[4:28] You ready?

[4:46] » All right. Good evening everyone. Uh this is the August meeting of the um

[4:52] Smyrna Parks and Recreation Committee. I want to welcome everyone here tonight.

[4:56] Um we are opening up at at 6:00 PM and um hopefully we'll be closing around

[5:03] 7 or around that that time. Uh again, I want to thank all the members

[5:09] of the uh committee who have um who have basically uh taken their time to come

[5:15] out tonight and thank you again, Danielle, for um all the work you do for

[5:19] us. Uh there were Danielle distributed minutes u of the June 17th meeting. Um

[5:28] everyone had a chance to look at those and is there a motion to approve

[5:32] minutes? >> A motion.

[5:34] » A second. episode. >> Then motion second to approve minutes

[5:38] from June 17th. Uh any uh addition to that order?

[5:49] Okay. Okay, this evening, uh, as the committee can probably see, sitting

[5:55] right up front, we have, uh, members of, uh, Troop 1910 who are here tonight, um,

[6:02] working on a merit badge, a cruise ship in the community. Uh, they're attending

[6:08] our meeting uh, here at 6 and then uh, we'll be speaking with uh, Mr. James

[6:15] after the meeting. Uh if the uh this is all part of the requirements to attend a

[6:20] some type of civic meeting. Um it could be school board, it could be town

[6:25] council meeting, it could be something like this one of the committees. Uh so

[6:30] it's it all works within their uh in their requirements. So uh

[6:35] » welcome

[6:39] guys. The the board up here um I think they introduce themselves real quick.

[6:46] Okay. Oh, my name is Rasca Ser.

[6:52] » My name is Nelson Der. >> Hi, I'm Lisa Torbert. We're super happy

[6:56] you're here with us tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. Nice to meet you all.

[6:59] » Thank you, Jim. >> Also, uh tonight, um we have Josh from

[7:04] the town who's here tonight. Um always like his presence here. And yes, ma'am.

[7:10] I forget your name. >> Bash.

[7:14] » Yeah. [laughter]

[7:17] Okay. And I know we see uh Mr. Moore back

[7:21] there, Mike Moore, who's an assistant scout master with the troop and my son

[7:26] Mike back there who is the scout master of troop ranking today. So they're also

[7:31] here tonight. So welcome everyone. Um we always reserve a time at the end of the

[7:36] meeting for people to speak. So uh this is an open forum. Yes,

[7:42] » I just said we also have the town manager here.

[7:44] » Yes, >> he's coming out.

[7:46] » I was going to introduce him in just a moment here. Um, he's here. Um, when I

[7:50] saw the word visitors, I'm not sure the visitor, but you know, he's always he's

[7:56] always [clears throat] welcome here.

[8:00] » Okay. Anything anything from the members um before we get started?

[8:07] » Okay, everybody. Summer's going okay. We are in August now. It's, you know, March

[8:12] to go along. Schools are ready to open up again. Uh I was hoping to see uh Dave

[8:17] Morrison here tonight, but I I haven't seen him and um he had asked actually

[8:22] for the time of the meeting tonight. Uh okay. So, um I'm going to change the

[8:29] agenda a little bit. Uh we have um uh uh we have new business number six.

[8:37] I'm going to keep that there, but we're going to add um town manager James has a

[8:42] uh has something he wants to talk over with us. So, we add that to the uh

[8:46] agenda. Uh now, for those who do not know, um

[8:51] one of the things that this committee has been talking about over the period

[8:56] of the last few months um has been A and B under old V, which is a youth

[9:02] commission and a senior commission. these being a uh the use of SPMA in the

[9:08] surrounding area. Um and I'll get into the surrounding area in just a moment.

[9:13] Uh we have Mayor Scott. We just walked in.

[9:20] Um so,

[9:25] um I know that Lisa has beening that on that movement. And so Alicia, um what

[9:32] are where are we at right now with that? >> Um well with the youth council um so

[9:38] that is actually ages 13 to 18 that we're working at. I'll just give a

[9:42] little background for everybody who's here tonight too. So we're looking at an

[9:47] opportunity for youth voice as part of this work um with the parks and rec

[9:53] committee. So, an opportunity for you to participate in local government and

[9:58] advocate for youth needs and and what you want to see um and you know what

[10:06] your needs are in and the community as far as the the parks and recreation go.

