I'll call to order the March 14th, 2024 meeting of the Ashland Parks and Recreation Committee. Are there any proposed changes to the agenda as presented? Okay. It is accepted. Yes. Seeing is there no changes. We'll just, you just move on. Seeing no changes will move on. I think it's a good idea to see if we can get the next step. It is accepted. Seeing there are no changes. We'll just move on. Seeing no changes will move on. Next up, section two, the agenda is an input. Are there any attendees who would like to speak before the committee? Please come up to the lectern. Councilwoman. Hello. My name is Pamela Sopal, 311 North Sneeds Street, Ashland. I just want to say that I had a wonderful tour of the parks this week. And they're all lovely, but I really resonated with the joint. It took me back to my childhood. So the parks are lovely, and I hope that everyone gets to enjoy them. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for that feedback. That's amazing. I have to second that Dijonet is actually my favorite one. I'm the welcome. It's a special spot. It is so special. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much for your feedback. Okay. And anyone else? Okay. I will now close to this end point. And next we will move on to discussion items. Our first discussion item is A, a bicompadishery and plan review with Miss Richards. And this is Richards. Thank you. And just make sure I think I turned all your mics on but make sure the light is a bright green. And I should have said this before, but you did a great job, Chelsea, and speaking into your mic, but let's make sure we speak into our mics. So by Compadestrian Plan Review, at our last meeting, we decided we wanted to tweak a few things in the by Compadestrian Plan. So I I did that and I sent you the most updated draft. Our goal tonight is to kind of talk about a couple questions maybe related to the bike and pedestrian plan and decide if we're ready for the public input process. So the bike and pedestrian plan review, we're gonna talk about if there are any changes or edits. Do we feel like this is a complete document and are we ready to solicit community input? So before we do, well, I'm going to talk about, so I have a plan for the community input process. So before you ask questions about that, there's a couple slides on it that we're going to get to. But let's talk about the plan in itself. When I sent you the copy and I apologize this didn't print in color. There were some highlighted yellows places. Those were the things that I had changed and updated. And we have, we did get some community input from Mr. Felix Stevens on the bike and pedestrian plan. He lives on 504 Caroline Street. The printout of his comments are located after the bike and pedestrian plan. It's about two pages. It's located after the presentation in your packet. And I have responses and I've responded to Mr. Felix and he and I had a really great back and forth discussion. And so I can fill you in on his comments. I've responded to Mr. Felix and he and I had a really great back and forth discussion. And so I can fill you in on his comments. And so I think maybe we start with that and then I'll circle back to the committee if there are any questions. Sound good? Okay. So Mr. Stephen's brought up first talking about the map designating the level of traffic stress and I apologize to you that this did not print in color either, but the level of traffic stress for Archie Cannon slash Vaughan Road is indicated as level one, which means that it is a very low stress road. So level one and two are low stress. So that means that there aren't a lot of, there's not as much vehicle usage on those roads. Mr. Stevens believes that that should be rated a little bit higher and what I explained to him is there was actually for those that are newer to the committee plan RVA which is a regional planning organization was consulting with us on the bike and pedestrian plan when we first started the process. And they actually ran studies to look at the level of traffic stress in Ashland. They do that for all of the roads in the region as kind of a regional effort. They did it for their bike and pedestrian plans. So they have one that was published a couple years before ours. And also, and so they use the data from that study in order to rank the level of traffic stress on our roads. So while Archie Cannon and Slash Von Road is a more traffic road, the roads with the higher level of traffic stress like the 3s and 4s are really going to be like that Route 1, 54. So while it may not categorize on paper, like from the data as a very high level traffic stress, we can know anecdotally that there is a lot of traffic and there will continue to be more traffic on there as the school is built and keep that in mind when we are prioritizing projects. Any questions about his comment there? I think when they looked at it, they were looking like in comparing a more metropolitan area with those numbers. But for, you know, live in here in Ashland, we know that that's, for Ashland is a higher, raised road. Right. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, I would appreciate his thoughts on thoughts on it because and I think what you just said about the fact that the school is going to be open and then when you add the addition of a new park there and whatever that will entail the traffic volume is bound to get higher. Right. And I think it is important that we always keep that in the back of our mind. Absolutely. I mean, talking about, you know, the safe routes to school, that's directly a safe route, or excuse me, a route, that will be leading to the new elementary school. So that is definitely, I think, high on the list of making sure that we get that right. That understanding about what it is. And I believe to, you know, for the purposes of the document, it living as a low level of traffic stress doesn't mean that it's a low priority, if that makes sense. Like technically, it can be a low level of traffic stress, but we can still put a high priority on the safe routes to school and, you know, on facilitating that, you know, by competitive access in that area. So next moving on to demographics, he asked about why we included the data on children five years in younger increasing and we didn't look at kids that are of that driving age or like that teen level because they, those teens will probably be the ones walking to school. I hope kids under five years aren't walking alone to school. My response to him, because our planning department helped pull out for me the most important demographics, was that this is a 2045 plan. So, this children that are under five right now are going to age through that group as we work through this plan. And it's really, it's showing that it's statistically significant that we have a lot of young children. And that helps us look forward to planning and that okay, that younger, you know, the number of young children that we have is increasing. That means we're gonna have more teenagers. We're gonna have more children walking to school. We're gonna have more young cyclists. So that was the reason for pulling that demographic information. It was more statistically significant than some of that other kind of like teenager that all kind of stayed relatively the same. That makes sense. Do you think that's something that we should articulate in the document and the plan? Do you think it's something you want to highlight the fact that? I think maybe it's worth it, especially the fact if I mean... Because I didn't know. You're right. Yeah. And you're absolutely correct. I mean with the 2045 plan, this is the target and it is statistically relevant. So I think having that caught out is helpful. And I can add under the demographics I can add just a couple sentences just clarifying the reason why we pulled that specific data. That's great. Yeah. I think that's really helpful. I think that's good. Thank you. Next, he questioned a trail and actually helped find an error on one of the maps. We have the sidewalk going all the way down Vaughan Road in Archie, Canon. It does not the way down Vaughan Road in Archi, Canon. It does not go over that Vaughan Road section, and you can't see it in color here, but you'll be able to see it in color in the agenda packet. So that is an oversight on my parting trying to go through, and there were a lot of sidewalks and trails to look at and compare with the map that we got and make sure they are the same. So I appreciate his additional set of eyes on that. The trail that he is questioning on the left hand side of that graphic is a neighborhood trail around Carter Forest and it's not a town maintained and owned trail but it's still a trail so we indicated it on the map but there is I drove over there today to double check there is a trail over there. Is it a community? Like a neighborhood trail. But the public can access it though. Yeah, I mean it goes right along the road so I'm yeah so but there's not a town like town developed and maintained trail. So, okay. And so I explained that and I think that's important to point out is because like I was just like, I knew that there was a trail over there but I was like, hmm, good question and I drove over today and double checked in. And then as for that sidewalk section, I will get that corrected on the map. And then I'll do another kind of drive walk run through Ashland and check to make sure that our maps are accurate. And then last but not least, the area highlighted