- Great. So four oh two. So I will call to order the October meeting recording in progress October meeting
- of the Bloomington Board of Park commissioners and Kim is back to start us with the roll call. Kathleen
- Mills here. Israel Herrera Jim Whitlach here. Nellyn Rodkey here. OK. Thank you. So we do have all four
- members here today.
- And we will start as always with the items in section a consent calendar that we've had a chance to
- look over over the last few days. So we have a motion to approve the consent calendar move to approve
- the consent calendar. Okay. And do we need to do roll call. Okay. And a roll call vote of all those
- in favor. Kathleen Mills I Jim Whitlunch.
- Aye. Israel Herrera. Aye. And Ellen Rocky. Aye. OK. The consent calendar passes. And then in our section
- B we almost always have Emily Boock with a Bravo Award. So tell us about Joy Roberts.
- Good afternoon everyone Emily boot community relations coordinator and we would like to recognize joy
- Roberts with the October Bravo award So Kevin was kind enough to do a little write-up and he said that
- joy has one of the biggest hearts in all of Bloomington and has been vital to the community for many
- years for the Banneker Community Center she has been an extremely valuable asset as an advocate donor
- and friend and
- In the past year alone, Joy has donated clothing to our after-school program for kids in need, supplied
- us with an entire summer of snacks and drinks for Banneker summer camp, and in her role working at the
- IU Black Film Center Archive, helped restore several old tapes and videos from the Banneker community's
- past, including an interview with Reverend Butler.
- In addition, Joy and her children, Javanique and JQ, have volunteered as guest speakers at Fairview
- Elementary, providing them with a strong and positive message about all that is possible for them.
- Among her many accomplishments and accolades throughout the years include the 2022 visionary leader
- award from the city of Bloomington for Black History Month, spearheading the effort for our Black Lives
- Matter mural on Elm Street, and the founding of the Women of Color Leadership Institute at IU. Thank
- you Joy for all of the time and effort you have invested into the Banneker and Bloomington communities.
- I know Kevin, do you want to say something else? Kevin's good.
- Good afternoon, you all. The Banneker Community Center really, truly has my heart. My son is 20, almost
- 21 now, and my daughter is 23. And both are, I like to say, products of this community.
- And so I'm so very grateful for the Banneker and all that you all have done throughout the years and
- allowing me, because I know I am a lot, but allowing me to participate in so many ways. There are different
- things that will always be true for me in my heart of things that I want to do in life.
- And everything that I have, I'll always give back. And so Banneker will always be at the top of the
- list, and this community will be at the top of that list. So thank you all very much. I really appreciate
- it. Thank you, Joy. Thank you. That's wonderful that you recovered the interview, too, with Reverend
- Butler. Yeah, that's really nice. Thank you so much.
- Okay. And then in our section that's end of section B. So then in section C first and C1 we have an
- MOU with Public Works and CBU for Hopewell Commons which Rebecca will tell us about. Yes Rebecca Swift
- operations development. Excuse me. Division director.
- Filling in with for Tim Street today and he doesn't stand up at the podium so I was confused if I should
- just stay seated because he doesn't stand up when he talks there. So I'm here to recommend today an
- MOU with CBU as well as our public works departments for the management of Hopewell Commons. It's our
- new property in town and it's not just a park. There's a lot of things that need to be managed out there.
- So in an effort to try to streamline and
- Make clear who's responsible for what on the property we developed this mo you all different departments
- legal representatives have also taken a look at this but we wanted to go ahead and present it to each
- of our boards for an opportunity to review as well. So I'm happy to answer any questions. I did include
- some details of the areas of responsibilities on this mo you. OK. All right. Thank you. Any questions
- for Rebecca about this.
- Okay. All right. Move to approve the MOU with Public Works and CBU for Hopewell Commons. Okay. And a
- roll call vote of those in favor. Kathleen Mills. Aye. Israel Herrera. Jim Whitlatch. Aye. Ellen Radke.
- Okay. Motion is carried. Thank you for that. Rebecca I'm sure you'll be back here in a minute.
- And then C2 is a service agreement with a quick pump for the seminary square portalette from Amy Operations
- coordinator I am recommending that you approve the contract with a and a quick pump to service the seminary
- portalette till the end of the year this unit itself has become increasingly hazardous to deal with and
- And so we were looking for a new contractor that could daily service it and just stay on top of it.
- So A&A has stepped up. They're doing a great job and we look forward to having them continue to work
- on this. OK Amy so daily servicing sounds like a lot to me. Is that that sounds atypical for portalettes.
