Cordova: Parks and Rec Commission Meeting 10/27/2026

Gaby's supposed to be here.

She may arrive, but I will, um, call this Parks and Rec Commission meeting for October 27th, 2026 to order at 6:00 PM. May I get a roll call please, Kayleen? Absolutely. Aaron Cole? Here.

Jim Fritch? Here. Gaby Brown? Here. Kathy Hayden.

Here. Danny Carpenter. Gracie Lee. Here. Cora.

Excellent. Hopefully everyone had a chance to review the minutes from the last meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes as written? Motion to approve the minutes. Second.

Awesome. Minutes are approved from the previous meeting.

Um, welcome to the meeting here, audience. Community members, there's a chance to comment on the agenda items if desired.

No comments.

Okay, that'll bring us straight to the director's report. Yes, uh, hi everyone, thanks for coming. Um, there's a lot going on right now. Thanks, uh, I didn't do a formal report because things kept changing this week, so I figured I would just update you all as things go through. Um, this is my list of things, so bear with me.

Um, I wanted to start off with the pool. Um, we did have, um, a failure in the fuel pump, uh, which resulted in the pool being down for about 3 days. Um, I'm very grateful that it was found early. We had a fluid leak in the boiler room, and Micah caught it, um, doing rounds and was able to shut the boiler off and had minimal loss of fuel and no issues there other than we needed parts. Luckily, Dan from Caliber Mechanics was in town and able to order the parts, and we found them in the United States, which was amazing, and was able to get here in a few days.

So, and then got them installed. I will say that this Monday we came in and the boiler was not running again. We hadn't diagnosed why, but we were able to restart it pretty quickly and the swim team, the Wolverines, couldn't practice because of that, and a chemical issue, but we were able to fix it and then redo their practice this morning. So it's still just still working on things with that, with the pool. So we also have had recently a staffing shortage.

So coming up, Logan did put in his 2 weeks. So he will be done on Friday. So that was our, our full-time lifeguard. So we are looking for another full-time lifeguard. Also, Tegan will be done in January.

So he put in his notice too. So I did ask the city to help me go to Juneau on the 7th and get my lifeguard instructor certification renewed. All travel had been cut in the budget this year. So unfortunately it was, you know, like it wasn't budgeted for, but I'm going to go over there and get that done. So they approved that for me.

And who knew that Juneau was way more expensive to travel to than most of the world? So it's kind of crazy.

Going to get that going. I will run a lifeguarding course. Right now, if we can get someone that wants to do the full-time position, we'll run a lifeguarding course for that and then include anybody else that wants to become a lifeguard. We are looking for temporary lifeguards as well. So, and then the swim teams are looking for volunteers too for their life so they can have lifeguards.

So it'd be super helpful, anybody that wants to do it. I don't have a date for it yet. I will be gone from Cordova starting the 23rd of November and back on the 7th of December. So we'll see where I can fit a course in between, but it's looking like November and December are going to be really limited, even more than they have been for staffing. So I will put out the schedule for the pool on Thursday.

At the latest for November. And right now I'm just trying to navigate what that looks like for the swim teams, the Wolverines and the IceWorms, trying to get them in and then accommodating also, uh, we're using the same temp people to staff Bedarkey, a lot of the same ones. So, um, you will see a decrease in Bedarkey's schedule as well, um, of hours. We will be closing at 7 o'clock. During the weekday again so that we can accommodate more staff timing at the pool.

So you said you're looking for more temp labor? I thought that, that all that funding got cut. So did I miss—. We still have temp funding for that. For— so last— so it's $25,000 that we have for the year this year for temp funding.

So we still have some left because we just opened, but that's significantly less than in prior years. Yes, offsetting that too was that we've cut, you know, we didn't fill those positions for another— we had 2 full-time lifeguards and a part-time lifeguard. So now that's all getting— if we wanted to staff that, it's all temp on task for it.

So over some numbers of that too. Yeah, so this year, actually, I can, uh, this year we had $25,000. So this is an estimate of what it would take for to do the schedule like we did in October for the entire year. Uh, school is usually 36 months, so, um, I don't typically— that's how I typically count it, but I did 52 just to You know, it's gonna be a little bit less than that, but right now we're getting about $25,000 for temp funding. That's not— and that's just a temp funding staff to keep the pool going the way it is with Logan there, with a full-time staff under there.

So if we did this schedule for the entire year, we're looking at about $70,000 for temp funding to keep it going. So we have typically used that in the past. Um, how funding go into that amount. That's just for the pool. So at Bidarki, just to have 8 hours a day, they're split up, 2 people ate up, you know, in the afternoon, or to help with funding, um, we're looking at, um, about $60,000 at Bidarki, and we got $35,000 this year.

So,. And tech positions are are they cheaper than having like a full-time? They are because they don't get offered, um, health insurance. Yeah, so that's— they are a little limited in the amount of time we can use them. Typically it's about 6 months or, uh, 1,020 hours that they can work in a year.

So when we have someone— I'll use, uh, Bo for an example that works at the front desk of the darkie. He will be leaving to go play basketball, and that kind of resets their time if they, uh, get terminated during something like that where, um, they're— and then we'll hire them back when, when the season's over. So that helps us, um, you know, check those boxes for how much the tuition would— the temp is different than part-time, correct? A part-time still would get insurance,. But there's no part-time and no full-time position.

So both of those got cut from the pool. We have 1 full-time and half the temp funds that we've had. Less than half. Okay.

So moving forward into '27, I am advocating for this. I, you know, we, even at October schedule was still very limited. I still had to, and these decisions aren't made lightly whatsoever, limit the amount of time that swim team practice was, um, limit the amount of red swims that were happening, you know, that sort of thing. So I mean, ideally I would like to see more than this, but building up from what we used to have, um, is kind of a baseline for me right now. Um, it is looking like this year is going to be similar to last year for budgeting.

'28 Might look a little bit better. So we're just going to move forward with what we have. But yeah, it's, it's concerning.

When you say similar, does that mean like the same amount of money that we have this year for a fraction of the time, intended time? Right. So yeah, we only were open at the program. Know, a limited amount of time. And so, you know, I think accounting for fuel and all of that stuff will be happening because it's going to be more than it was last year.

So electricity through all everything, chemicals for the pool are making me my head spin right now. In, in just October, November, and December, I used the entire budget that we had for chemicals. So moving into next year, it's like— and it's shipping, a lot of it's shipping. It's like just astronomical. I'm sure all of you have felt.

So just to be clear, and I know, I know your stance on this too, lifeguard policy, but is a lot of this like lack of finances for lifeguarding, like, is that due to needing more people? Like I mean, comparatively to past years. I don't think so. If you think also they cut the collaborations leader position too. So that was a second person that was there.

Myself. So that the funding is basically is about the same. If you're confident position.

So.

Like, you're the Parks and Rec Director. Did you have to absorb that position? I did. Yeah, I did. Um, actually was, um, at the time, uh, when we were doing cuts for that, um, Taylor's position too was on the boards.

Um, you know, cutting, you know, basically which one was, was what we needed to decide. And I already had all the certifications to do the full and I needed someone like Taylor to be able to help run the camper park and administrative part of everything. So I chose that, that I wanted Taylor, or I didn't know at the time it would be Taylor, but I needed support there when I became director because I had never done anything with a camper park before, or, you know, a lot of things that happened after.

