Parks and Recreation Committee Minutes for 01/09/2017                        Approved 2-6-2017

In attendance: Steve Dell, Brad Gerlach, Jim Gurr, & Ruth Smith. Absent: Mike Crawford, Jan Loveland, & Dave Peterson

1. Community Input. None
2. Minutes from the 10/03/2016 meeting were reviewed and approved as presented & will be published online. No meeting held Nov. (no quorum) & Dec.(no meeting scheduled) 2016.

3. Information from the December Helena Twp. Meeting Rick mentioned a state backed funding plan referred to as Patronicity. The program encourages local community funding support through crowdfunding online. We may qualify for this program. Brad has talked to some people in Boyne City who used this program to obtain state monies for a project there. OLD BUSINESS: 4. Recreational Passport Grant from DNR – tennis court resurface + sidewalk: A. We have received a portion of the funding for the tennis court resurfacing. ($23,335). The rest of the money is “on hold” until the sidewalk non-compliance is fixed. B. The request for an exemption on the 1% over grade slope for 30 ft.of the sidewalk at Tennis Court Park was denied by the DNR. C. P&R will request that the board have their attorney contact Goddard Coatings about the non-compliant walkway at Tennis Court Park. Steve will prepare a write up for Rick Teague giving background information concerning this issue. D. Steve has requested the DNR extension the deadline for completion of the sidewalk project from 3-31-17 to 6-30-17 but has not heard back from the DNR. 5. Erosion abatement project at Ball Park   A. The Committee wants to pursue improvements of the shoreline needed to slow down erosion. B. the Committee believes that it might still be a good idea to bring in someone who is familiar with planning park spaces to help us make decisions concerning this park. We will check with MI Extension to see if they are familiar with any resources in the area. 6. Requests for Memorials: The committee held a consensus vote approving the memorial policy presented. The policy will be recommended to the HT Board.

7. Moving rocks to Safe Harbor. Brad has talked with DNR staff concerning the safety of the Safe Harbor dock. The DNR staff stated that they hire an engineering service to provide this type of evaluation. Considering that the Lighthouse light is in place and work on other Safe Harbor lights has mostly been completed we are planning to do nothing further concerning the Safe Harbor at this time. 8. Volunteer holds harmless form.

The committee looked at the hold harmless forms presented and by agreed by consensus vote. Ruth will present the forms to the HT Board.

9. GTR Land Conservancy at Coy Mt.

The conservancy is considering helping with improvements at the park. Brad will continue working with them. Also see # 14

Pk & Rec. Committee Minutes for 01/09/2017 continued                         Approved 2-6-2017

10.  Steve to work with Jim Moore concerning accessibility at Ball Park this is being moved to future agenda items to be on the April agenda. 

NEW BUSINESS: 11. Revision of our five-year-plan – next park to discuss? To be moved to the February agenda.

12. Coy Mt. Forest Management A. Plan for forest management – Brad asked Angie Lucas, an ecologist from GT Conservancy to evaluate Coy Mt. She feels the flora in the Park is a pretty intact eco system (using a Floral (?) Quotient Index?). She advised against cutting trees as she feels that this would greatly increase the spread of the garlic mustard.

13. Capital Improvement Plan Steve heard about a software program that might help us organize this project. He will look into it for the next meeting. 
14. Proposal by Jack Findlay of AV Jack Findlay, of Alden Volunteers (AV), and Rick Teague have talked about the AV and Helena Twn. working together to fund some projects. AV has suggested that we present three current projects to be considered. AV will then discuss if they might be able to help fund the projects. The P&R Committee is interested in pursuing this potential partnership. Suggested possible projects: A. Acquisition of land at Coy Mountain B. Stabilization of at least 118 ft. of Lake shore at the Ball Park C. Memorial Board and some plates for future use. 15. Get a copy of HT Park land surveys Move to the future agenda items for review in April. 
15. Discuss 80 acres owned on McPherson Rd

This item is being removed from the agenda. A discussion of this property is to be included in the next Five Year Plan but no current action is being considered.

17. Annual review of P&R website pages – This item will be removed to future agenda items for review in September. We are hoping to get more pictures onto the site but this is not a high priority currently.

• The next monthly meeting is scheduled for:                                   Monday, February 6^th, 2017– 7pm – meeting room at the Community Bldg… Respectfully submitted by Ruth Smith 01-16-2017