Parks & Recreation Commission (Meets as needed/quarterly on 4th Thursday of each month at 5:00 p.m.)

PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION March 25, 2021 Virtual Meeting via Zoom Members Present: Keith Kern, Elizabeth Norén, Mike Almond, Nick Ledin, and Brittany Berrens-Markgren Members Excused: Jemal Broussard, Gene Rosburg Also Present: Linda Cadotte (Director of Parks, Recreation & Forestry), Matt Steiger (WI DNR), Russ Behlings (Parks Superintendent), Jodi Saylor (Administrative Assistant, Parks, Recreation & Forestry), Caitlin Knoll (Summer Playground Coordinator), Charlie Deville (Lake Superior Disc Golf Community), Deanna Erickson (Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve - LSNERR), David Grandmaison (WI DNR), Shelley Nelson (Superior Telegram) Councilor Kern called the meeting to order at 5:08 p.m. 1. Approve the minutes from March 11, 2021 MOTION by Ledin, second by Berrens-Markgren and carried to approve the minutes from the March 11, 2021 meeting. 2. Approve the 2021 Recreation Grants Recommendations MOTION by Ledin, second by Almond and carried to approve the 2021 Recreational Grant Recommendations. 3. Geese Management Presentation – Approve request for use of City property for round-up Matt Steiger (WI DNR) and Deanna Erickson (LSNERR) presented regarding the wild rice in the St. Louis River Estuary (SLRE). Due to the large population of geese, they are having an adverse effect on the wild rice restoration efforts. The geese are eating the plants before they have a chance to produce seeds, thus reducing the growth in following years. The group has tried many things to deter the geese but they have not been effective. Methods they have tried include flashers/mylar tape, carp exclosures, active harassment by kayakers, egg addling and special hunts. They are now requesting approval to use City lands to do a geese round-up. This would entail working with the DNR and the USDA, as well as some local assistance, for two days to gather as many geese and their goslings as they can. The question of doing more hunts was brought forth and those are much more difficult to do based on the regulation changes that would be required at both the State and Federal level. 1 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting March 25, 2021  Some of the proposed site are heavily used boat launches. Use of these launches should not be affected as this the round-up would happen one time at each location over the two days. It is as most a few hours at each site. At Loon’s Foot and Arrowhead, there are 2 lanes so it would likely be easy to avoid one lane at each site. The recommendation would be to hold the round-up on days the boat launches traditionally have less use. The WI DNR has created a new position that will start in April. That person would be the one coordinating this. As part of that, there will be a review of the 2014 management plan. At that time, the partners will better scope out the next few years of restoration and goose management and have a better look at specifics of population. They are not sure if a round- up would be necessary each year. They would rather start on fringes with a smaller round- up and expand if needed after that. There is the potential that it might take a few times to get a good handle on the goose population. Once it is completed, we will have a good sense of how much of an effort was needed and how successful it was. Every late summer the 1854 Treaty does a survey of how wild rice is doing in the bay so we will have a sense of the response right away this year. The City would not be asked to financially contribute to this round-up as it will be paid for out of the Great Lake Restoration Project Funding for wild rice sites. MOTION by Kern, second by Ledin and carried to approve the use of City property for the goose round-up. Deanna Erickson, Matt Steiger, David Grandmaison left meeting at 5:54 pm. 4. Disc Golf Baskets in all City parks The Lake Superior Disc Golf Community (LSDGC) is interested in having disc golf baskets put in every park in the City. Charlie Deville, from LSDGC, presented their ideas for making this happen. Since the course opened in the Superior Municipal Forest, it has gained notoriety amongst disc golfers. The authority on disc golf, udisc.com, put out a Top Ten Small Towns in America list in 2020 and Superior was number 3 due to the work LSDGC has been doing. According to Deville, disc golf is the fastest growing sport in America. During COVID, it was something people could continue to do as it is outside and easy to social distance. Their hope is to grow even more interest in the sport with having baskets in each park. These baskets would allow people to try it out and also to practice their putting. This would make Superior the first City in the US to have disc golf available at all City parks. It is a low cost sport for everyone as you only need a basket and a disc. The cost to put 36 baskets around the City in parks would be roughly $11,000. The LSDGC would volunteer to provide the labor to install the baskets. Deville shared some locations that would work for the baskets but these could be changed to ensure they are far enough away from streets, picnic tables and other activities happening in the parks. Since the budget is already set for the 2021 Capital Projects, this is a project that could be considered for 2022 or the future. If they were privately funded, perhaps sponsored by local businesses, there is potential for them to be installed sooner. 