Kenai: 09/08/26 Beautification Commission Meeting

You're on the record.

I would like to call the September 8th, 2026 Beatification Commission meeting to order. If you are able, please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

May we have a roll call, please? Mhm. Persley. Present. Hoffart.

Koch, Brittany? All right, we see your hand raised. Carlson? Here.

Dossett? Present. Powell? Here. Wallace.

Here.

You have a quorum.

Is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? I make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. I second. Are there any revisions to the agenda?

Are there any objections to approving the agenda as presented? Hearing none, the agenda is approved. We have no scheduled public comments. Are there any members of the public who wish to speak on any item not appearing on the agenda?

Is there any remote attendees that wish to speak?

There's nobody online. No remote public members. We have Brittany online. May I have a motion to approve the May 12th, 2020— should that be 2026 minutes or 2025? 2026.

Okay, it says 2025 in my packet. Oh, I have 2026 here. Okay, that's okay. I have a motion to— may I have a motion to approve the May 12th, 2026 minutes? I motion to approve.

Second. Second. Are there any revisions to the minutes?

Any objections to approving the minutes?

Uh, Brittany, we saw your hand raised. If you have anything you want to add, you could unmute.

Okay, can you hear me now? Yes. Hello? Yes, we can hear you now. Yes.

Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay, great. Um, I wasn't able to speak earlier. I was going to make—.

I was going to make the motion. Okay, thank you. The mic wasn't working earlier. Oh, so no, no, no revision to minutes though?

Oh, okay, cool. Um, any objections to approving the minutes? Hearing no objections, the minutes are approved. We have no unfinished business. That brings us to new business, and the first item is the FY27 to FY32 capital project review.

I'd like to open up the discussion on the fiscal year '27 to '32 capital project review. And Tyler, do you have a staff report for us? It's technically the 28 to 32, but that's also— these are the things that we don't have to make motions on. But anyways, yes. So a lot of these things, capital projects, are projects I put usually exceed $35,000.

If it exceeds $35,000, it's a capital project. The Parks and Recreation Master Plan is an example of a capital project that the administration is like working on and has finished. So we approved that last year. We had $70,000. We worked on a master plan.

Um, and then another one that we worked on is streetlight replacement. Um, as we discussed in this commission, as this could be one of the possible capital projects, it was approved. So we have $50,000, and we're going to look at replacing a lot of our lights along our main corridor along the spur. Some of our lights are still in really good shape, but I think we could refresh them. We put up lights along Willow all the way down to the airport.

And then along Airport Way as well. But some of them are starting to get tired. We've replaced bulbs, we've restrung them. And I know I shared my personal story of— I remember I grew up in the middle of Sultatna, but I remember when they got new lights when I was a kid. And they still have those lights.

That's actually the same ones. But it's that refreshing, like, "Oh, this is really cool." And I think it added a really cool factor. So that's something that we have that there is funds for that have been approved. That maybe, I don't know, maybe we'll do a work session on and kind of talk about what we want to do down the line and kind of get feedback from the commission. Um, I recently met with the, uh, the Public Works director and just asking like, hey, what's our process of this?

What do you need from me? So I'm excited about that, but to go through, we don't have a lot of factors in here. Uh, another project we had.

Um, that wasn't a capital project, and I can't remember what it is off the top of my head. There was a special project that didn't get approved. It was in our budget presentation to council. There was a big approved list, and then there was an unapproved list, and I will check that list and probably resubmit that project. I forget what it was.

I think I talked to you about it on the phone. It might have been the banners. Yeah, refreshing the banners, which it wouldn't have hit that $35,000 mark. And how that works is we have special projects that I submit to the city manager and the finance director. And it's the same thing here.

Like, we don't know how much money we're going to have every year. So everyone submits capital projects, and then the city manager, public works director, all the directors have to kind of come together and we have to build out a puzzle because there's a big pot of money and then there has to be a priority list. And then we kind of project what we can do for 5 years. But if it gets approved on this list for 2 or 3 years, we don't know if it will be there again. Things do move around.

Um, perfect example is relocation of Parks and Rec to Dobbins Beck. Our shop is very old, and this has been a project going on for a long time. If you look in the formal capital improvement plan, you'll see splits like 90% of that $3 million is supposed to come from outside funding. Um, however, something that's been added that wasn't here last year is something like, uh, the Kenai Rec Center interior renovation and reconfiguration design. Uh, in our master plan, we have it marked for in about 5 years to start doing some bigger renovations there.

