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CITY OF MUSKEGON
PARKS & RECREATION BOARD
MEETING
May 13, 2026 @ 5:30 PM
CITY OF MUSKEGON, ROOM 204
933 TERRACE STREET, MUSKEGON, MI 49440
☐ CALL TO ORDER:
☐ ROLL CALL:
☐ APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
A. Approval of 4-16-26 Minutes DPW- Parks and Recreation
☐ UPDATES:
A. Parks Master Plan Updates DPW- Parks and Recreation
B. Summer Recreaton Update DPW- Parks and Recreation
☐ DISCUSSION:
A. Sheldon Baseball Memorial Request DPW- Parks and Recreation
☐ ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
☐ PUBLIC COMMENT:
☐ ADJOURNMENT:
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considered at the meeting, to individuals with disabilities who want to attend the
meeting with twenty-four (24) hours’ notice to the City of Muskegon. Individuals with
disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services should contact the City of Muskegon by
writing or by calling the following:
Ann Marie Meisch, MMC. City Clerk. 933 Terrace St. Muskegon, MI 49440. (231)724-6705.
[email protected]
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CITY OF MUSKEGON
PARKS & RECREATION BOARD
MEETING
April 15, 2026 @ 5:30 PM
CITY OF MUSKEGON, ROOM 204
933 TERRACE STREET, MUSKEGON, MI 49440
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
Meeting called to order at 5:32 pm.
ROLL CALL
Present: Roberta King, Sarah De La Rosa, Sidney Long, Mayor Johnson, Yancy Weaver, Lynnette
Marks, Hillery Ross, David Ruck, Aaron Bodbyl-Mast, Leann Heywood (late)
Absent: John Burt
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. 1/21/26 Minutes DPW- Parks and Recreation
Motion by Marks, second by De La Rosa to approve the 1/21/26 Minutes. Motion
passes unanimously.
UPDATES
A. Parks & Recreation FY27 Budget Update DPW- Parks and Recreation
1. Director Karczewski shows a presentation to the commission that outlines the
Recreation Budget and the Parks Budget. He notes the primary reason for an increase
from the previous year is due to an increase in staff cost.
2. In the Recreation Budget, the key expenditures fall into the following categories:
personnel, building rentals, contractual services, and supplies. The Parks Budget key
expenditures were as follows: personnel, seasonal staff, vehicle rental, building rental,
and utilities
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3. Ruck inquired what last year’s totals were and Director Karczewski said they were
approximately $200,000 less.
4. Marks asked where park improvements fall in the expenses, and Director Karczewski
noted that his presentation was a brief overview of mostly operational costs and there
are additional funds that improvements come out of.
5. De La Rosa asked if a sponsor was found for the fireworks. Director Karczewski said
there has not been anyone interested so far – noting that the City staff does ask a lot of
local organizations for money for other events which makes additional requests
difficult. Mayor Johnson adds that after the 2026 Fireworks show, City staff will discuss
finding a partner or possibly handing the fireworks off to another organization to assist
with the expense.
B. Park Projects Update DPW- Parks and Recreation
1. Director Karczewski presents current parks improvement projects: Kruse boardwalk,
McGraft pickleball court, Richards kayak launch all came in under budget and we have
found contractors for these projects. Improvements will begin soon.
2. Director Karczewski notes that with the cost savings, we decided to replace the McGraft
Park playground, which is the older playground in our system. There was an
engagement for this during April. He also mentions that we will have additional
engineering construction oversight on some projects that we previously were not able
to afford with the given budgets.
3. The Sheldon Park and Hartshorn Marina bathrooms construction is moving slower than
anticipated, but we still hope to have them up and running as soon as possible.
4. Pere Marquette Beach parking lot bids are due on April 23. The plan is to redo and add
additional parking spots at the beach.
5. De La Rosa inquired about the timber blockades at Reese Park and Sheldon Park parking
lots. Director Karczewski notes that it is planned to put wooden curbing around the
parking lots at the locations and the current logs were put down as a temporary
solution. There is a plan to cut the logs in half, put them up vertically in the ground and
connect them with rope to make a fence.
6. Mayor Johnson asks Director Karczewski if there are any plans to install cameras at city
parks due to the amount of damages that have been happening lately. Director
Karczewski notes that he has added about 10 cameras at parks in the City in the past
year and a half including Beukema, Sheldon and Hartshorn, and still intends to continue
adding more as budgets and technology restrictions allow. Ruck notes that some may
feel that parks should be a place to get away from cameras. Mayor Johnson says that
could be a conversation in the future if the City decided to add cameras to all parks.
