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PRM 12/01/2014 CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING – DECEMBER 1, 2014 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Solberg called the December 1, 2014 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Tim Solberg, Greg Ackerman, Michele Barrett, Mike Heintz Others Present: Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER 3, 2014 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Ackerman, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to approve the minutes of the November 3, 2014 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SOLBERG DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR DECEMBER 1, 2014 MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Mr. Ackerman, to approve the agenda for the December 1, 2014 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 has been included in the meeting packet to provide commission members with information on some of the programs and events during the past month. He wanted to call attention to the Nature Center Discovery Dinners, which is a new activity that involves a guest speaker and a dinner program at the nature center. On nd November 2, the most recent Discovery Dinner was held and featured naturalist, author, and photographer Stan Tekiela. There were 45 people that were on hand to hear his talk on photography of birds. Mr. Kirk further stated that the Winterfest planning is in full swing. The 2015 event is scheduled to take place the last Saturday in January. Mr. Kirk stated the two of his staff attended a workshop in mid-November that was sponsored by our State professional organization, the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association. The workshop was on a new marketing program for Park and Recreation Departments called the “Did You Know” program. The program is designed to promote benefits of participation in parks and recreation activities to the community. Instead of a long list of possible benefits, this campaign proposes using short bits of information. An example would be that for a walking Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting – December 1, 2014 Page2 program promotion, a Park and Recreation Department could write “Did you know that by walking twenty minutes a day, a person can maintain a healthy body weight”. For an after school teen program, the marketing approach might be along the lines of “Did you know that a teen involved in an organized after school promotion is X% less likely to get into trouble”. The promotional program will be kicking off soon and we will be using the information to promote our local recreation opportunities. The information can be used in letters, in brochures, in speaking engagements and on TV shows. Mr. Kirk stated that the Senior program recently had a very successful Senior Dinner Theater. Connie lines up the high school cooks to prepare dinner for the seniors, which is followed by the high school dramatic performance. The performance last week was Aida and the 140 participants really enjoyed the event. b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Kirk stated that a December Parks Maintenance Report from Operations Manager Jeff Jensen has been included in the meeting information. The workers have completed the fall cleanup work and winterizing of the park facilities. They are now focused on skating season ice rink preparation. c. Springbrook Nature Center Report Mr. Kirk stated that he wanted to highlight several items in the Springbrook Nature Center Report for the Commission meeting that was submitted by Mike Maher. We have received a $10,000 grant from Xcel Energy to assist with our volunteer program. The grant will be used to purchase a volunteer management software, some tools and equipment, and some limited funding for a seasonal volunteer management position. Mr. Kirk further stated that we received a $1,000 gift from John and Rita Burgeson to purchase archery equipment for our summer camps. Mr. Kirk stated that the Medtronic Foundation has matched a previous donation to the SPRING project by a retiree of Medtronic in the amount of $100,000. Mr. Kirk further stated that Fox Consulting has completed their feasibility study for the SPRING project fundraising campaign. They have concluded that the fundraising campaign should move forward and that a reasonable expectation is that $1 Million to $1.25 Million could be raised through the process. d. SPRING Project Committee Report Mr. Kirk stated that the SPRING Project Committee has started its work. They screened the proposals for the Architect services and participated in the interview process. A recommendation on an Architect to provide the design services for the expansion and renovation of the Springbrook Nature Center Interpretive Building will be going to the City th Council on December 8. He would expect the committee to begin working with the architect soon after that. Mr. Kirk further stated that the Parks and Recreation Commission is represented on this committee by Mike Heintz and Dave Kondrick. Other members of the committee are City Councilmember Ann Bolkcom, Springbrook Foundation representatives Malcolm Mitchell and Donna Bahls, and Springbrook Nature Center Director Mike Maher. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting – December 1, 2014 Page3 Mr. Heintz stated that he would like to encourage the other Commission members to let him know if they have ideas for improvements to the nature center with this project. He will carry those comments forward to the overall SPRING Project Committee and the design professionals that we are working with. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Summer Program Format and Fees Recommendations for 2015 Mr. Kirk stated that staff has submitted a recommendation to the Parks and Recreation for the 2015 summer program format and registration fees. There are only a few recommended changes from the 2014 program. Mr. Kirk stated that staff is recommending to add an additional week to the Summer ROCKS program for grades K to 7. This recommendation is due to the school year calendar which this year allows us to start our summer program one week earlier. Staff is not recommending any changes to the pre-school playgrounds and elementary age playground programs. The one elementary playground location would be at Hayes Elementary School, and staff would recommend adding a playground site at Stevenson Elementary School if the District #14 summer school program operates at that site. That decision won’t be made until later this winter. Mr. Kirk stated that the recommended fees would be as follows:  ROCKS grades K – 7 $128/week or $32/day  Pre-School Playgrounds $59 per four week session  Elem. Playgrounds $79 for session one (5 weeks) and $49 for session two (3 weeks)  Chill ZONE $69 for each 5 week session  LIT Program $183 or $248 for LIT and the Chill ZONE Mr. Solberg asked if staff checks the fees charged by other communities when setting fees for these programs. Mr. Kirk stated that we do try and get a handle on what others charge, summer programs really vary from community to community and some of our programs, especially the ROCKS program, are rather unique. Some communities still offer some free opportunities for children. We do charge a fee, but hope to keep them reasonable so our residents can afford to participate. MOTION by Ms. Barrett, seconded by Mr. Ackerman, to approve the summer program format and fees for 2015 as recommended by staff in a document submitted by Margo Numedahl and Cleveland McCoy. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SOLBERG DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting – December 1, 2014 Page4 b. Policy on Exclusive Use of Park Property Mr. Kirk stated that the Commission has had some discussion at a previous meeting about picnic rental groups taking over park land for their exclusive use without securing permission to do so. The Parks and Recreation Commission seemed to agree that putting up tents or inflatables in the park could be allowed under certain conditions, but guidelines needed to be established and an extra fee charged for such use. Mr. Kirk stated that staff has put together some recommendations for a policy on use of park property for events. Staff looked at similar policies and took ideas from several other agencies to include in this possible policy for our park system. Staff is making the following recommendations for consideration of the Fridley Parks and Recreation Commission. 1. Individuals, groups and organizations shall be allowed to rent a section of park land for exclusive use. The entire park, however, cannot be rented for exclusive use. A special park use permit will be issued to the renter. 2. The maximum size area allowed for this exclusive use rental shall be an area no larger than 100 feet by 100 feet. 3. Cost for the exclusive rental of the park area for an event shall be $200 for Fridley residents, businesses or organizations. Cost for non-residents, non-Fridley businesses or organizations shall be $350. 4. The damage/conduct deposit required for the park property rental shall be $500. This deposit will be returned/refunded to the renter if no damage occurred to the facility and no reports of inappropriate conduct were received. 5. The renter must provide the City with a certificate of insurance for comprehensive general liability in the amount of not less than $1 million. The insurance certificate must name the City of Fridley as an additional insured. This insurance requirement will be reviewed by the City Attorney as well as the City’s insurance carrier for any additional requirements. 6. Renters wishing to bring special items or structures onto park land for the event must request authorization to do so when reserving the park facility. Special items include, but are not limited to, tents, canopies, inflatables, dunk tanks, stages, and other like items. 7. Any special items that would require stakes or support systems that would go into the ground would require notification of the Gopher State One Call utilities location service. City of Fridley location of irrigation system and any special park items will also be required. If City staff is required to be called out after normal works hours to provide this location service, the renter will agree to pay all costs associated with this call out. Mr. Heintz stated that he has a concern that a large group or business will want the facility for a gathering and find a member of the group that is a Fridley resident to rent the facility. Most of the group could be non-residents, but they would be renting the facility at the lower resident rate. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting – December 1, 2014 Page5 Mr. Kirk stated that may be difficult to monitor and regulate without additional staff time to determine where participants actually reside. Staff can make an effort to communicate that the group or organization renting the facility should be Fridley based in order for the resident rate of rental to apply. Ms. Barrett stated that she would expect the insurance requirements will keep individuals from renting the park property. She would think that businesses or groups would be the only ones that would want to pay for the additional insurance coverage for an event. Mr. Kirk stated that the insurance requirements are being recommended to keep people from using the facilities, but to protect the City when other structures are erected on park property. The Commission members agreed that the City’s interests should be protected with the insurance requirements. Mr. Ackerman is concerned about communicating a new policy to groups using the facilities for picnics and events. He wants to make sure we make an extra effort to make sure groups know the requirements. Mr. Ackerman suggested that we include a map of the park areas with the area available for rental identified for the park user. This map should be included with the rental permit and the renter should be required to sign off on the area they can use and the requirements they are required to follow. Mr. Solberg suggested that staff take these suggested requirements and some of the concerns of the Commission members and create a proposed park property special use application which could be considered at the January Commission meeting. Mr. Kirk stated that staff could do that. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to adjourn the December 1, 2014 meeting at 8:02 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON SOLBERG DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE DECEMBER 1, 2014 MEETING ADJOURNED.