1000 Islands Environmental Center Committee

1000 ISLANDS ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER 1000 ISLANDS COMMITTEE City of Kaukauna Nature Center Building 1000 Beaulieu Court, Kaukauna Thursday, July 17, 2025, at 6:30 PM MINUTES Members Present Hietpas, White, Breitzman, Rumbuc, Eggleston, Jakel, Manion, Pautz Not Present West, VanBerkel Also Present Brad Garrity White called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM. A quorum was present. Public Appearances None June 19, 2025, Committee Meeting Minutes Manion moved to approve the meeting minutes. Motion was seconded by Hietpas. Motion carried. June Financial Reports The June 2025 Financial Report was reviewed. Garrity pointed out that with the June report, half the year has passed, and the percentages will be closely monitored with regard to the creation of the 2026 budget. Custodial supplies are rising due to new paper towel dispensers and cleaning product cost increases. Staff will be looking at 2 other places for custodial supplies. The city is talking about a single supplier for all city departments, including Community Enrichment, but they are not quite there yet. Garrity encouraged the Committee to use this document when giving input on the 2026 budget. Jakel moved to approve the June 2025 Financial Report and seconded by Breitzman. Motion carried. The Budget Schedule was then discussed. Eggleston pointed out that the calendar dates reflected the year 2024. The bullet pointed dates beneath the calendar are accurate as printed. August 1 – Distribution of 5 Year Capital Improvement Project (CIP) to department managers August 5 – Distribution of budget worksheets to department managers September 4 – Review CIP internally with department heads September 9 – Non-personnel budgets due September 16-20 – Administrative budget round table (discuss budget items) as an aggregate September 17 – Present 5-year CIP to council for feedback September 30 – Present non-personnel items and tax rate to Committee of the whole for feedback October 14 – Present personnel items to Committee of the whole for feedback October 24 – Submit public hearing notice to clerk for Class 1 posting at least 15 days prior to hearing Week of October 28 – Print budget books and distribute November 11 – Proposed budget presentation to Committee of the whole at 6 pm November 19 – Public hearing and budget adoption Garrity and Kohls will be making phone calls to vendors to see if there will be an anticipated rise in prices due to tariffs or other factors. Garrity proposed an Admin and Finance (A/F) meeting on August 14 at 4:30 pm to discuss budget items to be proposed to the Committee by August 21. Garrity will get the budget package to A/F before August 14. Donation Report The donation report was reviewed. A nice increase in collection bins was noted – due to goats? Garrity stated we are a little down this year, but looking at budget line, we are currently at 83%. A $40,000 donation from individual estate was received. More to come on that in the future. A mounted fox table (selling online for $1,500) was donated by a private person. And another private person constructed a glass case in which the fox is housed. Eggleson moved to accept the report, Manion seconded. Motion carried. Friends of 1000 Islands Report Hietpas stated that the Friends hadn’t met and that there was nothing to report. Naturalist’s Report Garrity highlighted some points of interest. The downturn in pavilion rentals may be due to the city having many great facilities. Staff are still getting calls on building rentals for parties, which generated some discussion on the policy change. Garrity will clarify our policy for non-profit rentals. Programs are going well, with Crayfish and Critter Hunts being the most popular. 20 new nets were just ordered for $1000 leading to the necessity to be more vigilant about locking the nets when not in use. Nets are not checked out during the day, but staff are thinking of piloting a process whereby users alert the staff when taking equipment out on a hunt. Service Saturday is finally taking off. Many groups are coming and working together as a service project. Local TV stations –1000 Islands is becoming a go-to for stories and expertise. Garrity and staff are also being contacted by radio and podcast hosts – “Living Outdoors with Mark Drewek”. It was suggested that the staff consider a Facebook or Times Villager “column” weekly or biweekly. That discussion then jumped to an informational column or weekly blog that could be featured online or in print in connection with city information. Manion stated he had experience in providing updated info to the community; he will provide examples. Information on the Three Sisters Garden was then presented. This project is spearheaded by the Kaukauna Public Library. Once the Garden is established it will become a community thing. 1000 Islands provides the plot of land and maybe some watering. 2nd Quarter Usage Report Pautz raised the question about the numbers not adding up. It was explained that school groups and registered program participants are easy to quantitate, although counties of origin may be estimated. Shared programs, like Storybook Walk, are very hard to quantitate. It was suggested that maybe those activities are each counted with the number of participants estimated based on number of programs. This will be taken to the Education Committee to evaluate what needs to be quantified accurately, what doesn’t, and the means by which to do that. Golden Investment Account update: The account has been closed and transferred into the 1000 Islands restricted account. June Community Foundation Statement: Director Terri Vosters is point on this. Brad will attempt to go to the next meeting with her. Admin and Finance Sub-Committee Manion moved to receive and place on file the minutes of the June 19th meeting, Breitzman seconded. Motion passed. Education Sub-Committee No meeting was held, but the committee would like to meet on September 3, 2025, at 11:30 AM. Building and Grounds Sub-Committee No meeting was held. A property walk will be held on September 10, at 4:30 PM. All are welcome; no need to be a Buildings and Grounds member. Old Business None New Business None Good for the Center Diane will reach out to Committee members missing several meetings. It was noted by Committee members that the staff have been making great forward progress at the Center. The staff are very happy and feel invested. Next Committee Meeting The next Committee Meeting will be on Thursday, August 21, 2025, at 6:30 PM in the Nature Center building. Adjournment There being no further business, Manion moved to adjourn the July 17, 2025, Committee Meeting at 8:17 PM. Seconded by Breitzman. Motion Carried. Penni Pautz