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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/06/2025 - Meeting Minutes PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRYAND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY Formal Meeting Thursday,March 6,2025 5:00 p.m.-7:15 p.m. Join Via Zoom: flttps://us02",eb.zoom.us j/85931572397?pwd=fNtwVJf2HuGg6C2vUKo8kcui5T6Mox.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: +1 253 215 8782 Webinar ID:859 3157 2397 Access code:849030 Approved Minutes 1. Convening the Meeting 5:00 PM A. Call to order - Kerri Nakamura - Steve Bloch - Eric McGill - Clayton Scrivner - Melanie Pehrson - Aaron Wiley - Talula Pontuti B. Chair Comments 5 mins Ms. Nakamura said the agenda needs to be altered as a staff member is out sick. She wanted to thank Mr. Murdock and Ms. Bailey for their work while the Director position was filled. She also said she will not attend next month, and Ms. Cannon will run the meeting. 2. Approval of Minutes 5:05 PM - Approve February 6, 2025, meeting minutes 5 mins Mr. Bloch motioned to approve the February meeting minutes. Ms. Pontuti seconded.The Board unanimously voted to approve the February meeting minutes. 3. Public Comment 5:10 PM - Verbal comments are limited to no more than 3 minutes; 15 minutes total. Written comments are welcome. Ms.Anne Cannon asked who the new PNUT D6 representative was. Ms. Larsen shared that Mr. James Alfandre was unable to attend tonight. Ms. Larsen said she would share his contact information with her. 4. Director's Report 5:25 PM - Introduce new Landscape Architect-Tom Millar 5 mins Mr. Millar introduced himself as the Planning& Design Division Director. He introduced Ms.Amy Reid, the newest landscape architect, to the team. Ms. Reid shared that she's lived in Salt Lake for 10 years and is originally from Southern California. She was an intern in engineering two years ago under Ms. Nany Monteith, and she just finished her graduate degree with a Master's in Landscape Architecture. She has a love for and appreciation for public spaces. She also has an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Spanish, and she sees public spaces as a place where everyone should feel welcome and invited. Ms. Reid continued to introduce herself and shared she would be working on Allen Park and Miller Park. Mr. McGill asked if Ms. Reid would be working with Ms. Kat Andra. Ms. Reid said yes. Mr. McGill asked about the other vacancies. Mr. Millar said the staff had an employee retire in January and PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRYAND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY an employee departure in November.The Board and staff continued to discuss the vacancies and projects. - Introduce new Director-Tyler Murdock 5 mins Ms. Kim Shelley introduced herself as the new Public Lands Director. She said she appreciated Mr. Murdock's and Ms. Bailey's work when the position was empty. Ms. Shelley shared that her background is in engineering, and she is a lifelong Salt Lake City resident. She has 21 years with the Department of Environmental Quality as the Executive Director.The staff has been so welcoming, and she's confident that staff will help her build confidence and better understand the department as time goes on. - Introduce new PNUT Member(s)-Tyler Murdock 5 mins The Board members went around and introduced themselves to the newest Board member. Mr. McGill introduced himself as the new D7 representative. He is a lifelong resident of Salt Lake City and is excited to learn more about parks and open spaces. He's excited to be a conduit between the community and the City. - Summary of current high-priority department items. -Tyler Murdock 5 mins There will be no summary of current high-priority department items. 5. Board Action Items 5:45 PM A. Cancel the July meeting 5 mins Mr. Scrivner has motioned to cancel the July meeting. Mr. Bloch seconded the motion.The Board unanimously voted to cancel the July meeting. B. FY25/26 Budget Insights Letter of Support 10 mins Ms. Larsen shared her screen to display the FY25/26 Budget Insights Letter-of-Support. Ms. Pontuti thanked everyone for their feedback and rankings. She updated all the requested changes. Ms. Pontuti motioned to approve the letter of support. Mr. Bloch seconded the motion. The Board unanimously voted to approve the letter of support. Mr. Scrivner said with Ms. Binnebose leaving the Board in September, the Communications Committee will need more members to help with these sorts of projects. 