[10:11] Um and then just really a real contributing voice about our

[10:16] recreational areas, about public spaces, and just about our community as well.

[10:21] Um, as Mayor D always says, it's bringing the community together, right?

[10:24] Unity in the community. So, uh, we think what better way to um, get youth

[10:28] involved and engage in your voice also being part of that. So, uh, we're still

[10:34] kind of in concept. We have a some draft guidelines. We have an application

[10:39] process. We have an actual application. We have a review process for that

[10:43] application. And there were just a couple of things that we're waiting on

[10:48] um some approval to move forward with with that um structurally uh from the

[10:53] town. So that's where we are right now. >> Yeah, thank you. We will work on it for

[11:00] a while. It's an idea here. Uh now just to

[11:05] um maybe I I'll stop there for a moment. The purpose of this committee uh is an

[11:11] advisory capacity to the town council. So we make recommendations to town

[11:17] council for whatever it might be um for events or something else and um so uh we

[11:25] have um we have that capacity. Um we don't we don't make rules. We uh we just

[11:31] recommend on different types of things that go directly to town council. we

[11:36] have these meetings to hear from the public um about what they would like to

[11:41] see and uh suggestions that type of thing. So uh

[11:46] that's why um I always have everyone speak at the uh during meeting.

[11:53] Um now we talked about the youth commission on the other end of the

[11:58] spectrum. Um the senior commission uh would be those folks who are not youth

[12:05] um for those folks who um are more the senior members of our community. Um this

[12:12] commission uh we are still in the framework process with that and uh we

[12:18] are one of our members of the committee who was working on that um because of

[12:23] health reasons has had to step down. So u we will be um working on that but the

[12:29] senior commission and the youth commission this may work in conjunction

[12:33] with you. There's a lot of things that seniors can do to help out the youth and

[12:38] vice versa. So that's something we um and we're we're bringing it out this

[12:44] committee uh again to uh to help uh unify the town and help bring all the

[12:51] organization together.

[12:55] Uh on the website uh we have something called the town

[13:00] website. I'm sorry is the master parks plan. It's a rather involved um plan

[13:06] that was uh created a few years ago. Um it is there for your um perusal if you'd

[13:13] like to read it of what we have um what was at that time planned for the town.

[13:19] Uh it was a seven-year plan. So um of course what happens is with all those

[13:26] ideas and again recommendations that are in that plan has to go before the town

[13:30] council uh because for approval especially for budgetary considerations

[13:35] and uh just other considerations things that may have changed since the plan was

[13:41] uh uh was written. So I want to uh um basically say that this that plan is on

[13:48] there for for the public. It is a rather involved um study that was done that

[13:54] counc um by some professional who who do these

[13:58] types of things. Uh so it is it is there um

[14:07] recommended events. Uh we had a uh a couple events that went to

[14:15] the um town town council. uh has there been any one of it was the like panther

[14:21] cross idea and where are we at

[14:27] » think it turned more into the activities that we're going to do around the

[14:30] holiday on Market Street. >> Okay.

[14:34] the the Christmas theme or the holiday giving um and bringing everybody

[14:39] together in one area versus trying to have multiple groups against prom.

[14:43] » Okay. >> Yeah, that was uh and again that's part

[14:48] of our our job here. We we we made recommendations to the downtown council.

[14:53] that was one of our recommendations uh that went up and uh not saying that

[14:58] we're going we'll get what we recommend but um it's a matter of discussion and

[15:03] it's a matter of possible approval at some date. Uh so yeah, thanks thanks

[15:08] Pabby for that uh for that update. Um

[15:14] any other old we want to bring up right now? Can I just add to the youth

[15:20] commission too though for young people that are here too? You've had any

[15:24] interest in even just looking at like where we are with the guidelines right

[15:27] now and giving some input if you just want to you know talk to you afterwards

[15:31] for a minute or two. you can um arrange to get you um you know some information

[15:37] just so if you want to have some input because that's another part of this is

[15:41] really just empowering um youth and empowering young people to have again

[15:47] the voice but also you know to be engaged in in the things that are

[15:50] happening in the town too. So if you have any interest, I don't know if you

[15:54] get an extra badge for it or certainly there is one I think we can do.

[15:58] » You certainly are welcome to when we would voice it too.

