- Well, it's five o'clock. Good afternoon I will call to order the July meeting of the Bloomington board of park commissioners So first Kim if we could have a roll call Here Jim Whitlatch Here and Kathleen Mills is absent today great so still with three members so we do have a quorum and
- So we can move through our regular business then. First item on the agenda is our consent calendar, which is a bundle of our minutes, claims, credit card refunds and surplus, as well as some smaller agreements, partnership agreements and just a few other small things that don't require a separate agenda item.
- Any questions about the consent calendar? Move, we approve. Second. All right. So we'll do a roll call vote because we have a member present on Zoom. So Kim, could you please call the roll? Yes. Ellen Rodke. Yes. Israel Herrera. Yes. Jim Whitlatch. Yes. All right. Motion carries.
- And consent calendar is passed and then moving into section B our public hearing and appearances. So first we'll hear from all and only we'll hear from Emily Burke with the Bravo Award. Good afternoon everyone. Emily Burke.
- Community Relations Coordinator, and staff would like to recommend Lee McKinley for the June slash July 2025 Bravo Award. So I would like to recognize Lee with this award. Jillian Field says, Lee joined the Adopt a Greenspace program in April 2022. By adopting Creek's Edge Trail, Lee's steady presence and time caring for his greenspace has helped to expand volunteer attendance both at his home-based location and in many other parks.
- In all weather types when someone like Lee with his friendly manner and willingness to always lend a hand is alongside us. We know we have the makings of a team. We deeply appreciate his can do attitude as our program has grown as a weed wrangler Lee has supported other adopt a green space volunteer leaders at their sites.
- and has rotated through learning each season's native and invasive plant species and their control methods. Lee's consistency and presence has shown other volunteers how a community-led initiative can be a very positive experience. In addition, Lee's sense of humor is contagious and always present as he assists us with activities such as oak seedling care, tree planting, restoration projects, and native habitat demonstrations.
- We are so grateful for his willingness to be part of our environmental efforts. And I would like to thank Lee for choosing to spend his time with us. He sends his regards. He is at a Monroe County Health Board meeting, I believe. But he says thank you to everyone, and he has his umbrella. So that will serve him well this summer, I'm sure. Thank you. Thanks, Lee, also. Maybe I'll see this later.
- And I'm perhaps he can come back and entertain us with his sense of humor in the future. OK great. Well then moving on to your section see our other business. First we'll hear from Leslie Brinson on an agreement with the word fence plus recreation services general manager.
- Here today filling in for Sarah Mullen asking approval of a fence contract with award fencing for the removal and Of the current fence in an installation of a new fence at Willie Streeter Garden The total for the contract is thirty six thousand one hundred and eighty three dollars The plastic fence and gates at Willie Streeter have been degraded by weather mowing wildlife and just general use and are in need of replacement
- The new chain link fence will be aesthetically more pleasing, will reduce staff hours related to fence maintenance, and will help with wildlife management, redirecting their time to other needs as we, and increased gardener satisfaction. We did ask for quotes. We reached out to three, got two. This is the lowest bid that we received. Happy to answer any questions. Sure the deer won't like it, but the gardeners will.
- Yes. So I move the agreement with our fans and see for new fans that we list a community card. Do you second, Jim? Oh, is he frozen? Oh, it's frozen. I didn't I wasn't able to hear. Is that it? Well, I couldn't hear.
- I heard Israel sort of talking, but I couldn't. Jim, you got really quiet. Hang on, we're trying to figure it out. Can you try again, Jim? Can you hear me now? Oh, there you go. We'll have to remember that one. OK. OK, I think it's coming up. Try one more time. Can you hear me? Yes, there we go. 1, 2, 3. OK. OK. Can we add? Israel made a motion, and then I need to second.
- Second I wasn't able to hear Israel very well either so or Anyone else so but now I think it's better one two three. Yeah All right, so Kim will call a roll call vote, please Yes, Israel Herrera, yes Yes. All right motion passes. Thanks Leslie. Thank you. I
- All right next we'll hear from Sean Marler for the switch yard park storage building Staff recommends approval of the contract with Oscars Contracting Inc to have them build to have them secure utilities Materials complete a building permit and build install a 24 foot wide by 24 foot long storm shed
- At switch yard park. It'll be right next to the H vac enclosure on the south side of the pavilion I'm happy to answer any other question. Oh the amount is not to exceed 20,000 24,400 Funding source would be the switch yard park general fund. I'm happy to answer any other questions Well, I was glad to see that I guess this is finally getting funded because it seems that it was not a
- Able to make it actually get over the finish line in the past few years Yes, this has been on the list every year on the budget since 2020 and a couple of times it even got approved through the regular budget but only to get cut later so yeah and And you'll see that I measured the distance from the front door of the pavilion to the switchyard maintenance building It's literally the length of a football field and every time we have a large event Staff are walking back and forth 10 15
- Yeah, 10, 15 times. They're literally walking a hand truck full of chairs or manually rolling tables back and forth 10, 15 times.
- Okay, we're I'm glad we can get this done and is the concrete poured already the pattern actually just today operation started digging out the Spot and putting up some of the the wood framework. So we're hoping to have the concrete Weather permitting we've been trying to do the last couple of weeks. We've had a lot of rain so Should be done soon. Hopefully great Question
- Move we approve. I second. All right. And a roll call vote. Yes. Israel Herrera. Jim Whitlach. All right. Motion passes. Thanks Sean. Thank you. All right. And next one from Mark. Oh Kido is here for Mark about a partnership agreement with Areology. Good afternoon.
