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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 2026/03/26PARKS AND RECREATION AND FORESTRY COMMISSION 6:30 P.M. | MARCH 26TH, 2026 | MOUNDS VIEW CITY HALL MEETING MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER @ 6:30 PM 2. SPECIAL BUSINESS A. Oath of Office Kaylene Berg - New Park Comision Member 3. ROLL CALL: Commissioners: Arel, Bankston*, Berg, Bosneag II, Lundberg, Mills, Wake Wiesner Staff: Peterson | Szurek | Thomas *To be absent 4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: motion to approve by Wake Wiesner, Second Lundberg. Passes 6-0 5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM January 22nd, 2026, meeting. The February 26th,2026 meeting was canceled. Motion to approve by Wake Wiesner, Second Bosneag II, Motion passes 6-0. 6. PUBLIC INPUT Citizens may speak about issues not on tonight’s agenda. Before speaking, please give your full name and address. Please limit your comments to three minutes. 7. STAFF REPORTS A. Parks and Recreation – Thomas. See packet. Field reservations are now open to general public! Explore More Summer Camp- 90% enrollment so far. 6th graders can do a 4-week training for leadership, which has a cost, after that they can volunteer to be a leader (no cost). Rec on the Go: will be adding Spring Lake Park to the partnership with Arden Hills and Mounds View. The three most popular MV parks were Greenfield, Silver View and Hodges. That Girl Studio (teens) received a grant. Seniors Murder Mystery Lunch was very popular. Third annual St. Patrick’s Day Bash. Fiddle and Flannels played and the Lions provided meals for purchase. Membership numbers are ahead even with increase in membership cost. Park rentals are up for the year. B. Public Works – Szurek. See packet. Ice rinks closed on February 17th (typical closure time). Tree purchasing: Around 52 of the 85 trees available have been sold. Residents shouldn’t prune trees right now!! Waiting will help keep disease away. Silver View- the construction project for buckthorn removal/diseased trees/invasive species has been closed out. Greenfield Park: climbing wall is still coming. Balance beam and benches will also be coming. Peterson: Upcoming Dates: Earth Day on April 18th- Meeting at City Hall @ 10am (three clean up places: trail on southeast side of the large parking lot to the large pond near mounds view blvd, the park and ride by Mcdonalds, and the fishing area across mounds view boulevard) Arbor Day April 24th. Planting 3 trees at Pinewood Elementary. Planting trees at Groveland at 1PM. May 12th: 530-730PM: Raingarden demonstration at the splash pad parking lot- Information on infiltration basins. Silver View: there was a very large oak tree that couldn’t be kept during the clean up, but a slice has been saved to display. 8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. 9. NEW BUSINESS A. GOAL Parks Recommendations- Peterson: see packet. Karen Grasmon: Silver View Park and Lakeside Lions: We know the recommendations and the master plan have big dollar amounts, but the value and the timing of needs reflect the amount investment. The $15 million bond is a fraction of the grand total needed. Dave Zink, Greenfield Park: we need to continue to invest in the parks! Emily Bacheller: Hodges Park and Woodcrest Park: As a parent we saw the Woodcrest playground go away. The parks are assets. The GOAL parks committee would like to continue to see the project continue. We have a part time marketing intern to help the general public understand what’s happening. Considering hiring WSB to also help with marketing. A city-owned cannabis dispensary will be coming, which will be a cost-sharing revenue stream. We don’t know what the revenue will be, but it is something for council to consider. The Council will be doing a survey which will have questions on whether residents would be in support of a bond. If the City Charter commission were to put forth a 1% Levy- that would generate about 90K/year, which would grow over time to help with on-going maintenance. The city will continue to look for grants and will apply as soon as they have a clear project. The current parks budget does not have a revenue stream coming in. Park dedications funds are not coming in and the deterioration of the parks will continue; maintenance will still need to happen. The parks need a consistent revenue stream to continue to maintain. If the survey comes back that there isn’t support for a bond, there may still be a ballot question to help receive the voice of the residents to decide on park funding. Lakeside Lions is a joint park, so that will be a separate conversation on funding. Communication with residents will start happening as soon as Council has the go-ahead. Lundberg: suggested to look at corporate sponsorship to help with funding. Councilmember Clark: there is support for communication technician in the strategic plan. Motion: To approve GOALS committee report as written, with the addition of looking at corporate sponsorship for funding and other available sources as they become available, and pass the report on to Council made by Bosneag II, Second by Arel. Motion passes 6-0. B. Rink 2025-2026 usage numbers- Thomas: see packet. We were open 36 days. Lamberts daily use went up from last year (3.7 people/day). Hillview was at 5.5 people/day ( a small drop in last year was 6 people/day). A decision on keeping rinks open would need to be made around September or October to plan on staffing. Some cities are moving to a rotating staff member that checks on the rinks so there is not a staff member that has to be there all the time, which would reduce the 2 staff to 1, but that doesn’t change the maintenance for flooding. Lambert is easier to maintain but not as visible. Hillview is harder to maintain, but much more visible. Rink discussions will be revisited prior to winter. C. Coach of the year nominations- Thomas: Motion to nominate Coach #2 as Coach of the year, with appreciation for all other nominated coaches and all other coaches who gave of their time made by Wake Wiesner, second by Bosneag II. Motion passes 6-0 D. Dog off leash areas at Hillview and Lambert Parks -Szurek: The dog areas (inside the hockey rinks) did consistently get a lot of use in the past year. They will be converted to dog areas again this year as soon as the space is fully dried out after the rink closures and ready weather-wise. Discussed the possibility of putting a mailbox in for bag donation. 10. COMMISSIONER REPORTS Arel: Due to an abundance of impressive applications, the commission is looking at extending to 9 commissioners. Lundberg: noticing the prevalence of e-bike use, especially without helmets- is there anything we can think about doing to do reminder for safety? Maybe something with Fire or Police to help pass out helmets. The commission is working on updating the rule signs- which will include information about motorized vehicle use. 11. REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS / OTHER BUSINESS A. Look at bylaws B. Start thinking about places for May parks tour. 12. Next Regular Commission Meeting: April 23rd, 2026, Joint Parks, Recreation and Forestry Commission with the City Council. 13. ADJOURNMENT @ 8:00 PM.