e e e e e how' you turn it off of over here I know you get to be you turn on this button yeah everybody on yeah he's not coming that's and Mark is not we knew that Mark wasn't G to be here I would like to call order the SC County Parks advisory commission welcome everyone this is being recorded So if you are not speaking it' probably be best to turn your microphone off um roll call Barb headstrom here Lori Schmid here krie Coupe is not here Eric spieler here Kathy gerlock here Mark eward is not Jody Stone here commissioner Johnny Brennan here thank you several iedge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic from which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all the next item is Madam chair I do have an addition um we are going to add something after eight so we'll have a new number nine and that is a resolution of appreciation for commissioner Kathy Gera any other changes Corrections additions appr agenda so moved headstrom second spieler hearing none all in favor opposed has everybody had a chance to review those are there any changes or Corrections that need to be noted at this time second Stone no discussion all those in favor of item number five isog of interested ciens items not on the agenda there are no discussions correct number maintenance operations natural resources service operations year in review um being now wol hello thanks for having me again I think I've met most of you but just as a refresher I'm Tom balk I'm the operation supervisor for facilities and guest services and I am here to do our 2024 update so let's see if can figure this out okay before we get into kind of our year here quickly it's summary of our uh staff in facilities so besides myself I do have three other um full-time supervisors you see there up in the left corner is Sean murtis he's been with Park District for like 20 years and with our Scott County team for I think over seven now then over on the top kind of right is Noah torvic I think everyone met him in may he came to this group and introduced himself and he is coming up on his uh second year with our team and then our newest member who is here today and she's here to Quick say hi I don't know if she can stick around she's other obligation but she is here to say hi I'm going to have her come up and introduce yourself hello everybody thanks for letting me join your meeting today my name is Mel wolfolk uh I am the facility supervisor down at Cedar Lake Farm now um with additions of the cabins um and I'm really excited to see where these go yeah and yeah like you said I have a prior obligation so I do have to skattle but I appreciate you like me be here thank you thank you thanks M yeah so she started back what in April March March April and yeah it's been a great addition to our team so it's much needed having a presence and Facilities down at Cedar especially with the cabins there so we're happy to have her um and the other part of our staff then mix up a big chunk of what we do is our seasonal staff um they're kind of the nuts and bolts of our whole team they're kind of the front line face that you see when you come up to the parks hopefully you the smiling face that's greeting you there and provide all the the customer service to everyone so um because they can only work six months we do have kind of a summer Squad and a winter Squad um and you kind of see a breakdown of what we hire we definitely hire more in the summertime um we usually hire attendants that work at the counter at the visitor center and at all the boat rental operations and then we also hire some instructors to do golf programming and then in the winter time it's just all attendance um and The Visitor Center clearly is open 363 days of the year we only close on Christmas and Thanksgiving so we do have staff there pretty much every day so these guys do a bulk of the work and all the numbers you're going to see they are a big part of our success here so so um in addition just the customer service a big part of our job then is to collect Revenue so we're going to kind of go through some of our numbers for this year um this is a little snippet took from the October revenue report but we did have a really good year um in revenue for Revenue purposes we got have to kind of a slow start obviously with no winter but that opened up some opportunities to have the golf course open and we more than made up for some of that um with the early opening and the late closing so just quickly on there you can see um by through October we already had exceeded our um Revenue expectations for basically everything with the gulf making up for a couple of the shortage is in areas um next page um pointed out a couple spots so you can see up on the first line there with the golf our budget Revenue expectations is right around 500,000 and through October we are already at 7:35 so we had a overage of 247 and then the other two lines I just pointing out where the skiing and the camping were two areas where obviously ski because of the lack of winter we we had less and then camping I'll talk about later on but we also had less due to some construction projects happening which we knew that was going to be the case but but then on the bottom um you can see our total budget is usually about 844 and right now we're at over just over a million so we did have a good year and golf was um kind of the the big reason for a lot of those numbers there so jumping into golf quickly um here's just a kind of a spreadsheet of over the last years of the amount of rounds that we've done cly and you can see here um in 2027 it's our highest number we've ever had and um a good reason for that is just the number of days we're open so you see up top there the golf course is open it says 230 I think that's the average for everyone I think we were probably closer to 240 250 from a days are open um I think the course opened in March and stayed open till early November and and then um same with the driving range driving range we also had the highest numbers I'll get into the next slide but it opened in February it's the first time we've ever had the the driving range open in February and then it uh closed about a week and a half ago so we made it to almost end of November to so here's a breakdown of the numbers um the golf RS obviously makes up a Big Slice of the pie but then the other one I thought i' mentioned would just be the the driving range because of the days we were open that's a new high for um Revenue that we've pulled in on the driving range um I think we're usually budgeted right around 95 and we almost overd doubled that so it was a a good year in golf um moving on to other Revenue areas here's um the breakdown of our boat rental um for the year um this total is pretty standard for what we've had in the past years um the one I probably will point out is just the you can see the division of what gets rented and the one I'll point out is when we look at these numbers and we determine in the future of what the trends and what we want to expand on um the one I point out would be the tandem kayaks even though the sliver looks small we only have two kayaks that make up that that sliver where all the other ones have like 8 to 10 of those boats so um we almost make half of what we do in the regular kayaks and tandems with only two of them so um like I said the numbers are pretty equal to what we've done in the past and I'd say I think we did a pretty good job because we did have some challenges with our boat rental operations put some pictures in there you can see over on the left that's where it was in the fall of the previous year where the lake level was I couldn't find the spring picture but it's even further out than that so kind of right around April as we start thinking about what we're going to do we're attacking up plans of how we're going to make this work luckily when we open a Memorial Day by May in that midd picture you can see there it started raining and it kept raining but we did fill up to the point where we didn't have to make any adjustments to what we were our operations and unfortunately kind of through uh from Memorial Day all the way through almost the 4th of July it just kept raining and you can see that last picture there of how far the lake is up compared to the first one there so the first last picture is our little temporary ramp that was on day one so just in his career maintenance definitely we had something better than that but you can see that was our little temporary ramp to keep our operations going okay and on the camping um you can see the numbers for 2024 definitely our way down and that is for a reason because we did have construction happening at the clear Campground so the numbers that you're seeing are just for the RV sites and the group sites all the tent sites who were closed for the construction and that pretty much is that whole chunk that we're missing is the revenue that we would get from from the hik and tent sites so what was happening back there is they're putting in a new um shower building a new dump station and a new fill station for RV's and because of the proximity of where the hiking sites are located um we determined ahead of time that we're going to block them off and just not rent them it wouldn't have been a good experience for anyone that was out there so um we have those closed for the year and uh hopefully I think we're on Pace to have them back open next year with some new amenities uh quickly then going into shelter and Pavilion not much difference here than previous years um a little uptick in one a little downt in the other but pretty on par with previous years um and mostly it's Friday Saturday Sunday for these with sporadic kind of day rentals here and there and then over to some Revenue stuff over at Cedar so these are the kind of the three main areas most of it is pretty much on par within the past the with the exception of again of the camping so we knew going into 2024 that the group Camp was eventually going to be moved over to where the cabins were but we were going to continue operating the existing Camp until they were ready if they were ready and then move over there unfortunately about april-ish as we were getting ready um we had some water testing done and it tested high for I think it's arsonic levels and in order to fix that problem there was going to be a significant uh investment and we decided knowing that the camp R was going to move it didn't make sense to do that so we ended up blocking off that campsite for the majority of the year so we did have a couple rentals that were already in there we gave them the option of they could keep the rental they'd have to provide their own water and some decided to continue on and the other ones we did then refunded so that is why that number is down and hopefully in the spring of next year with the new site uh you'll see that number jump way up okay so other happenings that our group was involved in or events first one I have on here is just our Public Safety day that happens at clear this year was the third annual and it's just kind of a family fun day where I want to come out and meet all the different Public Safety