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2006-07-11 Parks and Rec Comm MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES JULY llth, 2006 The July 2006 meeting of the Mendota Heights Parks and Recreation Commission was held on Tuesday, July l lth, 2006 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve. The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m. The following Commissioners were present: Chair Richard Spicer and Commissioners Paul Portz, Missie Hickey, Raymond Morris, Tom Kraus, Dave Libra and Larry Craighead. City staff present were Operations and Projects Coordinator Guy Kullander, Recreation Programmer Teresa Gangelhoff. Mr. Kullander took minutes. Also in the audience were Councilmember Ultan Duggan and Ralph Dumond, 1LfTi 1�1i711� RFC. Commissioner Morris moved approval of the June 13th, 2006 Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Commissioner Portz seconded the motion. AYES: 7 NAYS: 0 Chair Spicer noted that on the Recreation Programmer's Report that both the Safety Camp to be held on August 15, 16 and 1, were full as was the Clifford lunm Memorial Fishing Derby scheduled for Wednesday, July 12th, 2006. Chair Spicer listed other summer programs and activities detailed in the Recreation Programmer's Report. Commissioner Craighead and Chair Spicer described some of the fun times they have had at last years Fishing Derby when they helped judge and weigh fish caught by the kids. Ms Gangelhoff described a trail and park map currently being developed by Dakota County. The map highlights several parks in each city as well as County trails and facilities. Chair Spicer commented on past generosity of Clifford Timm who for a number of years provided financial support to the Fishing Derby and other gifts for various projects at Roger's Lake. Ms Gangelhoff reported that Mr. Timm left behind a trust that will donate $500 per year for the next ten years in support of the annual fishing derby. ANNUAL PARKS CELEBRATION Chair Spicer reported that the planning committee for last June's 50th Anniversary and Park Celebration event met earlier to do a final wrap up of committee members impressions of the June 2nd and June 3rd activities and to give advice or make recommendations to a future committee planning a similar event next year or perhaps in 2016 for 601h Anniversary celebration. Chair Spicer stated that he had received hundreds of comments from residents saying how much they had enjoy themselves this year and asking that some of the same activities be repeated at next year's Park Celebration. Chair Spicer proposed that next year in addition to the normal three hour youth events that Teresa organizes at Mendakota Park that a Friday night kick-off event in cooperation with the merchants at the Village of Mendota Heights be done again as well as the street dance on a stage at Mendota Plaza and perhaps a Fireworks display with cooperation with the Plaza merchants. He also said that the fireworks display at the June 3rd event was far better then the fourth of July fireworks display. Chair Spicer further proposed requesting the City Council allocate $10,000.00 in the 2007 City Budget for the Park Celebration and to carryover and include unspent monies for this year for next year so that a most of the money needed to cover expenses would be in place and the need to solicit donations would be less. Chair Spicer commented that he has watched, on cable access, many annual events staged by other cities and thought that our past Park Celebrations were pretty small in comparison to these events and saw no reason why Mendota Heights should not try to draw the community together on one night a year. Chair Spicer asked for additional comments from commission members and observed that all of the commission members were nodding in agreement for an expanded event. Chair Spicer listed six recommendations he would like the City Council to consider: 1. Appoint a new committee to plan a 2007 "expanded" Annual Park Celebration 2. That the event be held on Saturday June 2nd and also Friday night June lst 3. In addition to youth events at Mendakota should be added on Saturday, the 5K race/walk, street dance on a stage, and fireworks and on Friday a "social type event" in cooperation with the merchants at the Village. 4. Addition of a second permanent part-time Recreation Programmer to work with Teresa 5. Remaining funds from 2006 should "roll-over" to be available for the 2007 event 6. Council should include $10,000 for this event in the 2007 Budget Commissioner Kraus said he would like to see a funding model set up for future annual events, one that would have a secure financial balance large enough to cover most of the cost for the next year's event. 2 Chair Spicer responded that the City currently has something similar to what Commissioner Kraus described in that the Recreation Programmer has a special account for the Annual Parks Celebration and that private donations received each year are placed in this fund and expenses for the event are paid by this same account. This year was different in that the City Council allocated $10,000.00 in the City Budget to cover expenses in the event private donations were not sufficient to cover all expenses. For several years donations have exceeded expenses and this fund entered 2006 with a balance of $3,500.00, which is about what it costs for Teresa to pay all the expenses for a normal 3 hour park celebration. Commissioner Libra said that he agreed with Councilmember Duggan's idea to partner with the merchants at Town Center and Mendota Plaza and have them contribute or pay for many of the expenses such as the rental items or band. Councilmember Duggan thanked the commission for inviting him to comment and proposed that a letter be written the merchants, both at the Village and the Plaza who have reported that our event was very beneficial for them, asking them to participate in the planning and funding, perhaps as much as three-quarters, of the costs for an event in 2007. Councilmember Duggan also said that the City Council has supported past Annual Park Celebrations with annual funding which may not have been need, but that what he is hearing from the Commission would still require support from the City, but in a slightly larger amount in coming years. Councilmember Duggan said that if the merchants pay for three -fourths of the expenses the City's final contribution would be only four or five thousand dollars, but he agreed that asking the Council for $10,000.00 made sense and hopefully all of this money would not be needed. He also complimented Teresa with her past fundraising efforts and hoped that she would be allowed to continue the same efforts next year with the exception of the merchants at the Village and Plaza who would be supporting the "add -on" activities next year. Chair Spicer thanked Councilmember Duggan for his comments and for all hard work and effort he put into making the June celebration as big as success as it was. Commissioner Morris agreed with Councilmember Duggan and supported his idea to approach the existing and future merchants at the Village and ask that they provide financial support for next years expenses. Commissioner Portz moved that the Commission recommend to the City Council to: 1. Allocate $10,000.00 in the 2007 Budget for the Annual Park Celebration 2. Appoint a committee to begin planning for next year's event 3. The event would be held on Saturday, June 2nd with a kick-off event at the Village on Friday, June 1st 4. In addition to the youth events that the 2007 event include the 5K Run/walk, street dance with a stage, and fireworks. 