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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/05/2024 - Meeting Materials (2) PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY Formal Meeting Thursday,December 5,2024 5:00 p.m.-7:15 p.m. Join Via Zoom:https:,L/us02wcb.zoom.us./j/83218828707?pwd=lmgrUacayQpakgalawKzOcJaOYiS14.1 Or Join at the Public Lands Administrative Building:1965 W.500 S.Salt Lake City,UT 84104 Upstairs Parks Training Room Join by phone Phone:+1 669 444 9171 Webinar ID: 8321882 8707 Access code:274738 UNAPPROVED MINUTES 1. Convening the Meeting 5:00 PM A. Call to order - Clayton Scrivner - Aaron Wiley - Samantha Finch - Dave John - Talula Pontuti - Meredith Benally - Steve Bloch - Melanie Pehrson - Kerri Nakamura - Ginger Cannon B. Chair Comments 5 mins Mr. Scrivner said he thought this was his last meeting, and he will share his final chair comments at the retreat in January. He did congratulate Ms. Riker on her last meeting and wished her well on her future endeavors. 2. Approval of Minutes 5:05 PM - Approve November 7, 2024 meeting minutes 5 mins Ms. Finch motioned to approve the November meeting minutes. Mr. Wiley seconded the motion. The Board unanimously voted to approve the November meeting minutes. 3. Mayor's Office 5:10 PM - Discussion with Jill Love 10 mins Mr. Scrivner introduced Jill Love, Chief Administrative Officer of Salt Lake City, as a guest speaker to discuss next steps with the Department. Ms. Love thanked the Board members for their service on the Board. She shared that Public Lands is one of the most important and complicated departments in the City and the work they are doing is critical to the transformation of the City. Ms. Love thanked Ms. Riker for her leadership on behalf of the Mayor. She shared that Ms. Riker's position is currently posted and a job description was shared in the packet for the Board to review.The intent is to keep the position posted through the holidays, start reviewing resumes January 511, and the hope is to have a new director by the end of January. Ms. Love said they asked Mr. Scrivner to help in that process and they could use help from another Board member to help screen resumes. She opened it up to the Board to decide who can help with that. Mr. PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY Scrivner asked if they would be sharing who the official acting director will be in the interim. Ms. Love said yes, and she wanted to further explain how complicated the department is and they are looking for someone with a strong public administrator, almost more important than Public Lands experience. She added they really want to embrace public-private partnerships in a way Salt Lake City hasn't done before. The Board and staff continued to discuss the director position. Ms. Love said that Mr. Murdock to be the acting director starting January 1 st 4. Public Comment 5:20 PM - Verbal comments are limited to no more than 3 minutes; 15 minutes total. Written comments are welcome. No public comment. 4. Director's Report 5:35 PM - Summary of current high-priority department items. - Kristin Riker/Tyler Fonarow 5 mins Ms. Riker introduced Mr. Fonarow as the new Trails and Natural Lands Division Director. She thanked Mr. Bloch for participating on the interview panel. Ms. Riker shared some of Mr. Fonarow's experience and expressed how excited she is to have Mr. Fonarow in this position. Ms. Riker shared that staff has hired Green Acres as a landscaping contractor to help with the planting of the North Temple trees.They will begin deploying planter boxes with irrigation, soil, and trees along North Temple starting December 911.This project will take a couple weeks to have everything installed. SLCPD will provide security to avoid any issues for them.The Parks team has already reached out to SLCPD,the Pioneer precinct,the Department of Natural Resources, Utah Highway Patrol about this planting and helping to mitigate vandalism. Parks Districts 1 &5 will survey the area daily Monday through Friday to report any vandalism or any further issues. Ms. Riker expressed her gratitude to the Board for all their support for all the Public Lands teams. She appreciates how much the Board has evolved and accomplished during her nine years with the City and how much more of an effective and high-functioning Board. She thanked them for their offerings, recommendations, and guidance to the Public Lands team, Mayor's office, and City Council on matters pertaining to plans. Ms. Riker continued to thank the Board for their service and support. She thanked Ms. Finch and Ms. Hewson for their support during some difficult times.They were there for Ms. Riker when things got rough.They stood up for Ms. Riker to Council and the Mayor. Ms. Riker continued to thank the Board for their unwavering support. Mr. Fonarow shared that Mr. Scrivner received a newsletter from Save Our Foothills and asked for further information regarding the Rocky Mountain Power Project. Mr. Fonarow said the messaging and goals are still the same, and he thinks the reality is the emotional response to such a dramatic impact on the Foothills. Staff has been attending the Greater Avenues Community Council, tabling at the trailheads and had received a