Okay, it's four oh seven, so I'm gonna call to order the November meeting of the Bloomington Board of
Park Commissioners. Oh, and here comes Israel, right on time. So, all right, okay, okay. So we'll let
him get up here before we do the roll call. Hello.
Okay, Kim, could we do the roll call, please? Here. Here. Jim Whitlatch here. Okay. All right. So we
do have all four members here tonight and we are going to start with the fairly lengthy consent calendar,
but we've had a chance to look over all of these agreements and
contract renewals and surplus and all of that sort of thing. So do we have a motion to approve the consent
calendar move to approve the consent calendar. Second. All right. And a roll call vote of those in favor.
Oh we don't. Oh we we don't have to do. Oh that's right. We're all here. Oh OK. All those in favor of
approving the consent calendar. Aye aye. All right. That motion is carried. And then in section B we have
Public hearings and appearances Emily book has the Bravo Award All right, good afternoon everyone Emily
book community relations coordinator and I would like to recommend Eli McCormick for the November Bravo
Award Eli is a fantastic volunteer with the urban green space team his dedication to his adopt a green
space role and
and his former role as a park ambassador at RCA Community Park have provided the opportunity for many
hours of thoughtful observation, action steps, and help to our park staff and native habitat. Eli has
targeted Asian bush honeysuckle, garlic mustard, and purple winter creeper for invasive species control
and has offered mentorship to many volunteers during our group events.
In addition to caring for RCA community a park Eli attends weed wrangles at lower Cascades Park in the
Bloomington rail trail frequently as well as tree planting events when he can He brings his positive
attitude and sense of humor to every event. He attends and is undaunted by the effort we share together
We are very grateful for volunteers like Eli who encourage others and bring more than they take away
And he passes on his thanks, but he's a bus driver So he couldn't make it but he says thank you to everyone
and he appreciates it. Okay. Well, thank you Eli
And then next up, we have a staff introduction from Aaron Biggs. Good evening, everyone. My name is
Aaron Biggs. I'm back here at the city of Bloomington Parks and Recreation. I'm the new Recreation Services
General Manager. I've got a little description about me, so just bear with me. Having grown up in Northwest
Indiana, I pursued my profession for recreation at IU here in Bloomington, where I earned my Bachelor
of Science in Recreation and Sport Management.
See, my journey with this department began as an intern back in 2009, where I had the privilege of helping
with the reopening of the Twin Lakes Recreation Center. So that was awesome. And I also worked with
a few people that are here now. My career has since provided me with some diverse experience. I spent
almost five years at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and Event Center, and then almost three years at
Indiana University Auditorium as the guest services manager. And most recently, almost five years with
money may know it as the chocolate moose company. So it was great there. I am excited to be back here
with Bloomington Parks and Recreation and I've been here a week now learned a lot read a lot and I'm
excited to meet you all and get to know you all better. Thank you. All right. Welcome Aaron. Yeah it
sounds like you have a really good range of experience. Thank you. Yeah. Happy to be here. All right. Okay.
On to our section see other business first Amy Lane Beck has the contract with B&L sheet metal for industrial
fan installation Operations coordinator I'm here to recommend that we approve the contract with B&L
sheet metal to install the high-volume Low-speed fans. They are a product known as big-ass fans. That
is the product name and
The Donovan energy report came back with a recommendation that we put these in at the switch yard maintenance
building It's a really big like warehouse style building and the heat just gets trapped at the top in
the Winter and in the summer. There's not a good airflow. So these fans will do a good job of circulating
air better and controlling the temperature in there so
We be an L sheet that'll did a really good job putting together a very professional proposal Took extra
steps to make sure they got all the pieces together and I think they're gonna do a really good job Okay.
All right. Any questions for Amy about this? Okay Move to approve the contract with B&L sheet metal Second
All those in favor. Hi. All right. Motions carried. And then Amy has a couple of other items tonight.
C2 is the service agreement with HFI for 2026 services.
