Okay, so it is 502 and I will call to order the March meeting of the Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners
and Kim, could you start us with the roll call, please? Kathleen Mills here. Ellen Rodkey here. Jim
with lunch here Israel Herrera Okay, so we do have all four members here today And a big crowd of people
who like to see the parks board
so we first we go into the Section B Public hearings and appearances. So Emily Boock will be up. Oh,
no, sorry. We didn't go to do a first up then is a the consent Agenda which we usually take these all
in one motion. So do we have someone wants to make a motion? Move to approve the consent calendar second
All right. And all those in favor. Aye. Aye. All right. That motion is carried. And then we will move
into section B and the Bravo award with Emily Boock here to present. She's on the other side.
Good evening everyone Emily book community relations coordinator and we would like to recommend is a
door Tory for the March Bravo award I would like to recognize is door with this award in recognition
of his volunteerism as Santa at our annual winter wonderland event Is a door has volunteered as Santa
at winter wonderland a joint event with the community and Family Resources Department for the past three
years His portrayal of Santa is a highlight of the
Event that resonates with kids and adults of all ages He has been a key player in creating holiday magic
and memories for countless families in the bandit community We are especially grateful for the representation
He gives the children as a black man for portraying Santa showing them that they belong in this beloved
holiday photo tradition We are very grateful for his volunteers. I'm in our community. Thank you
Thank you to Parks and Recreation City of Bloomington Community and Family Resource Department and So
all the Friends and family in the past that has support me. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much
our Section C Which is our other business So we have a number of contracts and agreements tonight And
I should say since it seems like we have quite a few people don't normally come to the meeting We do
always have public comment time Here at the end, so we'll try and be swift so you won't have to wait
too long if you wanted to make a comment and
So first up in c1 is the partnership with iu for the grand balloon concerts at switchyard main stage
leslie brinson Good evening, leslie brinson recreation division director i'm here today to recommend
the approval of a cooperative partnership agreement with indiana university indiana university for grand
balloon concert series at switchyard park
Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department will be managing contracts scheduling initial payments of
fencing portable restrooms and potential shade structures With reimburse reimbursement from Indiana
University. This is the first year of what we hope will be a multi-year partnership agreement with Indiana
University for this concert series the grand balloon concert series at Switchyard Park will host three
ticketed concerts June 20th July 18th and August 29th on the main stage at Switchyard Park
The University will be responsible for all organizational and event tasks including items associated
with the performances Ticketing and the general event area the Parks Department will manage contracts
associated with parking fencing portable restrooms Having all those costs associated be reimbursed by IU
We are also working with IU to invest in infrastructure improvements for the stage and lawn area right
now We're trying to focus on the shape and trade shade structure improvements But a final determination
of that project has not been completed in this agreement. IU has guaranteed a financial Commitment that
will go towards future work in the lawn But not knowing exactly that timeline we have built in just
a dollar amount as a hold for that financing right now and
programming we feel but fills a gap in our current concert series and Offerings in the park while also
supporting a larger economic development investment with the city of Bloomington. I do have IU here
and Comment Ali to answer some questions from IU side Thank you, I'll just say that the the grand balloon
was founded in 2018
The first Grand Flu was held in the parking lot of Upland Brewery And it has expanded every year since
if you were here last summer you saw it out on Kirkwood But we've outgrown that space as well. It's
always meant to be a Program that was dedicated to building up the arts and culture summer calendar
as well as creating experiential learning opportunities for students And then also boosting businesses
in the region
And so we're really excited to kind of I think this is sort of the apotheosis of our relationship with
the city moving into Switchyard Park Investing in the park investing in the region and really kind of
giving back to the community at large with the proceeds from the tickets that we're selling Happy to
answer any questions, though Oh
I just wondered, I'm trying to remember from last year or year before, is this more the three separate
concerts? Is this more than you've had in the past? It's always been multi-venues, but over one weekend.
And we are stretching it out over three months. So a concert each month in June, July, and August, which
we hope will boost attention and attendance. OK. All right. Thanks. Thanks.
Four-year partnership was my question. Is it is this an initial year as a trial and then the partnership
will like renew or is this Because it says we hope will be a four-year partnership. I mean, I think
the intention is it for it to be long-term each year I think invest the investment part of it will change
or the infrastructure potential will change and
So that's why I said helpful But I do think our intention is for it to stay in the park and continue
to grow and the partnership might change a little bit again Kind of based on that infrastructure. Okay
concept makes sense. Thanks Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve the partnership with IU for the grand
balloon concert at switchered main stage Second, okay, and all those in favor I
Motion is carried. Thank you Leslie and Ed And in c2 Rebecca Swift's first item is a contract with Monroe
LLC for construction of the power line trail It's right here folks Rebecca Swift operations director
here to recommend a contract with Monroe LLC for the construction of the new power line trail that will
be located in the Duke power line easement just across the street from Switchyard Park
I can go into the details of the project but really for the sake of this they were the lowest of five
bids received at a total of six hundred and thirty seven thousand seven hundred and seventy five This
will be paid out of the bicentennial bond and really looking forward to building this this summer All
right any happy answer any questions questions for Rebecca Make a motion to approve the contract with
Monroe LLC for construction of the power line trail second
All right, and all those in favor aye-aye All right motion is carried and then Rebecca has more items.
Yes, see three contract REA for construction inspection services for the power line trail. Yes Construction
but more the inspection part of this large project knowing that it involves a lot of different steps and
Inspection of the pouring before the gravel and the asphalt. We have glow rock going in a lot of things
to stay on top of so We're looking to hire REA to help support construction inspection services as well
as provide some on-the-ground technical services when needed We've worked with them in the past and
I'm really happy with the services they provided So really looking to recommend us hiring REA for some
construction services not to exceed 124,950
So that's kind of a top end of the price possibly correct not to exceed but hopefully they will not
use all those hours allocated to them, right? I'll make a motion to approve the contract with REA for
construction inspection services And all those in favor I
motion is carried for C3 and C4. Finally, Rebecca has the agreement with GTE MobileNet Verizon for Ops
Center cell tower lease extension.
That's a mouthful for the sake of it. We'll call it Verizon Wireless. We are extending the lease agreement
We do have a cell tower located at our ops center. And so we do generate some non-reverting froms from
that cell tower So this is just an extension. It was time to update the lease agreement for another
15 years So ran this there are legal their attorneys and we were able to come up with this lease agreement Have we
determined What fair market value rental is for did we look at the rental amount or I? Have not looked
at the rental about no, okay
I'm just thinking with the 50, you know, but I don't know what the going I have no idea what the going
rate is for those But I just wondered if we'd consider that and re-upping the we don't set the the rental
rate So I don't know if we have control over that I know the only thing that we have we we have to agree
that we won't redevelop Relocate or sell the rental rights to anybody else, but I don't know that we
even get to dictate what that cost is that rate is I mean they're using our tower. Yeah, right, right
We look at it specifically this year re up the lease
We didn't look at it specifically this year, but we have in recent years and found it to be in line
acceptable To the point where we didn't feel like we needed to this was just sort of a formality and
there's a built-in escalator Year-over-year in it too. So we didn't feel the need to dive deeply into
that this time Okay
Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve the agreement with Verizon for the cell tower lease extension second
Motion is carried. Thank you, Rebecca. Thank you. And then c5 Sean Marler has the agreement with green
dragon for 2026 switch yard mowing Good evening
Sean Marler recreation facilities general manager here to recommend for approval the 2026 switch our
park mowing contract to be awarded to Green Dragon Inc The total area to be mowed is a little larger
than in the past as we have changed over some space from
on natural landscaping to grass, and we've identified some other areas we'd like them to mow. The new
size is approximately 17.2 acres, which is an increase from the 15.6 previous acres. The per cycle quote
was $1,000.32, which comes out to $60 an acre. Typically during the year, we do about 26 to 30 cycles
starting sometime in April. Excuse me.
the not to exceed amount is $33,025. This year we did have a record number of bidders in the process.
