e e I'm I'm not connected to the network here okay we're call the meeting to order of the June 26 2024 park and rec commission meeting Sarah could you do roll call please I sure can Lloyd Greek here Laura Greenley karp here David andren here Ben Hansen is excused ingred kler here Sue springborn here Zar Sarah Zara is on her way um and Cassidy schweer is excused absent okay we have an we have a quorum we need a motion to adopt the agenda I make a motion Dave makes a motion second I second it sue seconds all in favor say I I I all opposed approval of the minutes May 22nd 2024 I make a motion to approve Dave makes a motion second a second ingred seconds any discussion all in favor say I I I I'll opposed approval of the minutes of the June 25th 2024 workshop I'll make a motion didn't we just do that no we did the May 22nd oh oh sorry oh that's okay okay so Lloyd makes a motion Dave second any discussion All In favor say I I I'll oppos anybody on the zoom nope anybody from the public nope nope okay well then we'll move right along to uh bench at Southwood yes so we mentioned at the last couple meetings about um potentially purchasing a bench for a memorial for Kathy trundle um we do have a bench that is available for installation now um at Public Works um the only thing that we would be responsible for is the purchase of a plaque um so if we do want to move forward with that yes if we do want to move forward with that the cost of the plaque is $310 um that includes the plaque and the setup fee um so if we would like to discuss that and vote for it we certainly can if we want to discuss placement um however you want to go with that how are we funding the the bench itself the bench was already purchased by the city and it was going to go in Southwood anyway so got it yes does the plaque have to meet specific requirements yes oh okay so we have to use this Fender yes okay I'm I'm for it you want to make a motion well has anybody contacted the task force no which I can do if we are all on board to yeah cuz I purchase it from our side I talked to Daryl he hasn't gotten back me uh and I don't know if they've already raised some funds for some of this uh I mean they were disappointed that they couldn't pick out their own bench and stuff but they're they're willing to abide by um our ruling and the city's ruling so I think it would be good news but I think we had to at least reach out to Daryl who's in charge of the task force over there and get a little bit more feedback but other than that I think we should go forward with replacing the bench um I know that it would be better to have this embossed into the concrete at the time of setting it so I think once we talked to the task force we can get approval and you know now with that said are they um able to put their own wording on the plaque or is it something we yet to you I think that would be kind of up to I guess you guys if you would rather have the wording on there or if you'd rather see the task force create the wording they would just need to be submitted to me so I can get it ordered so however you want to see that work I I think we should at this point moving forward go ahead and replace your plan on replacing the bench let's find out what kind of wording they want on the plaque so we can get that embossed in the concrete so it's more of a Perman thing some we can't just take it out so um hold on if sounds like there's stipulations about the plaque yeah the plaque has to be a certain plaque that's screwed into Laura Dave when you're done I'm going to Laura sure well I'm just but we're not etching it in concrete right it goes on the bench no it's it's a brass there's two ways they can mounted they can we can either put the bench in now have it set you know the bench in the concrete like they're supposed to and then put the plate the plaque later on top where it would be bolted on or embossed in the concrete so as they're doing the cement work for the bench they put it in at that time so it's permanently in the concrete but I don't know if that's even an option yeah they've been screwing them in they've been doing the first option to all of them now when I talked to public works that's what they told me when I started to find out what their policy was on the benches and that's what uh Public Works informed me of I think it depends Dave though cuz like the ones that are at Casey Lake they're a printed on plastic plaque for which you can't really put that in concrete because it'll fade direct sunlight the ones we had before all those parameters were met were brass plaques and so them being in it was a little different story so I think we don't have a choice on whatever this is so I'd say if it's not a brass or something that can go in the if it's plastic we don't want it in because it can crack based on the like yeah so I went recommend that anyway I would just go with whatever recommendation the city says we have to do knowing that that's better but that's we may not have a choice and is consistent with what the other benches look like because that's half the reason we're replacing the benches is they have everything in the city uniform so with that said I think I mean if there's some wording or something they want on the plaque but if it's if we're our only option is to put it in after then there's no rush on that so and if that's the case I mean I have no problem making a motion to to put up $310 towards the claque but like I said it's I think we got to go forward and if it's going to be after the sooner we get a new bench in the better you make a motion whenever you I made a motion now to go forward with installing the bench and also um spending up to $310 for the plaque from from the park and wreck okay do we need to do we need to say like $350 just in case there's a couple of extra something uh I confirmed with the vendor this morning that it's 310 so I think we're safe with that yep so it's 310 second I second Laura second's discussion all in favor say I I I I'll opposed passed all right park assignments yes this one was a little bit more fun so I was going through um I was going through uh some notes from Jill um that she had left and I see that there was some Park assignments that had been um given out previously so it looked like each of you were