lot of acknowledgment.Then seeing these 20-foot-wide swaths in the Foothills, it's shocking. He shared staff has been with working with Public Utilities as an advisor to their property and ensuring that as co-managers of that land is to make clear expectations of what restoration will look like. Staff has been asking Rocky Mountain Power and their subcontractor engineering firm to supply an overlay of actual access roadmap.As you get into the field and because of safety, engineering, and soil, these things sometime skew a little bit. Staff wants to make sure they have an overlay of the actual roads and other land impacts that have occurred from the project. Staff is also asking for a PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY specification sheet and labeled map of which access roads will need to be kept at gray for emergency repair access.The Board and staff continued to discuss the Rocky Mountain Power Project. Mr. Scrivner shared some people reached out to him inquiring for information on this project and he shared he understands the as far as utilities, the City utilities have different rights to the land.This is why he requested this update to share more information back with constituents inquiring. Mr. Fonarow said the power poles were put into the Foothills in the 1950s and Salt Lake City has changed so much environmentally and culturally. Mr. Fonarow shared that Public Utilities shared at a Greater Avenues Community Council meeting that this project is a multi- generational project that they won't have to do again for another 70 years.The Board and staff continued to discuss the Rocky Mountain Power Project. 5. Board Action Items 5:40 PM A. Review donations. 5 mins Mr. Scrivner asked if the Board is supposed to take action of these donations tonight. Ms. Larsen said the point of this discussion is for the Board determine how they want to handle donations staff brings to them and whether they support some potentially controversial donation requests. Ms. Larsen said one of the groups is interested in presenting the Board, so she directed them to the Board's stakeholder presentation request form. Mr. Scrivner said he remembered the Board being in support of most of them with some concerns regarding the bench in the Foothills. He asked if there were any updates. Ms. Larsen shared that Mr. Murdock has been in communication with that donor and the donor is interested in presenting in either January or February. Ms. Laren shared her screen to display the Curtis Park donation, International Peace Garden bench donation, and a Memorial for the International Peace Garden. Ms. Larsen recalled the Board being concerned about a funding source for maintenance, which the donor addressed in their memo.The Department would most likely need to create an official agreement with the donor before accepting the donations. Mr. Scrivner asked what action needs to be taken or if the Board should hold off until agreements are in place. Ms. Riker said what the Department is asking of the Board is to vote on your support or not support of these projects. Staff is bringing these donations to the Board because they're large, comprehensive, and wanting to get community perspective -what they think is right for our community with these particular donations. Ms. Finch said she was under the impression they would take action on some of the donations and hold off on the Price bench donation until they got more information. The Board and staff continued to discuss donations. Mr. Bloch asked about the Rwandan donation. Ms. Riker said there is space for this donation to happen in the Peace Gardens and part of the reason staff is bringing this donation the Board is because while they have the African garden, it represents a continent and there's not enough space for all the countries in Africa. Ms. Riker said the Department is working on a Cultural Landscape Report and a plan for the Peace Gardens. The question is should staff move forward with Rwanda and allow a space in the Africa Garden. Ms. Cannon said she's not comfortable moving forward with any of the donations until they get further information. Ms. Nakamura referenced Ms. Cannon's question last month regarding a Master Plan and Ms. Nakamura thinks that's really important for the Peace Gardens because of the limited space -they can't accommodate everyone who wants to make a donation. She suggested putting a pause on the donations until there's more of a plan and creating an acceptance-criteria. Ms. Pehrson shared she's concerned about the time that would take to put in a plan like that when some of these donations are really important to these donors.The Board and staff continued to discuss donations. PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY Ms. Finch asked if these donations fit with the general principles of policy or guidelines the Department has. Ms. Riker said staff can share their not yet approved policy on donations. Staff has submitted it to the Mayor's Office for review and are still waiting to hear back, as their feedback will guide staff with some of these questions. Ms. Nakamura asked if these four donations could be conflicts with the drafted donation policy. Ms. Larsen shared that a big part of how this donation