PRC 2016 03 22
CHANHASSEN PARK AND
RECREATION COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
MARCH 22, 2016
Chairman Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Cole Kelly, Steve Scharfenberg, Brent Carron, Luke Thunberg, Jim
Boettcher, and Rick Echternacht
MEMBERS ABSENT: Jennifer Hougham, and Lauren Dale
STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation
Superintendent; Katie Favro, Recreation Supervisor; Adam Beers, Park Superintendent; Susan
Bill, Senior Center Coordinator; and Jodi Sarles, Rec Center Manager
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Steve Kolbow 5580 Dahlgren Road, Chaska
Russ Raschke 7402 Frontier Trail
Tim Vossberg 3380 Lake Shore Drive, Chaska
Todd Neils 990 Saddlebrook Curve
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Chairman Kelly approved the agenda as published.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Kelly: Todd, any public announcements tonight?
Hoffman: None that are not already on the agenda.
Kelly: Okay thank you.
Scharfenberg: I have one.
Kelly: Oh, Steve.
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Scharfenberg: Chanhassen Red Birds Rally is coming up on Friday, April the 8 at the
American Legion beginning at 6:00 p.m. so hope to everyone come out for our silent auction and
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kick off event. First baseball game is May 14 or 15 so not too far away.
Kelly: And we’re looking forward to the season, thanks Steve.
Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Scharfenberg: Yep.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS.
Kelly: I believe we have a visitor presentation. Please give us your name and address and then
you may proceed.
Russ Raschke: Hello, I’m Russ Raschke. I live in 7402 Frontier Trail, Chanhassen, Minnesota.
Right over here just about a half mile down the road. Pleasure to be here tonight and talk to you
guys about one, something we’re passionate about here. Steve Kolbow, Tim Vossberg and
myself are all part of the Chanhassen Chaska High School Mountain Bike Team and we would
like to talk to you guys about our team and the reason we’re here is that we need your assistance
in procuring local trails and opportunities to develop younger kids and kids into the sport of
mountain biking. Mountain biking is a fairly new club sport tied to the National Interscholastic
Cycling Association and associated with the local high schools so our teams are joined together
currently but technically rated separately in the race. Chanhassen Chaska Mountain Bike Team
was formed in 2012 with one rider. In the year of 2015-2016 and now consists of over 40 riders.
We’ve been really fortunate with some of our riders. We’ve had two state champions in the
sophomore class. Currently we have a varsity rider that’s very competitive and my daughter is
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also in the varsity class as well. Team is comprised of students in 7 grade through 12 grade
and we compete against other kids from across the state. Events have roughly 700 people in
them. If you scroll up this is just a quick shot of what our team looks like so you can kind of get
a demographic of what it is but you can see that we have quite a few young women along with a
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bunch of young men in there. I would say our average range is probably what 9 grade? 9-10
grade, right in there so a lot of youth. A lot of young people have started, starting to come into
the sport and really fun to get them involved and get them outside and try to get them off those
iPads and moving so get them involved with this type of thing. So what we’re here for is we are
looking for trails and the reason we’re really looking for trails is that our season officially starts
in early June and runs through late October. Currently there’s no approved mountain bike
courses on the west side of the Twin Cities. Due to this our team travels to Murphy Hanrehan
Park preserve in Savage or Lebanon Hills in Eagan or Elm Creek up on the north side of the
Twin Cities. So you can imagine this is a little bit of a logistics thing to try to get people to these
different trails and to try to get single practicing in with all these kids and move them around and
get them to places and go and get that type of practice in and it limits how often a lot of our
younger kids can practice and how long they can practice because the days get short at the end of
the season, as you can imagine. For most of that coach this is not our primary job. This is all
volunteer. We go there. Be done with our day job and go there at 5:00 and ride for an hour and
have 2 hours and get back so when you have to drive an hour to get someplace in rush hour
traffic it’s difficult. What we’re looking for is an area where we can create and maintain some
local mountain bike trails, preferably wooded trails with some hills. We’ve seen a couple
promising areas. I think I’ve talked to Todd briefly about them. One of them was Parcel
25230310 which is actually off of Powers just south of 212. Currently I guess it’s called the Fox
Hills development or Fox Hills Procurement is what I told in our discussion.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Hoffman: Fox Woods Preserve.
Russ Raschke: Fox Woods Preserve, I apologize. I know it’s just starting to be developed down
there around the area but to us it looks like it would be perfect for mountain biking in that it has
some nice big higher trees. A little bit of elevation grades. Woodsy but not too overgrown. It
would be really easy to put a structure into. A typical course for us is only about 5 miles long for
a high school race and we wouldn’t even need a full 5 miles for practicing. Certainly for a local
track it doesn’t have to be a big park like we’re looking at for you know Lebanon Hills or
Murphy or this or that. Something where you can go ahead and have the students contained in a
smaller area. Makes it much easier for us, especially with the younger students to go ahead and
run those types of loops and it would also make it easier to manage. You know bike trails that
we would look to try to build would be what we’d call a green to blue which means there are no
steep hills or no dangerous obstacles. We wouldn’t put anything in there that would be moving
or big rocks. Things that people could fall under. That type of stuff would be trails through the
woods and if we wanted to you could scroll quickly down the next page and just kind of a little
bit father down yet. Sorry one more down. Gives you an idea of what trails might look like
going through the woods. That’s taken out, what’s called a jail trail in St. Cloud but it’s a narrow
single track little chunk of woods. Or a trail through the woods and that’s what we really like to
run on. A typical trail like I said is roughly 1 to 2 feet wide. Cut across hillsides to maintain a
little bit of grade up and down and that type of thing but also to manage erosion so you can keep
water coming off of in the proper direction to keep them from running away. Two of our head
coaches are actually trained in creating sustainable trails through the International Mountain
Biking Association and one of our head coaches Tim Vossberg here tonight is part of the
Minnesota Off Road Cyclist Board so we have people that are well versed in that aspect of trail
construction. Trails can be constructed by hand for what we’re looking at. Rakes and shovels
and do need some regular maintenance. You know clearing fallen trees and raking and clearing
stuff and leaves in the fall. That type of thing but they are typically very low maintenance.
Little mowing grass. Really a typical mountain bike park, you walk around and clean the sticks
and trees off it and you mow it 3 times a year if there’s any grassy areas on the edges so it’s not a
huge upkeep requirement. When they’re laid out properly they’re very easy. If we find a bit of
property that would work for us, if you were able to find that we could, our coaches and parents
would certainly be willing to help maintain or support that type of system and put it in as well
and the students themselves are part of their lettering criteria is to go ahead and do community
service and that could be applied also towards working on those projects of maintaining and
putting things in. We understand this property was not originally posted or stated for this use.
It’s a little bit outside of the scope but we want to emphasize that trails can be construction to
minimize crossing with other existing trails and we fully expect these trails to be used by the
community for cycling, hiking, cross country skis and other types of activities so they could you
know become an asset to everybody in the community. One of the things we talk about is we
have looked at more of a community style trail. Not a massive trail. Not a parking head, big
trailhead. Something that you can ride to off of the local trail system would be fine for us you
know like again 5 miles. Understand that if this property is not in play, doesn’t look like it’s
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
viable we’re certainly open to any other areas that you think would probably be amenable to this
type of use and are open to any questions that you guys might have about what we’re looking for
and things about the sport.
Kelly: Thank you. I think I missed your name at the beginning but I think you’re Russ.
Russ Raschke: That’s correct.
Kelly: Okay. Thank you Russ for going through that. You stated when you were talking to us
that you know your course is 5 miles but you didn’t need 5 miles. What do you need to be
viable?
Russ Raschke: I’d say we need at least 3 miles would be a viable course right and that could be
put in roughly 40 acres I’d say. Roughly 40 acres.
Audience: Yeah.
Russ Raschke: Give or take depending on the, what’s on that 40 acres. For reference looking at
this property and the property just north of it we believe we could put about 5 miles of trails into
this really easily without being tight at all so for reference.
Kelly: Okay. Other questions for Russ.
Carron: Russ, how often do you guys ride per week?
Russ Raschke: We ride 3 to 4 days a week. It’s usually 4 days. Well it’s 3 days, 4 days, 3 days,
4 days so it’s 3 days and one day on weekend.
Carron: And is that all on one trail or do you guys travel to each?
Russ Raschke: Oh no we travel around sorry, yeah. On the weekends we’ll typically go to one
of these other parks that we’re talking. Murphy Hanrehan or one of these other places. We’ll
ride a lot of the gravel trails and we also make good use of a lot of these wonderful city trails that
you guys have put in and really enjoyed using those as well so yeah we mix it up and try to ride
some of the gravel trails. Some of the road trails. Some out there but really a lot of the younger
kids and actually to keep the enthusiasm up really want to go ride some single track and they’re
like we really want, we want to ride some single track and we’re like you know there’s not that
much around to use so that’s where we’re at.
