Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006 Park Board Minutes PARK BOARD MINUTES January 11, 2006 MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Ron Lott, Melvin Williams, Ruth Leyrer, Brian Smith, Pat Murray, Claude Ramey MEMBER ABSENT: Alfonso Mejardo OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks & Recreation; Joan Nelson, Allen Neighborhood; Todd Heywood, Sunset with Shakespeare; Ron Eggleston, Friends of Fenner; Paul Dykema, Lansing Parks Department; Ron Schneider, Hull Ct. Neighborhood; Dick Schaefer, Lansing Parks Department; Bill Rieske, Planning &Neighborhood Development; Tanya Moore, Lansing Parks Department; Gordon Wilson, SSCC; Darnell Oldham; Vonda Pruitt; Pete Bosheff, LASBRF; John Pollard; Sam Horton, Wainwright Park; Diane McNeil, Potter Park Zoo Society; Tara Harrison, Potter Park Zoo; Joan Bauer, Lansing City Council; Willy Williams; Gerry Brady, Potter Park Zoo; Neil Davis, Churchill Downs; Ellen Sullivan and Cindy Ballard, Friends of Greater Lansing Dog Parks. CALL TO ORDER: Letts Community Center, 1220 W. Kalamazoo Street ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: None STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: Todd Haywood of Sunsets with Shakespeare stated they are interested in coining into Lansing and asked that everyone consider allowing free Shakespeare plays into the Lansing parks during the summer. Kibbey indicated that a meeting has been set with the parks director to discuss this proposal. PARK BOARD MINUTES: December 14, 2005 Board moved to approve the minutes of December 14, 2005 with minor spelling corrections, supported. Motion carried. MSU CREW—Sub-Committee Murray reported that they have held a committee meeting, but have not yet met with the MSU Crew team. MAYOR BERNERO'S TRANSITION TEAM REPORT Park Board Minutes—January 11, 2006 Page 2 Kibbey reported that Mayor Bernero's transition meeting had a lot of individuals involved that were from the recreation community. Kibbey indicated they were asked to put together 3 short term proposals and 3 mid-term proposals. The committee recommended trying to strengthen the friends' network, which would provide an opportunity to build the constituents of the parks. There was a call for an earmarked fund to be used by citizen and neighborhood groups for capital improvements. Issues were also brought forth regarding expensive equipment (snow plows, mowing machines) passing each other and possibly finding a way to make their work processes more rational. The mid-term goals had interest in working with the schools and private agencies to increase recreational opportunities for"middle school" age youth. The team called for the creation of a technical/political work group to review the findings and options, program location and funding for a south side community center. Also, the committee wants to do an updated recreation facility assessment to look at church or school facilities for use of additional fields and gyms. The committee also wanted to make a very strong point on fiscal integrity. They felt there were a number of earmarked funds that have been raided or merged into other funds and used for purposes other than what they were intended, in particular the cell tower fund, golf course fund, zoo fees and proceeds from land sales that were being used for the general fund. NORM YOUNG/RANNY HANDBALL COURT NAMING Kibbey indicated he called several individuals regarding this proposal, including the interim city attorney to obtain answers to the questions the board had raised at the last meeting. Kibbey asked the board if there is urgency to this matter. Lott motioned to table the naming of the Ranney Handball Court, supported by Smith. Motion carried. Kibbey indicated he would continue to contact individuals for information on Mr. Young, CIP PROJECTS FY07 - PUBLIC COMMENTS Joan Nelson thanked everyone for supporting the Hunter Park project. The Hunter Park project came out of the Hunter Park master plan update process. A year and a half ago Allen Neighborhood Center partner shipped with a friends group and Lansing Parks and Recreation submitted an application for a Cool City grant, which was received and the group was awarded $100,000 for a perimeter path and a garden house. Ms. Nelson wanted to remind the board that the City of Lansing was committed to $50,000 for improvements to Hunter Park to include the splash pool. Pete Bosheff asked if through the years of the 5-year plan an item comes up, but is not in the 5- year plan, how the plan can be amended and is there a mechanism to do this. Lott indicated that in November the board discussed looking at projects in the 5-year plan that had not been considered the year before, but would also do amendments or a new project that may not have been around or considered when the 5 year plan was developed and would be addressed in the months of October or November of each year. Bosheff asked if an item comes up mid year, does it need to wait until the next cycle. Kibbey stated the board is putting together Park Board Minutes—January 11, 2006 Page 3 a process to handle this type of situation to advise the public of additions/deletions to the existing plan. Gordon Wilson stated from the time the millage was started to this day it is not known how much money there is and how much has been put aside each year out of the millage. There is money going back and forth for other projects and how do other projects get ahead of a south side community center. There are 3 centers north of I-496 and nothing south of 1-496. He would like to see some of this money go to the south side junior high schools for after school programs, Trice Outreach Center, and the Southside Coalition Center. The south side of Lansing has been neglected and some of this recreation money needs to be directed to the south side. Ron Eggleston from Friends of Fenner Nature Center was concerned there was one project for Fenner and it is low on the project list. The project is to re-build the bridge at Fenner over the ponds. The bridge has several loose boards and constitutes a liability to the City and he feels it could be done for less then the stated $30,000. The Friends of Fenner have done a lot for the city, they contributed $25,000 to purchase property, they contributed to the millage campaign and there has not been a lot done lately at Fenner from the millage money. Mr. Eggleston presented an offer from the Friends of Fenner that they would put up matching money for the bridge project to help move it up the list due to the liability issue. Ellen Sullivan from Friends of Greater Lansing Dog Parks requested the dog park be moved up on the priority list for funding this July. It has been five years since the first meeting for developing the interest in this dog park. During that time a successful organization has been created and will promote regionalism and collaboration. This is a public/private partnership that promotes community health and follows the parks and recreation best practices. There is nothing in the mid-Michigan area that allows a place for people to go with their unleashed dogs. Ms. Sullivan presented a request for the park millage as a loan not a grant. They requested the parks board take $50,000; approximately 2% of the total millage money to put toward this project. The city has committed to $5,000 already and the Friends have a pledge of$50,000. The Friends are coming to the board with $5,000 from the city, $5,000 from the county, and $20,000 from fund raisers, raffles, and donations. This gives the Friends $80,000 to come to the board and ask for a loan. Gerry Brady from Potter Park Zoo stated this year is the first time in millage history the zoo did not receive millage funds. There are 3 critical repairs that must be made at the zoo and the park board support is needed. The 3 repairs are the rhino expansion, the aviary, which has had design bids done, and the eagle exhibit. Tara Harrison, CuratorNeterinarian at Potter Park Zoo, provided an informational presentation on the black rhino. The black rhino has only 250 left in the wild; they are still poached for their horns; there are 39 males and 30 females in captivity in the U.S. in 26 zoos. Lott asked for additional time for the zoo presentation, supported. Motion carried. The expansion of the rhino exhibit would increase the chances of breeding. When a calf is born it increases the revenue and attendance at the zoo. Park Board Minutes—January 11, 2006 Page 4 Dennis Laidler, Education Curator for the Potter Park Zoological Society did a presentation on the aviary describing the structure. The aviary has been closed since 2003. Without the aviary a major problem for re-accreditation of the zoo exists. At this time 90% of the animals at zoo are due to the zoo's accreditation. Diane McNeil, Executive Director of the Potter Park Zoological Society stressed the accreditation of the zoo is critical. She provided a handout of the animals that would be removed from the zoo if accreditation is lost. Because of the accreditation, it allowed for money to put into the budget for a full-time veterinarian. Accreditation allows for new exhibits, which increases attendance and revenue. Gerry Brady made note that on the CIP list, the rhino and eagle projects where listed on the far right column under rhino and eagle and it should read rhino, eagle and aviary and could the board please shift the priorities of these items over to the left column. Leyrer asked what the time line is on the accreditation. Brady explained the accreditation is done every 5 years, when a team of professionals from accredited institutions from around the United States come in for 2 to 3 days to perform an extensive inspection that exceeds any USDA facility in the United States. Accreditation was first done 5 years ago. In 2006 the zoo will have a pre-investigation and in 2007 the team will come in for 2 to 3 days. John Pollard made comment that he felt no more money should be spent on expanding land acquisitions but spend money on what we already have, especially for youth. Also, focus should be made on the south side community center. Sam Horton asked what part of the master plan is the $50,000 for Wainwright earmarked for. Jemerson said that he could not comment on the prioritization or category, this was up to the board president, but the $50,000 is set aside and we will be working with the Wainwright group to determine the group's priorities. Kibbey indicated the board had a budget amount and a list of projects and the items in category 3 were projects that did not receive the most priority votes. Lott indicated he recalled the $50,000 on the list was in addition to another $50,000 that was used for the first stages of the development. Dick Schaefer indicated there will be tennis courts built this spring at Wainwright and $100,000 was dedicated for that this year, which may have been why $50,000 was placed in category 3. Comment was made that the list of projects does not represent an actual vote of the park board. It represents a wish list, in terms of individuals on the board, who each had the same number of votes to place on the projects. How the projects are placed in categories is by the number of votes, which means the projects in category 3 received votes, but not as many as the other categories. Gordon Wilson asked why the Southside Community Center is not on the priority list and the only thing listed is paying back $83,000 to the account. Kibbey responded the center is still in the planning stages and not at the action stage and is not ready to be built. Kibbey said a group Park Board Minutes—January 11, 2006 Page 5 has met, has made a recommendation and the recommendation has not officially been forwarded. Wilson responded there are blueprints and plans for a focus center from the 90's. Jemerson commented the committee needs to bring the board up to date on what they are proposing and their reports should also be presented to city council to deliberate on. Nothing has been done on the south side center because it is at this stage. Once it has been forwarded, council and the Mayor have the right to make their recommendations and comments on the committee's report and it may be infused into either park millage or the city's capital improvement program. It is not ready and is not being dealt with at the board meeting today. Jemerson stated as soon as direction is received from either council or the mayor, that is when the board will deal with the south side center. Comment was made from an audience member who noticed while looking through the winter activity guide there are no classes/programs offered on the south side. Classes are offered at Gier, Letts and Foster Centers and could Harry Hill, Trice Outreach, Gardner, etc. be used to facilitate activities. Kibbey said this subject was addressed in the transition team meeting. There is appropriate recreational space on the south side that needs to be programmed and it does not have to be a city building and has been a short term recommendation to the mayor. Neil Davis from Churchill Downs Community voiced concerns on valuable resources not making it to the south side/southwest side. He feels the south side is being ignored. Darnell Oldham stated he lives on the south side and the parks are being overlooked. He stated that 87% of the population in this city lives on the south side and too few of their tax dollars are returned to the area. Mr. Oldham stated in January 2005, he and Mr. Pollard reinstituted the need for a south side community center. Joan Bauer thanked the Park Board for the hours of work they do and thanked everyone for coming. Bauer has been appointed chair of the Public Service Committee, which will work with the Parks Department on a number of issues. She came to the Park Board to hear first hand citizens' comments. She reiterated what she heard from the millage hearing last fall was as much as people loved the zoo and river trail, people wanted, for a few years at least, to put money into neighborhood parks and fix what was not working. Also, what was requested was more money into programming, especially in the summer for kids. Kibbey announced the end of the public hearing. RECOMMENDED FY07 CIP PROJECT LIST Resolution 1-2006-01 Lott asked after the $83,000 was paid back to the south side community center money how much money would be there. Jemerson stated there would be approximately$960,000 there for the south side community center. Park Board Minutes—January 11, 2006 Page 6 Category M consists of mandated projects due to directive or legal liability to complete the project. McWilliams stated the city wide repair/maintenance category of$100,000 was to deal with safety issues. He asked if the issue at Fenner could be taken care of with this money. Jemerson stated this category is a line item for emergencies or items that just come up. Dick Schaefer stated the initial estimate of repairs was $13,000 and replacing the whole system was $37,000 and that was what the $30,000 was for. Jemerson said they felt this was of sufficient size to be its own project. Tanya Moore said the $100,000 is for repair and maintenance on the River Trail, asphalt repaving or boardwalk. Leyrer asked if there was a way to move river trail maintenance up one year. Moore said the tree roots push up payment and a sea wall toward Moores Park that needs repair. It was asked how imminent repair of this wall was. Schaefer said the sea wall has been there five years, it could probably go another year, but it is slowly sinking. Category 1 and 2—Lott clarified the Hunter Park project needed a$50,000 match to the Cool City grant and the total amount still needed for the project is $400,000. Jemerson stated the $50,000 for the match has already been appropriated and the perimeter path will be started this spring. The $400,000 will make improvements to the whole area, but the total amount of the project at Hunter Park is approximately one million dollars. Jemerson said he has been told the Cool Cities program pushes Cool City projects up the list for getting priorities on state grants. Jemerson stated Hunter Park is being looked at as a project for the Michigan Natural Resources trust fund and the $400,000 could be used as matching funds. The grant application would be due April 1 of this year. He checked on the statement of pushing up Cool City projects and the DNR and the grants division said they have to look at everything equally. Kibbey said he has heard from enough places that the statement of moving to the top for a Cool City project comes from the Governor's office. Lott stated based on what he heard last spring and what was heard tonight he hopes that the south side community center can have some launching in the next 12 months. There is not enough money to fund a new building or fund it completely, but he would be disappointed if there can not be some activities going on in some locations to address this issue. Secondly, he appreciates the input on Potter Park,thirdly, he would like to see the dog park happen and finally those items in the category 2 and 3, Potter Park and the determination of Letts and Gier gyms both need to be looked at. Both of these need attention, we are trying to reward the programs that are popular, need additional space and also present a safety issue. Murray stated the Gier gym expansion seemed extensive for 4 tournaments a year. Ramey stated there are other activities that take place in the gym. Ramey also stated that someone is going to get hurt due to the lack of room. Jemerson stated from the time he started with Lansing Parks he has seen a need for spectator space and there have been larges programs lost due to the lack of space. Murray stated there are a large number of gyms in this community to use. Jemerson stated we have to pay to use the school gyms, approximately$31 an hour, and in the budget there is approximately $30,000-$40,000 worth of fees paid to the district. He stated there are programs we have here, want to keep here and want to expand. There have been a number of years that we have wanted to properly accommodate the programs at Letts and Gier with gym Park Board Minutes—January 11, 2006 Page 7 expansions. Murray said he is all for more programming, but he would rather see more money spent on programming than on building bigger places when there are existing buildings in the community. Kibbey stated this issue came up clearly in the transition team committee and there were a number of gyms in the area that people mentioned did not have programming. Dick Schaefer stated the other reason for this expansion is for safety. The expansion would allow refiguring the courts, because right now there is not appropriate room between sideline play and the walls. Murray asked if Gier was a higher priority because of its usage. Jemerson stated Gier has larger programs, but as Ramey mentioned if something is not done someone will get hurt due to lack of space. McWilliams asked Paul Dykema to explain the forestry software and why it is important. Dykema said this software is for physical inventory, there are upgrades needed to the current software and to the information we already have. The last time there was a full count and we went out, looked at absolutely everything and got the data we needed to manage that natural resource was over ten years ago. This information is used for tree planting. For example, an order will placed one summer for delivery next spring, when the trees will be put out in our nursery to grow. Three or four years later they will be taken out of the nursery and put into street locations. Dykema stated they are trying to order things, so they can project in 4 years where they will be planting by the number of spots available and what type of trees are already there and what kind of tree is not needed. McWilliams asked if there were any actual personnel cost included in this software in terms of installation. Dykema stated additional city staff will not be necessary to operate this program. McWilliams asked if the software does not work properly is the city protected from those possibilities. Dykema stated we buy from reputable companies that have been in the industry and done this type of work for a long. Leyrer stated the Foster Park restroom renovations have been a long time coming. This park is used by youth for t-ball and football,the garden project and the community. She made the recommendation to keep the porta johns in Foster Park and move the project to category 3 and use the money for Potter Park exhibits to keep the zoo accreditation. Jemerson clarified the $200,000 would not get all three exhibits, but only one. The exhibits got put together because the first project was to be the expansion of the rhino exhibit and then due to the condition of the aviary and the money needed for it, this project became the rhino/aviary project. At that time, due to the confusion, council recommended that it be put in a reserve account to be discussed later and not during the budget process. It was discussed and then the eagle exhibit rose back up again,because the eagle project was going to be taken care of through the parking revenues. The parking revenues from the zoo go back to the zoo for capital improvements, however, during this past fiscal year that dedicated line item was undedicated for one year. The aviary could possibly be funded from those dollars. The aviary bid came in at approximately $140,000. Jemerson stated the AZA does take under consideration the financial stability of the city and its ability to care and maintain for the animals. No further audio is available. Park Board Minutes—January 11, 2006 Page 8 ADDENDUM TO JANUARY 11, 2006 PARKS BOARD MEETING Millage CIP Priorities After Ruth Leyrer suggested moving the Foster Restroom project to Group 2 and placing needed Potter Park items in Category 1, the discussions continued for some time. Lott then made a motion (seconded by Leyrer)to (1) recommend Category 1 projects as the Gier Gym, the Forestry Software, and the Potter Park Projects, and (2) the Foster Restroom be moved to Category II along with the other items already there, and (3) that all the millage money be used for CIP Projects to keep credibility with the voters instead of using some funds for normal department day to day operations. After more discussion, the motion passed with 2 dissenting votes (Murray and McWilliams). Meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Respectfully Submitted Kellie Brown,I nterim Park Board Secretary Approved March 8, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES February 8, 2006 MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Claude Ramey, Pat Murray, Brian Smith, Melvin McWilliams (arrived late) MEMBERS ABSENT: Ron Lott, Ruth Leyrer, Melvin McWilliams, Alfonso Mejorado OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; BriAnne Havens, Friends of Hunter Park; Paul Yauk; Paul Furtaw, VanErmen Commercial Development; Kevin VanErmen, VanErmen Commercial Development; John Jakossze, American Tower Corp; Dick Shaefer, Lansing Parks and Recreation; John Pollard CALLED TO ORDER: 7:10 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: Jemerson requested a change in the agenda to move American Tower Expansion to new business. Kibbey stated there was nothing to report on naming of the handball court and requested it be deleted from the agenda. No objections from the board. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: John Pollard commented on the Gillespie project that in 1926 Ranney gave parks this portion of land. Parks has received money from this parking lot, and in 2004 parking generated $20,000. This land has been sold for $750,000 and the parks may not receive any funds from the sale. Also, the $250,000 cell tower money, which was for parks use, has been placed in the general fund and he does not want to see parks millage money used to replace the cell tower money, which was already parks money. PARK BOARD MINUTES: January 11, 2006 McWilliams commented that the minutes were not complete due to the termination of audio and he believes there were votes missing and part of the meeting is missing. Jemerson asked if it was ok to approve what was available. Kibbey wants a complete set of minutes and wants to reconstruct January's minutes. Jemerson asked if collectively the board could put together the remainder of the minutes. HUNTER PARK POOL/BATHHOUSE RENOVATIONS PUBLIC HEARING Park Board Minutes—February 8, 2006 Page 2 Kibbey convened a public hearing on the Hunter Pool/Bathhouse renovation. Dick Schaefer from Lansing Parks and Recreation provided a presentation on the project that is being proposed for submittal to the DNR Trust fund. Schaefer stated the city and the Allen Neighborhood Association have received a Cool City Grant for $150,000. In this grant there was a proposed garden house, a walking trail around the perimeter of the park and incidentals for repair of the pool. We have met with the neighborhood on several occasions to discuss upgrades to the existing pool. The presentation had plans indicating where the bathhouse, pool, and wading pool. The proposed improvements desired would be a splash playground, a zero depth area to the existing pool which is currently 3 1/2 feet deep to 12 feet. Configuration of the pool would be changed from zero depth to 4-foot. One end of the pool would have a splash activity area to walk through with no depth for younger children. The area would include a cam-ion ball, funnel leader, crazy hose, donut spray, power hose and squeaky soaker. We would like to go to the DNR and request a grant for $500,000, which would be matched with $350,000 of millage money for a total of$850,000 for the proposed improvements. Kibbey verified that this is part of the master plan recommendations. BriAnne Havens represented Friends of Hunter Park to express their support of the proposed improvements of the pool. The pool improvements are one of the 10 priorities that the friends identified as a natural plan update process that was done in partnership with the Parks Department in 2004. In addition, the funds were to be used as part of the match for the Cool City grant, which the Parks Department and Friends of Hunter Park received this past summer. A question was asked what age range is targeted with this project. This is primarily for the younger ages, up to age 12. Jemerson stated this renovation would expand the pool for all ages. There is a baby pool at Hunter that will be removed. The community wanted this type of a renovation to accommodate younger kids. One of the going things in the park and recreation industry are splash pads. Hunter pool and Moores pool serve primarily the neighborhood. This kind of a renovation is geared for younger kids, but the pool does have a deeper end for older kids. Jemerson also wanted to note that there is a diving well at Hunter, but the diving boards were removed some time ago. It was also asked if part of the $850,000 was for renovation to the pool. Schaefer stated there will be mechanical improvements, the gutter pan will be re-done, and a deck drain. Kibbey closed the hearing. Resolution was moved by McWilliams; supported by Smith. Kibbey made to corrections to the resolution as follows: change Allen Street Association to Allen Street Center; and in the fourth WHEREAS it should read "Master Plan elements were incorporated into the 5 year Parks and Recreation plan". McWilliams and Smith both accepted the changes. Revised motion was made. Motioned carried. AMERICAN TOWER EXPANSION Park Board Minutes—February 8, 2006 Page 3 John Jakossze, representative from American Tower Corporation was present at the meeting to answer questions regarding the additional antenna to be placed on the existing tower. Jemerson stated he contacted Tim McCaffrey, Director from East Lansing Parks and Recreation who stated they receive approximately $12,000 annually in revenue from one cell tower rental. Jemerson also contacted Meridian Township who has a cell tower with a large clock located near the Meridian Mall. There are several companies on this tower and the township receives annual rental revenue of$19,700. The community development officer from St. Clair Shores has annual revenue of$25,000, but the exact number of towers and companies was not provided. The City of St. Clair receives annual revenue from cell tower rental of$8,000. Jemerson stated that he did not receive a response from Fraizer or Dearborn Heights. Jemerson stated that ATT has a tower located on Parcel B on the south side of Lansing and a tower at Kircher, which the Parks receive $13,200 annual revenue for each tower. Verizon Wireless pays annual rent of$8,400 and American Tower pays a base annual rent of$5,627, plus from any sub-leases 10% of their gross, which is annual revenue of$6,306.36 for a total of $11,933.36. With this additional 320 sq. ft. and the addition of T-mobile antenna the Parks Department would receive an additional $1,500 annually to the base for a total of$13,433.36. Jemerson stated this revenue is in the neighborhood of other communities. Questions were raised about emissions from cell towers. Kibbey stated when a review was done several years ago for the placement of a tower in Oak Park that emissions were not a problem. Jemerson pointed out previous resolutions obtained from the city's legal department for cell towers that were passed stated "the proposed special land use will not be hazardous to adjacent properties". Kibbey asked if this expansion was to an existing sight. Jemerson stated this is an additional land is at the existing tower located at Westside Park. A board member asked where we stand on this. There had been a meeting at the sight; there was a vote on approval. Jemerson stated that there was a vote on approval, but this approval was a change to the existing contract and did not occur. The board was to vote to agree to the additional property with some changes to the pricing structure. The board did not agree to the change in pricing structure. Jemerson stated he was asked to bring information on revenue from other cities and the existing contract with American Tower contract is consistent with other communities. Board commented there was not an agreement in written form to vote on. Jemerson stated there was not a resolution for this action, as this subject dates back to September and October before resolutions were being brought to the board meetings. Jemerson asked for a motion to recommend to the Mayor to allow the Parks and Recreation Department to enter into an agreement with American Tower to add on the additional 320 sq. ft. to increase revenue. Kibbey asked for a motion, the board made no motion. Kibbey recommended a written resolution be brought to the board's next meeting for consideration. Mr. Jakossze stated he would like to attend the next meeting, bring a drafted agreement for the boards review. Park Board Minutes—February 8, 2006 Page 4 MSU CREW REQUEST FOR MOORING MSU Crew coach stated that their home course is at Sleepy Hollow State Park in Laingsburg, which is 45 minutes away and visiting teams stay in DeWitt. Teams are set with 70 people per team, along with parents and supporters who stay in hotels in DeWitt, when the MSU boathouse is in Lansing. He would like to bring some of the spring races into Lansing and Grand River Park. They are looking to obtain permits from the DEQ, and need permission from the surrounding property owners to install the race course on the Grand River. The race course would be 1 '/a miles and in the Grand River it would start at the MLK Bridge and stretch around past where the Michigan Princess is moored and into south side fishing piers. The lines and buoys are temporary, removable and are in for a couple of weeks during the race period from the end of March to the first two weeks of April. The river is not straight, in order for the course to work there needs to be a way to put the lane lines in and keep them from drifting. To do this, lateral lines are placed in the river, which are cables that are 5-feet under the water and would not interfere with powerboats. John Chamberlain supports the MSU Crew team and has asked to be provided the dates of the races and he would keep his riverboat on shore. This early in the spring, his schedule is very light. The only permanent portion of the course is the anchor. The anchor is put into 3 or 4 feet of water and are pounded 3 or 4 feet into the river bottom and will have a small cable running out from the anchor to hold the course lines. When the cable is not being used, it will sink to the bottom of the river until next year. There is a 1/8" cable that runs to shore and tied to a tree to assist in locating the anchors next year. The anchors are tied off into an area where they would not be anyone's way. Two things MSU has done is talk with the residents to find support of this along the river. There is a letter of support in the packet provided to the board from Moores River Drive Homeowners Association. Sue Carter, a property owner, is the only one who has an anchor that would go on private land. She has signed the letter of support. John Chamberlain requires communication from the MSU Crew regarding events. The other thing would entail signage when the cables are installed advising boaters about the cables. McWilliams asked if there has been any discussion with the Lansing Paddle and Oar Club. MSU stated there has not been. McWilliams would also like to see a letter from John Chamberlain. McWilliams is concerned this is not the MSU river and there are other users. The board is not the final decision on this matter, and the anchors are not just on parkland. Kibbey stated the board would want assurance from John Chamberlain, Lansing Paddle and Oar Club, Lansing Boat Club. Pete Bosheff stated the bass fisherman should also be contacted. Bosheff stated he would make contact with them. McWilliams stated at previous discussions the Crew said the river would be used for practices because of the turns and could not be used for races. He asked if this has changed. MSU stated Park Board Minutes—February 8, 2006 Page 5 it cannot hold the Big 10 championship here because of the corner, but they can hold dual (two boats) meets here. Smith asked why MSU wants to move from Lake Ovid. MSU stated due to the wind and the cold they have canceled more events then they have been able to hold there. Pollard stated he had problems with this proposal. The river is not parkland, it does not belong to any one person. There are many people who use the river and he does not see why MSU should have preference. Pollard stated MSU has not lived up to what they originally said they would do with rowing and programs when they began using the river. Kibbey stated this might be a question to take to the legal department to see if the board has the ability to make a decision on this. S. WASHINGTON AVENUE MEDICAL COMPLEX This project is to build a kidney dialysis center in front of Washington Park. VanErmen Development is granting an easement to put in a sewer pipe across his property to avoid going around the park. McWilliams asked what prompted this and who is asking for the easement. The parks department is asking for the easement. Jemerson stated the city has to separate the sewer from storm water. The parks building at Washington Park is not separated, but will eventually have to be done. The most direct way is to go across VanErrnen's property to get to Washington Avenue to contact to the sewer system. The one thing needed for the proposed parking lot is drainage and it is being looked at is allowing him to drain onto a piece of parkland. In consideration for the parks allowing them to drain, they will put in the pipe and give parks the easement. Moved by McWilliams, supported by Ramey. Motion carried. SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKS Jemerson stated Todd Heywood who is the director of the Shakespeare in the Park troop has asked the Parks Department to use the Sunbowl at Riverfront Park. Jemerson stated one thing he was insistent on was that we have some level of review on the plays. Mr. Heywood has agreed that if the Parks Department co-sponsors with him, that there will a three-panel group that would look at the content of the plays. The three member panel would be made up of a member of his board, a member of the park board and a mutually agreed upon member of the community. This is background information that we will be looking in the future for a member of the park board to be on this panel. If city council agrees to waiving $1,000 of the $2,100 fee that Mr. Heywood and his company would have to pay to provide these plays in the Sunbowl. Mr. Heywood still needs to go to City Council and ask for a waiver these fees. Jemerson stated he is just providing information. If City Council approves the waiver of this fee based upon this arrangement of the three-member panel, then they will be asked to select a board member to serve on this panel. Park Board Minutes—February 8, 2006 Page 6 McWilliams asked if given some of the issues regarding content of these plays, why the Parks Department would consider being a sponsor. Jemerson stated they could go ahead and put the plays on in the park after paying his fees without our sponsorship. Statement was made from a board member that if the Parks does sponsor the plays we can have some say in the content of the plays. CIP FY07 Jemerson stated the Park Board recommendations did go to the Mayor for his consideration. Staff recommendations have been put together based on what was heard at the last meeting and from what we know administration will probably look at again at the park millage for funding the line items for this fiscal year. Last fiscal year was about $620,000 for projects like the roof repair at Gier and Letts. Those items were taken care of so the amount was reduced to $560,000. CDBG money was obtained which helped offset playground renovation dollars on item 7 and we were able to add in more parks master plan developments for item 15, which gives about$40,000 to each of those. The Gier gym had to be done in phases. Instead of doing the whole $500,000, it had to be reduced into phases and recommended$200,000 be put away instead of the whole $500,000 in order to accommodate the general fund items. Kibbey stated McWilliams identified a problem with the budget process and that it needs to start earlier. Kibbey hoped in the future the board could go forward with a unified recommendation and if there needs to be negotiation done it can be done and staff recommendations need to be seen ahead of time. Motion was made by McWilliams to table, due to technical difficulties, the January minutes be tabled until a full set of minutes can be obtained. Supported by Smith. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned Respectfully submitted Kellie B-own, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved March 8, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES March 8, 2006 MEMBERS PRESENT: Ron Lott, Ruth Leyrer, Melvin McWilliams, Patrick Murray, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith, Rick Kibbey (arrived at 7:45 p.m.) MEMBERS ABSENT: Alfonso Mejorado OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; Ron Wojack, Lansing Boat Club; John Wojack, Lansing Boat Club; John Chamberlain, Michigan Princess; Lawrence Green, Green Experience; Pete Bosheff; John Jakobsze, American Tower Corp. CALLED TO ORDER: Please note audio recording of the meeting began at 7:17 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: Jemerson added 119"' Street Park as a new business item STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: Lawrence Green of Green Experience commented he met with Murdock Jemerson from Lansing Parks and Joe McDonald from the Mayor's office and it was decided the Oak Park building would be run the same as Scott House. Mr. Green wants to know when the building will be open. The neighborhood association uses the building without participation from the community and is being used by at most five people. Mr. Green wants to raise the board's awareness to his cause and bring attention that it has been too long for a building in a park to sit like this one has. Mr. Green is asking tonight when the doors will be open to the public. The board summarized that Mr. Green has met with other community leaders, has talked about his ideas and that some of the ideas could be done without additional cost to the City. Leyrer asked Mr. Green if the neighborhood individuals/groups are willing to work with him. He stated he could not say if they would or not. Leyrer also asked if Mr. Green if he had asked the Park Board or any members to help him meet with these groups. Mr. Green stated he tried to call Judy Hackett and they were leery of him. PARK BOARD MINUTES: January 11,2006 Due to audio being unavailable at the end of the January meeting, McWilliams moved to add the additional minutes provided by Lott for the January meeting with the following corrections: change the original motion in the third line to motion by Lott, seconded by Leyrer and take out Park Board Minutes—March 8, 2006 Page 2 the other editorial comments in the beginning of the document. McWilliams also requested to add to the final typing the informational items that were listed on the agenda. Motion was made and seconded. Motion carried. February 8, 2006 McWilliams requested the change of page numbers and the statement on page 3, in paragraph 3 "Information on emissions from cell towers was available for review" be replaced with "questions were raised about emissions from cell towers" Last sentence on page 4 remove "two boats" and replace with "they can hold dual meets here" Motion was made by McWilliams, supported by Murray. Motion Carried 119" STREET PARK Jemerson stated Pattengill is currently being built next to the 1190' Street Park. When the school district bought the property from the National Guard, they also purchased I I9th Street Park, which is not dedicated parkland. The City had a letter dating back to the 1940's from a general that stated the city could use the area as a park, so it has never become dedicated parkland. Jemerson stated he has had discussions with Dr. Banks that the city would offer to take the property if the school district would give it to the city for a$1 and the school district would be able to continue to use our facilities at Westside Park. However, now with the budget issues the city has, do we need to take this park over? Jemerson stated Dr. Banks is willing to bring it forward to the school board to continue with turning the park over to the city. However the school district might entertain, according to Dr. Banks, maintaining the I I9th as a park. It was Smith asked if Jemerson had contacted the Eastside Neighborhood Association or the Foster Your Neighborhood Association. Jemerson stated he would like to do that and get everyone involved. McWilliams asked how much use the park gets. Jemerson stated he believes it gets a lot of use, it is used as a dog park, and there is playground equipment on the site. Lott summarized board members suggested, with the community agreeing, that as details are worked out between the school district and the city the burden is probably on the school district, but we would want to suggest neighborhood groups in the area be involved in the discussions. AMERICAN TOWER EXPANSION Jemerson passed out a revised resolution. The original resolution included in the packet was not consistent with the original lease agreement with American Tower. The change was made to correspond with the original lease that termination of the use of parkland must be given with three months written notice. McWilliams had a concern that the lease recognizes the 10% we Park Board Minutes—March 8, 2006 Page 3 would also be receiving. Jemerson stated the revision referred to paragraph six in the original lease agreement that addressed the annual rental fee and the 10%. Motion was made by Murray, seconded by Lott. McWilliams wanted it noted that the board is talking about a substitute resolution and substitute first amendment. Motion carried. 7:45 p.m. Kibbey arrived and asked what had been covered to this point. Lott indicated everything except the MSU Crew and Handball Court Naming. MSU CREW The request from MSU Crew is to use the Grand River to hold dual meets, with lanes on the river for up to 4 weeks and anchoring on parkland. Jemerson handed out information from May 13, 2002 when the MSU Waterski Club asked if they could put ski jumps in the river. Jemerson stated at that time he went to the DNR and was referred to the law enforcement division of the DNR. They informed Jemerson that under Public Act 451 of 1994, which speaks of buoys and beacons, the State, not the city, has the right to issue the use of waterways and allow things to be anchored in the waterways. Jemerson stated the city did not deal with the issue then, they cannot deal with it now and that it is not in our authority, as this Act states the Parks and Recreation rights stop at the shoreline. Jemerson stated he was unable to reach the MSU coach, but left him a message he needs to get a permit through the DEQ. A question was asked how they obtain state approval. Jemerson indicated MSU will need to get a permit from the DEQ to put the anchors in the water. Any obstruction to the water and anytime you go into the water you must have DEQ permission. The permit is applied for, the DEQ reviews your drawings and they determine if the request will increase or decrease the flow and must meet their standards. John Chamberlain thanked the board for 32 years of working on the riverfront. He supports river use, but as he thought more about this project he is concerned about putting 4 miles of cable into the river. When he starts his boats, the power can pick rocks up off the bottom of the river. He is concerned about getting wound into one of the cables, becoming disabled and drifting toward the dam. He is concerned about safety and after talking with Matt Weis he is not sure how this is getting anchored down, how often and how it is going to be maintained. John is concerned about after it is done, will it be forgotten. He asked if there would be a public meeting with the DNR before this is done. He suggested the other side of Waverly. Jemerson said some of the permits require public hearings, but he is not sure if this permit would require a meeting. Jemerson will provide Mr. Chamberlain with the name and number of the person to speak with at the DNR. Park Board Minutes—March 8, 2006 Page 4 Before Pete left the meeting, Jemerson commented that Pete was at the Hull Court meeting regarding their basketball courts. This was the third meeting with this group regarding the problems the community is having with the basketball courts. There were over 260 cards mailed out inviting the neighborhood to come to this meeting. The majority that attended were against keeping the basketball court. Based on their desire to have the court removed, we are going to go along with their decision and are working with them with their master plan to put something else there. NORM YOUNG/RANNEY HANDBALL COURT NAMING Kibbey stated he worked on this to answer the questions the board had raised. The first question was, did this person live in Lansing, and the answer is yes. He lives on Lenore Avenue and has been there for as long as anyone can remember. Second, has he done anything relative to service to the community park service? Along with Meals on Wheels, he was instrumental in bringing the national handball tournament to Lansing. Every New Year's day he and another guy go over to the court and shovel off the court to play handball. He also pulls the weeds from the cracks of the court. He brought guys in from New York to teach people from Lansing how to play this. Kibbey also stated if you are going to dedicate a facility to someone, it should look good. Kibbey went to this group to see if something could be worked out to have this group donate funds to improve the facility. Without asking, they volunteered to put up $2,500 to improve the facility. Kibbey also stated William Hubbell who is the chair of the Memorial Review Board has issues with the timing of this and why is the Park Board involved and the Park Board had asked why the Review Board was involved. Leyrer asked if the improvement monies are in some kind account. Kibbey stated they have a promise to raise, which gets to another issue from the transition team's report of where does money come from and where does it go. Do we wait until the full amount is in hand or do we set up an account? McWilliams asked if there was a resolution on this. Jemerson stated there is a resolution, which reads as "now therefore be it resolved that the Lansing Park Board recommends to the Mayor that the Ranney Handball court be named the Norm Young Handball Court". McWilliams made a motion to move the resolution, supported by Murray. 2 nay, 5 yea. Meeting adjourned at 8:41 p.m. Respectfully Submitted Kellie Brown, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved April 12, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES April 12, 2006 MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Ruth Leyrer, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith, Alfonso Mejorado, Pat Murray MEMBERS ABSENT: Ron Lott (arrived late), Melvin McWilliams (arrived at approximately 7:33 pm) OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; John Pollard CALLED TO ORDER: 7:08 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: FY07 Budget will be a presentation by Murdock Jemerson and second by Rick Kibbey. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: Jolui Pollard commented that using the word "maintenance" has allowed for the use of money on operations. They have left$608,000 to pay back the south side center and for the river trail and spray park, which will not leave a dime. The Mayor wants $1.5 million of the $2.2 million millage fund and the balance next year according to the book. He stated he felt the board was not at fault, but thought they were doing the right thing according to history. PARK BOARD MINUTES: March 8, 2006 Motion was made to approve the minutes as amended on page 2, motion seconded. Motion carried. Kibbey announced there is a group coming together to form Friends of Frances Park. There will be a meeting at the home of Judy Filice on April 27 at 6:00 p.m., which is 1462 Cambridge. There will be a quick tour of the park, meeting and refreslunents. Jemerson provided copies of the fund summaries pertaining to the parks department, parks department budgeted capital improvements, appendix and dates to remember regarding outreach meetings on the budget, Committee on the Whole pre-budget hearings, actual budget hearings, review of budget resolution and adoption of the budget. Jemerson encouraged those who could to attend these meetings. Jemerson stated under "organization' the administrative services Park Board Minutes—April 12, 2006 Page 2 description was missing. The administration for Parks and Recreation is located at 318 N. Capitol and provides administrative support to the other divisions within the parks department, where we do our payable and receivables,pavilion rentals,payroll, as well as research and planning. Our field service is now Parks and Forestry Maintenance. This section used to be two separate sections, but due to dwindling staff they have been combined. Paul Dykema is now the manager of Parks and Forestry and oversees forestry,park maintenance, swimming pools, athletic fields and cemeteries. Leisure Services consist of the Community Centers, Lifetime Sports, Special Recreation activities, Community School Programs, Turner Dodge and facility maintenance. This is overseen by Brett Kaschinske. Golf and Washington Park operations are overseen by Don Ballard. Potter Park Zoo is overseen by Gerry Brady. Jemerson stated the areas that took the most hits for the fiscal year that we are in were the general fund,parks maintenance and it basically came from our staff leaving positions due to retirements, taking other positions and our inability to re-fill those jobs. We lost a lot of staff out of the general fund in parks, administration and golf. Jemerson stated this year he did not want to do anything to take away from leisure services,parks and general funded activities,which left the enterprise funds. Every since he has been the director there has never been anything done in reducing the staff at the zoo. We have always been in the process of trying to fix golf, from trying to reduce the subsidy as well as trying to put strategies in place where the golf program would have training at Sycamore and youth would graduate to Red Cedar and then to Groesbeck. Other things were also done, like getting alcohol at Groesbeck on the course. There has always been a thought to regionalize the zoo. During last year's millage campaign Jemerson stated he was at the zoo during L&L Zoo Days and witnessed the volunteers asking visitors if they were from Lansing and the statistics showed more than 70% of the people visiting the zoo were non- residents of Lansing. Jemerson stated during the last administration he brought out the book produced by the AZA on public/private partnerships on how zoo societies run zoos and it is the best practice. He presented it as a strategy that we need to move forward with and made a formal announcement to Council and union leadership, but it never really got off the ground. This mayor is behind the plan and we have met and talked with the zoo society, however at this time the zoo society does not want to take over an operation unless they can be financially successful at it. Jemerson stated the early indications are the county would want to run the zoo and he hopes they would allow the zoo society to manage the zoo for them, as that is where the experience is. Jemerson has talked with many zoo directors over the last few months about their experiences with transferring the zoo from public to private ownership. It has been different and is hard,but it can be done and once the transfer is done they can prosper. Cemeteries Park Board Minutes—April 12, 2006 Page 3 Consolidating the cemetery maintenance staff with the park maintenance staff is going to be a major challenge. The cemetery staff is being reduced by 4 and the people that are there have a lot of seniority and should not have to hit the street. Our cemetery operation is not the state of the art type of cemetery operation and each year since 2000, Jemerson stated he has been requesting a software package to computerize our cemetery operation like most cemeteries are today. The cost of the software package is $215,000, of which the software really is not that much but involves the labor to input all of the information. Leyrer asked how many lots we still had for sale. Jemerson stated he did not have the numbers,but indicated that Evergreen was the only cemetery with lots still for sale. Jemerson stated the plans for the cemetery staff is to move them to Oak Park and call them back to the cemetery when a burial is required. We feel because of the few people we have, there will probably still be a crew there everyday to work. Golf Courses The general fund subsidy for the golf courses would be elimination with the recommendation of Red Cedar and Waverly courses being sold and the proceeds being dedicated to other uses within the park system. Jemerson stated recently there has been two fee increases, one in March and one this past Monday. The fee increase in March was miscalculated and still created a deficit of $8,000 at the end of this golf season. We average around 90,000 rounds of golf a year, and raising that another dollar gives us another $90,000. With the assumption that we base this on an average of 90,000 rounds and we are going to lose some people due to the fee increases it still nets us an additional $90,000 in revenue,but could only be $45,000 because we do not know the impact of the fee increases. Jemerson stated the fee for a 9-hole round of golf at Groesbeck would be $15, which puts us toward the higher end golf courses. Royal Scott is $14.50 a round, Eldorado is $15 Forest Acres is $14, and Centennial Acres is $13. Waverly 9-holes is currently $11, seniors are $8 and Red Cedar is $10. McWilliams commented that he has a hard time believing the courses lose money. He would like administration to look at what other cities are doing, for example Kalamazoo's Eastern Hills Golf Course is privately run and gives money to the city. They have a non-resident rate and a resident rate. Jemerson stated one of the things that we always have to remember is that these are enterprise funds, but are not operated as true enterprise funds as true enterprise funds in the private sector don't have unionized labor and expensive health care. Jemerson continued to say that if you look at the administrative cost and just the direct golf expenses, we would be making money. However, if you tack in administrative charges of clerical, a portion of the director and manager's salary, bills,telephone,building maintenance, legal, personnel, and internal audit. Reduce the general fund subsidy for the cemeteries with the recommendation to totally eliminate subsidy by 2008. After administrative costs are removed,there would only be $97,000 left to run the cemeteries. Reduce staff at the zoo to bring expenses in line with 1.3 million dollar subsidy. The main effect there would be to lay off 2 maintenance and 2 zookeepers, which would reduce the animals and could risk the zoo's accreditation. Park Board Minutes—April 12, 2006 Page 4 Reduce the expenditures for capital improvements at the parks, using a substantial portion of the dedicated park millage for operations and maintenance purposes at the park. CIP City wide maintenance is $60,000, a carry forward of about$40,000, south side community center final repayment is $83,825, river trail maintenance $60,000 with a carry forward balance of$40,000, river trail acquisition of the pro-bowl property $10,000 and the dog park up-front loan of$45,000 and professional fees of design work$80,000 for a total of$728,825 for capital improvements. The balance of the park millage, about$1.5 million is put into the general fund for next year for operations. Kibbey stated he wants the board to know what is expected of them when questions and issues arise about the sale of the zoo, golf courses, other parkland, the usurpation of millage funds and other designated funds into the general fund. This year the board would fight on the above issues and in following years the board fights on projects in the master plan and projects where there is already momentum. Designated Funds In the transition report,the first issue that was raised was the issue of the integrity of enterprise funds. It is inherent in what is being said about the golf courses, sell the golf courses and use the money, but every dime in designated funds is in a slush fund and the issue of building confidence that funds we designate stay designated for that purpose is out the window. Background on Land Sales There is material that we are in the charter relative to land sale, we are in the council minutes for land sale, and there is a policy in force on land sale. Kibbey provided a list of dedicated inventory of designated parkland, which is under a different status than just land the city owns. To sell designated parkland there must be a recommendation from the park board, which does not have to be taken, but you cannot sell the land for private development but for other public purposes and it must be replaced. Overall Budget Kibbey asked just how much deficit there is and where is it. Jemerson stated the whole deficit is a projected deficit; we are not in a deficit now, but we are facing a projected deficit. McWilliams asked if on the revenue side of the budget if it is flat or declining. Jemerson replied it has been pretty well flat,the budget has $108 million projected in revenue and last year it was $106 million so it is getting a little better. Kibbey wanted to poll the board on a couple of issues as to where their thoughts are. First do you think it is a good idea to "regionalize"the zoo and instead of selling the zoo do we look for a Park Board Minutes—April 12, 2006 Page 5 partner to assist us in operating the zoo? This could be done as a management contract or a regional authority, but at the heart of any arrangement the City of Lansing retains ownership of Potter Park and the zoo. Jemerson stated the City would always retain ownership of the park, lie believes there is a reversionary clause in the deed that puts it back to the family. McWilliams asked if there was any reason why the board cannot make motion to take a position and that way a collective vote would be expressed in some resolution or would the board members indicate how they felt and someone would express the board's feelings. Kibbey replied he wanted a wider range of discussion before a motion is made and he would like a resolution by the end of the evening. Murray moved that the Park Board recommend regionalization of the Potter Park Zoo, seconded by Ramey. Discussion followed with concerns about when the library tried to regionalize it took 10 years and the same situation could happen with the zoo. Secondly, there is a concern for the employees to be switched over to the regional authority. It was asked if by the motion made was it not to include some management role by the zoological. The motion made was not to exclude nor designate the zoological society. Leyrer stated she is in favor of regionalization as long as we can keep ownership of the park and working with the zoological society. Comment was made that once it is not ours, we do not get to say the zoological society has that role. Leyrer needs to know what it does entail if we are agreeing on this motion and what we are giving up. Kibbey stated at this stage we are giving an indication of a policy direction, because you cannot specify on a motion at the beginiing of a negotiation what all the conditions will be at the end. What would be useful is to identify the various concerns the board has on the sale of the zoo and the staff. Lott cormnented that he would like to see individual opinions expressed to reference as a park board and not be too specific on to many issues. He would be more comfortable if the motion was to consider regionalization rather than recommend it. He would not want to see the loss of total control and it is important to look at these issues and get a general feel from the board. He feels it is important to communicate, but is just as helpful to do it as individuals with some assumptions about what the rest of the board would do as it is to have a motion we can refer to that may not be relevant by the time this is considered. Kibbey clarified this is a move to support a move to explore regional arrangements for Potter Park Zoo. Motion supported and carried by a vote of 8. Lott made a motion that the board is generally reluctant to recommend the sale of any park property without some detailed discussion of the benefits and the understanding of the process involved in getting voter approval to that. Seconded by Leyrer. Kibbey summarized the board supports the existing policy of non-sale of any park land. Moved by Lott, seconded by Leyrer. Motion carried. Park Board Minutes—April 12, 2006 Page 6 Maintenance Team It is felt the board should not be involved in the detail of personnel. There is too much information that is not known about wages, etc. The board would like to see the existing team maintained at the zoo. ,Sale of Golf Courses The board has stated its opposition of the sale of designated park land. Sale of other Park Land The board has stated its opposition of the sale of designated park land. Lott expressed he would be reluctant because of the policy and procedures but would be more comfortable exploring possibilities of sites that do not serve as functional recreational lots and are just empty lots. Kibbey stated there is language within the disposition policy that says if a lot is sold, it must be replaced someplace else. It was asked if the board has the ability to ask opinions of the city attorney on what the language really means. Kibbey summarized this subject would be let go, as the board has already took a stand on the sale of the zoo and golf courses. Designated Funds Kibbey stated the last millage could not have passed if we were not able to show were the millage money went. Lott made a motion that to help maintain the credibility with the Lansing voters who support the park millage the board be hesitant to support any use of park funds that can not be tracked and used for general funds and maintenance. McWilliams made a motion that the park board recommends the administration does not under mind the good will of support represented by the successful passage of the recent millage by appropriating the millage funds for operations traditionally supported by the general public. Motion moved and supported. Motion carried Kibbey made a motion the board requests all millage and designated funds be tracked and reported as if they were enterprise funds. Motion moved and supported by Ramey. Motion carried. No further audio available. Park Board Minutes—April 12, 2006 Page 7 Respectfully Submitted Kellie Brow}i, Interim Park Board Secret xy Approved May 10, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES May 10, 2006 MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Ruth Leyrer, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith, Melvin McWilliams, Ron Lott (arrived late) MEMBERS ABSENT: Alfonso Mejorado (excused), Pat Murray OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; Mr. Leaper CALLED TO ORDER: 7:15 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: Jemerson stated Mr. Leaper has a request to have the south field at Westside Park named after his father. This will be a new business item. Kibbey will report on Ranney Park under old business. Jemerson asked to delete from the agenda the request for a grant application for Hunter Park. The maximum amount of the grant is not enough to do what is needed at the park, but another project will be thought of for the approximate $75,000. Jemerson also stated the summer kids camp report will be postponed to the June meeting. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: PARK BOARD MINUTES: April 12, 2006 Lott moved to accept minutes as submitted, supported by Smith. Motion carried INGHAM COUNTY ZOO TASK FORCE Jemerson reported the zoo has become a very controversial program. It is being proposed to change management of the zoo from city management to county management to get a zoo millage on the ballot in November to assist the city in the budget process. As it stands now, the zoo will get a subsidy of$1.4 million from the city, which is far less than last year, which has predicated us to propose that 2 zoo keepers and 2 maintenance workers be laid off to meet the reduced budget. The Mayor wrote to the Ingham County commission requesting the zoo millage issue be placed on the ballot for November. In response, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners formed a task force to look specifically at the zoo becoming a county facility. The first meeting was held Wednesday, May 3, and they will meet every other week and a response from the county must be no later than August 15. Between now and then there will several meetings to discuss what would it mean for the county. Jemerson stated he has met with the director of Ingham County Parks, Bob Moore, to discuss what our budget looks like and what Park Board Minutes—May 10, 2006 Page 2 their budget might look like and the employees becoming county employees, and pay raises. When looking at the different positions in a zoo operation, you have maintenance workers, a veterinarian/curator, director, and zoo keepers. The county does not have a veterinarian or zoo keepers, so their wages could be absorbed at their current rate of pay and benefits that are received through the city, however the county has maintenance workers and secretaries that would have a discrepancy in rates of pay. Kibbey stated the county appears excited about this proposal. Also present at the task force meeting was the chief zoo keeper, and president of the UAW local that represents the zoo keepers and is a grounds keeper at the zoo. They have decided they want the millage election in November, rather than August as not to get in the way of their juvenile justice millage. In November we will be on the ballot with other issues, but this is not our decision. The zoo has a huge constituency. Kibbey would like to hear the board's preferences during the meeting or afterwards. We are proceeding on the assumption of this being a way of having the funding base of the zoo match the use base of the zoo, as about 70% of the people that use the zoo are from outside the city. Mr. Leaper was asking the board to support his proposal to designate the south baseball diamond at Westside Park to be named Leaper's Field in memory of his father, Johnny Leaper. John Leaper was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1941,however later that year he was drafted into the Army and served with the 101"Airborne. John Leaper broke his thumb in the service, which put a damper to his hopeful career after the military as a professional baseball shortstop. He held a couple of jobs, started a family and resumed his passion of baseball. John Leaper played fast pitch softball until he was 46 years old. At one time during his career in an 8 year period his teams won 4 titles for fast pitch softball. Mr. Leaper does not want to see the City of Lansing spend money on this project; Mr. Leaper is willing to pay for this. Mr. Leaper made two suggestions; to paint on the brick at the dug out on the bleacher end or wood plaque about 6' long, 8-10"high, 1"thick with wood burn lettering placed on the backstop. Kibbey stated there is a process the board goes through and Mr. Leaper has started that process through his presentation/request. Leyrer commented that she respected Mr. Leaper's love for his father and this honor is wonderful, but she would like to some years listed for LCH or for the Cubs. She would like to see more memorabilia added to the sign. McWilliams asked if Mr. Leaper had talked with the Memorial Review Board. Mr. Leaper replied he had talked with the review board prior to the park board meeting. Jemerson stated the review board tabled it and recommended it to the park board. Leyrer asked if Westside was one of LCC's ball fields. Jemerson stated we still use it, but we have an agreement that LCC gets to call it their home field for the money they put into it. Leyrer asked even if it is our park, do we need to go before LCC. Jemerson stated that is something the park board needs to talk about. Even though LCC is not an owner of the park they are a financial partner. The athletic director is aware of this proposal and does not have a problem with it. Mr. Leaper stated there was an issue about the type of sign, how it would be secured and that it not obstruct viewing. Park Board Minutes—May 10, 2006 Page 3 Jemerson stated the board does have guidelines and he would provide a copy to Mr. Leaper regarding what issues the board takes into consideration and what type of memorials are in parks today. Mr. Leaper also commented that it is so important for urban areas to have green space. He remembers as a grade school student taking field trips to PPZ and it would be sad to see the city give up the zoo. He could see the Red Cedar and Waverly golf courses cormnercially developed instead of residential, due to lack of space. Jemerson stated the city would always own the zoo, by deed it has to be a public park in perpetuity and that is the way the deed reads. What this would involve is a shift in management. McWilliams stated there are written rules and regulations that predecessors have adopted that the board tries to be true to when the board receives requests like his. He would like to see Mr. Leaper rework his submission to the board to conform to the regulations and stress the things that apply to receive the most favorable consideration by the board. Kibbey asked with the permission of the board he would like to bring up a previous meeting regarding giving money for trees and the neighborhood associations planting them. He is calling it, for now, the Citizens Action Parks Fund. It would be like the Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Board where there would be a small fund to make grants available to neighborhood or friends organizations that were interested in doing improvements to the parks. The groups would do the work if the materials were bought for them. McWilliams stated if this is to be a Parks Advisory Board project, he would have trouble with controlling money. We are part of a municipality where the Mayor and Council play tug-o-war over money for those kinds of projects. He does not seethe board having a role in this other than being on board as supporting a fund somewhere, but as for the administration of it he does not feel the board has the authority for this that it is more or a legislative or administrative level. Kibbey stated he has been on the Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Board for 6 years and is temporarily chairing it. The Mayor's board has a budget of$90,000 which is used annually to make grants available to neighborhood associations for small projects. Kibbey stated he was up in the air if this was something the park board wanted to do, or a separate group or the Mayor's board. Leyrer stated she felt the board is here to help and advise the public. She agreed with Mel that the board does not deal with dollars, but the board can assist and support neighborhood groups. She would honor in trying to develop or assist neighborhoods to bring out an agenda booklet that the board would go along with to assist neighborhood groups. Kibbey indicated that he was not ready to do a motion yet; this is in the formative stages and he was looking for feedback. He would like to try and create a manual and a support structure for friend and neighborhood organizations, which is independent from the fund he is referring to. McWilliams indicated he is not opposed to creating the manual, but sees the fund being problematic. Park Board Minutes—May 10, 2006 Page 4 Jemerson commented that he is sure the board is feeling frustration with the way the budget is being dealt with, what the city is facing with the budget and the total turnaround of the park millage of what was campaigned for to what it has evolved into. A few years ago in the capital improvement budget was the challenge grant and no came to the board and said they wanted the money. Jemerson's recommendation was to look at taking a portion of the CIP money and allocate it to this other board since they already have the framework set up. The board has the right by charter, to review the budget and millage money and make recommendations to the Mayor. OLD BUSINESS Kibbey stated the Norm Young Memorial request has gone to council and was approved. He talked with Mr. Foss and they are collecting funds for the memorial, at this time it is not known if there will be a plaque or if the court will be resurfaced. Jemerson reported he met with Todd Heywood today and that the Shakespeare in the Park series would be a good idea for the city. He reaffirmed to Mr. Heywood that we want to have programs in the parks that are family oriented. Mr. Heywood is ok with that and having reviews prior to anything he does. Jemerson stated the city would like to be a sponsor of the programs; however Mr. Heywood is having problems with the city attorney's office. Mr. Heywood wanted us to be a sponsor, but he wanted us to waive $1,000 in fees. Jemerson stated he had to propose cutting some community based programs like Mid Michigan Youth Football, Eastside Spartans Football and Poetry in the Park due to lack of funding. The city attorney said we could be a sponsor, but because of the budget, parks cannot pay into the program. This forces Mr. Heywood to raise funds for his program, which is the rental of the Sunbowl and permit for a total of$2,150. As of today, Mr. Heywood has funding available to do his first play. UPDATES Jemerson reported that construction is almost done at Moores Park, the board walk/bridge and fishing deck has been well received. The asphalting on the trail and service drive is completed and again is being well received by the public. Marshall Park restrooms are all cleaned up, it is paved and striped. At Potter Park Zoo the Otter and Fox exhibits are looking nice. The major project right now is the paving to the exhibit and the arch for the primary donor, the Glassen Foundation. The Glassen Foundation will have its board meeting on June 19, but the completion date is still scheduled for July 1. Sycamore is going well. During the budget hearings the First Tee of Lansing advisory board showed before council and reaffirmed their commitment to the project and getting it built. The construction on our end is complete except for the building, we are waiting for the grass to grow, and the tour turf on the tee area as well as the three target tees will be in on June. The driving range will be open mid-June. The skate park is being repaired. The problem right now is graffiti in the park. If it is sealed and more graffiti is done, our crews' come in with the soda blaster and remove the graffiti, which does do light damage to the concrete. We hope the sealer will allow us to use chemicals without removing the sealer. If we had to use the blaster, it will remove the sealer and to save money Park Board Minutes—May 10, 2006 Page 5 there may have to be a decision to leave the graffiti, which is normally accepted at skate parks. Jemerson stated when he was in Flint; they made a decision to hire a graffiti artist to graffiti the area in a good way. Bids are out for the greenhouse at Hunter Park and should be in soon. There needs to be a push for the trail, the bid is in and it should be happening. Just like the tennis courts at Wainwright Park and Quentin we were waiting for the asphalt plants to open, and should be on line this month. Jemerson stated City Council did present to administration a proposal for the budget and that proposal did use some reserves and would keep all existing employees employed. In our situation the zoo has four people scheduled to be laid off. The cemeteries have four people scheduled to be laid off. Two of those employees are the only people who really know how to locate graves and do proper burials. They have high seniority and hopefully they can bump someone at Oak Park instead of going to a different department. Effective July 1 we will lose seasonal staff, which will take us down from 48 to 32, which does not leave enough staff to maintain mowing. We have proposed a tier system of park maintenance with four tiers of care; the fourth one would be naturalized parks. We have talked with other entities about maintaining parks, for example the 1191h Street Park is technically now the LSD's property and we are talking with them about taking over the park. The use of park millage being switched will have ramifications to the board,which campaigned for the millage. McWilliams brought up the motion from last month's meeting concerning appropriations from the park millage for items that are historically from the general fund. Kibbey asked if there was an additional $1 million in the budget for a southside community center. Jemerson responded there is not. The $1 million dollars that is in the budget contains $930,000 to $950,000 that was already there, plus our$83,000 being put in and an additional $50,000 in the budget,will add up the $1 million. Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. c. Respectfully Submitted WS, Kellie Brown, I�terim Park Board Secretar Approved June 14, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES June 14, 2006 MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith,Ron Lott, Patrick Murray, Melvin McWilliams (arrived late) MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruth Leyrer, Alfonso Mejorado, OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; Paul Dykema, Parks and Recreation; Velma Theisen, Friends of Francis Park; June Knostman, GC of Greater Lansing CALLED TO ORDER: 7:11 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: Kibbey added to updates Shakespeare in the Park, Jemerson added Averill Park, and golf courses were also added to updates. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: PARK BOARD MINUTES: May 10, 2006 Lott moved to approve the minutes as written. Motion supported. Motion carried FRIENDS OF FRANCES PARK Paul Dykema reported Frances Park has been the flagship of our program for the past 40 years. He stated he had the privilege to attend the annual Safety Patrol Picnic with 4,000 people at the facility at one time. Frances Park has reservations every weekend, weddings, rose gardens, formal gardens, pavilion rentals, Hmong events and everybody in the community enjoys this facility, however the facility is showing wear and tear. Toward the end of assisting with renovations, the Concerned Citizens for Frances Park group was formed. Ms. Theisen stated the group has had several meetings, have gone over the park several times and there are things they have seen that need improvement, the group can see opportunities for making the park more usable for some citizens and as a result they have gotten together to talk about how to share their concerns with those who have the ability to take action of the issues. Dykema stated they want to be proponents of the park and keep it in the forefront of our parks in mid-Michigan and with a Park Board Minutes—June 14, 2006 Page 2 little bit of effort he feels this can be done by working with the Park Board and the community. Dykema stated he was attending this meeting as a member of the Concerned Citizens for Frances Park group and a city employee. June Knostman advised the board that three weeks ago Mr. Jemerson, Mr. Dykema, Dick Shaefer, the Mayor, council members and a representative from the neighborhood Mayflower church met at Francis Park where they all voiced their concerns and volunteered their support. The group has contacted Sam Pardee who will assist in maintaining the group's legal matters and the group is waiting on Mr. Pardee before they proceed. Kibbey stated the board is working on developing a policy and bylaws to encourage the development of friends groups. Murray asked if the park has a master plan. Jemerson stated this is one of the items we are trying to get fully funded in the park millage, there is not an updated master plan but it is part of the budget process. Dykema provided an update on Francis indicating there have been renovations on the rose garden, including consulting Nancy Linley who is a premier rose grower in Michigan. There have been soil test done, about 2/3 of the roses have been replaced with various hardy types of rose that are resistant to many diseases to reduce the use of pesticides. He hopes to have the renovation of the rose garden done within the year. There has also been tree removal and trimming done to increase the airflow and sunlight exposure to the rose garden. 9/11 MEMORIAL Jemerson reported on May 19, a delegation from the Michigan families from 9/11 met with him and they are interested in seeing the names of their loved ones who were from or lived in Michigan added to the 9/11 Memorial in Wentworth Park. They are looking at having bricks engraved and added to the memorial. This group has gone through a little "trial" in trying to get their loved ones memorialized. They started with the state of Michigan and the best that would be done was a tree planted on the Capitol ground with text, but no names. During this time the group was not aware the City of Lansing had a 9/11 Memorial. Jemerson explained to the group there was a procedure to follow with the city's memorial review board. Jemerson provided a list of names to be memorialized and is bringing it to the board for their recommendations. The group would purchase and pay for the installation of the bricks. Mr. Lott moved to recommend this project be continued through the process with the support of the park board. Motion seconded. Kibbey stated his concern on this issue is not knowing where it is right now and acting without knowledge of questions the review board may raise. He does not have any objections to the concept, but the memorial review is a tricky process. Kibbey would like to see what the Park Board Minutes—June 14, 2006 Page 3 memorial review board said on this and also resolve other questions that may come up regarding the naives on the list before acting on it. McWilliams stated the group has broader criteria, the next of kin is apparently one, but in the alternative the individual could be a resident. In the cover letter, the criterion is that the victim is a resident of the state at the time of attack or the next of kin is a resident. He asked for clarification of this statement and clarification on who would be next of kin. Jemerson stated he would try to get a representative at the next meeting to answer some of the questions the board has. Board members also asked for copies of the rules and regulations for memorial naming. Kibbey stated this group is not asking for the guidelines we use to name a facility. They are not asking to change the name of the park. It was moved and supported to table the motion until the next meeting. Motion carried by 5 yea, 1 nay. SIGNAGE BANNER POLICY Jemerson indicated he would bring this to the next meeting after the actual policy has been provided to the board. This is setting a policy for the corner of Saginaw and Grand Avenue where banners can be placed. The department has been asked to put up a banner that basically supported a fund raising event which wasn't a not for profit and the department denied it. He wants to make sure we have a clear policy on who can and cannot put banners on this corner. GOLF COURSES Joan Bauer wanted to clarify with the board and get the boards thoughts on what the Public Service Committee of the City Council is doing in terms of golf. They did a committee report that came out a couple of weeks ago and she would like feedback from the Park Board. At this point there is not support on City Council to put the sale of golf courses on a ballot. Speaking as the chair of the Public Service Committee, they feel they need to do something else. As a committee they need to move forward to look at golf courses and golf, study it and make some solid recommendations so that next spring we will not be in the same position as this year. The committee recommended in the report to hold two public meetings; June 28 at Foster Center on Red Cedar and June 29 on Waverly. The purpose of the meetings is to get input from the community. She indicated in her door-to-door campaign people want to discuss the sale of parkland and golf. The committee will hold the two meetings and hear from the public; the Intergovernmental Committee will meet with Lansing Township officials and MSU for ideas; and thirdly they will look at the financial issues. One of the biggest financial issues is how we account for administrative charges and after a month or so, come back to take a look at this and come up with some ideas. Park Board Minutes—June 14, 2006 Page 4 Kibbey stated this came up during the budget process and the board explicitly expressed themselves about the sale of golf courses and parkland in general. The board was not in favor of selling parkland. Murray stated a number of the board members asked about the financial situation and the charges back toward Murdock's salary, accountants' salaries and the fact if the golf coursers were shut down those people would still be paid. Individuals on the board had a lot of questions about how accurate the information is about the cost of golf courses. Jemerson stated the golf courses make money if you look at just direct expenses and revenue. POTTER PARK ZOO TASK FORCE Kibbey said the task force met today, is moving slowly, but seems to be back on track. The group seems to be locked up on the issue of gove�s governance. The Mayor's position seems to be passing this onto the county under their system sort of without qualifications. The Council's position is the citizens of Lansing have a substantial interest not just in terms of a capital investment, but also an ongoing interest because we are half of the county. We would be interested in a continuing role in governance and setting the direction of the board. On the county side they are exploring regional issues and exploring reaching out to Delta Township and Eaton County. We are looking at it as a zoo issue and they are looking at it as another episode in the continuing saga on how and if Lansing is going to regionalize. There is still an interest in this and they are still looking at the November ballot. LEEPER MEMORIAL McWilliams said he asked at the last meeting to have the memorial rules and types of memorials be provided to Mr. Leeper. Jemerson stated they called Mr. Leeper to pick the information up, but he has not called back or come in yet. The kind of memorial Mr. Leeper was talking about carving would not work on the back of the backstop or the dugouts. Kibbey stated he has had questions brought to hire about if this comes near our guidelines and he hopes when staff looks at it they will review it according to the guidelines. NORM YOUNG MEMORIAL Kibbey has spoken to them and they are currently raising money and he has not heard back from them. Jemerson said he has heard back from them and met with them. They were trying to raise $2,500; they have raised $3,200 and have asked the City to match it. Jemerson said he wanted Dick Schaefer to go out and get a price for the work that needs to be done and then we will respond to the match. Park Board Minutes—June 14, 2006 Page 5 Kibbey asked if any information was received from Mr. Eyde regarding procedures on surface coverings. Jemerson stated he has not received information and Mr. Schaefer needs to do this work. Murray asked if we were matching the $3,200 and that it was not just for the sign, but also for refurbishing the facility. Jemerson indicated it was for refurbishing and the checks have been received, were payable to the city and have been deposited. McWilliams stated he did not remember the city matching funds as being part of the agreement. Kibbey and Jemerson both indicated they thought the group was always looking for the city to do something. McWilliams said he remembered that discussion, but in the actual vote to rename the park he made the motion to rename it and does not remember matching funds being part of the motion. Jemerson said he did not phrase it to them that the city would match it dollar for dollar, but we would take a look at it. He felt confident from the meetings that there would be park millage money going into this project due to the kind of things they wanted to do and the money they were bringing to the table. Murray stated his recollection was the same as Mr. McWilliam's that we voted to allow them to do the plaque, but did not recall matching funds. SUMMER KIDS PROGRAM Brett Kaschinske, Manager of Leisure Services indicated that summer kids program started this week Monday and run through August 3 most of them run from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Leisure Services includes the Community Centers, Fenner, Turner Dodge, Lifetime Sports and Special Recreation section that is therapeutic recreation, pools and community schools programs. The total numbers of sites are the same as last year; but due to attendance, locations have been changed. Moores Park has been removed*, and LMT (Larry M.—TIfeis Trice) Community Center has been added, which is on Holmes west of Pleasant Grove, behind Pentecostal Outreach Church. It was asked if LMT is the only private property that is not city or school property and if it is connected to the church. Other churches have asked for programs, but LMT was chosen for its south side location and the pastor has invited the city into the facility. There is an after school program there and an extended summer camp program, which has to be held in a licensed day care facility due to a state grant and it is the only one that qualifies. Jemerson also stated we are back at Oak Park. * Moores Park surnrner program and Moores Park neighborhood concert have both been removed from the park. It was asked if at the next meeting there could be maps provided with the locations of the summer program sites. Park Board Minutes—June 14, 2006 Page 6 It was asked if the camps could be extended past the August 3 date since there is a large gap between the end of camp and the start of school. Kaschinske explained the community centers have open recreation, but it is not all day like the camp program. Kaschinske indicated we have a diverse staff, with elementary education majors and recreation majors and they have just gone through a week of training. He provided information and rates on the rental of the 56' inflatable obstacle course. This equipment is rented out and includes our staff to run it. It is not sent out without our staff, as it is two pieces that weigh 4001bs each. We try to get it to any of our events and it rents out to neighborhood groups and has outside the city rates. It is a two-person racecourse. Moores pool is open today and the water temperature is 64°. Hunter pool has had problems with the drainpipe, which was rusted out at the bottom causing approximately a loss of 6" of water a day. The repairs should be done by the end of June with a July 4`h opening date. It was asked why the pools close on August 14 if schools open later. Due to budget cuts in 2005, the pools open a little later and close earlier, plus as college starts it is difficult to maintain lifeguards. Aviation Camp started a few years ago and has won state awards and is run in cooperation with Lansing Community College at Capitol City Airport. Participants get a free flight, a trip to the Air Museum in Kalamazoo, and they go through several things on flying. This is just one of our leisure time camps, we have basketball camp, soccer camp, history camp, nature camp, camp for individuals with disabilities and we have added lacrosse camp this year. Lifetime Sports has t-ball, baseball and softball going on now. We are making a change on how we offer our sports programs, we have always placed you on a team or a team could come in to register. We are now going to signing up as schools to create community pride. Accommodations will be made for non-residents and for schools that do not have full teams. History Camp and Harry Potter Days are being offered at Turner Dodge House. Further cuts have not been made to those camps. Wheelchair sports camps are something new. We ran a clinic at Letts Center for the State of Michigan for people to instruct tennis to disabled athletes. We brought in people from the United States Tennis Association to assist. We are looking to expand wheelchair sports. Kibbey asked if we offer sports activities for other disabilities, for example visually impaired. Kaschinske said we do not have a specific program for visually impaired, but we do have visually impaired individuals in our regular programs and we provide an interpreter or helper with them. Concerts in the Park are scheduled every Wednesday in June, the July 4"' concert is on Tuesday and after Common Ground we will pick up the regular Wednesday schedule. Park Board Minutes—June 14, 2006 Page 7 The majority of our athletics take place on the south side. All of our soccer programs are on the south side. Fernier Nature Center is on the south side. There are playground sites on the south side, concerts are also held on the south side. The reason most of the enrichment classes are on the north side is due to the three community centers being located on the north side. All summer swim programs are on the south side. We run a week long camp with the MSU Crew and kids from each campsite make it out to the Grand River. During this camp the kids overcome their fear of water and being in the boats. AVERILL PARK Jemerson passed out information and stated he has been working with Averill Woods Neighborhood Association, and this Saturday the association will being doing a cleanup of the park. This is a neat neighborhood association from the standpoint they are doing this very scientifically by passing out surveys on what they want to see in the park. This is a first draft, and they are going to try and create a trail system in the woods first. UPDATES Moores Park has a new service drive, walkway, and shoreline improvements. Marshall Park the restroom is mostly done and we are doing a punch list now. Potter Park Zoo exhibit is expected to be open after L&L zoo days. Grass is being grown and watered now. Most of this exhibit is under ground. Wainwright and Quentin construction on the tennis courts has started and should be asphalted soon. The tennis courts came about due to a lot of neighborhood input. INFORMATION The Potter Park Zoo has the 5K Rhino Walk this weekend. Juneteenth takes place at St. Joe Park. The bathrooms have been painted and touched up. There was a huge fight at Wainwright so the community is going to have a unity picnic this Friday. Meeting adjourned at 9:09 p.m. Respectfully Submitted '� ���-� Kellie Brown, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved July 12, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES July 12, 2006—Letts Community Center MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Ron Lott, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith, Melvin McWilliams, Pat Murray, Ruth Leyrer (both Murray and Leyrer arrived after roll call) MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruth Leyrer, Alfonso Mejorado (excused) OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; Visitors of the 9/11 Memorial group, Pete Bosheff CALLED TO ORDER: 7:06 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: It was added that according to the board's guidelines, the election of officers is to take place at the first meeting of July. This will be added as a new business item. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: There will be a Common Ground bicycle race on Sunday, July 16. PARK BOARD MINUTES: June 14, 2006 McWilliams requested a minor revision to change "McWilliams arrived late"to "McWilliams arrived at 7:16". Kibbey noted the word governments on page 4 should be "governance" and on page 5 that Larry M. Theis should read "Larry M. Trice". Murray asked that on page 5 a statement be added that the Moores Park summer program has been removed and the summer concert has also been removed from Moores Park. Lott moved to accept minutes as amended, supported. Motion carried 9/11 MEMORIAL Jemerson provided a revised list of Michigan 9/11 victims. Jemerson stated the request of this group is to have the names of the Michigan victims of 9/11 engraved on bricks and the bricks placed at the 9/11 Memorial. Lott moved to approve the continuation of the process to bring about this memorial for the victims and their families of 9/11. Supported. Park Board Minutes—July 12, 2006 Page 2 Kibbey asked where the Memorial Review Board was on this issue. Jemerson said the Memorial Review Board looked at the request and recommended to Council that the request be referred back to the group to take to a state agency. The review board did not feel comfortable using a local park for what they felt was a statewide issue. Kibbey asked McWilliams if the information on the bottom of the list addressed his question about the next of kin. McWilliams said his focus was on the ties to Michigan and this information does provide a clearer definition. Murray said the information on public memorials provided in the board packet still did not make it any clearer what the position of the Park Board would be on this, but that it would be the Memorial Board whether it is in a park or not. Smith asked about the Review Board wanting this sent back to the state and wasn't it at the last meeting it was brought up the group already went through a process and the state wasn't very forth coming in the group's request. The state was very concerned about exactly which names might have lived here at the time. Lott asked the 9/11 group if in the future there is someone else with Michigan roots or family the group would work with the Park Board to make sure the same criteria is met and no one would be excluded. The 9/11 group agreed to cooperate with the Park Board in the future. They are very appreciative of what the City already has done and this is providing the families with closure. Leyrer asked about the next of kin on the list and were the victims born in Michigan or were their relatives born here. The next of kin(spouse, parent) is from Michigan. One gentleman had an example of if his son was a Michigan resident. He indicated his son was born in and went to high school in Michigan, went to college out of state, worked 3 months after graduation when he was killed, was he a resident. The 9/11 group was thankful to the board for tackling this memorial project. Most cities have not done anything, and the City of Lansing has done it without a hometown loss. Lott indicated that Murdock Jemerson had found information on a web site about limited pieces of the trade center that were available. Jemerson obtained a city truck, employees and drove to New York and right back to bring apiece back to Lansing. Jemerson stated it was former Mayor Hollister who directed his cabinet to come up with some kind of idea to use for the first year anniversary. Jemerson put his staff together and Steve Widder,who is from New York, recommended getting a piece of the structure. Jemerson also added if you look through the ordinances that there is nothing stated that it should come back to the Park Board. The board understands that and we need to make an amendment to the existing ordinance that refers to the Memorial Review Board. Whenever there is something that is park related, they do defer to the Park Board for the Park Board to use the parks process for naming parks and facilities. McWilliams stated what makes this different is that the park is not being named. He does not feel this sets a precedent. Park Board Minutes—July 12, 2006 Page 3 Jemerson wanted to clarify on the list it states "thus far" and if there were additional names we would get more information to have a registry of names, addresses, and phone numbers. There are several groups that have adopted parks and we would hope this group would be around to help maintain the park. It has already been discussed the group will cover the cost of engraving the bricks and having them installed, but we would like to know the group would be there to support the park. The board voted unanimously to support continuation of this memorial process. Kibbey advised the group they need to speak with Mr. Jemerson regarding the next step in this process. PUBLIC GOLF MEETING Councilperson, Joan Bauer stated the two forums were held on June 28 and June 29 and the Public Service Committee met today. The committee report will be put together and in two weeks it will go back to the committee for approval. There were 50 or 60 people at each meeting; the first meeting had 2 people in favor of selling the courses. At this point it is being recommended not to put this on the ballot, selling or anything else. The short-term recommendation for Red Cedar is better marketing; the long-term recommendation was to look at irrigation. There were 5 or 6 short-term recommendations for Waverly Golf that included painting the maintenance garage and fixing the pump. Longer-term recommendations involved irrigation and looking at the use of a piece of property in that the property is 125 acres, the golf course is on 85 acres and partnering with Lansing and Delta Townships to make the extra acreage a park. Bauer stated the Public Service Committee is looking at the utilization of the courses, and the Ways and Means Committee is looking at the budget, especially administrative fees. Leyrer asked if Waverly could be turned into an 18-hole course. Lott indicated it had been looked at in the past and there is enough room to make it a short 18 hole. Bauer said they want something by the end of the summer to go the Mayor and administration and not have a repeat of this last spring. We also need to look at the numbers, how many people are using the courses, how