Parks, Property & Streets Committee Meeting

1 PARKS, PROPERTY & STREETS COMMITTEE MINUTES 2 MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2025 3 (Approved) 4 5 Agenda Item No. 1. Call Meeting to Order and Roll Call: 6 The June 2, 2025 monthly meeting of the Parks, Property & Streets Committee was called to order by 7 Committee Chair Louise Howson at 1:00 P.M. 8 9 Committee Members Present: Committee Chair Louise Howson and members Denise Bhirdo, Nate Bell, 10 and Mike Laszkiewicz. Jerry Ahrens was excused. 11 12 Staff Members Present: Village Administrator Julie Schmelzer, Parks & Streets Department Director Erik 13 Linczmaier and Clerk Heidi Teich 14 15 Others Present: Kurt Harff, Mike and Angela Fitzgibbons, Ellie Soderberg-Guger, Jill Wiebe, Erin Peddle, 16 Susan Gullick, Myles Dannhausen, Jr. and Chris Schmeltz. 17 18 Agenda Item No. 2. Approval of Agenda 19 A motion was made by Howson, seconded by Bell that the Agenda for the June 2, 2025 meeting of the Parks, 20 Property & Streets Committee be approved as amended to remove item 5.b. Motion carried – 3-1, with 21 Bhirdo opposed. 22 23 Agenda Item No. 3. Approval of Minutes 24 A motion was made by Bell, seconded by Laszkiewicz that the minutes for the May 5, 2025 be approved as 25 amended to correct a typo in the date. Motion carried – all ayes. 26 27 A motion was made by Bell, seconded by Howson to approve the minutes of the May 19, 2025 meeting of 28 the Parks, Property & Streets Committee as presented. Motion carried – All ayes. 29 30 Agenda Item No. 4. Comments, correspondence and concerns from the public: 31 Howson asked if anyone would like to comment regarding a non-agenda item. Angela Fitzgobbons, 10842 32 N Bay Shore Dr, was recognized and asked if this committee was an advisory or a rule-making body, as she 33 sees more trustees than citizen members being appointed, which is a structure that she is not familiar with. 34 Howson and Schmelzer responded to her questions by explaining the role and function of this committee 35 and extending the invitation to all citizens to seek appointment to a committee if they are interested. 36 37 Correspondence for this meeting was received from committee member Jerry Ahrens, who was unable to 38 participate today. The email, in which Ahrens shared his thoughts on several items appearing on today’s 39 agenda, was shared with the committee members prior to the start of the meeting. 40 41 Agenda Item No. 5. Discussion/Action Items 42 a. Ice Rink; Draft Lease 43 A draft land lease between the Village of Sister Bay and Friends of the Sister Bay Ice Rink, Inc., was 44 included in the meeting packet. The proposed agreement is for a ten-year term, and obligates the village 45 to renovate and maintain the ice rink for an annual sum of $1 from the Friends of the Ice Rink. An 46 operational agreement is pending. 47 48 During discussion on this item, Laszkiewicz asked if a survey detailing the exact description of the rink  Minutes of the June 2, 2025 meeting of the Parks, Property & Streets Committee – Approved 1 area will be required for insurance purposes. Schmelzer replied that the legal description included in the 2 document is fairly standard and has not been called into question on other documents which included a 3 similar description. 4 5 Laszkiewicz also felt the $1 million was low considering the sport being played on the rink. Schmelzer 6 replied that the amount is the village’s standard for all development agreements and Bhirdo brought up 7 the village’s protection under the recreational immunity law. 8 9 Myles Dannhausen, representing the Friends of the Sister Bay Ice Rink, was present and invited to share 10 any feedback on the draft. Dannhausen noted that he does have a more exact legal description of the 11 rink that he could share. He inquired about the lack of language in the agreement that clarifies that the 12 terms of the lease do not preclude the village from utilizing it during the summer months. Schmelzer 13 noted she is still awaiting a response from the village’s attorney on that issue. 14 15 Schmelzer asked Dannhausen if the group has received their Wisconsin non-stock non-profit corporation 16 status, and Dannhausen replied that they are registered with the State, but awaiting their 501(c)(3) 17 certification. 18 19 There were a number of other modifications to the draft presented, including: 20 • Section 2. Right to Renew and Section 3. Surrender and Termination should be modified to require 21 twelve (12) months prior notice of intent to not renew. 