- Satoshi Kido from Sports. Mark Stern, unfortunately, he cannot make it today, so I'm pinch-hitting for him. Staff recommends approval of this agreement. The total revenue from this agreement is estimated 3,600 annually. Both Bloomington Parks and Rec Department and the Roll Up Pens of ideology wish to provide an opportunity for the Bloomington community.
- to participate specialized fitness programs related to aerial silks that are designed to meet the needs of youth and adults in the community and promote health and well-being through participation. Sounds like a great program. Any questions? Any questions?
- No, no move to approve second. All right. And a roll call vote. Aye. Aye. Jim Whitlach. Aye. Thank you. Motion passes. Thanks Kito. We'll see you back here in just a minute. And Mary will tell us about a new plant mapping ecologic. Good evening everybody.
- Mary Wells natural resources manager for a city for operations division. I'm here to present a contract for approval with eco logic at switch yard park for invasive species mapping and G.I.S. consulting.
- Staff recommends the approval of the contract with Ecologic for broad-level mapping and GIS consulting for all non-landscaped natural areas in Switchyard Park. The total contract amount is $9,605. Just to give you a little bit of background, the contract would entail one year of broad-level invasive species mapping in approximately 26 acres.
- So all the non landscaped areas they will also provide GIS consulting to establish baseline data at switch yard park and give us best management practices to improve our internal GIS mapping and management planning at other parks as well as that switch yard park I'd be happy to take any questions at this point Any questions
- No questions. Do they just like tag. Like where plants are I guess where I mean because I think about like tree mapping and it's like OK it's a tree but I mean individual plants like.
- I guess I'm just curious. Maybe individual occurrences for what we would call like an early detection species or something that we had done a good job of eliminating, but for the most part it will be tracking percent densities and kind of just giving us areas where they're at so that we can go back in two, three, five years and actually track success rates. Yeah, that'd be fascinating. Very cool. Any other questions? I don't have any.
- So I move with the agreement for ecology for invasive land mapping at Sweet Yard Park. Second. All right. And roll call vote. Ellen Rodkey. Yes. Israel Herrera. Jim Whitlach. All right. Motion carries. Thanks so much Mary. Thank you. All right. And back to keto for a couple of contracts.
- Sato Shikido from sports division. Chris Hamrick supposed to present this, but Chris and his wife Mary got the baby earlier this month. So he's off for two weeks. Congratulations. I am happy to present this. Staff recommend renewing the leasing agreement with CTM services. The contract will last from August 15, 2025 to March 27, 2026.
- and the total price of this leasing agreement is $32,000. This is the second year of leasing agreement with Olympia ice resurfacer at the Frankshausen Ice Arena. Purchasing a new Zamboni cost $270,000. The Bloomington-Parks and Lakes Department decided to lease ice resurfacer rather than purchasing in 2024.
- be one one year. Right. For the whole. That's basically for the whole season then. Yeah. Yeah. No questions. No questions. So I move to I move with the agreement with CDM services for 2025 2026.
- San Boni lease second. Great. And we'll have a roll call vote. Ellen Rocky. Aye. Israel Herrera. Aye. Jim Whitlach. Aye. All right. Motion passes and then we'll hear from Kido about the annual golf scramble fee waiver. Satoshi Kido from sports division.
- Staff recommends the fees for Bloomington Parks Foundation annual golf scramble be waived. This event is a fundraiser for Bloomington Parks Foundation. The tournament generally rates $5,000 to $9,000. The foundation provides scholarships for Bloomington Parks and Rec programs such as Kids City summer camp, golf camp, swim lessons, and Bloomington youth basketball.
- The Shotgun Start is at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 27th at the Cascade Golf Course. And we welcome any park board members that would like to participate in this tournament. I agree. I'm not a golfer, but I'd invite members of the public to sign up and support our Parks Foundation. Thank you. Ryan.
- Any question Jim? No questions. So I move with the Bloomington Park Foundation's Animal Golf Scramble Fee waiver. Second. I move to approve, yeah. And I second. Roll call vote. Aye. Aye. Jim Whitlatch. Aye. All right, motion passes. Thank you. Thank you so much, Keto.
- All right, and now Clarence is joining us with two new members to the Farmer's Market Advisory Council. Good afternoon. Clarence Boone, Facility Program Coordinator. Staff recommends the appointment of the following to the Farmer's Market Advisory Council. Carolyn Calloway-Thomas for the position of Customer Representative, and Louise Miracle, Food and Beverage Artist and Vendor.
- You may be aware about the background. The Farmers Market Advisory Council consists of 11 members representing market vendors, customers, and food and beverage artisans. The council acts in an advisory capacity to the Board of Park Commissioners and park staff on policy matters relating to the farmers market, and we receive two additional applications as well. The applicant qualifications consist of the following.
- Carolyn Calloway Thomas, over the past 20 years, she has supported the Bloomington Community Farmers Market. And in her words, her grandparents were farmers, and all the days of her life, I have loved and have been protected of the bountiful things that the good earth produces. In a word, we need farmers. They provide us with the food we need to survive. I also think that all human beings should have access to fresh produce straight from the farm.
- I am also keenly interested in food sustainability, and these reasons motivate me. Carolyn has excellent thinking and decision-making skills, along with heaps of empathy and goodwill. The next candidate is Louise Miracle. She has been a food and beverage artisan with the Bloomington Community Farmers Market since 2012, and she is the owner and baker of Pie First Bakery.
