City Council

The City of Columbia City In Columbia County on the Columbia River PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES April 14, 2026 - 6:00 P.M. City Hall Council Chambers – 1840 Second Street Present: Lyle Bluhm, Committee Chair Sally Ann Marson, Committee Member Jack Hruska, Committee Member Katrina Claridge, Committee Member Karen Shervey, Committee Member Kim Karber, City Administrator Absent: Nell Harrison, Committee Member Jim Wills, Committee Member Micah Rogers, Public Works Superintendent Chair Bluhm called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. • Memorial Day Event Kim reported that many of the participants have been confirmed. However, there is only one person confirmed for raising a branch flag and we are still waiting for word on the honor guard. It was suggested that we could ask at the Memorial event for volunteers to raise the flags since there are many veterans who attend. We will continue to put the word out and will ask for volunteers at the event if we are still short on flag raisers. Kim also reported that we have purchased an additional speaker for the PA system for the event to help people who are in the back to be able to hear. • Park Updates • Harvard Park – Kim and Micah met with a representative from GameTime 2 Parks Committee Meeting April 14, 2026 about playground equipment. He confirmed that any configuration we pick can be done in purple. He is confident that the playground footprint would not need to be made much larger than it is since we have a small number of kids playing at once and we should be able to do it for under 100,000. The teeter totter is currently the only piece of equipment that is staying. We will look at the other equipment and see if it can be utilized anywhere else. • Other Business • Benches ▪ Kim discussed the bench that is at PW and placement of it. As talked about in the previous meeting, since there is still discussion about what/where everything will be going with the recent Parks Masterplan update, it would be better to wait for a more finalized plan, so it is a more efficient use of time and resources. It was agreed to wait for a more finalized plan on placement. ▪ The Calkins family would like to do a memorial bench for Colleen and requested it to be placed at Pixie Park. Kim asked if they would be willing to wait, since we are just starting to figure out plans for the different parks and where to place things after the Parks Masterplan update. They are willing to wait. The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 6:26 p.m.