This transcript belongs to the **Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission** meeting. Based on the dialogue and the context provided, the primary speakers are **Zac Dockter** (Parks and Recreation Director), **Chair Brown** (Commission Chair), **Justin Olsen** (Councilmember and Liaison), and **Kelly Glassford** (New Commissioner). Since the original text did not include specific timestamps, I have formatted the dialogue with logical markers. *** **[00:00] Chair Brown:** Calling the May 8th meeting of the Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission to order. The mission of the Cottage Grove Parks and Recreation Commission is to create and promote policies, programs, and places that enable active living for a more vibrant community. We have a new commissioner joining us this evening, Commissioner Glassford. We're really happy that you're here with us. Can you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us what's your favorite park? **[00:25] Commissioner Kelly Glassford:** Sure. Um, my name is Kelly. I've lived in Cottage Grove since 2012 and I have two little boys. And my favorite park is probably... I like Hazen P. Moore because I like to kayak, so. **[00:40] Chair Brown:** Great, thank you. Roll call taken. Has everyone had the opportunity to review the agenda? **[00:45] Commission Member:** Yes. **[00:46] Chair Brown:** Any comments or questions? **[00:48] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda. **[00:50] Commission Member:** Thank you, I'll second. **[00:52] Chair Brown:** Hey, all in favor? **[00:53] Commission Members:** Aye. **[00:54] Chair Brown:** Any opposed? Hey, motion carries. Um, have we reviewed the minutes? Any comments or questions on the minutes? **[01:00] Commission Member:** I make a motion to approve the minutes as submitted. **[01:03] Commission Member:** Second. **[01:05] Chair Brown:** Thank you. Those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay, next up we have Open Forum. If anyone would like to speak on a topic that is not on the agenda, this is the opportunity. Oh, I'm sorry... um, it's time for Open Forum. So anyone who wants to speak on a topic that is not listed on our agenda, this is the time for that. None? All right, moving on to presentations. **[01:30] Zac Dockter:** Thank you, Chair, members of the Commission. Tonight I'd like to make a short presentation on the Cottage Grove Trailway Corridor Landscape Restoration project. At your last meeting, staff proposed application for a grant to the Minnesota DNR for their Conservation Partners Grant through their Legacy funding and also received Council authorization based on your recommendation to apply for that grant. Tonight we want to make sure we reached out to the residents prior to that actual application and get any discussion about the project with the residents and address any concerns that they might have. I will tell you that there is no formal action being requested for the Commission tonight; we are just providing further information on the project and then also allowing the public to speak if they so choose. So just a real brief overview: the site is over 21 acres of the Cottage Grove Trailway Corridor. The Corridor runs from the northwest quadrant of the community all the way down to Ravine Regional Park towards the southeast quadrant of the developed community, I would say. So we've been working on this project since 2003 to develop that corridor into two things: one, a recreational trail which the whole corridor actually has paved trail connections, and then also to restore the habitat to create that nature ecosystem throughout the entire corridor. I just wanted to briefly talk about the goals of the project. So the restoration work would look like kind of what's envisioned here. The yellow areas are prairie, the blue area is ponding, and then the green areas would be more forested areas or woodland areas with some tree editing to get rid of non-native or involuntary trees to scale those back and then also replant some shrubs and other trees to bring it back to a more native landscape. Talking a little bit about our Public Open Space Management program: the current classification for this area is actually a Classification D. It was planted and it was mostly brome grass in that area, and then there's obviously a lot of weed and woody species that have filled in since the 1960s when that area was originally planted. We do mow it about once a year. It's a little bit different than some of the Class E areas where we don't mow at all, but in this one we do typically mow it about once a year. Obviously, no irrigation, little to no weed control other than through mowing. We don't fertilize; we kind of only go in there for that periodic mow. So it would be, with the restoration work, moving to a Classification C where it's got more intentional native prairie plantings—both flowers and grasses. We would mow it at least once a year or do a prescribed burn. Not "at least" once a year, but typically it's once a year. Still no irrigation, still meant to be natural, but we really try to make sure that we maintain it either through spot spraying, mowing, or prescribed burn each year. And then obviously the end goal is to have a native prairie and woodland and wetland area throughout that landscape. The process—talked a little bit about that a couple slides ago—but tree editing: getting in there and looking at the trees. There's a lot of black locusts that we want to thin out because that grows through the roots, it grows really fast, and takes over super fast. And if you walk all through, you can kind of see how it's taken over the landscape, especially on the southwest side of that corridor. Then we have an herbicide application where you kind of kill all the grass areas and get that back to bare soil. A second herbicide application can be applied if the