policy was created was through the City's policy and acceptance-criteria. With donations such as the four presented to the Board, staff asked the donors to send a memo outlining how and why it meets this criteria -these memos were shared with the Board last month. Ms. Larsen highlighted the unique spaces the Department has and they are looking at how to best honor and highlight these spaces. Mr. Scrivner asked for a timeline. Ms. Riker said they are just waiting for feedback from the Mayor's Office. Ms. Cannon said she would love to see a copy of the draft as part of the Board's powers and duties is to review these types of policies. Ms. Cannon motioned to table this action item based on what is perceived as the short-term potential for that policy to be moved forward. Mr. Wiley seconded the motion. Ms. McCain added regarding Memory Grove and the Peace Gardens, the draft donation policy doesn't address those areas. Staff initially tried incorporating something for those spaces into the policy and they kept hitting roadblocks for the same reasons the Board is mentioning. Staffs resolution to that would be to have the PNUT Board to utilize if a donation request didn't clearly fit within the policy and staff could have an outside perspective. The draft donation policy is currently being reviewed by the attorney's and Mayor's office and the next step would be to come to the PNUT Board for feedback.The Board unanimously voted to table the donation action item until further information is received. Mr. Bloch asked if staff would communicate to the donors the updates the Board has been discussing regarding donations. Ms. Larsen said they will let them know what's going on. Mr. Scrivner asked what staff needs more from the Board regarding donations. Ms. McCain said one part of it is that staff has already determined that any donation we bring to the Board meets a certain set of criteria that we would generally accept. When it comes to cultural additions that are more than just benches, that's where staff could user further help to ensure they're accepting donations that food good to the broader community, and the Board can be that channel. Staff wouldn't bring a donation to the Board that staff doesn't feel comfortable on. The Board and staff continued to discuss donations. Ms. Cannon asked if they made a motion on this action and if they're moving to the next agenda item. Mr. Scrivner said they did vote to table this action and the Board had additional discussion post the vote. Ms. Riker said the Board could bring up the action item again revote on certain donations. Mr. Bloch made a motion to reconsider and revote on the Curtis Park donation. Mr. Wiley seconded the motion.The Board unanimously voted to reconsider and revote on the Curtis Park donation. Ms. Cannon did not vote. She asked for further clarification what exactly is being discussed regarding donations as they made a motion to table this action item and the Board voted. Mr. Scrivner said yes, and they reconsidered the vote for the Curtis Park donation based on further discussion. Ms. Cannon asked what the motion to reconsider is as the Board already agreed they weren't considering taking action. Ms. Finch clarified Roberts Rules for voting and motions. Ms. Finch said the Board is going to revisit their vote on tabling donations and move forward with an action for the Curtis Park donation. Ms. Cannon asked what the new motion for action is. Mr. Bloch said the motion is to reconsider and support the Curtis Park donation and review the Peace Gardens and Price bench donation at a later time. Mr.Wiley seconded the motion.The Board unanimously voted to reconsider and support the Curtis Park donation and review the Peace Gardens and Price bench donation at a later time. Ms. Cannon abstained from voting. PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY 6. Staff Presentations, Updates& Discussions 5:45 PM A. Communications & Engagement Update - Mia McCain 20 mins Ms. McCan introduced herself as the Communications & Engagement. She's been with the Department for about 1.5 years and worked previously with Public Lands four years ago. Ms. McCain shared her screen to display the Communications & Engagement Program presentation. She went onto explain the team structure and how they do so much more than just communication and engagement.The team encompasses Community Events;Volunteer Events; Public Engagement,which primarily supports project engagement for planning and design; Communication/Public Relations; and Signage Design & Production. She continued on to highlight some of the achievements of each program: Community Events Ms. McCain said that Ms. Lynze Twede manages all Community Events.This year, the team organized 16 distinct event types across 16 different locations throughout the City.The Events Team is really working on activating a spectrum of areas throughout the City. There were a total of 49 activation days, and some of the events are repeat, such as Ballpark Bites. There were about 37,500 attendees at their events.They were also able to support over 200 local businesses as vendors at these events. Volunteer Events This year, staff conducted over 60 events and engaged thousands of volunteers to enhance public