Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation

Zionsville Board of Parks & Recreation Meeting Minutes For Wednesday, November 8, 2023 At 7:00 P.M. EST ONSITE MEETING 1100 West Oak Street In Attendance: John Stehr - President, Jill Pack - Vice President, John Salewicz - Secretary, Kris Barksdale, Kimberly Lane, Coralie Palmer Absent: Ryan Cambridge Staff attending: Amy Nooning, Attorney OPENING Call to Order/Roll Call Stehr All right, I’m going to call to order this monthly meeting of the Zionsville Board of Parks and Recreation for Wednesday, November 8, 2023. The first thing we’re going to do is take roll. We have Vice President, Jill Pack? Pack Here. Stehr Secretary, John Salewicz? Salewicz Here. Stehr Kris Barksdale Barksdale Here. Stehr Kimberly Lane? Page 1 of 18 Lane Here. Stehr Coralie Palmer? Palmer Here. Stehr And let the record show that Ryan Cambridge is not here tonight but we have a quorum at 6 members and will continue then with the approval of the October 11th meeting. Has everybody had a – minutes, I should say. Has everybody had a chance to look at the minutes? Salewicz Yes sir. Stehr Anybody have any questions or comments? Salewicz No. Approval of the Minutes Stehr Do I have a motion to approve the October 11, 2023 minutes? Salewicz I’ll make a motion to approve the minutes from last month. Stehr John Salewicz makes a motion. Do we have a second? Lane Second. Stehr Kimberly Lane seconds. All in favor say aye. All Aye. Stehr All opposed? [No response] All right, good enough. Thank you very much. Let’s move on now. The next item on the agenda is Memorandum of Executive Session and that, I think, was carried over from last month’s meeting. That does not apply for tonight so we will move on to the next item which is Public Presentations and Comments. I see there’s no one in the room to make a presentation. Drew, is there anybody online that wants to make a comment? Page 2 of 18 Drew No. Parks Foundation Update Stehr No, we do not. Okay. So let’s go on to the next item which is the Parks Foundation Update and our Parks Foundation liaison is Jill Pack. Jill – Pack Okay, so they have, they’ve, they’ve been focusing a lot on their, finishing up their strategic plan in the last two months. They did, in the month of September there was a lot of work and discussion related to the dedication of the Carpenter Nature Preserve at their meetings. They did approve a new Board member who will take effect January 1st, Todd Settle. They, at at that meeting, had a question about where we are in the 5-Year Master Plan approval process which we answered for them prior to today so that’s done. And, and the October meeting was a very short meeting because they did finish up the strategic plan but they had been working with Amy Nooning on some documentation for naming opportunities at Carpenter Nature for year-end giving and looking at if they had any extra money that they needed to spend. Stehr Okay. Pack So, that was it. Stehr Great. Anybody have any questions for Jill on the Parks Foundation? Comments? All right, let’s move on to Staff Reports and up first is our Superintendent, Jarod Logsdon. Hello Jarod – Staff Reports Logsdon Thank you John. Good evening Park Board. Just a couple of updates from my report and, unfortunately, our Division Managers were unable to be here so if it’s all right with you all, I will just speed through all of the staff updates. All right – myself had been busy acquiring quotes for appraisals for the rental property opportunity at the Carpenter Nature Preserve for that shop which has been utilized as a base office for a vendor in the area in previous years. So still collecting those quotes for that process to continue. We want to welcome Megan who is our new part-time Events Coordinator within our Recreation Department. She joins us with years of experience in events and programming and we look forward to how she will impact our outreach into the future. Page 3 of 18 Also wanted to give a special kudos to our Natural Resource Technician, Sam, who was able to, with the assistance of the team, install all of the anticipated vegetation and reforestation projects throughout our park system on time before the weather decided to change for the season. So, a special shout out to Sam. That is a huge task. In addition to that, he also led several weed wrangles throughout our park system recruiting dozens of volunteers to help us combat honeysuckle in some of our most visible parks. The Friday, the Maplelawn Fright Nights event concluded with five events selling a total of 910 tickets, Nine hundred and ten (910) ghosts, goblins and witches and students joined us out at Maplelawn for the Fright Night event’s first annual showcase. Nine hundred ten (910) tickets is pretty impressive for a first year, even on Halloween night when temperatures dipped pretty low so we look forward to discussing that further with Maplelawn and exploring, continuing that in future years and we will provide a full financial report with that just as the