Parks Advisory Board - Sept. 15, 2026

Agenda

1. 6:00 Call Regular Meeting to Order 
2. 6:01 Meeting Minutes a. Review/Approval of the August 18, 2026 PAB Minutes 
3. 6:05 Public Input & Correspondence 
4. 6:10 Park System Plan Updates – Tom Riggs 
5. 6:20 Administrative Updates – Tom Riggs 
6. 6:35 Park Updates – Mark Shaw 
7. 6:45 Good of the Order 
8. 6:50 Adjournment 
   7:00 Walking Tour of Feyrer Park 

Next Regular Scheduled Meeting: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 - Hybrid meeting, online via Zoom webinar, or in person in Room 118, Development Services Building, 150 Beavercreek Rd, Oregon City, OR

Minutes

Members Present at Feyrer Park: Justin Ostrander, Mike Ferrell, Brian Echerer, Tom Hester, Shane Heilman, Jared Mayue, Sarah Furber, Cary Watters, Rob Smoot, Don Morgan

Members Not Present: Angela Pederson, Steve Glazer

Staff Present at Feyrer Park: Tom Riggs, Mark Shaw, John Shih, Jennifer Salotti 

I. Call To Order

Justin called the meeting to order at 6:01 pm

II.     Meeting Minutes

Justin called for the approval of August 18, 2026, meeting minutes. Rob made the motion, Don seconded; the minutes were approved with no corrections noted.

III.   Public Input & Correspondence

Justin liked having the nice weather.

Rob asked about $1 dollar/ hour revenue at Boring Station and Tom replied that we were receiving some income there, and also noted nominal revenue coming in at Ed Latourette.

Justin had everyone introduce themselves and welcome the new members of the board.

IV.  Park System Plan Update-Tom

The consultants are reviewing and revising the draft financial sustainability report. The report will be out at the next PAC and TAC meeting, coming up on October 21, where we will be reviewing the sustainability report and public outreach report (surveys).

From the survey there was an incentive for a 2-year parks pass and 3 winners were notified this week.

Tom thanked John S for reminding us about this incentive.

Justin asked if offering a prize made a noticeable increase in participation and Tom indicated it was hard to say, but discussed the survey table participation.

Justin and Rob said they are waiting for the PAC and TAC meeting packet. 

Tom discussed camping in our parks and seeing the parks as a visitor.

Justin discussed that Barton Park was the only park he could find near Happy Valley that offered a game his son wanted to play called, “Gaga Ball”.

Tom discussed the next steps in the system plan including feedback to inform the draft plan and the system used for feedback at the County Fair. Rob smoot asked if the system used deficiencies or desires and Tom said both. 

Justin asked if we share the survey results with other groups to get a broader demographic. 

Cary asked if there is a way for a participatory budgeting process 

Tom discussed the main output is helping to understand decisions points when prioritizing.

Justin asked about the Portland Parks levy and whether we could glean anything from public opinion based on that, but stated he has not seen anything.  Tom said they may be doing polling and discussed potential voter confusion between the Metro levy, Portland Parks, and NCPRD raising rates, trying to help people understand which is what and letting them know where money goes.

V. Administrative Parks Updates-Tom Riggs / Mark Shaw

Local share:  Metro 2019 Bond – part of Metro Parks Nature Bond amount of money direct transfer to local districts.  Clackamas County Parks’ share was $5.3 Million from Metro with a caveat is that it is for capital projects, not on operations, and must meet certain criteria, including meaningful public outreach.  Clackamas county parks has focused on 2 projects at Feyrer and Barton that met the program criteria:

1. Feyrer – amphitheater, multilingual signage, playground improvements, curbs and paving (the roadway and parking lot work have been on the capital improvement list for over 10 years)
2. Barton – quarry pond area; water system, fencing, wastewater, utilities, restoration, 3 cabin loops, update multilingual signage, remodel of overlook house for overnight rental.               

Clackamas County Tourism is providing nearly $1 million in funding, some of which will provide matching funds for elements of the Local Share project at Barton, and some of which will go to other projects in other County Parks, such as:  

Wilhoit springs – new hand pump; shared that it is in place, operational, and being enjoyed.

