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10/07/1996 - 00007891CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING - OCTOBER 7, 1996 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Kondrick called the October 7, 1996 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Dave Kondrick Dick Young Marcy Sibell Tim Solberg Members Absent: Sue Price Others Present: 7ack Kirk, Director of Recreation & Natural Resources Debi Campobasso, Program Specialist Paul Lawrence, Public Works Superintendent APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER 9, 1996 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES. MOTION by Mr. Young, seconded by Mr. Solberg to approve the minutes of the September 9, 1996 meeting of the Parks & Recreation Commission as written. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR OCTOBER 7, 1996. MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Mr. Young to approve the agenda as submitted. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. 1. STAFF REPORT a. Program Update Mr. Kirk presented the Program Update of department activities during the past month. He asked the commission members if there were any questions on specific activities. Ms. Sibell asked about the success of the dance held recently at Commons Park Ms. Campobasso stated that the event went real well. It was not a real large group, so supervision was not a big problem. Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting - October 7, 1996 Page 2 b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Lawrence stated that Park Supervisor Dave Lindquist compiles a monthly report that is included in the commission packets. The maintenance crew has been working on the border and sand installations at the new playground equipment sites. They should have this part of the work finished within the ne�t week. Mr. Lawrence stated that the Public Works Department had advertised recently for winter part-time help and had a very poor response in terms of applications. They are not sure they will be able to fill the openings they have available in a timely manner. Mr. Young suggested that they look at a temporary job service to fill the openings. Mr. Young stated, on an unrelated topic, that he is very concerned about the water level in Moore Lake. He asked if the surplus water from New Brighton can be diverted into the lake. Mr. Lawrence stated he would look into the situation and report back. c. Summer Program Report Mr. Kirk stated that at the last meeting, Commission Member Young had requested a more thorough report on the recently completed summer programs. Ms. Debi Campobasso, Recreation Program Specialist for the City of Fridley, was on-hand to give a report and answer questions. Ms. Campobasso reported on the summer Playground program at Stevenson Elementary School which was run in cooperation with the Salvation Army and Stevenson Elementary School of District #14. The Salvation Army provided lunch every day for the participants, 3 staff members, and bus transportation for field trips. The School District provided bus transportation to and from the Playground site for participants. The biggest challenge faced by staff at the all-day playground program was that a high percentage (over hal� of the participants in the program had some behavioral difficulties. These participants were specifically recruited by the school to participate, so they could benefit from this type of summer activity. The leader/participant ratio of 1 leader per 10 participants should be more of the 1:5 or 1:6 range with these more challenging participants. There were positive aspects of the program, and it was worthwhile for the children who did participate. The staff at this program included some teachers working part-time with some of the participants to improve their academic work also. In future years we need more staff or a smaller percentage of behavioral/emotionally challenged participants. Mr. Young asked if this cooperative program would be continued ne�t year. Ms. Campobasso stated that the Salvation Army does not know their funding status at this time, but she would be getting together with them some time in the near future to discuss the possibility. Ms. Campobasso stated that the other summer Playground programs went very well this year. Mr. Kondrick pointed out that the participation numbers were up over 1995 numbers. d. Community Education Center Improvement Project Mr. Kirk showed the commission members the plans for the remodeling of the Community Education Center. The City is working with School District #14 to improve some of the e�sting space and provide for an appro�mately 6,000 square foot addition. All of the space will be designed as multi-use space to service a variety of age groups. Parks & Recreation Commission Meetin� - October 7, 1996 Pa�e 3 The City will likely approach community organizations and businesses to ask for donated funds to help with some of the improvements and furnishings. Mr. Young asked if the plans called for an unfinished basement under the new addition as was previously discussed. Mr. Kirk stated that there would be a basement space available to be finished in the future. Ms. Sibell asked when the CEC project would be completed. Mr. Kirk stated that the project is expected to be done ne�t fall, possibly ne�t October. Mr. Solberg said that these projects with the School District make a lot of sense for the community. It is good to see the City and the School District working together. e. Criminal Background Checks Mr. Kirk stated that he wanted the Parks & Recreation Commission members to know that the City of Fridley runs Criminal Background checks on all employees hired by the department. This is done to protect our participants and minimize the City's liability exposure. f. Medtronic Grant & Springbrook Nature Center Environmental Education Curriculum Mr. Kirk stated that a memo was included in the commission members' packets explaining some information about a Medtronic Foundation Grant for expanding the Springbrook Nature Center's Environmental Education curriculum. The grant allows the City to hire a naturalist for one year to develop and implement an Environmental Education curriculum for students in grades 6-8. This project is in full partnership with District #14. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Park Service Study Mr. Kirk reported that staff is currently working on a city-wide park service area study to determine how well the various neighborhoods in our community are supported by our park facilities. There have been forty (40) areas identified to be looked at in the study. There are at least two parts to the study in determining how well an area is serviced with park facilities. The first being how far the residents are from the neighborhood park in terms of distance. The national standard set by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is that a neighborhood park service area should be within a quarter to half mile from the neighborhood park. The second measure for the park service areas will look at the number of acres for every so many people. The national standard from the NRPA, once again, is to provide one to two acres per 1,000 population served. For each park service area, we need to determine how the area is serviced when referring to these national standards. Mr. Kirk further stated that when the statistics for this study are in, he would like the Parks & Recreation Commission to review the findings and make recommendations for future action. Mr. Young asked if the GIS system could be used to determine the ages of the people living in the various park service areas. Mr. Kirk stated that the school district census data may be available to be used to give us that information. Prior to the City's GIS technician leaving, we had started working on that exact information to provide us with a breakdown for each of the neighborhood service areas. For the park service study that we are undertaking now, we will only be using total population figures for the park areas. Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting - October 7, 1996 Page 4 3. OLD BUSINESS a. General Skating Rinks Locations At the last meeting, the Parks & Recreation Commission made the annual recommendation for skating locations. The biggest change this year was to add general rinks at two locations (Moore Lake and Commons Park) where we previously provided only hockey facilities. This was recommended by the citizens committee looking at skating for our community and agreed to by the Parks & Recreation Commission when reviewing the findings. City staff have looked at these locations and will put in a small general rink at each site. At Commons Park the plan is to have a general rink just north of the parking lot and to the northwest of the two hockey rinks. At Moore Lake the general rink will be just south of the hockey rink location on the south end of the Moore Lake parking lot. These rinks will be available for people to use when the hockey teams are practicing on the hockey rinks. The Commission concurred with the staff recommendation for locating these rinks. 4. OTHER BUSINES a. Parents Communication Network Mr. Solberg told the commission about a new program just getting underway at Fridley High School called the Parents Communication Network. He felt it was a proactive approach for parents to take to be supportive of and help each other with parenting of High School students. Mr. Solberg said he expected the program to be publicized in the near future. He offered to bring back further information on this program at a later meeting. MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Sibell to adjourn the meeting at 8:56 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE OCTOBER 7, 1996 MEETING ADJOURNED.