Carron: And then my other question is, can you give us, or I guess give me an idea. So you
guys got 40 team, 40 people on your team and it’s growing pretty fast obviously because just a
little bit ago. What about other cities? Is it growing just as fast in other cities and other teams as
well?
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Russ Raschke: I would say it’s similar in other cities. I think Tim you’ve been more involved
with that aspect of it than I have so.
Tim Vossberg: Yeah it’s been growing real steady.
Russ Raschke: Yeah I mean if you look at the overall number of participants in league events,
last year it was roughly 400 to 450 kids in a league event. This year it was 700 so ballpark wise
that’s the type of growth we’re seeing and worth noting is that you know when you look at
bicycle sales and that type of thing the only growing market right now actually is mountain bikes
so if you talk to local bike shops or anything else that is the only real growing market. The rest
of us are getting older I guess but the kids, that’s what they’re picking up so that’s the.
Carron: Use these trails, you said your season’s only in the summer but do you use these trails
all season or all calendar year?
Russ Raschke: It’s an interesting question. Trails can be used all calendar year if they’re set up
properly and you get people to snowshoe them or pack them in or people with the fat tire bikes
ride them in in the wintertime you can ride them all winter long, yeah. So a place like Murphy
Hanrehan and some of those we’ll run them all winter long.
Carron: Alright thanks.
Scharfenberg: Russ Todd had shared during the week some of the emails that were going back
and forth and it sounds like you guys have had conversations already with the City of Chaska.
Russ Raschke: Yes.
Scharfenberg: Potentially about a trail. Maybe you can speak to that a little bit to that please.
Russ Raschke: I can. I can. We’ve talked extensively with the City of Chaska and I think Tim
may be able to add more to that but step in and tell me if I’m incorrect. Chaska actually does
have some mountain bike trails in it. I think maybe some people are familiar with that. It’s
locally called Mammoth. Unfortunately Mammoth is run primarily across a real mix of public
and private property and I would say that there’s very few trails on Mammoth that are entirely
within public bounds. And those that are adjacent directly to private property so we’ve talked to
them about trying to legitimize that. Maybe you’ve seen it in the paper. We did have some
discussions with them and they are really hesitant to go ahead and make that an official park due
to the concern with people basically riding on public property and then riding off onto a trail that
appears to be associated with it and you know public property when it is not indeed public
property so there’s a real hesitation to that. Now there is some talk in a 5 year plan or longer to
build another school that’s out there. Exactly off of the Big Woods area is what they call it or
right off of 212 down there that will be going in in the future and they’re looking at possibly
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
building a park at that point but nothing immediately stated for putting in so there’s, you’re
looking a distance out before anything like that would come available for us to use. NICA’s
rules, for us to use it it has to be listed by the City or we have to have permission from the City to
use it as far as a training area for the team to ride it so a mountain bike park like Murphy or those
are listed on maps and given that type of thing and a community that was listed as a park would
be fine as well but something that’s not sanctioned is something we really can’t use that way.
Scharfenberg: And then there was also reference to something on the river bottoms. Are you
using trails along those?
Russ Raschke: Yes we do. We actually do ride the Minnesota River bottoms. We ride those
probably about once a week and those if you’ve ever ridden them are not single track. They’re
basically an ATV, 2 truck trail thing that’s mowed about 3 times a year down there that run
across the river bottoms going west over into Louisville swamp area. And while they’re a good
workout and they’re fun to get out on, they’re kind of out in the middle of nowhere. They’re a
little bit difficult when you take a bunch of young kids out there and if anybody breaks down
then you’re out there trying to fix things or get people out in mosquitoes and when the days get
short it’s a little leery to take people out for an hour and a half ride down to the middle of
nowhere when you’ve got people that are you know 13, 12, 11 along and you’ve got to manage
all that and we’re very, very lucky I will say that we have a good coach to rider ratio and if you
look back at our original picture you can see that we do have a lot of them and that does work
but it’s definitely more difficult. You know I’m here primarily because of the team but what I
will say is that you know local parks like this or places where you could put single track in
would be a great development area as well for kids to come up and actually enjoy this and learn
to enjoy it. I know my daughter, we live right off of Kerber Pond and she’s always like wow
couldn’t we just put trails around there? And you know you see kids ride bikes down there and
they’re always looking at the woods. We want to go through here right. Kids have always put in
little trails. If you ever look over next to the high school just to the edge of that little woodsy
section you’ll find there’s trails going through there and you’ll see kids riding through that. You
know this is a great opportunity to get kids out on those bikes and using them and it doesn’t have
to be something massive or something big so I think it could benefit more than just our team and
that’s one thing I’d like to emphasize.
Kelly: Russ say we had the land to do it, what kind of costs are we looking at?
Russ Raschke: That’s a really good question. Tim’s probably got more information on that than
I do. Depending on the type of course you want to put in and the property that you have it can
really vary but I think I’ll let you speak to it a little bit more than me if you’re okay with that.
Tim Vossberg: Sure.
Kelly: Yeah Tim please give us your name and address before you address us, thank you.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Tim Vossberg: Tim Vossberg. Address is 3380 Lake Shore Drive in Chaska. So in terms of the
cost, for something of this length of trails it could probably build, be built by just volunteer
hours. Okay. If you hire a contractor to come in and build mountain bike trails it will cost you
roughly $21,000 a mile. So you know if this could be done using volunteer labor you’d have
quite an asset on your hands so. And I’ve, I’ve lived across the country and I’ve seen what
bicycle trails can do for communities and I mean what just was I think a year and a half, two
years ago Maple Grove was listed as the number 1 city in America to live in and the very first
thing listed was in terms of assets was trails and also listed in there were the mountain bike trails
that they have at Elm Creek so bicycle trails can really help communities so.
Kelly: Right now I think neither Chaska nor Chanhassen has their own cross country trail for the
cross country teams. I don’t believe they have home meets. Is that correct?
Russ Raschke: The cross country running team?
Kelly: Yes.
Russ Raschke: I don’t believe they have any home meets. My daughter ran it 2 years ago but
she hasn’t run it lately. No I don’t believe they ran anything at home. They did runs in a park
that’s just north of us maybe, anyway no we don’t have…
Kelly: So I think Russ, I think it was in actually one of Russ’s email that I saw that you were
talking about how it could be compatible with the cross country running teams too. Did I catch
that right?
Russ Raschke: Absolutely. Running, actually cross country runners love running mountain bike
trails and one of the things you’ll find out in Mammoth all the time is you definitely see people
out there running those trails definitely.
Tim Vossberg: Yes they would be multi-use trails.
Russ Raschke: Yeah 3 people today when we were out there yeah so it’s definitely viable for
that as well.
Tim Vossberg: Hikers. Dog walkers. Snowshoeing in the wintertime.
Russ Raschke: That’s one of the other thing that, the nice thing about mountain bike trails is we
try to set them up tight enough so you don’t have excessive speeds where you’re going to be
having issues with multi-use so.
Tim Vossberg: Right, exactly. Good point there. And I want to emphasize too that Russ kind of
touched on it. I mean we have myself and another person that are trained how to build
sustainable trails and so you know we’ve been coached and I’ve got some literature here tonight
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
if anybody’s interested in seeing some of that but we’ve been trained and know how to build
sustainable trails. And if you have an area for instance in that, the one area that we’re talking
about there off of 212 and Powers I mean if, you know there’s some trails through that area right
now that people have created and realize that if you get more traffic in that area, especially if
there’s going to be a double track trail through there, if people are going out in the woods and
hiking it’s going to get more use and when humans walk out in woods they do not create
sustainable trails. They’ll go straight up a hill and straight down the hill and that will cause
erosion issues over a period of time and you know to build sustainable trails you don’t go
straight up and straight down the hill. You’ve always got to be aware of what water erosion can
do to trails so just one point.
Kelly: Do you have any plans to approach the school board and have you talked to the cross
country coaches at Chanhassen or Chaska about what you’re planning to do and trying to illicit
their support?
Tim Vossberg: I have not myself nor I don’t think either of us have there but that’s an option
potentially which we could investigate further. We got some contacts I know over at, well I
know one of the teachers that teaches over at Chaska and Chanhassen is, her son is a member of,
is an employee of NICA, a national organization. He has national responsibilities for trails for
the high school league nationwide.
Kelly: Well I know all the coaches because my kids ran cross country at both Chaska and
Chanhassen and I can tell you they’re very approachable people.
Tim Vossberg: Sure, wouldn’t mind getting their names and numbers.
Kelly: I’m happy to give that to you.
Tim Vossberg: At some point that would be great.
Russ Raschke: We did drop off some cards up here for the team as well if they needed a contact
and I have my contact information on there as well.
Kelly: So my son graduated 4 years ago and I’m not aware that there was a biking team 4 years
so if you got 40 people already that’s pretty impressive growth.