- She also served on the Bloomington Winter Farmers Market Board of Directors 2018 to 2021. And in her words, it is my intention to be an active and thoughtful board member, since I understand successful farmers markets depend in part on board members who take their roles seriously and responsibly. It is an honor being a part of this BCFM, not only because it's Indiana's oldest and largest summer farmers market,
- but also because it is fortunate to have a collection of vendors who care about offering their best products as well as the dynamic Bloomington community of customers. As a FBA representative on the Advisory Council, my goal will be to represent the needs of those vendors as well as assure that they meet standards and expectations for providing the best possible prepared foods and beverages. As a bakery owner, I'm aware of running a business
- which adheres to Board of Health rules and procedures, making and attaining financial goals, staying on top of market strategies, and providing quality baked goods to a vital community. That's great. I think they both sound like wonderful additions to the council. And I can attest that Louise's pie is excellent as well. I can too. Do we have to vote on these separately?
- You can do a motion for both. Okay. So first with Carolyn, we can do both. Oh, we can do both. Just one question. Yes. So the commitment, the term would be for how long? For the customer rep, the term is for two years.
- And then also for the food and beverage artists and the term is for one year for one year They need to apply with they may serve no more than three consecutive terms But I mean like they can be in the board with renewals or do they need to be voted by They can express their desire to continue continue. Yes okay, so
- I don't know Jim any questions from the kind of question. So I move to accept the two appointments to the farmers market advisory council Second Ellen Radke I Israel Herrera I Jim Whitlatch Thanks Clarence
- Right, so then we'll hear from Haskell about two things I am really excited about Makes two of us good evening board of park commissioners Haskell Smith urban forester. I believe up first was the tree Assistance program approval
- Staff recommends approval of a memorandum of understanding with the economic and sustainability department to provide funding to operate the tree assistance program funding is not to exceed fifty thousand dollars and the MOU will run until the funds are exhausted or April 1st 2026. This is a pilot program with the intention of to keep providing this opportunity to residents of Bloomington.
- Without going too far into the weeds here. This is something I've worked on for a couple years now looking for outside funding and could never find the quite right grant to get the approval. So after working with ESD through most of last year I got a random email in January that said hey we want to fund this and it got approved through last year's budget and here we are.
- This will set to create kind of a sliding scale for folks at a hundred percent area median income or below up to twenty five hundred dollars to assist having a private high risk tree removed or mitigated and assist with tree planting. Yeah. Do you have questions. Yeah. So this is great. So in other words these
- Doesn't have anything to do with the trees that the the unit the park supervises or trees but also Owners in different places the trees can be located inside of a property and the owner can apply for a Yes So the kind of the stipulation there is It has to be your single family your residents your only residents And you have to make within a certain
- kind of under the AMI for Bloomington which is like sixty three five a year for a single and there's joint for that too. And you have to live within city limits. I mean there's a few stipulations to it but it is for homeowners on their property. Yeah. And I think they can have trees planted removed.
- pruned any kind of tree work essentially and is it Like I suppose like it if the and then if we approve this Let's see. The timing is for like this fall. They have the application open in August and you'll make decisions by October Pending tonight's approval applications should hopefully open August 1st run to October 1st
- There's a review committee that will then convene to decide what's priority without with the applications and then take time to meet with all of the homeowners build the request for quotes send that out through probably November and then hopefully in December you'll see a couple contracts for tree removal pruning and then a separate one for tree planting and those to take place in over the winter spring.
- So if they get approved do they go out and find their contractor and then they get reimbursed for like half of it or is it or up to a certain amount or is it like we're coordinating the services for them. I'm going to try to do all the legwork. You're going to coordinate the RFQ. So in order for us to have the final agreement for all this work to
- go through they have to if it's over the dollar amount it has to be up front before all the agreements are signed and then the RFQ goes out so there's a little room for probably hesitancy but yeah hopefully there's backups and yeah we work through it yeah and in the like so this funding is fifty thousand dollars through April so if there's
- Like what we try to use all of that fifty thousand dollars in this first group of applicants because then I think that the next round doesn't even open until May. The next round is not technically guaranteed at this moment. So there was a few hiccups along the way with creating the program in a short time. We were hoping to get both a spring and a fall this year. Unfortunately we're just a fall. So yeah we're trying to cram all the work we can in on this.
- For sure. Well, I'm sure given the summer storms, there's a lot of people out there who will hopefully take us up on it. It's been a pretty common request that I've gotten over the years, both to me and then through hand or planning and reaching out. So I think it stands to help a lot of people. Great. Jim, do you have any other questions? I do not have any questions. Sounds like a great program. Agreed. Kudos to you, Haskell.
- for everyone who's been involved with getting this off the ground. So I move to approve the three assistant program. The three assistant program. Second. All right. And a roll call vote. Ellen. Aye. Israel Herrera. Aye. Jim Whitlach. Aye. All right. Motion passes unanimously. Thanks Haskell. And then you'll stick with us and tell us
- about our Q2 risk report. Haskell Smith urban forestry here still. This was supposed to be in June so we're a little a little behind but not too bad. Recommends the review approval of urban forestry second quarterly tree risk and reporting document. This document outlines the tree risk that we've currently aware of and working towards eliminating as well as other related goings on. I won't.
