp with the master plan. They are designing a clear and concise signagesuite I would call it. Um based on the recommendations that we've got from thecouncil um we are reviewing those and getting prices for the fabrication. Andthe intention is that those signs go in um within the next few weeks at thispoint um leading into the winter. Our direction is to provide the councilfeedback at a meeting next June um on how it's going. Uh we'll also hear fromthe police at that point in terms of complaints from the park. Um therethere'll be a QR code um where folks in the park can can register concerns onthe off leash dog areas. Um, so the intention is get those signs uprelatively soon and see how it goes. >> And in terms of uhreviewing other potential off leash areas in the city.>> Yep. So the the community work group had identified a variety of additional offleash areas. That's going to start to come up through the master planningprocess. It's been identified for um Big Willow as an option. Um but we are ha weare we do have a list of other parks that did um check a lot of the boxes interms of um good potential locations. So we are looking at a strategy to to bringthose to you folks and advance that park planning process to some degree tobetter, you know, think through those potential um parcels, what it would taketo implement those off leash areas potentially what the communication tothe neighborhoods around those parks should look like um and just sort oftake that ball the next step with the community work group and the sites thatthey identified. So would there be an opportunity thenfor uh timing wise for us to get some senseof how it's working at Purgatory before we open it up to other parks?>> Well, that would be a city council review in next June.>> Yeah. So the current direction is to get a to have a report ready next June. Sowe would get data from the police at that point on complaints, some of thethe hard quantifiable data type elements.>> So the city city council's kind of put that in their purview.>> Okay. Um but if we're would timing wise then are we going to be looking at otherparks after June >> or>> or before? >> Yeah.>> Well, as part of as part of master planning. Yes, absolutely.>> Is that your question? >> But these other ones,>> well, it's I'm I'm worried about we we assume that everything's great andthe dogs and the humans are well behaved and then we say, "Okay, we're going tocarve out this chunk of another park." Um, but what if the dogs and the humansare not well behaved and then we've promised another park and we'd have, youknow, there potential for more conflict. >> Well, if I if I can jump in, I think thecouncil's made it clear that the expectation is that we would like tohave they would like to have additional off leash areas within Minnotonka. notnecessarily a purgatory kind of construct, but it might be more asthey've referred to as city parks or whatever. And so I think that's, youknow, that's the intention to look at that. Um, we already know how dogs andpeople interact. We don't need it's not a mystery. If you go to BryantLake Park, you can see how a dog park works and how the dogs interact andthey're all fully fenced. And there's pros and cons to that. But I think thecity council's made it clear that dog owners in Minnitaka are sacrificinga lot by having only right now purgatory and and a reduced area purgatoryavailable. So they're interested in >> other areas that could be available forand you know whether it's your the hockey rink idea or or or enclosed areaat Big Willow or whatever. I don't think anybody knows what those look like yet.>> Yeah. But to to the point like I I think it's hard to plan well when we don'thave that direction of like design elements that the council feels arecritical because in fact that's where we really were not on the same page at allwith the city with the city council is in those um not not in we we were ofcourse on the same page of yes, we need places for people to take their dogs andhave them have off leash time have uh you know social interactions with otherdogs, but on the on the parameters it was not not very close what what we cameup with. And so I do think it hinders us if we don't have that direction from thecity council and yet we're expected to be taking up that concern.So I don't know what the answer to that is other than to say well maybesomething could go there. we have no idea how to direct you otherwisewhich we could we could be in a position to doa lot more for them as an advisory group >> but we're not getting from them I don'tfeel more specific parameters of what they really want to see>> um and a little premature still right because we haven't done the next masterplan but before we do the next master plan that decision criteria orrequirements or use some guidines No, I mean the the direction that wehave is in June we will be revisiting this with the council>> to determine how things have been going and what the next steps forward wouldbe. I think during master planning we can identify potential areas for thatwould be appropriate for for a off leash dog use.>> Um but the master plan is high level. It's not going to provide you any kindof a design. >> So you'd be thinking more like these arethe low vegetative quality areas. Yep. >> Right. They meet all our other criteriaof >> accessibility,>> accessibility, the the vegetative value, all all the parameters>> and we just probably leave it at that, >> right?>> Because we don't have any other >> discernable like design help at thispoint. >> You know, we can't say now should it befenced in, should it be unfed, just signs because we don't>> it would depend on the property. >> It would. Yes, it would. It also dependson what the council is interested in. >> Yeah. Yeah.