- Yes it is. The issue with this unit is the things that are being put inside of it on a regular basis
- which are not what it's meant for. So that is part of having to in order to just properly service it
- it needs to continually be emptied out and they're pulling out all kinds of things that don't belong
- there. So that was why it was becoming unmanageable. Now that we have seen daily servicing it's
- staying a lot cleaner because they're able to stay on top of it before it gets really backed up. And
- did this come up sort of recently because I remember talking to Tim when it was first put in there and
- things were going seem like better. Yeah it started in February or March. We put it in and it was a
- slow kind of ramp up. But over the summer we have seen increased use and abuse of the unit. OK.
- All right. Any other questions for Amy.
- I've got a couple. So without being graphic or anything else, what kind of, as little graphic as you
- can be, are we talking about needles going into it or clothes? Clothing, bedding, an umbrella that was
- put in upside down so that they had to pull it out and it, sorry, you said not graphic, so.
- Okay, that's good enough. Yep. Okay so they empty regularly they're emptying buckets full of Non waste
- items out of it and I assume still doing that but we're doing it every day It's not as much because
- it's being cleaned every day. So They're able to it's a little bit at a time But it's basically being
- used like a trash can
- So and there are trash cans installed nearby and that's that's not the issue. It's just and and so the
- eleven thousand dollars that's from now to the end of the year. Yes. So if we were to do this for the
- full year we'd be talking about forty five thousand dollars to do it for a full year. Yes. And there
- has been some partnership with the office of the mayor involved in this. They were the requesting
- Entity to put this in place and they are finding funding to support this going forward Those
- are conversations that I have not been part of so I just know you know the Enough to put the contract
- together and what we're doing, but I know there are conversations happening about the funding So this
- should not be coming out of our general fund is my understanding right, but it's coming out. It's all
- coming from the city and
- Not maybe not from the parks department working with the office of the mayor for and I'm not, I'm not,
- this may be more of a comment than something you can answer, although maybe you can answer part of it.
- Uh, and I'm not sure where I fall on whether we should have a porta potty there or not. Um, but I do,
- and maybe this is incorrect and maybe you can help me recall. I recall that when we put this in, it
- was more of an experiment.
- that would see what would happen. And it seems to me what's happened is why it was an experiment. And
- I'm wondering if it's time to revisit having it there. I cannot see spending $45,000 a year to keep
- it clean every day. I'm not even sure I'm in support of spending $11,000 to keep umbrellas and hypodermic
- needles and other things out of it. I wonder how much it's being used for its intended purpose.
- Um, so, uh, and it's, it's, uh, I think I misunderstood when I was put in. I didn't know it was going
- to be right there in front of the corner. I thought it was going to be more in the back away more towards
- the post office and not right out there on the front. So I guess my comment is I get the idea of having,
- uh, porta potties. And as an aside, I'm glad to see for the first time consistently that the bathrooms
- in the parking garage have been unlocked.
- because for many months those are locked. So I guess my question is is I think we ought to revisit whether
- or not it should even be there or not and or if it should be moved or if it if it should be there. So
- that's that's my I'm probably I'm going to vote yes to have this funding because I think it needs to
- be done but I think we do need to revisit that issue. This is sort of
- ridiculous. So yeah I agree with what you're saying there and certainly wouldn't support as you say
- for a year spending as much money as that would be on one one toilet. So this this is sort of a silly
- suggestion. I mean I don't know what they're I mean because people adults know what can go in portalettes
- and what can't. But I mean are there signs or anything that say don't put
- There are. OK. General sign that says you know please respect this unit. It will be removed if it is
- not OK. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. OK. But that has not changed the behavior.
- And are the trash cans I know you said they're trash cans. Are they overflowing on a regular basis cleans
- that park every single day for over an hour. So the trash has changed regularly and we still find trash
- all over the ground all over the benches everywhere. OK. That is also good information for us to know.
- So all right. All right. Any other questions. Or Ellen do you have any questions.
- All right. I move that the service agreement with a quick pump for seminary port a lot portal it moved
- to approve. Okay. And a roll call vote of those in favor. Kathleen Mills. Aye. Israel Herrera Jim Whitlach.
- Aye. Ellen Radke. Okay. Motion is carried. Thank you. Thank you very much. And then in C3 Clarence will
- tell us about the winter farmers market partnership.
