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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark, January 8, 20151 PARK COMMITTEE MINUTES January 8, 2015 The Park Committee of the Grant County Supervisors met on January 8, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 266 on second floor of the Administration Building, Lancaster, WI, pursuant to the last meeting of June 5, 2014. Robert Scallon, County Board Chair called the meeting to order. Verification was made by the County Clerk, Linda Gebhard that the meeting was in compliance with the open meeting law, published in the Herald Independent, posted in two places and on the county website. Members present: Donald Splinter, Dale Hood, Robert Scallon, Vern Lewison, and Daniel C. Timmerman. Also present were Steve Wetter, City of Boscobel Mayor, Robert Keeney, County Board Chair, Randy Haman, Richard Wilkinson, River Access Employees, Dave Lambert, Highway Commissioner. Agenda: Vern Lewison, seconded by Dale Hood, made a motion to approve the agenda. Motion carried. Minutes: Donald Splinter, seconded by Vern Lewison, made a motion to approve the minutes of June 5, 2014. Motion carried. Don Splinter, seconded by Dale Hood, made a motion to approve the minutes of May 1, 2014 with one correction; changing Robin Baumiester to “secretary” of the canoeing company, not ”owner”. Motion carried with correction. Boscobel Boat Landing: Chair Robert Scallon gave Mayor Steve Wetter the floor to explain to the committee why the City of Boscobel would like to purchase the Boscobel Boat Landing. The Mayor stated that the city would like to expand on the Tourism for their community. Years back the City had the Platteville University Engineering Students work on a plan to develop the landing. They have worked on ways to bring in revenue to help with the upkeep. Steve stated there were various canoe businesses who were interested in making donations to the city to help also. Steve went on to say the Wisconsin River gives the City of Boscobel a wonderful resource to attract visitors to their community and it would be a shame not to expand on that resource. By drawing more tourists in to Grant County, this would bring more revenue into the community and benefit not only them but also the County. The City understands that this purchase will probably not pay for itself, but it is a service that they can offer to make the City of Boscobel a destination for tourism. The Cities plan is to include the expense of operating the boat landing in their Parks Account to include with the five parks they already maintain. They would have all the necessary equipment to handle the maintenance; this would not be an added burden on the city. They would like to seal coat the parking lot next summer and they would like to add more parking space. Steve Wetter stated that the city had been working with DNR on possible grant money available to improve the landing to include tent camp sites for the canoe visitors. The Boscobel City Council had voted and their vote was 100% in agreement to purchase the landing from the County. Don Splinter stated some concern if the county did sell the landing to the City of Boscobel; he felt certain restriction should be implemented such as Right of First Refusal and that the landing had to remain as a landing for all the public and could not be privatized. Also, if for some reason, the City of Boscobel no longer wanted to own the landing it would be deeded back to the County. Another concern was that if the landing did come back to the County; there would be some protection against added leans that could possibly come with the landing. 2 Steve Wetter agreed that legal counsel would have to draw the paper up in order to protect both entities. Steve Wetter stated that they were ready to move forward on the purchase, the next step for them was to have the committees determination regarding selling the landing. After more discussion, Chair Robert Scallon asked the committee what action they would like to take. Dan Timmerman, seconded by Robert Scallon made a motion to recommend taking this issue before the full county board at the January 20, 2015 meeting for their final decision. A Roll Call Vote was take resulting in three yes votes, 2 abstained, therefore the motion carried to take this issue before the Grant County Board of Supervisors at the January 2015 meeting. New Business: Dan Timmerman asked the committee that if he had interested constituents in his district who might be interested in purchasing other boat landings that the county maintains, is this the committee that they would need to come to discuss this. He stated that he had some inquiries on the O’Leary Boat Landing and also the Potosi Point Landing. Robert Keeney stated that there had been some inquiries on the Glen Haven Boat Landing also. It was the consensus of the committee to wait to see what the outcome was by the County Board of Supervisors regarding the Boscobel Boat Landing first before any more discussion took place on other entities purchasing the boat landing from the county. Old Business: No other issues were discussed at this time. Adjournment: Dale Hood, seconded by Dan Timmerman made a motion to adjourn the meeting pursuant to the next meeting at the call of the chair. Motion carried.