Typically we only get two to three. This year we had six, of which Green Dragon was the lowest. Green
Dragon is also the company that has won the bid in the past. I'm happy to answer any other questions.
You said it sounds like maybe two acres switched over from a landscaping situation Is this just a better
use of that space or it was partly that and also partly there was an area to the south near the college
entrance That we are walnut entrance that typically in the past we hadn't been mowing and we decided
to start mowing Okay, it was a combination of those two and that space alone was it was about an acre,
right? Okay, and I just like to
That parks does some of its own mowing as well, but correct There are some small spots that we still
more ourselves because it's not Cost-effective to have green dragon do it and we'll also come in and
mow before a certain event Sure. Okay. All right any questions for Sean? No, I think
Cursory search of $60 an acre is a really competitive rate So it is like I said there were six bids
and the fact that we've had we've enjoyed having Green Dragon in the past The fact that they were still
the lowest bid I think says a lot about us getting a good price for good work. Yeah I'll make a motion
to approve the service agreement with Green Dragon for 2026 switch yard mowing second
And all those in favor I All right motion is carried and see five. Thank you Sean. Thank you And then
Haskell Smith has c6, which is the MOU with gray star for in lieu tree planting Good afternoon Haskell
Smith urban forester
This is a review and approval of a memorandum of understanding between Parks and Rec planning
and transportation and gray star development for off-site tree planting For the fell iron property in
which is the BIM currently BIM over there Staff recommends the approval of this memorandum of understanding
between all parties the fell iron property had some
UDO planning requirements, they couldn't quite meet with on-site planting and still developing the property
to its full potential. So they kind of pitched an idea of off-site planting, worked with them and the
planning department to kind of get to these numbers. Grey Star's been through some BZA meetings already.
This tree planting is conditional to their occupancy permit at the end of when it's all said and done.
I think out of the 143 trees About 40 of them are street trees and the rest have to contribute to closed
canopy So these will work in the areas that we're trying to restore to forest Butler Park being probably
the closest one to that happy to answer any questions That I can Okay. All right any questions for Haskell
about this?
No, I think that's not This is tree planning well the first tree planning, but yeah, you're talking
about the second Yeah Yes coming up so Okay
Make a motion to approve the MOU with gray star for in lieu tree planting second Okay, and all those
in favor. I I See seven motion is carried and then Okay, then on to the next one Haskell has the partnership
with canopy Bloomington for 2026 youth tree tenders program Yes, this is a continuation of our youth
tree tenders program
Again, it's paid from funds from the economic and sustainability department not to exceed $13,000. This
partnership hires about 10 high school students throughout the season. They work, I think, 40 to 60
hours over their summer working on trees, mulching, pruning, watering, root ground excavation, all those
things from either high school, any high school. Canopy Bloomington handles all the outreach and hiring
and all that.
Good stuff at some point. I usually come in and do some sort of educational aspect to it but I think
this is our Fifth fourth year fifth year something like that, but we've all told they're over Six six
hundred trees that have been worked on I think just in the last few years Okay, and you you don't have
any trouble getting a
Students to participate in the program the first year was a little rocky But it seems like it's been
pretty consistent four or five application or the you know, they're student-based. I Ava's not mentioned
any struggles. Okay. All right. Great. Yeah I guess is canopy take care of kind of the student recruitment
and all of that and then you just have to show up to provide the training and yeah, I mean basically
canopy Bloomington handles everything and
Yeah, start to finish on the work. I tell them what trees to work on And kind of check up to make sure
they're doing all the good right things, but canopy pretty well handled I Make a motion to approve the
partnership with canopy Bloomington for 2026 youth tree tent tree tenders Second okay, and all those
in favor. I I All right motion is carried and then
Tree season Haskell has a few more items see a 2026 first quarter urban forestry risk report Yes, there's
a lot of dead trees in that risk report. Yeah. Yeah, that's not even all of them Those are the ones
we're gonna try to focus on So yeah Haskell Smith urban forestry. This is the first quarter risk report
for 2026 I Added some tables from last year kind of tried to spruce it up a little bit I won't spin
much time Going over anything in here But currently we're working on tree grades right now with seven
new great installations I think we've got six of those and already and then the 49 sites we are looking
at Working through as many as those as we can currently Okay, and I noticed that even though there's
a lot of dead trees on the list Most of them are not listed as a sort of immediate
Hazard is that I assume that just where they're located if they were to collapse. They're not gonna
Yeah, so generally the risk reading has a few things built into the matrix likelihood to fail likelihood
of contact with the target and then consequence so it may be that it could fall but it's gonna fall
on Nothing that matters, you know field right? So yeah, I kind of Okay
Any other questions for Haskell? Well, I guess so does that that mean those trees are in Low-risk category
or are they higher risk for falling? But we're not as we're not as concerned about is that am I looking
at the right one? I see I didn't put the risk ratings on here. Actually, I believe oh, yeah. Yeah, they're
like moderate. Yeah We're out of high-risk trees. Yeah as according to treekeepers so now we're getting
into the moderate and I
Figure the dead ones are the ones we should start with. Yeah Yeah Well keeping track of 24,000 trees
is pretty impressive If it wasn't for the software, I wouldn't know where to begin Okay Any other questions
for Haskell Do we need to approve this is that do we take okay? So I make a motion to approve the q1
tree risk and reporting document second
Okay, and all those in favor I All right motion is carried and then c9 Finally for Haskell's the agreement
with bluestone for storm resiliency pruning phase two Yeah stack recommends the review and approval
of the phase two the storm resilience pruning project. This is with bluestone tree LLC again It is grant
funded from an IRA grant that was passed through to American forests not to exceed $25,000
Basically, this is going around high priority streets and reducing risk hazard reduction pruning or
if a tree isn't good enough health will put a cable in it or if it's got a bunch of dead branches on
it will deadwood it and that's Pretty much the short and skinny of it. The first phase pruned about
25 trees, which is much less than I anticipated But there was some nasty stuff that got taken care of
and then looking at this one I'm kind of figuring it's going to be around in that 25
to 30 trees again Okay All right. Well, that's certainly a good proactive thing to do especially since
we have more and more storms seems like these days. Yeah Okay, all right, and this is a federal grant
any questions for Haskell Make a motion to approve phase two of the storm resilience pruning project
with bluestone tree and
Okay, and all those in favor All right motion is carried. Thanks Haskell. Thank you. And then in c10
Julie Ramey has the adopt a roundabout sponsorship agreement template. Good afternoon I'm Julie Ramey
the community relations manager for the Parks and Recreation Department and the document for which I
am seeking your approval today is a little bit different than some of the other Things that you would
typically look at this is a template
a sponsorship agreement for the newly resurrected adopt a roundabout program Parks and Recreation is
responsible for the overall maintenance and landscaping in three different roundabouts and the Public
Works Department is responsible for maintenance of a fourth roundabout so Joanna Sparks and
with our department, our urban green space coordinator, and Cassie Wernie from the Department of Public
Works, and I and Rebecca Swift put our heads together to come up with a program that would help financially
support contractually managing vegetation and the overall upkeep of these four different roundabouts.
So the template agreement that I seek your approval for today outlines the details of What will be a
sponsorship agreement that hopefully we will be able to sign with businesses who are interested in sponsoring
a roundabout so like most
Agreements of this sort it is the recognition that sponsor businesses are seeking not only do they want
to help beautify Bloomington's gateways and entry points and Areas of our city where there's a lot of
traffic, but they also like to see their name out and get recognition for that support
So the sponsorship agreement outlines the details of what a sponsor will receive as a roundabout sponsor.
It's dependent on the number of entry points to a roundabout. There are either three or four entries
into each roundabout and the pricing is based on the number of signs that a sponsor will receive when
they sign on to adopt a roundabout. They can adopt one entry or all four and get the associated
number of signs. So there's a lot of moving parts. Not only does the Board of Public Works need to also
review and approve this sponsorship agreement, partnership agreement, but we're also working with traffic
and engineering to ensure the correct placement of signage within the roundabout itself, within the
rights of way, and the funding for the program will go directly to, for the roundabouts that Parks and
Recreation manages, it will go directly to our urban green space.