So there may be needs for a design there. Uh, another one that you'll see that has two dashes— we've recently been talked to about a pickleball player pickleball club and a tennis player. We're talking about if we could partner with the high school or a group to renovate the tennis courts or the outdoor court area at the middle school. Uh, it's very preliminary. Uh, if we were going to redo the entire tennis courts at the high school, let's say with 2 tennis courts and 4 pickleball courts, uh, with concrete, which is kind of the ideal scenario, is in the ballpark of $700,000.

Now, there are groups that are willing to contribute financially and work towards that. So I don't have a number yet, but we got reached out by multiple groups. So I wanted to plug it in the plan because it did also match nicely with our master plan. And then, of course, an outdoor sports complex design that's been talked about for 20-something years going on about, hey, how do we merge our sports complexes and get like one great location for all of our sports fields? And then something that's not on this list, but this commission has talked about quite a bit, is rejuvenating the Leaf Hanson Fountain.

Currently, I spoke with the Kenai Community Foundation today about trying to present a project to them to get funding from that group. They have funding that can be used for improvement at Leaf Hanson. There's some steps I have to go through. An example of a project like this that you'll see soon is, uh, We just— if you like went to the softball dugouts or outside of the library, you'll see some spray paint on the ground, and that's for getting some bike racks. Uh, so the Kenai River Marathon had funds go—.

When they—. That the chamber puts on, that will actually generate some revenue, and it's earmarked for improvements in parks, recreation, trails, and arts. Uh, we took about $25,000 and we bought a bunch of bike racks that we got last summer This summer we bought a lot of the hardware, got everything organized, and now we're gonna be— you'll see a bike rack at the chamber before the marathon, and then maybe some other concrete pads going around. Examples of projects that kind of go in and out of this, that bike rack project and that Lee Hanson project were right on the cusp of $35,000. Sorry, I kind of went on a side tangent there.

But anyway, this is a list of our proposed projects. Currently, we don't have anything super related to beautification. Always open for any discussion on that. That's why this is introduced to discuss. The banner projection was under $35,000.

That's why you do not see it here. But always, again, always open for discussion. It's— come our next meeting, we'll bring this forth in a more formal manner. There could be some shifts on this as administration talks about it. And then it will go forth, the recommendation of the commission will go forth to city council, usually at the end of the year.

And I did that way better to Parks, it was way more fluid. So if there are any questions, especially from our newest members, feel free to ask. Uh, so commission discussion now, I guess the question I would have is if we are going to talk about new lights in the the approved amount that you already got, when would we need to do that in order to order them? Or is it too late already? I don't think we'd get them this year.

That's— I think if we were going to do a long order, it'd be for next year. Okay, so we can talk about a work session for over— throughout the winter and talk about that for next year. Yeah, I would be super interested in— I would like to talk to our clerk and maybe see if we could do a work session immediately following our meeting, even if we have to set a time. At our next meeting where we would vote on this plan. But then we could go into that.

And I think it'd be super fun to, if we had our little tables down here, and we could pull up a couple of our options on the screen and just talk about it. 'Cause there's always, you know, the little limitations like, okay, this company, if everyone went on a Google spree, you'll find some stuff. But there are, I think, some specs that we have to find. And then it's like, okay, would we want like, you know, a double poinsettia versus single poinsettia? That is a significant cost increase.

Like, I think it's like there's some information I could bring that could be like, okay, do we need double point setters, or is it nice to have a double versus single? So I think it could be a really fun work session. Okay, so you and I'll work together and talk to the clerk about that, about getting a work session set up. Yeah, if that sounds good. Yeah, I think that's something I think the body would really like doing, and we have that project, we have that funds.

I've kind of talked to the Public Works director what he would need. And it would be a bid, so it would be a relatively simple project to put out there. Great. Other commission discussion?

I'm sorry, I did miss out on the work session last time, so I do apologize, but I know that we had a discussion about wanting to improve the almost like bronzed look fish that's by— in Lee Panson. I was wondering if that ended up being discussed, how we were going to renovate that now that we had a closer look, just kind of seeing where that was set.

