02-26-2018 Council Meeting Packet

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