in the Ashland sidewalk recommendation that is also in that Carter's Forest area. There's a call for a sidewalk that connects to Vaughn Road there. It's not in the sidewalk recommendations because it's actually in the trail recommendations. So we're going we're putting that so it's there. It's just reflected as a trail because there is a trail along James Street already. And so we're going to just kind of like continue that trail if that makes sense. So that's that 10 foot asphalt shared use path. So essentially the same thing just a different way of accomplishing the goal. Yes. OK. thing just in just a different way of accomplishing the goal. So any other questions about that feedback? This is really helpful to us. And how was he accessing the document right now? So we published the agenda for the meeting online and so he went and viewed it before. Awesome. That's wonderful. on-line and so he went and viewed it before. Awesome, that's wonderful. But I think this is, and when we talk about our community input process and what I've worked with our community engagement manager and some of the other staff on kind of putting together a plan for that, is this is the type of feedback that we're interested in, right? So I think this also helps give us a little direction in putting, you know, how we want to solicit feedback. And so I'll talk about that a little bit later. But just wanted to normally don't like pick apart citizen input this much, but because I wanted to provide the explanation that I did to him to you guys too for context. That's great. And I think, yes, having some of that in the documents, wonderful. Yeah. And then maybe, you know, for where we end up going timeline with this, but having draft written in the footer, be helpful just so, when, you know, whenever there's a document that is out in the public realm that people understand that it is a draft and it's still being worked on. Yeah. And I also want to add reference to his comments, especially like the level of traffic stress comment can be included in the appendix that we have appendix F for the public engagement comments. So we can include those comments too in that section just to document that community input kind of in an evergreen way with the rest of the document. Any more questions about that citizen input? No? Awesome. Okay, so what is your Parks and Recreation Committee input? How did you feel about this? Are there things that we need to review? Well, I, for starters, I mean this is really close. This is really exciting to see it all being pulled together. And I do have a couple of things to touch on. And I apologize. I was working on the previous one, so I don't have the line item numbers. So I'm not sure I'm matching up with page numbers, but I will try to call this out. So page seven, key destinations in town, maybe that's page seven on the other side. Yes, that is page seven still. Okay. And then figure two, it talks about some of those key destinations. We refer those key destinations. We refer to key destinations later on in the plan. And I just wanna make sure that we feel comfortable with what we are saying are the key destinations. And if there are other ones that we feel like should be included, I think these were ones that plan RVA identified and then if I'm the committee did as well. Yeah, okay. And so I just wanted to because it is referenced multiple times, I just want to make sure there isn't anything else that we maybe feel like should or needs to be included. You know, if there are additional services or I mean, I honestly couldn't really think of ones that I felt were leaping out at me that needed to be maybe the downtown area because that is an area where people, you know, Ashland itself is trying to market people to come to the downtown area and there's the Ashland farmers market. If that is maybe one but I didn't know if there was anything that leaped out to anybody. So I'm just putting that one out there into thoughts. Then let's see. We may get input from the public saying that there's a few they'd like to see. Good point. I couldn't see it. I couldn't think of any. I looked at see it. I couldn't think of any. I looked at that too. I didn't think of any, but the public may have some. You know, I feel like we're probably missing one or two, but you know, I'm, yeah, so you're right. Public input, that's going to be really helpful. And you start to not see to see it for a shot. It's always fun to get out. So true. OK, on page 14, when it talks about the demographics, and it just always hits me so hard with the percentage of poverty increasing from 8.4% to 19.7% in such a short duration too. I just, this is a minor element, but down below, what does this tell us? The second-of-the-last line saying pedestrian student, Ashlyn should focus on providing bicycle and pedestrian network options for workers who do not own a car. But I think perhaps we could be more encompassing with individuals. That it's not just necessarily workers. And if I may add, you may want to put that in there. We have just added that new micro-triangle. Yes, the new. Yes, so maybe you want to put that in there because it is an option for people to take. While it is very limited, it's still a free option for people to use. That is so wonderful. Yes. Page 16. I think this was part of what was a highlighted one to the last sentence in the future, the town may consider major roadways, national bike routes and bike lanes were appropriate and feasible. Did we or could we be more bold to say should or do we just leave it as may consider? It was that was an internal staff conversation. Our bike lanes can get really challenging because of right of way the size of like the width of roads. And I think the goal for the town is to focus on shared use paths that actually get people off of roads over bike lanes. So because the shared use path is that 10 foot asphalt path that's actually offset by a couple feet from the road. So that's why we talked about we may consider them if we potentially couldn't do a shared use path. But um, so in this, that's something that we could include in it too, you know, the um, the focus. That's the sentence before the town has chosen to focus on trails or share use paths as a standard for bike travel in town. Okay. So that's, so I mean, if I can phrase that better, or if you think that fits, but that was kind of the reasoning is we, not that like a bike lane isn't great, but like we'd like to get people just safely, completely off the road to just create that buffer between writers and traffic. Okay. I would prefer being on that on Route 1. Well, yeah, I mean, that's what I thought too. I thought too. Yes. As a cyclist myself, I much prefer anything because the other thing with being on bike lanes is A, and this is just like anecdotal stuff is people, drivers not really respecting or understanding bike lanes, but there's a lot of debris from the road that gets pushed into bike lanes as cars come by, gravel, stuff like that. And so it actually can be a dangerous, like I can't tell you any flat tires I've gotten from road riding. So moving people, it's actually just kind of a better overall experience to be off of the the road That's awesome. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, we're clear of finding that Okay, so then I have a piece going starting going into the visions initiatives But should we maybe get everybody else's input for the beginning part and then move into visions and goals? How everyone makes sense before you get into like the chunky part of it? I'm going to say my comments are four figure five and six, which I don't think do we get five and six or yes I don't think do we get five and six or yes, we just passed that. Okay, so I just, in looking at it, in reading through this time, before I was looking at content and everything, this time I actually was reading and looking at the figures, right? But what struck me was five and six, I had to go back and look at what it was. Do you know what I mean? Like I had to go back to the document and read what those two words were talking about. So I don't know, you notice in the other ones they're kind of labeled, whether it's in the figure. Right. There's a call out in the tax. But in the figure, there's nothing. So you have to kind of like, OK, what was this one again? So I thought that it should be consistent with all of them kind of worded the same way so that you can look at the figure and know what it is. So are you saying put, I don't know, I don't know how you got these documents so I don't know how much editability you have or what do you put it? Yeah a lot of them are from plan RVA from and I can reach out to them and try to get I have just like PDFs of them I don't have like editable images but I can reach out to them and try to get, I have just PDFs of them. I don't have editable images, but I can try to get those. But would it help if, I just put it like, the texture of your work, and then put it underneath the, like put it above or underneath the photo on that same page. Okay. And just a label. That's just a formatting. Yes, easily. And like I said, I didn't know how much you could edit, but just somehow identifying what they are. And I'll just skip ahead to number nine. And that this is my last comment was on figure nine. And I figured you got figured using that lot. You probably copied this from somewhere and it's for our document, it's figure nine but in the document itself, it says figure five. Oh, okay. I don't