Okay. Good evening. I'm going to call to order the November meeting of the Bloomington board of park
commissioners and Molly if we could start with the roll call please. Jim Whitlatch here. Kathleen Mills
here. Ellen Rodkey here. Okay. And we don't have Israel this evening but we do have a quorum. So we
always start with our section a our consent calendar.
Oh whoops sorry actually Section A this evening we have a park suspension appeal and yes Taylor good
afternoon members of the board. I don't believe Mr. Stallworth is present either physically or online.
Just making sure.
For your awareness We did provide certified mail to his address that he listed on the appeal of the
park suspension Last I had heard it had a notice was left on November 2nd at 1 45 p.m. By you USPS and
he has been present every day checking his mail up until that point and
So we have provided notice as best we can. If he reaches out again he may reschedule. But in the meantime
we can move forward. OK. The appeal is regarding aggressive behavior which violates park policy in addition
to state law under Indiana code 30 35 dash 45 dash two dash one which is intimidation but communicates a threat.
with intent in retaliation for a prior lawful act in this case, an arrest with an active warrant. Happy
to answer any questions you may have. I guess my first question is this like one incident or an ongoing
pattern of problems? Of course, it was a series of incidents. The ban itself was based on the circumstances
around the arrest.
Of course, anyone has a right to be angry when they are being arrested, I would think. However, there
is both behavior. It's not the arrest itself nor the warrant itself, which I will note the warrant was
later voided because, I don't know if that's the correct legal term, but the warrant was voided because
the witness retracted their statement.
But this the suspension is specifically around the behavior during the arrest and after the arrest in
which get in which Mr. Stallworth did act aggressively and threateningly toward Not only staff but police
officers around the substation. Is it the substation, right? I would move that we accept the suspension
and uphold the suspension his failure to appear in my opinion is a default of
of his right to bring any additional information and I think we have enough to accept the and approve
and uphold the suspension. So that's my motion. OK. Do you want to. Yeah I am. OK. All right. So it
sounds like there's no further questions. Thank you Taylor. All those in favor. Aye aye. All right.
Motion is carried. So suspension appeal is denied.
And then in Section B we have the consent calendar the claims and payroll non-reverting budget business
reports and all of that sort of thing that we see every month that we usually take all in one motion
to approve the consent calendar. Second. Okay. All those in favor. All right. All right. Motion is carried.
And then in Section C we have a staff intro Amanda Porta community events coordinator Hello I'm Amanda
I am excited to join the Bloomington City
City Bloomington Parks and Recreation as the community events coordinator. I bring over 15 years of
professional experience in event planning, operations management, marketing, and community engagement
with a passion for creating meaningful experiences that bring people together. Most recently, I was
the director of events management for the Applied Research Institute, and I oversaw a diverse portfolio
of events, including conferences, workshops, community engagement initiatives, and special events.
Prior to that role, I was a wedding planner for many years, as was my grandmother, so it was kind of
in the family. Throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to collaborate with businesses, community
organizations, industry professionals, strengthening my skills in strategic planning, relationship building,
creative problem solving, and event execution. I take pride in being collaborative and resourceful,
and I'm excited to add my value to this team.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve the Bloomington community and contribute to the department
dedicated to enriching the lives of our residents. OK. All right. Welcome. Thank you. OK. And then we
have a retirement. Not you Sean. No no no. OK. You're going to recognize Amy. Yes we're going to kind
of go cycle of life a new hire and a retirement.
Staff would like to invite the park board to join us in celebrating Amy Shrake who has 22 years
of outstanding service with the Parks Department Amy's right there and we're gonna bring her up in a
little bit Amy began her time in parks as the inclusive recreation specialist in 2004 and she is now
our inclusive recreation coordinator as well as managing the Allison jukebox Center
Some of Amy's most important things or she's built a legacy at kid city by establishing programs like
the CIT program Which is very successful as a pathway to paid staff positions for younger people fostered
long-term connections with campers She set a high bar by getting we were already part of an ACA certification
But we were getting the highest scores ever and Amy is actually an evaluator. So she goes and evaluates
other camps for the ACA
She is improving and maintaining the Allison jukebox since taking over in 2011 She's led efforts to
organize improve and maintain the building as a welcoming space for campers and renters Notable improvements
include the bathroom renovations and enhanced accessibility through the addition of front entrance ramp
and power-assisted doors she's transformed the inclusion program to better serve the changing needs
of the community and
In 2004, she moved from a model where campers with disabilities participated in separate camps to an
inclusive model where campers with and without disabilities participate together. She's championed
accessibility throughout the park system, collaborating with the operations division to improve facility
accessibility for community members with disabilities. So we have a little thank you presentation for Amy.
That doesn't look like work at all. She is a big Disney fan. Kids city break days are back in a couple
weeks. Don't take an L and forget to sign up because it's gonna slay. And I'm not talking about bells.
All of our activities are based, field trips are lit, and our new bus eats. Every day is fun and it's
never mid. See the description for dates and how to get your kiddo signed up.
I won't pass up a microphone. I just got to put it way down here. I just want to thank everybody for
the opportunity. This has been kind of a dream job as you mentioned getting to work with the community
and watch campers go from kindergartners to assistant director and also
watching all the community members with disabilities that get to participate in our programs and see
all of that evolution has been a real honor. So just thank you to the parks department and the community
and the city. It's been fun. Great. Well enjoy your retirement. Thank you.
Okay all right and then on into section D and first step is resolution 20 26 0 5 disposition of solar
panels which Tim will tell us about director of parks and recreation. This resolution relates to three
different city departments parks city of Bloomington utilities and the Redevelopment Commission back
in 2017 when the bulk solar panels were installed around the city.
A large installation that was initially planned for Blucher pool was not installed and as such the city
has been sitting on a stockpile of solar panels in the subsequent years. Quite honestly to great advantage
we've been able to use some of those for our other installations and save cost. But the RDC needs to
free up the storage space where many of these are being kept and asked for a resolution to sell them.
We plan to work out an appropriate percentage of the proceeds.
With city of Bloomington utilities and RDC we need to work on that. However the majority of the sale
proceeds should should likely go to CBU because they were the ones that didn't get the installation
that was planned. So it's likely that we'll receive a small amount of proceeds from this and I'll work
with those two departments to negotiate that. But asking for approval to dispose of that property. OK.
Any questions for Tim.
Okay make a motion to approve resolution 20 26 5 second. Okay. All those in favor. Aye. All right. Motion
is carried. And then D2 is Sean with the agreement with HFI for the Allison jukebox HVAC upgrades. Hello
again. Staff would like to recommend the
Park would approve a contract for agreement with the Herald fish incorporation for the replacement and
upgrade of the existing HVAC system to a high efficiency HVAC system that will be compatible with future
and solar future solar panel upgrades.
The quote is broken down into two separate quotes Combined they're separate because it's actually three
different systems in two different physical locations within the building They do not exceed amount
is thirty three thousand five hundred dollars. The funding is actually through an ESD funding program
So I'm happy to answer any questions Sounds good Make a motion to approve the agreement with HFI for
H back upgrade
All right. All those in favor. I motion is carried. Thank you Sean. Thank you. And in D3 Amy has the
agreement with Izzy's for the annual portal services. Good evening. Amy lineback operations coordinator.
