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Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – July 15, 2025 Page 12 Committee Member Hilding supports these efforts. He asked if is PTRC’s job to give permission to do stuff in parks? Do we recommend to the city council, or do we get to say “yes or no” to these types of projects? Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said residents don’t need permission to remove invasive species from parks. Part of the Adopt-A-Park/Adopt-A-Spot program will be to formalize a system so people aren’t removing species that aren’t actually invasive. Arden Hills Greening knows what invasive species are. Efforts to remove invasive species don’t have to be approved by PTRC, Public Works or Council. Planting in parks will need to be coordinated with Public Works Parks Maintenance to make sure that whatever planting we’re doing is part of the Parks Maintenance Plan. You will outline what you are planting and the plan to manage those plantings, moving forward. Staff can put that information into the Parks Maintenance Plan so we’re all on the same page. She outlined all the steps and considerations surrounding these requests. Committee Member Hilding asked if the PTRC could give a recommendation, but it is ultimately Public Works makes that the final decision? Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky confirmed. Public Works needs to decide if it will be included in the maintenance plan. Committee Member Olson asked if volunteers are in place and they have the resources, they can request Public Works include it in the plan. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky confirmed. She said the holdup is that there is already a planned schedule in place for what will happen. It is difficult to change the schedule as it is programmed ahead of time. Adopting additional tasks that were not a part of the original plan is difficult. We can’t change the plan at the last minute. Committee Member Rogers asked if a group plants these plants in the fall, the question becomes who will water them and weed the beds. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said the plan for the current year is approved by City Council. The park maintenance items for each park have already been submitted, planned and approved. Adding something different won’t necessarily align with all of the other plans laid out. Committee Member Rogers asked if the work at Floral Park doesn’t need to be approved because the it is maintained by the City. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky believes the work being completed at Floral Park was a part of a Public Works Maintenance Plan at some point to make that happen there. Chair Dietz said it’s all existing plantings on the perimeter that doesn’t need any help from the City. The buckthorn is gone. Do we need to lay out a plan to change the routes to the trails? Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky asked if his group maintains the trails. Chair Dietz said his group maintains them at Floral Park.