representing Parks or had represented parks in the past um and I just wanted to clean up that list so what you see in the packet is what we had obviously there's the commissioner on there that is at least no one of them's no longer on there um so if we want to assign make clarifications on who's representing which park and I I would like to propose that moving forward to if um each month if there's if you guys could go out like once a month Here sign Parks take a look come back and Report see what's going on um if there's anything that you have questions on I can relay that to the right people um but I just want to make sure that we have everybody has some parks that they want to represent here or if you don't that's fine too so okay um or if you're good with where your name is on here that's fine too we can keep it aren't you uh Mite too Laura um I don't I'm going to look at the list oh sorry I'm good hous and rotary I know nothing about Rotary Park and we don't even own it yeah so I can also same with the veds park we don't own rotary no the rotary owns it so we don't need rep for the Vets Park is that right is that why it's na not I'm not sure do you know Sarah at the the vet Veterans Park do we not need one um I don't think so but I concluded on here just in case there was other opinion on it I don't think we own it um same with rotary but I wasn't sure there are parts of it we maintain so like at Rotary Park we maintain the bathrooms but it's not our Park veterans we do a lot of the greenery Greenscape there but we don't own it so I didn't know if people wanted to represent it or not we certainly don't have to I think it seems very well represented by community members who are who who created it um so perfect um I don't feel like I mean I would feel like should we just go through and so I've moved since this initial list so what happens well for me is the ones already had I actually live next to now so Kobe Hills an Urban Ecology Center are like right next to my house so why don't I take those two um I know Ben isn't here to defend himself but he lives on Casey lake so naturally he probably is at that Park a lot um and he told me he goes there a lot with his kids so maybe he would be okay to take Casey from me that just leaves polar open if somebody's closer to Polar but so we're we're we're eliminating rotary from our list yeah so I can take polar okay you want Polar okay figure out what it is so you so you still want Norwood the weird parking lot in Cas laur's got howy right straight on that road mhm yeah on howy still yeah and Sarah's got the next two and shot Su you got Tower houses okay quick KN did you that was with me and Laura you were on there too sure I'm happy to be on there yeah I mean I'm not on any of these oh yeah oh yeah I don't where do you live you live near Southwood yeah um I live right next to Southwood well you can join me yeah well we both can be on it I mean I could um I could be also on mcnight I mean I know a few of the people at the district Center and stuff like that yet so I if you want I could go on mcnight and Southwood and I can be on Southwood too okay so it's me and you on mcnight are you on you're doing mcnight too I don't need to okay then I'll take mcnight with Dave it just it just means that you bring any topics to us yeah we look at it see if there's any repairs or any issues uh those kind of things all right so you and I got Southwood you and I got Mite ingred you good with Silver Lake Silver Lake and then Dorothy Park Sarah you still want Casey or nope we already talked about this Ben we'll take Casey and I'm going to take arties I'm going to take kby Hills and Urban Ecology Center just because it's easier for me to get to those yep angr you're taking polar yep or no or I'm sorry Dorothy yes and then you had polar Laura yeah okay and vets were leaving open correct okay awesome wait who has polar me oh so I I dropped off um rotary and hopped on to Polar got it we can't do anything with it exctly as it turns out all right will so be Dorothy mhm Sarah are we good on that we're great yes okay I'm just trying to get M this uh reports from the staff I'm going to go to Sarah yes um so as you can see in the um packet again I got some updates from public works I'll just go through those quickly um if you've been by Casey and you see that there's a a new structure near the parking lot that's looks like fencing that will be an enclosure for trash they've never had um trash pickup there forever they've been hauling it back to Public Works to get it taken so they are installing this um they are just waiting on slats to S slide into the fencing so it doesn't look so open and ugly um and then they'll start using it so yeah it'll look a lot better than it does now in the weird fence in the middle yes um howy Park the the everything is almost done um they're just waiting for the um black top to cure and then they'll put the um stripes on it and put the nuts on and then we'll be pretty much ready to go um and they're just waiting for the grass to grow there um seems like people are getting a little antsy to use the field so I don't know if the grass will have a little bit of a hard time growing but um it looks really nice so if you haven't been by it I would encourage you to um are very excited about pickle ball very excited they really are how many quarts are going to be in there again I just looked at it it's four four mhm yeah and are they um North Side south facing I believe so I think so y we were worried about the sun okay I was just looking at it today and I couldn't tell because not none of the Nets are in the city did post something that said pickle ball and tennis and I think that was a misprint because it's not tennis it's just pickle ball pickle yeah yes cuz someone asked me like we can play tennis I'm like nope you can't play tennis there like the Nets yeah yeah yes um as uh ingred mentioned before um this final snowy is up at Dorothy Park so since this has been uh created by Public Works they did pour the concrete pad and it is in place so all the snowies are out too so if you haven't seen them all I would go check them out um they are installing a small storm water catch Basin at Casey um I guess there's an area near the lake where there's some standing water on the