green spaces. Some of the major projects this year were: Earth Day, RAC Tree Planting, invasive weed management, and native habitat restoration with over 32,000 seedlings planted. The native habitat restoration was in partnership with the Trails & Natural Lands team.The team also started ongoing volunteer event series for the public to rely on volunteer events happening at certain locations and times of the week, such as the Jordan River Trail and Foothills Stewardship.The team also focused on collaborative partnerships with groups like Tree Utah, Friends of Allen Park, and Fish for Garbage to amplify the volunteer impact. Public Engagement This team focuses on engaging citizens in helping direct the outcomes of various projects around the GO Bond and CIP. Staff works a lot of the Planning Team. There were 18 different projects staff focused on this year for engagement. Staff varies their engagement approach and attend community events, hosting workshops, and online engagement.This year, staff attended over 100 community events and through these engagement platforms,they reached more than 3,400 constituents through in-person connections and about 6,500 online survey engagements. Once staff receives the community feedback, staff develops engagement reports for the Planning team to utilize to make decisions about their projects. Communications& Public Relations One of the biggest accomplishments for the team this year has been their social media presence. Since March 2024, staff has gained nearly 2,000 new followers on Instagram and 1,000 new followers on Facebook. This is a substantial growth for a municipal social media channel. In the last two months, they've had over 500 new followers. Ms. McCain highlighted the social media feed and consistent branding the Department has developed. Ms. Nakamura asked what their total following is. Ms. Larsen said we're at 7,852 followers. Ms. McCain said she thinks Public Lands has the third highest following in the City after the Mayor and SLCGov. Mr. Scrivner shared when he was working for the City, he had the privilege of starting the SLCGov handle and it was a challenge to get up and running. He said it's great to see this change. Ms. McCain highlighted the PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY improvements they've been able to make on the website within the capability staff has given what resources the City provides. Staff has focused heavily on making their pages more user- friendly and avoiding lengthy paragraphs.The team also works on coordinating some high- profile media inquiries and developing strategic communication approaches. This team has worked with the directors to mitigate some of the media impact and be transparent and honest about what the Department is doing and communicating that messaging with the front desk staff to ensure everyone is getting the same messaging. Signage Production Ms. McCain shared the team's signage production is one person and she is part-time. Staff has relatively limited capacity in that realm, and this staff member designs and orders the signs and the maintenance crews install. In the last year, staff has streamlined how sign requests are made, which has improved her job and staff can view the status of their sign requests. Staff has also developed a process to inventory all the signage into staffs cartegraph system. Currently, most signs are not represented in cartegraph and staff plans to get those signs into cartegraph and develop a plan for better sign development and replacement during 2025. Staff has also worked with the Planning team to update signage standards. One of these projects was updating signage to be bilingual.They are working on revamping signage for 10 parks. Ms. McCain shared further the types of signs staff does and spoke to the updated Foothills trail wayfinding signage, KIOSK sign, and Be W.I.L.D. stations. Mr. Wiley asked what platform staff uses the manage social media platforms. Ms. McCain said Sprout and that it's an enterprise tool provided by the City so the Department doesn't have other options.There are additional programs that ensure content is archived appropriately as it's subject to GRAMMA. Mr. Wiley suggested a Public Lands mascot. Ms. McCain said they'd probably get a hard no from the Mayor's office. Ms. Nakamura asked if there's a branding guide from when to use the old versus new logo. Ms. McCain said there's a citywide style guide.The guidelines suggest the City seal for formal communications.They are slowly transitioning to the sego lily. Ms. Cannon said ever since Ms. McCain has been brought on, she's noticed a difference in all the communications and things shared with the Board. She thanked Ms. McCain for her work and how she appreciates how formalized, standardized, and organized things are and how they look for the public. Ms. McCain thanked her and spoke to how much her team is doing to make it all happen. B. CIP discussion. -Tom Millar& PNUT Board 60 mins Mr. Millar said tonight's CIP discussion is to hear all the Board's comments on what they thought about each application idea, how they ranked, and how that might help staff as they're finalizing the applications.Additionally, to get an update on the letters of support. Ms. Larsen