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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-09-13 Beautification SummaryKENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITYEE AGENDA' SEPTEMBER 13, 1994- 1:30 P.M. KENAI CITY HALL I. Roll Call .. .. II. Approval of Agenda III. Approval of minutes from August 9, 1994 meeting. IV. Old Business Ae Kenai Gardening Show: Susan Hett Be Volunteer Activity Notes: Nina Selby Ce Chamber of Commerce Kenai Beautification Awards: Laura Measles De Senior Gardening: Sylvia Johnson Ve New Business  Goals and Objectives: Review of 1994 B. October Meeting.'~~omments, ideas, criticisms and objectives for 1995 season. Ce Theme for 1995 season. D~ Discuss Coordinator Positions 1. Volunteer e Watering, planting, etc. VI. Reports Ae Parks &Rec: Bob Frates Be Council: Linda Swamer 1. Cemetery gates e Memorial plaque at Leif Hansen Park for Gina Sacco. e Signs in Leif Hansen Park regarding dogs. KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE AGENDA FOR 9/13/94 MEETING Page 2 of 2 C. Chairman Benedict Volunteer appreciation party and tour. 2. Workshop VII. Guests: Surprise! VIII. Questions and comments IX. Adjournment KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITYEE- MINUTES SEPTEMBER 13, 1994- 1:30 P.M. I® II. Roll Call Members present: Jeanine Benedict, Sylvia Johnson, Loretta Breeden, Susan Hett, Nina Selby and Linda Swamer. Also present: Bob Frates and Laura Measles. Absent: Kim Booth. Recording secretary: Sheryl Paulsen. Approval of Agenda Selby asked if the topic of making Merle Dean Feldman "Hero of the Day" in the Clarion shouldn't be on the agenda. Benedict said the article is written but she felt it was too soon to print it after another article and picture of Feldman had appeared recently in the Clarion. It was decided to add the topic to the agenda for discussion under old business. III. MOTION Breeden MOVED to approve the agenda as amended. Selby SECONDED the motion. SO ORDERED. (Swamer asked to be moved up on the agenda because she needed to leave early; also, Laura Measles.) Approval of minutes from August 9, 1994 meeting. MOTION Breeden MOVED to approve the minutes. ORDERED. Selby SECONDED the motion. SO Reports- Linda Swarner A, Swamer stated she would like to see a plaque placed in Leif Hansen Memorial Park in honor of Gina Sacco, a volunteer who worked w/th the committee last year and who was killed in a plane crash. It was noted the basic cost of the plaque is $200. After some discussion, Breeden MOVED to buy a plaque with funds donated from individuals who knew Gina, rather than asking Council to pay for it. Selby SECONDED the motion. No objections. SO ORDERED. Be Swamer said the gates on the City's cemetery are not in good shape. asked Bob Frates to talk to the Parks & Rec Director about them. She C~ Swamer said the topic of dog signs in Leif Hansen Memorial Park has been brought before Council in the past and the decision was made not to do KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 2 of 10 D. E, anything. Swamer stated that the situation at the dump on Redoubt is being taken care of by the Borough. Apparently, many big trees were cut down as work began for the new transfer station. The Borough will do something about it. Swamer stated she is a little concerned about naming Feldman "Hero of the Day" in the Clarion because she (Feldman) has said she doesn't like that kind of recognition. Breeden stated she believes Feldman would like it; however, she (Breeden) felt enough had been done to honor Feldman. She suggested pictures be taken of all the volunteers and make each of them "Hero of the Day." Benedict said that what Feldman has done is especially noteworthy because Feldman isn't even a Kenai resident. V® Chamber of Commerce Kenai Beautification Awards: Laura Measles Benedict stated there has not been much public participation in the awards, so she had asked Laura Measles from the Chamber of Commerce to come and talk to the committee about ideas for increasing awareness and participation by the community in these awards. Measles stated, first, that she had talked to Geri Sparks last fall about having the Beautification Committee be the judges. Sparks had the judging criteria form and was going to bring it before the Committee. After Sparks moved out of state, the Seniors volunteered to help in this year's judging. Measles stated that she feels the Beautification Committee should do the judging; she has given Benedict a copy of the judging criteria form currently being used. Measles stated there were only five or six entries this year. She said she did a press release about it and put in the Chamber's monthly newsletter. Measles believes part of the problem is that people are busy and don't want to be bothered. She suggested the judging be done over the period of a week, instead of one day. She stated the Committee could be divided up to cover different parts of the City during that week. She also suggested the entry procedure be done away with and that every home and business in Kenai be judged. The committee agreed. Breeden suggested more advertising. Measles stated the Chamber's budget is small, and she does a press release explaining about the forms and when the judging will take place. The Chamber's budget for such things is small. KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 3 of 10 Breeden stated the Seniors and the Beautification Committee could all do the judging. She suggested the Chamber buy a tree or a shrub as a prize for the winner; then a ceremony could be held with the Clarion in attendance and the tree/shrub could be planted in maybe Leif Hansen Park in honor of the winner. There coUld be two categories of judging: residential and bUsiness. The plants could be planted in the Park or around the Chamber cabin. Measles stated the prizes so far have been certificates and ribbons. The winners are also treated