[16:04] » Thanks. >> And again youth commission will have

[16:08] basically be an advisory capacity uh to us and everything. Um I have researched

[16:14] youth commissions around the country. Um they're active in many areas. most of

[16:19] the areas are active in are larger than this areas their cities and that type of

[16:23] thing. Um they've been active for a while. Um they have different types of

[16:28] functions and and whatnot. So um you know it's something that uh we like to

[16:34] start here and um hope we can get that thing uh rolling. We're going to be

[16:40] working with the school district on that too. The the school district and other

[16:44] organizations on that. I likely see a uh someone from every youth organization in

[16:50] town involved with it. Uh there's a lot of youth organizations in town. I saw a

[16:56] list and thought, whoa. Um so every um youth organization on life team had some

[17:03] type of voice on that commission. So because they're all doing different

[17:06] things here. So um okay. Um, I'm going to move right down

[17:14] to uh to new business and I'm going to introduce um our town manager uh to

[17:22] James. Um, and

[17:28] uh I he could be presenting something to us

[17:32] tonight. U so >> yeah. So James, thank you.

[17:36] » Yep. I appreciate it. So here's [clears throat] we talked earlier about

[17:40] this. So generally what happens is a lot of times we get applications that come

[17:44] in. Um usually they come I have full administrative approval for everything.

[17:48] Every once in a while I'll go I wanted to go to the parks committee. This is

[17:52] just one of them. We've been getting really inundated with people that want

[17:56] to give back to the community. So we've been getting a lot of like book bag

[17:59] giveaways and stuff like this. We have a unique one where a gentleman wants to do

[18:03] haircuts at Sunnyside Park but he wants to start at like 7 o'clock in the

[18:08] morning. and we don't have electric out there.

[18:13] They need electric, which means they're going to need generators, which means

[18:16] it's going to impact the residents at 7:00 a.m. And I'm going to be honest

[18:21] with you, I don't know that I'd be quite happy with a generator at 7:00 in the

[18:24] morning. I did tell them 8:00, but I said that I would like to come and bring

[18:27] it in front of you guys just to kind of get some extra opinions on that um

[18:30] before I made a final decision. So, you I think believe calling by the 8:00

[18:36] business hours, right? So I think >> yeah so our talent ordinance does

[18:44] have time restrictions but it also allows me

[18:47] to wave them. >> What are the time restrictions like for

[18:51] noise or whatever like what is >> it's usually 8:00 like 8 to 10 is what

[18:57] it is. So it's it's not it's not a huge problem. I just want you guys opinion on

[19:01] it before I say yeah. >> No, I think it's awesome. I mean,

[19:06] » I mean, also they're gonna get food out. They're going to have,

[19:09] » you know, music and then they're gonna cut hair and let the the young men and

[19:14] women have an opportunity to go into school looking, I guess you say, with a

[19:18] fresh haircut. Some of us, that's just a razor blade and

[19:22] time, right? Um, but yeah, I I think it's a great idea, but it's

[19:28] » Yeah. So, I'm sorry. >> Cuz the park is like the neighbors are

[19:32] like little mini road. >> Yes. And we've all been here when

[19:36] » tensions can sometimes be a little bit high anyway over there. So we really

[19:40] don't want to add any fuel to that fire. >> How many times would it

[19:45] » just a one day? >> The one day.

[19:47] » But I guess we're just debating but whether like he would be able to do it

[19:50] at 7 or should we stick to the 8:00? Is that what we're

[19:54] » Yeah. I mean really that's the only thing that I'm concerned with. Um you

[19:57] know I told them everybody needs permits. They got to make sure that

[19:59] they're compliant with everything before they can come out. But again

[20:03] Do you know why 7 o'clock? Um what would >> I just to try to start early and just

[20:09] generally start >> they don't they kind of go through the

[20:13] submission and then it makes its way up and there's several different levels of

[20:17] approval which finds it way to me it's the final approval.

[20:20] » So >> what day of the week is it?

[20:22] » I think it's Saturday.

[20:27] » [clears throat]

[20:34] » Yeah, people. Yeah. And 8:00, I think, would just be

[20:39] » Yeah, they want >> to the residents as well.

