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LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES FEBRUARY 05, 2014 Page 1 of 5 CITY OF LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL/PARK COMMISSION JOINT WORKSHOP MINUTES FEBUARY 11, 2014 Mayor Pearson called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm. PRESENT: Mayor Mike Pearson, Council Members Wally Nelson, Anne Smith and Mike Reeves. Parks Commission Chairman Shane Weis, Commission Members Pam Hartley, Mike Zeno, Sarah Heitpas, Jacob Silvernale, Dana Nelson and Mary Frick. NOT PRESENT: Council Member Bloyer, Commission Members David Steele and Jon Ames Also Present: Deputy Clerk Beckie Gumatz, Public Works Director Bouthilet PLEDGE OF ALLIGENCE PURPOSE OF WORKSHOP Mayor Pearson goes over purpose of workshop. Ordinance Requirement. Chairman weis recapped the last 6 months of progress. Talked about parks survey. Used to design next years CIP. Audit of 6 community parks and neighborhoods. Use to prioritize park refurbishing fund. 3 parks priority this year, pebble, reid and tablyn. Been working with nick Johnson and Washington county on bike trail. Council member reeves added about park retreat. Spent time defining role of parks commission. Parks commission developed really good focus. Been a very productive last 6 months. Chairman weis, developed sunfish lake sub committee. Addressing best they can. Hartley on subcommittee. Commissioner Hartley spoke on subcommittee. Notes from commissioner steele. Work on developing plan of action for this year. Items to be considered are paving parking lot, survelince cameras, tree planting at west entrance. A lot of ideas tossed around, watch tower, interpretive center with rest room, widening trails, holding educational events, talk about developing geocaching. Mayor pearson asked if there are other subcommittees for other parks. Weis says only sunfish lake right now. Hoping to have task list by june or july. Commissioner frick thinks its premature at this point to bring up ideas, she has ideas. Has been advised to not go into much detail at this point. Council member reeves said commission trying to be atuned to having sunfish lake more utilized. Trying to figure out hwo to have better uses for the park. Commissioner heitpas mentioned that even when there’s no one in park, it serves very important purpose. Wildlife habit. Preserving nature. Council member Smith offered historical perspective. Park was never meant to just sit and not be used. Problem is that it sits off the road. Looked at many things over last 10 years. If want to attract people to the park, you gotta give them something to do. 20 acres set aside, 15 to go prairie, 5 made for usage. Idea of interpretive center or ice skating rink. Right now there is no reason for people to go there. Would like to see sunfish lake task force Frick has put out ideas that do address council’s issues, one of which is bringing people in. speaks about a nature center or interpretive center. Spoke about programs that other communities have. Council member smith spoke about taking kids to national parks. Excited about some of the ideas that may be brought forth