final numbers come in. Speaking of numbers, we also sold 119 of those fancy 70’s themed Parks and Recreation shirts. So thanks to all of you who purchased one or a dozen for your families for the holiday season. With that, after expenses of the shirts and shipping, we were able to generate $946.61 towards future programming and, as you know, our Director of Recreation Services, Mindy, can really stretch $946 to impact a lot of lives. So that was a great opportunity for our park system. Speaking of programs, the Nature Center had 1,276 walk-ins in the month of October. So, still impressive numbers considering the fall break season when a majority of our community leave for the week. They also had an outreach of 1,965 contacts with our public programming and 747 of those members joined us at Trick or Trees at Elm Street Green, the annual trick- or-treating event in our park system. Switching over to Maintenance, the Maintenance staff has successfully winterized our park system. Our fountains, our seasonal restrooms at Mulberry Fields and our irrigation systems are now dormant ready for the winter freezes to come. They also removed the shade sails from our various play structures throughout the park system and a huge round of applause and thanks to our Director of Maintenance, Chris Flanagan, for his repair of the 875 crosswalk. That was definitely his goliath to go against this year and he succeeded and won so. We now have a safe crosswalk that alerts traffic as pedestrians enter into its beams. Page 4 of 18  In addition, the Maintenance team replaced fencing and parking bumpers at Mulberry Fields and bushhogged the pollinator meadows at the golf course. Speaking of the golf course, in October, the golf course generated $44,632 in revenue making a total for the year as of November 1 $573,280. So, continuing to set that new record for revenue generated at the golf course and that coincides with the record amount of rounds played which was 25,804. The dead and dying cottonwood on hole 5 was removed by a contactor and that soil will be amended and repaired so that players can access that as they hit their balls in that area in the future. And that is all from staff reports. Happy to answer – ope, I have one more I’m so sorry, two more. Related to the golf course, this Friday and Saturday there will be a closure so that we can aerate the greens. This is something we do each fall and it just helps the health and wellness of the greens so that they can heal over the winter season and be ready for our next annual season. And speaking of the greens, looking at the extended forecast, the anticipated last day for this 2023 season will be November 22nd. After that it looks like the temperatures are beginning to dip and as temperatures dip and ball marks are made, those don’t heal. So, squeaking out a couple more days in the fall is just going to be the detriment of the following season’s summer so, we lend ourselves to Mike Wall’s advice on the closure of the course annually. And that is all from staff reports. Stehr Any questions or comments for Jarod? Salewicz I have a question – this has to do with the Rail Trail and, by Mulberry, Mulberry Road. I was dropping my son off at school and I saw a car driving up the access point from the trail. It wasn’t like a construction, it was a car so is there going to be a bollard or something going to go there because it’s – Logsdon Yes. We’ve already discussed that and we thought it was just a golf cart that was slipping in so that’s very concerning. Salewicz It’s a car. It was definitely a, a car. Logsdon All right, we will get right on that. Page 5 of 18 Salewicz Okay. Stehr Yeah, that’s not good. We don’t want that. Anything else? Let me just say Mindy was never going to be here tonight, right? She’s excused but both Chris and Mike are down with the, some sort of winter crud so we hope they feel better soon. I assume they’re both watching so guys, hope you feel better soon. ?? I hope they’re not. Stehr And the next item on our agenda is staff report from the Parks attorney. Do you have anything, Amy? Nooning The items I have to comment on are all in the New Business. NEW BUSINESS Parks Donation: CNP Amphitheater Stehr Okay. Well, let’s move on to New Business then. Jarod, are you done with staff reports? Logsdon Yes. Stehr Okay, let’s go on to New Business. The first things under New Business is a donation to the Carpenter Nature Preserve for the amphitheater. I’ll just explain briefly what this is going to be. It’s going to come to us in three different donations over the next several years. They’re going to come by the end of the year for tax purposes, tax planning for the donors but this money will be segregated so it can be used for its intended purpose and this fits our timeline. We’re not going to be building an amphitheater in the next few years anyway so it’s fine to collect the money this way and it’ll be used for that purpose but Amy can explain more about how this is going to work. Nooning Sure, yes. Well I think it