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MINUTES <br />CITY COUNCIL <br />SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 <br />Fischer noted that in his job a lot of work is done on visioning and <br />strategic planning and felt that that process needed to be undertaken. He <br />noted his experience with the Rice Street Athletic Club and based on that <br />experience pointed out that as a non-profit LCRA must remain <br />independent to a large degree. Fischer felt they should be involved in the <br />planning process, however. <br />Bowman noted his experiences as a 30 -year resident of Little Canada and <br />felt that parks and recreational programming was a quality of life issue. <br />Bowman agreed with the committee planning process and felt that this <br />should move forward sooner rather than later. <br />Keis again noted the budget process that the Council is in the midst of and <br />that there may be some decisions made based on the budget. <br />Maida asked if park improvements would be part of the budget <br />consideration. Keis noted that park improvements are park of the Capital <br />Improvement Budget which is a separate issue. With regard to park <br />improvements, the Director indicated that there was $50,000 budgeted this <br />year for park improvements and $50,000 is proposed for the 2016 Budget. <br />Keis noted that the practice has been to carry over unspent capital funds to <br />the next year. <br />Montour asked how much time the Director spent on parks versus <br />recreation. The Director estimated an even split and noted that while <br />Bowman and McGinnity did the brunt of recreational program work, he <br />was available during the day to answer questions. <br />Keis summarized that the City needs to find out what people want, <br />develop a mission statement and a strategic plan, and then work toward <br />implementation. Keis pointed out that the associated costs will determine <br />how aggressive the implementation is. Fischer felt the first step was to <br />establish the committee so that the inputs can be defined. <br />Horwath suggested that the City obtain a copy of the survey that <br />Maplewood commissioned a little over a year ago. He felt that this would <br />be a good resource document. <br />Keis noted that the Parks Department has 2 full-time equivalent <br />employees. He indicated that one of the questions is whether or not that <br />number should be lower and what the pain points would be from cutting <br />staff. <br />The Director indicated that it was his opinion that some staffing of the <br />Department could be cut back, but he was not sure of the percentage. He <br />indicated that the Program Assistants are not as busy as they used to be, <br />and one position could be cut or hours could be cut. The Director felt that <br />8 <br />