>> But we really the park board won't really have that information until June,which is what they set as a timeline for staff to present how this has beengoing, what lessons have been learned. And I, you know, usually they want arecommendation for what we should do go going forward. And that's when thatdiscussion will happen. I guess I'm just surprised that citycouncil would be okay with us not going through another spring summer seasonwithout having additional designated off leash areas in the city.That seems really slow, but if that's >> what they want from a high strategic[laughter] level, >> it is what it is. It just surprises me.>> Yeah. And that might maybe that'll change>> could change >> because I don't thinkmy own perspective would be there won't [clears throat] be anotherawfully like purgatory. Let's put that way. I mean because therearen't any other other parks large enough and isolated enough to have thekind of exposure that purgatory has. Um, I had I haven't been out in too manyof the parks lately. I haven't Can you talk a little bit more about the QRcodes? I've not seen them. I don't know where they are.>> They're not up yet. We've created flyers that the community the our officers havebeen handing out in the form of education about what the new ordinancesays for off leash dogs. And there's a QR code that takes you directly to ourwebsite and it's a concern form essentially what happenedand where and a police officer um would contact that person back.>> So is the the thought then that there would be signs in the park.>> Yes. So, the signage suite that we're reviewing and going to be installing inthe next few weeks here have QR codes and make it very clear and easy what todo >> and it's in purgatory and the otherparts >> it'll initially it's just going to be inpurgatory >> because purgatory is the only place youcan have an off leash dog, >> right?>> Legally. Legally. >> Legally. Um>> and and Matt, you might want to comment. I guess we've seen, you've mentionedthat there's been uh comments by the police, but there's been fewer incidentsor fewer reports of off leash dogs in other parks since the ordinance went in.>> I have heard that anecdotally from our officers that the change in theordinance did seem to have a ripple effect through the community.>> It might um if you had any extra signs, it'spossible that a few in Jadana would be good.>> Yep. Yep. >> There's a lot of new signage to do. So,part of the park entry signage project included park rules, but we've shelvedthat knowing that what are our rules? Um, so>> I did see new ones in purgatory though, >> the little tan ones.>> Yeah, those were specific for purgatory, but these are generalized park hours, noalcoholic beverages, stuff like that. Um and we're due to refresh all those buthave sort of delayed that process but those will be rolling out too once weget a better sense of the dog issue. >> Okay, great. So there was some in inanother sphere that I uh travel uh working with the city's like ordinanceviolation website and do you want feedback from the enforcers?uh the feedback for people who don't post anonymouslyhas been uh almost completely absent. And so I have a real concern and thatwas this was on a smaller issue. So, I have a real concern with a citywideordinance and then the purgatory process that many people who whoutilize this this system are going to find they get no feedback. They get noreturn phone calls simply because if in a on a small muchsmaller level that was happening and this is>> why was that? because they were posting anonymously or not anonymously.>> They were saying, "Here's who I am. Here's how to contact me. I want to becontacted." >> Okay?>> And they still were not being contacted. So, and and we're not, you know, this ismaybe a 20th of the numbers that would probably come through once this QR codeis up at Purgatory and other parks, you know, like if there's one, if we sayeventually we get to one at every park. Um, and it's in the memo, the QR code,so people have it already. >> Um,I'm that's a big concern. I don't so I don't know how to what you guys can doother than to say like get ready PD because it's coming and you're probablygoing to be inundated and we understand from perhaps smaller similar likeordinance violation initiatives where you where people have been concernedabout kind of scoffing uh that you're going to be unable tohandle the traffic and actually get back to people and then that'll create moretension Right. If people say, "I want the city to enforce this. I'mconsistently that it's not happening. I want to be contacted about this." Andthen they're not contacted. It just like rolls into a bigger and bigger ball oftension and angst. >> Well, we're not in their day-to-dayoperational meetings, but I do understand the police are prepared forthis. >> That they they know what's happening.They're they're readying their staff. Yeah.>> And they understand what they're going to be>> dealing with. >> And I my sense anecdotally from CaptainMian and other comments from the community service officer, they've inthe past I think they've done a good job always following up with residentswho've expressed concerns if they're not anonymous. I don't think I don't thinkwe've had a lot of anonymous express concerns and on dogs. You see,people want to be heard. So, but that's a good that's a good heads up because ifthey're not hearing back on whatever the other issue was, that's unfortunate. >> Uh 8B.>> Okay. Um >> Thanks, Matt.>> Yep. >> Pull up the uh>> So, just looking at the upcoming schedule. Uh so, our next meeting isright around the corner, so don't think it's a month away. You have two weeks.Not a lot of rest time. >> What's the date again?