Hello, and welcome to the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting for Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025.

We are here in City Council Chambers.

Just a reminder: for public participation, you can either tune in to Comcast Cable 27.

The meeting will also be streamed live via the city's website at www.belmont.gov or on Zoom by visiting Belmontgov.zoom.us.

Select join and enter meeting ID nine two four-eight three-one nine three seven five seven.

For public comments, public in the council chambers may present the clerk a request to speak slip found at the rear of the chamber.

If participating virtually, use the raise hand feature to request to speak.

For dialing comments, call star six seven one six six six six six six nine nine hundred sixty-eight thirty-three.

Your phone number will appear on the live broadcast if star six seven is not dialed prior to the phone number.

Enter meeting ID nine two four-eight three one nine-three seven five-seven and press star nine to request to speak.

All public comments are subject to a three-minute time limit unless otherwise determined by the committee chair.

To submit a written public comment, email PR com at Belmont.gov before the commission considers the item.

Please indicate the agenda item topic or agenda item number you wish to comment on in your email subject line.

Any public comment regarding agenda items that are received from the publication of the agenda through the meeting date will be made part of the meeting record, but will not be read during the committee meeting.

The chair also has the authority to order any person who willfully interrupts the meeting to be removed.

All persons are expected to conduct themselves with civility and courtesy at all times.

All persons giving comments shall speak directly to the Commission and address issues, not individuals.

Personal attacks, cursing, or outbursts from the audience in support or opposition to the speaker are not tolerated in order to foster an environment where everyone feels welcome to speak.

So items on the agenda.

Commissioner Hill.

Here.

Here.

Commissioner Whitmore?

Here.

Commissioner Michaels.

Here.

Commissioner Cunha.

Here.

Chair Emkin.

Here.

Youth Commissioner Perez.

Here.

Commissioners Lieford and Youth Commissioner Venkatesh are absent.

All rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Do we have any speaker slips or raised hands?

We have one hand raised on Zoom.

All right, Rosemary, you will have three minutes.

Rosemary, are you there?

Yes.

I had some problems.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, you're all good.

You'll have three minutes.

Okay.

Um, I'm a resident of the city of Belmont for twenty-nine years, and I volunteer at the Senior Center.

And I'm a member of the senior club.

What I'm coming for this evening to bring up is that I know that you're looking for commissioners, but you also have a youth advisory, but the city seniors have not had any input because the senior advisory committee hasn't met or hasn't had a quorum for a long time.

And so this is my concern that there's no one to raise up questions that affect the seniors at the city of Belmont.

So I would like to, and also I was on the I don't know if it's excuse me, if it was the task force, but it was the age-friendly city.

And one of the things that's important to me is community.

That is one of the very reasons that I was glad to move to the city of Belmont was to be in community with others.

And I've age through, now I am a senior, but it seems like to have an age-friendly community is to help seniors enjoy an active role in their community and feel respected, valued, and engaged.

And I'm just concerned what the future holds for the senior community without bringing in the seniors to have their voice.

So thank you for that, and that is.

So if there's any information that you can give about the senior advisory committee, we'd appreciate it.

Thank you.

Do we have any other comments or questions?

We do not.

So Rosemary, thank you very much for your comments.

I'll just mention that we aren't, as commissioners, we're not allowed to discuss things that are not on the agenda, but we do hear you, and we're very thankful that you brought this issue to us.

Okay, so for our next agenda item, uh commissioner announcements or agenda amendments.

Anyone have any announcements?

I'm sure we're gonna get to it, but it was just an amazing creek uh opening ceremony today.

So it was wonderful to be there and see the community and thank you for all the staff for all their hard work over the years.

Anyone else?

I'm sure we all echo that um many of us were there at the ribbon cutting today, and it was just such a great celebration of all of the hard work that went into that project, and it looks amazing.

So it's open now.

So if you want to come down to Twin Pines Park, please come explore it.

It looks amazing.

The pictures don't do it justice when you need to see it in person to really understand the scope and uh like the change that's happening.

Really impressive.

Okay, item number five, consent calendar.

Um consent calendar items are considered routine in nature and will be enacted in one motion.

There'll be no separate discussion on these items unless a commissioner or staff requests specific items be removed for separate action.

And so we have one item, and that is the November 5th, 2025 draft minutes.

Commissioner Hill?

Yes.

Commissioner Lee?

Yes.

Commissioner Whitmore?

Yes.

Commissioner Michaels?

Yes.

Commissioner Cunha?

Yes.

Chair Emkin.

Yes.

Motion passes 6 0.

Okay, now on to the fun stuff.

Items of business.

Up first, we have facility rental update.

Good evening, commissioners.

Um, I'm Karina Cortez, Facilities uh program coordinator for parks and Recreation.

Um, and I have a presentation for you today.

Our facility and picnic rentals update.

We have our five facilities that we rent out for events and meetings.

This is a snapshot of how many rentals we had this past fiscal year for each facility.

As you can see, we have a lot of people visiting and utilizing our facilities.

Typical events include weddings, quinceañettas, birthday parties, showers, memorials, and meetings.

Facilities are available Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday.

However, due to adult programming, the Twin Pine Senior Community Center is available weekday evenings only.

In general, our high peak rental period is typically April through October.

Most facilities are booked every Saturday.

One significant change this last year is the increase of rentals at the sports complex.

In years past, we had more rentals booked in the senior center and the lodge.

Some possible factors include renters sizing down events due to cost, word of mouth, its location, and ample parking.

There was also more city and county wide meetings scheduled this past year.

This facility is available all day, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.

to 9 p.m., which makes a great staff meeting, workshop, or training location.

Facility rental updates.

We upgraded our table inventory for all facilities.

Our new tables are lighter and more economic to replace.

Staff can move them more easily.

The sizes we now purchase are six foot rectangular and 60 inch round tables.

We downsized to these two table options, eliminating the larger, bulkier sizes, which were harder to move and store.

We completed the outdoor patio lighting project for the lodge and cottage.

This project has significantly improved both patios.

Many renters book these facilities for the patio, so adding new lighting has enhanced the look and feel of that area, creating a warmer environment during events and making it safer for renters and guests.

We hired and trained more building attendants.

We currently have seven staff on the building attendant team.

We would like to hire two more staff before the spring and summer, which are our busiest time of the year.

We also enhance the customer rental experience.

Renters are now provided with more information both when they book online and on the day of their event.

Once the reservation is approved, I send them an informative email explaining next steps, when things are due, links to insurance, cleaning, and so forth.

They're also sent a fun checklist they can use to stay organized, checking off their action items when completed.

On the day of the event building attendance staff provide them with an after the event checklist to keep with them so they can refer to it after the event.

They also receive a cleaning kit, which has supplies they may need during the event, as well as extra first aid supplies and sanitizers.

Moving on to picnics usage.

This is one of our favorite photos in the office.

Our reservable picnic areas are mostly booked online.

We have our four sites available for reservations.

