[0:06] Chairperson: Good evening. Welcome to the Parks and Rec Commission meeting on October 15, 2024. We are in the Oakdale City Council Chambers. Julie, can you take the roll? [0:06] Julie Williams: Commissioner Cunningham? [0:06] Commissioner Cunningham: Here. [0:06] Julie Williams: Commissioner Jackaletto? [0:06] Commissioner Jackaletto: Here. [0:06] Julie Williams: Commissioner Giannini? [0:06] Commissioner Giannini: Here. [0:06] Julie Williams: Commissioner Meyer? [0:06] Commissioner Meyer: Here. [0:06] Julie Williams: Commissioner Moore? [0:06] Commissioner Moore: Here. [0:06] Julie Williams: Commissioner Shaw? [0:06] Commissioner Shaw: Here. [0:06] Julie Williams: Commissioner Berth is not here. [0:06] Chairperson: All right, thank you everyone. Approval of minutes. Did everyone get a chance to approve the minutes of last month? [0:06] Commissioners: Yes. [0:06] Chairperson: Oh, Pledge of Allegiance—I skipped one, my apologies. [0:52] Chairperson: Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Now we'll get to the approval of the minutes. Anyone want to take a look at them? Questions or anything on there? Can I get a motion to approve? [0:52] Commissioner: So moved. [1:38] Chairperson: We have a motion and a second? [1:38] Commissioner: Second. [1:38] Chairperson: All in favor? [1:38] Commissioners: Aye. [1:38] Chairperson: Pass. Approval of the agenda for today. Everyone get a chance to look at what we're going to talk about? Can I get a motion for the approval of the agenda? [1:38] Commissioner: So moved. [1:38] Commissioner: Second. [1:38] Chairperson: Passed, thank you. Right now we have an open forum. This is for anyone to come up here, and I do not see anyone in attendance at this point. So we will move ahead to Old Business: 2024 Work Plan Commission Education. Any comments on that, Julie? [2:25] Julie Williams: Yep, thank you. So what I had written down in my notes: we had Commissioner Meyer doing the Indoor Market, and so that won't happen until November. Commissioner Shaw, I had the Flashlight Pumpkin Hunt, so that'll be next week. And Commissioner Giannini was to be determined. [2:25] Commissioner Giannini: Yeah, I'll let you know after tonight. I'll look at them and for out of time. [2:25] Julie Williams: Okay, sounds good. So we won't have any reports then until the November meeting unless someone attended anything else that I'm not aware of. [3:11] Commissioner Shaw: Wait, I could maybe attend the beginning of the pumpkin hunt. I just can't attend the—it just gets too late to bring my daughter. That's okay, you know what I would love to do. That's just kind of a little past bedtime for her. [3:11] Julie Williams: Sure, no, that's fine. You can change whatever. [3:11] Commissioner Shaw: Yeah, like I already have the Art Fair in my calendar—Indoor Market, I mean. And then not until winter, but the Winter Wonderland, and I saw there was a winter scavenger hunt. That would be fun. [3:11] Julie Williams: Okay, sounds good. We'll put you down for those. [3:11] Commissioner Cunningham: Can I add one? [3:11] Julie Williams: Sure. [3:11] Commissioner Cunningham: Well, I don't know if this is... but the grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Willowbrook Park. Yeah, a few of us were there. And that was really a nice grand opening. The park looks great and I hope that gets lots of use. [3:11] Julie Williams: Perfect. Okay, thank you. [3:57] Chairperson: The 2025 Work Plan discussion. Julie? [3:57] Julie Williams: So, hopefully everybody took a look at that. Like we talked about at the last meeting, everything pretty much remains the same. I did have an additional one on the bottom there: the Willowbrook Parks West and North. So that was one addition. I didn't hear from anybody else as far as ideas or anything they wanted me to add, but if this looks good to everybody, we can move ahead with this one. We still have time to make additions if you want to do that. [3:57] Commissioner: I think it looks pretty comprehensive. [3:57] Commissioner: I like it. I'm fine with it. [4:42] Chairperson: Okay, anybody else? Comments? Jen, you're good? All right. Do we need to make... no, not at that point yet. Yeah, looks great. Perfect, thank you. I'm just cruising along here. Okay, I'll go to the staff. Julie, you want to start? Or does Jeff want to go? [4:42] Jeff Koesling: Follow our regular... yeah, that's fine. Good