5/12/26 Beautification Commission Meeting

Mute is on. Sonja Ersley.

Present. Chair Dossett. Present. Autumn Carlson. Present.

Oh, is she going to— oh, she is. Awesome. Okay, cool. So we just have to— we're going to be in limbo for just a moment.

Sonia, just so you know, we're just waiting on the fourth member, trying to get them logged on. So we'll go— we'll finish our roll call in just a second.

I understand. Thank you for the update.

We are doing roll call. Hoffart or Brittany? Hoffert.

You have a quorum.

Thank you, great to have everybody here. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? I motion. And a second? I second.

Thank you. Any revisions to the agenda?

Any objections to approving the agenda as presented? Excuse me, was the roll call completed? Yes, there's only 4 of us. There's only 4. Thank you, I appreciate that insight.

Uh, hearing no objections, the agenda is approved. We have no scheduled public comments. Are there any members from the public who would like to speak on any item not appearing on the agenda?

Are there any remote attendees wishing to speak?

No, sorry, I was just returning a message. No worries. And, uh, may I have a motion to approve the May 13, 2025 minutes?

I motion. And a second? I second. Are there any revisions to the minutes? Any objections to approving the minutes?

Hearing no objections, the minutes are approved. We have no unfinished business. I'd like to open up the discussion for a garden tour in August. Tyler, do you have a staff report? I do, in just one second.

The Parks and Recreation Department last coordinated the beautification, uh, commission garden effort in August of the previous year, which was held on a Tuesday. Um, this memo is provided to just talk about a potential date. Uh, we've typically done them on Tuesdays, I think, just to keep our Tuesday theme going. Uh, open to this is we could do a Tuesday, we could do a Thursday. It can't be on the Parks Commission meeting.

Um, and then if we did it on a Wednesday, I would try to not have it on a council meeting in case I needed to attend that. Um, so, uh, yeah, so this is opening up for the question. I know sometimes we meet earlier in the month and that can be difficult in August. So I know we have also met later in August as well, but we still have just kind of kept the Tuesday to keep that day consistent. So open up to discussion if you guys want to find a date and then we can just settle on that.

We don't need a formal motion or anything on that, or just open discussion for the commission to discuss it, to discuss it. Okay, Tuesdays in August, um, the 4th I'm not available, the 11th and the 18th I would be available. 25Th is getting a little later in the month, um, more school time and things like that. So, um, commissioners, do you guys have any opinions?

I'm available the 11th.

I'm available on both the 11th and the 18th. I would prefer the 18th just because usually the beginning of the month is when I'm pretty busy or usually out of town.

Brittany, you should be able to unmute yourself now, but if you can't, you can also send something in the chat.

I have no preference.

Do you think you can make the 11th work since it sounds like that's when Sonya's available? I can do the 11th. Okay, let's plan maybe for the 11th. Tyler, would that work for you? Yes, uh, typically too sometimes we'll do work sessions slightly augmented.

I'm okay with keeping it at 6, but we could move to 5:30, we can move to 6:30, we could do 5, but I know that's tough for when people are just getting off work. So maybe 5:30, like a 5:30 to 6:30, then it's not too late in the day. That works for me. Okay, great. Works for me.

And now, any specific locations? Because we've hit them all before, and that's a lot. I know that is a lot. Um, last year we went through Leaf Hanson. I'm more than happy to do that again.

And then we could also look at a couple planters. Like, I think the visitor center is a really nice one too. We have a couple beds in there and flowers we put out. And then we have our big concrete planters there, but I'm open to hitting whatever locations anybody wants. I think last year we did, I think Leaf Hanson was our big one and I think we hit one other spot.

I think Leaf Hanson is a good plan and the visitor center. Is there any major work happening at the park at South Forest this year? Municipal Park? Yeah, no, no, I know they re— I think maybe it was a year or so ago they redid that big planter at that park. There was like some railroad ties or something, or some wood that was rotting, and they have had been working on that.

I will say we have not done any updates since I've been here. Okay, maybe we just talked about it during a garden tour at one point. I'm trying to remember, but I would say, uh, definitely Leif Hansen and the visitor center, and then we can play it by ear if there are any other major improvements that you'd like to highlight, the work of staff, then we could highlight that at that time. And again, I think this would also be a good opportunity if anyone has any things during— if anyone attends planting day and anything pops into your head like, I would love to see how this goes, I would encourage you to email myself or the chair to let her know because I'll call before we do the work session and finalize the agenda.

So what I'm hearing right now is, so what we're going to aim for is August 11th, Tuesday at 5:30, Leaf Hanson Visitor Center, maybe another spot in there. Uh, we also, again, we have our concrete planters that go around as well. So sounds good. Director Best, do you have a report? Any other reports?

Moving on.