trail so they are working on fixing that and then um we talked about last meeting that they installed some rubber mats under some of the swings throughout the city um seems to be working out really great so um no issues there um my other update for today um is actually going to be something that'll be upcoming um I have been tasked with looking at our memorials program that we currently have for like we talked about the benches the tables the trees the plaques all of that um and the fees have not been uh what we're charging the public right now is less than they actually cost us so I'm going through um going to re realign that and seeing what other cities do as well um and seeing if we're in line if we're doing way too many options for people it looks like my preliminary research nobody else is offering picnic tables as memorials so why are we so I'm doing some analysis um and I hope to bring that back at the next meeting if not the one in August um and we can discuss it and see how we want to move forward awesome good that's all I have uh and the Public Works covered that too yep yes yep all right reports Commissioners we okay I'm going to start with Sarah anything no reports Aura um I just I talked to Sarah about this before the meeting started but wanted to put this on the notes as well I was talking with the Arts commission um about how Autumn artsfest was going as far as planning and in the change over of um us having an events planner in the city and that person leaving and a new person starting um Autumn's Arts Fest for the like it's still moving forward it's still okay but I I had thought that the Arts commission took back over the planning of that and it sounds like they haven't or we like figuring out what that's going to look like going forward so I just wanted us all to know in case people were assuming that they were on it they were work there were they're working on it in partnership with the city um Sarah said that it would be beneficial to have us do some vendor recruitment uh for the event Vendor by like sellers or food trucks or what no food trucks are good okay it we need we're going to need some more volunteers and I said that we can reach out to the school later in the summer but it's not going to make sense now and then recruitment of vendor sellers so if you know people who may be interested in selling at the do we know how many cuz they were telling me at the concerts the park Oh I thought they said 40 something okay no that we have 19 that have applied 17 have paid and are all ready to go so okay and last year we had like 30ish so if you know of people like put a bug in their ear for that and then volunteer wise like I said we'll be able to tap the students at the high schools but not until later in the summer um but if you know someone who might be interested in volunteering also just put that out there as well could you resend the link to our North St Paul email with like where to app app and then I can help at least post it on um some of the Minnesota vendor pages and then the North St Paul friends seems to work out well absolutely I can do that awesome anything else Laura I don't think so sorry I didn't mean to go back to me but I was at concerts in the park Sue and I but maybe when it gets to sue she can report on it no go ahead no Sue was there too I'll let her uh one question about planning improvements for next year when are we G to think about doing that uh do we want to start talking about that next week next month your next month yes I can add that the agenda be great okay did you just say Park improvements for next year where we go which Parks we're going to go to next or work with then wait doesn't it make sense we have to shouldn't we get the open space plan approved first yeah now let you say that we probably should delay it a little bit city council will have opinions I think on that so we can get that approved which is July maybe it's no we're going to have to it'll be August okay so in August after we have that information and their feedback good point and the other thing too is I should have mentioned this before the park planning consultant hga we have a meeting in the books with them for July 11th so myself um Community Development Riley Grahams uh community development director Riley Grahams will be there our city manager will be there so we're all going to get back on the same page with that hopefully next year then we'll be moving forward with them as well okay are we going to do any ceremony when our housy starts I have been asking our city manager so hopefully yes okay yes I'll be in touch about that too thank you that's all I got Sirah what what day was that meeting again uh July 11th July 11th okay thank you so we should see if we can get ay there snowy oh oh oh oh yes yeah good idea you'll pull out your roll desk and walterson yeah volunteers but that might be kind of fun that would absolutely I don't know if they'd even be interested you know they haven't moved here for a long time there is a there is a plaque or a m Monument he actually farmed that par oh really yeah for was a park wow interesting um well the I wasn't actually forgot about I know I did too I said the concert in the park was I think for the rain was well attended there were maybe 20 people there yeah it I'd say in comparison to previous concerts in the park it was a really light attendance but the day had been raining off and on as it has been and then it was actually raining during the concert it was so this band it was all country I feel like um the one thing I'll say is I feel like it's been really poorly advertised I feel like I shared some stuff on like Jan's playground page that morning and other things and like 10 people who came to that show came from my post like oh I'm so glad you said this we're coming and so 10 of the 20 people came from something I posted that morning it means nobody saw it and even I had to remind myself like I had it written on a calendar so I don't know if there's a way that the city can boost some of these posts and just pay the $10 on Facebook to kind of shove this in people or someone from the city pushing this on like North St Paul friends or other things um I just fear for the next two concerts it would be nice to um because I feel like we had