evening. I don't have a lot to go over tonight, excuse me. I'll just echo what Commissioner Cunningham said: on Saturday, we had the grand opening of our new park. I'm not going to say a whole lot about it because I'm going to save that for our Council Member in the audience here so I don't want to steal his thunder. [5:28] Jeff Koesling: It was great. It was something I've never been able to do since I've been here in 20-plus years—we've never had a brand-new park. We've rededicated and redone them, but it was neat to see a brand-new park. The team I worked with—SRF and City staff, Andy Gitzlaff, Hannah, and Julie—for two years, to see that go from zero to what it is now, it's pretty neat to see it come to life. So, I really appreciated everybody who showed up there and the support from the Council. The current Mayor was there, former Mayor Reinke was there, our Administrator was there... it was just neat to see all of our Council Members there. Kids had a blast. So, I'll let Council Member Morcomb touch more on that, I'm sure. [6:13] Jeff Koesling: Other than that, crews are getting ready. We're starting to clean parks up for fall. Sports are coming to an end here. I just got an email from Mark yesterday—soccer's done this week and then football's a couple more weeks out and we'll be transitioning over to the winter stuff. Sounds like we'll have ice this year, which is sort of depressing. No, it's not! It is, but it isn't. So yeah, we're changing all of our equipment over. Things are starting to slow down. We've had no rain, so cutting grass has sort of come to a halt. We're winterizing all the irrigation systems, the buildings, fountains, and everything. So yeah, pretty short and sweet, but if you have any questions for me, that's all I really had. [7:01] Commissioner Cunningham: I don't have a question, Jeff, but I learned something watching you at the Willowbrook ribbon cutting. I didn't know what those posts were for over on the side, and I watched you and your team hanging up the hammocks. [7:01] Jeff Koesling: Neither did I until I got there! Well, we did... I'll share a funny story. We were up there—I didn't mean to interrupt you—this was about three weeks ago and we were like, "Hey, we're getting closer," and we were standing there and one of the members from Vite says, "Well, you guys know what those posts are for?" and I said, "I think I do, do you?" He goes, "Yeah, they're for the hammocks." I said, "Well, do we have any?" and they said no. I said, "Well, we better get some. Who's going to do that?" So they all looked at me and I said, "Okay, I'll get some and put them on there," because if the Council or anybody's up here looking at that, they're going to wonder what the heck. And again, I'll let Andy share his story, but yeah, they are cool. I found them on Amazon and they're pretty neat. [7:47] Commissioner Cunningham: We have hammocks in our house and I didn't know that that's what those posts were for—that we could just bring our hammock and hang out. So I learned something watching you that morning. [7:47] Jeff Koesling: Yeah, thank you. It was probably entertaining to watch. [7:47] Commissioner Cunningham: I didn't pay that close of attention. [8:33] Jeff Koesling: No, I know—there's a guy who doesn't know what he's doing over there! But yeah, it is a great park and great setting. We just need the grass to grow in the spring and we'll be good. [8:33] Chairperson: Did you get any comments from the people? [8:33] Jeff Koesling: A lot of—yeah, everybody loved it. I mean, it was from 50, 60-year-old people to three-year-old kids, and it was just neat to see them everywhere on it. [8:33] Chairperson: How's the parking situation? [8:33] Jeff Koesling: It's going to be tight, but you know what? For the big crowd that we had up there on Saturday, it didn't look over-congested. The weather wasn't bad, but maybe on a nicer day more people would have come out. I think it'll be fine. There's plenty of parking; we had laid out the lot on Friday—there's 30 spots there, 32 total including a couple of handicapped spots. Then even if you parked around the park on the north or south side, or even the west, there's a nice trail around it you can cut through. At any given time, there may not be as many as Saturday. So yeah, it was good. [9:20] Chairperson: Great. Any other questions for Jeff? Thanks, Jeff. [9:20] Jeff Koesling: Thank you. [9:20] Julie Williams: Sure, I've got the October update. We wrapped up the Farmers Market last Wednesday, October 9th. Really great season. Nathan Timmons always does a really great job coordinating our markets. Now we're looking forward to the Indoor Market, which is kicking off in just a few weeks on November 16th. That'll be here before we know it. We've got an upcoming Red Cross blood drive, and that'll be this Friday, actually. That's a coordination between the Oakdale Wellness 50 Plus group and the Oakdale Lions Club. I looked this morning and it looked like we had five openings still. So that's great. If anybody wants to get in last minute, go sign up and get those last spots. [10:06] Julie Williams: Our Flashlight Pumpkin Hunt will take place on Thursday, October 24th, from 7:00 to 8:30 at the Discovery Center. This is an annual event where kids hunt for pumpkins along the luminary-lit trail in the Nature Preserve. Really popular event. We do have a few openings, so if anybody knows anybody who's wanting to sign up, I would recommend signing up as soon as possible because that event will fill up. [10:06] Julie Williams: To go along with the Flashlight Pumpkin Hunt, we've got our Pumpkin Carving Contest that will start this Sunday. We accept pumpkins October 20th through the 24th, and they're displayed at our event for participants to vote on their choices. Also really fun—we typically get 10 to 15, so we're always hoping to get a few more every year. [10:52] Chairperson: They bring them right to the Discovery Center? [10:52] Julie Williams: Yep, and they drop them off. Absolutely. And you don't need to be registered for the pumpkin hunt to participate; anybody can come and drop their pumpkins off. [11:38] Julie Williams: We've got our Art Discovery Fair coming up in November on Saturday, November 23rd, from 10:00 to 3:00 at the Discovery Center. We are full with 21 artists, so we've got a waitlist started. Some of the art for sale will include paintings, cards, jewelry, fiber creations, mandala rocks, glass art, pottery, woodworking, and more. [11:38] Julie Williams: I mentioned our Indoor Market—like I said, that'll be back at the Discovery Center on November 16th. We're currently working on finalizing all the vendors. I was speaking with Nathan today, and it’s looking good. We are also currently accepting applications for rink attendants. Like Jeff was saying, hopefully we do get some ice. We are taking those applications through November. [13:10] Chairperson: 16 plus? [13:10] Julie Williams: Yes. No 15-year-olds, unfortunately. And lastly, our Discovery Center display room makeover is nearly complete, so that is open. We're waiting on a few more touches to finalize it, but stop by and see some of the new variety of exhibits and hands-on experiences we have for kids. It's been really busy this week. [13:10] Chairperson: Good. The MEA break amped up. Can you talk about that a little bit? [13:10] Julie Williams: Yeah, that actually was the concert that we had that was rescheduled from this summer when they were rained out. We slipped them into that, and actually, it was last Friday at the Discovery Center. [13:57] Chairperson: Was it a turnout or...? [13:57] Julie Williams: Lower turnout than we normally get, but typically we don't have that at the Discovery Center or on a Friday night. They seem to do better during the week. [13:57] Commissioner Giannini: I thought the other concert that they had rescheduled at the Farmers Market was well-attended too. [13:57] Julie Williams: It was, and that's another idea that we're going to look at for next summer too. It’s nice to have music at the Farmers Market. [14:43] Commissioner Giannini: Without taking Council Members' things, I just wanted to put on note that everybody who had anything to do with the Willowbrook Commons creation, building, and execution—just such a great job. It’s a beautiful park. The event was wonderful. So, thank you to all the people. [14:43] Commissioner Moore: There's not much else to add about the park; it was a wonderful event, beautiful park. I'm excited for lots more play dates there, so thanks Julie. [14:43] Julie Williams: You're welcome. [15:28] Chairperson: All right, next is our Commissioner updates. I was just wondering if you had questions for Julie? Now we're... sorry, you budged right in, that's all right! Um, oh, I guess I do have—were