- Good afternoon Clarence Boone community events coordinator Staff are recommending the approval of the
- partnership agreement with the Bloomington winter farmers market to co-host the 2025 November farmers
- market and There's a one-time fee that will be assessed to them of $1,200 payable to Bloomington parks
- and rec and this is the third year of our collaborative agreement
- The parks and rec department is happy to cooperate in the provision of a free November market at the
- switch our park for the benefit of the general public This program partnership shall provide for a combined
- November farmers market at the switch our park for the benefit of vendors and the Bloomington community
- by combining available resources from each partner to the agreement and after November the winter market
- runs independently as a rental at switch our park and
- We'd be happy to answer any questions. Okay. Any questions for Clarence about the winter market partnership?
- No. Okay. Move to approve the Bloomington winter farmers market partnership. All right. And our roll
- call vote of those in favor Kathleen Mills. I Israel Herrera. Jim Whitlach. I Ellen Rodkey. Okay. Motions
- carry. That was easy. Thank you Clarence.
- And then C4 is the partnership with Eminem supplements for the TLRC supplement sales Darren Eads. Good
- afternoon Darren Eads sports facility coordinator. You had before you this afternoon partnership renewal
- request with Marcos and nutrition of Bloomington Eminem for short. We started this agreement back this
- past January officially.
- It ended it ends end of this month October and we wish to extend that partnership through twenty twenty
- six. So it's been a great partnership for so far revenue didn't come in as much as we thought it would.
- But we're just now getting ready to enter our first busy season with them. So we're kind of curious
- to see how well this goes this this this fall. Right now the commission for us has been about fifteen
- twenty six and for us it's
- Supplements that we don't have to worry about buying or taking off the shelf because they expire and
- losing so for us It's it's a win outside of a little bit of electricity that we're giving them for the
- cooler We get 35% commission. They take care of everything for us So it's a pretty good opportunity
- for us to make just a little bit of extra income there glad to answer any questions you may have Okay
- Looks good any questions No
- Move to approve the partnership with MNN supplements for Twin Lakes Recreation Center supplement sales.
- OK. And a roll call vote of those in favor Kathleen Mills. Aye. Israel Herrera Jim Whitlatch. Aye. Ellen
- Rodkey. OK. Motions carried. Thank you Darren. And then moving on to our section D. Chris will give
- us the aquatics report from this summer.
- Hello. How are you guys doing. I'm the facility manager for the Brian Park and Mills pools and I'm very
- excited to share season review. Just click there.
- Yeah so we're going to go through the season review feel free to ask me any questions as we go through
- kind of the outline here we're going to talk about how many pool users we had this year our expenses
- versus our revenue and then kind of where we're at now with the facilities and where we're going to
- go in the future and then we'll give you some time to ask questions also at the end. So our headcount
- numbers this year we it shows that we had about 13000 fewer people this year. Part of that is probably
- due to the
- the change in the stay cool Bloomington program. So last year we had it where we ran it all every day
- all summer. And then this year we we only ran the stay cool Bloomington days on Friday Saturday Sunday.
- So part of that's that. We also this year honestly have gotten a lot better at tracking the numbers.
- So I think that's part of it as well. We serve many different patron groups.
- We had 51 hours rented this year which is slightly increased. We added an extra day where people could
- rent rent the pools. We also had all kids swim which we partnered with Banneker. They came over and
- did some swim lessons and they got to they got a little bit of extra use of the pool from from that.
- Our fee waivers were a huge jump this year. We went up from seven or went up to seven hundred and forty
- up from five hundred and fifty four and twenty twenty four.
- And then obviously our pool movies and our camp participations are steady. Our Stay Cool Bloomington
- program this year, as I said, we went down a little bit in our participations this year because we changed
- it to only weekends. But this change helped us tremendously with our staffing. We were able to staff
- on the weekends more people and have it more prepared for that many people to come in.
- Due to changes in the funding sources, we will not be continuing this program next year. ESD no longer
- is getting the federal funding that they had been getting the last two years. So that's the change there.
- But we obviously want to say thank you to ESD for funding this program for two years. So now talking
- about the expenses and the revenue. So as you can see from these numbers, I don't know if you guys have
- the copy as well.
- As you can see from these numbers staffing is our biggest cost. The cost to pay our staff continues
- to rise and obviously we can't really cut staff because we want it to be a safe environment. So our
- staffing is two hundred one thousand operational cost one hundred and five thousand are not reverting
- which is just our swim lessons at Brian is eighteen thousand concessions is thirty eight thousand. Our
- operating revenue for the admissions is two hundred nineteen thousand.