Tim Vossberg: Yeah. Yeah we started right at 3 or 4 years ago. We had 1 the first year and 5
and then 19 and then 40. That’s what we have and we’re pretty proud too. I mean in it’s, it’s a
very interesting to coach the team because there’s now there’s middle schoolers. The first 2 or 3
years there were not middle schoolers. It was just high schoolers but now we have a range of all
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the way from 7 to 12 grade and male and female and it’s, it’s really interesting to coach that
kind of a, sort of a diverse group and it’s exciting because I mean when we finish practice most
the time the kids won’t go home. They’re just sitting there talking and it’s a lot of fun. So we’ve
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
got, we’ve got roughly 25 percent of our team are females and I mean Russ mentioned we’ve got
you know 2 state champions and we have some of the top female riders in the state right here in
the Chaska Chanhassen teams so.
Kelly: Any other questions for Russ or Tim at this time?
Tim Vossberg: And I wanted to point out too that, so I’m a member, Russ touched on it briefly.
I’m a member of the MORC Board. The Minnesota Off Road Cyclists so it’s the organization
that basically maintains most all the mountain bike trails in the Twin Cities area so I’m on the
trails and parks committee so I go out and one thing is my responsibility is, is to maintain the
trails that MORC already has. The 12 mountain bike trails in the Twin Cities area and this year
fortunately we’ve got 3 other people to help. There’s 4 of us now overseeing the trails and I
mean just last night I was at Oak Park Heights just south of Stillwater talking to the city people
there in terms of potentially building a trail. The high school team out there wants to build some
trails out there so we’ve been talking like that and there’s other communities. You know
Roseville, Lakeville, several other communities you know are looking to build mountain bike
trails. Especially in the high school league has really helped and that’s really the future of our
sport so.
Kelly: Well thank you for your time. We do our 5 year budgeting in the summer and the fall
and we will bring it up and discuss it when we have our budgeting meetings going forward. For
2016 everything is budgeted out and planned already so we’re going forward starting next year.
Tim Vossberg: Right and like I say if you can get volunteers to build the trails it’s rather
economical but I mean it costs $21,000 dollars to build about one mile of trails but there are
potentially funds out there like the Federal Trail Fund that is funded by gasoline taxes and so
there is a group, a Minnesota group, the MRTUA that oversees that and there’s potentially
funding of up to.
Kelly: So you are saying there are grants out there.
Tim Vossberg: Yeah. There’s, that fund is the easiest way and they can give out up to $150,000
a year to a community where it’s usually MORC and a landowner that write the grant together.
Potentially you can get $150,000 but I don’t really think we’ll need to look at that avenue with
the volunteers that we have. That’s my thoughts.
Kelly: Great, any other questions or other comments? Todd I’d like to see this when we have
our CIP budget talks. A big part of the talks at that time. Thank you Todd. Thank you Russ and
thank you Tim.
Russ Raschke: Okay.
Tim Vossberg: Thank you.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Russ Raschke: Thank you guys for taking the time…
Kelly: Any other visitor presentations? Todd I think you’re going to talk today.
Todd Neils: Todd Neils, 990 Saddlebrook Curve. I’d like to start by saying some might think
st
that it’s daylight savings. Others think it’s March 21. I think it’s my participation in the park
and rec meeting every spring that brings in the spring since I’ve been doing it for 12 years. I’m
here for 2 reasons tonight. The first is a thank you and the second is a post check. The thank
you is to specifically Adam Beers and especially Adam Beers and his staff for the assistance that
he gave us on the approved enhancements to last year’s projects that both the Dugout Club and
the CAA participated in. Whether it’s cement in the dugouts. The new scoreboards that are at
Lake Ann 2 and 3 as well as Lake Susan. And especially the expansion, which we didn’t
participate in but I know Adam and his crew did a lot of work out at Bluff Creek and Chan
Elementary to expand the fields so they’re up to spec for coming tournaments so thank you to
Adam. For anyone that’s interested I do have pictures of Mr. Hoffman in OSHA approved
listening riding a cement buggy and was pouring concrete in the dugouts at Lake Ann last April.
So again thank you to the City of Chanhassen in all their assistance in helping us enhance the
parks in the way we were able to. I think all in we were, we put approximately $25,000 into the
system last year and are very proud of what we accomplished. Now the pulse check. Obviously
with spring comes a new season for our baseball and softballers and you know new
considerations for enhancements to the parks and so I’m here to talk about a couple of those and
I’ll be as brief as possible. We would like to, and of course this is all prior to submitting a
formal proposal to staff about our, the projects that we’d like to accomplish this year so I will do
that sometime within the next handful of weeks. We would like to complete now that the, now
that the backstops are completed at Lake Ann Park would like to complete the concrete work in
dugouts 4, 5 and 6. I think last year, last year was very successful and was highly regarded by
the association, parents and folks that visited the parks for the concrete in the dugouts on 1, 2 and
3 so that is one of the suggestions we’d like to make for an enhancement we’d like to work on.
The larger project for the year, and I think it was approved at last year’s park and rec
commission but I’d have to go back and check is fix dugouts at Lake Susan. These would be of
course, these would be approved based on city standards and have storage capabilities for the
associations that would use them. We have professional plans that were drawn up by Hanson
Hometech and are prepared to submit those plans to the City for their approval in the various,
various entities that need to. Whether it be planning or otherwise. What I’d like to do prior to
the proposal however is get that temperature check to see if there are questions, concerns,
thoughts or otherwise that can be included in the proposal or thought about prior to going
through submitting something that’s appropriate I guess is the best way to put it.
Kelly: The what I’m sorry.
Todd Neils: Submitting something that’s appropriate that is well thought but I’ve already shown
the plans to Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Ruegemer. You know again professionally developed by
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Hanson Hometech and we are prepared to go to some of the larger home centers in the area as
well as fund the dugouts of course on our own dime so there’ll be no cost to the City. Other than
Adam’s help on weekends.
Kelly: First of all Todd I also want to thank you for working with the City and for the donation
from the Chanhassen Athletic Association and the collaboration of us being able to move
forward in doing things for the community so thank you and thank you to the CAA. I guess I
missed exactly what you said the larger project was at Lake Susan and I’ve got a call so my
hearing’s a little off.
Todd Neils: Dugouts.
Kelly: Dugouts, thank you.
Todd Neils: Fix the dugouts.
Kelly: Okay, thank you. And somebody else want to speak to that?
Scharfenberg: So would this involve concrete flooring and then building some sort of structure I
take it.
Todd Neils: Yep.
Scharfenberg: Okay.
Todd Neils: We would pour a pad in concrete. We would have approximately half of the
chipped block that is often necessary and then use of course you know some type of cement
siding or otherwise.
Scharfenberg: Is this similar to what Chaska did at their softball fields?
Todd Neils: Very similar.
Scharfenberg: Okay. And would you as part of this proposal.
Todd Neils: I think the dugouts at Chaska High School field are all wood. These would not be
all wood.
Scharfenberg: Okay. And as part of your proposal are you keeping the cyclone fence, the short
fence that runs down the line or would that be taken out or have you contemplated that with
respect to your proposal?
Hoffman: The existing fence. Existing fence.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Todd Neils: Oh yeah, the existing fence would remain.
Scharfenberg: Okay.
Todd Neils: Yeah effectively we would even, the plans actually are mimic the dugouts in, I
think you said Bethany.
Hoffman: Bethany Lutheran.
Todd Neils: Bethany Lutheran.
Hoffman: In Mankato.
Todd Neils: In Mankato. They have the, we would maintain the bench that is currently there.
We would maintain the fencing and merely build behind so there’ll be not only an open area that
the kids could sit in but in case of inclement weather have the opportunity to be indoors or
inside.
Scharfenberg: And do you guys know what the approximate cost of the two dugouts are?
Todd Neils: I have not gone as far as to price them out at this point. I would anticipate based on
the concrete pours from last year that we’ll probably have upwards of $5,000 in concrete. Under
the assumption that we can get similar donations to when we did the project at Lake Ann to
upgrade the concession stand. We got some generous contributions from one of the larger home
centers and assuming we can get similar contributions from some of the larger home centers, two
of them in particular, I would anticipate that would offset a large percentage of the cost. In
drafting a, prepared to draft a request for donation from those home centers kind of as we speak.
Carron: Well I guess from my standpoint everything that the CAA has done including what
you’ve been presenting here for the past 5 years I’ve been on the park and rec it went well. It’s a
great benefit to the city I think. The improvements are needed and it’s really well so as far as the
pulse over here goes I’m all for it. I think you should submit something and get more concrete
information behind it and as far as the funding goes and absolutely I mean. If Adam’s up for it,
I’m up for it. I think it’s a great benefit to the city.
Todd Neils: Thank you.
Kelly: Other questions or comments for Todd or Todd Hoffman? So my sense is that you’d
probably get a fairly positive response from this group.
Todd Neils: Pulse is strong.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Kelly: So at least our pulses are running.
