Meetings‎ > ‎

2010, May

Friends of the Dog Park Meeting Minutes
City of Moscow Parks and Recreation and Paradise Path Task Force
Sister's Brew Coffee Shop / Moscow Dog Park
May 4, 2010 at 5:30 pm

Meeting Minutes
  • Introductions
    Kari, Dan, Jean, Emily
    (attendees at the dog park 20 people, 18 dogs)
  • Approval of Minutes from 4/06/10
  •  Committee Reports

    • Improvement Committee (i.e. Park Weather Shelter)
  • Report
    Shelter Plaque Fund Raising
    Status unchanged—$3,640 raised, 23 plaques requested

  • Report/Open Discussion
    WSU Student Project Status/Time-Line – Scott is picking up the final design plans from the WSU students this Thursday. Visit the Weather Shelter page to see the proposed design or view it on the message board at the park. Since the Weather Shelter project was not finished this semester, Mr. Barnstone is offering a summer design/build class that will continue where the spring students left off. The summer session will build the shelter for us at the park in June, but only if enough students sign up. If not, we may have to wait until spring 2011 for the WSU design/build class to continue this project. Why can’t there be a class in the fall? We will ask Mr. Barnstone about the possibility of offering a fall class if the summer class is a no-go.

  • Open Discussion
    Asphalt Funding Ideas – Discussed strategies for working with the City of Moscow to explore grant opportunities for the asphalt work needed to connect the two entrances and the weather shelter, making the dog park wheelchair accessible. Emily is in contact with the city grant writer. Dan and Kari will get a square footage estimate to help identify approximately how much money we will need for a grant to install an asphalt pathway.

  • Open Discussion
    Alternative Ground Cover Materials – Discussed the idea of using alternative materials for ground cover. Roger is hesitant about using bark/wood chips at the dog park. We need to identify a viable alternative ground cover option. The park is heavily used and the grass is not keeping up. Until we have a second dog park to help disperse usage, we need to determine an acceptable alternative substrate. We did some more research regarding alternative ground cover and sent this information to Roger. How can we move forward in identifying a solution to this growing problem? Emily will ask Roger.
    • Second Park Search Committee
We have no members on this committee. If there are any volunteers, please let us know!
    • Friends of the Dog Park Web Site
Kari will spotlight the existence of our email list on the Dog Park Web site. Hopefully, this will attract more people to our email list and encourage new members to become involved with the Friends of the Dog Park group.
  •  Old Business

    • Dog Park Work Day
      Due to the weather report, the Spring 2010 Dog Park Work Day has been moved to Wednesday, May 12, 2010.

    • Hand Held Sign
      Dan thought it would be a good idea to display a sign during our dog park meetings that says “Dog Park Meeting in Progress. Come join us!” This way people will know what we are there for and might be  inclined to join in the discussion.       Emily will make a sign for this purpose.
  • New Business

    • Dog Park Rules
      Emily received a couple emails from dog owners about the dog park rules not being followed. We thought it might help to post the rules inside the park near the bulletin board. People spend most of their time inside the park and may be more inclined to read and follow the rules. It was suggested that we move the existing large sign to the inside of the park and then post smaller signs containing critical rules on the outside of each of the two entrance gates. Emily will talk to Roger about having two additional signs made.

      We hope to make dog owners and other visitors to the dog park feel that they have an ownership in the park. If they see rules not being followed, or trash, cigarette butts, or pooh not being picked up, we would like them to feel comfortable pointing out the rules to others who are less informed. Having a sentence posted above the rules sign encouraging everyone to take pride in THEIR DOG PARK may help. If we get approval to post something like this, Kari will work on the wording for us.

    • Meeting Schedule
      Dan was wondering why we don’t have meetings in the summer when more people and dogs go to the park. Emily indicated that spring/fall dates were chosen because students are in town. Spring/Fall dates also surround on our dog park work days. Dan's point is that there are more people available to attend the meetings during the warm summer days and evenings. This issue should be revisited when we are ready to create the meeting schedule for next year.

    • Email Delivery
      Emily is going to switch from her personal account to her dog park email account       when sending out to the Dog Park email list.
  • Upcoming Events/ Meeting
    • Dog Park Work Day
      • A Dog Park work day is scheduled for Wednesday, May 5th at 5:30 pm. At the work day. we would like to:
        • spread dirt into puddles and low areas
        • pick up trash
        • pick up rocks and throw back into water area
        • clean water buckets
        • rake bark into designated areas
        • pick up poop
    • Howling at Hamilton
      Sunday, September 12, 2010, 1-6 pm
      Bring your dogs to the city pool
    • Next Dog Park Meeting
      September 7, 2010
  • Future Dog Park Meeting Dates
    September 7, 2010
    October 5, 2010
    November 2, 2010
  • Adjourn


Minutes prepared by Emily Spellman.
Email emily@dogparkfriends.org for questions, comments, or concerns.