agencies throughout this SC that serve Scott County and they can do a meet and greet meet the people who make it happen they can climb up into the fire truck and put on a fire hat and climb in the back of the ambulance so it's just a fun day um for everyone to come out and meet all the public safety agencies so we'll be doing it again next year it's on the calendar and then the highlight of is usually the helicopter landing unfortunately this year on on route to of the event they got called off to an emergency so we didn't have that but which is a bummer but at least uh people can understand that even though they're there they are still working um the other event kind of bigger event that we do then is we do in conjunction with the credit River antique tractor Club they do a three-day event out at Cedar I think it's been over a decade now they've been doing it and then on the Saturday of their 3-day we partner up and do something we call the midsummer event it is a big um kind of again a big free fun family day so in addition to all the stuff they offer with their tractor rides and hay rides and um parade uh we then join in and offer fishing clinics free boat rental archery clinics we have bouncy houses face painting so it's just a big free fun day for the public to come out and check out Cedar and we'll again we we'll be doing that again next year and hopefully we get the same weather this year was perfect then the last of the events that our team puts on is in the winter play day it was on the schedule for last year unfortunately know we didn't have much of a winter but it is um planned for again for 2025 and just like the other events you kind of a theme it's all kind of family Ed and free for everyone to come out and check out all the things that we do in the winter time um then I added one other event this is an event that you've probably seen this before is an event that we necessarily put on but we do a lot um behind the scenes to support this event so it's called surf the murf it's a pretty big race that happens over at Murphy Hanner hand um they do it's pretty hardcore extreme the trails are pretty difficult then they do 50 mile run 50k run a marathon distance and a 25k this is I think the 15th year that we've been doing it and uh we just play a big part as far as set up and take down and parking and the maintenance guys do a lot of work of getting the trails ready so it's a big Endeavor one loop around the whole course is like 17 miles and they do in the big race they do three of them so and every year they keep asking me if I have anyone that wants to do it as staff they were going to let us do it for free and for 15 years I kept telling them no and for the first time I was able to say yes so one of them M participated in the the 50k what is that like 32 miles so she ran 32 miles and then um our Public Safety staff Alex who I'll introduce you in a bit uh he also did it so good job by both of them Kudos and you'll never see me do it so and then one other happenings that happens down to Cedar I think most people know of the let's go fishing event but it's a a nonprofit group that runs our operation and Don at Cedar and they provide free boat rides and fishing excursions to seniors vets and people with disabilities and it's free to sign up and all the the trips are done by volunteers so uh they run from June to August it's a great organization lots of smiley face smiling faces there it's just fun to see when those groups come in they did 80 trips they pretty much go Monday through Thursday twice a day through that time frame and then uh this year they service 750 guests in over 70 different organizations a lot of them being like senior centers and things like that so very cool and that will continue on and then a couple other things that our group was involved in was just all the grand openings R cuttings everywhere so we have the Spring Lake ribbon cutting we had a grand opening event over at Spring Lake and then the other two ribbon cting at Doyle and um Cedar and our group was involved with a lot of the setup take take down and getting all the equipment and everything in the planning of those so and then the last kind of other happening to Pon obviously was a big thing it was the camper cabin opening finally in October so some pictures of that stuff but um in addition to all the contractors work and the Carpenters work our team kind of did a lot of the work to behind the scenes so Kudos toel she's the one that did a lot of this work um but there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happened as far as setting up all the cabins in our point of Sal system setting up the website working with our it to get pictures um to get all the put together all the rules and guidelines of what's involved and what they can and can't do I mean this is all new to us so it was all kind of reaching out to other agencies and other ones and figuring know what they do and seeing what makes sense for us so she did a lot of work of getting all that stuff set up um setting up automated emails so when someone registers they get an email with their receipt their confirmation the codes they need to get for the reservation pretty much anything they would need for their reservation comes in that automated email and then we also do a reach out to them then before their reservation um she's worked on testing and demoing it all just to make sure we didn't want to be the ones holding it up when we got the go so she did a lot of work making sure that once the switch was flipped we were ready um getting pictures up on the website um one of the kind of the cool things is working with our GIS team they had an intern whose main responsibility in the summertime was to work on virtual tours of different areas and so we were able to get him to come down fortunately it was a little before we were probably ready but I didn't want to miss out so um we did get that done and I'll show you that here in the next slide but it came out pretty good um in addition then so she's been working on M put together um a survey monkey with a QR code in each cabin so we can get some feedback of how we're doing and anything else um that they would like to see or change or what we could do better and then also put guest books in each cabin where they can write about their experiences there so we've been getting great feedback I have a slide here with some of the feedback we can read um and then also just ordering supplies and stuff for just the operations of those cabins with the brooms and shovels and all the carts that are available and then kind of the last piece was once the electricians got our security stuff hooked up was getting the software and getting training and learning how to do the programming of all the all the cabins so every reservation we have to go in and reprogram a new code for each group so normally we just program it as their phone number that they made the reservation with and then let them know hey this is the code that's going to get you into your cabin we'll get you into the showers we'll get you access to the cart if you need it and then we'll give them the code for the gate if they need it and then lastly is some signage and then a lot of work with uh the Department of Health of getting our permits and get being ready to go when they they were ready so good job Mel all right quickly here is going to show you what the virtual tour looks like these are up on our website now I think I forgot to hit the button I think it's gone maybe no maybe not second no Sor okay oh wait okay so here's the the tour so people can go on to the website and if they want to get an idea of what a cabin looks like and what the area looks like they can follow oh I'm getting too far here but they can they can navigate their way down pick a cabin they want to check out they can spin around here and get an idea of what it is they'll they'll be getting so it's kind of a 360 view of the area they can watch Lo down and check out all the cabins I said they fortunately had to do it before we had some of our final details in there like the mattresses are't there and the window treatments and stuff but at least they get a good idea of what a cabin looks like before they make a reservation so it's kind of a neat feature what's that yeah yeah for sure yeah for sure so yeah it was a cool process I was there when he did it and uh I think it came out pretty well so it's a neat feature just versus just seeing pictures okay see if I figure out how to go back oh sorry thank you takes a minute controlling that one let me try again so tell while while that's how far in advance can reservations be made for the camper cabins uh they can do them a year out so we've been actually getting so we have it hooked up now anytime the any money makes a reservation whether it's online calls or whatever we get an email of the reservation and they've been coming in pretty frantically for next summer so um right now most of the reservations as expected have been on weekends um I would say we usually have at least two if not more rented but I would expect in the in the summertime it will be pretty much oh there we now all the time so like the holiday weekends are those already booked like July 4th Memorial Day Labor Day yeah those are coming in Fast and Furious I don't know exactly those days but I see a bunch of them okay coming through my emails all the time so I would be surprised if they're not we even had uh someone come in on Thanksgiving and stay Thanksgiving through Saturday so wow Tom can you remind me again uh what do the cabins rent for yeah they're $95 that's $95 for the night and that includes then all the firewood they would need to and it sleep six so so here's some feedback that we got from the from the books um I'm not going to go probably read all of it but you can see some of the most of the uh feedback has been really positive um and some of the excited sees open been waiting a summer happy love them great views of the lake the porch is amazing cabins are cute thanks for Scot County and three and new prag for welcoming us beautiful cabins exceptional support So feedback has been great um and then we've had a few suggestions that we were able to take from these and actually put in the Practical use we had someone mentioned that we could use some hooks like first weekend I like oh that's a good idea so hooks are now in and I was aable so so far so good it's been going great can I ask a question are people com do you keep track of where they're coming from are they Regional or are they out of St I picked a couple different ones that are kind of spread out so of the four that I just randomly picked you can see two of them are from Scott County so one Jordan one Prior Lake but then we do have one that came from St Louis Park and another one from Minneapolis um I know we had yeah we had a family come from California that stayed for four days so I they had been coming from outside too so hell little both okay and last thing I going to talk about is just special use permits so we do have all kinds of outside events that happen in our Parks all the time and anybody that's doing any kind of