Todd Neils: Yes. You know while I’m here one last thing. Again through the generosity of the
City you know they redid a number of the backstops and I think that is going to help with the
safety concerns or some of the safety concerns that we had out at Lake Ann Park, particularly
between Lake Ann 4 and 5 when we hold both our baseball and softball tournaments. I think
what I’d like to put in your ear and will be coming more frequently, particularly as we approach
the CIP is a similar project at Bluff Creek and Chan Rec. I think particularly 1 and 2 which I
know are effectively school property fields but maintained by the City so I’d like a little direction
on which entity to approach about some of the safety concerns between those two and possible
enhancements to the backstops at those two as you approach your CIP for 2017.
Scharfenberg: Well they’re our fields aren’t they?
Ruegemer: Field 1 is the school district.
Todd Neils: Field 1 and 2. Just 1?
Hoffman: Just 1. We maintain the property. It’s operated in a joint powers. There would be
shared costs when you start talking about infrastructure.
Todd Neils: Okay. So as a conversation with the school board appropriate or?
Hoffman: Sure. Both organizations.
Todd Neils: Okay.
Hoffman: The City and the School.
Todd Neils: Okay.
Kelly: Sounds like an easy one Todd.
Todd Neils: Right. Are there other questions or any?
Hoffman: Just glad that that past group didn’t bring up ballfields 3, 4 and 5 for a single track
course.
Todd Neils: Well thank you again to the City and I will plan to submit a formal proposal for
specifically the concrete in the dugouts shortly here and look forward to seeing you again.
Kelly: Yeah and we thank you Todd and the Chanhassen Athletic Association for all the
wonderful collaboration.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Todd Neils: Thank you.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Kelly: Anybody have any changes to make to the Minutes tonight?
Scharfenberg: Move for approval of the Minutes.
Kelly: Oh wait I’ve got two changes. I got lost because there’s two page 3’s. On page 3, first
time Kelly comes up, any questions right now. It says no. It should be now. And then at the end
of the second sentence that should be a period. Also because should be started with a capital B.
And I don’t have any other changes.
Scharfenberg: With those changes move for approval of the Minutes.
Kelly: Is there a second?
Echternacht: Second.
Scharfenberg moved, Echternacht seconded to approve the verbatim Minutes of the Park
and Recreation Commission meeting dated February 23, 2016 with the changes made by
Chairman Kelly on page 3 and the summary Minutes dated February 23, 2016 as
presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 6 to 0.
REVIEW REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP): CREATION OF PARK AND
RECREATION SYSTEM MASTER PLAN.
Kelly: Todd I believe you’re going to talk about some master plans tonight.
Hoffman: Absolutely. Thank you Chair Kelly, members of the commission. So item G-1 is
kind of a double, we’re doubling up to get two jobs done at once. The comprehensive park plan,
which is currently the 2030 comp plan. It needs to be updated to a 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
That’s a 2 year process. We’re starting this year in 2016 and finish in 2017. And a reminder that
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on April 20 that’s kind of a kick off meeting for some visioning. Those who are available that
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evening will be in the senior center April 20 which is a Wednesday from 7:00 to 8:30 in the
senior center. Mark that on your calendars. I will happen to be out of town. Jerry Ruegemer
from our staff will be attending to participate in the session and be there with members of the
commission that can join that so that’s the kick off to the 2040 comp plan for the entire city but
there’ll be some council members, other commission members there and some good visioning to
talk about. And then the second item is really something that is going to be a benefit to both this
organization as a commission. To the City. To our maintenance staff. To the City Council and
to our citizens as a whole and that’s a park master plan. We do not have a park master plan.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
This would be our first park master plan. To date we have been building and developing a parks
and trail system based off of a comprehensive plan which is fairly straight forward. You have a
Comprehensive Plan that specifies what your standards are. Where you want to put parks and
trails. You develop those through that system but now we’re in a situation where we’re at some
points struggling to maintain what we currently have. That’s what a park master plan does. It
says okay, you have all these facilities. You have 26 playgrounds in place. You’ve got all these
neighborhood parks. How are you going to maintain those, this infrastructure into the future?
What’s the master plan? How is that going to happen? So it lays out a 20 year capital
improvement plan. Lays out some park maintenance plans. Takes a look at a variety of different
aspects all which are written into the RFP so our task simply tonight is to have you review that as
a commission. Take a look specifically is there anything missing? Any notes that you would
like to take a look at? Any particular questions or items or strategies or you know replacement
plans or is there anything in here that you don’t feel is important? One note about the budget is
at $70,000 we’re pretty tight. We initially tried to have some things about the Chanhassen
Recreation Center in here and that is not possible under this budget. The other thing that’s not in
this budget is trail maintenance. Our pavement management. Either our parking lots or are trails
that’s already in place through our engineering division so if you think about that there’s a note
in there that that is not included but it includes an update of our park inventory. An update of
our comp plan for 2040. A 20 year CIP so when you’re developing your CIP this is what we’re
going to be talking about. We’re going to be saying okay what is our CIP? Where are the
dollars coming from? They’re probably not going to be park dedication dollars because we’re
talking about you know refurbishments. What’s the schedule for re-roofing buildings? What’s
the schedule for new backstops? What’s the schedule for new playgrounds? What’s the
schedule for new docks? Putting those kind of schedules in place based on some national and
really local standards about when things need to be maintained. How much money is it going to
take? Where are we going to allocate those dollars from? So this is a good plan. It’s a good
strategy. It’s something that many communities do but this will be the first time that we’ve done
it as a community to create a park master plan. There will be some confusion so when you’re
talking to people about what’s a comp plan and what’s a master plan, the Mayor writes about it
in his newsletter article which comes out and he refers to as the Comprehensive Plan so there’s
confusion starting already but it, he explains it right in there what it is and so it doesn’t really
matter what you call it. It’s what we’re trying to get at and that is really a CIP or a park
maintenance plan. A park master plan for how to take care of these things into the future.
There’s going to be a lot of public input, or you know as much public input as we can get based
on that dollar amount. Some of these plans they meet, you know a lot of public meetings. We’ll
probably do some online and some survey type material. The documents that they will be
studying, the consultant will be studying to take a look at is our 2013 survey. If you want to
view that go online. Just go to our City website. Look up the 2013 survey. They’ll be using
that. They’ll be using our current park inventory which is a 2007 document. They’ll be using
our current 2030 comp plan and then last year’s baseball athletic field survey. That’s good work
that can all be incorporated back into this plan. We’ll solicit proposals from 3 organizations that
we’re comfortable with. Staff will review those. City management. Planning. Park staff. Some
of our engineering staff. We’ll select one of those consultants and get them to work. I would
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
anticipate they could be very busy with this. It’s really your responsibility as a commission and
as a park staff to make this happen. It will probably go into 2017. There is a check in scheduled
already with the City Council in September and so council’s behind the plan. Behind the
development of the plan. Really this is a first stop before this gets mailed out next week or the
last stop before it gets mailed out next week and the first step in the process. Thank you.
Scharfenberg: So Todd can you speak to the issue of why the Rec Center, it won’t be considered
as part of this.
Hoffman: It’s just too big of, you’d have to do a separate one. So you’d want to allocate another
$40,000 or $50,000 or more to identify what you would do with that particular facility. They
typically see them separate and so they’re a facility. A stand alone facility, how do you use it?
Scharfenberg: I guess if we’re having, you know it’s a comprehensive look at our park and
recreation needs, I guess why isn’t that being considered? I mean.
Hoffman: I understand the question, yep.
Scharfenberg: So if wanted that as part of that it would cost another $40,000 to include that?
Hoffman: Cost, depending on what we ask for. So I developed and I had just one paragraph
about the Chan Rec Center in there and then I vetted this out to a couple of different firms and
they said this is, the dollar amounts you have here are already tight. We raised it from $60,000
to $70,000 and that was to get the things done that we want to get done without the analysis of a
public, typically it’s a, so it’s a public building. It’s a public community center. Recreation
center. Whatever it is and I read a number of them and they’re fairly extensive and those are the
kind of dollars they talked about if you did it individually. I think we’re probably on a little
smaller scale than some of the things they’re considering so it might not be those kind of dollars.
So it just would take another level of study, evaluation to make that happen and so they didn’t
recommend it under this particular plan. If you want to recommend we add it back in then I go
back up to the City Manager’s office and ask for another $20,000 and see if he takes it or not.
Echternacht: Todd you talked about the 2007 park inventory. Do they automatically add the
additional parks that we’ve added?
Hoffman: Yes.
Echternacht: To on top of that.
Hoffman: Yep.
Echternacht: Okay.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Hoffman: So all of the existing parks will be remapped. Yep, re-inventoried. All the new stuff
will go in there. We use it on a almost a daily basis. Mine’s got a lot of check marks in it and a
lot of diagrams and a lot of chicken scratches because we have done a lot of changes since ’07.
Echternacht: Okay.
Carron: So if I’m understanding this correctly, looking at what’s already existing this plan is
going to look at current and existing facilities, open space outdoors. Cost going forward. Need
going forward and then also the pertinence if it’s still needed or not and if we should invest in
maintaining it. And then also it will look at the future needs of the park and system?