So this is just our regular service agreement to pre approve us working with HFI throughout the year
on various projects. We will have each of those projects separately quoted so that we know what the
price is before but it just kind of gives us the approval to go ahead and work with them so that we
can get things taken care of quickly when it comes to HVAC things that's usually pretty urgent to get things
online so We haven't actually had to use them this year very much thankfully But we we know that they're
a great vendor and we've had a good working relationship within the past So we look forward to working
with them if we have to hopefully we won't Okay, all right any questions about this service agreement
Move to approve the 2026 service agreement with Harold fish second All those in favor
Finally Amy has the service agreement with Houston electric for 2026 services Same as HFI. We just like
to have a service agreement ahead of time with Cassidy It's Houston is known as they're doing business
as Cassidy They do great work with us. We have a lot of various
Projects like putting lighting in at the new shelter building that we just built at building trades
park Those kind of little things here and there We've worked with them on and off for years. So and
we do have several vendors So we do try to continue bidding things to keep things competitively priced
But we know that we will likely need them at some point
I make a motion to approve twenty twenty six service agreement with Houston electric holding court.
Second. All those in favor. Aye. Aye. All right. Motion carried. Thank you very much. And then in C4
we have Sarah Mullen with the community gardens template agreement for twenty twenty six.
I'm here to recommend the approval of the 2026 community gardening agreement. And just for some background,
the purpose of the agreement is just to outline the responsibilities of anyone who rents a plot at the
community gardens. We have 281 plots that we rented this year. It fluctuates just a tiny bit every year
depending on the plots that we need to close or open. So,
I'm estimating around the same amount for next year. So we rent those plots out there generally all
filled and then we also offer some educational classes and events. So this year we did about 19 and
we hope to do about the same amount next year. Happy to answer any questions.
All right. I'll make a motion to approve the community gardens template agreement for twenty twenty
six. Second. All those in favor. All right. Thank you. Thanks Sarah. And then C5 Rebecca Swift has the
contract addendum with milestone for Rail Trail Rogers Street crossing project.
That's right. Rebecca Swift operations development division director and I'm here to recommend a contract
addendum with milestone contractors for additional scope of work for the rail trail Roger Street crossing project.
These additional scope conditions are just once we start digging, you never know what kind
of soil conditions. So we had to dig a little bit deeper to make sure that the substrate was going to
withstand the rail trail corridor. And we also identify that the county was interested in improving
their stormwater infrastructure. So we added that onto our scope with the county will be paying for
that additional work and just a little bit of extra removal of some damaged
Asphalt and concrete so some things you don't know ahead of time until you the concrete or the construction
starts So this is just to extend an additional scope of work as well as add another thirty three thousand
six hundred and ten dollars to the contract Happy to answer any questions Yeah, I mean it just our total
spend is only the 17 nine correct Okay
Yeah I will make a motion to approve the contract addendum with milestone for the rail trail Roger Street
crossing. Second. All right. All those in favor. Aye. Motion is carried. And then Rebecca also has C6
which is the contract with land works for stormwater detention design detention for retention detention
detention. Okay. So depending we're going to retain it. Yes but we're hoping to keep it on site and let it
settle as much as possible. So I'm here to recommend a contract with Land Works Engineering, and this
is for design and consulting work on a future detention project at RCA Community Park. Hopefully you
all are aware, I'm pursuing constructing the power line trail, hoping to put that out to bid here in
January. And through that review process, our utilities department said, we're gonna need, we're gonna
have an extra runoff, so we need to do some more stormwater management. I cannot put detention within
the power line utility
Fortunately for us our CA community park is located just south of that construction site and we have
a lot of opportunity there to actually put in some detention features and Again, keep the stormwater
on site before it goes even further south into the neighborhood. So Land works is is very familiar with
the site and is already coordinating between us and our utilities department So looking forward to working
with them on this Okay All right. Any questions about this one?
Okay. Make a motion to approve the service agreement with land works engineering for RCA Park detention
design services. Second. All right. And all those in favor. Aye aye aye. Motion carried. Thank you Rebecca.
I'm going to stay here and represent Haskell. Okay. See seven then is the addendum to the partnership
agreement with canopy Bloomington.