we going to throw out some dates for park tours? I was thinking about... we're getting a little chillier now, I might just wait to go on the Ice Arena tour. And now Willowbrook was an opening, and I think we can all go check that out. I think all the other parks will be in the spring. [15:28] Commissioner Shaw: I was just going to comment that last month when we had the outdoor meeting, I thought that was really great to have our Parks and Rec meeting outdoor. I think during the warmer summer months if we could try to do that more... [16:15] Julie Williams: Yeah, that's in the work plan, so we'll look at doing that at a different park. [16:15] Commissioner Giannini: I was just curious though, since these meetings are televised and such, is there any policy issue with having a meeting outdoors? [16:15] Julie Williams: Nope, that was fine. We let everybody know that it would not be taped, but obviously we record it so we have the minutes for that. [16:15] Chairperson: That was nice. All right, everybody good? Council Member Morcomb, you're up. Welcome. [17:01] Council Member Andy Morcomb: Thanks for having me. Yeah, how can we not talk about the park, right? It's a big deal and I'm glad everyone feels the same way. So incredibly proud of how this thing turned out. I'm fairly new to working with local government, but Jeff and Julie have been here a number of years, and this is a milestone moment for you both. I hope you both got a piece of the ribbon! [17:47] Council Member Andy Morcomb: A couple of things I wanted to highlight: besides it being absolutely beautiful, I love that—was it crumb rubber? Is that what they call that? Pour-in-place. It's so soft, it's so safe. It is not the childhood I grew up with, but I love that our residents have it. But the amount of feedback that went into building that park—not just from staff and SRF but from the community. I remember we reached out to the principal of Castle Elementary—that’s the zone where the kids would come from—to make sure we're building something they're excited about. The fact that it's wheelchair accessible... during the grand opening, we had a little kiddo in a wheelchair, and to see her use the merry-go-round and the picnic tables that cut off at the end so you can wheel right up to it. Even the tower in the middle—it's got this flat surface where she could crawl up and be a part of it. It is so cool to have something that can really serve all of our residents' needs. I drive by there every day after work and I have not seen a day where it is not filled with people and kids. [18:35] Council Member Andy Morcomb: The only other update I had is the Fourth Street bridge is finally going to be opening up here. In a couple of weeks, on the 29th, we've got a little ribbon cutting with County Commissioner Karwaski, and I think they're trying to get State Senator Tou Xiong out there and Leon Lillie because of the funding. Having access back to all parts of our city is an exciting time of year when construction's done. [19:21] Chairperson: What date is that? [19:21] Council Member Andy Morcomb: The cutting is going to be on October 29th. They're going to do some pictures and I believe it opens a day or two after. So, about Halloween. [19:21] Chairperson: That's great news. Any questions from the Commissioners? [20:06] Commissioner Cunningham: I can't keep my kid away from there; he always wants to go every day. "Can we go to the park?" I liked it that there was things for kids and adults of all different ages. I had my grandsons who are going to be 13; they really enjoyed it. It wasn't just for tiny kids. [20:06] Jeff Koesling: I can share: I was up there Friday morning at 7:25 actually. I brought the cleaning lady up to have the bathroom building ready. There were three families already there with kids. "Can we be on here?" They were all scared! I said, "It’s ten dollars." [Laughter]. It was neat. People, my neighbors, it's on Google—"Come check this new park out in Oakdale." It's pretty cool to see. [20:52] Chairperson: Fabulous. Well, thank you very much. All right, I guess we're good. Can I get a motion for adjournment? [20:52] Commissioner: Motion. [20:52] Commissioner: I'll second. [20:52] Chairperson: All in favor? [20:52] Commissioners: Aye. [20:52] Chairperson: We are adjourned. Our next meeting is November 19th here at the Oakdale City Hall. Happy Halloween, good night.