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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 02-05-20151 Approved Minutes February 12, 2015 Approved Minutes Park & Recreation Advisory Commission Thursday, February 12, 2015 MEMBERS PRESENT: Vice Chair Greg Anderson, Commissioners: Tricia DeBleeckere, Merrilee Riley, Aaron Vanderwall, Kipp Wyse, Michael Swanson, Dick Burkhardt MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Parks & Recreation Director Diane Evans, Deputy Parks Director Barb Northway, Recreation Supervisor Kari Hemp, Office Support Specialist Sarah Josephs COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES: Council Representative Ned Carroll 1. CALL TO ORDER Vice Chair Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Commissioner Vanderwall, seconded by Commissioner Riley, recommending approval of the January 8, 2015 Park and Recreation Advisory Commission meeting minutes as written, with changes as discussed. With all members voting in favor, the motion carried. 3. OPEN FORUM: 4. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS (NON-ACTION ITEMS): 4a. Welcome New Member The Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission welcomed Dick Burkhardt as its newest member. Mr. Burkhardt currently serves as a volunteer with the city and is the individual who paints hearts along the trails within Plymouth marking each 1/10 mile. He was born in California and has lived in Plymouth with his wife since 1980. Mr. Burkhardt has two daughters, one in Sacramento and one in Plymouth, and four grandchildren. Members of the Commission gave a brief introduction of themselves and welcomed Mr. Burkhardt to the Commission. 4b. Commissioner Information & Roberts Rules (Diane Evans) As a handy reference to Commissioners, a roster of all members and staff has been provided in your meeting packets. In addition, we have included information on the City’s expectations of the Commissions. A refresher on Roberts Rules has also been included. 2 Approved Minutes February 12, 2015 5. NEW BUSINESS (ACTION ITEMS) 5a. Designate Chair & Vice Chair (Action) Per City Council code, the Commission needs to annually designate a Chair and Vice Chair to serve for the year. Those individuals whom are nominated are then referred to the Mayor for approval. Vice Chair Anderson opened the floor for any nominations for the 2015 Chair and Vice Chair. Commissioner DeBleeckere nominated Commissioner Riley to serve as the Commission’s Chair. Commissioner Swanson seconded the nomination. All members voted in favor (7 aye, 0 nay). Commissioner Wyse nominated himself to serve as the Commission’s Vice Chair. Vice Chair Anderson seconded the nomination. All members voted in favor (7 aye, 0 nay). Next week, the commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to Mayor Slavik. Pending approval of the recommendations, the individuals will begin their new duties at the next PRAC meeting. 5b. 2014 Annual Report (Kari Hemp) Kari Hemp is a new hire with Plymouth Parks & Recreation. She was recently hired as a Recreation Supervisor, and will be training to become the Recreation Manager upon Regina Michaud’s departure. Ms. Hemp came to Plymouth from the City of Bloomington where she worked for the last 9 years. She lives in Andover with her husband and 4 kids. She is very excited to start working in Plymouth and feels that this will be a great change in her career. The 2014 Annual Report is approximately 95% complete. Staff are just waiting for the final financial reports that may change the budgetary amounts currently listed. PRAC members were asked to review the report and let staff know of any other additional changes. Commissioner Riley noticed that Ice Center concession revenue is down from 2013. Director Evans is still waiting for the Finance department to confirm the numbers listed in the report before know for sure how much the revenue has changed. The decrease may be reflected by a lower number of tournaments and events held at the PIC in 2014. At next meeting we will have a definitive answer. Council Member Carroll shared that he is impressed with the report and the wealth of information it holds. This really shows the immense amount of programing and services offered in Plymouth. He feels he always learns something new that the department does by reading each annual report. Director Evans said that it takes a lot of work to put the annual report together, but we see it as a huge value to use as a reference to look back and quickly pull up data from previous years. Staff and residents can learn a lot from the report. We will be sending the final copy to the City Council after the financial audit has been completed. If you would like a hard copy of the annual report, let Sarah Josephs know. A PDF copy is available as well. 3 Approved Minutes February 12, 2015 Motion by Commissioner Riley, seconded by Commissioner Vanderwall, recommending to approve the 2014 Parks & Recreation Department Annual Report as written with changes as discussed. With no objection, motion passed. 