Our larger sites, Twin Pines Meadow and Redwood are used for large events and festivals.

Buckeye and Alexander are more often booked for smaller family type events, especially children's birthday parties.

Although we had a significant number of people utilize these areas, picnic usage is somewhat down this past year due to the Creek Restoration Project starting in June and not having Redwood available for reservations, which is typically booked up every weekend in the summer.

It is also booked during the week in the summer, whereas the meadow is only available Friday through Sunday.

Our wedding fair in the park has become our signature event in the spring.

All facilities and picnic areas are open for tours and staged for events.

The vendor exhibit is in the Twin Pine Senior Community Center.

For this year's event, 35 vendors participated, which was our highest number so far.

We had a variety of vendors, including caterers, photographers, DJs, floral, event planners, wedding gowns, jewelry, bakeries, artists, a singer, bartending services, and equipment rentals.

There was also a bridal sash making station, sample food and drinks, bride tiaras, and a photo booth.

The attendant was consistent with the 2024 event.

Anticipated attendance was not quite as high as expected due to tickets sold on Eventbrite, boosted marketing, and interest received via socials and emails.

However, attendance was similar to the 2024 fair.

Although attendance didn't seem to increase, feedback received by vendors and attendees has been positive and very well received.

The 2026 wedding fair is scheduled for Sunday, April 12th.

Some changes may be made to utilize more of the outdoor space for vendors.

Here's some more photos of the event that we had in April.

And then lastly, Twin Pines Art Center programs at the manor.

We have a new volunteer community arts curator, Heather Birnbaum Harris.

She is a former manor artist who is bringing more art programs and events to the manor.

She would really like to grow the Twin Pine Art Center and create a hub for local artists to connect as well as offer free fun events for adults.

Her passion and vision for what the manor can be is exciting, and we're lucky to have her leading this effort.

All her programs and events will be held on Saturday evenings.

The music and open mic nights, her first music and open mic night event in October was a great kickoff event.

There was an opening band, Bagwell and Troy that played Blues Americana music, followed by open mic participants who bravely share their music and voice.

The list to perform for that hour filled up quickly.

There was a crowd of about 30 people who cheered along.

The next event will be January 24th.

The Obscure Movie Club is a new movie club that will get people together to watch obscure movies that not too many people have heard of.

Everyone will watch the movie together and then discuss it afterwards.

The first movie is Joe versus the Volcano on Saturday, January 3rd.

Heather will be also offering a new painting class led by her and another artist.

This class includes reviewing color theory, an artist spotlight, and still life painting.

Participants will have the opportunity to share their work and receive feedback.

The artist's spotlight for February 28th is Vincent Fangoh.

Finally, the author readings where local authors will read their published work, followed by the opportunity for participants to share their own work and receive feedback.

The first event is scheduled for March 28th.

These offerings are just some of the programs Heather is getting started for winter and spring.

We'll see how they do and perhaps offer some more programs in the future.

And then here's some more photos of the music and open mic night that we had in October.

And that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We do not.

Okay.

So I think commissioners, we can do comments and questions together.

Why don't we start down on this end?

No, not really any questions, but uh I thought the revised lighting of the lodge and uh the cottage really made up look nice.

So the pictures at least.

Uh I can't say I've been out there at night to see it, but I have to check it out.

And uh Joe versus the volcano being referred to as obscure really makes me feel old.

I remember when that movie came out, I saw it at the movie theaters.

Anyway, that's it.

I was expecting some kind of film more really, you know, from the vaults of the Criterion Collection.

I've never heard of it.

I don't know, right?

Tom Hanks, yeah.

Point proven.

Um, just one quick question.

Do we have data or can you tell us more about how our facility usage rates and rental rates compared to previous years?

Um, as far as the what we charge.

No, the uh participant like number of rentals and the number of participants or attendees.

Yeah, I mean, our numbers are pretty consistent, unless like a facility is not available for some sort of project or something like that.

But I mean, every year the numbers just, you know, uh also depending on what the fees are at the time because they do go up every fiscal year.

Um, but I would say they're pretty consistent every year.

Um that's been the pattern so far since I've been here.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Uh, when people are renting, do they uh mark down what the event is?

Like if it's a wedding versus a birthday.

Yes.

And so you have all that data.

Do you know like since you've been doing the wedding fairs, have there been more wedding rentals?

Like have there been more weddings in the facilities?

Yeah, I mean, uh a lot of the p the renters that have had weddings are booked with us already, sometimes will come to the wedding fair to kind of get an idea and like find vendors and so forth.

Um, but yeah, we did have like an uh a few more weddings that we got just from the wedding fair as well.

And then some of the vendors too um did share that they got some of the biggest contracts or business that they've re ever received from the wedding fair.

So yeah, that was also exciting to hear.

And do the rates change depending on the event?

Like if it's a wedding versus a birthday, is it the same cost?

No, it's the same costs.

Okay.

And then are there is security required for events at certain times or certain types of events?

Yes.

So security is required for events that are having alcohol and are having more than 150 people.

Okay.

And is that through like a city?

Like you have to go through the like a vendor or a security company that you approve?

Yeah, we just require them to submit their contract with whatever company they're going with and then um just send that to us two weeks before their event.

Interesting.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Cool.

Thanks.

Are I was wondering for maybe for the the picnic space and even the indoor space?

Are there kind of other amenities that could be purchased?

I mean, maybe there's like long games or you know, giant Jenga or those types of things that the city could offer, and maybe there's some extra margin in renting that out or things.

I don't know if you thought about that.

Yeah, we did have the horseshoe stakes that we we do actually rent that out still.

Um it's kind of rare when people ask for it, but if they do, we we do rent that out and then the volleyball um net and then the ball.

So we have that that they can rent.

Okay, do people do that often or um I would say it's not very often, but they still do, like once in a while.

Okay.

And then I think I asked this before, but with more of the corporate events, do are there facilitators or other kind of not exactly security, but kind of service providers that you have a list of folks that, you know, if a company wants to have a get-together to be able to have kind of a uh, you know, like a brainstorming facilitator or some type of workshop that could be something maybe having that outside vendor, it's almost like a like a one time recreation activity that could be a menu option for folks who want to rent the space.

And again, thinking there's probably additional cost, but the additional margin for the city for that.

Yeah, thank you.

Um when when folks do a booking, is there any ask to book the next one or or do you is it just a open call again for them to do that?

I'm just wondering if there's ways to hook them in for their next event before they finish the first.

Um so if somebody wanted to book like the same type of event next the following year.

Could be the following year, it could be next month, or I mean, I guess I know the horizon in terms of booking.

There's a window that you don't want to just give them, or maybe you do want to give them preference for same time next year.

Let's go ahead and lock that in.

Yeah.

Um, well, we do have like a different reservation process for residents versus non residents.

So residents can book a year in advance, non-residents, it's 10 months in advance.

Okay.

And then nonprofits, it's six months in advance.