first kill goes really well, then you don't necessarily need to do the second one or you can do a spot spray. Then it's usually followed by a burn and then after that burn, you can go through and till the seed right into the soil. When I say "till," we're not actually turning over the soil; we're trying to keep the soil intact. That's the whole intent of a restoration project like this. So it's called the no-till drill where it just drives the seed right in through an inch under the soil or so. So we try to disturb the soil as little as possible. And then growth and management: it takes three to five years for these to be established—I mean, it really takes five-plus years for them to be fully mature. Targeted herbicide application involves people literally walking around with backpacks of herbicide and spraying woody and weedy species that we want to get rid of, mowing, clipping woody species trees that are trying to regrow, and then prescribed burning and then interceding bare spots that haven't grown in. Timeline is dependent on the grant award. The grant application does not open up until August, so we have some time before that even happens. So we probably won't even be in 2023; we're probably looking more at 2024 before we do anything. But we could go and do some tree editing over the winter—that's usually a good time to do that so you're not disturbing the soil and you can kind of get the trees while there's no foliage on them, and it makes for easy work and you can do burn piles and things like that. So there could be some tree editing, but for the most part, we wouldn't be until fall 2024 before we actually start restoring the landscape. Unexpected benefits: landscape beautification, native plant diversity, pollination habitat, living and breeding habitat for wildlife, water quality infiltration, soil stabilization, and then reduced long-term maintenance requirements including tree removals, weeds, and pond management. One of the things I always tell people is that when I got here 21 years ago, we used to have a full-time person that would start mowing in the end of April or early May for open spaces. It would take them two or three weeks to get all the way around and then he would start mowing again and he would do that all summer long. We've come a long way now. We go up maybe two weeks in the spring and two weeks in the fall with mowing just to make sure that our grasslands stay grasslands, because if we don't mow them, then they turn into Buckthorn forests and sumac covered things like that which is not great habitat either, and we want to have a balance of all that. So we do still need to mow those areas or maintain them in some way. We've come a long way; we've reduced a lot of that negative impact on the environment through mowing and spraying and things like that by having these diverse landscapes. Similar projects just for your review: Metal Grass, West Draw Park, Pine Summit Pond, Hidden Valley Park and Pond, Kingston Park, Woodridge Park, Pine Tree Pond Park, Hamlet Park, Camel Sump, and Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park. There's actually quite a few more, but just to show that we've had a lot of success in these areas. The end goal, as I talked about early on in the presentation, is to create this "habitat belt," I call it. It's running right through the heart of the community for all those benefits of the restoration project. And then real quick, the red oval there is the project that we're proposing to restore, and then the last remaining connection would be that blue oval on the southeast corner there. At this point, staff recommendation is to simply allow public input for the Cottage Grove Trailway Corridor Landscape Restoration project and then approve the letter of support for the grant application. With that, I'll turn it back over to the chair. **[08:15] Chair Brown:** The description of "tree editing" is something that caught my attention, because when you talk about editing it makes me think that it'll be really specific and kind of narrow removal of specific trees, but it's hard for me to picture what those wooded areas might look like after the editing portion is complete. Do you have an idea of about how many trees or what the visual impact might be there? **[08:40] Zac Dockter:** So, one, we would actually go in with our ecologist and do a little further dive into the trees that are there, but we will not go out and completely clear-cut any sections of forest. The only exception might be on the southwest side as you get closer to Hinton where the trail comes up and it's on the south side of the trail where there's that black locust issue there. You know, there we might want to get in there because it's starting to break up the trail and it's just going to continue to grow, and black locust is just extremely hard to control. So that's the only exception I can see. But usually, if there's nice box elders... those are native trees as well. So I mean, we try to keep nice trees and then clean up what's already dead, dying, or fallen. So yeah, so a lot of homeowners are usually concerned about losing the whole forest behind their home. That's pretty rare that we do that; that's more of an Excel Energy thing where they clear-cut. We'll try to preserve some semblance of that and then try to keep the mature trees and get rid of any of the immature trees around it so that it's kind of isolated to that area. **[10:00] Chair Brown:** Thank you. **[10:02] Commissioner Larson:** Zac, are we kind of guaranteed to get this grant or is there a plan if we don't get the grant? **[10:10] Zac Dockter:** Commissioner Larson, there is no guarantee to get the grant. We've been successful so far. All those projects I showed on that habitat corridor have been grant-funded, so I think they're starting to see the vision. I will say I did the first project in 2003 and then maybe