heavily utilized are they and can we use another 18-hole course, or do we look at making Waverly shorter and add other recreational activities. This would involve getting park millage money. Pete Bosheff commented that he was in the Public Service meeting and that the observation and discussion was awesome. He questioned why the golf courses are not open dawn to dusk. The municipal courses are there to serve our entry-level seniors and those who cannot afford $90 a- around golf. He would like to see the opportunity for youth to caddy at the courses, earn some money and aspire children to do something more than watch t.v. and play video games. Leyrer recommended businesses sponsoring holes on the courses and they receive free golf for that course. Park Board Minutes—July 12, 2006 Page 4 119"' ARMORY Jemerson stated he met with Dave Finney who was in charge of maintenance for the Lansing School District. The LSD owns the 119� park, which was not a dedicated parcel, but has been a piece of land that the Department of Army allowed us to keep as a playground and to mow. The LSD is ready to maintain this park now that they own. Jemerson called the Eastside Neighborhood Organization and spoke with Nancy Parsons to advise them this park was now a LSD park. Nancy is in the process of putting together a letter that will contain language that they would want the LSD to adopt and they would keep this parcel as a park in perpetuity. She has the support of Dr. Banks. The Parks Department is not maintaining this park, but there has been some vandalism to the park equipment and the Parks Department will look into and advise the LSD that they have an obligation to maintain the equipment. Councilman Leeman raised the issue that we have invested money into this park and equipment, Jemerson is not sure where Councilman Leeman is going with the point, but he does not believe the City is interested in charging the LSD for the equipment. Leyrer inquired about the Allen Street School project play equipment and if the equipment was assumed by the new business. Jemerson stated he has heard the new owner is trying to get the equipment moved and placed somewhere where it could be utilized. The Parks Department could not assist with moving the equipment due to liability as the equipment is probably over 10 years old and we do not have the proper equipment to move it without possible structural damage. Smith asked if the neighborhood associations that utilize 119"' Park have all been made aware of the change. Kibbey said he suspects that Nancy has notified them. Smith wants to make sure all groups are aware of the change BOARD ELECTIONS Kibbey indicated the board elects a chair and a vice-chair. Nominations were taken for chair and vice-chair. Lott moved to nominate Rick Kibbey continuation as President/Chair. Kibbey accepted the nomination. Leyrer asked how we can nominate someone that has not been re- appointed. Kibbey indicated you serve until you are replaced. McWillaims nominated a motion that a ballot be cast for Rick Kibbey to continue as Board President. Motion moved and supported. Motion carried Leyrer nominated Ron Lott for Vice-Chair. Lott accepted and will continue if no one else is interested. McWilliams moved the nomination for the vice-chair is closed and a unanimous ballot be cast for Ron Lott. Motion moved and supported. Motion carried. Pete Bosheff provided an update on the bicycle race on July 16 in conjunction with Common Ground to keep resources in town and work with local bicycle shops. There will be a mini Tour Park during Common Ground. Park Board Minutes—July 12, 2006 Page 5 de France around the Capitol. He also discussed bringing girls fast pitch tournaments to Ranney LEEPER MEMORIAL Kibbey stated someone came in to pick up the paperwork and that is as far as it has gone. Kibbey received a letter from Bill Hubbell from the Review Board bring him up to date. The Council expresses sympathy for 9/11, Leeper field they expect to come to them in July and they commented the Review Board likes to do these in 90 days. NORM YOUNG MEMORIAL Jemerson left a message for John Faust, who is a member of this committee. They have raised $3,500 plus and the checks have been properly deposited, with the intent of matching the $3,500 with park millage money out of the city wide repair and maintenance line item. They have obtained quotes for upgrading the court, but the quotes came in above the $1,500 which means we need formalized quotes through the purchasing department. The committee obtained 3 quotes and we can amortize it and advise these companies to re-submit under the city name. Jemerson is hoping to be through this process in a couple of weeks. POTTER PARK ZOO Kibbey said the task force met today and made a recommendation. What the City is interested in is getting help to run the zoo and the county is interested in regionalization. They continue to reach out to Clinton and Eaton Counties. The committee recommended an option where the zoo is leased and operated by the county, with an advisory board which has city participation and is sufficiently flexible that allows it to morph into a regional authority. The other piece of the motion was the employees and the counties intent to hold them harmless, which means a freeze at their current levels until county wage and benefits catch up. That was a 7 to 1 vote. This will be a recommendation that will go to county committees and county board. To be on the November ballot, the language needs to be complete by August 20. UPDATES Jemerson stated Marshall Park is pretty much done, and there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony soon. Construction has begun on the rivertrail and is moving along well. Design of the rivertrail at Potter Park Zoo to Scott Woods has been finalized; basically we will be entering into the cemetery side on the east side of the creek, one-half down the golf course and switch over to the golf course until Scott Woods. Construction on the perimeter trail at Hunter has been completed and it looks great and has made a tremendous impact on the park. The Otter Fox Exhibit at Potter Park Zoo is going to be fantastic. The animals have been moved in, we have 3 otters and 2 foxes, and we will be getting in 2 more fox pups. Right now they are trying to fix a couple of leaks in the panels and are looking for a late July opening. The 4"' of July parade was a nice parade, despite the John Schneider column and politics in the parade. There were 68 units. Shakespeare in the Park was a great success. Kibbey said there were over 60 people at each show on July 4"', from 14 to 80 years old. Park Board Minutes—July 12, 2006 Page 6 INFORMATION Hunter pool is closed for the summer. The drain work was completed, but the contractor had problems with the fiberglass patch, which did not hold under the pressure of the water and came back up. There was also still residue from the paint coming off in the pool causing cloudiness. The contractor has been called back to finish the work correctly. The grant request is in for the renovations for Hunter Pool. Jemerson said he still has to go back to Council to dedicate the $350,000 because they passed a resolution that would allow us to submit the grant, but they did not pass a resolution dedicating a local match. Jemerson hopes now that $2.2 million has been dedicated from the sale of the triangle property for the southside community center, that we can now get a resolution through Council. Leyrer asked about the animals that were killed at the zoo and does the city have insurance on the animals. Jemerson said we did own those animals, but he is not aware of insurance on the animals as a lot of the animals are on loan to us. Common Ground is being put up in Riverfront Park. Kids Camp information was provided in the board packet. REMARKS BY BOARD MEMBERS Park maintenance- Murray said there are weeds two feet high in the cracks on the tennis courts at Moores Park and trash all over the court. The next day someone was blowing off the parking lot, but the courts are a mess. There is graffiti all over. Jemerson stated the tennis court issue is something that we would be going around and inspecting and putting together a program as for upgrading. He was not aware that they were in that bad of shape and it may need to become a CIP project for next year. It was asked how maintenance was going city wide. Jemerson stated we are mowing the parks and when we hear or see things, we attend to those issues. We only have one landscape architect to inspect parks and playground equipment. Ron Lott appreciated the information on the Kids Camp sites, but noticed that there is nothing in the south east part of the city. The southwest has 8 playgrounds, the northwest has 3 playgrounds and 2 centers and the northeast has 5 playgrounds and 1 center. There has been positive movement from the First Tee of Lansing; this is the group who is putting up the building. There had been a problem with the building permit going through, so Jemerson called the Director of Planning and Neighborhood Development and immediately received a call from Chris Sunderland who explained where the hang up was and now the building permit has been turned over to Nick Sandborn of Clark Construction. Miss Dig has been called, the flags have been placed and Darryl Kessler is ready to go. Don has ordered the ball washing machines. The building should not take long to be put up, but there may be a trailer to operate out of in the meantime. Meeting adjourned at 9:03 p.m. Park Board Minutes —July 12, 2006 Page 7 Respectfully Submitted Kellie Br wn, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved August 9, 2006 SPECIAL MEETING PARK BOARD MINUTES August 2, 2006—Foster Community Center MEMBERS PRESENT: Ron Lott, Ruth Leyrer, Claude Ramey, Melvin McWilliams, Brian Smith, Pat Murray MEMBERS ABSENT: Rick Kibbey, Alfonso Mejorado OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; John Pollard; Darnell Oldham, Sr.; Michael Cole; Randy Hannan, Deputy Chief of Staff Mayor's office CALLED TO ORDER: 7:02 p.m. Mr. Lott indicated the agenda item for this evening is the Mayor and City Council would like to have the Park Board's recommendation on the resolution for Potter Park Zoo. Murray moved to welcome public comment on the proposed resolution before the Board's vote, supported by Smith. Motion carried STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS Lott asked for comments from the public who would like to address the board on the resolution to support of the Ingham County Commissions resolution of intent to enter into a conditional agreement with the City of Lansing. Pollard stated the third Whereas on"April 12, 2006 the Park Board unanimously supported a move to support regionalization of Potter Park Zoo" is incorrect. He indicated this was a motion that was stricken and was clarified to a motion to a move "to support a move to explore a regional arrangement for Potter Park Zoo." The motion that was voted on and carried by a vote of 8-0 was to explore regionalization. Darnell Oldham stated since there is no current language in the park millage as to how the money could be and would be spent and that it is a slap to the park board individuals who give up their time, freely,to serve the city and look out for the interest of our green spaces in the city. Since the Mayor came into office he has brought forward to sell green spaces and give up institutions we have had for years. The parks millage that has been around for 15+ years, the Mayor has decided he wanted to use this money anyway he wanted to. Oldham would not want the board to sign anything without knowing the full scope of what the project is. He stated they do not know how Ingham County will arrange or setup how the zoo is going to be operated. Michael Cole stated he understands the Mayor appoints members to the board, but he thought citizens appointed understood they are to use their knowledge of the city and their expertise and not just be a rubber stamp. He hopes this board will look at the fact that Potter Park Zoo has been here a long time and it has run smooth. He finds it hard to believe the board would support Special Park Board Minutes—August 2, 2006 Page 2 any operation that does not have a business plan and would put money into the hands of the zoological society or whoever it may be and let them do what they want to do and not have a business plan to review from time to time to verify they are doing what they are suppose to be doing in the best interest of maintaining the facilities they oversee. Cole stated he finds it difficult to support businesses with the city's involvement that do not have business plans or management plans on how they are going to manage themselves over the years. Cole stated he feels it is unfair that we live in a tri-county region, connected to Clinton and Eaton counties who also use the zoo and that we rush to put all this on the people of Ingham County. He also has concerns the money from the zoo will be spent by the City of Lansing on something else and the residents will continue to pay the park millage and have the addition of the county millage. Lott stated this board has taken stands in the past that have not been popular with the Mayor or City Council and his priority is to keep the zoo operational and accredited with the budget problems we face. Randy Hannan thanked the individuals for coming to the meeting. He stated this is not about the Mayor, but about the zoo, its future and a secure long term funding mechanism for the zoo. As a result of the city's budget crisis, the zoo's appropriation from the city has declined by over $645,000 over the last two fiscal years. The Ingham County Commissioners have been willing to take on a tremendous amount of responsibility to partner with the city to secure the future of the zoo. The millage could be up to .46 mills which would generate approximately $3.1 million county wide; add this to the operating revenues the zoo takes in(parking fees, pavilion rentals and admissions) the zoo's budget could be as high as $3.6 million a year. That would do phenomenal things for the zoo and turn the zoo into a world class small zoo. It is the number one regional attraction in the City of Lansing and draws 325,000 people from around the region annually, which 70% come from outside the city, yet the people who live in Lansing are the only ones that subsidize the zoo through tax dollars. The County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution of intent. They are asking the City Council to move forward on this issue. The City Council needs to say yes to intent to move forward. All of the details regarding the lease management agreement, employee pensions and a whole graph of issues will be a complicated matter to negotiate and will come later. The Park Board will be an integral part of those deliberations. Hannan expects the lease management agreement because it has to be approved by City Council will have to come through the Park Board and the board will be intricately involved in the continuation of this process. There is some urgency to make the November ballot to get the zoo out of the city budget for next year. The timeline involves the county commission doing their part; the City Council saying lets move forward and the attorneys and staff sitting down and working out the lease management agreement. Without a resolution of intent from the City Council by Monday next week, this process stops and Potter Park Zoo will be part of the city's budget next year and with accreditation coming up this is a great concern. The county and city will have to work out a lease management agreement, the county will have to decide to put a ballot question up for the millage and how much. When the number is figured out, they have until the end of August to get this ready for the ballot. Between August and Special Park Board Minutes—August 2, 2006 Page 3 November the lawyers, staff and everyone else can work out the lease agreement in detail and both the County Board of Commissioners and City Council will look at the agreement and ultimately provide their approval. Jemerson commented on the third Whereas to change it from "support"to "explore". The next to the last Whereas change the Committee of the Whole meeting date to Thursday, July 27, 2006. Jemerson stated the accreditation is not this year, but next year. The accreditation process is very important and hinges primarily on the health and care of the animals of the zoo, and the accreditation commission is very interested in knowing we have a financially stable zoo to handle the needs of the animals. Jemerson said as Director he had been asked the financial stability of the zoo, and if he had answered anything other than strong and stable we would not have an accredited zoo today. The zoo is being under funded and we are operating the zoo with bare minimums that the AZA will accept in terms of zoo keepers and what the USDA will allow for zoo keepers and maintenance staff. In order for our zoo to grow, we must have a stable financial base. Jemerson thinks it is really important for the board to understand this is just an opportunity to enter into talks and negotiations with the county. If this millage is passed at the level of.46 mills it will bring approximately $3.1 million to the zoo that would include capitol improvements. He wanted to point out in Ingham County's resolution; item F states "the agreement would be conditional upon voter approval of a county wide property tax millage for the zoo and continued millage funding for the zoo", this does not mean Lansing Parks millage, but the zoo millage. Jemerson stated the lease agreement would come back to the board for them to vote on. In terms of zoo management, we have looked at different ways to manage the zoo and the majority of zoos in this country are managed by their zoo societies. Jemerson has tried for over a year to get the Potter Park Zoo society to step up and say yes they would manage the zoo. However, they feel there is not enough support and they do not believe they can manage the zoo. The next step is to look at the county. Jemerson stated before Mayor Bernero's administration, he entered into discussions with the zoological society and prior administration and every since he has been director he has not touched the zoo's budget. Drew Gunson commented when looking at this issue as a whole, the numbers and the comments at each forum, why has this become an issue just within the last year. He stated he does not understand why the zoo and everything else that is essentially a part of the city is not run like a business and it comes down to the last minute. He thinks this is a situation where this city has sufficient funds and manpower. If the staffing were looked at and projected properly, that the board could look at the numbers and personnel and this is something that could have been avoided. As a resident of Lansing, he does not want to see the capital city zoo become a regional zoo. Lott stated regionalization of the zoo has been discussed for 10 to 12 years. Lott announced he has to leave, but he is concerned that people are opposed to a millage that we, at this time, do not have any of the details of the millage or how it would affect the operation of the zoo. Lott told his fellow board members if the motion, as amended, is made to accept his vote in favor of at least exploring going to the step. Lott asked McWilliams to run the remainder of the meeting. McWilliams stated he thought it would be appropriate for board members to ask questions. Special Park Board Minutes—August 2, 2006 Page 4 Leyrer commented she is in favor of certain things and against others. There is language to be discussed and this is under a tight time frame. It is too bad this was not started sooner and she is surprised that we are at this point to put it on the ballot in November. Randy Hannan reminded her they are not voting to put it on the ballot, but only to recommend to City Council that they engage in discussion with the county. She hopes the council will listen to the Park Board's opinions. McWilliams stated the letter they received from Mayor Bernero asked the Park Board to review and comment on the attached resolution from Ingham County Board of Commissioners regarding their intent to enter into a conditional agreement with the City of Lansing for the operation of Potter Park Zoo. McWilliams stated the letter certainly seems to be asking for the board to make comments about it and he is not sure if just voting on it really gives comments. Leyrer stated if this is basically figuring out verbiage she is in favor of that. Leyrer stated for the City of Lansing we need to better the zoo and if this is the way we can better the zoo, than we need to move forward. Jemerson clarified this is not a sell and the city will always own the park and the zoo. Potter Park has the zoo within it and the deed, which is for the entire park and zoo, belongs to the city. Mr. Cole commented the board's action tonight whether the board thinks of it as giving permission to discuss this issue; it will be taken by City Council as another hurdle cleared in order for them to vote for this to go back to the county, so the county can get ready for a vote. The county wants permission from the city to support putting this on the ballot and if it passes the money will be approved to be taken out and then they will sit down to talk about everything. Everything should already be talked about and if the zoo is the number one attraction it should be a priority and we should move money and put it in the number one attraction. Randy Hannan clarified the detailed conversation does not come after the voters vote, but before. If the resolution of intent is approved by City Council, both parties will immediately sit down and work out the finances in detail and how much the millage will need to be to make the zoo better and the exact amount. At that point, they will vote to put a ballot proposal up in November. Between now and November there will be a negotiation of a detailed lease agreement that looks at protecting all of the City of Lansing's interest in that property, how it will be maintained, how it will be managed, who carries liability insurance, how the employees get treated, pensions and other questions. McWilliams asked what the drop dead date is for both municipalities to put this ballot language together. Hannan replied it is the end of August. Smith asked if this is approved how much money it will free up. Jemerson stated the City of Lansing;s subsidy to the zoo is $1.4 to $1.6 million. Smith asked if this would be freed up money to assign and prioritize to other projects. The city's subsidy to the zoo in FY05 was $1.7 million from the general fund. Smith stated he has attended a lot of these meetings, and he is willing to support regionalization. Special Park Board Minutes—August 2, 2006 Page 5 Murray stated he has been for regionalization of the zoo for 15 years. He agrees that it is a somewhat scary and tentative thing with the county wanting all the personal property necessary for maintenance of the zoo. He assumes in representing the city's interest this will be negotiable. His vote for this resolution before the board does not necessarily mean he supports what will come before the voters, but he is definitely for regionalization of the zoo. He has had positive experiences with regionalization with the Capital Area District Library. He has had enjoyed the park the county has put in the City of Lansing; they have done an excellent job with the Hawk Island. It does not mean they know how to manage a zoo, but the county has shown an ability to bring something good to the city. Murray has concerns about the wording in the resolution from the county, but he does support negotiation. McWillaims stated he does have concerns about the language in the county's resolution, especially in D and E, where it appears to have words missing and it is not a complete thought. Jemerson provided a copy of the adopted resolution with additional wording to include "to be held harmless". McWilliams stated one of his concerns is that we have approved city parks millage and knowing some of that money is going to the zoo for the next four years. There is still a parks millage the voters of Lansing have approved to support parks operations. If we turn around and also add on top of that a county wide millage without some release to city voters; we are in a double taxation situation where you are paying more because you live in the city. McWilliams stated he is not necessarily on the same page as growing a bigger and better zoo, but more concerned abort strengthening the zoo we have and keeping it up to date. McWilliams is concerned about having a bigger and more expensive zoo as a result of this process and spending all of the money as more money comes in. If we had to take additional from the parks millage for the zoo, there should be some mechanism to give some proportion of relief to the city voters so they are not paying even more to support the zoo. No further audio is available. Respectfully Submitted ✓��'✓�� �'� � Kellie Brown, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved September 13, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES August 9,2006 Potter Park Zoo MEMBERS PRESENT: Ron Lott, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith, Melvin McWilliams, Pat Murray, Ruth Leyrer MEMBERS ABSENT: Rick Kibbey, Alfonso Mejorado OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jernerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; Robert Kochenceorfer; Diane Henry; JoAnn Wicks; Kathy Longwell; Janet Hayduk; Robert Kalisz; Anita Moneypenny; Joe McDonald, Mayor's office; Terrance Smith; Todd Heywood CALLED TO ORDER: 7:04 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: Jemerson added a proposed policy fee change on pavilion rentals and a site plan for Baker Donora. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: Todd Heywood, Artistic Director, Sunsets of Shakespeare has concerns about the fee structure in which they paid $100 a day for the Sunbowl and they had to clean the bathrooms, there were issues with Common Ground, they had to purchase products for the bathrooms and the bathrooms were locked for their audience. These issues do not snake the parks user friendly. Much Ado About Nothing had an attendance of over 1,000 people. He has partnerships with both Eastern and Sexton High Schools to work with their students to work home schooled and elementary age students to train them in Shakespeare language. They have raised and spent about $7,000 for props and building sets. The actors, cast and crew have spent about $15,000 on local economy, food, etc. He paid $1,150 to the Park Department for the use of the park for the first show and they are asking for consideration to waive the $1,000 for the next show due to the numerous issues that interfered with the program. PARK BOARD MINUTES: July 12, 2006 McWilliams moved to approve July 12, 2006 minutes. Supported. Motion carried. SIGN/BANNER POLICY Park Board Minutes—August 9, 2006 Page 2 Jemerson stated this is a policy to specifically address promotion of special events adjacent to Riverfront Park at the northeast corner of Saginaw and Grand. There have been several requests that have been honored as they have mostly been from non-profits promoting citywide events that are free to the general public; however there have been requests made from profit making groups. There is not a written policy for that corner and this is to regulate the activity on the corner. We do not want to use parkland, as it is not allowed on other parkland to post signs and banners, especially for those trying to make a profit. Lott asked is the parcel was park land, Jemerson stated it is. McWilliams asked if it has been reviewed by the city attorney's office. Jemerson indicated it has not. McWilliams stated it should be as there is a certain element of making judgment and it could be argued that this is not a content neutral item. McWilliams moved to postpone action on this item until the city attorney reviews the policy. Seconded by Leyrer, supported. Motion carried. BAKER DONORA LICENSE/SITE Jemerson stated a draft license was sent and he understands there have been some corrections made and it has been put before the city attorney's office. Joe McDonald stated there were typing errors. On the second page, number 6 the wording could be a minimum of a"blank space" instead of saying"programming options". Jemerson stated the language might seem familiar, as it is what was provided for the MSU Boat Club. Leyrer stated this is the first she has heard of or seen language for the Baker Donora Focus Center. She asked how old the existing building was, and would they still have use for the existing building. Jemerson stated this would be an addition to the existing building to expand to accommodate the large number of children. The new building would not be funded by the city or the parks millage. Leyrer asked if the new lease is similar to the first lease since this is on parkland. Jemerson stated it is not totally similar, but the original lease was used as a template. Leyrer asked if there were charges for use of the building that would be paid to the parks department. Jemerson stated there would not be. Leyrer asked what activities take place and is there full usage of the building, when there are other buildings and schools that could be used. Anita Moneypenny, Director of Baker Donora stated Baker Donora is run from state and federal funds, Department of Human Services, City of Lansing, and Inghain County Health Department fund programs also. She also listed a number of programs that take place at Baker Donora. McWilliams asked what the relationship was between Baker Donora and CACS (Capitol Area Community Services). Moneypenny indicated 12 years ago she was hired by CACS to be the coordinator for a community schools grant in which the City of Lansing had received and that was how Baker Donora started. The schools grant led into other things and she is now a contractor for the State of Michigan such as Allen Network Center, and North Network Center. Park Board Minutes—August 9, 2006 Page 3 McWilliams asked if Baker Donora Focus Center is a separate legal entity from CACS, is there any overlap with the board, is there any contractual relationship with CACS and does Baker Donora have its own 5 01 c3 . Moneypenny indicated it is separate, there is no overlap on the board, they do not have any contractual relationship and they currently are receiving their 501c3 from MSU Extension, Randy Bauer is the Executive Director through Ingham County and he receive all her money. McWilliams asked if she has received a grant to help with the building, and how long is the grant for. Moneypenny stated the current grant is good through December 31, 2006 and they are working with Greater Lansing Housing Coalition and MSHDA to ask for an additional two years_ The area is 70%rental and we want a big impact to make them homeowners again. McWilliams inquired how fast track this is in terms of the board having to evaluate it quickly, as he would like to walk around the area. He knows from previous work with 501 c3 that the IRS is going to make them be specific about what they plan to do to get this status. Moneypenny indicated they have been working on this project for two years. McWilliams asked if they board did not act on this tonight and waited to the next board meeting, what kind of impact would there be. Moneypenny did not think it would have much of an impact to wait a month. Leyrer stated she did not want to condone the project, but she is concerned the board is now hearing about this since it is in one of the parks and that she wishes two years ago the board could have had some input before it was asked that the board approve the whole package. Moneypenny stated Mr. Kibbey has known about this for two years. Jemerson stated under number six in terms of listing programming; the facility is going to have a multi purpose room. Jemerson asked if there was a time park board members could come to the sight for a tour. Murray stated that he has spent years running down Baker Street to get to Potter Park and until the center was built it wasn't it park, but more like a abandoned lot. They are not taking away parkland, but the changes they have made have been positive. McWilliams recommended a hold on any action until the next board meeting after there has been time to study the information and take a sight tour. McWilliams also asked Joe McDonald for a corrected copy of the lease before the next meeting. McWilliams moved to postpone action on the Balser Donora lease, seconded by Leyrer. Motion carried Park Board Minutes—August 9, 2006 Page 4 ZOO YES CAMPAIGN Jemerson reported Rick Kibbey has been named chair of the Zoo Yes Campaign. The Ingham County Board of Commissioners has approved ballot language. Jemerson provided a draft of the proposed ballot language with one change that was made to increase up to .46 mills. This is going to be a major campaign. The city has interviewed two public relation firms to run the campaign, but not from city money. The zoological society is paying the retainer fee, and the campaign fee has an estimated cost of$100,000. Todd Heywood stated he was representing Preuss Animal House and they are ready to step up and support this campaign. McWilliams advised the other board members that what he gave them was an e-mail that he had sent to Randy Hannan, Murdock Jemerson, and Randy Williams following the special board meeting. Due to the technical problem with the tape at the last meeting and he did not feel there would be a transcript of the complete meeting. This e-mail was only his comments and he did not speak for the board. PAVILION RENTAL POLICY Jemerson passed out copies of the policy and stated this policy has not been reviewed by the city attorney and will be brought back at a later date. UPDATES Jemerson reported the Otter/Fox exhibit would be formally dedicated once the arch to the entry way is completed and it should be on August 18. The exhibit had a problem where one of the pipes was broken, but it has been found and it is fully re-circulating. Also, in the last week of August we will be putting together the dedication for the Moores River Trail. Invitations from the Allen Neighborhood Organization were handed out to the board members. The Ingham County Zoo Task Force also talked about the financial boost the zoo would get,plus a decrease in parking fees, as all Ingham Parks are the same. They voted for a 5-year millage and a 20-year lease. The concessionaire is no longer interested in continuing at Groesbeck, so the liquor license at Groesbeck will be put into escrow effective August 14. Jemerson addressed Mr Heywood's issue concerning the restrooms by stating we have a work crew that works until 3:30 p.m. and there are people who continue to use the facilities. There is the possibility to charge his group for the crews overtime to have them there to maintain the facility. Mr. Heywood said he would not have a problem with that as long as the $100 a day rental fee could be justified. He stated it is $35 to use a soccer field that has upkeep; versus $100 a day for the circle he uses which has minimal upkeep. Jemerson stated the primary reason of Park Board Minutes—August 9, 2006 Page 5 the fee is for exclusive use. Heywood stated they did not have exclusive use, as the Common Ground people had trailers, signs, and paint in his area. Mr. Heywood feels $100 a day for exclusive use of the park when it's not happening is not acceptable. The women's restroom was in horrendous condition with burnt out lights, residue from overflow and no paper. McWilliams stated he was at Common Ground and he was embarrassed at how bad the restrooms were. Jemerson stated he would bring a staff person in to make sure the restrooms were taken care of for the next show. Leyrer stated she had a call from Charles Hamilton with Bancroft Park and stated he reported several large trees down. There are also trees that have been cut down and are still lying there. Smit Murray reported he ran into Steve Weber from MSU who is dealing with MSU Crew who asked for a list from Lansing Parks as to what we want from them. He commented on the trim job at Fenner and how they have cut right down to the ground in some areas and devastated a few areas. Lott reminded everyone of the invitation to Baker Donora on August 22 or to set up another time for the board to visit the center, but the board needs to be prepared to vote on this. Meeting adjourned at 8:28 p.m. i Respectfully Submitted O_ Kellie BrowA, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved September 13, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES September 13,2006 Baker-Donora Center MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith, Pat Murray, Ruth Leyrer, Melvin McWilliams MEMBERS ABSENT: Ron Lott, Alfonso Mejorado OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; David Vincent, Code Compliance, City of Lansing; Dorothy Boone, Development office, City of Lansing; Lansing Boat Club- Ron Wojack, Nancy Hefper, Betty & John Bublits, John Wojack, Pete Bosheff; Baker Center-Robert Kochendorfer, Bob Zimmerman, Judy Gardi, Charles Goeke, Marcos Olivas, Terrance Smith, Lucy Green, Beth Williams, Pat Morrison, Ruth Lemon, Diane Henry, Joann Wicks, Mary McDaniels, James Ellis, Calvin Baldwin, Janis Hayduk, Kathy Longwell, CALLED TO ORDER: 7:00 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: Budget year 2007-2008 was added under new business. Ramey added air conditioning situation at Gier Community Center and Kibbey added reservations at Frances Park. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: Cindy Ballard from Friends of Greater Lansing Dog Parks invited the park board and other interested parties to Monday night's council meeting for a special presentation of the donation from Soldan's to the dog park. Kibbey stated with the budget cuts, this group has secured their own contributions and found someone to underwrite their project. PARK BOARD MINUTES: Special Park Board MeetinLy on August 2, 2006 McWilliams moved to accept the minutes as submitted. Seconded. Motion carried. August 9, 2006 McWilliams moved to accept the minutes as submitted. Mra-y Smith asked to change Smith to Murray in paragraph 5 on page 5 . Seconded. Motion carried. Park Board Minutes— September 13, 2006 Page 2 BAKER-DONORA FOCUS CENTER Kibbey stated the issue is a license from the applicant to build a new facility on city park land. Jemerson stated the one thing we do have now is a list of activities under item 6 on the second draft which reads "Licensee shall provide and coordinate, at no expense to Licensor, significant community outreach recreational programming for the benefit of Lansing residents with programming options to include:" Anita Moneypenny reviewed some of the categories they offer which include: growing community gardens, canning workshops, cooking classes, providing food to the community, assistance in enrolling mothers and children in the WIC program and food boxes. Parenting classes are offered, young father's initiative for 14 to 18 year olds to help them become better fathers. There is a fathers group for 19 plus year olds to assist them in obtaining custody of their children, visitation and information on their legal right. There is MOMS program, SOAP (supporting our area parents) group, a health program to include a contract with Ingham County Health Department to provide information and resources to enroll them into the Ingham health plan, youth into the Mlchild healthy kids, and a mobile dentist. This is just a small idea of the services offered. Since October 1, 2005 they have assisted 2,374 households. McWilliams asked for clarification that this was households', not individuals. Moneypenny stated this number is households', which can mean multiple units at an address and multiple family members. These households extend outside of the boundaries of Baker Donora, which includes the south end and west side of Lansing. McWilliams asked about the status of the 501(c)3. Moneypenny stated lawyers from Wayne State University are working on this and it should be done in about 30 days. It has been written and the attorney's are reviewing it now. Baker Donora board members will sign this as the applicant. At this time they are a non-profit and not a 501(c)3. Murray asked if the city attorney had reviewed this agreement. Jemerson stated the city attorney has reviewed the agreement. Kibbey pointed out to the board the area of the park where the building would be. The current building would continue to exist as it is. The upstairs would continue as a head start center and the downstairs would be used as storage and offices for head start. There was discussion regarding the amount of parking that will be available. Leyrer observed the plan appeared to be in the flood plan. Clarification was made that the finished floor elevation will be about one foot above the flood plain. Smith asked who within the city would monitor the lease agreement. Jemerson stated he is not ID exactly sure, as Baker Donora monitors the current agreement for the facility. Smith stated he has a concern that as time and people change, that he wouldn't want us to be in another North Lansing Community Association situation. Jemerson asked Smith if he wanted to see language Park Board Minutes— September 13, 2006 Page 3 in the agreement as to which department would monitor it. Kibbey stated it appeared in the agreement that it would be the Parks Department. Jemerson stated they just reviewed the agreement and the Parks and Recreation Department would be responsible for monitoring it. Murray stated he was curious what kind of motion the chair was looking for. Is the chair looking for a motion to approve or a motion to move forward? There is not a final drawing and there is a lot of final information missing. Murray stated he is willing to move forward, but he has a hard time approving something when the final result is unknown. Jemerson stated the board's role is to make recommendations to the Mayor, and sees the board making a motion recommending the conceptual drawings and the whole issue of expanding Baker Donora and the use of the parkland. The board could recommend the Mayor continue on in this regard. Kibbey stated the board could approve the concept of leasing the land and look forward to the Mayor's office in negotiating a lease. Jemerson corrected this is a license, not a lease. Murray moved to support moving forward with this process of the concept and final negotiations. Supported by Ramey. McWilliams stated he does not have a problem with the concept of a license, but he has concerns with language within the document and how it is written. He stated under the effective date of the renewal on page 7 of 9, "A" talks about an automatic renewal for an additional 10 years. McWilliams said his first concern is the automatic renewal, because 10 years is a long time and the board members may not be the same in ten years. His concern is that these are the kind of documents that get lost in the shuffle and by the time someone looks at the automatic renewal it is to late. He does not have a problem with the concept of the license, but the language does not fit well and he has a problem with the word "automatic" that it could become a permanent license/deal. He would feel more comfortable with language that requires an affirmative act on the part of the city to renew it. McWilliams stated he also has concerns within this paragraph that you can only object for the reasons in B, C or D. Not only must someone remember or flag it to object, it must also be done within these narrow reasons. Also, he believes there is an intrinsic inconsistency in language between A, which talks about 60 days to object; B which has a 12-month notice period and C that has a 30 day provision. He would like to see more thought put into how these paragraphs go together. His final concern is on page 8 where it talks about termination as something separate from renew and maybe they should all be in the same paragraph to avoid confusion with the provisions. He also stated that in 37 there should be a clause that would say "a reason for tenmination would be the failure to maintain the requirements of a 501(c)3", as entities can lose these for a host of reasons. Kibbey stated in the parties named in the first paragraph of the license, there is actually a forth time frame under 36 "D" that they can terminate immediately. His guess is the city is interested in a have a broad, rather than a narrow range of reasons why they could terminate the agreement. They have 3 different places where they have unrestricted authority to terminate the agreement if Park Board Minutes— September 13, 2006 Page 4 they need to. This is the kind of issue Murray was anticipating when he said we are approving the concept, and the contract itself will be part of the negotiation. McWilliams stated he approved the concept, but he felt it was important to put these issues out there. Murray stated he would like the motion to reflect those language concerns. Supported by the secondary. Motion carried CHARLES FRATCHER FOUNDATION Jemerson stated Charles Fratcher passed away January 17, 2004 and he left a sizable sum of money, as a trust with National City Bank, to maintain Mount Hope Cemetary where he is interned. This amount is $62,500 per year, forever. Jemerson stated he has met with the trust and submitted a proposal. The first project should be replacement of the fence and a proposal was submitted to the board and they will act on it on the 28"'. Included in that, because we anticipate this is going to be a very costly repair, we put in the proposal we will be seeking matching funds from the park millage. If the decision is not to use park millage, we would be looking at banking the first year's money, as $62,500 has to be used each year starting this year. Jemerson asked if the board was interested in using park millage money. We are looking at doing Aurelius Road first and then along Mt. Hope second and the interior third. The estimated cost is about $130,0004140,000. This is a wonderful opportunity and a wonderful way of using park funding to make an impact quick. The current fence would be pulled and salvaged. We are looking for a match of$62,500 from the park millage. Kibbey asked the board what they thought about doing a loan like the dog park, where the millage fund would loan the money and have it repaid over a couple of years. Leyrer asked how much money was designated to the cemeteries in the past millage. McWilliams asked if Mt. Hope Cemetery is a park. Jemerson stated it is dedicated parkland. Leyrer stated her feeling is that we need millage money for the living-children, restrooms and projects like Foster Park that have been put on hold. Kibbey stated that is why he was hoping this could be done so it could be repaid, since there are so many projects that need to be done. Leyrer also commented although she has family members at Mt. Hope Cemetary, money is needed for the living and children. Leyrer asked if with the trust it has to be matching funds. Jemerson stated it does not. McWilliams is not in favor of advancing money from the parks millage as something would have to be delayed or deferred. Murray stated this is an opportunity to do most of the fence at once with a big piece coming from the foundation. He is more willing to support it as a loan of funds to be repaid, but he is Park Board Minutes— September 13, 2006 Page 5 concerned to find out before he approves it to find out what projects will not be done. He would like administration to recommend what will not be done if this is done. McWilliams asked if this were to be approved by administration, when would the work be done. Jemerson said it would be done as soon as possible, as it could be written up and bids put out. McWilliams asked is there plans in place this budget year to do the fence. Jemerson stated there was not. Concerns were voiced about if this issue was tabled for a month, would we still be in construction season. Marty Riel said yes, but the cost will increase as more frost is in the ground. Most commonly December and January are avoided for construction. Jemerson asked if the board does not want to recommend park millage, would they agree to the concept of the fence being the first step to using this money so we could at least encumber $62,500 toward the fencing project. The board agreed the fence needs to be done and it is a great start. Kibbey stated the board will wait for a more specific staff recommendation. LANSING BOAT CLUB Jemerson stated there was a meeting with the Mayor and members of the Lansing Boat Club, where the Mayor expressed his interest in working with the LBC and re-developing the area of the LBC and the whole shoreline. The LBC people responded that they are not opposed to that, but they did not want to lose their slips. The Mayor promised theirs they would not lose their slips, but things would be run differently and it would be more of a public marina. This was a preliminary first meeting and meetings will continue to work out an agreement to better use the shoreline. There are grant dollars available that will be investigated. FY 2008 BUDGET Smith requested information on the FY08 budget as soon as possible as the November meeting is 8 weeks away and he would like to review and study the projects before the board has to prioritize projects. AIR CONDITIONING AT GIER CENTER Jemerson stated he asked Marty Riel from Property Management to provide the board an update on air conditioning at Letts and Gier. Riel stated Jerry Ambrose, Finance Director/Chief of Staff, is looking at three options to decide which one to go with. He is in agreement the infrastructure in the two buildings is bad and needs to be replaced. There are funds that have to be set aside to do this. Hopefully by next week there will be a decision and a financial plan. It appears they will take out a loan and using the funds of saving to pay back the loan, however the term of the loan is undecided. Jemerson stated the mechanical units that would be installed would include air conditioning and new boilers. Park Board Minutes— September 13, 2006 Page 6 UPDATES Jemerson stated the board had heard about the dog park check earlier in the meeting. The surprise ceremony for Ron Turner will be September 18. The grand opening for Scott Woods has not yet been planned, but will be. The trail has been paved; it will connect up to the river trail from Potter Park to Scott Woods. This section is 3/4 of a mile. There has been movement on the First Tee. If the weather stays dry they are ready to pour the floor, the building has been ordered and should be here in 2 to 3 weeks. Tenrds courts at Quentin and Wainwright are done. Kibbey stated he received a call from a council member about the reservation process at Frances Park. Jemerson stated he talked with him and we had a new policy at the last meeting and it is currently in the attorney's office for review. The policy is that you can't reserve any earlier than 6-months in advance and he wants to reserve one year in advance. When this has been done in the past, people forget or change their mind and the department loses money. In discussion with the city attorney for this fellow, that we would enter into a special agreement with him and allow this with the understanding he pays up front with no refund. Meeting adjourned j Respectfully Submitted I ' Kellie Brown, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved October 11, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES October 11, 2006 Letts Community Center MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith, Pat Murray, Ruth Leyrer, Alfonso Mejorado MEMBERS ABSENT: Ron Lott, excused OTHERS PRESENT: Don Ballard, Interim Deputy Director Lansing Parks and Recreation; John Wojack, Lansing Boat Club; Ron Wojack, Lansing Boat Club; Pete Bosheff; Beverly Foster; Stacia Pitcher; Julia Smith CALLED TO ORDER: 7:00 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: The use of recreational space at schools that are closed was added to new business. The Baker Donora Focus Center was moved to the November meeting due to lack of information from city attorney. An update on Ranney Park repairs and Lansing Boat Club were added to old business. An update on the millage committee was added to new business. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: PARK BOARD MINUTES: September 13, 2006 Minutes were approved with the following changes: A correction was made to the August 9 minutes on page 1 changing Murray to Smith. An addition was made to page four to state: Leyrer stated although she has family members at Mt. Hope cemetery, we need millage money for the living and children. STS MONITORING WELLS AT REASONER PARK Ballard stated there has been a request by STS to put two test-monitoring wells in Reasoner Park. The DEQ is requesting the wells and STS are the consultants that will put them in for the DEQ. Kibbey indicated there are underground storage tanks and it appears Action Auto had gas tanks that had leaked and the park is to the east of this area. Ramey indicated in the park there is a playground, basketball court, tennis courts and green space. Kibbey said the concern is will the location of the wells interfere with the use of the park and suggested a map of the facilities in the park be available and a map of the wells relative to the facilities be available before any action is taken. Park Board Minutes—October 13, 2006 Page 2 Ramey moved to table this issue until additional maps are available. Motion seconded. Motion carried. Kibbey stated the Lansing Garden Club approached him on behalf of the Friends of Frances Park, who are interested in rejuvenating the rose garden. He asked June Knostman to make a presentation that has worked out a deal with MSU to come up with some landscape plans to be done in conjunction with our landscape architect. They will raise the money and put the plants in and work in conjunction with our unions. Kibbey reported the zoo millage committee has gone back and forth between the city and the county about a possible contract with the county to operate Potter Park Zoo and once into it Potter Park as well. The second part was that the county would put a millage on the ballot to pay for this. The millage is .47 mills for the first 3 years; goes down to .41 mills for the next two and the 5-year millage would be renewable. The contract is being negotiated and he understands city council has seen the first draft of it and it should be done before the election. There is a committee to run the campaign and Kibbey is the chair of it. Ramey asked how much time there will be to get the information out to the public. Kibbey said according to polls the public is favorably inclined to this, there were numerous meetings which created a short time to work and this is also an extremely busy election season and trying to get attention on this is difficult. Signs should be in tomorrow and billboards up next week. There is a short time and this will be largely a media campaign. There is a contract with the Rossman Group to handle PR, there are individuals helping with fund raising and the zoo society and docents are helping with the campaign. Murray stated he is being asked if the money is going to the zoo, what will happen to the park millage money. No one has made a commitment what is going to happen to the millage money. Leyrer asked if the question has been posed to the city and to the Mayor what is going to happen to the millage money if this passes. McWilliams stated the board was asked to provide feedback about the proposal and his concern is that it puts Lansing taxpayers who pay real estate taxes in a bind. It does not matter how supportive they are of the zoo that unless there is a firm clear statement from administration about some relief they will get if the millage passes. You can't ask people to vote for something that will raise their taxes even more and he thought more politicians would see this as something that needed to be dealt with up front with the voters. It could be something as simple as a council resolution saying that if the zoo millage passes, "x" amount of dollars or some fraction of the park millage will not be levied against Lansing property tax payers. Leyrer made a motion to seek from administration a commitment to use any savings from passing the zoo to the county for recreational uses and not general fund purposes. i McWilliams stated as an advisory board we are not prepared to put a specific motion or recommendation about dollars on the table to the administration. The board's comments need to reflect our general concern because ultimately it's going to be administration and council's decision as what kind of commitment, if any, they are going to make to the voters in terms of Park Board Minutes— October 13, 2006 Page 3 relief and rearrangement of those dollars. The success or failure of the millage will depend on that and they need to say what they will do. Comment was made that it would be more comfortable voting for a motion asking for a statement about what they will do with the money, instead of the board trying to tell them what to do with the money. Leyrer said her motion is to make a conversation with administration to recommend money saved from the millage be used for recreational uses. Motion carried: 5 yeas 2 nays. McWilliams made a motion that administration and council make a clear statement to the Lansing voters as to what kind of offset they will receive; either on the levy that supports the general fund and/or on the voter approved Lansing parks millage if the county wide millage passes. Seconded by Murray. Kibbey clarified McWilliams wanted to see a refund $250,000 worth of millage money, which is currently going through the zoo and possibly$1.3 million dollars worth of general fund money. McWilliams did not want his motion noted with the word refund, as it may not be a refund. Because this is a voted millage, he is suggesting that during council's budget decision, are they going to reduce the levy when they adopt the budget because the countywide millage has passed; or are they going to say we are going to keep the same levy as last year, we are also keep city parks levy and now also the countywide millage dollars. We have to be sensitive to the fact to those who want to support the zoo; don't want to support it through a large tax increase. Kibbey said this is the opposite of what was just passed, instead of saying that we should use those savings for parks and recreational use, McWilliams is saying we should stop collecting those taxes. McWilliams said he is not telling theirs how they should come out to the voters, but be clear about what they are going to do. McWilliams is saying if the countywide millage passes and something isn't done, the city voters are receiving a tax increase. Kibbey stated there are three possible outcomes: first-they could take the money and do with it what the board would like and put it to use for recreational uses; second-take the money and use it for other than park and recreation uses; third-they could reduce the levy and turn it back and no one gets it. A statement was made that if I vote for the zoo millage, does it relieve the park millage and put park millage money back on the table for programs in the parks. McWilliams stated if the countywide zoo millage is going to pay for the entire zoo operation, then the savings to the existing park millage is there and then there is another savings in the general fund levy. Park Board Minutes— October 13, 2006 Page 4 Kibbey asked McWilliams if it would be an accurate statement to say he would like clarification on the future use of the portion of millage previously used on the zoo. McWilliams said his motion is a request of council and administration to make a clear statement as to what relief, if any, taxpayers will receive if the countywide park millage is successful. Motion carried: 5 yeas, 2 nays. RECREATIONAL USE OF CLOSED SCHOOLS Kibbey stated he first heard of this was there is a dispute in the Planning Department over the possible sale of Holmes Street school. The property is almost a whole city block, with a school on one end. It is an area that does not have any other open area and what came up during the zoning hearing if this is sold the area has lost open space, playground and gym. There have been some places on the south end that have been contracted with churches or schools to use recreational space for summer programs and on-going programs. At this point we would ask staff to take a look at this issue, what are the pros and cons, how big of an issue is this and what can we do. *an inaudible motion was made on this item RANNEY PARK Pete Bosheff stated there have been small tours at Rainey to look at the ball field, buildings and skate park. There is a bunch of graffiti and they have been working hard with Marty Riel, Don, Murdock and council on how to control graffiti. The blaster has done damage to the skating surface and Marty has figured out why. There was about$60,000 worth of repairs and maintenance has been done at Ranney this year. There have been recommendations made to prevent graffiti, remove the graffiti, get it sealed for the winter and do test patches to restore the color. The idea for the graffiti is to strengthen the graffiti clause through council with a natural consequence, which means if you do it you clean it. LANSING BOAT CLUB Ron Wojack reported they had city council down for dinner and pontoon rides and it went well and LBC would like to invite the park board in the near future. AIR CONDITIONING - GIER Don Ballard reported that Jerry Ambrose is looking into funding options and he should have information by the end of October. They are looking at Act 99 funds or what other funds are available, it is on hold right now but an answer should be available the end of October. Ramey stated he wanted an answer by the end of October. Meeting adjourned. PARK BOARD MINUTES November 8,2006 Gier Community Center MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Claude Ramey, Brian Smith, Pat Murray, Ruth Leyrer, Alfonso Mejorado, Ronald Lott, Melvin McWilliams MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director, Parks and Recreation; Georgiana Viele and June Knostman, Garden Club; Paul Dykema, Forestry/Grounds Manager, Parks and Recreation; Paul Pratt, Ingham County Drain office; Maureen Turner, Fitzgerald Henne; Byron Stiemsma, STS Consultants; Chris Gibson, Cecil & Patricia Ricks, Dayle Benjamin, Fred Jimenez, Paul Caruso, Tonya & Rob Fritchman,Norma Knapp, Deb Simonson, Kelly Walker, Carl Hedin-Edmore Park; John Wojack, Ron Wojack-Lansing Boat Club; Kenetha Gibson, Walnut Org; Mary Beth Vanhorn, Adam Pitcher-Holmes Street School; Ron Theisen, Kenneth Hall, Judith Filice-Frances Park CALLED TO ORDER: 7:08 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: Jemerson stated he wanted to go over Park Board meeting rules to assist the park board secretary. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: Adam Pitcher from Holmes Street School provided an update that they have formed their own neighborhood association, which will be official tomorrow. The group is known as the Holmes Street School Community. Smith asked if they have approached the school board. Mr. Pitcher said he had approached them and the property was sold and the school district did not ask the intentions of the buyer. Kibbey stated for those that were not at the last meeting, this group came to the last meeting because this school area is essential their park and is on the master plan as open space. This prompted a larger policy discussion about the use of all the schools that are closing and that function as open space. Dayle Benjamin with the Edmore Park Neighborhood Association stated they would like to see Edmore upgraded to compare with other parks and have playground equipment placed in the park. Kelly Walker, also part of the Edmore Neighborhood, stated when she heard the park would not receive playground equipment for 10 to 14 years, that there are several children in the area that would not have playground equipment to play on during their younger years. Lansing Park Board Minutes—November 8, 2006 Page 2 Kibbey stated that for any group that attends the meeting there are two things that will really help your case are if the problem has a face and if you come in numbers it shows the people involved. Also, the conversation always goes better when you bring something to the table, whether it is labor, money, and participation in the process. Deb Simonson stated since she moved into the neighborhood in 2000, the neighbors have helped clean up the area and help rid the neighborhood of drugs. Leyrer asked if this was the first time this group has brought this to the board. Simonson stated no and that they had received swing sets in the past. PARK BOARD MINUTES: October 11, 2006 STS MONITORING WELL AT REASONER PARK Byron Stiemsma, from STS Consultants, stated they are working for the State of Michigan regarding the former Action Auto site #23 which is southwest of Reasoner Park. This site had been an old gas station with underground storage tanks which caused ground contamination under the park. They would like to install two wells at Reasoner Park to monitor the ground water. The wells are below the surface of the grass and are barely visible. They may be mowed over and will be out of the way of playground activity. The wells will be there for a number of years, while the water is collected quarterly. Murray asked Jemerson if someone from the Parks Department had been out to the park. Jemerson stated he met Bryon there and took pictures; one is next to the old building and temlis courts and the second is now where near the playground. Jemerson stated he saw the wells currently at the Action Auto site and the wells are at grade level and are not an obstruction. Jemerson stated the plans meet with his approval. Murray moved to approve the installation two (2) monitoring wells at Reasoner Park, seconded by Ramey. Motion Carried. 8 yeas 0 nays GROESBECK PARK DRAIN EASEMENT Pat Lindemann, Ingham County Drain Commissioner, stated this is a drain project that started back in the 1980's and has had a long, varied history with court action. The petition originated with a problem with the roads and Lansing Township. Lindemann provided a visual snap of the area involved. The area of the watershed/drainage district of the northern part of Groesbeck Golf Course and Lansing Township has never had a dedicated public outlet for storin water. What has existed in the past is a pathway that runs through private property, down into BWL property, into the northern part of Groesbeck Golf Course, into another pond on Bancroft Park, down the road and into a sand pit which exists at Bancroft Park. The water would then recharge into the ground Lansing Park Board Minutes—November 8, 2006 Page 3 and become part of the problem associated with the ground water contamination with the BWL property, which is under a DEQ mandate to try and fix the ground water problem. There are several things that need to happen to solve this issue. The first step was a petition to build a 3-foot storm water drain that ran to Old Town. This was a $3,000,000 project that was completed a few years ago and is in the ground. The second petition is to build a collection system to collect the water and get it into the 3-foot pipe. Part of the problem associated with collecting the water and storing it is the mandate. The mandate requires a certain amount of water to be held back and stored, because this area is built up there is no place to store. This would require purchasing from the BWL the land on the east side of their landfill, which would be built into holding ponds and an eco system to store enough water to reach a 100-year storm event. Area offices would still need to put in retention/detention on their land. A deal has been made with the BWL for an easement and to purchase the land where the ponds will be built. Because the wetland exists on the north side of the golf course, it is required by the State to protect the wetland area. There are some issues regarding the wetland located in Bancroft that sits between two elevations, which has to have water fed to it must be maintained as it exists today. In the sand pit, there is a serious ground water issue that requires stopping the water from going into the ground water and the spread of pollution. The Good Year site is a contaminated site that has plume 200-feet deep of pollution that runs about 2 '/2 miles to the southwest as far as Eastern High School with several wells which uses the 3-foot pipe to discharge clean water after the pollution has been removed. Lindemann stated he needs a signed easement from the Mayor and a resolution from City Council giving him easements and a right to purchase the land from the BWL. From the Park Board he needs a resolution agreeing to give Ingham County an access easement through Bancroft Park and an easement over the wetland at the golf course. In return, Ingham County will re-build the bridge on the golf course and pave the path through Bancroft Park for county access, which will over all improve the park. Environmentally, this will solve flooding problems, sanitary sewer problems, provide a positive outlet for storm water, offer retention/detention values that meet Base 2 and Federal Clean Water Act requirements, and provide a passive recreational opportunity along with natural habitat. There will be over a hundred different wild flowers that will be planted in Bancroft and around the wetland on the golf course. The second petition to build the collection system was challenged by Granger, the cement company and E.T. MacKenzie who took the county to the Supreme Court. The court action tools almost 10 years, but the Supreme Court sided with the county. This needs to be under construction by January or February to avoid loosing another year. This needs to be approved by City Council by the second week in December and signed by the Mayor before December 22 to be in the bond market in the beginning of January. There is language in front of the City Attorney for the easement documents, an agreement with the Parks and Public Service Departments, the Mayor has said he will not hold it up and Council wants to move on this as fast as possible. Jemerson added that this is part of the Act285 process. Jemerson stated he and Chad Gamble, Public Service Director have met with the Friends of Bancroft Park and north town individuals. Lansing Park Board Minutes —November 8, 2006 Page 4 They have seen the improvements and are pleased, but they are waiting for Fitzgerald and Henne to come up with a detailed drawing of the improvements. Jemerson also said the pathway between the two bodies of water and the existing pathway at Bancroft Park will be improved also. McWilliams disclosed that his firm does do some work with the drain commissioner. Leyrer asked if the proposed path would be in the same place as the existing path. It was confirmed it would be, but the new path would be improved. Leyrer asked if the pollution had gone past Eastern High School or if it is still at that spot. Lindemann stated the past 5 to 7 years of back flushing that Good Year has done, has retarded the migration of the water and it has started to recede. Murray inquired about the footpath to the north of where it ended and if it was going to be paved and used for maintenance vehicles. Kibbey asked for clarification on the type of vehicles that will use these pathways. Lindemam7 indicated there will be a sub-base to hold heavy equipment like a backhoe. Heavy equipment may need to use it from time to time and the path is designed to hold the equipment. The pathway is 10-feet wide. Judy Filice asked if the geological formation of the--ester— esker was going to be cut into. ID Lindemann indicated there are two places where it may be touched; one is in the pipe that goes underneath, they may have to dig down to put a pipe, but he believes it can be done with boring, the other place is on the BWL property as it is hard to take the contamination out without going down into the ester material. In terms of the ester that exists on Bancroft Park and the golf course it should not need to be touched. Murray moved to recommend granting an easement as presented, seconded by Lott. Motion carried. 8 yeas, 0 nays FRIENDS OF FRANCES PARK June Knostman stated the Lansing Garden Club has been in existence for 75 years. She wanted to thank Mr. Jemerson and Mr. Dykema for their patience that has been shown to the Garden Club over the past 5-years. The Club has never been able to settle on one project with the Parks and for the City. Knostman provided the board members with a list of major contributions the Garden Club has made to the City and described some of the projects, where they are located and how they work. The Garden Club would like to help with Frances Park and is approaching the Board with a proposal from MSU to make Frances a student project and are seeking the boards and directors ideas by January 1, 2007. MSU will do this at no charge and the Garden Club will pay for the signature of the architect. The Garden Club asked if Dick Schaefer, from Lansing Parks and Recreation, could serve as the architect and the Garden Club would look forward to working with him. Ron Theisen thanked Murdock Jemerson and Paul Dykema for assisting them in starting Friends of Frances. Lansing Park Board Minutes—November 8, 2006 Page 5 Kibbey clarified the Garden Club is working with the neighborhood organization and city staff to develop a plan for Frances Park. Knostman stated the job of doing the plan has already been accepted by MSU and the Garden Club has accepted that. The Friends of Frances Park are asking for the boards' recognition of their group as a formed organization. They have already applied for the required non-profit status, by-laws and rules have been established for the organization and they ask the board to consider them as a formation to represent individuals who are interested in enhancing Frances Park. Their first goal is to create master plan. The master plan for the park will be devised using park staff, the inspiration of MSU landscape and architect students and the general public of Lansing. The Friends would like to ask the city attorney or people within the city to look at the by-laws and verify they are written correctly. They would also like some of the board members to join them in discussions in working with the students from MSU. Jemerson stated Mr. Kibbey had asked him about formal recognition of friends groups. Jemerson said there is not a process for this, but he would have an administrative assistant gather this information, if it is available in our files, of at least a listing of by-laws and some kind of formal action from the park board. Kibbey indicated this group has brought something to the table; the group is bringing organizational capacity, resources and personnel. This group serves as a model of how a friends group should approach the board. Kibbey stated, with the board's approval, he would be willing to work with the group to help develop a process of what the board would need and what a friends group would need for this process. Kibbey stated with the board's permission he would engage this group for a couple of months and will come back with a process. Pete Bosheff indicated he has been involved in several friends groups around town and there should not be a large barrier to put a group together and he recommends streamlining the by- laws. Kibbey stated when it is an all volunteer group it will be easy, however when money is involved there will have to be accountability. Smith asked if there is a set meeting schedule for the Friends of Frances. It was indicated the group meets the second Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. at June Knostman. Lott commented when he was an administrator at Eastern he worked with the MSU landscape students on the courtyard and it was a very positive experience both for the community involved and the students. TREE TRIMMING/BWL POWERLINES Paul Dykema provided information and maps on where the BWL has worked and where they will be working. In 2001 we worked with BWL tree people to devise a way to trim trees and have them look reasonable and still have the utility maintainable, a copy of the agreement was provided. It took into account the type of tree, how well it was growing, what kind of utility line Lansing Park Board Minutes—November 8, 2006 Page 6 was near it, which assisted in determining on how much to prune it. In the past three years parks has been talking with BWL about excess pruning and that it is not in accordance of what has been discussed. At Fenner, they talked with the naturalist about pruning around the service line into the building and what they actually did was clear cut 8-9 feet above to the ground. They drove over the prairie lands, left the brush, and came at odd hours. Dykema stated he called the utility forester, Pete Baker, showed him Fenner and other problems that we have. Mr. Baker indicated they get 10-feet around powerlines; which took Mr. Dykema to Mr. Baker's boss to explain the problems and he indicated he would look into. Dykema stated that if they would have listened over the last three years,North Fairview would not have happened. Dykema provided pictures of extensive and unprofessional cuts in the trees along North Fairview. Dykema stated he has asked that they prune according to how the tree is growing, what type of tree it is, what type of powerline it is and what they are doing is cutting a 10-foot box irregardless of what is there. McWilliams asked if Dykema had talked to the BWL Board of Commissioners. Dykema stated he has not. Jemerson commented the BWL has received numerous complaints from residents on Fairview and the complaints have made it to the Mayor's office and the new interim director. Jemerson and Dykema, along with Dominic attended a meeting, and at this point they are seeking out the Parks assistance and Paul will have a crew meet with their crews in the field and instruct them on how to trim trees. As a result of this on Fairview Paul marked three trees that have to come down. One of the trees has to come down for natural reasons, though it was badly pruned and the other two trees have to come down because they were pruned so poorly there is not enough left of the tree and they will die. There was concern that there was one city agency pruning the trees and another city agency chopping down the mess and removing the problem. They have requested that we do not cut down the trees, until a period of time after they have made reparations, by planting trees on North Fairview Jemerson asked for the community that the BWL come in and plant some trees, and this will probably be done at Fenner too. Murray asked if Mr. Kibbey was part of the Citizen's Advisory Committee regarding this issue. Kibbey stated he was asked to serve, but does not know as to what capacity. Murray stated he asked for this item to be placed on the agenda because he spends a lot of time at Fenner walking and running. He commented they did not cut a 10-box around the wires, but clear cut down to the ground not only along Aurelius but through the middle of the park. Jemerson stated Paul submitted a memo to the city attorney asking what authority we have and the BWL has when it comes to trimming city municipal trees. Kibbey stated he doesn't want to see the BWL clear cut through a protected habitat, but he wants to see a restoration of the landscape. Also, during the Master Plan process one of the top two issues on the agenda was tree trimming. He is also astonished that we have highly capable tree trimming capacity in the city and the BWL is going to West DeMoines, Iowa to hire someone to come in and trim the trees. Leyrer asked how long the contract with Wright Tree Service would continue. Dykema stated he did not know how many years were left on the contract. Leyrer also asked why the city was not Lansing Park Board Minutes—November 8, 2006 Page 7 approached to do the tree trimming. Leyrer asked what we need to do and do we need have people at the Citizen's Advisory Committee. Murray stated this is a committee and not the BWL, but will report to the BWL. He would like to have a letter written from the Park Board to the BWL outlining the problems and protesting the future continuance of such contract with a company that is so destructive. Murray made a motion to have the Park Board write a letter to BWL with a copy to the Mayor and City Council, seconded by Leyrer. Motion carried. 