organized event is required to have a special use permit so this is kind of something I spend a lot of my time doing is uh coordinating and helping make sure all these other events that NE aren't ours um go off fine in the park so this is just a list of ones I could remember offand and ones that I've had using the past but uh there's definitely more than this for sure um some of the newer ones that were um this year that the P like Dental Dash was a race at clear and it was really big and I'm anticipating it being even bigger so that's one that we'll probably continue on um new for us we actually were the host or the polling site for all the elections this year so um we had three dates where we did the polling so that was kind of interesting and kind of fun days actually um the greenhorn b or something new so just uh a list of things that happened besides the stuff that we put on and there's probably not a weekend that happens between April to October where there isn't something happening even though it's not something we're putting on so and then a big part of my job like I said is coordinating the details and stuff with them but then there's a lot of paperwork so they all depending on the risk and what the activity is they need to hold sign a hold haros agreement they need to get certificate insurance so there's lots of paperwork in back and forth that i' i' do in my role so and then this is one of the other groups that gets a special use permit I just thought to mention again just because they are continually just growing um is the high school practices over at Murphy for the mountain bike teams so there's pretty much not a day from June to October there's not at least one team over there and so it's kind of been a couple years to figure out what the proper balance of how many teams we can allow and to make sure that it is still available for the public and they don't feel like they've been pushed out so I think we got a good balance and uh I think uh kind of we're at our Max I think of what we can probably do so and then uh last slide here is just some things for our work group focusing on in 2025 um bottom one obviously is just the continuation of all the new areas um the cabins um with the new amenities that the campground next year there'll be some land curves and things that we have to learn and then Doyle and Spring Lake but then the the other one I think that's going to be big for our group is we're getting kind of a whole new point of sale system for our operations and so um golf we have two different ones so we'll make it a little more complicated before we pretty much did everything through was called R trck and that's getting replaced by Tyler Technologies so all of our campgrounds and boat rentals and all of our Park par stuff will go through Tyler Technologies and anything that's a point of sale for golf will go through what's called light speed so it'll be a lot of work on our end one getting it all set up and then two it's going to involve a lot of training with our staff seasonal staff of what they use for win where before it was kind of all done through R track so so that will be a big Focus um light speed for sure is coming in the spring so we'll be starting that transition here we just met with our it yesterday and we'll be starting that in March I think probably so we'll be using that for 2025 um Rec TR that's getting replaced with Tyler technology maybe in the fall or possibly in the 2026 but um yeah that'll be a big change for our group we've been on the same system for a long time so sure there'll be some hiccups and but we'll find our way oh yeah that's everything I have for facilities any questions comments anything anyone wants to thanks Tom hi okay well unfortunately oh yeah hold on wait is my mic on um the point of sale is is that um that software does that installed at all the parks are all the Parks have something that needs that yeah so that's kind of why we're a little unique is because most of the parks only need the park software where because we have the golf course too we'll have to learn Duo but yeah pretty much all the parks we be moving to that Tyler Technologies um if you have ever made a reservation at like a State Park campground that's what the software they use wait I have another question Patty um for a long time there was a lot of activities in parks around weddings what are you seeing that way is that still a thing and what's it look like for um the Scott County Parks sure yeah we do not get like large scale Weddings But yeah we do get a lot of the Pavilion actually C gets probably half a dozen weddings um few smaller ones over at Cedar most I do a lot of special use permits actually for weddings but it's like 10 person real small so we aren't seeing the the big scale ones so all right I'm done with my questions yeah I think I did one uh recently over at Spring Lake on the on the uh Overlook so someone did it was a small one that they did over there um mad Commissioners I just wanted to mention that um I don't know maybe about a year ago the park district leadership made the decision to look at a different software work with a different software group um and the determination was made that um for point of sale that Gulf would be separated and um but I hadn't heard who we had chosen for the park side of things I'm actually I think it was getting voted on today but they said it's you got Advanced um notification um and the the goal is that um it'll be easier to register that they'll be able to pull different data I think that for the be more customer friendly for sure yeah so that's the hope I really haven't received a lot of information on it but the small team at the park district that's working on it I mean they've involved the right people so um you know I'm assuming it's going to be better than what we have Rec TR is a little bit Antiquated I think for the user for sure it'll be better I think on our end we'll find out we'll see I it's going to be a little more complicated for sure if someone was to come in to clearly and wanted to rent a campsite and then they also wanted to grab a C wire there there and as of now unless we figure some out they'd have to do two different transactions because one would go through the light speed the other one would go through the Tyler technology so so yeah there'll be some things for us to learn and figure out for sure any other questions okay well unfortunately I'm not off the hook yet I also have a few more slides for our Public Safety staff so he wasn't able to be here I told him I would do my best to answer questions and present his information so definitely again as we go feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best and if I don't know the answer I will get back to you with an answer so so our Public Safety staff then is part of our facilities team and so um in the past we've had a full-time person named Alex he's over there on the right um he is our Park Service Leon and now with the expansion we were able to kind of convert our seasonal PSO into a full-time po PSO so um over there on the left is Aaron she's our new full-time Park Service Officer so she joined our team um officially in May so it took a while to go through back and stuff so she started in May spent a lot of time with Alex doing training and now she's uh up and running on her own um she in the past used to work at Highland Park as a seasonal and before that she was a park ranger in Colorado for one of the state parks there so we're excited to have her here um between the two of them now we pretty much have 7day a week coverage which is nice um they both work for 10 hour shifts so Aaron does Sunday through Wednesday and Alex does Wednesday through Saturday and then they have that Wednesday where they can kind of collab and communicate of what's been happening and what to look out for and so it's been working out well it's nice having uh her join our team and it's been a good addition um this is the slide that he sent for kind of how he does his enforcement or his Continuum of accountability I guess he calls it but uh it kind of starts with when he has to approach somebody because they are breaking an ordinance or a rule whatever it usually starts on the bot with the education first um kind of give an explanation of what they are they're doing what they can't be doing um other Solutions why they can't be doing anything of that and then from there on it kind of is like a three strike policy where they'll then get a verbal warning next time after that be a written warning and then they would follow that up with the citation so that's kind of the Continuum of how they do their enforcement um here he's got accountability vers enforcement it says enforcement is consequence driven Break The Rules get a fine versus where the accountability is to educate enable and Empower guests to make sensible decisions about their park experience so they definitely try to start with the the education first um Alex is really good at keeping stats so here's some numbers that he's put together so um this isn't this is just educational context not when he's out trolling and just talks to somebody but he had 1322 educational contacts through October of um talking to people checking passes assisting with purchases um explaining ordinances guidelines and providing maps and other resources then the next step then would be verbal warnings from those 1322 he had 39 verbal warnings where it was the person that he had talked to in the past continued on and so then he issued a verbal warning from there and then looks like it went down to nine where we had to do a written warning and then we didn't have to do any citation so it does look like from the big drop from the start that education is the way to go and people for the most part are complying with um the education route um some other stats he has there are approximately 163 calls of service to three year Scott County Parks um so far through October I think that means anytime anyone dial 911 and went to dispatch there was 163 times that happened um all the calls then were either responded by Scott County Sheriff's Office par Lake Police Department Sav Police Department or our internal Alex and Aaron and then of those calls 94 of them they were able to handle pretty much on their own or with a little assistance back up from the Sheriff's Office and then again he just put in there that these numbers indicate documented incidence and do not account for routine patrols and educational contacts so these are just strictly the 911 dispatch calls here's a distribution of where those calls came in from by Park um probably the one thing that just sticks out um is the number of calls that dropped at Clarity and the next slide will explain that so obviously we had the campgrounds a good chunk of the campgrounds are closed and the campgrounds do um bring the highest volume of call so without having those open this year we definitely had lot less issues and calls um that came into 911 um Murphy continues to be a busy park for with calls of service that one kind of pretty much stay the same Spring Lake had o uptake and Doyle and C all basically had