I would like to recommend approval of the contract with the stables events doing business as Izzy's
rental for the twenty twenty seven portal service agreement is these rentals has
Provided quality portal that service for the department for many years this year We did issue a request
for quotes to make sure that the contract was competitive And Izzy's was the only bid submitted by the
deadline We feel confident they will continue to provide excellent service for us in 2027 And we have
the costs of each type of service. They're providing broken out here in the staff report So I'm happy
to answer any questions
I bet you don't think I'm going to ask any questions. Oh, I'm sure you will, Jim. I look forward to
it. So this includes the portal at Seminary Square. Yes, it does. And because of Outlook's down, I wasn't
able to review my notes, the information again. But I think that was $13,000 or $16,000 for the year.
$10,890. And that's for the whole year. Yep.
which I'm encouraged about because that seems significantly less expensive than it was previously. Am
I right about that? Correct. How much less expensive is it? Yeah. Yeah. And, and I don't really, I don't
want to jinx it, but why is it less expensive? I'm happy about that. Do they just gave us a better deal?
It's what the bid. It's also a separate vendor. Yeah. So when we first put it in Izzy's did not bid.
On the seminary portal at so it's the people that did it before was not easy by by bundling it with
the rest of them I suspect is how we are getting and realizing the savings and how often are they gonna
clean it daily? Oh great and The other thing which is maybe not related Maybe you don't have the answer
to this but it's my understanding that it was blown up a couple of weeks ago What happened there and
how much did that was set on fire? Oh
The contractor did not charge us for the replace it. Yeah Sounds like a great contractor. So I I fully
support this for that price and for that reason I guess the other thing that's a different the the current
person is a different vendor from the vendor that didn't charge us just took away the ruined one and
didn't charge us for a replacement correct, but that's not who's our is that's not Izzy, right? Okay so
And what happened with that? What happened? It blew up? What happened? They burned it down or something?
It was burned and there was nothing left. So I don't know. We don't know exactly. I don't think anyone
saw what started it or what happened. Which leads me to my next and final two points. One is it's starting
to look pretty shabby down there with the fence around it and the little sticks that half are gone and
half aren't there. And there's probably not much we can do about that.
It's not a critical issue to me but it's starting to look pretty bad from even from the exterior. And
then my next issue which is that I will continue to ask and hope and will ask staff to look in and having
a camera there so we do know next time what happened when it burned down to the ground. So could you
can somebody get back to us as a board on getting a camera in that area please. Yeah I can speak to
that. So first the slots will be replaced.
That's yeah, they just haven't been yet, but I know I don't know if they're on order It's on the work
list or whatever, but yeah, that's coming soon And yes I know we talked I believe it was last month's
meeting about some of the security camera things going on with council That dust is settling and it
remains on my radar as well as corresponding with the chief of police we've talked a lot about attempting
to get some better security camera coverage in seminary there is a security camera there and
However, I recently asked them how worthwhile it is and they said it's it's kind of old and not very
worthwhile. They're not able to pull much quality stuff off of it. Separate update related to security
cameras. We have all of the ones nearly up at Switchard Park now based on our discussion last month.
And so now as we look at end of year balances and things like that going into 2027 that is a project
on our radar to look and see can we get better camera coverage at seminary.
Yeah, and I think it's something that we ought to look at. I know it's a hot topic and timing's not
great for cameras here right now, but I think it's something that we should continue to look at and
consider for all our parks on some level. I'm not talking about flock cameras or anything like that,
but I think we need to know it.
This isn't the first time that the that the portal at and that location has gone down and we don't really
know how it happens and it'd be nice to know how it happens and maybe be able to take some action or
at least have some prevented for that. So I do appreciate that. I'm much happier approving the amount
that they have this year than what we were approving for half a year or whatever the numbers were before
which were significantly higher than this. So thank you for that. And that's my only questions.
Motion to approve the service agreement with the stables for twenty twenty seven second and all those
in favor. Motion is carried. And then Amy also has the next several. Yes. Or is the agreement for twenty
twenty seven services with HFI.
Staff recommends approval of the service agreement with HFI for twenty twenty seven HFI will repair
adjust and or replace HVAC and irrigation components at City Park properties and facilities on an as
needed basis. They've been a valuable partner with us for many years and we
foresee continuing to need their services ongoing Specific amounts for each job are always quoted before
and agreed upon So and this is for several different departments. We coordinate with sports and All
the ops areas to make sure that anyone is covered under the service agreement that might need them Unless
it's a really large job and then that gets quoted separately but these are just kind of quick small
things that happen that need to get repaired quickly and
We like to have a contract with them. OK. Ready to go. Yep. All right. I'll make a motion to prepare
the 20 27 services agreement with HFI. Second. OK. All those in favor. Aye. Motion is carried. And then
in D5 Amy has the agreement for the new year 20 27 services with us. Huston electric doing business
is Cassidy.
I recommend approval of the 2027 contract with Huston electric doing businesses Cassidy electric Cassidy
will repair adjust and replace any lighting or electrical components at city parks and properties on
an as needed basis They've been a great partner. We use several different electric Companies to make
sure that we you know are staying competitive, but it's nice to have several several different contracts
They have different specialties and different availability and we do still kind of bid out pricing too.
So I recommend approving them for a service agreement service agreement with Houston doing businesses
Cassidy. All right. And all those in favor. I.
Motion is carried. And then finally for Amy is D6 the agreement for 2027 services with price electric.
Staff recommends approval of the service agreement with price electric in twenty twenty seven. They
have continued to do jobs for us when we needed similar to Houston and I think we have a couple other
ones elite electric to we coordinate again with sports. So this might be properties that sports is taking
care of or operations facilities or park locations. But they've been great. So we want to keep working
with them.
Seven service agreement price electric. All right. And all those in favor. I. All right. Motion carry.
Thank you. Thank you. I'll be back later. OK. And then in D7 we have the spectrum trail for the Wapahane
trail master planning and you're not Mary.
I'm filling in I'm Rebecca Swift on the operations development division director And I'm here to recommend
a contract with spectrum trail design to give some much-needed love and attention to Wapahane Mountain
Bike Park We're looking to do a nice audit of the existing trail system out there make recommendations
for existing routes signage
Access pretty much just all-around improvements of how do we continue to activate and use this park
as it was intended It was designated as the first mountain bike park in Indiana So we kind of want to
it's hard to compete with Brown County, but a big part of that is access and the fact that
We do not maintain some of the more difficult, challenging routes that people on mountain bikes that
are a little bit more skilled want to see. But I'm here to also put on the record that it is not only
for mountain bikes. You can go out there and hike. It's a very lovely place to go take your dog walking.
And that's another thing why we need signs. We need better sign trails so people can know where it's
safe to be either on foot or on the bike. So we are recommending working with Spectrum Trail Design
because they have particular expertise in mountain bike trail design. And we previously worked with
them on some of the south shore trail work out of Griffey Lake Nature Preserve. So if you're happy with
that work, like we are, we're really eager to work with Spectrum again. So this contract amount is not
to exceed 15,000.
