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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING <br />Monday, March 7, 2016 <br />6:30 o'clock p.m. <br />ROLL CALL <br />The Orono Park Commission met on the above-mentioned date with the following members present: <br />Acting Chair Bryce Johnson, Commissioners Brenda Johnson, Paul Pesek and Julie Ruegemer. <br />Representing Staff were Public Works Director/City Engineer Adam Edwards, Planning Director Michael <br />Gaffron, and Recorder Jackie Young. Council Member Lizz Levang was present. <br />Acting Chair Bryce Johnson called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Pledge of <br />Allegiance. <br />APPROVAL OF MINUTES <br />1. Minutes of the January 4, 2016, Park Commission Meeting <br />It was requested the minutes on Page 1 be corrected to read Antoine Park rather than Hackberry Park <br />under Item No. 3. <br />Pesek moved, Brenda Johnson seconded, to approve the minutes of the January 4, 2016, Park <br />Commission meeting as submitted. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. <br />PUBLIC COMMENT <br />None <br />CHAIRMAN'S REPORT <br />2. CO-OPERATION WITH HENNEPIN COUNTY FOR GREENCORPS GRANT <br />Edwards reported the City was approached by Hennepin County regarding a GreenCorps grant that is <br />available. GreenCorps is a program that is funded by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. <br />GreenCorps will provide interns on 11 -month stints to work on specific projects. The grant would <br />basically pay for the salary of the intern and Hennepin County would provide office space, vehicle, <br />mentorship, and administrative assistance. Edwards noted Hennepin County has applied in the past for <br />this grant but have not been successful. Hennepin County was shown that they should demonstrate that <br />they are partnering with a municipality within their jurisdiction. As a result, Hennepin County has <br />reached out to Orono to see if the City would be interested in partnering on this grant. <br />Edwards stated if this endeavor is approved by the Park Commission, he would take it before the City <br />Council next Monday to get their support on the grant. Edwards indicated he has reached an agreement <br />with Hennepin County that the City would pursue an intern urban forester, with the main function of the <br />intern being to conduct tree inventories along the city and county right-of-ways within Orono. Edwards <br />stated the secondary benefit of the intern would be to categorize some of the City parks, which would <br />allow the City to do some planning on how to handle invasive species. <br />Pesek asked what a tree inventory is. <br />Edwards indicated the intern would identify the species of tree and the location and that it is his <br />understanding they would only count trees over a certain diameter. <br />Page 1 of 8 <br />