Loading...
2007-08-14 Parks and Rec Comm MinutesApproved CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA PARKS AND RECREATION MEETING August I4, 2007 The August 2007 meeting of the Mendota Heights Parks and Recreation Commission was held on Tuesday, August 14, 2007, 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 Richard Spicer, Commissioners Missie Hickey, Raymond Morris, Paul Portz and Larry Craighead. Absent were Commissioners Tom Kraus, and Brian Hallman. City Staff present were; Teresa Gangelhoff, Recreation Programmer, Guy Kullander, Operations and Projects Coordinator, Jake Sedlacek, Assistant to the City Administrator, and Nancy Bauer, Recording Secretary, MINUTES: Commissioner Portz moved approval of the June minutes and seconded by Commissioner Craighead. AYES: 5 NAYESO PROJECT UPDATES —VALLEY PARK TENNIS COURTS Chair Spicer commented he had the opportunity to go by the Valley Park Tennis Courts and solicit opinions from players. The overall opinion is that the courts are really nice. The really good tennis players say it is too slow and 80% of the players that are beginners seem to really like it. They have said the ball does take funny bounces. One complaint is that when the fence was lifted the balls go underneath and players are spending a lot of time getting their tennis balls. Commissioner Craighead said he has observed tennis balls going underneath the fence. He commented that he has walked on the court and thought it was slippery. It's more slippery than an asphalt court. Chair Spicer commented he hasn't heard that many complaints except for the balls going underneath the fence. Mr. Kullander responded that he was aware of the tennis balls going under the fence and didn't plan on doing anything about it this year. The raised fence fabric will relax over the winter. The fence will be looked at again the spring and corrective action taken then, if necessary. Commissioner Portz commented he stopped at the tennis court one night and it rained that day. The players seemed to like it and the new tiles give you a clay court like experience. Mr. Kullander responded that there are three different the surfaces available and each gives you a different playing experience. One is aggressive, another will be faster, and ours is in the middle. Page - 1 Approved Commissioner Portz thought a smoother surface would give you a faster surface and there would be even more sliding. Chair Spicer commented that there weren't a lot of complaints except the balls leaving the court and there are some funny bounces. These problems could be because the tiles haven't settled yet. Mr. Kullander responded it could be because of the heat. The tiles will heat and expanded and contract with temperature fluctuations. Commissioner Morris commented that the court looked really sharp. Chair Spicer commented that the overall impression is that people really like it, it looks nice, and it gets used a lot. Commissioner Morris commented that it's a vast improvement over what it was before. Chair Spicer went over the recreation report. Teresa has been extremely busy. This week is safety camp that is full with 61 participants. The tennis program ended with 171 participants. Welcome Back Tennis is August 21" for people 50 and older. Plans are being made for the 2008 Parks Celebration on June 7, 2008. People can call City Hall with ideas for events. The softball leagues are over. Fall youth trips planned are Mall of America on October 181h and horseback riding at Bunker Hills Stables on October 19"'. The fishing derby was full and a new record was set with 377 fish caught. The first year the majority of fish caught were bullheads and this year there were maybe 10 bullheads. The majority of the fish caught were Bunnies. The bass winner weighed about an ounce. There are a lot of people to thank. Ace Hardware from Inver Grove Heights was terrific. They provided a lot of stuff and worked hard to weigh, measure and count fish. Ira Kipp and the Cliff Timm Memorial donated money. Sidney Stockton caught 52 fish in an hour. The largest fish was a sunny at 4-1/2 oz and the smallest fish was ''/z oz. A grant is being applied for an ice fishing demonstration this winter. Siunmer Playhouses went on for six week. Performances in the Park —the first show will be Wednesday, August 29th 6:30 — 7:30 P.M. at Mendakota Park. Leroy's River Minstrels will perform. The second show at dusk will be the movie The Wizard of Oz with free root beer floats and popcorn. The skateboard camp was a big success with 19 kids. Each kid received a goodie bag. The event was featured in the Sun Current. A fall skateboard camp is planned for fall. There is a simple step program for walkers, sponsored by Dakota County. Over 1,200 people have already signed up. Gymnastics for six weeks starts September 29"'. There is a cheerleading camp for ages four and up. Thinking ahead to winter, regishations are being taken for outdoor skating lessons. National Night out was August 7`h at Mendakota Park. Games and prizes were provided. Page - 2 Approved Chair Spicer asked how many people attended. Ms. Gangelhoff responded that about 200 — 250 people attended. The Sun Current skateboard article was put up for viewers to look at. Commissioner Morris asked if there was any more vandalism at Rogers Lake Skate Park. Mr. Kullander responded that none has been reported. The fall recreation programs flyer was put on the overhead view for viewers to see. Ms. Gangelhoff said the most important events coming up were the Performance in the Park with the double feature and the Welcome Back to Tennis Program next Tuesday. More people are needed to sign up for the Welcome Back to Tennis Program by Friday to make it a go. PAR 3 —FINANCIAL STATUS Chair Spicer said it looked good for the first month. The financial records showed that July was a