04-06-2015 Park Board Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lino Lakes Parks and Recreation Department 600 Town Center Parkway Lino Lakes, MN 55014 (651) 982-2440 Fax (651) 982-2439 www.ci.lino-lakes.mn.us Date: 3/24/15 To: Rick DeGardner, Public Services Director From: Brian Hronski, Recreation Program Supervisor Subject: Final 2014-15 Warming House Report The 2014-15 warming house and skating season got off to a late start but turned out to be a very good season overall. Ice making operations started in late December which pushed our opening date to after the New Year. We now have had three excellent seasons in a row which we hope will continue next year. Our ice season kicked off on Friday January 2"d which was twenty days later than it last year. Our goal is to always have the ice and warming houses ready by the time the school holiday break starts but this year we were not able to accomplish that. We were closed a total of three days this season and that was great especially since we opened the rinks later than expected. Last year we were closed eight total days so that was a welcomed gain of five extra days for us this season. Two out of the three rink closings were due to temperatures dropping into the negative digits and the other closing came on a 44 degree unusually warm January day. We did not close the rinks for large amounts of snow since we broke records for all the snow we didn't get. As in past years the Centennial Hockey Association used our rinks for their youth hockey practices. As was the case last year we saw a decline in the number of youth teams using our rinks this year. I know the Centennial hockey association still has the same number of teams as in past seasons so it's possible there is more indoor ice available for practice. Joe Gratz who is the outdoor ice coordinator for CYHA was in communication with me prior to the season and did a nice job getting me schedules in a timely fashion. This year we went back to having City Hall Park as a part time facility, the numbers and budget concerns do not warrant us being open full time. Birch Park saw a decrease in the number of hourly skaters as our average skaters per hour dropped by 1.23. City Hall Park was up by almost a skater more per hour and Sunrise Park stayed virtually the same as last year with 15.6 skaters per hour. We had three accident reports turned in this year but none were serious. The injuries ranged from a bruised shin to a cut above an eyebrow and finger. As in past years Don Jensen was able to clean Sunrise and Birch Park on Saturday mornings. This was a nice service to provide especially at the rinks with higher use. Not cleaning the rinks at all over the weekend really lessons the skating conditions. We closed for the season on Monday March 2nd which marked the longest in the past ten years the rinks have stayed open. If our budget wasn't a concern staying open another three or four days was easily within grasp. Based on attendance most families and regular rink users were done skating by the end of February. Overall we had a very good season! With the lack of snow and the cold temperatures quality ice making was easy to accomplish.