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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 01-13-2005MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING January 13, 2005 Page 1 PRESENT: Chair Fiemann, Commissioners Davis, Griwac, Krahulec, Pederson, Rezabek, Singer, staff Blank, Evans, Pederson; Councilmember Slavik ABSENT: Aamoth, Rodriguez CALL TO ORDER Chair Fiemann called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Davis made a motion to approve the minutes of the December meeting. Rezabek seconded. Motion carried, all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. Staff. Evans shared some information with the commission regarding the training clinics and training materials we provide all of our youth coaches. These materials were handed out because of a discussion held at the December meeting regarding good sportsmanship. Evans said that Frank White, from the Richfield Parks and Recreation Department, may come to a future PRAC meeting to make a presentation about the topic of good sportsmanship. Typically we offer NYSCA training for all of our fall soccer coaches and many of our other sports programs. We have anywhere from 200-230 volunteer coaches in fall soccer. In August we offer two coaching clinics for these coaches to attend. They are not required to do this, but just about every one of our soccer teams has a coach that has taken part in this training. Across the nation agencies are dealing with how to handle sportsmanship issues, Evans said. Blank added that our staff members Lauer and Anderson are certified trainers in this program. He also stated that Frank White is very interested in coming out to speak to PRAC. His presentation will take at least an hour. He's checking his calendar to see if he can attend in either March or April. Evans handed out the sign up sheet for the bonfire at Fire and Ice on Saturday, February 5. We have power parachutes coming this year as a new entertainment group. As part of our 25th Anniversary celebration, we're trying to bring back a medallion hunt, but it will be in the form of ping pong balls being dropped from the power parachutes. The kids will then have to run out and find them on the lake. We'll test it before we do it at the actual event. At the next meeting, we will present the 2004 annual report. Evans is excited about it. We've had over an 8% increase in program participation since 2003. We are a week away from having all of our summer programs figured out. Plymouth on Parade and the Autumn Art Fair will be combined this year. We have two new staff people that started at the beginning of the year. Angela Jedinak from Roseville took over the job of rental coordinator at the Plymouth Creek Center, and we have an intern, Jennifer Rejsak, who will help all of the programmers. Singer asked about an article she saw in the NRPA magazine. She noticed a program called You Can, a healthy living program for older adults. She was interested in whether or not we might consider offering this program. Evans will look into it and talk to Sara about it. Singer works with the seniors at the Plymouth Creek Center and as a younger senior, Singer says she is interested in this program. Davis had a question about the parade and since this year isn't an election year, how will we replace all the politicians? Evans said some of them may still be in the parade, and although it likely won't be as many, it shouldn't have much of an effect on the number of units in the parade. We have a target goal of how long the parade should last, Blank said, and last year's actually lasted longer than usual. Each year we seem to pick up new units. Blank said the ice center is booked to the hilt. The third rink is doing very well. Providence is extremely happy. Nine of the next 10 weekends we have youth tournaments booked. Last weekend, the building was filled with all female groups for about a four to five hour period. We need to add some lights to the outside entrance area. There have been complaints that it's too dark. Davis asked about the floor in the new section and its concrete surface. Blank said that a couple of members on the Council have asked about tiling the new section, but no funds have been budgeted for that at this time. Fiemann asked what else needs to go in there to finish it? Blank said 12 television monitors and landscaping in the spring. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. 2005 park capital improvement projects. Last Tuesday the Council had their first meeting of the year. Our park capital improvement projects were approved. Fiemann asked about the repair and replacement of outfield fences. Are the ones at Lacompte South funded by the City or the associations? Blank said it could go either way. Fiemann will go to the baseball association to see about getting some funds to take care of that. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Review goals for 2005. Blank reported that by City ordinance we must develop an annual report and submit it to the Council in February. Part of that report needs to contain a work plan. Some items staff has come up with include: Land acquisition for the Northwest Greenway and the 10th playfield. Blank said that we have reached a bargain with the Begin family for five acres on the north end of Pomerleau Lake. The monitoring and operation of the third sheet of ice. The public art policy. We've been working on this for over three years. Other communities are also struggling with this. What is acceptable public art? Blank feels it is better to have a plan in place before someone offers to donate something to the City. Capital improvement program for 2006-2010. Park tour sometime, maybe in June. Updating park ordinances. Using the park system to promote the history of our community, with reader boards, etc. We'll work with the Historical Society on this. N t Communication with the youth, particularly teens. We don't have a quick fix for this. Pre -approval is needed before bringing information to the high school for distribution to the student body. Pederson asked about finishing up things at the ice center. Should this be part of the work plan? Blank said we'll be wrapping up this project in the next few weeks. After that he could go to the City Council and ask them if they want to add anything else. Fiemann asked if there are any contingency dollars left over? Blank said no. Tile would be a great addition to the new expansion area. It will be up to the Council to decide if they want to spend the $30,000 to do that. Singer wants the Commission to consider looking for a spot on the east side of Plymouth for a skate park. Blank said the city is currently redoing the water treatment plant at Zachary. We did a site plan for a skate park at that location. It would cost about $100,000. There is a nice piece of property there that includes a storm water pond and space for a skate park. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Discuss policy on facility usage. At the last Commission meeting, during Dan Lauer's presentation on sports programs, Davis was surprised to learn that his son's soccer organization doesn't pay a fee to use our fields. This brought up the issue of the Mayor's Task Force on Park and Recreation Program Financing. Blank stated that three weeks before he was hired back in 1980, the city passed a referendum to build six new playfields. Four were built in the summer of 1980 and the other two in the summer of 1981. The basic funding philosophy was that the City had an obligation to perform basic levels of service on these playfields without passing any costs on to the consumer for these services. In 1991 a Council member felt strongly that a fee should be imposed on athletic associations for each non-resident member, and so a $5 was implemented. Eighteen months later, the Council rescinded that fee due to enormous pressure and complaints. It would have cost at least $100 per child to offset the costs of operating the park system, Blank said. We assign fields based on the number of Plymouth residents participating in the association. We constantly readjust to meet the needs. We were probably the first recreation department that was based on "pay to play." There was a standard level of measure as to how much money would be allocated for recreation. In the last three years the recreation fund has done very well due to tremendous growth. Singer asked if there is a trend with communities starting to charge fees. Blank said there are some communities that are making cuts to keep their current level of service. Blank said there are other options — less service, assessing a fee, or doing some of the maintenance yourself. Do we need to do that at this time Fiemann asked? Blank said not this year, but maybe next year. When the legislature is finished in May, we will know what the ripple effect will be in 2006 and 2007. All adults pay fees Blank said. They don't pay 100% of the costs, but they are the only ones that pay fees. Fiemann asked Blank to continue to monitor this and report back to the commission regarding what the legislature does. The DNR collects fees from cross country skiers, Blank said in response to Rezabek's comment that Three Rivers charges fees to cross country skiers who use the trails in the county parks. N " . Blank discussed the rules and regulations on open meeting laws, etc. No more than four commissioners can get together to discuss an issue. More than that would be a violation. Even a phone call would violate the open meeting law if it involved five or more members in a conference call situation. Davis asked about getting together for a dedication or grand opening. City Manager Ahrens said she considers those types of things Council events, and as such, PRAC members could attend without violating the open meeting law. Singer asked about the disclosure law and conflict of interest. She assumed that if a situation arose at a meeting, you would simply state your conflict of interest and recuse yourself. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION None. 9. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.