busy golf month. July is the number one month for the golf. Commissioner Portz said before the City bought the golf course he had a good feeling about it and still has a good feeling about it. It is a good amenity for the community. People do sit on the deck and you can practice putting on the putting green. When we get into the numbers we'll see financially good things are happening. Residents should go visit the golf course. Chair Spicer left at this point to attend another meeting. The meeting was turned over Yo Acting Chair Portz. Mr. Sedlacek reported that he had three key items that he wanted to report were: The bond breakdown, the financial procedures for handling cash and the July financial report. The bonds purchase was for $2,790,000.00 and $27,653.75 was for issuance costs and $11,151,24 for underwriting costs with net proceeds of $2,751,195.01. The total purchase and closing costs were $2,614,354.41 leaving $69,234.43 for capital improvements. Commissioner Morris asked if the amount remaining was an anticipated amount. Mr. Sedlacek responded that is was an anticipated amount. The City knew capital improvements were needed for a sprinkler system and hooking up to water to the clubhouse and the maintenance building. Acting Chair Portz said the bond and interest payments would be kept separate from the golf operations because the citizens accepted the responsibility of debt retirement. When an annual report comes out there will be a separate fund for the bond payments. Accounting principals realizes that the bond issues are a separate fund. Revenues from the golf course were never intended to pay for the bonds that was why there was a referendum. Commissioner Craighead asked how much it was a month for servicing the bonds. Acting Chair Portz responded that he did not lrnow. Page - 3 Approved Commissioner Craighead said it would be interesting to see how much it is. He then asked if the $69,234.42 would be used to pay off the bonds. Acting Chair Portz said it has something to do with current interest and time of year the golf course was bought. He continued by saying he met with the employees at Par 3 and they have standard controls that seemed adequate. Finance Officer Schabacker has put together the information and did a good job. The format is good. Commissioner Morris asked if there was a security camera system in the club house and around the cash register. Mr. Sedlacek responded there was one in place. Commissioner Morris asked if the staff were contract employees. Mr. Sedlacek responded there were temporary/seasonal employees of the City. Commissioner Morris asked if they received benefits. Mr. Sedlacek responded they did not receive benefits. Acting Chair Portz responded the financial procedures were adequate. Mr. Sedlacek said the first full operating month showed revenues over expenditures were $34,236.24. There are a couple of caveats on this, the first being July is the busiest month, second there was only one full pay period, and the golf course had stocked shelves when the City took possession. Supplies will have to be bought in the future. The other caveat was the Xcel energy bill came after the report was done and that was for $1,000.00 in July mostly for irrigation. The numbers are good. The City anticipated $34,000,00 for the whole year. August should be another good month. September, October and November can be questionable. There are expenditures planned for September such as aeration of the greens and work on sand traps. There will be personnel costs for this work. Commissioner Morris asked who would be doing the maintenance of the golf course. Mr. Sedlacek responded that existing personnel at the golf course would be doing the maintenance work. Commissioner Craighead asked if any more people would be hired. Mr. Sedlacek responded that no additional personnel would be hired at this time. Commissioner Craighead asked if Mr. Sedlacek's time, Mr. Kullander's time and the Financial Officer's time was being charged as professional services time against the Parks and Recreation budget. Mr. Sedlacek responded his time wasn't being charged as he is a salaried employee. Mr. Kullander's time has been tracked and billed. Right know he is working on the water Page - 4 Approved connection. Administration time is hard to keep track of. We are hying to think of what is the appropriate time to put in the fees for professional services. Commissioner Craighead the last six months there has been a lot of staff time put into this and there will be a lot of staff time in the future. Mr. Sedlacek said it will be added into the costs eventually. Acting Chair Portz said allocating time can sometimes be arbitrary, which is not unusual. There could be a separate line added to the report such as indirect costs or administration allocation so we can see what allocations are made. Commissioner Morris asked if there were any historical records of financial operations from the previous owners. Mr. Sedlacek said he has records in a couple of different formats. He has the previous 10 years annualized and last year broken down by month. The City is $10,000 ahead compared to last year. Acting Chair Portz said that the financial report shows $34,000 in profit and the money will be used to improve the golf course. There will be repairs and equipment replacement. A reserve needs to be built and the amount will be determined on how much we envision the future such as just maintaining the status quo and keeping it quaint. The reserve can be small unless we see a big change or need and we can build a reserve to fund the changes. That is what we are going to do with the profits in the future. Commissioner Hickey asked if improvements would be done in the summer time, something was said about aeration in September. Mr. Sedlacek said the aeration was being done in September