Yeah, they absorb— I absorb that position and still am holding it.

So, so, um, I'm working on that, uh, and then getting my lifeguard instructor done in Juneau. Um, the master plan, I hope you guys have seen a chance to see, see that from, uh, the last packet at city council. Unfortunately They had the flu and not come in, so we have to reschedule for the 17th. And it was a guy, it was the money guy, so we want, we want that guy to come and talk. So they're gonna reschedule, come back.

But that, it's really exciting to see that coming, coming out and almost finished. And I look, you know, I'm looking forward to hearing what the community says about it, ideas that they might have. Uh, it's, it's really cool. Um, so I've also been meeting with, uh, the city manager and the superintendent of the schools, uh, to talk about what that looks like for funding too, so that we're all on the same page. Um, and, you know, is there anything that we can do as far as school pool, that sort of stuff?

And just getting really educated on making sure that we're checking off System.

What did some of those conversations entail? Like, how, how does that—. It looks like they are the, um, the DE— I don't want to get it wrong, but Department of Education— they are opening, um, up a little bit for new schools, um, to be built. Uh, they're But they are not really doing pools and schools together unless the city funds half, the, that grant funds the other half. So for instance, at Sandpoint, they just renovated their pool there and their school that are together.

They, they had a grant for the school park. They got that through the Department of Education, but the city fronted the renovation. So it was a combination, and it was an existing building. So the other things that we talked about were, since we have a longstanding program here for the school through the school here, that even though we're not connected, could we potentially reach out for funding, um, because we have that history of, of providing that service. So with this, with this school.

So just trying to figure out if there's any avenues. It does sound like things are getting a little bit better with it, and that before it was straight no for everything, but now they're listening, talking. She say reach out to the Department of Ed about the pool? What's that? Were you saying reach out to the Department of Ed about pool funding?

Yeah, yeah, I just make sure I heard that. So what, um, So yeah, she's doing great work on that side of things too.

We just want to keep these conversations going because, you know, all avenues for funding are unstable right now. And I really want to make sure that this goal continues as a goal.

So, parks maintenance, we shut down all the restrooms, fish cleaning stations. They've been working on the stack shack, so that's coming along and should be done at the end of this week, that part of it, just putting metal on it. And, yeah, Mike and Ron have been hard at work for that, with that, just preparing for winter and then just fixing a lot of things that are breaking. So, if this is good stuff.

Recreation programs and events. We just had a huge basketball season, which was really great, amazing. I love watching all the kids play. And now we're gonna roll right into soccer, so check that one out if you haven't already. It starts Wednesday, I believe.

So we have a bunch of other cheer camp coming up, um, and then yeah, we'll roll into, um, all of our December things. So, um, let's see, still developing, trying to develop the fee schedule. Um, we have a budget work session night, um, about nonprofit usage with the fee schedule for Parks and Rec, which we had it last week, uh, the last work session, and then they wanted time to make a decision on things, so, um, they asked to present it this weekend— I mean, the 28th— so this time, uh, at that work session. So, uh, it's going over whether or not nonprofits will be charged full price or partial price for rentals facility usage or a phase-in. So is.

That the only change or is that the only change in the fee schedule? That was the other thing on here that I want to talk about. If that does change, then yes, I mean, either way what they decide, it might be a change to the current fee schedule. As far as the rest of the fee schedule goes, I do not plan on doing any changes other than I might just because now that we have a year under our belts with the park rentals, just on our end of it, it may be finding a new way to, to rent it out as a not like cost of it, but do we do weekly, daily? Do we put the snack shack and the Little League field together?

You know, is there a different way that we could manage it better so it's easier to use? So trying to come up with some plans for that, but Memberships. Do. You have many park rentals? Yeah, we had a few.

I'm trying to think of—. We had a good amount. Yeah. Um,. A lot of it was, um, like nonprofits renting the field.

Okay. Then we had the Pioneers renting. Yep. Um, we had— those are from company. Yep.

So CTC rented it this year. Um, MVE rents it quite frequently. Yeah, so I think it's— if anything, just reserving it too has been really nice to see, you know, so we can see those numbers. I know the district does like different, like, different brackets for renting the facility based on if it's like a community or if it's school— through the school. That might— I mean, that might be a similar place to look at.

I've seen that sort of, um, like a setup before, and then there's a bunch of different ways that I've seen it. Um, so I'm open to any of that. I, I, you know, some kind of tiered way. Um, but yeah, that's a lot of communities are, um, either waiving it all if they can afford to subsidize it, or they've taken away all nonprofit, um, discounts and across the board. Said that it costs what it costs to run a facility.

So I just think it depends on, you know, where we're at as a city and who decide to do that. So. Was there any feedback during that work session on what you presented, or did you just present? I just presented. There was feedback to say, you know, thank you, I, I— the packet was pretty thorough with, with the numbers, which was good for this year.

I think that is You know, we try to keep track as much as we can with CitraGraph, and that's been nice to see that. And yeah, just feedback. Just that feedback, I guess, that they appreciated more information, which I tried to provide.

I was kind of, I guess I kind of knew on this group, it's not a formal commission, we're an advisory group, is that? Great. I was surprised that the fee schedule went to city council before we had even had a chance to discuss it, because in my mind we should be advising city council on what we think should happen with the fee schedule, with the budget, and like some of these things, and then they can take it further or agree or disagree. But I was— and things are busy, I totally understand, but I, I guess I need to better understand what our role schedule is, because I feel like a lot of things are going to council and we haven't really run through and vetted them. And I feel like that's where we can be helpful to council, where they're not spending as much time on this one thing because Parks and Rec Commission has already run through it and, and said that we go to death and come up with this plan.

The fee schedule actually has not—. Okay,. Yeah, so I needed direction on what they wanted because that had been something that had been hanging since probably April, that they had asked, uh, me and, um, the Little League to go back to the drawing board with a couple council members. And I had reached out to them 3 different times and got no response. And I think Aaron had also reached out to them.

So I went back to city council saying that, um, I was unable to reach out to them and looking for, um, guidance on what needed to be done. So once they decide on the 28th Um, then I can create the fee schedule and then I do appreciate feedback on it. And sometimes it doesn't line up correctly and the meetings get switched around what timeline the city's going through it, but I definitely will email it out to you guys. And, um, if we're not having a meeting or, you know, it's, it's out of that loop of it because as our advisory committee, I do, um, I do want to hear what you have to say. And I, you know, you're right that if it, if we do approve something or not, if there's not, it wouldn't be an action item on it like some councils would be.

Yeah, like a formal, it doesn't necessarily need to be a formal resolution,. Right? Exactly. But I feel like we could also have those conversations and you could take that to council and say, Yeah, I know they want to make the decision and they want to talk about it, but if we can help with that, that's something that I certainly want to do because I don't want to squish them. I don't want council to be having all the fun conversations, all the hard things.

Like, we should do that as a group before it gets to council, right? In my mind. And I will try my hardest to make that happen. But yeah, the fee schedule, I haven't even looked. Yeah, I guess I just mean the conversation around the fee schedule because I'm kind of new in jumping in during that time period when that has all been happening.

And I'm fair, I mean, I know not everyone is necessarily available, but if the special meeting needs to happen so we can have a conversation ahead of the council meeting, because I know they're on a different time schedule than we are, I'm happy to try to have those conversations. Whatever. Can I piggyback on that?