- Again harp on this too much, but kind of the progress report here so far We've pruned nearly a little over a thousand trees. We have the tornado damage to deal with off of Clear Creek Trail We're sitting in just above 200 trees removed 142 planted We've inspected or inventoried almost 3,000 That's a thousand new trees
- Lots of emails, lots of phone calls. We're at about 17 and a half percent of the inventory we've looked at. And just kind of looking at the trends, all our numbers are looking on point for my first quarter's kind of goals to hit the kind of higher end of those, except for planting. We hit kind of another hurdle with a contract. So it should be a pretty heavy fall planting. But otherwise, it'll on track. Further in the document, I've got
- Some outlined on the original 47 trees that we've been looking at this year. We're Working our way through that list at the very back. It's kind of what the parks crew has been working on in the past few weeks And yeah, happy to have answer any questions No questions for me No questions for me. I was just curious like so you said you think you'll pick you'll be able to catch back up with planting and I think
- Yeah, I think so. We've got bicentennial three that's yet to kick off. So that's three hundred and eighty. There'll be another another round of that contract likely coming this fall. So maybe about half that number. So I and then we've got a lot of trees sitting around to plant. So I think we'll get pretty close to that contract. OK, good. Yeah, that's great. All right. So I move to review and approve the second twenty twenty five quarterly three three years and report and document.
- Second all right and a roll call vote Ellen Radke I Israel Herrera Jim Whitlatch I Motion passes. Thanks Haskell. Thank you 23,000 slotted trees All right, and now Tim is here with us for a while So we'll start out with a change to consent calendar contract amounts
- That's right. Good evening board tim street parks and recreation department director I have several items for you this evening. The first one is agenda item c10 Which is resolution? 2503 to raise the consent calendar contract amount ceiling for the board of park commissioners meetings The current practice is to allow contracts with amounts at or under five thousand dollars to be included in the consent calendar historically that amount lined up with the city's competitive purchasing amount and
- which earlier this year with our new controller and permissible under state law was raised to $25,000. We've been talking with Kathleen about raising the consent calendar amount would be helpful, especially in the winter months when we're going through and doing a lot of service agreements for the new year that the board has to hear repetitively. We didn't feel comfortable raising it to $25,000. We feel like we would miss some important business and discussion.
- With a threshold that high but would like to try raising it to $10,000 So think this this will be a start in This year or this would start immediately on in August. We correct Yes, so as soon as the August park board meeting We could include contracts less than $10,000 in the consent calendar Yeah, I mean
- Just gonna say I think it's a great idea because I don't know we've just had a few meetings every once in a while we can't get through everything maybe or we don't have enough time for their discussion and reports and so this is just one of those things that I think cleans it up and puts a few more things in there and there's always the option if there's a concern to pull something out of the consent calendar in order to have a discussion about correct. Yes, great.
- Yeah, that's what I was going to say, Tim. This is not a requirement that all those contracts of $10,000 or less go to a consent agenda. It's just an option to do that. And you could decide, correct me if I'm wrong, but you could decide to have something out of the consent agenda, even if it's 10,000 or less, or any board member could request that.
- Prior to or at the meeting to takes remove something from the congenital am I correct on that? Yes, absolutely Okay. Yeah, I think it makes sense right if we knew we had an item with a lot of public comment For example, we would we would go ahead and put that into the regular section as well Yes, no other questions from me So I move to approve the resolution
- 25-03 raising the consent calendar contract amount silly Second okay, and we'll have a roll call vote Ellen Rodke. I Israel Herrera. Hi Jim Whitlatch. I All right motion passes and then Kim or Tim will stay with us for the buskirk Jumley Yes, so
- Staff recommends approval of a lease agreement between the city of Bloomington the Redevelopment Commission and busker chumlee theater management This is the annual agreement with the busker chumlee theater that has been Basically being reworked for a little while Primarily through the economic and sustainable development department and Holly Warren's leadership She's here with us this evening and I'll invite her up in a second but just some reminders about how this
- This all sort of works is that the board of park commissioners? is the facility and property owner of the buskirk chumlee theater and so the board and by extent the department are responsible for The building the facilities the capital upkeep and we work with the buskirk chumlee management staff on those issues and so every year We have been budgeting fifteen thousand dollars in
- operations budget for unanticipated needs that would rise come up throughout the year that relates to more of the Facility replacement versus just repair and so this document goes into some of those responsibilities it outlines the types of facilities and equipment that are the responsibilities of the Parks Department and it also outlines funding the lion's share of which comes from
- Actually through the economic and sustainable development department. So I will let Holly Speak to that she and Rebecca have been working on this agreement over the last few months and she can just brief highlights
- Hi everyone, my name is Holly Warren. I'm the Assistant Director for the Arts. I'm in the Department of Economic and Sustainable Development. So as Tim mentioned, I've been working inclusion with him and Rebecca to just update the language in the contract. So in addition to continuing to award up to $15,000 to the BCT each year for the repairs and maintenance that were contractually obligated for, we are recommending that we continue through the Economic and Sustainable Development Department's budget
- Council's budget to also give an annual grant of $80,000 to the BCT, and that's just for overall operations expenses. That does not include capital expenses. Another thing that we started when we did this agreement
- The last time, which was in 2022, was we changed it from a one-year agreement to a three-year agreement. And this is just because, as we've learned every time we go into this, there's a lot of information to cover. And by the time we get through it, we're like, oh, we're halfway through the year. Do we really want to start this again in six months? And so although this is a three-year agreement, there is still a clause in the contract that indicates that the money that we're saying would be available for each of the three years from the Economic and Sustainable Development Department, from
- and from parks, it's still...
- obligated to be approved each year by Council on Economic and Sustainable Development. So we're not necessarily locking ourselves into that number for the next three years. And I just also want to say that it's been an honor working with the Buzzkirk Chumley management to manage the theater. We're really excited to continue this partnership. They've had a new director for about two years now who has done excellent work with a pretty overhauled and reinvigorated board just really to bring the theater back after it's
- suffered immensely through the pandemic. So I'm happy to answer any questions that you have about the agreement. Do you have any questions, Jim? No. OK, well, yeah, thank you so much. I think that's great. I guess I wasn't did we so is that $80,000 new? I mean, were we pretty much?