[20:41] » They want to come in at 7. They're saying 8:00 to start, but they want to

[20:45] come in at 7. >> Wow. And I'm kind of and it's tough for

[20:48] me to tell them no. Here I can lock gates and don't open them up till 8

[20:53] o'clock. >> So they wanted like an hour early to set

[20:54] up basically >> which is not a problem.

[20:57] » Yeah. >> But if I'm going to set up I'm probably

[20:58] going to make sure that I have everything running at 8:00.

[21:01] » Yeah. Yeah. >> Just say the generator can't run until

[21:07] » Yeah. If you have other things to set up. Okay.

[21:09] » That would be okay. to January. And since it's the week, I I thought if it

[21:13] was a week, day seven, maybe they were trying to get before they went to work

[21:17] or something. I don't know. But that Yeah, I think we should. [clears throat]

[21:21] » What day was that again? >> Yeah, I think it's awesome.

[21:30] » Yeah. >> September 7th.

[21:34] » So that's that's right before school starts. It's like they go back on the

[21:37] 9th or 10th. Okay. Exactly. Oh. Oh, the parking

[21:42] situation. >> Are they going to be right there at the

[21:45] edge? I mean, here's the thing with the parking situation. I knew the residents

[21:48] get upset and they feel that they shouldn't people shouldn't be parking

[21:53] because public parking. There's there's no assigned parking in front of

[21:56] anybody's residence. If so, somebody comes out to use the park, they allow to

[22:00] use the park. >> So,

[22:02] » and I'm sure it's not going to be like if they go off here, they be there all

[22:06] day. So, they'll be leaving.

[22:10] I think 8:00 is there. >> Okay.

[22:16] » Yeah. Okay. Uh,

[22:30] » it's not fair.

[22:47] Mr. James, is there anything uh tonight about the uh the como grant or anything

[22:52] you want to go over tonight?

[23:01] » Is actually off today. >> Oh yes, sorry.

[23:04] » She did send them to me. She's been off for the last week. Um unfortunately,

[23:07] again, those are some of the things I don't really deal with them until they

[23:10] get kind of to the end. >> Okay. um for the final signature and

[23:14] stuff because she did send it to me asked to put in for it and that was kind

[23:18] of where it ended. Um we I have had communication with Derek over about the

[23:24] last year about coming in and doing a few things out there and

[23:29] just kind of waiting back waiting for them to get back with us. But one of the

[23:33] one of the projects that they're looking for I said I think it would be a good

[23:37] idea for an email project um to somebody. So we might once we get to

[23:42] that point we might be able to offer pretty easy project to kind of help us

[23:47] out. >> So good. Um

[23:52] okay. So I had to I had to ask um I don't go swimming at Glacoma very often.

[23:58] Uh apparently has been open this this summer. Um.

[24:02] » Mhm. >> And there's been times, I guess I it's

[24:05] been shut down, but um as I've been told, um in fact, Josh informed me, uh

[24:10] that um when we have heavy rain and there's runoff from the surrounding

[24:15] properties, uh then the bacteria level rises up into the into the lake. They

[24:20] have to close it down. Uh but other than that, uh so yes, I'm sure Tori can

[24:26] explain to you why we actually have to close it because the runoff is very

[24:30] minor. But there is a bigger contributing in

[24:33] terms of >> Oh, there is guests. It's um

[24:38] it it's it's the pond. >> Yeah.

[24:40] » Which has animals and different things in there.

[24:45] It comes from all of the above. Um there less of an impact on the residents than

[24:50] it is from just naturals.

[24:57] Yeah. A lot of it's the geese.

[25:01] that we get um that raises raises that pH level. Um it is tested daily and that

[25:07] is generally why it gets shut down. >> Okay.

[25:12] Yeah. Um I I I was just talking to some folks

[25:18] about um I know we have a playground there like uh there is u um there's I

[25:26] don't think there's a concession out there right now, but we have the beach

[25:29] and fishing opportunities. We have uh uh boating opportunities out there. There's

[25:35] a boat ramp there. Um uh the uh are we do we have currently

[25:41] have any rentals out there like kayaks or

[25:44] » we don't have any staff out there? >> Okay.

[25:48] » When you put staff out there, you have to be able to have the leg,

[25:51] » right? >> We can't do that.

[25:53] » No, but I didn't know we had anything just sitting around.

[25:58] So, um Okay.