So that they can use the funding to contractually assist with the management and upkeep of our roundabouts
If anyone is interested in the tap the tap Rogers roundabout that was the one that's managed by Public
works and that funding will go to public works to help them manage the vegetation in that roundabout Okay and
Am I right? I remember some sponsorship before but then we sort of paused for a while or Where's that?
The we have resurrected the adopt a roundabout Okay program the program that we had in place wasn't
working the way we had hoped that program had a basically had volunteers and landscaping companies to
agree to maintain a roundabout for a set period of time and
while intentions were good when a company is in business and they're working and they have a Kind of
a freebie out there. It didn't tend to be the highest of priorities and Without any real skin in the
game. It wasn't working the way that we had hoped So we scrapped the original program that took the
best parts of it and built this formal partnership or sponsorship agreement Okay
Thank you. Yeah, I was just trying to remember from before I remember less coin had some feelings about
some of the Roundabouts that he didn't feel were kept up as much as they should have before so it's
noteworthy that anyone who chooses to be an adopt a roundabout sponsor has no other Responsibilities
to the roundabout other than writing a check so they do not go to the roundabout to pick up trash or
pull weeds there's no physical presence and
They just get their sign and we use the funding to beautify the roundabout Okay. All right Thank you.
Any any questions for Julie? I was just curious about the sign. I think as I read it this the city will
actually Create the signage and install it. So this is Like night. Is there any description you can
provide of the signage? I assume it's not just like yard sign. I
It is not we have a maximum size for the sign based on the sign ordinance of the city and then working
on the details of the actual sign size and height with the traffic and engineering folks again line
of sight and traffic in a roundabout so we haven't landed on Exactly what it's gonna look like yet.
So Not not just white text on a blue background
My vision is a stylistic roundabout with a logo This roundabout adopted by and a company name so simple
as you're driving by it's not too distracting But still gives our sponsors recognition Besides the roundabout
are there other sponsorship back options similar to this I like it baseball fields or Other
Parks Facilities we have advertising opportunities at Winslow Sports Complex. There are signage banners
advertising at Twin Lakes Recreation Center But beyond or and also at the Frank Southern ice arena,
we sell banners and advertising there So it's similar to their our advertising programs, but we are
actually asking for an adopt around about
shoo-horning it into our other adoptive programs and it's sort of a Combination I guess of advertising
and adoption A company can sponsor every single roundabout if they want to and
And it's not exclusive. So if a roundabout has four entry points, the Sarah Rogers roundabout is a good
example. There's four entries and exit points to that roundabout. If one company wants to buy all four,
there's a price point for that. And those price points are part of the partnership agreement or the
sponsorship agreement. If they only want one sign, then they get one entry. They get their sign in one place.
But there's no exclusivity unless the company wants to buy all of them or all four entry points It could
be for they couldn't company could sponsor the entire roundabout if they wished if they wish and I see
that well, there are some companies that are restricted but It doesn't see doesn't show anything about
educational ones. So any University or any educational
a organization can sponsor the roundabout. The agreement does, the template outlines the types of businesses
that we do and do not permit to be a part of the program. So political advertising, for example, we
wouldn't take a political ad for a sponsor for the roundabout. Companies that make a certain percentage
of their income from alcohol or tobacco sales, those kinds of things.
Restrictions are outlined in the agreement And remind me the signage would be something that would come
or approved by the Department or the organization can come up with the design and you approve it All
of these signs will be designed and fabricated by parks and recreation so we'll work with the Adopter
on their logos and the way that they want their company name to appear but we will take a
We'll take all of the responsibility for producing the sign and getting it installed and For the renewal
the max time would be one year and then revision of the of the Interest of the company to continue but
that would be only limited to one year for the current template is for a year does does indicate that
it is for one year they get the first right of refusal for future and
requests or to keep their sign in a roundabout and we we couldn't we will look at the success of that
and how how the year of Exposure goes we're hoping that as more traffic goes in and out of those roundabouts
They'll see signs and it'll promote itself and ideally we'll have people standing in line wanting to
adopt a roundabout Okay
All right. Thanks Julie. I'll make a motion to approve the adopter roundabout sponsorship agreement
template and Second, okay. All those in favor. I All right motion is carried. Thank you, Julie and In
c11 we have the agreement with the Bloomington pickleball club for 2026 mark sterner Good afternoon
mark sterner general manager of the Twin Lakes Recreation Center
Today I have the approval of the partnership with the Bloomington Pickleball Club. The Bloomington Pickleball
Club, established in October of 2022, operates with the mission to promote recreational and competitive
play while creating a positive and inclusive experience for all. As a part of its partnership with the
city, BPC has granted exclusive use of the RCA Park Pickleball courts from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday
and Thursday evenings from April through October.
This two-hour time period supports organized play events and tournaments for both adults and youth Helping
to further introduce the sport to the Bloomington community the only modifications to this year's agreement
are is the usage fee which goes from five dollars per core per hour to 750 per core per hour and staff
recommends approval
All right, I'll make a motion to approve the partnership with Bloomington public pickleball club Okay,
all those in favor All right. Thank you. Yep. Thanks mark and C12 is that's the time of year for price
schedule updates with various staff members can tell us about updates for Twin Lakes Frank Southern
Center aquatics
You're gonna take this one Tim Street parks director I will go ahead and give the overview and then
we can have staff available for questions on any of these since this is a multi staff effort We recommend
approval of a certain amount of fee changes as indicated in the table on the staff report These are
just periodic updates for the most part and I will just kind of go through a high-level overview of
Broadstrokes of it and then we can have staff come up for any specific questions in the ops division
There's an update to a range of prices for memorial trees and benches just based on material costs And
particularly the benches what they are costing now materials are going up In farmers market. There's
a number of fees that have been removed because there was a grandfather clause as you can see in sort
of the footnote at the bottom of the table there that they are now Timing out I guess is the term I'm
looking for
As well as an adjustment for the amount of farmers markets there are this year There's one additional
one based on how the calendar falls. So we have one extra Saturday this year Sports division just removing
a fee that is not being used
And then, under our sports division as well, which would be Chris Hamrick on any of these items for
Frank Southern or for aquatics, there's a number of fee updates. Chris is doing a number of fee updates
as he looks at the cost of things and cost recovery at the ice arena, and particularly some of the summer
usage that we piloted a bit last year that has gone well and we want to continue just continuing to
find ways to generate revenue there to support the operation.
And then a few aquatics fees No change to the main aquatics fees, you know the admission we talked about
that a lot last year That is remaining consistent for this year. And of course Chris will be back up
after this to talk about the fee waiver policy And just some brief overview of aquatics numbers as it
relates to this as well But we can have any staff come up for questions as needed Okay Well, just a
couple of things stood out to me at
Frank Southern I mean Jersey. It looks like these are new kind of interesting options Jersey purchase
and then the gear purchase I assume would be like hockey skates and Yeah, so right now the youth program
who has showed up quite abundantly here They currently run the gear rental program for our house hockey
program. We will be running the gear rental program going forward and so as an attempt to Offer a
Accessible entry point to house hockey. We want to keep house hockey as cheap as possible for an entry
point and then allow other options on top of that So the gear rental program will be free as part of
the house hockey program But then we'll also offer at the back end You really loved house hockey you
want to purchase your gear then you can pay extra money if you decide to do that So you have the accessible
entry point while also having the option to spend more money if you would like to and that's the same
with the Jersey purchase Okay. All right. That sounds good
and then for aquatics oh Never mind. I see new toddlers fee for the swim lessons. Is that yeah, we're
changing our guardian and toddler class a little bit So we've kind of found from last year that the
three we had nine days Of classes that's just a lot for a guardian and toddler. There's not a whole
lot to do It's about just getting the kid comfortable with the water and that kind of thing So we we
shortened the class and therefore we cut some of the price for it
Well, as someone who took their kids to all nine days and sang wheels on the bus. Thank you Yeah, it
was too long Okay, all right, so that's the aquatics portion and Frank Southern I had a couple of questions
since Chris is there what's the difference like it says adult hockey men's league $300 adult hockey
men's league team sign up with 13 players to
250 yeah, so our our goal this year is to Get teams to sign up as a whole so it's $300 if you're if
you're signing up as an individual And then if you sign up as a team you get a discount because we want
to get whole teams. Yeah That makes more sense. And yeah, I thought that it was smart to change the
lifeguard with the rental yeah, that makes a ton of sense so
Well done on that piece For the trees and benches sorry Chris that probably is not you is it what is
the Is that our cost on it? Are we is what happens? Yeah, if the tree falls and then you've got to replace
it now or I know it's not but I mean
But are we accounting for that if folks are, you know, vandalism to a bench or whatever? We do try to
factor it in, but really it's the initial cost of the installation and the materials and the initial
tree. I don't know if you actually filter in a replacement, but no, that is just part of the course.