And this is kind of part of master planning efforts to again improve access and recreational experience
at Wapahani. Happy to answer any questions. Just a couple of things because I mean I've been on the
board for a while and I just realized we never talk about Wapahani. So is it getting still good user
numbers or. So it actually is typically in our lower based on our place or AI reports. It's in our bottom.
Performing numbers so people are not going there as often and we believe a lot of that is access It's
a very small parking lot And so there's really not a way to get to it not in a car, which doesn't seem
like to go inside but part of our
Long-term bigger bigger bigger picture master plan is actually part of the power lane trail development
Connecting through what's soon to be the summit neighborhood and then Clear Creek Trail There's also
a realignment of Weimar Road coming There's a lot of moving parts over there that we absolutely hope
to be able to connect a multi-use trail to Wapahani and we're really really interested in a south South
portion of the parcel connection point, but that is currently owned by PIC not the city of Bloomington
But open to negotiations, if anybody wants to contact us. OK, so this is a first step in just figuring
out what Wapahane needs. Correct. Yeah. OK. Sorry, did you have another question? Yeah, the other trails
that you mentioned that you've worked with Spectrum on are not mountain bike trails. And so just curious
if you can
Speak to their portfolio of other mountain bikes. So they have a large portfolio in Brown County They've
actually helped Brown County State Parks with a lot of their mountain bike trail design So that's where
we've really seen their parks in action or their work in action And then crazy enough some of their
staff actually used to work for our department a seasonal trails staff way back when so they're also
They love Wapahani and are really eager to work on this project. Okay. Yeah Great Question So
Does it get are there any mountain bikers going out there that we know of yes, so it is getting some
use Yes, is it and where is it? I'm sorry. I don't know my geography I was just gonna try to look it
up on my map, but where is it in relation to Browns Woods? So it is contiguous at any point near not
Browns Woods is more connected to Twin Lakes Sports Park recreational trails there it's directly across
but Wapahani is also located along the bypass and
So it's in the same watershed but there is no connectivity between the parks. I just wonder if it seems
to me that having if there's any way to connect that Wapahane to Browns Woods Browns Woods to Twin Lakes
it might give it more interest.
It might also encourage people to go there that might discourage people that we don't want there. Right.
Which might be a good thing. So that's I guess that'd be my question and that's probably beyond the
scope of this proposal but just still still part of connectivity to parks and trails is a big part of
our master planning efforts. And then connecting maybe to other trails so you wouldn't necessarily need
a car to get there. Seems exactly. That's the goal. Then my final question is does the Wapahana Wapahana Park
have any issue with tent cities or any of those kind of issues. We do have the occasional reports but
it's actually not one of our hot spots for encampment reports. And I believe that's because of there's
still passive activation of dog walkers out there eyes our trail staff and vegetation staff are out
there managing pretty regularly. But I won't deny that we still have the occasional vandalism and just
illicit behavior that we don't necessarily want to see because it's a secluded parking lot. And that's
just which kind of goes back to my point. If you get them if you get people to use them you're not going
to have those other products. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah I think this is great.
I'm selfishly a mountain biker so I ride a walk.
I'd rather go to Brown County right now and get you back. All right. I'll make a motion to approve the
contract with spectrum trail design. All those in favor. Aye. All right. Motion is carried. Thank you.
And then in D8 Amy is back and the topic is back. The cemetery plot reclamation.
It's come back from the dead can't wait for this one Amy lineback operations coordinator and administrator
of Rose Hill and White Oaks cemeteries and that is my role in this item as you know We have new cemetery
policies on board this year that you all adopted that allow us to reclaim cemetery plots that were once
deeded out and never used and
So no one's ever been buried there. And it's been over 50 years. We have spent weeks and gone through
the steps to post the information about these plots. I have not received any word from anyone that would
have a claim to these plots. So we are moving forward, assuming that they have been abandoned. And we
have a list of people that are very excited about purchasing these plots so that they can be buried
in Rose Hill.
Recommend that we vote to that you the board vote to formally reclaim the plots listed in my staff report
there are 32 of them and Yeah, I think that's all happy to answer any questions Yes, there's a list
of about Between 20 and 30 people who are waiting to hear from me when we have plots available the problem
with these is they're not necessarily if it's a
If it's a family member that wants to have two plots next to each other some of these law these are
individual plots. Most of them are. There is I think one that has several together. So H 60 and 63 62
and 63. Yeah. L 122 I think has several different. Well we might have to.
probe that and find out how many spaces, and then also that L94 west half. So there are definitely ones
that are more than just one space. OK. Thank you. Yeah. All right. We're ready to stop looking at me
like that. Now I know there's not bodies in there. I learned that last month. It was a legitimate question.
No, I mean, there's just so many puns.
All right. Make a motion to approve to approve the reclamation of abandoned cemetery plots for the purpose
of resale. All right. All those in favor. Thank you very much. Thank you. And then indeed nine we have
updates to park policy one three three zero zero community exchange. And this is Julie Ramey.
Good evening I'm Julie Ramey the community relations manager for parks and recreation and I'm bringing
to you today a new policy regarding the management and standards for what are known as community exchange
boxes more frequently known as things like little free libraries and little free pantries and over the
past two decades there have been numerous little free libraries little free exchange boxes installed
in city parks and while originally
Intended to be great places for book exchanges Things like that they we have several structures that
have deteriorated due to lack of ongoing maintenance the original manufacturers of the original installers
didn't follow up with the installations and Many of the structures evolved to hold things like food
school supplies and things like that and
So the problem is that these unattended structures represent ongoing concerns related to maintenance,
appearance,
safety it's not realistic that the department can manage or maintain or keep track of anything that
goes in or out of those boxes whether it's appropriate whether it's safe so as a result we've developed
a policy that gives us the ability to refuse requests to add little free exchange boxes any kind of
community exchange boxes to city properties what this
What this policy also does is allows us to sort of a grandfather clause to identify structures that
are existing in parks. Find if we can the original installer and get with them on having them remove
the box and find a new place for it on private property. OK. Was there ever a time when we did give
approval for some of these.
Just as you did use example the little free library like I can think of I can picture some in parks
that I can do. Was there a process before where we gave people approval to put them in or they just
have all popped up on their own over the last however many years.
There was a process for approval and it went through the operations division. So Amy Lyon back or her
predecessors would have been the ones that were originally approached along with the volunteer coordinator
who helped coordinate the ask in several cases. They were Boy Scouts Eagle Scout projects and had some
some great ideas to put little free libraries in various parks other types of civic projects organizations
that put the
exchange boxes in our parks with permission for very valid reasons. But over the years Eagle Scouts
move on groups that had great ideas to maintain boxes have moved away or the original idea holders have
left leaving the exchange box to unfortunately deteriorate. And sorry since I can't pull up the information
if we don't find who originally installed it then we
We have the authority with this just to just to take it out because some of them are pretty shabby at
this point. That's correct. Okay. Yep. All right. I think it's a good idea what this proposal does.
