All right. Good afternoon. I will call to order the June meeting of the Bloomington Board of
Park commissioners and could we start with the roll call, please? Kathleen Mills here Ellen Rodkey here
Israel Herrera Jim Whitletch Well, we can see him
Jim can you hear us now Barely I can hear you guys loud and clear and my Oh, we're working on it on
our end I think Could you try again
Yeah, that's great. Thank you. Could you roll call Jim Whitledge? Yes Okay, all right, so we do have
everyone here either in person or virtually and We will start with the consent calendar. So we have
the minutes from the April meeting. We did not meet in May and the claims and payroll
Expenses a little bit of surplus credit card refunds all that type of thing. We typically see and some
smaller agreements or partnerships. So do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar? Move to
approve the consent calendar Okay, and We don't need to do or we do Okay so
Roll call both end of this favor the consent calendar Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodkey. I Israel Herrera
Jim Whitlatch. I All right motion carries and then in section B public hearings and appearances first
up we have the Bravo Award and
Good afternoon, Crystal Ritter, Community Events Coordinator. I am here today to recognize Rulia Hananiah
from Smile Promotions with the May Bravo Award in recognition of their continued six-plus year commitment
to the Performing Arts Series. Every year, Smile Promotions donates free concert fans that we distribute
to attendees that have our full schedule for the concert season.
them. They have served as our design and printing partner providing these high-quality concert fans
that have become a staple of our summer concert series. Their durability of their work means that the
fans often become souvenirs with some of our concert attendees even bringing back six years worth of
fans with them in their picnic wagons when they come to Bryant Park.
They do not just print the fans for us, they help us create a comfortable, welcoming, and professional
environment for our concerts. So thank you to Smile Promotions. And Rulio was not able to attend today.
She is actually out of the country this week, visiting family. But she sent a very short message that
I'm gonna read. Thank you so much for the kind message and for this incredible honor. I am truly grateful to
You, Julie, and Emily, and everyone at Parks and Recreation for thinking of me for the May Bravo Award.
It means so much to be recognized, and I am thankful for the opportunity to support the performing arts
series anytime. Thank you. Thank you, Gerulio. Yeah, very nice. I like the fact that people bring the
fans back over and over again. Yeah. It's become a thing for some of them. They like collecting them. OK.
All right, and then We will move on to number two in the public hearings and appearances is That our
own Israel here is recognition of his having received the be more volunteer award Yes, I just want to
take a moment. I'm Tim Street parks director for the city of Bloomington
And congratulate our board member Israel on his receipt of the be more involved award a few weeks ago
There was a really lovely ceremony Caleb from our office went there was able to get some pictures just
recognizing Israel for his community service not just on the parks board but on various
many different boards, volunteer efforts, things like that that just support community well-being. We
really appreciate you, Israel, and appreciate you being on the board. And thank you for the $1,000 award
donation that went to the Bloomington Parks Foundation to support scholarships. So thank you very much,
and congratulations. Thank you, Tim and everyone.
Alright, and then we have two staff introductions today. First. We have Zach Earl sports Winslow labor
My name is Zach Earl I'm over at Winslow now I'm excited to be here looking forward to it. It's been
a challenge and I'm Trying to come up with the word for it
looking forward to the challenge of Recreating what's been going on at Winslow? So I bring more than
20 years of hands-on experience working as a skilled laborer with extensive knowledge and ground maintenance
turf management Landscaping equipment operation and property maintenance Most recently I worked as a
long-care technician leading landscape maintenance projects for both residential and commercial properties
prior to that role and
I served as a pasture and property management, property manager for Prairie Horse Farm LLC, where I
managed over 15 acres of pasture and grounds, maintained farm equipment facilities, coordinated soil
testing, pasture improvements, and oversaw daily property operations. In addition to my landscaping
and property management experience, I spent several years working as a crew chief and instrument operator
in civil surveying and construction industry.
most recently on the I-69 project in Bloomington, as well as other projects across the country. These
roles strengthen my leadership, teamwork, self-safety awareness, project coordination skills while working
alongside contractors, inspectors, and field crews. Currently, I have my certification, my 3B turf management
from the Indiana State Chemist, registered technician through the Indiana State Chemist, and I take
pride in being dependable, hardworking leader and teammate
I'm looking forward to the opportunity to serve Bloomington community and look forward to contributing
to the continuous success and maintenance of city's parks and recreational spaces and Public speaking
is not one of my favorite things to do That you have all that experience welcome All right, and then
our next staff introduction is Kyra shank community community relations intern
Everyone my name is Kira shank. I am The community events and community relationship intern for the
summer I am currently pursuing my master's degree in public health at IU and focusing specifically on
outdoor recreation and environmental education With this experience. I'm really hoping and I already
have gotten a lot of experience doing hands-on
Event coordination and management and all the things that I never really got an opportunity to do in
school I can already tell that this is going to be an excellent experience and I'm very excited to be
here. Thank you Okay, and then on to our section see other business Tim will tell us about
resolution 26-02 which is the parks Master plan for the next four years Yes, Tim Street parks director
once again Here we are at the end of a really large efforts spanning 14 or so months
Lot of staff hours a lot of public engagement and a lot of really important work including workshops
staff feedback sessions Focus groups all of the different things that went into this master plan and
before you tonight is resolution 26-02 to adopt that master plan Which will allow us as a department
to continue to target the goals that we've identified in here through the strategic action plan the
four priorities that you see in the
the resolution and in the staff report will guide our decisions for the next five years. And additionally,
having this master plan qualifies us for so many different things from being a prerequisite for accreditation
and some national honors and awards and things like that we might go for to qualifying us for state
grants from the DNR and other state agencies. So very important effort. I'm grateful we're at the end.
I'm grateful for everyone's input
That has gone into this and we are ready to start moving on implementation Thank You Tim any questions
about this resolution The resolution 26-02 for the 2026 2030 master plan adoption Okay, and
Roll call vote, please of those in favor Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodkey. I Israel Herrera Jim Whitletch
I Okay motions carried Thank You Tim and everybody who contributed to the master plan And the next step
Item two in this section is the agreement with MSI for Browns Woods encampment cleanup and Amy will
detail that one
Amy land back operations coordinator and I am actually representing Rebecca Swift our operations and
development director She is out of town right now. So I'm presenting this on her behalf
So I'm just gonna read through it because I want to make sure I get everything that she put in there
So we recommend this contract with MSI to provide cleanup and disposal services at Browns Woods This
project is funded by the Community Foundation of Bloomington in Monroe County. The amount is for thirty
eight thousand three hundred dollars They the MSI will be contracted to carry out the Brownswood site
cleanup which includes the mobilization of heavy equipment and
Qualified operators to remove and properly dispose of approximately 16 piles of discarded debris each
estimated at 8 tons This effort will eliminate accumulated waste enhancing site safety accessibility
and environmental quality MSI will ensure that all materials are transported and disposed of in compliance
with applicable regulations and industry best practices
The Brownswood property is owned by the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County and is
managed by the city's Parks and Rec Department For use as a public asset following completion of the
cleanup Park staff will initiate ecological restoration efforts on site and begin construction of a
planned recreational trail So happy to ask answer any questions Any questions for Amy?
