[PAGE 1] MINUTES - UNAPPROVED OWATONNA PARK AND RECREATION REGULAR PARK BOARD MEETING JULY 10, 2023 4:30 PM Members Present: Chair: Jon Thiel Vice Chair: Gina McGuire Board Members: Tyler Cochran, Nan Silkunas, Sara Baird Members Absent: Jonathan Douglas Staff Present: Jenna Tuma, Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Director Eric Anderson: Recreation Manager Tricia Notch: Administrative Specialist Thomas Gorycki: Recreation Supervisor MJ Knudson: Administrative Specialist Dani Licht: Recreation Supervisor City Council Member: LOCATION: West Hills Social Commons OPENING BUSINESS A. Call to Order at 4:30 pm B. Roll Call: APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Motion by Gina McGuire to approve the June 12, 2023, Park Board Meeting Agenda and second by Sara Baird. All members voted aye. APPROVAL OF THE JUNE 12, 2023, MINUTES Motion by Tyler Cochran to approve the June 12, 2023, Park Board Meeting Minutes and second by Gina McGuire. All members voted aye. PERSONS WISHING TO APPEAR The public forum is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address topics to the Park Board Council. The public forum will be no longer than 30 minutes in length and each presenter will have no more than five (5) minutes to speak. Topics of discussion are restricted to local park and recreation topics rather than private or political agendas. The Park Board will only listen but will not take action on public forum presentations. [PAGE 2] Adam Brandel and Matt Brandel- Boys Scout Eagle Badge program. Adam is working on earning his Eagle Scout badge, which includes attending a public meeting. NEW BUSINESS a. SWOT Analysis: This will help take a deeper dive into Park & Recreation. a. Strengths: What are we doing right that we can build upon b. Weaknesses: Opportunities to improve c. Opportunities: Areas we can strive or grow d. Threats: We either know or don’t know what threats we face There was a breakout session to work on the SWOT analysis to help understand the department’s opportunities and where the focus should be. The NRPA metrics for Owatonna were handed out along with the Park Board Charter (which is located on the city’s website) with current park rules and ordinances. b. SeeClickFix: This is a public facing portal to report issues. The app will be available on our website to download, it will pin your location, and it will route the issue to the appropriate person. The efficiency is the app will give you updates on the issue you submitted, such as if it has been fixed. This will provide better customer service and more timely responses. It is located on the front page of the City website, click on “Report a Concern”. OLD BUSINESS PARK PERMITS [Event Permit] Chuck Fuller Field – July 21 – Internal – Movie in the Park – Angels in the Outfield, and will go to City Council [Park Permit] Brown Park – July 8 – Marie Olinger – Festival of Family & Faith (food truck catering) [Park Permit] Dartt’s Park – July 15 – Wenger Company Picnic (inflatables) - [Park Permit] Brown Park – Aug 2 – City of Owatonna – Employee Picnic Motion by Tyler Cochran, and second by Sara Baird to approve the Park Permits. All members voted aye. MEMORIALS AND DONATIONS Installation of eight benches – working on installing these, new flyers out to the funeral homes in town SENIOR UPDATE a. Thomas: Working on finding senior volunteers to assist with greeting people at the Social Commons. [PAGE 3] 6. COMMUNICATIONS a. Director’s Report: As we discussed last month, at the August Park Board meeting, we will be doing a workshop around the 2050 comprehensive plan with the Stantec group. Downtown Thursdays occurred last Thursday; it was fun to see the community participation. There is a Brooktee Coffee and Conversations scheduled for July 18 at 10 a.m. This is open to the public, and we would like to hear from people about anything related to Brooktree Golf Course. The budget process has started and will be working with staff to finalize a proposal for the Council to consider. We continue to hear the Bueckler Park skating rink went over well last year, we are hoping to add a few more rinks this winter so people can continue enjoying the outdoors this winter. b. Staff report: MJ – Update is in the memo Dani – Reported that River Springs Water Park has seen19,435 admissions so far this year, this is 5000 more than last year at this time. There have been 239 rentals at Lake Kohlmier so far this year. The total number of rentals at the end of the 2022 season was 249. c. Board Member Report Jon Thiel: no update Gina McGuire: no update Nan Silkunas: Had questions regarding signage on Born Learning Trail. MJ commented they are not ADA but could be linked and scanned. Nan will reach out to Steph at United Way with any other questions. Jenna commented we do not have a solid platform for signage policy yet, so at the time we need to pause with all of our signage. This fall Tricia will start working on updating the park policies, ordinances and procedures which will be a guiding document for the Park and Recreation Department. Tyler Cochran: Asked about any updates for the trust for public land discussion? Jenna: Nick Bancks is still working with Chad Lange with his land and is still moving forward. Sara Baird: The trail connection is amazing! Announcements In the News 1. Weekly Owatonna People’s Press articles: http://ci.owatonna.mn.us/Blog.aspx?CID=3 [PAGE 4] 2. Owatonna Live Straight Talk Straight Talk (owatonnalive.com) Actions Requested from past meetings ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Gina McGuire, and second by Tyler Cochran to adjourn the Park Board Meeting at 6:10 p.m. All members present voted aye. The next board meeting is August 14, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. at the West Hills Social Commons multi-purpose room.