know if you can wipe it out or something. I don't know. Which editing you will now. Sorry, let me find it. It's a page three or no. 18. Oh, that's document. Yeah. It says 19 different 19. Where does it say figures? Ah, there it is. Okay. You're annoying. And if you look at the top, it just says yeah, I took that from our old document or something. I took that from the 2040 transportation plan. So if you can do so, that. So I can probably just get in painter. So yeah, that was just, I was really old. I was showing my age, but yeah. I'm really old school with the, yeah. That's, those are my comments. I think it looks, we've come a long way with this document. Even more reason to have titles that are just in word texts. You just, yeah. Revise. Okay, so going back to figure. So here's what I can do is I can label next to where it says like fig, period six, fig, period seven, whatever. I can label next to it what that image is. And here's the other thing too, is this document is going to get pretty up by somebody who's not me and who has those skill sets. And so they probably also will do some of those like formatting things. But then I can add in the little description of what you're looking at in the figure either underneath it or above it. So that it's all on the same page. Because some people just like to look at figures. Right, they don't like to, they're visual. Right, so then picture of the visual. Yep, yes. Thank you for that. Did anybody else have feedback on the first portion of the document? Excuse me. I don't. Okay, great. So then when we come over to around page 20, we're gonna start looking at the vision goals and initiatives. This is just an editorial one. I think it's maybe helpful at this point to say the 2045 by Compossessorian plan, goals and initiatives, we're speaking about so many plans along the way, I get a little confused sometimes. So, speaking about so many plans along the way I get a little confused sometimes. So one thing to think about. So under visions, but then excuse me, vision, but also under goals. So the last line of each of those initial paragraphs is, so under visions is the four following values, provide a framework for addressing the plans vision. Connecting safety more users. And then you come over to goals and we say that the committee established four goals for the plan, which is safety equity connectivity more. Yeah, and I think we talked about this last time and I changed one but not the other. So thank you for it because we changed the order of the bullet points. And then I think I changed it under goals but didn't realize it was also under vision. But I don't know if it has to be under both. I know and so I guess I'm, I don't know where this lands really but I mean they are values for the framework but they are our goals. So, I mean, do we, I don't know, do we keep them under the vision statement, or do we just have them as our goals? Or do we keep them as both? we keep them as both. So are you saying maybe is it redundant to have them under goals, like to have those four listed under goals and vision? I think they're probably one or the other. I think they're probably not both. From my standpoint, but others might feel differently. So are you saying to remove this sentence, the four following from under? I would think it's probably not part of the visions, because we've already really established it as the goals. So I think it's probably not. The vision should stand alone. Right, right. Without that sentence. Without that, I agree. right without that. I agree. Easy. That's usually something you pull out and flash the statement. Easy to make that. Okay. And then this is where I get a little bit more into what. So in thinking about and looking through all of these and then funding is only specifically called out in safety. It's not specifically called out and any of the other ones. It is without using the word funding, but I also recognize that there's sensitivities around that. And how far we can articulate and verbally push that or what that looks like. So if it's under safety, what does that mean for the other ones? Like, where you're putting your money is where you're putting your value to, right? So if we are, it feels a little uneven to me if there's only one that funding is used and the others don't. But also, I don't want to take away funding from something that should be called out. I mean, I think this is just my opinion and obviously this is your show, but I would say we change the word from here to like plan for ongoing maintenance for existing and future infrastructure and we just because we have funding sources listed later on in implementation. That's more of an implementation type thing. Right. And that way we're not putting financial priority one and one. I think I feel more comfortable that on the way. I mean, for example, number four, 4.11 is planning to develop safe routes from town to the future elementary school. So I mean, that makes it more in line with each other and it's not giving preferential. Consist, it is. Yeah. Consist, it's too. Yeah. Okay. And I think funding being called out separately is, we thought it was important to have a funding recognized, right? Mm-hmm. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can If we could add a line in there about where it will be available or when will be available, when it goes to public so people have an understanding about what that is. Sorry. Or where that is. Well, you repeat that real quick. The computer showed me an error message and I had a little moment. It's fine. It just needs to restart later. Okay. So page 25. Yes, Community Input for Infrastructure Development. And it is talking about project master lists presented in the document. But then, like, where will this be available? Oh, okay. Yep. And then my last piece is just talking about the measurement tools, but maybe we can save that for last two. Maybe come back if anybody Any other thoughts? And just thinking if there's other ways that we can be a little bit more specific, I know we don't want to get too specific. But when there's thinking about things like safety, equity, connectivity, more users, you know, if there are things that we can touch based on, I mean, honestly, even just looking at the goals and looking at each of these or excuse me, the initiatives. If there's calling out for, you know, every two years, make sure that the committee is reviewing this again, every five years, every, you know, having some sort of time period associated with it so that it's not just a 2045 plan that we kind of forget about because we have a ways to go until 2045 and then all of a sudden it creeps up on us and oh we have some of these things to work on. But you know like the equity making sure that we're 10 minutes, you know we're within two and minutes of walking to a park or you know safety looking the equity making sure that bird 10 minutes, you know, we're within two minutes of walking to a park or, you know, safety looking at annually, what are the injuries? Connectivity, you know, is that loop created? I mean, so you want a time period for measurement? Is that what you're saying? You'd like something here, sing. Focusing back on, are we accomplishing these things? So would it make sense to go? It's as usually the prioritization occurs every three to five years. Do you visualize it as part of that? So I guess when I read that part, yes, because when I read that, I was thinking more of, because if you're reprioritizing you, I would think you would go back and look at measurement tools to see what you've accomplished in what? I've accomplished them, what you really need to do. So would it be part of that? Yeah, so the reason we keep it, they with the three to five years, is that depending on the scope of the project and the funding that we Yeah, so the reason we keep it, they, with the three to five years, is that depending on the scope of the project and the funding that we have, I think Mr. Ferra spoke to it last time, it sometimes, you know, we can get through the list in three years, but if something happens and we have to move funding, sometimes it may take six. So if we want to add some type of like sentence or two that talks about like maybe prior to each prioritization cycle, the committee will review the bicycle and pedestrian plan and completed projects and updated data or whatever before starting that next prioritization project? I think what you wanted was more tying in the measurement. Right. Looking at the measure in doing the prioritization and whatever the time frame is. Right. To include reviewing the measurement tools. So we're talking about that. The measurement tools are important, but then you need to type back and say, okay, when you prioritize, you should go back and look at these tools to help you prioritize. Is that what you're saying? Yes, I am. Thank you. So like the actual, like the actual matrix, like the actual matrix or going back and reviewing like the vision goals and objectives? Well, I think it's a twofold because it is certainly that and it's going back and reviewing the documents making sure that yes, we have this, but then also those tools. Yeah. Because we won't be sitting here. Right, it'll be another committee. It'll be another committee. Ah, so to help future people. Yeah. Many members. Yes. Yeah. With the task of. So just to make sure I have this right is I will include some narrative that says that prior to each prioritization cycle, the Parks and Recreation