Think I have a question will the $38,000 cover the entire cleanup of that property Yes, so last fall
the Parks Department went in there and did some preliminary cleanup So we were able to reduce the cost
significantly because of that prep work that we did And do we know how much we spend on that? I
The community foundation actually reimbursed a lot of the costs for rental equipment So it was really
just staff time That was for a few days. We had it was kind of all hands on deck But they they were
they were immersed any of the direct costs for that effort I'm going to Kathleen I'm gonna recuse myself
from a vote on this matter because of
I was a long-term board member 15 years or something like that at the community foundation. I think
I was on the board when this property was accepted and I act, our firm acts and I do specifically at
times act as legal counsel to the community foundation. So I feel I need to recuse myself from any vote
on this issue because of the foundation's involvement in it. Okay, all right, thank you Jim. I just
have one more question
Do we have any concerns that it's going to be coming encampment again after this cleanup? No, because
the trail that we will plan Has and we have opened it up a lot so that it's not hidden. It's not off
the beaten path We've created and we will have a nice Recreational path so that people can use it. That's
the way it was accumulated over years is because it was really kind of does
Off the beaten path and not easily accessed and so that's how people were able to like kind of fly under
the radar for a long time So it's been cleared out a lot the new trail will encourage people to actually
be walking back there and so it just it's not gonna be able to Happen like it did before accumulate.
Okay Thank you any other questions for Amy I'll make a motion
Approve the contract with martial security for Browns would site cleanup Okay, and roll call vote those
in favor Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodkey. I Israel Herrera Okay motion is carried. Thank you, Amy and
Next up in item three is the agreement with deem incorporated for the Frank Southern ice ice
Arena repairs from Chris Hello again I'm Chris. I'm the facility manager for the ice arena. We've got
a couple or we've got a contract here with team This is the follow-up to completing the items for us
to open safely in the fall This covers all the items that deem is capable of completing
Including the replacement of the e-stop the vent switches adding the alarm light and the ammonia recharge
This work is required in addition to the usual service agreement just to get us all ready to go for
the fall And staff recommends approval of the service agreement not to exceed $24,000 Okay. All right
any questions for Chris? Okay, I'll make a motion to approve service agreement with deem
And a roll call vote of those in favor Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodke. I Israel Herrera Jim Woodlatch.
I Okay, that motion carries and then Chris also has item four, which is the agreement with CTM services
for the Next year's is Amboni rental. Yep We've rented from this company for the last couple years.
They've been really good to us. We've had great experiences with them they deliver the Olympia to us and
And then we drive it in use it for the year and drive it back out to their truck and they take it back
So staff recommends approval of the contract for the rental with CTM services not to exceed thirty two
thousand dollars Do you get to drive it in to the we do? Yeah, I do. Yeah, I've driven it It's very
enjoyable. You can come down and do it It does not Yeah, it's actually
The Olympia is built on a GM chassis So it's it's really just exactly the same as driving a car Especially
if that you're not driving on the ice the ice can get a little tricky. But yeah, okay All right All
right. I'll make a motion to approve the rental from CTM Olympia for the Zamboni Okay, and a roll call
vote of those in favor Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodke. I Israel Herrera Jim Whitletch
Okay, motion carried. Thank you Chris and then Yes, it is pool season So Tim will tell us about the
agreement with ratio architects for the Bryan Park pool study Yes, good evening Tim Street parks director
Really? I'm standing in for Satoshi Kido this evening who unfortunately could not be here when we kind
of shifted our dates around this agreement
With ratio architects is for fifty nine thousand three hundred dollars, which is slated to come out
of the Brian Park pool non-reverting account and I'd like to explain a little bit of What this is about
so in our master plan, obviously we have targeted a lot of strategic actions and questions around the
Sports facilities in the age of our sports facilities specifically our two pools Which we know right
now. We're having an issue at Mills due to its age We're having an issue at Frank Southern due to its
age And thankfully we are not having an issue at Bryan right now due to its age, but we face that regularly
this Contract with ratio is to basically take a next step towards
from the facilities conditions assessment that we did in the master plan to actually look at what I'm
kind of describing as a menu of options for renovation. And that would include realistic costs. Sometimes
in the past, you know, we've had capital amounts, you know, set aside for projects. We've gone into
the project and we've discovered, oh, you know what? That capital amount actually won't really cover
what we wanna do. So...
Want to say this is not this contract tonight is not in any way a decision about pools You know long-term
future of pools, but it is a recognition that the opportunity to renovate a pool has much higher public
impact at Brian Park pool additionally, we are looking at the land and water conservation fund grant
cycle this summer and
Which could award an additional 250 to 1 million dollars towards a qualifying outdoor recreation project
and Both pools have similar issues But what we look at and when we see is that Brian Park pool has three
to four times the amount of use as Mills pool it has Infinity the amount of parking Mills has none,
but Brian has about 200
Parking spaces and is centrally located. So while we are still diligently working on the issue We are
facing at Mills right now and I can I can talk about that in my director updates at the end Or maybe
you can ask me about that if you want to hear now what we want to do is is spend a planned cash balance
expense here to help give us a better picture to to do better planning and
and actually I've been discussing with Kathleen a little bit strategy about some of our facility investment
decisions and capital dollars and I think likely what we're heading towards is some type of, I don't
know if I wanna call it a town hall, but a public meeting slash town hall sometime when school is back
in session and we're through the summer months where everybody's gone so that the board can specifically
ask a lot of questions, get a lot of user group input, get staff input, have a report so we can be informed
to make the best decisions possible which would then include
Potential investment in one of these renovation options All right any questions for Tim about this Do
you anticipate that the ratio like report would then be complete So we need to have something to the
land and water conservation fund. I believe by August
They may not be a hundred percent done with their report. But by that point we've talked to them about
identifying Some amounts and basically what we're talking about is we're looking at You know
Brian specifically looking at the facilities condition assessment. We're talking about the pump room
has issues The bath house has issues. There's a men's and women's restroom. There's no family option
There's no neutral option. Those are quite old as well. The concessions are separate if we
put the concessions in with everything else. We could save an entire staff person. We can also look
at accessibility issues, all these things. So they will be able to give us intelligent cost estimates
and tell us what is even feasible and possible because they are doing similar projects like this elsewhere.
So we actually landed with Ratio because right now, they are doing a very similar pool renovation in
Terre Haute. And actually, earlier this year, or maybe it was late 25, Keto went over to Terre Haute
and went to one of their Board of Park Commissioner meetings.
