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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, April 27, 2009 7:00 o’clock p.m. ______________________________________________________________________________ PAGE 13 (12. DISCUSSION REGARDING BIG ISLAND REGULATIONS, Continued) vandalism. Jabbour expressed concern that providing that type of bathroom facility could potentially generate some unintended consequences, such as bad publicity for the City. Mattick stated it is not his intention to change anything that the committee has recommended but merely to get some clarification from the Council on what they envision both long-term and short-term for Big Island. Mattick indicated he is aware of the substantial amount of vandalism, especially as it relates to the bathroom facilities, and that there is an issue from the City’s standpoint that when there are a large number of people visiting the island at a single time, there may be the necessity to have five gallon buckets with sawdust if other options are not feasible given the vandalism problem. Murphy stated his comments are coming from his role with the Minnehaha and not as a council member. Murphy noted he and Jabbour serve on the Lake Minnetonka Museum Board. In the beginning of this project, there was the issue of how the public would have access to the island, which evolved into having the Minnehaha make runs out to the island. Due to the other issues that arose along the way, a plan has been compiled to assemble natural environmental tours across the island. During the planning process for the tours and setting of the Minnehaha schedule, it was felt that people could be dropped off at Big Island at approximately 10:15 a.m. on a Saturday morning, the boat would then continue on to Wayzata, and then the boat would return and pick people up from Big Island at approximately 2:15 p.m. Murphy indicated he is not aware of another way to set up the boat schedule. Murphy stated that schedule resulted in the issue of people arriving back to the dock in time for the boat and also for the need of some type of restroom facilities to be available to the public since the people visiting the island would be there for three or four hours. One option discussed was that it could be made very clear that any visitors to the island off of the Minnehaha would need to use the bathroom prior to going on the island or wait until they reboard the boat. Murphy noted the committee spent a considerable amount of time at their last meeting discussing this issue and other potential issues. Murphy stated the restroom issue is still unresolved as well as liability issues the City could potentially face with allowing visitors on the island. White stated the problem is basically with the people aboard the Minnehaha and that in his view the people will simply need to be informed of the situation. Franchot commented that he has repeatedly heard the concern raised regarding the lack of adult supervision with these various groups. Franchot asked if they were still going with the tour guide. Murphy noted that Gabriel Jabbour has withdrawn his offer of serving as a tour guide but that he has had other discussions with other people about performing that duty. Murphy noted they are on a time deadline to get these issues resolved since the materials have already been published. Franchot stated based on his attendance at two of the committee meetings, it was his understanding the majority of the issues had been addressed and that it was his understanding a decision had been made to have a boat with a bathroom available for the groups and to have a person on the island during heavy usage times to provide supervision. Franchot stated based on Item #02 - CC Agenda - 05/11/09 Council Minutes 04/27/09 [Page 13 of 18]