shared her screen to display the draft letter. Ms. Pontuti said she finished incorporating everyone's rankings. The Board reviewed the draft letter. Ms. Pontuti said there was quite a few with universal support. Ms. Larsen shared her screen to display the constituent application rankings. Ms. Pontuti said she'll clean up everyone's summaries for why they ranked the way they did. She reminded the Board the ranking system first goes by count and the average rank. The Board and staff continued to discuss how the ranking system works. Top 5 Constituent Applications 1. Playground Shade 2. Rose Park Lane Beautification,Trail, and Safety Improvements 3. Riverside Basketball Court Renovation 4. Jordan Park Skatepark Expansion PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY S. Downtown Farmers Market- Upgraded Electrical Service Ms. Pontuti said everyone's comments are able to be reviewed in the form. Mr. Millar said he'd love to hear from the people who did support the projects that aren't on the top five list. Ms. Finch said that Fisher Mansion, Forest at Bonneville, and Medians ranked lower for her because they're on the east side, too hidden, and services a smaller community versus the greater impact other applications have community-wide. Some of the projects Ms. Finch saw opportunities for partnerships and community events where community councils can clean up the space. She also sees partnership opportunities for Fisher Mansion to step up and lead that project idea. Ms. Pehrson said the Fisher Mansion application came from the Friends of Fisher Mansion and they have a lot of community support. Ms. Pehrson said she ranked it in her selection because there's so much advocacy happening in her district right now and that people are trying to get it into a usable space. She ranked it high because of how much investment is there from community members.The Board and staff continued to discuss CIP rankings. Mr. Bloch shared his ranking choices focused on micro versus macro targeted applications. He understands the importance to that micro-community, but an application like the skatepark serves a lot more people. Mr. Bloch asked about Rose Park Lane and improving access to the RAC. He doesn't understand actual access to the RAC. Ms. Finch shared she ranked First Encampment higher as it's a repeat application and the applicant has tailored the application down year after year. She wonders if the Arts Council can step in and partner. Ms. Pontuti said that was a consistent trend of comments with these applications and there being partnership opportunities to make these applications happen. Ms. Nakamura shared she loves farmers markets and whenever she visits a city, she goes to one. She doesn't like the City's farmers market because, to her, it's not a food source, but rather an event. That's why she didn't rank it very high because she wonders what would be done with the electrical when the farmers market isn't happening. Mr. Millar said with the Pioneer Park project, the downtown farmers market will no longer be the primary user of that park. It will be designed so there's activation throughout the week, not just the weekend of the farmers market. As the farmers market grows,their desire is to move into the street and close the street so that the park can be used for more park functionality, even when the farmers market is happening. The Board and staff continued to discuss CIP rankings. Ms. Finch said she is pleased with how the applications ranked.As for the community gardens, she loves community gardens, but knows there is a community garden already down the street so it feels like competing needs. Ms. Pehrson added also the lack of solid partnerships. Mr. Millar added that the constituent shared this community garden is step one of a grand plan to move the community garden and then work with the school district to acquire some of the field area of Hawthorne Elementary and convert that and a parcel on the south side of 1700 S to a new park. Mr. Millar said this isn't part of staffs plan, and they have been talking with the school districts about those four elementary school closures and how to program those. Mr. Bloch asked how the responses from the Board are shared with the constituents. Mr. Millar said the Finance Departments shares with the applicants when they're applications are unsuccessful and what their next steps could be. Ms. Nakamura shared that all applicants present to the CDCIP Board. The Board and staff continued to discuss CIP rankings. Ms. Larsen shared her screen to display the internal applications. Top 5 Internal Applications 1. Safe, Open, and Clean Park Restrooms 2. Parks' Legal Compliance with 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design 3. 