[26:04] » Did I can I mention something? Yeah. So, I was like looking into just a little

[26:08] bit when you sent that when Danielle sent it to us, too. And uh one of the

[26:14] things that I notice just from from where I live too is with that when those

[26:19] fountains are working, it really does help a lot. And I know we've had trouble

[26:23] with a couple of them. I appreciate the one that's been working.

[26:27] » We burn out motors. >> What's that?

[26:29] » We burn the voters burn out about 300 people.

[26:32] between that and just stuff that gets bugged into them and they were actually

[26:36] out there this morning about 8:00 this morning they were out there because the

[26:40] front fountain was out. I saw. >> So, it is it is a constant

[26:44] » it is >> problem that we have with them having to

[26:47] replace parts and stuff like that and they're never parts that are there's

[26:51] like two distributors that can go out there.

[26:53] » So, unfortunately, we're at the mercy of them.

[26:56] » Um, and you know, usually they have to order parts and it takes time to get in

[27:00] and that's why you see them. Yeah. But >> we're usually on top of it to make sure.

[27:04] » Yeah. And they're great. I mean, they're wonderful and they're very good about

[27:08] community payment the town and the town's been great, you know, when people

[27:10] c like I mean, everybody's been wonderful about I was actually thinking

[27:14] for the grants because part of it was like environmental too and um so I was

[27:21] actually wondering with the grant application if there could be a request

[27:26] for like more fountains along to keep because we only have the three for the

[27:29] whole lake and it really does seem to like just the water around there just

[27:34] once like right outside but it really does keep it it moving a lot. um

[27:40] » that we can look into it. I don't know. Again, so Denmark is very

[27:45] » excited. >> Yeah.

[27:47] » About the fact that we are the last standing

[27:50] free swimming lake in the state of Del. Actually,

[27:54] there was just an article that was just put out

[27:57] » a couple days ago. >> Yeah.

[27:59] » Like not not the other one, but there was actually one talking about

[28:03] » how was the last one that's actually in the entire state. So they are there

[28:08] there's a push to try to bring it back again.

[28:10] » Yeah. >> State bodies for other other locations

[28:13] to do that. So that is what I was talking about the the plan earlier when

[28:17] they came out and they want to kind of reinvest into us.

[28:22] » So you know there we as a town are going out soon and through this.

[28:27] » Yeah. >> Um that will be kind of going on in the

[28:30] offseason. We're getting ready to shut down.

[28:32] » That's correct. um for this season. So, we will be doing doing some upgrades as

[28:36] far as like the docks and and things like that. So, that's kind of end of

[28:39] plans for this. >> And I think the kids like the people

[28:43] that are out there like they do seem to have a wonderful time. I don't know if

[28:47] any of you that goes out there religiously at 6 a.m.

[28:51] » and paddles and crew.

[28:57] » I love him. 90 years old. >> Yeah.

[28:59] » Who's been going up there since I started? Yes.

[29:07] » Three times the size of the car. >> Yeah.

[29:11] » But he's diligent. >> So one other just one other thought I

[29:15] had on the application itself too because if we're looking at like again

[29:20] young people using that area too and I don't know I know grants aren't easy

[29:27] input and those type of things. I've done cope with this before. So, I'll try

[29:31] and tell anybody what to do with it, but I think it would be great to get some

[29:34] input for some from some young people, too, about like if we really can put in

[29:39] for improvements for that area, too. Like what they would want to see there

[29:44] would be great to hear from them. I mean, I don't know. I'm old. So, you

[29:52] know, >> Denmark has now put their executive

[29:53] office there also as well as VHSS. >> Yeah. So them being a little bit more

[30:01] eager to help us see probably >> I think it's wonderful.

[30:06] » Yeah. >> Try to bring them in and get as much as

[30:08] we can. >> Yeah.

[30:10] » We have lots of them.