Got it.

And then I did not know about the arts stuff is amazing.

And so I guess the question is how do we get the word out more and how to make that is it I know there's so many different ways with which to get onto calendars and such, but I wonder maybe this is pushing us to think more holistically of us of a parks calendar you could subscribe to.

Do we do anything like that?

That's a bigger question, though.

Well, I mean you they can subscribe to our like notifications to get on the the emails.

Um is there anything else, Amory, that they can not currently.

I just wonder if there's something that, you know, there's different web services that you could just say, oh yeah, and I'll subscribe to the City of Belmont Parks.

And maybe you could filter the bit, but let's say you don't, and then in my calendar, it'll just auto-populate a different color, different like activities, and so and you could describe the activity if there's a link to reserve space, you could do that.

I just wonder, I'm just trying to think of are there other ways to make it automatic for people to know.

Yeah, I mean, this is not automatic, but on our website itself, like on the calendar, if people click on those events, there is an option to add it onto their calendar.

I know it's not automatic, but that is a way for them to have it going forward.

Yeah.

The I I also think that this is a perfect opportunity for even just not co-branding it, but to label it under belonging.

You know, and yeah, so this is a great kind of one night and think about sorry.

Think about if there's we should always have a little mixer beforehand or or everyone make sure that there's always name tags available, or there's some type of icebreaker that happens and think about ways to kind of not just call it something, but also kind of back it up with an activity, or create a new activity that happens in the space and think about that.

Just a thought.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah, thanks.

I don't I don't have much many questions.

Um I would say like I also didn't know that you could rent out some of these spots.

So um this is a great reminder for our hundred year celebrations for folks like to use some of our amazing facilities.

Um and then yeah, like somehow we should elevate like a little bit, like especially like the gallery um and the patios, like somehow like we post about it and say, did you know you can rent this?

Um because I think that that I think people would be interested.

So thank you.

This is really interesting.

Thank you.

I like the past two or three months, I've been hearing a lot of music coming from over here.

So this gave me a little bit of closure as to like the fact that there's people renting it out and doing parties and stuff.

Um I'm really excited about like the the whatever the new art curator is doing, because I'm like all those ideas, like the painting class, the movie night thing, those are like all things that I'm into.

Um, but I am a little concerned about like how you're gonna get that out because I mean I've like what's the plan for like advertising those things?

Like how are you guys like spreading that word?

Yeah, so the plan is um, you know, to promote it on socials, um, on our city website, it's on the calendar.

Um and then Heather has been just we just did flyers, we put posted them all on our bulletin boards.

She also took some and posted them on her end.

Um so those are kind of the main things that we did for this event.

Um yeah, I'm welcome to any suggestions or ideas if you might have any other thoughts on that.

I mean, I know like next week I'm volunteering for like the toy drive at the firehouse station.

And I know like not like a bunch of seven-year-olds are not probably gonna want to come to these things, but maybe the parents might.

So maybe putting it out more in like upcoming events and stuff.

I don't know.

I don't want this stuff to go away.

This feels like a win for like the artists, I think.

So I'm kind of excited about that.

Thank you.

So following up on the qu their same questions because it sounds fantastic, all these art events, and but I hadn't heard of them.

I didn't, so I missed this music and open mic night, so trying to advertise it more.

And was it in the the flyers that were just sent out, the activity guide or no?

Um, no.

I think we didn't have enough time to put it in this last activity guide.

Um, but it will be going out in the next one.

Okay, because I think there's a lot of us, like um, I'm not on social media, very old school.

I see things that are in paper, so I didn't notice the flyer.

I usually look at the flyers, but um, if it were in there, I probably would have seen it.

So maybe that's a way to get a segment of the population that would be interested and maybe missed it.

And I think it it's great.

I so these events they're free, right?

Yeah, they're free.

And I'm sorry, we did have it actually in the guide.

It was just like an ad, just advertising that these programs were uh going to be starting.

Um, but it wasn't specific to like the music and open mic night.

It was just that we have like a new new programs coming up to stay tuned.

Um, and then what type of events, like uh, you know, painting classes, just giving them an overview of what type of programs they are.

And is it um it looked like it was about once a month, but is it on a regular basis so you could say it's the third Saturday of every month at a certain time?

Something that people could just be like, I'm gonna keep that on my calendar and know that it so it is set, it is a set date.

Like yeah, that's what Heather wants to do.

She wants to do it like every third Saturday of the month, every fourth, Saturday, have a consistent schedule so people can know when the next one's coming.

Yeah, because that would be great because I think you could get a community that comes on a regular basis if it's scheduled like that.

So uh I'm thankful.

I feel like we're very lucky to have someone who is willing to organize that, and I hope that it um grows into a popular thing.

Um, any other comments or questions before we wrap up?

Okay, thank you very much for your presentation.

Thank you.

Okay, on to the next item item B appointment of a subcommittee for the Oak Knoll improvement project.

Good evening, commissioners.

Um, in uh the recent parks and recreation open space master plan, evaluation of our park density, the areas of around Oak Noak Drive and surrounding streets were identified as lacking a public amenity, um, and was identified as a high priority in the pros plan.

Um the staff report um shows the area that we were talking about, and there is kind of a little bit of an error.

So the blue arrow kind of got shifted a little bit down.

Um there is a little blue dot that we're oh, here we go.

Yeah, let me start over.

Sorry.

So uh in the recent parks and recreation open space master plan, um, evaluation of our park density in the city, the area of Oaknok Drive and the surrounding streets were identified as lacking a public amenity and were identified as a high priority for the city.

Um the staff report shows the map that we're talking about, and there is a blue arrow.

The arrow got shifted down slightly, so there is a little blue dot, which is the area we're talking about just for um clarification.

Um and then on the next page, um, it is the current image of what space we're talking about, the open that open uh space on page two.

So the city is proposing to develop a modest 3,000 square foot play space in this undeveloped public right away of Oak Noak Drive.

Um this small space is uh natural grass and it would be used for gathering and promoting social interaction.

This would be a low density space, meaning few amenities and used by only a handful of people at any given time.

The space does have its challenges though, it's limited um by the amenities due some due to six trees that are currently planted on that property.

Um there's a lack of irrigation, and there's a handful of um roadways um and a driveway around that or road around the whole perimeter of that property.

Um the city has budgeted in fiscal year 25-26, um, in their capital improvement fund the funds uh for design and construction for this piece of property.

Um the city has currently received three design proposals based on staff, public council, and commission comments.

Um so staff is recommending that uh two commissioners be appointed to the Oak Knoll subcommittee to review these proposals and return back to the commission in January with their recommendation after the recommendation and the the proposal is uh or the design company, the consultant is approved.

Um, we will come back um with community outreach and engagement with the Oak Noak neighborhood and the community at large once I said once we get the consultant in place.

Um okay, so before I look for public comments or questions, uh at for this meeting, are we asking?