upticks which were expected now with our new areas opening up and then nothing to report on BL publically type of calls that they respond to are Medicals vehicle lockouts or violations am control suspicious activity Ware checks Hazard obstructions on road and trails theft from autos and other parking issues um and then he just highlighted some other Mutual Aid assistant calls that they assisted on that weren't in the Parks but were in near proximity to the parks um most of them were car accidents or something outside the road um one of the neat ones I guess is that third one down is Alex's fluent and Russian and so whenever they have any communication issues he's the first guy they call because he does all the translation for him so kind of a neat thing that he's able to provide and then uh in addition to his routine then they also have special details and most of these kind of coordinate with all of our events that I mentioned earlier with our team so he's there to help out a lot with all the parking issues and just be a presence at all the events and then one extra thing that they did do usually kind of in the fall we see a good uptick of usage at the dog parks and a lot of non- compliance with new people coming in and so they set up just a popup educational day out there where they set up a table they both were present and uh just interacted with the customers as they came in so he was there from noon to 2 it looks like um and they educated guest check passes assisted with purchases and uh in that little span there they spoke with 4 visitors and assisted with some passes so we'll probably continue doing that a couple times a year um it definitely helps with the compliance and that is the last of his slides any public safety questions I just have one in regards to animal control what were those calls about were they call about the dog park or was it like wild animals W snapping turn on the trail or a dead deer that's just off the side of one of the hiking trails or something like that okay so yeah I know there I knew there was a cougar out there earlier this year correct yeah we we had that called twice so really well from two different people so so no Eagles taking away little dogs or cats we have not had that call cool that's all I got I'm turn over to Justin for the exciting actually one more question in regards to smoking you remember when was it about 8 to 10 years ago we changed the rules about smoking are there any concerns about that anymore or do you guys have to give warnings or anything no not uh not usually okay so it's working it's working well it's pretty rare and Yeah we actually thought with the the marijana stuff we thought maybe we'd have some issues with that too and it's just non-existent so so with with cannabis or is it non-smoking at all in the any the park including cannabis correct okay okay year in review and we've got on to the good stuff they said I don't know about that but here we go yeah uh maintenance year and review and uh guess a little bit of Natural Resources there too um again my name's Justin um been working for Three Rivers now for 26 years so getting up there and and uh seeing a lot of different things um I guess I'd like to call this year instead of year in review it's a year of development because it was a crazy development year for the parks which has um been great actually been been I haven't seen this much development in the Scott County side for 26 years so it's uh it's been a a good thing to see and um we you know we helped a a lot with finishing a lot of these projects and keeping them going we were able to accomplish um uh a few smaller projects too in the middle of things but uh for the most part it was just getting these bigger projects done um at Cedar Lake Farm uh some of the things we did there uh of course the camper cabin and group Camp um my crew was in charge for um actually building the group Camp itself um so we you know they gave us the area but we we basically um did all the the grounds work on the backside and and some grading and getting the grass established um um and all those typee of things uh we did a lot of that throughout all those grounds there uh we will continue to do that into 2025 um we'd like to establish you know more of the Native settings and the natural settings between the cabins um even around the shower building and then when you come into the park between the road and and the parking lot and just make sure all that vegetation is uh getting well established and and um and maintained um so that includes watering replanting things um doing a lot of that so we did spend a lot of time getting that started again we'll continue in 2025 um but also with the cabins we installed a lot of the um amenities you see uh brought the picnic tables in um we installed the grills the um the tables for cooking um we um the shower building itself I ended up ordering uh you know establishing our cleaning supplies our um dispensers um getting the mats that are in the shower areas getting those ordered um we did the um the mattresses in the cabins the the rugs in the cabins um believe it or not and if you don't like them you can talk to me later but I did do the curtains I was put on curtain Duty so the colors were picked by myself and Brad a little bit there so um um trying to add a little color to the scheme there and hopefully it works out I think it looks good but um it works worked out pretty good um other things we did for the cabins um we did decide to do one favor path in the patio just to kind of try it out and Spruce it up a bit um something we are looking at 25 maybe doing at least one one more of those if not two of those if we can squeeze it in but um just blocking off some time to to do one of them smaller areas and and continue that we think it makes a good presentation with cabins and kind of kind of gives them more of a rustic feel so to speak so um other things we did at Cedar um I don't know if you some of you maybe were around when we did the um Shoreline um project there to improve fishing um we ended up adding a L-shaped dock um that dock really didn't sit right when we first installed it it had a lot of weight from the ramp onto the floating uh portion of it so decided to spend a little money this year and buy another 20 foot section and so we ordered that installed it built the railings for it and that just helped build balanced that whole dock out quite a bit um it also made a lot more Shore or uh spaces available for fishing so um we got even more compliments on being able to get that dock a little further from Shore so they could use both sides of it and kind of gets it away from the shoreline a bit and it balance it out a lot better too so that was something we ended up doing right away in Spring um got uh the inevitable l trees are still a problem unfortunately um basically it's it's kind of been a necessity now um take care of them or you're going to be cleaning them up later or you know hopefully nobody gets hurt from them falling over with 40 m hour winds like today uh St I saw three Three Trees today ash trees that were just snapped because of the Winds so it's become a park safety issue and and so um we happen to have some funding again this year I was able to get some contractors I did um removals at Cedar um early this spring we also did at um Murphy um at clear and at Spring Lake so all those Parks got a little bit of that um detail and then um but we also spent some of that money replacing trees I bought uh um um 18 or for Cedar Lake about 10 B BNB which is ball and burlap trees so they're six to seven feet tall so they get a good start and we had those planted at Cedar um and then at uh Cleary um bought 18 for there just to start replacing trees because we have been removing so many so um trying to do a better balance is not have all Ash or all oak or all maple trying to trying to mix it up a little bit so it did a little bit of maple um some hackberries um some white pines um and uh some Oaks and and some Maples too so um been turning out pretty good and I'd like to continue that program going into 2025 um other thing other small project we did uh just along that Shoreline we did um the picture one picture you see there there was a hill side that didn't really take off too too great for uh some of our native plantings with our Forbes and our grasses um so we bought a bunch of um um basically little plants and planted those all over that Hillside along with our our grass seeds or native grass seeds and um they seem to come on come in real well here last year um planted them just right time where we had rain and and uh those should look really good and over the years you should see those flourish and and really not only stabilize that Hillside but also have flowers to look at and and uh needed vegetation to look at along the shoreline there so um other things we uh you know with this cabin um program or the the new rental areas here here we've had to work on a new cleaning plan um and actually a new Staffing plan um because of the cabins we we've now have two full-time people every weekend um working uh because we have enough duties at clear and at Cedar to uh to do and and um obviously with with seasonals coming in in the summertime where we're more busy they'll be uh you know a few seasonals working during uh the weekends during the summer anyways uh winter um you know we're it's snow removal ice removal we're looking at all those things right now we haven't gotten a whole lot of weather yet to test out some of our snow removal plans but um those are all new items will'll be experimenting with this winter and um hopefully have a good idea of you know the use of the cabins but also you know what it takes to to make sure everybody stays safe walking around this facilities so some more pictures for you um jade uh J did an excellent job that um lower right there with the um the C racks there uh those are all lined up along the um the trail um he came up with that idea and my crew chief he's down the crew chief down Cedar um came up with that idea and implemented implemented it and uh it's seems to be working out pretty well so far so um and then the shower building and the cabin there and then the little picture of the dock extension is what I put on there too so a questions with cedar at all I like your curtain choice so thank you all right good deal I was told maybe the red might be a little too flashy but I I pushed for that one so good deal clear Park um besides our bigger project I'll talk about here in a little bit um we did some smaller projects there did uh some horseshoe uh pit rehab believe it or not we still see people playing horseshoes so um we took some uh recycled plastic and the guys came up with a a design to make the the pit a little more uh um just uh look nicer basically not the beat up old um wood structure that it was so uh kind of L that out better we also love out the ground a little more so it's easier to throw and that kind of thing again talk about asht tree removals uh did some trail maintenance um continuously always doing Trail maintenance at Clear um the bike trail particularly and then uh the uh the