to lunch at a Chamber meeting. (None of them came this year.) The Chamber's beautification budget is $100. Johnson asked if it would be possible to get the local nurseries to donate a bush or a perennial plant for the awards so winners could have a plant for their own yard, not just a ribbon and certificate. Breeden stated the plants should be planted on City property. Measles agreed that a more substantial prize than certificates and ribbons might increase participation. Hett suggested organizing a tour of local yards to help people get interested in participating. Johnson said she was disappointed to see a picture in the Clarion of the third place winner instead of first and/or second. She said she thinks the reason was that the third place winner was in town, and the others were out on Strawberry Road. Measles stated she will be happy to do whatever she can to help. Breeden stated again she felt the plants for the winners should be planted on City property. It could be a nice ceremony and a photo opportunity and would generate publicity. Measles said she feels people will want to keep the plants they win and not put them on City property. Johnson stated people will take care of them on their own property and be proud of them. Measles agreed and said it might help increase competition. Breeden stated people might not know what to do with certain plants. Selby suggested giving them a gift certificate for a plant of their choice. Swarner said maybe there could be a variety of plants people could choose from. Breeden said she still feels people would enjoy having the Chamber president make the presentation and dig the first shovel of dirt and have the Clarion taking pictures. Frates said that could all happen at the home of the winner rather than on City property. Johnson stated some people might want their plant put in the cemetery, or somewhere else. KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 4 of 10 Measles asked the Committee not to wait too long to decide. Selby suggested it be discussed in January. Measles said she is certain she could get donations for the winners and, even if she paid cost, her budget could handle it. She also suggested something could be done similar to the Log Cabin plaque; the winners' names could be engraved onto a plaque and hung somewhere around town. Mayor Williams joined the meeting as the surprise guest. He told the group about his idea for selling brick pavers with people's names engraved on them. He said he has asked Bill Kluge to make some conceptual drawings of possible projects to include a memorial wall, or brick pavers, or some such thing. Williams stated it could go between the fire ring and the log cabin (on Chamber property). His original idea was to have a wall in Leif Hansen Memorial Park near the big trees, and maybe a sunken sitting area, but Council was reluctant to do that because the concept of the trees and plaques has already been started. Recently, Williams was in Homer, he said. They have designed a memorial to the lost seafarers; it's a gazebo-type structure, round, with a lighted dome. The City of Homer is selling paving bricks for the walkways up to the building: a $40 donation for a 4x8" brick with one 20-character line; $45 for a 4x8" brick with two 20-character lines; $100 for an 8x8" brick with two 20-character lines; and a $500 or more donation for a 12x12" brick with three 20-character lines. Williams suggested that a brick could be installed in the "Winners' Circle" each year with the new winner's name on it. He said maybe the Beautification Committee could look at the conceptual drawings and work with those ideas. He stated the service organizations might want to include their names on plaques, too. He said he would tell Bill Kluge that he talked to the Committee. Breeden suggested maybe Kluge could come to a meeting. Williams said this project needs a primary sponsor; maybe it could be the Beautification Committee, with the secondary sponsors being the service clubs. Breeden said such a place could be used for other City events, like the Christmas lighting contests. Measles said if she knew in advance she could budget each year for two bricks for first place prizes for business and residence. Williams gave the brochure to Benedict for her to use in talking to Kluge. He stated he is going to the National League of Cities again in November and he will pick up more literature to bring back to the Committee. He said there are various plans already laid out on how to advertise, and how to get donations and generate cash. Williams stated he originally envisioned a "pioneer" wall on which families would put KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITI'EE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 5 of 10 blocks with inscriptions of the dates they came to Kenai. There was discussion about making sections on the wall for awards for different categories. Measles said again she would do whatever she could to make this Beautification Award program more successful. She also thanked the Committee and Bob Frates and his crew for everything they did at the Chamber this year. She said her folks were here this year and they commented on how attractive the Chamber grounds looked. Vie Measles said the cache on the Chamber grounds had to be removed because it had become a hazard. They are looking for someone to donate another one. Guests: Surprise! Mayor Williams continued with several items he wanted to mention. He gave Benedict the final bank statement of the Beautification Committee account. He said the account has been closed. g~ Williams told the group about the street program near the Russian Orthodox Church. He said the City is using federal monies to pave the street and parking lot in front of the Church and in front of the Fort and back to the boulevard. He said the City should involve itself in the development of Old Town, at least in the