In attendance:  Gerry Biedenstein, Bob Sears, Linda Fenton, Nick Ohlman, Jerry Grunzinger, Rich Etzkorn, Curt Carron, Murray Pounds

Excused:  Boyd Wietecter, Katie Burckhalter, Betsy Wendell

I.                   CITIZEN COMMENTS   

Jim Harlan, 1725 Hoffman, discussion on the Dog Park, City Ordinances and leash laws.

Alan Hopefl, 12 Orchard Way, thanked Bob Sears for his effort on the Dog Park Proposal

Doris Danna, 369 Reith Terrace, said we need to use caution regarding any development in Quinette Cemetery

Joe Toenjes, 329 Rose Lane, discussed Quinette, the cemetery is hallowed ground and should be treated with respect.

Lorraine Spears Brown, Harrison Ave, discussed Quinette Cemetary, has great grandfather buried at Quinette and is concerned about disturbing graves

Michael Whitson, 400 S Fillmore, has grandfather buried at Quinette and read a letter from Walter Busch, Department Commander, Missouri SUVCW supporting a monument  honoring the Veterans buried at Quinette.

Bob O’Neill, 962 Cleveland, American Legion Post 156,Historian, and in support of a monument for Quinette Cemetary

Phil Baker, 1900 Signal Hills, discussed Quinette, reported Civil War Roundtable contributed money towards the monument.

Vincent DeForest, 7901 Stanford, retired State Preservation Officer, said he had read about the cemetery in the paper and was interested in attending this meeting. Mr. DeForest said he had checked with Washington, DC offices and Quinette is not a military cemetery.  Mr. DeForest gave his compliments to the association and what they are trying to accomplish. 

Citizen Comments closed at 7:20 p.m.

1I.        APPROVAL OF JULY 16, 2007 BOARD MINUTES

A motion made by Bob Sears to approve the amended July 16, 2007 minutes, seconded by Nick Ohlman.  

5 ayes, 1 abstention, motion passed

III.             OLD BUSINESS

A    SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

1.        Meramec River Recreation Association

John Burns did not attend the Park Board meeting therefore the scheduled report was canceled.

2.        Implementation Committee

For Phase 1, staff and consultants will conduct a punchlist  review on August 27..

The south water tower lot is finished and both water tower lots will be ready for use by the 31^st of August.

Dan Graham, representative for the Gaylord Foundation went over the conceptual plan included in the packet. The Foundation is very pleased with the plan. The Foundation wants to keep within the budget and have some extra money left over for upkeep.  Dan gave some suggestions on how to cut some costs.  Dan reported the Foundation thought the plaque was adequate. The Foundation members said they would like roses that will bloom all summer.  Dan said the subcommittee should go back to the design people and come with a final plan before the Board and Foundation have their meeting.

The next implementation Committee meeting is scheduled for next week.

3.  Dog Park Committee

A copy of a letter, map, and the motion approved at the July 16^th Park Board Meeting written to the Mayor and Council from Gerry Biedenstein was given out to all board members in attendance. The letter was written in support of recent actions taken by the Kirkwood Park Board to request designation of land currently owned by the City of Kirkwood as park land.

Nick Ohlman said the ordinances would have to be reviewed regarding leash laws.

Gerry Biedenstein said there would be a number of things to work out eventually

and any changes that would have to be made to city ordinances would be discussed with the city attorney. Nick asked about a time window. Gerry said we would have a one year window from the time the land is given to the park for any changes and the Park Board could extend the time limit if needed. 

4.  Trail Committee

The focus is on connecting the piece between Kirkwood Park and Grants Trail.  There were several interesting ideas and some improvements discussed.  The next meeting will be on August 27, 2007. 

B.  YOUTH IN ACTION MONUMENT PROPOSAL

The Park Board packet included information and endorsements from Keith Rawlings on this project which he presented in response to board questions raised at the last meeting.  The booklet included illustrations, photos, and documentation of suggested areas for the memorial stone for Quinette Cemetery. Keith went over an example of the exact proposed size of the monument and explained where the names would be put on the stone. Keith discussed the locations that have been selected and said to be 100% sure the proposed locations are the most free of visual and actual grave-site evidence they would test the entire cemetery for DNA since no records were kept and there is no mapping of graves. 

The Preserving the Past for the Future Cemetery Association would like to have stone approved at this meeting since it will take two and a half months to sandblast and transport the stone from the quarry to the cemetery.

Bob O’Neill is working on names, ranks of the soldiers buried at Quinette.

There was a discussion on the information presented by Mr. Rawlings. The names on the monument, option to add more names, and the actual size of the monument were discussed.

The Board agreed the plans need to be very specific, and discussed with the Landmark Commission. It was suggested that a subcommittee be formed as soon as possible.

Bob Sears, Nick Ohlman, Rich Ezkorn, Jerry Grunzinger said they would be willing to serve on a subcommittee, Anyone else who is  interested in serving on the subcommittee should contact Murray Pounds.

Vincent DeForest, agreed there should be more planning but noted since the relatives of the people buried in the cemetery are getting older and want the monument soon maybe the monument could be a temporary stone. Mr. DeForest  said he would be willing to help out in anyway needed.. 

A motion was made by Jerry Grunzinger to:

1. Get an actual drawing of the Veteran Service Memorial Stone

2 .Testing of Site B be completed as recommended.

