Present: Claudia Stelle, Chair Person Connie Gerlitz, Vice-Chair Danya Hill Joseph Brazen Jim McGraw Mayor Dan Becker Council Member Tom Morgan Carl Burris, Public Works Superintendent Keith Bates, Landscape Consultant Absent: Approval of the Minutes: PARK BOARD MINUTES October 16, 2001 Claudia Stelle asked that the entire last paragraph on page one, be removed from the August 20, 2001 Park Board Minutes. Claudia also asked that in the first motion that the words "dock in the City of Medina" is re-written to read "structure including docks in Medina Beach Park." And that the word "dock" further in the motion to be changed to read "Medina Beach Park." Jim McGraw made a motion to accept the August 20, 2001 Park Board minutes with the paragraph removed and the changing of the wording asked for by Claudia Stelle. Connie Gerlitz seconded the motion, and the vote was unanimous. New Business: Mayor Becker and Tom Morgan discussed several reasons for them attending the Park Board Meeting. Tom Morgan said that they had wanted to have a discussion to talk about how the City Council and Park Board could have a more open communication between the two bodies. Joseph Brazen said that he wanted to know what their role or job was, and that he felt that the Park Board was not getting information passed to them from the City Council. Or that information from the Park Board was getting to the City Council, and felt that he wasn't getting all of the information he was asked to make a decision on early enough.. Connie Gerlitz said that she wanted to hear feedback from the city council, because she felt that all of their motions and discussions were staying in the Council Chambers and not going anywhere. Connie wanted to know if the members of the City Council were reading the Park Board Minutes. Tom Morgan answered that "Yes, speaking for himself, he was reading the Minutes and felt that the rest of the Council were reading them as well." Tom Morgan said that he read the minutes every month and had since he got on the City Council. Mayor Becker said that he tries to read the minutes every month, and mentioned that he gets a stack of documents to read each month that is at least four inches thick and sometimes more. Claudia Stelle asked when the Budget process started and how could
the Park Board have more of a say on how projects that they were interested in getting into the budget process actually got into the budget. Connie Gerlitz said that she didn't know when the budget process started and when they needed to get information to the Council for projects initiated by the Park Board. Joseph Brazen presented a memo from Carl Burris about a memorial tree proposed for Medina Park. Joseph said that the memo made it sound as if it was a forgone conclusion that the tree and plaque were going to be installed and the Park Board didn't have a say in it. Joseph Brazen said that the Master Plan for the Beach Park was presented to them as a document and that they didn't have a say in how it was given to them, or why it was given to the Park Board. Tom Morgan said that the budget process started in July, and that the City Council had already been working through the process since August. Mayor Becker said that the City Council had given direction that the Park Board needed to work on a Master Plan for the Beach Park and Medina Park. Tom Morgan said that the Park Board's job or work they were supposed to be doing was to give the Council guidance on Park projects or programs that they wanted to see happen. Claudia Stelle asked about receiving a list of the Capital Projects List for Parks to see what was on the list. Tom Morgan asked Carl Burris if he could get his hands on the CIP for this year as adopted by the Council. Carl Burris said that: "No, he could not get a copy of the CIP, because it was at his portable office at the shop, and he hadn't brought a copy with him." Tom Morgan said that he now understood what the problem was. Mayor Becker said that he had several suggestions on helping communication between the Park Board and City Council be more productive, and give the Park Board information that would help them. He said that staff should provide the Park Board with: 1. An outline of the proposed budget for 20021. 2. A list of the Capital Projects that were Parks related. 3. Provide information on the budgeting process for the following year. 4. Suggested that, in the future, they make a list of projects and present the list in early spring. 5. Members of the Park Board attend the Council meetings, and present a report to the City Council. 6. The Park Board and City Council should set up a joint study session to work out how to make the communication between them better than now. They should do this yearly to make sure they are on the same page. Claudia Stelle mentioned that she thought that it would be nice if Doug Schulze, City Manager, would attend the meetings to be able to present more information to the Park Board. She felt that he would fill in some of the holes that the Park Board was missing in their discussions. Tom Morgan and Mayor Becker made mention that what they had come to discuss, was discussed, and it was time for them to leave. Claudia Stelle thanked them for attending the meeting, and asked when Mayor Becker thought would be the best Study Session to attend for a joint session to work out what their role, and job was for Medina. Mayor Becker suggested they schedule a meeting for January 2002 so that the City Councils agenda and schedule would be less full. The Mayor and Tom Morgan left the Park Board Meeting at 8:30 PM.
