The meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m. by Commission Chair Joel Goldstein and the roll was called by City Clerk/Treasurer Sharla Derry. Commission members present at roll call other than Mr. Goldstein were as follows: Cinda Bell, Jennifer Travis, Brandon Tate and Otis Edwards; a quorum was present and Commission member Kay Headley was absent; Hunter Mikles was present.
Business Items
- Splash Pad Options Selection – Chair Goldstein addressed the Commission and stated that $1.17 Million was originally budgeted for the splash pad and $107,000 of $110,000 professional fees are already incurred: he indicated that contingencies or additional add-ons are unknown at this time regarding the rock present at Bell Park for this as construction gets underway. He said the road to be built will be $1.2 Million funded by the Street Department and greater than $750,000 from the water and sewer department to place piping and he said all of this combined translates to a 3-million-dollar splash pad to operate a few months per year, depending on water conservation issues. He said that he has recently asked Mr. Craig to downsize the pad from 80 feet across by 50 feet width so that money savings could be realized, and he added that he doesn’t feel enough is known to proceed, and he cannot foresee spending over 1.17 million for a splash pad. There was additional discussion, with Mr. Marsh offering options for financing and Mr. Craig discussing various options and alternates that MAHG has offered to reduce costs. Ms. Derry stated that if the $275,000 of the Inclusive Park local portion was to be used towards the splash pad a vote would be needed, since it is already committed for a grant on another project. After discussion, no
action was taken.
After Item #2 was voted on, there was additional discussion about the splash pad funding options, with Mr. Marsh reminding the Commission that the City Council will need to be the final approval on loan funding, as they are the only authority that can encumber the City, with general agreement that option #4 seemed best, although option #3 included bathrooms, with Mr. Mikles suggesting that the bathrooms are very necessary and could be scaled down drastically in order to save even more money. Suggestion was made for a resolution to be brought back to the next
meeting for the Council to consider on this; Mr. Craig acknowledged this and stated also that he has received word from MAHG that the numbers provided are padded in case problems are encountered. - Approval of Inclusive Park Project – Ms. Derry stated that she had gone through past minutes and
recordings and the Commission had not committed to approving the project as of yet but did vote to go forward with pursuing grant funding for this. Chair Goldstein stated that he was not comfortable with spending any more than the $275,000 local portion already committed for this and asked Mr. Craig what would happen if donations were taken for this project, but the project didn’t end up happening, to which Mr. Craig said that the money would go back into the City’s fund balance or the project could be phased in. There was extensive discussion about the
need for formal approval of this project, the various avenues of taking donations for it, and the fact that the only approval thus far on this was to pursue grant funding, although that resolution did not specifically name this project. After discussion, motion was made by Commissioner Bell, seconded by Commissioner Tate to approve the inclusive park project to someday be built; motion passed unanimously.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Tate, seconded by Commissioner Edwards; and the meeting adjourned at 5:07 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Sharla Derry, City Clerk/Treasurer