is anticipated that the money will flow through the Parks Foundation. Jill had mentioned that I have been speaking with the Parks Foundation about developing some paperwork to specifically address this donation. We’re envisioning creating a Memorandum of Understanding that will be signed by the donor, the Parks Board and the Parks Foundation just outlining some of the things that John said and going into a little bit more detail about the timing, the overall amount, the donors’ involvement in the project ongoing and Jarod and I are working Page 6 of 18  on some of the details there. None of the details are really solidified yet so the Parks, the MOU will be in front of you for your consideration at the December meeting. Stehr Okay. Nooning Also, the naming rights policy that you have all adopted is triggered by this. They are donating, in exchange for, having some naming rights associated with that donation. So, that will be one thing that’s addressed in the MOU is just that we’ll agree with the donor to work to come up with a, a naming recognition system whatever that may be, on a, a plaque or whatever is appropriate at the time to acknowledge the donors themselves. Stehr Okay. Any questions or comments about that? Yes? Lane Will this, will these, this series of donations be enough to fund the entirety of the amphitheater cost? Logsdon Yes, so there was a preliminary document circulated with the Foundation for the anticipated cost for several items that would go at the park. The great thing, the Carpenter Nature Preserve has been a series of gifts and opportunities so far and those continue as our community continues to invest in it so these donors approached us and they wanted to become a part of all the momentum that’s happening and put their name with our park system and help build its legacy. So, we quickly put together those estimates and they found interest in this amphitheater and how many lives that could touch for years go come so they were coming onboard with this so, again, this is our first major gift that we’re accepting under our new naming rights policy so we’re all learning together about crafting this MOU and should expedite this in the future for other donations but this really does come at a great time because we are just now beginning the design of the park so as this donation is anticipated, we can build it into design and not have to do that after for additional costs. Stehr Any other questions? The folks that are making this donation are friends of the Carpenters and they’re inspired by what they’re doing at the Carpenter Nature Preserve and what we have planned for there so that’s just the first great spinoff of, of obtaining the land for the Carpenter Nature Preserve. Page 7 of 18 Parkland Donation Letter of Interest And the next great spinoff is the next item on our agenda the donation letter of interest for future parkland. This is a landowner near the Carpenter Nature Preserve who was also inspired by the Carpenter Nature Preserve wishing to have her own impact. Jarod can talk about this more in a minute if he’d like to but this is an important part of the migration corridor for wildlife and this is an example of capturing land now for future use. This is going to be given to us in this donor’s will so it could be decades before we get it. We hope she lives a long and happy life and it does take decades but we are capturing this land now so sometime in the future there will be a park there and the, the letter that we have in our packet here is important and Amy can explain why it’s important. Nooning Yes, sure. We discussed this potential donation briefly several months ago and after that meeting I had been in communication with the school officials. As you can see, the school property is adjacent to this, this potential property and we’re proposing to the school to obtain an option to acquire an easement for that north-south drive on the easternmost part of the school property. In connection with those conversations, since this is a donation of property that we will not receive now and hopefully not for a long time because it will be part of her testamentary plan, we told the school that we would work with the donor and her attorney to secure a letter of intent to donate to provide to the school to give them some assurance that this is property that will come to the Park Board in the future. So, that’s how we’ve arrived at this letter of intent that we have before you tonight and going forward, I mean, this is, this is just the initial letter. We will continue to work with the donor and her attorney now to develop a Gift Agreement that will more specifically outline the terms of this gift and the use of this property in the future but if you are so inclined and, Jarod, if you have anything else to add before – Logsdon Just, just explain kind of the partnership with the school in this scenario. So, whenever we have these opportunities – well, let me backtrack one step further. So, our park system was really built on three