6. Staff Presentations, Updates& Discussions 6:00 PM A. Park Ranger Update - Nicholas Frederick 30 mins Mr. Frederick shared his screen to display the Park Ranger annual update. He shared the program started about three years ago and is excited to share what the team accomplished during the program's second year and what's in store for 2025. He shared how the team is organized: 18 full-time rangers working 10-hour days across two shifts. Four hubs and Foothills (Liberty, Pioneer, Fairmont, and Jordan).Their main pillars are customer service, education, and public safety. Mr. Frederick continued to highlight how the Park Ranger program is set up. Mr. Frederick said 2024 was the first year the Rangers went to the daily coverage model, which was fantastic for increased reliability and having Rangers out and about more often. Last year, their goal was to do one public program per month with each hub, so four programs a month, and they ended up doing eight. Rangers have diverse backgrounds, such as social services, land management, and educational backgrounds.The public programming has been very successful. The staff's ability to collect data has improved and accounts for what a Ranger does day-to-day. He referenced the website where the public can see what the Rangers are doing. Mr. Frederick continued to discuss the Park Ranger program. Ms. Nakamura asked how the staff felt about the public response and turnout for these programming events. Mr. Frederick said last year, there was a lot of experimentation and determining which programs work best, and there were diverse types of programming. Overall, the response has been positive. He highlighted a few programs, and they've launched a survey to PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRYAND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY get feedback on what types of programming the public would like to see. Mr. Frederick said last year, the staff created standard operating procedures,which has helped the team feel more cohesive moving forward on what it means to be a Salt Lake City Park Ranger. There are many urban ranger programs across the country, and they all differ depending on their community's needs. Mr. Frederick continued to discuss the Park Ranger program. Mr. Frederick said that the customer service side of the Park Ranger program has been working towards enhancing coverage, building partnerships, providing event support, and providing training.The teams have worked with the libraries a lot for different programming events. Currently, the Pioneer Hub is based out of the downtown library, and its hub is being remodeled alongside the Pioneer Park redesign.The staff has also worked with the Natural History Museum of Utah for the City nature challenge. He said the Rangers also provide support for Community Events and supported about 45 events last year. Park Rangers receive a wide range of training to help all park users best. Mr. Frederick continued to discuss the customer service element of the Park Ranger program. This last year, Park Rangers met with all the captains from the police department.There has been a lot of change at the police department lately, so there hasn't been as much collaboration as Mr. Frederick would like.The staff continues working on those relationships and understanding how best to escalate situations. Mr. Frederick said they work with county Animal Services.The Park Rangers do not have compliance authority, so they rely on Animal Services to ticket dogs off-leash. The Park Rangers are trained to use chip scanners to reunite dogs with their owners. Mr. Frederick continued to highlight Animal Services. Mr. Scrivner asked if the Ranger's role would transition to being able to ticket if people are out of compliance. Mr. Frederick discussed the safety letter from the State to the City.The City asked what it would be like if Rangers had ticketing capacity and the majority of their compliance education is around dogs off- leash, basically turning Park Rangers into animal services. Mr. Frederick said upgrading employees to that would cost a lot of money.A big issue they see is vendors selling in parks. Mr. McGill said there has to be a more constructive way than just ticketing due to the criminal justice system's inability to handle their current caseload. The Board and staff continued discussing Park Rangers and compliance authority. Mr. McGill asked how the Park Rangers are trained if there's an urgent matter. Mr. Frederick said they call 911 for emergencies.The Park Rangers have radios programmed to the public safety channel so they can be aware of emergency vehicles suddenly showing up at a park and let people know what's happening. For non-emergency issues, the Park Rangers submit those through mySLC or call the non-emergency line. Mr. Frederick said there are degrees to compliance, such as ticketing vendor vehicles versus asking someone for their ID for leash compliance. Mr. Frederick shared they collaborated with Watershed and the Forest Service as they deal with similar issues. It was great for the staff to understand how they handled those situations. The staff has done a lot of training on different perspectives and handling those situations. Mr. Frederick continued to highlight the public safety element of the Park Rangers' jobs. The Board and staff continued discussing Park Rangers. Mr. Frederick shared that the Park Rangers also focus on Education through increased public programming, compliance