I think the original meeting was well meaning and and they had great ideas and I particularly like the
you know the library ones and things like that the pantry ones.
make me nervous even thinking about it. So I support that. I guess my question would be, I can think
of several places. One I can think of at First Street in Eggleston and some other places where people
have a library on what they may believe is or may be their private property next to a sidewalk, but
also may be in our right-of-way or our tree plot.
talking about those or we just talking about the ones in a park. In other words the ones outside in
front of somebody's house that may be on their private property can't touch those. I'm not suggesting
but some may be in the public right away. Are we are we talking about those. I'm not suggesting we do.
I just want to know whether or not this covers that. This particular policy is just about our park properties.
Although it does give us the wherewithal if our urban forester has the opportunity to plant a tree and
there's a little free library a Community exchange box in a tree plot and it needs to be moved in at
least we have a policy to refer back to for consistency To approve the new community exchange structures policy
All right. All those in favor. I motion is carried. Thank you Julie. And D10 is the updates to park
policy one three zero eight zero park hours. And Tim is going to start that off for us. Yes. Good evening.
Director of Parks and Recreation on to our item tonight that I'm sure is going to have a little more
discussion and thought around it. And I want to start by saying you know this is a topic
park hours that we've been thinking about for a while and have mold and have even discussed in board
meetings and sessions previously related to security costs and contracts and things like that. And there's
a couple of reasons why this is coming up now specifically. And a couple of those are you know one we
continue to have a lot of challenges.
not just with homelessness, but homelessness, vandalism, bad behavior in our parks. I'm always careful
to make sure we know those are separate categories. The Venn diagram on those is not all the same. And
we have those issues. So outside of homelessness, we have vandalism and behavior issues anyway. At the
same time, we have a budget crunch generated by SEA 1,
force which is restricting our property tax revenues from going up to cover our base services that we
need to provide for our community and we have the expiration of our ARPA dollars. And for the last two
plus years we have relied on the city's ARPA dollars to provide the contracted private park security.
Our police department has gained in terms of officers from where we were a couple of years ago.
But it's still not at full staff just because of the amount of time it takes to work up staff, get them
through training, and at the same time, you know, train through and beat the attrition numbers of people
who might be retiring or going on injury leave or things like that. So I've been talking to
other departments. I've been talking to Office of the Mayor about this. As we budgeted for security
next year, we had to reabsorb the security costs into our general fund budget.
And at the same time we knew and long term that that hiring security in this fashion with our current
budget constraints is not sustainable. So what we have done is we've actually reduced our security budget
next year by about 30 to 35 percent. I'm forgetting the exact margin. And in some ways we felt like
we found areas where OK there's some efficiencies here. Maybe we haven't looked at this in a couple
of years. There's some things we can combine or maybe do without or short some hours here or there seasonally.
But at the same time it's it's still a substantial two hundred something thousand dollars in our general
fund budget next year that we have reabsorbed at the same time. You know we heard it in our master plan.
We heard it in our community survey. We hear it in Facebook comments whatever you want to go to that
there's you know a lot of people who still have complaints and issues around park security. I do want
to mention there has been a big success and that the number of needles that we see in parks has dropped
dramatically year over year. I mean like we are at a percent of maybe 10 to 15 percent finding of what
we found two years ago. So something has shifted there and that's a that's a great advancement and I
just want to acknowledge that. But we continue in this year seemingly continue to have even into into
November which is maybe a little atypical for what we normally experience a lot of issues. Hopewell
seminary downtown parks.
a certain core group of parks that we specifically have our security patrols go to. We use park suspensions
as a tool. You saw that earlier tonight. We are trying to, when possible, you know, where people are
using the park and excluding others from being able to use the park or in particular having violent
or threatening behavior towards others, delegating that authority to
our downtown resource officers to issue suspensions under our authority and under the board's authority
which may occasionally result in a suspension as we saw tonight. So we've been considering these 5 a.m.
to 11 p.m. hours for a while and you know have found that among other park systems in the state and
other similar systems that we might compare to out of state as well. We have generally speaking longer
hours more available hours for our parks and
I like that. I like that we're available. I want to continue to be available but we're trying to weigh
this security cost and the ability to sort of initiate public safety patrols at good hours. The budget
that we're inheriting and dealing with and all of these factors and leading us to make a recommendation.
So while we do have a recommendation on hours
In the staff report tonight I just want to emphasize we are we are open to deliberation and discussion
and you know if there's there's more information that the board would like to see we can always you
know defer this decision and come back to it in another month have further discussion. Of course Israel
is not here tonight as well. So we are very open to the board's feedback on this and wanted to bring
this in and gather all of the public feedback in here as a jump starter for a public discussion about
this issue. Let's see public feedback.
Julie Ramey, our community relations manager, did issue a call for public feedback. We received 300
plus pieces of community feedback largely by distributing that to our registration email list of people
who register for park programs. Overall, it's mixed. There was not a lot of support for changing park
hours. There certainly was some, but I think the reason that we saw amongst that feedback that came
in is a lot of people are saying,
The people who are who are ignoring park hours who are causing bad behavior causing issues after hours
are going to do it anyway. And I don't disagree with that. I agree with that. I think that's true. However
and I put this in the staff report if we calculate particularly on the evening end of things if we are
able to look at a group of people assembled in a park after 10 p.m. for example which which is the hour
that we recommended in here and
have BPD or our security or our staff in some cases initiate closure of the park just that one hour
earlier. That's an annual savings in security by being able to cut one hour of security off the end
of the night of fifteen thousand dollars. So it's not insignificant but it does have an effect. That
said I've heard some other feedback about morning hours and in particular there's a fitness group I
know that meets at switch yard at five thirty.
And there's a lot of feedback in there and that's why we linked it in the staff report so it could be
could be viewed. Let's see. Also I just want to emphasize you know we did receive another proposal from
Commissioner Whitlatch that we included as an addendum for consideration and deliberation of the board.
And I want to emphasize that our previous hours policy and still as it is written does have an exemption
for basically use of paths and trails.
outside of park hours. I actually Commissioner Whitledge had some some very good language in his proposal
that I thought stated what we were after better than what we had in our policy. So I actually adopted
some of that into there in terms of the pathway and trail usage after hours and outside of hours as
well as the exemptions. So the exemptions that were intended before and I think are written in a better
way now include park
and department sponsored events or partnered events may have exemptions to the hours permitted events.
So people who get a special use permit special use permits may allow. And then of course maintenance
emergency things like that would come up outside of hours too. So all of that is written into the policy.
And lastly I'll just say you know we are open to discussion having providing whatever info we can tonight.
I sense we have some public comment here on the topic too.
and happy to enter into a discussion with the board about where we are thinking to go with this. OK.
All right. Thank you Tim. I think both. Can I ask you a question like on that fitness group if they're
there. Do they have. Are they required to have a like permanent use or anything for that. No that would
just be you know typically if you got over 100 people.
Then we would ask for a special use permit. This is just a small group that are regular park users throughout
the whole year. And regardless of what we decide we could find a way to make sure things like that continue
because you could either amend the hours to 530 a.m. Again I'm not as worried on the morning side of
things as I am the evening or we could permit the event and give it a special use permit which would
allow it to operate. So there are solutions either way.