Metzler Meadows – additional sites to expand the current campground

Hebb – ADA kayak launch; discussed changes from the original plan based on community feedback

Cary asked what the prioritization is with the 5-yr capital improvement plan – Tom and Mark both said that we do not have an updated capital improvement plan and the system plan will help with prioritization.

Hoodland update – Hoodland is now property of the fire department. Shane asked if there was any income from this and Tom said no, it was a no cost transfer between government entities.

Tom H asked about the Metzler access bridge – Tom R discussed that this project has been paused for reconsideration due to updated cost estimates.  Due to the short turnaround time for proposing projects, costs weren’t very well vetted, but Tourism has agreed to a process for reconsidering and potentially revising the list once we have better estimates.  Tom H observed that at least one aspect of prioritization of projects seems to be based on what can actually be done.

VI. Parks Update

Mark noted that we usually see about 1.4 Million annual visitors to Clackamas county parks, and only have 4 full-time field staff, so that’s a lot of visitors to serve.  But this summer was quieter than normal with less spikes in the heat. Also, call outs for CCSO and medical were down this year with only 1 serious medical incident on the Clackamas River between Barton and Carver.  It appears that revenue is also likely down.

Justin asked if visitation being down allowed for catching up on backlog maintenance issues.  Mark stated they will be able to do more landscaping and facilities.  Winter maintenance mode involves rebuilding parks, painting, trails, roofs, and hazardous tree removal. It appears there will be less trees needing removal this year. Tom noted the technological aspects of using GIS maps instead of paper and clipboard, and Mark discussed marking, monitoring, and tracking trees for disease and hazards.

Cary asked if there is an inventory of what happens to the trees, referencing Portland’s projects and sustainability.  Mark said we don’t have a record of disposal, but about ¼ of the trees go to the mill, many trees are hollow and those are not marketable.  Tom commented that we sometimes use the non-marketable trees as parking stops, landscape beds, etc. and reiterated that we’re not logging trees in parks just to send them to the mill, we’re dealing with hazard trees to mitigate risk.

Mark discussed Barton Park comprehension plan – parking lots, cabin loops, etc. with surveying and preapplication done. He states that they are getting closer and AKS engineering will be working on preliminary as-builts for sewer, and water systems.

VII. Good of the Order

Mike discussed Knight’s bridge parking fee is via an app and that there’s not a cash option, and asked if PAB had had a say in the types of payment options.  Tom briefly recounted the history of implementing the parking fees.  Tom and Mark discussed vandalism and theft concerns for park locations where cash is not closely monitored, and also the economics of physical automated pay station at $13,000 per unit vs. self-pay stations vs. digital/pay-by-text/apps.  

Rob asked about the citation process.  Tom explained the warning system and the specific citation we usually issue (failure to display). Justin asked about citation revenue, and Tom clarified that there is no revenue for Parks from citations, it all goes to CCSO.

Cary asked about researching outside best practices.  Justin commented that we need to make sure that there is equity access. 

Mike passed on some concerns/statements from visitors about having to pay to park and possibly getting cited when they can’t pay, after they have already symbolically paid for the park through their taxes.  Rob and Tom clarified that we do not get money from taxes.

Mark shared that state parks are cashless and that many parks are becoming cashless.

Justin commented about highway tolls scanning vehicles. 

Cary discussed the discovery pass and possible partnerships with stores.

John discussed Iron Ranger at Knight’s bridge if no other changes in our system.

There was a review of the list of other parks that require passes. 

Mike voiced requested that PAB be involved in systems.

Tom stated that we are looking into new vendors.

Justin commented that any decision that impacts the public should involve the PAB board input, but that the details such as vendors can be left to the Parks team.

Mark discussed Iron ranger vandalism and theft issues and the rising cost to replace.

Tom discussed Flowbird location codes for all parks have already been set up and the difficulties of enforcement when there are too many payment options.

Justin asked about changing the wording on the website for parking and Tom explained the changes we recently made with the fees page, but also noted there may be a backlog for additional website changes within PGA.             

VIII.   Adjournment:   Justin called for adjournment at 7:08 pm

Tom H called for the motion to adjourn, Rob seconded.