Committee will review the bicandescirian plan, including the vision goals and objectives and the measurement tool to make sure it's applicable to that time frame or to that. Yeah, because I think there's an element where things can get lost in translation. And like as a new committee member coming on, I was reading all of these plans and looking through like, oh, wow, these are amazing things. And some of them I can see, yes, have clearly been implemented and have already been created and implemented. Whereas others, why have no idea? And I recognize that that was something that was important to them and still, you know. So I guess, Continuity. Maybe I'm almost like a living document of having an understanding of what's the status. Continuity. Right. Because as people change, right, and get lost. Yep. I guess. Yeah. Yeah. And not just pushed on a shelf to not be recalled again. Thank you for helping me consolidate those thoughts. I was right there with you. I got it. I got it. Thank you. Great. I mean, I'm so excited that I'm, this is, yeah, I'm so far. So, to put more work on me, because I'll definitely be here in five years. I will, that's not sarcasm, I love the town. What if I put like staff will provide an update of projects, completed projects and data to, you know, to the committee prior to each prior organization. And that way we make sure it's in there. So I remember in five years to do that. But that way you can use that information to help measure, to see what we have accomplished. And then in your own review, you have the basically, you know, this is what we've accomplished in the last five years. And you can review that against the bicompadestrian document and make sure that it's the way that we want to be moving. That to me is government working. Right. That's all right. Right. Because a lot can change in five years. Yes, right. A lot. And I would just tweak that with projects mapped out as it compares to the initiatives or how it maps out to the initiatives. And that was the bulk of mine. Comments if anybody. the to be able to relisten to this and hear me talk when I have to review the video, which is just like nails on a chalkboard to be so. Just give me two seconds. You're doing, thank you. All right, any other thoughts or comments? I don't have any. All right. Any other thoughts or comments? I don't have any. Okay. So my next question for you is if I take all the comments that we were made tonight, I put them in the document, I changed things around, I add the verbiage, I fixed the figures, all of that. And I send it to you. Are you comfortable just reviewing it and giving it kind of the rubber stamp via email? And then us moving forward with the community input process, or do you feel like you want to sit down and discuss as a committee, again, before community input? I feel like it was really okay with that. I don't feel like we have any massive major changes or like reworks of anything, but what I'm trying, I'm just trying to keep because we only meet every two months. I'm really trying to keep this moving because I'll get into it a little bit on the next few slides, but I'd like, I have a proposed timeline in how to accomplish this. So if you feel comfortable with that, I'll make those changes. I'll send to you. I'll give you a week or two to look at it and then reply back to me. Yes, no, any other changes that you'd like to see and then we'll move forward with community and put if that's. Great. Okay. Awesome. Is it possible to have it in track changes or highlighted? Yeah, I'll highlight it. I'll highlight it and send it out to you. And so you'll see specifically what I've updated. Okay. I think it looks good. I feel it's a complete document as answering your question there. And it's not the end. Like it's still draft. So the pressure isn't on as much as at the very end. Right, right. Send it off to town council. Yeah. More pressure. Well, let's talk about what happens next. So the community engagement outreach methods that we are proposing here are kind of best practices that we found. Martha Miller, our community engagement manager has done a great job of and we've worked with our planning department as well and trying to figure out a standard process for gathering community input for you know all of the different things that we do. And I think that we, she and I met in brainstormed and created this proposed timeline and these tactics. And I want to go through those with you. And then have you, you know, you feel free to ask any questions. So public input meeting, our main ninth committee meeting, what I'd like to do is have an open kind of work session, but that would be almost like an open house like we went to the parks and recreation one for Hanover County or the comp plan meeting where we set up stations in the room with big boards that pull out the major themes from the bike and pedestrian plan and given overview of the plan. We have physical copies of it. We invite the community to come and provide input by basically a drop-in method of walking around. We'll have the committee members maybe stationed at each, 1% at each station. And then we'll have comment boxes as well. Something that was really neat that I think we could do is put up a board and have some sticky notes and say put a sticky note where you want a sidewalk or you want a trail. We can put up the, you know, initiatives and we could say, you know, what put a green sticker on the initiative that most resonates with you, you know. And so kind of gather some feedback in that setting. From there, and we'll advertise that on our social media channels and the newspaper and kind of all of the newsletter, everything like that. And then we'll also reach out to stakeholders in the town, but also in the region who may have a vested interest and invite, personally invite as many people as we can in the town, but also in the region who may have a vested interest and invite, personally invite as many people as we can in the region to attend. After that public input, we're going to develop a very short questionnaire, probably three to five questions, because we have found that that gets the most responses. If you do more than that, people are like, they open and they're like, oh, this is going to take me too long, you know, I'm going to close right out of it. responses if you do more than that. People are like, they open and they're like, oh, this can take me too long, you know, I'm going to close right out of it. But this way, and this would be more of a, like, instead of a, you know, check box or rank 1 to 5, something asking for actual, like, comments and feedback. That questionnaire would go out online. And then as a committee, we would work to gather input through what we're going to call community pop-ups. So gathering in-person feedback at programs and events. We are entering a really great time to do that. So if we look at doing that in May and early June, we've got the pool opening. We've got the Ashland Farmers Market. We've got a community ambassadors meeting on May 29th. We've got the Strawberry fair on June 1st. So we have a lot of opportunities. There will be people out in the parks. So we could do four to five, six of these community pop-ups where I would ask for you guys to come out. We can kind of create a schedule for that and actually help gather that information at those different community events and then at the same time asking you guys to solicit feedback through community like through you guys working with your neighbors you know getting input from any community organizations that you work with or you're affiliated with and so doing some kind of boots on the ground stuff on your own. Gathering the community input through, we could have the online questionnaires so people could scan a QR code, fill it out, we'll give you actually physical, you know, copies and a clipboard. But even as simple as, you know, not even asking somebody to fill out a piece of paper, but having a clipboard, having two or three questions, and going to a farmer's market, and walking through the market, and saying, hey, do you have a moment? Like I'd like to ask you, I'm, you know, Emmy with the Parks and Recreation Department. Like I'd like to ask you a question about our, you know, our bike and pedestrian plan. And it's a double, it's a two for one, it's a bogo, because not only do you get feedback, but you're also educating people on, hey, we have a bike and pedestrian plan, did you know? We're doing community input for it, learn more about this. So it's a way to both educate, but also together input. And then from there, I would take all of that feedback, it's a way to both educate but also together input. And then from there, I would take all of that feedback, figure out the best way to put it into, and it would also go into the appendix in our document and work to incorporate, work to talk about as a committee, but then incorporate it into the plan, and bring you a final version of for potential approval at our July 11th meeting. So that's where we get into this timeline, and it's a little bit easier to see here. And then if the committee approves and recommends that it goes to town council, it'll be taken to council in July or August. So we're looking at May 9th, our public input meeting at the Parks and Rec Committee, our normal meeting, May and June, doing that meeting input analysis, developing the questionnaire, doing the online distribution, our community pop-up sessions. And then I would