And has been following along with that project where they're they're similarly renovating an old pool
To bring it up to sort of some some modern standards update the equipment accessibility all of that
And was there any consideration or conversation with ratio about presenting up giving them like a the
opportunity to also make recommendations for Mills pool Not at this time. Yep
Unfortunately, that was before we knew about the leak and anything like that that came up But we have
not investigated that at this time, but I think logically we could draw some conclusions from this about
You know how much something is going to cost in terms of a renovation Compare square footage compare
some of things like that to get some good cost estimates that we could translate across to both Or we
could also explore an addendum with them if we want to translate some of those costs to bills We've
got some time
I guess I wouldn't be opposed to considering that and of course it comes down to You know dollars obviously
and how much that would cost to extend it just because I hate to see if we're exploring this to see
mills left out of that At this point just because we are so early Yeah, just be one of my thoughts we
can definitely explore that with them Yeah, she as they get started and have a project kickoff. We can
say hey, what would it
Be like to translate some of this stuff and look at options here as well. Yeah So team So they will
be assessing but also suggesting right that you're saying is the way I've described it is Give us a
menu of options so we can understand What we want to select and it wouldn't necessarily be everything
it might be different combinations but that way we could be intelligent and
about the costs of what that would take as we look at any type of capital investment It certainly wouldn't
take that long we would anticipate getting preliminary report later this year, which could could feed
into the aforementioned public meeting or town hall thing that we would want to do where we're trying
to provide all of these options you've kind of seen we had a report two months ago, I think about Frank
That kind of had some info we can develop that further where we started the stakeholder group We can
continue the conversations with the consultant get more options there Likewise, we're looking at some
options with another firm Just unofficially right now not not a contract option, but for Winslow, what
would it look like there? So just looking across and also gathering other important capital needs like
Banneker is going to need a new elevator. So what I anticipate is bringing
this menu of options to the board, to town hall, get all the information out there so that the board
can make intelligent decisions about where and how we need to invest, which unfortunately probably can't
be everything that we need. And one other thing that I have is they will be coming from Wisconsin and
they probably... That's just once. Ratio is in Indianapolis, and actually one of their staff is here
in Bloomington. There's one visit from the firm
Wisconsin so for them that would be the the mileage right because one coming Infer and the other is
going to be paid. I believe if I remember correctly That the one trip is built into the contract if
they had to come again Which I don't anticipate they had a mileage rate in there if they needed to come
a second time I guess my only other question is the mention of the
Grant I apologize if you had told us about that in the past. Is that just one of Other many options
we have to think about what we're gonna use to fund any sports facility pool renovations in the future
Yes, so You know as we think about master plan and capital investment, where is that capital investment
going to come from? There's a few different options. So
Land and water conservation fund is a grant that has funded Bloomington parks projects in the past,
but it's been quite a while Right now it is not a consistent and reliable fund. It is not happening
every year So we only received an announcement that it is happening this year. I think a month or two
ago It was kind of in flux or in question before that That is the main High dollar grant that I am aware
of that could could bring
Money to an outdoor rec investment like this Other sources could include a capital bond Parks and Recreation
has the authority to issue bonds, of course also with council approval and controller and everything
like that That those are discussions. I'm having now to explore. What are all of our options? We have
our our non reverting account which does not have a
An excessive cash balance could not fund very many capital projects But we have assets owned by the
Parks Department to we can look at I've been exploring some questions with those So so and then also
the general fund of course, but you know general fund we expect Historically the Parks Department here
along with Parks Departments across the country as a trend I have seen less investment in capital in
the operating budget
Over the past 20 years or so as more share of the budget goes to staffing supplies and expenses We are
the same trend as the country with that So it's not possible for us to just say we're gonna put this
back in the general fund especially when we know the impacts of Senate enrolled Act one are coming And
we are facing quite honestly a very tough operational financial picture in the coming years so all the
more important for us to lay out a
Options and be clear-eyed about what things are going to cost What the operational costs the cost recovery
the subsidy all the things we've been talking about with our master planning are Before making any decisions
about where and how to target investment dollars for the maximum return One last question the 3000 is
it's the whole thing the whole package for for a
Reimbursement expenses always for a person from the company. I think I think again, I believe so the
the lump sum covers Everything we anticipate doing at this time But if there was a need for additional
scope additional visit that is there to cover those additional reimbursables that we would it's almost
like a contingency if there's something that goes beyond or an allowance to the contract, but I anticipate
we would do this for the amount listed there and
But we will explore the question about mills and seeing adding on that might be something we bring back
to the board of the near future So the 59,000 could be also extra troubles from from there based on
the report based on the the assessment or that would be one that is already a pain here and if they
say that they need to
So if I understand the question correctly the the contract amount on the staff report 59 300 is the
amount We anticipate spending that includes the travel that includes, you know the base everything we
need if they were gonna go beyond that they would need to ask Permission to add that scope and we would
need to approve that to add into that extra amount that's listed in there But again, I do not anticipate that
What I anticipate maybe though is as we we kick off with them in June. Well, it is June this month And
and talk with them we can explore the question about You know also taking a look at Mills and making
sure yeah, we have all the options. I think that's fair Okay, all right if there aren't any other questions
and we have a motion to yeah sure I'll
Move to approve the agreement with ratio architects And a roll call voted those in favor Kathleen Mills.
I Ellen Rodke. I Israel Herrera Jim Whitletch I Okay. Thank you motion carried. Thank you, Tim And then
in item six, we have a policy update for advisory councils, which Heidi will tell us about and
I'm Heidi. She maker the natural resources coordinator for the city of Bloomington I'm also the staff
liaison from the environmental resources advisory council You were given a red line
Edit version of the policies as they were written in 2020 We have recently run into an issue where a
member stepped down from the council They were filling the role that someone had to come from the utilities
service board We have been unable to fill that position. So at our meeting in April the council got
together and discussed whether or not we wanted to continue to
Keeping the policies the way they are and unable to fill that or to adapt our policies to make that
position easier to fill or that chair seat easier to fill.
So historically I looked back and found that this happened once before when there was a requirement
for someone to be from Indiana University's outdoor recreation and environmental education program and
when they were not able to fill that seat they broadened it to someone with an expertise in outdoor
recreation and environmental education and so at this time the council is recommending and asking for
approval to change the policy that that
Person just has to have an expertise in water resource management Instead of specifically being from
the utility service board While they were looking at the policies because they had not been written
since 2020 They did notice some additional changes that they shot they thought should take place including
saying if there are extenuating circumstances and we can't meet one month that that is okay. That was
not in the policies before. And the policies also mention other groups and organizations that the council
will work with. And they noticed that the Commission on Sustainability and Resilience was not listed
in that and they asked to have that added. But I can answer any questions you have about any of the
other red line changes that you see.
Thank you any questions for Heidi about this policy update I'll make a motion to approve revisions to
the environmental resources Advisory Council policy Okay, and a roll call vote of those in favor Kathleen
Mills. I Ellen Rodke. I Israel Herrera Jim what latch I
He's keeping us in suspense Okay. All right motion carries. Thank you Heidi and then in item seven in
this section is the People's Park alcohol use for taste of Bloomington from Crystal Ritter Hello Crystal
Ritter community events coordinator again I am here tonight to recommend the use of People's Park on
Saturday, August 1st
for beer and wine sales for the Taste of Bloomington. The event will run from 3 to 10 PM, and the rain
date for the event is Sunday, August 2nd, and if the date does move to Sunday, it would be from 1 until
8 PM. And after a five-year hiatus, the Taste of Bloomington came back last year to Kirkwood Avenue,
and they used, like,
essentially the whole five blocks of Kirkwood from Indiana down to college and in that in order to keep
some safety issues from people walking up and down the street because they had to keep done for at the
request of Bloomington Fire Department and the Bloomington Police Department for emergency access to
and from the event they needed to keep
Dunn Street, as well as Grant Street open. And being able to move all of the alcohol vendors to that
area, they're hoping will keep it more safe and within an area where people aren't crossing streets.
And I'm happy to answer any other questions that you might have.
Is it like a beer garden? So the beverages are only served and consumed within People's Park or it's
just where the sales are taking place and then Participants are allowed to take their alcohol. So it
People's Park would be where the cells would be taking place and they would be able they are applying
for an alcohol Tobacco Commission festival permit so that people can walk up and down the street the
festival permit allows them
to walk anywhere within the event perimeter, but they do have to have signage at any crossing that is
going with outside of that permit that says no alcohol beyond this point. In addition to that, they
are going to have volunteers and security that will be helping monitor alcohol from leaving the festival
perimeter. Okay, great. Okay, any...
Motion to approve alcohol use in People's Park for the taste of Bloomington All right in a roll call
vote those in favor Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodkey. I Israel Herrera Jim White latch I Thank you. Thank
you motion carried and then an eight Kevin Terrell will tell us about the MOU with MCC SC for summer
food service at Banneker and
Thank you all. Kevin Terrell here, the program and facility coordinator for the Banneker Community Center.
Our staff recommends that we approve the memorandum of understanding with MCCSC to provide all of the
breakfast and lunches for the Banneker Community Center summer camp program in 2026, which started today
with beach week. Got my bracelet on. MCCSC offered to partner with us in the spring.
to provide breakfast and lunches to the Banneker campers this year starting today, Monday, June 1st,
until Friday, July 24th. They took over the responsibility of making and planning each meal, transporting
it to Banneker Fresh each day, planning all the menus to make sure they qualify under the Summer Food
Service Program's parameters, and providing all the necessary documentation to the SFSP.