Are we allowed to ask you questions about the project, or are we just focused on appointing two people to the subcommittee and in January we will ask you questions about the proposed project?

Just appointing the subcommittee here.

Just appointing the subcommittee.

That's correct.

Okay.

So in that case, do we have any public comments or questions on this issue?

We do not okay.

Um, so today we're just going to work on appointing two commissioners to the subcommittee for the Oaknel Improvement Project.

So is there anyone who would like to volunteer who feels passionate about this project?

I will say that remember, um, if you live near the site, like I think it's we so we're talking, I think it's a thousand feet, and I think that includes me.

Um you should not serve on the subcommittee.

I would like to.

Always happy to, but okay, so anyone down there have any strong feelings?

No?

That's right.

Oh, okay.

Um, so in that case, um, it sounds like um Commissioner Whitmore and Commissioner Michaels are interested in being on the subcommittee and so do I have to make a motion?

Does someone make a motion for that?

You you just appoint.

I just okay.

I just appointed you to the subcommittee.

And we look here forward to hearing from you in January about this project.

Okay, sounds good.

Okay, moving on.

Item C open space volunteer update.

Okay.

Um, so you guys, I think have seen this presentation or a very similar one in the past, but we came um just to give you an update on um the volunteer uh information and process to volunteer in our open space.

So the volunteer uh project goals are we want to improve city coordination and oversight of volunteer activities in our open space.

We want to improve our documentation and tracking of projects that we've completed.

We want to improve collaboration with city staff for assistance with debris removal, tree removal, trail maintenance, etc.

And we want consistent procedures for vegetation management and trail maintenance.

So our open space volunteer project procedure.

So before starting any project, um a community organization needs to first contact the parks and rec department to discuss their plans and what they're planning, listing out their location, which may include a site visit from our local staff, the dates that of the work that they're proposing, the procedure for completing the work, uh staff needs the support staff needs from our parks team.

Uh they want to make sure that they complete the volunteer waivers on our website, and then before any um project gets started, they need to receive rewritten uh approval from our department.

Uh they can only perform the work that is in their plan and scope of work that they've submitted.

Um they want to make sure they document the work, including before and after photos so we can track that progress.

So open space trail maintenance, similar to uh the open space volunteer projects.

They're gonna go through the same process that I just outlined on the other slide.

Um, and then they're gonna report trail maintenance needs once again to our parks and rec department.

City staff will attend to um maintenance needs such as tree removals or any other uh needs that may require our assistance.

Uh trail maintenance must be kept in approved uh with approved trail building and maintenance standards, and any unapproved trail maintenance modifications are not permitted and prohibited.

Uh our vegetation maintenance, same process as outlined uh in a couple slides ago.

Um, and then for vegetation removal and including invasive species, safety hazards, etc., may only be done within five feet of an open space trail and where debris removal can occur by the city vehicle access or within transit by volunteers.

And non-native plant removal must uh incorporate best practices for minimizing seed proliferation and erosion uh concerns.

Um, and you can contact our office for more information.

Um you can also go to Calflora.org.

So once again, best practices for any volunteering projects or uh help in our open space.

You want to report any trail maintenance needs to our department or via the 311 app.

Stay off closed or wet trails and stay out of closed areas.

Stay out of uh stay on the trails.

You want to keep dogs on leash when you're visiting the trails in open space.

And if you want to improve, we are more than welcome to always ask welcome assistance for volunteering and maintaining our open space and trails.

But once again, requires all pre-approval from our department before you get going.

So trail etiquette outreach, invasive plant removal, water diversity diversion projects, post storm assessments, all that is options for volunteering, and you can volunteer and sign up by going to Belmont.gov slash volunteer.

And once again, just to reiterate, unauthorized work of any kind in our open space is prohibited without prior approval.

Okay.

Do we have any public comments or questions?

We do not.

Okay.

Let's let's do comments and questions separately.

So let's start with questions.

Any questions that we have about this?

Yeah, I have a couple.

She'd probably like to go last.

So we go with the rest.

Okay.

I have a couple.

Um do we have issues with folks doing unauthorized, not prohibited volunteer work in our city?

And what what are what are some issues that we're having?

That's a good question.

Um we do sometimes have some uh over-eager uh park visitors that take it upon themselves to do some pruning uh or some kind of trail um modifications uh sometimes to put in features to make the trail experience a little more exciting um or um yeah or or sometimes even trying to expand a trail or expand our trail network.

Those are the kinds of things that we need to prohibit.

We need to get uh oversight of those things, and so we're again asking the community to um come to us first.

Um like Cody was saying, we welcome the help, but we need to kind of manage the help that we get.

Totally.

Um super interesting.

Have we ever done like a you know how we do like the hikes on different trails?

Have we ever done like um I guess like a coordinated teaching people how to volunteer, like if they were interested in doing this pruning on their own, like this is the way that we want it done, and how we, yeah.

Um that's a really good point.

We have not done something that explicit.

We did do um several rounds of um uh volunteer groups coming and doing invasive plant removal with us with staff oversight um to kind of again show best practices and the other pieces that's important is when we do remove invasive species, we don't want to just leave a pile of uh dead debris somewhere.

A then if you know if the seeds are still active, right?

We've just sort of moved the problem to a new location, and um we've potentially created an additional fire hazard by having a pile of dead debris.

So um, so it's important that we all work together to um do it at the right time of year, do it in the right way, and get the uh invasive material out.

Um the other thing we don't want to do, well I acknowledge there is there are invasive plants throughout the open space.

Um we are asking volunteers to limit to five feet on either side of a trail and not just go into the guts of the open space because that action itself may eventually turn into a trail.

If you do if you go too many times in one area, then you've kind of created a trail or a place that people might think is a trail.

So um uh if any of that type of work is done, we'd rather that be done uh either by us or or through a third party with us.

Well, some oversight.

No, that makes total sense to me.

And I just think, yeah, they're thinking hopefully that people have good intentions is what I'm hoping.

Um it just might be lack of education, and that maybe that's a a gap that we can fill with some fun events that we already do so great at.

Um a couple other questions I had just for my curiosity.

Who manages our um parks and rec 311?

Like those requests that are so it's the city IT department, and then and then if something is flagged as a park related thing, so anything to do with our parks or open space or some trees in some cases, that all comes to us.

It automatically is directed to us, several of us get notified by that, and then we we take care of it in response.

Got it.

And do you guys have like reports like at the end of the year of how many requests we got or what were like the major issues that people complained about?

Um those are available through IT.

Um we pride ourselves in kind of closing all those so we don't have anything, we don't have any open issues, we like to um take care of those things uh right away.

We cannot always fulfill a request.

Sometimes people have a request that doesn't work.

For example, if somebody requests, hey, I'd like lights at a certain park.

Um we're not gonna do that because our parks close at at sunset.

Um but we always respond and and close the loop on those things.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Cool.

Uh this is great.

I don't know if I have a ton of questions or comments that will have questions in them, but what does the city normally post at the volunteer site?