8 yeas, 0 nays McWilliams asked Mr. Dykema if the actual contract has been seen and the specifications that Wright has been given. Dykema stated he has not. McWilliams commented there should be standards in the contract they need to comply with. Kibbey stated last year after the budget process, he recalls the board felt they were rushed and tD were not sure of what was in and what was out and it made a difficult process even more difficult. He noted that before the Board was a list of staff recommendations for CIP work. Jemerson stated there were two lists, a staff list and a park board list that was presented to the Mayor. What actually happened was the city zapped a number of the projects because of the budget situation and the majority of the park millage was put into operations, this list was also provided as to what was actually funded in terms of capitol projects and uses. The list indicates what capitol projects were received and under the staff recommended projects, you can see the dollar amounts on the Park Board recommended list that were left out. Basically out of the $2,700,000, $743,772 went into what he would call the traditional capitol improvement projects and the remainder of the monies went into operation issues, so the park millage dollars were used. As we begin to think about projects, he believes the board should start with those that were cut last time in building a list now. The city is beginning the budget process earlier and has not gotten to capitol improvements projects yet, so this is ahead of the game. Jemerson indicated he has not been asked for a list yet, so the task before the board is to take a look at the list of projects and rethink those that were not done. He asked the board to consider some special meetings to work on a list. Kibbey indicated his concern is that several people on the board sacrificed projects that were of particular interest to them and that he does not believe the board needs to do the "dot" game. He would like to make sure that was removed from the list last year, is back on the list this year. The zoo millage passed which puts $1.3 million in the general fund that does not go to zoo purposes. The board took a position, he believed a unanimous one, that the board would like that money used for recreational purposes. McWilliams clarified that there were 2 no votes on the decision. He thinks the no votes were more a function on how it was tied to the other vote and he recommends revisiting it. Lott stated we need to emphasis often and early that if we are going to try a park millage in 2010 we are going to have to change the material, literature or campaign information in terms of what Lansing Park Board Minutes—November 8, 2006 Page 8 it is used for. He thinks the board has always felt it was mostly for capitol improvements and not for the general operations. He thinks the board needs to keep reminding people that are elected and who have to make the decisions in 2009-2010 when the planning the next millage we don't have people believing they were lied to on what the millage is used for. Jemerson asked the board members to review and provide him with their thoughts so he could put together a draft list. A special board meeting will be held at Foster Community Center on Thursday, November 30 at 6:30 p.m. Kibbey suggested a place to start the discussion is with what the board had last year. (No further audio was available) Respectfully Submitted Kellie Brpwn, Interim Park Board Sec er tary Approved December 13, 2006 SPECIAL PARK BOARD MINUTES November 30, 2006 Foster Community Center MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Ron Lott, Ruth Leyrer, Alfonso Mejorado, Patrick Murray, Brian Smith MEMBERS ABSENT: Claude Ramey, Melvin McWilliams OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director, Parks and Recreation; Lansing Boat Club representatives; Pete Bosheff CALLED TO ORDER: 7:00 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: LANSING BOAT CLUB The Lansing Boat Club is concerned with Mayor Bernero's visionary plans for the riverfront development, which includes the land the LBC is currently on. Mr. Theroux read a letter from LBC to be submitted to the Park Board as follows: Dear Mr. Jemerson: As Commodore of the Lansing Boat Club and representing the executive board and the general membership, I would like to express our appreciation to you for inviting us to meet with Mayor Bernero at his office and listen to the Mayor's visionary plans for riverfront development. As the Mayor stated in the meeting his vision for development includes the land and riverfront currently occupied by the Lansing Boat Club. It was our understanding that the meeting was informational only and that no action plans were to be put in motion without follow up meetings with the Lansing Boat Club and it's membership. Apparently during the October Park Board Meeting a statement was made concerning the Lansing Boat Club and their support for the Mayor's plan for development, which includes the location we currently occupy. 1 would respectfully like to clarify the Lansing Boat Club's position to avoid any misunderstanding in the future on this subject. Neither the Lansing Boat Club, Executive Board nor the general membership have agreed to any development plans whatsoever concerning the land it currently occupies. It is our understanding that we would be included in any further discussions or action plans concerning the riverfront development project. As of this date, we have not been contacted by your office for any further discussions. If there are meetings taking place or action plans being considered, we would appreciate being included in those discussions. Special Park Board Minutes—November 30, 2006 Page 2 It is our intent to work with the Parks Board on a master plan for the Lansing Boat Club just as other friends groups have. We believe we have a number of ideas that can enhance this area and would be an asset to the City of Lansing. We look forward to working with you, your staff and the Parks Board on this project. If you have any questions or need to contact the Lansing Boat Club please contact me or Ron Wojack. Sincerely, Chuck Theroux Commodore Lansing Boat Club DeRoe requested this letter be submitted to the board minutes and he provided LBC membership and meeting information. Kibbey feels he speaks for the board when he says this is how the board likes to work with friends groups;that it is an open process and he appreciates the LCB offer to have board members the LCB meetings. He also noted the LCB has requested Brian as the official member to attend meetings. Mr. Smith accepted this appointment. Pete Bosheff commented that many are not aware of the Mayor's grand vision task force and he chairs one of the five committees, which is Users, Activities and Opportunities. They are well under way and there have been discussions with members already. Bosheff reported Ranney Park had a master plan created in 1996 and a more official plan was created in 1999. In the last 3-4 years they have been advocating for a re-do of the softball field and that process has involved many meetings. Our goal is to try and take $150,000 off the CIP, as there is no question that they can fund raise for the money. They are going to submit a frame work how the public can do this. There is also a contingency of people surrounding softball and baseball are incredible supportive of bringing ball back to Lansing. He believes this is an awesome project that can serve as a prototype for other projects and we cannot depend on tax money for 100% of CIP, so the mechanism is something they want to submit for framework. The target is for high school girl's softball so they can earn scholarships to college. CAPITOL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS FY08 Kibbey suggested he thought projects that have constituencies,they are solid, there is design behind them, and they have long-term viability begin the list. Ranney at$150,000; Moores Park at $50,000; tree stuff at $150,000; Gier for $200,000; neighborhood playgrounds for $160,000 plus $70,000 ($230,000); Frances $30,000; Fratcher$65,000; Scott phase 1 $250,000 HOLD OFF; Fenner$15,000; Foster$200,000; St. Joe $250,000 Special Park Board Minutes—November 30, 2006 Page 3 There were concerns regarding how Ranney went from $80,000 last year to $150,000 this year. Jemerson stated he thought the $80,000 was just the press box and the $150,000 is everything to include the dug outs (two wings attached to the press box). Kibbey reiterated the board's recommendations for the CIP list to include: $150,000 Ranney Tower; $50,000 Moores Park; $150,000 labor to build data base/forestry inventory software; Gier Center $200,000; neighborhood playgrounds (7) $230,000; Frances $30,000; Fratcher$65,000 matching funds; Fenner deck$30,000-this item went down from $35,000 last year to $15,000 this year; Foster$200,000; St. Joe $250,000; Lott stated at the next meeting he would like to add a few more things to not use more than 10 or 15 percent of the available money for maintenance. It was asked if there were plans for bleachers at Marshall and what is up with golf. Jemerson stated Marshall is next on the list and Kibbey stated at this point it is not a total decision of the board, but until there is clarity on city policy on what they want to do where they do not want to put money into them. CHARLES FRATCHER FOUNDATION Jemerson indicated this was on the agenda before and the reason it did not move was due to the lack of a spot to draw the funds from. He went through our projects and the only project that has sufficient dollars in is Davis Park for the third diamond. There is $180,000 dollars there and Jemerson suggested taking $65,000 from this project to match. If the board feels that is a higher priority it could be added to the list to replenish the dollars. Leyrer asked if this is done what will happen to the old fence. Jemerson stated we hope that there is value in the wrought iron and we hope to see some dollars come from the salvage of the old wrought iron. The fence could be salvaged or considered historic and it is being left up to Bob Ford to get the best dollar for it. Kibbey asked Jemerson what he was asking for. Jemerson stated he is asking to use $65,000 of park millage money that has been allocated to Davis Park. The board moved to allow funds from Davis Park in the amount of$65,000 for the Fratcher Foundation matching fund request by a unanimous vote of 6 yeas 0 nays. BAKER DONORA FOCUS CENTER Moved to the December meeting (No further audio was available) Respectfully Submitted Kellie Bro n, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved December 13, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES December 13, 2006 Foster Community Center MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Kibbey, Brian Smith, Pat Murray, Ruth Leyrer, Ronald Lott, Melvin McWilliams MEMBERS ABSENT: Claude Ramey, Alfonzo Mejorado OTHERS PRESENT: Murdock Jemerson, Director, Parks and Recreation CALLED TO ORDER: 7:00 p.m. ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA: Smith requested an update regarding the floor hockey situation at Gier. STATEMENTS OF CITIZENS: None PARK BOARD MINUTES: November 8,2006 and November 30, 2006 (Special Meeting) Tabled to the end of the meeting UPDATES Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant Jemerson stated he provided the board with a copy of the letter received from Becky Humphries, Department Director, notifying receipt of the $500,000 grant. It is doubtful that this grant will be rejected by the legislature. MRPA Service Community Awards Jemerson indicated there are two nominees that were accepted by the MRPA; the Lansing DeWitt Sunrise Rotary for Aviation Camp. This is a program in conjunction with LCC where youth are taught about aviation and have a chance to fly a real plane. Also, the Hal and Jean Glassen Memorial Foundation; Neil McLean is the President and represents them on behalf of the $500,000 donation for the Otter/Fox Exhibit. Gier Floor Hockey Jemerson stated he thought a response should be put together regarding the editorial. There were over 30 teams, 300 youth participants and over 2,000 people who were at Gier Center for the floor hockey tournament. Two children were injured, taken to the hospital and released. Their injuries were not serious; one had a face mask/helmet hit him in the throat and windpipe and the other child had a stick to the chest and could not catch their breath. Park Board Minutes—December 13, 2006 Page 2 It was asked about the age of the officials and the fact they are not much older than the players who are 14 years old and how much respect would be given to these young officials. Jemerson stated there will be older officials from now on. It was asked if there was a required release signed by the parent/player. Jemerson was sure that there would be some kind of release signed. First Tee—Sycamore Kibbey stated he noticed the trusses are up but the plywood is not on yet. Jemerson stated they are there working on it now and have intentions of having it closed in soon. PARK BOARD MINUTES: November 8, 2006 Kibbey corrected page 4, paragraph 6 the word "ester" to "esker" Murray moved to approve minutes with the indicated correction, seconded by Leyrer. Motion carried. 6 yeas 0 nays November 30, 2006 (Special Meeting) A request was made to add the actual budget page for fiscal year 2008 Capital Improvement Projects. Kibbey considered them attached. McWilliams asked about the changes in the Davis Park project. Jemerson clarified it was to do a third ball diamond; however, this project will be reduced by $65,000 to match the Fratcher Foundation funds. It is up to the board if they want to put that back the next time around. If this project is to move forward, it can be bid out and if it is more than the balance that is left in this project we will have to come back to the project and ask for more money. Leyrer moved to approve the minutes with the budget information attached. Seconded by Smith. Motion carried. 6 yeas 0 nays BAKER DONORA BUILDING LEASE McWilliams stated there appeared to be changes made, the automatic renewal had been removed, however they don't expressly say approval of the City Council. He thinks it is implicit, because on the last page it states it is terminated if it is not extended. He thinks it could be made clearer if the board wishes. McWilliams also indicated on paragraph 35 the lettering is not in order. Leyrer asked about the automatic renewal. McWilliams stated it has been changed to "may be renewed" instead of"shall be renewed". McWilliams also believes somebody will have to grant approval. He also noted on page 8 under termination it states "This License will terminate Park Board Minutes —December 13, 2006 Page 3 without action of the parties upon the happening of one or more of the following: The expiration of the License term without an automatic renewal or written extension of License". McWilliams indicated in paragraph 35, letter (a) it asks for 60-days notice of desire to renew, but in (b)there is 6-months of different kind of provision and in (c) a 30 day provision. He thinks it can be confusing, but he doesn't think it's fatal to the document. Jemerson stated they are all tied to a specific event and the event dictates the time frame. If the City wants it back as a public park, we will give them 6-months notice; the written renewal is 60-days; if it is a public health and safety problem it is 30-days. Leyrer asked hypothetically that if in 10 years nothing is going on does it go back to the City. She also clarified there is no revenue to the park, but it is good for the community. Murray moved to accept the lease with the correction of letter order on item 35, page 7. Supported by McWilliams Kibbey disclosed he is on their board, there is no material gain and asked for the board to allow him to vote. Motion carried. 6 yeas 0 nays CAPITOL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS FY08 A summary from the last meeting was provided. Kibbey said he heard some discussion at the end of the last meeting and at the beginning of this meeting. The distribution of the cases were a little light on the south end. The Fratcher Grant is Ward 2, Ranney Tower, although it is Ward 1, is city wide, Gier gym is Ward 1, Forestry is all four wards, Moores Park is Ward 4, Frances Garden is Ward 4, playground renovations are not known where they all are: Wainwright is the only one in Ward 3, Foster is Ward 1; St. Joe is Ward 4, Ormond is Ward 1, Bassett is Ward 4, Graves is Ward 2, Hull Court is Ward 4, Lewton is Ward 3 and Ingham is Ward 3, Barb Dean tot lot is Ward 1 and Kingsley is Ward 4. Kibbey asked if there would be a request for additional funds for the community center in addition to what they received. Jemerson did not know, but assumes it might come out of the $1.4 million from the zoo. McWilliams asked if there was a time table for the southside community center. Jemerson indicated there is,he thought it was in January. Kibbey indicated he has sat in on the committee and they are in negotiations with the school district on whether or not if the school district will let go of part of Harry Hill. If they do not, they are looking at building a building at Davis Park. Kibbey said in the proposal he has seen from the architect he did not see any money for equipment. McWilliams asked if the only school building they are talking about is Harry Hill. Kibbey said yes, because it is a cheaper way to buy a gym and pool. It was also asked if there were other projects in Ward 3 where money could be spent. Leyrer commented there may be projects that do not need a total renewal, like the $200,000 for the Foster restroom project. All Foster needs is a restroom, which may not need the whole amount allotted and the remaining could be spread Park Board Minutes—December 13, 2006 Page 4 out to other wards. Jemerson stated that what happens when renovations are made to facilities that are old and non-compliant that in order to make them compliant walls need to be busted out, narrow stalls need to be redone to accommodate wheel chairs and this is what bumps the cost up. It was asked if making a couple of bathrooms handicap accessible would really cost $200,000. Jemerson stated he would have to review the plans, because he thought it was more than just the bathrooms. Leyrer stated they are not looking for a big master plan, but a bathroom and drinking fountain. Kibbey clarified they are not talking about a stall, but if there is a room with a door way wide enough and an accessible stool. It does not necessarily need to be two facilities, but a unisex bathroom. Jemerson said not to knock this down yet, but look at the plan that was presented and go from there; maybe instead to two bathrooms,just one and get a new estimate. There are other elements of the project that need to be looked at and a decision made. The roof may have been part of this project, and not only access to the restrooms from inside, but also from the outside. Leyrer asked about St. Joe restroom and what the total was. Jemerson said St. Joe has a bad roof, the ceiling is bad, the walls need to be torn out and made handicap accessible and these are only estimates. It was asked if specifics could be brought back to the board to look at again. McWilliams inquired about Davis Park and the parking that was removed from the process last year. Jemerson said on the Wise Road side there was a tennis court that was in bad repair, so the fencing was taken down to accommodate overflow parking. McWilliams said it was not on the list provided. Lott indicated it was on the longer list. Kibbey asked if the board wanted Jemerson to come back with thoughts on second and third ward projects. Jemerson said we just received the grant for Hunter Park, but another project has not been decided on and he would like have a FY08 project to apply for next year. Kibbey said the major projects that come to mind are the equipment for the southside community center and in terms of the south leg of the trail; he asked if we are permanently stymied by the position of the electrical company relative to us going under their lines to expand the rivertrail further south. Jemerson said the current thinking on that is the trail is funded to Jolly and Aurelius,the MDOT grant has not been announced, but a glorified 10 foot wide sidewalk will be installed along Aurelius the short distance to Jolly and the Hope Soccer Complex. Kibbey asked about the funding for the trail from Potter Park Zoo to next to the cemetery to make the link. Jemerson said there are commitment letters from MDOT to fund from Potter Park to Scott Woods for $1,000,000 from MDOT. There is funding from the DNR as well as Ingham County for that section. We are working on the design now and hope to start building in the spring and working into FY08 and Park Millage money is matching the DNR and MDOT grant. The MDOT money has yet to be announced and they will announce it as soon as we send to MDOT our grade analysis where this trail will lie. It has to be ok'd by DEQ before MDOT will say ok to it. There were a couple of problems to work out on the trail at Mt. Hope where it crosses the street and goes along the cemetery where a couple of grave sights were Park Board Minutes—December 13, 2006 Page 5 close to the edge. It had to be looked at how to get the crane into the space and it has been worked out. We also had to get an answer to the question if we could use the FOC deadbeat dads to build the boardwalk and reduce the cost. There are a lot of issues to figure out with the union and clear. There will be a crosswalk light with a button in front of the cemetery office. Jemerson asked if the board had other ideas for a natural based project. Leyrer asked if thet First Tee was funded enough. Jemerson said the problem with First Tee funding relates to operational cost. The city has completed their portion on this project in respect to putting the drive in, reshaping the golf course,parking lot and maintenance shed and the rest is the First Tee. Kibbey said the first project that jumps to his mind is the unfunding of the ash trees on the south end and it has not been figured out how to get them down and replaced. Board members asked for the criteria for the Trust Fund Grant. Jemerson stated it is natural resource recreation, high benefit toward people recreation. They also do acquisition of property. Kibbey had an idea to expand Fenner. There is a seller on Forest Road who is an environmentalist who would hate to see his property go to building houses. Leyrer stated as a kid she loved horses and living in the city could not have one, could 4-H have something like that. Jemerson said an ordinance would need to be changed, as horses are not allowed in the city. Jemerson said he did not want to get into the care of horses, but the idea of Beekman possibly expanding their horses. Board members suggested a summer program at Beekman for kids and horses. Leyrer also mentioned a butterfly house at Fenner. Jemerson stated looking at the parks in the third ward there is nothing really huge about these parks. Kibbey asked about the property next to Washington Park by the railroad tracks, which is adjacent to the park. Jemerson stated he just received the budget instructions yesterday in talking about CIP, so the board is ahead. Kibbey said every board is supposed to do an annual report. At the next meeting the board needs to be looking at a draft of an annual report to send along with our budget which will include the reiteration of our strong recommendation that park millage funds be used primarily for capitol improvement projects and not operation. Meeting adjourned. / Respectfully Submitted �- Kellie Bro n, Interim Park Board Secretary Approved January 10, 2007