But I will mention I forgot to say to you I know dawn to dusk has been discussed. Another option that
could be explored is summer hours and winter hours that some other departments set. So you know for
example you could say what would the daylight months be. You know March to October. It's a certain set
of hours and then November to February or something you know whatever the breakdown would be there.
OK. Yeah I think both.
Jim and I have some things we wanted to say about it but Jim was also suggesting maybe gathering some
more information before we want to. Bear with me for a minute and let me just talk through this and
I appreciate the work that staff and Tim and everybody has put into this. And I can tell you I will
not support a 10 blanket 10 o'clock closing period. I think 10 o'clock may be very appropriate in the
summer. So to your seasonal issue that's something that
would be of interest to me, but having the parks open till 10 o'clock at this time of year, December,
January, when it gets dark at six o'clock seems inappropriate to me. That's four hours of basically,
when you drive home tonight, drive by a park and look how dark it is. And it's gonna be, people are
gonna be able to be in there under this provision for four more hours. And that to me is just a significant issue
for me especially when we have these other problems. Now having said that the problems we're talking
about are much bigger than the hours of the park. So we're not going to solve those problems with the
hours of the park. But I do think what the hours of the park does give us the ability to do is it gives
us the ability when the parks close to ask for assistance in having the parks protected during that
time. So if the park closes at my proposal is a half hour
after dusk and a half hour before dawn it's open and after that is closed. If after that time period
let's say at 730 there is a large group in the park then the police would be probably amenable and would
agree with us that we can they can go and move those people along with the way it is now. The police
can't do anything till 11 o'clock under this proposal. They can't do anything till 10 o'clock and quite
frankly they don't want to go out at 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock to do that.
They may be willing to do it at seven o'clock. So that's one of my issues. I also think for that very
reason that same enforcement we have to think about people who have houses near these parks. Those people
don't want to go to bed at nine o'clock and worry and know that there are people gathered in the park
legally maybe doing things that they don't. We don't want them to do but park there legally because
the parks open till 11 o'clock.
We have to consider the safety of the neighborhoods that we have there. We are the park commissioners.
We have the obligation to manage our facilities parks for recreation space. I will also say that as
part of this some facilities should be open maybe later than 10 o'clock. I would argue that people's
park for instance is a park. I'm not going to approve this but people's parks probably a park that should
never close.
I don't know that I what I think about that but that's in an area with lots of traffic. It's lighted.
It's mostly just a pass through area and I don't think people's parks should close at sunset or or any
of those issues. So I think there are certain parks anything that's related to ball fields and my policy
takes all those things into consideration if they're used for lighted purposes or other purposes related
to that. So they should be open after dark.
I also don't have a I'm also don't have a problem with parks being open later when it's like this is
this is more of a safety in dark you know what what are we told to keep your place safe you have you
haven't lit when it's dark you haven't lit well most of our parks aren't lit sufficient sufficiently
that we can that it has that same protection so this is more of not the hours it's more light and dark
is the issue and certainly during the
Winter months then it's dark much earlier You know, I could probably if we said in you know, the winter
months the parks closes at seven o'clock or eight o'clock I could probably live with that I can't it's
hard for me to live with leaving a park open till ten o'clock when it's when it's pitch black at six
My proposal does deal with the people who want to walk their dogs who want to exercise who want to use
the trails
that they have a park activity. I think Kathleen mentioned the issue of somebody that wants to play
flashlight tag, all those kind of things. Those would all be acceptable in my policy. What's not acceptable
is camping out in the parks till 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock and us not being able to move them along,
especially when it's pitch black outside. None of us, I think any of us would think if we had a sixth
grade child
There's a lot of difference about letting that sixth grade child run over to Bryant Park and play on
the swing at 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock in the summer when the sun's still out, and letting our sixth grade
child run over to Bryant Park at 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock when it's pitch black, and there's not sufficient
lighting around there, and there's people that are camped out there doing who knows what, possibly.
So I just think it's a safety issue as far as that goes.
My suggestion would to be to have some sort of seasonally related hours. My proposal bases it on sunrise
and sunset which is modified by the seasons. I've traveled around a lot and I kind of look for that.
I see an awful lot of parks big parks little parks that have a sunrise to sunset hours and they're closed
after that.
many of them putting gates down and things like that. So it's not an uncommon practice. It's a little
bit, it's a little bit, you know, more questionable about, well, when is really sun's rise and when
is sunset and, and that type of thing. I think that's manageable, but I also think we could handle that
issue by, you know, uh, having changing hours based upon
You know different times of the year maybe it's twice a year maybe it's October and March maybe it's
three times or four times a year that we change it. I do think we ought to have it posted and posted
well. And the other thing I think we ought to have with that which is really the city of Bloomington
gave me this idea is we ought to post no loitering after hours no loitering after park hours. That's
kind of an old fashioned idea but I've got I sent Tim and I've got pictures of
One of the nicest maintained public spaces we have in the city of Bloomington is the part bicycle parking
garage at the 4th Street parking garage. I don't I walk by it almost every day because it's right next
to my office and I walk by when I go to lunch. Unfortunately there's almost never any bicycles in there
but there has I've seen one or two here recently but it's a lovely facility that has that would be a
lovely place for people to go hang out and loiter.
and put their tents and spend their days there because it's well protected from the weather and everything
else. Well the city of Bloomington has placed large no no loitering signs in there and my guess is that
they enforce those. Anybody tries to set up themselves in that area. My guess is the police are moving
them along very quickly and using those no loitering signs. So I think that stating that there's in
some fashion maybe we can come up with a better word than no loitering no trespassing no something after
hours is something that
I would encourage because again it allows us to work with the police to enforce these provisions. So
I've said a lot. I appreciate you all listening to me. I will not support 10 o'clock. I don't want to
have to vote no to it. What I would prefer that we do is that we send this that we table this that we
study it more that we come up with maybe one that's well crafted that can allow people to use the parks
after hours when they're using them for
activities that maybe are appropriately used in the dark or done in the dark that are actual appropriate
park activities that I've done some of that but my language could be better as well. I would be willing
don't have to but I would be willing to work with staff where we could maybe try to come up serve on
a committee or however you want to do it with staff and maybe some public or members of the public or
whatever that we could maybe try to come up with a policy that could
be closer than to what I'm suggesting and that we could maybe get support of staff the public and everybody
else to do that. So my proposal is that my proposal is done half hour before half hour after or an hour
before after. Frankly I know I'm not. If somebody wants to get up at five thirty in the morning and
go to a park you know
I'll credit to them because and I don't really I'm not too concerned about the early hours. I'm more
concerned about the late hours. So I you know if we want to make it earlier than 6 a.m. any time of
the year I'm probably okay with that. But I had the night hours and the dark hours are what my concern
are. But I I suggest or I would ask that we table it for today study it further work together as a board.
Maybe Kathleen and I even work with staff because we could do that Maybe that's two out of I think two
of us could meet that's not a majority So we could even work with staff to try to craft something, but
that's what that's my proposal as it is. Thank you for listening Well, I would say as somebody who's
lived 50 steps from Bryan Park for 30 years I don't I rarely have I'm in the park often quite late. I
walk my dogs there. Recently I came home late from a concert and the only time I could take my dogs
out was 10.30 at night. I don't see a lot of problematic behaviors. Now that's one park that's there.
