10-28-1998 Additions - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES Parks & Recreation Commission August 6, 1998 OTHER BUSINESS Bianchi wanted to know if there could be any money available to allocate for trails. The Director thought that the Commission should go to the City Council and request that the Commission is allowed to use some of the Park Dedication money for grant matches that might come up. The Director asked Smith how much money the Commission would have to have for a match. Smith said it would depend on whether or not the grant was a 50 -50 match or 80 -20. She said she should know by the week of August 10`h. Anderson made a motion to accept the budget as is. Motion seconded by Smith. Motion carried 7 -0. The Director introduced Don Bowman, Program Coordinator in charge of the Adult Program, who was in attendance to make a presentation regarding Pioneer Park Lighting. Mr. Bowman handed out a detailed report on research that he had compiled (attached). Christensen stated that he felt there was a real need for lighting in Pioneer Park and that one field is already budgeted for 1999. The Director reported that it would be approximately $45,000.00 to light each field. Smith asked if this would fit into the 10% money. Johnson wanted to know why soccer isn't a higher priority than baseball and wanted to know how the soccer program would benefit from the proposed lighting of the baseball fields. The Director explained that Sanders had designed the ball fields with the outfields to be used as smaller sized soccer fields. Johnson felt the soccer program was pretty limited in Little Canada. Bowman responded that he did include utilizing the fields for soccer from time to time, in his report. Smith felt the Commission should recommend alternating from soccer to baseball in budgeting for lighting. Bowman stated that he felt that if just 2 fields were lit that would allow four games to be played in the later hours so the youth could play at an earlier hour. Bianchi wanted to know what kind of revenue the program generated. The Director said that with 23 adult teams it generated about $6,000.00 per year over and above the actual charged costs. Bianchi suggested taking the request to the 10% Fund this year to budget the second field. Smith said she would like to see funding for both soccer and baseball at once. The Director felt the benefit from lighting the soccer field was questionable, because Little Canada does not run its own soccer league. It is run through the Maplewood Parks and Recreation Soccer League and he would have to discuss the possibility of them scheduling evening games at Page 6