Okay, I'm going to call to order the October meeting of the Bloomington Board of Park commissioners
and Molly, could you start us please with the roll call? Israel Herrera Jim Whitlatch here Kathleen
Mills here Ellen rocky here Okay. All right. We do have all four of our members this evening and first
step we always have the consent calendar, which is our minutes from the last meeting and
claims, non-reverting budget items, business reports, credit card refunds, and the surplus this month
is some AV technology from the early 90s that is being finally sent to the trash. Okay. Then we have
some smaller service agreements. Do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar? Second. Okay.
All those in favor?
Motion is carried to approve the consent calendar Then we move on into section B for our public hearings
and appearances. We have a staff intro from Caitlin O'Reilly O'Neill fellow Hello everyone, my name
is Caitlin O'Reilly I'm
senior in my undergraduate study at IU and I'm studying environmental and sustainability studies and
geography with a minor in public and environmental affairs and I moved to Bloomington four years ago
for my freshman year from Phoenix, Arizona and since then I've worked as
Sustainability psychology researcher and an environmental services intern for a civil engineering company
But this year I'm enrolled in the O'Neill leadership program, which has placed me with the urban green
space team here at Parks and Rec So I'm super excited to be working with everyone this year Okay, all
right and then
Next we will move to Section C other business. And first up we have resolution 26 dash 0 4 which is
the honorary naming of the Griffey Loop Trail for less coin. And Tim you're going to take this one evening.
Park commissioners Tim Street parks director. I am.
Back tonight with a resolution regarding the honorary naming that we discussed two meetings ago that
was introduced through the third party letter received from Mary Catherine Carmichael and Micron Eisen
that was read and shared with the board. We heard discussions, we heard general support from the board
about renaming the Griffey Loop Trail. I'm gonna read a little bit from the resolution and then just
close with a couple comments.
Whereas park policy 13010 creates guidelines for the honorary naming of parks And whereas a nomination
was submitted to the board of park commissioners to rename the Griffey loop trail as the less coin Griffey
loop trail and Whereas less coin served with distinction on the board of park commissioners for 44 years
from 1976 to 2020 where his leadership contributed to the department's growth and health and
and whereas his contributions led to the development of many parks and facilities, including the Beeline
Trail, Jackson Creek Trail, Clear Creek Trail, Bloomington Rail Trail, Cascades Park Trail, Switchyard
Park, Twin Lakes Recreation Center, Alcott Park, and more.
And whereas less coin was on the board of park commissioners when the 2018 bicentennial bond was issued
which included the project to improve the Griffey Lake loop trail. Therefore be it resolved that the
board of park commissioners that the honorary name of the less coin Griffey loop trail be adopted and
memorialized in signage and official documents. That is the content of the resolution. I know we heard.
you know, much more to meetings ago. We had this great presentation about some of the contributions
and less is leadership. I know board members, many of you served along with less on the board of park
commissioners. I came in right at the transition point. I started January, 2021 and less was done December
of 2020. So we interacted and I've had great experiences with him through the parks foundation through
his continuing involvement there and wholeheartedly support this naming.
If the board approves this tonight, we will work on an implementation plan over the winter here to get
some signage up, both recognizing the completion of the Griffey Lake Loop Trail project in general from
the 2018 bond, as well as the naming and all the things that go along with that, and then we'll find
an appropriate time to gather and celebrate that contribution and that naming. Okay, thank you, Tim.
Yeah, I was, when I first came onto the board, Les was invaluable.
Just sort of smoothing the way and telling me what things to look for and as we mentioned to is a two
meetings ago It's really appropriate for a trail to be named for him because he was excellent at outreach
on trails And it's incredible when you read that list of all of the things that in his tenure It's kind
of hard to quantify but yeah many many things that people know and appreciate about parks came from less and
I also I got to Less was sort of my mentor during like the first six months. I was on the board before
he rotated it off. So super special So I'll make a motion that we approve the resolution to name the
Griffey Lake loop trail after less coin and also say that I came to Bloomington in 1981 to go to law
school and
And at that time less had already been on the parks board for five years. And as I've spent my life
in Bloomington less was the parks department. Whenever you heard about the parks it was about less and.
As far as I'm concerned, we could name everything in the parks after Les Coyne and would be appropriate.
And I can think of nothing more appropriate than to have this naming opportunity for him. When I came
on the board, I was thinking that I'm gonna be just like Les Coyne. So it's quite an honor and it's
quite an honor for me to serve where Les served and he's done so many wonderful things for us. So I
wholeheartedly and strongly
Support this resolution and as I said, I second the resolution All right, and all those in favor, please
say aye aye All right motion carried. All right. Excellent. All right. Yeah Yeah Thank you for bringing
it to us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Okay, and then from there
Haskell in item c2 will tell us about the tree appeal for 920 South Manor Road Good evening board of
park commissioners Haskell Smith urban forester Bring into you tonight a appeal of tree removal By the
staff recommends that this appeal be denied on several of the following grounds the location of the
volunteer tree is in direct violation of several sections of city code most of which
relate to vision clearance triangle. But another one is about it being a small statue tree planted within
50 feet of an intersection. This particular tree that you can see up on the screen was brought to attention
via complaint. You report I believe that it was growing into the road. And I think that's what got me
there. Upon arrival I noticed that it looks like it's encroaching on CBU stormwater infrastructure and indeed
Was blocking the site and growing into the load. So instead of trying to prune it it was I marked it
for removal shortly thereafter A resident sent me an email Appealing appealing this decision. I Did
include the documents and a PDF of the email I looked at looking at it now. It looks like it didn't
quite format great. So I'm happy to answer the
Any questions or more details if needed? Okay Thanks. Yeah, I just by chance I walked my dogs over there
this morning and Saw that it had the marker on it. And yeah, it's it's not there's not a whole lot left
over there and it's kind of squeezed by the concrete and I mean that some of the leaves are off now,
but as I could definitely see when it's in full bloom that it would be
block some of the driver view there. And there's just not a lot left to it at this point. It doesn't
look pretty doesn't look very robust. So any other questions for Haskell individual who's appealing
it here or speaking to. I did remind them earlier this today about tonight's meeting. They do not appear
to be here. I don't have any other questions.
