Resident Wendy Reese-Hartmann provided comment regarding the fireworks within city limits at last week’s Parks meeting, particularly the lack of documented approval by Parks. Reese-Hartmann had addressed the fireworks discussion between alderman Melissa Greene and Director Justin Huss from the June 10 council meeting.
She notified the commission that Greene had asked why the Parks Commission had not voted nor approved the fireworks from Lake Leatherwood to Marble Flats and Huss responded, “There was in our budget discussion, this was part of our special event line item. That’s when we discussed it. Everybody liked the idea when I talked about it in the budget meeting.”
Reese-Hartmann spoke against moving the fireworks from city property to private property over the historic downtown, and said she was surprised to learn “that there are no public records either in the minutes or recordings of the budget workshop to which Mr. Huss referred to the discussion.” She also said she was surprised there were not more opportunities provided to the public for comments on the subject before the ordinance was made law.
“As a taxpayer and resident [I would ask] that moving forward you all would honor us to be more transparent with your workshops adhering to our state’s open meeting law and recording minutes for all public meetings by this commission.”
Shuttle purchase requested
In new business, Huss stated he wants to waive the public process of competitive bid for financing the purchase of one or possibly two shuttles for the downhill bike riders in Lake Leatherwood Park. He said that a city entity can purchase up to $20,000 without a bid process and anticipates either a $30,000 or $60,000 purchase depending on how many shuttles are purchased.
In a previous workshop he addressed the high rental costs of the shuttles, “We are hemorrhaging money right now and it needs to stop. It is costing us more than we are making.” The staff and commission discussed other businesses offering shuttle services within the park and Huss said, “We control who does business in the park – businesses need permission to operate a business in the park.”
Leatherwood tree cut without consideration
Resident and naturalist Sharon Roberts approached the commission with a whistle-blowing occurrence in Lake Leatherwood that happened during the last Enduro races this spring. Roberts notified the commission that a 50+ year-old Leatherwood tree was cut down to make way for a practice bike trail. She brought the evidence of the destroyed tree and asked commissioners to educate their staff on what a Leatherwood tree looks like and its importance to the park.
Roberts encouraged the Parks to identify the trees, protect them with a physical barrier, and adopt a best-practices policy for the Parks staff, trails’ riders and event managers. Featherstone said the Parks staff needs educated on identifying the species, and said he did not know who was responsible for cutting the tree down.
Invasive plants need to be invaded
Gardens manager Scott Miskiel said he would like to see more continuity within the gardens in each of the parks. Miskiel stated there are “inconsistencies in styles among the gardens” and plans to develop a comprehensive plan for each garden to envelope native plants and deal with the “layers and layers of invasive plants.”
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 16 at 6 p.m. in the Auditorium.