take the last two weeks of June, because we'd want everything to be open about 30 days. So I'd take the last two weeks of June to synthesize the feedback, provide you with some ways that I could incorporate, to incorporate it into the plan, and then give you a couple of weeks to look at a draft of it so that we could talk about that at our Parks and Recreation Committee meeting on July 11th. With that proposed final draft, as long as there are no major revisions, if you were to say, you know, we could recommend it for approval, we could, you know, make a motion to recommend it for approval with edits. So if it was like, just to keep the ball rolling on it, right? So if we were to say, we recommend this for approval, but with the edits that we add the things and about the figures and we take out the sentence and we add this two sentences about x, y, and z. And so we wouldn't have to have another than meeting. So we wouldn't have to wait two more months to sit down together and approve it. Then that draft, as I said, would go to council in probably late July, early August for approval. So that's kind of the overview of our public input process and my proposed timeline. What are your thoughts on that? I feel really comfortable about that. And you're right, the timing's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. It looks like it's really good. And we're trying to get feedback from some of the elementary school folks. There's maybe of the elementary school folks, you know, others maybe some events, school events, but get aligned with you. Yeah. Yeah. And I'd love for assistance because all of you are not just associated with part-time rec committee, but you're involved in your communities, you're involved in other organizations, PTA, those types of things. So getting it, that would be kind of your job. You guys, you know, you're the boots on the ground. So I would say, you know, I would do obviously my part in like working on getting community input, but that's where we're really going to kind of need to be the little parks and rec army that goes out and solicits that feedback. And it also, you know, like go to Puffer Belly Park for a couple hours and ask, you know, ask people at Puffer Belly Park or we could kind of create a schedule or, you know, and then sign up for different opportunities. No, I think getting it out to more audiences is the key. Yeah, we, you know, as we know, asking people to come to a meeting doesn't always. Right. So getting it out to where they are. Yeah. That's, that's great. Oh, awesome. So what I will do to move forward on this is I will make the edits that we talked about today. I will send that to you in an email and then because of just you know kind of how we need to communicate as an email as a committee digitally, you'll need to respond back to me individually. Yes, this looks great. No, it doesn't. I ask you to do one more quick look for any type of grammar type stuff. I'm sure when I've sent it to vetting some people to kind of pretty it up and make it look more of a professional document, I'm sure that they'll put another set of eyes on it, but it doesn't hurt. I've read it so many times that half of it could be misspelled. I'd probably read it right at this point. So I will get that to you. And then as soon as I kind of get the go ahead from you guys, we can start that we can, you know, move forward with this timeline. So awesome. Awesome. Well, look how far we've come, y'all, from where we started with this. We did this. Very proud. Any other thoughts related to BikePed plan before we move on? No. No? Awesome. Discussion item number two from the April Special work session planning, Ms. Richards. Yes. So I would like to, since we have some new committee members, I am proposing that so we meet every other month and it's also something that we could discuss by confessoring plans also something we could discuss next month if we wanted. But I would like to propose that we do a special work session in April. A special work session, I'm looking at a 60 minute kind of deep dive committee vision and goal setting opportunity. And I want to do this sooner rather than later because we do have some new members on the committee. We have worked through some big projects, but once the bike and pedestrian plan kind of rolls off of our plate, we're other than some park planning with Salto Street Park and North Ashland Park, we're kind of wide open and what we can do. And I would love for us to have a really focused, productive conversation to review the master plan, track progress on the initiatives in there, assess our community needs, set some goals, kind of set the tone in the vision for how we're going to move forward this year into next year and these new terms that you guys have all started. So the idea would be that I would come to this special work session. And the nice thing about a work session is we don't have to be up here on the dius. We'll set up a table. We'll sit. Community is still welcome to come to those work sessions, but it would be much more informal. We could really brainstorm and kind of dig into how we want to move forward as a committee and what we want to accomplish is that and we can talk about dates too is that how does that sound to you guys before I move forward with you know actually planning it. I'm fine I'm retired.. I know. Okay. So I'd be looking at a Thursday evening in April. It would be, you know, I'd like us to do like really say, okay, we're going to take one hour to do this and then just go all in focused, you know, if we need to take longer than that, but I also want to respect family time and other commitments. So before we get to kind of picking a date, we can talk about that in a minute. Or we can also have that conversation just at the end of the meeting. Everybody can get out calendars and stuff. I have some questions on the next page. And you guys should have this in your packet, but I can also send it to you in an email. And this isn't for us to talk about tonight because I want you to really like, I call it marinating. I want you to really marinate on these, okay? But here are some questions to consider. What have we accomplished from the 2017 master plan? Are the objectives in the master plan still applicable? What feedback have you gotten from neighbors, community contacts, anecdotal things? Have you learned from, have you seen on social media about parks and recreation? Either needs, things that they really like, things that people have concerns about, you know, kind of both sides of the coin, not just the complaints, but, you know, what people are showing interested. What are both big and small goals for the department? So I want us to go pie in the sky, but I'm also going to level set a little bit with us as a team and say, okay, if these are our goals, this is what's feasible, this is what staff capacity is like, this is what funding is like, and then we can kind of narrow down from there, but I want to see, you know, like let's dream big and then let's create those smaller, more manageable goals from those big dreams. And how do we get to those big dreams? Because it's possible in chunks most likely. Because that's the way in a small town, I think we'll probably need to do that is to, you know, take bites of the pie until we get, you know, the whole pie. What did you, as a committee member, hope to accomplish by joining the Parks and Recreation Committee? So I want you to think about, you know, what made you interested in the committee, maybe what you've learned since your time on the committee, and how we can work to meet your goals for service, too. Because I know everybody came to the committee with a different interest. And so I want to explore how we make this a fulfilling role for you as well. Then think about any ways that you can add to or assist the Parks and Recreation Department. Do you have a hidden talent that you can run a program on? Do you have access to a community organization that can run programming or provide volunteers? Do you have a special interest in, do you like planning events? Do you like the finance side of it? So what do you like grants? I know that's been a conversation too. How can I use you? Because here's the other thing too is I have these big goals, but it's just me. So I really want to use you to your full capacity. And I think that there's so much potential to do more if we all work together. So I'm excited, I'm really excited about that piece. And then I want us to think about what does success look like for our Parks and Recreation Department? How, what is success? How do we tell our story? How do we reach that success? And it can be, I think there's lots of ways to kind of measure it. But when you think about like what? A successful Ashland Parks and Recreation Department, like what are we doing? How are we serving the community? Is it recreation programs? Is it is it just excellent service in our parks? Is it building out new parks? Is it sidewalks? Like what are all the things that you think would make our program just? walks, like what are all the things that you think would make our program just be that high level of success. And then we'll kind of sit and discuss through these, any other, as you're kind of thinking about it, any other thoughts that come up. I think in part of the conversation, part of my impetus to do this is, when the 2017 master plan was created, my position wasn't even conceptualized at that point. And so now that I'm here, and