In the packet, you will see our Keaney Planting Days. Volunteers needed. This is a super fun day. We do plant— we plant flowers from 10 AM to noon. We meet just in front of City Hall here, and we do a cookout.

At the firehouse right there, just picnic tables, some hot dogs and some burgers and some drinks to say thank you to our volunteers. If you cannot make it, there's also opportunities to meet with us during the week. Like A New Life Church has always done a couple planters and they have already reached out. They're gonna meet with us the Wednesday, the 3rd. I'm not gonna say what day of the week that is right now, but they're gonna meet with us 3rd and they've said they'll do the welcome to Kenai sign and 4 others.

They did that last year as well. And they just bring a bunch of volunteers. And if you guys know anyone's like, "Ah, I can't make it," two things. One, they can come to the cookout still if they want to. And then one, we're happy to meet with them.

I know Jenna did an amazing job last year. She got like Shorties to do the— they sponsored the planter in front of them, I think. And then they did some work in front of it. So we just met with them and brought over our flowers one day. And I'll kind of show you that setup if you haven't seen that.

During our work session at the greenhouse.

And then I'm happy to take any questions. Oh, I also do want to throw in the notes, not in there, but the following, the first Saturday in June, June 6th. Some—. This year's May is really throwing people off, I think, with Memorial Day being almost as early as it can be. On June 6th, we will be having our Kite Festival Day where we will be doing— we're doing it, we're extending it an hour.

We're doing 11 to 3. Last year we were noon to 3, so 11 to 3, and we'll have kites. Walmart's gonna bring kites. At the end of the summer last year, Walmart reached out to us too. They always donate a bunch, but they're like, hey, we have a lot of kites if you want them at a good deal.

So that worked out really well. We have a lot of kites this year. And then we have our, the Alaska Kite Group, who set up a lot of really, really big kites. So we're really excited about that. Other words than that, we are wrapping up hiring for the season at Parks and Rec and just gearing up for the summer.

Okay, for my report, Director Best and I had a discussion about agenda-setting meetings and kind of came up with a plan of how we can keep the communication going throughout the year and plan the meetings appropriately. We also talked about potentially advertising some positions like our beautification open commission positions a little more on some of the social media platforms and things like that. So I know that that's something that he and I are going to continue to work on. And, uh, let's see, um, Council Member, do you have a report? I think that's all I have, so we'll move on.

Thank you, Chair. I appreciate that. Um, the City Council currently has, uh, had a work session, uh, for the budget for, uh, the coming year of 2027, which begins, um, the fiscal year begins in June, which is coming up really soon. And, um, uh, we're also getting ready and geared up for our personal use fishery, which will host the whole state of Alaska. Right down here in our neck of the woods.

And, um, I know that we have a number of, of work opportunities that are happening. Uh, there's, uh, updates on the water system, there's updates on the roads, and, um, I believe there's some updates in some of our, um, opportunities for Parks and Rec. So that ends my report. I appreciate your attention. Thank you.

I'm going to go out of order because there's one thing I did— I would like to mention the Beautification Commission. Um, so recently the Parks and Recreation Commission approved a recommendation— they recommended approval of the draft Parks and Rec Master Plan to go forward, and it's going to get presented to council at the next council meeting, uh, next Wednesday. They're not this Wednesday, next Wednesday at 5 o'clock. So I'll get presented to them and that'll be an open work session. Well, the consultant that was hired will review the plan and present it to the council.

All right, are there any members of the public who would like to address the commission at this time?

Any remote attendees? No. Okay, the next meeting is scheduled for September 8th, 2026. Is anyone planning to be absent or attending remotely?

Sounds like not. I don't think that I have any conflicts, but if I do, I'll let you know at a later date. So, uh, let's see. Oh, and I guess too, you— I think typically that's after our tour, and we usually discuss, um, CIP. Yes.

Okay, perfect.

Let's see, Commissioner Hoffert, and you, thank you so much for jumping on. I know you're busy at home loving on that little baby. Did you have anything you wanted to say?

Nope, not at this time. Thank you again, jump, for coming on. I really appreciate to hear your voice, so we're excited for you. Commissioner, um, Earsley, do you have anything?

Congratulations, Brittany. Um, I do apologize for not being present. I had a last-minute, um, work conference scheduled for this week, so I'm up in Anchorage.

No worries, we really appreciate you jumping on. And Commissioner Carlson? No comments, thank you though. Thank you, everyone. I know your time is valuable, so I really appreciate you being here, um, both online and in person today.

I'm looking forward to the planting days. That is something my family and I looked forward to every year, and we usually try to ride our bikes down. So let's hope that the temperature gets above 40. And, um, let's see, seeing no further business before this body, we are going to adjourn.

Thanks everyone. Thank you. Thank you.