5c. 2014 & 2015 Department Strategic Plan (Diane Evans) Attached in the packet is the 2014 Strategic Plan and the 2015 Strategic Plan. The 2014 plan recaps what the department had completed during the year. On the 2015 plan you will see highlights of what the department plans to complete this year. These types of documents are important to complete annually as part of our CAPRA Accreditation process. The strategic plans are based on the department’s Comprehensive Plan initiatives, City Council Goals and upcoming CIP projects. Within the Administration Initiatives is CIP planning over the next five years. Staff are looking ahead to see what needs to be completed (e.g. adding new parks, replacing parks). Staff have initiated construction on the Northwest Greenway in 2015. Department representative s met with the project consultant to review final construction documents and preparing bid documents. The Northwest Greenway has been in the planning stages for the last 10 -12 years. It is a very exciting time to finally be at a point to begin construction. Commissioner Wyse asked when the construction will begin. Starting this summer, work will run from Vicksburg Lane eastward towards Juneau Ln. Since the city’s Vicksburg Ln road construction has been delayed, our trail and pedestrian bridge construction has also been delayed by a year so that the projects can be completed at the same time. Staff will be returning to the City Council to provide additional information on the PIC parking lot addition. We realize there is a need for parking, but understand the concerns of eliminating/reducing greenspace and trees. The Planning Commission will be meeting in March to prepare their recommendation to the Council regarding whether or not they approve the variance requests for the project. Commissioner DeBleeckere stated that it would be helpful to review a map of the parking lot to see the options being decided on. Park & Forestry will continue with the Emerald Ash Borer management program. This year they will be treating trees on the west side of the city. Coming up, staff have many playground repairs and replacements planned. Improvements will take place at the Yard Waste site. Asphalt work was completed last year to make the site more user friendly and reduce the number of cars getting stuck when the road was wet. This year, additional asphalt work will be completed. In 2015, the hockey dasher boards at Ridgemount Playfield will be replaced. The City plans to continue to work with Sue McLean & Associates for a paid event in August. Council will need to give their approval to move forward with planning for the event. The CAPRA team coming to visit March 15-18. While here the team will be reviewing our practices and documents to ensure that we are eligible for National Re-Accreditation. Registration software replacement plans continue to move forward. Staff are currently reviewing several different software programs with hopes to transition to new software in 2016. 4 Approved Minutes February 12, 2015 The Plymouth Ice Center plans to purchase a new Zamboni in 2015. Currently they have 3 onsite, but will need to replace one. Commissioner Wyse inquired as to the typical life expectancy is of the current machines and a brand new machine. The life expectancies remain right around the same and is based on miles driven. These machines drive many miles, but don’t go very far at any one time. They drive on the ice all year with the exception of driving on the street once a year for Plymouth on Parade. The Plymouth Creek Center will begin reviewing catering contracts. Staff will decide if the contacts should be extended for five additional years. Each caterer agreed to an initial one year contract, with the option to extend. The Ballroom tables at the Plymouth Creek Center will be replaced this year. Last year the chairs were replaced. Staff are considering the potential of adding on to the Plymouth Creek Center. Internal discussions have started in order to look at the current space and see where and if there is a need for additional space. Staff will be requesting a feasibility study on the possible addition in the CIP, which will be then need to be approved by City Council. The volunteer program will continue on as is. With Sara Mittelstaed’s retirement, the senior volunteers have been incorporated into the city-wide volunteer program. Vice Chair Anderson inquired as to how the trail repairs were coming along and how many miles were going to be worked on in 2015. Director Evans shared that progress on the trails is going along very well and that staff have done a good job of identifying specific trail needs and ranking of repairs. Staff continue to expand and improve upon our documentation of the trails. Going forward, an issue that staff will have to address is that over the last 30 years many trails were built wherever a trail would fit. Now with ADA concerns, some repair work will be affected if a trail needs to be completely rebuilt due to slope, angles, width, etc. Staff would like all trails to become ADA accessible. Neighborhood trails aren’t required to be ADA accessible, but must have signage directing to where the nearest accessible trail is. Deputy Director Northway shared that in 2015 staff intend to complete re-paving on 4 miles of trails in 2015. There is $200,000 budgeted for the year. The total mileage may fall short a bit due to some trail base work and conditions requiring more work such as in wet ground areas or forested areas. Staff are working hard to not just replace the trail, but to make it better than it was before The question was asked by Commissioner Swanson as to who mandates that we change our trails to be ADA accessible. Currently we are federally mandated to ensure all new trails are compliant and work to replace previous trails to ensure they are accessible. The Parks and Recreation Department has hired a consultant to review all of our trails, parks, playgrounds, and facilities to identify and deficient areas. The consultant will report back to the Parks and Recreation Department as to which areas should be immediately changed/modified and which ones can be updated at a later time. Commissioner DeBleeckere inquired as to the time frame