Skatepark Meeting

JOHNSON SKATEPARK & BIKE TRACK COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES JOHNSON MUNICIPAL BUILDING / REMOTE ATTENDANCE BY ZOOM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2026 Present: Committee Members: Casey Romero, Howard Romero, Alexis Daniels, Greg Fatigate, George Swanson (via Zoom) Others: Mike Dolan, Andrew Davis Note: All votes taken are unanimous unless otherwise noted. 1. Call to Order Casey called the meeting to order at 5:43. 2. Interview Site Work Candidates The committee interviewed Mike Dolan. Howard asked about his experience with outdoor site maintenance. Mike said he is currently working full-time for a landscaping company. Casey asked what area he works in. Mike said Lamoille County. He works 5 days a week and is usually back in Johnson by 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. Casey said we are going to buy solar outdoor security cameras. She asked if Mike has any familiarity with those. He said no. Casey and Howard described some carpentry work that will be needed. Casey asked Mike if he has his own power tools. Mike said he owns a few and has access to some others. Alexis asked what experience Mike has dealing with youth and other riders in a recreational setting. Mike said he has no professional experience, but he goes to the skatepark as often as he can every summer. There are a lot of kids there and everyone encourages them. Casey said he would not be responsible for enforcement of rules but should be familiar with the rules posted at the park. If he sees a problem he should call 911. Greg asked if Mike had any questions for the committee. Mike said no; the job seems straightforward. Alexis said Jimmy Yousey, a teenager who is often at the park, regularly goes there and checks in once a week with an update on how the park is looking – trash, etc. Casey said we pay him $25 a month to check it out and report to us. Mike left at 5:57. The committee interviewed Andrew Davis. Skatepark & Bike Track Committee Meeting Minutes p. 2 April 8, 2026 Casey asked where he lives. Andrew said he lives on West Highland Drive in the trailer park. He can see the skatepark from his back yard. Casey asked if he knows kids or adults who use the park currently. Andrew said no. Alexis said it looks like he has experience with outdoor site maintenance work. Andrew said yes; he worked at the high school and then he did maintenance at Waterville Elementary School for a while. Alexis asked if he has experience with carpentry. Andrew said yes, he has worked in construction since he was 18. He described some carpentry projects he has done. Howard asked if he has a set of tools. Andrew said yes. Casey asked if he is familiar with game cameras. Andrew said he has used them for hunting. Howard said picnic tables at the park often need to be repaired. Andrew said he has built a couple of picnic tables. Howard asked if Andrew has kids. Andrew said no. He and his wife have fostered a bit but have no kids of their own. He has worked with kids from elementary to high school age at his school jobs. Casey said he wouldn’t be responsible for fixing problem behaviors at the skatepark but as long as he knows what the rules are he can have a conversation with someone informing them of the rules. If there is a problem, he can call 911. Andrew mentioned that he had been in training to become a deputy sheriff, but quit for personal reasons. Casey asked if he is working full time at the moment. Andrew said yes, at a garage door company. Casey asked when he typically gets out of work. Andrew said around 4:00 p.m. Andrew asked, the committee is looking for 4-6 hours per week? Casey said it varies. Dealing with trash is an ongoing responsibility, but that takes less than 4 hours per week. Another thing to work on is maintenance of the area by the fence, which would involve some pruning. Andrew asked if mowing is contracted out. Committee members said yes. Andrew asked if weed trimming is also contracted out. Committee members said the mowing contractor does not do much trimming. Andrew left at 6:09. Committee members discussed the candidates. They agreed that either would be good for the position, but decided to offer it to Andrew. Howard moved to hire Andrew Davis to do site work, Greg seconded and the motion was passed. Skatepark & Bike Track Committee Meeting Minutes p. 3 April 8, 2026 3. Minutes of March 11, 2026 Greg moved to approve the minutes of March 11, 2026, Howard seconded and the motion was passed. 4. Directors’ Orders Casey said the only directors’ orders were for minutes. 