Hoffman: Correct and there’ll be a little bit of overlay in that in the comp plan side and in the
park master plan side. We’re also asking if you noticed let’s identify any key future signature
items in our parks and our recreation system. This document will be full of a lot of specific
recommendations. The comp plan side will be more overall so as a city you should have this
many acres of parks. These kind of parks. You should connect to the regional trails. It’s more
of an over reaching document. This document’s going to be much more focused which makes it
really more valuable in a lot of ways, especially at the point of development that we’re currently
at. We’re still doing very good at acquiring new things and developing our new things for the
most part when we have those opportunities but where we’re struggling is really taking a look at
how we’re going to maintain what we currently have in place. Improve it. Really a big thing for
us if we can’t maintain it in a proper fashion we really don’t think we should be expanding and
so that’s what this is going to be talking about is you know people are starting to notice that
things are aging and we don’t have a good response in many cases to how we’re going to take
care of it.
Carron: Well in that case thanks for clearing that up. Kind of, I’m going to piggyback Steve
here as well. $70,000 is $70,000. I mean in some cases you can’t get a lot for it anymore but
then we can’t get two fully paid parks really too so in that aspect of it. I’m interested to see what
that additional cost would be to add that co-rec because again what you just said, aging facility.
What we’re going to do going forward. Do we improve it? Do we do nothing with it? That
would be I think valuable information that we as a commission have talked about quite a bit as
something possible that we want to look at. So that’s I guess what I’m thinking.
Kelly: So Todd I heard two things from you. I heard it’d take $50,000 more to have the Rec
Center appraised. And then you just said a few minutes ago that maybe I can go back to the City
Manager and get $20,000 more so to me that’s a difference of $30,000 and how does the $20,000
help us versus the $50,000 you know?
Hoffman: We don’t know. A lot of this process is asking for $70,000 worth of work. Could
you ask for $150,000 worth of work? Absolutely.
Kelly: Okay.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Scharfenberg: We’ll do whatever you want.
Hoffman: And once we select a candidate we’re going to at that point enter into a negotiation
about a contract. If they say you know you’re really spending, we’ve got to spend a bunch of
money and we don’t know if you want us to spend money in this area. We think your priorities
are over here. Let’s put most of the cash over here. That’s the kind of negotiation we’ll enter
into so I’ll talk with our city manager. I’ll say you know I want to add back in that paragraph.
We may say something like you know this will be considered concurrent with but you know as a
separate discussion topic or I’ll have to figure that out with the city manager and then that price
either stays at $70,000 and it stays in or we bump it up again depending on his viewpoint.
Kelly: Yeah right now you know as you said we’re looking at community plans and master
plans and we’re looking 20 years out and what do we want and I think the Rec Center needs to
be part of that discussion if we can afford to it one way or another but I think it’s an important
piece of what we have and we have to decide going forward do we, you know is it something we
can upgrade or is it something we can’t keep up with the competition and eventually something
has to happen to it one way or another.
Hoffman: Sounds great.
Kelly: Thank you Todd.
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Boettcher: What was the timeframe again? You said the proposals are accepted til May 18. So
how much, we select somebody by when? First of July? First of June?
Hoffman: First of June probably.
Boettcher: And then what are we giving them for time? So what I’m looking at would we get
their numbers back or their review back in time for our 5 year planning this fall?
Hoffman: Perhaps not. You’ll get some ideas. It’s going to take about 12 months.
Boettcher: Oh it will, okay.
Hoffman: And some of that is again based on the more dollars you throw at this thing the longer
they’re going to take. The more substantive the process is going to be. One thing is that public
input takes a lot of time but at this dollar amount they’re going to have to be a little bit creative
on how they gather that. They can’t hold a lot of meetings because it takes a lot of time and a lot
of money so again that’s up to, it’s a negotiated item. We’re not going to be done by the first of
the year. We’ll probably be done sometime in the first quarter of 2017 but it’s kind of up to who
we bring onboard and how they want to approach the whole process. There’s no reason to rush.
Reason to get it right. You don’t want to be too long. You don’t want to have it too short.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
When you push over the holidays you’re going to have to be done with public input by
November and then you might be doing some data crunching. You might have a little more
public input after the first of the year and then go forward from there.
Scharfenberg: So Todd in addition to the park master plan are there other planning going on or
visioning going on with, in addition to this? Is the City doing anything other planning?
Hoffman: Oh absolutely. Yeah so this is just one component so of the comp plan we’ll have the
parks and open space chapter.
Scharfenberg: Yep.
Hoffman: All the other chapters are being updated. All of that other stuff is taken on. We’re
just a component of that.
Scharfenberg: And is that all bid out through the same 3 companies or does that other stuff go to
other people as well?
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Hoffman: It goes to other people so the company you’re going to meet on the 20, that’s a
different contract. That’s just to get things up and starting. Some of the plan, the
Comprehensive Plan is written by staff. Some of it is involves consulting. Consultant firms.
Some does not so yeah.
Scharfenberg: Okay.
Hoffman: Some chapters are in better shape than others. They need less work.
Thunberg: You talked about the difference how this is more detailed or the comp plan’s higher
level. Does this get done in a timeframe that it potentially influences the comp plan changes or
are they just complete two separate documents?
Hoffman: This plan will be referenced in the comp plan so it will be done, when this is
submitted to Met Council which it has to be, what they’re looking at is the Comprehensive Plan
and did you address what we want you to address in your plan and then the master plan, it
doesn’t need to be in there for Met Council review. It’s just basically it’s in there. It’s noted in
the comp plan but it’s our document. It’s our working document. So it’s concurrent basically.
Same time. This is a great place to be as an organization. I think it probably is going to lead to
better planning. Leads to better projects in the future. More public input. One thing I heard, I’m
hearing from the council individually is you know they’re not, they’re not afraid to invest
money. They just want to make sure it’s invested in where a place where people feel it’s
valuable and so they want to test some of those thought processes that you may have about
where should we invest and our parks, neighborhood parks still important and if people want to
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
see reinvestment in their neighborhood parks infrastructure and their community park
infrastructure and so I think I know the answer to those questions but we will see.
Kelly: Any other questions or thoughts from anybody? Thank you Todd.
Hoffman: Thank you.
Scharfenberg: Do we have to, you said there’s a proposed motion.
Kelly: Oh I’m sorry, yep.
Scharfenberg: Is that something that we need to take care of?
Kelly: I’m sorry you’re right, thank you Steve.
Scharfenberg: Yep.
Kelly: Somebody want to put the motion forward?
Hoffman: With your noted amendment.
Carron: I’ll make a motion that the Park and Recreation Commission review and accept the Park
and Recreation System Master Plan and the Comprehensive Plan Open Space Chapter Request
for Proposal with addition to include the Chanhassen Rec Center as part of the plan as well.
Kelly: Is there a second?
Scharfenberg: Second.
Kelly: There is a motion and a second with the motion having the addendum of adding the Rec
Center to the equation.
Carron moved, Scharfenberg seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission review
and accept the Park and Recreation System Master Plan and Comprehensive Plan Park
and Open Space Chapter Request for Proposal with the addition to include the Chanhassen
Rec Center. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 6 to 0.
RECEIVE 2015 PARK AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT.
Kelly: Mr. Ruegemer.
Ruegemer: Thank you Chair Kelly. Good evening the rest of the commissioners that are present
tonight. Staff just completed the 2015 Park and Recreation Annual Report so I just want to thank
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
every staff member present tonight and some that aren’t present tonight really assisted in putting
together this historical document that we really take a look at. I look at it quite a bit and I think
hopefully the public will appreciate the effort put forth by staff members. It’s really a way for us
to kind of gauge where we’re at on an annual basis and we kind of broke it down with each
division so we’re going to go through some of the highlights tonight of that. Starting with the
group in front of us tonight, the Park and Recreation Commission so I thank everybody for all
the help that you give us on a monthly basis here not only in this room but also with special
events. You’ve given us guidance throughout the year so give you guys a lot of props for
keeping us on task for thank you very much for that. I’m going to start out with the senior
center. Sue does a wonderful job down there. We always get glowing results and reviews from
all the participants down there so looking at the activities, weekly and monthly activities we total
over 5,700 people on an annual basis. Sue really has done a great job with the different
education and wellness and technology programs that she has. She’s very involved in
technology and getting the seniors kind of up to speed with a lot of the new things that are
coming on board so that’s a good deal. Meals on Wheels is always popular. You can see we
served over 3,200 meals with 534 hours and over 4,900 miles driven. Chanhassen Recreation
Center. As you can see as our discussions, our previous topic here that the recreation center is a
really important hub for our recreational needs that serve our community members. We have a
lot of people use that building, not only City but school districts and other governmental agencies
and athletic associations really on a daily basis out there. The Dance for Fun program is
probably the largest program that we have within our park and rec system here. We have 780
participants with 87 classes offered and Jodi is also hosting a lot of special events out there really
on a monthly basis so thank you to Jodi for that. Rec Center Sports are really like this picture.