I mean, are we actively posting project opportunities or is it really more tell us what you want?

Tell us tell the city what you want to do.

Yes, we greatly appreciate if people come to us with with a proposal that it might be a school group that says, Hey, I've got 20 kids, you know, what can we do?

And then we can we can work together to find something that fits in their time window, fits their skills, and um and we can do it.

So I'm saying not just with the open space, but any kind of volunteer project.

Um we right now we have not posted large sort of open to the public volunteer opportunities in a while just because we've been busy doing other things.

Oh, I know.

I meant so I guess it's a group doesn't have to have objective.

That's right.

Um and you could work kind of individually.

I was just thinking if you needed to post like five objectives that we'd love to get accomplished, and so the groups could have a sense of uh or I wonder if it's good to have a couple of examples that maybe a group could make it a little bit more approachable for a group to like understand.

Sure.

That could be good.

And then normally is there like a duration expectation that the city has for these projects is like you must do it in a day or take as long as you need.

That really depends on the project.

I mean, we've had some trail projects that you know take several weekends to do.

Um if it's something major, um, we found with volunteer groups, two hours is kind of a pretty sweet spot of a window.

Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure.

Okay, I think that's all the questions for the moment.

Um have people in the past manipulated trails to make it better for mountain biking?

Um yes, we've seen some features there, you know, to make an experience a little more exciting.

So when we have uh been made aware of those, um we try to go out and attend to that.

Um because again, we're not trying to make a um we we welcome mountain biking out there, but it's not a speed track and it's not uh it's not an extreme sport, shouldn't be an extreme sport, it's a multi multi-use trails.

Okay, that's my one question.

Thank you.

Um sort of a two-part question.

Have we noticed uh an increase in the like the frequency of reporting of work that or unauthorized work?

Uh and also have we uh noticed an increase in people wanting to volunteer, or has that been pretty consistent over the last few years?

We've seen a decline in um interest in volunteering.

Um we have not necessarily been notified of unauthorized work, but we have come across unauthorized work and um and in some cases we then our park staff goes out and removes the.

Does it feel pretty similar to years past, like the frequency of the unauthorized work or is that um I would say it's kind of settled down to probably what was pre COVID status quo.

Okay.

Um I would I would look forward to and welcome some more organized um or more I don't want to say more organized, um, uh more proposals from the community to do work in the open space.

And if they can even if they can't do actual work with shovels and that sort of thing, one of the things that was on the list was, you know, education and outreach.

And if we um if we can have folks kind of greet visitors that come to our open space and just kind of talk about it and and educate people on the importance of keeping your dog on leash, watching your speed, um staying on the trail, you know, and and rather than wagging the finger at them, really have a little uh interaction and explain why that is important.

One more question.

Do we s do we still have our volunteer volunteer coordinator?

Um unfortunately no.

Okay.

So we welcome if somebody else wants to step up to do that, that'd be great.

Uh I have a few questions.

Um is there a place where when work is approved that it is posted so that people can like see that a job is actually official?

Uh it's a bit of a leading question because I've been part of work things where sometimes people come up and say, Hey, you're not allowed to do that.

We're like, We're with the city and they say, How do you know?

And yeah, there's sometimes you get a printout or you know, you might have an email, but it nothing that looks official.

Is there a place somebody can go to see their that's a really good suggestion.

So maybe that's something we could put on the website.

What we've done in the past is kind of given a sign, you know, kind of a lawn sign that you could put in sort of in the you know, the front end of the back end of the trail work, um or um I don't know if in the past we've given some vests or something like that, but that's certainly something we could do is is maybe get some gear so that's um your vol your city volunteer and you're coded as that.

Yeah, I mean, as you know, I've been part of the mo mountain bike community for a long time and I think a lot of times they get blamed for making trails they shouldn't do, but a lot of times they're doing work that has been approved.

I've seen like for instance the trail keepers have actually pr made those proposals.

Had there's a binder of them with pictures and everything.

Yeah.

But sometimes they get blamed because it's perceived that they were doing something they weren't supposed to be doing.

Um That's a good point.

And of course the trails out there were all built by mountain bikers.

So I mean it's yeah, well a lot of them were.

So sure, that's a that seems fair.

Um what can we do to encourage people and make it easier?

I mean, we just got a bunch of rules like four slides worth of rules that you have to do, which you know, all those things are barriers to helping.

What can we do to make it easier?

Um, and I guess the second part of that is like uh I think back back to what Commissioner Cunha said, you know, how can we train people?

Like how do you identify Scotch broom or and how how do you identify poison oak so you don't step in it?

You know, the kinds of things that you learn as a volunteer the hard way.

You know, is there something that we can do as a city to help encourage people to come out and and work in the open space either on trail maintenance or you know, vegetation maintenance.

That's a gr that's a great idea, babe.

We do sort of a volunteer one on one and have people come.

The thing is we don't have staff seven days a week, so um so that's always a bit of a challenge to make sure.

I would encourage us to maybe think about how we can come up with a program because I know that you know a lot of times it's just individuals in the community who bring random sets of skills and sometimes they're not the practices that the city wants, right?

Right.

Great.

Um also I guess more of a comment than a question, but I know that we have the Belmont app and a like recently when we had the big rains, there were a lot of trees that went down, and I'm on various text chains and people will send, hey, there's a tree down at this location, and they'll just describe it.

And I know that whenever you want w whenever we report it, you have to have a pin.

You have to have an exact location to send to the city.

So part of this is just a PSA, but also another thing for us to train people on is how to report when things are are problematic, especially after storms when they're dangerous.

Yeah, that's actually a good point that maybe um maybe next time a store before when a storm is a brewing, we can advise people of that to drop dropping a pin is hugely helpful.

Um photos are it's hard to tell what you know what direction the photos are being taken from.

So yeah, dropping a pin is really really helpful.

Yeah, and the piggyback on the pin thing.

You know, I've seen that a lot of times people I don't know if they're approved or not, but they go out and they do a lot of scotch broom removal and make a pile out of it.

And a lot of times those piles are just sat there and they turned a seed right there next to the trail and make it worse, right?

Um so that that's another thing to send a pin of those piles when you see them.

Yeah.

Hopefully the person who does the work would send the pin in and say, Here's the thing to come get it.

Yeah.

But again, we we would ask that there not be piles in places where that we can't get to um uh easily.

But if you see somebody's done it, let's get it out.

Or we need a volunteer project to haul those things out and get them to a place where we can easily pick them up.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, that's it for me.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um I I don't really have any questions.

I don't think um I guess I kinda have, I guess I will ask a question.

How often do people submit volunteer requests through this system with all those requirements?

Um not very often.

Not very often.

Not very often.

Yeah.

But it can be, you know, in years past, we've had um we've had groups that come with sort of a list of projects, and then we go through the projects and we might give thumbs up on some, but we might say no to a couple of other ones for a variety of reasons, and um so we're happy to work with any group to to do that.