Yeah, so I'm here representing Haskell Smith, our urban forester, and we're just recommending an addendum
of the existing contract, the partnership agreement with Canopy Bloomington from 2024. Really just because
of some delayed invoicing, we're hoping to use the funds earmarked for 2024 to pay for the work. And
ultimately this funding actually comes through ESD. So ESD is funding and paying for these invoices.
We just need to extend the contract addendum to
allow for a little bit more flexibility. We already have an existing twenty twenty five partnership
and we absolutely plan to continue this partnership in a twenty twenty six. Okay. All right. Yeah it's
been a good arrangement with Canopy. So I don't think so. All right. I'll make a motion to approve the
contract addendum with Canopy Bloomington. Second. All those in favor. I motion carried. Thank you Rebecca.
C8 is the elimination of 12 redundant parks and rec policies from Leslie Brinson Who's the queen of
policy, you know gotta be a queen of something I suppose Leslie Brinson recreation division director
here to recommend again the elimination of 12 policies from our parks and recreation policy manual the
policies being eliminated are listed there most of them are Staff oriented that are now located within
the city of Bloomington's human resources policy manual
which was just recently updated in March. So we didn't feel the need to just repeat the exact same policy
in our policy manual as is in the HR policy. So we've decided to go ahead and just eliminate these out
of our policy manual just to clean it up a little bit so that the parks policy manual are things very
specific to the parks department and things that may differ than what our city of Bloomington human
resources policy might be. I'm happy to answer any questions about any particular policy that you might have.
As you know, we review the policy manual quite frequently and we have some additional ones that we will
be having updated in the next month or two. But for now, we're just want to eliminate these. Okay. So
these are all just overlap with the city's correct. There is no difference between what our policy said
and what the HR policy said. Everybody has access to the HR policy manual through our knowledge base
or a printed document if you choose. So it just really didn't seem necessary to iterate them in ours.
Okay. I've just got a couple of questions or comments. So I don't have any problem with this elimination
based upon the fact that they're covered by the city policy. What I keep getting confused upon is what
policies we have and I go if I go to the parks website I find the one that is entitled general policies
and that's
49 pages long which I know doesn't deal with any of this stuff. Right. So we have that one and then
there's a cover page on that that basically says we have other policies but that the general public
needs to do or public records requests to get a copy of those. What I guess I'd like. What other policies
do we just as a parks department have. So what you'll find on the Web site are what we call external
facing policies. And so
Those are ones that are important to the public to know about your behavior in parks how you rent parks
things that the public would need to know the ones that are the other ones included in our policy manual
are specific to staff responsibilities dress code how we handle the purchasing of land and what we do
with land how we handle emergencies our own action plans if you will are in our regular policy manual
and then the
And they include those that are also in the external but we just give the city or the public view of
those that involve what their behavior and what their responsibilities might be. They don't need to
know that you can't smoke on parks that staff aren't allowed to smoke in their vehicle or things of
those sorts. So and I and those policies do we do we as the
Park commissioners approve those review and approve those you do I've brought several of them to you
in the past any policy I bring to you is in our parks policy manual It just isn't online for the public
to see per se. I'm happy to give you access to yeah It seems to me we as the commissioners or at least
I would like to have
either a copy of them or have access to those policies so that we can look at this. It's kind of hard
in a vacuum. So we're eliminating these. Well what do we have left. And you have a lot. Yeah I know
the fact that it's part of the HR the city makes sense to me and I don't have any problem with eliminating these.
But I do I would like to have access as the park commission as a park commissioner and maybe all four
of us would at least have access to those other policies so we could refer to them. Absolutely. We keep
them in a Google Drive and so they are working documents internally. So I'm happy to share those with
you so that you would have access not only to that parks policy but we have other plans emergency action
plans that are in that same folder that you could have access to as well. I think that would be helpful.
Of course but otherwise I have no problem with eliminating these policies. OK. Sounds good. OK.
All right. I'll make a motion to approve the elimination of 12 redundant parks and recreation policies.
Second. OK. All those in favor. I. Motion is carried. Thanks Leslie. And then C9 we have feed changes
for next year which Tim will tell us about.
