HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Feb 9MEETING MINUTES
Monday, Feb 9th 2015
6:30 p.m.
City Hall, 2077 W. Larpenteur Ave.
City of Falcon Heights
Parks & Recreation Commission
1. Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 6:35pm.
Attendance X=present; AB=absent
AB Gordon Strom Chairperson
X Tim Sandvik Staff
AB Tim Pittman Staff
X Chuck Long Council Liaison
X Mary Hannon Jacobson Co-Secretary
X Ron Eischen Co-Secretary
X Dave Thomas
AB Liz Asmus
X Michael Breen
AB Cari Lee
AB Emily Metcalf
2. Approval of Dec 8th, 2014 meeting minutes
The meeting minutes were reviewed and approved.
3. Assign a chair and secretary
Tim Sandvik explained that by city code, a commission chair needs to be assigned each
calendar year (not necessarily “elected”). Gordon Strom, 2014 commission chair, was
not able to attend tonight’s meeting but communicated to Tim via email that he would
be willing to continue this position for 2015. The attendees agreed and approved
Gordon as commission chair for 2015 as well.
Christina Erickson was the 2014 secretary for the commission but completed her term
last year and did not renew in 2015. Therefore the commission needs a new secretary
for 2015. Tim Sandvik explained that this is NOT a requirement of the commission, but
that the commission can decide what positions it needs. Mary Hannon Jacobson
clarified the reasons a secretary was added in 2014: remove the minutes duty from the
previous staff personnel who facilitated most of the meetings, to allow for more
thorough/descriptive meeting minutes so that accurate documentation of the meeting
was available, and for sake of having history of these meetings online/available to the
public. Mary Hannon Jacobson and Ron Eischen agreed to co-chair the secretary
position.
4. Recap on Winterfest
Tim Sandvik: Winterfest had some un-seasonal weather this year that didn’t allow for an
ice rink. Turnout was around 75 people. Roselawn Stables (horse pulled wagon) said it
was similar to previous years. Tim mentioned they forgot to hang the large “Winterfest”
banner this year.
5. Update on summer programming and special events
Tim Sandvik: There will be no summer programs at Curtiss Field because of the
construction. Right now he is looking at programs from last summer and evaluating
them. Those that were cost neutral or were popular will be continued. Programming
will be at Community Park and possibly Lauderdale Park. Tim hopes to have some CTC
programs (Commonwealth Terrace – U of MN) but discussions are still being held. There
were not as many programs at the Falcon Heights Elementary park last summer because
of the school construction. Of the few that were there, they were not popular or cost
effective so it’s most likely there will be no programming there this summer.
6. Update on Curtiss Field Park
Chuck Long: A proposal was received to remove the playground and warming house,
and dig up the septic system at Curtiss Field. These need to be gone/out before we can
move forward with the KaBoom! project at Curtiss. Proposals received were lower than
expected, which is good. Roughly $17K for cleanup.
Tim Pittman received some bids for the all-season permanent surface for a full sized
basketball court (summer) and ice rink (winter.) The boards in themselves are
estimated at a cost of approx $70K and the 'slab' or concrete surface that will function
as a basketball court in the summer and rink surface in the winter had an estimate of
approx $95K. In total we’re looking at an estimate of $165K.
City Council is concerned about using up the $120K Park Dedication fee/amount up on
just 1 park (Curtiss Field.) (The cleanup costs are covered by a different grant, but the
$165K estimated above will consume this entire Park Dedication fee.) Also, if plumbing
will be needed (for bathroom facilities instead of port-a-potty’s), these costs need to be
considered as well.
Therefore, the city will be discussing options in March about how to use this money:
most towards Curtiss Field or spread amongst all the parks. They will be evaluating the
park plan and identify those items listed that are “essential” – deemed not safe and a
liability to the city, things that are not ADA compliant, etc. These will need to be high
priority. After that, other items will be prioritized.
Micheal Breen commented that plumbed bathrooms, not portable toilets, would be
nicer at Curtiss Field because of the visibility from Snelling and because of the number
of families with small children using that park. Some discussions were had about
screening portable toilets or having larger/ADA accessible portable toilets available
which are more “kid friendly”. However, the cost of plumbing would need to be
considered in the entire pictures of costs vs. funds available compared to other items
that may be deemed higher priority.
Someone else also asked if basketball and ice hockey at Curtiss Field were in jeopardy…
in danger of not being available because of the cost of the all season surface. Chuck
confirmed that there will still be basketball and ice hockey… but depending on city
council decisions, they may go with a cheaper/less durable surface if the all season
surface is cost prohibitive.
When asked how we could get more money to pay for some of these items, Chuck
clarified that the Parks & Rec commission has no revenue stream. Because of how
Falcon Heights is situated with new construction being very infrequent, the city has no
way to bring in this tax revenue. Council could not do a bond, but they could instead do
a public referendum if additional funds are deemed necessary.
7. Other Business
Chuck announced that Bart Fischer will be leaving the city in March to be City
Administrator of Oakdale (which has already been announced in the Pioneer Press). The
city will commence looking for a new city administrator.
8. Meeting Conclusion
Meeting adjourned at 7pm.
a. Summary of Decisions Made
i. Gordon Strom – P&R Commission Chair for 2015
ii. Mary Hannon Jacobson and Ron Eischen – P&R Commission Secretaries for 2015
b. Summary of Action Items
i. na
c. Next meeting date: Monday, March 9 2015
d. Submitted By: Mary Hannon Jacobson