- Is there more below that? Or is that on the next? Sorry, the closed captioning is just cutting off a
- little bit of the bottom here, but there we go. Non-reverting for our swim lessons this year was 16,000
- and our concessions went up 52,000. That was in large part due to our sports specialist who really took
- a hold of the concessions this year and he did a great job with that.
- One of the biggest things that you can see there is the cost to run our swim lessons is more expensive
- than what we're making out of it, which is a challenge for sure. Mills, similar process. Staffing is
- our biggest cost there. Operational cost is all just our utilities and all that kind of stuff to run
- the pool. Our operating revenue this year was 53,000 and our non-reverting, which was the all kids swim
- essentially.
- was 4,600 this year. So here you can see what we're looking at in terms of the overall numbers. So we
- operated at a $75,000 deficit at Bryan and $82,000 deficit at Mills and $158,000 total in deficit. Our
- cost recovery numbers are 79% for Bryan, 41% for Mills and 68% overall.
- Do you know how that compare. Oh you've got. Are you going to show us the 24 how that compares to the
- prior year. Yes I believe I think that's next. Yeah. So the past three years you can see here in 2023
- which was before my time so I can't really speak a whole lot to what exactly the numbers mean from then.
- But they the gap was one hundred and eighty eight thousand dollars. Last year we brought it down thanks
- in large part to the stay cool Bloomington days down to one hundred seventy one thousand. And then this
- year we're down to one hundred and fifty eight thousand.
- Well, it's kind of a it's kind of a difficult question because we don't know exactly how many of those
- people Will still come to the pools and how many you know, so so we don't remember how much I guess
- How much did we get for that program? It was about a hundred, but I can't remember exactly it's it's
- about a hundred thousand dollars so that obviously
- We expect to see a bigger gap going into next year, but we also Again, we don't know how many of those
- people would have just paid to come to the pools anyway And they just took advantage of the program.
- So So yeah, we'll we'll see I guess it's kind of the best answer I have for you I know that's not great,
- but that's Chris do we know
- Why I know we change the waiver system a bit. I mean we changed who is eligible. Do we think that's
- why that we had so many more waivers or we think that the reason that the waivers have changed is because
- we made them available online and the process to apply is a lot easier right to be. And so we think
- that's why the waiver numbers have gone up so much. I think that's something that we're looking at changing
- not not getting rid of that piece but looking at changing and making it a
- going to a federal standard. So we are no longer saying you are eligible or you're not eligible or whatever.
- We're just going to go to a federal standard going forward. That seems like a good idea. Yeah. I also
- was wondering in my sense from being at the pools is I don't see a lot of students there. I mean it's
- obviously a lot of families and middle school kids and but I know in town this summer people have talked
- about how the IU summer school numbers are way down.
- Because people are just staying their hometown doing online. I use summer school so I don't know. I
- don't know. Thirteen thousand seems like a big dip in attendance I guess. So yeah like I said I do think
- part of that number is just we've gotten a lot better at tracking it. So before we were using we were
- using the system that was used before where it was just our staff would go out there and write down
- the number. This year we moved to a to an Excel sheet where people are tracking and we're able to count
- it that way. So it's.
- You know still not perfect obviously but it's a lot closer to what we're actually looking at. So yeah
- so talking about usage rates so usage rates and as I said I can't really speak to before 2024 but in
- 2024 May 25th through August 4th which is when the pool both pools are open. We have average paying
- attend average paying patrons about a thousand and then average total patrons about twelve hundred that
- adds in our camps and our fee waivers and that kind of thing. But then when we go into August to September
- that number dips all the way down to 681 average paying patrons and then 980 total patrons. That is
- average for that is average
- That was average per week? No, it has to be average per day. Maybe per week? I'm sorry. I should have
- written that number down on this document. But either way, I think it's average per week for every week
- that it's open. I'm sorry I don't have that answer for you.
- But either way the numbers so I know that the numbers are the same for both of those Yeah, so we so
- we take we're looking at how many people that's right, it's the three days It's the Friday Saturday
- Sunday. So we're looking at during the May through August fourth time We're looking at the weekends
- and then obviously in August we are only open on the weekend So we're looking at for the weekend
- In May through August it's about a thousand people and then on the weekends in August through September
- it's six hundred eighty one. So that's where the number that's where the number dips. I'm sorry about
- that. So is it the difference between 10 21 and 12 28 the pain patrons versus total patrons. Would that be the.
- Would that difference be the stay cool Bloomington people. No. So the paying patrons includes the stake.