two or three applications after that—some of those areas weren't funded. But ever since they've started to see the vision of that belt, we've been very successful. So no guarantee; I feel confident about it, but if we don't get it, we continue to reapply. Sometimes the pool is really strong with applicants and sometimes not as strong, so we just keep reapplying. It is only a 10% match, and most of our funding comes through in-kind services like these mowings and some of my management time on the project and things like that. So it's a good value. **[11:05] Chair Brown:** Any other questions or comments from the Commission? Okay, then we'd like to invite public comment at this time. Yes, and if you could start by sharing your name and your address, please. **[11:20] Susan Wagner:** Hi, my name is Susan Wagner and I live on 788-something at 72nd Street and I am one of the houses that is along the corridor that you're talking about restoring. And I am here—and maybe I'm jumping the gun here—but I'm concerned. I mean, I love the idea of the project. I emailed Zac and let him know what my concerns are. When I moved to Cottage Grove, the back of that field was horrible. I mean, it was just weeds, a lot of weeds. And I live in a townhouse so I only have a certain section of property, so I can't plant a lot of flowers. So I thought this was my opportunity to plant some flowers, and so for the last 12 years that I've lived in Cottage Grove, I have spent thousands of dollars planting flowers. And they're Minnesota flowers, and I gave Zac a whole list of all the flowers I planted. So I have no permanent structures on my land purposely because it is Excel or it's not my land, so I didn't put anything permanent on there. And I can guarantee you there are no trees because Excel Energy has cut down every little seedling that has ever come up on that land. So I have replanted grass, I have wildflowers, I even planted a prickly pear cactus that actually started growing. But I am concerned with this project that you guys are going to dig up my flowers, and I would like to make sure that that doesn't happen. And so I would like you to take into consideration the people who have spent money to grow flowers and beautify the area and make it habitat friendly. I stated to Zac actually a couple years ago I planted some milkweed for the purpose of trying to get monarch butterflies, and last year after all those years, I finally was able to rescue one and I grew it and I let it loose. So I don't want to lose that, and so I'm here to ask you to not dig up or burn my flowers, which is part of what they're talking about doing in here. That's it. **[13:10] Chair Brown:** Thank you, Susan. Yes, you can come... I just have a few questions. We forgot about this. **[13:15] Patrick Drisco:** Hi, I'm Patrick Drisco. I live at 7816 73rd Street South and I'm also in the corridor and I love the trail. I love everything about this project that you're doing. And my question is—well, first let me explain what we inherited when we moved here nine years ago. The person who owned the home before us took a bunch of furniture and burned it on city property and left a six-foot pile of ash. We came to look at the house before we closed and we said "that's got to go," and I think what he did was just spread it out. But in the process of burning that huge pile of whatever he was burning—I'm sure it was furniture—he killed all the black walnut trees around that perimeter. And in the years that woodpeckers... I mean, it's been fun to see the pileated woodpeckers out there and stuff like that because you don't usually see them here, but we know it's infested with bugs and crap and it's just icky. So we're hoping that in places where there are forested lands that you'll refurbish the forest with native forest trees, maybe even if they're little. I mean, it would be nice to have some trees back there because we're the ones that are going to be devastated. It's just gonna... if you take out all the dead trees and then... I don't know what kind of things those things are that are growing in there, but I don't know what that stuff looks like that's invasive. So I think it might be some of that because it does kill trees, I know that because there's buckthorn. Okay, probably more than one. Yeah, so I know. So I'm glad you're doing the project. I'm just hoping that... and the other thing is we're both very old, you know, we're in our 70s. So we also inherited a little what would you call it, a shack that sits on the city property. So that's our responsibility to move that, and we're both old and physically can't do that. So if you could help us, if there's any volunteers that would help us tear it down, that would be great. We're in the process of cleaning it out and getting rid of junk in there. So we need help getting the structure off the land. So if you could consider that, I would appreciate that. And I think there's another neighbor but they're younger. We just have hard travel time just doing our snow and grass, so we're hurting here. We don't want to sell either. All right, thank you. **[15:45] Chair Brown:** Thank you. If you'd like, Zac, if there's no other comments, then you can address or answer any additional questions. But I guess maybe give one more ask: is there anyone else who'd like to speak? Okay, Zac. **[16:00] Zac Dockter:** Chair, members of the Commission, just to respond: I will go out and look at both these addresses. We try to deal with each situation as we see them. We don't just go out and have a blanket approach of clearing and burning without regard. So we will go out and visit each one. I can't promise anything. At some point, you know, you're spending tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand dollars or more on the project; you've got to make sure that you're prepping the site the appropriate way. But if there's