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PR 01/04/2010 - 29903CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING — JANUARY 4, 2010 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Sibell called the January 4, 2010 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present Others Present Marcy Sibell Dave Kondrick Michele Barrett Tim Solberg Mike Heintz 7ack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation APPROVAL OF DECEMBER 7, 2009 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Solberg to approve the minutes of the December 7, 2009 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR JANUARY 4, 2010 MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Mr. Kondrick, to approve the agenda for the January 4, 2010 meeting as submitted by staff. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. 1. STAFF REPORT a. Program Update Mr. Kirk stated that the Program Update is provided to give the Commission members some information on programs and Department activities over the past month. There were a couple of weather related adjustments to the program schedule in December, but for the most parts the activities were able to go ahead this past month. The first night of the Senior Holiday Light Tour had to be cancelled because of cold and snow, but the activity was held on the second night and had over a hundred seniors participating. The Senior Holiday Dinner is co-sponsored by the Fridley Lions Club and there were 300 seniors that participated. We really appreciate the financial support of the Lions Club and the tremendous help provided by the many Lions Club members who come the day of the event to help serve the seniors and make it a very special day. Mr. Solberg asked how old a senior had to be to be included in the Holiday Dinner event. Mr. Kirk stated that for that event, the senior had to be age si�ty or older. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetin� - Januarv 4, 2010 Pa�e 2 Mr. Kirk further stated that the winter outdoor sports programs are off to a good start. The Broomball and Boot Hockey leagues have only had one postponement due to the weather. There have, however, been some pretty cold nights for league play. The leagues play at the Commons rinks, so we do have the warming house for players and officials to get inside to warm up. b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Kirk stated Mr. Lindquist is on vacation, but has provided a written Park Maintenance Report for the meeting. Most of the park maintenance work over the past month has been related to ice rink maintenance and snow plowing. Mr. Kondrick asked what kind of condition the ice rinks were in now. Mr. Kirk stated that they were in good condition and then we got the rain and snow at Christmas time, which created poor ice conditions. The maintenance workers have been flooding the rinks and they are once again in good condition for the skaters. c. Springbrook Nature Center Report Mr. Kirk stated that he has included in the agenda packet a report on some noteworthy happenings at Springbrook Nature Center. Staff has submitted a grant proposal for a preschool environmental education program, which we hope to hear a response for sometime this spring. We had some exhaust fans in the Interpretive building go bad and they were replaced at the end of last week Staff is currently working on updating the curriculum for the day nature camps. A New Year's Eve event was held at Springbrook last Thursday and there were 50 participants. Mr. Kirk further stated that he wants to keep the Parks and Recreation Commission informed on what is happening at the Nature Center, so he will ask staff to continue to provide this report each meeting. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Softball Tournament Requests — Fridley Lions Club Mr. Kirk stated that the Recreation Office has received these requests from the Fridley Lions Club to hold a softball tournament at Fridley Community Park during 49er Days in 7une and another tournament in August. The 7une tournament would be the weekend of 7une 25 — 27 and would be bringing back the annual 7ohn Gargaro Memorial Tournament. The August tournament would either be an MRPA Men's Class D Regional Tournament the weekend of August 6— 8 or a Women's Class D State Tournament the weekend of August 27 — 29. The Lions Club will be bidding on these tournaments with the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association and would like to know they have the fields reserved for their bids. It is likely that they would only be awarded one of these two tournaments. Mr. Kirk stated that the Lions Club has been very good to work with over the years on softball tournaments or projects involving our park system. They are a very community minded organization and a great group of people. There have been no problems with the Lions Club running softball tournaments in the past and staff would recommend approval of these requests. Mr. Solberg stated that in past years, the Lions Club would make some type of donation to the Parks or the Recreation programs in lieu of the facility fee for the tournament. Their donations always seemed to be of more value than the fee charged for using the fields. He asked if the Lions Club was planning on Parks and Recreation Commission Meetin� - Januarv 4, 2010 Pa�e 3 making a donation again this year and if so, what type of project would they be contributing to. Mr. Kirk stated that we have not discussed that option with the Lions at this