We do anticipate some vandalism's damage, also just weathering. Benches are a great example. Hopefully
the tree just keeps growing and is healthy, but we don't put that on the person who's
Who's getting the memorial? However, there's no expectation where if the tree were to fail or die I
forget how many years there is no replacement Okay after a certain amount of time we don't we say after
three years or correct same with replacing the memorial plaque those Walk away sometimes too. We we
put in every obviously we make them very heavy We install them so you can't just walk away But there's
no expectation for replacement forever to maintain that as a memorial tree. Yeah, I
Yeah, I mean, I don't know I guess and that's through us. It doesn't go through the foundation. Correct.
Okay. Yeah, I mean I think The instant cost installation of the bench to the labor that good I mean
I just would hope all that's being accounted for The maintenance is probably the one thing we are shortcoming
is the long-term maintenance But we're definitely covering the overhead for the install the purchase
and the initial investment. Okay, I
And then on the farmers market, so basically Tim you try you touched on this but essentially it's now
675 for a large space 486 for a small space. Yes, so we didn't change the day rate So it's still $25
a day or $18 a day. There is an extra Saturday So there's 27 Saturdays this year's 26, but really the
difference is we removed a 10% fee so
In our attempts to kind of come back from COVID we were giving farmers a discount if they reserved their
Space for the whole year which gave them a 10% discount It didn't really increase the number of reserved
vendors It really wasn't doing what we thought it would do and so we've and now we're kind of a little
bit back to full not full capacity but closer and so we've removed that 10% which makes the jump look
bigger and
But ultimately the fee is the same $25 and $18 just accounting that exercise Just making sure I could
read a chart Okay, any other questions about Schedule price schedule updates. No, okay. All right. I'll
make a motion to approve 2026 season fee changes Second all right all those in favor. I Motion is carried
And then finishing out this section see Chris hammer also tell us the aquatics report and fee waiver
policy update Hello, Chris hammer facility manager at the pools here in town We're recommending the
approval of an updated policy for the fee waiver for the 2026 season We're updating the fee waiver to
include adults who are legally classified as children for public benefit purposes this also updates
the requirements for pool fee waivers to meet the federal standards and
This allows us to not be checking people's income statements to see if they qualify or not The federal
government will do that for us and then we just take their acceptance letter This also updates to allow
us one or to allow people to come in with one free adult supervisor with the qualifying participant
instead of two Okay Happy to answer any questions seems wise to just streamline it to the federal standard. Yeah, I
It's say I think it's gonna save a lot of admin staff time Yeah, not having to not having to check all
that stuff and and then we you know, it's it's just the federal standard We don't have to just determine
what our standard is and all that kind of stuff. So Okay All right, any questions about the Beware for
Chris Kathleen if no questions, I do have public comment just to share This is from Deborah Meyerson
We were emailing back and forth about potential policy updates and she said thank you for your reply
both of these policy proposals sound excellent and responsive Managing income eligibility via existing
federal programs such as snap wick section 8 or SSI Which is targeted for disabled or aged with low
income sounds like an excellent way to streamline internal application review While providing access
to households with limited resources for example Samuel and his housemate each have snap and SSI which
is essentially their only income and
Thank you so much for your help investigating how to manage the pool waiver Samuel is already talking
about when Brian Park pool opens this summer Okay. All right. Great. Thank you Prove the fee waiver
policy update Okay, and all those in favor aye aye All right motions carried. Thanks Chris And then
we will move into section D where we have two reports this evening. I
And do you want is the Iraq in your report? From didn't you're not Denise. I'm not any so unfortunately
Denise had a scheduling conflict So I was unable to attend today, but we do this annually We give an
update from Iraq which stands for the environmental resources advisory council So we did still put forth
the annual report from you for me all included some photos and
If you'd like we could come back at a later date and present it to you all There will also be an opportunity
for a natural resources manager We're requesting that she give you all an annual update a natural resources
management So there's a lot of overlap and content there But if you have any immediate questions or
want anything clear if I'm happy to answer but for the sake of the wonderful crowd that showed up today
I think we're all eager to move on to the next agenda item So with that again happy to answer any questions
Otherwise, if you would like we can present it at another time or just call it Good for your all's to review
You mean you're going to skip talking about the insect inventory? I know. No, I'm happy to find where
I am. I also liked the chest measurements of deer taken during hunts. Thank you. Keep repeating that.
Look at all the good science we take into account when decision-making. So yes, insect inventories,
chest height. But yes, feel free. I'll keep talking if you let me. Okay. Don't discount our bird town.
Exactly. Bird town, tree town, bee city. Yeah, forgetting one.
Bicycle bicycle friendly. Yeah. All right. Yeah. No, thank you There's a lot of good information in
here and we can always read this and then if we want to follow up that would be great Okay, a lot of
good work. We're proud of so, okay. All right. Thanks Rebecca and then indeed to We have the Frank Southern
ice arena risk and operation report which Chris will go through with us and Tim and also again just
since we probably have some people here that I
Don't usually come to the meeting. I'll just point out that this is strictly an informational report
We're not making any decisions or voting on anything. This is just that we get a sense of where things
are with our Beloved but aging ice arena. Yeah, so go ahead Yeah, Chris and I had talked earlier today
and just said I would just help preface this a little bit just to yes re-emphasize that as well This
is an informational report that really we've been working on for a while now considering
Count myself if you count keto Chris and Alec we've all been in our respective positions for about less
than two years. So basically a total total reset in terms of how leadership
Overseas the operations of a lot of our sports facilities including the ice arena So we've been working
on this report for the better part of gosh a year I know Chris and Alec have met with IB story, which
is the rink consultant a few times in there and explored some different options that we've talked about
to the board We've gotten some some better clarity on some of the claims they've made about you know
the unique old nature of the of the ice arena and able to Explain that better
And of course, I'll just mention that you know, we we of course were preparing this report before we
had the ammonia leak a few weeks ago So most of it was already prepared by that point We did go back
in and amend, you know a paragraph in there to kind of catch up with what we knew When we had to have
the report done for this board meeting and Chris can speak more to that and what we've discovered since
and then you know continuing to work with our mechanical contractor to identify the methods and costs of
Repairing the system the gasket that failed and again, I want to defer to Chris on that but Looking
to you know, how do we safely reopen? While we look at the bigger picture questions that are involved
in this report That's really where we're at. And lastly, I would just say, you know, the ammonia leak
is something we've Thought about and worried about and you know wanted to be prepared for and I'm very
grateful for our staff I'm gonna give a big shout out to Isabel who was there that night?
You know the alarms the exhaust fan everything functions as it should have Yeah, we don't like that
it happened, but I am very pleased with how our staff and systems handled it and that we were Prepared
to handle it the appropriate way and I appreciate everyone being out here tonight To talk more about
this. I'm sure so I'll turn it over to Chris. Yeah, I
First of all, if anybody knows Rebecca, she would have talked about insects for the rest of the meeting
if she had the opportunity. I also want to reiterate, thank you guys all for coming out. It's great
to see this much support for the ice arena. Obviously, they care a lot about it. I care a lot about
it. Alec cares a lot about it.
