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PR 07/25/1983 - 31289� � � CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS b RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING JULY 25, 1983 CALL TO ORDFR: Vice-Chairperson Schreiner cal]ed the July 25, 19R3, Parks & Recreation Comnission meeting to order at 7:36 p.m. ROLL CALL: -_____ Menbers Present: hlPnbers Absent: Otherc Present: Mary Schreiner, Jan Seeger, Dick Young, Dan Allen Dave Kondrick Jack Kirk, Recreation Supervisor APPROVAL OF JUNE 20�1983, PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES• MOa^IDN BY MS. SEEGER, SECONDED BY 1�?. ALLEN, TO APPROVE TXE JUNE 20, 1983, PARKS 6 RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES AS WRITTEN. UPON A VOIrE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, VICE—CHAIRPERSON SCHREINER DECLARED TXE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Vice-Chairperson Schreiner declared the agenda adopted as written. 1. DIRECTOR'S REPORT: a. Plaza/Community Park Grand Opening Mr. Kirk stated a letter was sent to all commissioners announcing the grand opening of the Plaza/Community Park on Oct. 7-8. Activities are planned for all day on Saturday at the Corranunity Park to draw people out to see the park. By that time, most of the development should be completed. Mr. Kirk encouraged the Comnission members to attend the grand opening, if possible. If the Comnissioners have any ideas of what they would like to see happening during the grand opening, they should let him know. He stated they would keep the Commissioners informed as the event draws closer. PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING, JULY 25, 1983 PAGE 2 b. Donation - Fridley State Bank Mr. Kirk stated Fridley State Bank has donated $3,300 to buy a score- board for the Community Park. A year ago the Jaycees donated money for two scoreboards, and he believed money donated from the Knights of Columbus was used for a third scoreboard. This is the fourth score- board so now all four main fields will have electronic scoreboards. c. Oonation - Fridley Lions Club Mr. Kirk stated the Fridley Lions Club has donated two drinking fountains at a cost of �1,200. These drinking fountains wi17 be attached to the side of the concession/restroom building. Mr. Kirk stated thank you letters will be sent to both Fridley State Bank and the Fridley Lions Club. d. Report - Soccer Tournament Mr. Kirk stated the soccer district play-offs will be held at Commons the last weekend in July. The play-offs are hosted by the FYSA. If any Commissioners are interested, they might like to attend all or part of i t. ^ 2. NEW BUSINESS: a. Policy on Use of Community Park - Field/Concession Mr. Kirk stated the Parks & Recreation Department has been getting a lot of requests already for next year for running tournaments at the new Comnunity Park. He estimated he has talked to 15 groups in the 7ast month. These groups are looking at having fundraisers similar to the tournaments held by non-profit organizations at Commons Park. The Community Park will be an ideal facility for running tournaments. Mr. Kirk stated the Cammission has to come up with some type of policy f or renting or using that facility. Currently, the City charges a group for the extra cf�arges: dumping of dumpsters, extra Satellite service, chalk for chalking the field, etc. Basically, those groups running tournaments have been non-profit groups limited by the City Council to four groups. Only two of those four groups are hoiding tournaments at Commons this year. Mr. Kirk stated that at this time, they have been telling groups that call in that there is no set policy and that any group that wishes to use the new facility must write a letter to the Parks & Recreation Commission as has been done in the past, requesting what dates they want, what assist- ance they need from the City, what manpower they are going to have, number of teams, and what they expect to provide for the City as a result of the � tournament. ,s--� n PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING, JULY 25, 1983 PAGE 3 Mr. Kirk stated the majority of those groups requesting tournament time are non-profit groups, but there are some teams that are looking at holding a tournament to make some money. If the Comnission voted to allow tournaments every weekend at the Community Park, they would have to come up with some guidelines as to who would use it and what fee would they pay. Mr. Young stated he thought there should be a definite rental policy. But, on the other hand, with a group like the Jaycees that has already contributed so much to the Gity where money comes directly back to the City in one way or another and doesn't go to support a softball team, he thought there should be the right to waive the fees. For example, a fee of $500 would be waived for the Jaycees, but they would still pay the fees for the dumping of garbage and other incidental costs. Ms. Seeger stated the Coirmission should discuss and set up some policies on who will get priority for usage of the fields. They should also discuss having a deadline date for tournament requests. Mr. Kirk stated he had a copy of a Municipal Fee Survey done by the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities. Some charges for other comnunities are as fol7ows: Apple Valley Blaine Brooklyn Center Burnsville Coon Rapids Columbia Heights - $7/field - $100/park usage for ball field; for maintenance - No charge for resident teams - $25/day plus addtl. $15/day for up to $40/day - $150/one diamond for a weekend �300/three diamonds " " E500/six diamonds " " - �25/day for field for private �50/day for field for public $65 addtl. field if lighted, tournament � �� Mr. Kirk stated that looking at some of these charges, he did not think the $500 suggested by Mr. Young was out of line. Mr. Kirk stated another thing the Commission has to discuss and make some decisions on, other than field usage, is what they want to do with the concessions. Is the City going to run a concession during the summer, is the City going to lease it out,or give it to a non-profit group to run such as the FYSA? This is something that has to be addressed fairly soon. Mr. Young stated that the City of Blaine had some concession stands, and they let different groups run the concession stands on different weeks. The City allowed each group to have a percentage of the profits. He stated they might want to contact someone at Blaine and get some more information on how this situation worked. PARKS b RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING, JULY 25, 1983 PAGE 4 Ms. Seeger stated that based on the City's earlier experience in running concessions (at Moore Lake Beach and Commons Park), it did not work out very well. She stated maybe the Commission should go back and review the