native plants, we would certainly want to try to work with the resident to see how we can preserve that investment. And then as far as the tree editing, yeah, we would be looking more—I can't remember exactly where this is—but I think it's on the south side. So you'd see more thinning than anything other than those black locusts. I mean, I could see that being a little bit more, but there's a lot of boxelder and other things that you'd see more thinning. Those trees wouldn't necessarily go away and things like buckthorn we would try to get in there and get those out of there. But it's what we do. So yeah, it's the battle we take on. Once again, I can't make any promises without going to look at them, but I can assure you that I will go out and look at both sites and I can get your guys' contact information after. Sue, I have yours. I can get your contact information and follow up afterwards. **[17:35] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** If I could, Zac. I appreciate... pardon me everyone. First of all, I want to thank the citizens for coming and sharing your comments with us. It's really, really important for us. Part of our main part of our job is to be a facility for you to talk to us. So we really appreciate it; it's meaningful for us. And Zac, I would ask that if you would please report back to us on both of these properties at one of our future meetings so that we learn what it is you're able to do to help these citizens. **[18:05] Zac Dockter:** Appreciate it, will do. Look forward to our action items. First of which is—sorry, excuse me. **[18:10] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Then if no one else will, I'd like to make a motion to approve the letter in support of the grant application. I apologize, I forgot about that. **[18:18] Zac Dockter:** Oh, I told the chair there was no action. I was incorrect, I apologize. I am looking for a letter of support for the grant application, which requires a motion and a second. **[18:30] Chair Brown:** Thank you, Councilman Olsen. So moved. Who's the second? **[18:34] Commission Member:** I second. **[18:35] Chair Brown:** Yeah, those in favor? **[18:36] Commission Members:** Aye. **[18:37] Chair Brown:** Opposed? Motion carries. Good catch, commissioners. Now we'll move on to the Liaison appointment to the Advice Committee on Historic Preservation. **[18:50] Zac Dockter:** Thank you, Chair, members of the Commission. The Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission bylaws state that the Commission shall appoint a representative to the Advisory Committee on Historical Preservation, otherwise known as ACHP. It's not necessarily required that the liaison goes to every meeting; however, annual representation is recommended. So at this point, the position is currently vacant and staff is recommending the Commission consider appointing a commissioner for the role. If no commissioner is appointed, then staff representatives from each commission will continue to bridge the relationship gap between the two commissions. So looking for a motion and a second to appoint a representative to the Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation. **[19:40] Kelly Glassford:** When do they meet? **[19:42] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** I could actually... they meet on Thursday or Wednesday every other month. Like once a month, every other month, right? So I actually went to the April 11th meeting just to see what it was like because I could see we had this obligation that we hadn't fulfilled. And it was a good meeting. It wasn't set up real well because they had to move to a different room, but I kind of got the flavor for it and I would be willing to do this for us. I'm not willing to commit to more than one meeting a year, but I would do at least that. And I will also go to their June meeting. I talked to some of them at the volunteer appreciation dinner and said I was going to offer to do this and they seemed to like the idea. So I wouldn't be reporting all the time, just if something came up where there's a historical item or resource that our city has—an asset—and then there's a park maybe associated with that. Then the two groups—us as a Commission, them as a Committee—there would be a need for some close communication. And I feel confident that I'd be able to do that. I've also asked that staff for that staff liaison for that group include me on their packet. That way I can see if there's something at a meeting that I go, "Well gee whiz, we should be there." If I can't attend then I would reach out to all of you and see if someone could go in my place, or make sure Zac can go maybe. So I would offer to do that. **[21:10] Chair Brown:** Make a motion that we appoint Commissioner Olsen as our Parks, Recreation, and National Resources Commission representative to the ACHP. **[21:18] Commission Member:** And second that. **[21:20] Chair Brown:** Any additional questions or comments? Okay, those in favor? **[21:23] Commission Members:** Aye. **[21:24] Chair Brown:** Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you for volunteering, Commissioner Olsen. Next, we have our Park Tour planning. **[21:35] Zac Dockter:** Thank you, Chair, members of the Commission. Annually, typically in June, we do a park tour where we get a bus and we go out and visit the sites so that Commissioners can kind of work together and see these projects in progress. So I've put together a potential agenda and it's open to interpretation for and direction from the Commission. Or, at one point, Commissioner Olsen asked about potentially meeting at a park site. We could do that if the Commission's not already excited about the tour as well; we could meet at a park site, perhaps a site that's under construction or has a project going on. So I'll turn it over to the chair for a discussion on that topic. **[22:20] Chair