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2010-11-09 Parks and Rec Comm MinutesApproved CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA PARKS AND RECREATION MEETING November 9, 2010 The November 207 0 meeting of the Mendota Heights Parks and Recreation Commission was held on Tuesday, November 9, 2010, in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 P.M. The following Commissioners were present, Chair Ray Morris, Commissioners Tom Kraus, Michael Toth, David Miller, Stephanie Levine and Steve Commers. Staff present: Jake Sedlacek, Assistant to the City Administrator, Teresa Gangelhoff, Parks and Recreation Programmer, and Nancy Bauer, Recording Secretary, Minutes Commissioner Miller made a motion to adopt the minutes from the October 12, 2010 meeting. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Commers. Commissioner Miller said there is one three year position that is mentioned in the minutes and a letter of interest was due by December I0`h and asked if he needed to do anything to reapply. Mr. Sedlacek said it was an additional three year position. Commissioner Miller's email had been received, AYES 6 NAYS 0 Parks and Recreation Report Ms. Gangelhoff reported this is the slowest time of the year for parks and recreation. 1'he horseback riding trip was a success. Bowling, lunch and a movie trip is coming up. Commissioner Miller asked what age group went on the trips. NIs. Gangelhoff said usually kids aged six and up attended the trips. Gymnastics has started and another session was added in January. Learn to skate starts in January. Classes have been filled and a new skating teacher needs to be hired. The rink attendants have been hired. They hope to open the rinks on December 17, 2010 or December 18, 2010. The National Parks and Recreation Convention was in Minneapolis and was nice and there were a lot of great ideas presented. Commissioner Commers asked about the hours of the ice rinks. Ms. Gangelhoff replied Monday through Friday 4:00 PM to 8:30 PM, Saturday 9:00 AM to 8.30 PM, Sundays noon to 6:00 PM, when school is out they are open noon to 8:30 PM, New Year's Day is noon to 8:30, and the rinks are closed Christmas day and will close at 4:00 PM on Christmas eve and New Year's eve. Commissioner Levine asked if the facilities could be rented. Page- 1 11/9/]0 Approved Ms. Gangelhoff stated there are permits on line to rent ice time or the warning houses for $25.00. Mr. Sedlacek said the work on enlarging the Ivy Falls rink has been started and the light pole has been delivered and the light should be up soon. 2011 Parks Celebration Discussion Mr. Sedlace(< reported that it is being proposed to consider moving the parks celebration to coincide with the Fire Prevention Open House in October. June is a busy time for the recreation programmer and moving it to October would free up some of Ms. Gangelhoff s time in June. Staff is looking for feedback from the Commission. There were four positions identified to make the event run. Whenever the event is held, action items will need to be started in January. Ms. Gangelhoff said the Assistant Fire Chief was comfortable with putting the two events together but the Fire Chief would need to make the final decision. Commissioner Commers asked about the Mendota Heights Athletic Association baseball tournament that is held in June. Ms. Gangelhoff said the tournament was held in conjunction with the parks celebration. They can do an end of season event for baseball anytime. In October she is looking at holding an end of the season soccer tournament. Commissioner Kraus heard one comment that if the fire open house and parks celebration were combined it could take away from one of the events. Also, the weather could be cold in October for aparks celebration. Ms. Gangelhoff said October could be beautiful or freezing cold, but usually there is no rain. The event has been rained out two of the last three years. If the celebration were held in October, there could be a pumpkin give away, the petting zoo, a moon walk, scarecrow contest, and a hayride on the perimeter of the park. If cold, these events could still happen. Commissioner Commers asked if the activities would still be sponsored by local businesses. Mr. Gangelhoff said no, unless someone else steps up to help plan activities. Commissioner Commers stated he was open to moving the park celebrations because of the bad weather in past years. Could it be moved for a year and reviewed afterwards? Chair Morris said there is no permanency to this decision. Tenants could be contacted at the Village and Mendota Plaza about doing an art fair. That could help out businesses and draw more people