Loading...
PR 04/05/2010 - 29906CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING — APRIL 5, 2010 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Sibell called the April 5, 2010 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present Others Present: Marcy Sibell Tim Solberg Dave Kondrick Mike Heintz Michele Barrett Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation Dave Lindquist, Parks Supervisor APPROVAL OF MARCH 1, 2010 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Mr. Heintz, to approve the minutes of the March 1, 2010 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR APRIL 5, 2010 Mr. Kirk stated that he would like to add one item under staff report, the reappointment of Commission members. Ms. Sibell stated that the item would be added to the agenda as 1 e. MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to approve the agenda for the April 5, 2010. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. 1. STAFF REPORT a. Program Update Mr. Kirk stated that this Program Update was a report of the activities of the Parks and Recreation Department in the past month. He wanted to tell the Commission that the adult softball league registrations are lower than past years. It sounds like registrations are down in several of the surrounding communities. It may be a sign of the economy and that teams are finding it more difficult to find sponsors to pay the entry fee. Some of the team managers are telling us they are waiting for the money to come in from all the team members before they register. The low number of teams may require us to combine one or more leagues with another community that also has low registration numbers. We are currently looking at that approach for a Monday night league. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — April 5, 2010 Paqe 2 Mr. Kirk further stated that the Garden Plot program continues to be very popular. We now only have 2 garden plots remaining to be rented from the 46 that were available. We expect that all of them will be taken once again this year. Mr. Kirk further stated that the Springbrook Nature Center Spring Fling special event was this past Saturday and there were over 1,600 people in attendance. There was a number of games for the children and an Easter egg hunt as part of the festivities. This was down a little from last year's numbers, but was still one of the largest attendance totals we have had for this event. b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Lindquist stated that during the past month they were making the transition from the winter work to the spring work. The unseasonably warm weather allowed them to get into the parks earlier than most years. They have completed sweeping leaves and grass in most of the parks already and have put up nets on the tennis courts. They have also done some work to prepare the spring athletic fields. The softball and baseball teams have been using the facilities. They have started work on preparing the irrigation systems in the parks. c. Springbrook Nature Center Report Mr. Kirk stated that there are two items to report on related to Springbrook Nature Center. The first is that the work by the Hoisington Koegler architects on the updated plans for the SPRING project is nearly complete. The design committee, of which Commissioner Dave Kondrick is a member, has met regularly with the architects to provide input into the plan. When complete, the updated designs, cost estimates and phases for the project will be ready for use in fundraising by the Springbrook Nature Center Foundation. Mr. Kirk stated that when all of the architect work is complete, he expects that a presentation on this project will be made to the Parks and Recreation Commission. Mr. Kirk further stated that the Springbrook Nature Center SPRING project was included in the nearly $1 billion bonding bill that was passed by the Minnesota Legislature and sent to the Governor. The bill included an appropriation of $2 million for the Springbrook project. The Governor wanted a smaller bonding bill and used his line item veto to trim $300 million in projects and, unfortunately, the Springbrook project was included in the vetoed projects. The Springbrook Foundation will continue to seek funding for this major project. Mr. Kondrick stated that Springbrook Nature Center Foundation Chairperson Malcolm Mitchell has been very active over at the State Capitol supporting the SPRING project. He has worked with legislators on both sides of the aisle to gain support for the project and he has been doing all he can to get this project going. In his view, Mr. Mitchell has done his job well and has been very instrumental in getting the Springbrook project included in the bonding bill. He thought it was important that the Commission know what has been going on in St. Paul with Mr. Mitchell. d. Springbrook Nature Center Foundation Event Mr. Kirk stated that the Springbrook Nature Center Foundation will be holding their annual auction fundraiser on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at the Coon Rapids Civic Center, located at 11155 Robinson Drive. All proceeds go to benefit the nature center and the programs. The Commission members are invited to attend the event. Tickets can be purchased in advance on-line or from members of the SNC Foundation board. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — April 5, 2010 Paqe 3 e. Commission Member Re-Appointments Mr. Kirk stated that at their meeting on March 29, the City Council reappointed Tim Solberg and Mike Heintz to new three-year terms on the Parks and Recreation Commission. Staff and the Commission members congratulated Mr. Solberg and Mr. Heintz on their reappointments 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Election of Officers Ms. Sibell stated that the Parks and Recreation Commission elects a Chairperson and Vice- Chairperson at the April meeting each year. The Chairperson presides over all Commission meetings and serves on the City's Planning Commission. The Vice-Chairperson serves as Chairperson when the Chairperson is absent. Ms. Sibell asked if there were any nominations for officers of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Mr. Kondrick stated that he would suggest that we keep the current officers for the Parks and Recreation Commission, if they are willing to serve in those roles again for the coming year. He would like to nominate Marcy Sibell for Chairperson and Tim Solberg for Vice-Chairperson. They are smart people and we are lucky to have them as members of this board. MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to elect Marcy Sibell as Chairperson of the Parks and Recreation Commission and Tim Solberg as Vice-Chairperson of the Commission. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Kirk thanked Ms. Sibell and Mr. Solberg for being willing to take on the leadership roles for this Commission. b. Non-resident Fees for ZONE Parties Mr. Kirk stated that several years ago, the Parks and Recreation Department started having private youth parties at the ZONE as a means to promote the ZONE to our local youth. The thought was that these students would come to a birthday party at the ZONE, see what the facility had to offer and start coming to after school or special events at the ZONE on a regular basis. The fee we have been charging for the parties was set up to cover the direct costs of supervision and any supplies being used. The parties themselves have become very popular and we often have two parties booked on many Saturdays. While most of the parties are with Fridley residents, we have been seeing an increase in the number of requests for non- residents to hold these parties at the ZONE. The non-residents are not likely to be regular after-school ZONE participants, so the promotional value of the parties is not a big factor. Staff has been discussing this and would recommend that we add a non-resident fee to the parties that are held at the ZONE. This higher fee would not be to discourage use, but to bring in some additional revenue which helps operate the facility. Mr. Kirk further stated that the recommended fee would be an additional $10 per hour for the hourly rate, increasing it from $25 for residents to $35 for non-residents. The Party Package Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — April 5, 2010 Paqe 4 would stay at $135 for residents and increase to $165 for non-residents. The package includes pizza, beverages and cake for the participants, as well as the facility supervision. Mr. Heintz asked if we would be covering all of our costs with this recommended fee. Mr. Kirk stated that we would cover all of our direct costs for the parties and bring in some extra to use toward overall operation of the facility. Mr. Heintz stated that we could evaluate this fee next year to see if it should be increased even more. Mr. Kondrick stated that he had no problem with the recommended non-resident fee. It is a City of Fridley facility and we need to provide the money to run the programs there. The non- resident fee being recommended is a reasonable amount to charge for the opportunity to use this facility. MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Mr. Solberg to approve the staff recommended non resident fee of an additional $10 per hour for the youth parties at the ZONE. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. c. Fall Athletic Fees Mr. Kirk stated that he has staff recommended fees for the fall adult softball program and the 4-person football league. We are not anticipating any increase in our costs this year. The softball league fee would be increased by $10 to $365 for the fall season. The 4-person football league fee would remain the same as 2009 at $65 per team. Our numbers were down some last fall in the football league and we would like to get those to increase this year. MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Solberg to approve the staff recommended fees for the fall adult softball program at $365 per team and the 4-person football program at $65 per team. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Mr. Heintz, to adjourn the April 5, 2010 meeting at 7:35 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SIBELL DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE APRIL 5, 2010 MEETING ADJOURNED.