I've had two years here in this position, at time has flown, and the best way, but I'm really ready to, I think the program's in a really great place. We've set this amazing baseline. We've got this bike and pedestrian plan now. We've got new parks coming up. We've got renovations to our old parks. Like, how do we take what we're doing to the next level? Because I'm ready to go. So think about it in that way. Like, how do we take what we're doing to the next level? Because I'm ready to go. So think about it in that way. How do we take this program to the next level? And then from there, what I'd love to do is create like a work plan or an action plan. And is it to get to that next level, do we need to advocate for more funding in the next budget cycle? Do we need to advocate for more funding in the next budget cycle? Do we need to focus on parks or do we want to move and focus more of our energy on recreation? But then also come back to, okay, what's feasible? So how do we take the steps and create steps to get to that level of service that we, you know, that success? And what steps that we take to get there. Because I just see and feel so much momentum and energy and potential with our program that I'm ready to work together to make that happen. So that is my thought, any adjacent thoughts to that, or any further thoughts from you guys comments? It sounds great. And I was just thinking that probably getting the input from the public also will direct some of our thinking also, right? Because when we have our thoughts about what we see is needed, but then I think hearing all the different perspectives will be informative. Which I'll look forward to, yeah. Because I live in my own little world, I know, but I'd like to hear. I know this is so exciting. And I just am thinking about how fortunate we are to live in such a town where Your position was created and that we happen to have you in those shoes because to have a chance You know for here to make wish this for it is awesome I'm so excited Late and day great for insia. Oh my gosh. It's amazing And so much has changed since the that plan since 2017 I mean even if you just look out the door, the pavilion. I mean, there's so many things that changed for the better. Yeah. Yeah. And I do, I did fail to mention two things in adjacent to this. This will be like a living kind of document. I know that so I'm trying not to over survey our community because we do ask them. I feel like there's a need there's a needs assessment that's kind of needed for the Parks and Rec program with the community. So I'm trying to start on this level since you guys are representatives of the community because we also we try try not to, as I said, over survey because then people stop taking them. But we are doing a national community survey, so it goes out every couple of years. We send mailers to everybody in the town and it asks a variety of questions about people's level of satisfaction, living in town, services, all of that. And this is like a, through a third party that helps analyze the data and we have a lot of work to do with the community. And we have a lot of action, living in town, services, all of that. And this is like a through a third party that helps analyze the data. And we put a lot of effort into the survey. We did it a few years ago. And I can provide you with that. I think at some point I had given pandemic time frame. So, you know, things have changed since then. Things were changing as a survey went out. But we have the, it talks at Ask About Parks and Recreation in that. And then we have the capacity to add some, like, customized questions to it. And so my goal is from our conversation to maybe pull, like maybe what our goals are, our interests, and ask the community through the survey and to see if their goals and stuff aligned with what we have talked about. So this is kind of a precursor to gathering some additional community input. And not to say that we can't do any surveying down the road, but if we're going to start asking questions about by PED plan, and I know public arts got some stuff going on right now, we've had COMP plan, we've had a lot this year. I want to make sure that we actually get responses, so we can talk about that as well in this meeting and and how do we want to as this working kind of actual plan document how do we want to measure that we're still meeting the needs of the community through that document so cool okay so thank you for being up for doing a special work session. I know it's another commitment, but with us meeting every other month, I don't want to wait. I want to really jump on this, especially once the bulk of the bike pad, you know, like producing the document kind of rolls off. I want to make sure that we're, we set some goals for what we've got coming up. Awesome. Awesome. Sounds good. Yay. Okay. And next discussion item, Carter Park Pool Opening Event Planning, Ms. Richards. Yes. So this is just a quick discussion item, Cardiapark pool opening event planning, Ms. Richards. Yes. So this is just a quick discussion item. So the Cardiapark pool is opening May 25th and I would like to plan as a committee some type of opening event. So like a pool party essentially. And I would like to form kind of like a subcommittee that's maybe like you've watched our office, the party planning committee. So that we can have maybe want like maybe I'm thinking two committee members kind of take the lead on helping plan this event. And then, of course, with my assistance, but then asking all committee members to be involved at the event on the 25th, if possible. With the slide, last year was such a big year for parks, like for the pool. We've got some opportunities for, things we want to gather feedback on, but just to kind of celebrate summer and that's Memorial Day weekend. It tends to be very busy weekend at the pool. And I'm trying to do more recreation programming in events, but it's challenging for me to do it on my own. And so, and I know we've got some master event planners here. And I'm not thinking anything like, you know, we're not set off fireworks. Let's, you know, dial back the expectations a little bit. But, you know, like slide races, who can go down the slide the fastest and you time people going down, snacks and food, a DJ, some decorations, maybe inviting some key stakeholder organizations in the community to come out and do some tabling, yard games. So, is there anybody who would be interested in kind of like heading up that subcommittee and then a second person who would want to help out. I'll be glad to help. Okay. I'm currently scheduled to be out of town that week. Okay. Or that weekend, if I can see if I can rearrange things to make it. No. Go on your vacation. Yeah. We should do a little bit more. We'll try to sort it out and see. But I can most certainly help with the planning and figuring it out. Okay. For sure. All right. And you know I help help. Yeah. Yeah. I show up at the fix. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I show up a fix. Okay. So you need somebody to coordinate it though. Yeah, so what anybody like to take like the role of being kind of the head of that subcommittee I was on my last go round we did do Something you did. Oh, yeah, would you then would you mind? I might as well. Yeah, Annette. Yeah, so how about Annette last to Ross? I move off Yeah, would you then would you mind? Yeah, I might as well. Annette. So how about Annette? It's my last to Ross, I move off. Yeah, yeah. OK, so how about this? Annette and Drew, because I know Drew, we had briefly chatted about this before with koanas and stuff. But what if the two of you kind of take the lead on planning and the event, and then the rest of the committee will help out. Does that sound good? Awesome. And then I will email you guys the two of you and that and Drew and they will just get together for like a meeting and we'll talk about you know budget scope of it how we can and just start brainstorming what we want to do. Cool. Wow. Thank you. Doing big things. You know what, do you want to lead it? Do you want to lead it, though? I mean, I'd probably glad to if you want. I was going to say, you know, I will definitely help with organizing it. I don't know if you want to. He can co-lead. Yeah, I'll just say I've got papers on all the papers. Co-chairs of the Party Planning Committee. I love it. Can you call us the fun committee? Okay. Awesome. That's all I have for that item. Great. Okay. Moving down. Okay Okay. Awesome. That's all I have for that item. Great. Okay. Moving down to reports. And are there any committee member reports? Shall we go down? Sure. Shall we go down the list? Drew, would you like to go down the list or? Drew would you like to have any committee member reports? We don't know. Okay great. This shines. Do you have any? I attended the Hanover Parks and Rec meeting that they had here and they got to go to tendons and think that, I know you said QR codes, I think that's important for people that couldn't attend that night. I know my husband used it. He put his comments in that way because he couldn't attend. But I liked their format, like everything you were saying to me about how they had information and then allowing input was great. So I think that would be on the right track, have hours like that. Yeah, that's a similar way they do like the comp plan for the town and stuff. So yeah, we'll definitely have something like that. Yeah. I ask a question. Do we take advantage of making a