Okay, oh I do see the letter here Now it sounds like a couple of kids who are in the neighborhood They
part of their appeal was it provides shade. It's a good climbing tree. It's very pretty in early spring
It still has a long time to live and Benny the dog pees there every day My dogs peed on it as well.
So it's it's popular for that but Yeah
But maybe, maybe there's a better tree that can do it. Yeah, and the appeal, however it said, requested
that we prune the tree and preserve it in place. But after a short discussion with CBU, if any work
is done to that culvert, it will be removed at some point either way out of both of our hands there.
So it's really for a long time I offered to plant a multi-stem red bud along their residents. Okay,
so maybe that's where it goes from here. I'm uncertain If there was any chance for them to you know
request another tree or yeah
We have so many programs for trees. I mean, I'm always looking to put more trees in the ground. Manor
Drive was targeted by Centennial 3. We got several in there. Their particular residence was missed at
their discretion. So I'm happy to loop back around to that one and plant a multi-stem redbud if they
would like. Yeah, that's great. And thanks, Haskell. Yeah, I think that would be excellent. And also
appreciate that Maya and Simone wrote in with their appeals. Yeah.
Okay. Other questions. I would make a motion then to deny this appeal. Second. Okay. And all those in
favor. Aye. Okay. Motion has carried. Thank you Haskell. Thank you. And then in C3 Amy land back land
land back land back lion back. Okay. Has the approval of cemetery plot reclamations.
Good evening, Amy line back operations coordinator and administrator of Rose Hill and White Oak cemeteries
in our recent policies We have a new section that allows us to reclaim plots that have not been used
For 50 years so they were purchased and and then not used for 50 years we have put in the newspaper
this list of
plots and said for anyone to come forward to contact me. My information is there for them to contact
me. So if anyone has claims to these plots, they are more than welcome to get in touch and we will be happy to
put together new information, a new deed for them. But we do believe that these are basically abandoned
and are just going to be unused. And we have a long waiting list of people who would love to be buried
at Rose Hill Cemetery. So I recommend that we move forward with the legal process of reclaiming the
included list of 32
plots for sale. The list is in the packet materials for this meeting, so anyone's welcome to access
that. I won't read out all the 32 plots unless someone really wants me to. And they have
Anyone who has an interest in these has until November 12th at 5 PM, which is this next meeting of the
board. I will be back here to say, OK, I have not heard from anyone. This is the final notice, and we
will then own those spaces. So between now and then, if anyone has a right to the spaces, they're welcome
to come forward. And that would be the deadline. Any questions? All right.
Or when when these are we how are those plots transferred? Are there is there a deed or what it kind
of document is it? We yes, it would be a deed but we don't need a deed to own them. So We don't need
to do anything to reclaim them on our end But when we sell them again, we'll reissue it or they issue
a new deed for those to the new owners This by ordinance
Eliminate shows that that deed was abandoned and now we issue a new deed to a new purchase. Yes And
how long is the waiting list? I think we have about 25 people right now 25. Mm-hmm. So this should fill
that Well, some people want to buy multiple plots. So but it's a good start so and there's I'm sure
there's some people who are
thought they were interested and won't end up buying but we did want to wait until we had a pretty good
chunk to of plots to sell before we released Yeah, most of them are singles there's a couple places
where there's multiple spaces in one plot Yeah, a little bit of everything All right, thank you and
you said the process is
This is kind of starting the process, but there will be a second approval after.
Amount of time that will that we will take action again. Yes So we put we've already listed them the
list in the newspaper twice And then this meeting serves as a third notice for anyone who might have
interest and then we give that 30 days Waiting period for people to come forward and then at your next
meeting that will be the final I will tell you if I've heard from anyone we would remove those off the
list So I'll have a final list of plots that we want to reclaim
And then you'll yeah that you'll vote to finalize and reclaim those Other than these lots that you'll
reclaim are there any lots available for anybody to buy There are a there's a short list of people who
own plots and they are trying to sell them So there's a few of those but there's not a lot and then they
Sell to somebody else do they have to go through you to transfer that deed or can that person transfer
the deed? So we will issue a new deed Yeah, we just need something in writing. Basically the transaction
happens outside of us, but we just get something in writing that says Yeah, we can do owners. Yes, exactly
and start the clock running again or whatever. Yep. Okay. Thank you interesting The approach the way to
to reach them would be through which ways? I'm sorry, can you say that again? The ways, I don't know
if it's working. Yeah. The different ways that the department is using to reach out to them, what are
those ways? Just regular mail or? We don't have contact information, so these are most of these
The people that bought them are buried there and their children are buried there. So we would be looking
for like great grandkids Grandkids so we have no idea how to track down the actual descendants So this
note the newspaper notice is hot and this meeting here is how we are Broadcasting to the community,
you know, take a look if you think that you have
An interest in any of these plots, you know come forward and if they have a deed or something that shows
that then we'll honor that So the expectation is from great grandchildren. No, that's Sorry, I'm just
gonna jump in really quick Taylor Brown city legal the process that we're following is essentially
The courts process for service by publication. So when you're trying to serve a lawsuit on somebody
who you have no contact information for This is the process that the state has set out for lawsuits
that are basically in any possible way You can try to contact them. These are the steps you take and
that is something very similar to what we've done here We've obviously adapted it for the park board
But that is where we got our framework initially if that helps answer any of those questions And Amy
is there any sort of
I don't know, turnover of the plot, or is it just, you know, I mean. I don't know, I mean, is it just
like, here's the plot as it stands, or is there earth movers that come in and move? These are unused,
no one's buried there. Oh, no one's buried there, oh, oh, oh. Okay, sorry, sorry, I thought we were
reclaiming. Empty lots. Oh, well that's different. Never been used. Oh, okay, okay.