Brown:** I really like park tours. Your list of parks... and who all gets invited to the park tour? **[22:25] Zac Dockter:** So we will invite all the Commissioners, obviously. We also invite all the other commissioners of all the other commissions—Planning Commission, Historic Preservation Commission (which we actually had good representation from them last year), the Public Services Commission, Public Safety Commission. The Council is all invited. **[22:45] Chair Brown:** It is an action item. Did you want to act? I like it. **[22:48] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** The action... we approved the tour? Yes. I can make a motion to approve the tour as it's listed. **[22:54] Commission Member:** Okay, second. **[22:56] Chair Brown:** Those in favor? **[22:57] Commission Members:** Aye. **[22:58] Chair Brown:** Any opposed? Motion carries. **[23:00] Zac Dockter:** And Chair and Commissioners, if anything comes up that you want to see in between now and then, just let me know. We can certainly amend the route. **[23:10] Chair Brown:** Okay, and we should note that the start time is at 6:00 PM when we regularly meet at 7:00 PM, so just in case you need to adjust your calendars. **[23:18] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Well, actually, Chair, excuse me. Could I request that staff remind us again prior to the meeting that it's at six, not seven? Thank you. **[23:25] Chair Brown:** Next we have the Commissioner Recruitment report. **[23:30] Zac Dockter:** Thank you, Chair, members of the Commission. We've spent some time at the last couple—two or three—meetings talking about recruitment and onboarding, and I think we're making some progress. Hopefully, the new Commissioners have seen the benefits of the onboarding process, so that's been good. And then there was also discussion on how we recruit. So I just went through and talked with our communications staff and our HR staff on how we get the word out about commissioner openings. I'll provide that list, and certainly, if there are ideas or thoughts from the Commission, we are gladly willing to listen and add some different methods. **[24:10] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Zac, are we full or are we at high vacancies on our Commission today? **[24:15] Zac Dockter:** We have one youth vacancy, but we're full on adults. **[24:20] Kelly Glassford:** The age for the youth? **[24:22] Zac Dockter:** 13 to 18. They also have to be enrolled, Kelly, in school. They have to be in school, right. **[24:30] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** All right. So actually, I would like to challenge us as a Commission to really give this more thought. I don't know if we have any rolling off towards the end of this year, but I think we could be more directly involved in this recruitment process. I think things like the Chamber's CG Connect event... maybe one of us could have been at the booth. Maybe at Strawberry Festival, although that's not on the list. I assume that the city has the booth at the business fair and maybe we could try to be there just so that as citizens come up, we can talk about our Commission and other commissions and be able to say, you know, we're citizens, we're not staff. And I also just wanted to see if anyone else has other ideas, because you know, we have fresh eyes on this versus staff. Zac and everyone seems to be doing a really great job, but we have fresh eyes. So let's not just be tied to that, or just talk to my ideas either. **[25:35] Chair Brown:** One of the things that prompted me to ask about our recruitment efforts was a comment from a community member about a different project where he felt like his community wasn't receiving the same types of information. And so I was just kind of curious about the vehicles that we use now. This I think is a great list, but I wonder if we could consider having communications available in more languages than just English to be able to reach some of our different populations within our community. Is that something that we're able to do? **[26:10] Zac Dockter:** Chair, I know the CG Connect—that's the newest program we have which was direct email communication—I know that has a multitude of different languages that can be used. As well as our website has different languages that can be used on the website. **[26:25] Chair Brown:** Okay. **[26:26] Commissioner Kelly Glassford:** And as someone who just went through the process, I think what would be helpful is when I fill out the application... I just had to print it and fill it out because it's not a fillable PDF. So that might be something that's helpful for new applicants as well. **[26:40] Zac Dockter:** And that we're actively working on too, Commissioner Glassford, to make that a much easier process. **[26:45] Kelly Glassford:** I was gonna say for like the youth, have we considered like talking with counseling offices at like the middle schools or high schools? Because I know a lot of kids are looking for opportunities for like, you know, their college applications or things like that. So just reaching out and they can always offer to a student like, "I know you're looking for something, here's an opportunity for you." **[27:05] Zac Dockter:** Commissioner Glassford, I do have direct communication with counselors and vice presidents periodically. I would say since COVID, maybe not quite as much, but I do try to get into those newsletters and then also reach out to the principals and just say, "Hey, if there's anybody you know that's looking for community service type work..." These look great on resumes. The students that have come out of here always, every single time, follow up with me for letters of recommendation. So whether it's for a job or for college or for a full-time job out of college, they come back to me all the time. I hire a lot of people and that would look good to me. That's civic involvement. **[27:50] Kelly Glassford:** So has there typically been a struggle to get youth commissioners? **[27:55] Zac Dockter:** Yeah, but it seems like this last round—the last couple of years, I think since COVID—but other than that we've always had two. But it's usually personal connections. 