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12.10.2024 Park Commission Meeting MinutesCITY OF SHOREWOOD 5755 COUNTRY CLUB RD PARK COMMISSION MEETING SHOREWOOD CITY HALL TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 7:00 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE PARK COMMISSION MEETING Vice-Chair Garske convened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. A. Roll Call Present: Commissioners Hirner, Garske, DiGruttolo, Bahneman; Public Works Director Morreim; and Parks and Recreation Manager Czech Absent: Chair Wenner B. Review Agenda Commissioner Hirner moved to approve the agenda as presented. Commissioner DiGruttolo seconded the motion. Motion carried 4-0. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR There were none. 4. NEW BUSINESS A. Park Maintenance Update Public Works Director Morreim noted that the City has seven parks that cover about 100 acres of the City. He reviewed the routine maintenance items and rehabilitation projects that Public Works handles throughout the City parks. He highlighted other work that has been done including: the work being done at Freeman Park on buckthorn removal that included some volunteer efforts; adopt-a-garden volunteer efforts; purchase of a lawn/brush mower to assist with brush removal, such as buckthorn, as well as grass cutting; partnership with Hennepin County on the buckthorn regrowth removal in Freeman Park; and incorporation of the Smithtown Ponds into Freeman Park. He reviewed the additional maintenance and projects that Public Works had undertaken at Southshore Park, Manor Park, Silverwood Park, Cathcart Park, Gideon Glen Park, Badger Park, and Freeman Park. Commissioner Hirner asked if there were any plans to do similar work to the pond in Silverwood that they did to the pond in Manor Park. Public Works Director Morreim stated that there were no current plans. He noted that he would have to take a look at the maintenance responsibilities and explained that many of the ponds are not necessarily something that the City has direct responsibility for. He stated that they have gotten a number of questions about treatment for the Minnetonka Country Club and explained PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 PAGE 2 OF 7 that the City had resisted requests to do additional treatments like that. He stated the issue is that once they get involved in doing other ponds, he suspected that it would essentially snowball. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that she noticed that it cost almost $10,000 for Manor and Badger Park related to the vandalism and asked if the City had spent any money on upgrading their surveillance or security equipment. Public Works Director Morreim explained that staff was currently looking into that situation and had received two quotes within the last week. He stated that they were moving towards making a recommendation to the Council but noted that in addition to the parks it would be for most of the City’s public buildings and the water infrastructures. He stated that the City does have cameras in Badger Park on the bathroom facilities and that was where they were able to get some views of who was there, but they were wearing hoodies so the footage was not that helpful. He noted that there was a prior vandalism event in 2023 that they were able to identify the vandals and was handled by the SLMPD. He noted that Freeman Park is a bit tricky and they would not be looking at covering the entire park, but more towards Eddy Station and some of the infrastructure such as the bathrooms. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that she thought the alum treatment was for controlling the goose poop and that the City had talked about some other potential remedies that would move the water so it would not be stagnant. She stated that she understands people don’t drink the water or swim in the pond but it does have an impact on the ecosystem around it and also leaks into the water table. She asked if there may be something available that had a ‘caution’ level rather than a ‘danger’ level. Public Works Director Morreim explained that the materials that would be ‘caution’ level is what they are using as intermittent treatments. He stated the alum treatments were for reducing the algae and the phosphorus that comes from the algae. He noted that something like a fountain would be a different operation and wouldn’t guarantee that the algae would be reduced and would just move the water. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that Chair Wenner would like to know if the City was planning any additional volunteer events in 2025 in order to get people involved with things like buckthorn removal. She stated that she wanted to know if it would be possible for the City to use some of the wood chips that they create from the stump grinding so they would not need to be purchased for the playground areas. Public Works Director Morreim explained that the playground chips are a specialized wood chip, so they do not have splinters so they could not use the wood chips from the stump grinding. He stated that a large portion of what they are grinding up is buckthorn, so he would not want to spread that material around the City. He stated that they can reuse some of the larger trees that are taken down for use as firewood for City events such as Arctic Fever. He stated that Public Works has no problem continuing to have volunteer events but noted that, for example, doing buckthorn removal by hand can be difficult because it is very labor intensive. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he believed the intent was to continue with the volunteer events including areas outside of Freeman Park and explained that he has ideas about other possible volunteer programs such as adopt-a-park. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 PAGE 3 OF 7 Public Works Director Morreim stated that he felt that they were able to learn a lot of valuable lessons this past year with the buckthorn removal at Freeman Park and explained that he was hopeful that they would never have to do that much removal again because of what they learned. He shared examples of some of the lessons that they learned this past year related to buckthorn removal that he hopes will help them to be more efficient in the future. Vice-Chair Garske expressed his appreciation to Public Works Director Morreim and the entire Public Works Department for taking care of the parks and other areas of the City. B. Park Commissioner Onboarding Materials Parks and Recreation Manager Czech explained that with new Commissioners joining the Park Commission, there has been a desire to come up with a more efficient and informative onboarding process for them. He outlined the current process which essentially involved a large binder that is given to the incoming Commissioner and explained that he had hoped that they could have a brainstorming session to discuss what things the current Commission had received that they found helpful and what was not helpful. He reviewed some of the things that staff thought may be helpful such as a table of contents, a frequently asked questions portion, biographies of staff and the Commissioners, a summary of the Park and Recreation programs/events, and a simple ‘cheat sheet’ of various policies, procedures, and definitions. He noted that he felt that this may be able to be used as a recruitment tool for potential Commissioners that would clearly show what the roles and responsibilities of a Park Commission would be. Commissioner Hirner stated that one thing he would like to see is a list of everything the Park Commission was responsible for and listed examples of things that extend beyond just the City parks. He stated that there are Master Plans, but they are outdated and there were also priorities within the parks outside of the Master Plan. He explained that he felt it would be a good idea to have a better description of where all of that information is and suggested that it have a yearly update because it was always changing. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that she liked that Park and Recreation Manager Czech was planning to outline the procedures, but felt it would also be nice to have a paragraph about how they run the Park Commission meetings. She stated that she agreed with Commissioner Hirner that they almost needed ‘lanes in the road’ for where the Park Commission would be responsible, but also where they overlap with the Planning Commission or the City Council and how that actually works. She stated that it would be helpful to know what the things are that they need to do something about versus ones they should just know about. She shared that she was confused for her first four or five meetings about how the meetings ran and what she was supposed to take action on. She stated that she felt a copy of the budget would have been helpful to have, specifically the Parks and Recreation budget and the portions that the Park Commission was supposed to be aware of and have input into. She noted that she would also like to see how the parks fit into the City’s strategic plan and how that nests with the Park Commission’s strategic plan. She explained that she felt that the inclusion of the last six months of meeting minutes would be similar to what is called the arc of the story continuity book that is used in the military. She stated that if incoming Commissioners have that information when they step into place they will already know what has been discussed and what things they should know about. Commissioner Bahneman stated that she felt it would be helpful when a Commissioner was new and coming in to have a way to meet, look at each other, and talk a little bit, that would not immediately be just sitting at the dais. She stated that she felt the biographies that have been PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 PAGE 4 OF 7 suggested would be helpful but she would them to be able to have a chance to get to know one another. Park and Recreation Manager Czech explained that the complication with that was related to Open Meeting laws. Commissioner Hirner stated that two of the Commissioners could choose to go have coffee but they cannot do that if there would be three or more, because that would constitute a quorum. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that she liked Commissioner Bahneman’s idea and noted that she believed her first meeting took place at the SCEC. She suggested that perhaps the Park Commission hold the meeting at the SCEC once a quarter which would give them the opportunity to sit around the table and be able to look at each other and converse. She stated that she agreed that sometimes it was easier to have free-flowing ideas if they were talking eyeball to eyeball. She stated that her first meeting had also involved a tour of the SCEC which she thought was great to see what they have done and what things they were thinking about doing there. Commissioner Bahneman stated that she thought doing the park tours was a fabulous idea. Vice-Chair Garske stated that many of his ideas had already been raised by other Commissioners. He stated that he would like to see a summary of the milestones or key responsibilities and expectations for the Park Commission. He suggested that there be a few bullet points that tell what they are really doing, why they are doing it, and how it will be leveraged. He explained that when he first joined the Park Commission he was not aware of how flexible certain things were and that they could be moved around, but that the City Council made the final decision about some things. He stated that he liked the idea of including the meeting minutes but suggested that Park and Recreation Manager Czech also put together a list of the top ten things that the Park Commission had discussed over the last year, so they would not have to read through all the meeting minutes. He stated that it would also be helpful to have it outlined about how a Commissioner can get something added to the agenda. He noted that it would also be helpful to have clearly outlined expectations for when the Commissioners present information to the City Council. Commissioner Bahneman stated that Park and Recreation Manager Czech had put together a great summary before she presented to the Council. Park and Recreation Manager Czech clarified that Commissioner DiGruttolo had done that because she provided a blueprint for what should be included because the Council already receives copies of the meeting minutes and noted that he wanted to find a way to present the information with a more personal connection. Commissioner Bahneman stated that she enjoyed presenting to the Council. Vice-Chair Garske stated that he felt that it would also be nice to have a simple City map. He noted that one thing he would also like to see more clearly defined is Crescent Beach but acknowledged that he did not really remember what their overview is other than he believed it was a partnership with Tonka Bay. Commissioner DiGruttolo suggested including a brief description of what some of the staff positions do, for example, City Engineer Budde, Public Works Director Morreim, and Park and PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 PAGE 5 OF 7 Recreation Manager Czech because it would be helpful to have this information so they knew who direct their questions to for certain topics. Commissioner Hirner stated that there should probably be an explanation for when there is a new development whether they want money or land. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he planned to start with the creation of a general ‘cheat sheet’ for incoming Commissioners and then begin developing some of the other things. Vice-Chair Garske suggested that they could also assign an ‘onboarding buddy’ to help guide the new Commissioners through the process of joining the Park Commission. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that she thought that was a great idea and explained that a similar thing was done in the military. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he would plan to bring back a draft of at least the initial step for Commission consideration and would expect that it will be reviewed on an annual basis. C. End of Year Recap Slideshow Parks and Recreation Manager Czech presented a slideshow to the Commission that showed highlights of what was accomplished throughout 2024 within the Parks and Recreation Department. He explained that this was something that they would like to continue on an annual basis and was trying to encourage taking more before and after photos as they are working on things throughout the City. Commissioner Hirner suggested that the slideshow be uploaded to the City’s website so others could see what they have accomplished. 5. OLD BUSINESS A. Field Use Policy Updates Parks and Recreation Manager Czech gave a brief overview of the discussion at the last meeting for a potential Field Use Policy in order to help provide some structure and clarity to their reservation process and expectations for groups that utilize the City’s fields. He gave a summary of the amendments that were made to the document following the input from the Commission. Commissioner DiGruttolo moved to recommend approval of the Field Use Policy, as presented. Commissioner Bahneman seconded the motion. Motion carried 4-0. 6. STAFF AND LIAISON REPORTS / UPDATES A. City Council B. Staff Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that the City, in partnership with the University of Minnesota, was doing some buckthorn trials at Freeman Park. He stated that at a previous PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 PAGE 6 OF 7 meeting they had discussed the possibility of putting signage in the area and they have had discussions with Mike Schuster about options and believe that they will be moving forward with some signage, but was not sure about the timeline for when it would be installed. He noted that Mike Schuster had told him that they have sites in Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri and also Minnesota. He told him that so far the Minnesota sites have not been particularly inspiring with the results they have seen which may have had something to do with their wet spring weather. He noted that the increased frequency of cutting the buckthorn did have an impact on the total regrowth which they were hoping would transfer to differences in the winter survival rates. He reminded the Park Commission that Arctic Fever was coming up and they would be implementing a ‘Name the Snowplow’ contest which should be fun. He noted that the City started flooding its ice rinks today due to the expectation of colder temperatures. He explained that they held interviews with potential rink attendants over the last few weeks and it looks like they will have eight rink attendants this season. He stated that he would be posting updates on the status of the rinks on the City website. He suggested that they determine which Commissioner can present to the Council at their upcoming meetings. January – Commissioner Hirner February – Commissioner Garske March – Commissioner Bahneman Park and Recreation Manager Czech explained that he would do a calendar invite for presenting at the City Council meeting, so it would be on everyone’s calendar. Vice-Chair Garske suggested that they start adding this information to the agenda so it outlines the next City Council meeting date and who was scheduled to present. Commissioner Hirner asked if they had dates for the Park Commission meetings for 2025. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he would send those out to the Commission. He expressed his appreciation to Commissioner DiGruttolo for her service on the Park Commission and wished her well as she moved onto the City Council. Commissioner DiGruttolo thanked the Commission for their support and extended a special thank you to Commissioner Hirner for all the things that he taught her in her time on the Commission. She stated that she did not have a lot of time working with Park and Recreation Director Crossfield, but in her opinion, things under Park and Recreation Manager Czech were moving along much more smoothly. She stated that she also felt that Park and Recreation Manager Czech had a high-touch involvement and believed he was going to do great things with the City. Commissioner Bahneman stated that she agreed with Commissioner DiGruttolo’s sentiments about Park and Recreation Manager Czech. She stated that she felt he was a treasure and very good at his job which has made serving on the Park Commission enjoyable. Commissioner Hirner asked when the City would post the opening on the Commission for the replacement of Commissioner DiGruttolo. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he believed that postings for Commissioners were already live but noted that they did not intend to fill the seat until March when all the new Commissioners would come on board which means that they would only have four PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 PAGE 7 OF 7 Commissioners for January and February of 2025. He asked the Commissioners to let him know if they would be unable to attend a meeting, so they could ensure that they have a quorum. 7. ADJOURN Commissioner Bahneman moved to adjourn the Park Commission Meeting of December 10, 2024, at 8:24 p.m. Commissioner DiGruttolo seconded the motion. Motion carried 4-0.