2 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting March 25, 2021  MOTION by Ledin, second by and carried to table this until June. Charlie Deville left the meeting at 6:14. 5. Bayside Sounds concert schedule/locations (receive and file) Caitlin Knoll – There are eight concerts scheduled in for each Wednesday starting July 7 through August 25th. There are eight different sites selected, and eight bands tentatively scheduled. All of them have performed for us in some capacity in the past. As of right now, we have 3 sponsors – Superior Choice Credit Union (title sponsor), Field Connolly and Kwik Trip. We also have a tentative sponsorship agreement from the American Legion Auxiliary (waiting for them to hold a meeting to officially confirm). We have collected $3,500 in sponsorships. Auxiliary has sponsored for $1,000 traditionally so potentially up to $4,500. We are pushing the concerts to start after 4th of July as the weather has been questionable in June in the past. There are two new locations added this year. There will be concerts at Kelly Park and at Bear Creek instead of Wade Bowl or having two at Billings Park as we have done in the past. MOTION by Berrens-Markgren, second by Ledin and carried to receive and file the Bayside Sounds concert schedule/locations. 6. 2021 Summer Playground Program Plan (receive and file) This year the program is going back to a 10 week schedule. It will take place June 14th through August 20th. Keeping the same six sites. They are planning to ease back into doing more than they could do last summer due to COVID. Knoll is talking to the school district about leasing a bus and they are hoping to use the YMCA again this year and Standup Paddle Boarding. They will not do as much offsite as was done in 2019 but will do more than they were able to in 2020. In an effort to do more onsite, Knoll is working on bringing more people to the parks such as Club Superior, Yoga, Zumba, and Chalk Art, as well as the recreational grant recipients. MOTION by Ledin, second by Almond and carried to receive and file the 2021 Playground Program Plan. 7. Approve locations for two new life jacket stations Approached by Keith Kessler who is on the Regional Trauma Advisory Committee that works on safety and preventing drownings. They would like us to submit a grant for more life jacket stations. Talked about building at the Barker’s Island Beach area. They came back and said they would fund two stations as well as replace any life jackets that went missing last year. The City received $2,500 and we will have two new life jacket stations. Through discussions, would prefer not to put one out at WI Point due to rip currents and not wanting people to be over confident when swimming there. The second location would potentially be at Barker’s Boat Launch. There are currently life jacket stations at 3 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting March 25, 2021  Arrowhead and Loon’s Foot Landing. MOTION by Norén, second by Ledin and carried to approve the locations for two new Life Jacket stations. 8. Ice Skating Season wrap-up (receive and file) Great season, had almost double the amount of skaters from last year. A nice presentation from the Winter Program Coordinator was included in the agenda packet. MOTION by Ledin, second by Norén and carried to receive the file the Ice Skating Season wrap-up. Council Kern commended Russ Behlings and his crew on doing a great job on the rinks this year. They are getting better each year. 9. Bench Sponsorship – held in Committee from December 17, 2020 MOTION by Ledin, second by Norén and carried to hold the Bench Sponsorship in committee. 10. Next regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission will be May 27, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. – should this meeting be virtual or in-person? Councilor Kern will keep in contact with Director Cadotte on the need for a meeting in June as well as a decision on having the May meeting be virtual or in-person. Councilor Kern announced the meeting adjourned at 6:03 p.m. Minutes submitted to the Council Meeting of April 7, 2021. 4 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting March 25, 2021