Park Board

Park Board Work Session Minutes May 9, 2023 Park Board Members Present: Ron Brunk, Ray Boksich, Jim DeHerrera, Terri Dunn, Melissa Hartman, Antonia Malchik Park Board Members Absent: Frank Sweeney City Staff Present: Maria Butts, Jennie Bradford, Jen Sybrant, Philip Hodge A. Call to Order at 5:03 p.m. B. Interviews 5:00 Bailey Kallal – Bicycle and Pedestrian Path Advisory Committee High School Representative 5:15 Ross Fletcher – Tree Advisory Committee 5:30 Mary Behrendt – Bicycle and Pedestrian Path Advisory Committee 5:40 Wendy Coulson – Bicycle and Pedestrian Path Advisory Committee 5:50 Nia Malchik – Bicycle and Pedestrian Path Advisory Committee C. Public Comments: NA Park Board Meeting Minutes May 9, 2023 Park Board Members Present: Ron Brunk, Ray Boksich, Jim DeHerrera, Terri Dunn, Melissa Hartman, Antonia Malchik Park Board Members Absent: Frank Sweeney City Staff Present: Maria Butts, Jennie Bradford Guests: Cassie Lasson A. Call to order at 6:13 p.m. B. Approval of the May 9, 2023, Agenda. Motion to approve the agenda as amended (added appointment of Park Board members to committees) made by Member Dunn, seconded by Member Malchik. All ayes. C. Approval of the April 18, 2023, minutes. Motion to approve made by Member Boksich, seconded by Member DeHerrera. All ayes. D. Public Comment: NA E. Committee Reports: a. Bicycle/Pedestrian Committee: Malchik reported that Public Works is still working on a contract for engineering services for Riverbend Trail. Council has given approval to move forward with this. Public Works Director Workman is working on a more aesthetically appealing jersey barrier design on the viaduct. Public Works Engineer Hilding provided an updated project list. There is an upcoming meeting with FWP to discuss trails needing their approval. Bike/Walk to Work Day is at 4pm on May 24th at the intersection of Railway and Central. John Phelps attended Resort Tax Committee meeting to request funds for Riverbend Trail Project. b. Tree Advisory Committee: Member Dunn shared April 28th was Arbor Day and the Urban Forestry Department along with Tree Committee Members and the Whitefish Middle School celebrated by planting 4 trees in Depot Park. c. WSFF: President Brunk shared the committee has not met since the last Park Board meeting but is meeting tomorrow. They will be talking about parking on the grass at the Ice Den that occurred a few weeks ago. d. WAG: Member Boksich shared at this time it does not look feasible to have food/beer trucks at WAG. This is still being discussed amongst the board, but they are not ready to present a proposal. F. Presentations: a. Oath of Office: Member DeHerrera, Dunn, and Malchik were sworn in and signed an oath. These were then given to Director Butts to sign who will forward them to City Clerk Howke. G. Public Hearings: NA H. Old Business: NA I. New Business: a. Consideration of design for Armory Park Monument Plaques Cassie Lasson of Front Desk presented her design to the board. She shared she is working on obtaining quotes for them. To answer Member Boksich, she stated the existing plaque faces south, and the new plaques would be recessed and of the same thickness to maintain consistency. Vice President Hartman made a motion to approve obtaining and installing the plaques. Seconded by Member Dunn. All ayes. J. Other Items: NA K. Items from the Parks and Recreation Department a. Administrative Report: Director Butts shared there is movement on the Cloud 9 encroachment. The City Attorney connected with the property owner but hasn’t heard from this within the past week. The owner’s real estate agent was included in email correspondence to property owners. Director Butts shared FAMB agreed to ½ the cost of landscaping at the pump track. Director Butts is meeting with Forestoration tomorrow to further discuss this. Work has resumed at Armory Park. Director Butts submitted the first request for LWCF reimbursement.  In the packet are aerial photos taken of Depot Park on April 28th. Turf maintenance is scheduled later in May. Parks staff has done some work on the turf. Operations Specialist Bradford is to forward photos to the Chamber of Commerce to advise the Park Board will evaluate the damage and recovery of the park at next month’s meeting and decide on the future use of Depot Park for Oktoberfest. The board requested aerial photos of Depot Park be taken just before Memorial weekend. Director Butts discussed recycling cans at Depot Park. She reminded the board that last August staff conducted an audit of the recycling containers for 1-week. Each day they were contaminated. Director Butts reminded the board that Whitefish does not currently have a recycling service. If the city paid Republic Services they would take it to Pacific Steele, but if it were contaminated it would go in the landfill and the city would be charged regardless. Director Butts shared she spoke to the director of multiple cities in MT last summer, and all shared they face the same problem and do not know what the solution is. There does need to be better education on recycling. Another problem with public recycling containers in the park is that recycling needs to be rinsed first. We do not have this available in Depot Park. We also don’t recycle plastic in the valley. Director Butts shared her thought on removing them from Depot. Initially she thought we could remove the recycling stickers and utilize them as garbage cans, but the bins look too much like recycling containers to work for trash. She reminded the board that events are moving towards zero-waste, and at events, organizers are manning recycling at events to ensure compliance. Director Butts will add the removal of the recycling bins at Depot Park to the June agenda. Lastly, Director Butts shared WCVB reached out to request adding kiosks to park, namely City Beach. Member Dunn felt City Beach would be good place to have one due to high traffic and many being visitors. Member Boksich agreed. Vice President Hartman was not opposed. The board collectively agreed they were ok with staff choosing the best location for the kiosk. b. Recreation Coordinator Report: NA c. Maintenance Report: NA d. Community Services Coordinator Report: NA L. Correspondences: NA M. Items from the Park Board: a. Appointment of Bicycle and Pedestrian High School Representative position: A motion to appoint Bailey Kallal was made by Member Malchik and seconded by Member Dunn. All ayes. b. Appointment of Tree Advisory Committee position: A motion to appoint Ross Fletcher made by Member Boksich and seconded by Member Dunn. All ayes. c. Appointment of Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee positions: A motion to appointment Mary Behrendt and Antonia Malchik made by Member Boksich. Seconded by Vice President Hartman. Member Malchik abstained. Remaining 5 board members were in favor. A motion to reappoint Doug Reed was made by Member DeHerrera and seconded by Member Malchik. Doug Reed is the only member who is on the Resort Tax Committee. All ayes.  d. Appointment of Park Board members to sub-committees, and appointment of president and vice president. Member Dunn will remain on the Tree Advisory Committee, Member DeHerrera will continue with Bike Ped, Member Boksich will remain on the WAG Board, and President Brunk on WSFF. Member Boksich made a motion to keep Ron Brunk as president and Melissa Hartman as vice-president. Seconded by Member Malchik. President Brunk and Vice President Hartman abstained. Remaining 4 members moved to approve. N. Items from the Park Board: Member Malchik requested an update on the fruit trees in town. We will be following the same procedure as last year and collecting fruit. Member Dunn shared we cannot remove fruit bearing trees on private property, and added we need to assess the impact of the new bear proof cans first. She shared that if we did remove fruit trees, we would use a tiered approach. O. Adjourned at 7:25, motioned by Member Dunn and seconded by Vice President Hartman. All ayes.