minutes on some of those earlier discussions. Mr. Kirk stated that based on the City's earlier experience, they do not want to be in the concession business. They are here to provide recreation s ervices to the community, not to run a concession operation. Mr. Young stated there are a lot of youth groups in Fridley, such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc., that are really hurting for money. Maybe they could have non-profit youth groups run the concession on different weeks. There would be an inventory, and each group would be accountable for providing the funds for what was used. Mr. Kirk stated there is a7so the possibility that a group like the FYSA might be willing to take over the entire concession operation. The FYSA has been in the concession business for quite awhile as they run their Little League concession and a concession for football. But, letting the FYSA group run the concession all summer could present another problem. When there is a weekend tournament sponsored by the Hockey Booster Club, for example, does the City allow the Hockey Booster Club to go into some- one else's concession stand and run it for that weekend? ^ Mr. Allen stated he would like to see something set up where there is an advantage or priority given to local Fridley groups for use of the fields with some type of deadline. After that deadline, they would open it up to other groups. He stated he still felt they have an obligation to the residents of Fridley and felt that one weekend a month should be left open for Fridley residen�s. He stated he would like some time to think this over and come up wi h some more ideas. Mr. Kirk stated he would send each of the Commission members a copy of the Municipal Fee Survey as it might be helpful in considering this policy. Ms. Schreiner asked if there was any way the Comnission could get some feedback from groups that might be interested in running a concession stand. Mr. Kirk stated he would agree with Mr. Young that there are groups out there that are looking to make money. He did not know how many of those groups could handle a concession operation. He stated he and Dr. Boudreau had discussed the idea of the City hiring a professional concessionaire. The City would probably make as much money as if they were to run it themselves, because the professional concessionaire is going to run a more efficient operation. Ms. Seeger stated there could also be the same problem with the professional concessionaire, because the groups holding tournaments make most of their profits from their concessions. � PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETIN6, JULY 25, 1983 PAGE 5 Mr. Allen requested that Staff find out from some of the other comnuni- ties listed on the Municipal Fee Survey how they handle concessions. Mr. Kirk stated he would try to get some information from other communi- ties re9arding concessions; also what is done when a group comes in to run a tournament and sameone else is running the concession. Ms. Schreiner suggested Mr. Kirk also find out from these comnunities what criteria is used in determining what is an inside or outside group. Mr. Young stated they should also know what the average cost would be for 1-2 city employees to be at a tournament for a 12-hour day. This information could be helpful in their discussions. 3. OLD BUSINESS: a. Rationale for Ice Locations Mr. Kirk stated this has been discussed briefly before. The City Council has requested that the Parks & Recreation Commission come up with some criteria for the location of ice areas within the City of Fridley. He stated Staff had prepared a list of "Possible Ice Location Rationale" which included: Tradition Water supply - 1981-82 use of 22 millino gallons Soil condition Type of land (grade necessary) Possible turf damage Possible users (numbers - age, etc.) Traffic barriers Accessibility Manpower available Equipment (travel tiem, fuel, etc.) Mr. Allen stated a item that should be added to this list is "demand"and/or "desire". He stated that, geographically, there seems to be a good distribution of ice areas. Ms. Schreiner stated one item she would like to see deleted is "tradition". Just because a rink has always been there doesn't mean it should continue to be there if it is not being used. Mr. Kirk stated they are ]ooking for some rationale for when someone comes in with a request for an ice area at a new location, do they or do they not grant that request? They will probably have to deal with numbers and central location or distance for any particular area. The Commission .� is going to have to set up some type of policy. � PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING, JULY 25, 1983 PAGE 6 ,�� Mr. Young stated the only area that is really not accessible to a general skating area is his neighborhood--the northwest corner af 694 and Central. The closest general skating area for his children is either Hayes Elementary (9 blocks north) or to cross 694 or Central to go to Hackmann. The closest park is Cortunons. Ms. Seeger stated that if there are any figures on rink usage, they will need that information when people come in with requests. Mr. Kirk stated Dr. Boudreau was quite adamant that because of expense and the cost of maintenance and the declining enrollment in the schools, the City does not need any additional hockey rinks. Ms. Schreiner stated that as far as numbers are concerned, maybe they should set a limit for the number of rinks. For example, whenever they add a rink (after Jay Park), a rink will have to be deleted. The City cannot afford to continue to add rinks. There have to be some rinks in the City that have declining usage. Mr. Kirk agreed with Ms. Schreiner that there should be a set number of rinks and when they look at a particular area for a new rink, they would also be removing a rink from another area. Mr. Allen stated he did not want them to get into too specific numbers. There has to be some judgement involved. By setting specific percentages and numbers, they could trap themselves. He thought they should draw up a generalized policy of the different breakdowns. Mr. Kirk stated 1-2 commissioners might like to get together to put together a policy. Mr. Young volunteered to try to come up with a sample policy for the Comnission members to review. He stated that if any of the other Commission members had any suggestions or input, he would like to hear from them. Ms. Schreiner thanked Mr. Young for volunteering. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION BY MS. SEEGER, SECONDED BY !►II2. ALLEN, TO ADJOURN TIiE MEETING. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, VICE-CHAIRPERSON SCHREINER DECLARED THE JULY 25, 1983, PARKS 6 RECREATION C01�AlISSIDN MEETING AA70URNED AT 9:00 P.M. Respectfully s mitted, � yn Saba Recording Secretary �-.