City Council

The City of Columbia City In Columbia County on the Columbia River PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES June 1, 2021 - 6:30 P.M. 1850 SECOND STREET, COLUMBIA CITY, OR 97018 Present: Katrina Claridge, Committee Chair Nell Harrison, Committee Member Jack Hruska, Committee Member Stan Hopkins, Committee Member Mike McGlothlin, City Administrator Chair Claridge called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm. 1. Status Review of City Parks: The City Administrator provided a status update for the City Parks based upon input received from the Public Works Superintendent, Micah Rogers, and Kelly Wiggins, on behalf of the Multnomah Chapter of the DAR. Superintendent Rogers provided that all materials for the Harvard Park shade sails have arrived and that it will be erected as soon as is possible, equipment has been pre-staged at the Rivers Walk Phase I construction site, and that Public Works Utility Worker I, Jeremy Schaff, has been conducting a lot of maintenance activities at Veterans Park. Nell Harrison noted the work that had been done in the Veterans Park, commented on the improved appearance of the concrete borders around the plantings, and also shared that the St. Helens Garden Club would be out working at Veterans Park on June 14, 2021. Kelly Wiggins provided that a core group of volunteers have been conducting maintenance activities at Ruth Rose Richardson Park, with two successful work parties in the month of May. She also said that repairs to the irrigation system at Ruth Rose Richardson Park had been completed and that it was operational, but that the installation of new sod had been rejected by their Board. Ms. Wiggins also updated the committee that the DAR Board had met and decided not to pursue the development of a kiosk at Pixie Park due to both liability and staffing deficiencies. 2. Status Review of Rivers Walk Project: The City Administrator shared the initial conceptual plan for the Rivers Walk project with the committee, noting that there had been some changes to Phase I and subsequent phases with the project now starting adjacent to the rear of Veterans Park, stretching along Mattie Street while following McBride Creek, wrapping around the 1 northwestern corner of the City and terminating near the northern end of Sixth Street. Scope of work, engineering, survey work, site walk and trail base exploration have also been completed in conjunction with Public Works pre-positioning of equipment. 3. Other business: The City Administrator provided an update for information requested at the last Parks Committee meeting: 1. The portable toilet at the Veterans Park, an ADA-sized unit, will not fit the enclosure at Harvard Park in order to complete the transition of the two units as originally planned. In order to complete the future transition a resting pad and larger enclosure will have to be constructed. The consensus of the committee was to address this issue by combining it with the installation of a water fountain at Harvard Park as a consolidated future project. 2. Outreach was made to Knife River in regards to researching the feasibility of their assistance with creating a graveled parking lot in the area of Veterans Park to assist with being able to expand Veterans Park and Rivers Walk access. The City Administrator is waiting on response in order to coordinate future plans. 3. Coordination has been completed with Jason Jones to conduct maintenance activities for the monuments within Veterans Park. Mr. Jones is scheduled to be on site during the first week of July, 2021. 4. The water fountain installation project for Harvard Park, mentioned in “Other business” item # 1 above, has been combined with the portable toilet transition project between Harvard and Veterans Parks. With the costs associated for the water fountains purchase and installation being estimated at approximately $7,000.00, along with the costs needed for the transition of the portable toilets between the two parks, it was decided that it was more fiscally prudent to combine the two projects into one and potentially add it to the City’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) or possibly to the ARPA 2021 municipal projects list. Committee member Jack Hruska also asked about the progress on the bike path refurbishment project. The City Administrator updated that this project had been moved within the CIP to the following fiscal year. 4. Next meeting time: August 3, 2021 at 6:30 pm with location TBD. 5. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 7:09 pm. 2