Essentially rather than us being our own individual site. We're using we're piggybacking off of the
school being the side where a we're under their umbrella so to speak which has reduced the Stress level
and reduce the the tracking and reduce the all of the administrative burden put it on them rather than us and
The advantages are several I put a few of them on here the quality and the freshness of the food Served
is much higher than it was before when we contracted with chef for hire out of Indianapolis The daily
deliveries at meal times are way less intrusive To the overall operation of the camp and less time-consuming
for our staff to be able to manage and organize meaning me
We no longer had the responsibility of planning the meals ourselves that are compliant that falls to
MCC SC It does eliminate any risk associated with either overspending our food budget Not being reimbursed
by the state of Indiana. We no longer have to worry about that Or we do we have to worry with any acts
of nature that would cause our stored food to go bad And which would result in financial losses that
could have happened
Couple years ago when we had that huge power outage and I had to come to Banneker at midnight and move
food around all night to Make sure it didn't go bad Also, we found out today there's been a substantial
reduction in our wasted food and our trash because of the way they pack it is much better and The food
is better. So the kids are eating more of it. We have less Substantially less food that's gone to waste
and there's been a
pretty large increase and just on our parents satisfaction and our Student satisfaction with the meals
programs in general the parents once they found out we were finally making a change away from What we've
done previously and then the kids today were very excited about having fresh hot food to eat for lunch
and chocolate milk So with that being said we we recommend to approve this Okay, and I'll answer any
questions you have if any I
Thank you for the details. Yeah, any questions for Kevin? No, it sounds like a really great Relationship
so yeah as a background not that it Belabor it but I try to do this my very first year running this
camp. I could not get MCSC MCC SC to cooperate with what I wanted to do and I've been struggling to
do this year two year three so I was finally excited when they have new management and
their nutrition program at MCC SC we were able to talk them into that and and coordinate it and have
a good relationship with them and I think this is a really big positive for the camp Make a motion to
approve the agreement with MCC SC to provide meals for Banneker Okay in a roll call vote those in favor
Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodkey. I Israel Herrera Jim Whitluch. I Okay. Thank you. Thank you
Kids are excited about school lunch. Yeah All right, and then item 9 is the partnership with downtown
Bloomington For the 4th of July, which is usually Bill Ream. I'm gonna do it today. You're gonna do
it Okay, Bill is out prepping for an event for this weekend So I am filling in for him today staff recommend
the approval of a partnership agreement between the city of Bloomington and downtown Bloomington Inc
as you stated for the 4th of July parade and
We do have a 50-50 split of revenue from parade entries after some expenses have been paid and that
is Paid mostly out of our non reverting community events budget This is the 18th year for this partnership
The goal is to combine resources with both parks and DBI to provide the 4th of July parade Looking forward
to it happening. Once again, the parade is on Saturday, July 4th It'll take place at 10 a.m To noon
with a performance by the Bloomington community band starting at 9 a.m. On the courthouse lawn
Applications for the parade are available online right now And encourage those that want to participate
to get their application in
Important to note that this year because it is on a Saturday and because of the route that we have now
used the last few years We will be doing the parade and having the farmers market at the same
time essentially in the same place So a little chaotic here on Morton Street, but we feel confident
that we can manage both large events at the same time and give Downtown community just a great morning
to come spend time at the market visit the parade
Check out our farm vendors and have a great day. Happy to answer any questions. Okay All right. No questions
for me. No That's great. Yeah, I make a motion to approve the partnership agreement with city of Bloomington
Parks and Rec and then downtown Bloomington, Inc Okay in a roll call vote of those in favor Kathleen
Mills. I Ellen Rodke. I Israel Herrera Jim what latch I'm glad we
Able to work in the market and the parade. Yeah We needed a little extra help from the trades district
for a few more parking lots and solution tree has been great and donated their parking lots so we're
just shifting the Staging areas down a little bit Working with Clarence and the farmers market to to
get them in and out prior and after the parade. Okay. All right, great Thank you. So that motion is
carried and then we have a partnership with mad for my dog for the annual drool in the pool and
Yes, so staff recommend the approval of the 2026 partnership agreement between parks and mad for my
dog There is no money exchange in this partnership. This is the 21st year for drool in the pool That's
the 10th for this official partnership with mad for my dog, but they were involved long before our official
partnership
Last year we continue to have great success at drool in the pool 180 dogs over 300 humans visit the
pool during the two days of drool in the pool at Mills the event of this year will be Wednesday and
Thursday August 5th and 6th from 4 to 8 p.m. Again at Mills pool there's contest dog related businesses
will be on site and of course swimming for the dogs and for the third year we'll be doing the VIP hour
from 4 to 5 so people can sign up 20 participants
pictures Time in the pool with less dogs and some specific goodie bags for those that sign up for the
VIP hour No registration is needed except for the VIP hour We hope everyone comes out to Mills pool
for drool in the pool. Happy to answer any questions Well, we'll be looking at that don't you
This is the first year. No, that's the second year. We've done I'll pick a motion to approve the partnership
agreement with mad for my dog for drool in the pool Okay We put this in the section C just because of
what's going on with Mills right now, too Just to give an update there. We had a leak detection company
out last week just getting findings from them not as conclusive as we hoped and
We're gonna meet out there tomorrow. Our intent is still to find that and fix that and get that open
But the situation is developing and of course details of this event could change based on what ends
up happening with Mills and Startup shut down decisions that we may have to make things like that. But
certainly we have another board meeting in July Where we can revisit if any updates need to be made
Okay. All right. Thank you All right
I think we do too. Okay So a roll call vote of those in favor of the partnership with mad for my dog
for drool in the pool Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodkey Israel Herrera Jim Whitlatch All right motion is
carried and then in number 11 Clarence will tell us about the farmers market advisory council appointment
of two new members and
Clarence Boone, Program Facility Coordinator for Parks and Rec. Staff recommends the appointment of
the following two individuals to the Farmer's Market Advisory Council. Robin Katowski, Customer
Representative, and Robin is a longtime community member and former market staff person. She wants to
share her skills for the betterment of the market by serving as a customer representative of the Farmer's
Market Advisory Council. And Robin spent 11 years serving as a market staff person.
She served in the role of market master, and she is primarily an agriculturalist. She founded two different
family farm entities in South Central Indiana and vended out the market in both cases. Robin promotes
sustainable farming practices and seeks to help connect growers to the resources and tools they need.
And she would be honored to serve the city, the vendors, and the market going public as a farmer's market
advisor council member representing customers.
And the second individual is Lori Bolin, who would come on as a food and beverage artisan representative.
And since 2024, Lori has been a food and beverage artisan with the Bloomington Farmers Market. She and
her family have experienced the best of what the market has to offer, a deep sense of community among
farmers, growers, and makers, quality business relationships that have sparked new and better products
for market customers, community connections with customers,
and these relationships extend beyond the market and opportunities to contribute to the betterment of
the community overall. And as a member of the Advisory Council, she will commit to sharing utilizing
her decades of leadership and business ownership experience, small business ownership souls, all of
the market vendors together, and there are unique challenges for small business owners and where she
can provide optimism, empathy, and the idea is to ease those challenges
In the context of the market, she would be delighted to do so. And as a longtime business owner and
consultant, she would also hope to make calm and the storm contributions in those moments when emotions
and conflict arise. That never happens, by the way. Also, staff further recommends reappointment of
the following individuals to additional terms as permitted in the bylaws
on the Farmers Market Advisory Council. In the role of customer representative, we have Carolyn
Calloway-Thomas, Julia Fox, Ben Gardner, and Edward Robertson. And for food and beverage artisan, we
have Louise Miracle. And farm vendor representatives, we have John Norton, Karen St. Rain, Kip Schlegel,
and Patricia Sigmund. And again, as the bylaws permit, they can roll into an additional term.