[30:14] » It's great. Thank you. Thanks for >> just I'm a visitor but I live on Lake Ko

[30:18] and I was actually follow last week about kids swimming across and

[30:23] trespassing on my property. Um, which is I think that swim area is far too small

[30:29] for kids to swim in, but it is dangerous I think for kids. Like there there was a

[30:34] father who brought four of his kids over just two days ago and two of them were

[30:38] like bobbing up and down in the water. >> So I don't I'm I'm passionate about

[30:43] this, I guess. Um I had my brick wall was pulled down, my retaining wall was

[30:47] pulled down a couple years ago, which was close to $1,000 in damage that

[30:50] homeowner shirts didn't cover. So that was out of pocket. Um, so I'm I'm here

[30:56] because I support the kids having fun and but also doing it safely both within

[31:01] the lake and then also limiting the risk of property damage as well as hurting

[31:07] themselves when they're cutting through. There aren't there the properties across

[31:11] the lake have fences. I I know I have blackberry bushes with thorns. Like if

[31:15] you cut through something, you could hurt yourself. So I just um I'm

[31:20] [clears throat] passionately happy to help. Yeah. So, I was talking to Amanda

[31:23] and she told me to show up so I can help. So,

[31:27] » thank you.

[31:34] » There was something that we had mentioned here. Uh I believe back in

[31:38] June. Um we're looking at a um a little bit of a reorganization for our

[31:43] committee. Um that is still just in the the infant station. Uh there's a lot of

[31:51] work we have to do. Um it would be uh to combine

[31:57] um now we have this be the Smyrna Park and recreation committee but would be

[32:03] the Smyrna Clayton Kent um park um recreation committee. And uh that would

[32:10] open up um participation in our committee a lot wider. And so naturally

[32:19] um we would want someone from Kenton and someone from Clayton uh to be on this uh

[32:25] on this committee. They currently do not have a park and recreation committee in

[32:30] Clayton Warington. Uh so what this would do is this would um um basically widen

[32:38] our um our band a little bit and we could u um not only

[32:46] look over the parks here in Spur but also what opportunities there are in

[32:51] Clayton and what opportunities are in Kent. Uh so uh that is something which

[32:56] we uh is in the proposed um uh um it is proposed right now. We have to look at

[33:04] town charter. We have to talk to uh the other two towns about all this. So uh

[33:12] but that is on the plate right now. um that we're looking at. I just said this

[33:17] would uh um this would um broaden broaden our scope a little bit. Uh and

[33:25] um I said this two have a a park and recreation commission. So we could we

[33:30] would also be covering Clayton and uh and Satan uh all within the SP school.

[33:35] That's the uh that frame that brings school into it. Um a lot more than what

[33:43] um what it could be. Uh so um any other any comments on that? Any

[33:51] any Okay.

[33:56] All right. Is there any other visit? I think we brought forth um this evening.

[34:05] » Yes, I should mention um this will be my last meeting um because of what you just

[34:11] said. So, I have lived in town my whole life. Um and there is a town ordinance

[34:17] that if you do not live in town limits, you cannot serve on a town committee. Um

[34:22] and I sold my home. So next week I go to settlement and I will be a resident of

[34:27] Clayton. So this will be my last u meeting for

[34:32] now on this committee until or you know if if we were to merge again or

[34:38] something that's sad maybe we may for a while hopefully we'll be going great to

[34:45] serve with you guys. So thank you for that. Yeah

[34:47] » thank you. >> You've been a major asset to this

[34:50] committee. Thank you. As I said, um if we do merge uh with this with Clayton

[34:56] and with Kenton, um you would be um back on our committee again.

[35:01] » I think Clayton is trying to get something in the works because I saw

[35:04] something about them having a park next meeting, but I think um Merida said at

[35:08] this point it's mostly their council members

[35:11] » that's running it. Yeah. But maybe at some point that will be they just have

[35:14] that one little park. >> Yeah. And she claimed that we'd have to

[35:18] work out. >> We do a lot with Smart and Clayton. like

[35:20] we do our parades together. >> We do a lot of things together anyway.

[35:24] So I think it would make sense to you know at some point

[35:29] » bring it back together because we are essentially like our kids go to the same

[35:32] high school and similar to where each group has their own problem. The

[35:37] difference is in Smyrna our school district is represented by so many

[35:43] different towns. We have Townzen, we have Blackford. All of those folks go to

[35:49] Smyrna school district. So when this group makes a decision or makes a

[35:54] proposal, you are using town of Smyrna money to do it. When Clayton does it,

[35:59] they are using Clayton residents money to do it. The taxpayers need for that.