And then when people remove things, um it's just kind of a random question, but do they estimate how much they've removed for like vegetation removal for fuel load?

So later I don't know if you have to report that, but I know a lot of times when you remove stuff from open space, you kind of track it so that you know you removed a certain amount of fuel from the area.

Do they do you ever ask your volunteers how much they've removed?

I mean, we get we have before and after photos, um, but no, we're not asking anybody to estimate quantities.

Okay, okay.

So now let's do comments.

Let me start down on this end comments.

I'm a little amazed that the problem here is that people care too much.

I don't know.

I guess I'm used to the opposite.

Yeah.

Um it's kind of cool though.

That's the problem rather than people just being destructive and not caring.

Right.

Right, right.

But but sometimes what some person views as an enhancement is viewed as destructive to other people.

And so that's why we just want to have the oversight to kind of manage and balance that.

Yeah.

Um how like where do you find the the three-one-one app?

Because I it sounds like the problem is more like people don't know how to access it or they don't know where to find it.

Cause you said that there's not a lot of reports coming in or requests or whatever.

Like, I didn't know this existed.

Um so it's an app that I think you get through the app store.

You get through the app store.

Yeah, but like where where where do you like I guess I'm asking like where do people hear hear that you can download it?

Like, do you have it on the website somewhere?

It's on our, yeah.

Yeah.

There's it's advertised more like the city social pages, not just parks and rag.

Um, because it's for the whole entire city, but there are pages on our website too that talk about it as well.

So I know um stuff goes out occasionally on Instagram and such.

Uh directing people to it.

So but that's a good point that maybe that's something that we need to regularly, just like we just did a sort of a refresher of our open space guidelines.

Maybe that's something that that we need to have in our activity guide, Cody.

That might be something to put in the activity guide next time or periodically put that in there for folks.

Good point.

Yeah, no, um, good stuff.

I use the 301 app in San Francisco.

They it's highly used there.

And um I manage it actually for the port, so I was just curious about how the reporting system happens.

Um and I would be really interested personally, and I think maybe as a commission to like yearly to get a report of all the 311s specifically for park and record.

I don't need to see them for the city, but I think it'd be interesting just to see if there's trends or certain locations that are not getting the same attention as others.

It would just be an interesting stat.

Um and yeah, my brain is kind of racking right now with like the open space ambassadors that you're talking about.

I think huge opportunities for internships for senior community that people that want to get engaged and volunteer like these would be great um kind of great projects for them because we need it.

We need people to be out there and so yeah, thank you.

This is great.

I a couple things came to mind when back to probably good to post examples, but also be very clear on the lead times.

Right?

Because I imagine you make a groups that we'd love to do something this weekend, and you're like, ah, you should have came to us two months ago.

Okay.

And so try to be clear on that.

Yeah.

And so people could understand and they won't bother you if it's not gonna work, or they'll build into a longer a further out date to kind of pick.

Right.

I mean, it really depends on the project.

If somebody wants to do a two-hour park cleanup, come on down, we'll f we'll, you know, we'll get you the gloves and the grabbers um with 24 hours notice.

But um, but you know, if we're trying to replant some plants or cut some things, we put maybe that's a good little pop-up, right?

To kind of have those one you know, do it in a GIF or do something else just to I guess to be as clear as possible.

Even if it's general guidelines, I think could be helpful.

The other thing too is if you think about the groups that may start because I did this once with a school one of my kids' school groups, and is maybe is there outreach that you the the city could do, it's like oh it's September.

It's a nice little reminder for the city to reach out to the different school, the five or six school groups that probably will want to do something, and it's probably a new set of parents, and so they don't have you have the institutional knowledge and they don't, and so it may be worth kind of okay.

I know these five groups, it's good to get ahead of it, and so that they could uh pick something to do.

Can I just jump in with one other thing?

You talked to me, you you triggered it with uh talking about the lead time.

We do have another option, it's on our volunteer website, and that's um the opportunity to adopt a park.

So that's super easy.

If you live near a park and you just want to be our eyes and ears at that park and let us know if something needs attention or um or go around every now and then and pick up a little bit of trash or pull some wage or something like that.

If you want to if anyone in the community wants to own a park that way, we welcome that.

That's awesome.

The are there age limitations or is it just make the the waivers kind of account for that?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then I think that's uh that's great.

That's it.

Thanks.

Am I correct that this is more for people who like see something that they want to change and then go through this process rather than looking to this process as like a volunteer opportunity?

Yeah.

Like it's more so that they're they see something out in the okay.

Yeah.

Just get get permission from us first before going out, particularly in uh in the open space to do something rogue.

And then was your idea that there would be like tiers of like how long something might like an example of a project and how long it would take on the app or on the website or yeah, I don't want to try to make it so hard that it's a huge if then type of a statement or things, but just even like what Bridget said, there's we could get you set up in a a couple of days, or this is gonna take at least a month, or even if it was that to kind of understand just the the scope that I I just think again the point of how do you reduce friction, if you give them enough information to start, then they could kind of figure out without getting frustrated or uh, I think the time estimates would be great and also um how an not how important something is, but like if if you if you see like there's a real need for something like you know, label it red or whatever, and if there's something like you know, we're not really looking to have that happen green or something.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I'm uh excited about sort of a combination of a couple things that we've talked about with that um opportunity to annually reach out to different community groups that we know need volunteers, not just in school organizations, but I'm thinking like the scouts and uh and other sort of community centered groups where they're you know actively looking for ways to engage.

Um so that regular, you know, building in sort of like the annual practice of connecting with those people.

But then at the same time also uh you know, us identifying, you know, let's say our top five like activities that we want volunteers to participate in.

And or those ones that continue, like we don't have the staff to do this, but we have these things that are really important and sort of combining that with the website.

So we have someone who's, you know, especially I think of high school students a lot lately, but the um when you're thinking like there's so many students, especially when they start high school, think they need to or want to volunteer or spend a certain number of hours, and they're like, okay, I want to volunteer for the city.

Like, well, here's five things on our website that we need help with.

Right.

Right.

So that's there's uh sort of a uh nice intersection there of that reaching out to those groups and then also saying these are the things we never have time for, but we want to get done.

Right.

And again, like that takes staff time within that planning.

Hopefully that's something you can build in and identify.

But I mean, I'll just say that some of the best um volunteer activities have not been our ideas.

They've actually come from the community, case in point, the music and arts and the manor.

That was somebody else's vision, and we just kind of provided the space.

Another great example is some high school students that um play volleyball came out and and are doing free volleyball clinics, right?

At Barrett, and that's become a huge thing.

So uh and we would not have thought of that.

That's not something we would have dreamt of or or put on our website.

So we don't wanna well I I agree we can maybe put some ideas out there.

It also comes with the bottom line is gonna be come to us with your ideas because um the community knows better what the community wants.

So great.

