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
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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.
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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
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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.