Belgrade parks board approves consent minutes, forms CIP committee and hears updates on bike park, ballfields and staffing

The Belgrade Regional Parks, Trails and Recreation District on an evening meeting approved the consent agenda and discussed forming a capital improvement planning (CIP) committee, staff reported weather damage to winter amenities and outlined planned spring projects and hiring, and board members heard updates on fundraising for a Mayfair Meadows bike park and a potential dog-park feature at Henson Park.

Board members voted to approve the minutes from the Feb. 6 meeting by voice vote; a subsequent motion to adjourn also passed by voice vote at the end of the meeting (voice tallies were not specified in the record). The board discussed creating a CIP committee that would include two board representatives, one city council member and one county commissioner, and asked staff to poll members and schedule initial meetings intended to be two hours long beginning in April.

The CIP discussion centered on a scoring matrix the board used to rank capital projects. The board defined capital as items costing more than $10,000 with a useful life of at least five years and discussed weighted multipliers for scoring factors including safety, community need, partnerships, system connectivity, the district’s capacity to support a project, funding incentives, staff recommendation and underserved amenity areas. Board members adjusted several of the suggested multipliers during the discussion and agreed to revise the draft and circulate it to committee members.

Steve, a district staff member, reported on operations and upcoming projects. "Our cross country trails are not functional. It's the weather as are our ice skating rinks," he said, adding that the cleared trails remain in good shape and are seeing use. He described a planned baseball project to replace fencing on one, possibly two fields and potentially backstops; construction is expected to occur between the regular season and all-star tournaments. He also noted a Cameron Street public-works sidewalk, curb and gutter project (north side) that will reduce parallel parking adjacent to the baseball site and change access patterns.

Staff outlined recent hires and recruiting: Magnus Martz was promoted to foreman (foreman title stated in meeting), Dustin Smith serves as the district's sprinkler/irrigation technician, and Joe Vandenberg was recently hired as a technician 1; the board authorized hiring two additional staff beginning next week (Tanner Harvey and Cordell Christiansen) and another new hire, Christopher Colton, will join in May. The district said it may seek to create additional technician 2 positions that require certification for spraying weeds and irrigation expertise to increase spring capacity.

Emily Decker, who volunteers with the Belgrade Community Coalition, summarized fundraising and grant work for the Mayfair Meadows bike park. She said the district or partners have applied to a local Raichaud Foundation grant for $20,000 and received an invitation-only opportunity with the Yellowstone Club Community Foundation and are preparing a joint application with the City of Belgrade that would seek $200,000 (Emily said that foundation typically awards up to about 20% of a program budget). She also reported applying to Gallatin County's Open Lands grant (up to $100,000, closing March 21), a T-Mobile $50,000 seasonal grant, and other programs including Outride and PayDirt. Emily said there is a $25,000 sponsorship from CTA Architects and verbal commitments for donated civil and structural engineering, materials and trucking; final quantities and dollar values are not yet finalized pending civil engineering design.

Board members also discussed a dog-park feature planned for Henson Park that could be fully donated. Bill Feneger, who previously presented to the board about the dog-park proposal, is expected to provide landscape-architecture assistance and move the design work forward. The district characterized the Henson Park dog-park contribution as a mix of donated design work and fundraising; specific donation amounts or an estimated completion date were not specified.

During public-comment-style updates and staff reports the board discussed a water-department property under review by city attorneys; staff said the parcel is substantial (about 40 acres) and owned by the city water department, and that while it likely would not become a park in full, some of the land might be used for future park space or athletic fields. The board did not take action on that parcel during the meeting and indicated the matter remains in negotiations and legal review.

The board set future-agenda items and noted local community events (a library grand opening and associated “polar bear pass” event) and closed the meeting after a motion, second and an affirmative voice vote to adjourn.