Kind of gives I think an essence of the kids having fun out there so again Jodi and staff do a
wonderful job out there for the soccer program as well as many other programs so you can see
we served over 1,300 kids throughout 2015 with 82 sessions offered throughout the year so good
job Jodi. Our youth program highlights, again we had over 250 programs with over 3,000
participants ranging in ages birth through 17 years old. The Summer Discovery Playground
continues to be really one of our signature programs that really has had a long foundation and
within our community. We had 26 sessions last year which was up from the previous year with a
total of 527 participants in that so Katie did a great job her first year with that program so we
look to continue that success in 2016. And again we touched on the Dance for Fun program
again with Jodi. Teen volunteer program is coordinated through Katie and her youth staff that
she has volunteering. We have kids really from ages 13 to 16 that are kind of prior to them
getting a job that we give them really a purpose and some experience to deal with public and
schedule and kind of commit to a project so we provide opportunities for the kids to participate
in volunteering at community events. Painting tennis board. You know picking up or cleaning
up graffiti in parks or helping out with other service projects that may be identified throughout
the course of the year so 2015 we had over 200 hours of volunteer service with a variety of
service projects. And there’s Mayor Laufenburger and Katie distributing some thank you
certificates at a council meeting. The adaptive recreation, as the commission know, we contract
that service out through Reach for Resources. We’ve had that contract in place since the late
90’s with that so we really appreciate everything Reach does for us. They offer a wide variety of
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
programs, events and dances throughout the course of the kind of the western metro area here
that serve our participants. Reach always, we always schedule Reach to come out and train our
playground staff and seasonal staff on an annual basis so that is yet to be scheduled yet this year
but it will happen again and then Reach always has an annual picnic out here at Lake Susan Park
usually the fourth Tuesday or Wednesday of June. Adult softball last year 2015 we had 30
softball teams serving over 450 individuals and that is both summer and fall with that with
revenues totaling almost $14,000. Community events, that’s a picture from last year’s Easter
Egg Candy Hunt which is coming up here this coming weekend. We’re very pleased and very
fortunate to have a very giving business community. Last year 2015 we had 62 sponsors and
that, and they contributed over almost $42,000 in cash and in kind services as well as gift
certificates and other types of prizes so we’re very lucky to have a really caring and giving
business community. We had an estimated number of over 70,000 people enjoyed at least one
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aspect of the 4 of July celebration and that might be the street dance or the parade, the fireworks
or other types of events that were offered for that celebration. Last year we sold 702 ice fishing
tickets at Feb Fest with over 1,200 participants and spectators so our community events are really
held in high regard within our community. It really has given us a foundation really on an
annual basis that people really build their traditions and it’s really a neat deal that we see multi-
generations now coming to our events. Some facility highlights. We had over 6,300 participants
enjoy skating at our outdoor rinks. Last year was a long season. We were open for 62 days. We
had over 20,000 swimmers at Lake Ann Beach while the lifeguards were on duty. We had 125
shelter rentals with $15,000 in revenue. And our watercraft rentals increased to 1,424 which was
the highest in record that we’ve had so and I would look for that number to increase again in
2016 with the addition of 2 additional paddleboards out there so. The aquatic invasive species
highlights. 2015 was a year that Carver County took over the City’s watercraft inspection
program. They inspected of course lakes at Lake Ann, Lake Susan and Lotus Lake. There were
over 5,200 inspections that were conducted with over 3,600 service hours performed. Park
maintenance, Adam and crew do a great job maintaining the 106 miles of pedestrian trails and
sidewalks and over the 500 acres of parkland and preserves and on an annual basis there’s a lot
that Adam and crew take care of so we again appreciate all Adam’s efforts. They do a lot with
the staff that they have. We couldn’t do it without them. Park improvement highlights. We’re
very pleased to have additional shelters added in 2015 at Chanhassen Hills, Pheasant Hills and
Curry Farms Park with that. That was part of Mayor Furlong’s initiative to have a playground
neighborhood shelter in every park so we’re really making a great dent on that and we’re
continuing on again this year so that was a welcome addition. We did add dugouts at Lake Ann
fields number 4 and number 6 and new backstops were installed at Lake Ann number 2, number
4, number 5 and number 6 to improve the safety and the experience of our users at Lake Ann.
Partnerships throughout all the divisions from our park and rec department here. We maintain
over 75 partnerships which is a great asset for all of our departments across the board. As you
can see the Chanhassen Rotary Club assists every year with many facets of our community
events but they also drill, continue to drill the holes for us as well for the ice fishing contest so
that’s much appreciated with that. There’s multiple partnerships we have you know from school
districts to different business groups around town so it’s really a great partnership that we have
and we couldn’t do it without everybody’s help. This is field number 4. The dugouts for that so
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
we had a number of different capital improvement highlights and projects throughout the year
ranging from $10,000 to $150,000 in scope and price that totaled $565,000. And that is it for
the quick snapshot of the highlights of the annual report so it’s an important document I believe
that we can complete every year and I will entertain any questions.
Kelly: Jerry thank you for putting this document together and I also want to thank you and all
the members of the park and rec and staff for all the hours and programs and projects that you
put together and the thought that goes into it and the time and effort. We also think you guys do
a great job and we’ll thrilled to be associated with you guys so thank you from us and I don’t
have any questions. Does anybody else have a question?
Scharfenberg: Just a tremendous document. Yeah thank you to staff for putting that all together.
I think it’s a wonderful highlight of all of the great things that we do here as part of the Park and
Recreation Commission.
Hoffman: Appreciate those comments. We use it all the time throughout the year because the
press contacts us, how many of this? What do you do with that? What do you do here? Before
we had this document that was a lot of searching. Just about every time we’ve got it right at our
fingertips now so it’s a wonderful document and it goes to the City Council and they get to
review it so they can understand it as well.
Kelly: Wonderful, thank you Todd.
PARK AND TRAIL MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS.
Kelly: Moving right along, Mr. Adam Beers has had some accolades tonight gets to talk to us
about the park and trail maintenance and operations.
Beers: Thank you Chair Kelly and commissioners. With the great start to the spring and early
warm up we’ve been able to kind of get out the door much quicker than we usually do so we are
well on our way to kind of completing and getting our outdoor operations up and running. Our
skate park and tennis courts, pickleball courts have all been up about a month earlier than we
typically run them. Being that everything’s kind of getting going a little quicker this year we’re
taking advantage again of the STS service with Sentence to Serve crews that come out and kind
of help with spring clean-up and bench staining and painting and cleaning up underpasses.
They’re a great resource for our department. Just you know an extra set of hands and we also
work with the Southwest Christian High School and they’re going to be coming out later in the
month, a group of seniors to kind of do some work around City Center Park. Get things cleaned
up and kind of ready for the spring. I guess with the delayed ice cover this year we did not have
to install the pump and baffle aeration system in Lake Susan. Every week we take oxygen
readings and we found good readings throughout the whole year so that’s always a nice thing to
not have to do for a number of reasons. Just with freeing up our staff time and monitoring that
and greasing it and getting out you know it’s also a major safety concern to have open water for
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
the public with the trail right there so it’s not always a bad thing to not put it in. I guess
wrapping up we’ve been working on a lot of over the winter routine maintenance with our
equipment. We were able to acquire a Polar Track this year for snow removal which really
improved our efficiency time in cleaning up this area and the downtown sidewalks. We’re also
in the beginning stages of installing our new central control irrigation system which is going to
again kind of increase our staff time and give us the opportunity to move other directions so got a
lot going on with the spring and kind of waiting to see what happens tomorrow with I guess zero
to 12 inches of snow they’re predicting so we’ll just kind of keep taking her as she comes and
keep moving.
Kelly: Questions for Adam? Adam I do a lot of walking on the trails in the wintertime and I
think you guys did a great job of keeping them cleaned off and a few times I found some icy
areas I let Todd know and you guys were right out there putting stuff on it so really appreciate all
the hard work you do in the wintertime keeping those trails up for those of us that take advantage
of it.
Beers: Absolutely, I’ll let the guys know. Thank you.
SENIOR CENTER REPORT.
Kelly: Sue you’re up.