Just ground, yes. Sorry, sorry. I was a little confused. So yes, so I can explain. We started with a
list, and then we had our cemetery staff go probe all of the plots to make sure that there was no one
in there. And then that process did eliminate many plots. We found people that didn't necessarily have
headstones. So we took those off the list. So these are ones that are empty, unused, but were sold at
one point. I see.
And then someone didn't use them. Well, I feel better about the whole thing now. I'm glad you asked.
I was thinking there's some opportunity to promote the dearly departed tour. I was thinking that tour
too. Well, the tours are very popular and people always ask us when they're there, like, is there anything
available?
For a long time, I've had to say, sorry, not really. And I get calls all the time of people who really
want to be buried in Rose Hill. So I'm very excited about this process and that we can be giving people
these plots. So yeah, this is brand new. That's why it's kind of confusing. We've never done this. Just
don't sell that one that's down there where the guy was on the Titanic. That's an interesting one. Yeah,
no, that's a great.
Great spot, yeah. Okay. He's got a big marker. He's got a big sarcophagus tombstone, so I don't think
we're gonna... Yeah, okay. Out of curiosity, the price, how is the price, the resale determined? Who
determines the price?
So that will be on the price list that Molly is presenting. So I look at other cemeteries that
are municipally owned and look at what square footage cost their charging, and then try to evaluate
that based on our situation. So I do have a recommendation of a change this year. So just to see if
it's different, but when something is sold,
The prices also depends on the place in the cemetery like there are different prices or is a flat fee
for all the spaces no matter if it's Like yeah, so some places do that. We don't right now We did I
did recommend a change from because there are some cremation only plots that are much smaller and so
I do have an increase a step up from a cremation plot will be a
Less and then a full burial plot is slightly more but that's the only difference It's not based on like
section or location within the cemetery Questions for Amy Okay We move forward with the official legal
process for reclaiming the cemetery plots Okay, and all those in favor aye aye All right
Thank you. Thank you Amy. All right. And then next up. Oh here we go. Rebecca Swift amendment with R.E.A.
for construction inspection for the power line trail. I'm sorry mine won't be this exciting but just
as important.
I'm Rebecca Swift operations and development division director and I'm here to recommend a contract
amendment with REA or Rundell Ernst burger associates to add on additional scope and Increase the total
contract amount We are still ongoing with powerline trail development and the project is taking a little
bit longer than expected like most projects unforeseen
Obstacles like bedrock. We didn't foresee having to sit there and chisel away We are requiring REA to
be on site a little bit more to make sure that the project keeps going and that we meet the completion
deadline Which would be December, but I'm really hoping for a ribbon cutting in November So REA has
been a really great partner to work on this project and to be owner rep provide owner rep services for
the project duration
Happy to answer any other questions, but total amount to increase is thirty five thousand one hundred
and eighty So the new contract total is one hundred and sixty thousand one hundred and thirty and this
is being paid out of another Bicentennial bond. So Thank you less point. Okay. Yeah Any questions for
Rebecca Second
All right, and all those in favor I All right motion carried. Thank you, Rebecca And in c5 Darren Eads
has the service agreement with Hayes Smart Mart for 2027 services Good afternoon Darren needs facility
coordinator with the Twin Lakes Recreation Center you have before you this evening recommendation to
approve the service agreement with Hayes Smart Market and
Hey smart market is a locally owned company. They have AI machines that they're going to actually bring
into the facility if you're Familiar if you're not familiar with those we actually went on site and
visited Two of the two of the people that that submitted estimate or quotes to us You basically walk
up you'll scan your card you open the door. Whatever you take out is charged to your card This is the
operation is full operation by them. We won't be doing anything other than providing them the space
and electrical outlet
They'll take care of keeping it all stocked. They're wireless. Everything is separate from the city.
We don't have to provide them cellular or wireless Wi-Fi or anything like that. So it ought to be a
really good opportunity for us. They're going to be focused. Their main focus is going to be protein
supplements, powders, and stuff like that for our members. And we look forward to getting them in the
building. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. OK. All right. Thanks.
Is there some sort of vending machine there now we we did have we had Eminem if you remember we entered
right agreement with Eminem back in 2024 we ran with them through 25 they Suffered a lot of loss because
the way their stuff was was just on the shelves they came to us about that and it's in the agreement
very clearly that we're not responsible for that and
so they were looking into AI machines and just really couldn't ever get that worked out and we gave
them up until about June and So we ended the agreement with him and wanted to move forward with with
this. So yeah Okay Great any questions for Darren They'll be doing like protein bars protein shakes
protein powders stuff that that you know people
Want to take during exercise and stuff like that. It will be their main focus. I'm gonna say they won't
have Powerades or something like that in there. They're welcome to do that All right, and all those
in favor I all right motion carried. Thank you, Darren. I
And then in C6 is the agreement with Deem for ice arena compressor repair. And it looks like keto stepping
in for Chris. Are you the pinch hitter? Yep. Chris harmonic has to stay at the Frank Southern tonight.
