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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11262013 OF PORT TOE � ys ti City of Port TownsendwA Meeting Minutes Parks, Recreation and Trees Advisory Board Tuesday, November 26, 2013, 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm City Hall Meeting Room 41 L Meeting called to order at 4:31 pm by Chair, Rosemary Sikes. Members in Attendance: Ron Sikes, Rosemary Sikes, Lys Burden, Debbie Jahnke, Jason Cecil and Danny Milholland Staff: Steve Wright Visitors: Jim Todd IL Approval of Agenda —Agenda was approved by voice vote. III. Approval of Minutes —Minutes for September and October meetings were approved as amended by voice vote. IV. Staff Report—Steve Wright reported that people loved the bulbs; he had much good feedback about Bulbfest. The landscaping for the rain gardens has been completed at Parkside, and the area is ready for planting, although the next phase will be installing irrigation pipes and "pop-ups." Rick and Debbie Jahnke have been watering by hose once a week to keep the new plantings in the berms hydrated. Steve also mentioned that the 2014 budget is about the same with no seasonal employees on the horizon. The budget will be finalized at the next city council meeting on Monday, Dec. 2nd at 6:30 pm. It would be helpful if board members reminded our council members that park staff has been reduced from 6 people to two, and the department is very understaffed and has a hard time maintaining the existing parks. Danny Milholland moved that a member of the parks advisory board should speak to city council to request increased funding for staff the parks department. Debbie Jahnke seconded and the motion carried by voice vote. Rosemary asked Steve about the next phase of park development at Parkside. Apparently PT Rotary missed the grant application deadline for the 2014 funding cycle to acquire playground equipment but plans to have an application ready for 2015 funding (from Rotary International) with a deadline in 2014. V. PRT Work Plan 2013 A. Tree City USA—Cecil and Debbie are working on the annual application for Tree City recognition which is due in early December. Ken has been helpful in providing information, but they need a tally of volunteer hours and documentation of Arbor Day activities (tree brochure and press releases). The form must be signed by the mayor. B. Volunteers in Our Parks — 1. Nov 3 Kah Tai Work Party Report—Thirteen volunteers participated and planted 10 Western Hemlock trees, Rocky Mtm. Juniper, Douglas Hawthorne, 10 Wax Myrtles and 10 Garry Oaks.. a very successful day. The next work party is scheduled for December 8th, 9 am to noon. There will be more plants to plant and Scotch Broom to pull. 2. Volunteer Leaf Raking Efforts —Cecil's crew spent 4.5 hours blowing leaves into piles and hauling them to the PTHS Garden for mulch. He asked about Boy Scouts volunteering in the parks, and will follow up to see if that can be arranged. Lys will send Rosemary the PTHS Community Project proposal application to see if we can recruit some senior student help, as part of their senior community project requirements. 3. Consideration of Volunteer Tracking Software—Debbie reported that she has been researching "volunteer software" for recording park volunteer hours. She found numerous companies that offer this service, but she was particularly impressed by Volgistics Software Service, which is used by Kitsap County. This service costs $100 per month and allows individuals to log in their own hours. Peach was interested, and we may be able to collaborate with other boards (NMTAB) and perhaps Jefferson County departments that need to collect volunteer hour statistics. She was going to check with PTMSC, and Lys volunteered to check with another organization that collects volunteer hours on their website. 4. Report on Bulbfest 2013 at Bobby McGarraugh Park, October 20th - Danny Milholland reported that even though the event was slightly less well attended than predicted, everyone had a good time, as they planted 3,000 flower bulbs in about 1.5 hours. We owe a huge debt of thanks to Matt Berberich for his expert support in selecting, ordering and assisting with planting the bulbs. He also thanked everyone for bringing such a vast array of wonderful cookies and beverages. He thought a springtime flower party was in order, maybe a family thing in February (try for good press). He thought the event was so successful that we should plan a repeat performance at another park next fall, maybe Sather Park. Rosemary wanted more information about bloom times from Matt and noted that the project was not very expensive (and funded mostly by donations). Danny announced that he will be retiring from the PRT Advisory Board as of this meeting and will write a letter to the mayor to that affect. Lys asked the board to try to recruit a replacement for her, as well, as her time is extremely overcommitted for the next 8 months, and she cannot do justice to board participation. C. Update on Parks Functional Plan Revision—Rosemary and Debbie met with Judy Surber and Rick Sepler for an update on the plan rewrite. They learned that staff would prefer that no sections be distributed for review until after they have finished their review. The section on Goals and Policies (from the Comp Plan) had been on the PRT agenda. The tentative revision schedule has the draft plan going to the joint advisory board/plan board committee sometime in January. D. Cancel next regularly scheduled PRTAB meeting (Dec 24) —unanimously accepted, as many board members were going to be out of town. VI. Future Meeting Agenda Items - VII. Visitor and PRT Board Comment— 1. Jim Todd wanted to make sure the board and all parks plans would "Keep Kah Tai Wild." 2. A dead Corkscrew Willow tree at Kah Tai, 100 feet west of the bridge, is leaning toward the trail. Suggestion was made to push it toward the lagoon to create duck habitat. We need a cost estimate to limb it and put it in the water. 3. Short discussion about the aging Lombardy Poplars along the perimeter of Kah Tai and the plan to selectively thin some of them and replant with more suitable native species. The border needs to maintain clumps and thickets for wildlife. VII. Adjournment—Meeting adjourned at 5:50pm. Action Steps Needed: 1. Lys to send Rosemary PTHS application for community project proposals 2. Review of previous drafts of functional plans 3. Debbie to continue working on volunteer software 4. Recruit a replacement for Lys, as she need to retire from the board. 5. Annual Report on Volunteering in Our Parks needs to be compiled and the Adopt-a-Park program needs to be promoted. 6. Contact council members about Parks Budget.