- Yeah, so that's completely separate from parks commitment. So when we established this agreement with BCTM back in 2001 Council committed $55,000 a year to be given to them and what we did when we were renegotiating everything with them this time last year we realized hey, you know, I
- All expenses are going up. We haven't raised the amount of operational funds that we're giving you to run this thing that we could have run if you weren't here. So I was able to secure some creed funds from last year and we were able to get it in council's budget this year and moving forward an additional twenty five thousand dollars to move from that historic fifty five K to eighty thousand K moving forward. Yeah that's great. Yeah good great work. It's a treasure in this town for sure. Thank you.
- I move to approve the agreement for Bamsker Chamlee Theater operational support. Second. All right. And while the roll call vote. Ellen Radke. Aye. Israel Herrera. Jim Whitlatch. Aye. Thank you both. That motion passes. And one last item here from Tim. Yes.
- Continuing on the bus Kirk Chumlee theater. This is the review approval of a contract with commercial service for HVAC repair at the bus Kirk Chumlee theater. So while we do budget $15,000 every year for unanticipated repairs Being essentially the landlord for this building means we may have other responsibilities from time to time as well And generally speaking we are trying to work with the bus Kirk Chumlee theater management with the SD to identify these long-term larger capital needs make plans for them so they're not
- Surprises to us and so we can identify grant funding or other funds similar to how we were able to get the roof repairs earlier this year with Money from an epic grant. That's also putting solar on the roof this is one of those ones though where an HVAC system went out and Per the terms of the agreement previous and current. This is parks responsibility as essentially the landlord of the building. So this contract is with commercial service they were the the low bidder on this and
- And it is for seventeen thousand five hundred dollars to replace a seventeen seer rooftop HVAC unit. Now fortunately for this I said we work to try to find other funds for this as well. This does not need to come from our general fund because it is a
- energy and sustainability upgrade, we were able to tap into some ED lit grant funds in order to fund this upgrade. So we will continue to try to be creative in identifying these funds, but as the sort of landlord agency, we are responsible for making those happen. Any questions, Jim? No. So I move to approve.
- the agreement with commercial service for the age. They have a replacement. I'm spiritual. I'm with you. Second. All right. And we'll have a roll call vote. Ellen Radke. I. Israel Herrera. I. Jim Whitlatch. I. All right. Motion passes. Thank you so much Tim. And then we'll move on to Section D our reports.
- And so clearance is going to tell us about the market midseason and master plan updates As Kim is getting the slide presentation ready I just want to thank all of you all for coming out to support and your commitment to the Bloomington community farmers market I think regularly when I'm there I see you coming up to our info table and I hope the experience is rewarding as much as it is to
- a 50-year-long tradition. So I think we're about ready. Oh. Just one second. So I hit left or right. Okay. All right. Never used this before. There we go. All right, today I wish to update you on the progress and growth of the BCFM.
- and how recent changes and investments, including a consulting partnership, have led to real, measurable improvements. For our road map today, we have an introduction to the market. We're celebrating 50 years, as you know. We're now on our 51st. Zetgate Insight provided the study. And we've gleaned and learned a lot from both visitors, vendors,
- staff as far as what we're doing right where we can improve and we're in track on track to implement changes and we're fielding community response and Receiving more response as we go and we're looking ahead and then at the end. We'll have some questions if you provide time for questions Okay a day in the life of the Wilmington community farmers market and
- We get there around 630, of course. Vendors are there perhaps by five. And the atmosphere is beginning to get exciting. On average, we've had 4,329 community members join us on every Saturday. That is a marked increase over the last three years. And we are extremely happy about that. As a parking lot comes to life, well, rather,
- our newly paved parking lot comes to life. We have an average of 52 vendors that are selling local goods and a variety of different produce, food and beverage artisans, and it's really a community within a community. It's the destination place for Saturday. And this is a long tradition that we've been building for this community for over 50 years. Pictures speak a thousand words.
- The gentleman on the bottom right is Melvin Reeves. He's sort of the heart and soul of this market. Many of you have encountered Melvin. Never had a loss for a humorous thing to say, and is known to grow some of the most largest produce on the planet. And to celebrate, we did some things. We did some introspection. We took a pause and invited Zek 8 to provide some insights
- as they queried individuals so that we could learn about the market and better meet the needs of the community. Some of the basic questions, who is attending the market? What are the most popular goods at the market? And what are we doing effectively? And of course, what could we improve on? What we learned first about our visitors, it's a wide range of ages, as you might imagine.
- The market serves people in their early 20s and late 60s alike. 45% of respondents attend most weeks of the market. 93% of respondents attend multiple markets each season. And the most purchased products without question are produce and coming in second, baked goods. And 82% of respondents spend more at or more than $20 each visit to the market.
- And 75% of respondents spend additional money at businesses downtown once they complete their journey to the market. What we've learned, things we're doing right, we feel we're bringing people together. The market is seen as the destination place, a gathering place that fosters local food culture and brings people together. We have a great staff. I wanna say that again, we have a great staff. And to watch the maturity level
- from individuals that you hire in March or in February to see them at the end of the season. They've learned customer service firsthand. They know how to meet expectations of customers. They definitely know how to deescalate situations. And they're knowledgeable about the local food community. The location of the market is ideal. Everyone says it from individuals who work with other markets in the community.