things and that was opportunities, partnering with development and then private donations. So before the Carpenter Nature Preserve, our calculation was around 60% of our parkland was donated so definitely a generational opportunity for donations in our community and that’s part of our culture. So, when this family approached us, we wanted to do our due diligence and be sure that we could transform this parcel into a future public park and all the requirements that has for emergency service access and pedestrian and public access and future growth and development. So, this Page 8 of 18  parcel is a little landlocked so that is the reason we kind of surveyed the immediate area and found a partner in the school and it is our hope that someday this park, along with a future school, will have a similar set up to Zion and Eagle Elementary where those students get to benefit from a park in their backyard of their school where they have outdoor classes and regularly get to become involved in scientific exploration in the natural world. So just that on top of having opportunities for recreation for our Union Township residents in the future is a win-win for our park system. Stehr And it’s also a cornfield right now so it’s a blank slate. There’s nothing, nothing there. We’re going to have to build this park from the ground up literally. Yes? Lane Is it adjacent, like is it abutted to the Carpenter Nature Preserve? Stehr If, if you look at the screen here the Carpenter Nature Preserve would be to the right – Lane Okay – Stehr Just kind of off of the screen there just a little bit to the north. Lane Okay. Stehr So it’s close. Palmer Is it – sorry. Stehr Yes? Palmer Is it an active ____ 18:19 cornfield at the moment so is it still on the agricultural use? Stehr Yes. Logsdon Yep. Stehr And it will remain that way for the life of, of the owner, the current owner. But, again, that gives us an opportunity to build, to build what we or what the future Park Board at the time wants to build and so it’s a really great opportunity and, and the reason we’re doing it this way it’s kind of the chicken and the egg – it’s hard to go to the School Board and ask for an easement if we don’t have some assurance that we’re going to get the Page 9 of 18  property. So that’s why this has to come first before we can go to the School Board to get the easement from them. So once that all falls into place, hopefully it all falls into place and we can proceed and take ownership of this land one day. So, what we need tonight is a motion to approve the MOU? Nooning Yes. Stehr Okay. Nooning Well, no, the letter to accept the letter of intent to donate. Stehr Letter, letter of intent. Okay – Nooning Yes. Stehr To accept the letter of intent. Would anyone like to make a motion that we accept the letter of intent to donate this property to the Parks Department? Palmer I will. Stehr Coralie Palmer makes a motion to, to accept this letter of intent. Do we have a second? Salewicz I second. Stehr John Salewicz seconds. Let’s take a vote. Jill Pack? Pack Aye. Stehr John Salewicz? Salewicz Aye. Stehr Kris Barksdale? Barksdale Aye. Stehr Kimberly Lane? Lane Aye. Stehr Coralie Palmer? Page 10 of 18 Palmer Aye. Stehr And I say aye as well making it unanimous 6 to nothing. Thank you everyone. Legal Services Contract 2024 Okay, the next item under New Business is the Legal Services Contract with Amy for the new year. I will point out that this contract is identical to the one we have for this year and as we’re getting close to the end of the year I think it’s probably prudent to get this in place for next year. The final payment to Amy for this year is going to be made in December but this, we can approve this tonight, we can wait until December if the Board would rather do that but it really is identical to last year. It’s very simple and to the point. Do you want to speak about it at all? Nooning I think you’ve pretty much said it all. The only thing that’s changed is the dates. Stehr The only thing that’s changed is the date. Nooning Yep. Stehr So any, any discussion on that? Salewicz No. I make a motion to approve. Stehr Oh, John Salewicz makes a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Palmer Second. Stehr Coralie seconds. She beat ya. All right, let’s take a vote. Jill Pack? Pack Aye. Stehr John Salewicz? Salewicz Aye. Stehr Kris Barksdale? Barksdale Aye. Page 11 of 18 Stehr Kimberly Lane? Lane Aye. Stehr Coralie Palmer? Palmer Aye. Stehr And I accept as well or I say yes as well so we accept this contract and it passes 6 to nothing. All right, Jarod, is there anything else? Memorial Bench Donation Request Logsdon We do have the Memorial Bench Donation Request. So that is another bench to be added to our park system. This one will also be on the Rail Trail which we have plenty of space for along its 5-mile corridor. So with your approval, we will begin to work with this donor, order the bench and have it installed just as soon as it’s received. Salewicz Where’s the location set for? Logsdon It’s either going to be near Overley-Worman Park on the Rail Trail or towards Heritage Trail Park in the dog park. Salewicz So _______. 