Uh, I was going to say a similar thing. Like, we all really care about Parks and Rec, obviously, which is why we're here. And it's hoping to have a little bit more of, like, decision-making. Like, obviously you're the ultimate decision-maker, but like collaborating, problem-solving. Yeah, a little bit more together rather than just seeing things in the city council packets.

Like, uh, either the council will work towards that. And if it is— if it's off, you know, that city council packet has to be, you know, the has to be in a certain time. Yeah, can have a special meeting. But. Is there something set in stone that says that this meeting has to be like the end of the month?

Like, just in order—. I've just always historically—. Okay, I was going to say that better aligns that. And I think it. Lines up with other commissions to having meetings on IRB.

So I think that's why, like, the Planning Commission, they have their—. Yeah, I think like Planning Commission is like the third week and Harbor is like the second week, and we're the more direct thing to that effect. And I think I saw a schedule of some sort walking in the top of the stairs. That kind of— yeah, and since I'm still new to this and like learning Is this something like, if, you know, we were to talk about something and obviously we find it important, I mean, like, can I go to the city council meeting and be like, I'm on the Parks and Rec Commission and I would like to give input and support for this thing? Or is that not, you know, or do I, like, would I go there as just a community member, not with the commission hat?

I, I don't. Know if that's our community— can you remember? Not as a commission hat, because then I would be a sounding voice like Kelsey was talking about, like if you guys had decided something or you had an opinion about it, we can— I can move it on to city council. You're putting it in the packet like a memo? Yeah, yeah.

Oh, so it's not—. I just like— that was more like support to the Parks and Rec. I love the support. Yeah, yeah. I think it's important as community members and also people that sit on Parks and Rec, we need to go advocate for funding.

Recognizing that that's going to have to be made up somewhere because the city's short on revenue overall. So, and that comes through in our property tax increases, but like, where does that come through? And I know, but we need to give them that feedback and also offer a solution where we can, or our opinions on a solution. But a solution. And I think too, like, educating the community here, just talking about it, that these issues are going on.

That's really important, spreading the word and the right word about it. Well, I think people just don't, because they're not in it, they don't understand how expensive things have gone to operate. I think that's a huge, you know, they're like, oh, groceries are expensive, but they don't realize all the inner workings. And I know that that's been super helpful for me to understand, like, oh, it's just that much more expensive. Everything is on every single level.

I did have a— just, I have no idea if there's like record of this. I know there was that big transition when Duncan came in from like paper to like computer, you know, records. I just remember there used to be Maybe November. There's like a discount month for, you know, doing your membership. November.

Was it November? Yeah. Yeah. It was like a P—. I don't know what it was.

I just get asked about it quite a bit. We've really tried to give the discounts across the board throughout the year. So having the different you're over a certain age, the student, um, you know, with disability. And then we have our wellness program, SCARO, that comes out in January. It rolls out to, um, you know, places that have 10 or more, um, people that want to participate in it.

So instead of having a discount in November, it's discounted— there's certain discounts throughout. Yeah, I just was wondering if like, I, I mean, I don't know if those numbers are down like for enrollment for membership or if that's stayed pretty stable. I can pull numbers and report them, but I feel like it's, it's very stable. Oh,. Okay.

I feel like that if you look at, um, when we start doing the budget and the year-to-date, uh, for this, um, for revenue, we're, uh, tracking to reach our revenue. Which is shocking with the pool being closed for as long as it was. Yeah, I guess that's the curb shows combo pass. It's,. Uh, which aren't all of them like combo now?

Yeah, yeah, you're all annual on that. Uh, the annual is the last one to change. We also are, uh, tracking just, uh, programs, that sort of thing too, so that, that gets entered. Merchandise at the pool and panadería, all of that. I'm comfortable seeing those numbers right now with the economy.

I think we have really good usage for both facilities right now. Yeah, I mean, at the gym it seems pretty busy. It seems—. Honestly, like, here at all the— and the lights and everything. Yeah, yeah, I'm very grateful.

Sadly, I'm very busy.

So, um, I'm just trying to figure this out. So I just want to give a shout out to the Trails Committee. They're still working hard. Their meeting is next week. I can give you guys those dates, uh, because theirs is open to the public also.

Um,. Sorry, I definitely thought we started at 6:30.

And, uh,. And. They are still working on their grant funding. I think we're going to put a shed behind Badarki with that grant funding to put all their tools in that they used, um, for the different trail work that they were doing, so that they're doing. So it gives a little bit more access to, um, to them.

They were keeping them at the Forest Service, and not everyone on the trails committee can access the tools, so It's super great that they had the money to do that. Let's see. And then I think that it sounds like the next thing they're going to work on is the ODI boardwalk trail. They're going to try and get some funding to help out with that. So super exciting.

It's one of— not that I have favorite trails, but I love that one. And it needs some TLC. So. Uh, it's really great that they have their master plan done on their side of the trails and they're able to concentrate on grant funding. That's what the thing is.

Uh, let's see. So tonight, uh, I just want to say thank you to Kara and Aaron, um, both your last meetings tonight. Uh, we do have two open positions that are— you want to— So I haven't seen any applications yet come across my desk for the Commission, so I'd love for that to happen. It's very exciting.

And currently, just want to say a shout out to Halloween on the 30th too for our programming. We will be giving out, and yeah, both locations and After School at the Pool and Fun Friday are canceled for Friday just because no one's going to be there because it's Halloween. Yeah, um, and I did want to say that I will be gone, um, in November. Our next meeting's over Thanksgiving, um, right over that week, so, um, I will be out of town. I am open to rescheduling it, um, for just planning on the December meeting.

So. We do have to set the fee schedule though, don't we? Don't we do that and send it to city council, which has to be done by December? Yes, it will. I, I will set— I have to set the fee schedule.

That is correct. But does it have to go through us, or should we have a—. It technically does not have to go through this. Okay. I can— what I— I can email it.

I think that it's going to be out before the next meeting, so I can email it to the committee and get feedback and potentially give that to City Council, the feedback on it. I mean, my feedback for the fee schedule was I don't think we should increase any of the fees because, uh, the pool's been closed for the last year and a lot of people have dual memberships and people, you know, we didn't do refunds, which I certainly understand, but it felt like we should not raise fees, but I also recognize we need money. So that was my only thought on the fee schedule. Yeah, I do feel like, um, it's hard to raise fees and lower, um, what we're doing for, you know, service opening and services. So that's my end of things.

I mean, I have to, you know, if I'm instructed to, then I, you know, it's one thing, but I just will really fight not to have to do that, you know. Because, um, yeah, if we're lowering services, it's hard for me to—.

But I thought when like Parks and Rec gets money, it just goes into the general fund. It does. All goes into the general. So is the city asking you to make more money, or— sorry, for raising— is we are raising fees? No, we're not.

Okay, okay, never. Mind. Not planning on—. Oh, okay, okay. But they will suggest if it You know, things have gone up and, um, they're— I think for a long time there they weren't raised at all.

Um, so there was kind of like, okay, this is costing— now we need to start implementing a percentage, um, a year in effect. So yeah, to try to offset— I mean, we're never gonna— we're not a, um, we're never going to make enough to fully support Parks and Rec, but. No, we're not an enterprise box and we're. Not— we're not an enterprise fund. So right now we're making about as much to pay for like one handful halfway, but it evens out to me.