22 • Section 3. Surrender and Termination should be modified to separate the statement reading “in 23 the event the Operator fails to erect and operate the ice rink…” into two distinct clauses and 24 include the timeline of “within two years of the date of the agreement.” 25 • Section 2. Right to Renew includes a statement that the parties engage in good faith negotiations 26 to find an alternate location for the ice rink should the Landowner give notice of non-renewal. 27 Bhirdo asked for clarification of this statement and Dannhausen stated he would follow up with 28 his attorney. 29 • Section 6. Insurance should include the clause that certificates of liability insurance should be 30 automatically sent to the village and not require staff to request them on an annual basis. 31 • Section 8. Access to Property should include a statement that access be granted during the 32 months of December to March. 33 34 The suggested revisions to the documents will be made by Schmelzer and forwarded to Attorney Nesbitt 35 and Dannhausen for review, and then forwarded to the Village Board. Bhirdo requested that a track 36 changes version of the document be presented at that time. 37 38 Mike Fitzgibbons, 10842 N Bay Shore Dr. requested to speak, and asked if the new ice rink would impact 39 any of the existing ballfields at the sports complex. Howson responded that the ballfields would not be 40 affected in any way. 41 42 c. WPS Dark Sky Lighting Initiative; Streetlights 43 Schmelzer provided a staff report with further detail on the lumens of village streetlights. During 44 discussion, Bell clarified that lumens is a measure of light output, while wattage is the amount of energy 45 required so the two are not synonymous terms. 46 47 Bell noted his satisfaction with the lights as they are. Laszkiewicz noted that there are inconsistencies in -2-  Minutes of the June 2, 2025 meeting of the Parks, Property & Streets Committee – Approved 1 color of the lights and asked if this could be corrected. He also shared that the worst area of the village 2 for light pollution appears to be around the Door County Medical Center and Scand (Serenity Springs 3 Senior Living Facility). Howson shared her opinion that medium output lights are adequate. 4 5 It was the consensus of the committee that WPS be asked for the lowest possible output on the remaining 6 eight lights in the village that have yet to be converted. If nothing less than medium output is available, 7 then the request is for the medium output lights. 8 9 As an aside, Bhirdo asked if the committee could hold a future discussion on pedestrian crossing at the 10 intersection of Mill and N Bay Shore Dr. The decorative lights there do a fine job of illuminating the 11 sidewalk, but not the crosswalks. Schmelzer noted that any potential solutions to this issue will be need 12 to be researched and put into the budget. 13 14 Bell asked what the procedure is for removing streetlights should the public no longer want them in their 15 neighborhood. Schmelzer responded that affected landowners would approach this committee with that 16 request. 17 18 d. Concession Stand Bids; Resolution to Board 19 The village received a grant of $75,000 to construct restrooms at the sports complex concession stand. 20 A request for bids was let to find a contractor to complete the work at that price. However, all of the 21 bids received came in far over the budgeted amount. The options open to the committee now are to 22 accept the lowest bid (which is more than double the budgeted amount), or recommend to the board 23 that a Resolution be passes rejecting all bids. This would then allow the village to subcontract and 24 complete the work itself. 25 26 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Howson that a recommendation be made to the village board 27 to pass a Resolution to reject all bids received for the sports complex restroom construction and proceed 28 with hiring the village’s own contractor to complete the work. Motion carried – all ayes. 29 30 e. Post Office; Lease Renewal 31 32 The post office lease for the property at 10685 N Bay Shore Dr. is due for renewal. The procedure for 33 renewal has changed, and a brokerage commission is now part of the lease price. Per the postal service, 34 the lease amount cannot exceed $25,000, which includes a 4% commission to their broker. The term of 35 the lease would be five years. 