21:24 Logsdon Yep, either end. Stehr And this is in honor of a, of a man who passed away recently and he really did walk the whole trail every day. I used to see him out there all the time so this will be a nice memory to him. Any questions or comments about that? Salewicz No. Stehr All right. Pack I move to approve. Stehr Jill Pack makes a motion – Page 12 of 18 Barksdale I’ll second. Stehr To approve. Barksdale I’ll second. Stehr Kris Barksdale seconds. All in favor say aye. All Aye. Stehr All opposed? [No response] All right, let the record show it passes 6 to nothing. All right anything else under New Business, Jarod? Logsdon That is all. OLD BUSINESS Overley-Worman Park Stehr Want to move to Old Business then? The first item there is Overley- Woman Park. Logsdon I just wanted to provide an update. The contractor has returned to the site this week to begin to knock out those final punch list items. We will continue to work closely with them inspecting the work along the way to finally close out this project and bring a complete park by the year’s end. So, just wanted to provide that update. Trees should be installed in the next week or two with the subcontractor that will replace those trees that perished over the previous year. Happy to answer any questions related to Overley-Worman Park. Salewicz So the pressures we put on has pushed them to get the work done? Logsdon Yes and they are making good on their word. They have returned and are starting to knock out those items so we’ll continue to hold them to the specifications of the contract. I do hope that that work gets finished out and we can complete the project. Page 13 of 18 Stehr Well, since Tricia’s here and we have a minute, do you want to come up and comment on what’s happening there at Overley-Worman and your level of confidence that we’re heading on the right track here? McClellan Yeah, I, I was out there last week and they hadn’t been out there last week so they’ve just been out there this week. I did hear from them that they were going to be out there so I haven’t been out there to see what they’re working on yet. I know they were going to start with the grading and then the concrete they’re planning to do at the beginning of December. So that will be somewhat weather dependent. Cold temperatures aren’t as much of a problem. We can cover it, they can blanket it so they can still get that work done. So, they seem to be ready to get the work done. Stehr Good. All right, well let’s hope that we can move forward in a positive way on this. Do we think this will be done by the end of the year before winter takes hold? McClellan Yes, their schedule showed it was at the beginning of December. I think it was basically that second week of December that they were going to be done and, and wrapped up with their work. Stehr Right. McClellan Now, they didn’t start quite as soon as their schedule said so that may shift a little bit. Stehr Great, okay. Thank you. Any questions for Tricia on that? No? Okay. All right, Jarod – Rail Trail Widening. Rail Trail Widening Logsdon I just wanted to provide an update for the Rail Trail widening. All asphalt is down. All topsoil is down and the seed has been spread. So, we will be having a punch list walkthrough on Monday to identify any items that need repaired and we will hopefully sign off on this project very soon but the community has begun to enjoy it and the scars of construction hopefully will heal soon and we’ll have a complete Rail Trail I promise not to touch for a minute. Stehr Any questions or comments about the Rail Trail widening? Salewicz It’s fantastic. Page 14 of 18 Rail Trail Trailhead Stehr Okay, the Rail Trail Trailhead – hopefully we’ll be opening that soon and the sculpture will be in place and we’ll be good to go. Logsdon Yes. So, the project is, the majority of it is done. There’s just a simple punch list item or two that we’re waiting on. This is providing some time for that donor to install the sculpture in the roundabout. So we are anticipating a November 30th ribbon cutting ceremony for this final piece of our Rail Trail and that’ll be at 10 a.m. at the Zionsville Road Trailhead. The public is welcome to join and with that will be the completion of all projects within the Next Level Trails grant we received in 2021. We will close out that grant and next month we will have an item on the agenda for you to approve adding that restrictive language to those deeds associated with the remaining parcels of the project so that it remains a trail in perpetuity in our Town. Stehr That’ll be a nice development. Where is the zero mile marker going to go? Logsdon The zero mile marker is going very close to Zionsville Road where that trail spurs off. So we get to be double zero. I made sure of that – Stehr Yeah. Logsdon And that will begin a half mile marker that emergency services can use as well as the public throughout