99% of the time it's a personal connection. So if you know somebody that has older kids, just talk to them. You just never know what's going to stick. **[28:15] Chair Brown:** Building off of those connections... for the trail adoption program, we have recipients of our matching grants, people who come and visit our meetings, groups who make park building reservations, families involved with supervised playgrounds and other events like that. You know, if we have contact information, I wonder if this would be one of those instances where it would be appropriate to send an email communication perhaps saying, "Hey, we know that you've been a part of our programs in the past, would you be interested in helping to grow those programs and make decisions on those programs?" And kind of building off that network of people who are already involved in some way who might welcome the opportunity to be more involved or could share with their communities. **[29:05] Zac Dockter:** Chair Brown, we're speaking the same language. When you guys were talking, maybe I was thinking about the recreation program connections. All the events we have, we can reach out to people, but also we have in the past directly emailed people on our program list and we've gotten Commissioners that way too—people that are willing to reinvest that have experienced the benefits of our programs, policies, and services and then they come back and participate. So thank you. **[29:35] Chair Brown:** All right, next we can move on to action updates starting with the 2023 Park Project review. **[29:40] Zac Dockter:** Not a lot of updates there other than Glacial Valley Park. I wanted to touch on that one; that one's been delayed. The process just seems like it's delayed. Contractors are struggling. There was some damage to some concrete in other areas this winter because of a fencing contractor that got a little aggressive on their methods. So we were originally thinking by Fourth of July we were hoping that project was going to be kind of wrapped up. It's probably going to be late summer or early fall at this point. So not a surprise in today's world that construction is a little bit delayed, but it's not going to delay the construction of the building. The building, we're expecting to break ground here in the next couple of weeks—we've had our pre-construction meeting—and then that will go. Otherwise, playgrounds: Peter Thompson playground should be going in here in two weeks. The other playgrounds will be later this summer. Highlands Park playground is supposed to be going in within the next two weeks. And then... I thought I had one other one. So that's my updates for now for park stuff. Jim, did you have any others? No. Okay. **[31:00] Chair Brown:** Next we have the Bylaw Review with the term update. **[31:05] Zac Dockter:** I just submitted... a question came from Commissioner Crabtree about the term and she was correct that the terms did switch based on Council direction. So instead of a maximum of three-year terms, the maximum is now four-year terms. So I did show you the revised bylaws in the memo. **[31:25] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Chair, so is there a typo in this? Is the last line of that paragraph called "Number and Term"... should that be four consecutive terms or three? It was three and it's now four, but I'm reading three. I don't know if it's just my copy, but it's another copy I had at my house and this one, the last line of the paragraph titled "Number and Term," the third to the last word is "three." Should that be four? **[31:55] Zac Dockter:** You're correct. It was changed up above but it was not changed there. We'll have to change that as well. Thanks for the catch. **[32:05] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** With that change, I recommend we receive this information. **[32:10] Zac Dockter:** Chair Brown, I did have one other item that I forgot to put on the actual agenda, but it was part of the updates in the memo if I could just cover the Crockett Fields that's listed in there. **[32:20] Chair Brown:** Yes. **[32:21] Zac Dockter:** So I just want to talk about Crockett Fields. Obviously, the Commission was involved with the renaming of Hamlet Park the south ball fields. There was a very neat event in mid-April. William Crockett was a missing-in-action Vietnam soldier. And so the sign that's in front of you—the field was renamed that with help and guidance from the Commission and the City Council. It's called Crockett Fields at Hamlet Park. In front of you is the sign that will go up at the entrance of the park: "Welcome to Crockett Fields at Hamlet Park." It has the POW-MIA flag on the bottom left, has his dates of life, and then also that etching is actually the etching on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. And then you can see on the bottom right is some information about William Crockett that's at the park underneath the American flag. They did a dedication ceremony out there, like I said, in mid-April. It was a Saturday in April—obviously, it was very chilly. And then this is Herb Reckenshire from the Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation, who was instrumental in the renaming of this. He's very active with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the one that moves around the country. And then that is actually William Crockett's sister. They grew up near Hamlet Park. So her and some other family members were there and a whole bunch of friends from that park graduate class were actually in attendance. I guess