Yeah, I just I guess I wanna reiterate that I'd love to see us figure out how to make it easier for people to volunteer.

You know, the uh again, a set of rules feels like it's a barrier more than it is, you know, actually asking for it, and we get so much out of the volunteers.

Um I think I've told you before, I got started in Belmont volunteering 25 years ago, and I was I brought uh Barry Stevens was a guy who used to be uh used used to be a member of the community here, and he started the Chaparral Trail among uh many other projects.

And in fact, I emailed you today that that this year was the 20 year anniversary of that completion, and back to your point about how long it took, that was two years of construction that happened, and it was all volunteer effort.

Um with city oversight.

City oversight, yeah.

So I remember walking the flags with Barry Stevens and Carl Middlestad and David Orr, and you know, it was the kind of thing that you don't see as much anymore, right?

We don't see that kind of community engagement with the city that I mean Barry led that project for seven years, and uh and it really transformed the park into what we know today.

Several of the trails that we take for granted came out of that project, and it was all volunteer effort with city city help, of course.

You know, like I I came across some notes about how we borrowed equipment from the city in order to actually do some of that work, and it's just the kind of thing we don't see anymore.

Uh and and I'd love to see how how can we make it easier.

Um separately, I've known most of the trail leaders, the people who really do get passionate and start building these things.

It's really hard to be that person.

You have to find that motivation yourself to get up and go organize all the volunteers.

You have to coordinate with the city.

It's it's a job, and a lot of people do it for many years, and so I'd like to, you know, we should recognize those people.

I mean, there's one of them on a plaque for uh, you know, for the um the looper the loop trail around the lake.

Um but there are quite a few others that kind of are went went silently but put in a lot of good work.

So yeah, I guess that's that's my commentary.

I just love to see how can we make it easier and give a shout out to the um to the people who have been doing it most recently, the trail keepers have kind of died down as you mentioned recently uh because honestly they catch a lot of crap from the community, but they did a lot of work.

So uh it I'd love to see us make it make it easier and recognize the people who do do that work.

Um so yes, just same thoughts as reiterating what they've said.

Um it it seems like it's it feels a little bit intimidating there because there's so many steps.

I understand that there are reasons for the steps and we have to go through them, but especially if you're interested in doing a smaller project, it might just be a barrier.

And I like the idea of having kind of tiers of projects, you know, simple tier ones, a couple few hours, doesn't take a long time to get approval, and then things are bigger, and then the big projects that are gonna take a while to get through, and just I know the city Parks America is so open about accepting new ideas and following through on them.

I know I can't do you with Belmont walks.

Yeah, they're talking about the volleyball, the art.

People come with ideas, and you you find a way to say yes, but I think people don't know how to approach it, and if you see all these requirements, people maybe give up.

And we want to try to make it easy for people to step forward and volunteer and see opportunities to volunteer.

So anything we can do to make it easier uh would be good.

So any other questions or comments?

Any follow-up questions?

A couple.

Sorry, I I did take a quick look.

If I go to Belmont.gov slash volunteer, it doesn't work.

And so I don't know if you have to do dubdub.

You do.

Oh yeah.

You have to do WWW.

It also just goes to the main.

Oh, okay.

Um, where and then one thing, I would just click all the links because I think one look broken, at least on the on the volunteer site.

And if I were to the this is just me, like 30 seconds, the the volunteer interest form.

It doesn't I'll I don't know, like it's it doesn't seem like it's really open, it's like give us your idea.

It just feels it like at the very end it has an open field, but it doesn't really kind of feel like it's um, like very clear, I I think, right?

Because it it I don't know whether it's individual to get onto a mailing list, or there's one where it's like I'm a group, I want to do something, and this is what I want to do.

That consideration the other thing, sorry, I'm just gonna nip it a little bit, sorry.

Um you can only pick one age.

It didn't seem like it was a multiple checkbox, and so that seemed hard to kind of figure out, maybe, and then the oh, I think it's the adopt a park, yeah.

The the first link, the adopt a park and the bench that goes to a broken link.

Um I would just maybe take a scrub and think about is it very clear if someone wants to go for the very first time, it's a lot of information because there's a lot of things that you could sign up to do, and just to make sure it's kind of okay, this is this is your first step, right?

It's maybe it's not read all the open space material.

I know it's important, and maybe that could be in the drop down of the hey, we've updated our rules, click here, but it's you know, pick a pick a category of activity, and then let's make sure you go there.

Um sorry for being uh pop.

And maybe the volunteer 101 is a video on that page, and maybe not an event like Animal.

Oh my gosh, that'd be great.

She does a great job at making videos.

I can see the park and rec team going out there doing like what to do, what not to do.

Here's like the first thing you see when you go to the volunteer page.

So it's like a prerequisite to wanting to volunteer, you watch this video.

But yeah, I think the point I think that these are great suggestions, and you can always improve websites, like there's so many terrible websites out there.

I think we've done like a really good job recently revamping our whole system.

Um for the public, the whole point, and I feel this working for another city department is like the city employees do a lot of work all day long, right?

And what the different tasks that they have to do.

So if you're inspired to help the city department, just reach out and get authorization before you do things because at the end of the day, it's causing more work on the back end, more money is being spent to fix these things.

So just come to the city first, everything will be good.

I think we can all agree that Belmont has excellent volunteers and uh a number of people who want to help, and we just have to make sure there's a way for them to help in a way that's appropriate and and useful and follows all the guidelines and to try to make that easier, however, it is.

Okay.

Next, other business updates, department updates.

Okay.

I'm gonna take over on this today.

Sorry, Cody.

Cody was running the meeting today, but I can't help myself.

Best step in.

Um so Anne Marie usually does this, but um she's letting me drive today.

Okay, so here we are, monthly highlights.

Um, we had a holiday craft fair on uh Saturday, November 22nd, uh, beautiful day, and um and lots of visitors, lots of happy um uh vendors and customers, and what I personally love about this event is it brings in a whole other population than our usual than our sort of Twin Pines Park regulars.

Um, and I know there are people that look forward to this all year long, so really great event.

Um today, these pictures are hot off the press.

We had the um Belmont Creek ribbon cutting event.

Again, this was a project that was managed by the public works department, actually, the parks and rec part of the project.

Well, we were involved in the project and were consulted in certain times to sort of assist with the irrigation in the park and fence placement and that sort of thing.

And it was helpful for us to know what was going on in the park for this project and why our work really starts now because for those commissioners that were out there today, you saw that in the park, sort of beyond the Redwood shelter and on the Ralston side of Belmont Creek.

We have two new areas now that we didn't have before.

They were either full of trees or they were too steep or or unusable.

So I kind of think we have I'll think of it as we have two new canvases today.

We almost have effectively two new parks um uh park opportunities or space opportunities within an existing park.

And so I'm really excited about what that can be.

So commissioners, your work is about to begin on that.

Um, but it was a great day and a and a great uh project.

And I want to do another shout out to the Belmont Park Boosters because uh they were sort of our community partner in this project with the public works department.