I would love to talk about the facility use and nonprofit if any— if anybody has thoughts about it, because council's going to be talking about it on Thursday, so looks like we should talk about it. Um, I just found this random packet sitting here. Okay, I don't have any inside scoop, or no, I stole it from over there. That's where I got it from. Um, this is last week's lawsuits.

And so kind of what you're asking council is, um, continue to provide these services at no charge. We're not charging nonprofits right now, is that correct? It was inconsistent, so we were charging some of them and not charging others. Okay, so one of the options is just charge none of them. Second option is require them to pay a council-established portion of the applicable facility use rate, or 3, transition to a council-established contribution through a 3-year phase-in beginning in '27 and reaching the established cap in 2029.

And there's— pass this around, I guess— there's a whole graph of like how much you could subsidize and how much the city will pay. Um, so I don't know, I guess I would love to hear other people's thoughts. I feel like it Needs to be consistent. The city of Cordova, or the Cordova Center, has, I think it's a 15% reduction for nonprofits and a 10% for tribal. To me, it makes sense to follow that same pattern, but, but then you can also have an MOU with the Little League and an MOU with Iceworm Swim Team that maybe allows for further reductions.

Or trades or something, maybe they need to apply for grants and I'd be willing to help with that to try to pay for facility use fees and anything additional gets given in kind. The city doesn't have a lot of funds and a lot of their prior in-kind that they used to give out across the board to different organizations and nonprofits has kind of gone away. But I think that there is a will of council to do a level of in-kind for specific groups. Seems like where the conversation, the past conversations have gone, and I know you want consistency, so I feel like there should be a rate and then there should be specific MOUs for specific organizations. Correct.

I, yeah, either way, I'm happy with anything that happens as long as something happens and that there's a direction towards it. I think the MOU I think that's what was proposed with Little League and why I was reaching out to them was— and that didn't happen. I mean, we didn't meet. So that's kind of where I'm at, where I'm at right now with that part of it. But yeah, having consistency with it, having direction on something that I'm not solely making the decision on, and that has been something in the past, not just as me as a director.

But that, you know, it's picking and choosing, and I'm going to use the words, I don't think it's fair. So just direction with it. So either way, if it's completely subsidized, these are rental charges that are shown in that diagram for just an average year for nonprofits. So in this City Council, the work session this week, it does break it down a little bit more to show who it actually is. But I just wanted to give a reference of what that number looks like every year for that.

So, and yeah, consistency. And to, like, not all nonprofits are the same. Like, I work for a nonprofit, I run a nonprofit festival. Like, we have the ability to pay for facility use fees, and we have sponsorships, and, and different types of nonprofits just look different and can't budget for that. And So I, I do think like having consistency, making it maybe mirror the program center's nonprofit policy would be like a good starting point.

And then having MOUs with specific groups that, that Cordova values very highly and prioritizes. And yeah, that's my thoughts. I'd love to hear everybody else's opinions.

Um, yeah, I like what Kelsey has to say, and I don't feel like nonprofits paying for city facilities. Um, I have a question though on like ACE programs. Do they all have to have full membership in addition to paying facilities? That's something that I have done in the past just to help recruit that and to count the kids when they're coming in here that they Um, you know, in the past we have done that. They haven't started this year.

Yeah, that's— I'm kind of just waiting for the fee schedule to see what happens. Okay, but in the past, last year— or that wasn't open last year, huh? Your report— did they have both? Like, did they have memberships and pay facility fees, or were their facility fees waived? Their facility fees were waived.

I had to look up what an MOU was, but now that I know what that is, I just wonder where else these types of considerations have been made in other parts. Because I mean, I think I'm on a couple nonprofits as well, and we used to not have to pay for facilities and now have to pay for facilities, and it does come at a cost. Usually it's at the cost of the kids and the parents and families, and it's hard. It's hard to draw those lines. Um, and I just wonder, especially with like the net positive like impact, you know, some of these have— I mean, I think it's good to draw the line, but I also think exceptions could be made, especially when Um, you know, I feel like especially Little League, they do put in a lot of effort to maintain.

I also know it does take more on staff to like make sure the bathrooms and the garbages and those types of things. But, um, is this to set precedent so like in the future, you know, like. I think what has come up over the years is that for everyone that really thinks that I'm, you know, and I'm not trying to target any group either, I'm just using it as reference. Anyone that loves swimming, loves the icebergs. I'm a swim parent myself.

Like, I love swimming. Those passionate people with that are saying, you know, that they're important to the community. They are. And then, but the same Either parents who love baseball say that we should be supporting that and that we have a history with Little League. But then other places are like MBE or Pioneers.

We have a history with them too. You know, like, so choosing or just saying that it's important to the community is great and it is more important to some people than others to have this stuff. So I see all sides of it because I hear all sides of the passion of it. Um, so, uh, yeah, that is what— that the consistency, whether like what she was talking about, that, um, all of this is important. I want to keep it all.

I'm fighting to keep it all. Um, so how can we make it work and how can we have consistency across the board? And so, and I think it does, like, it just creates— it's such a value to the community to have all these programs too. So, um, but how can we make it work and sustain it? Because Right now, we're having a hard time doing that.

So yeah, that's where I'm at with that. I think this group should be like the sounding board for that. There shouldn't be decisions that are solely on your shoulders because that's a lot. You have to bear that brunt. And I would say a set fee and then groups that require or really need that extra help should be coming to this commission and saying, we would like to create an MOU with you for, for this thing.

I mean, there's just such a vast difference with nonprofits and like me, CDFU, I have an events budget. I can afford, if I'm planning to do this event, I can afford a facility use. And yeah, same with many other nonprofits that have like actual staff, but then there's a handful of nonprofits too that all that have no staff and it's all volunteers. And so those just like, look a little different. So I guess that was kind of, kind of what I meant.

But when it comes to the pool, that is truly like the heart of Cordova. Everybody, everybody knows that, and people are willing to— like, I'm willing to pay a higher property tax if it means that there's kids in the pool all the time and funding employees and all of those things. Um, so I guess that's my thought. Back to what Kasey had said at the last meeting, like those infographics that we were talking about port, right? Or like city funds this amount, like this is what we get.

I still think that that would be really helpful even to like push into a city council packet. Can you explain that? Oh, uh, I remember at the last meeting we were talking, you were talking about funding and like how much money it would take to get a lifeguard, right? We're saying like you could make a possible schedule, like with this much money we have one lifeguard, we have, right, one rec swim, one, you know, like in some kind of chat GPT infographic, like, we have this money, we have 3 lifeguards, we've got 3 open swims, and to put that directly into a city council packet as well as blasting it online would still be helpful. Because like, I'm not a money person either, and you guys are talking and I'm like, over my head.

Yeah, right, right. Yes. In 3 months we've blown the $25,000 temp budget,. But like. Seeing— so $25,000 for next year is going to get us 3 months of what October looked like and then nothing the rest of the year, which obviously that's not what's going to happen.

But like, you know, right, you're going to spread that out throughout the year. But still,. And I'm still happy to do that. I mean, I've separated it so that like even with temp funding now, like how much I need for the whole year and making that was the numbers that I gave to you earlier. I think that really making it clear that this is like Um, if I did something like that, it wouldn't mean that for the whole year that that would happen.

If things always are— yeah, always variable. Come off of like, if we only have $25,000 in town funds next year, there's no rec funds. Oh, that's, that's really what I mean. 100% What I'm looking at. I look at this and I'm like, yeah, I don't understand.