turf Trail always needs you know trimming uh back to just make sure the vegetation is staying where it should be um the the other picture here kind of shows a an old Woodshed um talking with programming um we're always trying to you know help improve their programs and and how they do things and and uh they are always looking for room and storage spots to put things so they can just show up do their program and leave and not have to bring trailers back and forth and and you know lock things up a lot and uh this Woodshed happened to be sitting in the Basswood Campground we kind of went away from it over the years we now have our firewood up at The Visitor Center in the summer um so we asked them you know hey could this be useful for for you so we ended up moving this over by the boat launch which now we have them um using the bow launch area a little bit more for for doing canoeing kayak programs um we did do a little little bit of rehab around the boat launch um because so many ash trees got removed there there really wasn't much there for vegetation anymore so we were able to open up a little bit of Shoreline and um and you know allow them to use that for their program and it seemed to be working out really well next year we hope to move them actually into this uh some of their um paddling equipment into the shed and um get you know so they don't have to basically haul it back and forth from another building all the way across the park to utilize the program so we're always trying to you know help help programs out and Facilities out for doing that um so the new shower and restroom building um it's looking gorgeous um it's it's coming along very nicely uh will be a great shower building uh again like Cedar um I think the people really like it this one obviously much different design all the doors and uh rooms are within the building and so there's only well there's four entry point or three entry points one main one in the front and then two in the back um but uh we're actually doing a walk through this building this Friday to do a punch list that pretty much means you know we're getting to the end of the project there will be um vegetation and trees and and probably definitely some grass repair or even getting grass established uh next spring so there'll be some of that finish work um but they they are trying to plan for getting this done real soon there is some uh electrical equipment that we're still waiting on unfortunately it's just part of the construction and uh just sometimes the parts don't come when you want them to and and they're a long ways out so um try and order a propane tank and and get that installed so we can get the the electric heat is working so the guys inside are getting the cedar um ceilings finished up and and you know all the amenities in the bathrooms um I know our carpentry group will probably working on getting um you know all the dispens up that I've ordered um I'd like to again do the mats for the shower buildings the shower curtains get all those ordered those are those are things we work on this winter and make sure in springtime it's ready to go there's a couple of signs that we need to get ordered and and installed but other than that it's it's coming along very very good and it's um going to be a great asset um really excited about the RV dump station um quite a system it's it's big um so it's it's ready for them extra Loops whenever we get to that development um but uh the Phil Station RV station um will just help us end this bathroom building will help us meet all our compliances and uh be be a great asset to clear and and um definitely allow us to grow camping there um you know grow grow it a lot bigger with a lot more sites so um any questions or anything there in regards to this bathroom can anybody use it if you're just walking by or do you have to put a special code in um this bathroom here um we I think because it is going to be in the middle we're probably still talking about this but because it's in the middle of the campground more so then like Cedars can you know your trail walking and that kind of thing um yes it it will be unlocked all the time 24 24 hours a day when the camping is going on um when the camping is closed um then then it'll be locked um Cedars we have one bathroom building that is open 24 hours a day so any of the Walkers can go by that and use the bathroom but we just kept the showers because of the presence to the lot to the um to the um parking lot and then the you know just the the walking and everything we just felt that the showers should stay locked and just be for the the campers there so little diff little different camper cabins to you're paying a little little little more money for those versus a campsite also so and that definitely makes sense especially when you're walking through the trail system right because you're going have this really nice bathroom there and be like okay I just got to stop here versus going down the hill and sure especially if it's at nighttime sure because the other one doesn't have any lights I don't think um down by the point maybe it does oh sure the point no does because otherwise it gets really dark when it close that door right toilet yeah y yep yep we currently I mean we don't have any Trails really you can see I guess the building from the bike trail but there's no trails that might be something we have to look at yeah I know from the hiking trail though you could actually get over to this bathroom really easily right Trails you're talking yep yeah if you're walking through nor Ridge there still a trail On The Backs side got it yep so when does this complete by the way this building be complete or or the parking lot or whatever right because I've been trying to get over there but I just don't want to interrupt the people working oh um they're they're hoping to be be done you know if things go right I think they would be hope hoping to be done by the end of December but um with some of the electrical equipment needs to be I think that's February I think is when that's scheduled to be get there so okay but they have temporary power right now so it's not stopping their work it's just you know the final the final electrical equipment will be in in February but um yeah I I know we'll have to if we get enough snow um we might have to work with them or shut them down for a bit um it's something we'll I told them we'll talk through as as uh we get when we get it um because you really can't get to this building um without cross driving over a ski Trail oh yeah defin definitely um that's that'll something will I've been close contact with the contractors and they're they understand and totally get it to that's why they're they're pushing to really get it done before we get skiable snow so excellent thank you yep yeah Madam chair I just had a question um for Justin I just to kind of clarify him to ask so I think regarding the building being open I think it is still an ongoing discussion yeah and um and I wanted to make sure I wanted to clarify um er's question were you asking if it's going to be open this winter when you're using the ski trails no I was just thinking just in general right okay because I know the one over seeder Lake by the camper cabins you had to put a code in I wasn't sure if you had to do the same thing if you're camping sure I think over there Justin correct me if I'm wrong on this but I think that we were not planning on having the building open year round yet because the camping is not year round correct yes and it makes sense to have it when the campground's open but I was just curious because if you're out in a boat and all of a sudden it's like oh I got to use a bathroom do I use this really nice bathroom or do I use a vault toilet in the dark or especially Light summer time is different than than winter time too so I didn't know if it was something that you were thinking skiers could really benefit from yeah I don't know if the skiers really want to stop at those places but I'd rather go with the heated one over there by the you know right The Visitor Center definitely when the camping is open it'll be open to the public so sounds good yep clear golf um did a couple of big projects on this year uh one was T rehab um basically uh so our's we're finding with the increase in rounds so we were up to 24 no I'm sorry wrong number um 27,000 rounds of golf this year um five years ago five years ago we're only at 15,000 rounds wow and and honestly we we see it in the turf and in the golf course we can't aate enough we can't seat enough we can't fertilize enough to keep up so te's are a big one to um try and keep up because a goodlook tea makes the experience pretty much um average T size for a 30,000 Round Golf Course um is 3,000 square feet our most of our te's um we're just under a thousand maybe a little over a thousand square feet so we took we have taken opportunity we did this on um number seven and number five a few years back um actually five was last year um this year we did three and six we increased the size of those by at least a thousand square feet each one of them um that's regrading um uh you know these were lucky we didn't have to redo any irrigation um but it basically was regrading resizing them and then we we decided the quickest way to get them established is is do um soing right away and then over time um we end up getting the S once the saw established we can start cutting it down to our 3/4 of an inch height for for the te height um but we noticed when we have seven and we have five um we prove that we can move the te markers around enough to where we can keep the grass growing with this 26 thou you know 27,000 rounds so um plan is to do you know a few more of these te's I know one one has three real small T's again very tough to to keep small te's growing um um two is questionable but definitely could use some size increases um but it definitely helps and and so that that we uh we we were lucky enough and that clearly the uh golf golf team and and the park team um you know just we scheduled a couple of weeks and we went in and and uh hammered it out and it turned out gorgeous I don't think we were able to open three for the season um because we did it quite quite later in the season but it'll definitely come spring we'll be able to get it established we did have a little mole problem afterwards they decide the fresh sod was a place to live so we'll have to continue with that um um maintenance on that but um the other thing uh so I don't know if you remember Mark Wilson um he finally he decided to hang it up after 23 years um so he retired and um we were able to upgrade his position um to a greens keeper so he was a worker and he's a green it is now a greens keeper Kyle came to us uh from the outside as a greens keeper um he has experience at uh remember what golf course he came from but um one of the Private Industry golf courses so he had the golf experience and he's been a great asset to help um my specialist Cody and between the two of those guys now both of them can spray both of them can work on heads um and just take care of turf and and they've been a great asset on that golf