day and having them help with any of the student organizations over there helping with cleaning in the parks or anything like that. We have before. Here's like, it's a double edged sword, so our community is so great about keeping our parks clean that when organizations ask to do, which is pretty frequently, especially the Boy Scouts, they're a great group, ask to do community park cleanups. There's not much for them to clean up. Sometimes I'm like, do I go just like sprinkle some trash at a park right before they come, you know, but like the thing that's literally, I can't do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm not sure if I can and trash and cleaning the park so would like to take advantage of them but don't always necessarily have a need. Okay that makes sense. I was just wondering. Yeah and I will say it's not just for cleaning the parks. Right right. I walk the trails almost every morning so I mean I rarely see trash and the guys are out there cleaning on a regular basis. Well, that's the other thing too is if there is a park project that you're like, hey, I think this would be great for making a different stay or I see a need for X, Y, and Z here. I'm constantly getting in a great way, Eagle Scouts and Scouts and community organizations who are interested in projects. And so if you have things that you think of, especially while you're out in the parks, share that with me because sometimes I'm like, oh, like I want you to help out, but I'm not really sure what project to give you. So that would be really helpful too. Good to know. Okay. And I was just going to say, it's, I'm just love seeing all the people out in the park right now too. It's just been really fun and DJR Nets and Puffer Belly has been just teaming with activity and it's really fun so, and excited to see movement with Escape skate park too. So, that's a waste. Personally, I would like to thank Miss Richards for my tour of the parks. I got to go to every single one and I got to see all the trails that I didn't even know we had. So to me, it was very educational and it was very enlightening to see how many parks we have and you know the scope and size of them and how well they are maintained. So I just think that Ashlyn is in a very, very good spot right now and eager to see how we can improve on what we've already doing well. Thank you. OK. And moving on to Parks and Recreation Report, Ms. Fisherds. Yes. So the last page in your document is the Parks and Rec Report. It looks different than the one I emailed you last week because I added some more stuff. And I'm to keep doing this as as I kind of develop these kind of standard documents. I added a looking ahead section that talks about upcoming dates and stuff but I added some more details to some of these other line items. So skate park renovation, the skate park is mostly complete and it is open for use. The mostly part is there are a few small concrete holes or cracks that will not impact current riders that need to be filled in. Essentially when we took the old equipment down, we did it fill in every hole left by the old equipment because some of the new equipment was going to cover those holes and there was an point. And so now we were just going to go in and do some patchwork. So the skate park may close for like two to three days at some point to do that patchwork probably like mid week but otherwise it is up and running and it is so busy we've got a lot of great feedback about it. After we do that little bit of concrete work, we are gonna do a grand opening of the skate park. So kind of like what we did for the pavilion, like it opened in January, but we did the ribbon cutting at a farmer's market when we could get a lot of people there and make it a really big event. We'll do the same thing for the skate park. So be on the lookout for that date once we, I need to get a date from our contractor on the concrete, but one everything to be 100% done out there before we do the official ribbon cutting. The comprehensive plan was approved by town council, and that included the addition of our B City USA and Berkeley Town Heritage Park among other park services and future park spaces. The big thing about that is it is allowing us now to move forward with taking the Berkeley Town Heritage Park Conditional Use Permit to Council for approval at their March 19th meeting next week. So what that means, so we have to have the conditionally used permit in order to begin true construction on the park. We did do some preliminary bush hogging out there but which we were allowed to do because it's our property but we can't begin any real construction until the cup is approved. A kind of a human interest piece about the park is when we did that bush hogging and we cleared a preliminary trail, we found a gravestone on the town of Ashland property from a Mr. Edward Smith. He passed away October 21st, 1923. From the location, so we immediately stopped work. We called the Department of Historic Resources for the State and they actually have a State Archaeologist, Joey, and a Green that specializes in historic cemeteries. So we talked with her and the graves done that we found on our property was adjacent to two parcels out there which are actually listed the Hanover County like D kind of database as cemeteries. And we were pretty sure that the Gravestone had moved from the cemetery onto our property because of the way that the Gravestone was sitting. It was on its side, it was upright. And it didn't look like it had been, you know, how like kind of like sink into the earth after 100 years of sitting somewhere. It was still kind of more on the surface level. So Joanna came out. She did some preliminary, had a preliminary conversation with us. We were able to identify graves in the cemetery, but no graves on our property from a visual perspective. But we wanted to make sure we did our due diligence and since this is going to be a park and making sure that we didn't have any remains on our property and so that we can be very respectful of the boundaries of the graveyard, especially seeing as it was late 18 early 1900s cemetery. So we had an archaeologist actually come out and do ground penetrating radar. It was really cool. If you want to see some pictures, I can show you some pictures. But he pushed what essentially looked like a lawn mower with antenna underneath, and the radar actually looked for ground disturbances. And he tested it on the cemetery property, which is the property owners for the cemetery passed away in like the early 1900s. And so there are no current property owners to reach out to for the property, which is yeah. So, yeah, Martha, our community engagement manager and I spent about five hours, well, not quite, about four hours one day in the Hanover County Court House going through deed books. All the way back to 1850, I think six, where it was like written and cursive and it was really cool to see who the landowners were and try to find kind of a chain of land ownership. And we were able to determine that the property that we own was never designated as a cemetery, but the property adjacent to it was. So that was kind of the first step. And the second step was to bring the archaeologist out. He was able to confidently say that Edward Smith is not buried on our property, and that his headstone was most likely as we suspected moved from the cemetery onto our property. And that there are no graves on our property. He did do kind of a comparison with the cemetery and he found that there are along the cemetery. There's evidence of an old fence that probably had fenced in the cemetery. And there are graves opposite our property on the fence line, like right up against the fence, but not on our property. So our plan is to was already to put a fence around the cemetery property. We're going to do that with a few feet of buffer on our property just to make sure that we're protecting that space. And then our plan is to do some type of, since we're going to be doing a lot of educational interpretive kiosks is to do something talking about the cemetery property. And I was able to find out who Ed Smith was. Thanks to shout out my mom and ancestry.com. She's really great at that. She found Edward Smith. He was born in 1850. He was a day laborer. He owned his home. He lived on Henry Street. He had a wife into nephews. He lived with them. And so just a really interesting, you know, I feel like Ed and theire buddies. Ghost Ed. So, but anyway, it was really neat. So we'll relocate. Unfortunately, there's no way to really tell which grave did belong to Ed, but we'll relocate. Unfortunately, there's no way to really tell which grave did belong to Ed, but we'll relocate his headstone to the cemetery property. And then hopefully be able to continue to learn more about him than the people that are buried there and do and just a little bit of human interest on that. So. But Park. Maybe. Yeah, it was really fascinating. and it was also big learning experience. We like what to do when you find a grape stone in a park. So yeah. So that's the update on Berkeley Town Heritage Park. We'll move forward with construction in the park once that cup is approved. South Taylor Street Park, the newly acquired land there has been cleaned up by public works. It looks really great. There is an old well on the property which we are in the abandonment process for so we actually have to hire somebody to come in and abandon the well, go through some permitting. I did meet with a design