Um, with the town funding that we have right now, I'm almost fairly supporting the school swim program. Okay. Um, for the nonprofit stuff, have other nonprofits. Besides Little League, besides ice firms come to you and ask for a discounted rate? Yes, they have.

Yes. Okay, so it is like an actual— yes. I was like, are we worried about being fair and no one even cares? No, I'm like, it's very— I mean, I wouldn't have brought— yeah, it's very much like, again, like, I know there's differences between nonprofits. It.

Is. A constant,. But I think that's where they need to come to this group. Like, I think that needs to be transparent and public. No, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just confused, like, who those other groups are. They're like using these facilities to such a degree that they need a discounted rate. Well, they're just hearing that other nonprofits are, so that was pretty illegal, I think. Yeah, just starting the conversation.

About having like a 15% discount or 10% travel, like that's gonna eliminate some of that. I was gonna say, it is a conversation that I have on a, a regular basis. Yeah. With any nonprofit that reaches out to rent a facility, they ask about, uh, other nonprofits and their usage and why they are being charged and why they're not. It's a conversation I had multiple times over the summer with renting fields and Uh, but like any facility that we have, it's a conversation that I have with every nonprofit.

The other conversation that we have is people that are using the pool publicly and paying for it, um, and their times getting cut, which is what happens when, um, we have a lot of nonprofit usage and they're, um, and they're, they're not, uh, paying. And then our public swimmers are paying and wanting to come all the time, but they're You know, like, why, why is that more important? Right. Nonprofit. So membership.

Yeah, all that. Correct. Like, if it's a family that homeschools and comes in every day to go swimming and they see that public time get cut, it cuts down on their swimming. And then wondering why they're kind of, you know, the public time is getting cut out. Do all those— do the nonprofits that rent it for nonprofit use have memberships?

Do they all have their own memberships, or are they doing a facility rental? A facility rental. So if you do a facility rental, you don't have to have memberships typically.

So for the Iceworm Swimmers, we are wanting them to have paid facility uses and also have memberships? Said that we did. They didn't. Yeah, they had that facility. Okay.

Yeah, they didn't. Yeah, I was like, remember us having memberships? Yeah, definitely. I mean, it is like, I mean, like every pool is different. The pool that my daughter's swim at, we had to have memberships and we had to have a fee.

We paid a fee for it, for rental costs. Does one of them, like, is it more, more money if you were to charge people that have memberships versus a facility use? I don't know if that looks like You know what I mean? Like, if you could only choose, like, if you go to the board and you had to choose one or the other. I think I presented those numbers last year for it, but, um, that, uh, I would say a majority of the families here have a membership anyway, so there were only a few kids that did not have one.

We get one,. Makes. Sense to have that, or like a youth membership, like that. We're reflecting those funds.

Yeah, so just wouldn't really push the needle if we— yeah,. And again, it's, it's really not a facility, you know. If it's decided that facility usage for nonprofits is, um, if we're going to subsidize that as a city, that's fine too, you know. Like, I'm open to all of it. It just really is consistency that I'm looking for.

Yeah, but that's— so And if, if we are not, you know, collecting any fees, we're not really being funded to sustain these nonprofits fully as they've requested. So I will say that it's, you know, even now balancing the November schedule is, it's been very difficult trying to come up with the full schedule for November and trying to get the, the screenings in as much as they want to be in. And still keep it open to the public? Yeah. I hate to say the same thing over and over again because I know how strongly you feel about the 2 lifeguards policy.

Is there any chance that that can be flexible for my swim team and school swim? If they get their own volunteer lifeguard, but no, not otherwise. And I, I'm not cutting corners on safety for us. What about moving one of the offices up of Adarki to the pool? So that always, you know, we're rotating down there a little bit.

What is an issue with that is that we all have other jobs that are not so like reliant on. So we are like, I'm even going down there 3 times a week to in the morning. I, I think the new schedule that, um, the draft one that I'm trying to come up with, like I'm there at 6 in the morning to like help be that second person in the office. But what if that was just someone's office, so then they're not leaving their other office. That's a job that they— I.

Understand that, but like, if someone's office was just there, then they would be able to like do their normal work and be there. They work in the gym. I would say that, but Jake is like teaching, and Taylor also has other things that she's doing that she wouldn't be able to be fully committed to being here. She couldn't be— she couldn't do the work she's doing for the pool, right? Correct.

So we all, like, Jake and I are trying to take turns, but then he has programming too. Why don't we have volunteer lifeguards for ice terms? And so we're working on it. I've offered that too when I do a class that we will have, you know, openings. Can the coach be a lifeguard, right?

We don't have a lifeguard. You can't— coaches have to—. But like in the future, like, if we're all safe to train, if like Chad became a lifeguard, he could be the lifeguard during practice. If he was there solely lifeguarding, he cannot coach and lifeguard at the same time. Well, can he be the lifeguard and Laura's the coach?

Or who's the— who's coaching with him? Uh, Marcella, right? So like Marcella's the coach and Chad is the lifeguard. You're already in quotation marks. Yeah, I don't know why you're saying that like that.

Sorry. Like, I mean, I mean, like, is— it's like, okay, the reason they can't be a coach and a lifeguard at the same time is like schematics of like insurance, right? Of like verbiage. I don't believe that it's schematics with that, but it's that he needs to be an interior lifeguarding and not cook training. Like watching him evolve.

No. I think you missed the last meeting because she kind of gave us an update. It was like a brief overview that like lifeguard training is with 2 people. And so it's really shifted away from one sole individual. So then that training, you know, goes to Cordova as well.

That's how the training is. So that's what is necessitated by not just insurance, but by the very training that is training them that there's just 2 lifeguards all the time. Yeah. Which not on deck, like we rotate. So like if I'm in the office and there's 25 people in the pool, and I'm not discounting that the safety training for coaches at USA Swim has, I provide that training.

Like, I know what's involved in that. I think it's amazing that they're there to help out, but they're not there fully. They're not trained fully, and they're coaching, so they're not able to lifeguard because they're coaching. They have a big job to do themselves. So, okay.

Yeah. I mean, if we think about one lifeguard, even if we had that, I mean, this conversation, like, it's It's like, say we did have one lifeguard there and there was a pool full of people, that lifeguard jumps in after somebody who's lifeguarding the rest of the people that are involved. I guess it's like there's always like an ideal, but then there's like what's actually realistic to like keep something going. I think that safety is something that I'm going to continue to advocate for. But it's all, it's all very relative and there's always a scale.

You know, like there's always like, you could always, it could always be more and that would always like feel more, but I don't know. I feel, you know, it's like, oh, then what if next year they come back and they're like, actually 3 is the best number. And then it's like, whoa. I do go by what the CDC says and like I, I, and the Red Cross and we are a Red Cross training facility and I hold that very high and it If we, if they find something happens and they find out that we did not do what we were supposed to do, then we don't get to teach swim lessons anymore. Like they will pull that certification.

So that's why we follow what the Red Cross says, what the CDC says, what our insurance says. I mean, this is multiple layers of reasoning behind it. Also just being at the pool and not being able to rotate with other lifeguards, like going to the bathroom, anything. Yeah, for those long periods of time. Yeah, I guess it's just like hard when you've seen it done a certain way for literal decades, you know, and then it's like now we have half the staff and we're making it like so much more challenging.

