HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes for May 13 City of Falcon Heights Parks & Recreation Commission MEETING MINUTES City Hall Monday, May 13th 6:30 p.m. X Melissa Weber -Sanders, Chair ab Serena Jones -White ab Tom Keene ab Christina Erickson X Gordon Strom X Mary Hannon Jacobson ab Liz Asmus X Staff Michelle Tesser X Staff Tim Pittman X Council Liaison Chuck Long 1. Call to order - 6:30pm 2. Approval of April 8th meeting minutes - Approved 3. Welcome N ew Parks and Recreation Commissioner Liz Asmus - Tabled (absent) 4. Discussion on Park Playgrounds Inspection R e sults - Pittman provided photos and an opinion from Harlan Lehman, Minnesota/Wisconsin Playgrounds representative regarding the condition of our playground s. Assessment is attached to the minutes. The commission briefly discussed Mr. Lehman ’s assessment and viewed recent photos of playground equipment at Community Park, Grove Park and Curtiss Field . Council member Chuck Long requested staff to further research the state requirements of playground s including state c ode, c ities legal o bligation and MN Best Practices to get a better idea of what playground equipment may or may not be subjected to compliance. 5. Request to Council for Designation of Funds to Park Budget for Future Improvements Tesser discussed the Capital Improvement List and how the estimated life on Park amenities including playgrounds is coming t o the replacement year. Currently there is no money in the bu d get for any improvements . All improvements were spent on the Tennis court replacement at Community Park in
2011 . All revenue from Park/Rec Programming in 2012 (+12,649.45) goes into the General Fund. Each y ear the Park fun d is given $20,000 to assist with Tesser ’s salary. Tesser recommends paying for this amount out of the Administrative Budget thus allowing the Park /Rec Programming profit to go into the Capital Improvement fund year after year . Tesser pointed out that most cities have a park dedication fund which are funds given to the city by new businesses earmarked toward capital park improvements. But since the city has no possible developments this is not a v iable revenue source so other creative ideas of funding need to be looked at. **Because of the lack of a quorum at the Commission meeting, no decision could be voted on . 6. Update on Spring/Summer Program Enrollment Enrollment is going well. There are some h ighlights to enrollment to share with the commission such as the quick filling of Summer Discovery Camp afternoons, Tennis in the Fa mily, Blastball, Messy Art, Little Kickers and Pee Wee Tennis. We have good numbers on Mini and Extreme soccer, Great Adventure Camp and Tennis Ca mps. Safety Camp has good numbers with the joint collaboration with St. Anthony, Lauderdale and Falcon Heights. Unfortunately super soccer , pee wee sampler (morning) and Tennis 8 -9 (morning) may have to be cancelled. With over 49 programs being offered three possible cancellations is tolerable . Registrations could come in la st minute so we hope to get registrations in those three aforementioned programs. 7. Pic k le Ball at Grove In the Spring Newsletter Tesser asked if people were interested in Pickle Ball to call her. She has been taking down people ’s names. So far there is 8 interested people. To purchase equipment the cost would be upward of $750. Tesse r asked if the commission thought that his amount was feasible with the lack of interest. **Because of the lack of a quorum at the Commission meeting, no decision could be voted on . 8. Update on Movie in the Park Staff is changin g vendors this year for the Movie in the Park event. Changing vendors allows us to have the availability of an inflatabl e s creen for the Movie in the Park. The charge is an additional $50.00. But t he screen is also large (12x12) and bring s a more professional appeal than the (9x9) pop up screen we ’ve done in the past . 9. Update on Grant Submission for Community Garden Fen ce, Cleveland Beautification Project and Community Garden Plan t and Cooking Naturally Program
-Tesser has not received word from the Lions on th e Community Garden fence. She hopes to hear word by the next PRC meeting. -Tesser applied for and received a $9,000 grant from the U of M Stadium Advisory Group for the Clev eland Beautification Project to replace the d iseased tre es with new trees (Elm variety) on the Cleveland median between Roselawn and Larpenteur Ave. -Tesser has not received an update on the Community Garden Plant and Cooking Naturally Program (2013 Midwest Community Garden Grant ). 10. Volunteer Clean -up Community Park and Volunteer Gardener for Curtiss Field The city has given trash bags and assist ed with garbage bag pickup to help a church organization, l ocal Girl Scout troop and Coffman to clean our p arks. T h e city received a call from a Idaho Ave resident who would like to donate her time to help clean the flower beds/wet land around Curt iss Field. After the CRWD studies are complete we will know exactly what needs to be done and the projected time completion . Therefore we asked the resident to hold off on cleaning the flower beds until after the project is complete. 11. Public Works Report : Pittman discussed current projects: street sweeping , blvd s h aping, streetscape ident ification/ layout and mowing. 12. New Business No new business. Next meeting dates : Monday, June 1 0 th at City Hall , 2077 W. Larpenteur Ave. Monday, July 8 th at Community Park, 2050 Roselawn Ave.