Linda McBride said at the Oct. 15 Parks meeting that the equipment to repair the road above the dog park was arriving later in the week and she raised concern about the money from the GoFundMe for Montana Widener being used. She also said she hoped Parks had a written budget for Fat Tire Festival and that they had, in writing, the CAPC giving money for Fat Tire.
McBride also said that the Trails map used by Parks is “worthless,” due to incorrect information and asked if Parks was looking to get the money back from the cost of its creation.
Chair Bill Featherstone gave no response to McBride in Chairman’s comments, contrary to having given responses to public comments in previous meetings. He said that until the commission adopts rules of engagement he will “strictly enforce” the three minutes for individual public comments and no public comments outside of that time so meetings would run smoother.
Parks will host a town hall meeting about the Master Plan at a workshop on Nov. 5 at the Aud.
Director’s Report
Director Justin Huss’s report consisted of a long list of maintenance that Parks employees were working on – repairs to their office building in Harmon Park were underway, additional gravel was being added above the dog park, and money from the Montana Widener memorial fund was being used to fix the road to help with erosion.
The Basin Park fountain is back in its rightful place, and gardener Scott Miskle has completed work on irrigation for the various gardens for automatic watering.
Parks is also evaluating hours for operation of the shuttles they are preparing to buy.
In other news…
- Tracellen Kelley volunteered to be a part of the Dog Park committee, which has not had any members. She did ask a few questions clarifying how the committee works with Parks, most notably if it had a budget or not.
- Commissioner Scott Bardin is in the process of looking into a third party to audit Parks.
- Huss wanted commissioners to know that there is a group wanting to place a Cheryl Maples memorial in Basin Park, and he said that he wanted to put it on their radar for November. Cheryl Maples is the lawyer who filed the successful suit challenging Arkansas’ ban on same-sex marriage. She passed away earlier this year.