course so we're welcoming um Kyle to our team and and uh he's working out really well for us there so um on the golf course we also did uh 16 BNB I think I mentioned that before but um a lot of places we had ash trees actually treated so we were able to keep those so far they've been good but I I've been planting I took these trees and planted around them because eventually they probably won't last any longer so um and they're at that age to where they need to be replaced anyway so um that's about it on the golf course um any questions on that kind of a cool picture a little blurry when you get it bigger but 5 a.m. the guy is mowing so um I got a real great crew both parks and and uh the the golf but these guys on the golf um they're they're there at five 10 before five 5m sharp and they have the MS out and going before I can even get over there so um definitely uh thankful for those guy those type of guys because not too many people want to mow in the dark so anyways Murphy Hanahan um with the weird weather we had this year um we we had some flooding um this is the the trail on the would be the east side of minri Ming rig's Lake it seems like that water system over there just can't take the water fast enough when we get a lot of rain so it ends up back and up from the lake all the way to the trail so there's Cory and I we both had waiters on we were we went out to check Colts to see if it was a culvert issue and it definitely wasn't there was a couple hundred feet of trail that was just flooded because the lake was swelled up basically so um but it goes away um just something have to deal with uh we've kind of looked at some um reroutes of that particular Trail but it does bring the trail up near the back of people's houses and and probably not the great situation um for you know I guess this is the second year this is probably flooded like this so we'll we'll see if it continues and kind of talk it over after that so did do some more some ash removals like I said um um did the dog park at at Murphy there um that being a very high use area and getting a lot more use over the years um there was a big patch of ash trees and just um a lot of trees falling over over there so we made a lot more room um actually I've gotten a lot of comments on it that we do have plans for uh planting grass areas and and maybe even mowing a little more in there just to open it up so dogs have a little more room to run and and um have have some more space to to um dig holes and all funds the stuff so um the mountain bike uh at uh Murphy Hanahan it did the South End got a little rehab our um Trails mountain bike trails guy Jay um he he had some money to bring in a contractor and if you're a bound biker that South End Loop kind of the Prairie Loop we call it um that was kind of flat and didn't have a lot of I don't know Joy far as mountain biking um they went in there and made some um I would say Contours or grades in there that make it a lot more exciting and and uh something to check out if you are a mountain biker so um but that was kind of kind of neat deal there so um in that area um is where we do treat a lot of the invasives uh particularly uh wild parsnip um we've battled that for many years and we're winning that battle over there which is great um if you ever seen wild parsnip take over an area it's not fun so um we're still watching it but we've gotten to the point where now it's maybe a day or two of you know spot spring and that's about it so it's it's uh definitely a big win in our our case there but um of course at Murphy nrm and Wildlife are always doing projects over there there's been a lot of um bigger projects Prairie projects and and wood line uh in the wood projects they're doing all kinds of experimenting figuring out how to get rid of Buckthorn and and all kinds of stuff so uh a lot of good stuff over there so um Spring Lake um another big place for uh a project there um that project we ended up finishing up here this spring um we had to develop the sign plan install the signs order the signs install all the signs um of course the docks there um fishing pier in the kayak uh canoe launch um those have been um I see a lot of people using those and finding those now um I see a lot of people in you know Wheelchairs and and being able to use the accessibility of it so it's great to see and and uh people are catching fish out there so which is nice um besides a few bird Goose problems of of having to clean them up that they've been actually pretty pretty maintenance free so so far so um great great system over there and with the new trails the the uh overlooks um and the um the uh pass system there it definitely is getting a lot of or even just the parking lot um getting a lot of good uh feedback from over there that kind of thing so some things we plan on uh we keep doing over there is some invasive species control uh we did have a a contracted project to take care of buck Thorn know to stop on the Northern end of Spring Lake um between the other I guess maybe you were a little involved but um we uh contracted out just uh big areas to be um you know buckthorne REM removed and then treated and we're continuing that maintenance um over the next few years to try and keep that um opened up and it looks a lot nicer up there um the uh at Doyle kenific again another big project um things we did over there were the sign plan sign installs parking lot getting ready um the we moved to cxt from Cleary um where the current bathroom building is now up up to Doyle which was a great asset there um but then that whole trail system is is been uh great success and I think it'll be a um very well used trail once people discover it a little more so um but uh um other things you know between these two parks here um that added you know more mowing more Trail trimming um bathroom cleaning um you know trash and litter all that kind of stuff um but uh with the new some of the new staff that we uh received you know were're able to handle that and and uh make those adjustments to you know routines and and uh schedules to make sure they get covered so um Blake Lee Bluffs um didn't do haven't done a whole lot down there but um some Acquisitions of properties that you've probably heard of uh I know I did end up down there for about a week and a half uh one of our rental houses is Lynn um of course the Minnesota River flooded or or overflowed per she had some issues down there with uh her basement so spent quite a few days down there just helping her pump the basement and keeping the basement pumped until the water stopped coming up through the floor um but um you know it's some something we were happy to help with and and uh you know she was very help uh grateful for the for the um assistance and and uh I brought tools down there just so they could do it a little bit and then we would come during the day and pretty much work down there most of the day and over at least one or two weekends went down there just to check on it and just kept it going so um Scout projects um wish I had more time for scout projects I really do enjoy Scout projects unfortunately I got to turn a lot of people away um just don't have a whole lot of time to fit them in but I did squeez in a couple this year um first pitcher there is Caleb his Scout project was a um dog uh training platforms for Clear Lake Dog Park um him and his dad spend a lot of time at Clear Lake Dog Park and and he wanted to do something for dogs so um he had a great idea of uh training platforms which is um something you know if you're a dog trainer at all or or do any training it is something that a tool that you can utilize to make your dog stay on the platform and and uh kind of kind of learn you know some training aspects of that so he he um him and his group built uh three very nice um platforms they're all a lot of uh recycled plastic so they'll last forever and they built and and uh then come out came out and installed the gravel pads and installed them in one of the open open grass areas kind of a little bit apart from each other and and um did an awesome job there and then Parker didn't get a picture of Parker doing his thing but he made some more bat houses currently have those up at Doyle canic along the box out of the barn there um just trying to keep some of the critters out of The Barn at least and and and uh but then we have a few on the Shelf too for other areas and was able to help us out with that he did a great job on those too so um moving on resources i' just like to say thank you for you know just our collaborations that we always have every year uh couldn't do it with some of these groups um kind of Nar just kind of thinned it out this year a little bit um more off-roads uh cyclists um they just take care of Murphy um mountain bike trails I think we've had to go over there like four times this year to just help them with the bigger trees other than that you know all the maintenance and and they have work groups coming in during the summer and doing Trail um improvements and and uh so they're just a great group to work with and saves us a lot of lot of lot of work in the fall in the spring getting the trail open and ready and and and then in the winter time they're packing the snow and everything too so um really great group to work with it's SC County work groups you know including the highway and Sheriff's Office and and um just all those the recycle center all those groups um always great to work with three rivers in internal groups um you know anywhere from our forestry to um the uh natural resources and everything uh water quality they're just uh great groups to work with and couldn't do a lot of things our job um without them so um some of the cool things we get to do is um buy some new equipment some of the developments here um we were able to get equipment particularly Moors the green the green John Deere you see there we were able to pick up one extra more um but then we were up our two tour had around 4,000 almost 5,000 hours on them um so we were able to replace all three of them this year or replace our two we had and then got a third one to add uh because of the extra mowing we're doing um having these tools here uh especially ones that work well and good um are just they make our job so much easier um not having the chase flat tires or having a broken machine and have to go get didn't get fixed all the time so um really appreciate the um you know the funding to buy these things um the Toro there is actually an electric greens more it's the first one we we got but it's all electric um that's the one that was out mowing that green at 500 a.m. in the morning quiet all you can see is the lights and you can hear the hum of the electric motors but um super nice and I look forward to maybe buy uh a t- more uh of that grade all electric and um they're even coming out with Fairway Motors um and other Motors like that too so something we're really looking at and testing out and um and uh the industry for the golf industry is is really going that way so um groomer uh down there on the left floor actually I purchased both of those uh one of them with donation money uh somebody donated a bunch