that way the new turf is likely to take off better. Clubhouse improvements could be one in the winter. Acting Chair Portz said that the late fall or early spring would be a good time to have the clubhouse changed around and golfers would not be disturbed. The money spent so far has been for safety and health reasons such as water is being brought up to the club house, fire sprinklers will be added and cleaning up the kitchen area. These are priority items and the $69, 234.43 will be used for these items. Mr. Sedlacek said the last item on the report is figuring out the schedule for reporting back to the Parks and Recreation Commission. The tentative plan is to have a similar financial report brought back every month and start framing discussions for the big annual report — like what are the fees going to be for next year and what improvements are going to be done for next year. The annual report should be drafted for November. November could be bad or good for golf. We can polish the numbers and get feedback from the Parks and Recreation Commission for the annual report in December. In January, leagues are already inquiring about the upcoming season. Commissioner Morris said it would be nice to have a monthly financial report, previous year, and previous year to date to compare numbers. Another thing that would be really useful would Page - 5 Approved be a three year capital improvement plan. We could put some thought into a list of repair or replacement for the equipment and some of things that we want to do in the future. Mr. Sedlacek said there was a five year plan that was presented in June. Commissioner Morris said that could be updated each year. Acting Chair Portz said he agreed with Commissioner Morris comments as far as the monthly statements. It is standard to have year to date comparisons. With only one person in the finance department that could be hard to do. Mr. Sedlacelc said with the format down we could plug in the numbers. Commissioner Morris said getting the comparisons would be great to get a handle on the finances since it's new to the City. Mr. Sedlacelc reiterated the Parks and Recreation Commission's recommendations on the report, that the monthly costs of the bonds was a point of interest, making sure that the administrative, engineering and financial costs are reflected in the financial report, year to date comparison and previous year's monthly comparison. Commissioner Craighead said he would like to see staff time as a cost reflected on the financial report to see the true operations costs of running the golf course. Commissioner Morris said that staff working on golf course issues takes time away from other projects and should be kept track of. Mr. Sedlacelc said the financial report would be given to the City Council at their next meeting. Commissioner Morris said staff made the transition smooth and should be commended for it. Staff did a great job. Mr. Al lc said the Par 3 staff should also be commended. They have a good reputation and s a course people enjoy. Commissioner Morris said it was fortunate that we are able to hire the employees at the Par 3. PROJECT UPDATES Mr. Kullander said his memo updates some activities and progress of various projects that he has worked on since the last Commission meeting. Mr. Kullander said that he has gotten some feed back also on the Valley Park Tennis Courts and appreciated Commissioner's comments. He will report back to the City Council on the comments at budget time because there is a request for funding for another tennis court in the same manner next year. Commissioner Morris said he was encouraged that all the Parks Commission's priorities were accepted and asked if that was a first. Page - 6 Approved Mr. Kullander responded the City Council accepted the plan, but once it gets in the Council workshop that is when things get reprioritized. Next month he said he will be able to report what happened at the workshop. Mr. Kullander reported that the County accepted bids and awarded the contract for the NURT Trail. The City has not heard from the County regarding a preconstruction meeting. No work is being done yet. Letters will be sent to homeowners by the County describing the work and what they should expect. Something must be hanging up the project, but anticipates the project will start in August. Mr. Kullander reported that he has received bids for water service to the clubhouse and an eight inch water service for fire and domestic water be brought into the maintenance building for fire sprinklers as required by City Code. St. Paul Regional Water Services installed both water stubs yesterday. The contractor will now hook up the stubs to the buildings this week. There will be some disruptions. The water service goes through the parking lot. The water connection to the clubhouse is a day or a day and a half project. The water stub to the maintenance building will be going through a tee box because of the depth. That tee area will be disrupted for a couple of days but will still be usable. Acting Chair Portz asked if connecting to water was considered being done during down time. Mr. Kullander responded that it worked into St. Paul Regional Water's schedule, also you don't want to dig up and tap into the water mains late in the year. City Staff also wanted this done the first year with the extra bond money to bring it up to code. It should all be done by this Friday. Acting Chair Portz offered his suggestion that improvements be done in the off season. Mr. Kullander said that the maintenance building does not have any plumbing and a sanitary sewer line is also being run up to the maintenance building at the same time. This way the area will not have to be dug up again. The sanitary sewer line is for future sinks, toilets and emergency shower/eyewash. Commissioner Morris commented that it was