expectations, building partnerships, and program calendar.They consider their compliance conversations or deeper interpretive conversations as education. They've worked with and done field trips with the Salt Lake City schools.They would like to work with schools more so they don't have to do as much recruitment and the curriculum is already built.The Park Rangers can be there as area experts and help facilitate positive impacts. Mr. PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRYAND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY Frederick was excited to share that the Park Rangers finally have their program calendar on the website so people can see what's coming up and RSVP to events.The Board and staff continued to discuss Park Ranger education. Mr. Frederick highlighted the Park Ranger's 2025 Annual Plan: - Greater Park Ranger Presence: improve consistency of patrols and programming, expand coverage and accessibility, and review standard operating procedures. - Strengthen Communication: enhance community engagement, standardize compliance expectations and best practices, improve internal communication, and create and implement a Park Ranger communication plan. - Expand Programming and Boost Participation: develop an educational philosophy, advance program planning and marketing, strengthen existing partnerships, and forge new partnerships. - Improve Metrics for Outputs and Outcomes: ensure accurate reporting, expand measurement tools, conduct a public survey, and gauge satisfaction with programs and community activation efforts. - Enhance Training,Team Building, and Professional Development: deliver annual training and site visits to partner organizations, refine onboarding processes, provide professional development opportunities, facilitate group workshops, and continue cross- training sessions. Ms. Nakamura asked if they've considered a Junior Ranger Program. Mr. Frederick said they have some materials for it. It's been put on pause as the Ranger who began developing the program was promoted to a supervisor position.The staff would like to pair up with libraries, but they can't provide as much support as the staff thought.The Park Rangers have 97 programs scheduled this year and will send out a mailer with the rest of the Public Lands featuring all the summer programs. Mr. Scrivner asked if there's been any analysis on the optimal amount of Rangers. Mr. Frederick said they're one of the few teams that don't have seasonal employees. There is much more coverage in the summer than in the winter. He shared an example in Phoenix where they brought on an entire night shift of Rangers. Ms. Nakamura suggested that there be options for bolstering the Ranger force and helping with other department needs. The Board and staff continued to discuss Park Ranger's involvement with other departments.The Board and staff continued to discuss the Park Ranger update. Mr. Bloch asked about the Foothill Rangers. Mr. Frederick said they have a lot of wildflower hikes coming up, education around respecting wildlife, and dogs recreating in the Foothills. Mr. Frederick said the Rangers would do tabling at the trailheads for educational connection opportunities and public outreach. The Board and staff continued to discuss the Park Ranger program. B. Donation Policy Discussion -Tyler Murdock&Ashlyn Larsen 30 mins There will be no discussion of the donation policy. C. Staff Updates. -Ashlyn Larsen 5 mins Ms. Larsen reminded the board that their OPMA certificates are due to her by the next meeting. She asked them to email them to her directly or let her know if they uploaded theirs into Google Drive. Ms. Nakamura said they'll have a raffle for those with their certificates. Ms. Larsen emphasized the importance of Board members communicating to her if they'll be attending the monthly meeting or not to ensure they have a quorum to conduct Board business.Additionally, she emphasized the importance of knowing if Board members will participate in in-person or not to ensure she orders enough food for everyone and that nothing goes to waste. 7. Board Discussion 7:05 PM A. Committee Reporting 10 mins Foothills Committee PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRYAND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY Mr. Bloch said that in January, the Board voted to form a Foothills Working Group,which involves sending a letter from the Board to the department. He has been working with Tyler Murdock and Ms.Jenny Hewson on this.The staff was waiting for Ms. Shelley to be brought up to speed. He also shared that he's been working with Tyler Fonarow and talking about how there's a multi- landowner working group they're looking to form and a memorandum of understanding. The Board briefly highlighted all the active committees for Mr. McGill. Ms. Larsen shared her screen to share all the committees. Communications Committee Mr. Scrivner shared that their committee's work this last month was focused on budget prioritization and the letter of support. He