5. Remaining unspent funds from the 2006 budget should "roll-over" to help pay for expenses in 2007 6. Council consider hiring a second permanent part-time Recreation Programmer to work with Teresa Gangelhoff on a year round basis 3 Commissioner Hickey seconded the motion AYES: 7 NAYS: 0 TENNIS COURTS Chair Spicer summarized a memo prepared by Mr. Kullander regarding condition of the City's existing tennis courts and various costs for maintenance, re -construction and new construction. He then asked Mr. Kullander what his recommendation. Mr. Kullander recommended a higher level of maintenance for the next few years on the City's five courts with the understanding of the Commission that the playing surface will never be perfect. He went on the explain that all courts were installed over thirty years ago and all have structural cracking that will "transfer" through new surface applications and must be filled at least once each year with a total court resurface every three to six years. Costs to remove and replace the asphalt would cost from $55,000 to $70,000 per double court and to replace with a longer lasting concrete surface could cost between $100,000 and $125,000 per park. Mr. Kullander commented that residents have many available courts to play on. The City has five double tennis courts located in five neighborhood parks and there are nine courts open to the public at Sibley High School and eight courts available at Visitation. Mr. Kullander recommended that the City not consider rebuilding or replacing City tennis courts in the near future but to increase funding level for maintenance. Commissioner Morris suggested that perhaps a higher level of maintenance should be done on our better courts and to take those in poor condition, near Sibley or Visitation, out of service. Commissioner Craighead recalled that several years ago the City removed the surfacing down to the original asphalt on several courts and a maintenance plan was put it place. Mr. Kullander agreed with Commissioner Craighead's recollection and said that at Marie and Wentworth the surfacing was water -blasted off down to the original asphalt and then resurfaced. The following year's structural cracks "transferred" through the new surfacing and has been addressed with crack fillers and surface touch-ups, but they are again this year in need of crack repair. At Ivy Park frost damage caused the asphalt to heave or settle at several of the structural cracks and the Commission considered to close this court. Local residents protested and repairs, involving cutting out the uneven areas to a width of two to four feet and then patching with new asphalt to level the surface were done followed by a resurfacing of the play surface. Old structural cracks have "transferred" through, but the surface remains smooth at this time. Commissioner Craighead recommended that staff establish budget for a higher level of maintenance and each year resurface the courts that need it the most and crack fill all of the others and plan to total removal down to the original asphalt for each court when necessary. Mr. Kullander said that preparation of the Parks Maintenance budget is ongoing and that he plans to recommend this line item increase to the $15,000 range. 0 Commissioner Morris would like to see long range planning for future construction / replacement of tennis courts using concrete as the foundation in stead of asphalt. He also suggested conducting surveys at the courts to determine usage so that if funding becomes unavailable and one or more courts would need to be taken out of service this information would be useful. He also feels that he would rather have some courts at a really good level rather than all courts at a mediocre level. Mr. Kullander also reported that the City's tennis instructors recommend that the City construct new courts in clusters of from 3 to 8 courts at one location. City parks that could accommodate more then a double court are Ivy (up to 6), Friendly (up to 4), and Hagstrom-King (3). Commissioner Libra wants the current courts maintained for now and to study options of building new courts in the future and to discuss this again when the next Capital Improvement Plan is developed by the Commission. Chair Spicer said the he believes the City will never have funding to build a "super court complex" with 4 or 6 courts at a cost of $400,000.00 and he believes that all though the courts have slowly deteriorated over the years the City has made efforts to maintain them available to residents and that if they want better courts they must go to Sibley or join a tennis club. Residents use the courts and my goal is to maintain them in safe playable condition and admit that they will never be competition level. Commissioner Morris said that he believes there is a point when continued maintenance no longer is enough to keep the courts safe and playable. Chair Spicer said that the Commission's plan should be ask the Council to budget sufficient funds to maintain the existing courts and when the Commission prepares a new Five Year Capital Improvement Plan to discuss constructing new tennis courts. Commissioner Craighead supports asking the Council to allocated between $15,000 and $20,000 in next years budget for tennis court repairs. COMMUNITY GARDENS Chair Spicer referred to policies from other cities and said the entire Commission supports going ahead with development of a policy for Mendota Heights. Mr. Kullander said that he would combine elements for the sample policies and have a draft for the Commission to review at the August meeting. UP DATES Chair Spicer questioned when a replacement for Mr. Hollister would be hired. Mr. Kullander said that applications close on July 215t and speculated that the new person would be available for the September meeting. Commissioner Craighead wondered who would contact the resident who sent a letter to Mayor Huber regarding a trail on Dodd Road from the Town Center development to Marie Avenue. Mr. Kullander said that he would contact this resident and explain the status of the City planning for this segment. Mr. Kullander informed the Commission that Dakota County is obtaining permits and authorization from MnDOT for the NURT trail along Hwy 110 and will biding the project in August with construction to begin in late August or September. PARK POLICE REPORT No report was available because of a changeover of computer programs in the department. OTHER COMMENTS Commissioner Craighead discussed an article in last Sunday's paper about the City of Woodbury removing geese from the parks and providing them to local food shelves. Commissioner Portz commented on the 50th Anniversary flag displayed on the wall that Ross Feffercorn had designed for the celebration. Commissioner Libra moved to adjourn. Commissioner Morris seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m. 0