For the bronze, for the fish that are in like the, the bed, they're so rusty they almost look bronze. And like, I was talking to my fiancé who's colorblind and he was just like, what are you talking about? I was like, you'll have to go by and see it. And he had to like stand there to actually see them physically because !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The company of getting more of a Canadian mix that they do in ours. Right now we have a lot of the Alaska Wildflower Mix, contains a lot of like European northern flowers.

But our weeds are losing. Our 2 years we did really well after we did this last time. Lots of people took family photos, senior photos. I took my own family photos in there and there were poppies everywhere. It looked gorgeous.

So we're gonna do another treating year. I think if we don't have a wacky summer like we did, we'll have more success with it. But we're always trying new things. The only bummer is you get one shot at it. But however, and we had a cold summer, so I don't know if that affected the flowers and allowed the natural native weeds, the dandelions, the grasses, to really overtake the flowers before they got a chance to establish.

But that was outside of the tour. During the tour, we went along, as a report from 4-H, we were 5 to 10 degrees colder at the start of the year, so flowers grew slow. And then we have been battling chickweed like no other. As we discussed during the tour, it was kind of a talk about what can we do with pre-emergents. We've used pre-emergents before, but can we go a lot heavier?

We're even talking about when we pull our annuals this year, burning the soil to hopefully try to kill some of that seed bank too. That's a natural thing we can do in there after we clean out our beds. But utilizing Preen and some other pre-emergents before the season starts to try to get them going. And then on a happy note, after our tour where a lot of the chickweed was pulled and everything, you can see some of our flowers succeeding now. I feel like we're a month behind.

I feel like, like our nasturtiums are great right now. I feel like last year, mid-August, our nashurshums are doing what they're doing now. But we did battle chickweed a lot this year. I will even say compared to last year, we probably did more gardening from our seasonal staff than we have before, but we were losing the battle. But once we were able to get the chickweed up, we were able to— now the flowers were able to get well established.

I think if you go around, you can really see the effect that chickweed had. So that was a really negative effect we had. Also during the tour, we had a suggestion from a commission member to keep like a running log outside of the minutes, much like gardeners will do. I'm sure this has been talked about, but they will note when they planted something, what they planted, how they did, temperature notes. So I took our order list and made a spreadsheet that says when we planted it and notes, and I took the general notes too in it, like, hey, it was 5 to 10 degrees colder, plants came out later, we battered chickweed, this is what we're doing.

And I have a little 2026 tab. And I started 2027. When we do our order, we'll also add any new stuff we do and we can note how it did. Because I think we had a persilla that was a double bloom last year that didn't quite make it, so we won't order that again. And I have Randy Dodge, who is our maintenance guy for 10 years and our flowers person.

I just use his brain, but one day it would be nice if we just had it written down too. So if someone's like, hey, why don't we plant this flower in 5 years? And I could be like, that's a great idea. Or like, hey, it did not do good on like an average summer. So we're starting to keep that.

I'm starting to build out that log. Me and Randy went through that today, so I'm really excited about that though, so we can start actually having a good historic log. And it's— I don't know why. I mean, gardeners do it, planners do it. It makes perfect sense.

Like a lot of people in the garden club that I know all have a running list of how this strand of tomato did. So I'm going to start doing that with the flowers. That is kind of all I got from the tour. We went around City Hall, we went around Leaf Hanson. I think we got a good snapshot of how some of our flowers are doing, but mostly the chickweed kicked our butt.

The cold weather kicked our butt, minus where the chickweed was pulled. We had a really successful year. Some of the flowers really popped, and— but yeah, the chickweed was really aggressive and really hard this year. Thank you for that. Was there any particular colors or varieties of flowers that didn't do well this year that we need to report on?

No. So driving around today, it seemed like everything we ordered did well. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's plant those earlier, see if we can get them out a little earlier.

But, but that's why we have those work sessions. We can review it and maybe go over some flowers. We order most of our flowers from a couple sources, and then we get plugs delivered here mid to late March.

How did the— I'm sorry, I apologize, I missed the tour. But how did the redesign on the flowerbed that I planted turn out? Did you notice a difference? Did Randy say anything? I think the chickweeds really had it in for you, but we went through there and tried to yank them all out.

I actually want to go back by there.

Yeah, but I mean, there's still— there, that bed got hit bad by the chickweed. Well, appreciate your hard work on all that, and I know it was definitely an uphill battle this year. Thanks for taking my texts and calls about that going, what's going on. This is crazy because that was definitely an odd year. Maybe it had to do with the weather too and being cooler, not sure.