One of my concerns about dramatically shortening the hours is I know that Jim's proposal has these exceptions
about jogging and running, although I do think you mentioned it
would not be appropriate to be on the playground equipment at that time. No, I think that's something
that could be modified. But it says if you're actively moving, actively doing things that are park related,
you'd be OK. OK. One of my concerns is that I think when people hear, if they hear, I mean, yeah, the
sun goes down now, 545, 6. If they hear that it's closed, I don't know that they read the exception,
like that it's OK to jog.
Neighbor likes to pull out his telescope at 9 9 p.m. 9 30 p.m. And invite the neighbors over to look
at the planets and he gets a big crowd over there I mentioned the flashlight tag with the kids and I
know you're saying these are legitimate park activities I just don't know if people will make a distinction
between oh, it's closed. Oh, it's 630 I'm not really supposed to be in the park anymore Having said
that I think we could we could go I mean 11 is late I
Acknowledge that I think we could go to ten or nine I would be interested in exploring the seasonal
hours as well But and and I know that in a city this size the 300 plus whatever comments You know, I
know that's not a huge sample size But but most of the people the comments I saw people were didn't
were not interested in closures and for earlier hours and people had a
lot of different reasons for that. I mean there was someone who said they had terrible insomnia and
they need to wander down to the park at 2 a.m. There was the fitness group that was mentioned. There
were just a lot of different reasons that people want to use the park at odd hours. So I would support.
Yeah. I do think 11 is late. I would support doing something earlier and especially if it can save on
security costs. But I don't know the dawn to dusk to me seems pretty limiting.
So yeah sure I'll just chime in as well. Yeah I mean I think a drastic cut just eliminates a big population
of people who are shift workers or you know just people who are night people. I'm not I'm I'm the one
that's there at five going through the park. So yeah and the morning thing also doesn't bother me. I
think 5 a.m. is fine.
But you know if there's a cost justification to reducing to 10 I would be in support of that not during
the summer maybe but maybe in the winter. And that's one of my questions was if we're going to talk
about like a summer winter schedule you have like the place or A.I. data.
So I guess I'd be curious if that's a good measure or if there's other measure some other measure we
could use to see like what is usage by the hour in like the winter months versus the summer months.
And then again too it's like I don't.
I'm also probably a weirdo and don't run with music so like I don't even have a phone on me so you're
not even capturing my data in the morning you know so there is some of that and I guess I would also
argue make an argument too that if the park is closed at seven eight o'clock in the winter I almost
think it becomes like a
like an isolated area that then has no people in it, which if I live near the park, and I'm not super
far from a park, but I think having activity and having people out there playing tag or just hanging
out, you know, if a group wants to, do the shelters have lights? Some do, so if like a group wanted
to have a potluck at 730,
in January, which would be chilly. With climate change. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's super El Nino. It's
supposed to be warm and dry this winter. But I think that there's good things that can take place and
that you're almost isolating an area to become desolate. And then does that actually invite more people?
Anybody that wants to use the park can use the park. You can go for walks. You can walk your dog.
You can do that 24 hours a day if you're using it for that reason what you can't do is you can't go
and use drugs in a shelter and just hang out there till 11 o'clock until or later till somebody comes
and pushes you along. I am not trying to stop anybody from using the parks as parks are to be used and
I'm trying to write that clearly and I'll write it more clearly. So the idea that I'm that this is somehow
prohibiting people from using the parks is not at all what I'm doing. I'm trying to give us the authority
to use to tell people if you're not using these parks for the proper reason we're going to move you
along and we can't do that now until 11 o'clock because there's no prohibition on somebody going in
and yeah they may be using drugs and things like that because they are because it's dark and you get
to do a lot of things in the dark or teenagers may be going there drinking and I'm not
you know, everybody probably did that at one time or another. But that's what I'm trying to prevent
and trying to give us the tools to move those people along when it's dark at 7 or 8 o'clock at night
so that when you come out with your telescope and are doing something actively, you don't have
across the street in the shelter 25 people with their shopping carts and their drugs and their needles
and things like that 20 feet away from you. Those people have been moved along because they're not doing
a park activity. If you're doing an activity so the idea that I am trying to put that this policy prevents
anybody from
doing any of the things that you've just mentioned telescopes flashlight tag walking their dog walking
the park when they have insomnia. It's not going to prevent any of those things. And in fact I want
to make sure it doesn't and I'll work with whoever wants to work with it to draft the language that
does that. What I'm trying to prevent is the people that are there till they go in there and they have
you know you go by seminary parks seminary parks get worse again. People are have huge
Huge stacks of things and so they're there till 11 o'clock and we can't move along who who is going
to go play flashlight tag in Seminary Park after dark. Is anybody anybody we know going to play flashlight
tag in Seminary Park the way it is now. Now if we could move those people along at seven o'clock so
they're not there somebody might play flashlight takes somebody might walk their dog there. Somebody
might walk through there but they're not going to walk through there or play flashlight tag.
When seminary park right now when those people can't be moved along until 11 o'clock nobody is going
to go in that park for the reason that extended that's what I'm trying to stop. I'm not trying to stop
anything else. Excuse me for feeling strongly about it but I feel extremely strongly about this and.
I just think that all I'm trying to do is give us the tools to be able to allow the parks to be used
for their proper purpose and not allow them to be used for an improper purpose. I want them to be open
till 10 o'clock 11 o'clock in the summer when it's light out. It's a light dark thing. That's my only
point. And I again I apologize for my strength of my opinion here but I feel strongly about it. OK.
Thank you.
Thank you Jim. I do. Yeah I think I mean Jim had talked to me before we started the meeting about possibly
just not having a vote this evening gathering more information. I do want to allow for it because I
mean if there are people here who want to speak to the issue and you've had to sit here through an hour
of discussion of portal that's I do want to allow people to come up to the podium and comment if that's
appropriate at this time. Yeah. Can I just.
Just offer one thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I think from a staff perspective we know there are a lot of dimensions
at play here and a lot of feelings and I think it was important for us to put this out there with as
much information as we could gather and have at least a preliminary public discussion. Katz is here.
News might pick this up right. People can can learn about this discussion on going more than happy and
almost expected coming in to to not have a vote tonight. So that is that the commissioner's discretion.
We would be happy to work on this and develop this more the place or AI data we could definitely split
out by month to see how much use is happening where and when we can split it out by month and by park
you know like there we can get granular with that. I don't want to go to do in the weeds but there's
there's work to be done there. And then the other thing I just I could support seasonal hours too that are
You know I would rather do that from a staff perspective have a separate set of hours than the constantly
shifting sort of dawn to dusk. That's just staff preference though. You know we can make whatever work
and I do worry a little bit and want to have some time with our legal department to investigate sort
of some of the loitering aspects and understand that a little bit more in terms of what's enforceable
and because I think what it could also do is it could could put our staff or others in a position to say
sort of a weird judgment zone of, well, this is legitimate use and this is not, and how do we navigate
that? So I would want some more time to sit with and understand that before we would make a recommendation
on that. That's something that I'd appreciate that I had written down earlier is, I mean, what, and
I'm sure there's a legal definition, what is loitering? I mean, for instance, right before it got cold,
I mean, we've had a warm fall so far.
