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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 10-10-1991Minutes of the Park'and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting October 10, 1991 Page 37 Present: Commissioners Anderson, Johnson, Waage and Wahl; staff Bisek, Blank, Greupner and Pederson Absent: Freels, Gutzke, Watson 1. CALL TO ORDER Acting Chair Anderson called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. in the Council Conference Room. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Wahl and seconded by Commissioner Johnson to approve the minutes of the September 12 and July 23 meetings as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present at this meeting. b. Staff. Karol Greupner, Recreation Specialist, introduced herself to the Commission and stated she has lived in Plymouth for 16 years. Prior to working for Plymouth Park and Recreation, she worked for the Chaska recreation department. She worked for Plymouth in the late 70's and early 80's as a fitness instructor, and in 1989 was hired as a part-time recreation specialist, supervising and coordinating pre- school programs, the summer concert series, the adult getaway trips, pedestrian club and one-time workshops on things such as arts and crafts. She also co -coordinates the Music for Everyone program, which offers private piano, voice, guitar, clarinet and saxaphone lessons, and is offered in Plymouth as well as several other surrounding communities. A new program she is responsible for introducing to Plymouth is a "Happy Birthday Party," offered for four to six year olds. This activity is held at Parkers Lake Pavilion on Friday afternoons, 4-6 p.m. Entertainment is provided by the "leader," and the parents provide the party decorations, refreshments and gifts. Karol wrote, and was awarded, an $1,800 state arts grant to help fund the International Folk Arts Festival, which will be held at Wayzata East Jr. High on Saturday, March 21, 1992. It will feature five different ethnic troupes performing throughout the day, as well as ethnic folk artists who will be displaying and selling their crafts and ethnic foods. Another new program Karol is establishing is the Corporate Fitness Challenge, which involves fitness competition among the employees of companies located in Plymouth. Employees compete against other employees within the company for fitness points, and then companies of the same size will compete against each other. The Employees of the Month are two individuals Karol supervises, Jan Burkhartzmeyer and Julie Ylinen, a pre-school teacher and a Hennepin October 1991 PRAC Minutes Page 38 County librarian. They teach the pre-school specials for ages 3-5, offered once per month throughout the year. Some of the class titles have included Creepy Crawlers, Dinosaur Search, Jungle Safari, and coming up this month and next, Halloween Hobgoblins and Plymouth Pilgrims. Two sessions are offered each month, usually on a Saturday morning, and almost always fill to their capacity of 20. Mary gave a brief rundown of some of the programs coming up this fall and winter, including the Goblin Walk scheduled for October 19, which is co-sponsored for the first time this year by T.J. Maxx. The Goblin Walk relies on the help of about 50 volunteers, several of whom are juniors and seniors at Armstrong High School. Our Gym, Swim & Movie event is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, October 17 & 18, at Wayzata East Jr. High. These are school release days for Osseo, Robbinsdale and Wayzata schools. This year, in order to accommodate families living in north Plymouth, we will provide free van service, with pick-up at Zachary Elementary. Our 4th Annual Old Fashioned Christmas event is scheduled for Sunday, December 8, and the fourth annual Fire & Ice Festival is scheduled for Saturday, February 1, 1992. The first organizational meeting for the Fire & Ice Festival is set for Wednesday, October 16, 4 p.m., and Mary invited commissioners to attend if their schedules permit. Mary announced that the annual MRPA conference is coming up in November. The board and commission workshop is scheduled for Nov. 20. Mary had several statistics to report on summer programs. Classes offered in June, July and August totaled 287, of which 223 were actually held, with a total participation of 3,469. Swimming classes totaled 105, with 648 children participating at Wayzata East. Over 5,400 children attended the summer puppet shows. Eighteen non - swimming programs were contractually offered for the City of Wayzata, with nine of them running. Sixty Wayzata residents participated in the tennis program, and 596 enrolled in the swimming lessons offered at Wayzata West. Visitors at Parkers Lake beach totaled 31,168 with 17,188 patrons visiting East Medicine Lake beach. The Wayzata beach had a total count of 33,231. C. Others. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION Three bids were received for the construction of the neighborhood park improvements, with the lowest being $288,000. The Council deferred awarding the bid, however, until after the Housing and Redevelopment Authority can hold a public hearing on the use of HUD money for 1992. That hearing is scheduled for November 7. Following that, Council may award the bid, but it is not expected that any major work on these three parks will get underway this year. Some dirt fill has been hauled into both Shiloh and Gleanloch parks, and some trees have been removed from the 10th Avenue park site. Barber Construction is making excellent progress on the six trail projects and is expected to be finished by October 18 with all but one segment. October 1991 PRAC Minutes Page 39 Shingobee Builders hopes to have the Bass Lake Playfield completed by November 8, except for seed and sod. Crews have also been very busy at Parkers Lake playfield and are making good progress. The tunnel running under County Road 6, which connects the playfield to the City park, is expected to be open by October 25. Bids will be opened on October 15 for the restoration of the silos at Parkers Lake playfield and also for the installation of lights at the Parkers Lake skating rinks. As part of the 1991 capital improvement program, new bridges are being installed in Four Seasons and Fazendin neighborhood parks. Director Blank has been negotiating with Tom Forester for the purchase of his property west of Zachary Playfield. Mr. Forester is anxious to have this settled by January 1, and Eric is confident this can be done. The Council previously authorized these negotiations. The City Council will be appointing a water quality task force to deal with issues such as milfoil. Eighty more acres of milfoil has been discovered in Medicine Lake. Milfoil now also surrounds the entire perimeter of Parkers Lake. Parkers will be treated with a new chemical next spring called Sonar, known to kill milfoil. It is not harmful to fish. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Review of field rental policy, Continuing the discussion started at last months meeting, Director Blank offered three possible options for charging youth athletic associations. Option 1 would be to continue with the current rental policy with some slight modifications, option 2 would be to drop all fees, and option 3 would involve charging for extra -ordinary maintenance items, such as field striping. Director Blank reminded the Commission that the rental policy has been in effect since 1982, and came about as a result of the report prepared by the Mayor's Task Force on Park and Recreation Program Financing, a copy of which was provided to each commissioner. Because of the high demand for use of our facilities, it was decided this past year, that only Plymouth groups could rent our fields. It was the consensus of the commissioners present that a fee of some kind is fair and reasonable for youth associations running tournaments on Plymouth fields. Mark Wahl recommended that the City continue with the current policy of a basic rental fee, plus charging for extra- ordinary maintenance. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER ANDERSON AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER WAAGE TO RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL THAT THE CITY CONTINUE TO CHARGE YOUTH ATHLETIC ASSOCIATIONS AS THEY HAVE IN THE PAST. Tom Johnson feels that Plymouth's current fees are excessive and should be reduced somewhat. He pointed out that the survey presented last month showed that Plymouth charged more than any other city to run a similar tournament. He believes that the soccer association October 1991 PRAC Minutes Page 40 should be charged no more than $1,000 to run their tournament. Commissioner Anderson withdrew his motion at this point, because discussion was strongly favoring reducing the basic rental fee. Director Blank suggested that the Commission might want to choose a specific dollar figure for an hourly rental rate. Mary Bisek commented that the Plymouth -Wayzata Soccer Club made a choice last summer to run a tournament that called for three extra fields and the use of lights. They have the option to reduce their costs by scaling down the tournament and not using extra fields and playing only during daylight hours. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER WAAGE AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER JOHNSON TO RECOMMEND THAT THE COUNCIL APPROVE A RENTAL POLICY FOR 1992, WHICH LOWERS THE HOURLY RATE FOR YOUTH ASSOCIATIONS TO $5 PER HOUR, BUT CHARGES 100% OF THE DIRECT COSTS FOR EXTRA MAINTENANCE. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH FOUR AYES. Director Blank briefly reviewed the Joint Powers Agreement with School Dist. 284 that was established in 1973 to govern the use of school facilities. In 1984, a supplementary agreement was established for the tennis courts at Oakwood and Wayzata East,. which stated, among other things, that the City could charge for any costs incurred to operate said tennis courts, as long as the City did not charge the School District for district sponsored activities during school hours. A second supplementary agreement was signed in April, 1980, for the Oakwood playfield facilities. In reference to the committee that was to have formed, Director Blank indicated that said committee has never formally met as far as he knows. The recommendation made at the September meeting on eliminating the $5 non-resident fee, and the recommendation made at this meeting on lowering the tournament rental fees, will be in a report that will be presented to the Council on October 21. Director Blank will inform the youth athletic association representatives of this meeting. Commissioner Waage and Wahl said they would try to attend the Council meeting, and Director Blank will also talk to Commissioners Freels, Gutzke and Watson. Commissioners Johnson and Anderson both have previous engagements on October 21. 6. NEW BUSINESS None. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Director Blank asked if the commissioners had any topics they would like to address at future meetings, because he did not have any pressing items at this time for the November or December agendas. He stated that Strgar- Roscoe-Fausch is preparing a report on sidewalks and trails, which may be ready by the November meeting, in which case PRAC could meet to discuss that report. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.