Buffalo Trails Board Minutes Feb. 25, 2009
Apr 5, 2009
Author: Lois Petersen

Buffalo Trails Board
Minutes for the meeting on Feb. 25, 2009
Submitted by Lois Petersen


Agenda
1. Approval of Jan 28th minutes and today’s meeting agenda
2. Signage/Kiosk update
3. Signboard – approval needed
4. Brochure – approval needed
5. CIP – plan due Feb. 27 (Budget meetings begin in March)
6. BTB vacancies update
7. Governor letter
8. Rec. Board – status of applications
9. Eva Knepper Trail maintenance and Russian olive removal
10. 2 garbage cans at Greenbelt
11. Trail webpage
12. Gloria Rogers – Walk-a-thon
13. National Trails Event/AHS registration update
14. Trails binders – copies needed


Meeting called to order 4:35 pm with the following members in attendance: Bill Cooley, Dave Palmerlee, Lois Petersen, and Courtney Frost. Also in attendance was: Asst. City Planner, Alicia Bankston.

1. Approved the minutes of the Jan. 28th BTB meeting and agenda for Feb. 25 meeting.
2. Kiosk prototypes are outside Dave Osmundson’s business for people to look at. Thank you letters went out to Lake Desmet Conservation District and Buffalo Charitable Foundations for their contributions to this project. Large kiosks to be completed May 31, small kiosks should be done in Aug. Installations of large kiosks should be done all at once with coordination between Dave O and Les Hook. BTB members will have input on exact location of each sign prior to installation. Signs are bolted into cement foundation, and can be moved at a later date by unbolting.
3. Motion to approve signboard map design/colors passed. Sign surface should be durable but also it should only cost about 100 to replace a damaged signboard.
4. Brochure will be emailed to BTB members for careful reading prior to email vote on approval of brochure by BTB members.
5. Bill proposed a 1000 BTB annual budget request be made to the city in March. Discussed various potential CIP projects and set time for a subcommittee to meet to work on specifics of these projects. Alicia will scan and email a map of the Tie Hack area to us. Dave will contact Norb Lyle for information/maps he may have related to the trail extension to Tie Hack as he and Susan Palmerlee are interested in pursing Tie Hack as a CIP project. Mark Booth, Forest Ranger for this area, may help us understand use of a River and Trails State Grant to help with Tie Hack extension costs. We may want him to attend a meeting to help us focus on steps to take. Also, Jack Keck of the National Park Service may be a great resource. A local trail expert is Glenn Hare who was the Trail Coordinator for the Forest Service.
6. Vacancies –BTB received a letter of interest for county rep position on the BTB from Mary Fowlkes. Letter has been passed on to the County Commissioner’s Office. Martha Killian may also be interested in the county rep position, but no letter yet. Kelly Hornby may be willing to be the school rep on BTB. Bill will talk to him about this.
7. Letter confirming the bridge dedication and Trails Day celebration needs to be sent to the Governor. Courtney and Lois will meet after the next BTB meeting to discuss the Trails Day event.
8. City will put together our Recreation Board application for the seasonal worker because of the complexities of how that position will be funded and authorized. Rec Board applications should be out soon.
9. Sid Parker and Phil Gonzales will do Russian olive removal in EKP this spring/summer and they are planning to make improvements to the bridge and address trail erosion near the bridge. They will also do improvements to the approaches to the trail and some bank restoration.
10. Courtney agreed to monitor the garbage cans along the greenbelt that Bill Mentock used to monitor, and empty those cans as needed.
11. Noted the existence of the BTB webpage. Go to buffaloz.com.
12. Gloria Rogers is interest in sponsoring a Walk-a-Thon. Her request to move ahead on planning this event was discussed and approved by BTB.
13. Bill registered our National Trails Day event with American Hiking Society and hopefully we will be eligible for a free banner.
14. Binders were passed out to help BTB members organize and file related information.

Other business:
Discussed trail conditions at Heritage Park. May want to ask Glenn Hare to take a look and see what needs to be done to make improvements. Rick Durfee will replace Deane Bjerke on the Heritage Park Board. John Litzell at JC Weed and Feed should be contacted for spraying weeds.

Next meeting: March 25, 4:30 at the City Hall

Adjourned: 5:55 pm.