Commission Minutes: November 9, 2017 Members Present: President Joe Krapohl, Secretary Mike Lynch, Cloyce Dickerson, Mike Keeler, Bryant Nolden, Joe Madore Members Absent: Gloria Nealy, David Martin, Jeff Wright, Jim Washington Staff Present: Amy McMillan, Director; Barry June, Deputy Director; Matt Armentrout, Facilities Director; Vicki Miller, Ranger Detective; Leisa Gagne, Finance Officer; Nancy Edwards, Recreation Program and Grants; Deborah Wilkes, Administrative Secretary; Janet Van De Winkle, Project Sustainability Director Others Present: Tom Kehoe, 4305 E. Stanley Road, Genesee
1) Call to Order. President Krapohl presided and called the meeting to order at 10:04 a.m.
2) Opportunity for members of the public to address the commission. Anyone wishing to address the commission must state their name and address and they have three minutes to speak. The following opinions and questions were expressed during public comment: Mr. Kehoe clarified that he didn’t threaten any board member or director at any time, but he will use state, federal, other agencies to resolve issues that he has had here when it applies. This board is not the limit in which he can get things done.
SUVs should be marked as park vehicles. Caboose looks good, nice paint job. Who is responsible for the railroad crossing. Atlas Mill in the Village, when will that be operational? Is Genesee Belle operational? Open sewer at Village, has it been take care of. Tree branch on Stanley Rd. Leachate from the horse arena. Pavilion at beach is out of plumb.
3) Consent Agenda. President Krapohl asked commissioners if there are any items they wish to remove from the consent agenda for discussion. No items were removed from the consent agenda.
Action Taken: Motion by Commissioner Nolden Supported by Commissioner Dickerson
Motion and support for approval of Consent Agenda items A through D as listed in your packet.
Roll Call Ayes: Dickerson, Keeler, Krapohl, Lynch, Madore, Nolden Nays: None Absent: Nealy, Washington, Wright, Martin
MOTION CARRIED 6-0
4) Director’s Report A.Request for authorization to seek additional grants. Provided for the commission is an additional list of grants we wish to seek in the near future.
November 9, 2017 Page 1 of 6 Action Taken: Motion by Commissioner Dickerson Supported by Commissioner Lynch
Motion and support to accept and approve upcoming grants on the document provided.
Ayes: All Ayes Nays: None Absent: Nealy, Washington, Wright, Martin
MOTION CARRIED 6-0
B. Travel and Conference and Training Expenses. Attached is a list of anticipated travel expenses during the upcoming fiscal year. This expense requires approval by our commission and then it moves on to Public Works and the Board of Commissioners for final approval. This list does not include Commissioners who may wish to attend the mParks conference in February. Please review the conference information and let us know if you are interested in attending any of the sessions. We asked each division of their prioritized conference, workshops and travel for the entire year. We matched it to the line item for travel and education and training. We have received tremendous return on our investment on the maintenance training program.
Krapohl: Travel expense for the Administrative Secretary actually happened in September 2017, but took place while this policy change was being made. This is not a wish list, this list represents training that we see benefits directly back to the parks.
Action Taken: Motion by Commissioner Nolden Supported by Commissioner Lynch
Motion and support to approve the request for travel, conference and educational expenses for the fiscal year and move the item to Public Works and the Board of Commissioners for final approval.
Roll Call Ayes: Nolden, Madore, Lynch, Krapohl, Keeler, Dickerson Nays: None Absent: Nealy, Washington, Wright, Martin
MOTION CARRIED 6-0
C. Easement Agreement with the City of Flint. Staff requests that the commission approve accepting an easement from the City of Flint for property owned by the City, which we need to use to construct a trail between Genesee and Irish Road. Once we and the Board of Commissioners approve it, the City will sign it.
Barry June: There are probably 3 or 4 parcels involved, and we have maintained and operated these parcels since 1968. Because the trail is going over their property, we
November 9, 2017 Page 2 of 6 need a signed easement to give to the State to tell them we have permission to put a trail there. The City approves these types of easements administratively.
Keeler: Is this (for construction) two years from now or next year? Phase II is looking like more in 2019?
June: Both, this Phase I segment by the office will be first, but we need the easement for Phase II if we build that as well. Phase II in 2019, correct, if it is recommended for a grant from the DNR Trust Fund.
Madore: The trail starting from Vassar Rd to Irish is Phase II? Over to Vassar Rd is all park property? He remembers that was an issue with the DNR Trust Fund grant was to show control and we never did find that being part of the ’68 agreement. In lieu of that we will get an easement? So we don’t have anything in our possession that showed the parks had any control over that property, generally speaking? So that grant was already put in, and this will satisfy that? That it is approved administratively is the upside, it doesn’t have to go through City Council.
Krapohl: There are two areas in this phase, one down by the 24 hr fishing site on Stanley Road and then there is one at the corner of Stanley and Belsay in the northeast quadrant.
McMillan: That is correct, we looked, and we were convinced it existed and if it does, it is in a file somewhere that we cannot find. Generally speaking the Parks have operated that property as if we did since the beginning of the Parks. We went back and read through minutes, there seemed to be an intention to transfer the property at some time, there was an odd set of circumstances, but we can’t verify that it ever took place.
Yes grants were applied for and this will satisfy the site control for Phase I and II.
Action Taken: Motion by Commissioner Nolden Supported by Commissioner Dickerson
Motion and support for approval of Resolution # 034-17, Grant of Trail Easement.