So any further commission discussion on the tour?

Okay, um, we will move on to item F3. I'd like to open up the discussion on the capital project replacing the street lights for the winter decor. So is this something you wanted to actually bring into a work session at some point in the future, or you want to talk about some of this now? Yeah, let me just check myself here.

Yeah, this is where we could go. We could try to have a work session, or we could talk about it now, but it felt like I said the purpose of this memo is to start the discussion. If needed, we can discuss this topic again at at the October meeting. But I do think this is kind of one of those bigger ticket items that could come forth. So I think if the commission's agreeable, we could do something like a work session after our next meeting.

Because so far at our next meeting, what we'll be discussing will be a flower order, and then we'll also be voting, which that could also be part of the work session. But we could also— we'll be voting on this plan to get it forth to council. And then we could do a work session at a set time. I don't know, I'd work with the clerk on that. But then we could sit down and really hash out flowers, uh, we could really hash out Christmas light replacements, or see what those design elements are.

Because again, there sometimes there's limitations and some of those weird things. But I'd love to get, uh, the commission's feedback. Like, something you could look up is, um, again, you can go down Google rabbit holes But there are— it seems like there are several companies. Right now, a lot of our stuff is from De Julio Designs.

And if anybody wants any of that information, I can send it out to you. Reach out to me. But just to get an idea of what they have. They have static displays. They have banners.

Kind of all commercial grade. Kind of also at us— that take our— they do well with our lights. They're set at our standard where we can go hang any display at any spot.

Doing a hands-on work session would be really great, and I think we should have some examples of some flowers, examples of what we've done in the past, like you said, some of the log of what did well this year, and then additionally having some photos of the static displays that we have now, and maybe even sort of a dry map of where they are normally hung. We could even highlight, you know, the sections of road, and this is where we are traditionally been hanging these types of displays and doing these things, and then we can kind of hash it out in work session of what improvements or changes we could make. That would be kind of fun. Yeah, yes, Tyler's excited as well. We can't wait.

Wonderful. And if you guys have— if you— if I don't know if you guys— if you guys have any photos too, please send them to me because I don't know if I have a bunch of great photos. That'd be a display. Bring a few in and, you know, we can display them here, display them out here right along the dais. It'll be great.

They're rather big, but I, I mean, I honestly don't hate that. And then that can even give you a good, like, there's a poinsettia, and we can look at it on the screen too and be like, that's the translation. Yes, yeah, that would be it. So if you have any photos of any beds or displays or anything like that from the last few or even beyond years, please send them to Tyler before we get this set up. We can add that in.

Yeah, so if I'm hearing this right, so we'll try to shoot for maybe— I mean, and if for some reason there's any issues, I would say we could go just— we could probably go hard. No, we have to vote on this. And I think October— is October our last meeting? Can we do a work session before? We could, but that would put the time cap on it though with the regular meeting, because then we have to start the regular meeting since it's publicly noticed.

Yeah, um, I don't think the— I don't think our regular meeting will be that long if we just even shot it at like— did it at 6:30. But do we have to vote on it during October though? No, on these, on the displays and such.

No, no, it would just be discussion. Okay, um, that— I think that's where I'd actually get really good recommendation on it, would be if we kind of talked about what we had and then I could create a bid off that. Okay, and then we could finish it up if we have to in January. Okay, all right, we'll just shoot for that if that works for you guys. We'll try to do a work session after the October meeting.

Okay, uh, so we'll move on to reports. Uh, Director Best, may we please have your report?

All right, so I'm going to go through just a little bit of what we had going on this summer at Parks and Rec by just going through my mid-months that are in, that are in the packet. I submit these to council every month. Uh, in July we don't, we submit two in August. But my mid-month report for June, uh, we just talk about hiring staff, some of our local events. Uh, we had a fat Albert tree donated, uh, by Alex Dothett in honor of his late grandfather.

It is intended to be a Christmas tree. It's right next to the chamber. I'm 99% sure it is straight as can be, but every time I drive by it, I don't think it is straight. But Alex Dotha donated this tree. There was a tree that used to be in front of the chamber that had lights on it for years, and that tree was lost to beetle kill.