- Okay. So the non-paying patron. Yeah. They're not actually paying but we're still classifying them as
- they would have paid the seven dollars because we're getting that. So who are the 200 and some that
- would be the fee waiver fee waiver fee waiver people. Yeah. Got it.
- So that's where that that's where that number changes and then if we go to the next slide we have the
- numbers from twenty twenty five. So same same time frame and we're going from a thousand to five hundred
- seventy and kind of the picture that I'm trying to paint here is that when we get into that August time
- we just don't get very many people that come in and we have a hard time funding
- the pools at that point. I'm sure I say this every year, but MCCSE, it's a shame that August is the
- hottest single month of the year, and it's a shame that people can't be at the pool during the week.
- Yeah, we're looking at August 3rd, and that's when the kids are getting ready to go back to school.
- It's getting earlier every year, it seems like. So then if we go to the next one, we can look at challenges with the
- with staying open in August obviously staffing. This hasn't actually been that big of an issue for us.
- We've had a lot of staff that's really wanted to stay on and continue working. So that hasn't been too
- much of a challenge. It's just it's more just a challenge to make sure that they're getting enough hours
- because they're only working a couple of days a week. The bigger issues are as we get towards the end
- of the end of the year the cooler weather means that fewer people are showing up. It also means that the
- On that on that same note we also don't make as much money from that right. So and then with the chemicals
- because we're still open we have to keep the chemicals in the pool all the time so that it's still safe
- for people to swim and all that. So we just continue to pump chemicals into the pool and lose lose money
- that way. So if we look at the next slide should be the yes for the firm what we're looking at here.
- So this is for Brian pool only. This does not include Mills pool and that's
- The patron numbers that we looked at before also only include Brian pool. So if we look at Brian pool
- only this is operating expense only when it says total operating expense. So that does not include any
- opening of the pool at the beginning of the year any shutdown of the pool at the end of the year. That
- is only what it would be to operate the pool on a day to day basis. So when we're looking at this we're
- looking at total operating gap from May to August. We're looking at we're above
- Above that line almost $7,000 and then we get into August and we lose $40,000 in just August And then
- if we go to 2025 We're looking at we're gonna see a trend. It's it's very similar We're in 19,000 above
- through the norm through the main part of the season. And then when we're only open on the weekends,
- we're losing 37,000 so this is just something that you know, we we want to be looking at and trying
- to figure out a
- You know as we're trying to close that gap as much as possible the August numbers are really really
- hurting us. Kids should not go to school. Yeah. So I threw a lot of numbers at you there and.
- I apologize for messing that one number up. But just kind of in general, we're dealing with aging facilities.
- I know you guys know that. You guys have seen the pools. You guys have gone to the pools. We just got
- a new pool liner at Bryan. That helped us a tremendous amount. We definitely lost less at the bottom
- end. So that was really nice. So that was helpful. And then we're going through our master planning
- process right now, as you guys know. Over the next five years, we're looking
- Brian pool they say is going to need a six hundred and thirty five thousand dollar capital investment
- Mills is going to need a four hundred and sixty thousand dollar capital investment as we move forward
- and then the additional four point two million is for the shell which would be the concrete shape of
- the pool and the concrete around the pool so that doesn't include like the bath house and all that kind
- of stuff that's where the other numbers come in but this is just for the concrete shell of the pool
- Both ages both facilities are aging and they're getting harder to take care of without investment And
- one of the things that we're going through as part of the master plan process is just program evaluation
- figuring out What things we want to continue doing what things we want to add what things we want to
- take away? Chris sorry, I just have a question Yep Can you hear me? Yep, we can hear you
- Okay, great. Sorry, all I can see is the PowerPoint. I can't see you. I don't know who I'm talking to.
- Anyway, so those numbers there that you have, I know we just talked as a group with the master planning.
- We kind of got a review. So the 635 and 460, that's just to bring
- like them up to speed. It's not to like really make any changes. That is correct. That would not be
- that would not be making the pool of any any way newer or anything like that. I would just be catching
- up the the pumps and the slides and all that kind of stuff just trying to bring all that up. And that
- those numbers are directly from that master planning process from the okay. Yeah. So like the
- Bathhouses aren't like particularly Fancy so it's just kind of the bare minimum fresh paint Like I'm
- assuming like plumbing fixtures things like that that is correct. Yeah, okay. Thanks and I can see Any
- other questions for Chris or comments I
- I just wanted to real quick go through you know our kind of our goals for last year for 2020 well for
- this year we're 2025 staff retention we wanted to get we want to stay at 70 percent we got it to 76
- percent concessions cost recovery we want to be at 110 percent we were at 137 percent and our general
- admission cost recovery for both pools we wanted to be at 62 percent and we were at 65 percent. So.
