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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-11-02 Parks Board Minutes RIVERSIDE PARKS BOARD MEETING MINUTES November 2, 2016 6:00 p.m. The Riverside Parks Board held their regularly scheduled meeting at Riverside City Hall, 2950 NW Vivion Road, Riverside Missouri 64150. Those in attendance were: Mayor Kathy Rose, City Administrator Greg Mills, Alderman Chet Pruitt, Public Works Director Tom Wooddell, Assistant Public Works Director Norman Buescher, Lori Boji, Jerry Pietsch, Elaine Warren, Terri Dwyer and Stacey Rasco (recorder). LaNette Ingram was absent. Call to Order The Parks Board Meeting was called to order at 6:07PM by Tom Wooddell. Approval of Minutes There were no minutes for approval. Selfie Stations Stations need to be identified. Maybe at the clock tower, KC skyline, etc. If we can find locations, Public Works will have some signage made. Special Events Policy This was passed at the last Park Board meeting and will now be forwarded on to the Board of Alderman for approval. Park Usage Mayor Rose noted that E. H. Young Park is not being utilized efficiently. We have a huge investment in this park. It opened in 1998. Things over time have evolved and the park needs to be a more vibrant/active place. It’s time that the Park Board led the charge to conduct a new master plan for the park. There may not be an amphitheater and think about a whole lot of things when it comes to the park. Once we closed the railroad entrance, we failed to pick up traffic to the park. Our community has so much competition and so many things are going on in the area around us. What do people want this park to be? The investment we have down there and the investment that we keep putting into it, we need to revisit this in detail what we want this park to be. Possibly a park survey of the community would be beneficial. Mr. Mills noted that we are trying to drive tourism to the park and then that drives retail elsewhere in the city. There is so much opportunity in the area that we need to research what will make this an attraction and destination location. Once people are coming then we can look at a McDonalds, a QT, etc. Mayor Rose noted that just maintaining it does not bring people. We are asking the same of the Tourism Commission, to look at their money as well and what they are spending it towards. Ms. Warren noted that Meredith Hauck at one time had the KC Art Institute working with Tourism. Mayor Rose reported that people’s wants and needs are different now than they were years ago. The thought is that if Parks Board was interested that they could apply to the Tourism Commission and do a master plan park study. We have money in the Tourism Commission that would work for doing this study. Mayor Rose stated that the Tourism Commission is on track and understands what can be and needs to be done. They will be fairly selective on their applications this December as they have re-worked their process of fund allocation. Riverfest – have done for 40 years and it was always free. Was a 3 day event and is now a one day event and this year cost to get in. It runs around $80,000 to conduct. We ought to think about doing something downtown and closing streets and doing a family event. The question is, is this what the community really even wants. Do they want more sporting events, or what? We need a result. Mayor Rose noted that the Riverside Chamber organized RiverFest this year. This next year they are going to work with the Tourism Commission to help with th RiverFest. Fireworks show needs to be on the 4 of July and our own Riverside event. Ms. Dwyer and Ms. Warren have offered to complete the application for the Tourism Commission and collect the data from Lori Boji for what has been happening and being scheduled in the park. Miscellaneous Mr. Wooddell noted that park equipment at Homestead is beginning to deteriorate and is hand-me-down equipment. It will need to be upgraded in the next few years. Some of the equipment from E. H. Young could be used there. The city also needs to be thinking of looking at a new Christmas tree for the clock tower with LED lights. Next Meeting The next meeting will be January 4, 2017 at 6:00p.m. Adjournment The Parks Board adjourned at 7:17p.m. by unanimous consent.