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PRM 11/04/2013 CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING – NOVEMBER 4, 2013 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Solberg called the November 4, 2013 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Tim Solberg, Greg Ackerman, Michele Barrett, Mike Heintz, and Dave Kondrick Others Present: Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation APPROVAL OF September 9, 2013 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Ackerman, to approve the minutes of the September 9, 2013 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SOLBERG DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR NOVEMBER 4, 2013 MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to approve the agenda for the November 4, 2013 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SOLBERG DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. 1. STAFF REPORT a. Program Update Mr. Kirk stated that the program Update is included in the Commission packet to provide information on programs and activities that have occurred during the past month. There were Halloween parties at the two Fridley elementary schools with a 150 attending the one at Hayes Elementary and 135 attending the one at Stevenson Elementary. During MEA, the Recreation staff had field trips for the elementary age students to such places as Afton Apple Orchard, Silverwood Park and Nickelodeon Universe. Mr. Kirk stated that the Senior Program had its annual Pie Social in September to kick off the fall programming and good attendance of 110 seniors. An interesting program that the Senior Center runs is called Great Decisions, which is a discussion group on world interest issues. The latest program focusing on the events in Egypt had 23 seniors participating. The ENCORE program had its first program of the fall with photographer Don Ohman showing pictures and telling about byways of Minnesota. Mr. Kirk stated that the Fall Softball program ended in mid-September and the 4 person Passing Football League just ended last week to wrap up the fall sports leagues. Registration is underway for the winter basketball, volleyball, boot hockey and broomball leagues. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting – November 4, 2013 Page 2 Mr. Kirk further stated that middle school students are actively learning from our Springbrook Nature Center staff through our Environmental Education program that is part of the District 14 th school curriculum. 6 grade students recently made a field trip to Springbrook to learn about solar energy. b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Kirk stated that Operations Manager for Parks and Streets Jeff Jensen has provided a parks maintenance report for activity in September and October. The workers have been busy with fall clean up activity and with preparation for the winter programs. c. Springbrook Nature Center Report Mr. Kirk stated that the Kalwall roof over the exhibit area of the Springbrook Nature Center is in the process of being replaced with a new roof. We expect that the installation will take about one week. There is a striking difference between the new opaque roof and the old, stained and faded roof that is being replaced. Mr. Kirk further stated that the Nature Center staff has announced a new program for 2014, which will be a series of Discovery Dinners. The program will feature a one hour nature related presentation and a casual catered meal. Programs already booked for the initial series include a live animal presentation by the Minnesota Raptor Center and Adam Lindquist’s portrayal of Teddy Roosevelt, our “Conservation President”. Mr. Kirk stated that the Springbrook Nature Center Foundation is working closely with the City to move forward on plans for design of Phase 1 of the SPRING project and a concept plan for exhibits in the expanded interpretive center. These projects will be worked on over the next several months. d. Letter from Councilmember Dolores Varichak Mr. Kirk stated that the agenda packet includes a letter from Councilmember Dolores Varichak thanking the Commission for keeping a skating rink at the Briardale Park location. She states in the letter that Briardale Park gets a lot of use. e. Get Fit Fridley Mr. Kirk stated that the second annual Get Fit Fridley event was held on Saturday, October th 12. Committee members thought the attendance was good with an estimated 250 people taking part. Over 70 people went through the health screening offered by Allina and 38 people got flu shots. There were activities and informational booths available for the participants. Mr. Kirk further stated that this event was a cooperative venture between the Fridley School District Community Education staff and the City of Fridley Parks and Recreation Department staff. f. Pumpkin Night in the Park Mr. Kirk stated that over 3,000 people participated in the annual Pumpkin Night in the Park event at Springbrook Nature Center. There were over 850 carved pumpkins lighting the trail, some great entertainment, good food, music, camp fires and more. Staff of the nature center and the many volunteers made this special event a great success. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting – November 4, 2013 Page 3 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Proposed 2014 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting Schedule Mr. Kirk stated that he has presented the Commission with a schedule of proposed meeting dates for 2014. The schedule generally has the meetings on the first Monday of each month starting at 7:00 p.m. The meeting in September would be on the second Monday because of the Labor Day holiday. Also, there is not a July meeting scheduled which has been the practice for the past several years. MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Mr. Heintz, to approve the 2014 proposed Parks and Recreation meeting schedule as suggested by staff. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SOLBERG DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. b. 2014 Adult Softball League Fees Mr. Kirk stated that staff has proposed the adult softball league fee schedule for 2014. We try to look at what other communities charge for similar programming and set our fees to be in a similar range. After checking with area park and recreation departments, it appears that our fees on are the high side. He has a memo from Program Supervisor Cleve McCoy recommending the fees remain the same for 2014 and he supports that recommendation. Mr. Heintz stated that he talked with his son and got some names of different softball managers that play in neighboring communities. He contacted these managers to get information on what other leagues have been doing. In Brooklyn Park, they do not charge an extra fee for teams not from Brooklyn Park. They also do not make non-resident teams wait to sign up. They can sign up the first day of registration. Mr. Heintz stated that other community softball programs do active marketing of their softball leagues on the Minnesota Softball webpage and in the softball community by contacting other managers. He would suggest that we talk with softball managers from other communities and find out what they suggest we should do to attract more teams to our Fridley leagues. Mr. Heintz further stated that many softball leagues do not have a concession stand. We have one at the Community Park, but have really not been using it for the past several years. Having an operating concession stand would make our league better. One of the managers he talked to suggested that the City work with the Lions Club to sell beer at the concession stand on league nights. The City could make some money on this. Mr. Heintz further stated that it might be a good idea to run more tournaments throughout the year so teams become familiar with our Community Park athletic fields. They may want to sign up for our leagues the following year. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting – November 4, 2013 Page 4 Mr. Heintz further suggested that the Parks and Recreation Department do a survey of our league softball managers to find out what they like and what they would like to see changed. Mr. Kirk stated that the Department does conduct a survey of managers at the conclusion of the softball season. They have received some valuable input by doing that. Mr. Heintz stated that another thing that the managers he talked with didn’t like is that when playing double-headers, Fridley Recreation schedules them against the same team twice. The managers would prefer to play a different team in the second game. Mr. Kirk stated that the extra $50 fee for outside teams was recommended by the Parks and Recreation Commission many years ago and we have kept it in place. Everyone felt our first priority should be teams from this community. It sounds like Mr. Heintz is recommending that we do away with this $50 fee for non-Fridley based teams. That could possibly bring in additional teams to fill up the open spots we have in our leagues. Mr. Ackerman stated he believes we should get rid of this outside team fee. Mr. Kondrick stated he would agree with making this change and monitoring how it affects our softball registration for the next year. MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Mr. Ackerman, to approve the 2014 Adult Softball League Fees as proposed by staff, keeping them at the same level as 2013, but eliminating the $50 fee for outside teams. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SOLBERG DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Mr. Kondrick, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to adjourn the November 4, 2013 meeting at 8:05 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SOLBERG DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE NOVEMBER 4, 2013 MEETING ADJOURNED.