built a pretty we were getting 50 to 60 people there last year and the rain probably did a lot of this but that band was and I'm not a country but they had they had every instrument known to man it was a they had a huge setup and I felt so bad that they had huge thing and you know again the rain but um I just I think part of it was that I had a lot of people say I didn't know this was going on and I'm like yeah I almost forgot too I had to dig on North St Paul's pce page go to events share it through there and it's um yeah can I it's funny that I'm going to say this because I don't know anything about I'm not on social media at all but it's such a good way to promote things um shouldn't we just have like a just a checklist of you know like any that we're putting on just uh just like the thing is they if you recall the big thing that happened a couple years ago is we were stripped of the ability to post any of those so it has to come from the city that was one of the big things like we used to be able to advertise that ourselves as the park commission and we can't so the city has to do it and that's why I'm saying it'd be a good checklist for the city to maybe see if use Park dollars to invest in advertising the the art the Autumn Art Festival like these things that push out so because then when people hit interested on Facebook it reminds them like hey you know this week you have these things and you're like oh I kind of forgot about that and so I just think maybe we need to like spend a few dollars so it pops into people's because it will it will Target the audience of people who live in North St Paul or 10 miles around here and you're talking I don't know I'm pretty ignorant about this you're talking about Facebook you pay money and then you it will Market your event it'll Market your event for you but it's low cost like5 to10 do and it will reach 5,000 people wow now I mean we put it on the sign right like it goes on the sign that so people drive past but see I feel like it's everywhere I I feel like I see it everywhere so I'm surprised that you're saying that people don't know about it I don't see it I mean I see it on the sign as I drive by if I drive by um but then and it has to be has to be the right timing you know because if I drive by and then it's you know so I think it could be I have a you know we advertise with yard sides for the booya every year I think we could do something like that too for a little like got concerts in the park this Thursday something we canuse that's not a bad idea we cuz right now we got the same kind of signs up it' be nice to see them in other like because now that I live by the community center I don't drive past that anymore so like we don't see anything on that side of town but I know we did that for the Autumn Arts Festival we have signs for that and I think that helped that event a lot which reminder to us to like dig those back out again when we we have them okay good ready maybe that's a good idea maybe we use some dollars to invest in just like this Thursday we don't Mark you know that way we can reuse them or concert in the park tonight or you know and put three of them along Casey or something Tuesday or whatever whatever the day but maybe put them out in the Parks uh a week before we only have a few thought we're on a few street corners we used to do that for the Splash and I do think that brought people can we do the same thing for the booah so we might as well do it that way that way people who aren't on the internet uh that much I'm not on social media at all yeah um so it' be something as people drive by um would see oh let's check that out and then have something on the website so if somebody wants to check it a little further they can yes I will say I can I'll check into the yard signs so we can get pricing for next month and vote on them and then we can continue use them year after year this first one I have to admit landed at a weird time we were transitioning between Communications people it's not anyone's fault to say it just it it also sprung on me that day I'm like oh crap concerts in the park and it's because I looked at my calendar and I wrote it down like last month I'm like oops yes and it was raining and I even had to message you and like is this still going on because I got people messaging is this still going on you know yes it was just a victim of circumstan like it just very much but Sarah do you do you think it's possible to have a little checklist of um like if the city could let's say three three things that we you know I'm not even familiar we made a huge check we made like a two-page event checklist no I mean but I mean just the promotions thing a list of five different po you know same post that goes out to Facebook and it goes out to this and it goes out to that I can provide something but I know our Communications coordinator does have that that she came in with like her own checklist of things that are working and so I I can provide it for sure if you guys to see it but okay yeah I mean yeah what else any else no nothing David nothing ing uh for Silver Lake or Dorothy yeah thank you um no the the park is Silver Lake is getting used so much um it's just I mean there's fishing there's boating there's swimming there's everything um and it looks good uh at one point there was a strange dock I think that was over on the south side of the lake that had W maybe it maybe it was a part of somebody's dock that washed over do you know anything about that I do know uh we got calls about it and our uh By the time our Public Works team came out it was gone so it was gone yeah okay so I wonder if it was part of somebody's doc that it was windy and blw across okay yeah um so and then I I did notice I'm I'm in it every day walking my dogs so um I did notice a tree that needs some attention um so should I just contact Public Works should what do you think you can contact I'm the admin for public works too so you can tell me I'll talk to you after this meeting about what particular tree it has some weird growth and I can see a dead branch and just needs some attention Okay um so yeah awesome anything else otherwise great it's great motion to adjourn I make a to adjourn David second I second Mo seconds all in favor say I I all [Music] opposed TI