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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO PARK COMMISSION <br /> Monday, June 1, 2020 <br />6:00 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />Page 3 of 9 <br /> <br />Roath asked if Edwards could bring to the City Council the Tree Lighting, which is kind of on hold but <br />the Park Commission would get back to it in a couple of months. The Lurton Park Dog Days, Big Island <br />Groundbreaking, Bederwood Sport Field Grand Opening, and Brewfest events are postponed/canceled. <br />Carter said Stephens, Ruegemer, and he met and discussed “Milestones” and “Goals” and added the items <br />that are in green on the displayed document. They decided to not do community outreach until it is <br />necessary, but they are ready to do so. The next milestone is to review the capital budget when it is ready, <br />probably in September. There may be some community input for the Lakeview Legacy Park later in the <br />summer. There was a lot of transition on the Trail Committee and they have not gotten together for a long <br />time, so they are now just caught up. He asked if Davis could be replaced with Stephens. <br />Roath agreed to do so and then asked what the community outreach looks like. <br />Carter said they did not talk about that yet. He noted it probably looks a lot different now than it would <br />have six months ago or will two years from now. They did not get into it; the next time will be a test case <br />and they will figure it out. He said people both at the City and his firm are doing things remotely and it is <br />working fairly well and they will figure out a way to do that. He said in some ways they may do a better <br />job remotely, as strange as that seems. <br />Carter asked Edwards if he made any changes to the Big Island information and whether he wanted to do <br />his update now or later. <br />Edwards reported that he did not change the goals but that the Big Island project was awarded about a <br />month ago so there is a contractor. The award was not at the full project size; it had to be limited due to <br />funding. The project will consist of the trail, the conversion of the trail network that was identified to an <br />Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standard. It includes the provision of a bathroom/latrine facility <br />near the Visitor Center and some of the signage and security measures that were part of the plan. The <br />shelter and picnic tables that were templated at the overlook did not make the cut financially. He is told <br />the contractor will do the pre-construction conference in the next couple of weeks, and he will hopefully <br />have a better view of the construction dates. When they last spoke, they were looking at the end of <br />June/mid-July to begin. <br />Carter stated, on behalf of the Big Island Legacy perspective, he had two main points. They fell short of <br />fundraising efforts by approximately $50,000; the City stepped up and added about $25,000-30,000 so <br />Legacy was able to take advantage of most of the match. They fell short of getting the full $200,000 <br />match by about $28,000 but that could still happen. It has to be spent by next spring. There are a couple of <br />potential options; they have submitted grant applications in that amount to a couple of locations. If there <br />were an additional $50,000-75,000, some of the alternates could be picked up that did not get included, <br />like the shelter at the top of the hill and/or some of the heavy-duty picnic tables. Even though in the next <br />period of time fundraising will be much more difficult, there is a possibility this project could be included <br />in the bonding bill. There was significant discussion and assurance from some folks involved in <br />contributing from the legislative side that they could potentially see a $300,000 bonding request in the <br />bonding bill. If that were to happen, he would propose a modest second phase that would finish up some <br />things that did not get done, maybe a little bit of additional trail work, and some nice touches like signage <br />and additional barriers. If the bonding bill does not come about, it would be close to complete and still be <br />a fabulous project based on the work that will get done this summer. <br />Roath asked for clarification about the bonding bill date.