Fat Alberts are beetle, spruce bark beetle resistant, not proof. But this tree is pretty well established. So our hope is to get it some growth for a couple years and get it well done and then get some lights on it and for it to kind of be a nice Christmas tree that may be lit during the Christmas Comes to Kenai. And it'll just be a cool feature to have there. But if you guys drive by the chamber building, it's really easy to see.

There's a tree and there are strings coming from it. And we've just been watering it and trying to make sure that transfer went well. He bought that from a nursery up in the valley and drove it down and we met there with him There's a photo. If you can see the back of Alex Douthit's head. It was a very pretty day to plant a tree.

And then you can also see some pictures from our kite festival where we finally had a windy day.

I think it's my 5th or 4th kite festival. And I usually pick the day that is the least windy in Kenai. And that day we actually had some great wind.

And then, also in our report, you'll see we put out 80 pounds of wildflower seed to do the Field of Flowers, and Moore's Landscaping donates the mulch and will help hydroseed it. And then, we're usually on high alert for about 3 weeks to make sure we keep it watered.

And then, in the packet, you will see, The 11th Annual Kenai Pumpkin Festival, Saturday, October 10th, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Activities, food trucks, music, pumpkin patch, which is the best pumpkin patch we can have. It's a softball field that we lay out a bunch of pumpkins on. But it was a blast. Last year we changed our locations to the green strip, and our plan is to have it there again.

We had a really good time with making an archway, and actually kind of, it felt way more pumpkin patchy to me. Having like the pumpkin patch. And typically the mayor will drop a pumpkin from a fire truck. We also have two other empty fields. So if anyone knows anyone that has like a small catapult or trebuchet, let me or Jenna know.

We keep on getting feedback that we should have some sort of pumpkin chunkin'. We do have two empty fields there that are fenced that no one touches during this festival. There might be some potential of adding a pumpkin chunkin' or catapult. So, you know, if anyone here has anybody who has a catapult in their garage that doesn't shoot too far, or a trebuchet, you never know with Alaskans. Or, but that's something me and Jenna are going to start kind of getting feelers out to what we can do.

Even if it would be, you know, a community group that's like, oh, we want to raise some funds, $5 and launch this pumpkin and try to hit that scarecrow. With director's best approval saying it's safe and it won't shoot so far it hits flyboys. So that's what we don't want. But I think there's a really cool potential since we've moved that location. And me and Jenna are really excited.

But we've been talking to Country Foods. We're also working on a formal link I'm gonna send everybody about if you're interested in volunteering, there may be shifts built out. We're gonna do 11 AM. We used to always do it 3 hours. We're gonna do 11 to 3 this year and stretch it out a little bit.

We had more food trucks than we ever had last year, and they were busy the whole time. So I think Jenna's already gotten 6 lined up for this event. We're, as always, we're working on getting as many pumpkins as we can. We always tend to run out in the last hour. You know, having leftover pumpkins isn't good, but we've just added pumpkins every year.

So it's, again, it's been a great event. Last year we did hayrides. I got to drive the tractor for a little bit. That was really fun. Some of my nieces thought I was really cool.

And it's just, this is one of our events that we have that we produce 100%, like the city. Again, I say we produce, we work with community partners and everything, but we, Parks and Rec, we support a lot of stuff like the 4th of July parade, Industry Days, you know, we're making sure the bathrooms are clean, we're bringing fencing, but, This is one of those ones I think is really special that we do that really shows a good reflection of our city in it. You get people from all over, like, it just, it blows my mind how many people come to this. And we do little things every year to improve it. So it was me and Jenna working on a volunteer signup.

We'll be sending to our commissions and City Council to say, hey, come volunteer, come check it out. It's a great time. But we always get a bunch of really great partners. Kenai Peninsula Driving Instruction has been traditionally a great sponsor who has brought, bought, I think you guys said $500 on pumpkins last year. But it's just really cool to see the community coming together.

And our goal is that basically almost every kid that comes can do a, can get a pumpkin. And a week before the event, our library helps us do a pumpkin, a no-carve, no-carve pumpkin decorating contest. And we have a 20 by 40 tent that's just dedicated to that. Last year we had a community group that built us some display shelves. So, and every year I say, I wanna say we're improving this event like 10 to 20% without really increasing the cost it's doing.