3. Establish a Park Board Subcommittee and work with the American Legion, Landmarks  Commission in order to obtain needed specific further details.

Bob Sears seconded the motion.  All approved.  Motion passed.

Gerry Biedenstein said to make sure everyone knows no one has been given any approval for digging at Quinette Cemetery with the exception of site B. Everything at Quinette, stakes, strings need to be removed before anything is done. Murray Pounds has to approve any work that is going to done or any work being planned for Quinette Cemetery.

IV.  NEW BUSINESS

A.   MERAMEC RIVERBANK STABILIZATION ENGINEERING  CONTRACT

A motion made by Nick Ohlman to approve the proposal from Horner & Shifrin to design solutions for the Meramec Riverbank Stabilization Engineering Project not to exceed $13,000.00, seconded by Rich Etzkorn.  All approved.  Motion passed

B.  2007 OPERATION CLEANSTREAM

August 25, 2007 will be the 40^th Operation Clean Stream.  Volunteers will clean stretches of the Meramec of debris and litter and some public areas. Linda Fenton reported there will be five scout troops volunteering and eighteen National Guardsmen.  This event will have good media coverage.  A naturalist is scheduled to give a presentation to the Scout Troops at 7:30 or 8:00 a.m.

MSD will also have a representative to discuss pollution issues.

A copy of the draft capital plan for the Parks and Recreation Sales Tax Fund was included in the Park Board packet.  Murray discussed the budget, adjustments, fees, repairs, and replacements. Linda Fenton said she would like to see the Walker Lake rehabilitation move forward from 09/10 to 08/09. Murray will look to see if resources would be available for moving Walker Lake forward to 08/09 budget.

D.  EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION ADJUSTMENT

Murray went over the net cost of the increases that would be charged to the Park Fund which includes salary increases, payroll taxes and pension benefits.  His recommendation was that the full amount be appropriated, so comparisons in developing next year’s budget would be apparent. 

Rich Etzkorn said he wanted more information and wanted to see how an increase related to the rest of the City.  There was no vote taken at the August 20^th Park Board meeting.

A meeting will be set up for board members to go over the Employee Compensation Package.

E.  MAINTENANCE REPORT

Curt Carron reported on the following maintenance

Crews installed 6 benches along the river trail at Greentree Park.  The benches are spread out evenly over the 4500 feet of trail running the length of GTP.  Each bench was poured with a companion pad along side.

Wooden benches throughout the park system have been receiving a facelift.  Some 30 benches are being sanded or replacement lumber, and stained.

The crew removed 2 large oak trees which have become the latest victims of Oak Wilt working on the east end of Kirkwood park.  An estimated six trees have been lost over the past 5 years in this area.  Plans have been made to work with the Urban Forester at PVCNC this winter to try some techniques for breaking the chain caused by root integration and transmission of the fungus.

Construction on the parking lots has required the rental of a light tower to provide area lighting on the 2 parking lots.  The tower is activated nightly by the rangers and shutdown when fields and permits end for the evening.

An Eagle project was finished within the project boundaries of the Wetland/Prairie grass project in GTP.  Eagle candidate Drew Blosser successfully built three purple martin houses and with Curt’s help, installed the houses in the site last Saturday.  The houses will attract the birds which already frequent this valley in search of insect delights.

Jim Wilkerson has returned to full active duty without the need for back surgery.

Interviewing came to a close for hiring a full time maintenance worker with the offer to Daniel Lindquist.  Daniel has checked out well and brings some 22 years of landscaping and grounds experience overall to the department.

The severe heat and drought has taken its toll on trees, shrubs, and turf.  The only thing that has been fairing well is the bedding plants for the most part.  Watering has taken an enormous amount of time over the past month.

America in Bloom totals for materials/labor at 10 sites came to 178 man-hours at a cost of $2,753 with $800 in plant material infused for the event.  Curt would be willing to participate again in future applications now that a better feel for the weighting of parks in the overall scheme is known.

The asbestos inspection of 571 W. Monroe has been completed.  The inspection did not reveal anything but nominal levels of materials which we have come to expect in buildings built in the 50s/60s.  The abatement report will be part of the bid package and allow the contractor to bid the entire project, including abatement efforts.

The pavilion roofing bid came in at $2,985 overall, with a time/material figure of $6.50/SF for lumber replacement.  The lumber replacement will be nominal and should not dramatically increase the cost of the roof replacement.  Because of the cost involved, this bid can be awarded by the director without any action required by the Board.

D. OTHER MATTERS

V.        DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Murray reported the Parks and Recreation is very busy with the Greentree Festival. Everything is coming together.

Murray discussed the American in Bloom awards program that will be held Rockford, Illinois and distributed literature on the program.

Murray reported the current concession operator, Nour Incorporated may not renew with us.  The contract is up in October of 2007.

The dedication for the Scout Shelter will be scheduled for late September.

Murray said he would be doing Performance Measure Training tomorrow, August 21, 2007, at the fire department. 

Murray is working on an e-mail list for meeting notifications.

Meramec Community College has contacted Murray with a proposal for a jointly operated fitness center.  A possible location would be the site of the current tennis courts on the campus.

A review of conditions at Walker Lake was held with a representative of Nature’s Re-Creations, an expert on lake and pond development.

 VI.    ADJOURNMENT

A motion was made by Bob Sears to adjourn the meeting at 9:50 p.m, seconded by Nick Ohlman.

All approved.  Motion passed.