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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 04.10.06Minutes ______________________________ City of Falcon Heights, Park and Recreation Commission Meeting April 10, 2006 6:30PM _____________________________ Meeting Chair: Chuck Long Minutes By: Lisa Anderson Present: Pamela Harris, Greg Hoag, Chuck Long, Annie Green, Lisa Anderson, Pat Dolan, Gene Ozasky, Kimberly Kuhens, Paula Mielke, Jim Evans Meeting called to order 6:30 PM Approval of agenda Motion made by Evans, seconded by Ozasky Long asked that we add the role park and recreation Commission in the Comprehensive Plan as an item as well as invitations to the Walkable Communities workshops coming up. The two were added to the agenda. Approval of minutes December 12, 2005 Meeting Motion made by Green and seconded by Evans Staff Report Recreation Update Anderson reported all summer brochures have been distributed. They were distributed to local schools, libraries and were also direct mailed to all Falcon Heights residents. Registrations have started to come in. Anderson also reported that online registration is now up and running. The new city website is not up and running yet but there is a link to the online registration part of the new page so the public can register online using a credit card. Summer staff has been hired. There are about 10 returning from last year and about 10 new employees hired for summer programs. Yoga- The last session of Yoga has ended. Anderson noted there are plans for another session to begin at the end of April. The location for the evening class this next session will be held at the Falcon Heights United Church of Christ instead of at City Hall. City Hall staff feels that the area where Yoga is held should not be scheduled consistently in the evenings so Yoga had to find an alternate location. Falcon Heights United Church of Christ has been kind enough to let us use one of their classrooms free of charge. We will continue to look at other locations for future evening Yoga classes. Coming up- Anderson reported that the Babysitters Training class coming up in mid April has 10 participants so will be held as scheduled. The Treasures of Falcon Heights event is coming up Saturday, May 13th. This event was created by Laura Kwong a member of the Neighborhood Commission, who thought it would be a great event for people to get out and visit historical or neat sites around Falcon Heights. Anderson also handed out invitations to Commissioners for two Walkable Community Workshops that will be held mid May in Roseville and Lauderdale. These workshops will cover studies done on how walkable communities are and what barriers or limitations the city may have of becoming walkable and how they can improve their city. Hoag encouraged Commissioners to attend one of these two workshops, as Falcon Heights is one of the cities hoping to become a walkable community. Hoag reported to the group that Heather Worthington, our current City Administrator would be leaving to become the Assistant City Manager for the City of Edina starting mid May. Hoag would serve as the interim Administrator until a new one is chosen. Hoag then explained the process the City would take in hiring a new person. The applicants would be narrowed down to 6 or 7 candidates. They would then spend two days participating in panel interviews. The panel would be made up of Commissioners from all city groups as well as the Mayor and City Council members. It would then be narrowed down to 2-3 candidates who would then be interviewed by the City Council Hoag reported that they hope to make an offer and hire someone by the third week of May. 5. Review of the Friends of the Park Fund. Anderson passed out background information on the Friends of the Park Fund for the group to see how it has been handled in the past. Ozasky noted that the senior population or Retirement society would be a good target group. They might be more interested in putting money into the neighborhood they live in. Mielke pointed out that on the previous registration form there was a box giving people the option of donating as the same time of registering for classes. Anderson made note of this and discussed putting it back on the registration form as well as creating a place on our new website where people can donate to the fund. Long suggested the brochure also is updated. Long and Green volunteered to work on a new brochure with current information. Anderson will be gathering information or ideas for the updated version of the brochure. Mielke suggested we give the public options on what they can donate to, making the donation more project specific. Green agreed and suggested we include boxes on the form they would check off where they wanted their money to go to, such as scholarships, trees, benches, picnic tables etc. By doing this many Commissioner’s agreed people might be more willing to donate if they have options on where their money is going. Long then suggested we provide the public with an idea of how much things like benches, tress or tables cost. That way they are aware of where their money is going and how much it truly cost to fix or replace a park item. Long concluded the discussion with the idea of composing a new brochure with the cost of park amenities and giving the public the option of what they would like their donation to be invested. 6. Marketing and Public Relations Anderson reported that in the upcoming summer newsletter there will be a special thank you for those businesses who donated money to our Park and Recreation community events. Anderson also reported on all the locations that our programs are currently advertised or given brochures to hand out. New outlets for this information to be distributed through are always being considered and pursued. Comprehensive Plan Long updated the Commission on the last meeting with the City Council on the Comprehensive Plan. The Parks Commission was assigned the Park planning part of the Comprehensive Plan. As this moves along, the Comprehensive plan we are try to redo will become a part of this over all City plan. Walkable Communities Invitations were given to each Park Commissioner regarding informational workshops being held in Lauderdale and Roseville. At each workshop, participants will learn what types of barriers or obstacles to look for around their community and discuss ways of improving those barriers and promoting more of their residents to get out and walk around their community. From this Falcon Heights hopes to see what they can do or what can be changed to make Falcon Heights a walkable community. A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Ozasky and seconded by Evans. Meeting ended at 8:15 pm Minutes respectfully submitted by Lisa Anderson. If there are any corrections or additions, please contact Lisa Anderson by phone at 651-792-7616 or by email at lisa.anderson@ci.falcon-heights.mn.us.