03-10-2003 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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^<1 : MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Mooday, February 24,2003 7:00 o’clock p.m. PARK COMMISSION COMMENTS, Continued the Bedenvood play equipment. He felt it was good that the Commission had informed the Council of the treated wood, suggesting its removal. He felt the Commission had acted properly, and supported the suggestion that this matter receives critical attention and the play equipment is ripped out if there is a danger. If there is money to replace it, then the City will do so, if not it may have to watt. McDermott pointed out that, while the EPA has banned the use of treated wood in construction, they have not gone so far as to mandate it be ripped out of existing structures. Gappa suggested the City have the equipment at Bederwood tested for levels. Sansevere reiterated the need for the City Council and Park Commission to be working from the same page. He reminded the Park Commission that they are an advisory board to the Council, recognizing it may have been the Council’s fault, that they ’ve allowed the Commission to become its Qvmfiefdom. At times, the Commission has been telling Council what to spend money on, and if there is a disagreement and Council does not support their recommendation we are bad people who don’t support our kids. Sansevere stated that, in reality, that is simply not the case, it’s generally a matter of the money just not being there. He went on to question the roles within the Commission and encouraged them to rotate Chairs and Co-Chairs. McDermott stated that on several occasions he has asked for volunteers to act as Co-Chairs or the Chair itself to no avail. He indicated that no one has expressed any interest in carrying the additional workload, which has not bothered him to a great degree. Murphy asked what the workload of the Park Commission Chair encompassed. N!cDermott indicated that the workload is made up of creating the agendas, acting as liaison to City staff, and usually attending additional meetings. White felt this would be a good time to share with Chair McDermott that it is unlikely the skating rink in Navarre would come to fruition at this time. He stated that the soil tests seem to be showing that the satellite station would need to be moved further back on the projjerty. McDermott maintained that the Commission had always been in support of the skating facility in front near County Road 15 and questioned what impact moving the station back would have on tins placement. He had difflculty believing that soil could not support merely skating. Murphy believed it was a bit early to get into whether the parcel would support a skating rink or not, since he had only seen the preliminary report from the drillers he could not make any recommendations one way or another, especially in light of the fact that mitigation and construction of a roadway w ould still be necessary. Nygard believed that there were numerous things the City could do to provide entertainment for the kids if they don’t decide to follow thru on skating. He pointed out that, currently, the City of Orono does little to protide activities for our youth and suggested consideration be given to a BMX PAGE 2 of U i