Isabella was the supervisor on duty. She's here tonight. She's also plays on one of the IU teams and
Peyton was there as well I don't know if anybody else we had some ice show instructors that were there
that helped as well So I don't know if any of them are here that were there that night I kind of want
to give you guys the outline of what we're gonna talk about today First so that you you know that what
we're gonna get to and feel free to stop me at any point if you have questions or anything like that
so we're gonna talk about the history of the ice arena a little bit and
the community impact, the current conditions, the current system, what the risk management aspect of
it is and what we're working on. The addendum obviously is the ammonia leak and then we'll talk about
next steps from here.
So it was built in 1966 as an open-air facility. It was enclosed in 1988. Before that, it had open air.
And there's some funny stories. My dad played there and has told me some funny stories about people
sticking their tongues to the posts and all that kind of stuff.
They I'm glad they enclosed it. I'm glad I didn't have to claim an open-air facility in 1996 a feasibility
study was conducted due to city administration that I think the mayor at the time Recommended as part
of the budget. We're going to close the ice arena and save the money on it So they conducted a feasibility
study the results suggested a new facility be considered to replace the Frank Southern ice arena due
to the demand in the area partnerships and RFPs were explored but ultimately enough enough funding was not
available to build a new ice arena The funding that had been collected through some generous donations
through the likes of Phil Hill Funded renovations including the lobby and a new compressor as well as
the HVAC system repairs and roof repairs The community impact the ice arena serves between 60 and 65
annual 65,000 annual visitors including several of the user groups which have shown up tonight and
Many of these groups have participants that have been a part of the ice arena from the time they were
five all the way through high school and sometimes longer than that. And they will, there's several
instances of multiple generations now going through the ice arena. We also host a number of open use
and recreational introductory programs. In the master planning survey, 76% of participants expressed
willingness to pay for improvements to the ice arena and 23% strongly supported.
Now part of that master planning process as you guys know no numbers were attached to that so it's maybe
a different different conversation we start talking about how much money people want to want to pay
the current conditions we've included the budget numbers in the report I won't read through that whole
piece for you.
The slight decrease in cost recovery over the past few years has been due to a variety of factors We've
had a salary study for full-time employees that has changed that a little bit annual raises for part-time
staff we move the ice resurfacer into our operational budget because we have to lease it now instead
of Instead of using the one that we had before we had to replace that one And then just in general starting
to spend money to replace some of the old pieces of the building and trying to fix some things up
We are currently working on some new initiatives to improve the cost recovery rate. You saw those in
the fee changes. Some of these include extending the ice season, opening the building in the summer
for rentals, working to increase partnerships for sponsorship, naming rights, looking at a shared stewardship
model as a possible new model. Along with these initiatives, the entire Parks Department has just gone
through training on financial sustainability as part of the master planning process. We are working
to review various cost recovery factors, including pricing usage rates.
partnerships Our current system, so this is where we get into the the details a little bit with with
everything that happened We have an direct ammonia based cooling system. This means that the ammonia
gets pushed through the pipes Which which cools the concrete and allows it to freeze many ice arenas
you use ammonia as a coolant and many ice arenas have direct systems and
But we are one of the last systems that has a direct ammonia system meaning our all of our ammonia gets
pushed through the pipes So they will use a smaller amount of ammonia to cool glycol that will run through
the pipes or they will use So that's that that's an indirect system We're one of the last that has all
of that ammonia getting pushed through the pipes and that's per IB story Who's the the rank consultant
that we've been talking to? Any questions so far
Feeling good. Okay. All right risk management. I know it's a lot. I'm sorry Risk man that we've done
a ton of work on this risk management understanding the risk possible the possible risks involved We've
been considering some key factors surrounding risk management with the ice arena and Hydrosammonia has
been used for many years as a coolant for both ice arenas and in many other industries It has mature
safety standards. There's many standards that have been
Used for a long time. It was chosen and it's still chosen because it is self alarming at low concentrations
You can smell it at a really low concentration. It's energy efficient It's lighter than air which means
it's easily ventilated out of a out of a tight confined area and it's considered environment environmentally neutral
It does come with potential risks. Obviously the majority of ammonia leaks result from normal mechanical
failure points like valves or in this case gaskets Rather than catastrophic slab failure or due to the
direct design specifically and that's according to the International Ice ammonia refrigeration Ammonia
incident database. Sorry, that was a lot to say a lot to say we use a contractor deem who is a
Certified by the II AR and trained in their ammonia refrigeration management program They handle all
of our inspections as well as start up and shut down all adjustments Are made and work is done exclusively
by them. We don't have staff members going in there trying to figure out we're trying to You know at
home where you know work it out that kind of thing so it's all done by a certified contractor we've
installed a new alarm system that is monitored 24-7 by central securities and
We have EAPs in place that are shared with risk management MCC SC and BFD annually The directive is
simple and the invent of an alarm clear the building call BFD and call Dean and And we'll work it from
there staff is not responsible for anything other than those two pieces They're not responsible for
going in and trying to figure out what's going on anything like that Just clearing the building getting
everybody safe and that's to keep staff and patrons safe
As part of this process, we've been working with Deem to meet the IIAR9 standards for existing closed-circuit
ammonia systems. This standard is designed for systems that operate with more than 10,000 pounds of
ammonia. Our ice arena operates with less than half that at 4,125. We have decided to go ahead and try
to meet these standards anyway, just as a safety precaution. We'll talk here in a minute about the gap
analysis. This is also in the report that you guys can see.
We just don't see any reason why we shouldn't just go ahead and meet these standards even if we're not
actually bound to them Dean has conducted a gap analysis and we have until December 31st 2029 to remediate
any deficiencies or state why we are unable to do so Gaps are listed in the report but includes some
construction documentation tagging
Content connecting our water heater to the e-stop adding an eyewash station and adding a ventilation
switch outside the mechanical room So we have one inside the mechanical room, but just adding one outside
the non admin items So the admin items are already being worked on that non admin items. We estimate
the cost at approximately $15,000 Now the addendum on the ammonia leak
March 10th a gasket failed leaking ammonia setting off the alarm and kicking on the ventilation system
Ammonia was ventilated out of the system or out of the facility and and mechanical room the alarm tripped
I was called immediately by our monitoring company and staff on site began executing the EAP all patrons
and staff were evacuated quickly and
BFD and BPD were called and BFD did a secondary sweep upon arrival just to make sure that everybody
was was truly out of the building MCC SC was also notified and then deem was called to come down and
figure out what was going on They isolated the leak and declared the building safe The ammonia was pumped
out of the floor back into the tank in the arena was closed for the ice season The failure point was
not something that was due to the direct ammonia system or age of the system The gasket is just like anything
Other gases to rubber gasket that just happened to fail just like it would in your car or something
like that So unfortunately it failed and more important thing than just a car gasket, but but that's
it's just a normal gasket Obviously going forward we're planning on replacing the gaskets and making
sure all that stuff's good to go So in conclusion the ice arena is at a critical point the facility
hasn't received the necessary capital investment over the years last month we
Last month we met with the risk department to ensure we were on the same page about operating with the
appropriate safety precautions. Next steps from them and from our conversations include completing items
on the gap analysis, repairing issues caused by the leak, and creating a full comprehensive risk management
plan. So we have EAPs in place. We have a risk management style plan, but the risk management plan is
a separate, it has to follow certain standards and documentation steps.
Estimated cost for all of these repairs is somewhere between thirty and fifty thousand dollars We think
it's going to be a little bit on the lower end of that To do those repairs over the past few years.
We have been meeting with Ivy story Who's the reek rink consultant that they're international they work
with? NHL ranks and small-town ranks and all kinds of all kinds of ranks and they've helped us develop
a few options and
Option number one would be abandoning the Frank Southern Center and building a new facility. Estimated
cost for that would be $12 million plus depending on how we want to go about that. Replacing the entire
ammonia system, getting all the ammonia out of the building, going to a glycol-based system. It's a
new kind of compressor, pretty state-of-the-art stuff. For that, that would be three to four million.