set to transition to become fully ADA accessible. For all established trails, parks, playgrounds, and facilities we are grandfathered in and allowed to keep as is. When any changes are made via construction, updates, renovations, the project site must then become fully ADA accessible. Some examples of future ADA projects include updated the restrooms at the Parkers Lake Building. Currently they are not wide enough to meet ADA requirements for an accessible restroom. Staff will look at renovating the restrooms in the near future. Examples within playgrounds included adding poured in place/rubber surfaces instead of rocks or sand. Adding engineered wood fiber would also be an allowable material for transitions between trails and the playground. Look to see an increase in 5 Approved Minutes February 12, 2015 poured in place or other x-grass type materials being used in playground updates. Having these firmer surfaces allows those with physical challenges to easily access the parks and playgrounds. Vice Chair Anderson asked if the ADA requirements provide for an accessible entrance to lakes as well. For example an individual confined to a wheelchair would not be able to access West Medicine Lake beach without access to the dock or water. Currently there are many areas that the city has provided features and walkways to access different areas within the parks. Greg – access to med lake park, confined to wheelchair, city would be required to provide access to dock or water. Features/walkways are in place in many areas. Motion by Commissioner Vanderwall, seconded by Commissioner Swanson, recommending to approve the final 2014 Department Strategic Plan and the 2015 Parks & Recreation Department Strategic Plan. With no objection, motion passed. 5d. Athletic Association Cost Recovery (Kari Hemp) Over the past few weeks staff have been in discussions with several of the larger youth athletic associations in Plymouth regarding a new fee methodology to recover the costs of maintaining the fields. Current practice is to charge associations a $10 per player fee. Staff would like to move towards an hourly fee based on the association’s field usage during the year prior. Staff are hoping that these meetings will help the associations understand and self-correct their scheduling to prepare for the new fee methodology. Since using the $10 per player fee, associations have reported that their participation numbers are decreasing, in turn decreasing our recovered revenue. Seeing this trend of decreasing participants sparked analysis and need for a new method. Using the new hourly based fee would take a percentage of the hours used by each association and they would pay that percentage of the $100,000. Some associations will see an increase in fees while others may have a decrease in their fees. This new policy would go into effect for the 2016 season if approved. Several commissioners expressed concern for the associations that will see an increase, particularly Plymouth Wayzata Baseball would be nearly doubling their recovery fee. In 2009, staff met with several associations to discuss options for recovering the $100,000 annually. Associations were given the choices of being charged per participant or charged per hour. Plymouth Wayzata Baseball lobbied to get the per-participant fee, and that method ultimately won out. With the new method, if a group reserves 50% of the total hours used, then they would pay 50% of the $100,000. The current method is a bit unfair to those who have a shorter season and only use fields for a few weeks as opposed to those who pay the same amount and use the fields for months. Commissioner DeBleeckere asked if any groups were going to have a hard time adapting to the new method. The diamond groups (baseball & softball) will likely see an increase in fees with the new method. Some associations have booked a large blanket amount of field time, but not necessarily used the field all of those times. By doing this it prevents the city from permitting the field to another association or renting it to an outside group. The issue of wasteful booking was brought up by Commissioner Riley. By limited the overbooking by associations, this will allow other groups to pick up those fields. Director Evans stated that it would open up the fields to being used by other groups or outside groups. If those hours end up going un-booked, that is fine as well. When the field is not reserved that would save the staff expense of lining and marking the fields. Associations will be able to adjust their scheduling while the City will be guaranteed to recover the $100,000 in maintenance costs due from the associations. 6 Approved Minutes February 12, 2015 Vice Chair Anderson asked which associations were spoken with. Director Evans shared that they have spoken with the six largest associations. Vice Chair Anderson inquired as to the evaluation of the new plan; how will we determine if it is working as set out to? Director Evans stated that staff have heard from the City Council that they are disappointed that the $100,000 is not being recovered annually. Staff worked to take care of that issue and find a successful alternative. The Council will review the plan and either approve it or suggest an alternative. The system will be evaluated to ensure the $100,000 is being collected. Commissioner Burkhardt asked if other cities have similar programs of fee recovery from the athletic associations. Director Evans shared that other cities do have cost recovery plans, but all use different methods. She is unaware of any other city using this method . Some cities have control or access to the