Members Absent:Commissioner Jeff Wright

Commission Minutes:January 12, 2017

Members Present: President Joe Krapohl,Vice President Jim Washington,Commissioners:Gloria Nealy,Joe Madore, Bryant Nolden,Cloyce Dickerson, Mike Lynch, Mike Keeler

Staff Present:Amy McMillan, Director; Barry June, Deputy Director; Danielle Fulcher, Marketing Specialist; Nancy Edwards, Programming and Grants; Matt Armentrout, Facilities Director; Leisa Gagne, Finance Officer; Kevin Shanlian, Chief Ranger; Deborah Wilkes, Administrative Secretary; Janet Van De Winkle, Project Sustainability Director, Patrick Linihan, Project Coordinator

Others Present: Chris Doxsee, Great Lakes Gas Transmission; Thomas Kehoe, 4304 E. Stanley Rd.

1)Call to Order. President Krapohl presided and called the meeting to order at 10:02a.m.President Krapohl welcomed Mike Lynch back as the citizen representative, appointed to fill the vacancy left by Bill Lucas’ passing. Commissioner Nolden is back with us from the Board of Commissioners. Our final member, from the Board of Commissioners,has not been appointed to our board yet. He also introduced and congratulated Commissioner David Martin, asa newly elected Genesee County Board member.

2)Election of Officers. This is our annual organizational meeting and we will begin with election of officers for 2017. President Krapohl asked for nominations for the office of President of the Parks Commission.

Commissioner Bryant Nolden nominated Joe Krapohl for the office of President of the Parks Commission. Commissioner Mike Lynch supported that nomination.
President Krapohl called for any other nominations three (3) times. With no other nominations, the nomination process is closed and a motion is made to close the nominations and elect the nominee by acclamation. With no further discussion, the following action is taken:

Motion and support to close the nominations and accept the nomination of Joe Krapohl for office of President of the Parks Commission for the calendar year 2017.

Ayes: All Ayes

Nays: None

Absent: Commissioner Jeff Wright

MOTION CARRIED 8-0

President Krapohl asked for nominations for the office of Vice-President of the Parks Commission.

Commissioner Bryant Nolden nominated James Washington for the office of Vice-President of the Parks Commission. Commissioner Lynch supported that nomination.

President Krapohl called for any other nominations three (3) times. With no other nominations, the nomination process is closed and a motion was made to close the nominations and elect the nominee by acclamation. With no further discussion, the following action is taken:

Motion and support to close the nominations and accept the nomination of James Washington for office of Vice-President of the Parks Commission for the calendar year 2017.

Ayes: All Ayes

Nays: None

Absent:Commissioner Jeff Wright

MOTION CARRIED 8-0

President Krapohl asked for nominations for the office of Secretary.

Commissioner Washington nominated Mike Lynch for the office of Secretary of the Parks Commission. Commissioner Nolden supported that nomination.

Commissioner Madore nominated Mike Keeler for the office of Secretary of the Parks Commission.

Motion and support to close the nominations and accept the nominations of Mike Lynch and Mike Keeler for the office of Secretary of the Parks Commission for the calendar year 2017.

Roll Call Vote:
Dickerson: Lynch
Krapohl: Lynch
Madore: Keeler
Nealy: Lynch
Nolde:, Lynch
Washington: Lynch
Lynch: Lynch
Keeler: Lynch

Commissioner Mike Lynch was voted to fill the post of Secretary of the Parks Commission by a vote of 7-1.

3) Opportunity for members of the public to address the commission. Anyone wishing to address the commissionmust state their name and address and they have 3 minutes to speak.
Tom Kehoe, 4304 E. Stanley Rd. addressed the volume of what he believes is leachate produced from the horse arena.

4) Consent Agenda.President Krapohlasked commissioners if there are any items they wish to remove from the consent agenda for discussion. No items were removed from the consent agenda.

Action Taken:

Motion by Commissioner Keeler

Supported by Commissioner Dickerson

Motion and support for approval of consent agenda items A throughC, as listed.

Roll Call
Yeas: Krapohl, Lynch, Madore, Nealy, Dickerson, Keeler, Nolden, Washington

Nays: None

Absent: Commissioner Wrightis absent.

MOTION CARRIED 8-0

5) Director’s Report
A. MSU Bi-Annual Site Visit ForMar is partially funded by the Martha Merkley Trust. In her trust she designates funds annually to support both the nature preserve and the arboretum. As a condition of receiving this revenue from the trust, every two years a representative from MSU comes to ForMar to review the site and programs and issues a report to the trust and the parks commission. The report presented today is a glowing review that MSU gives to the commission as a whole and to the staff members in particular. This is consistent with past reviews and we are sharing it with you today.

