HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.5.23 Park & Rec - Joint Minutes1 | Page
CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Joint Meeting
Parks & Recreation Commission Community Engagement Commission City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue MINUTES June 5, 2023 at 6:30 P.M. A. CALL TO ORDER: 6:38 P.M. B. ROLL CALL: Jeff Yager__X___ Mike Bradbury__X___ Eric Brenton__X___ Paula Mielke__X ___ Tom Faust_____ Randi Lundell__X___ Mike Tracy___X__ Cooley-Kistler__X__ Ebbesen__X ___Lindstrom____ Stockford____
COUNCIL LIAISON:
James Wassenberg ______
Yakasah Wehyee ____X___
STAFF PRESENT:
Kelly Nelson___X____ Elke van der Werff __X___
C. PRESENTATION: D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
1. May 1, 2023 - Parks and Recreation Commission and Community Engagement Commission -Joint Meeting Minutes Commissioner Yager motioned to approve the minutes; Approved 9-0 E. AGENDA: 1. Ice Cream Social
Ebbesen will send Staff feedback collected from residents at Spring Together to compile
and present at Ice Cream Social. Cooley-Kistler wonders if we would like to do the dog show again.
Wehyee suggests drawing more attention to the dog show as it’s taking place because a lot of people didn’t hear an announcement and missed it last year. Bradbury mentions some neighbor kids want to do an animal fundraiser and wonders if a dog show / pet parade at a future fall event would pair well with that.
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Ebbesen will email the local dance studio to confirm their dance performance.
Bradbury and Ebbesen suggest putting itineraries / maps out within the park and Ebbesen suggests printing 11 x 17 posters to hang up. Ebbesen suggests placing signage in the park in early July to let residents know the date earlier than it was done last year. Tracy mentions that Roseville has been hosting events in their parks weekly and he will reach out to the former Parks Director to inquire if they loan out their Puppet Wagon. Bradbury suggests reaching out to schools to ask if we can borrow games from their
PTA. Mielke suggests making an announcement regarding the purchase of Community Park.
Also suggests Park and Rec commissioners have a table to gather input for new park building and amenities.
Nelson shares a sample of the revised event flyer and no changes were proposed. Ice cream social will be promoted for a total of 13 weeks. 2. Fall Planning Nelson updates commissioners on summer programming, sharing how staffing has been a challenge and residents only had interest in the soccer program. Staffing fall programming will likely also be a challenge. So, how would commissioners like to proceed?
Tracy says it’s clear what’s NOT working, so we might as well try something new. Lundell says it’s nice to see the field being used. Yager wonders how many kids were interested in fall programming last year before the City canceled it.
Commissioners advise Nelson to reach out to the Blackhawks / Skyhawks / City of Roseville to see if any of them are interested in conducting programming within our parks for our residents. 3. Draft #2 of PARC Agenda / Calendar Commissioners review the revised agenda calendar (they had suggested a few changes at the last meeting) and determine this version is a good working version to
use moving forward. Yager asks that ice rink and warming house discussion be added to the October meeting agenda. Commissioners discuss some ideas for a fall event at Grove (dog parade, pumpkin carving / judging, food trucks, activity with ties to The Good Acre).
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4. Fitness Court Nelson explains they had a call to hear about Fitness Courts that National Fitness Campaign (NFC), a wellness consulting firm, is bringing to communities through a competitive grant from BlueCross BlueShield Minnesota. Nelson wants feedback to determine if the commission finds this of interest to work towards offering to parkgoers. Tracy says that Roseville has added fitness stations east of Lake Bennett. He says that if we did something similar, adding to what we already have at Community Park, we’d essentially have the same Fitness Court. But, he prefers activities being spaced out and not all in one area because it keeps people moving throughout the park to the
next circuit. And, it maintains more green space. Lundell agrees and feels keeping the green space is more appealing than the Fitness
Court. Brenton says he liked the Fitness Court presentation at first glance. But, he agrees
that keeping green space and improving existing fitness stations is more preferred. F. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENT 1. Recap Spring Together Nelson shares that we served 273 pieces of ice cream at an expense of $1,226. While we did accidentally hand some of the same individuals two tickets instead of one, attendance was likely a solid 200 throughout the event. The event was promoted for ten weeks in our newsletter and the City promoted it on Facebook and NextDoor. Nelson asks for feedback on improving the event next year.
Tracy suggests purchasing event signage to place near Curtiss Field a couple of weeks before the event. Cooley-Kistler wonders how many renters were reached by placing an event flyer at apartments; was it successful?
Mielke knows we reached some Amber Union residents because she spoke with them at the event. Bradbury suggests asking schools to include our events in their newsletters. van der Werff says that we could also send our event to Roseville and ask if they’d share it, as the City is sometimes asked to share theirs. Mielke suggests having the event from 3:00 to 5:00 next year (moving the event up one hour).
Bradbury suggests adding food trucks. This would be especially nice if the event time does not change, to help offer food during the 4:00 to 6:00 timeframe. Nelson shares information received from Sport Court regarding painting courts at Curtiss and Grove parks. The finish on the Curtiss Field basketball court would be slippery if the
court was fully painted. So, instead of having Bradbury produce three examples of courts
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for an upcoming meeting, with three levels of paint used from low to high, only minimal paint may now be used. The commissioners opt to paint basic (high school regulation)
game lines on the lower end of the court with a standard hoop. At the other end of the court, with the mini hoop, lines for playing Around the World will be painted. Game lines for pickleball will be painted on Grove court. Estimated painting cost is $900 per court Proposed paint colors: white lines on Grove asphalt court, green on Curtiss cement court. Painting may be done in September, depending on the wait list. G. ADJOURNMENT: 8:24 PM Commissioner Yager motioned to adjourn;
Approved 6-0