- to vendors and customers, it's in the ideal location. The proximity to the beeline and downtown are valued. And there's an elevated experience, the market festivities such as live music and themed market days, it elevates the market and generate interest. And generate, rather, interest, I'm sorry. Okay, what we learn that we're doing right
- In the programming realm, we just recently the other week had a Kiswahili Day, the worldwide observance of Kiswahili language. 200 million people on the continent of Africa speak the language. So the United Nations came together and said that July 7th would be recognized as Kiswahili Language Day. I have been hosting Harvest for the World for the past four years. It was a beautiful
- collaboration that we struck with individuals from IU. It was a learning experience for sight, sound, recipes were given out. There was beautiful dance, fashion, music, of course. It was wonderful. And then we had Youth Day at the Market, which has been highly praised. This is our, I believe, third year doing Youth Day at the Market. We were so impressed from last year that we've implemented two Youth Days this year.
- And the first one was held on June 21st, and it was a wonderful experience for youth to become entrepreneurs, to sell baked goods, produce, crafted items, and all of that took place on the plaza. And of course, we're proud of the work we do with WIC and other programs such as SNAP and the EM, FMP programs to provide those that need a helping hand as much nutritional food as they can get. We don't know what the future holds,
- but we'll try to maintain as much as we can. What we've learned, things we can improve on. The layout and logistics, the market layout could be reconfigured to include more seating areas and improved vendor visibility. The market hours, the market could close earlier due to declining customer traffic and product quality in the later hours. We took that to heart and we've reduced the market operation
- time by a half hour to 1230. Vendor voices, their voices matter. More effective communication and collaboration between vendors and market management would be helpful. Advertising and engagement, increased advertising and better engagement are seen as crucial for the market's growth and vibrancy and so we're putting a lot of effort in our communications going out and we'll talk about this a little bit later as far as social media presence that we have and what we're trying to build upon.
- Now the market fragmentation, there is a feeling of fragmentation between the multiple markets in town and hope for some degree of unification. When I came on board, I quickly learned that there were multiple markets. And for multiple reasons, they spun off. One, I feel that we have handled the major catalyst behind some of that. We are working now to, in a sense, collaborate more
- With the winter market team just met with them yesterday to strategize for this coming November We do a joint presence in the pavilion and then from December on the March they have their winter market. We're a family We don't undermine we try to support one another Now changes we've made that I mentioned we paved the parking lot and
- We had large openings, crevices, cracks, trip hazards. Now it's all paved. We are yet still striping and numbering. That shall be completed. My goal is to have all of it done by this Saturday. But it's an enhancement. It's a facelift, if you will. We have additional seating. We have bistro seats and tables that are always filled. And the customers love it.
- I was surprised at the amount of comments positive about having additional seating. Okay, I think I did something. Okay, changes we've made. Again, the market hours, they're 1230 now instead of one. Obvious reasons, there tends to be a drop off usually in the last hour of whatever's posted, but rather than cut it by an entire hour, we thought we'd experiment with a half hour to see how that went.
- We are now more closely, collaboratively working with the Farmers Market Advisory Council. They still are in an advisory role, but we do take to heart a lot of their suggestions. We do invite them to partner with us on Saturdays, to work with us on Saturdays, and offer really heartfelt, sage advice as far as what's on their minds. What do they feel? And they have been just sharing great ideas.
- And with the addition of Carolyn Calloway-Thomas and Marie's Miracle, I think we'll be in good hands. As I mentioned, social media, this is Caleb. You've met him before. In a short time, he's been with us. He has ramped up our social media presence, a 700% increase in just touch points out there. He's curated day of and highlighted posts at every market. He's implemented a market hashtag. And he's been phenomenal with podcast development
- and just ideas on how to get the word out better. And I do attribute a bump up in the numbers that are attending to the social media presence. Changes we've made, as I mentioned, we've partnered and continue to partner for another year. This is our third year. Really, that should be 2022, but we have partnered with the winter market for the November market, and we're looking forward to
- collaborating more and to be honest they chose not to operate their summer component the Woolery mill and we have seen an influx of some vendors and definitely some customers, but we remain partners and Moving forward that's a relationship that we hope to improve upon Other miscellaneous changes subtle, but yet effective our bitter signage and
- and upgraded audio equipment investment. The old gear we had was great, but now we don't have as many feedback noises as we used to. This is more trendy, more effective, the sound dispersion is better, so that hopefully people on the D-Row can hear what's going on from the circular stage. We have new staff members, quality staff members that are there, and I'm so happy with our Tuesday market launch this year.
- Commons The it's it's just been wonderful The numbers have been increasing I Asked some stats for you last year for Tuesday for all of all the total to date for this day in July of last year was only 1124 people that have visited because we're a switch our park a whole host of reasons perhaps
- Switch our park was maybe off the beaten path. Maybe it had to be a place where you intentionally strategically wanted to go but this year we have had 1885 and the second week of our second month and We've had a total of 53 vendors participating total not every week, but total for this on Tuesday And if I can go back to numbers once again, I'm really proud to say that last year I
- for the total to date this second week of July, we were at 32,000. This year, we're at 55,000. And we're really encouraged by that, and I like to say the best is yet to come. And also, looking ahead, we want to perhaps put into place a
- Poster-sized map to help visitors navigate the market and identify the products that they are searching for So that's something creative that we'll do out of the box is get an oversized If you want this that and the other these are the vendors that can best facilitate that we would put it in our customer newsletter But I think something on the spot on that day would really help the social media giveaway and incentive for people to share their special moments at the market and increase engagement maybe
- Basket full of products produce or baked goods something to generate an excitement around that and our weekly newsletter enrollment We haven't won the Pulitzer Prize yet I'm holding out some hope But we do have a QR code that people can scan when they get to the information table to sign up to get the customer newsletter Again a picture speaks a thousand words
- And that cute little girl there with the bouquet of flowers really stole our hearts. But as far as some other implementations that we are planning, we're planning more farm tours this season to get out in their area, their backyard literally, to see how they do, what they do, and the strategies they use. And along with the Tuesday market, we're looking at bringing in more entertainment.