Ayes: Lynch, Nolden, Dickerson, Krapohl, Madore, Keeler Nays: None Absent: Commissioners Nealy, Martin and Wright are absent
MOTION CARRIED 6-0
D. MOU Shiawassee River Water Trail Coalition. We have the new Chair of this new organization, whom you may recognize as the former mayor of the City of Linden, a community in which we have had a long-standing partnership over the course of at least 15-16 yrs. They have asked us sign on to this memorandum of understanding. We have a very small holding within the Shiawassee River Watershed, but it is Clover Beach. We’ve also been working with other agencies in that area to provide some technical November 9, 2017 Page 3 of 6 assistance. So we highly recommend the commission’s approval today.
Mr. Lossing addressed the Commission to explain the process of designating the Shiawassee River from Holly to Chesaning, 88 miles as a National Water Trail. Paperwork has been submitted and they are waiting for the official declaration, hopefully within the next 2-3 months. Members are comprised of local units of government and non-profits stretching from Holly to Chesaning. Historically communities have ignored their rivers but in the last 20 years we’ve seen a new appreciation of what the rivers can bring. Paddling events on the Shiawassee have easily brought in 20-50 boats per event. These are folks driving from other parts of Michigan because they have never been on the Shiawassee before. They will have a strong partnership with Travel and Visitor Bureaus and Chambers of Commerce and hopefully the County Parks.
Action Taken: Motion by Commissioner Nolden Supported by Commissioner Lynch
Motion and support to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Shiawassee River Water Trail Coalition.
Ayes: All ayes Nays: None Absent: Commissioners Nealy, Martin and Wright are absent
MOTION CARRIED 6-0
E. Communications, Events and Brand Manager. If you remember at the beginning of the fiscal year we eliminated the park marketing position as a budgetary issue. We have been operating using contractual staff, our vendors, to do much of this work. It is awkward at best to achieve our larger goals of branding, marketing, revenue generation and all the issues that are part of the County Parks’ business plan in terms of economic impact for the County as well as our own operations. We’ve worked with the Human Resources director to develop a new position that will carry us into the future. We discussed making this position part of our management team several years ago, but due to issues relating to seniority it was not easy to move that person from one bargaining unit into another. Then when we hired a new person, there was really no push to do that either.
The new position we are putting forward today is an expanded version of the original position. The duties are detailed in the job description provided. It will amp up the responsibility for supervision and the expectations of developing revenue generating events for the parks and to bring tourism into Genesee County as well. There is a heavy emphasis on digital media, as that did not exist when the previous position was created.
If the Parks Commission approves, it will go to the Finance Committee and then on to the Board for final approval. Our goal is to get this done by the end of the calendar year so we can recruit and hire in the new calendar year.
Madore: The woman that was here that did digital marketing, have we sent more work November 9, 2017 Page 4 of 6 to her since Danielle has been gone? If so, will that work come back to the office? Have we had the need to outsource many things? He sees (in the job description) what the qualifications are, do you know if Danielle is eligible? This is a different bargaining unit because it is a supervisor’s position?
McMillan: Margery Ramer from Flintside? Those are different functions. Flintside is a digital newspaper. Yes, we have outsourced and we’ll bring that back in-house. We should get more bang for our buck by bringing this work in-house. Those salary dollars were moved to a contractual line item, and we’ll ask to move those back. At the very least our hourly rate will go down. It’s important to have direct access to someone on an on-going basis.
We don’t know if she is eligible, we expect at least a couple people will be eligible to apply, but those are processes that are very specific to the bargaining units. Administrative staff has absolutely no ability to pre-screen anybody. Only HR determines who is a qualified candidate. It’s anybody’s guess who will make it through screening.
Yes it is different bargaining unit. 916 is a supervisors unit and 496-01 is technical/professional
Keeler: So if this position will supervise, who is supervising these people now?
McMillan: Well, technically the Director does now; practically Nancy coordinates their work, because 496-01 does not supervise full time employees. It’s worked that way for quite some time.
Action Taken: Motion by Commissioner Dickerson Supported by Commissioner Lynch
Motion and support to approve the request to create a Communications, Event and Brand Manager position.
Ayes: All ayes Nays: None Absent: Commissioners Nealy, Martin and Wright are absent
MOTION CARRIED 6-0
F. Reminders. Monday night is Ladies Night Out at Crossroads. The forecast is looking ok.
If you have not yet booked your train for opening night, two trains are already sold out. Plan to be there for the ceremony and fireworks.
5) New Business There is no new business.
6) Opportunity for the public to address the commission. The following opinions and questions were expressed during public comment:
November 9, 2017 Page 5 of 6 The beach pavilion is out of plumb by an inch. The Genesee Rd bridge railing has been repaired, needs retrofitting to bring it up to standards. If someone goes over that or is injured who is responsible. Dam gate valve operational? Beach safety equipment replacement?.
7) Opportunity for Commissioners to address the Commission. Nolden: Thanked the Parks Board and the Rangers. Rangers came to Berston’s Halloween program. We had over 1,000 kids. He also got a chance to read the article about Larry Coleman, a conductor at Crossroads, it was a great job.
Krapohl: Genesee Belle has been back running since the Halloween program, but is done and winterized for the season now. The roads, bridges, guard rails are all under the jurisdiction of the Road Commission. The crosswalk for the railroad tracks is through the township. They would be the one responsible to get with the road commission about those issues. We’ve answered that many times.
8) Adjournment. Hearing no objections to adjournment, the meeting was adjourned at 10:38 a.m.
Recorded and transcribed by D. Wilkes p:commission/2017/Agenda and minutes/11-09-17
November 9, 2017 Page 6 of 6