20 Acres of Irrigation System Replacements &Supportive Waterwise Landscaping 4. Four Playground Replacements PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY S. Two to Six Sport Court Replacements The 2nd and 3rd top internal application tied for second. Mr. Millar asked if the Board would put that in their letter. Ms. Cannon said they've always just ranked it in the top five and haven't specified how close each application was. She asked about the Board's thoughts about Sugarhouse Pavilion is higher than the Three New Pavilion application. Ms. Finch said the Sugarhouse Pavilion is a match so it would be leaving money on the table since the county will match. Ms. Pehrson viewed it the same way. Ms. Nakamura agreed, and she knows that Salt Lake County is passing a budget next Tuesday that has their portion. If Salt Lake County funds it and Salt Lake City doesn't, the project would sit there until both parties have funding. The Board and staff continued to discuss CIP rankings. Ms. Finch observed Board members ranked the restrooms, accessibility, and irrigation high, and she thought that was wonderful. One thing she saw the Board being challenged on but coming out with different rankings was the four playground replacements and the two to six sport court replacements. She asked if this really belongs in the CIP process, or should they be part of the routine maintenance the City should fund. She wondered if these sorts of projects should be competing for City funds for CIP projects. Ms. Nakamura agrees and still ranked them high because there's currently not a funding mechanism for these sorts of projects. Mr. Millar agreed. Ms. Riker used the example of the playgrounds. There are 56 playgrounds in the city and if they replace two a year, it would take 28 years to replace them all. Staff have already gone many years without replacing any playgrounds.They need to the ongoing regular maintenance. Ms. Pehrson agrees, and also thinks there's private-public partnerships that could be used to help replace playgrounds and other park assets.The Board and staff continued to discuss CIP rankings. The Board was surprised by how low the Green Loop ranked. Mr. Millar said the Green Loop and Better Event/Power applications are the only ones that are requesting impact fees. A little bit of the Sugarhouse project can use impact fees and potentially some of the restrooms. For the most part,the rest are general funds. Mr. Millar suggested to keep that in mind as the Green Loop isn't really competing against any of the other ones for funding. Ms. Finch said it's $4M.To her,that's a sizeable number that's pulling from other projects. Mr. Millar said that the Transportation Division has said that the $4M will likely be a 1/4 sales tax request and not general fund, which would help. Green Loop will not request any general fund dollars. Some Board members said they will re-rank some of their votes. Ms. Nakamura wondered if there were some options for Federal funding for the ADA and irrigation applications. Ms. Riker said staff has looked into funding options for irrigation and are open to looking for funding for ADA.The Board and staff continued to discuss CIP rankings. Ms. Pontuti said 5 PM tomorrow is the deadline for changing votes because they need the feedback to work on the letter by the 9th, which is also at 5 PM. Ms. Finch asked if that works for Board members to re-rank due to work schedules.The letter is due to staff by the 1011.The Board and staff continued to discuss the CIP process. C. Staff Updates. -Ashlyn Larsen 5 mins Ms. Larsen reminded the Board their retreat has been moved to January 911. With the upcoming holidays,vacation time, and timing of when the next Board meeting is, she will be sending out the draft agenda and unapproved minutes. Ms. Nakamura asked what the start and end time of the meeting will be in January. Ms. Larsen said 5 PM to 9 PM. She is still finalizing details, but is working on reserving the Fisher Mansion House and making it a hybrid meeting. 7. Board Discussion 7:10 PM A. Committee Reporting 10 mins PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY Communications Committee Mr. Scrivner shared the majority of what the Communications Committee met on was CIP and the draft letter. Ms. Pontuti said there's a form for committees to fill out SMART goals to talk more about at the retreat. She will send out the form she made. Urban Trails Committee Ms. Nakamura shared they haven't met and she's working on establishing a standing date to meet. Foothills Committee (see minutes under"Foothills Committee -Working Group Discussion") Jordan River Committee Ms. Pehrson shared that Ms. Hewson met with the University of Utah and discussed creating a capstone for one of the Geography courses. It would be a potential project for the spring semester that would assign students to the Emerald Ribbon GIS activity or Jordan River Trail. B. Foothills Committee -Working Group Discussion 5 mins Mr. Bloch said he has been talking with Mr. Murdock about forming a working group within the Foothills Committee. He shared the Board's bylaws have a provision for a Board member to propose to the Department a working group with external stakeholders. He said the Board would discuss this further in January. Mr. Bloch said that Mr. Fonarow said a working group, or technical advisory group, could help the Department out. Mr. Bloch would like for this to be an action item at the retreat. Mr. Scrivner asked if there can be anything shared with the Board to prepare them for that discussion in January.The Board continued to discuss a working group. Ms. Finch asked Mr. Bloch to come prepared in January to speak on why a working group is needed rather than just the committee with external