The Parks and Recreation Committee met 06/12/2023. They took up two resolutions. The larger part of the meeting was devoted to discussion and voting on the resolution for the City of Appleton to join the Wisconsin Local Government Climate Coalition, but they also spent about 10 minutes discussing the Resolution 4-R-23 which had called for Ellen Kort Peace Park to participate in No Mow May.
Given that May was over and the park had not been mowed during that month simply due to the condition of the grass, Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12), the resolution’s primary author, withdrew the resolution.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza told the committee that Ellen Kort Peace Park had not been mowed during the month of May. He also reported that he and Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) had met and talked about options for the grass in the park. Alderperson Schultz had suggested eight different grass types that were considered to be “low mow” grasses and would help keep the park from having to be mowed as frequently as usual.
Director Gazza felt that a couple of those grass species would be neat to experiment with in a park and that Ellen Kort Peace Park would be a good candidate for low mow grass once it was developed.
Alderperson Wolff initially proposed an amendment to change the “Now Therefore Be It Resolved” clause to read, “The city of Appleton Parks and Recs facility department shall make its best effort to make Ellen Kort Peace Park a low mow park.”
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) who was not a member of the committee but was in attendance, asked if a resolution was needed to accomplish this.
Director Gazza answered that the discussion with Alderperson Schultz had already generated interest in pursuing the use of these grasses. Currently, Ellen Kort Peace Park had been seeded with regular grass and also had some existing turf, but when it started undergoing further development, they would be able to plant the new low mow grass. He also said that they were looking at using some of these low mow grasses in other parks if the park conditions were right and the opportunity existed.
Alderperson Hartzheim was worried that there was the potential for a resolution to end up interfering with what the Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Department ended up wanting to do with the park. She wanted them to have the freedom to continue developing this new path they were setting out on without having to worry about whether it fit with the resolution or not.
Alderperson Wolff felt the benefit of the resolution would be that if something were to change in the make-up of the Common Council or of City staff that it would serve as a record showing what the Council had wanted.
Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) double checked that Director Gazza was not planning to leave any time soon. Though Director Gazza confessed to having bought a lottery ticket, he did not have any immediate plans to leave. So, given his continued presence and the continuity that came with it, there didn’t seem to be a need for the resolution.
City Attorney Christopher Behrens reminded the committee that as long as a resolution was at the committee level and the committee had taken no action on it, it could be withdrawn by the lead author. Alderperson Wolff proceeded to withdraw the resolution.
Alderperson Siebers mentioned that he thought that was a wise decision.
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) said, “I think that there’s something to be learned in this whole discussion. I think that perhaps conversations with staff about things ahead of time would prevent needing the resolutions.” Rather than a resolution, what needed to happen was for Alderperson Schultz to have a discussion with Director Gazza about different grass seeds the city could possibly use. “And I think the outcome has been fantastic. And it got to the author’s point and perhaps even a larger scale. I just–I don’t know that we always need a resolution to cause great change. And I hope that we continue to have great conversations and communicate and find answers without having a legal document to do that.”
Alderperson Siebers agreed with her. “I applaud you for that. We don’t always need to have a resolution to get things done as long as we have a relationship with the director or directors and we’re working with them.”
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1092181&GUID=5AA50E5C-ECAA-434F-BEE3-75A3AC62B364
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