of money for Murphy Hanahan um trails and uh skiing they wanted it towards so we really were in need of a uh wider um groomer um now with our um Gator with the tracks um our old groomers were a little skinny so the tracks always showed up when you turn Corners these here are wide enough now um to groom the whole surface without uh leaving tracks um I was able to get a uh I was able to get a second one for clear so I have one at Murphy and one at clear now um weren't able to use them last year was a little disappointed they brand new and showed up we got them already and then we had no snow so um hopefully this year we'll be able to get them out and then uh had a replacement plow truck our old diesel Ford was up for C or up for replacement so uh just just received um this one here two weeks ago three weeks ago so um PL full plow trucks at f600 um that has the dump box and the and the um sander on the back and that kind of thing other equipment we were able to purchase with some of these Pro um um in or uh developments uh another skider um tracked one the equipment for um you know moving things and and being able to to mow on dirt and and just work in the dirt uh loading and unloading um having enough of those uh especially when you have this many areas to take care of um just allows us to be much more efficient um and uh definitely um uh makes makes us more efficient when we have the right tools in the right place so um um we're also still in line for one more onton truck that'll have a plow um that'll just help us with hauling equipment around um and uh look forward to getting that real soon I did put this in there um no we did not buy this um but this this is just a good idea of what it takes to do some of these developments and I know it looks like a very big machine and can do a lot of damage but um that was at Clear Lake quite a few times just moving dirt putting gravel on the road um bringing F Foundation gravel in um call it the Tonka truck um but um you know the the equipment that contractors have and to do these developments this is the type of stuff you need and and uh just a good reminder of that's why we we uh have developments too so um of course I couldn't do it uh every anything without uh This Crew this is the 2024 crew I think this is almost everybody I think I was missing a few people here this day but um this is full-timers and seasonals um this year hired about 22 seasonals um again from retirees to college age uh to high school um really uh you know what what makes everything happen is these folks here um they come in every day and and uh work work hard to get things done uh a couple of new employees um I did have a new it's not a new position we've had the position for a while but a custodian um had a new person fill the custodian role this year in January Robert Meyer he's uh in here here the guy in the black sht on the bottom um he uh I didn't get a good picture of him unfortunately so um but anyways uh he's been working out really well did great this summer um and uh really is thoughtful in his planning and being able to keep our buildings in in uh good shape and cleaning he's also kind of running around doing the dog park cxs and some of the the trail head maintenance and that kind of thing with with his extra time keeping the big shop here as clean as we we will help him with with all this dirt coming in and out it's tough one to keep clean but um and then I I did have a new keeper uh start here this fall William uh unfortunately he decided he wanted to take a transfer to another Park so um he's he's currently up making snow at Elm Creek because that's where he has background was from uh so he'll take um he'll go from Elm Creek over to Carver now um but I was able just yesterday to promote somebody from a worker to it to this keeper position opening that I have it clearly now uh Ben is is his name he's currently working at Highland making snow so I won't see him for another couple of weeks at least um but I look forward to working with him and and getting him started uh with the crew at clear so um that's about all I have for the maintenance um any questions i' got another question so now that you've got this new equipment for grooming snow can we open up Razer back this year if we get enough snow just got to get the snow y so it should be good enough right okay oh yeah I wasn't sure if the trail was torn off or anything like that no okay so it should be fine then takes about two feet of snow oh yeah definitely yeah because there's always like there little low spots too and it's always so difficult and I feel sorry for those guys out there grooming because I mean it's uneven there's potholes there's everything out there not last year but the year before we broke the tracks twice on on uh the the grer just trying to get up and down those Hills so yeah it's it's incredible but once it's no are good it's fantastic yep but that's good for like three to five days hopefully this new groomer used right it'll it'll improve the conditions over there too it's being wider and flatter it may help level things out again with with the correct amount of snow that's Mother Nature has to help us oh yeah definitely yep and then there's a couple sections over at Clary where it really freezes over sometimes if we get like a a warm day you know the corners I'm talking about is there anything we could do to fix that for drainage um I don't know if it's actually drainage kneading it's the sun beating on it and and it's just we call our warm spots Y and it's the free sloth cycle again more natural snow you know every couple of weeks get a couple inches and it all helps I just really want to go through sometimes with a shovel and just shovel snow on it CU it's it's like an ice skating r at times yeah yeah we're just kind of with depending on mother nature for our snow you know we like Highland 3 feet of you know man-made snow you can have a a piston bully with a tiller and you never have any ice at all because you just till it up um a lot of times we're working with maybe six inches at best and uh you know but they do a great job with six in we start digging we start digging the teeth down and then we bring up debris and dirt and then the snow disappears faster and and uh we struggle with that quite a bit um I know you know a lot of the lot of the groomers they they ask questions about how to you know how do we get rid of this and and we've tried to come up with you know our own handmade Contraptions with drags and and that kind of thing but really it's it's just yeah hopefully Mother Nature is nice to us and doesn't have 30 40 degrees in the middle of winter even though the rest of us probably enjoy it so but shoveling snow is one way to do it but that's time consuming and uh if there's time we definitely do it so go ahead and one more quick question the natural playground that we talked about a couple years ago yeah do you think maybe next year or the year after yeah it's uh another one there now that we have the campground knowing where they're putting things y that that's something to look at but because then it keeps the kids a little bit closer to the campground versus going all the way over to another campground right C has one have you seen that I have not where's where's that located uh if you're walking down to the beach on the pay path on the right side look to your left oh on the left I haven't seen that yet un official hatri playground nice thank you y very good thank you yep um we have a resolution here for the appreciation of Cathy grock Madam chair um would you like me to read the resolution yes please okay I'd be happy to start crying um okay all right so resolution oops I'm started reading the Met Council resolution I was like what what's that resolution I forbid I read that um a resolution acknowledging the appreciation of Kathy gerlock Scott County Parks advisory commissioner whereas in 2006 the Scott County Board of Commissioners established the Scott County Parks advisory commission and whereas on February 1st 2006 Kathy gerlock began serving as a Parks advisory commissioner attending the first meeting of the newly formed commission along with fellow Commissioners John Allen Lance Anderson Jean fidler fedler Tom kers Len Schmidt and Susan Shroyer and county commissioner Jerry henon and whereas since her appointment Kathy has steadfastly served as an ambassador for all of the Scott County Community striving for increased public awareness and utilization of Park and trail facilities consistently bringing cultural awareness to the pack and its work and leveraging her community relationships and experiences especially in the shaki area to better connect residents to the park system and whereas Kathy a longtime resident of shaki with an avid interest in nature culture and history as well as someone who spends a lot of time in Parks brought her knowledge and experiences around those topics to her work with the commission significantly enhancing pack DEC discussions and decision- making and whereas Kathy has consistently celebrated the achievements of the work in Scott County Parks she also has made a lasting impact in the way we engage with the public and the way we plan and operate our parks and trails by thoughtfully identifying gaps and needed improvements and skillfully asking questions that led us to work through new or different ideas and whereas Kathy in her work on the pack advocated for solutions to help address economic barriers that exist in accessing the county park system enthusiastically supporting the rec Pass Plus program in its pilot year and encouraging even enhancements to it and whereas Kathy has in her time on the commission served on many advisory teams and guided many plans championing the betterment of the park system for the residents and champing access to the parks she leaves an indelible Legacy of beautiful Parkland natural areas and vibrant Park spaces that will serve the nearby and Regional Community for generations to come and whereas Kathy has been a great partner to her fellow advisory Commissioners and County Board commissioner Brennan who offer the following personal comments observations and words of appreciation um Commissioners would you like to read your own comments or would you like me to Kathy you personify dedication I have long admired your commitment to the Scott County Park advisory committee I recognize the wide range of knowledge that you bring to this group for example your insights into land use or Native American culture or just your inquisitive mind that is ready with onpo questions and comments I know how much you love serving your community and being on this committee we will miss you but still invite your participation and input at any time thank you so much Kathy I guess I'm next then so I've had the pleasure of knowing Kathy for about 13 years since I joined and ever since I joined a um Parks advisory commission each member of the pack brings a unique of strength and Kathy superpower of course is her knowledge of shak's History the origins of the pack because she is one of the she is the original member so I mean you can't get much better than that