It's like, oh,. I think what's really hard is that I understand the reasoning behind having and the recommendations. Yeah, but we're at a point where now there isn't enough staff to either have this program exists. And so, and, and I completely understand the risk of it, but, but the risk of not having the program is also significant because you're not strengthening swimmers. And so it's like, well, I'm not talking about the risk of— sorry, I'm not going to— like, if we don't have—.

If we don't have enough,. Like, carnities for kids to swim, then maybe. Yeah. Yeah,. General.

Yeah, I get what you're saying.

Yeah,. But. That makes sense to me. But supporting the school program is like the, you know, fundamental reason why the school was funded for the kids, right? And that is really, um, what is focused on first is making sure that that program is And then we branch out from there.

But if we can't have 2 lifeguards for Iceworm Swim or 2 lifeguards for high school swim and they can't happen,. Then. We— yeah, that's my— then it feels like we really do need to reevaluate this and have— if there's 1 lifeguard on deck at all times, I don't know if— do they have all their own insurance as well? Like, they have insurance that covers the coaches. So, okay.

So USA Swim has the insurance, which they're— there's their liability insurance on that. So is that why they can have volunteer lifeguards? Yeah, 100%. And so I'm— when I get back, I mean, that is a goal. I'm not saying any— like, nobody's off the chopping block for swimming right now.

Like, I am fighting for this and I, you know, lapsed on my lifeguard instructor. I fought to get to Juneau so that with travel money that we didn't have, so I can get instructed so that everybody can save, you know, on lifeguarding expenses, including the swim team too. I mean, sending people away is very expensive, each lifeguard. So coming back here, having the opportunity to be able to train everybody is key. So I'm definitely like backing up the lifeguard requirement, but also just being there to help support it too.

I do not want kids to stop swimming. It is the ultimate goal. I think the reality of the budget right now is making decisions on how much we want to be open as far as public swimming and that sort of thing. It has been different in the past. When I moved here, I was a little bit like, oh, okay, okay, this is how we're doing it.

But then as we get trained and make these adjustments and get more educated on it, and I've been down there by myself for hours at a time wondering how I'm going to get this kid out of the pool, how I'm going to get this person out of the pool by myself if something happens. You know, it's not something I think anyone takes lightly, but just being there by yourself with high-risk people in the morning, early in the morning, is, you know, like you're constantly thinking, how am I going to get these people out of the pool by myself and still be there for the rest of the people that are swimming? So, and. I can absolutely see that, especially with like lap swim where there is, there is no other adult on deck with like some of the swim team stuff when you do have two adults on deck and then you have a lifeguard that's sitting there. If you have to jump in the water, you have two coaches who are going to like, they're not going to coach, they're going to pull.

The other kids out of the water. I guess that's how we—. So you've got that little bit of backup with people that are adults that are on deck. Correct. And that's why we have like in the morning there's one lifeguard on the deck with the coaches.

Yeah. And then if they need to swap out, we do that. So I totally like, I'm very appreciative of USA Swim's like the safety training that they have. It would be helpful. It's super helpful, but they specifically say that you can't work during job search.

So that's the—. But wait, so we were having one lifeguard or two lifeguards during— So,. So, uh, there's usually someone in the office, like I'll be in the office and there'll be a lifeguard out on deck, but the coach is out there too because they are a support system for them. Still has to be someone in the office. Because if that lifeguard needs to leave for any reason, just gonna back off.

Even to go to the bathroom, the same thing.

I mean, there's a lot of jobs you have to like stay focused for an hour without one of them, right? A lot of things happen. I know. Yeah.

Like, I work alone. But yeah, I don't know. You understand, it's frustrating. It's frustrating to hear. I totally understand what, like, why you're saying what you're saying.

It's just hard. But I agree with Gabby because we've done it for years and years and years a totally different way, and I feel like it's hard to play worst-case scenario all the time. Yeah, and you're like endless. But there are other adults around that would be able to handle the situation. I feel like we're going out of the water.

It wouldn't be a problem if there was a budget for more people. And I also, I mean, I've heard about the budget and all they've heard about no one being interested in these positions or people not applying for these positions. And then that just puts more strain on the existing. Staff. Okay.

Nice. Yeah. So,. And I think that the pay has gone up with the new union scale and has really great insurance. I mean, there is some incentives with it, with that.

And to hopefully be able to get trained when you get back. And I, I know that, like, I think worst case scenario, it's my job for a lot of this stuff. Uh, a lot of this stuff also came about, um, through the years of working here, that issues have, um, arisen on the pool deck when we didn't have lifeguards there, where, um, something needed to be happen with because teachers were getting pulled off the deck for certain reasons if a child needed help in their locker room. So just like really seeing those things, it's scary to see kids in a hall that weren't supervised all the time. So I think it's been steps to implement this too, that the city just needs to be safe and implement that we are taking care of these kids, these people, that the morning lap swimmers, um, as best as we can and giving it, um, the attention that it needs, which is, um, lifeguarding with the training.

What's the cost of like bringing someone here to just get a bunch of people trained? We just did that. Like, oh. For all of us for about $4,000. Okay.

Um, and that's with me housing in—.

Once you're certified, how long does that last for? Uh, 2 years. Okay. So you can potentially hold multiple— you could potentially hold multiple like lifeguard classes in that 2 years? Like, I like Yeah, okay.

Yes. The person you brought to town, did they do the lifeguard certification or did they just teach people to be lifeguards? Like, because you're a certified lifeguard city chairperson. Oh, LVI, so lifeguard instructor as well. There we go.

Yeah, so she came and did a lifeguard certification. Okay, so not the instructor portion. That's what I'm going to do now. Mine just lapsed not too long ago. I had a year to reserve, like if I didn't do this class then I have to do a whole— like, it's a fake class.

So I was really pushing to, to go. And then, you know, it's a risk sending— say someone applied for a position as lifeguard but wasn't a lifeguard— sending them out of town is a risk too, to get certified. Because what if—. Right,. What if they don't work out?

What if they don't pass the class? So it is— I've had multiple people not pass the class before, or just say this isn't— it's more intense than what they thought. These are, you know, it's a pretty intense course. Yeah, no, I was thinking more someone that could come here to get your instructor training recertified and then train a bunch of people all at once and that was all set up. But that's not how it usually goes.

And we could do a lifeguard instructor course here, at least maybe right now. Like if we started— if she certified a bunch of us. Yes. Yeah. So I have talked to her about that.

She's one of the only ones in Alaska that travels. So she also has a full-time job other than that. So unfortunately, no openings anytime soon. A lot of pools like Ketchikan, they have trainers and counselors like that because they certify all their water safety instructors and all those that do swim lessons. So they kind of have like a local They make sure that they have the budget to send out to get that recertification, that one person, and then they come back.

So, or I have spoken to a few people that wanted to be a lifeguard instructor, so I just— she needs, I think, 4 people or 5 people to make a class.

Like Logan was a lifeguard instructor, Caleb Barnett was a lifeguard instructor. So we try to make a few. It's a lot easier to have 2. Doing a class and then your son. So yeah, it's, it's pretty intense to do one, but I'm up for the job.

I think 10 weeks or so. And I think the swim team has quite a few people that want to do it too. Yeah. Our instructor, Kristin Smith, and I went to this grant luncheon and learned that the Cordova Community Foundation has this really cool fund where if you have like emergency needs, you can apply to it. Maybe Getting an instructor here to keep people certified would be within that realm.