they had quite a few people there, so I thought it was very neat. And then Herb actually presented them with the pencil etching of William Crockett's name on the official Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. He had that framed and then presented that to them and that was all his doing. So that was very impressive. Just wanted to share that information with you. **[34:30] Chair Brown:** Thank you so much. Next up we have the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area Water Trail Plan. **[34:40] Zac Dockter:** Thank you, Chair, members of the Commission. At the last meeting, I asked the Commission to review the exhausting packet on the National Water Trail program because the National Park Service is going through that and updating it and updating their mapping. So there were some requests to the Commission that I bring back to the meeting. The meeting was productive; I summarized the bullet points from the meeting. I think that gives you a good understanding of where the meeting went and how things had proceeded through there. And then also I wanted to assure you that all the requests that you gave me I did share with them, and some of them were already part of their plans—like the "working river" and making sure signage and safety were appropriate. So things like that were already in discussion. And then also I thought it was kind of neat that they're working on a water trail logo, which was in your package. So that's the latest rendering. They went through a few different renderings; it was kind of a challenge to figure out how to make sure that the image of the city is in there, but also that it's nature. So there's a lot of things going on there, but I think they've pulled it together pretty well and this is just the first draft, so they'll continue to work on it. Just want to share that updated information with you and let you know that it continues to be a work in progress, but the first meeting went well and I think all the concerns of the Commission were expressed by me to the group and I think they were well received. **[36:20] Chair Brown:** Thank you. Okay, we don't have any donation acknowledgments. **[36:25] Zac Dockter:** Chair, I do have one that I wanted to briefly review. Last Thursday, we did receive an AED which was officially accepted by resolution from the City Council. This is actually an outside AED unit; it's called the SaveStation. This is outside and it's available as an automated external defibrillator; it's available to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It's got a little heating coil in there in the winter so that it stays as warm as it needs to be to operate, and then it's also got a fan in the summer to stay as cool as it needs to be. It's underneath the awning at Woodridge Park and it was donated by the Teddy Dowdle Heart Foundation. Teddy had died at Woodridge Park on the basketball court last year. There will be a video from SWCTC on there. Craig is the father of Teddy—he's on the far right. Teddy was only 23 years old. He tells the story about how Teddy went to the park and went to play basketball with his brother, went to get a rebound, dished it out to his brother, collapsed and died on the court. He was there within five minutes—the father was there within five minutes—and people were performing CPR on him. The EMTs were there within seven or eight minutes, which is the standard. So everybody was there very quickly, but they were not able to revive Teddy. In lieu of that tragedy, they decided to do something in Teddy's memory, which this is the first step to donating an AED at that park. A very, very cool gesture, unique, and something that's new for our park. We're looking at putting this into many other parks and we're working with the Athletic Association who has some funding to do that. We're excited to kind of keep that momentum going and the family's very excited about it too. They're also going to donate to Woodbury—one to the Minnesota Fairview Sports Center as well. They've fundraised all the money and it was a very nice donation and a very good ceremony with, I want to say, probably 150 people there at the park that night. **[38:50] Kelly Glassford:** How much did it cost? **[38:52] Zac Dockter:** So these standing units are about, all installed, close to ten thousand dollars. The ones we're going to buy—the next set—we're going to put them on buildings where you can mount them on buildings. That saves you, you know, maybe fifteen hundred, two thousand dollars. So usually between seven and ten thousand dollars, and it all depends on how much electrical work is needed to get installed. **[39:15] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Do we have one of those units... I mean, not an outdoor one, but do we have one of those at the ice arena? **[39:20] Zac Dockter:** All of our facilities have them, but they're all located inside. So that's the one challenge. And then every—just recently—every police vehicle has an AED unit in it now. Some of our public facilities have two AED units. Obviously, all the EMTs have AED units and then there's obviously a bunch in the private facilities as well. So they're getting out there. And then the other neat thing too is that they're doing a ton... our EMS service—Emergency Medical Services—is doing a ton of training on CPR and the usage of AEDs. Even at this ceremony, my parents got trained in on how to use an AED, which they were very excited about. So yeah, they're getting out in the community trying to make us a HeartSafe community. There's a title for it, but they're trying to make it a HeartSafe community and this is one of the steps towards that. So they're doing a great job. **[40:30] Chair Brown:** And also in our packet, we have staff reports from River Oaks and the Recreation Department who highlighted the egg hunt in the snowstorm, and we also have updates