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REGULAR MEETING APRIL 25. 2016 Councilmember Jo M. Broden gave a rebuttal as the petitioner. There should be a correction of the record in regard to the unanimous vote, it was a three (3) to two (2) vote on the sixth recommendation and she was on the losing end of that vote. The intention of the wording of the recommendations when including key stakeholders is to work with educators going forward. The public is certainly invited to and encouraged to follow this process and the intent is to have as much community involvement as possible. The park wide natural resource plan does include Elbel and that is the intention. Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated it was her belief as well that the Committee should continue but again she was on the losing end of that vote. There was an outstanding level of expertise and public involvement in this Committee and that should be taken into account. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston thanked everyone for their work but we should look into the Committee continuing. Councilmember Randy Kelly thanked everyone involved in the process. It was his feeling that the Special Advisory Committee did do their job and submit some solid recommendations that now the Park Department and Park Board need to run with. For the Committee to continue is in some degree stepping on the toes of the people who have the Parks and Elbel as their purview and he has complete faith in Aaron Perri and his team. It will continue to be an open and transparent process that will engage golfers, ecologists and educators. Councilmember Dr. David Varner also thanked everyone for participating in the process and stated there is a lot of emotion out there. If this is going to be continued it is his opinion that you need to add a resources committee to see how these ideas would be funded. It would be a shame to get into all these great ideas and then not have the planning to fund them. There are options such as grants and it is something that needs to be looked into. As a City, ultimately we can only fund what we can fund. Councilmember John Voorde thanked the Elbel for Everyone group for saving Elbel Park. When he first heard of the City's proposal to sell the park he was taken aback and was disappointed. Through this process he now understands and appreciates how special Elbel Park really is to this City. The people who came together to share their concern and passion opened his eyes to what a priceless resource Elbel Park is. The effort to keep an eye out for what is going on whether it is this Committee or another effort is important because trust has been breached and the City has admitted they made a mistake for proposing the sale. The question of who has the authority to lease is still not answered. State law seems to have some ambiguity if it is the Council or the Park Board. It was also his opinion that this Council consider looking into using the state law on the books to give the Common Council more muscle and oversight over the Park Board. A Park Board that consists of members appointed by one (1) elected person and a department run by a department head also appointed by one (1) person does not necessarily have the range of opinions that can come from a group like this. Councilmember Voorde did express faith in Aaron Perri and the new members of the Park Board he met during this process. He attended all four (4) of these meetings and could not be more gratified by the public response and participation. There does need to be continuing oversight because he is not ready to turn it back over to the Park Board because we need to keep an eye on things as the trust needs to be earned. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic thanked the members of the public for all their input during this process. He supports the resolution and Aaron Perri's'efforts but that does not mean we become disconnected we need to monitor what is going to happen in the future. Councilmember Karen White thanked everyone for their great participation and it's a great start. Everyone came with openness, good questions, concerns as well as frustrations. The issue of continuing the Committee was three (3) to two (2) and she was on the losing side. The Council must maintain communication and remain engaged in the process. We cannot be kept abreast after the fact. The work of the Advisory Committee was phenomenal and people really did want to work together. There is still much work to be done and it is very important the Council identifies some mechanism by which information can flow horizontally as well as vertically. All partners involved need to maintain a level of communication and honesty as we move forward. Councilmember White also wished to thank the Clerk's Office who did an awesome level of 16