number of participants, so the per participant method works. In Plymouth we can only accept the number we are told without have the control to know just how many are enrolled. Some cities have more control in scheduling and monitoring. Commissioner Swanson asked if we may consider setting a minimum fee. Some of the smaller groups will only have to pay a minimal amount with this system, we should make sure that the amount recovered is worth the administrative time to process the permits. Director Evans stated that they have reviewed and discussed many methods and are open to any amount deemed fair as a minimum. Commissioner Riley noted that in 2014 the lowest fee paid to the City was $250 so it would seem appropriate to set that as the new minimum fee. Commissioners DeBleeckere and Burkhardt agreed that a minimum should be set to cover the staff time to book the fields and contact each association. Commissioner Vanderwall noted that based on a $250 minimum cost, the overall financial impact will not be very large to the families. They would likely remain paying what they are currently paying. With the larger associations, the proposed fee increase would range up to approximately 13 in additional costs per child. Motion by Commissioner DeBleeckere, seconded by Commissioner Riley, recommending to approve the Athletic Association Cost Recovery Process as presented and add a minimum fee of 250 for each association. With no objection, motion passed. 6. COMMISSIONER/STAFF UPDATE (NON-ACTION ITEMS): Director Evans reminded Commissioners that they have the important role in acting as advisors to City Council. It is beneficial to the Council to see in the PRAC minutes why a member is supporting or rejecting each motion. Members on the City Council do read the minutes and like to see the discussion leading up to the motion. Feel free to get more vocal and stress your opinions. Commissioner DeBleeckere inquired as to how specific the minutes will be getting; stating that a discussion was held, or documenting the actual discussion. The PRAC minutes will document the discussions and opinions shared prior to each motion. In an effort to make dialog easier, the suggestion of moving the City Hall meeting location was brought up. Commissioner Wyse shared that an ideal spot would also have an area for an audience or members of the public to attend if they have ideas or concerns to share. Vice Chair Anderson offered that during meetings with high likelihood of resident comments, the meeting be moved back to the Council 7 Approved Minutes February 12, 2015 Chambers (meetings deciding on trails, golf course plans, trees). Commissioner Riley would like to ensure that technology will still be available from a different room (wifi, presentations). Beginning with the next meeting, Director Evans has booked both the Council Chambers and the Conference Room for the meetings. The conference room will make it easier for Commissioners to read any maps and plans. This move would only affect four meetings each year. Signage will be placed in the hallway to direct community members to the new meeting location. The remaining meetings will continue to move around to the other facilities (Plymouth Creek Center, Park Maintenance Building and Plymouth Ice Center). The Fire & Ice event was a great success and had its largest attendance to date. Thank you to all Commissioners who were able to help out at the event, it was much appreciated. The Plymouth Ice Center parking lot project will be presented at the City Council. Commissioners will receive an email with the documents being presented. The Spring & Summer Activity Guide will be mailed out on February 20. Registration will be held on March 10 for residents and March 17 for non -residents. Director Evans received a letter from Hennepin County regarding their plans to resurface roadways in 2015. There are two sections in Plymouth that will be resurfaced, both on County Road 6. One of the sections runs from Oakwood Elementary to Ferndale Ln. The other section is from Parkers Lake to Hwy 494. Deputy Director Northway will be calling the County to let them know of our trail gaps in that area and to inquire about possible collaboration in completing those gaps. The Veteran’s Memorial Project at the Hilde Performance Center continues to move forward. Staff will be meeting with City Council representatives at the end of month to review the policy for accepting names to be engraved. The committee is primarily determining the cost for engraving. Discussions with committee and engravers; decided on name and service branch. Once the policies are clarified and finalized staff will publically advertise the project and begin to accept applications. There will be room for 1,300 names of service members on the wall. The project will be completed in time for Music in Plymouth on July 1. A ribbon-cutting/grand opening event will be schedule for the end of June. Commissioner Riley inquired about where the summer golf leagues will be held now that Begin Oaks has been sold. Director Evans responded that the youth league will be held at the Eagle Lake Golf Center, the women’s league will be at Baker National and the men’s league has been cancelled due to low enrollment in previous years. Men wishing to continue in a league have been invited to join an established league at Hollydale Golf Course. 7. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Commissioner DeBleeckere, seconded by commissioner Wyse, recommending adjournment of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission meeting. With no objection, Vice Chair Anderson adjourned the meeting at 8:41 p.m.