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Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee

Town of Holly Springs · Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee
Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 7:00 pm

Advisory board meeting Appointments and personnelParks and recreationElections and districtsEnvironment and sustainabilityPolice and public safetyRoads and transportation

Agenda document Minutes Meeting page Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Received 4.cUpdate on Parks Maintenance Activities Received

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee opens its September meeting by electing new officers — a chair, vice chair and secretary — and choosing members to represent it on the Tree Advisory Committee and the Police Community Advisory Group. The committee also hears an update on parks maintenance work and discusses whether to take part again in WinterFest and the Tree Trail at Ting in December.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The committee elected its officers and abolished one of them. Val Atkinson became chair unopposed. Two members nominated themselves for vice chair and Will Ulmer beat Daniel Fenton 6-2. The committee then voted unanimously to change its by-laws so the secretary's post goes unfilled, with staff taking on meeting notices and minutes.

Nobody volunteered to be the committee's liaison to the Tree Advisory Committee, and that was tabled until someone is interested. Siobhan Casey and Will Ulmer agreed to share the Police Community Advisory Group seat.

Parks maintenance manager John Atkins set out what his division carries: 12 full-time and one part-time staff with approval to add one and a half more, split across three crews for greenways and construction, athletic fields and the natural areas at Bass Lake and Sugg Farm, with two arborists and two certified playground safety inspectors. The staffing ratio is one full-time employee to 35 acres against a goal of one to 24 or 27, a figure that excludes undeveloped land, Eagles Landing and the greenways still to come. The July 5 event alone took 265 staff hours. Completed work includes resurfacing the Womble tennis courts with pickleball as the primary layout, Jones playground repairs and relined basketball courts at Holly Springs Elementary.

Eight of nine members attended and nobody spoke at public comment.

How the votes went

Four votes. Approval of the previous minutes, the election of Val Atkinson as chair, and the by-law change dropping the secretary's post were all unanimous. The vice chair's seat was contested and Will Ulmer won 6-2 over Daniel Fenton.

From the published minutes.

Who spoke

No members of the public spoke.

The minutes record no public comment.

Read from the records the government published after the meeting. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.

Speaking at this meeting

Town of Holly Springs's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (5)

Appointment · 2Minutes approval · 1Staff or committee report · 1Discussion item · 1
  1. 2.a Approve June 2025 meeting minutes
    Minutes approval
  2. 4.a Election of Officers - Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary
    Appointment Appointments and personnelElections and districts
    Election of the committee's chair, vice chair and secretary, effective with the October meeting.
    Val Atkinson elected chair unanimously; Will Ulmer elected vice chair 6-2 over Daniel Fenton; the secretary's post abolished by unanimous by-law change, with staff taking the minutes
  3. 4.b Selection of Committee Representatives - TAC, Police Committee
    Appointment Appointments and personnelEnvironment and sustainabilityPolice and public safety
    Choosing the committee's representatives to the Tree Advisory Committee and the Police Community Advisory Group.
    Siobhan Casey and Will Ulmer share the police group seat; the tree committee seat tabled for want of a volunteer
  4. 4.c Update on Parks Maintenance Activities
    Staff or committee report Parks and recreationRoads and transportation
    Parks maintenance manager John Atkins reports on the division's staffing, crews, preventive maintenance schedule and completed projects.
    Received
  5. 4.d Discuss interest in participation in WinterFest/Tree Trail at Ting
    Discussion item Parks and recreation
    The committee discussed whether to take part again in WinterFest and the Tree Trail at Ting.

Agenda changes

What moved between published versions of this agenda. Item numbers shift constantly as things are inserted, so only genuine additions and removals are listed.

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