[36:04] So if you aren't a taxpayer, we can't spend that money that way. That

[36:11] that's the way it works. That's where those monies come from. So with that

[36:15] being said, we have to have representation from all of that because

[36:18] the school district is so much more broad, but the school district is 5,000%

[36:23] not part of Senna Town Council. We are absolute separate entities. So we need

[36:29] to find out what that happy mix is. And I'm not sure where we find that, but the

[36:33] one thing that I do not want to lose in losing Jessica is the town cleanup that

[36:38] she and her children have so selflessly done throughout town. And that that's

[36:45] something that we need to continue and I'm not sure how to do that. Well, she's

[36:49] living in Clayton. She could always live at the business center.

[36:51] » I'll take I'll take the the high school road like Duck Craig to the park. I got

[36:55] you. >> The young man that you brought in to

[36:57] work with us has been phenomenal. >> Oh, yeah. I brought him a letter for

[37:01] college.

[37:06] » So, thank you, Jessica. >> Yeah. Jessica, thank you so much. You've

[37:09] not only served on this committee but DDD and served on anything else that

[37:14] we've asked you. >> It's my pleasure.

[37:18] » And I like how you said until. We'll go with that.

[37:21] » Yeah. Until >> we voted for that down. [laughter]

[37:28] » All right. Um

[37:32] public comment. Now's the time. Now's the time that

[37:36] uh anybody has anything they want to bring to the committee. Um now's the

[37:40] time people are here and we will listen to you and hopefully come up with a

[37:48] solution that maybe not. So,

[37:56] » um I don't have a problem to bring to you guys, but

[38:01] uh based off of what she said, I do think expanding the swimming area and

[38:05] the comma will be great as long as especially improving the dock because

[38:09] the dock is um those rusty nails. I think it's missing a board actually. A

[38:16] bunch of stuff. I go every so often and I have fun. Um I don't know how you

[38:23] could solve people for swimming over >> because I know a lot of people do it

[38:28] just as a challenge. Um

[38:31] so I don't know what the solution could be for that. But I think repairs and

[38:37] increasing a swimming area and maybe even having a separate fishing area

[38:42] because there's been times where um we will have to try to get people to stop

[38:47] fishing in the either swimming area or off the dock and technically it is not a

[38:52] roden area off the dock >> um off the front of it,

[38:56] » but a lot of people jump off, swim around it um swim near it and with hooks

[39:02] and all that around it's not safe. I know a lot of people fish on the left

[39:08] side of this little I think maybe it was intended to be a kiddie pool, but it's

[39:12] usually fishing spot which has very tiny fish in it. People usually fish off

[39:18] towards the bank more, but not everyone. And I know um there's even hooks wrapped

[39:24] around the um the ropes going on the fishing uh area, not fishing, the

[39:29] swimming area. Um, >> but that's all I have for that.

[39:34] » Well, thank you for all of that. >> Yeah, that's all.

[39:37] » See, that's what I mean. Exactly. Yes. Thank you. [laughter]

[39:41] » Yeah, but that's that's what we need like the real experience of what what

[39:44] you all would like to do and like to see. So,

[39:48] » what's the if you could make one improvement, if you could dream one

[39:53] thing that to make it better, what would you do?

[39:58] » Probably just picking a dock. That's the major thing cuz I know my friend cut up

[40:02] on her foot on it. She had to go to the um walking for

[40:07] that. Oh jeez. >> And I know um

[40:11] like I said a bunch of like old boards, busty nails sticking up, stuff like

[40:17] that. And then the robe could be uh be done

[40:22] cuz I know a section of it's missing. Okay. Thank you, sir.

[40:29] Oh, so along those lines, I was actually thinking possible event. I'd recognize

[40:34] things need to go through the council, but even having like once or twice a

[40:37] summer having like a swimming competition where there's like three

[40:41] different buoies or something and like who can make the swimming competition um

[40:45] with like but also helping to educate on safety because it is a lot of kids like

[40:50] I I absolutely would much rather prefer someone to cut through my yard than to

[40:54] try to swim across when they realize it's too much for them. But I don't

[40:58] think it looks really close. Like I probably the guy I could smoke myself

[41:03] and I know I couldn't and get back. So, um I think being able to do any kind of

[41:08] public education would be a a fun thing or even um like putting out the buoys

[41:15] rather than using the wooden pylons that are there. putting out um more of those

[41:21] foam like I don't foam floaty things across

[41:26] um to expand the swimming area. Yeah. But also because kids hang on them too.

