Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission NOTICE
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Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission NOTICE OF MEETING Date: August 11, 2020 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: Virtual Meeting on Zoom available to the public at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89235295687 AGENDA 1. Call to Order / Moment of Silence 2. Approval of the Minutes – A. June 9, 2020 Meeting (attached, pp. 1-5 /action item) B. July 29, 2020 Special Meeting (attached, pp. 6-7 /action item) C. July 29, 2020 Working Session Meeting (attached, pp. 8-9 /action item) 3. Public Comment 4. Communications, Projects & Activities (attached, pp. 10-33 /action item) 5. Financial & Recreation Reports – June & July 2020 A. Financial Reports (attached, pp. 34-39 /action item) B. Recreation Reports (attached, pp. 40-51 /action item) 6. Old Business A. Budget Adjustments (attached, p. 52 /action item) B. Staebler Farm Update (presentation at meeting) C. B2B Update (presentation at meeting) D. B2B Project Agreement – Segment D4 (attached, pp. 53-61 /action item) E. Other Old Business 7. New Business A. NAPP—Boss and Bull Sales contract (attached, pp. 62-67 / action item) B. Other New Business 8. Commissioners / Directors Comments 9. Adjournment Washtenaw County will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for the hearing impaired and audio of printed materials being considered at the meeting, to individuals with disabilities at the meeting upon 7-day notice to Washtenaw County. Individuals requiring auxiliary aids or services should contact the County of Washtenaw by writing or calling the following: Human Resources, 734-994-2410, TTD# 734/994-1733. Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission Tel: (734) 971-6337 2230 Platt Road / P.O. Box 8645 Fax: (734) 971-6386 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107-8645 washtenaw.org/parks #2A Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission MINUTES OF MEETING Date: June 9, 2020 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: Zoom Digital Meeting Members Present: Robert Marans, WCPARC President; Patricia Scribner, WCPARC Vice President; Janice Anschuetz, WCPARC Secretary-Treasurer; Janis Bobrin, Daniel Ezekiel, Barbara Fuller, Ricky Jefferson, Brenda McKinney, Evan Pratt and Sue Shink Members Absent: None Staff Present: Coy Vaughn, Director; Meghan Bonfiglio, Deputy Director; Ginny Trocchio, Superintendent of Park Planning and Natural Areas; Jason Brooks, Manager of Finance and Administration; Hannah Cooley, Management Analyst; Karen Lewis, Management Analyst Others Present: None 1. Call to Order/Pledge of Allegiance Mr. Marans called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. with a moment of silence in appreciation of first responders. 2. Approval of The Minutes The minutes of the May 12, 2020 regular meeting were included with the agenda material. It was moved by Ms. Fuller and seconded by Ms. Anschuetz to approve the minutes of the May 12, 2020 meeting. Ayes all; the motion was approved. 3. Public Comment Monica Prince, Ypsilanti Senior Center, wanted to thank the Commission for their support of Ypsilanti Senior Center, Rutherford Pool and Partridge Community Center in previous years. She stated that COVID-19 has not lessened the mission of the Ypsilanti Senior Center as the center has continued to distributed meals. Ms. Prince reported that the Center continues to help keep older adults connected and active. Richard Kent, stated that he is a board member of the Southeastern Michigan Land Conservancy (SMLC). He stated that the project he has been putting together is a good environmental project and added that it takes marginal agricultural lands and converts them into wetlands. He added that Niswander Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission Tel: (734) 971-6337 2230 Platt Road / P.O. Box 8645 Fax: (734) 971-6386 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107-8645 washtenaw.org/parks 1 Environmental has been hired to do this project and stated that they have done the Mallet Creek Restoration project as well. Mary Erickson, SMLC President, stated she would be happy to answer any questions that Parks Commission might have on the wetland mitigation project. Lamar Weir, Field Rep for Congresswoman Debbie Dingell stated that he is present to listen in for updates on park reopenings. Steven Niswander, Niswander Environmental, stated that he wanted to introduce himself to the Commission. He reported that his company specialized in wetland development and mitigation. He added that the company has also worked with Ottawa County. Jack Smiley, stated that he hasn’t favored some of the wetland mitigation projects that have been done in the past and added that more review needs to be done before these plans move forward to ensure they are the best they can