We would not have been able to get the grants that we got uh without Belmont Park Boosters support and signatures on important documents, so uh really grateful to them and their support.

Salson Trail update.

Um so as you can see from this picture, the weather kind of uh did a number on the project, unfortunately.

And so we had to delay our opening.

Great greatly apologize for that.

Um, and now some uh winter um sort of mitigation measures have been put in place.

So um actually it looks a little different now today than it does in this photo.

Um so we have some uh guardrails on the side so that there's not that steep drop off uh from the uh concrete retaining walls.

Um there are actually more rocks been that have been placed to uh protect the hillsides and um all the fencing is be has is going to be removed.

It will officially be open the end of day tomorrow.

Um, and then we will have um some additional work that's gonna happen in January.

We're gonna be planting 30 new oak trees out there in that area, and um uh and some other um minor uh post-winter activities will happen.

But the trail's gonna be reopened at the end of the day tomorrow.

I feel like we need another ribbon cutting ceremony.

I'm sorry?

I said I feel like we need another ribbon cutting ceremony.

No, we're not gonna ribbon this one.

Um we'll be really thrilled if all 30 oak trees um uh survive, you know, the deer that come through that area.

All each tree is gonna have its own little protective fence and all that, and there'll be a water tank that's gonna you know keep things irrigated and and um uh but yeah, we're not as exciting as our uh twin pines park project.

Um just another reminder that uh off-leash hours have ended at Barrett, so um you may walk your dog on the grass or across the lawn on leash, um, but you cannot let your dog off leash and run around.

If you want your dog to be off leash, you need to go to the Cipriani dog park.

Um, and uh off-leash hours at Barrett will start again March one.

I know it's confusing.

And just another reminder commission applications are uh are open now.

The deadline is January 9th, so we are looking forward to that.

Upcoming things, letter to Santa.

Just have a few more days to drop off your letter in the big red mailbox in front of our office.

Um, youth advisory committee has a food drive accepting, they're accepting donations through January 16th, and I think we all know just from reading the headlines that this is more important than ever.

So please be generous with um non-perishable non-expired food.

Um Santa at the firehouse happening Thursday, December 11th.

Um the sensory event is from 5 to 5 30.

Um that's sort of a lower intensity event.

You do need to pre-register to come to that, but once you're there, you can um stay through the traditional event as well, which is from 5 30 to 7:30.

Please bring a new unwrapped toy.

Um, and then our MLK Poetry and Essay contest is starting in 2026 or for 2026.

Submissions are going to be open um for January 5th through February 2nd.

Um, we will have a new poet laureate installed by then to um help us with that event.

So we're super excited about that.

And just a reminder: the next commission meeting is on January 21st, and that's a combination of our January and February meeting.

Oh, and then happy holidays from uh the Belmont Parks and Rec team.

There we go.

Thank you.

So, Commissioner, questions and comments.

I love that photo at the end, that made me really happy.

Um thank you.

Uh yeah, I agree.

The the event today was super fun.

A lot of people, a lot of different jurisdictions represented and stakeholders, and that's really exciting to see like Belmont doing like something very important for the county for resilience.

So that was really um inspiring to be at today.

Um a lot of great holiday events that I look forward to going to.

You mentioned off-leash hours at Barrett, and it just reminded me of something that I saw next door, and um I recently saw that this is great news that Belmont is like the sixth ranked sixth in California friendliest city, right?

It's like something crazy.

Like it's I was like, this is a great thing we should probably like lean into.

So number six friendliest city in like California, and then in the description, it said like um next door neighbors rank it high because of its safety, um, clean environment, beautiful views, something about the parks, and then dog friendly parks.

So even with our restrictive dog off dog leash hours, we are still ranked, and it in the comments it said because we have dog friendly parks.

So that made me really happy.

So thanks.

Besides obviously going to the North Pole, does anything happen to the letters that are deposited?

They get responded to.

Oh, every single one of them gets a customized response.

I didn't know that.

So Santa and his elves with the appropriate return address on the right.

If you're okay, sounds good.

You gotta give us a return address.

Santa's good, but not that good.

So yes, please provide a legible return address, and then you will get a customized.

Yes, but also then but the where it comes from, Santa to the recipient, the return address.

That has been about years ago.

It's coming from the North Pole, obviously.

Yeah, um, and then when does the uh Belmont 100 swag shop open?

Oh, that's a good question.

January.

January 1st.

Okay.

So I don't know.

If you've driven up and down Rollston the last couple days, you see our new um our new centennial banners are coming up, and um swag shop is opening in January, so uh fun things are happening.

Actually, in December 15th, I'm gonna be doing um sort of the first iteration of um storytelling, recording stories from uh a couple of folks who've been longtime Belmont residents.

We're gonna record them in the recording studio at the uh Belmont Library, and uh we'll have another date.

I'm hoping we can move the equipment to the senior center and capture some of the um some of the stories from the seniors, and if that goes well, let's see where that goes throughout the year.

Um, on behalf of Commissioner Leiford, um thank you for all the work on the Salson Trail and the update.

And we're very excited that tomorrow it'll be official.

End of day tomorrow.

End of day tomorrow.

We'll have to go uh check that out.

So thank you.

I can't think of a better time to rename Selson Trail.

Oh right.

Right.

Yeah.

But uh for those who didn't know that we have two Selson trails and they tee with each other it's very very confusing.

In fact a lot of people didn't know where the work was going to be because they couldn't figure out what what they did.

Um at the creek today we were some of us went down we were playing by the creek and we noticed the the white tubing is that the irrigation lines so how long will that be there and are we worried about people stepping on it or so um we would like people to not step on it and not move it um that's going to be there for a couple years.

So actually the grant funded project requires that we do I think five years of maintenance and by we I mean a third party contractor is going to come in and do the maintenance and we will oversee it and then when the maintenance period is done and the plants are established and that irrigation those blinds will be removed.

Okay.

Yeah just wondering uh when I take my kids down there they were too tired today to go down but when they I take them down there we like don't step on that stuff.

And my dog started to dig in the mud he was trying to redo uh some of the work down there and I stopped him but it it looks it looks fantastic.

It looks amazing down there.

I'm very excited for people to be able to go see the park and I think people will love it.

Any other questions or comments?

Okay I'll say this.

Everybody should come to the toy drive because it's fun and also I'm gonna be an elf I'll come just to see you as an elf or can take pictures because I actually I don't know if I can make it that night but I would love to see that.

Well I think we we took pictures last year and then it ended up being in like the update slideshow.

That's yes you have to be in the update we will highlight you.

Yeah I might yeah Danielle said she's getting a new costume too so I might wear like some new thing I don't know.

I I'm excited.

We meet Gia was the other elf last year and we had fun.

So we'll youth commissioner part time elf excellent okay well with that uh happy holidays and I look forward to seeing everyone January twenty first for our next meeting.

This meeting is adjourned.