Other Business: Claudia Stelle asked Keith Bates to begin the discussion on the Beach Master Plan. Keith Bates said that the Master Plan was a draft-working document that was not yet complete by any definition of the word. Keith Bates went through the work schedule that OTAK had developed, and discussed the different views of the Master Plan that the Park Board had seen so far. Keith Bates said that he intended the Master Plan to include each change that the Park Board recommended and that there could be more changes to the plan after the public meetings with residents. Joseph Brazen asked what Keith Bates felt the time line was for completion of the Master Plan. Keith Bates said that he was confident that he and OTAK would accomplish everything on the schedule, and that he didn't feel there would be many problems that would show up. Connie Gerlitz asked why they had removed jelly from the plans. She felt that the Jelly was beneficial to the wading pool for the lillie kids by protecting them from the large waves that came in when a boat went by the beach. Joseph Brazen felt that leaving the jelly in place would be good, because it kept the boats further out into the lake. Danya Hill said that she liked the idea of the jelly being gone, that the water was always collecting debris, goose poop, and alga and stunk a lot. She felt that the water would have better circulation if it were gone. Joseph Brazen said that with the holes through the jelly the water should be circulating more than it was. He also said that he was concerned that if the jelly were gone, the beach would erode more than it was now. Carl Burris said that the water circulation was a problem, but when Medina first hired him, the water was deeper for the kids in the wading area. He said that the circulation was different then because of the dept of the water. He said that wave action had deposited all of the sand to the south of the jelly over the years. Carl Burris said that all of the area south of the jelly used to be quarry spalls and the residents were always having trouble walking on that side. Jim McGraw said that he didn't have an opinion on the jelly or the small dock staying or being gone. He felt that they should concentrate on the large dock and have it rebuilt as soon as possible. Joseph Brazen said that he had heard that there was an agreement between Medina and the Razore's to not develop the dock into something for everyone to use because of concerns for their security, and keeping kids form jumping from the City dock to their private dock. Carl Burris said that Kirk Wines had answered that question the previous year. There had been discussion about it, but nothing was in the records to confirm the agreement existed on paper. Connie Gerlitz mentioned that it sounded like the City had decided that the Razore's didn't have much of a say and the City was going to repair the dock. without further discussions with the Razore's. Carl Burris said that Kirk Wines had not said anything like;" That was the final statement, the City could do what it wanted with the dock, and the Razore's didn't have a say in what happened." Kirk Wines had said: "It would be a good policy to include the Razore's in any and all discussions when it came time to discuss rebuilding the dock."
Jim McGraw said that he felt the City should rebuild the dock, not leave it out there as an eyesore for several years until repaired. Jim McGraw did ask about changing the angle of the finger on the dock further to the northwest to get away from the Razore dock. Jim McGraw mentioned that kids couldn't or wouldn't jump to the Razore dock if Medina constructed the dock differently. Keith Bates said that was something to look at when it came lime to rebuild the dock. Keith Bates said that they could dismantle the bulkhead as an option and use it further out in the lake. Keith recommended that gravel might be an option to fill in the spaces between the rocks. He said he didn't know what the Corp of Engineers would say about any plans for reusing the rocks. He felt that if they removed the bulkhead and let nature take its course, Medina would loose a lot of parkland to the lake. Members of the Park Board agreed that they didn't want to lose any beach area. Carl Burris said two more items on the agenda needed some discussion before the Park Board adjoumed the meeting. Carl Burris said the first item was the proposed bench and tree donation in Peter LaHaye's memory by Christine LaHaye Wood. Claudia Stelle and Jim McGraw reminded Carl that they had already said at the August meeting that the Park Board had already approved the donation. Claudia Stelle said that she thought the donation was a good one, but to remind Mrs. Wood that a Beach Park Master Plan was in progress and until the Master Plan is complete, there will be a delay in the installation of the bench and tree. Carl Burris thanked the Park Board for reminding him about the donation. The second item on the agenda is item B; in other business. Connie Gerlitz asked how this item ended up with the Park Board. Joseph Brazen asked how the gazebo got included with the discussion that was before the Park Board. Carl Burris said that it was because Joseph Brazen asked the City Council what some of them thought about purchasing the stage equipment instead of renting it. Carl Burris said that the gazebo was an alternative to just purchasing a tent for Medina Days. Joseph Brazen asked if anyone on the Park Board was interested or if the residents would be interested in an amphitheater or a gazebo in the park. He said that he had just talked to Dan Becker at the Concert in the Park and they had discussed it while attending the concert. The City Council was aware of the potential to purchase the equipment. Joseph Brazen said that the gazebo was another idea that showed up for the Park Board to discuss. There didn't seem to be any discussion with the Park Board about what they wanted to see in the park, and that staff was once again giving the Park Board something that looked like it was already a forgone conclusion for them to vote on. Carl Burris said that the gazebo was an alternative to purchasing the tent for Medina Days. Carl said the in discussion about the placement of the tree, the suggested location should be across the path from the red oak that planted in the park, between the upper and lower ponds. Public Works thought it would make a backdrop for any event held in the area of the Concert in the Park. Carl Burris said the Park Board was free to discuss the gazebo and choose to accept the proposal, throw the whole thing out, or come up with something else. Joseph Brazen
felt that he and the citizens of Medina would be more interested in something a local architect designed and not a limited design product off the shelf. The two examples didn't look like what he or any other citizen would accept seeing in the Park. Carl Burris said that, "Yes, you can get a local architect to design a gazebo, and have it constructed locally, but would cost at least two or more times what the examples cost." Carl Burris said that he was presenting the idea to the Park Board for discussion. Carl Burris said that it was included in the budget, but didn't know if it would survive the budget process. Danya Hill made a motion to adjourn the Park Board Meeting. Connie Gerlitz seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. The Park Board meeting adjourned at 9:35 PM. ~~ Carl Burris, Public Works Superintendent
The September, 2001 Park Board meeting was cancelled the afternoon of the meeting date, and I did not learn about it until the day after that. Theref.ore, no Cancellation of Park Board meeting was posted.