Replacing the direct cooling system with an indirect system, so this would be
Going to the system that a lot of other places use where they have a small amount of ammonia that cools
the glycol that runs through the floor That that estimated cost would be 1.2 million I do want to make
sure I note on that that that would mean that we would still have ammonia in the building It would not
be pumped out into the floor. It wouldn't be in the same the same system, but we would still have ammonia
in the building
Given the ice arenas impact profile. It is unlikely general fund money will be used to cover the full
cost of any of these options Funding contributions must be pursued from other sources private individuals
naming rights contracts partnerships that kind of thing And I think that's all Yeah, I'll just try to
keep my questions short again because we have people might want to comment but as I
Maybe for Tim, do you know if there have been any other leaks over the age of the ice arena? When I
it actually at the start of the year, I had had lunch with the former deputy mayor McRenison He had
said there had been a minor one Sometime during his tenure, but he didn't remember when exactly I want
to say that was probably the late 1980s early 1990s Okay, and I know that the Zamboni failed and so
we went to the renting and
Other than that, I mean have there been any big costs associated with it or I mean and other than replacing
this system I guess is there been is there been other deferred maintenance in there like we talked about
with the pools or is it just been is this really the focus of what we Needed the big focus as far as
deferred maintenance is this system because we want it to be as safe as possible the other things that
are included in deferred maintenance is is stuff stuff really needs painted and
The flooring really needs replaced. It's a lot more. There's a lot of cosmetic stuff that that goes
into it. Thankfully overall while this system is outdated. It's it's not the system that we would want
to if we were to install something today. We wouldn't want to use it. But the the the way that the system
itself has been taken care of.
They have updated a lot of pieces within that so that that's why it's safe That's why the the ventilation
system worked the way that it was supposed to and all that kind of stuff. So We didn't you know, it
wasn't it wasn't dangerous because not that it wasn't dangerous But that it wasn't creating a problem
because a lot of the system had been updated on that front now the the pieces that have not been updated
in the ice arena are just
All of the cosmetic stuff and and you know, there's storage issues and locker room issues and all that
kind of stuff So that's where the deferred maintenance comes in. Okay Kathleen I'd say there were there
were really two major investments in the 2000s and One came in the early 2000s with some of the money
that was donated by the Hill family during The mayor at the time was interested in shutting down the
arena. There was public pushback there was a whole process by way of
The YMCA was contacted IU was contacted to see about partnership opportunities the opportunity to build
a new rink as Chris mentioned there was there was not the social or fiscal capital at the time to make
that happen and
And so instead the donation for rooms went to renovating the arena. So about $400,000 went in it replaced
the compressor It did some lobby renovations at one point. There was a roof failure that cost some insurance
dollars over the lobby to be activated from an improper roof installation And then solar was installed
in 2017. So it is Chris mentioned I think the the critical
You know alarm and safety call-out and vent fan all of that stuff has has been kept up which has been
really important for safe operations But we are at a critical junction once again of you know, the investment
from 25 years ago Is reaching its end date when we know we have an old facility, you know the price
tag for a new facility is very steep so we are just really exploring all options and
Regarding the arena and what we consider with it going forward Yeah, I see yeah when in 1999 when we
reached out to the Y and IU and they both declined to be involved in that But was IU using the rink
back then? I mean, obviously they're using it now, but we have somebody here that I think played around
that time Yeah, so he played for IU
And yeah, they were they were using it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, okay Obviously, it's not a division one program
sure and I think going forward I don't want to speak for IU. Obviously if they want to donate money,
we'll take it but but I would say that most likely with all the stuff that's going on with with all the
That they're having to pay and all that kind of stuff. I think yeah It's unlikely at this point that
they would be interested in starting a new division one program right now it's something that we obviously
will connect with them and and see if they want to pursue at some point, but I Would be surprised if
they're wanting to do that right this minute. Okay, right. I
Thank you. So what's the plan for us going forward? This report's helpful and all that but when are
we going to explore alternatives? How's that going to be presented to us or how's that going
to be undertaken? I Think likely what we discussed today I was just getting back from vacation and getting
up to speed on everything that's been going on is we'll likely have a contract for a Fuller picture
of exactly what it's looking like to open safely and kind of do status quo and
You know for the next couple years here And then I think what we need to do is put together a stakeholder
group and really have some serious discussions It's it's IU. It's blades. It's figure skating.
It's you know, a lot of the interested parties Have some of these discussions and really explore these
options laid out in this report for the long term And and certainly the board would be a part of that
stakeholder group I would hope maybe to have representation on it then ultimately a decision would come
back to the board
Which direction we want to pursue as well Yeah, I guess from my standpoint Without having much information
other than this and having lived in Bloomington for 45 years is That I think the ice rinks a valuable
asset to the community. I think the current ice rink that we have is Well below standard I think that
this is a community that should have a
better ice rink and I guess I would Generally again without a lot of knowledge or having looked at it
or having heard from anybody I'm less interested in putting money into the ice rink we have and more
interested in looking what other alternatives we have out there and I know that
IU was, that's 27 years ago that we asked them if they wanted to be, now I understand NIL and everything
else, but I also understand what I saw during the Winter Olympics with hockey. I also know that Title
IX is still an issue and women's hockey is more and more popular. Even if we didn't have a men's Division
I program, it seems to me a women's hockey team would be something that IU might be interested in.
and it seems to me that I mean I would be in favor in going into significant explorations on a new ice
rink partnering with somebody whether that's IU whether that's somebody an entity like cook or a minor
league team or
You know getting a lily grant or fundraising on our own or any kind of bonds that we could do Would
seem to me a much better use of our money than continuing to put money into an ice rink that I think
is not It's better than nothing, but I'm not sure and these people out here know better than I do. I'm
not a I'm not an ice skater or a hockey player or anything else like that, but I I
I'm not sure it's a whole lot better than nothing. It's a little bit better than nothing. So I would
be I would be in favor of significantly exploring what other options we have to build in partnership
more than likely a Nice arena or ice facility that could be used by the public could be used by the
University and
I want to say I think you kind of hit the nail on the head with the with the We're at the point now
where it's we have to make that decision, right? Like it's do we put more money into the ice arena the
way it is and try to fix up what we have or do we
Pursue something else and I think that's when when Tim says that's we're at a critical juncture I think
that's what he means like it's to me. We're just throwing good money after bad by putting it into this
facility I'd rather put it towards a I'm not at all for closing down and not having a nice facility
Far from it and I'd keep what we've got before I go to that route, but I think we're much better looking
at options and
Again, it's hard to believe because I remember when it was getting ready to be closed the first time
but it's that's that's 25 26 27 years ago that that you know things have changed Since that time so
that's my two cents worth and Jim. I agree as well And I think importantly that's why we wanted to make
this report and put it out there and really get this in the public eye Because what we can't do is we
can't just continue to say, okay. Well, we can't figure it out right now we'll just
Do the big bare minimum repairs make sure it's at least safe, right? I mean that's that's a minimum
standard. We're always gonna hold ourselves to And and then not make a decision for years and years
and years so I think you know certainly looking at the the immediate investment needed to you know respond
to the leak and replace the gasket and make sure that stuff's good is stuff we want to do because whatever
decision we come to on this and Legitimately all three of the options on here there may be
Variations of those options as well, but they're all valid and they're all worth exploring And that's
why we wanted to put this out there as an informational report right now Not with the recommendation
because we need to have time We need to have a public process and a chance for stakeholders to be involved
as well. So That's why this this report is public. I'm happy to have it out there I'm happy for people
to review it share it talk about it. Great. I would love for this to be in the public eye Any other comments
From board members before we go to public comment Yeah Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you Chris.