So I'm pinching in there for him. Satoshi Kido, sports service division director. Staff recommend the
review and approval of service agreement with Deem to repair compressor two.
at the Frank Southern Ice Arena. The cost of repair will be $10,500. Since the 2025 season, staff have
been working to identify, upgrade many items at Ice Arena related to compliance with IIAR, Federal Ammonia
Refrigeration Standards. After the ammonia leak in March 2026, more items are added to the list for
inspection, repair, and upgrade.
The items on the list that you have in front of you have been completed, but budget funds at the ice
arena were getting low. Then fall of 2026 during the inspection, staff identified the compressor two
at ice arena is in need of repairs. This contract request is paired with budget amendment to add the
budget fund to the ice arena, non-reburring fund.
where undisputed cash reserve and annual performance can cover the expense. Okay, any questions for
Kido about this compressor repair budget? I think so. No? Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the service
agreement with Deem to repair compressor two. Second. All right, and all those in favor? Aye.
Motion carried. All right, thank you.
Okay, and then in c7 Leslie Branson has the winter farmers market partnership Good afternoon, Leslie
Branson recreation division director I'm here to recommend the approval of the partnership agreement
with the Bloomington winners farmers market for a November market at switch yard park the contract or
partnership will have a
Flat-fee of $300 per Saturday that the winters farmers market pays to the Parks Department to go into
the market non-reverting fund This is the second year of an official partnership But actually the fourth
year that we've been working with the winter farmers market to add to offer a combined indoor November
market at switch yard park We've started to finalize that partnership last year and again this year
because there now are funds that are exchanging hands and
Both partners and staff work to organize the November market. There are vendors both from our normal
Saturday market as well as those that just participate in the winners farmers market the winter farmers
market staff handles the map and much of the communication where our staff handle a lot of the day of
Activity and then obviously provide the space happy to answer any questions that you might have Okay,
any questions for Leslie
is co-hosted at switch yard and then The winter market takes over and how does the structure differ
then in the winter months? It doesn't differ in structure except that no longer is the Bloomington community
farmers market involved So our market goes April through November we end at the holiday market and then
we don't run a market December through March
The winter farmers market handles that alone. It is a rental agreement with switch yard parking that
they pay a rental fee to switch yard without any Involvement from the true Bloomington community farmers
market More than like the yes, they pay Yeah, they are paying less to us for the month of November than
they would pay on a normal weekly basis, but the partnership You know makes it worthwhile on both sides
So the holiday market is that
Is there to know the holiday market comes back here? So that's why it's only for three Saturdays. We'll
do three Saturdays of November market at switch yard. We'll come back here They do not operate
on Thanksgiving Saturday. It is just the holiday market We'll come back here to showers run holiday
market and then they'll take over in December at that point November market opens at 9. It's 9 to 1230
and Holiday market is 10 to 3 on the last Saturday of November. We're talking about
Okay, all right Don't do it PSA Okay, I'll make a motion to approve the partnership agreement
with Bloomington winter farmers market All right, all those in favor aye Motion carried. Thanks Leslie.
I'm gonna let Sean do the next one that has my name on okay. I
All right, Sean will tell us about see a the amendment with Covenant technologies for switchyard security
camera repair Yes, Sean Marlar recreation facilities general manager Leslie did the paperwork on this.
Thank you This is an amendment to an existing contract that was approved earlier this year with convergent
technologies this is a project that IT helped us along with as far as scope and
with monitoring the work. During the part of that work, it was determined that the original scope did
not include all the necessary parts, electronic components that were necessary for full repair of all
the security cameras at Switchard Park. So the vendor and IT have asked for an additional $19,816 to
put forth those repairs, I have been told.
that with the additional mount, all 55 cameras will be fully operational. So I'm happy to answer any
questions. Okay, and I think we established before that there were camera problems, environmental,
you know, it wasn't, they were not vandalized. They were not vandalized. No, there was multiple problems.
Some of it was just the age of the electronic components, but also we had that 50 year, once in 50 year flood
Years ago and the placement of some of the components was low enough that it was affected by that flood
and that Damaged some of the pieces but even without that flood we still would have had certain cameras
out Okay Cameras do we have in the park system as a whole in the park system or at switch our park whole
system the whole system I'm not I have 55 60
There's six zero. Yeah. Yeah, there's 55 at switch art in another five There's there's a few at Hopewell
and there's one at seminary or other locations. All right, and What do we use the cameras for? The cameras
are used in case there are certain events where there's significant property damage and if we file a
police report we the police are able to look at that footage and that has been helpful in the past both
for us and for private and
complaints And do we regularly monitor to know if the phones are that I don't I understand we don't
have somebody sitting at a bank TVs looking at them but do but how How do we know when they're working
and not working? So it seems to me that 38 not working is a problem It is a problem. We do not regularly
monitor it at the BPD substation There is a wall of video cameras or TV screens
Other than that wall though, for myself and two of my staff have access to some software that if we
need to, if somebody has a reason for us to go and check it, we can open the software and go and find
a specific camera. It's just what you think it is. We can see it live or we can go back in time for
a certain number of months and see something. But we do not monitor it. It is only as needed type of
thing. So when you say there's camera,
TV monitors at the police station, which police station? The BPD substation. The one on the beeline
trail? Yes. By the park. I don't even know what the current status. Are there police in there? There
are DROs in there routinely. Those cameras are also not monitored. It just happens to be a wall of TVs.
So does anybody ever go in and look at those saying, gosh, there's a bunch of blank screens here?
Well, Jim if I may I just add because I know this has been a hot topic lately to including at City Council
last night right surveillance technology and cameras and things like that and You know, we provided
some commentary to council members that you know, this is very much separate from License plate readers.