in, Ms. Gangelhoff said the 5K would still be held in June. Commissioner Kraus asked about holding the Halloween bonfire the same weekend as the parks celebration if it was held in October. Commissioner Levine said the site may no longer be available. Or. Sedlacek responded that there may be senior housing put on the site. Page Approved Commissioner Toth commented that Pilot Knob is a park and asked if something could be done there as part of the parks celebration. Chair Morris said it sounds like there is a consensus to move the parks celebration to October. Mr. Sedlacek reported that if it is moved to October it would be a City Council decision. Capital Improvement Plan Mr. Sedlacek reported that the City Council has requested a Capital Improvement Plan from the Parks and Recreation Commission to be included in the 2011 budget. Funding has always been an issue. All different lists have been consolidated into one simple list for a Capital Lnprovement Plan. Kensington Park playground replacement is in the year 2011. Two projects were put in 2012, one is to refurbish the playground equipment at Mendakota Park and the second project is to install a sun shelter at Hagstrom King Park. There are also two projects for 2013 and they are to install hockey lights at Friendly Hills Park and add a new piece of equipment at the Rogers Lake Skate Park. To reroof the pavilion at Mendakota Park has been slated for 2014 and in 2015 develop a plan with the school district to have plantings and interpretive signs at Copperfield pond. Future items include a lacrosse field at Friendly Marsh, Civic Center Field sun shelters, a Mendakota Park storage building, tile the tennis courts at Wentworth Park, Marie Park and Ivy Falls Park and pave the hockey rink at Marie Park, Chair Morris asked about the $52,000 in the budget for Kensington Park. Is it from the Special Parks Fund? Mr. Sedlacek said the $52,000 in the preliminary budget is for park improvements at Mendakota Park and back stop improvements at Friendly Hills Park. It was realized fiom the site visit that Kensington Park equipment is in much rougher shape than Mendakota Park. The $52,000 is from the Special Park Fund. Chair Morris said Kensington Park is in rougher shape and may need more funds to do a total replacement. Mr. Sedlacek said the Parks and Recreation Commission needs to define a real need in the community and come up with a good plan then City Council will be receptive to improvements. Commissioner Toth commented about the lacrosse field at Friendly Marsh Park - there is only access to the park from Dodd Road to Decorah Lane. Chair Morris said when this issue came up before the City Council they did not want to move ahead with putting a lacrosse field at Friendly Marsh Park. Mr. Sedlacek said Chair Morris was correct. City Council was hoping for a more defined user need of a lacrosse field. City Council would also like to see access from South Plaza Drive. Commissioner Toth said two big costs would be putting in the field and roadways costs. Commissioner Miller asked if lacrosse was that popular. Page - 3 I 1 /9/ 10 Approved Mr. Sedlacek said it is right now. All fields in the city are stressed out every year. Commissioner Levine wanted more information on the estimate for Kensington Park. Mr. Sedlacek said he asked the company who did the Mendakota Park improvements for a ball park figure to replace equipment or refurbish the equipment. The next meeting there will be better numbers to figure out the cost of the playground equipment. Chair Morris said Kensington Park is the last park for a major renovation. All other parks have had replacement equipment installed. Mr. Sedlacek said Mendakota Park is a good candidate for refurbishing but Kensington Park is not a good option for refurbishing. Commissioner Commers said Kensington Park equipment is in rough shape. Financially it would make sense to replace the equipment. Commissioner Toth asked if the Mendakota Park pavilion roof would be replaced with cedar shakes again. Mr. Sedlacek said the cost estimate was for cedar shakes. Commissioner Toth asked if the storage building at Mendakota Park could come out of the maintenance budget. Mr. Sedlacek said the estimated numbers in the Capital Improvement Plan do not identify what line item the funding is coming from. Commissioner Commers asked if the roof at Mendaktota Park could last until 2016. Mr. Sedlacek said it depends on the weather. If the roof would need repairs it would need to be replaced instead of being repaired. Chair Morris said the Capital Improvement Plan could be modified at any time. It is very nicely put together and it has captured the needs of the parks. It is