from our Park Maintenance team. How many people ended up attending the Easter event? **[40:45] Zac Dockter:** So I think we had just shy of 600 kids show up, and so we always figure about, you know, multiply that times two and a half. So I'm guessing there was probably close to 1500 people there. Most of the people who registered ended up attending. I just know it was such a hard day. **[41:05] Chair Brown:** Yeah, we were actually planning on going in the morning and the snow was just so heavy that we're like, "Okay, we're gonna stay home." **[41:12] Zac Dockter:** I want to say it was like 50% or less that didn't show up, and then we offered to give them their packets and their prize packs and all that. So a lot of people showed up after. **[41:25] Chair Brown:** Well, that's great. Any other comments or questions about our staff reports? **[41:30] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Well, I enjoyed the article about principles of inclusive playground design. I didn't really see that on our agenda, but sometimes when you put those in there you offer a context for us. **[41:40] Zac Dockter:** Commissioner Olsen... that's just the way we're going. Anytime we build or design a playground, it's not just a cookie-cutter system anymore. We want to make sure that we're trying to appeal to the needs of every single individual—as many individuals as we can—because everybody is an individual whether it's physical, mental, social, or whatever it might be. So the way we design playgrounds is changing and it's for the better, but it takes a lot more thought behind it. **[42:15] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** So if I could share... my first reaction when I read it was we should make all of our playgrounds this. And Commissioner Crabtree, who unfortunately isn't here tonight, challenged me at one of our meetings last summer to be more interested in our playgrounds. So I've been trying to find a way to do that, and reading this article made me more interested. And so if I'm hearing you right, even though it's not the big fancy inclusive playground at Kingston... it's the other one down the hill... all of our playgrounds are inclusive now? At least we're designing them as best we can to achieve that goal. Is that an accurate statement? **[43:00] Zac Dockter:** That is correct. **[43:02] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Well, I would just say that I as a Commissioner feel very supportive of this and if there's anything I can do or we can do to help you achieve that goal, I would want to be part of that. Thank you. **[43:15] Zac Dockter:** Have you tried out the zip lines at Woodridge? **[43:18] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** I have not tried out the zip lines for many years. **[43:20] Zac Dockter:** Well, you could consider that part of your challenge because I think a great way to get to know the playground equipment is to play on it. **[43:28] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Point taken. **[43:30] Chair Brown:** Commission comments submitted information from Commissioner Olsen from the Washington County Parks updates and meeting report. **[43:40] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** I would just offer that I'm not able to attend the Washington County May meeting, but I will get the packet and try to provide some input if I can for us. **[43:50] Chair Brown:** I really liked reading about the county plans for Mississippi Dunes and their support of maintaining the natural landscape. And I'm very excited that there's going to be such efforts made to preserve the area but also kind of speak to what residents were talking about that they really wanted. It's exciting, I can't wait for it to be open so we can all go and explore. **[44:15] Kelly Glassford:** I was interested to know—I didn't see anything on there because maybe it's not on there—but with that water trail coming through too, like, that they won't include maybe like a camping spot or two? Just based on all other water trails I've gone on, we don't have that in Cottage Grove as an option. **[44:35] Zac Dockter:** Commissioner Glassford, we did actually... when we were doing the master planning for that park site, camping was one of the options. Between Commission review and Council review, it was one of the items that actually came off the list. I can't remember all the reasons other than just concern about overnight occupation of that land. So I don't know that it's a forever thing because I do believe that our community has a lack of camping opportunities. So whether it's here or somewhere else, at some point it's something I think we should be addressing in our community, because to my knowledge, you can't camp anywhere in Cottage Grove, which is unfortunate. And we've been asking the county to make sure that they consider that for Ravine Regional, especially as they expand that upper landing, they call it. Even if it's just primitive walk-ins, it's nice to have at least a few of those so people can get a camping experience in the community where you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere still. **[45:45] Chair Brown:** Next up would be Council comments, but we do have copies of recent Council meeting minutes within our packets that we can review. **[45:55] Zac Dockter:** I can try to answer any questions the Commission might have on those Council agendas if there are any. I said "try." **[46:05] Chair Brown:** Okay, well if we don't have any further comments or questions, our agenda is complete, so we can adjourn to our workshop. **[46:12] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** I'll make a motion to adjourn. **[46:14] Kelly Glassford:** I'll second. **[46:15] Chair Brown:** Those in favor? **[46:16] Commission Members:** Aye. **[46:17] Chair Brown:** Opposed? Okay, motion carries. We are adjourned, thank you.