And the background, the Farmers Market Advisory Council consists of 11 members representing market vendors,
customers, and food and beverage artisans. There are five customer reps, two FBA reps, and four farm
vendors. And the council acts in an advisory capacity to the board of park commissioners and park staff
on policy matters relating to the farmers market. And again, we seek to add those two new appointments.
And I'll take any questions. Okay. Thank you, Clarence.
Any questions about these market appointments? So the total would be 11 in the distribution would be
for farm vendors and two for food and beverage artisan representatives and then five for Customer that
might be because there are less
A food and beverage artisans in the farmers market. Is that the reason is correct? Yes, and you mentioned
they like the terms for the reappointments That would be for you mentioned the the term like one two
years the other members that currently serve Their terms have come to it in their current terms and
then they are permitted to serve additional Times no one can exceed over three but the terms last one
or two years
The food and beverages one all the farm vendors is two and the customer would be three In the previous
ones the ones that um left any Reason why they were living or they were where we had one individual
that did leave He basically had turned out all foreseeable foreseeable additional terms he had exhausted
and now well and the other one
Served his particular terms all can come back as public members and make contributions And if they sit
out for say additional two years or maybe one year in some cases They can come back and serve again
on the Advisory Council Thank you Well, yeah, I just
Public thank you to all of all these folks for serving on the Advisory Council and appreciate their
work. So I'll make a motion to approve the two new members Robin Katowski and Lori Bolin as well as
the reappointment of the nine current members And a roll call vote of those in favor Kathleen Mills.
I Ellen Rodke. I Israel Herrera Jim Whitletch I
Motion is carried. Thank you Clarence and Then item 12 in this section is from Sean Marlar the agreement
with mid-states for playground equipment. Good evening Sean Marlar recreation facilities general manager
Parks is recommending a contract with mid-states recreation for the removal of the existing playground
feature known as the accessible carousel and installation of a replacement feature
The current feature has been a challenge since it was first installed in 2019. It's broken down at least
four times Not including staff time and staff labor. That's cost us six thousand two hundred dollars
the new piece the all of the together the remove line installation has a do not exceed contract of amount
of twenty four thousand eight hundred and forty nine nine dollars to be paid for out of switch our parks
non-reverting fund I'm happy to take any questions
Is there any kind of a like a warranty on these things because it sounds like the other one suffered
problems from the beginning It did suffer problems from beginning and we did take full advantage the
warranty It just went beyond the warranty and not everything was covered basically the design of it
and the use of it it had multiple spots where the weight and torque just put extra tension on it it
had parts freeze up the brakes froze up and when that happened it wasn't able to actually spin and
Carousel not much good if it doesn't spin. Yeah, okay I should point out the new piece. The new feature
is a different design a much simpler design So hopefully we won't have those problems. It's also designed
that's in here in town that we've had a chance to look at so Okay
It is also an accessible piece although it does require somebody who uses a wheelchair To exit the wheelchair
unlike the previous one, but it is a simple Act Okay, nice. All right I'll make a motion to approve
the contract with Michigan playgrounds for the new unity spinner contract All right, and a roll call
vote are those in favor Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodke I
Israel Herrera Jim White latch. I Okay motion carried. Thank you, Sean. Thank you And then the final
two items in the section 13 is the beeline trail closure request for Second Street Improvement Project
Amy Amy line back operations coordinator staff is recommending approval of a full trail closure for
the beeline trail for the Second Street Improvement Project
Closures will occur at the beeline second Street intersection across various dates Weather pending the
first closure will be for one day on June 8th The second closure would be for five days July 20 through
the 20th 24th the third closure would be five days in September between the 14th and the 18th signed
detours and pedestrian paths will be provided with the additional approval of the engineering department
and the trail will be reopened between closures and
Per parks policy the beeline trail is a class one trail that requires approval for the from the Board
of Park Commissioners for non-emergency closures that last longer than one day and require a full closure
These closures are related to the engineering department's West Second Street modernization and safety
improvement project that is scheduled to kick off next month and
The project includes installing two-way protected bike lanes from the beeline to South Walker Street
along with upgraded traffic signals new stormwater infrastructure and improved accessibility features
including sidewalks curb ramps and bus stops throughout the corridor Some of the related work will require
a full closure The beeline trail will be closed at its intersection with West 2nd Street at various
times between June 8 and September 18th
And those dates may be extended depending on whether as they're working on these things The closure
will be communicated via social media and on-site signage Pedestrian signs will be utilized to warn
trail users of upcoming closures and detours There will be detour signs going around the trail closure
closing with pedestrian channelizers and temporary ramps
So, and this is another one that Rebecca is really the lead on. I don't know a ton, but I'm sure other
people can answer questions that you may have. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any questions about this
beeline trail closure? No. Okay. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the trail closure for the beeline
trail on various States. Okay. And a roll call vote with those in favor.
Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodkey. I Israel Herrera Jim Whitlatch. I Okay motion carry. Thank you and 14
last item in this part is the agreement with Jack Laurie group for the TLRC floors
Good evening Darren needs facility coordinator with the Twin Lakes Recreation Center you have before
you this evening I started to afternoon but Is a service agreement with Jack Laurie floors? We're going
to begin a restroom remodel on the main level restrooms in August actually mid-july Jack Laurie, if
you remember did our recoat on our basketball floors back in 2024. They're great company to work with
I know the city it has actually used them in multiple locations and
And we look forward to having them committed to do the vinyl work there in the bathrooms total cost
on that is 11,000 865 that had come out of the 5,000 capital line be glad to answer any questions that
you might have Okay. All right any questions for Darren about this one? All right make a motion to approve
the service agreement with Jack Laurie floors Okay, and a roll call vote of those in favor I
Kathleen Mills. I Ellen Rodkey. I Israel Herrera Jim Whitlatch Thanks. Yep. Thank you motion carried
and then we move into our section D reports So first we have the Recreation Services events annual highlights
presentation Yeah, thank you again Leslie Brinson recreation division director change of date got all
my staff out at
Events or on vacation. So you're stuck with me again doing this report This is something we do annually
just to highlight all of the community events Community events Programs that have been scheduled were
a little later than normal. So several obviously have already taken place But wanted to give you a quick
highlight of what we got going on Winter started with our winter Palooza event. We continue to offer
Bloomington trivia series on a
semi-annual or semi-monthly Basis this year winter blues as you remember we partnered with freeze fest
We also offered Arctic adventure, which is a small program with scavenger hunts at the park
New this year. We offered to sip and skate programs We worked with Chris at the Frank Southern ice arena
and had some adult only skates at the arena They became really popular. The first one had over 300 guests.