Good afternoon park commissioners Tim Street director of parks and recreation for the city of Bloomington
This evening we have before you several fee changes for 2026 We have just laid out the changes that
we would like to make for 2026 and I'd like to give you a little bit of background on our Process on
this with the master plan just so you can kind of understand how we came to this point so you may recall
from some of our work sessions with 110% our master plan is ongoing and
And we are in the process of revising exactly how we look at and set up our cost recovery. So previously
we had cost recovery goals per area that quite honestly had not been really reexamined in some time.
And we are moving instead to cost recovery categories where like purpose activities are grouped together
with various cost recovery goals for that type of activity. So for example,
the more an activity serves the broader public a parade a community events a Concert that's free and
open to everyone the less cost recovery there is and then the same applies At maybe some of our traditionally
higher cost recovery areas So just because something is taking place at the TLRC Doesn't mean necessarily
that it's going to have a high cost recovery. Maybe it is a community event and
being held at the TLRC. Maybe the cost recovery we have for swim lessons at our aquatics facilities
is less than general admission, right, because there's community benefit in teaching kids how to swim.
So that's the philosophy we are working towards. We have developed our service categories, we've developed
our initial goals, and we've even started to develop our specialized business service categories, which
will include the Twin Lakes Rec Center,
the golf course and burial services. Actually, we've identified as specialized business services. And
so we aren't quite done with that. And our master plan process is continuing into the new year. I'm
hoping that we are standing before you here in either February or March at the latest with our new master
plan, with all of this in it, with our cost recovery policy strategy updated, with all of that
Strategic goals that we're meeting in January to develop as well In the meantime as we turn the calendar
to a new year We knew it was critical to look at some pricing for next year with an eye towards where
we're heading with this And so we put out to staff. Hey is there if there's any? Critical updates you
need to make to your pricing now for next year This is a chance to bring them before the board so we
can have these price changes lined up with the turn of the year
So that is what these changes are Staff identified these as sort of critical needs for price updates
I'm not the best person to speak to the specific updates necessarily, but we have various staff here
this evening That can speak to any questions you might have about some of those price updates before
we hopefully motion for approval Any general questions for me about process before you may have specific
fee questions? I
You may have explained this, and I may not have been listening closely, but when you come up with this
pricing, most of these are inconsequential increases. And in fact, the fees themselves are relatively
inconsequential. So I guess my question is, do we do some kind of survey to determine if we're competitive,
either too high or too low? And I'm thinking about things like the golf
fees and things like that. So I guess that'd be my first question. Yeah, so yes, we do. And as part
of our master plan process, we're actually looking to formalize that process a little bit more. We've
always done that. We even talked in a meeting a week or two ago about what are the things that go into
pricing? Well, what are your competitors doing? What can the market bear? What can our population,
Afford to pay that is certainly a consideration and then of course, that's where things like fee waivers
may come into play as well and then of course our new cost recovery strategy, so as As we finish the
master plan process over the next three months. We're going to have a new pricing strategy written out and
That will come before you for approval as well that formalizes that a bit more But for example tonight,
you know, I know Jason is here and I had a whole conversation with Jason and I know keto did as well
But hey, you know, we see the price changes you're proposing. How do we feel about these? What are your
competitors doing and Jason has a whole list of that that he has looked into and considered certainly
as part of that pricing strategy That's that's helpful and that makes sense the other
Comment I have is just looking at the kid city Original and kid city quest which is the only one that
makes a distinction between residents and non residents my comment or question there would be that We're
talking about five different dollars difference between a resident non resident which seems again pretty
inconsequential
I guess I wonder for five dollars one why are we even making a distinction or two should the distinction
be greater because it's a facility that's being paid by Bloomington City taxpayers and non residents
seems like maybe they should pay more than a five dollar differential or
Not I mean, I don't know that I feel strongly about that one way or the other, but I think it's something
I'd like to know What our thought process was regarding that and whether or not there should be more
of a differential there I agree. I think it's something we need more consistency on and it's something
we've also talked about with all of the annexation everything still pending and out there and
We didn't want to eliminate any resident non resident pricing where it already existed in this iteration
While we work on that pricing strategy and while we get the master plan numbers back in the full financial
sustainability analysis that we're having done through 110% so They have a finance expert who is literally
loaded every single transaction. We use 2024 as our last complete year and
To analyze and look at how we're performing and all of these different cost recovery categories that
we're moving towards And so that long term and these are sort of the immediate staff. Hey, what immediate?