These are these are traditional security cameras, right? and so we have known that this circuit has
been out for a while and have been working on it and this is we're finally getting to the fruition of
that process to get to
Full functionality back up and running Independently of us BPD also uses these I know they reference
using these when they're monitoring things like drug deals and things like that We we may never even
know that BPD is using these and monitoring these for those purposes But when we do have a parks incident
that comes to us You know Sean and his staff or directly to BPD has the ability to go in and find the
appropriate footage And it's helped us, you know We've avoided a lawsuit that might have been erroneous
Someone was claiming something happened and it proved to not happen You know used it to track where
people have gone after a potential crime has occurred I recall a couple years ago The person who was
was flying down the Grimes Bridge and hit the woman on their bike that was caught Vandalism is something
we can catch on there, too. So We have known these have been out for a little while and it's just been
a matter of time to get the scope and these these IT contracts and companies
Working to make a scale of this repair on the scale has been a challenge The cameras my concern is that
they weren't working and I guess my other thought is if we've only got five cameras outside the switchyard
park should we have more cameras and and I know when we were talking about the The outside toilet at
Seminary we talked about maybe getting a camera there, and I don't know if anything's come of that I
know that camera flock cameras aren't necessarily popular, but these aren't flock cameras This is a
completely different issue and as we need to pull back on security You know we may need to pull back
on Marshall and things like that it seems to me that our cameras become more important and I guess I
would encourage us to have a
Maybe develop if we don't have one or maybe to review if we have one what our policies are on cameras
One to make sure that they're regularly checked to see if they're operational. I'm not being critical
of anybody here because I know The situations are but I think we have a policy to make sure they're
operational and I also think which I know is not popular right now but I think we ought to have
look into cameras and other places where we can't patrol those areas all the time. And I think when
people see or know cameras are there, they expect them to be operational and they hope they're operational
because it provides them some amount of security. And to know that I'm walking down a street where 75%
of them aren't working doesn't give me a lot of reason to feel secure that the camera's helping me stay
secure. So I guess the bottom line of all of this is yes, I fully support this
Let's get them working. Is there new technology if if we can provide more safety with some additional
money spent on this type of technology Because we're going to lose some of our may lose some of our
ability to have security in the parks and
Let's look at what that security is. Let's look at what those are. But more importantly, or as part
of that, let's look at our policy and see if we need to update that policy and look at what it is so
that we can provide. I fully support this, and I thanks for your presentation. And I'm not trying to
grill you or anybody else. I'm just trying to think what we need to do to make the park safe for the
public and to make sure what we have we're able to use and utilize. Thanks.
Jim, I'll just add a little context. I fully agree that we need to be looking at this more. We have
been talking about this a little bit, especially for some of our core parks where we might experience
a few more issues, security-related, Hopewell. We have pretty good coverage at Hopewell. It could be
even better, but that was part of the new park planning was, hey, let's make sure we have strategically
located ones to cover these intersections, these key areas. The one at seminary is the department's
oldest one.
pretty out of date. We've talked with BPD. We have a joint desire to update some of the cameras at seminary
to better be able to provide evidence or review of incidents, things like that, as well as potentially
people's as the other one that has come up for us specifically and maybe building trades as sort of
higher priority areas. The sort of
Backlash that's not the right word. I'm looking for the the slowdown on that I think was the fact that
City Council was taking this up and and looking at you know What type of securities camera surveillance
would be allowed going forward? There were all kinds of debates as to where that would would settle
and fall out, right? So now that we know that I think we'll have a clear path forward. I think critically
identifying funding Maybe jointly with BPD and across the city to invest at
invest in a couple of these areas is the next step. But I expect some of the policies you're talking
about to be coming across citywide as a result of this new ordinance that was just passed last night.
I guess my point is that technology has become less and less expensive and much better quality. I just
know from my home cameras.
And I just think we need a policy of how long we're going to keep those what's generated how we're going
to generate it how it's going to be checked how we make sure the cameras are operating and I think we
as the park commissioners I appreciate and understand that the issues the City Council has
But this is our issue for our parks and it's the park commissioners that decide what this is. And so
I think we can take our step of what we're going to do for our parks and for our public that use our
parks. And we don't need to wait for other people to make those decisions. And I feel strongly about
that. Yeah. And so I want to move forward with looking at this issue as soon as we can. That's one one
park commissioner stating that. But I would like to I would like to encourage us to do that.
And I think we should be good for that. But now we know, I mean, we would be precluded based on this
new ordinance from doing any type of smart, you know, AI enhanced security camera. That is part of,
I believe, I need to understand there were a lot of amendments and I need to understand what's come
out of that. But traditional security cameras, we should be good to go when we were very much, yeah.
I'm not asking for that now, but let's get the traditionals, and let's get them where we need them,
and let's have the policy of how to use them. And a lot of the policy on the cameras, I shouldn't say
policy, the maintenance for the cameras actually goes through IT, and so that's why we're working with
IT on this. Where are they located? Where are they located? Yeah, the remaining ones below.
38, 36? There's certain gaps. 38, but so it seems because of the exposure to the environmental exposure
and some other failures, I wonder the ones that we still have, you know, less than 50% of the total
of cameras in this place. So what are they covering? What are they doing? And also this was,
The cameras were installed in 2019. And then just correct me if I'm wrong. So until now we are thinking
about replacing the cameras because of the amount of cameras or because? This is not a wholesale replacement
of the camera. This is a replacement of components within the camera itself. But I mean, for example,
in a batch of 10 cameras or the action of repairing,
Why didn't this happen when there were, I would say, 10 or 15 cameras just until reaching this number?
If there was any specific reason about just acting now with too many cameras not working and security
not being trustful in this moment with less cameras and less action with the
with those old ones? So you're saying, why didn't we do something when less cameras were out?