We ran out of skate rental It was packed. I don't know that I've ever seen the arena that crowded. It
was really great with the DJ So we decided to run it back and do it a couple weeks later and had another
great event I think adults enjoyed having the ice arena all to itself
We did have alcohol sales as well as a DJ and games and a couple themed events Moved into the next month
with Pet Expo continues to be crazy popular 42 vendors over 784 people came to check out the vendors
bring their animals Children's Expo had a great year this year over 600 guests
50-plus expo continues to just grow record-setting numbers of vendors at 105 this year 20 some year
program continues to grow with over 670 guests as well Another new event that we did this year was called
free-range arcade. You approved a partnership for that back a little while ago Great first year over
500 people came out to try different video games board games virtual games
I look forward to extending that event year after year and just continuing to grow that opportunity
The gardens off to a great start if you haven't been by I would suggest you go check them out They look
really beautiful right now 279 plots continue to host garden programs both garden bed both Willie Streeter
and Butler now have new chain link fenced and we continue to repair and add raised garden beds as needed
We hop into spring and summer. We have the community zoo by you program It continues on a monthly basis
to explore all kinds of different animals mad paws. I love that picture Had some weather issues this
year's we didn't have quite as good of attendance, but any dog Activity we can do continues to be popular
another new event. We did this year was a dance walk where we just
Had people gather at the plaza here and do a walk down the beeline with music and dancing for its first
attempt 29 30 people came out and walked with us look forward to doing that again this fall Flights
a fancy the second year for this one our new kites and bubbles activity Had five over 300 people this
year out for that had another great day great wind Great kites. It's a fun act fun event to watch at
switch yard
We another new program history in bloom we continued kind of moved off our dearly departed and did some
chores in the Cemetery that were not related to Halloween oriented but continued to be popular with
over 78 people coming out to tour the Rose Hill hear stories about I think it was Bloomington history
of Bloomington history people
People who had been around a long time So we continue to partner with the macro County History Center
for that event does great summer lunch party Again, another great event 575 we had to move it to switch
yard this year But a good a good change there. The escape room is this weekend still spots available
in partnership with get out Bloomington
Continues to be super popular junk in the trunk We added a spring junk in the trunk that sold out very
quickly over a hundred boost 1700 shoppers and the one we had in April look forward to doing that again
in August the inside booth sold out in 20 minutes ish So continues to be crazy popular as well We already
know about the farmers market. It's after some off to some record numbers of attendance
Think over 5,000 were in attendance on Saturday with 59 vendors continue to look forward to a great
season We've added some youth days at the market This is our third year looking at staff third year
third year for youth days at the market continue to be popular I know the first one Filled and sold
out and we had to add some more spots to get some people off the waiting list so a great opportunity
for kids to come out and be entrepreneurs
We're doing one at youth at food truck Friday again, and then we'll do another one in the fall First
one coming up here this month in June and we're gonna try one at the Tuesday market as well The performing
art series kicks off really this weekend. We had a movie last week two weeks ago, but really starts
this weekend with a concert in Brian Park continue to have movies civic and taming of the shrew is happening
right now at Waldron Hill and Buskirk Park, it's got one more weekend and
We will do strawberry shortcake next weekend adding a jazz on the tracks several jazz and Community
Orchestra events happening as well Tuesday tunes They'll now be music at every Tuesday market at Hopewell
looking forward to that kicks off tomorrow with don't call me Betty as the band there
Again Sundays and Brian Park we continue to do happy hours on the lawn and you can see all of our main
stage Concerts there that continue to be popular Then we move into keep going rainbow ring 4th of July
parade. We've talked about drool in the pool And a Bloomington branches event and Brian Park. This actually
is Brian Park 75th Anniversary, so we'll be highlighting it at the Bloomington branches event as well
Glow week will happen in mid September
Splash pad event a scavenger hunt and then the big dance party on Saturday night all ages dance party
I think the staff enjoy spraying paint as much as the people enjoy getting sprayed on Move into October
obviously one of our busiest months trick-or-treat trail festival of ghost stories skate and scare at
the ice arena dearly departed cemetery tours and then also the Bloomington pumpkin pumpkin launch all
take place in October and
Move into the holiday season. We have sensory Santa happy hours with our dog or yappy holidays with
our dogs Of course the holiday market on that last Saturday in November and we kind of end the year
with our skate with Santa program Looking forward to a continued 2026 couldn't be done without great
community events and rec staff they they get all the all the Awards and and props for coming up with
programs and running them in all weather and happy to have another year with them
I'd be happy to answer any questions about anything in particular. All right. Thank you for that rundown
and phenomenal attendance numbers, Mike We're off to a great year. I mean record numbers at a lot of
programs. That's a really great start Yeah, I think that staff should do their example of the dance
walk when they come Great
Okay. All right. Thank you for that and then Number two in the reports is the natural resources 2025
annual report Mary Hi everybody Mary Wells here natural resources manager to provide you with an overview
of the 2025 annual part It's gonna be hard to follow up all those amazing events and
So starting with this report, our natural resource area will provide a summary of the priorities and
accomplishments for natural resources management, environmental education, and the Griffey Lake boathouse
operations. It's all good. Stay there for a minute. Thank you. So yeah, sorry, you've got a lot to handle
right now, so thank you, Leslie.
2025 we worked with three contractors for various ecological restoration and consulting services first
of which was aquatic control They in 2025 they continued to build upon successful efforts Started in
2024 to monitor and manage the invasive Eurasian milfoil at Griffey Lake This work was partially funded
through the DNR Lake and River enhancement or layer grant and
Aquatic control also worked at Miller showers to continue their annual management of various nuisance
aquatic vegetation that threatened our stormwater management operations We also worked quite a bit with
ecological at various parks. They worked at Miller showers park 2025 was their year eight of a 10-year
management plan
For various invasive species monitoring and vegetation management and the three point one four acres
of restoration areas at Miller showers And then they also worked over at Rogers Family Park they were
involved in the design and install of three point six acre restoration planting from the Rogers Family
Park project in 2223 so last year they kind of contracted
Maintain and manage that restoration area Get us to that final mark of getting it installed a switch
yard ecologics worked there for dating back to 2018 having been involved with the installation and management
of the various
Mosaic of restoration and existing natural areas. They again worked to manage 27 acres there and then
new in 2025 They began a broad-level invasive species mapping effort to guide our future work We also
wrapped up a contract with KCI Technologies. They contracted to work at two parks at Crestmont. They
wrapped up they they finished up a About 3.5 acres of winter creeper treatment
And they also worked in collaboration with our vegetation management staff to clear one third acre of
very dense Asian bush honeysuckle at upper Cascades Click Thank you So speaking of our vegetation management team
They focused on two kind of large-scale efforts in 2025 in addition to their ongoing work to manage
a range of high-priority invasive species targets as well as managing native plantings, installing native
plantings, and other activities. One of the projects I'd like to celebrate is they started in 2024 to
work on clearing a dense mix of woody invasives within the 240-acre state-dedicated portion of Griffey.
Basically the southern portion of Griffey so far as of 2026 March 2026. They've cleared over 40 acres.
So pretty exciting work They also expanded upon their efforts with KCI technologies last year They worked
along with our urban green space community outreach staff and volunteers to remove Asian Bush a very
dense Asian Bush honeysuckle and
and other woody invasives around the waterfall areas at upper Cascades. So it's looking pretty good.
We've got some more work to do. But as of March this year, nearly six acres have been cleared.
They have, I think I wrote 16 priority targets, but it's an underestimation. It's definitely in excess
of 20 species. But one of which is depicted here as a high priority target right now, especially as
poison humlock, which poses a human health hazard.
And then click. We also were focused heavily on Tree of Heaven last year. Go back for a sec, sorry.
Which is a preferred host plant for a spotted lanternfly, which is a fairly new invasive insect here
in Indiana, first reported in 2021. Fingers crossed, not yet here in Monroe County. So we also did some
tree plantings and quite a bit else.