But I would say the funding's great, but it's also a limitation on the, on the traveling instructors and other scholars. Yeah, that makes sense. It's kind of a— and then people that are working for pools like Ketchikan, they don't travel, they don't really like to share. I've gone and gotten instructed there, but board. You know, we all try to do that too.

I mean, just like I'm going to Juneau, uh, I'm— I think I'm the only one that's from away, but if there's openings, um, they would— pools reach out. Does Naldees have any? They reached out to me to, um, instruct their lifeguards, uh, earlier this year when the pool opened. So I think that their lifeguard instructor got recertified, but I'm not sure. But Bridget, the director over there, did reach out to me and asked if they could come here to get certified and that I could teach them, we actually didn't have a birthing course.

But I'm always open to that. I've gone to Yakutat and taught, you know, like we all try. Everybody wants to get certified. We're not the only ones that are trying to do this.

Any more questions about that? Try to communicate as much as I can, the fee schedule, the budget as it comes up. It's pretty boom, boom, boom, but it does come up. If it doesn't fit in a meeting, I can email out, you know, what it's looking like. Everyone's okay with that?

Yeah. Sorry, I should— I definitely thought we were 6:30, but I was wondering about the master plan. Like, are they going to be looking at things Like, kind of like stuff we're talking about of like, oh, how can you structure this organization and make it the most efficient? How do we like get all these things? Are they even looking at that?

Are they only looking at things that like we need funding for to make happen? Or will they look at things that like say like, hey, if you moved around your organization in this way, it would be more efficient. Yes. They are crunching all the numbers. Is that good?

Like, so how much it costs to— I really encourage everyone to come on the 17th. They— we've been working really hard on all the numbers for it. So, um, what it costs to run the facility, what, um, uh, how many employees are needed, what we can sustain basically as a community. But then will they have like suggestions of like, here's some actions you could make, you know, this year, versus like— what concerns me is like doing this master plan and then they're going to be like, okay, well, when you can find all this funding, here's the facility you need, versus like, what can we do right now to be like, to be operating better. For the— what we have right now?

Yeah, no, this all has to do with like a future facility. Okay, okay. Right now they— I mean, they've taken all our numbers from right now, and they actually are surprised that we're even running our departments on blood. So It, it's not really comparison even to any facility, so that we're so under budgeted and understaffed. There's pictures in the council packet that looks amazing, and that will— so that will come to us, um, just to let you know, it will come back here.

Was that in our last mission? I didn't have it yet. Oh, so it went in the city council packet, uh, because they were going to present, and if they had presented then, it would have been in this That makes sense. But since they canceled it, but it's not— oh,. Because that was supposed to be last week, right?

Okay. Yeah. And you're still thinking to expand the snow dump? I'm— I don't have any— I mean, that was just a—. But they're drawing something.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And it will be in our next meeting packet too, the city council. And it's the last community, 17th, and then they'll present on the 18th, the city council, and then it will be finalized after that.

I think it's at this week's council meeting for the Thursday work session. Is that one? No, that's the, um, this work session is for, um, this nonprofit that got brought forward and, um and vice versa.

Yeah, there's lots of me. There's too many.

Okay, well, that brings us right back to, um, new business of the Skater's Cabin. Yeah, an update. So we also got the drawings from Skater's Cabin for, um, from Alaska Insulated Panels. We've been working for a while with them. Shae Faiman, uh, for Rural Cap, uh, suggested that I reach out to them.

They've used them before for some remote cabins, as I understand, up north that she was working with Rural Cap with, um, and they've done really well with them. Uh, this cabin that is It's the amount of it is with shipping to Cordova. So, on the last page, it says, $250,000, that shipping here. This is up to the International Building Code for cities. So, I don't know how else to say, a little trickier than, like, if you're a residential building.

So, They did meet all those requirements for code, snow, wind, everything for that. So Taylor's been working on a grant through the Land and Water Conservation. And it's, I, you know, try not to get hopes up too much, but they've been really helpful. Super positive. Yeah, with what it's, what they're looking for to help fund.

So we're going to continue that. They are backlogged a little bit, it sounds like. Yeah, it's something that we would be presenting to them in their board in January. So it's not something that I'll have a ton of information on until I give my presentation in January, but I'll be submitting at the end of this week. And then be working with our land and water conservation rep to kind of build a presentation that I'll bring to their board in January.

So then they'll vote on it and all that fun stuff. So not something I'll know soon, but it's in those. And that's, uh, for $150,000, uh, $125,000 with a match. So, um, we do have, um, keep that push out for Skater's Cabin. We have about $5,000 left for that, uh, Cordova community Foundation grant match for that, and then a push if we do get that grant to match it.

Sorry, the grant's for $125,000 and the match is $125,000, and you have to do the match in order to get it. And then will like the matching funds from the Community Foundation count towards that? Okay, yes, yes. So we'd. Be at like.

$40,000 With that, about $20,000. Like if we get that the, um, that full grant match, we're looking at about $60,000. I think we've raised so far, given if we get the match. So then we need another $65,000 to get the $125,000.

So we'll just keep chugging along that. So I'm reaching out to, um, for groundwork, just like quick estimates on how much the groundwork and the fill would be for us to do. So that's the other part. I mean, there's a lot of other parts, but, um, getting that done and seeing how much that cost, which some of that you had said. People were maybe willing to donate.

Some of that. Yeah, some of that they will definitely. I'm just going to get a rough number though, how much it would be without donating any of it. And then, um, and then once all that is put together, who's going to build it? So we'll start chugging along with that.

And hopefully we have some volunteers in the group that would like to, to help out that have offered volunteering before and have services, you know, they have skills that they can come to the table with to help build the cabin. But it's panels, right? And so you're kind of just— your walls are assembled and you're pushing them up, you know, the base. And I'm very I clearly don't—. Right, so you're going to be helping.

I have a hard time. Very good. I think that we'll make it happen. I'm— you know, but it'll. Go— but you're not like building it from scratch?

You're not getting a lumberjack? Yeah. Okay. Plan Free is that whole advanced IKEA furniture. Yeah, like advanced IKEA furniture.

Okay. All right. Okay. That is built to You know, I hope so. Yeah,.

I'm very excited. The inside of it, um, right now, I know that in future, um, we'll talk about this more, but as for this kit though, it's kind of a blank canvas on the inside, um, and it does not have a wood stove or heating in it, um, because he said the wood stove that we have right now is completely— would bake everyone out of it. So just looking at the different options for heating, if you're wanting to go with a smaller wood stove, a if we wanted to have other kind of heating sources. So we have a lot of wood that parks in our— under wood splitter. So my.

Only concern— the drawings look really nice— is like the access deck. That being, I don't really— I'm not really good at like looking at this and understanding like how much square footage, that is, but just the like shoveling of something like that and that like workload being added on to Parks and Rec. Yeah, so we're down there anyway, um, uh, doing shoveling for all the, um, for the bath and down there year round, um, and different areas of it. Well, when the cabin was there before, we shoveled it off, so, um, the square footage is, um, on it too for that. Okay, um, so yeah, I mean, it would add I'm assuming a little bit of work for that, but I think the benefit of having it covered.

Yeah, but it's mostly—. It's mostly covered. Yeah, most of it covered. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which one is the access?

