Parks Commission

MONPELIER PARKS COMMISSION MINUTES January 17, 2013 7:30 PM Police Station Community Room Present: Geoff Beyer, Lyn Munno, Aaron Brondyke, Kip Roberts, and Cara Robechek Minutes: Aaron moves that we approve the December minutes. Cara seconds. All in favor. Caretaker Position: • Wage: We see the current range as $15-18, but need to look at other city job descriptions to see whether we should be posting this as a range or as a single amount. • Roommates: If there were to be any non-family roommate(s) in the house, the roommate(s) would need to sign a separate contract with the city and be approved to live in the house by the Parks Commission. We will double check this with Bill Frazer and the city attorney. • Job Description: Lyn will work with Geoff and other commissioners to tighten up the current job description and to produce both a full description and a briefer ad. • Transition: The house needs insulation, and some other work may need to be done. So it would make sense to have 3-4 weeks between the time when Geoff’s family moves out of the house and when the new caretaker moves in. That said, we would like to have the new person in place before the busy summer season. One possibility that we are exploring is that it may make sense to divide the house in two and rent the other half to an Americorp or Vista volunteer, to bring the rent obligation down for the candidate if they do not have a family who will be living with them in the house. Geoff will get an estimate on what it would cost to do this work in a way that it could be inexpensively returned to a single family home if or when a caretaker is in position with a family. • Timeline: o Complete job description to the city manager by Feb 1. o Post job position and on city webpage early Feb. o Deadline for Applications: March 7 o Interviews in mid-March o Geoff to move out in March or April o New position to move in and start work in May • Procedure: Applications will be sent to Geoff. The committee for First Interviews is Aaron, Kip, and Geoff. Cara expressed concern that there is not a woman on the interview committee. She will try to join the committee, depending on her work schedule. Winter Trail Map: Commissioners are very supportive of having a winter map. There were minor suggested changes to the map (making it clearer that both the wide and the narrower groomed trails are both groomed, clarifying comments about sledders staying out of auto roads and being careful of other people on the hill and younger children, and adding a color code to show the area where people are not supposed to be in the winter to protect deer populations.) When complete the map will be posted online and put up at the entrances and the kiosk. International volunteer project: The International Volunteers for Peace organization is offering to send a trained college aged co-leader this summer. The group could work on the national life trail (a project that might also be worked on by a VYCC crew), or a perimeter trail around Hubbard Park. If the perimeter trail is to be pursued Geoff would first talk with all abutting land owners. Mountain Bikers: A group of mountain bikers has asked to be put on the agenda in March to talk about possible mountain bike paths at Hubbard Park. Frozen Onion Race: The first winter mountain bike race through Hubbard Park of this winter happened in January. A second is scheduled for Sun Feb 3. ORS will plan to place a couple of additional signs along the route beyond what they placed for the first event. It was suggested that the presence of a map of the route, and arrows on the trail would make it clearer to other park users if they would like to avoid being on race paths. There is also a request to have the warning signs put up at the gate a week in advance to give more forewarning to other park users. Kip asked if bikes could be allowed onto other trails (where they are not normally allowed) if there is a safety risk to the racers without this. Cara, Aaron, and Lyn would like Mountain bikes to stay where they are allowed normally. In the case of safety issues Geoff will make minimal adaptations to the race route to make sure mountain bikers are safe. For the race Geoff will try groom the trail wider for rider safety unless that is likely to lead to icy conditions for walkers on subsequent days. Playspace: Geoff and Lyn have had some discussions with Yestermorrow about developing ideas for potentially adding some nature-scape play space in the park. No commitments have been made and there does not yet seem to be an alignment between what Yestermorrow could offer and what the Parks Commission would be ready to discuss installing. Lyn suggested that Theresa Giffin at UES might be interested in hearing more about the possibility of this sort of project through Yestermorrow for the schoolyard at the elementary school. Bear sculpture: There was some discussion about the fact that the amount of money associated with the project is higher now than it was when the Parks Commission originally approved the project. There was also some concern that the artist has plans to target local merchants for the campaign. While it seems fine to most commissioners that he talks to his personal contacts while fundraising, there was concern that a large targeted campaign of merchants might take funds away from other potential park projects in the future. The Commission did not change its original approval of the project, but asked Geoff to have a conversation with Chris to make clear the Parks involvement in the project. Including: • Lyn would like to know which merchants Chris plans to speak with. • Lyn would also like the picture at the top of the kickstarter campaign to be the one that would be carved if the base level of funding is reached. • Cara would like the language in the kickstarter write up to be changed where it implies that the area has already been slated for a children’s play area. This has been in discussion, but no decisions have been made. • Aaron and Kip pointed out that this is a Chris Miller project to be put in the park, rather than a Parks Commission project. They wanted to make sure that this is clear in the fundraising.  • Parks Commissioners will get any additional comments on the Kickstarter page to Geoff by Monday, and Geoff will give comments to Chris. Budget: The City’s audit is done for last year, and Parks was $5000 in the red. Geoff doesn’t yet know if the reimbursement for storm damage repairs received from FEMA, and funding from National Life for the National Life Trail are included in that number. Park Updates: • Staff have been snow farming to cover icy spots after the January thaw. • There is a timber operation currently happening abutting the North Branch Park.. Geoff is keeping an eye to make sure that the operation doesn't come over the border onto city land. He will mark the boundary more clearly and talk to the logger. February Public meeting Planning: • Before the meeting: o Geoff will send the survey results out to the commission and then post them on the website and bring a few copies to the meeting. Lyn reminded the commission that we need to remain aware of the concerns that have been expressed about the survey itself and to remain clear that we are not using these for statistics, but to get a pulse on the issue. o Geoff will ask the Vista volunteer research off-leash and poop clean-up policies from parks around Vermont and beyond to learn how the policies in Hubbard Park compare. o Emily and Geoff will work on a Media alert to put a Notice in the paper about the public meeting and write a press release for the Bridge emphasizing that people on all sides of the issue are encouraged to attend. • Meeting plan: o Tuesday Feb. 19th in the Memorial Room at City Hall o Emily Boedecker will chair the meeting. o Structure for the meeting:  Brief History of the issue.  Lay out the goal that people feel safe, welcome and comfortable in the parks. We want to make sure that the parks serve the entire community. • The question is what does it take to make this happen? What do dog owners, Parks Commission and staff, non-dog-owners need to do?  There will be a public comments period which we hope will include ideas for making improvements. Future meetings: March and onward we return to the third Thursday of the month. Commission processes: Lyn will look into Roberts Rules for decision making. Meeting adjourned 10pm.