36 37 Bhirdo was in favor of raising the annual fee to $25,000, and the renewal option be removed at Section 38 4 and made the following motion: 39 40 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Laszkiewicz to recommend to the Village Board that a lease 41 with the United States Postal Services for the property located at 10685 N Bay Shore Dr. be approved as 42 presented with a cap of $25,000 including the brokerage fee. 43 44 Bell was not in favor of accepting the lease with a limit of $25,000 as dictated by the USPS, and felt this 45 was a negotiable point. 46 47 After further discussion, the committee requested that Schmelzer ask the USPS for more information on -3-  Minutes of the June 2, 2025 meeting of the Parks, Property & Streets Committee – Approved 1 their reasons for a lease with a “not-to-exceed” amount. 2 3 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Laszkiewicz to rescind their prior motion. Motion carried – 4 all ayes. 5 6 f. Recycling Day Report 7 A report on the village’s annual recycling and shredding day event was prepared by Teich and included 8 in the meeting packet. She reported that, despite the lack of newspaper advertising, the event appeared 9 to be a success. Teich highlighted the move to the utilities plant as a better space for the event, and the 10 willingness of the utilities director to offer the location for future events. Laszkiewicz shared that he 11 participated in this year’s event and felt that it was very well done. 12 13 Schmelzer noted the remarks from Sunshine Resources which detailed the amount of shredding material 14 collected that did not need to be shredded, namely newspapers and magazines. In order to control 15 unnecessary costs, the committee members requested that future event notices include the specification 16 that shredding is for sensitive documents only. Newspaper and magazines will not be accepted. 17 18 Agenda Item No. 6. Staff Reports 19 Reports included in the meeting packet were provided by Parks & Streets Director Linczmaier and Village 20 Administrator Schmelzer. 21 22 Bhirdo raised a concern about the item in the Parks & Streets Director Report which mentioned a delay 23 in installing the swim raft at the beach. Linczmaier explained that the water is too cold at this time for a 24 staff member to dive in and locate the chain needed to secure the raft, which was broken over the the 25 winter. The committee suggested finding an experienced diver to assist, and Linczmaier noted that he 26 will inquire with the fire department. 27 28 Bhirdo also asked about the trees around the ball field which appear to be dying. Linczmaier explained 29 that the trees are planted on the slope and are not catching water as well as if they were on flat land. His 30 crew is trying alternative methods to save the trees, including changing fertilizer, the cessation of weed 31 trimming around the trees to preserve moisture, and more frequent watering. 32 33 Regarding the Administrator’s report, Schmelzer shared that the construction on the Parks Building has 34 now been delayed to August. Bhirdo suggested that this be referred to the June village board meeting 35 for further discussion, and the committee members concurred. 36 37 Agenda Item. No. 7. Matters to be Placed on a Future Agenda or Referred to a Committee, Official or 38 Employee: 39 It was the consensus of the committee that the following items be addressed at a future meeting of the 40 Parks, Property & Streets Committee: 41 • Review of the Ice Rink Operating Agreement 42 • Discussion on potential solutions for illuminating pedestrian crosswalks 43 • Review of the USPS lease for the property at 10685 N Bay Shore Dr. 44 • Discussion on alternate locations for parking related to the Marketplace Property encumbrances 45 46 Agenda Item No. 8. Next Meeting 47 The next regular meeting of the Parks, Property & Streets Committee has been scheduled for 1:00 P.M. -4-  Minutes of the June 2, 2025 meeting of the Parks, Property & Streets Committee – Approved 1 on Monday, July 7, 2025. 2 3 A special meeting of the Parks, Property & Streets Committee will be held at 1:00 PM on Monday, June 4 16, 2025. This meeting will start at the Waterfront Park Gazebo. 5 6 Agenda Item No. 10. Adjourn 7 At 2:31 P.M. a motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Laszkiewicz that the June 2, 2025 meeting of the 8 Parks, Property & Streets Committee be adjourned. Motion carried – All ayes. 9 10 Respectfully submitted, 11 Heidi Teich, Village Clerk -5-