Like the boardwalk looking thing? Uh, it's the picture. You can really see it, um, on this like back elevation, left elevation page. Oh yeah, right through here, which that is a walkway to the road, right? Correct.

And there's, there's one, the one piece there that is going to go down like the old stairs there, like down to the beach, one of the stairs. And then they don't have it completely in stone, so we didn't know how close to the road it's going to go, but how long that like ramp would be. Assuming not very long because it should be placed pretty close to the road so that it's ADA accessible. Um, the other differences for this is the windows. There's more windows and there's two doors instead of one, or, uh, just to meet fire codes and not— and, you know, have two different accesses.

Lisa, the wood stove be too hot for us? Yeah, it's a really large wood stove for the area, so, um, he suggested either smaller wood stove, a Toyo here, or heat pump for it. So all of those things discussed in— it does have electricity. Yeah, that would— I love the wood stove. That's beautiful that they take it out and salvage it too.

Wood stove's authentic.

Yeah, even if it's a smaller one. Yeah, it's going to be open on the inside. It's exactly the same on the inside. There's no, you know, we'll probably put benches around like it was, but it's an open— no plumbing, sleeping bag sleeping.

Honestly, very reasonable cost compared to—. Yeah, I was, uh, for other ones, and the cost has been going up and everything so much. Um, but to have it Yeah, compared to other cabins that I've seen built from Parks and Rec, this is definitely— it's very reasonable for, you know, the city code. And so I was a little happy with that, with shipping. So I think it's great.

It's very exciting. Yeah, that looks great. Nice to have the deck on the lakeside too.

Yeah, I really, really am excited about the outdoor just side. Will definitely, um, add to usage too, and just, uh, I don't know, another, uh, reason why the community uses it is just that it brings that gathering space too. So having that available, I think, is, is really great, having a covered space.

Yeah, just push for more donations and we can get that match by the end of the year. So then we can see, I'll keep you guys updated on the, that grant too.

And if you have any other grants that you think might fix or might fit the bill, just let us know. Our capacity is a little low for really, really big grants, but, um, like this one was kind of peak. You know, what we're available to do. But, and, you know, the Trails Committee is working on that, or the App Frontier, or whatever they decide. So we have to share, right?

Any other questions about anything else we did?

Blank canvas. Decide what you want to do about what colors and all that fun stuff. All the fun things about it. When is— let me order it. Yeah, when is the hope to be able to order it?

Like if we get this grant,. I hope publicly is that I would love to get it to be able to install by next fall. So we wouldn't go another year without a cabin. So that would be my hope. My push is to— we've gone long enough without it.

I feel like we've exhausted a lot of avenues for funding, um, especially reaching out to the community for it. And, uh, you know, we just really need to push to, to have it done as soon as possible because I don't want it to fall to the wayside at all. I'm very passionate. Anyone that talks to me about Skaters Very passionate about it. Have you, um,.

Considered the very simple act of it being the season of generosity, putting little cans at storefronts? Have we done that yet? I can't remember. I thought I did it with AC last year. I'm still waiting to get—.

They also never reminded you to round up. I had to remind them to remind you. So it is something that we have done. It's just, I think it's a matter of getting to remind the, the general public that it's there. Yeah.

And also, um, I always think too, and have had this relayed to me, that we want to stay, um, you know, we want to have other people have an opportunity to raise money here in town. And some of those things are for like sports different organizations that are really struggling right now because of funding cuts in other places, having it available for them too. But yeah, it's definitely something we think about. Yeah. So are these meetings on YouTube?

Okay. Yeah, I'll let the— my only request, but like also I could just watch the YouTube video. Is that like the minutes give a little bit more information just because like if I miss a meeting and I read this like, you know, like, uh, talk about the upcoming budget season and updates, but then there's no real like details on the updates or like answer questions. And like for me, if I miss a meeting, I'm kind of wondering like, oh, what did the question ask? Like, what did they ask that I don't need to ask that question?

But I could also just get in a good habit of watching, making it to the meetings. One, making them on time and then what in the world? The YouTube is the way to go because you can change the speed to like 1.5. Oh, nice. Yeah.

Yeah. So they're like doing stuff at work. And also I apologize for like quotations. I just am someone that like, I think that you can, I think it's really easy with like every organization I'm part of is to get stuck on formality. And for me, I really, really try to be cognizant that I am focusing on number one, mission, number two, formality.

And like, it's like I try to check every T and— or for the— yeah, you know, dot my Ts and, you know, make sure. And I'm not trying to cut corners, but maybe I'm not trying to make like a wide gap around it because if I tried to make everything perfect around everything, there would just be so much like less stuff actually happening. Um, so that's like where I'm coming from, is it's just like I always have— I'm always thinking like mission first. How can we make all these things happen, um, and try to do it in the most legit way but not make ourselves crazy and not lose the mission? Yeah,.

Of work. And so that, yeah, that's where I'm coming from. But It's tricky. Yeah.

Any additional— yeah, sorry, any— anything else on skaters? Uh, I don't know, all good things about it. Let's make it happen. Beautiful drawings. I'm excited.

Um, we are at commission business from the floor, so additional comments from anyone? Or like, since this is my last meeting, it sounds like it's also Aaron's last meeting, uh, I just make the suggestion that maybe when new people do come on, hopefully they come on, uh, just to kind of like have that first meeting and like lay out what the board's job is and their role is, and also, um, to lean on them a little bit more when it comes to like making decisions, like bringing things to the board before the public. I guess, uh, and if that's not the goal, then I'm just wrong about what I thought it was gonna be. Um, but yeah, I think a lot of people are really wanting to collaborate and be a part of the process. So just kind of lay that out in the first thing, because I know Grace too, like, which she came on, like, had to ask her a lot of questions, and it was the same when I came on 3, 4 years ago.

Like, we had like the same maybe time that we started meeting, so I was learning about it too. I will say online on the city is the Parks and Rec Commission, but the advisory committee does, and I can send that out to you. Um, so what the role is of the—. So all the commissions have all their roles on City Council. Sure, providing that during the first term, first standing of the new terms.

Great. Yeah, that just— yeah, providing a printout, kind of like how we— but yeah.

Thanks, Kara. Thanks, Aaron. Thank you. It flew by. I don't even know how long the term is.

Anything else you're looking around? You need to ask about that, to work— I can't sign this class. That was supposed to be— and then I will try, even if December falls on a funky time. I know it's hard for everyone to get together during that time, but I'll try to reschedule it if it, you know, we'll try to meet in December.

I'm going to be busy trying to get this like chunk of stuff on, so I just wanted to say that for November's meeting.

Would the hope be that new members are at the December meeting? That would be their first. I believe they come in between. Okay, I need to nail that down too.

Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Kara and Aaron. You missed, and hopefully we see you in the audience participation.

Thank you so much.

1.5. Yeah,. Great. Um, there is an additional opportunity for comments from the audience. Do you have anything to add or state?

If so, we'd ask you to lead with your name and address in the city.

Nothing. And yeah, well, thanks for joining. Great to have you here.

Pending agenda items, don't have— I don't quite know what that means, so nothing there. I'm best at my last name. Um, great. I would ask for a motion to adjourn. The meeting then.

Motion to adjourn. Second. Meeting adjourned at 7:27. Thank you so much. Thank you.

I can't say it sounds like—.