07-02-1979 Park Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Park Board Addition to the July 2, 1979 minutes This addition consists of a review by Mr. Crouse of the grant and financing situation in reference to the proposed four-season building for Lino Park. This is in refer- ence to the LAWCON grant: The Park Board received work that there was grant money available that would have to be submitted before the end of June (1979) from state and federal sources. At that time it was discussed at one of the Park Board meetings and it was decided that it would be worthwhile exploring it further and getting more detail . I volunteered-- because I work downtown where the office of State Parks and Recreation is located-- to discuss it with whomever was available; so in the next three or four days I had two meetings with two of the staff, one was a Mr. Johnboy, and from that he encour- aged us because he said we would have at least a fighting chance to get some money for some of the outdoor recreation plans after I reviewed them with him briefly. I brought that information back and between Ina Liljedahl , Marilyn, the mayor and several other people who were interested and involved, including Mr. Zelinka, we decided that it would be a good idea to do it. We had approximately three weeks at that time to submit a proposal . We went through the pre-proposal material and the type of information that would be necessary, and it seemed like it was quite a bit of volume and things we had never done before, but we recognized too that being able to do this would help us to get ourselves organized, especially the five-year projection plan identification of places that could possibly be used for future park and recreation sites . So with that encouragement, I then offered , because I do work in the grants area, to help write the grant. We worked that out and I actually started working before that decision was made. I took 32 days of leave time from my usual job and spent that time working with the team which was several people--Ina Liljedahl , Don Volk, Marilyn, the building inspector. We touched base with several people. We got preliminary plans for the building, two or three estimates in cost, and we pulled records together. I contacted the public schools and other people for support. We got letters of support--we actually wrote letters that we wished they would write, and if they agreed with it, they would write the letter of support--so we pulled it together a rough three or four days before it was due. We had it typed and then we finally pulled it together and submitted it the day before it was due and we heard back. They came out and made a site visit about a week ago, and they didn't indicate whether the grant was available or that we would get it. However, they did indicate that parts of that building, those that would be used for community services or community support, could not be funded from their grants area. I discussed after that with Ina Liljedahl and Marilyn that per- haps we should explore another source of funds and I haven' t heard back since then for that other portion of it. I don' t know any other areas myself, but I thought if the Board were interested in trying to see if they could write off some more of that cost through another grant, it may be possible. I was in Washington for the state office and I did get to see Durenberger and Boschwitz and they indicated they would be very eager to sort out the red tape and bureaucracy of Washington to see if there could be any grants available. They felt Minnesota and local municipalities were undergranted as far as innovative and other types of money. So I did explore it from this angle, but I didn't get anything specific, but I was waiting for this group to explore further. That, in brief, is what happened and how it happened. Mr. Shaughnessy brought up that the Board had talked about the possibility of a grant for solar power, although it was never explored any further. It was felt this could be a definate area to look into, although Mrs. Liljedahl added that it could not be included in the grant this time because it had already been written. Mr. Crouse mentioned that the grant could be put into different agencies ; that the community area would not come under LAWCON, but the City could apply in other areas and that could be solar heating.