And it's just been, it's been amazing. Like again, kids just seem like they have a blast. So I always really look forward to this. It's one of my favorite Saturdays of the year. Even 2 years ago when it was pouring rain and like 50 degrees, a bunch of kids, we were like, no one's gonna come.

No, everyone came in their raincoats. It was fantastic. Everyone was zipped up. They only stayed for like 20 minutes, but people came and then they left. And then I— cracked me up— some of my cousins came back at 2 for the pumpkin to be dropped from the fire truck.

And I'm like, I thought you guys weren't coming back. And they're like, the kids convinced us.

But it's just, it is truly an amazing event. And I think it really shows just the community of Kenai really well. And it really shows off like Again, people want to do stuff and they want to get out in October, and it's so cool. We get them to the green strip right in the middle of town.

That is my report.

All right, awesome. Thank you for that, and thanks to all of the Parks and Rec team, uh, for this, um, summer work as well as coming up. I know it's a lot of work to put these events on, so thank you for that. I, um, I attended planting days this year and drug along my children as well as other children that happened to be at my house at the time. And it's always fun for me during planting days with whatever, again, of my son's friends are over.

They get to go too. And this year was particularly special. A boy was over and he went with us and we rode our bikes and it was freezing. And we get there and we're planting, and he looks over at me and he said, "I've never planted anything before." And I wanted to cry, and I was like, this is what it's all about, right? This kid has now planted a bunch of flowers at the Lake Hanson bed.

So it was really a fun time. The fire department put on a great barbecue afterwards, and that's like one of my favorite things to do. Every year is planting days, rain or shine. It's always a little chilly, but it's fun. So we really enjoyed that.

Um, and then, uh, Alex's tree at the chamber has been a pretty cool— um, has the plaque gone up, or— I can't remember. There's going to be a plaque. I heard there's going to be a plaque. Okay, no one has contacted me about—. Okay, I think he may have mentioned it in passing, but that's kind of how a lot of our conversations were.

So, but yeah, I think there's going to be a plaque honoring his grandfather who passed away last year. It was one of his favorite things, the lighting of the Christmas tree, and Christmas come to Kenai was one of his grandfather's favorite things. And so I'm really excited and happy about the tree, and they worked really hard to get it down here. So it's quite the, quite the whole trip. And so yeah, that's pretty much what I have.

Director Best and I talked a little bit about some of these things leading up to the agenda, and I'm glad we were able to bring these things together, and he was able to bring these topics and the different information to us. It's very helpful. Thank you. Good. Enjoy working with you on those.

All right, um, it looks like we do not have, um, council member tonight, so we do not have a report from them. Um, is there any members of the public who would like to address the committee at this time? Are there any remote attendees wishing to speak?

See anyone?

Brittany does not have her hand raised. Okay. The next meeting is October 13th, 2026. Is anybody planning to be absent or unavailable or attending remotely? No?

Okay. So Commissioner comments and questions. We'll go around the dais and do comments and questions. And if you're new, please introduce yourself. Introduce yourself so we can learn more about you.

You want to start? I'll start. So my name is Autumn. I currently reside here in Kenai. I've been here since 2020.

Before then, I actually lived and grew up down in Homer, so I'm pretty much an Alaska resident. And I started and joined the beautification community because I'm also part of the Parks and Rec as well, so kind of notice I'm familiar with a little bit of this. Um, I joined just because I wanted to volunteer and I wanted to be more involved in my community, but it's also just I love seeing the impact that I have and getting to meet new people, and that's just kind of the whole point. And I just love getting to see all of you, and it's always nice to make some new friends and just kind of be out there and represent the community the best way that I can. And I love just bringing out new ideas, and I just want to be more involved.

So again, thank you.

I'm Missy Wallace. I've been here 6 years. I'm originally from Sierra Madre, California. I was a landscape designer down there. I have an A.S. degree in ornamental horticulture.

So I'm really excited to be a part of this beautification commission and excited to help with the planning and designing and the flowers, which is what I'm really into.

And I just, I can't wait for the next meeting. Thank you. And I don't want to throw out Missy I believe you came to plant day, right? What? You came to our planting day too, right?

Yes, yes. And then Missy was calling Jenna and was pulling chickweed a bunch and inspired us to do chickweed warrior banner flyers seeking help. So yeah, I think Missy pulled like 100 pounds of chickweed. I'm just making up a number, but it was a lot of chickweed. Yeah.