firm to get a menu of design options and some preliminary pricing. And I'm going to work with you guys as a committee to start that community and put process for the park. As part of the firm's services, they actually will lead and guide us through community input with assistance from myself and our community engagement manager. And then they provide based on that community input a few versions of, you know, kind of schematics for like this is what the park could look at and be construction documents and blueprints and plans for a company to come in and bid on the project and take on the construction of the project. I'm going to be moving forward calling this the South Taylor Street Park Revitalization Project. It's more than a renovation, and so I liked the term revitalization. So anyway, I will keep you guys updated as we go through that process. So, but just getting kind of that preliminary, those preliminary quotes and proposals so that we know we've got the budget, what budget we kind of need to put towards the project. Pool season, Carter Park Pool opens May 25th and memberships will go on sale on April 3rd. Memberships and passes increased slightly and costs this year to offset the additional personnel The Matter Park poll opens May 25th and memberships will go on sale on April 3rd. Memberships and passes increased slightly in cost this year to offset the additional personnel costs that we needed because of the slide. So as long as the fees are approved by town council at their, I believe, April 2nd meeting, the fees for residents will go up by $10 a membership and the fee for non-residents by $20. We had an additional, our personnel cost went up considerably last year. And so this will help offset that slightly. And mainly the need for it was at the slide. We needed a lifeguard at the top to monitor and space kids going down the slide. And then a lifeguard at the top to monitor and space kids going down the slide and then a lifeguard monitoring the exit of the slide to make sure that children were safely getting out of the pool after coming out of the slide and also not coming down on top of each other. So I presented my proposed budget for the year to town council at their work session on March 12th. Some major changes moving forward this year was just asking for some funding for our capital improvement projects. That's kind of our big picture projects for North Ashland Park and then maintenance funds for the park and just kind of building up some of those maintenance funds accounts. And that's an anticipation of ARPA funds, the American Rescue Plan Act. We were using a lot of those funds for maintenance and those funds are, if we have to use them by the end of the year and most of them are used. So just making sure we have enough in those maintenance accounts moving forward, and then also just pool budget cost increase in personnel. And lastly, not least I have, we have an upcoming program going green in the center of the universe on April 20th, from 12 to 1 pm at the library. I'm doing a drop in program, so it's kind of come and go, called turning plastic into planters. If anybody wants to come and volunteer for that, we'll be turning water bottles. I've been saving every plastic water bottle that anybody, like that's consumed. And then I'm gonna wash them all and take off the labels and what we'll do is we'll, there's a way to cut them, to make them like a planter for seedlings. And so we'll actually cut them, put the dirt in and plant seeds. And this is part of a bigger week long of programming the library is hosting called Going Green in the Center of the Universe. So if anybody wants to help me, come help me cut plastic bottles, your assistance would be great last year. We did this program in Carter Park and I had interns to do that part. So. And I recently learned that Starbucks goes through an exorbitant amount of milk jugs every day too. So they're apparently more than happy to offload milk jugs if you need additional ones. Oh, awesome. Thank you. That's great to know. Are you cutting them the day? Are you cutting them before? I'm going to cut some before and then, and I mean, that's, that won't take me terrible. And then, but I'm going to have some there. I'm figuring, I'm going to cut some before for like younger children, but then if older children come and they want to like start from scratch, I'm going to have some that they can cut. So when, so you would need help that day is what I would need help that day. Yeah. And the other thing too is since it's a drop-in program, people can come in, they can make their planter, I have a little handout that goes with it, and then they can leave. So if six kids come, or you know if there's a lot of people kind of rolling in, starting over with each person and showing them how to put the, you know, this dirt in and the seedling and everything. So just a few hands on deck. And then looking ahead, just some important dates, we talked about all of these except for the Arbor Day celebration at Randolph-Macon College, that's on April 18th. And that is at noon. I will send you an invite for that. We're working on, if I haven't already, we are just finishing up the agenda for that. If you'd like to attend, we'll be doing a tree planting. Ashland's a tree city, I think 32 years in counting. And every year we alternate between planting a tree in town and planting a tree on Randolph-Making College campus. So this time is campus. Last year we planted at Puffer Belly Park. And representative from the Department of Forestry always comes and the mayor will say a few words in the president of Randolph-Making. So a committee representation would be great if you have availability. And I will send that invite to you. Play all day RVA these are just kind of some long-range things to keep in mind. That is not RVA, it should say play all day VA, it's a statewide initiative to celebrate the longest day of the year and make our, so it's through our state organization, the Virginia Recreation and Parks Society. And so I will be planning, it's a Thursday, some type of programming on that day in recognition of this new play all day program. Probably something maybe centered around the pool since the pool will be open that day. But another opportunity for us to do some type of programming as a committee. So just keep that date in the back of your head. And you know, I know people have travel and stuff this summer. So these aren't you're not required to be all at all of these. These are opportunities to get involved. And then parks and recreationreation Month will be July and during July I will be putting together some programming during that month and could definitely use some help with that. So if you have ideas for projects or programs, if you have interest in helping lead something, please let me know and we can incorporate that into national parks and recreation month. And with that being said, that's all I have for our parks and recreation report. If we want to quickly look at an April date for a work session. But first is anybody any questions about anything in the report? I just want to do a shout out to you for your B city presentation along with the young woman from Colesville. Or at the library, very well attended. 33 people including me. It was really well attended, and she did an excellent job. Very knowledgeable person. That's a great partnership. And Emmy brought the enthusiasm and knowledge about the parks. She was talking about the woman from Colesville was talking about what plants they planted in the different areas for the city. She's incredibly knowledgeable. Wonderful collaboration Colesville has been so awesome and just stepping up and providing the time and energy and funding for that program. So it's a great example of a collaboration and we're just very grateful to have such generous community partners. Right? OK. So there are four Thursdays. I figured I'd keep the Thursday theme since we meet on Thursdays as a committee. Four Thursdays in April, the fourth, 11th, 18th and 25th. Are there any dates that any of our committee members at this time cannot do? The 18th would be very tricky for me, but I can try. The lava would be tricky for me. Which one? The lava. 11th. 11th. Good old. The others are good. The fourth and 25th. The 25th is when the arts commission meets. Okay. Good. Good. Good. Okay. So I'm seeing April 4th Looking good your pull for is six p.m. Still a good time From six to seven p.m. Okay, and if we for some reason could not meet and council chambers I did not look to see if they're, thank you for noticing the 25th was Arts Anita. Did not look to see if there's another meeting in here, but we could meet in the large conference room and sit at the table in the large conference room. Okay, great. Okay. So six to seven PM on the 24th, and I will put that in the, or I mean on the 4th April 4th, yeah. 4 4, right? 4 4 24. So I will put that in my follow-up meeting minutes to you guys and then if something comes up between now and then let me know, but we'll plan from 6 to 7 and then your homework between now and then let me know. But we'll plan from six to seven. And then your homework between now and then is those questions that, so it gives us about two, two and a half weeks to work through those questions that I asked and think about those. That's great. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Excellent. Okay, thank you so much. And unless there are any additional topics, I adjourn the meeting.