Antrim County
Parks and Recreation Commission

 

January 19, 2006

Minutes

Members Present:

 

Stan Moore, Don Schuiteman, Jerry Dobrzelewski, Russ Blasdell, Mark Stone, Linda Gallagher and Mike Crawford

Members Absent:

Al Pecar and Mike Meriwether

Staff Present:

Joe Meyers and Eileen Wallick

Others:

None.

I.          Call to Order

 

Joe Meyers called the meeting to order at 1:15 p.m.

II.        Election of Officers

 

Mr. Meyers opened the floor for nominations for Chairman

 

Linda Gallagher nominated Stan Moore for Chairman.

 

Motion by Don Schuiteman, supported by Jerome Dobrzelewski to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Stan Moore as chairman.  Motion carried – unanimous.

 

Mr. Meyers opened the floor for nominations for Vice-chairman.

 

Mike Crawford nominated Don Schuiteman as Vice-chairman.

 

Motion by Jerome Dobrzelewski, supported by Mike Crawford to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Don Schuiteman as Vice-chairman.  Motion carried – unanimous.

 

Chairman Moore ran the rest of the meeting from this point.

III.       Public Comment

 

Mr. Moore welcomed Mr. Schuiteman to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

IV.       Approval of the December 22, 2005 Minutes

 

 Motion by Jerome Dobrzelewski, supported by Linda Gallagher to approve the December 22, 2005 minutes as amended. 

 

Mr. Schuiteman abstained from voting because he was not on the Commission when the meeting took place.

 

Motion carried – unanimous      

V.         Website Update

 

Valerie Craft, Secretary for the Coordinator/Planners office, joined the meeting.  Ms. Craft presented a web page created to be a more user-friendly method to search the Parks and Recreation database. 

 

 

Ms. Craft gave a presentation on changes to the database.

 

Ms. Gallagher indicated that she liked what she saw but noted that it looked like a lot of work.

 

Discussion ensued about having private recreational sites on the website. 

 

Mr. Stone noted that having private recreation sites on the website would let the County do some “goodwill” for businesses in the county. 

 

It was noted that we should contact the local Chambers of Commerce and newspapers to inform them. 

 

The Commission noted that they wanted to make sure that it be displayed that people are allowed to be added upon request and as pertaining to Recreation.

 

Motion by Mark Stone, supported by Linda Gallagher to recommend to the Parks Committee to allow private recreation businesses in the Parks and Recreation Database.  Motion carried – unanimous. 

 

Mr. Moore indicated that there are a lot of access sites throughout the County that do not have any descriptive features included in the database.  Mr. Moore gave some ideas about potential features that access sites could have listed to describe the general access site.  The potential features are; unimproved, road-end access and scenic overlook.  Mr. Moore noted that some of the sites have more features than these but this would help us until we revisit these sites.

 

Discussion ensued over the definition of a road-end access. 

 

Mr. Moore further noted that there are a few areas of the database that possibly need to be changed.  Mr. Moore explained that the categories of boat launches and campsites should be changed.  Mr. Moore explained that there is one category for boat launches and we should break that up to “improved” and “unimproved”.  Mr. Moore further noted that another issue was that campsites are labeled rustic and electrified.  This should be combined to just camp grounds.  The Commission agreed with those changes.

 

The Commission thanked Ms. Craft for the hard work that she has put into the website. 

VI.       Elk Rapids Chamber of Commerce Brochure

 

Mr. Stone spoke with Terry Crandall-Kimble about the center spread in the brochure.  Mr. Stone presented a layout of what the map was going to look like.  Mr. Stone inquired about what sites the Commission wanted to do.

 

Discussion ensued about what the potential sites were going to be.

 

The sites that were chosen were; Barnes Park, Grass River Natural Area, Antrim Creek Natural Area, the Jordan River Valley, the Chain of Lakes, the Village of Elk Rapids water front, Cedar River Natural Area, and Mackinaw State Forest. 

VII.    Elk Rapids Day Park

 

Mr. Stone informed the Commission that he spoke with Joe Yuchasz, Elk Rapids President, and noted that they are interested in the property but would like to set up a joint task force on the issue.  Eileen Wallick, Barnes Park Manager, indicated that there has already been a

 

task force and we should look into the work that has already been done.  Mr. Stone asked Mr. Meyers what the ownership of the property was.  Mr. Meyers noted that there was a transfer of jurisdiction on the property back in the late 1960’s.  Mr. Meyers informed the Commission that he has consulted Legal Counsel on this issue and was informed that the County has full rights of the property and so we own it.  Mr. Meyers further noted that the property must be for public use or it will be reverted back to the state.  

VIII.    Boat Launch on Lake Michigan/Wetzel Lake Presentation

 

Mr. Meyers informed the Commission that the County just got their new aerials.  Mr. Meyers presented the two potential sites with the new aerials. 

 

 

Mr. Meyers also presented the aerials for Wetzel Lake and informed the Commission that the County has submitted a tribal grant that should be decided within the next week.  Mr. Meyers noted that the main part of the project is to create a trail around the lake.  Mr. Meyers showed that water levels have significantly depleted within the past 7 years (as compared from the 1998 and the 2005 aerials).  Ms. Gallagher stated that the lake level could be back in the next two years.  Mr. Meyers acknowledged Ms. Gallagher’s point but showed the Commission that on one of the future plans there is a loop trail that goes on one side of the lake. 

 

Ms. Gallagher inquired about ownership of the property and why would the county be investing in property that they did not have any control over. 

 

Mr. Meyers informed Ms. Gallagher that the staff at the DNR is very confident with the lease but it has to go through the process.  Mr. Meyers indicated that he would like the Commission to think about the future of Wetzel Lake.

 

IX.       Dredging Project

 

Mr. Moore informed the Commission that Janet Person, Executive Director of the Antrim Conservation District, was unable to attend the meeting but informed the Commission that they did not attain a regional dredging permit for various site in the County.  Mr. Moore further informed the Commission that they would still like our help identifying sites but informed the Commission that the cost of the permit would be passed on the Township.

 

X.        Petoskey Stone Festival

 

Ms. Gallagher informed the Commission that the she was not able to attend the Traverse City Rock and Mineral Club due to the driving conditions but will be attending the March meeting.  Ms. Gallagher further noted that the Petoskey Stone Festival is in high gear. 

 

Mr. Meyers presented the Petoskey Stone Festival website.  Ms. Gallagher indicated that not much time has been spent with the content of the website and that she is open to suggestions on ways to improve it. 

 

Ms. Gallagher informed the Commission that she has spoke with the local family for possibly purchasing Petoskey stones for the beach hunt.  Ms. Gallagher noted that they informed her that it would cost $160.00.  Ms. Gallagher noted that they would normally cost $50.00 to $100.00 for a normal batch of about 200 stones.  Ms. Gallagher further noted that the family would be delivering the stones and they would be better quality then any of the batches they could get from a rock store.

 

The Commission informed Ms. Gallagher to go back with an offer of $100.00 and see what happens.

 

Ms. Gallagher inquired about money for the festival.  Mr. Meyers informed the Commission that currently it would come out of Barnes Park budget.

 

XI.        Other Matters

 

Mr. Meyers informed the Commission that their current meeting is the fourth Thursday of the month at 9:00 a.m.  Mr. Meyers inquired about if they would like to keep their meeting date and time. 

 

The Commission indicated that they would like to have their meeting on the third Thursday of the month at 1:00 p.m.

XII       Member/Public Comment

 

None.

Meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

The next meeting will be

Thursday, February 16, 2006 at 1:00 p.m.