[41:29] So I think having something like that that floats that won't be like a rope

[41:34] won't get pulled down because it was fixed at the beginning of the piece um

[41:38] could potentially help. And I have a long list of things too but I I don't

[41:42] want to again passionate happy to help. That's why I'm here today. I hope I can

[41:46] join other meetings. Um, I want to be part of the solution,

[41:57] » you know, like with that grant that they're doing, is there a comm or do you

[42:01] know like is there a committee that's working on that like something like

[42:07] » I don't know. >> I don't I don't think that that's kind

[42:10] like it there was like >> Oh, so there's not Oh, that's right. I

[42:14] think it is due like I look at like I know the name of this month.

[42:19] » Yeah. >> So

[42:21] » due date August 31st tonight.

[42:28] [laughter] >> I don't think I've ever seen something

[42:30] shake their head like >> you know what I knew what it looked like

[42:34] before I even looked. >> I bet

[42:40] » that's an administrative thing. and council can have a say, but the reality

[42:44] of it is if there's a whole strategic side to it, the funding, the money, the

[42:51] maintenance, the dah, those are all questions that will

[42:56] eventually come back to you. And if you can't bless it, it doesn't benefit the

[43:01] town.

[43:06] That's why you're so very good at what you do.

[43:11] » You were just saying though like a separate from the grant thing like

[43:14] there's going to you the town already has a plan to do some repairs out there.

[43:18] Is that something? >> Yeah.

[43:21] » Go out things >> like maybe the dock or something.

[43:25] » The dock is 100% needs to be redone. >> So

[43:30] that just like these guys here. Yeah. That thing looks like you

[43:36] did when I was 10 years old. >> I think I remember them doing swimming

[43:41] competitions on the lake or something like that when I was younger, too. Like

[43:45] » you I've been in charge of this unfortunately for the last

[43:50] 10 plus years. And I used to have life bars out there and then all of a sudden

[43:56] » yeah to the point where I actually offered to pay for training. We still

[44:00] keep paying but nobody just they didn't work. So, it just became more of a

[44:05] daunting task to try to figure out how to get somebody out there. Um, you know,

[44:10] I I completely agree with you. I've been here. I've been in the fire department.

[44:15] I've seen what happens. I've, you know, it's a long truck across

[44:22] there. Leave them alone. Um, and it's a safety issue. Um, so to

[44:28] answer what happens when I was a chief of police, I would go out there. The

[44:32] problem is is I could go out there and be like, "Hey, get out of water." And

[44:34] then they say bad words to me and they keep on going, right? And I I had no

[44:38] reproduction to do anything. Um, when I was a chief, it was a little bit more. I

[44:43] would go out and then I would take everybody out, lock the gates and say,

[44:45] "Nobody comes back in, right?" And that kind of deters people from doing it

[44:50] because then they'll be like, "Hey, he's going to come out here and shut things

[44:52] down." Um, we do have cameras out there. each fire. That's the police department

[44:58] advises us to kind of go out there, but when you have a million things that are

[45:02] going on, you know, it it just is one of those things where it's just not always

[45:06] right there in front of you um until until it truly is,

[45:11] you know, so maybe we need to figure out how to make that a little more of a

[45:14] priority, but understand that that takes away from something else down the line.

[45:20] We only have so many stuck. >> Yeah.

[45:23] » So, but we are we there will be improvements. We go door. Let's make

[45:26] sure that we're doing some stuff. We are planning on putting some money into it.

[45:29] It was a there's a conversation. We are Daniel, don't cringe, but should be

[45:36] eligible for OPT again

[45:40] » next year. >> Right. So that wasn't processing.

[45:45] » [clears throat] >> have one of the uh one of the better. We

[45:51] also we also possibly have a new part.

[46:13] » Okay. Any other any other uh comments today?

[46:21] Okay. I want to announce that on September 16th

[46:26] um at 6:00 p.m. we'll have our September meeting of the park recreation committee

[46:31] here at uh the police station. And uh I'd like to entertain a motion for

[46:39] German.

[46:42] Motion is so moved. Um, so we are now journed and I want to thank everyone for

[46:49] coming and as I said uh if some of your friends and neighbors would uh have

[46:57] questions or concerns about end of park, please have them come on out and think

[47:04] that's all their concern here. Uh do what we can and work together.

[47:10] Thank you.

8.19.2026 Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting

Transcript