I would say, yeah. I completely understand that question. Again, this is maintenance. I'll just go ahead.
Taylor Brown, City Legal. For the sake of security and if we want to discuss locations of cameras, the current
layout, things like that, I would recommend not having that discussion in a public meeting, but instead
calling an executive session, so we can be able to speak freely about any security concerns that you
may have, if that makes sense. It works, but also for the, because I heard that I was also some damages
on purpose. No, this is posture. So those ones as well, like the ones that normally are damaged,
by human intent or also We're yeah Israel we're not aware that any have been intentionally damaged it
was weather and systems failure and age But again, there's particular security vulnerabilities would
perhaps be best discussed at an executive session
answer the question about does this new ordinance Prohibit some sort of AI assisted camera technology
as Tim eloquently stated there were a number of amendments in that very passionate public meeting The
exact ordinance legal has not yet the exact wording of that ordinance has not yet been received Okay,
I already have it on my to-do list to do a full evaluation in-depth analysis of that and then we'll
get back with the
Parks on next steps. Okay. All right. Appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, you know, so I don't know if
this is for disclosure of maybe in a different setting so the cameras are working 24 7 and and the good
we know the recording length for saving material or is something that should be I think
Not sure that would be a question for IT, but I believe it's three months It's either three months or
six months. I forget not 90 days comes to I think you're right three months Yeah, I think it's three
months that they keep the ability to go back and record it an item We've been told by IT that myself
and my staff we're not allowed to record anything off of that for they were they said legal reasons
only the police can and in fact if somebody calls and says hey, can I see this some somebody
Mugs me or something. I don't have the ability to show them or I'm not supposed to show them They are
supposed to file a police report and then the police can pull that footage Can it can I ask you come
verge conversion technologies is the company that installed these cameras and then they are preparing
the cameras Convergent is not the company that installed the cameras. I believe that was a different
company. I think that might have been Presidio and
Yeah, I think it was Presidio that installed them. Presidio has greatly shifted what their business
model is. Convergent was the vendor that IT selected. So this company is in charge of the repair and
replacement. They are going to place new cameras and they are going to have a contract for this new
This is an existing contract that we already did for $75,000 earlier in the year during the execution
of the contract convergent and IT Figured out that the original scope was short of the nest what was
necessary to actually to affect the repairs of all 55 cameras Can I also ask about the replacement of
would be because there are some failures in the components. So this company will replace the components
that were failing or is there an intention that this company can incorporate its own pieces or? Are
you asking if the company is adding new technology
Right his own one because what I understand is that they are going to repair and they are going to make
the replay the replacements So with the replacements, I'm guessing is from their own. I Will do the
best to answer the question as I can it the parts they are installing are not parts that are
specifically their own, they're purchased, but they have the expertise to figure out which parts are
necessary and how to install them. So it is not new technology, they are replacing existing technology.
I'll just add that we've been really reliant on our IT department to guide the scope of work for this.
Since we knew they were out, we said, hey, these are out. There was some level of design failure with
this, with the flood event, how do we fix this, what do we need,
We don't you know, we don't have the expertise to do that So we lean on our IT professionals to help
with the scope of work and they actually manage the RFP as well Which then we brought the results to
the board for that contract room back in March I think we did the original one something like that And
now there's a little bit more components needed to finish up the work to make sure it gets done. These
are ARPA funds We're utilizing some of the last of the ARPA funds. So it's important that it gets done
Promptly so we can build that and use those funds before they go away. I
To like requests an explanation for from the IT To know how the these cameras working in our parks.
Is there any possibility to have sure? Yeah, I mean, you know per Jim's point, you know wanting to understand
and maybe having some more parks specific and
Review policies on this we could absolutely develop that with the board part of that could be you know
We could have someone from IT come and give an informational presentation at a future meeting about
hey, here's how it works currently You know what Taylor said Taylor was saying we need to understand
this ordinance a little bit better We could make this an informational topic for the near future for
the board and developing Seeing what new guidance the city broadly generates and deciding if the board
would like to have anything
different or more restrictive in terms of how we operate with those security cameras, we could certainly
look at that. Yeah, my question would be besides policy that could be seen in the future, but my question
is if some questions from myself regarding the functioning of those cameras, the system and the usage
So that would be in my case if I may I would like to have that conversation with any representative
from that department to see how they operate in our parks on any kind of unit or space that belongs
to person recreation Sure. Yeah, we could get a staff report on that in the future. Yeah Okay, do we
have any other questions or comments for Sean I
To the contract with convergent technologies Okay, and all those in favor I Okay, yeah, all right Sean,
I bet you're happy you took over for Leslie I Didn't say I'd answer any questions and I tried. Okay.
Thank you Okay, and then c9 is the 2027 price schedule which Molly will tell us about
Manager that staff request the board of park commissioners approve the following fee changes for the
2027 season at our September 2026
Meeting there was the proposed staff report that had the tables of which exactly prices were being changed
in which departments And so today we present the actual final 2027 proposed price schedule that has
every cost listed that we will charge our patrons in 2027 Any questions about the price schedule and
I just I wasn't at the September meeting and I kind of saw in the minutes there wasn't really any Questions
or anything that came up was there any other like comments that you gave in your presentation? To kind
of summarize like the big changes that were made There was not we didn't really have much of a discussion
about the price schedule Everyone was here from each department if there were questions There was not
any questions really presented at that time
As far I overall like in general I would make the assumption for everyone that prices are increasing
So as you can see a lot of the prices have increased and then also some of the pricing has went from
In-city and out-of-city pricing as well. So there were some changes being made Those are probably the
big biggest is that there was an increase and then the in-city and out-of-city resident fees
the percentage of those in-city and out-of-city resident fees where possible to about a 5% equalization.
