City Council

The City of Columbia City In Columbia County on the Columbia River PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES MAY 20, 2025 - 6:00 P.M. City Hall Council Chambers – 1840 Second Street Present: Lyle Bluhm, Committee Chair Sally Ann Marson, Committee Member Nell Harrison, Committee Member Katrina Claridge, Committee Member Mark Gordon, Committee Member Jim Wills, Committee Member Kim Karber, City Administrator Micah Rogers, Public Works Superintendent Lyle called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Steve with Conservation Technix will discuss Parks Masterplan Update • Steve introduced himself and explained he has been doing park and open space planning for 19 years and all his staff are former public sector park planners. He did an overview of what the plan is, how it will benefit Columbia City in the future, the timeline (should take about 10 months), and the steps he will go through with us to develop the plan. The masterplan is intended to be a useful tool for the City and will provide a path forward and be a tool for pursuit of future grants. It will look at where we are, where we want to go and the improvements that are requested based on feedback from the community through surveys and a community open house. It will also look at how we can manage what we have with our tight budget, make improvements over time based on priorities, and look at funding options. • The committee gave Steve input on his questions regarding what they value about what the city offers in the different parks we have, what could happen with the parks we have, and what we would like to see. Some suggestions: Parks Committee Meeting April 8, 2025 o Bathrooms o New play equipment o Benches/picnic tables o Centralized park/place to sit and relax o Parking o Signage o Walking trails – more/improve • Steve went over the survey that will go out to our citizens for their input on the parks. It will be advertised in the newsletter, on water bills, Facebook, etc. A survey will be mailed to all households and there will also be the option to complete it online. There will be around a four-week window for people to get the survey turned in. Steve stated the goal of the Parks Masterplan is to identify improvements to the park system over the next 20 years based on community feedback. Memorial Day Kim gave an update that all the events for Memorial Day are finalized, and we are good to go. Other Business • None The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, June 10th, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 7:16 p.m. 2