And I would see people who would, for instance, play basketball in Bryant Park. And when they were done,
they'd just all kind of hang out on the grass for an hour afterwards. And they're no longer doing something
active. They're all just hanging out. No, they're not using drugs. But what is loitering? Now it's dark.
Now I'm still here hanging out. Is that an inappropriate use of the park?
So it seems like we need some more information maybe some definitions. And I would just offer to that
you know some of the inappropriate use Jim that you're talking about. We shouldn't allow any time.
Yeah right. You know even if the park is open and that's another challenge that we're facing is how
do we not allow misuse to happen at any point. And that's kind of I was talking about using park suspensions
and trying to make a difference that way is something that we're working on for any time.
of day. So I completely agree with the sentiments of everyone and I respect it and want to continue
to work with you on the topic. I move that we table it and bring it back up to a future meeting and
maybe have discussions among commissioners subject to the public meeting laws and staff and things so
that we can try to work through this and maybe come back with something that we can all agree to. Can I.
Make a suggestion that we move to public comment now just to be respectful of people's time. You could
take a motion. I will second that. Yes. All right. So all those public comment in favor of tabling.
What is this. Well Kathleen I don't you wouldn't have to vote yet necessarily. You could take the public
comment now. OK. Yeah. Either way I mean as long as we're taking the public comment. OK.
Do we vote now? I think we vote now. Okay. So all those in favor. Aye. Okay. All right. And I'm fine
with going to public comment. I'm going to have to, and I don't want to be seen as running out on public
comment. I'll listen to as much as I can. I'm going to an event at the auditorium tonight, so I'm going
to have to leave pretty soon, but I will try to stay here as long as I can to listen to any public comment.
Okay. Is there anyone who would like to come up to the yes, please. Yeah. Come on up. Tell us your name.
Uh, two, two, three minutes. Yeah. Okay. Uh, hello. My name's Natalie. Um, limited resident for about
13 years. I'm going to comment on agenda item two D 10 updates, spark policy, uh, one three, oh, eight,
oh, park hours. I moved here in 2013 for several reasons. The good culture, art, music, food, a nice
community that takes care of each other in abundance of beautiful, accessible outdoor spaces. Um, fictional
Hoosier Leslie Nope put it succinctly when she said,
Parks are for everyone. That's what makes them great. I'm inclined to agree our parks should provide
spaces for people to exist outside their homes without having to explain why you have to be buying or
selling something or shopping or picking something up. You can just be there to be there. They lose
a lot of this utility if we further restrict the hours they're accessible especially considering the
diverse working hours and needs of our community.
Reducing park hours truly feels counterintuitive to any park use I can think of will stop people from
getting fresh air on a walk with a close friend after work, meeting up with a group to ride your bicycles,
tossing a frisbee or kicking a soccer ball back and forth, or even parents taking their children to
a playground to let out some energy after school. It puts an unnecessary barrier between activities
that bring folks together in use of our beautiful Bloomington parks.
The proposed purpose to reduce vandalism and unwanted behaviors feels woefully unthought out to me.
Anyone who doesn't pay mind to vandalism laws and such feel unlikely to pay mind to park hours early
in the meeting. Jim Latch you mentioned in the 2 d 7 agenda item paraphrasing of course that unwanted
activities in the park you're mentioning are reduced when normal park activity increases.
then follow that reducing hours for normal park activity could easily risk increasing these unwanted
activities. You mentioned the success of the new loitering signs at the 4th Street bike parking but
almost also mention its extremely sparse usage. I think those two are likely connected if you make a
space feel unwelcoming or hostile then will not be used. What's the point of a park if it's not used.
I think you could logically conclude that reducing hours would only serve to
punish our community members who use these parks for their intended purposes and of course would be
weaponized disproportionately against the most disenfranchised in a beautiful city. Thank you for your
time. Thank you. Hello. Hello. My name is Seaforth Breeze. I'm a resident of Bloomington and have been
for about 14 years.
I wanted to speak out against the park, like the reduction of hours. I think there's been some clarifications
here today on what that policy might look like and the fact that there'll be more discussions on it.
But I think that broadly reducing park hours by closure using that language will create more confusion
than not. Some of the discussion even here has demonstrated that, right?
As somebody who uses the parks very regularly for like a frisbee league, for bike polo, some of those
groups meet very late into the day. I mean, bike polo, for example, we are often playing till 10 o'clock
and sometimes even past 10 o'clock just because of the nature of on Thursdays. That's when folks can
get out and we have light for the space that we're using. We didn't used to have light and we didn't
used to use that space as much late into the evening.
But now that that's available, we're out there later and we're providing those kind of eyes, that use
case that I think provides the true safety that y'all are looking for, the true sort of security that
is not gonna be provided by just lowering hours. You know, folks will just, any of the issues that you
are trying to control by reducing park hours I think can only increase when you have less people feeling
welcome in the space and feeling like, you know, am I included in the exemptions?
is it really worth getting a permit to host an event? You know, I help organize bike party, which takes
groups of cyclists through many of the parks once a month, like very frequently. And so just hearing
about that, I've been like, okay, well, are we going to have to figure out a whole permit, you know,
permitting for our future events? Those start at seven and can go up until 10 and beyond. So it's just,
it's one of those things where it adds friction to the use cases
of folks who are, I mean, I think it's just counterproductive. So I think that specifically that language
closure, also the loitering aspect. I used to go into the parks when my little siblings were younger,
and we would take a bunch of blankets, lay them out, and we would just stargaze, right?
did not look that different than many of the other communities that, I mean, obviously we were some
young kids and me, but from a distance, it was just a bunch of blankets on the ground and a rolling
cart that let us bring it over there. So I think that loitering is always going to be unevenly enforced,
right? Because if a parks member or a police officer came up to us and
and interacted with us, they would very quickly be like, no, this is fine, you can stay. But if you
bring in that group of basketball players, like folks that are more just like adults, and it's not sort
of like kids, and you can't clearly be like, okay, this seems fine, then it's just going to
create opportunities for discrimination, opportunities for that call to be the wrong call in the moment,
because somebody just looks at the group of people in front of them and says, this is a
Values and this is I apologize. Okay. Thank you. See fourth Hi, my name is Sarah Mosher I'm a resident
in Bloomington I live on Euclid so it's a few blocks away from the building and trade park and I also
go by seminary part quite a lot to just on my bike or running or driving and
Oh, and I've been here since 2009. But my family's been here for many generations. And I do think that
the idea of closing the parks or making them open just an hour or a half hour before after sunset isn't
the best way to deal with issues of loitering. Because, well, for one, in the summer, it's still really
hot, even hours after the sun goes down. And so sometimes I don't.
go to the park until it's pretty late. And I think that it just will exclude more people than the people
that Mr. Whitlach is thinking of. And it also seems like if you're concerned about using drugs or teens
drinking alcohol, those are already things that are illegal. So you can already call the police and
have them stop that activity
Already at any time, so I'm not sure that closing the parks At a certain hour or shifting hours of the
park is really gonna help that I think it's really just gonna as the last speaker said kind of just
make it easier to discriminate against people who look funny or look poor or Are you know? Have a shopping
cart there even though we don't
like to see that maybe I don't think there's anything wrong with it when I use the parks late at night
and I do fairly often because sometimes that's the only time that I can meet up with friends because
we've been working and it's also one of the only places where we don't have to pay for something you
know it can get expensive to always be meeting up at a bar late at night and some people don't drink
we just want to sit
The park and talk so we wouldn't be necessarily doing one of those activities Because we just be sitting
and talking but I think since we all Live in Bloomington. We all deserve to be able to use those parks
to their full assistant like now so it just doesn't seem like a Way, that's really gonna actually solve
the problem that mr. Whitletch is talking about. It's just seems like it might just create more confusion
Do I have to write my name and address on here or. OK. OK. Thank you. Yes. Thank you Sarah. Hello. Good
evening. I am Kyla Cox Deckard. I serve on the board of public works for the city but I am here and
my own personal accord as a resident and a city parks enthusiast.
