Parks & Urban Forestry Board

UNAPPROVED DERBY PARK AND URBAN FORESTRY BOARD MINUTES January 14, 2021 Call to Order: 11:00 A. M. Roll Call: Members Present Members Absent Sherii Farmer Dave Peebler Marty Hunt Rick Dame Bruce Renberger Matt Beigel Jason Griffin Also in attendance: Steve White, Tana Gerber, Joe Loflin, Seth Berg, Shana Sneath Approval of Minutes: Motion: Jason Griffin moved to approve the minutes from December 10, 2020 Second: Marty Hunt second. Vote: All yea, motion carried. Open Forum: Introduction of Tana Gerber, Horticulturist. Old Business: Citizen Communication Tools for Trees: In the next few months educational tools will be developed to educate the community about who’s responsibility it is to maintain areas with trees. There may be educational videos created and broadcast via social media. Sherii Farmer suggested giving the HOA’s the information which could be provided via the HOA Liaison. New Business: Board Terms: Please to the City’s website and apply if your board term is up. Skate Park Restroom: The Skate Park restroom was torn down a couple years ago due to problems with age of the building and vandalism. In its place a portable restroom was installed and maintained by Waste Connections. There have been no issues with vandalism. Mr. White presented different options for replacing the restrooms to the Board. Prefab units cost $100,000; for the City staff to build a restroom in-house is roughly $23,000 or continuing to have Waste Connections to provide and maintain the ADA restroom is a cost of $1020/annually. There is no maintenance required by City staff. Mr. White went over the labor cost to maintain the skate park by City Staff. In 2019 labor hours = 634.25; 2020 labor hours = 180. Hours have decreased by 454.25 1 Mr. White asked for recommendations on how to proceed with the restroom. The board asked if there was complaints about the portable restroom and there have been none. Options for screening the portable restrooms was discussed; it might be hard to reach the restroom by Waste Connections and could be vandalized. Waste Connections would also need to approve the screening. There are portable restrooms at Garrett, High Park and Riley Park as well as brick and mortar sites. Discussion on whether a restroom was needed; decided there does need to be a facility available. Peak usage at the Skate Park is 20-25 people there at one time. Guest Seth Berg, former board member and frequent user of the park informed the board how the facility could best accommodate the patrons; he suggested more concrete areas, iron and fixtures that did double duty, such as a concrete picnic table that could not be moved would be beneficial. He also suggested removing the shade structure and picnic tables that are there now as they invite vandalism. Seth has been to numerous skate parks and other suggestions for improvement included installing mini ramp which has seen high usage and enjoyment at another park he visits. He indicated the portable restroom that is there now is adequate for the skaters. Further discussion by the board regarding how to provide a restroom and what features to add to the Skate Park. Motion by Marty Hunt to leave the portable restroom as currently is and look into the addition of a mini-ramp to be installed in the future. Second by Sherii Farmer, all yea, motion carried. Updates: Rock River Rapids: Slide is being installed currently and should be completed by the first part of May. Joe Loflin designed a new bridge for the slide. Garrett Park: The drive into Garrett Park is being repaired by the Streets crew and replaced with new concrete. Groundskeeper: Interviews will be held tomorrow. Will be adding a new Groundskeeper and then the Parks staffing will be complete with a full- time staff of 20. Chip Site: Filled up fast this year; annual grinders hauled out 3 million pounds of mulch. Decarsky Park: Dog park is open and is a success. Events: Shana reported Spring Into Art will take place on April 25th and will be asking the board to participate in manning a booth, volunteering to assist vendors and planting a tree for Arbor Day. The BBQ Festival will be help June 11 and 12th. The Fireworks bid will go out soon. Board decided they would like to continue to meet in person monthly at this time. Motion to adjourn: Jason Griffin moved to adjourn the January 14, 2021 PUF meeting. Second: Sherii Farmer, second. 2 Vote: All yea, motion carried unanimous. End. Respectfully Submitted, Shana Sneath Public Works Coordinator, Sherii Farmer Chairwoman 3