Click thank you our trails management strap staff are responsible for various ongoing maintenance and
management activities For our 27 plus miles of natural surface and mountain bike trails on our managed
property Outside of their regular duties just to celebrate a few highlights from 2025 we contracted
with fire dogs to remove
The old hazardous stairs on the north side of Griffey dam spillway. So the picture of before And then
after we'd had to board them up a click. Yeah Just cleared that and then we're going to be working to
restore that area and restrict access. Sorry And we also collaborated on some trail reroutes with Hoosier
Hikers Council for the Griffey trail loop
And we for our adopt a trail program. We hosted nine volunteers contributing over about 94 hours of
service. Thank you Leslie So going on to the wildlife and habitat management various activities were
taken to monitor support and manage Wildlife as well as to provide outreach and for out for wildlife at all
Bloomington parks these efforts help sustain natural ecosystems prevent wildlife overpopulation Mitigate
habitat loss and support our natural resource help. So first off was the completion of the report by
our natural resources education staff specialists of the
Griffey Lake Nature Preserve insect inventory which took place in 2024 the report documents 480 species
of insects at Griffey including three species of special concern here in Indiana and depicted here is
the Dusky azure state endangered butterfly click
We also worked to Rededicate our both Bloomington and Monroe County in 2025 as a bird town official
bird town status As well we worked with our staff worked with the environmental resources Advisory Council
as well as other community partners to get recertified It's a two-year certification through the Indiana
Audubon Society's bird town. Indiana program is a part of the national bird town effort
And then, one more click on this slide. We also undertook our annual deer management efforts, contracting
or building upon the work dating back to 2015. We contracted, again, with Ecologic to continue their
ongoing deer browse vegetation monitoring, which began in 2018. New in 2025, we restricted the monitoring
to only the herbaceous vegetation layer.
at Griffey. Results are showing the average plant height of Solomon seal species, which is the deer
browse indicator, has continued to increase each year since the species is directly impacted by heavy
deer browse, which you can see the end of that plant has been eaten by something. I can't verify it's
a deer, but the findings support that deer management efforts at Griffey are having a positive impact
on our native plant communities. And then we also, oh, going back one more, sorry.
are still on wildlife habitat management. We also, again, worked with White Buffalo, who have provided
deer management services at Griffey since 2017. The annual deer hunt took place over four days in November,
coinciding with the DNR rifle deer hunting season. For the first time in 2025, we started taking metrics.
Chest measurements were taken to help us estimate weight and general health of the deer. We had 22 hunters
last year and 26
were taken as compared to 19 and 2024. Thank you. And then I just wanted to celebrate the fact that
natural resources is able to provide opportunities through the IU O'Neill Leadership Program for graduate
students to get hands-on practical experience while making a difference in the community of Bloomington
Parks and Recreation.
A good portion of the work of our fellows involves parks asset inventory and GIS data collection, so
getting some pretty good hands-on experience on a very important skill. Abby was our outgoing fellow,
and she assisted also with the creation of self-guided outings in the parks at parks property in our
outer spatial mobile app. And incidentally, Abby's not depicted here, but she also worked as a trails laborer
for natural resources seasonally. And then, our fellow Tristan, who's on the right in the corner over
there, was our incoming fellow, and she provided planning and logistical experience or support for our
deer hunt, as well as assisted with various other community events. Thank you. And then, I would be
remiss in not celebrating all the work of our amazing natural resources education staff. They conducted
a lot of amazing programs and outreach opportunities,
including Griffey and Leonard spring nature days roving naturalists adopt a stream after school nature
club programs as well as hosted several large community events over 1,500 people attending bugfest For
the first time last year. We hosted the annual nature days with
at Lower Cascades with a total of 138 attendees. Five of our staff were trained in monarch butterfly
tagging, which Hannah's depicted here during that. And they were able to, through the Monarch Watch
program, where they were able to tag 20 monarchs the first year of that program. We also hosted a pollinator
habitat workshop in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. And for our Adopt-a-Spring
Stream program,
We involve 26 volunteers contributing 212 hours of service and we had 50 participants in our Hoosier
River watch program opportunity and last but not least Griffey Boathouse I just want to mention some
maintenance activities that were completed replacement of leaking skylights at our Boathouse comfort
station and storage and We did some follow-up cleaning
In to in follow-up to that repair and then some benchmarks for our boat house include Improvements to
the Griffey 10 Lake Griffey Lake 10 punch rental pass resulting in increases in sales over 2024 So include
in conclusion that was a lot It's been a good first year as natural resources manager and I'm excited
to share a few next slide
Things that are kind of up on the horizon. So we're working on In the future hopefully this year contracting
for master planning at Wapahane mass mountain bike park we Started work on a restoration area along
the creek at Roger Sam Lee Park We're in the beginning phases of working with DNR to put Leonard Springs
into state dedication protections And we're considering
We're drawing in proposals right now to do pre and post prescribed fire vegetation monitoring at Griffey
We'll be continuing forest management activities at Griffey and we have goals for accessible and sustainable
trail improvements And that was a lot. So please let me know if you have any questions Okay. All right.
Thank you Mary I do have a quick question of something that just came up in my neighborhood people wondered
about when you are removing
Invasive species obviously you can just pull things out chop them down or spray some sort of pesticide
Is there also any occasion where you burn an area to remove some of it? Yes, so we'll be covering that
at our 2026 annual report But we were able to implement prescribed fire this spring or early late late
winter. I will say Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Yeah, appreciate all the details. Thanks
And I would just comment that I'm excited to see that there's a potential to do semester planning at
Wabahani I have heard lots of feedback that they'd like a pump truck and all sorts of other features
They're definitely and it seems like an underutilized asset. So that's great Okay. All right. Great.
Thank you And then the final report this evening is number three is the seminary and
It's Amy's night. Yeah, and unfortunately, I don't think we saved the best for last I I wish that Leslie's
had been the note to end on because that was really fun and uplifting but This is the reality of managing
parks. So here we are Amy lineback operations coordinator when we initially when you all approved the
contract to service and clean the seminary portal at a
In January, we had some discussion about it at that time, and you had asked for an update as we go into
the warmer months, busier time for that area and that asset. So I am here to report on that. In January
through March, the unit was only serviced Monday through Friday with the weekends being off. And we
were doing that as a trial basis to see if we could, you know,
if it would be okay to not service it for a couple of days and then just really see what the use was
over the winter. And it became very clear that the contractor provides me with a picture every day before
and after. And those are available for you if you are interested and would like to see those.
I have a file. But it became very clear that it was being regularly
Trashed and vandalized Every day so it was not over. You know the weekend. It would be heavier trash
I was kind of thinking that would be the pattern, but it really became clear that it's just regularly
used heavily used we'll say So it does not seem feasible to go more than a day without
cleaning it because it becomes unusable for anyone after someone has made a big mess in there, then
the unit is unusable until it gets cleaned and serviced again.
So that's how that's going Despite the challenges we also hear that the portalette is providing an important
service to park area Park users and the area businesses and residents As we budget for 2027 we have
received a budget commitment from the economic and sustainable development department to fund basically
all of the cost for cleaning and servicing this portalette in 2027 and
On on a daily basis. So these funds are being provided because of the additional service That this portal
is providing to ease the pressure on downtown businesses and keep the area safe and beautiful So, let
me know what what questions you have. I Have questions I want to see the pictures. So if you could send
those to me, I'd like to see those They're in the drive Jim Okay
Okay, thank you. Secondly, I suggested at one time that we consider putting a camera there. Is that
an option that we can explore? So actually recently we've had some conversations with BPD about some
additional security cameras in potentially Hopewell and Seminary Park based on some funds that we believe
Could be available for that and the fact that seminary recently got connected up through ITS through
Whatever fiber network Wi-Fi all that stuff that gives us greater options and capability So we are exploring
that now And and Brian Giffin I'll just mention is also here from office of the mayor. He's the city's
homelessness response coordinator and so can also Answer questions or speak to this as needed
Yeah, I would like to strongly recommend that we have a camera there, that we have a sign that says
this is video, you know, the outside of this is video monitoring and any vandalism of this will be,
is subject to criminal or civil action. If we're spending this money on a daily basis because of people
doing this to the,
I think that at some point there should be some, if not criminal issues with it, there should be some
civil issues. I mean, this is just simply not acceptable. I have talked to the local property owners
who do think that it is a value to have it, but it's the same issue I have with the parking garage bathrooms
that are locked.
a large percentage of the year, probably because of vandalism as well. But this is under our bailiwick
and I think we have a responsibility to handle it responsibly. And certainly cleaning on a daily basis
is something we need to do, but we also need to see what steps we can take to eliminate or to try to
better control this issue. So I'm happy to hear from the city's homeless coordinator.