And it's contributed a lot to the success, so. Yeah, I work at Safeway, so when I get off work, I would go and pull weeds, you know, and I, you know, you got to go to different planters. There's so many planters. I know, there's a lot. And but the bean I'm still working on.

I love that one. And I mean, just a few planters. Blue Star Memorial. That one you could really see. I could see the flowers when I drive by now.

Before, just all chickweed. But yeah, I'm really excited. Thank you.

I'm Sherry Powell. My boyfriend and I started coming to Alaska about 5 years ago, and we went to Ketchikan first, got our feet wet, and right after that he's like, I'm gonna fish the Kenai River. So we started coming to the Kenai, fell in love, found a house, bought it in 2024. We lived in Las Vegas for 25 years prior to this, tired of being 120 degrees. So in 2020, we weren't planning to come up until we were like, maybe 2 or 3 years we'd come up.

There was a window in '25 and I said, hey, we have 20 days, I think we can drive and not be affected by snow or whatever weather and craziness. And so we packed it up and we came. We've been prowling for a year to come, have been getting rid of things. So we just came with a truck and a trailer and a truck and a boat. And here we are.

We've been here a year. We're now residents. Definitely have been in the Kenai River. The one thing that my boyfriend is obsessed with in Kenai is those fish. He can't stand that they are rusty.

My boyfriend is a journeyman painter, fabricator. Extraordinary. He can do wonderful things with paint. So he's obsessed with fish, so I'm really excited to find out what you guys want to do with those. Um, I've been coming to city council meetings for about a year, and I really enjoyed it.

I was kind of shocked that nobody came. It was just usually me and my boyfriend, but we learned a lot, and it was nice getting to know the city. I still don't know where all these beds are that you guys are talking about, so I kind of want to know where the parks are. And where to go to see everything. I just looked up chickweed, now I know I have it.

I don't like it. It's that terrible stuff in my backyard. But I joined because I want to be part of a community. I want to work with anything that isn't a cactus. That would be great.

We had wonderful cactus in Vegas, but we never had plants. I'm from the Midwest originally, he's from Pennsylvania, so we want to be involved in the community. We want to make it beautiful. We love being here. I remember the first night we jumped in the car and went to bridge access and just watched the sunset.

And it was just so amazingly beautiful. And then we started noticing things around. I'm like, "This is our city. We actually have a city. I don't have Las Vegas.

I don't have tourists, 24/7 tourists." You guys are really lucky here. They only come— we have 24/7 tourists. It was a long 25 years. So we are very happy and comfortable. We loved winter.

That was so cool. I don't know how many times we were out in the snow. Too much. Shouldn't be out there that much. I survived 2 hours at Frozen River Fest.

That was it, I had to go. I'm anxious to be part of the community and see what you guys are doing. And I love— I don't know very much about flowers. I will continue to look stuff up, but I love flowers. I've been at Trinity.

They have to kick me out. I bought my baskets this year. I have big baskets at my house, so I'm excited. This sounds like you guys are really into it. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Well, it's good to see everybody. And Tyler, thank you and your staff for doing such a wonderful job at everything. And I wanted to recap some topics that I think that for the work session to go over the banners. Of course, we're always talking about the metal fish. And then Christmas lights, but where are we at with the murals?

Last time I was discussing a mural, I was talking to an artist and that was like this, this spring, and I need to reach back out to him. But there is a local artist that does murals. And we were talking about a couple different design options, but I haven't talked to them throughout the summer, so I need to reach back out to them because when I was talking to them originally this winter, they were leaving for a minute. So I need to reach back out to them, but it's not— depending on the size we go and the location we went with, it wouldn't be crazy to do at least one or two very soon.

So we could add that to the work session though. That would be great. Thank you.

Brittany, do you have anything you want to add?

I can ask her to unmute. Hey, there we go. I'm unmuted. Can you hear me? Yes.

All right. Well, welcome new members. I'm so sorry I couldn't meet everyone in person. Um, it's been a big year personally for me. We got married and had a baby and just craziness, but, um, he got a shot today, so he's not happy.

Um, but no comments on the meeting. That sounds great. And I really look forward to that work session. Um, I've been a beautification commissioner for 3 years, so I'm glad to see that we are making strides and moving forward in a lot of directions. Um, and great job, Tyler, and your team.

You guys are doing a great job and making making our visions come to fruition. So thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Brittany.