Thank you, Tim Okay, then in our section II anyone who in person would like to comment we usually offer
two minutes and ask you to come up to the podium state your name and
And then Kim will see if we have any online comments as well. Do we still have a sign-in sheet for people
to? Okay Okay Yeah, so anyone who would like to comment on anything we've discussed or any other parks
issues All right get it started
Was not prepared to speak but I'm going to do it. Anyway, my name is Mark Deitch I've been a long long
user of the Frank Southern Center since I believe is 1978 I'm from India drove down from Fishers tonight
and currently the one of the coaches Or I'm the head coach of the d3 I Worked at the Frank for five
years during my
college time here. So, this rink is kind of a second home for me, as is this town. We have a pretty
good representation here. Several guys that I've coached from the other team. I really wanted to mention
how successful those teams are. One of the teams won
nationals two years ago. The team I coach did very well, and really the one I want to focus on here
the most was the women's team. And not only that, but there are girls from Bloomington who are Bloomington
residents that make up that team. And they're very excited. They're trending up. They went from just
kind of a group to being an HTA official team now.
which just happened this year. But bottom line is, we need this ranked badly. Obviously, best case scenario,
we got a big, nice two-pat facility. We know that that's very difficult. But there are so many opportunities.
I am involved with the ACHA, which is the governing body of club hockey.
And they have come to me the last two years looking for help to find a facility to host regional tournaments.
And I helped them two years ago, or the season before last, have it down in Evansville. Would love to
have done it here. We just don't have a facility for something like that.
But the need is there the want is there obviously as we progress on Sorry, sorry to cut you off that
is two minutes Thank you Anyone else who would like to comment yes, come on up
If anyone online would like to make a comment also, if you would like to raise your hand, I can. I moved
in Bloomington 11 years ago, and I have two daughters. Both of them are figure skaters. And actually,
this is not the only reason, but this is one reason I had been homemaker for a few years to support
my husband. My husband is a faculty in IU.
and my two daughters to skate year-round in Columbus. So during this difficult journal, we've been couple
with many families. Some kids, they are really talented figure skaters. But because I first put in the
community to Columbus, they created. So it's really, so if we have this kind, it will make a big difference
in figure skating community. Yeah, so that's my point.
So you're wrong ring though. We will help cultivate a Beautiful ice skating community. Yeah, okay.
Thank you. All right. Thank you Yes, anyone else who'd like to comment My name is Allison Norris, I
have two young boys that are involved in blades and then three-year-old tags along quite a bit more
probably and
when he's a little bit older, the kids that play hockey at Frank Southern, they spend their summers
traveling to Columbus, traveling to Indy to try and get a little bit of ice time. It's a really long
drive for an hour in the summer. But even just discussing with them the possibility that the Frank doesn't
exist anymore, that they don't have an ice rink, they don't just want to play hockey. They want to play
hockey in Bloomington. They want to be home. They want to be here.
And they deserve a good facility. We travel all over to small towns all over Ohio. And South Bend,
I think, just got a fifth sheet. And it's like, can we get one? One full-size sheet would be glorious.
So I really appreciate your attention to this. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, everyone. It was kind of loud.
Amy Moorwick and Thanks again for listening to this. We really do appreciate it I am speaking as somebody
who has spent over 30 years coaching gymnastics So in in Bloomington, so I've witnessed how sports can
shape confidence resilience character And then for the past 10 years, I've also been deeply involved
with the blades as a parent team manager board member and of course a fan of all of it and
And then through that lens I can tell you that Bloomington's ice skating rink is far more than a facility
It's a community hub a character building space in a place where lifelong friendships and family traditions
flourish As I'm sure you can all hear it attest from from people talking It's also a place where our
youth gets to experience IU and those players when they come into the rink It's pretty unique in that way
So over the years I've watched countless kids grow into remarkable young adults because of the opportunities
provided at the rink both in hockey and in figure skating Our players and skaters deeply value every
minute on the ice and they do not take it for granted This past year our high school hockey team had
a slow start to this season, but through grit and perseverance They came together ultimately reaching
the state finals, which is really cool and then for those players every second on the ice every moment
with their teammates mattered and
And for the community it meant celebrating pride teamwork and dedication I could go on and on and I'm
gonna keep it shorter, but basically the other day I was in the rink and I was seeing all the different
when somebody mentioned generational it is so true I sat there and watched like Grandparents came and
talked to me about how they remember watching their kids play there and now their grandkids are playing
at the same time I watched a 3v3 adult tournament and
Happening that was so awesome and the families were coming in to watch those and nobody got hurt. I
don't think so. That was good Good old weeks there and and you know just even like during the day like
there's open skates hockey drop-ins college kids Okay, thank you
I'm gonna ask for everybody to hold on for just a moment. I'm gonna take one from Online, okay, Claire.
I'm gonna ask you to unmute yourself and give you an opportunity Hi, sorry, we got so many missed mixed
messages today about the time I would have been there myself. I'm Claire Walsack I am part of the Bloomington
figure skating club. I have skated at the rink for 20 years and
With my family, both my kids were part of this club. I was the president of the club for four years,
and now that I'm an empty nester, I am an avid figure skater myself. This is part of the community.
More than once, we have gone and tried to get a group of people for support. We need a new rink. I don't
know how many people know, but Jill Watson, an Olympic medalist, started in Bloomington at the Frank
Southern Arena.
What I'd like to bring up though is we also need an interim plan. Our club is just recovering now from
COVID. The IU figure skating club almost dismantled and the current administration there has rebuilt
that club and it's shining. I love IU women's hockey and all the groups. If we don't have an interim
plan to keep figure skating going, all of these clubs will suffer. So we need both a short term plan
and a long-term plan. We need to do something to get that rink back open in the fall while exploring
the longer-term opportunities. And with the Evansville, Bloomington and IU were approached about getting
one of the minor league teams. And once again, IU said no. So that's all. All right. Thank you.
I think Amy and Claire kind of took a lot of the things that I was thinking of saying. I don't have
anything planned. My name is Jen Campanella, and I have been coaching with the Bloomington Figure Skating
Club since 2004. And I started heading the Learn to Skate program that we run in 2008 after my daughter
was born, 2009. But I've been involved with that ever since I moved back to Bloomington.
We have driven five days a week over to Columbus for my daughter to skate. It's super challenging for
families, but it's such a community. Our Learn to Skate program, the skating school, typically I anticipate
every year in the fall registration around 250 skaters, and in the winter we bump up to about 350. And
it helps when there are Olympics happening.
But to see the families and then at the end of the season Families in the skating school will come to
me and parents say so when is registration for the next? Session and I have to tell them in October
and The look on their faces when they're not really familiar with the rink But it's been amazing to
see the community stick together and continue moving forward with what we have
But I agree with everybody that has spoken already. I can't say it enough. This community is tight-knit,
I think. And I think that it has plenty of room to grow, if given the opportunity, and to become even
closer. So thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Any other public comments? Dylan, I'm going to
ask you to unmute yourself. Hi. Thank you.
My name is Dylan Frecken. I'm the current head coach of the IU women's club team. I've been a head coach
within the youth program for a number of years here in town, as well as the JV high school team recently.
And as I said, now the IU women's team. And yeah, I just want to chime in and agree with comments made
earlier specifically for the women's program. With the professional women's hockey league gaining a
lot of traction,
as well as the success we've seen with Team USA in the Olympics. Women's hockey, I would argue, has
never been more popular, speaking specifically for our team. We have more players who have reached out,
high school players who are wanting to come to IU, who have reached out about playing here next season
than we currently have on our roster today. Our goalie was a Division I commit at Penn State, who was
just in the Frozen Four this weekend, who currently plays for our team.
And I just think women's hockey, young girls in Bloomington and the state of Indiana, they deserve this
opportunity. They deserve this moment. The sport of hockey deserves this moment, deserves this opportunity.
And in my time with the Blades coming from Michigan where I had hockey rinks everywhere, the best word
I can describe the Bloomington hockey community is overachievers. The success that the Blades program
has seen is in spite of the rink.
And it's because of the families, the kids, the coaches, and the love for the sport. And it's time that
we give those families, those players, that community facility that they deserve, that they've wanted
for years to achieve the potential that they've always had. And as the coach of the women's program,
I'm really excited to be a part of that. And I'm just really grateful that this conversation is being
had. So thank you.
I'm excited for the future of hockey in Bloomington if we can all come together to do what's right.
