Parks and Recreation Committee Minutes for 10/04/2017                     Approved 11-01-2017

In attendance: Steve Dell, Jim Gurr, Jan Loveland, Bonnie Robbins, & Ruth Smith. Absent: Jeanne Peeples. Community members present: Gary Brunk, Gloria Kilian, Barb Lockrey, and Laura Westerman.

1. Stakeholder’s Input. Gary Brunk – Men’s club – no special input at this time. Gloria Kilian – Juniper Garden Club –They are planning to install (at the east end of the northern garden) the statue on a permanent cement base and would like to place a small plaque on that base acknowledging that funds for the statue were donated by friends of Linda & George Spice. This has the approval of the P&R Committee and will be taken to the HT Board at the next meeting.

Barb Lockrey – Torch Conservation Center – 1. Eradicate invasive species 2. Plant native plants 3. Use pervious materials when creating sidewalks and walkways. 4. Place signs at the parks related to stewardship of each park.

2. Minutes from the 09/06/2017 meeting were approved & will be published online. 3. Information from the Helena Twp. Meeting I informed the board that Mike Crawford has resigned from the P&R Committee. The board approved the addition of pickleball lines to the second tennis court. They agreed to pay for the needed paint. The plan was to have Mike Crawford do the work. I discovered that the money from the tennis court fund donated to the township to be used for tennis court needs had not been used for the resurfacing as the P&R Committee had not sent notice to the HT board that this was their intention. We will be giving notice to the board to clarify that the P&R Committee wants all of these funds to be designated for the resurface project.

OLD BUSINESS: 4. Recreational Passport Grant from DNR    Steve is still working with Dave Peterson to have all needed documents & clarifications sent to the DNR to obtain the final grant funding. 5. Erosion Abatement Project at Ball Park. We have Elmer’s bid. We will be checking with Mike Crawford to see if a 2^nd bid has come in.  

6 HT Parks Community Survey & Revision of the Five Yr. Plan Community Description–Jim-To look for updated census population estimates from the census bureau Administrative Structure – Bonnie – working on this.

Inventory of Parks – Ruth/Steve – nothing to report Previous Grant Assisted Parks – Ruth/Steve – nothing to report Resource Inventory – Ruth/Steve – nothing to report

Description of Planning & Public Input – – Bonnie – working on this

Goals, Objectives, & Actions – Ruth/Steve – reviewed the Tennis court revision and obtained Committee agreement on the update. Appendix – Steve – nothing to report

Plan certification Checklist – Steve – nothing to report List of survey participants wishing further contact – Jan – Completed

All sections will be brought back to the committee for review of possible changes.

Bonnie & Jim volunteered that after completion of the plan they will make an outline of changes in the plan to help those reviewing the new plan.

 (7). Revision of time frames for our five-year-plan.

Time Frames changed on tasks remaining:

Sept – January: Complete “Recreation and Natural Resources Plan”

February:  At the regular meeting get the final public input concerning the plan. Consider approval of the plan at the P&R meeting. If revisions are needed plan to schedule a special meeting to approve the plan once it is completed.

February – Present completed plan to go to the HT Board for review and approval (hopefully).

March 1: Submit approved plan to the DNR prior to this date.

8. Accessibility assessment at the Ball Park. Jan & Ruth met with Jim Moore from Disability Network to review accessibility at the park. A summary of his suggestions was given to P&R Committee. 9. Annual review of the P&R portion of the HT web site. Steve and Ruth have reviewed the web site and tried to update information. Lisa Lirones park pictures have been published on the web site. Thanks Lisa. The PowerPoint used at the Public Forum has been published online. If you notice items that need correction or feel items should be added please let Steve or Ruth know.

NEW BUSINESS: 10. Open House for Tennis Court renewal project. As part of receiving the DNR passport grant the Township agrees to provide a ribbon cutting or open house. This item has been moved to the future agenda items for March.

11. ‘Vacancy’ on the P&R Committee. . The Committee agreed to ask the HT Board to appoint Laura Westerman to the P&R Committee.

The next monthly meeting is scheduled for: Wednesday, November 1^st, 2017 at 7pm in the meeting room at the Community Bldg.

Respectfully submitted by Ruth Smith 10/ 06 /2017