Agenda Packets - 1980/05/01 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lakeside Park and Beach Aprit 16, 1980 Page 4 alternatives to review for that system, as well as different potential revenue sources. Lakeside Park is a small park with simple facilities where Lhe oper- ations and maintenance costs are easily estimated. Moreover, it is a fully developed park, which the regional parks are not. In other words, the regional park system is an entirely different level of service, and Lakeside Park should be viewed alongside existing county beaches and parks, not alongside the far more canplex regional system. In summary, the only significant reason not to assume responsibility for I.akeside Park is that it will probably require expenditure of an additional 830,000 to 40,000 annually for operations, maintenance and capital improvement oa the park. This expenditure should be weighed against the request of citizens in ihe north- west corner of the county for service assistance. It may be worth noting also that the above $30,000 to $40.000 is not a net increase in taxes paid by citizens. Rather, the City of Mounds View and the City of Spring Lake Park should be able to either reduce their taxes by 817,000 or provide 817,000 in other local servites as a result of transferring responsibility for this beach to the County. If the Comnissioners decide to assume responsibility for Lakeside Park, they should direct the Parks and Recreation Department to: r a) Negotiate ith the Lakeside Park Lomnission and the two Cities to reach agreement on ownership, operations, maintenance, and activities direction for the beach and park. At present, the Lakeside Park tartmission sponsors numerous activities, such as swimning lessons, r" which are not part of county beach programs. The Lomnission should '- be fully responsible for continuing these if Ramsey County becomes responsible for operations and maintenance. The ne9otiated agree- ment would be returned to the Board for final approval. b) Review the present allocation of county maintenance and operations staff to determine if, in fact, the addition of another futl-time person is required to handle Yhis beach. It may be possiDle to reduce the net cost to the taxpayers of tne county to little more than the present E7.300 deficit of the LommSSSSOn 1f present staff could be aliocated in a more efficSent manner to service this beach and park. c) Include any additional security costs in the final cost estimates for the beach. MT:gb cc: LommSssloner Robert Orth Larry Brown Tony Crea Bernard Edmonds Bruce Anderson -