shared that the Communications committee can support staff regarding any communications.They also do a lot of the behind-the-scenes CIP work.The Board continued to discuss the budget insights and the letter of support. Mr. Bloch asked about the Board providing additional support to staff. Ms. Nakamura shared that she and Ms. Cannon want to be more visible in supporting the department.They added the "Board Engagement Opportunities/Requests" to the agenda. Ms. Nakamura highlighted the work the Bylaws Committee has done. Jordan River Trails Committee Ms. Pehrson said they plan to meet with Tyler Fonarow to better understand the staff engagement activities plan for this year and how the committee can best support them. Urban Trails Committee Ms. Nakamura shared that this is the firstjoint committee between PNUT and the Transportation Advisory Board.A staff member from the City GIS team came. One of their goals as a committee is to have the only map that exists right now of all the urban trails in the city,which is a PDF, and the City GIS team members are working on getting them that map.Additionally, GreenBike attended and had a heat map showing all the uses of the stations. Ms. Pehrson said she met with Public Lands staff and that their initial plan for Glendale Regional Park is to connect with GreenBike.There's a good chance of a GreenBike station being built at Glendale Regional Park. The Board continued to discuss the Urban Trails Committee. Mr. McGill asked about SCAAMP. Ms. Nakamura said Ms. Cannon is working on a strategic capital, acquisition, and asset management plan with staff. It's not a committee. Mr. McGill asked about the Indigenous Committee. Ms. Larsen said that's not a committee either, and Ms. Benally and Mr.John are the Indigenous representatives.The Board continued to discuss general business and committees. B. Board comments and question period & Request for future agenda items 10 mins Ms. Nakamura shared that asking questions regarding any packet information is one of the uses for this part of the agenda. Mr. Bloch asked what the status of the Price family donation is. Ms. Shelley said it's on hold but not officially.With her coming on and working through other administrative items, they'll pick it up again soon. Ms. Nakamura said where it stands with the Board is there's no role for the Board regarding donations, and right now, it depends on how the policy gets finalized and if it includes a role for the Board. Ms. Nakamura shared that Ms. Cannon did some research, and there's nothing in the ordinance regarding the board and donations. She said the staff had brought the Price donation to the Board with recommendations, the Board asked some questions, the Board received those responses, and there's been nothing further PARKS,NATURAL LANDS,URBAN FORESTRYAND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY requested from the Board, nor is there anything in place stating how the Board should be involved with donations.The Board continued to discuss their role with donations. Ms. Nakamura said she doesn't think it's particularly kind to an applicant to apply and then place it on hold for as long as it's been while the Board figures out their role regarding donations.The staff has come out in support of the Price donation. Ms. Pontuti said she trusts the staff's judgment regarding the donation. Mr. Bloch asked if there was a way to put a pin in the Price donation. Mr. Bloch said with the donation policy still being worked on, he's okay with the Price family having to wait a little longer before moving forward. Ms. Nakamura asked if 15 months is an acceptable amount of time to have a donor wait for answers. Mr. Bloch said it's unfortunate it's taking so much time. It's a big donation request, and a lot is happening in the Foothills with the disturbances caused by the new parking lot and the Rocky Mountain Power project. Ms. Nakamura said she didn't want the board to hold up the process as they define their role regarding donations.The Board continued to discuss donations. Mr. McGill requested an update on the progress of the waterline in Allen Park and the anthracnose treatment of sycamore trees. Ms. Larsen said the anthracnose update is included in that month's packet. Ms. Larsen said the donation policy will be an agenda item next month. The Board asked if another division was in the queue to share an update. Ms. Larsen highlighted which divisions have given updates in the last six months. Mr. Scrivner requested a Special Events Permit update. Mr. Wiley asked for an update on when the baseball fields will be ready and when the bathrooms will be open and available. Ms. Nakamura shared that her underpass passion project is seeking support and invited Board members to donate to their cause. C. Board Engagement Opportunities/Requests 5 mins D. Next meeting:April 3, 2025 Mr. McGill motioned to adjourn the meeting, and Mr. Scrivner seconded.The Board unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting. 8. Adjourn 7.25 PM