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7. Director Karczewski notes that there has been more parks usage, and the more people
in the parks, the safer they are. Mayor Johnson asks if park usage is tracked at all, and
Director Karczewski said that we do have data from Placer.AI. Mayor Johnson said it
would be helpful information for justifying funding the parks when feedback from the
community sometimes says that they are not being used.
8. Additional park updates from Director Karczewski include a small park clean up day at
Smith Ryerson Park and McGraft Park; a small, unfenced park at the old skeleton
building has been created; and work is being done to keep the fish cleaning station at
Fisherman’s Landing open and accessible.
9. Discussions are had about fishing tournaments at Fisherman’s Landing and how they get
a 50% discount on parking and receive more services. General consensus from the
committee and the mayor are that they should not get a discount. Heywood notes that
it would likely be a PR nightmare to make a change. Mayor Johnson also notes that they
are taking away from public amenities. Director Karczewski notes that the directive
came from the City Manager.
C. Summer Recreation & Events DPW- Parks and Recreation
1. Director Karczewki notes the following summer programs: Boys and Girls Club will have
a free half day camp at Reese Park, YMCA will be back at McGraft Park doing full day
summer camp, Boys and Girls Club will have a 5-8pm program for teens at their facility
with the school district providing dinner (Monday-Thursday for the entire summer),
Meet Up and Eat Up will be back at Smith Ryerson, a group called Healthy 2
Connections will be joining at Smith Ryerson to provide Lunch & Learns about
neuroscience health and violence prevention, MPS are still looking to establish summer
recreation at the middle school to fill the Pathfinders void.
2. Marks said she was given different information regarding the Boys and Girls Club
partnership, specifically the dates and type of programming. There also may be a hurdle
with the typical registration process that Boys and Girls Club uses.
3. Mayor Johnson inquired if it would be possible to have the summer evening
programming run 2 days at the Boys and Girls Club building and 2 days at the middle
school.
4. City-specific events were also presented for the Spring and Summer. Planned events
include: Community Action Day Bike Path Cleanup, multiple craft class, senior social
painting, weekly walking club, spring soccer league, fishing teen nights, patriotic tie dye,
McGraft Park Concert Series, the Lakeshore Art Festival, 4th of July Fireworks and
preparty, Chalk the Park, Reptiles 101, Soggy Doggies, and Touch the Trucks.
5. Director Karczewski adds that by next summer he hopes to hire a Recreation Supervisor
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DISCUSSION
A. 2027 Parks Master Planning DPW- Parks and Recreation
1. Director Karczewski notes that as a department, there is a plan to focus the 2027
Master Plan on recreation and programming more than was done in the last Master
Plan that focused heavily on parks and upgrades. He is looking for initial input from the
committee about what they would like to see on the plan.
2. Bodbyl-Mast asks what the timeline for the plan is and Director Karczewski notes that it
is due by February 1st, 2027 in order to get into the grant funding cycle.
3. Mayor Johnson questions if bidding out the plan after July is too late on getting input
during the nicer weather season. Director Karczewski mentions that previously it was
done all in-house and we intend to have a firm do this for us. Mayor Johnson would like
options for priorities by the July meeting rather than it being open-ended to the
committee.
4. De La Rosa would like to poll the community on sustainability of funds noting that we
won’t have ARPA funding again.
5. Bodbyl-Mast suggested a limited survey due to how robust the previous survey was.
6. Mayor Johnson suggests holding a May Meeting followed by polling the group.
1. The entire group votes yes, and the meeting will take place on the second
Wednesday in May (May 13).
2. Marks requests that the existing plan is sent to the committee.
3. Ruck suggests defining parks and what they mean to our community.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No public comment.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn by Marks, second by Ross. Motion passes unanimously. Meeting adjourned
at 7:31pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
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Agenda Item Review Form
Muskegon Parks & Recreation Board
Commission Meeting Date: May 13, 2026 Title: Sheldon Baseball Memorial Request
Submitted by: Department: DPW- Parks and Recreation
Brief Summary:
Detailed Summary & Background:
Goal/Action Item:
Is this a repeat item?:
Explain what change has been made to justify bringing it back to Commission:
Amount Requested: Budgeted Item:
Yes No N/A
Fund(s) or Account(s): Budget Amendment Needed:
Yes No N/A
Recommended Motion:
Approvals: Name the Policy/Ordinance Followed:
Immediate Division
Head
Information
Technology
Other Division Heads
Communication
Legal Review
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