the best five year Capital Plan he has seen. Commissioner Kraus made a motion to authorize staff to include the five year Capital Improvement Plan in the 2011 budget documents to be considered by City Council. Commissioner Toth seconded the motion. AYES 6 NAYS 0 Trail Needs Planning Mr. Sedlacek said a formal planning process of trails maintenance and gap analysis has been started by staff. There are about 22 miles of trails in Mendota Heights that are well used. Ivy Falls Park received a complete overlay of the trail this year. Wagon Wheel Trail will get a segment of trail next Page - 4 11/9/10 Approved year. A map has been created that shows trails that are in good shape, trails that need work and trails that are higher priority. Staff would like the Parks and Recreation Commission and community to give feedback about the trails at lovetheparks@mendota-heights.com. Chair Morris asked that police reports be pulled to see if anyone has been hurt on the trails. That would show any safety issues that are out there. Commissioner Toth asked if the trail on Lexington Avenue is classified as a sidewalk or trail. Mr. Sedlacek said it is a trail in county right-of-way but the city maintains the trail. There are sidewalks in Copperfield but the city does not maintain sidewalks. Chair Morris asked if the N.U.R.T. was being expanded? Mr. Sedlacek said the North Urban Regional Trail is a county trail and starts at Dodd Road and Highway 110 to Robert Street in West St. Paul. There a couple of spots where it is on the road. The county wants to upgrade the Valley Park Trail so that the North Urban Regional Trail meets up with the Big Rivets Regional Trail. There are grants out there for trails so it would be good to have a trail plan. Commissioner Levine suggested putting information in the next newsletter saying that feedback it being sought about the trails. Chair Mon•is suggested putting information in the regional papers. Commissioner Levine suggested putting up laminated signs on the trails so people using the trails would see the information also. Par 3 Mr. Sedlacek reported that today was the last official day of business at the Par 3. October had beautiful weather three out of four weeks and the clubhouse was staffed those three weeks in October. The most rounds of golf in October were played this year but it did not cover the costs of staffing the clubhouse. The month of October saw $8,749 less expenditures over revenues. Some of the costs were clubhouse salaries for October. The course is projected to have a yearend operating expenditure over revenue of $2,000, There is a projected ending balance of $46,431. Commissioner Miller suggested restricting hours in October and not opening in March. Commissioner Toth asked when the two for one rounds of golf started? Or. Sedlacek said it started after Labor Day. Staff had a wrap up meeting and ideas were discussed about promoting recreational programs earlier and with other communities. Commissioner Commers suggested advertising to companies about having a party at the club house and using the golf course on a Friday or Saturday afternoon. Chair Morris said using it as a team builder for businesses would be a good idea. Page - S I I/9/]0 Approved December Meeting Discussion Chair Morris reported that the Parks and Recreation Commission usually does not meet in December because of holiday festivities. Mr. Sedlacek said because of the workload, the Parks and Recreation Commission would not need to meet in December. Commissioner Commers commented that the Parks and Recreation Commission did not meet in August. Commissioner Kraus commented that the Parks and Recreation Commission usually does not meet in July but did meet in July this year. Commissioner Kraus made a motion to recommend to the City Council that the December meeting be cancelled. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller. AYES 5 NAYS 1 (Commers) Commission Comments Commissioner Commers said it was a good meeting. Commissioner Levine said she is excited to work on the trail assessment plan. Commissioner Miller thanked Mr. Sedlacek for all the knowledgeable detail abotrt the parks items and that it has been very helpful for his first year on the Commission. The Capital Improvement Plan is a very good list that is simple and easy to act on. Commissioner Toth reminded the audience that there is an opening on the Parks and Recreation Commission and contact city hall if interested in joining the Commission. Adjourn Commissioner Commers made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Toth seconded the motion. AYES 6 NAYS 0 The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 P.M. Page - 6 11/9/10