5. FEMA: Concrete Project Bids & Other Updates Casey said we are getting an administrative amendment to the Act 250 permit, but it involves many demands that never used to be there. It sounds like we have to get a stormwater permit. She is still not sure about a possible floodwater management part of the project. She and John had a Zoom meeting with someone involved in regulating flood zone construction. She was happy with the fact that our local permit says we have to take out as much fill as we bring in. Casey is not sure how her opinion gets conveyed to the Act 250 board that is reviewing the whole project. Apparently the amount of dirt that has to be harvested for the berms is pretty substantial, around 730 yards. A big new thing that is a surprise is that the Act 250 board now requires a drawing of the project by a licensed engineer. Seth Jensen of the Lamoille County Planning Commission knows an engineering firm that has already done some mapping of Johnson. They can do a map at a cost of $2400. Our application has been deemed complete. We have to give notice to owners of surrounding properties. Casey said two bids were received for the concrete project, from Catamount Skateparks and from Rampage. The two bids were very close. The Rampage bid was a little lower. It included $12K for travel and housing because they are not local. The selectboard had not been briefed about the fact that there would be a price gap between the FEMA money and the bids. They felt they could not select a bidder. They didn’t reject the bids but they did not make a decision on accepting one either. They need to know more about how we will close the funding gap. Both company owners have said they can sharpen their pencils. Geoff Hall said he thinks he can knock off $20K. Casey thinks those conversations will continue. She is waiting for John Sutherland to be able to talk to Carl Rogers, because Carl knows where the bigger grant opportunities are. At the selectboard meeting, Casey brought up the possibility of a bridge loan. George asked if there is any way to get an extension from FEMA. Casey said if we are able to, her guess would be that it would be for another 6 months. She doesn’t know if an extension has been formally requested. Casey said someone from the state contacted John because they could see that we had originally been looking at a 3400 sq. ft. project. When we first started designing concrete alternatives we were looking at a 3400 sq. ft. flat slab with features on it. Then we thought about having a bowl. We thought design refinement and talks back and forth would continue, but Tom Galinat surprised us in November by saying the package needed to go to the state right away. The state noticed the change from 3400 sq. ft. to 5150 sq. ft. and asked what happened. Casey spent the day writing up the rationale, which was basically that we started out with the idea of a flat slab, then started talking about bowls and realized that would mean a bigger footprint. A bowl with a berm has more ability to slow down flood waters. Skatepark & Bike Track Committee Meeting Minutes p. 4 April 8, 2026 6. Water Line, 16’ Skatelite Pad, Other Site Issues Casey said she is pushing John to work on a plan for the water line. There is a $5K grant available through the Vermont Community Foundation and they said this project could qualify. Geoff Hall is happy to build the whole Skatelite pad and bring it here. We will continue to use the same dumpster company. The cheaper company Casey checked with doesn’t have any available dumpsters, 7. Let’s Roll & Skate the Arts Program Updates Casey said we were thinking of holding Let’s Roll in July because construction would be going on before then. Now we don’t know when construction will take place. Storm shelter space for Skate the Arts will be available at Laraway. 8. Laraway Report George said Laraway would like to have a student work party or two go to the skatepark this summer for cleanup and maybe some maintenance. They have been sugaring. It has been an outstanding year. They have made enough syrup so far for all students to take some home and probably they can supply the kitchen enough for the year and provide enough for staff to take some home. They are boiling on a wood fire. They are integrating science into sugaring. For instance, students are using a hygrometer. They will be doing gardening soon. Hopefully they will be supplying fresh produce to the food shelf and Salvation Farms. Next week students will begin starting plants. 9. Other Business Casey said she had thought the skatepark might be under construction on Green Up Day, but it might not be. It is the first Saturday in May. Chances are there will be no construction going on yet. Alexis said she will be there on Green Up Day. Casey said she will be in contact with Alison from Healthy Lamoille Valley about Green Up Day. Green Up Day at the skatepark will be small scale and casual. Casey asked what Laraway is doing for Green Up Day. George said he believes they will have 4 groups working on 2 diff sections of road in Johnson. They will have prizes and he thinks there will be an ice cream social at the end. They usually have almost 100% student participation. Casey asked if they do anything particular about cigarette or alcohol litter. George said he thinks they separate some things for recycling. 10. Adjourn Howard moved to adjourn at 6:46, Alexis seconded and the motion was passed. Minutes submitted by Donna Griffiths