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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 12-08-2011MINUTES OF THE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING December 8, 2011 PRESENT: Commissioners: G. Anderson, N. Carroll, M. Riley, A. Vanderwall, J. Vecere, J. Zwack Staff: D. Evans, D. Lauer, R. Michaud, B. Northway, D. Sankey Planning Commission Liaison: D. Kobusson City Council Liaison: Bob Stein ABSENT: K. Wyse 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Carroll called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION was made by Commissioner Vecere and seconded by Commissioner Riley to approve the October minutes. Vote: 6 Ayes. Motion approved. 3. OPEN FORUM 4. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS (NON -ACTION ITEMS): a. Staff Presentation: Dan Lauer, Recreation Supervisor Dan Lauer reported that he has been with the City for 12 years. Plymouth Parks & Recreation is regarded as an innovator in the field. His main responsibilities include youth and adult athletics. He is also working on special events, with Fire & Ice coming up in February. There will be a new musical group at Fire & Ice called "Divas through the Decades" which should be a very entertaining show. Lauer is also working on the Yard & Garden Expo, coming up on April 13 and 14. Commissioner Riley asked if we have an intro program for preschoolers to try a variety of sports. Lauer said yes, we have several of these programs such as Sports Sampler, Mini Hawks, and Little Sportsters. b. Staff Presentation: Regina Michaud, Recreation Manager Regina Michaud reported that she has worked for the city for 11 years. She started as an intern while working on her master's degree in recreation. She then worked as a recreation coordinator, then recreation supervisor. She started a lot of the teen programming, worked on special events such as Halloween at the Creek, New Year's Eve, and Yard & Garden, and supervised many others such as the playground PRAC Minutes/December 8, 2011 Page 2 program. Two years ago, she became Recreation Manager and now supervises the recreation staff. She is liaison with the Senior Program. We contract with Senior Commuity Services for Sara Mittlestaedt to provide senior programming. Michaud was one of the leads on the Skate Park project and met with teens to get their input on the design. She worked on the NRPA Gold Medal Award, and we were one of four finalists. She worked on accreditation over the last couple of years as well. Commissioner Anderson said he visited the skate park, and it was very active. It looks like a major success. Michaud said a lot of credit goes to the teens in the focus group. They wanted concrete construction. We kept it a Tier 1 park, although we pushed it to the limit. The designers were great at what they do. Anderson asked if there was a way to track attendance. Michaud said we will have an ambassador stationed at the park to talk with the skaters and do some counts. Director Evans mentioned that Michaud served as Activity Center Manager after Rick Busch's retirement, and Dan Lauer managed the Fieldhouse. c. Staff Presentation: Barb Northway, Deputy Director Barb Northway introduced herself. She is the new Deputy Director of Parks & Recreation. Her background includes working with the Minnesota Recreation & Parks Association, the Minnesota Sports Federation, and Community Education in Rockford. She serves on the Park Advisory Council in Greenfield and as a Special Olympic volunteer. She has spent the last three weeks meeting the great staff and working with Dan Heitke, Lowell Luebeck, Paul Buck, and Lara Newberger on the yard waste site to improve it. She is also working with the GIS program doing asset management. They have started flooding rinks, getting ready for the tree sale, and the Capital Improvement Plan. She is looking forward to being part of our staff. Commissioner Riley asked what the most attractive things were about this position for her. Northway replied that Plymouth has an outstanding Parks & Recreation system. In addition, she admires the quality of life in Plymouth. Parks & open spaces are important here. It was an honor to be chosen for the job. Director Evans explained that Eric Blank, Mark Peterson, and Rick Busch all retired this year. We combined the Superintendent of Recreation and Superintendent of Parks position into Deputy Director, so we lost one management position. The interview process was rigorous and we are honored to have Barb. 5. NEW BUSINESS (ACTION ITEMS): a. Park Fees Regina Michaud presented a report on the review of the park fee rate structure and a survey of other communities' park fees. Based on this study, we have determined that no increase should be made at this time. We will look at a more extensive change in 2012 for 2013. PRAC Minutes/December 8, 2011 Page 3 b. Special Events Michaud also gave an update on current events. Halloween at the Creek was held on October 31 at the Plymouth Creek Center. We had 575 participants taking part in carnival games, prizes, magic, and a juggling show. We provide free passes to Interfaith Outreach and Prism to help families in need to participate. The Kids Garage Sale is held twice a year and helps kids learn money management, buying, and selling. We sold out with 30 tables, and 400 shoppers took part. Veteran's Day Breakfast was held at the Plymouth Creek Center Capt. Dick Steiner was the speaker. Old Fashioned Christmas was held on December 4. The snow made perfect scenery. We were packed with participants. This year, reindeer were available for petting and for photos. The Plymouth Historical Society does a lot of the work for this event. New Year's Eve is coming up at the Ice Center/Lifetime Fitness. There will be an open gym, open swimming, open ice, and a juggler. We are also providing free tickets for needy families for this event. 6. COMMISSIONER/STAFF UPDATES Director Evans spoke on the following topics: o Update on Department Strategic Goals Evans explained that the strategic goals tie to the Comprehensive Plan. Each division does initiatives tied to the goals. She pointed out and explained the highlights in the distributed report. Zwack asked if Evans had a sense of how many ash trees we have in Plymouth. She said Paul Buck has a pretty good idea of the ash count for park property. He will report on this in an upcoming meeting. o Commission Appointments Ned Carroll, Kipp Wyse, and Aaron Vanderwall were reappointed to the Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission. A new liaison from City Council was appointed. Ginny Black will be in place in February. We really appreciate our outgoing liaison Bob Stein's work. o 2012 PRAC Meeting Schedule Evans presented the schedule for 2012 and said we could add a meeting if necessary. o Projects Update Playfield Lighting Project - $2.5 million was funded through a loan from the PRAC Minutes/December 8, 2011 Page 4 Community Improvement Fund. Lighting for all of the playfields was replaced. We came in $70,000 under budget. Some wiring replacement was needed, but there were very few issues. From a smart phone or computer, we can turn the lights on and off in any of the parks. We have received a lot of positive comments from park neighbors. Dog Park Project - The paving and landscaping are done. Amenities like dog agility features and benches will be added in the spring. We came in $23,000 under budget. Skate Park Project - We came in $600 under budget and used creative engineering to get there. The 20 -something boarders didn't visit our old park, but they are using the new one. Because of the older kids, there have been smoking and language issues. We need a staff person, an ambassador, to educate some of the users and to help keep things in good shape. Councilmember Stein asked about how the Plymouth P was working out. Evans said she sees kids using it all the time. It is a challenge for them to figure out how to use it, and they enjoy that. o Commission Photograph A photo of the group was taken by Barb Northway. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Chair Carroll thanked Bob Stein for his work as Council Liaison. 7. ADJOURNMENT Vice Chair Anderson entertained the motion to adjourn. MOTION was made by Commissioner Zwack and seconded by Commissioner Vanderwall. Vote: 5 Ayes. Motion approved. The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. The next meeting will be on January 12 at Plymouth City Hall. Donna Sankey - PRAC recorder