Parks Commission

Montpelier Parks Commission Meeting. March 17, 2015 7:00 Meeting opened Commissioners present: Bryan Pfeiffer, Emily Boedecker, Kip Roberts, Carolyn Grodinsky Staff Present: Geoff Beyer, Alec Ellsworth Public Present: Bill Johnson, Danis Regal Bryan moves to approve February minutes, Kip seconds, all in favor The parks commission thanks all the candidates for their interest and efforts in the recent election, and officially welcomes Carolyn to the commission. 7:05: The commission moves to discuss the appointment of a candidate for a seat to be filled until March 2016, when the seat will be up for election at Town Meeting to complete the remainder of the term until March 2018. Kip moves to appoint the second-place finisher of Town meeting to the vacant seat for the next year (as voted upon at the last meeting). Carolyn seconds. All in favor. Emily formally invites Bill Johnson to join the Parks Commission, filling the appointed seat until March 2016. Bill Johnson accepts, and the Parks Commission welcomes him onto the commission. 7:10: Update on Parks staffing The VISTA member is no longer serving on staff at the park, having left service early. Geoff was told that if VISTA member serves at least 6 months the park is not due any rebate. Bill offered to review the language in the agreement. Bryan is going to look into opportunities for staffing coming from UVM. Geoff is going to pursue other options with Americorps and Vista. Dona Bate: Hopes that the commission will further discuss staffing with regard to the vision of the parks, including the possibility of combining the parks and recreation department. 7:28: Dog license fee update Review: The dog waste subcommittee came up with a suggestion to implement waste stations. This idea was proposed to the City Council was agreed and adopted. Danis Regal (member of the dog waste committee): The subcommittee did not recommend that the dog license fees be raised. It was a suggestion to ASK for donations on dog fees, which has been done in the past. The dog waste committee sent out an appeal to donate to the purchase, installation and maintenance. Dona Bate: The city council is not in agreement on what was decided with regard to raising the revenue for the dog poop stations. The city clerk is reviewing the tape. Danis Regal: Wonders what happened to the $3000 that was raised initially? Geoff responded used to install stations and pay first year fees. Danis Regal: Wonders if the commission would consider putting larger bins onto the dog waste stations. The Commission is in support of the dog waste stations, they were under the impression that the city was going to raise revenue for the maintenance of the waste stations. Now that this is unclear, the Commission needs to decide what level of engagement/statement they want to be with regard to the dog station maintenance. Some ideas from the commission and the community to raise revenues: ­ making the purchase of dog licenses more accessible ­ writing a letter to the editor soliciting donations ­ setting up a donation box in the park, especially for out-of-towner donations. ­ More education/awareness about what the stations do and their importance. ­ Make efforts to get more local dogs licensed Some discussion ensued with regard to how the commission should move forward with the dog waste stations. Kip: Was an ordinance passed by City Council with regard to disallowing the disposal of dog waste in a wooded area? The status of this could be pertinent to the discussion. Motion from Bryan: The Parks Commission recognizes that dog waste stations are an important city service, not only in Hubbard Park but elsewhere around the City. Therefore, the Commission urges the City Council to find a sustainable revenue stream to help finance maintenance of the waste stations. One option would be to find ways to encourage all Montpelier dog owners to license their dogs Carolyn seconds, all in favor. 8:12: Conservation Commission meeting review Emily attended the conservation commission meeting, presented the Greenprint and there was positive discussion. Roy from the conservation commission now has a copy of the GIS files that were the base of the park’s map. The conservation commission was discussing what to recommend with regard to zoning and is considering the Greenprint as one source of input into this process. The Planning Commission is interested in more information with regard to wetlands and rivers. There is no specific request to the Parks Commission other than that now would be the time to make any changes to the Greenprint so that it can be clearly communicated to the planning committee for zoning. There was a previous discussion to form a hybrid sub-committee with a member from Parks and the Conservation committee along with a community member to act as a review committee for applications for funding from the Conservation Fund. Aaron was to be contacted to help fill the commission in on that committees form and function. Geoff briefly reviewed the previous vision to create a “wagon wheel” of trails connecting the neighborhoods to the parks and the parks to all the other parks throughout the city. Donna Bate: Recommends that the Parks Commission shares their vision, even if its not complete, with the planning commission at their next meeting. Specifically she suggests talking to Mike or Brandy. There was some discussion on how soon to get the parks vision on the Planning Commission agenda. Emily volunteers to get the Parks Commission on the agenda of the planning commission to present the Greenprint. She will communicate back when she has a date and will find commissioners to attend this meeting. 8:30: Electing a chair for 2015. Bryan proposes a motion that Emily continues as chair for another year. Carolyn seconds, all in favor 8:32: Summer priorities ­ Replace 4 bridges in the North Branch Park. – good group projects and potential help from MAMBA ­ Dig out the pond – could be contracted ­ Replace the Winter St. gate. – looking into getting outside help for this ­ Old shelter outhouse. – small chance Yestermorrow might do this ­ Trail restoration of 2 miles of trail ­ Keep improving the rustic playground 8:50: Storywalk proposal Story walk is a long-standing event where a children’s book is read along a path in “stations” in the park. It is a free event and there is no cost to the parks, as part of the Walk n Roll week across the city. Carolyn motions to approve the Storywalk event setting up and taking place on May th​ th​ 16​ -17​. Bill seconds, all in favor. 9pm: Further discussion of subcommittees postponed until the next meeting. Meeting adjourned.