Sort of under the old way we were doing it price increases Do we need to make to start 2026 with but
as we finish that policy and have a comprehensive new pricing strategy and tool we're going to make
more consistent those decisions based on the cost recovery we're seeing in these categories and
Thank you. Those are the only questions I have. That's the only questions I have. I was just curious,
how many of these were also, and I don't know if you know this, but increased last year as well? So
are we seeing something get increased
a lot of times things don't change price for a few years and then you kind of bump it up. And so how
much of this is getting bumped up every single year to where folks are gonna say like, oh, it was $8
and not last year, now it's 12 or it was 120 and now it's 160. I do think even though it's somewhat
inconsequential
when you're adding a dollar or two per year, it does then all of a sudden feel like, oh, that's a jump.
Yeah. I think it is important that we find the right balance there, that you also don't not raise things
for so long that all of a sudden you have to do a huge jump to catch up with what your true cost is.
And so that's what we're trying to do. I would look to Jason or Leslie. I think we've got a lot of those
fees in there to maybe help answer that question more. Is there one specifically that you're wondering
about, or are you just wondering in general? No, I was just wondering in general how many of these are
people going to say, look at and say, oh, this went up again this year or whatever. Anyone who has a,
you want to talk to that with the ones you have on there?
can only truly speak to recreation but I have a fairly good feel for everybody's opinion that they probably
are raising year after year in increments but as are all of our expenses and everything else in our
community and our supplies and who we're paying and what we're paying and so if we don't do them in
small increments we end up with big jumps which I feel like is a harder thing for a family to swallow a
One-year jump, you know at $20 in one year as opposed to a $1. So yes, it does add up over the span
But I think we feel across the board that it is better to do that in small steps than in big steps And
we have found ourselves in situations the farmers market being a good example where we had to make a
pretty substantial jump because we had waited ten years to do that and I think expenses and
What we're having to pay for things are increasing at a much higher rate than what we are passing along
to our customers Okay. Yeah, I guess that's where you know, like just kind of skimming here and some
of them are, you know a dollar or two But then it's like the garden plot was a $20 increase So do you
that one's a little bit different because we're changing the way we're pricing it and so only that one
plot jumped that much because I went to a square footage as opposed to a general
What we kind of felt was a random pricing to be like we don't know where it started and then we just
were raising them like five dollars or two dollars And so we decided Sarah decided to do it
more strategically So that one plot did increase but the other plot decreased. Yeah a different size
decrease So that one's a little bit different in that jump because of how we are structuring the pricing. Okay, so
Okay, I just had a couple questions about two of the things I see the senior season golf pass is Is
that being eliminated? Yeah, and I was just curious about Eliminating the reason to eliminate it. Yeah,
Jason Sims golf facilities manager cascades golf course the reason why I'd like to
eliminate the senior season passes. I did a study with 11 other golf courses within an hour drive. And
there's only two other golf courses in those 11 with a senior rate. Everybody else has got just an individual
adult rate at a much higher price than what I am asking for at $900.