- We're pretty happy with those things. Our new goals for the next year, we're hoping to make those lap
- swim times more of a thing in the morning. We wanna get some more people in there. We wanna add new
- chairs. That's something that we hear all the time. We definitely need to add new chairs. It's just
- they're very expensive and they break extremely quickly. And then we wanna maintain our admission cost
- recovery at 65%. Obviously we're gonna lose some of the stuff from the stay cool Bloomington days and
- stuff like that. So we wanna try to keep that number where it is.
- Wasn't there was there a plan at some point to have those additional app swim times this summer? Yeah,
- we put so we put the We put the we put it in the price schedule and that was originally the plan and
- then we ran out of money to do the To buy the lanes. So we ended up we ended up having We ended up not
- using that money for that. We ended up using it for a couple other things that Broke first, okay
- I think that's it. Yeah. So OK. Why not. Because well truthfully we don't want to have 100 percent staff
- retention because we we want those a lot of those kids are graduating and going off to do you know other
- jobs after college. So we want them to move on and not not be here all the time. But our staff retention
- has has been really good and the staff seems really happy which is good and they're doing a great job.
- A lot of them yeah, a lot of them are going to go into IU or whatever So they they graduate and go on
- to other jobs and stuff. Yeah Okay, all right, thank you Chris thanks for all the information All right
- And then in our section II, we'll see if there's any public comment online or I Don't see I know everyone
- here. So I don't think this public comment here in person. I
- See if anyone has a raised hand online if you're online please raise your hand if you'd like to make
- a comment. No. OK. All right. And then we'll go back to Rebecca for any additional announcements. Yes.
- Rebecca Swift again operations.
- Director got it right that time I'm here to just give some department updates for you all as you know
- We've had a really successful master planning process and thanks to you all for being involved in the
- first week of October and Particularly staff really enjoyed the provider luncheon where we got to talk
- to over 50 different organizations that provide similar services that our department does and Try to
- come up with different collaborative ideas for both programming funding things like that. Try not to
- reinvent the wheel after all and
- Next step is we're mailing out surveys and they're almost ready to go out and we are working with Desiree
- in the mayor's office to determine if we will be able to access any database information on resident
- emails, which could speed up the process. Otherwise, we will go through just standard mailing surveys
- and we hope for a determination on that soon. Winterization of facilities are underway. We've already
- started winterizing some of our irrigation points within parks. We're going through doing the drinking
- fountains and restrooms.
- As we continue into October and into November, you'll see most of those facilities become closed for
- the winter months. Aaron Biggs has accepted the recreation events general manager position, and so he
- will be starting on November 10th. Aaron comes to us most recently from the Chocolate Moose, where he
- has worked as the general manager, but he previously actually worked with our department as both an
- intern and in the sports division, so we're welcoming back to the department.
- And you will get a chance to meet him probably at a November meeting, unless that date change. Work
- began this week on the rail trail Roger Street Crossing. So thank you for approving that contract and
- that trail closure. So if you haven't been on South Rogers yet, the road is closed. The road closure
- could last up to 30 days. But the contractor is hopeful that that construction project will be much
- quicker than that.
- We are also working with BPD resource officers and the city's new homelessness response coordinator
- to make a determination on a closure of a large encampment at Browns Woods, which is a property that
- our department manages but is actually owned by the Community Foundation of Monroe County. And so it's
- looking like the closure will happen early December and we're working with both internal departments
- and external partners on how to approach that.
- And then October is a busy month for programming. We've already talked about a few of them, but just
- some coming up this weekend. We have the Festival of Ghost Stories going on at Bryant Park this Friday,
- October 24th, 7 to 8.30 p.m. And this is actually the 50th anniversary of this event, so there will
- be many special guests and storytellers from past years, so this should be a really good one.
- As well as the pump Bloomington pumpkin launch is coming up on Saturday October 25th at 11 a.m. At the
- Monroe County Fairgrounds and just heard that we have a confirmed six launchers that are gonna be out
- there this year So come on out a lot of fall fun. Do you have any questions? Okay. All right.
- Thank you, Rebecca. Thanks to everyone and with that I will adjourn the October meeting of the Bloomington
- Board of Park Commissioners and