in her active engagement with all of our Parks she leverages this expertise to asking ightful questions about Park planning always connecting current discussions to pass pack projects and initiatives which is fantastic for people that are relatively new on the board Kathy has been a steadfast supporter of our parks and trails regularly visits and enjoys them I still remember back when we had a park board meeting at Clear a few years ago where she joined Dario and myself right out cross country schi as part of our on-site uh activities of course Mark eward didn't want to you know do that with us but but Kathy's out there doing that with me right Kathy's always enthusiastic about exploring the parks walking the trails and sharing the rich history of the area during our Tings I miss St Kathy at our meetings and catching up with her and her husband Jim when he's with her and hopefully he'll join us tonight and I look forward to seeing them at Future Park events including the grand opening of the Miriam Junction trail Kathy you will be greatly missed by all of us um Kathy um has done a great job representing District three which is Shak um and I appreciate your commitment to the Scott County perks um I'm going to add that I know that you are a park lover because of the work that you did here at Scott County and also in chabe on the Parks Commission so thank you so much all right I'll take the closing statements um whereas Kathy as a volunteer parks advisory commissioner represented the residents of Scott County spending countless hours giving her time and talent at meetings public workshops really fun field trips and events for 19 years um now therefore be it resolved by the Scott County Parks advisory commission that Scott County expresses its deep appreciation to Kathy gerlock for her leadership enthusiasm and commitment to parks and trails in Scott County and thanks her for her years of service on the parks advisory Commission oh yeah and you know I looked at this and I'm like really I've been on it that long I think back to that can you imagine I still had a kid in high school was played on the football team and there was no Doyle there was no cedar there was no Lely I mean none of that was there there was probably half as many people living in Scott County and boy we we really needed to hang on to our parks and develop them because now you see they're putting more big houses on little Lots most people need somewhere to go but I have enjoyed every single bit of it definitely have and um I will come back and visit time to time some of you know I was I'm not really nervous this it's my medication where I off I was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2015 and it's starting to catch up with me but so I'm really going to appreciate some of the handicap Trails you put in down there at Spring Lake but um and you know I did serve on some other committees before I was on this one in Shaka environmental in parks and I just think the excitement with this group was look what we I mean you you're not just there dealing with problems you're actually making a plan in a progress It's just exciting to see where we've come and to be a part of that has been just really exciting so thank you for this for this recognition and yeah keep I'll keep my eyes on it come bug you sometime maybe but I'm mostly going to not do so much talking and hopefully a little walking in the Parks so thank you walk fast um Alysa Olsson parks and trails planner um I'll just update you on the long range plans for the shallow Waters Regional Trail um and the Miram Junction Louisville Miram Junction Regional Trail they were approved by the Metropolitan o uh parks and open space Commission on November 7th um and then on the 18th they were approved by the Community Development Committee and they will go on consent to the Metropolitan Council on December 11th and then they're going to come back to the County Board on consent again and then they'll be officially officially officially adopted all right that was short actually I just wanted to acknowledge the um 10 a two the 2050 policy plan comment so the commission I think back in June we talked about the or August talked about the policy plan I forget um as a commission and we talked a little bit about sort of the vision and the purpose um some concerns and I took the feedback from this commission um and shared that with um sort of in a letter or not a letter format but like a um report format with County leadership in the board um took that feedback along with feedback from many staff from the different areas that the council covers um and then the board um having had their own involvement with the policy plan um generated a list of comments in they past a form a resolution um and I included both the resolution and the uh attached sort of comment letter um and I think the the spec the parks area I think is maybe page seven on that on that letter um I hope that I um uh represented the conversation that we had but I just want to acknowledge that you know the the 2050 plan was finalized well almost finalized a few months ago they're still making some minor changes and that wanted to acknowledge that the county did send a formal letter and it's included in your packet and commissioner Brennan if you have anything you want to add to um your yeah I just want to um thank you Pat for the work that um you did to bring that to include those issues in the letter um I know that you had a lot of um meetings with the Met Council um and we had an opportunity to me meet with the Met Council uh maybe a month ago and talk to them about our concerns um with parks and then overall um issues with Scott County is having um with the imagin 2050 plan so I appreciate the work that you did um also appreciate the work that the um the commission had did um providing providing input on it so yeah hopefully hopefully things go well and we'll see some um things moving forward on the Imagine 2050 plan um that reflects Scott County so thank you rep programs calend those two items are included in the packet and we don't have anything really to add just wanted to acknowledge that you have been provided those certainly if you have any questions we can ask staff if we can't answer them we can ask the staff and get back to you any questions anyone do we include the programming um and the calendar information at our libraries um I think that yes we do okay okay okay all right thank you f any reports or connections from anybody I always do it anyways right so I'll race you for it Eric there you go so Highland Crow country ski trails are open so if anybody's listening out there go ski there until we get the natural Trails over at Clear open then we start ski there I was just down at Louisville swamp mountain biking about a week and a half ago and had some friends I went this past weekend so we've been riding on some of the Miriam Junction trail that they're working on so the these guys are impressed with how much work's done already I said just wait it'll be done in about two years let me know if I got that wrong but once we open up that trail system and the bridge over into Carver there's going be a lot of people using that trail so people are really excited about that what's being done right now and they're taking advantage of it this Saturday's Global fat bike day so I know they're starting right around that area by chasa and maybe riding on some of those Trails down there too so people are utilizing those Trails even though they're not done yet for you know the bridge uh a couple things first off I uh did my driving tour around Blakeley just kind of to see what was happening in the area it was um deer hunting opener yes lot of lot of hunters there absolutely um mostly of course on the DNR and US properties but um it was good to see them out um um accessing that area uh the other thing is I was super excited to get an eird alert about a bird in Scott County um which is pictured right here it's a longtail duck um I went down to check out that duck lots lots and lots of birders down there um to see this bird because um for me it was bird number 320 in my life list and I will probably never see it this is a bird from the Arctic it's a deep diety vean bird it can dive over 200 feet um and very rarely would ever leave the Arctic no idea how this handsome handsome guy got here it is unusual um also in because it's winter plumage is that snowy white um and and it's it's it's breeding plumage is much less attractive um so it got a garnered a lot of attention uh to Spring Lake Park and there were a lot of birders down there checking it out um I was there yesterday just in case it was still hanging around but with ice over it wasn't but I'm like wait a minute you're an Arctic Thunderbird what what do you care if it's iist over um but that was very cool to see and to see that part get um some attention um in in a way that at um we've seen at Murphy sometimes and things like that so I was really excited about it so uh well he was in a big flock of um golden eyes but this was the only one there and there were actually a big variety of waterfall down there so I'm sure it will continue to get scoped out by birders because once they find a spot they keep coming and looking and keep posting it's kind of a race to see who can post a like this first and it wasn't me darn it anything else I'll just say my husband and I have pick a place to walk every day and we spend a lot of time at Spring Lake and that is beautiful the new Waterfront and the trails and the fall and it's been just lovely and um that's going to be a great part even if he doesn't show up again I don't then on to number 11 yeah um yeah we'll be doing the election of chair Vice chair so keep keep that in mind um I think I'll have an acquisition blly Acquisitions update for that meeting um I'd like us to be thinking about U one or maybe one more extravagant tour next year um but then also just sort of tour that we can add on to our meetings if possible um we'll want to finalize the calendar and then in February I think we'll do a budget overview you may have noticed um when Tom bul was giving his slides he showed a couple charts with um revenues that are put together by Howard the CFO at at Three Rivers and I take I spent a lot of time tracking those dollars it's been a few years since I've done sort of a budget overview for the Parks Commission so I wanted to bring some of that in context um I think February might be a good time to do that so that's what I'm thinking um and then we could consider doing a winter Recreation activity holding the meeting at Clear and possibly looking at the building that they're putting in the shower building that sounds okay to the commission activities are good maybe we can if we have snow we can snow shoot from the clear Visitor Center over to the building we'll we'll figure it out that's only if Mark shows up yes doesn't he normally go he did last year he said he was I can't maybe we should keep it he's not here tonight agenda do I have a motion to adjourn uh headstrom motions to adjourn last one second favor because no discussion needed I po all right motion carries go