The Finance Committee met 02/12/2024. One of the items they spent a fair amount of time on was the request to utilize $15,000 from the Park and Open Space Fund to pay for a matching grant to install a Kayak Launch at Telulah Park.
The committee was open to approving the request but wanted more details about the project prior to voting on it, so they ended up holding the item for two weeks until the next Finance Committee meeting.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
The memo regarding the request was not very detailed and somewhat confusing because there is already a kayak launch down by the river near Telulah Park.
The project is actually for a kayak rental station that would house 6-8 kayaks and would be managed by a private company. The kayaks could be rented online and then patrons could use a code to unlike the kayak they rented. Patrons would be responsible for returning the kayaks and the private company would be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the kayaks and launch site. Outside of the initial $15,000 investment, the city should not have any more responsibilities and they would be paid a percentage of the rental fees.
The committee was interested, but wanted a lot more information before approving the request. They wanted to know things such as the name of the private company, the company’s track record, and how long the city’s agreement with the company would be.
The committee voted to hold the item until the next Finance Committee meeting on 02/26/2024 in order to give staff time to gather that information.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1165854&GUID=F88F8B1D-A3A0-440E-B514-B1FCA811E67B
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