beginning. He would like to put in a series of old fashioned lighting, beginning at the Church, going past the Fort, down the boulevard, and ending at the Chamber cabin. He would include an old antique clock placed near the Chamber cabin. He said he originally thought he might want to use lighting like what is used in Russia; but now that he has seen the Russian lights, he doesn't think Kenai wants to use those. He said the paving will cost $200,000-280,000. He said he believes the City should include in its bid for ISTEA monies enough to include the lighting project, and then pay for any amount over that itself. He said the project will emphasize the area and continue the theme of historic old town; and it may cause people in that area to take more interest in their property. He said he knows there was no antique lighting in old town before, but "antiquity and history are sometimes in the eye of the beholder." Johnson suggested to Mayor Williams that sidewalks be put in with the paving project. Williams stated there is a fight-of-way problem through there, so he wasn't sure if sidewalks would be feasible. He said the plan is to have the KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 6 of 10 Ce D~ tour buses park in one place and have visitors walk down by the church. The public meeting for discussion of the design of the project will be held Thursday, September 15. Williams said another project the City is working on involves the Chester Cone property of 100 acres which is being reviewed by the Exxon Valdez Spill Council for possible purchase for habitat protection. The City wants to petition the State parks department for a $500,000 grant for building boardwalks, interpretive signage, and a parking lot to develop that area as a protected habitat viewing and enhancement area. Another project is the Cunningham Park area, Williams said. He would like to see people be able to continue to use the fiver. Williams stated the City is proposing the purchase of the three lots adjoining Cunningham Park, the enlargement of the Park, and protecting the banks with boardwalks and stairways. Williams stated that once the boat launch is closed ("... that little boat ramp that isn't supposed to be... "), "it will never be opened again." Williams said that more drift fishing is taking place now. Breeden asked if the commercial use of the launch could be stopped. Williams said that maybe use could be limited to egress of drift boats only, but then it would have to be policed. These things will be discussed with State Parks. He said the City is applying for a second grant of $500,000 for this project. Williams said these two grants would come from the same pool of money. There is $10 million that must be allocated by the end of this year. There is a team being put together by State Parks that covers three regional review groups: Prince William Sound Region; Kachemak/Cook Inlet/Kenai Region; and Kodiak Region. The projects will be reviewed on their merits and the grants awarded to a maximum of $500,000 each. The City of Kenai may get one grant; it may get both; or it may get none, Williams said. Williams stated the Cone property project is viewed as a multi-generational project. It may include a fee-tent camping area, which would relieve the problem Kenai has had in locating their fee-tent camping. The problem is in policing such an area, he said. Williams said that if the City should get both grants and complete both projects, it could be that a full-time person would be hired during the summers to oversee the two parks. Breeden asked how the Beautification Committee enters into these projects. Williams answered that the Committee, first of all, should be aware of them KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITI~EE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 7 of 10 because they affect City lands. He stated the Committee should be very much involved in the Church project because of the lighting and the flowers. He stated he doesn't know yet just what the Committee's role should be in the parks projects. He said possibilities are educational kiosks about plant-life or plantings at the entrances of the parks or in the parks. Benedict asked Mayor Williams about the rumor that the Council may be discontinuing the Beautification Committee. Williams said the Council is having a meeting on Wednesday, September 21, at 6:00 prior to the regular Council meeting to "review the membership makeup and activities of all commissions and committees within the City." He stated that occasionally the Council needs to review the activities and membership of the committees because sometimes those committees "go stale" and there is very little activity. The Council will be looking closely at the committees which can't seem to get a quorum together to have meetings. Williams said the commissions and committees should be actively bringing information, ideas and activities to the Council all the time. It should not be the Council's responsibility to tell a committee when to meet and how often and what they should talk about. He said the Council always listens to suggestions fi'om the committees. Benedict asked about the position of the Beautification Committee. Williams stated that the Beautification Committee is a sub-committee of Parks & Rec. However, he said, the Committee can always come directly to the Council if it can't get the action it wants from Parks & Rec. The Council has the final word and controls the City funds, he said. Breeden asked about the Birch Island project. Williams said that project has been given a lot of consideration, but State Parks has it on their "to do" list so the City isn't doing anything about it. Williams said the historg of it is: When we built the boardwalk, we had an agreement with Neil Jol~annsen-- Williams was going to take care of the political part of it and get the money and build the first phase; Johannsen