Don't know if you guys were shared the document with that I can show you that I just have one but But
yeah out of those 11 only only two other ones including us at the time so there's three and if we eliminate
it just be us two Okay All right, and then this other question I have might be for someone else the
new the skate helper I assume is
Sounds like what it is, but is that somebody who doesn't doesn't skate but like is helping out It's
a it's actually a tool. So it kind of that thing where you have to hold on like the walker thing The
skate helper, okay Okay, I see we've had a lot of people ask for them and yes, right, okay I could use
one of those. Yeah, okay Okay, that makes sense
Any any other questions about the fee changes I just also as a refresher. I know we're kind of reviewing
some of these but Is are we? Reviewing all fee changes at some point. I can't quite remember like what's
our annual When we're reviewing the annual schedule because like we don't have any I I don't know that
there's anyone in the room for public comment and so just thinking through making sure that we've also
Advertised that people know that these fees schedules are fee changes are happening. Sure So you're
right typically November December are our fee months that we go through the entire fee schedule make
updates What we've done here is basically a version of that But rather than looking at everything we
just said, hey, what are the absolute critical things? We need to update with an understanding that
after we finish our pricing strategy
The master plan we could reengage and look at more comprehensive updates as needed across all fees So
this is what staff came up with when asked. Hey, what do you critically need to start 2026 with changed
and updated? Okay, and we won't see anything else in December You will not see anything else in December
unless there's something you want to continue from this meeting to that We could of course have a further
discussion on that for approval in December
It's just a few weeks away. It's relatively soon too. So OK. All right. Any other questions about the
fee changes. OK. All right. Ellen do you want to move. Yes I will make a motion to approve the 20 26
fee changes. Second OK. And all those in favor.
Aye aye motion carried Thank you for that and then we don't have any reports this afternoon. So we'll
see if we have any public comment here in person or Kim will check online for us No one online, okay
All right Okay, then I think we are back to Tim for any other announcements Yes back to me. So thank
you so much. I'll just give a
a little broader update on the master plan as well since we were talking about that. It has been a heavy
lift and I really appreciate the board's participation in work sessions. We've done some great public
engagement. Our survey is out there hitting mailboxes right now. So folks are getting a postcard in
their mailbox telling them, hey, you've been selected randomly from our resident list to take this survey.
We're hoping to get to 400 of those to get a statistically valid sample size in the next few weeks.
So you'll see some promotion for that on our social media channels and going out there. Then, critically,
in January, we have a staff strategic planning session. We're gonna be working on goals. And then, February,
March, we plan to bring many aspects of our new master plan back to the board. Armed with that community
needs assessment that is in there, we hope to make some critical decisions about funding and facilities
and the future of some of the needs we've identified.
particularly as we've been talking about for the last year plus, some of our older sports facilities
in particular. So the pools, the ice arena, some of our sports fields that have not been heavily invested
in for some time. We saw, despite the fact that it's almost Thanksgiving, some great projects going.
The Griffey Boathouse entrance was just repaved using some final bicentennial bond funds that had still
been available. We made some pedestrian improvements there as well.
The Roger Street Rail Trail crossing that Rebecca was talking about should be complete in the next week
or so. That is a massive safety improvement for that trail that we've been wanting to make for some
time. We're really pleased about the collaboration with the county on that. Sports-wise, the RCA Park
basketball courts were in bad shape and got resurfaced and restriped. The pickleball courts there will
get crack treatment. Didn't quite pull it off for the fall, but it is coming in the spring under the
same contract.
And then as mentioned the Willie Street or community garden Is also getting a new fence right now with
money appropriated in this year's budget So we're really excited to make fence improvements that will
improve the experience for all the gardeners there Can stop mending Holes with zip ties and keeping
rabbits out and all of the different things that go into that and
Events-wise, our staff did a tremendous job with a really heavy October season of events. I'm always
amazed at how much they run around and serve the community in October with all kinds of amazing events.
The pumpkin launch alone, I think, illustrates it had hundreds of people turn out during an IU football
game, which I think is a challenge right now with how popular they are, but it shows just the following
that a lot of those events have. It was also a tremendous concert season that wrapped up in October.
Holiday Market is of course the weekend after Thanksgiving, coming up in a couple Saturdays. I'm really
looking forward to that. Not long after that, that same weekend, actually it might be before I think
about my dates, but the square lighting will be going on of course. I just want to say it's not quite
the end of the year yet, but thanks to all of our staff and board members for another great year. Really
looking forward to wrapping up
The heavy lift that has been master planning this year and really turning the page in 2026 to executing
on a lot of the planning and Surveying we've been doing this year Okay, our next meeting is December
11th So three weeks away, okay. All right. Thank you Tim. Thank you And with that I will adjourn the
November meeting of the Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners. I