- Do want to close before questions by saying that the farmers market received back-to-back Bloomington best of designations For 24 and 25 having been recognized for outstanding customer satisfaction from recent online reviews So that's a pride point for us But again, are there any other question? Are there any questions? And also
- Having they having the yeah, thank you for the report having the a comment from the public and also taking Charge of how we we could you overcome those concerns. So that's that's that's great so as I could see as we could see so there is a different schedule now earlier than Before right? Yes, and that was also a consensus with the vendors. Yes 8 to 12 30 the the vendors and
- were a consensual yes on that. The customers, they were okay with that. In the summer, you're dealing with, it's the hottest time of the day. And the numbers do wane off in that last hour. And then we're seeing some farmers sell out, which is really great. And they kinda get a little antsy when they leave. But 12.30 was the decide upon end time.
- Regarding the communication one of the concerns is So besides it's a monthly meeting, right the third Monday For the farmers market advisor council council. Yes the third Monday I I guess that there was a concern about more communication. So in the other days of the week, is there any kind of Yes with our advisory council members
- We constantly invite them to send us suggestions, and they do. We're fortunate in that several are farm vendors, and several of them as customer reps are routinely in and out. And of course, food and beverage artists and representatives are selling with us. We do have our customer newsletter that goes out every week. We also have a market beat newsletter, and we send that out to the vendors to gather and inform them as far as what's going on.
- Then Caleb it's Kate Caleb the new Caleb Caleb is a new addition within the last one year and a half years I believe Caleb's been on board a Year and a half. He's been here and Julie could speak more to that, but he's been Wow What are the new You know like the social media He's incorporated because I'm oh, you know from the version of Facebook the old
- you know, social media, but there are new ones for the new generation. You're saying every 20s, 30s, what would be the other? Well, I'm really glad to have Julie sitting here, and I'm gonna ask her if there's something she'd like to add to respond to that. TikTok maybe, and the other one, I heard, yeah. Play Instagram.
- Julie Ramey, I'm the community relations manager and have the privilege of working with Caleb who is our digital content coordinator. He joined us in February 2024. So he definitely hit the ground running with ramping up our social media presence specifically about the farmers market. The farmers market has a faced
- Facebook page and an Instagram, B-Town Farmers Market and the Bloomington Community Farmers Market on Insta and on Facebook respectively. So Caleb has, in a word, modernized our presence with the farmers market on Facebook by doing a lot of reels, short videos. One example that I'm particularly fond of is when he took a $10 bill and said, I have $10.
- See what I can buy at the market and it was it was super trendy at the time and super popular he's done interviews with
- the different vendors and food and beverage artisans has featured them, and then discovered that when we are able to feature specific vendors and tag those vendors, then they are able to share our content with their customers, allowing us to really organically grow the farmers market pages on social media. So do we have a TikTok in the future? No, but by leveraging what we're able to do video-wise
- with the channels that we have and that includes
- YouTube so some more involved types of videos and content on YouTube Caleb continues to be really creative with the content that he's able to create in person at the market and it's probably worth noting that we have a food and beverage artisan the owner of mama Duke's Hawaiian barbecue scheduled to be on recreation rendezvous the parks and recreation podcast to talk about
- food and beverage artisans at the farmers market and are trying to get with the owners of the scholars in Bake House who just responded today that they would love to be also on another podcast episode. So another channel that we're using along with social media to continue to promote the farmers market. Yeah, the podcasts are also very important these days, yeah? Great. Yeah, thank you. That's great.
- Yeah, I mean, kudos to you. And I'm there on Saturdays. It definitely feels like kind of the older, the old days at the markets, just tons of people. I would never go at 1230 because I'm there to get my groceries down there, first thing. But I'm glad everyone's coming back and, you know, that it's a new,
- 51 years, and we'll see what is to come. Jim, do you have any questions? I do not. Good presentation. I enjoyed it. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Jim. One thing before I take my seat, I just want to take a little liberty. I just want to thank all the senior management staff, my colleagues. And she's not here now, but Becky Berrick. Becky has been one of my biggest cheerleaders, as with everyone.
- She's always had sage advice and per Becky. I've done it all here so she could tell me about the days that used to Used to be and so we will miss her but we thank her for them handprints that are on a lot of things Thank you Clarence and yeah, thanks I think maybe us not having in June meeting was that we did not have a public recognition of I
- Becky's retirement, so kudos to her and we wish her the best.
- All right, so we are moving then into section D or I'm sorry, section E, time for public comment. So we invite members of the public to share any feedback they have. If you'd like to make a comment, I don't see anyone in the chambers, but you're welcome to approach the mic and you'll fill in your name. We'll also probably have some folks on Zoom and you can raise your hand
- zoom and Will acknowledge you and let you know when you can take yourself on mute off mute and I believe our public comment period is two minutes So if you would like to make a public comment, just raise your hand. Let us know and We'll be happy to hear from you Deborah I'm gonna ask you to unmute yourself
- We'll let you go first. And if you could just start out by first telling us your first and last name. This is Deborah Meyerson. I am a city resident and I'm here tonight to talk to the board of commissioners about the pool fee waiver eligibility policy. I have an adult son who has developmental disabilities and he loves
- to go to the Bryant Park pool as often as he can. And the pool fee waiver is an important way for him access to the pool. His sole source of income for his basic needs is supplemental security income and SNAP benefits. That's about $13,000 a year. But I found out when I went to apply this spring for the pool fee waiver that the policy was revised in February by the board to restrict eligibility to low income households with minor children.