Bill: Good evening and thank you Commissioner Kelly, or Chair Kelly and commissioners. I
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want to start out by saying it’s the 10 year that KleinBank has sponsored our Life Long
Learning programs. It’s been a great partnership. We continue to diversify our Life Long
Learning programs and they really seem to draw new people and I think KleinBank is as proud
of their sponsorship as we are. Saw a lot of people head south this winter. March especially has
been a weird month where our program numbers have been slightly lower in March than in
January and February and maybe they knew we were going to get 12 inches of snow Adam, who
knows so. Anyway but with the people that go south we continue to see new people come in all
the time and I think that’s a lot due to the diversity of programs that we have. I don’t think we’re
ever going to have the days where we had the people that came to play cards, that came to every
activity. People are now picking and choosing more which I think is really good. We’ve got 2
new people coming onto our Senior Advisory Board that are new to the area. They’ve only lived
in Chanhassen for a couple years so their input and insight will really help add you know more
diversity and dimensions to our programs. We had a really fun partnership with the Chaska
Valley Family Theater. I was at an expo in Chaska last year and I happened to be stationed. Had
my little booth next to Chaska Valley Family Theater and he wanted to know how, or if we
would bring more people to performances and I traditionally said we don’t rent a bus to go to
Chaska or Chanhassen and the other program with some of the performances at the high schools
that parking is a real issue, especially on weekends so he and I got together and we talked and
they applied for a $1,500 grant that provided 3 buses. One from Eden Prairie, one from Chan
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and one from Chaska to a special performance at the Chanhassen High School on March 4 and
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
we had about 170 people coming. I invited Summerwood. I think we had a record number of
walkers.
Hoffman: The other kind of walker.
Bill: Yeah the other kind of walkers. Buses are equipped with lifts but the buses with lifts don’t
have the underground storage, or the storage for walkers but it was a wonderful event held at the
high school so that was really a wonderful partnership with Chaska Valley Family Theater. And
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lastly I think I’ve talked about the Ryder Cup program. May 12 is going to be a great program.
I continually look and try to think of programs to get men and younger people so I think that one
will be quite an interest. I didn’t put it in here but I also want to mention we are doing a trip end
of May to the National Air Guard Museum which is right on the back side of the airport. It’s an
active base and Joan and I from Chaska went to tour it and they’ve got about 20 different planes
on the site and there are 2, I don’t know if they’re commanders or lieutenants or what but they’ll
do a tour of the base and take us on all the planes and you know give us a 100 year history of the
Air Guard so I think that will be something that will generate quite a bit of interest. We’re in our
third year for Cruise the World of Senior Housing. That’s a partnership with Emerald,
Augustana Emerald Crest. They provide a bus and we tour 5 different housing facilities
throughout Carver County. We try to hit on independent, assisted living, memory care and long
term care so that usually gets anywhere from per bus we’ll have 3 buses between Chan, Chaska.
Two buses. Chan and Chaska. We probably get 25 people per bus and it’s not only older people
but it’s their children as well who come along so excited about that. That will be in May as well
and lastly I want to mention, I don’t know Todd have you mentioned this Act on Alzheimers
before? I think it was at the end of 2015 the Carver County Public Health Department got a
grant for a program called Act on Alzheimers and the premise behind that is for, they want
Chanhassen to be a dementia friendly community and they got the grant for Chanhassen will be
the only city in Carver County right now that will be designated working towards being a
dementia friendly community. I think there are only 7 other cities in the state of Minnesota so
there have been the senior, a couple members of the Chanhassen Senior Commission. Todd.
Myself. A couple other staff people are on that advisory board as well as some community
members and so there’s been a lot of work done since the first meeting last November and a
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special note is they’re going to have a couple focus groups in the community. On April 14, one
for community members with memory loss. That will be from 10:00 to 11:15 as well as family
members caring for someone with memory loss. That will be from noon to 1:15. We’re asking
for help spreading the word if you know anyone in the community that might be caring for
someone or that has memory loss, it will be a great opportunity. And just in conclusion the
whole premise behind this program is to whether it be businesses or community as a whole to
educate them on memory loss and how we can respond to the needs of the growing number of
people with dementia so that’s all I have.
Kelly: Wow that’s a lot of stuff going on Sue. You never slow down too much and you’ve got
these new programs coming online all the time, I’m very impressed. Could you email that sheet
to us because I don’t think any of us have seen it yet and then we can email it out to other people
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
in the community and just kind of forward it so the word gets out but again thank you for the
new stuff you’re bringing to the city and all the stuff you continue to do for the city. Any other
questions for Sue? Thank you.
RECREATION CENTER REPORT.
Kelly: Now Jodi before you get started maybe we should have you do that survey about the Rec
Center so we can save the, in your free time so we can save the City some money.
Sarles: Absolutely.
Kelly: Jodi, updates.
Sarles: Thank you Chair Kelly. Thank you commissioners. We’re kind of entering spring at the
Rec Center. Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway but we also found that with that snow melt
unfortunately the Rec Center roof needs a few more patches so we’re looking forward to this
summer with the roof replacement and we’re working, I feel like sometimes you’re putting your
thumb in the wall holding the dam but right now we’re waiting for our big test tomorrow to see if
our patches are going to hold so. It’s not just our side. The school district, or over on Bluff
Creek they’re having the same issues so we can’t get our roof soon enough this year so. As far
as facility use in 2016 typically throughout the winter we offer some free gym time to local, we
put it out to all the local athletic associations and groups. This year West Metro Warriors which
is a Special Olympics basketball team and then CAA picked up those hours so I think between
there were about 14 Friday nights that they’ll be out at Rec Center holding practices and things.
And then on top of that other usage there, we have 2 different pickleball leagues that are going
on at the Rec Center. All of them are kind of independently run and they only pay the admission
fee. The leagues are free within there. On Tuesdays it’s a women’s league and on Thursdays it’s
a co-ed league and they play Tuesdays at Williston in Minnetonka so, but thanks to Adam the
outdoor play has already begun so plenty of people playing pickleball outside. We are adding
some lessons for this summer. Kind of last year we got overwhelmed with our clinics so,
because we didn’t know how many people would come and so they didn’t know how many
instructors to bring so this year we’re kind of trying to do a registration thing where you register.
You pay $10 for your lesson but you get at least 2 visits to the Rec Center with that so just so we
can give them a little help too because they were 1 to 30 some nights or even more. Right now
the Dance for Fun, our competition team has started competing. I think they were in a
competition a few weeks ago and one of our dancers got high honors and number one overall so
that was a great achievement for them as well as many of the teams got really high marks so
we’ve very excited about that. They have 2 more competitions to go and then in June I believe
there’s nationals so depending on who qualifies and all that it’s kind of exciting for them. It
gives our younger dancers something to look forward to and the older ones to keep that interest
as they kind of get older and into high school so that’s fun to have. We’ve got 25 different
classes offered this spring but the 2 that we added this spring are Mother/Daughter and
Father/Daughter so we’re going to get the families involved all the time so it’s always fun to see
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
them dance with their kids. Fit for Life is our 55 and up, or kind of 50 and up fitness program at
the Rec Center. That program continues to grow. They need more room every time so it’s great.
We get them in the gym. They’re walking around the building. They’re playing with the kids.
The instructor will take out balls and toys and things and keep the seniors moving and going.
It’s a fun, just to walk by them and see them, they’re just laughing and having a great time so
they kind of forget sometimes they’re exercising when they’re at the Rec Center so that’s great.
And kind of along that lines we’ve got a growing line dancing class that’s on Fridays. We even
have 3 men that have enrolled in the class so that’s the first time for us, or since I’ve been there
that we’ve had men in the class and thanks to Sue she’s giving them an opportunity to dance at
the picnic this summer so some of you may see some of our line dancers performing so, and
that’s a real fun class and they love it. David Adams was our photo contest winner. It’s a great
photo of his son with the fire hose so he was at one of the open houses there so I believe that
might be on the cover in the fall Connection. And Rec Center Sports, we just keep growing.
Those are great programs. The kids love them. It’s a nice chance for them to get started and try
something with, see what they like. What they don’t like. The Small Fry’s they’re, it’s actually
ages 3 and 4 on there but we’ve got 9 sessions that we’ve held so far this year with 91 kids
participating. And then the Lil’ Stars Sports we can do more teams as they get a little bit older
and so we’ve had a larger group in that one. Tonight we graduated 41 little basketball players
and we’ll do that again tomorrow night with another 40 so they’ll have finished their kind of
winter session at the Rec Center. It’s always fun to see them and watch them kind of improve
each week and by the end sometimes it’s not everybody chasing the ball so we feel good about
that so. And then a few things coming up here at the Rec Center. There’s going to be Tai Chi, a
free trial class so if you know of anybody who might be interested it’s a great program. Our
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instructor is very good. 10:00 to 10:45 on Wednesday the 4 and then of course our Dance for
Fun Spring Recital, we moved it off of Mother’s Day weekend and we worked with the school
district to get the Chanhassen High School Auditorium so it’s going to be a little bit different this
year. It will be on a Saturday and a Sunday so but that’s the news from the Rec Center for now.
If anybody has any questions.
Kelly: So Jodi I don’t know what Tai Chi is. What does that do for people?
Sarles: It is a very slow moving, it’s kind of a strength and flexibility. It’s based on a Chinese
martial art so it’s a lot of movements. Sometimes they use rods or things like that but it’s, you
kind of hold poses. It’s a little bit like yoga but more standing. It’s warrior poses basically.
Kelly: But it has lots to do with stretching and that type of thing?