a great idea and you don't want to be digging during frost times. Commissioner Hickey asked if any well water would be maintained for the golf course sprinkler system. Mr. Kullander responded that the one inch well at the clubhouse would be closed. It was suggested to keep it open for irrigation, but according to Federal guidelines it would have to be tested weekly or monthly. So a larger than normal water service (1-1/2") was brought in for possible future irrigation on the north end of the course. The maintenance building well will still be used for irrigation. Commissioner Morris said it was a good idea to use St. Paul Regional Water for water. Mr. Kullander reported that crack filling and surface repair was done on the City's double tennis courts and the basketball court in Mendakota Court. He continued to report that trail reconstruction was done in Ivy Hills Park and along Wachtler Avenue. Additional trail work will be completed in August and September. Page - 7 Approved Commissioner Craighead asked about the trail on Rolling Green into Mendota School between two houses. Mr. Kullander responded that this is not a City owned trail. Commissioner Craighead asked who owned the trail. Mr. Kullander thought that may the school district owned the trail. Commissioner Craighead said the trail needs a lot attention because it is in sad shape. Mr. Kullander said he would look into the ownership and maintenance issues. Mr. Kullander continued about native plantings at Rogers Lake and the ponds in Ivy Hill Park and South Kensington Park. Prairie Restorations looks at the plants and maintains them. They also take out invasive plants. Last year Kensington Pond was added and Prairie Restoration will now begin annual maintenance. This year they mowed down weeds at Kensington Pond to allow the native plants to thrive. Commissioner Craighead said that the outlots at Lexington Avenue and Marie Avenue are overgrown with Buckthorn. It's all over the City on City owned property. Mr. Kullander said that Buckthorn on City property and extends onto adjacent private property and nothing is done until neighbors request that the City cut it down. He continued by saying the maintenance budget for next year in the Public Works budget by the Parks and Recreation Commission will probably all go through. The big item was the tennis court. The Civic Center ballfields are a big success, a lot of people are using them, the batting cages are being used often. There have been a lot of compliments on the batting cages. The City has received grant money for the Pilot Knob site to purchase phase II from Acacia cemetery. Total amount to purchase the extra 15 acres is approximately $1.94 million. The City is $50,000 - $60,000 short this amount. A couple of emails went back and fourth with The Trust for Public Land and they don't think the shortfall will be a problem. The Trust for Public Land thinks they can come up with the shortfall. If all goes well, the site will be acquired before the end of the year. Commissioner Morris said The Trust for Public Land is a great group, a lot of people don't know about the great work they do, and they have a lot of resources. Commissioner Morris asked if the new parcel was going to have the same stipulations that Phase I does regarding development. Mr. Kullander responded yes it will. Commissioner Craighead asked if the fences and houses on the property will be demolished. Mr. Kullander responded that the fences and buildings will be removed. Commissioner Craighead asked if there was an additional cost for the demolition and cleanup. Mr. Kullander responded there will be an additional cost, especially if there any environmental clean up. Some of the costs are included in the $50,000 from The Land for Public Tnist. The cemetery is thinking of moving the brick structure onto their cemetery site. Next month the Page - 8 Approved Commission will hear more about the budget decisions made by City Council. The big item for next year Friendly Marsh Park and regrading the site for use as a Lacrosse field and back up field for soccer or football. This would be a major improvement for the City and would take pressure off other soccer fields in the City. Public Works has been doing a great job with field maintenance this summer. COMMISSION COMMENTS Mr. Sedlacek said the Town Center had a ground breaking ceremony today on the last retail building on the site. Commissioner Morris asked what was going in the building. Mr. Sedlacek responded it will be similar to the other building with retail on the first level and office on the second level. They are nearly all leased up. The big aesthetic feature of the new building will be a four sided clock. Commissioner Morris said there was hope to get a large occupant at one of the buildings. Mr. Sedlacek said the developer is looking for a restaurant but it is challenging to attract a restaurant to the area. Mr. Kullander reported that some tenants in the existing building are moving to the new building because they require more space and want to stay in the area. Acting Chair Portz said that Teresa Gangelhoff celebrated the 29`I' anniversary of her 21s` birthday by hosting an outing at the Par 3 golf course. She did it as a private citizen. Anybody can use the golf course for an event if they are so inclined. Ms. Gangelhoff said she had 29 people attend her birthday golf tournament at the Par 3, it was a great turnout. Dave helped out at the Par 3 and did a great job. Acting Chair Portz asked whom should be contacted if they would like to use the Par 3 for an eventI Ms. Gangelhoff said they should contact Dave, Manager of the Park 3, or herself. Commissioner Morris made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Craighead seconded the motion. AYES NAYES The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 P.M. Page - 9