- And so adults without minor children are not eligible to apply for the pool fee waiver anymore. This city is known for a commitment to providing equitable access to public amenities. And this change to the pool fee waiver excludes low income residents without minor children. And these residents also need affordable, healthy summer recreation options. So with this in mind, I asked,
- uh, Mr Street and, um, can clap for information about who was getting the waiver. I found out that from 2021 to 2024, the waiver was when it was based solely on income. It served about 335 households with minor Children and about 52 households without. So that was over a four year period. So that means about every year about 13 households. So less than 5% were
- residents without minor children. And these residents again deserve the same opportunity to access these resources. So I would like to ask that the board reconsider for 2026 this pool fee waiver policy and make public pools as a valuable source of exercise, community connection, as well as relief from the summer heat to make that available to all residents in the city. Thank you for your consideration.
- Yeah, thank you for sharing your comments, Deborah. If we have others, we're happy to hear from you as well. Christopher, I'm going to ask you to unmute yourself, please. Thank you, Madam President. This is Christopher Emgy from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. Great to be talking to the award-winning parks board here.
- I want to talk a little baseball. I've had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Guido on the issue with Winslow Sports Park flooding, specifically fields three and four, and how we were only able to make nine of 16 rec games this year. My son's travel team was canceled at that location for the weekend and moved to Columbus. So we're leaving money.
- off the table with visitors and income coming in that's so important to us during that downtime because of that flooding. So I'm at a Board of Realtors watershed meeting last week where I had Caden Swanson from the utilities department, an engineer there, talking about a flooding mitigation activity in the works for the neighbors there on the east. And I'm just thinking of the parks
- and you get together and sort of work on that sort of flooding issue there to alleviate that we can use those ball fields specifically three or more often. I think that benefits both the residents and visitors here in the city. I just want to thank everybody. I love the parks department and what you do to city. It is a driver here. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you so much for sharing those comments about the baseball park flooding.
- Any others just a reminder you raise your hand All right, well we will conclude section e for public comment and I will ask Tim Street to Share any final thoughts with us?
- First I would just like to thank both of our public commenters this evening and really appreciate your comments and your investment in the process and We will continue to look at those issues Few things going on. I just want to report out for the department. Our master plan is ongoing To date we've received almost 600 responses to our questionnaire that's out there That will continue through mid-august. We're really pleased with the response so far. We're hoping to continue to push and get better
- More people to respond to this questionnaire and then in the fall. We will also be doing our targeted Statistically valid survey to households to compare and contrast the results of those So we're going to continue to make a big push for the questionnaire. It's it's very short It gives us great insight, but it doesn't take a long time to complete so Julie will be putting that on social media and
- We'll be promoting that at the farmers market some other concerts community concerts events Including this Friday's community concert of Hank ruff in the dynamics at switch our park We're also working on a provider inventory of private nonprofit public organizations that provide like services to the Parks Department and planning to have a large meeting of those providers this fall to look for partnership and collaboration opportunities not necessarily just
- with us even involved we might not be party to it but to just better the community services in these areas we did just get a draft of our pool conditions reports identified several million dollars of maintenance needs at both pools so we've asked some questions that will be coming back that will be a part of our master plan report as we look at facility investments two places like the pool stay cool Bloomington
- Free pool days is continuing We know that will continue at least through this weekend and we are in conversations with ESD As you know, it has been a very wet very hot summer so far and that has certainly taxed that The the pool fee waiver process for this year, which is youth focused did just close and we are
- up to over 500 applications for pool fee waivers. So this is certainly a policy we'll be looking at with the park board again, debriefing this season, looking at the changes and seeing what we need to do for that for the future at a future meeting. As Clarence mentioned, Becky did retire last week, so we miss her. We had a great sendoff with her. Our health and wellness coordinator position is also open right now.
- And we're working on a lot of growth control. When it's hot and wet, things grow like crazy. So working on trails and planters and medians, and really trying to come up with some long-term plans for how we take care of those. A few project fun updates. Things always great to share about projects. Twin Lakes is in the process of getting its new accessible entry doors started today, I believe. Were they there, Keto?
- It's in progress Probably in a week be done so Brian and Winslow tennis courts Brian has been converted to LED push-button lights So that's the majority of our tennis courts with lights now have that and Winslow is being resurfaced right now Getting ready to do an asphalt repair project different park facilities and engineering reopened at the roundabout at Winslow High and Rogers and
- Giving parking access back to Rogers Family Park Lastly, I'll mention that tomorrow is parks professional day nationally and just want to take a moment to recognize all of the contributions of our amazing and outstanding staff our 60 full-time staff are 300 plus support staff that work throughout the year as
- umpires and groundskeepers and waterers and Event staff and farmers market staff and all the different things that they do to make our community just a better place. So We're looking forward to celebrating that with a proclamation and some other recognition tomorrow That's all I had Well, thank you so much Tim and yeah, we just echo
- Our gratitude to all of our park staff as well as for the heart of summer and it's been a really good one and Just grateful that we have such a great treasure in our community Whether it's, you know paddle boarding out at Griffey or going to farmers market or over to food truck Friday to see the live music tomorrow and although keeping everyone looking good in our
- urban canopy and along those medians. So thank you all so much for everything you do. And with that we'll adjourn the July Park Board meeting. Thanks.