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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes September 13, 2010Minutes ______________________________ City of Falcon Heights, Park and Recreation Commission Meeting September 13, 2010 6:30PM Community Park _____________________________ Meeting Chair: Annie Green Minutes By: Michelle Tesser Present members: Paul Faust, Lonetta Hanson, Matthew Waite, Gary Kwong Youth member: Luke Mielke Staff: Michelle Tesser, Tim Pittman Council Liaison: Keith Gosline Absent: Melissa Weber-Sanders, Serena Jones-White 1. Meeting called to order 6:30 PM 2. Approval of minutes July 12, 2010 Approved with correction of Serena Jones-White as present. 3. Welcome and Introduction of new youth commission member Luke Mielke Luke Mielke attends Roseville High School. He lives in Falcon Heights and has been a summer recreation staff member since 2009. 4. 1000 Benches Grant- Justin Miller Active Living Ramsey County is working together with the Saint Paul – Ramsey County Department of Public Health: Environmental Health Section and Ramsey County Parks and Recreation to provide a series of bench corridors throughout Ramsey County. The corridors will provide a "community path to health, one step at a time" to create a physical environment to encourage walking. Benches are to be made from recycled plastic and will further promote recycling programs throughout Ramsey County. Active Living will be requesting from Ramsey County Commissioners additional grant funding to provide the benches free of cost (not including pavers/pad) to cities. They hope to secure the funds sometime in Spring of 2011. Once the funds are secured the project will commence. Instead of pursuing the bench grant now in Falcon Heights, Miller will wait until additional funding has been approved by the County Commissioners. In the past, a few businesses contacted the city with interests to sponsor the benches. Miller will contact these businesses to let them know where the project is at. This project will be revisited with the Commission Spring of 2011. 5. Parks and Recreation Budget Miller handed out the 5 year CIP. Miller asked that the Commission discuss future improvements of the park. Miller discussed the Parks Dedication Fund which allows for new or expanding park facilities or equipment. This can be used at Curtis Fields or Community Park. There is currently $60k available for use. Once the funds are used the Parks Dedication Fund will be depleted. The reconstruct of the tennis courts was reexamined. The total reconstruct cost would be $120k. USTA grant will share the cost but require higher specifications than originally projected. The city would be responsible for $80,000 for reconstruction costs. This amount would effectively deplete the Parks Capital Improvement Funds. The commission was asked to consider all areas of improvement in the parks and was given a list of the parks. As homework, Tesser requested each commissioner visit the parks and complete the needs assessment looking at improvements that should be done including practical use and facilities. This topic will be revisited at the next commission meeting on October 11th. 6. Staff Report a. Summer recreation overview (August) The August Camps ended up with very good numbers, some over exceeded expectations. Little Explorers Camp 22, Adventure Camp 13 , TKD Camp 18, Tennis Camp 10 and 7. Tesser handed out completed comment cards from parents to Commissioners. b. Summer events overview 1. Ice Cream Social (ICS) was a huge success with more attendees and money received than prior years. The new Cookie Delight sundae went over very well and helped increase ticket sales. We bought 12 pails of Ice cream which ran out 15 mins prior to end. Tesser requested the same amount for ice cream as last year. Usually several pails (6 in 2009) have been left over which helped us identify how much of a success the event actually was. Approx. Cost of Event Total: $1,110.00 Rec’d $1,200.00 *** As promised, Tesser discussed past staffing of the ICS with Lisa Abernathy. The summer staff were never unpaid in previous years. They have always been paid for the ICS. Those kids that our Junior Leaders are volunteers throughout the entire summer including the ICS event. 2. 5k Family Run numbers continued to grow this year with 107 participants. Last year there were 75 participants. We received donation funds for t-shirts and free bagels, fruit, Gatorade and water. We received $545.11 from the event thanks to our sponsors which helps us to continue to fund our recreation programs. c. Fall program update Numbers for mini soccer and super soccer are very good. Cancelling ages 9-10 extreme soccer. Registrations for Tennis hit maximum a month before the program began so Tesser opened another class ages 5-8 on Saturday afternoon at 1pm. Those numbers are also good. TKD numbers are higher than in previous years. Hopefully, sign ups start happening with messy art and family yoga although it’s still a month away. Tesser asked commission to help put the word out in the community. Tesser continues to publicize fall programs. d. Public Works update Public works has been working on the following: parking signs, sidewalk/edging, fence removal, tree trimming, cleaning after the flood of Curtis Fields, mowing, city sweeping and sidewalk panels. Public works has also been delivering perishable foods to the local food shelves. In the preliminary budget, one additional summer staff has been added to the budget. 7. Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Plan discussion Tesser reviewed the Comp Plan. The comp plan is very basic and is more of an overview of park facilities and briefly describes the Parks Commission and roles of staff. There is nothing about past recreation programs done as previously thought just a very brief overview of challenges the Falcon Heights parks and recreation faces and identifies the title of some past rec programs done through the department. The future and 5 year plan sections in the Comp Plan were never completed. This is a vital element of a Comp Plan. Tesser recommended the Commission visit this at the next commission meeting. The parks needs assessments the Commission comes up with will be complied and added to the Comp Plan. Tesser printed out other areas of the Comp Plan that were most pertinent and handed it out to members. The Comp Plan will be a continuous work in progress and will be discussed in depth to the Commission in the winter months. 8. New Business . 9. Adjournment – Adjourned at 7:45pm Next Park Commission meeting will be Monday, October 11th at Curtis Fields Minutes respectfully submitted by Michelle Tesser. If there are any corrections or additions, please contact Michelle Tesser by phone at 651-792-7617 or by email at Michelle.tesser@falconheights.org