B. Proposed meeting schedule. After discussion was held it was decided that the meetings will be held downtown in the Harris Auditorium through the March 23rd meeting. Beginning April 13th through November 9th, meetings will be held at the Parks Administration Building. December meeting will be at Crossroads Village. It is understood that if we wish to change the locations at any time during the year, it will be posted according to the Open Meetings Act.

Action Taken:

Motion by Commissioner Nolden

Supported by Commissioner Dickerson

Motion and support to accept the schedule as discussed and revised.

Yeas: All Ayes

Nays: None

Absent: CommissionerWright is absent.

MOTION CARRIED 8-0

C. DTE Easement. Chris Doxsee from Great Lakes Gas Transmissionrequested that the commission start the process to allow and easement on park property for DTE to run power underground from across the road into the Parks property. This will protect their facilitiesand there will be a transmission box above the grade that should not interfere with anything on your park facilities. This would benefit the Parks because now there will be power available there, which you could light the parking lot if parks wishes and the cost would be on DTE, not the parks and that could save the commission up to $20,000 to bring power across that road.

A prior easement has already been granted to Great Lakes Gas Transmission related to the movement of their gas pipeline due to the KWA water pipeline installation on the park property.

Commissioner Nolden: He was sold when Mr. Doxsee said the parks wouldn’t need to pay out $20,000 to bring power across the street if we ever needed power in that area. Is this time sensitive?

Krapohl: This will go to Public Works and then to the Board.

McMillan: The 23rd is Public Works and the 30th is the Board meeting.

Doxsee: That timeline is fine.

Action Taken:

Motion by Commissioner Nolden

Supported by Commissioner Washington

Motion and support to approve the request by DTE for an easement on Genesee County Park property and recommend final approval by the Genesee County Board of Commissioners.

Yeas: Washington, Nolden, Madore, Nealy, Krapohl, Lynch, Dickerson, Keeler

Nays: None

Absent: Commissioner Wright is absent.

MOTION CARRIED 8-0

D. National Water Trail Designation (NWTD) Following up on the presentation made to our commission in August. The Flint River flows through the parks and the Flint River Watershed Coalition (FRWC) would like us to be a partner in support of obtaining a NWTD. We are already long term partners with the FRWC. It is much more cost effective to use the staff time of the FRWC to pursue this designation.

The next step is to have property owners along the trail to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU). Many of these properties already have restrictions on them that mirror the restrictions that are in the MOU, they were developed with grant money and they must be maintained and remain public property in perpetuity. The NWTD is a big deal and is part of a goal for the Flint Riverfront Development Project. These designations also have a strongeco- tourism component associated with it, as well as increased signage.

Madore: Boundaries – can you tell me what they are?It would include the reservoir?

McMillan: The entire designated trail is the entire 142 miles of the Flint River through the watershed. For us, our boundaries start at Klam Road through to Flushing. Yes the reservoir would be included.

Krapohl: This does not commit us to any funds or fiscal obligations.

McMillan: We have existingobligations to the properties.

Keeler: Dams are alright on the river to get a designation? You still have Utah Dam? It gets tricky depending on the water level. Will someone work on a plan for portage around the Utah Dam?

McMillan The existence of dams does not have a negative impact on the water trail designation, as long as there is portage around them.There are dams that exist that will stay and some will go. The Flint River Water Coalition has a position about which should stay and which should go.

The FRWC will consider that and we will take a look at the best ways to navigate them. There is an area that can be loosely described as a canoe launch but it would need additional work, which would involve seeking some grant project funds. FRWC has an annual event for river cleanup. They have been so successful in clean up over the years, and instilled a sense of stewardship, that there isn’t much to clean up anymore. Now they are looking at creating an annual event to be more project oriented rather than clean up orientated. One of the priorities is Thread Lake and working with the neighborhood association. Rebecca and Sondra were supposed to be here but they are sick.

Madore: What about private property owners along the trail? Are there any restrictions or changes to their accessibility of using the river? Around M-15 there are private property owners along the river.

McMillan: They will be asked to sign a MOU as well. There is at least one, but perhaps more. We have our own site onM15 as well.

Keeler: Usually property values rise when national designations like that come to areas.

Action Taken:

Motion by Commissioner Washington

Supported by Commissioner Nealy

Motion and support to approve entering into a Flint River Watershed Coalition Water Trail Designation Memorandum of Understanding.

Ayes: All Ayes

Nays: None

Absent: Commissioner Wright is absent.

MOTION CARRIED 8-0

E. Kettering Quit Claim Deed. Last year the Parks Commission and Board of Commissioners authorized us to expand our partnership with the City of Flint to include the Flint Riverfront Restoration Project. We have been working on bringing in those grant dollars. One of the goals was to build a non-motorized pathway through Chevy Commons along the existingCNA rail line that will also have a double foot bridge that will eventually go over the river and connect to the Kettering property. Many have attempted unsuccessfully to acquire this rail line. Kettering stepped up and said they had a funder who would pay what the Railroadasking price, if the Parks would commit to develop as a non-motorized trail.