was going to follow it up with the second phase on the other side of the fiver which was to be connected with the boardwalk around Birch Island for the third phase. The City would agree to join partnerships on the half of the island it owns and the l~alf of the island the State owns. Williams stated the project was all ready to go when Johannsen announced how the City was going to turn over its 2,100 acres of lowlands to the State Parks--which was not the City's understanding of the agreement. So an impasse was reached, and the ball is in the State's court now, Williams said. KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITI~EE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 8 of 10 Williams said there may be as many as 20 or 30 grants to spread from Cordova to Kodiak, so Kenai may not get any of the money. He said Kenai is "coming in the back door" in its reasoning for qualifying for the oil spill money. He said Kenai was "not heavily, physically impacted by the oil spill." He said we did, however, suffer in the community fi'om lack of income. Then, when people couldn't access the heavily hit areas for recreational purposes because of the oil spill, they found our area, Williams stated. He stated Kenai has been impacted in a positive way by the oil spill. He said the reasoning for the grant money is that we need help to cope with this positive impact. Williams said he doesn't see any reason that Council would do away with the Beautification Committee or consolidate it with Parks & Rec. Parks & Rec has a different job to do in taking care of ball fields and parks, he said. Beautification is taking care of raising flowers, Williams said. "This Beautification Committee, through its efforts and with help, . .. has done something that has never been done before," Williams said. He said the massive planting of flowers around the City has brought comments fi'om all over the country. He stated shot of the flowers will be seen in the new video the City is having made. Williams said that no appointments will be made to any commissions or committees until after the meeting on the 21st. Breeden asked the Mayor to solve the volunteer problem. She stated that the volunteers the committee uses are being used too much. Williams said, "We face a major sociological problem here more than anything else." He said the whole country is facing it. He said the commissions and committees usually don't have people on them between the ages of 25 and 45. That portion of the population just isn't getting involved in their communities, he said. Williams mentioned Key Bank's volunteer day and said there are moves around the country to get people involved. Breeden suggested two possible solutions. First, she said, would be for the City to give Bob Frates more help during the summer for the beautification projects. Second, she suggested giving sentences of community service and having those people work on the beautification projects. Williams said nothing can be done about that because of the issue of liability if someone were hurt while working on a city project. Report- Bob Frates Frates said he received a letter from Peggy Thompson expressing her thanks for what KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITI'EE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 9 of 10 was done in Old Town; he said she also sent a letter to the committee. Frates handed out information he received from the Wooden Shoe Bulb Company about spring bulbs. Johnson said she wondered about buying bulbs locally; NuState Nursery is advertising them now. She said it might be cheaper if we don't have to pay for shipping. Johnson said she walked Bernie Huss Trail recently and was upset to see two campsites set up. She said there was trash all around, and there were two kids who were acting susPiciously. Frates said the police department is going to try to get a patrolman over there on a daily basis between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. He said a lot of activity takes place on the weekends. Johnson said she was glad the fence along the Cart's property didn't completely enclose the area because she might not have been able to get away from the boys if she needed to. Frates said he talked with Kathy Wright at the extension office in Palmer about hostas, and she will be sending him information on two varieties. He said he also talked with someone at Kenai River Nursery about hostas; they have one variety available. He said she also suggested a "Virginia," a similar plant. He also said hostas are very expensive. Breeden asked if Frates had thought about getting tulip bulbs locally. He said he had not started to look for them. Breeden suggested that we get them locally this year because it is getting late. Frates said they would start with 100 bulbs; and any information about them should be submitted to Kayo. Frates said he and Benedict are trying to coordinate a workshop with Feldman to select plants. Frates said he would contact NuState and the other nurseries and compare prices. Volunteer Activity Notes: Nina Selby Selby read the letter she wrote to be published in the Clarion to thank the volunteers, Merle Dean Feldman and Bob Frates for the work they did on the flowers. There were no objections or changes to the letter. Selby also said she had written the thank you notes to the volunteers, but she was uncertain about which volunteers had actually worked. She asked the group for information about them. KENAI BEAUTIFICATION COMMITrEE 9/13/94 MEETING MINUTES Page 10 of 10 IX. Adjournment It was decided to move the items from today's agenda that were not covered to the next meeting's agenda. The next meeting will be held on October 11, 1994. Benedict will be out of town; Vice Chair Hett will fill in for her. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:30 p.m. Minutes recorded and transcribed by: Sheryl ~~//Paulsen, Recording Secretary