Some of them were more than that, some of them were less than that in terms of the difference. And that
this continues to be part of our financial sustainability, looking at our cost recovery goals to new
categories that the board approved as part of our master plan and continuing to shift things where we
see we are not meeting those cost recovery categories to try to be more in line with what we've set as goals.
If you had to pick a few, what were kind of the things that see the highest increases? I don't know.
Staff have any other comments about that either? I haven't pulled up right here. I know.
One of the larger ones I saw was at Twin Lakes. They hadn't made a price increase for quite some time
with their court rentals and Registrations for classes and things for non-members. So that was a large
increase I wouldn't say large increase just a minimal increase kind of on each incremental like
chairs and tables and those kind of things. And then the other one was we did do an increase on all
of our pavilion rentals as well, like in all the parks. Those, again, did not increase significantly,
but by a few dollars in each area. And I know Keto's here and can talk to it if needed. The golf course
fees did go up. We tried to be really proactive with including some comparisons on other aquatics and
golf course
Regional facilities that are comparable and knowing that the board has wanted to see that in the past
So tried to be proactive and put that in there ahead of time. I Think we're still very We're still very
competitive and yeah, you know a lot of those arenas Curious I was just one question I had that I saw
two unnatural resources is the paddle rental and
Does that mean that if you do an hour rental? It's $17 of rental because you have to rent the watercraft
for 12 plus the paddle rental for five Sorry I Don't care So if you go to Griffey and you rent a watercraft
from us a lifejacket and paddles included for a single rider kayaks one
One paddle one life jacket for canoe two paddles two life jackets. Sometimes people have young children.
They want to add on need an extra cushion They want to hold the paddle or you have a personal and you
could not find your own paddle and you didn't want to ruin your plans So you can rent an extra paddle
from us and we're just trying to you know, especially because it costs staff cost after all to maintain
that so we're sure Yeah, I just just yeah that clarity on that. Yeah, perfect. Okay. Thanks and I guess
going back to cemetery I don't know guys I think
I'm glad you benchmarked with other municipalities, but it seems like kind of a good deal for like 1,200
bucks for 50 years if you do. Yeah. And there's cheaper ones than that on there. Yeah, exactly. Tough
way to get cheap rent, though. Any more jokes, or should we have a motion to approve the price?
All right, all those in favor aye Motion is carried and then finally in section CC 10. Rebecca is back
with the rail trail temporary closure and
This one in so Rebecca Swift operations and development division director I'm here to recommend a full
closure of the Bloomington rail trail starting next week on Tuesday, October 20th This is so we can
have a contractor bluestone come in and remove several large log jams that were caused from a tornado
in May 2025 So we partnered with the county highway department and actually received some funding to
contribute to the service But it will require a full trail closure. We don't want anybody trying to
Pass around when they have big equipment out there I did just confirm with the contractor today that
they do plan on removing the barricades When the workday is done, so the trail will be accessible in
the evenings They're anticipating about three days, but we buffered it in with a fourth day in case
we have some weather delays next week Happy to answer any questions All right, and all those in favor
Motion carried. Thanks, Rebecca Then in our section D reports, Tim has the Indiana community parks initiative
grant update Yes, good evening again just wanted to give an update on this grant following our discussion
about investment priorities two weeks ago
And the great discussion we had that evening, I thought that was a really great meeting. I thought we
had a lot of really great public engagement, learned some things from people who are passionate user
groups of many of our different facilities. That was really helpful. So where we are overall in sort
of the grand scheme of things is this really generous community parks initiative. Grant has come along,
we've learned of it just a few weeks ago. Board, as you're aware, and as I said at that meeting, we
were working towards issuing a municipal bond of around
potentially $7 million to work towards some of these investment priorities. The grant opens
up the possibility that we could get up to $10 million from the grant alone. The grant is funded by
the Lilly Endowment. It requires a planning phase. So we've kind of asked some questions about that
to understand that a little bit more. We just finished our master plan, so we've been doing a lot of
planning, and we can certainly use that as a springboard
for what we're gonna do next, but the planning phase is still required. They wanna see community engagement
in this planning phase. So first, by the end of the month, we need to apply for a $200,000 planning
grant. What we've been looking at for that is how do we go on from the efforts we've already done? We
already have this draft investment priorities plan. We already have a master plan. So where do we go
from there in terms of getting more information and what we're circling in on for this
this application, which is more or less guaranteed. They said the planning grant is noncompetitive.
So as long as we check the box, we submit a good application, we can expect to get all or most of those
planning funds. So we are looking at things like bringing some outside help on board. This is obviously
going to be a big scope increase, too, for what we're looking at trying to get. So some things like,
well, one, before I get to any kind of consultant or outside help,
what we're looking at right now is really lining up our investment priorities with the various funding
opportunities available to us. So that includes first and foremost, this grant opportunity. So we want
to get this application in, do the planning, and then submit the full application for the $10 million
implementation middle of the year next year. By virtue of that timing, we are not pursuing a municipal
bond in the early part of 2027 because we first need to see
what we're able to put into this grant and what we get out of this grant. A municipal bond is still
on the table, and we can look at that as and after we see what kind of projects were awarded in the
implementation grant. I'm, of course, hopeful. I'm quite optimistic that we may apply for 10 million.
We may not get the full 10 million, of course, of everything we apply for, but I'm very optimistic that
we're going to get a portion of that to go towards these projects.
So things we're looking at, you know, further engagement for the planning grant with an eye towards
how we put these items in the implementation grant. You know, further engagement on moving into a concept
design on the Bryant Park pool renovation that we've been discussing from ratio. Mills pool sustaining
repairs, as we talked about. Staff are still working on some information on that. We thought we might
have a staff report tonight. We want things to be a little more concrete before we come back to you
with an amount that we're looking at
because some of those things may just need to be done before we wait for a grant or a municipal bond
cycle as well.
