12-02-2020 Park Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Park Board December 2, 2020 Page 5 APPROVED MINUTES DeGardner stated that the Council did commit to significant funding for park improvements for 2021. For example, Council approve $15,000 for new lights and a timer at Sunrise Park, funding for the Wenzel farm board walk segment that needs to be replaced, $5,000 for engineered wood fiber, and there is discussion about making some trail repairs. These improvements will be made through the Parks Department fund but the Council did not allocate the $90,000 for 2021. For discussion purposes for tonight the $271,000 undesignated fund balance would be the extent of funding available for any potential Park & Trail projects for 2021. Kusterman stated that he can appreciate that the Council is making those repairs and filling critical needs but he is worried about the current problem which is that there are play structures within the City that are getting old and unsafe and that there is no money being set aside to replace them. He is worried that if the Council does not continue to set aside funding each year that the funding will eventually stop and structures like Brandywood will not get replaced. Huelman stated that keeping the pressure on the Council because just to replace the structures now without any amenities is 1.3 million so there is a “big hole” that is there that needs to be filled. In the end the constant reinvestment in the parks and trails system is vital. Mayor Rob Rafferty stated that we are in a COVID crisis, as it is being described, and it is affecting everyone. Everyone should keep that in mind when making decisions about the budget. The current budget is related to COVID. It’s the “Unknown” of what COVID will bring going forward. The mission of the Council was to bring funds forward. At one point, they were going to pull the $375,000 from the Park & Trail fund to help balance the budget. The budget is balanced in a flat rate. Last year it was 39.87 and they lowered it to 39.47. He stated that the comments from Mr. Kusterman were not far off, yet they are. He went onto say that the council will not forget about the neighborhood parks. He reminded everyone that they just came out of a recession in 2008 and it had effected the budget for the coming years which made it hard to get the dollars that were needed for the parks and trails. Huelman stated that there is $271,000 in the Parks & Trails fund. He asked the Park Board members what they thought they should do with it? He states that he has heard people say that the funds should be spread around. Expand Lino Park, put in some open air shelters at other parks? Thoughts? What should the priority be? Jensen stated he doesn’t think they should put the money into Lino Park as it’s too big of a project. He suggests smaller projects that will make a big impact. Kusterman stated he thought that they should start replacing playground equipment. Huelman stated he didn’t think that only replacing playground equipment would be doing the City any favors. He is worried that if they just replace a playground at a park they might limit themselves on how and when they can replace the other items. He gave the example of Lino Park stating that one of the key issues of the park is needing more separation between the parking lot and the playground. He thought the should start Lino updates but maybe wait on replacing the shelter and put the money into a small playground as they are far behind on the master plan.