Commission Minutes:April 13, 2017
Members Present: President Joe Krapohl,Secretary Lynch, Commissioners:David Martin, Joe Madore, Bryant Nolden,Cloyce Dickerson, Jeff Wright, Mike Keeler, Gloria Nealy
Members Absent:Vice President Washington
Staff Present:Amy McMillan, Director; Barry June, Deputy Director; Matt Armentrout, Facilities Director;Kevin Shanlian, Chief Park Ranger; Danielle Fulcher, Marketing Specialist; Deborah Wilkes, Administrative Secretary; Janet Van De Winkle, Project Sustainability Director; Nicole Ferguson, For Mar Park Naturalist; Jered Townsend, Maintenance Worker II; Jackie Domerese, Park Office Aide; Samantha Pilarski, Intern; Leisa Gagne, Finance Officer; Nancy Edwards, Recreation Program and Grants
Others Present: Tom Kehoe, 4305 E Stanley Road; Lynda Eckstrom, 6362 N Belsay Road
1)Call to Order. President Krapohl presided and called the meeting to order at 10:01a.m.
President Krapohl stated that we will move agenda item 7b up to 2b for public input regarding the commission’s intent to apply for DNR Trust Fund grants.
2) Opportunity for members of the public to address the commission. Anyone wishing to address the commission must state their name and address and they have three minutes to speak.No one addressed the commission.
3)Genesee County Parks Staff Training
Nicole Ferguson and Jered Townsend addressed the commissioners to explain how staff training has been organized this year. Training is April 23 and division supervisors that are well-versed in their areas will be the presenters so there will be fresh speakers throughout the day. A group of nine division heads have met regularly since January to formulate a training program. Each division was represented with the goal to make sure everyone’s voice is heard to make the training effective. When there is variety in what you are hearing, and the speaker is passionate about what they are talking about, it keeps the staff engaged. Everything is built around our Mission/Vision Statement and Core Values. Training will continue on a monthly basis for those that are not hired prior to April 23 and all the information is documented and check lists provided, so all employees will receive the same information and training.
Meetings havehad the added benefit of division heads learning to work better together. It has opened the door to understanding how to support each other to help make everyone successful. Both Jered and Nicole expressed that they feel fortunate to have participated in this training committee and hope to help staff understand they are not just a ForMar, Crossroads or Maintenance employee, they are truly connected to everything that is going on in the parks and every single person you come in contact with is a customer, whether internal or external. Staff is the face of the Parks.
Krapohl: Have you seen positive feedback?
Ferguson: Our first training is April 23 and again in May, we’ll get back with you on the feedback.
Townsend: We are excited to come back together after the summer and see what we can do to make it better.
Armentrout: We’ve been doing training for a very long time and hav really reached the limit to what he can do himself. When he approached staff about serving on the committee: #1 nobody turned him down and they were all excited to do it. #2 they’ve made quantum leaps in our training program and we expect to make dramatic improvements based on all of their energy and new ideas as we move forward in our commitment to training. It takes a huge load off him and he appreciates all their time and efforts.
McMillan: Last year when we went through our review and worked with Ted Amsden to identify our priorities and communicate our core values, we were all so excited to see that at every level of our organization we were all on the same page in terms of our mission, vision and the way we approach our customer service and this is really the next level to keeping our arms around our entire organization. During the summer there are about 300 of us over 40 miles in every direction and unlike many parks there are some areas of our operation that otherwise would have nothing in common with each other. The train shop would otherwise have nothing in common with running a boat launch. So this will tie everybody together with an understanding of how we exist as an organization and what our goals are. We thank the commission for including training money in our budget. Some of the experience brought to the table of the training committee is a result of training these folks have received from attending training sessions themselves.Thank you for making the presentation to the commission today and we acknowledge the work they have done.
Wilkes: When the committee talks about the variety of having different people addressing certain parts of the training, this is an all-day training, this is 8 am to 5pm, so listening to one person all day long can get kind of long, so having different speakers through the day is a great idea.
Madore: It is a great approach, having people with different responsibilities talk, refreshing the speaker is a good thing.
Ferguson: And it helps when someone is speaking that you know, so we included staff from all divisions.
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 Nolden
Supported by Commissioner Keeler
Motion and support for approval of consent agenda items A throughC, as listed.
Roll Call
Yeas: Wright, Dickerson, Lynch, Nolden, Keeler, Madore, Nealy, Martin, Krapohl
Nays: None
Absent: Vice President James Washington
MOTION CARRIED 9-0
5) Director’s Report There are no items to report.
6) New Business
Krapohl: If anyone has any conversations or hears comments from the Fair Board regarding our mutual agreement; we held a meeting with them to clarify some items and they have met all their financial obligations to date. The only thing left is the balance of rent after this year’s event. We also received a plaque of appreciation from the Fair Board.
Madore: Do they prepay their rent? None of last year’s rent is due?
Krapohl: They pay 50% in advance and the balance is due later after the event. Last year is paid in full. Thanks to Barry June, we have a very accurate way to track the electric use during the Fair.
He had a chance to go to Crossroads today to see some major work being done at the Barber Shop to make that building safe for the next 100 years. He saw the drying shed being built for wood reclaimed from Richfield County Park. Is there anything going on the back side? About how big is that? It fits in very well at the Village, just like the treehouse at ForMar, it looks like it just grew there.
June: The back is open for the wind to dry the wood. About 32 feet long by about 20 feet deep.
7)Opportunity for the public to address the commission
Tom Kehoe,4304 E Stanley Road. He got an email from a man named Kris Foondl, the grade crossing program manager for MDOT. He stated that ‘per state law if sidewalks and trails exist adjacent to the tracks, the railroad or railroad authority would be responsible for constructing suitable facilities to address the needs of non-motorized users at the tracks’. Someone here should be responsible per state law. (Mr. Kehoe did not leave a copy of the email) He asked about the status of exercising the dam valves. He hasn’t gotten any water testing from the leachate that comes from the horse arena, and no status on Lapeer County residents being represented here.
Lynda Eckstrom, 6362 N Belsay Road in Flint is here to get an update on the bike trail from Stanley to Vassar. She has some safety issues and concerns regarding people being out there on four-wheelers.
McMillan: We’ll have you speak to the Deputy Director regarding the trail schedule after the meeting. We’d like to remind people if you see motorized vehicles in areas where they are not permitted call 911 and park rangers will be dispatched, when it is happening, not after.
Krapohl: And if you have any further questions, you can always come to the office and meet with the staff.
8) Opportunity for Commissioners to address the Commission.
Madore: He saw in Sam’s report that they posting summer jobs. Davison has a community Facebook page and that may be a good place to post jobs.
He saw in one of the reports about 2018 trail maintenance. What is that for? Happy Easter everyone.
June & McMillan: Those are for ORV Mounds trails. Unfortunately there are no grants available for regular maintenance of walking trails. There is a special fund specifically for off-road trails.
Keeler: What is the grant from the Ruth Mott Foundation? He’s noticed many parks that are flooded. It’s over the road in some places.
McMillan: The grant is for Keep Genesee County Beautiful. This time of year we will have intermittent postings about park closures due to flooding.
9) Adjournment. Hearing no objections to adjournment, the meeting was adjourned at 10:27 a.m.
Recordedand transcribed by D. Wilkes p:commission/2017/Agenda and minutes/4-13-17
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