Park board discusses public comments, committees

The Hill County Park Board discussed upcoming events, agenda procedures and possibly restructuring committees during its monthly meeting Monday.

The board has been discussing a new policy document that would codify the procedures for public comments and agenda setting for their meetings.

Board Chair Jeff Jensen said the draft largely reflects what they do already, but there were elements he wanted changed or added to.

Jensen said he wants to make clear that the board will only comment on and discuss things they can actually act on.

He also proposed that they add a time limit of one minute to public comments at the beginning of the meeting, and three minutes at the end.

Board member Lou Hagener objected to the proposal, saying he thinks they should be able to establish time limits on public comment for the purposes of time and fairness, but said limits don't have to be rigid.

Hagener said he thinks the chair should be able to make determinations on time limits based on what is being discussed and how much relevant information any given person is providing.

He said if someone is talking about things irrelevant to the discussion at hand or something like that, the chair should have the ability to get them back on track or cut them off, but if someone has a lot of information relevant to the discussion the chair can also provide more time for that person to cover all that information.

Jensen also objected to a line in the policy saying board members should be able to recognize members of the public to speak during board discussion of an item, saying that that power should lie with the chair.

He said if any board member has someone they'd like him to acknowledge they can let him know and he will do that during discussion.

Hagener said he thinks all board members should be able to acknowledge people on their own.

After some discussion and argument the matter was tabled so it could be brought up at a later meeting.

The board also discussed the possibility of restructuring its committees and searching for new members.

Jensen said the Finance and Planning Committee meets so rarely that he's thinking of merging it with the rules and regulations committee.

Finance and Planning Committee member Lee Morse, who was at the meeting for an unrelated issue, said the irregularity of the committee's meetings is one of the reasons he's no longer interested in staying on it.

Morse said he thinks they should have scheduled quarterly meetings so everyone is on the same page as to when they should be available.

He also said he feels that some of their meetings end up not mattering, since they will often have a good 90 minute long discussion on an issue, only for the vast majority of it to be ignored by the board when they are discussing the committee's report.

"It's not fair. We had a pointless meeting," he said.

Jensen said it seems like they have trouble getting applicants for these committees as well, so combining them would mean they have fewer seats to fill.

Hagener said he thinks the board should be nominating individuals who've expressed interest to serve on the committees instead of just putting out a notice saying there are spots open.

He said he's spoken with people who are interested in getting involved with committees but aren't necessarily putting themselves out there for consideration.

Regardless of what they decide to do with those committees they need to send out a public notice about openings on the Park Board and its committees, he added.

Hagener made a motion to request that the Hill County Commission send out a public notice announcing soon-to-be-open positions on the board and that the board do the same for its committees.

Hill County Commissioner and Park Board member Mark Peterson said they should send letters to the people whose terms are about to expire.

Hagener said he has no issue with the commission or the board doing that, but his motion only has to do with a public notice for now.

After a good deal of confusion and argument over what constitutes a notice versus a letter, Hagener attempted to amend his motion to include both public notices and letters, but the issue was eventually tabled after Jensen said the board should decide whether it's going to restructure their committees or not.

Jensen said the committee discussing designs for the new Beaver Lodge has recently put out a request for proposals from architects which they are waiting for responses to.

During the meeting board member Ursula Brese said Friends of Beaver Creek Park is requesting permission to sell their stickers at Camp Kiwanis but they need permission from the board, which was given unanimously.

Morse also made a request for permission to have a memorial bench built on the park for his late spouse, Jackie Morse

The board approved unanimously and provided suggestions on how to go about getting a memorial bench built.

The board also heard from Terrie Stump of Rocky Boy Health Center, which hopes to run their Annual Bike Ride through part of the park again this year starting at the Bear Paw Ski Bowl.

Stump said the clinic didn't use the park last year due to COVID, but now they are looking to get back to the park this year, though they might only end up doing a 5 mile ride this time around.

She said the center is helping purchase the bikes, mainly paid for through donations, and children will be able to keep the bikes at the end of the event.

She said the event is first-come-first-serve so it's possible not everyone will be going home with a bike but the event has already provided 200 bikes to the community so far.

Stump said the event will serve meals and feature speakers who will talk about things like diabetes prevention.

Jensen and Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said they typically require proof of insurance for the event before approving anything, but once they have that they're happy to work with her.

Jensen also suggested that Stump get in touch with the city since he knows a lot of bikes get left at the parks and never claimed.

Stump said they've already collected a few of those bikes and fixed them up for people.

At the end of the meeting the board also got an update on usage and conditions within Beaver Creek Park from Edgar.

He said usage is well-below normal due to the weather, but local ice fishers have been able to extend their season a bit.

He said park conditions overall are very wet, with Kiwanis receiving 8 inches of heavy snow over the past month and the south end getting a full foot.

Edgar also said he's ordered the new kiosk for the park which is on its way.

He said Hill County Printing is helping with the kiosk's panel designs.

The next meeting of the Hill County Park Board will be May 1.