02-05-2018 Council Work Session Minutes

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION APPROVED February 5, 2018 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 4 DATE : February 5, 2018 5 TIME STARTED 6:00 p.m. 6 TIME ENDED 9:55 p.m. 7 MEMBERS PRESENT Council Member Rafferty, Maher, 8 Manthey, Stoesz and Mayor Reinert 9 MEMBERS ABSENT None 10 11 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Public Safety Director John 12 Swenson; Community Development Director Michael Grochala; Finance Director Sarah 13 Cotton; Public Services Director Rick DeGardner; City Engineer Diane Hankee. 14 15 1. Rice Lake Elementary School Playground Equipment Project -Public 16 Services Director DeGardner reviewed his written report. He is bringing forward a 17 suggestion from a Planning and Zoning Board member that the City designate $87,500 of 18 park dedication fees from the St. Clair Estates housing project for the Rice Lake 19 Elementary Playground Equipment project. Owreason this would make sense is that the 20 playground is the closest neighborhood park for the new subdivision. He introduced 21 Bryan Carlson, Rice Lake Elementary School principal and two members of the PTO for 22 the school who discussed the need to refurbish the equipment. Mr. Carlson reviewed 23 fundraising ideas, provided an overview of the preliminary ideas for the project and 24 answered the council's questions about the plans. The total cost quoted by Mr. Carlson 25 was $170,000. 26 27 Mayor Reinert noted the down economy in the recent past when the city had to cut back 28 and the council's more recent discussions about establishing a regular funding stream for 29 park work; the cost of this project is large compared to the city's budget. He suggests that 30 the discussion of this specific improvement should be part of the larger assessment of 31 park needs. 32 33 Mr. DeGardner remarked that this project seems like a good opportunity to partner with 34 the school district as well as a good match to serve the St. Clair Estates neighborhood for 35 their park dedication funds. Council Member Manthey asked if staff is thinking that 36 funding for the project should be considered outside or part of the city's parks budget and 37 Mr. DeGardner said, apart from the park dedication funds mentioned, it would be outside 38 the established budget. Council Member Rafferty remarked that he thinks the natural first 39 place to discuss funding for this spot would be with the school district. Mayor Reinert 40 added that he's happy to receive information on this project to use as the council studies 41 the park needs of the whole city. 42 43 The council expressed a desire to look at other options before making a decision and 44 asked staff for an update on Shenandoah Park. 45 1