>> Uh it'll be November 5th, Wednesday. And so uh we know we have two uhsignificant items. Uh one will be review of the park board strategic plan and a2026 work plan. Um so the [clears throat] the strategic plan sotechnically the park board hasn't seen the strategic plan this year because yousaw it la in 2024 and then there was a desire to change our timing. So there'sbeen a little bit more of a gap when you've seen the plan. Um but now you'llsee it in no in November and December. So it'll it'll come back u back inDecember. And the intent is that uh it'll be a time for you to review andhave some discussions about your strategic plan. Um staff is proposing ageneral work plan for next year. It'll be broken down by uh quarters. Soquarterly work plan um similar to what Ally was mentioning with thesustainability commission and having a work plan for that commission. Sothat'll be an opportunity for you to see what we're proposing. Um certainly ifthere's additions or deletions that we that's what we want to get feedback fromyou on. Um that work the strategic plan and the work plan will be actuallypresented to the council in January. Um so they do sort of technically adopt orapprove your work plan. So they do want to see that and that's a relatively newthing. I think last year it was presented to them. Um but before that ittypically wasn't presented to the council but now they want to see workplans for all of the boards and commissions. Um so that will start nextuh in November uh November 5th. So that'll be some I think some kind ofmeaty discussion that we're looking forward to. That's really your guidingdocument. So there's it's worth spending some time on that. Um the other itemwill be the Big Willow Park master plan. So, as you know, we introduced it at thejoint meeting, but really didn't have a chance to get into it in detail. Um, youknow, Matt and the consultant have been gathering some public input. Um, youprobably seen signs all around the park. Um, so, you know, we have some of thatinformation. We understand, we're starting to get better understanding ofissues and opportunities. So, uh, you know, we don't want to just present youwith a developed plan. We want to bring you along with the process, give youopportunities as a park board to provide feedback and input. So that'll be uhanother item that time that you can start kind of digging into that planbefore it's fully fleshed out. So then uh the meeting in December,which is on December 3rd, again, you'll see that the ideas uh back to thestrategic plan that comes to you in November and then it'll come back to youfor adoption in December. uh in January. Um and actually I this isincorrect. Uh the appointment of chair and vice chair actually should happen inFebruary. So I have that wrong on here. Um but just to give you an update, asyou know, you have a vacant seat. >> Um the uh the council is not uh fillingthat seat by appointment because the application period is is pretty closeand so it starts in December um for a January appointment. So basicallythey're waiting until that period and opening it up for applications versusjust appointing somebody for a few months.>> Um so you'll have a new park board member in February. Um and then that'sat that time you'll also appoint your chair and your chair and vice chair. Umanother update is we did actually get an application for a student position. SoI'm waiting to hear from our administrative staff about thatappointment. that need that needs to be they need to be formally appointed bythe council. So just waiting to see what happens there.>> Um so nobody right now but we have had an application for that and we've beenwithout a student u position for quite a while. So it would be exciting to getsomebody. >> If that doesn't work out let me know andI'll reach out to the high school sustainability class. I now know theprofessor teacher's name. >> Great. Great. Uh so that's uh so Januaryand then uh February uh the idea is we would bring back that big willow masterplan at whatever phase we have it in. Um at some point the Cullen Nature Preservemaster plan will come back. Um and there'll be other items>> and that'll be a completed plan for review.>> Yes, that would be the goal. Yep. >> We're currently discussing that planwith the land trust who piece of property. So then do do we not have anagenda for January yet? >> No, I don't have an agenda for January.There'll be items. I promise you, you'll have items.>> There'll be something to do. Okay. >> These were just sort of the main uh idemain uh items that would be coming for you. So just wanted to give you>> a sense of what's coming. And then as far as other meetings and activities,I'll turn that over to Kelly. >> Sure. A couple activities coming up. SoFriday we've got the Burwell Spooktacular. It looks like the weatheris going to work out in your favor. Supposed to be in the 50s. So uh Burwellthat starts at 5:00 5 to 7:30 at the Burwell House on the Burwell grounds. UhSaturday, December 6th is light up the Commons. That's at Ridgdale Commons. Ibelieve that's our third year of that. And then December 13th uh here at thecommunity center. 10 a.m. is the winter market.>> So just a couple activities coming up. >> All right. Thank you. and I'll>> turn it over to you. >> Any other any uh park board memberreports? >> I'll just say again, the new signs lookgreat. I keep seeing them pop up everywhere. You're getting around to thelittle parks, so that looks looks good. >> Uh I guess since we are, you know,haven't run long on time. Um, some of the parks, the traditional communityplanting beds around the base have been destroyed, taken out, taken out to putthe new signs in. Is the intention that they would be reinstated?>> Yes. So, there's a adopt a park sign program. Some of the signs havevolunteers. They've sort of taken the year off. Some signs went in earlier. Wedo offer those as volunteer opportunities. If we don't getvolunteers, then our staff sometimes installs plants. Often we justmulch it and and add edging to make them look neat.>> Okay. Just curious. Uh do I have any motion to adjurnn? Ann,you've been doing really well with these motions.>> Uh I move we adjourn. >> I'll second the motion.>> Great. All in favor? >> Call. You can just>> Okay. Thanks.>> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> [music] [music]