First I want to say thank you to all of you for the care that you give our parks and thanks to the city
staff who ensure that we have such beautiful parks. I think they truly are a treasure of our community
and I appreciate the ongoing conversations on the ways that we can improve them and use them to the
best of their ability.
I am a member of the fitness group that may have been mentioned earlier. It's called Fia Bloomington,
which is an acronym for females in action. We're a women's fitness group that is really
Completely open to women 18 and older. It's peer-led we're just a group of women who come together in
the park and Work out and socialize we do have some of those strange potlucks in the cold Temperatures
that were mentioned as well. We do have Workouts in City Park six days a week. So we make a lot of use
out of the park We do have two workouts that happen at 530 a.m In parks and then we also have workouts
that are happening
at different later morning times and then also in the evenings usually like 630 to 730 time range. So
of course this conversation is important to us because we are some of those users that are there in
the dark on really both ends of the day. We work out all year round. We compete to see who can work
out in the coldest temperature. So cold does not deter us at all.
And so I appreciate the conversation around the issues of you know light and also the issues of time
because that does impact us on both sides one of the reasons that I was drawn to this group was because
the workouts took place in public parks and I think that We can always make better use of our parks.
And so I was encouraged to be a better
Partner and someone who was more active in our parks I do think it strengthens our social fabric when
we bring people together who are using our parks for all different reasons I find that we are able to
be there alongside people who might be you know resting for a moment at a park table might be passing
through with their dog or might be using the park for whatever recreational or just
you know restorative reasons that they might find the need to use the park and I think that that strengthens
our community and I think the fact that we are active in the park in the dark at 5 30 in the morning
and at 7 30 at night is a huge asset. So I appreciate your consideration of this issue. Thank you.
Thank you. All right. Is there any other public comment in person or online. No one's online. OK. Thank you.
Okay. Well thank you to members of the public who came out tonight to speak and then we have in our
section E we have a couple of reports this evening. First we have Julie Ramey telling us about the IPRA
conference attendance and award. I apologize. I'm going to have to go. Okay. What's the show. Six.
Oh yeah. With the wives. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Good evening again, Julie Ramey, Community Relations Manager. Parks and Recreation is exceptionally
proud to announce that we are the recipients of the Indiana Park and Recreation Association Award for
Excellence in Resource Management. And while there is a snapshot of Leslie Brinson and myself accepting
the award last week at the IPRA conference up in Fort Wayne, Rogers Family Park was the recipient of
the award. Of course, recognized for not only its ongoing environmental work and
Establishing re-establishing native prairie plants, but also all the work that's been done in the past
few years to gain more interest in using the park more use of the park through accessibility through
passive use walking trails biking trails and Chimney Swift towers are a feature of the park. So we are
delighted to announce that we did receive the excellence in resource improvement award for Rogers Family Park and
Excellent congratulations nice photo. Yeah, yeah And if I could just jump to the next are you ready
for that? Yeah, that was bossy of me We we are also finalizing finally our master planning process and
the investment priorities plan process through the receiving of
public comments on both of those plans and there is a really thorough summary available in your packets
on the public feedback that we received from
our from people regarding our master plan. We did a survey of the public in September to get feedback
about the master plan and it's a little tricky because we were getting feedback about the plan that
we've already done and not welcoming people to tell us what we should be working on. So there were some
open ended questions and most importantly we wanted people to know about our four overarching master
plan goals.
and which of those goals the public felt was most important. The public 39 percent at least of the people
who responded to the survey said that investing in what we have is our most important priority and most
important goal. So we are in line with the with the snapshot.
It's not a statistically valid survey, but it is a snapshot of what the public thinks. Like I said,
there is a really thorough summary. And if you want to move on to the investment priorities plan summary,
we had 44 responses to that plan or that survey about the plan, which we sent out a little after your
special park board meeting on September 28th to get feedback on our proposed investment priorities,
again, built on our master plan.
Goals for investing in what we have and the most prominent themes we were revolving around playgrounds
specifically Southeast Park playground was called out several times Aquatics and equitable access was
a topic that was very frequently mentioned in that investment priorities plan the differences between
Bryant Park pool and Mills pool and our proposed investment plans for those facilities and
There were 44 responses to that investment priorities plan survey altogether, including some that we
received after the deadline. But those folks who were late with their comments can rest assured that
their comments were captured in our overall public feedback for the investment priorities plan and for
the master plan. And I'm happy to answer any questions about the master plan or investment priorities
plan survey summaries. Thank you, Julie.
Thank you for the binder of information. We can have all the details. Yeah. Appreciate appreciate the
updates. Thank you. All right. And then in E3 Tim has a update on the community parks initiative planning
grant proposal. Yes. Very brief since Jim had to leave just the information is in the packet. You know
I wanted to get that out there.
This relates to what we talked about our September special meeting and dovetailing off of what Julie
was just sharing the CPI grant opportunity came upon us quite suddenly and quite amazingly. So we have
been working on that planning phase is required. So these are the projects that we put in there for
planning purposes building off of our master plan. As you recall the reason we were still working on
the master plan was DNR had some feedback before they would accept it. They wanted some
what I'll call more encyclopedic elements added back in stuff that we know about our parks but they
wanted to see present. So nothing substantive in terms of the decision making strategic plan of the
master plan has changed in the version that you have now that we are going to ask the board to read
up in December. It just includes a lot more of that encyclopedic information about in and about our
park system.
I'll let you look at the CPI grant projects and they're happy to have a discussion now or later about
those. We should find out about those planning grant awards by the end of the year and then we go into
the planning phase to apply for the full up to 10 million dollar grant by August 20 27. OK. All right.
Yeah I'm sorry but this still the Microsoft outage. I don't know. I can't remember if I had questions
about or not because I can't pull it up. But OK. All right.
But yes thank you for that. Did you have any questions. Yeah. All right. And then we just have the regular
public comment period here at the end if I don't see any unfamiliar faces now. But yeah nobody. OK.
All right. And then Tim do you have any other announcements and announcements for us this evening. I
think we've covered our next and last meeting of the year will be Thursday December 10th regular time
right here.
All right. Well thank you to staff and to public who came out tonight. And with that I'll adjourn the
November meeting of the Bloomington Board of Park commissioners.