Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission

Bristol Tennessee Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes January 9, 2020 6:00 P.M. Slater Center Present: Susi Chandler, Mahlon Luttrell, Sherry Willinger, Butch Downs, Justin Hutchinson, Ronda Baker, Lance Tudor, Bennett Cowan, 6:14 David Akard Guest: N/A Staff: Terry Napier, Adrienne Osborne, Absent: Curt Rutherford, Caden Meyers, Kate White, I. Call to Order: 6:00 pm by Susi Chandler II. Approve November 7, 2019 Meeting Minutes: Bennett Cowan made a motion to approve the minutes and Mahlon seconded the motion. Motion passes with unanimous vote. III. Old Business:  Nature Center Expansion Report: Terry stated that the monthly meetings continue. There will be a meeting Wednesday, December the 15th to plan future events. Meetings will have a dual focus; one is to finish nature center, and the other is planning activities to pull people into the nature center. There are also plans to knock down a wall, build a library, and create staff storage in the old nature center.  Beaver Creek South Greenway Progress Report: Terry is due to get a draft of the preliminary report any day now.  Bristol TN Little League Report: Regarding the field curfew, as before, teams need to be off the ball field by 9:00 because the lights will be turned off at that time.  Youth Basketball Report: Basketball is back from winter break. The boys and girls in 3rd and 4th grade have been merged. IV. New Business:  Introducing new staff: o Adrienne Osborne- Secretary II  Replaces Jenny Sheffield- Transfer o Charles “Chuck” Fleming- Parks and Facilities Superintendent  Replaces Stephen Berry- Retirement o Beth Carter- Recreation Programmer/ SCP Manager  Replaces April Norris- Transfer  2020 Work Plan Terry explained that Mr. Sorah wanted there to be more attention to detail in regard to visible things such as buildings, flower beds, parks, and signs.  Christmas Activities There were several Christmas activities sponsored by the Bristol Tennessee Parks and Recreation Department. These included: o Tree on top of local building  o Community Tree Lighting: the nearly 50-foot Norwegian Spruce and the 250-foot Douglas Fir at Cumberland Park o Christmas Parade o Santa at the Center o Journeys End: set up at the downtown center to have pictures taken with Santa o Santa Calls: Parks and Rec. sent letters to the local elementary schools to have parents fill out. It included information about the child and what he/she wanted for Christmas. Volunteers pretending to be Santa called the children. Roughly 60 kids were called this year.  Maintenance Activities o Trail Maintenance: The east ridges have a trail that goes by transmission towers. The rain has caused a red clay mess that will be fixed tomorrow. All trails will be cleaned up and widened. Rock Cut Trail is the main priority. The hope is everything on East Ridge will be finished and maintenance on West Ridge will begin next year. 60 trees at Steele Creek that are dead and will be cut down. There will be a plant back with a two-to-one ratio. Terry and Jeremy will make the plant map next week. o Ball Field Maintenance: Parks and recreation was unable to get clay for a long time. Recently three loads have come in and more is expected. Due to the season starting in February, the fields must be serviced by the end of January. o General Park Maintenance: Parks and recreation will install toilets and sinks, (omit will install) and a new drinking fountain with a water bottle filler at the Mill Creek trailhead. Terry has ordered a bike stand and an additional dispenser for dog waste bags. There are a couple benches that will soon be added along the fit trail. A new sidewalk has be dug out and framed at the splash pad parking lot. It will meet ADA guidelines. o Angie has been making improvements to our activity book. o Silver and Fit update: The contract is still being negotiated.  2020 Meeting Schedule o January 9 March 5 May 7 July 2 September 3 November 5 V. Board Comments:  David- wanted to know if we are getting rid of golf, based on Sherri’s comment in the November meeting minutes. Terry answered no, not right now. We supplement every round of golf. It keeps declining. The course is keeping records on how many of the golfers live in Bristol, TN. The course needs 28 golf carts that cost $4,800 each. The greens mower is 5 years past due on being replaced. A new greens mower would cost $35,000. It’s difficult to keep up the irrigation. Currently, there are no full time employees. It costs approximately $75,000-80,000 to supplement a year. Terry is trying to be forward thinking about what we would do with the golf course if there was a change in the future. He wants to consider what would serve more of the population and enhance this area. Terry suggested a campground, ropes course, he mentioned the cart path is almost a 5k. David suggested disc golf. Terry reiterated that it’s just future planning and thinking. There would be a cost associated with a change, but a multi-purpose area would be used by more people. Ben spoke about the economics of having an RV Park. He said he felt it would make money and shared there has been a 5% growth in RV sales in the past few  years. Terry said it’s an option, as are many things that are being considered and there is no plan right now to close golf course. David then asked if the dirt has been moved at the dog park. Terry explained that there was concrete and rebar found. He hopes to order fencing in the next few weeks. He’s optimistic that it will open in the spring.  Sherry: stated that she is working on Wildlife Weekend for next October and asked to be informed if anyone had any ideas. Terry said there is a focus on litter. Sherry said Friends of Steele Creek Park is working with the city in cleanup and they are planning an Earth Day celebration. Terry suggested to focus from Steele Creek to K-mart Drive. Ben recommended bear proof trash cans.  Butch: noticed ½ mile marker on the Lake Side Trail is not finished. He asked if there was news about beavers. Terry said they built dam at golf course. Some of the employees trapped the beavers below the Wes Davis Greenway, then released them near the nature center.  Justin: saw report about wild hogs infiltrating Roan Mtn. He believes they will destroy the park. He suggested giving thought to how the hogs could be trapped. Terry said there has been only one potential sighting in one of the parks and one killed on I81.  Ronda: stated that she is “team campground”  Ben: asked regarding the golf course, would city council have to approve of a feasibly study as the next step. Terry replied that it’s a process that starts with cost, then options. He stated that they are going through the options. Ben also stated that they could split the bee hive. VI. Next Meeting Date: March 5, 2020 VII. Adjourn: David at 7:02