the trail corridor so. I actually just received an update today inquiring when that contractor will be onsite to install those signs. So, those half-mile markers across the whole county were a gift from the Community Foundation so we appreciate their support of our Rail Trail and helping keep our community safe. Stehr Yeah, if you think of how far we’ve come in the past couple years it’s really a great thing. It just looks terrific. It looks great and it’ll be nice to get that trailhead up and running. The sculpture on the side of it is really cool too, not the sculpture but the mural on the side of it it’s really cool. And the sculpture is going to add a lot as well so if you haven’t had a chance to stop by there and stand on the spot where you can see the mural from the best view it’s, it’s really pretty amazing so. All right, any other comments or questions on that? Salewicz I have a question. I remember hearing years ago there was talk of like connecting to Indianapolis. Have you heard anything about that? That was years ago so. Page 15 of 18 Logsdon Earlier this year we spoke with them. I told them our ambitions of an Eagle Creek trail and how that could eventually connect to their Eagle Creek Park and that would be the ultimate dream of connecting Eagle Creek to Carpenter Nature Preserve and having that entire corridor protected. They’re onboard, they just have a little bit more acquisition than we do concerning some of the parcels that are chopped up as Eagle Creek goes through their jurisdiction but we did discuss the Big 4 Rail Trail and currently they are working to include bike facilities but that’ll be both roadside pathways as well as shared lanes and things like that to get people to Eagle Creek Park from the Big 4 Rail Trail and incorporate that into their, their trail network so. Salewicz Okay. Logsdon Definitely on the, the, the minds of both municipalities in working together to make those connections. Salewicz Excellent. Stehr And, again, just so I can repeat it – November 30th is the target date for the ribbon cutting there. We’ll certainly reach out to you and make sure that you get plenty of notice for that. Hopefully we can get a good showing for that. All right, anything else under Old Business or Other Board Related Items? Logsdon That is all from me. Just one more update I guess – the 5-Year Master Plan should be in front of Town Council at the November 20th meeting. This is the final step for adoption and then that’ll influence our Comprehensive Plan moving forward. Claims Stehr Great. Anybody have anything they’d like to talk about? No? Okay, claims. Now, this is the second sending of the claims. The first was the wrong month. What you should have in front of you now is the current month. Everybody have a chance to look at that? Any questions or comments? There were a couple of large expenses on there for the Fright Night but we spoke about those earlier and we did break even on that and the hope is that next year it’ll be even better. Word of mouth is going to create an even better attendance for that so we have that to look forward to next year. All right, with that in mind, do I have a motion to accept the claims as presented? Page 16 of 18 Salewicz I’ll make a motion to present the, to accept the claims as presented. Stehr John Salewicz makes a motion. Do we have a second? Lane Second. Stehr Kimberly Lane seconds. Let’s take a vote. Jill Pack? Pack Aye. Stehr John Salewicz? Salewicz Aye. Stehr Kris Barksdale? Barksdale Aye. Stehr Kimberly Lane? Lane Aye. Stehr Coralie Palmer? Palmer Aye. Stehr And I make it unanimous as well. All right, before we adjourn, I just want to say that with Thanksgiving coming up I just want everybody to know how thankful I am that we are able to work with Jarod and Mindy and Chris and Mike and the rest of the Parks Department staff. They have done so much this year to manage the parks that we have and also plan for future growth. Also, Amy and Tricia and all of our Board members here. I think we can all have some share of that success and I’m, I’m really thankful to be able to work with all of you as well. So, I just wanted to say that as we approach Thanksgiving. And if no one has anything else, do I have a motion to adjourn? Adjournment Salewicz I’ll make a motion to adjourn. Stehr John Salewicz makes a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second? Page 17 of 18 Barksdale I’ll second. Stehr Kris Barksdale seconds. All in favor say aye. All Aye. Stehr All opposed? [No response] All right that’s it – 29 minutes might be a new record. Salewicz It is. Stehr Don’t forget you have some paperwork to sign before we leave the room and our final meeting of the year is next month on December 13th so we hope to see you all there. Thank you very much and have a good night. _____________________________________ ________________________________ John Stehr, President John Salewicz, Secretary Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Black Parks MAC Professional – 12/13/2023 Page 18 of 18