Sport court repairs and investments, obviously we're gonna need a little bit of design and expertise
to do some of the things that we talked about. The multi-use games area will require some design. Looking
at things like making sure our lighting is appropriate and it's not spilling over. And we've been looking
at this at RCA Park, you know, the lighting for the pickleball isn't spilling over and trespassing into
neighbors yards. Looking at playgrounds, we identified Alcott as a priority in our investment.
priorities. There are other old playgrounds that the opportunity of moving from 7 million to 10 million
may give us the opportunity to do some more at building trades or some of our other older ones like
Lower Cascades, Schmalls, Highland, some of those neighborhood parks. Going to look at some arts and
culture items actually in the, one of the big priorities that Lilly and the CPI has put in this is sort
of this arts culture place making.
one of the contracts you all approved actually in the consent calendar tonight was a structural inspection
of the Buskirk-Jumley marquee. That hasn't been done in some time. Management at BCT has expressed an
interest in doing a restoration project for the marquee, which as we all know is an iconic, you know,
when you think of visual destinations in Bloomington, you think of that dog bone Indiana sign, right?
So, you know, doing an inspection, a structural inspection,
now before the end of the year will lay the groundwork for maybe future planning efforts as the owners
of that building for us to identify some grant funds for arts and culture that could could go into that.
Identifying some other other maybe arts projects or public art repairs we could do. Looking at things
like our Winslow stormwater project which we've talked about mitigating that three acres. There are
design dollars needed for that in partnership with CBU doing an outdoor light audit for
dark sky and further LED conversion, something we could look at. A canopy assessment for urban forestry
came up, something we could potentially do. Looking at master planning for Wapahane, that came up in
our master plan, doing a site-specific
development plan for Wapahane because it is underutilized. Trail planning, you know, planning for where
our worst sections are, where we need to do the most intervention. And then just general, you know,
making sure we do some general community engagement on this as well. Those are all sort of the topics
we're looking at for this planning grant that could then have the next step into the implementation
grant, which would be due mid-year next year. So I just wanted to give that update, take any feedback
you all have on how we are working towards that.
reached out to city council members. We currently have a form online that Julie has based on the investment
priorities that we're getting public feedback on that runs until, do you remember when Julie? Sunday
night the 18th. Sunday night the 18th. So we'll have that feedback to come back to the board as well,
as well as some other final master plan feedback received so we can adopt that investment priorities
plan and lots of puzzle pieces, but I think they're all gonna fit together. Okay.
Thanks, Tim, and it's exciting to have this option now, yeah, and be able to arrange the priorities
around the funding. Any questions, comments? I didn't notice. I was walking on Kirkwood the other night,
and I hadn't really looked at the Buskirk Chumley marquee recently, and it did look a little tired.
It does, yeah.
The intent of the grant and what I was reading and some of the things they really want to fund. I think
it would be a perfect fit for the grant. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. And I like the I like the focus on
maybe some of the other playgrounds that maybe haven't had some attention for a while. So I think building
trades would be a really big opportunity. Yeah. Having just done those phase one improvements and also
understanding there is a neighborhood building there. You know we did not put a playground into Hopewell
helping with some of it.
Just design issues and in use of that park. I think could be really good. Yeah Okay, great. Well, thank
you for that Then finally this evening we have if there's any public comment here in person or online
nobody online Nobody in person. Okay. All right, and then Tim, do you have any other announcements for
us? Just a few things to close us out tonight
First, I just want to say thank you. I just always appreciate our board meetings and your service and
our robust questions and jokes and the things we get to do in the course of a board meeting. So a few
things going on. You are going to see a call for public art out there soon for the Miller Showers gateway.
Board members, you might recall that when we did the whole redesign, we'd said we committed a portion
of that budget towards a public art piece to go along with the gateway.
The ESD department through Paige who's wonderful is Getting to that call. So you're gonna see that go
out. It's not new funds. It's not anything new or wasn't planned It's it's the same funds we earmarked
Back when we we settled on the whole redesign and project budget. So very excited for that. I think
it could be really cool As mentioned Mills pool, we're gonna have an update for you soon We're still
working on some fact-finding and getting our figures as dialed in as possible I
Mentioned a few events coming up as well. We've got skate and scare this Saturday at the ice arena Ice
arena is often running. It's busy all the time We've got festival of ghost stories in Bryan Park next
Friday the 23rd pumpkin launch The 24th, of course Griffey boathouse. We're nearing the end of the season
for that as well So get out there fall color is just starting and enjoy that while you can and
And then a couple scheduling things coming up at our November meeting We're gonna have a discussion
about park hours I'm gonna bring some background information to the board and a recommendation, but
we are open to discussion About where we go with park hours We mentioned it earlier, you know, we are
Reducing our security dollars next year out of necessity no longer have ARPA funds I think the time
is right to look at our park hours and make a decision So we want to have a robust discussion with the
board about that at our November meeting We do have a park suspension appeal Which I think by default
we will probably do We will probably do it on the 12th. I like to schedule that as its own special meeting
so we may end our regular meeting and do the suspension appeal or
vice versa depending on the order I'll talk to board members about scheduling And then that next regular
meeting is November 12th four weeks from today And then before the end of the year, we do plan to bring
back The master plan which we've expanded for DNR feedback Not with anything new decision-making wise
just with sort of encyclopedic information about the department for reapproval readoption and the investment
priorities plan for adoption as well
That is all I had. Thank you Okay. All right. Thank you Tim And with that I'll adjourn the October meeting
of the Bloomington Board of Park commissioners