Sarles: (Yes).
Kelly: Thank you.
Carron: Jodi I’ve got a question in regards to the annual report. The Rec Center non-billable
hours. Chanhassen Room used 2,335 hours. Is that for the different programs that we run?
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Sarles: Yes, all the programs that either come out of this department and election counts in
there. It’s anything that the City has booked out at the Rec Center.
Carron: Okay, so alright.
Sarles: So we’ve got a, yeah. We’re the biggest you know non-billable hours user but.
Carron: Yeah but not necessarily as far as percentages as far as dollars that go against that.
Sarles: Correct.
Carron: Looks like Chanhassen gym use is quite up there as well. As far as dollars go so okay,
thanks.
Sarles: Excellent.
Kelly: Other questions for Jodi? Thanks for all the programs that you’ve got going there and all
the kids you’ve got going through there and you keep thinking of new things and we’re thankful
that we have you running that place for us.
Sarles: Thank you.
2015/16 ICE SKATING/HOCKEY RINK EVALUATION.
Kelly: Katie I think you’ve got a few things to talk about tonight.
Favro: I do. Thank you Chair Kelly and commissioners. This year’s ice skating rink season ran
thth
from January 6 to February 19. The warm December weather delayed the rink season until
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January 6 and then also the warm February weather kind of cut it short. We did have a day
where we had one person kind of towards the end of our season on the ice rink and another
person at the skate park so with the warm weather everybody kind of got to use the park at the
same time. We were open for 40 days and we were closed for 4 days due to low temperatures
and roughly 5,000 participants were recorded during supervised hours. Warming houses were
available at City Center Park, North Lotus and Chanhassen Rec Center and then at Roundhouse.
Warming house hours at Roundhouse Park were reduced to just weekends and then select
holidays. Warming house trailers were rented from ModSpace for North Lotus and City Center
Park and inside the building it’s a large open space with kind of an office that we keep that door
open when the staff person is in there so they have full view of the whole trailer and then the
people out on the skating rinks. We had 17 rink attendants that were hired this season and they
worked a total of 832 hours.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Kelly: So Katie how close were we to not having rinks this year? What’s the drop dead date
normally?
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Favro: January 10.
Kelly: And so we were 4 days away.
Favro: We were coming in close.
Kelly: And don’t we typically stop flooding at sometime in February because it just, the sun gets
too high or do we normally go into March?
Favro: I think it depends on the temperature of it and then sometimes they have to shift their
flooding schedule to try to do it later and earlier when the sun is not up but I’m really not sure.
Adam kind of does that schedule.
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Hoffman: It’s tough after the 15 just because of the sun angle. If you have real cool
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temperatures from Feb 15 to March 1 then you can…but it will start melting fast because…
Kelly: So we typically don’t have a lot of activity in March normally.
Hoffman: Normally not.
Kelly: Normally not okay.
Scharfenberg: Katie, having had a family member working this year as a rink attendant I was
able to observe some of those early hours on Saturdays and Sundays that not a lot of
participation. A lot of people up there and I mean to some extent the numbers kind of bore that
out with the exception of the Rec Center that seemed to have more but any consideration
potentially of not opening until noon on Saturday just to kind of, I mean you save a few bucks on
seasonal wages but I don’t know, just a thought.
Favro: Yeah, I mean we could definitely take that into consideration and look at the numbers
just from the past few years as well just to see on that. Our Rec Center is probably one of our
most popular rinks so maybe even just keeping that one open earlier and maybe opening the
other ones later.
Scharfenberg: Well and I know it’s confusing if one’s open and the other one’s not and then
people are confused so I understand having consistency plus your schedules. You know you just
want to have one set of schedules kind of, I understand that. Just something that I observed and
something maybe the staff to think about.
Echternacht: Katie I noticed at Roundhouse that’s obviously way under everyone else.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
Favro: Yep.
Echternacht: Hopefully what we’re doing this year at Roundhouse Park will get more people
using that park and maybe we’ll bring those numbers up next year but it looks, I question the use
of it.
Favro: Yeah.
Echternacht: Oh having it there.
Hoffman: And part of that is because of the very minimal hours and so we don’t give you an
accurate number of skaters per hour so there’s really reduced, so the skater count you’re seeing
at Roundhouse because there’s very reduced, they don’t have the same number of warming
house hours as the other locations.
Echternacht: Okay.
Favro: Yeah they’re open from noon to 6:00 on Saturdays and 1:00 to 7:00 on Sundays and then
with Presidents Day and I can’t remember the other holiday.
Hoffman: So there’s no weekday counts. Just those few.
Favro: Yeah.
Kelly: So Katie what’s normal hours at the other places typically?
Favro: During the day, during the weekday we go from 4:00 to 9:00 and then during the
weekends we go from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Kelly: Okay.
Ruegemer: On Saturdays.
Favro: On Saturdays and then 1:00 to 7:00 on Sundays.
Kelly: Thank you.
Favro: And then we have those few holidays that are on, where they’re out of school that we do
open earlier.
Kelly: Other questions for Katie? Thoughts. Thank you Katie.
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
2016 EASTER EGG CANDY HUNT REPORT.
Kelly: And let’s move right into the Easter Egg.
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Favro: Yeah so the 33 Annual Easter Egg Candy Hunt will be held on this Saturday, which is
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March 26 at City Center Park at 9:00 a.m. This is the second of our 4 community events that
are held throughout the year and is open to children ages 12 and under. In addition to our Easter
Egg and candy hunt each participant will receive a goody bag that we have filled with lots of
Easter goodies and they can fill their eggs, fill it with eggs and candies as they search and hunt
for those. They also get a door prize ticket and then we do a door prize drawing at the end.
Some of the, most of the door prizes that we give away are things that we get from our
community sponsors so we’ve got ones for Scooby Meals at Culver’s. Pizza from Papa John’s.
ABC Toys donates a few baskets for that so that’s always exciting and a highlight. We also have
a coloring contest. This is always a highlight. We usually get quite a few entries in that and it’s
always kind of fun to look at and so that will be part of the event this year and then you can find
the sheets either at, online, City Hall or the Chanhassen Rec Center and you can drop them off
early or you can bring them to the event and then we contact the winners the Monday after the
event and they can come in and get their prizes. So this is the flyer that was inserted last
Thursday. It has the coloring sheet on it and it talks about all our sponsors and everything you
should need to know about the event.
Kelly: So you put in your order for no snow or rain that day?
Favro: Yeah I’m keeping my fingers crossed that’s for sure.
Kelly: Well it’s another great event that the City puts on and thanks for all the great work you do
for the City.
Favro: Ah thank you.
Kelly: Any other questions for Katie? Thank you Katie.
Favro: Thank you.
COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORTS. None.
COMMISSION MEMBER PRESENTATIONS. None.
ADMINISTRATIVE PACKET.
Kelly: Jerry I read an interesting in the administrative packet, I think that’s about the adult
softball doing a lot of 5 on 5. I’m just kind of curious because you know I think you’re starting
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Park and Recreation Commission – March 22, 2016
to level off but you said adult softball’s been down and does that seem like a viable way to move
forward on softball?
Ruegemer: The 5 on 5 on 5?
Kelly: Right.
Ruegemer: I guess it’s the, kind of the hot topic of discussion at this point. We have a league
director meeting on Thursday of this week so we’ll be discussing that very topic here so you
know I’ve talked to a few people about it. Some people are intrigued. Other people are thinking
that it’s not such a great idea but you know it’s another idea to throw out there for people. It’s
less commitment. Less people. Less cost type of thing so if that’s a way to get people out on the
fields and exercising I guess I’m all ears for it so. I know Lacelle Cordes who was mentioned in
the article is going to kind of gauge the interest out of it and she’s talking about doing a
tournament of some sort and/or fall league. A fall league on it so we’ll see.
Kelly: It’ll be interesting. Be interesting to get your feedback from the meetings you attend.
Thank you. Todd anything special in the Administrative Packet you want to point out?
Hoffman: Nothing other than if you don’t treat people right it will come back to bite you. See
that coming from a long ways away. People are going to prison for things that they shouldn’t be
doing. Serious business… We did not pay them the final payment on the Lake Ann lights project
and they threaten to sue us for about 3 years and so we walked away by keeping some of their
cash. We did not get the product that we deserved and the citizens didn’t get the product they
deserved. We’re still fixing those lights today based on their failure to perform the contract.
Carron: A contract that size wouldn’t they provide a bond?
Hoffman: They did.
Carron: You haven’t gone to the bonding company?
Hoffman: For the performance? You know the issues that they did there are kind of delayed and
so we talked about that and yeah we went through that, all the scenarios and so what happened.
They had to pay, they had a payment bond and a performance bond…
Kelly: Any other questions or thoughts from anybody?
Carron moved, Thunberg seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the
motion carried unanimously with a vote of 6 to 0. The Park and Recreation Commission
meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
Submitted by Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director Submitted by Nann Opheim
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