Would you like to say or add anything and and Jim? I do think we might be coming to you the board in
the future here in the near future with some security camera options for review Brian if in city homelessness
response coordinator Yeah, I mean just echoing what he already said we hear from the property owners
around the area that you know They're not experiencing as many issues. I actually just don't hear from them and
Which is always a positive right if they're not reaching out to me. That's a good sign for me It's rare
that somebody reaches out to me with the positive but But yeah, I mean it's just it's serving a valuable
resource to our community not just to the folks that are in seminary but the people that are around
there and kind of helping with the hopeful economic development of that area going forward and I've
also been in talks with the BPD on
They've expressed interest in having cameras there as well. So that's something that we're going to
work towards and any other questions I can answer No, that would be that would be great. I think in
a minimum the next step we need to take is to have cameras there and And so I'd be very much in favor
of that Jim I'll just mention there there is a security camera in seminary right now that is
Quite dated I believe and so that's also part of it. It's just covers that Plaza area And some just
typical security cameras could could help us out in that area Yeah, thank you Tim. I I think you've
answered this before but I mean we have other portalettes in other locations and do they see as much
trash and vandalism or Not as not as much but
Nearly the same level but we do have staff that go to each of those on a daily basis and check to make
sure that they're clean and and Available, you know ready for use for the public. So there is some and
in all of them I mean just like any parks we have vandalism and trash but but the level is not nearly
the same and even sometimes severe but just not with the frequency that we see in seminary the other
one that we probably have the most problems with is the Brian Park pool
Backside one, that one has a lot as well. Okay. Yeah, correct. I think that we didn't we used to have
during, at least during COVID, we put some portalettes along the beeline trail and those experienced
similar type vandalism, is that? Yeah, that was actually, that was not our portalette. That was the
portalette for the emergency winter shelter, but it was along the beeline trail and did create issues.
Yeah, thank you. So right now, we have only one, right?
At Seminary Park. Yes, just one The voice or the roads requested by the economic and sustainable development
department is to just to help with the Yeah, they're gonna continue funding the rental and cleaning
it's it's not our unit that we don't own so it's a rental and cleaning fee Yes for that one
And one other question that I have because I use that road. Is there any reason for the Portland to
be on that corner between? It's for access. Just in case of an accident that we don't want. If someone
is inside, is that not risky, maybe the person inside? Because I see that it could be placed in a different
place. We have had in Bloomington.
the situation in a restaurant, the corner, it was crashed by a car. And thank God, no one was there
in that corner, that table inside. And also, close to the IU campus, there was one other accident, and
thank God the person wasn't in that corner. So I'm thinking, we have four, we have one, and we have second.
We don't want an accident but Things might happen. I don't know if it could be placed in a different
in a different in a different location in the park I believe that the location was chosen for the ease
of access for the truck that has to get in there to pump and clean and service it They're they're removing
they have like a big hose vacuum hose that they stick in there to remove the waste So it's a big
Vehicle and I believe that that was really the only area that the truck could easily access So that's
and unless anyone else has other information about Yeah, we can certainly take a look at that as real
but yeah Logistically right now that is the best and maybe only possible location there, but we can
take another look Okay and
Obviously there are trash cans in seminary and I know they Park spends a lot of time emptying those
and I mean are they overflowing? Is there a need for more or people are just choosing to throw their
garbage in the board? Yes, exactly. Yeah, okay That's what I thought but just checking. Okay Yeah, the
staff meets there every day at 8 a.m. And they spend about an hour or more sometimes cleaning the entire
park It's a daily issue
And so more trash cans really isn't gonna solve anything. Yeah, okay So there has been both just you
know being left trash inside but also there were a few fires started in the unit They have not
The contractor has not charged us for anything They have not replaced it. So there are some holes Where
you can see there was a fire started? So I and that does concern me safety wise So I think having cameras
there and some language about you know, this is being monitored I think that would be a good a really
good improvement Okay
So it closes at the time the park is closed right the service I'm sorry, so they close the service or
the Portland it's Yeah, we don't we don't lock it now or do anything to it. I mean the park is closed at 11 p.m
So after 11 p.m. This is still
We don't do anything to secure it because it's just a portal wet but technically the park is closed
at 11 Which brings me back to my never-ending quarry of why we're opening in that park is open till
11 o'clock But that's something I'd like to continue to address Nobody nobody I don't know that anybody
agrees with me, but I don't think there's any reason for seminary Jim, I don't disagree. It's just we haven't
Had the bandwidth to get to that but maybe we need to get back to that and take a look I would like
to Okay. All right. Thank you. Amy. Thank you Brian. Yeah. Okay. All right And then we go to public
comment do we have any public comment this evening? No There's nobody online though. Okay. All right
and anyone here in person don't see anyone unknown, okay
Alright and then back to Tim for any final announcements. I will be as expedient as possible I know
we're a little over time that what happens when we combine a couple months worth into one So thank you
to everyone for being flexible. I want to recognize this was the first month of our new More digitally
accessible board packet process. Hopefully it went well if board members have any feedback about how
you're accessing items, please let us know we'll continue to evolve this but
This will help us meet the standards that would have been in effect now, but have been delayed a year
by the federal government So that said we are still very much working towards digital accessibility
and being ready for all of this Super busy time of year. This is the time of year where we really get
stretched thin excessive growth pools things breaking leaking
Messes vandalism. This is the peak time of year. So kudos to all staff who are trying to keep up You
know, we're working on the Frank Southern ice arena. We actually met with the US EPA today They were
in town to follow up on the leak incident in March had a really good meeting with them out of Chicago
We're gonna be meeting and talking tomorrow about next steps with Mills pool What are our options now
that we've had this leak detection company out? What can we do?
Obviously, we already kind of got to some of the facility master plan stuff I was talking about so a
lot more to come on that But we will inquire about the Mills renovation thing with ratio and bring that
back Sycamore shelter also got quite hit by that large burrow tree The good news is we were able to
reopen the main part of the shelter likely for this weekend for our rentals We're working on cleaning
it up this week insurance adjusters coming out to take a look at
It will be some time before we are able to reconstruct and I say reconstruct not repair reconstruct
the south end of the shelter because It was pretty well obliterated Big event Tuesday market starts
tomorrow. Come on out. We'd love to see you that we'd love to see anyone there Performing art series
Leslie touched on it lots of things going on Shakespeare Brian concert movies first grand balloon concert
on the 20th Fourth of July parades happening. We've got pollinator week a lot of activities happening
for that June 21st to 28th
Can share more about that an email and our next meeting I can confirm as of tonight We will update the
calendar officially will be July 23rd at 5 p.m I need to work on confirming a room and location because
council chambers was taken We'll take the date. We found a consensus. We'll figure out the room. So
thank you everyone for everything tonight
Remind me the escape room is this weekend, right? RCA bar RCA Park there I believe this weekend Friday
is full but there are spots available on Saturday and then next weekend I think Friday has spots available
Friday and Saturday both I think have some spots available But yes this Friday and Saturday and next
at RCA Park All right, thank you to everyone on staff and I
And with that I'll adjourn the June meeting of the Bloomington Board of Park commissioners. Thank you. Thanks