members. Mr. Bloch said that Mr. Murdock and Mr. Fonarow said they would like to see the Foothills Committee focus on ordinance changes or proposals for bikes and dogs and the working group would be more in the weeds and helping the Foothills zoning. They'd like to bring some more expertise into that conversation. C. Prepare retreat agenda 5 mins Ms. Larsen shared her screen to display the draft retreat agenda. Ms. Finch requested an agenda topic doing a high overview of the Board's Google Drive to help Board members know where all the resources are. She also thinks there should be a larger, in-depth discussion for Committee Reporting and she invited committees to prepare an overview of everything they accomplished that year. She added they should also review all the committees, absolve any if need be, review committee membership, and updating committee SMART goals. Ms. Larsen updated Board nominations to Board Elections as an action item. Ms. Pehrson said it would also be nice to get an overview of their powers and duties. Ms. Larsen asked if they wanted the attorney to come again and review those. Ms. Finch said they could pull up their bylaws and related governing code to review. Ms. Riker said they could reach out the attorneys. She shared that there are some changes happening, but they could probably find someone. Ms. Riker said traditionally, she has given a budget presentation and the Department would love the Board's feedback. She said Mr. Murdock or Ms. Bailey could present. Ms. Nakamura suggested a high-level overview of where the staff is at with the Reimagine Nature Master Plan. Ms. Riker said the annual report the Department puts out every year is driven by the progress of PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY the Reimagine Nature Master Plan and she suggested an update for the Reimagine Nature Master Plan once the annual report is out. Ms. Pehrson asked when that would be done. Ms. Riker said they generally put it out in March, but Ms. McCain will be on leave so they'll most likely have the report out in February. Ms. Cannon asked in relation to Committee Review to adding assignments for Board members to participate on a committee. She'd also like to add an action item for SCAAMP and whether or not it needs to be an actual committee or the Board elects members to participate to help staff. Mr. Bloch requested an action item for the Foothills working group. Mr. Scrivner suggested having an informal time for Board members to chat and an icebreaker. He brought up how last year, the Board focused on goals. He suggested the retreat as a time to create new goals as a Board.The Board continued to discuss retreat agenda items. Ms. Finch asked about the Parks update and when that would happen. Ms. Larsen shared the Board had requested more regular updates from staff and she's been working with the Directors to determine the best months for them each to present.The Board and staff continued to discuss the Parks update.The Board and staff discussed using the retreat to talk about Board goals for the year and hearing staffs goals for the year. Ms. Finch asked how long the Parks update would be. Ms. Riker said as long as they want it to be. Ms. Pehrson supports moving the Parks update to the February meeting. Ms. Finch and the rest of the Board agrees. Ms. Riker suggested sending out last year's Board goals to review prior to the meeting.The Board and staff continued to discuss the retreat agenda. D. Chair and Vice-Chair nominations 5 mins The Board and staff discussed Ms. Hewson and Ms. Finch's second terms expiring in February and they will no longer be on the Board. Ms. Binnebose'term also expires come September 2025. Mr. Scrivner nominated Ms. Nakamura as Chair and Mr.Wiley as Vice-Chair. Both accepted. Ms. Nakamura shared she nominated Ms. Pehrson for Chair and she turned it down. Ms. Riker said members can nominate each other, and themselves, privately if they wish. Ms. Finch nominated Ms. Cannon as Chair. Ms. Cannon accepted the nomination. Ms. Cannon nominated Ms. Nakamura as Chair and herself as Vice-Chair.The Board continued to discuss nominations. E. Board comments and question period Mr. Scrivner reminded everyone that Ms. Love is looking for another Board member to help screen applications for the Director position. Ms. Pehrson asked what the time commitment is. Mr. Scrivner said that is still to be determined. Mr. Wiley offered to help screen applications. Ms. Pontuti offered to help as a backup. Ms. Pehrson asked about the letter of support for the Indigenous Commission and that status on that. Ms. Benally said she's had other issues come up that she's needed to address so that has been put on the backburner. F. Next meeting:January 9, 2024 G. Request for future agenda items Mr. Scrivner asked about donations as an agenda item. Ms. Larsen suggested that the donors could come and present to the Board. Ms. Finch thinks that should be a February agenda item. The Board and staff continued to discuss donations as an agenda item. Ms. Pontuti motioned to adjourn the meeting. Mr.Wiley seconded the motion.The Board unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting. PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY 8. Adjourn 7:40 PM