be. 4. Communications, Projects & Activities Mr. Vaughn presented the Communications and the Projects & Activities report for May 2020 and which included updates on the Independence Lake Livery project as well as the reopening status of facilities given the COVID-19 shutdown. Ms. Trocchio provided an update on the Jack R. Smiley Nature Preserve as follow up to communications the Commission has received. SMLC released a request for proposals for restoration on the Jack R. Smiley Preserve and received 2 responses. SMLC has chosen Niswander to move forward on the restoration, but detailed plans will still need to be developed. She stated that conservation easement language references wetland preservation and said that the conservation easement terms are the only legal holding the Commission has in the land. Ms. Trocchio stated that in the opinion of the attorney, the conversion of land from agricultural to wetlands would be consistent with easement language. Ms. Fuller asked if it is true that we have no legal standing to impose our opinion. Ms. Trocchio stated that we do have legal standing if we feel the final plan does not align with the easement language. She added that the issue should be looked at from the perspective of how land is going to be changed. Ms. Trocchio reported that staff and NATAC would review the plans and provide feedback. Mr. Marans stated that it would be good to bring the plan back to the Commission for a full review. Ms. Bobrin stated that she would also like to see the plan subsequent to the NATAC review. Mr. Pratt stated that locating a wetland mitigation on top of an existing preserve does not match the intent of the easement. Ms. Fuller stated that her concern is where the authority is to act if there are issues. Ms. Bobrin stated that the banking problem going beyond our scope of authority and added that we have two issues. Mr. Pratt stated that he doesn’t know how the public can be told that the property owner is not double dipping. Ms. McKinney stated that she would vote no if we were voting on this today. She asked how many Superior Township residents are on the board and asked what opinion they may have. Ms. Shink stated that she has been concerned with our purview as well as the double dipping problem. She added that it may be good to develop a policy to deal with these types of issues. Ms. Bobrin stated that she agrees with the idea of the development of a policy. 2 Mr. Vaughn stated that this item will be brought back to the full Commission and added that it may be possible to draft a resolution as well. Mr. Ezekiel thanked everyone that brought this up. He added that he supports a technical review by NATAC and supports coming up with a policy to deal with mitigation projects going forward. Mr. Ezekiel stated that in the future we may be due funds from these transactions to be able to do some good moving forward. It was moved by Mr. Ezekiel and seconded by Ms. Bobrin to accept and file the Projects and Activities Update for the month of May 2020 as submitted. Roll call vote: 10 Ayes, 0 Nays, the motion was approved. 5. Financial & Recreation Reports – May 2020 A. Financial Reports Mr. Brooks provided a summary of both the Claims report and the Fund Balance reports along with a summary of projected revenue shortfalls due to COVID-19. It was moved by Ms. McKinney and seconded by Mr. Ezekiel to accept and file the financial reports and to approve the recreation expenditures presented in the Claims Report for the month of May 2020, totaling $1,565,977.08. Roll call vote: 10 Ayes, 0 Nays, the motion was approved. B. Recreation Reports Mr. Brooks provided a summary the Recreation Reports. It was moved by Ms. Anschuetz and seconded by Ms. McKinney to receive and file the Recreation Reports for May 2020 as presented. Roll call vote: 10 Ayes, 0 Nays, the motion was approved. 6. Old Business A. Staebler Farm County Park Mr. Vaughn provided an update on the Multi-Purpose building and MI Folk School. Mr. Vaughn reported that the gas furnace has been replaced with electric heat pumps and duct heaters, the kitchen was converted to all electric, and that staff is continuing to investigate a solar array for Staebler and are considering enrolling in the DTE MI Green Power Program. Mr. Ezekiel stated that he is thankful that we are setting a positive example by looking at an all-electric facility for the Multi-Purpose building. He added that he wanted to voice some skepticism for the MI Green Energy Program. Mr. Ezekiel stated that he would like to see the ecology center be a part of that meeting if it happens. Ms. Shink stated that she wanted to thank staff for looking into options and taking the concerns of the Commission seriously. Mr. Vaughn stated that when it comes to the MI Folk School, we are only looking at the opportunity to acquire them at this point. He added that the Folk School is doing some additional work at Staebler Farm.