Okay. Thank you, Dylan. All right. Any other online comments or in-person comments? Okay. Mia, I'm going
to ask you to unmute yourself, please. Hi. I was not prepared to speak today.
but I did wanna share a little bit about how important the Frank has been to me and my time in Bloomington.
I came here when I was around eight years old and I've been skating at the Frank ever since. I started
with the skating school and Jen was actually my first skating coach. So hi, Jen. And then I just continued
with the Bloomington Figure Skating Club and now I'm on the exec board of the IU Figure Skating Club.
Um, and I've watched this rink go through many seasons, but it's been set the home to me and I've built
so many friendships and such a hopeful community and a family. Um, we just recently had built our IU
figured team back up after COVID and started competing again. And we just got back from the competition
in Wisconsin. Um, and it's,
a really great environment and yeah, we definitely have a community that would benefit from a new rank
and yeah. All right. Thank you, Mia. All right. Any other comments? Yes.
I'm Sarah powers and I'm the president of the Bloomington blades youth hockey program and I just want
to share similar stories that everyone has about how we just love our ring and our community and It's
really time that we invest more in that resource this past year COVID hit us hard as well just like
it did the figure skating club and this past year my son actually had to play in Columbus for his final
year of youth hockey and
Because we just didn't have the players because the resource hasn't been there. So it's hard to grow
that community So I appreciate that you're giving this attention and support and I appreciate Tim and
Alec and Chris and all of their hard work. So Thank you
Wendy Westfall. I have three boys. They've all gone through the learn to skate program with Jen. He's
done a wonderful job my voice started the oldest is now 19 and joined the figure skating club and It's
just been a wonderful experience. He started when he was three I think and we've gone every year and
we love it I just wanted to echo what Claire said about needing an interim solution not that the
Rink is closed while a new one is being built because I agree that all that momentum would get lost
and when something is ended, it's very hard to get the momentum and start it up again and make it financially
feasible. So if there's a way that that can be continued. And I also agree with what others have said
that it would be nice to have something that's open year round. It's obvious why that's not possible.
And finally, also, I don't know how the logistics work with skating and renting the ice time, but it
does feel like there's a lot of competition for who has what hours on the ice. And if there's a way
to address that with a new facility, that would be wonderful too. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any
other in-person comments this evening? Hi. My name's Amy Mason.
I've been coming to the rink for a long time with my three children. I have a son who's about ready
to graduate. He was with the Blades, and a son who is a rising senior who is highly concerned about
his senior year with the Blades. I have a question. So what happens from here? You see, this is such
a small...
Support here there. We've got we've got so much power Like we will help you like what what do we do
from here? And how are you going to use us because I mean, I'm ready like let's go. Let's build a new
rink We've been I mean all these people know and we've been talking about it for years, but what what
can we do? I want to know action. What can we do right now? I
Can we get some donations from all those people watch heated rivalry? Okay, all right Tim do you want
to answer what where do we go from here? I think you know public comment is not a Q&A as much but I
want you to know I'm happy to address a little bit of that in my closing remarks when we finish public
comment. I think thank you very much All right, yeah, yes
Hi, I also wasn't planning on this land speaking or having anything prepared, but my name is Danielle
shaper. I'm actually
Speaking on the last point about making sure that we only have a small fraction people represented here
I actually am a member of the roller derby team here in town I am a skater a coach and on the board
of directors for it And I just want to say that I moved here from a small town in New Mexico and I've
been at every County Council meeting there because we had issues with Space this summer the Bloomington
roller derby team is renting the Frank's ice arena for our home season And it's like we are so excited
to be able to have that opportunity my last league I've watched roller derby leagues time and time again collapse
And like and hadn't failed and not have a venue and so having a venue like this is extremely important
And I just want to say that there's a lot of support for having an ice rink that also has you know The
the ability to rent a concrete pad
Not only because you know the derby team here in town has been seeing a large amount of growth in the
last few years But I also want to say the opposite of sort of the multi-generational Legacy that we've
seen here I moved here in 2024 and the best thing about coming here is knowing that I had a roller derby
lead to Landon because we all know those who place team sports It's not just the sport you play but
the community you find in that right? So a few years ago
My mother got very sick. I had to clean out an entire house full of like decades of things and an entire
roller derby team Descended and helped me haul all that stuff out right an entire roller derby team
descended and helped me scrub
50 years of nicotine off the walls can thing, right? I move here and I got an email from the roller
derby team saying we can help you unload You haul when I like the first day I was here that derby team
was unloading my truck and so forth with me And I just want to say the community find is very important
So this ice rink like they've said is not just these programs you see here There are other populations
too that really really care about it and I just want to thank you for again for your time and your attention
on this and because it is so important to so many of these communities that
Yeah, the last speaker said just a tiny fraction of the people that are affected by these and the community
that we see is Shown here today. So thank you so much for your time with this with this matter. Thank
you All right, any other online or in person Hi, my name is Scott coffin I was not prepared to speak
today as well, but I just wanted to say that I'm not a coach or
I'm not a parent. I'm not an organizer. I'm a participant I've played hockey since as long as I can
remember I learned how to escape before I learned how to read as I say often I'm also a Bloomington
bike polo participant. We're going to be using Frank Southern this summer And I just wanted to say that
the facility is very important to me And I hope that we can find an interim plan for the facility as
well. Thank you. Thank you. I
Is there anyone else online who would like to make a comment if so, please raise your hand icon Okay,
all right Well with that then we might go back to Tim Street for some to address the question of maybe
next steps Sure. Oh, first of all, I just want to thank everyone for being here tonight or for being
here online I always really appreciate when we get the public out
You know one of our main goals as a parks and Recreation Department is to enhance the quality of life
in Bloomington and have meaningful community impacts And I think we see that when the community comes
out and talks about What it is that's important to them this meeting is the ice arena, you know other
meetings We hear other aspects as well and it's always it's always really great to hear So as always
thank you for we always have to do our agenda before we get to the public comment so so thanks for sitting
through a slice of the Parks Department as well
Of course, we'll have our next park board meeting on April 16th, which is back to our normal time Which
is Thursday at 5 p.m. We're a little off our schedule this week because of spring break And you can
certainly come in person or give public comment again or tune in online to see what next steps there
might be I don't have really concrete next steps right now to offer other than to say we really wanted
to get this information out there and and work on it and explore these options, but
Certainly to anyone here tonight or anyone who catches wind of this later. We need the public engagement
Certainly and we'll have opportunities. You can reach out to myself To keto who's our sports director
to Chris or Alec at the arena? Or at the pools you might find there this summer when they they switch
to the other half of what they're doing But but more to come I think is really my next step now and
stay tuned and I really think we want to have a stakeholder group
Really explore the options that we've put in this report. So more to come on that In terms about just
my closing announcements for the end of the meeting I'll mention back to natural resources are prescribed
fire is happening at Griffey tomorrow Unless the weather changes significantly between now and then
so we're excited for the the natural resource enhancement happening out there tomorrow
We are really busy gearing up for a lot of events as you heard about the Grand Flume concert series
We're really excited about those concerts I would expect IU to start some heavy publicity for those
now that the partnership is is formalized and they can Make sure to finalize all the bookings and everything.
I know they've been been talking with some really exciting names for those concerts That I'm excited
to get out there The first weekend in April is coming up, but that's a big weekend for us
The Griffey Boathouse will open. It's the first food truck Friday It's the first Bloomington community
farmers market and parks will be tabling There and you can always come talk to us there as well There's
a dog egg hunt the dog park at switchyard that Saturday. So a lot of different things going on And of
course, we're excited to announce our performing arts series coming up soon with the new program guide in April
Through our publicity as well. So our next meeting will be April 16th We anticipate presenting the draft
master plan to the board That will that's obviously been wrapped up and will influence a lot of big
decisions We're making not just about the ice arena, but about other investments in financial sustainability
In what we have as well. So that said thank you for coming tonight, and we will see you all next time
Thank you very much to everyone who people spoke and people just came out to in support It really helps
us to see see that concern and that love that you have for the ice arena. So thank you and with that
I'll adjourn the Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners March meeting and