point, but he would anticipate that it will be addressed as we get into more discussions with them regarding the tournaments. Mr. Heintz stated that the tournament application states that the Lions Club would like to sell beer at those tournaments. Does that get approved at the same time as the field use application? Mr. Kirk stated that the permit for selling beer would need to be approved by the City Council. Our City Code allows non-profit groups to sell beer at Community Park, so that would not be an issue. The Lions Club would need to show proof of liability insurance when they make application for the beer permit. Mr. Heintz asked if the tournament facility fee included the cost of a park maintenance worker or workers for the tournament. Mr. Kirk stated that one field maintenance worker would be included and scheduled for the tournament. If additional workers were requested, the City could schedule them at the appropriate rate of pay. MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to approve the softball tournament requests by the Fridley Lions Club for use of Community Park on June 25 -27, August 6— 8, and August 27 — 29. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Kirk reminded the Commission that it is likely that the Lions Club would only use one of the two weekends in August. The Commission members understood that, but indicated that they would be supportive of the Lions Club using the facility for both August tournaments if they get awarded both tournament bids by the MRPA. 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Adult Softball League Concerns Mr. Kirk stated that at the December Commission meeting, Mr. Heintz had raised several concerns about the adult softball league program. He has asked the Program Supervisor in charge of the adult softball program to send out a survey to the team managers, to get some feedback on satisfaction levels with the program. We want to get their opinions on the registration process, facilities, administration of the league, umpires and schedules. It was just sent out last week and we only have five responses thus far. He will share the complete results with the Commission at a future meeting. Mr. Kirk stated that Mr. Heintz had a raised the issue last meeting of our use of a non-resident fee for the teams participating in our league. We checked with six neighboring communities to see if they charged a similar fee and found that three of them did charge one, and three did not. Blaine, Roseville and Spring Lake Park had a similar fee, but Columbia Heights, Brooklyn Park and New Brighton did not charge such a fee. Mr. Kirk stated that the issue of giving priority to Fridley teams was also discussed at the last meeting and we found, once again, that the same three communities that charged a non-resident fee, also gave registration priority to local teams. The other three communities allowed everyone to register at the same time. Mr. Kirk stated that the other issue that was discussed at the last meeting was other communities allowing teams to bring beer to the softball fields. We found that four of the other community's surveyed do not Parks and Recreation Commission Meetin� - Januarv 4, 2010 Pa�e 4 allow beer at the parks. They have the same type of restrictions that we have in Fridley. Columbia Heights does allow beer at Huset Park only. This is the park that the Murzyn Hall is located in. New Brighton does allow beer at their parks. Mr. Kirk stated that these items are something that the Commission can discuss if they want to recommend at change to our current policies. Mr. Kirk further stated that giving priority registration to Fridley based teams is something that the Commission has been supportive of in the past. Our softball registration begins in early February, with returning Fridley teams getting the first opportunity to sign up for their same league as the previous year on day one. Any new Fridley teams can sign up on day two, as can returning Fridley teams that want to switch to another league. Day three of our registration allows returning outside teams to sign up for the same league as last year. Returning outside teams that want to switch leagues can sign up on day four and new outside teams can sign up on day five. While it is true that Fridley teams will get the first chance to sign up, the outside teams only have to wait a couple of days to register and new outside teams only have to wait until day five. It is not a long wait for outside teams to find out if there are openings in our league. He would recommend that we continue to give Fridley based teams the first opportunity to sign up. Mr. Kirk stated that no action is required on this agenda item at this time, however if the Commission would like to discuss any of these items in the future, that could be arranged. Mr. Kondrick stated that he was supportive of Fridley teams having priority for registration. Ms. Sibell stated she also agreed with that approach. Mr. Heintz stated that he brought up those items at the last meeting, because he wants our leagues to fill up. He would like us to get the registration revenue from the teams wanting to play softball in this area. Mr. Kirk stated that he wanted to get the Commission members this information so if they were asked about it, they would have the answers. 4. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Heintz to adjourn the January 4, 2010 meeting at 7:37 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE JAN UARY 4, 2010 MEETING ADJOURNED.