We applied to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust fund to construct the ‘Chevy Commons IronBelle Connector’ and it was approved by the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board in December. Since then, we are in the approval process for Tap grant funds,coming through the Planning Commission, for the project. Kettering gave us a quit claim deed to be a placeholder if the grant came through with the promise to file the deed if the grant funds became available. Now we (the parks commission) must formally accept the property and then the BOC will need to approve acceptance of the property and then the claim will be filed. As part of its due diligence in acquiring the property Kettering conducted both a Phase I and II environmental survey of the rail line. Like most rail lines there was residue found, similar to what rail lines transported over the years. There were no big red flags that made us want to say ‘no thank you’ to the property. The trail development would effectively hard cap those materials and seal them to not allow them to migrate across the site and eventually into the river.

We are asking the parks commission to make the recommendation to the Board of Commissioners to formally accept this property from Kettering, allowing us to move forward on the trail project.

Madore: When we were talking about the Flint River project the City was going retain ownership of that property, correct? We were an overseer and maintainer of the project but never actually having deed to the property. This particular park, it will become County property? It was never the city property to begin with?

McMillan: That is not entirely correct. The grant applications submitted back in April included acquisition of some properties along that stretch. We are in the process of continuing conversations with the City of Flint about that. Once we have reached a conclusion we will bring it back to our commission. We need to feel that we have a stronger agreement in principle to that. That does include portions of Chevy Commons. Originally we expected it would include Riverbank Park as well, we attempted to get a recreation easement funded by the Trust Fund. Our goal was to bring in 10 million dollars from the Trust Fund. The Trust Fund said it has been their policy, and they intend to stick with the policy, of not acquiring property that was already encumbered under the trust fund. Riverbank Park is already encumbered under the Trust Fund. You will hear more about that issue in the next 6-8 weeks.

This property was never the city’s to begin with.

Keeler: This section will require one river crossing and use an existing bridge at Lyon and Water Streets. That area is tricky for bikers due to sharp areas to deter bikes at the west end where the concerts are in Riverbank Park. If you are interested in history, this report talks about the businesses that were in that area way back in history. Back in the 30s and 40s there was a thriving business area down there.

Van De Winkle: Janet explained the course and where it crosses the confluences and river. The one foot bridge Mr. Keeler is talking about is existing, and will connect to each of the trails. It is the critical connection to the Genesee Valley Trail. It goes through Chevy Commons, crosses the river and Swartz Creek at the point of the confluence, then it crosses over Grand Traverse.

McMillan: The double foot bridge, you’re talking about crossing by Riverbank Park. That will be a separate part of the overall Riverfront Restoration Project that Mr. Madore was talking about. Like most major capital projects we try to bite them off in smaller chunks and phases. The section we are talking about – funded by Trust and TAP funds – must comply with ASHTO standards so there are requirements for width and grade. You will enjoy riding it in the way you enjoy Stepping Stone Falls trail, easy for people to go in both directions. The great thing about rail lines is the grade is already there.

Action Taken:

Motion by Commissioner Nolden

Supported by Commissioner Keeler

Motion and support to accept the quit claim deed at a minimal cost ($1.00) to the County to take ownership of the parcels listed in your packet and to recommend to the Genesee County Board of Commissioners their approval of our actions.

Ayes: Krapohl, Lynch, Nealy, Washington, Dickerson, Madore, Nolden, Keeler

Nays: None

Absent: Commissioner Wright is absent.

MOTION CARRIED 8-0

F) Park Project Manager Full Time Position. This is a new position in our budget, sort of a revamp of an old position, a Park Planner, that has been vacant for many, many years. You may remember that our Park Superintendent position became vacant this past year. We’ve left that position in the budget with the intention to fill it. We cast a wide net to find applicants several weeks ago and seven applied but only two were considered to meet minimum qualifications to interview for the position. We interviewed those two, but did not select anyone for the position.

We took a look at work duties of the Park Superintendent and the Park Planner, and how to bridge gaps within the current responsibilities and what current staff is doing. As we looked we found that park planner was most like what we needed, so we made some changes and designated it as a Park Project Manager. It will mean that our Facilities Management Director will have his duties shifted. We are asking to leave the Park Superintendent vacant until such time as we either have resources to fill both positions or we feel we have a better likelihood of success in filling it and we ask you to approve the new Park Project Manager position. Wethink this is the best way to fill our (staffing) needs. There is no loss to the budget. If approved,HR will take it thru Finance and the BOC. It will be a union positionposted through Human Resources like all full time jobs.