HomeMy WebLinkAboutMins for February 11City of Falcon Heights Parks & Recreation Commission MEETING MINUTES City Hall Monday, February 11th 6:30 p.m. X Melissa Weber-Sanders, Chair X Serena Jones-White X Tom Keene X Christina Erickson X Gordon Strom X Staff Michelle Tesser ab Staff Tim Pittman X Council Liaison Chuck Long 1. Call to order 2. Approval of January 14th meeting minutes- Approved 3. Trees- Andy Hovland, City Forester Andy Hovland, (City Forester) re quested a meeting with the Parks and Recreation Commission to present on wh y the City must adopt a Tree Master Plan. Hovland explained to the Commissi on that a Tree Master Plan is required to remain in good standing and continue receiving grant ai d from Minnesota Department of Agriculture for the Emerald Ash Borer grant. These new standards began this last grant cycle and the pl an must be adopted by June/July 2014. Hovland discussed his vision of the tr ee plan outline and necessary elements that must be addressed inlcuding: tree maintenance, adoption of necessary ordinances and long-term planning (implementing tree variety and landscape architecture in the Parks). Hovla nd also advised that Arborist Day which normally includes dedicated tree plantin gs at city parks and purchasing of discounted trees would go along with the plan. Tree City USA is also an award that the City could attain. The Commission agreed to pursue the plan but to form a task force who could meet separately from the commission meet ings to iron out details. Members discussed bringing in one or two Envi ronment Commissioners to help on the task force. Hovland will return to the April meeting to define the scope of the plan. 4. Winter Updates A. Skating in the Park and Winterfest Recap Skating in the Park was extremely co ld with a wind shield of 25 below so unfortunately the attendance at the ev ent was very low. Tesser released one employee early to cut down on staffi ng costs. After the event Tesser
offered free hot chocolate to skaters for two weeks since supplies had already been purchased. Winterfest was a great event with ra in coming down at the start of the event that then turned into large snowfl akes. It made for a very pretty setting. Once the snow accumulated skiing was a popular activity for the children. The dog sledding owner of Suomi Hills Kennels Deer at River, MN would not run the dogs for rides because of the lack of snow and the new snow coming down was not packed for his dogs to run on so staff settled for having the dogs stay to dem onstrate. Attendees were able to pet the dogs. The rate was $900 for rides/mileage. The owner discounted the price at $600; staff felt the price was steep. Tesser recommends going with another kennel if possible next year . The Falcon Hunt went very well considering there was little snow co verage. The falcon was found after the second clue was read. Roselawn Stables was again another popular treat for attendees and ice skating was al so a popular activity. Attendance estimation is around 150-175. B. Rinks Update Rink attendance has been good and t he warming house attendants have worked out well this year. Tesser received good remarks regarding Mickey a new warming house attendant from Mayor Peter Lindstrom. 5. Draft of Recreation Progra mming Brochure/Newsletter Ideas Tesser presented the Commission with t he new recreation brochure. Tesser discussed at length the sponsorship and collaboration with Commonwealth Terrace. CTC sent $300.00 for scholarship ai d to the Park Fund 201last month. Additionally, Tesser spoke about placi ng a Pickle Ball advertisement in the recreation guide to see how many player s we have in Falcon Heights before any decisions on applying for grants to hel p with ordering supplies and creating temporary courts are made. Findi ng a core set of players was a recommendation made by the representat ives of Pickle Ball Association of Minnesota, at a recent conference Tesser attended. A core group should have at least six –eight players in order for the sport to grow within a city. 6. Community Garden- Lions Grant Proposal Tesser asked one commissioner to volunt eer to put their name on the grant funding letter to the Lions group for aid in purchasing a new Community Garden fence for Community Park. Volunteeri ng would require the commissioner to present the request to the Lions Club at a future meeting. Christina Erickson volunteered; Tesser will draft a letter with f ence estimates for Christina to sign at the next Commission meeting. 7. U of M Good Neighbor Fund Grant- final decision
The City of Falcon Heights is an eligible member of the Stadium Area Advisory group. Each year the University asks fo r grant submittals from those parties affected by the stadium. Tesser is dra fting several Good Neighbor grants to the Funding Management Commission for their review. This is the first year the City has submitted. Tesser will submit thr ee grants on behalf of the City 1. Funding aid for the Spring Together event 2. Purchase of signs for the City Hall, Parks and Solar Panel Roof 3. Cleveland Tree Streetscape. The dead line for submittal is March 1 st . The committee will meet and review projects on April 23 rd . 8. Public Works Report:-Tim Pittman Pittman was absent. 9. New Business Next meeting dates: Monday, March 11th (cancelled) Monday, April 8 th