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PRC 2007 12 11CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 11, 2007 Chairman Stolar called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.. MEMBERS PRESENT: Glenn Stolar, Steve Scharfenberg, Tom Kelly, Thor Smith, Dan Campion, Paula Atkins and Jeff Daniel STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Superintendent; Tom Knowles, Recreation Center Manager; Susan Bill, Senior Center Coordinator; Dale Gregory, Park Superintendent; and John Stutzman, Recreation Supervisor APPROVAL OF AGENDA:Scharfenberg moved, Daniel seconded to approve the agenda as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Stolar: Todd, Jerry, anybody? Public announcements? Gregory: I do have one. The rinks will be open this weekend. All the skating rinks will be open and we have the warming houses should be set as well to open for this weekend. Stolar: Great. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: None. 2008 PICNIC RESERVATION FEES. th Ruegemer: Thank you Chair Stolar. At the November 27 meeting the Park and Rec Commission gave staff some direction to kind of simplify the fee structure that we've had for our resident and non-resident fees for picnic sites. Staff did take a look at that and kind of re-work the categories and adjust the fees accordingly. So if you look on the back side of the sheet, we simplified that and have the same, really the same fee structure for all three picnic shelters at Lake Susan and Lake Ann. The main shelter and then the new Parkview picnic shelter. Really across the board so we look at the resident, non-resident and a lot of those fees down the line are the same for all three sites either Monday through Thursday and then Friday through Sunday. These are some guidelines that staff put together. After the commission's review tonight, we certainly can adjust the fees one way or the other on that and then we'd like to get approval tonight so if you can get those, send in a motion here for 2008. Believe it or not the picnic calls are starting and have started and we'd like to get this kind of with, kind of put to bed tonight so we can move forward here so staff is looking for a recommendation tonight to pass onto City Council and get this approved. Stolar: Okay. Any comments? Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Kelly: The only thing, I think we would kind of put these maybe, a couple quick adjustments to see what you thought. For non-resident Monday through Thursday I thought we had, make that $200 which is double what the resident rate is and then the Friday through Sunday rate is double that so kind of be $200 and $250 instead of $225 and $250. Ruegemer: For the resident, non-resident Monday through Thursday be $200. Kelly: Yes. Ruegemer: Okay. Kelly: And then the other idea we had was for non-resident school, make that more expensive than the resident for Friday and Sunday, so maybe $150 instead of $110. Just so we don't penalize our residents so it shows they get the cheapest rates. Ruegemer: So Friday through Sunday? Kelly: Yeah. Make that $150 instead of $110. Ruegemer: And then Monday through Thursday. Kelly: Yeah. Ruegemer: Same? Kelly: Yeah. Stolar: It's less than half the issues with Monday through Thursday so. Kelly: So those are just a couple ideas that Glenn and I had. I don't know what anybody else thinks. Hoffman: Just received a Chaska brochure. I think we talked about them last time. Their resident rates on all their shelters are $25 bucks and their non-resident rates are $75. Kelly: Alright. They still don't have our lakes. I mean we have pretty nice space. Stolar: Is your concern, is that more just reference or do you feel that we're pricing ourselves out of the market? Hoffman: Well I'd like to hear some more discussion on why staff's recommending $125 and we think we should be going to $200. Kelly: Oh, no. 2 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Hoffman: No? Kelly: No, for non-resident Monday through Thursday our recommendation was to go from $225 to $200. Hoffman: Oh, okay. Stolar: So to clarify what we're saying is the resident rates that staff recommended for both resident and resident school. Non-resident rate changed from $225 to $200 on Monday through Thursday. Leave Friday through Sunday alone. And then non-resident school on Friday through Sunday, move it from $110 to $150 so that it's higher than the resident rate for weekends. Ruegemer: And Monday through Thursday, keep that at $100. Stolar: Yeah. Hoffman: Great idea. Stolar: I can see your concern. Whoa. So I guess Tom you're putting that forth as a recommended change? Kelly: Yes, I guess I would like to make a motion to approve staff's recommendation with the exception of the two changes that Glenn just outlined. Stolar: Is there a second? Campion: Second. Stolar: Any other discussion? Kelly moved, Campion seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommend approving staff's recommendation for the 2008 picnic shelter fees with an amendment to the non-resident rate from $225 to $200 on Monday through Thursday and non-resident school for Friday through Sunday from $110 to $150. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. RECREATION PROGRAM REPORTS: 2007 TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY EVALUATION. Stutzman: Okay, thank you Chairman Stolar. The tree lighting was held on Saturday, December st 1 at City Center Park. It was a very nice night for it, even though it was a little bit snowy. It was what I was looking for. It added a very nice touch to the park and it made it feel a little bit more like Christmas in winter. The Mayor officially flipped the switch about 25 after. He had his children help. He had a 3 year old daughter help this year and he kind of gave it that final oomph because he wasn't quite sure if the countdown was going to be quite right but it ended up 3 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 being, actually it couldn't have been a better countdown because we got flipped and all lights were on. This year Nancy Lipinski from her accounting service was back to help us out again lining up people through the Chamber of Commerce as well as Linda Walton from the Chamber of Commerce helped line people up. We had several sponsors this year. A few new ones. A few old ones. Byerly's helped out by donating cookies. Cub donated the cider as usual. Starbuck's. Bethel Fellowship donated some hot chocolate for us this year, and General Mills sent out the Doughboy again this year. There were moments that I thought the Doughboy might get blown away but he managed to stick around. And then the Mustard Seed also provided Santa and his elves again this year. A very generous donation of their time. And the bonfire was a great addition, seeing as it was cold and snowy. A lot of people around the bonfire, especially the carolers appreciated that. The city staff did a great job helping out with that. Getting the park plowed and the snow blown out before it was time, as well as setting the lights. The lights looked incredible and I'd encourage you guys all to take a look, if you haven't already. The night train that was donated to us by, Jerry do you know who donated that to us? Ruegemer: Noble Electric. Stutzman: …that was a nice donation and addition to the park as well. We also had carolers this year. Last year the Dinner Theater provided carolers for us at no fee. Kind of to see if we could continue that and they wanted to charge us this year so I went and talked to Living Christ Lutheran Church, right across Highway 5 out here and they agreed to do it. A nice group of about 8 to 10 people. They're actually in the Villager this week. Or last week I guess. Nice photograph. Did a great job and they are very excited for next year already. I've been talking with my contact over there and oh yeah, we'll be back next year so. Overall it was a very nice evening and a very nice job and…continue to do this event in the future because it's a nice kick off to winter and everybody seems to enjoy it. Stolar: Any questions or comments? Scharfenberg: Very nice event. I attended and very well done and the only suggestions my sons had is that Santa could put on a little more weight so. Atkins: I noticed in the Star, we got a little mention too when they did an article about community celebrations for Christmas. That was in this week. Stolar: Thanks John and also I'd like to thank the sponsors who really helped out a lot. They're really good. They've all been very good sponsors and they always look forward to it so it was really nice to see all of them, and some of them were out there too, which was also nice to see. Okay, thanks. Did you have any other recreation program updates you wanted to give while you're here. Stutzman: Just that we're getting ready for Feb Fest and that will be here before we know it. Stolar: Great. Thanks. 4 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 RECREATION CENTER REPORT. Knowles: Thank you Mr. Chairman. My report this month, I have included the Rec Center hours. We're back to our normal schedule. Monday through Friday, 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.. Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.. I'd also like to note that th the holiday season coming up here, we will be closing at 4:00 p.m. on December 24 and stthst December 31, and we will be closed for the day, December 25 and January 1. The staffing area, we've got Andy Sauter, one of our former employees has re-joined us at the Rec Center. We are currently up to snuff and where we should be with our staff. The programming, John hit on some of it. The winter season is fully in swing here. We've got the preschool basketball and the Dance for Fun, which are our two biggest programs. They're both running well. The Halloween Party and Breakfast with Santa events were both at the Rec Center, and both very well received. And we're already looking forward to Daddy-Daughter Date Night in February, so it's always one of our big events of the year. The Rec Center was the polling place this past November. School Board elections. No contested elections this time so we had a slow day out there but nonetheless we were there. Meeting rooms. We're doing a good business with the room rentals. January is fairly well booked at this point already so we're doing well in room rentals. Strategic plan updates. Jazzercise has been moved into the Recreation Center. Warming house needs to be a warming house again. Sorry, I'm having a little trouble tonight. Jazzercise is back in the Recreation Center. We are adapting. When we're able to put the class in the gym, it works out well. We've having some trouble with the acoustics when we have to have them in the meeting rooms but I think we're going to iron those problems out and that should go well as we go forward. The other thing I guess I'd like to highlight is the party packages. We are currently been putting a package together with the gym and meeting rooms. We are offering a free hour of room rental with an hour of gym rental and we've booked five packages for the month of December. Other than that, pretty much as you see it there. The corporate sales program should be ready to roll out in early 2008. John and I will be working on that. Getting the corporate sponsors included in some discount pricing for punch cards and we should be ready to roll on that in early 2008. That's about it for me tonight. Stolar: Questions from anybody? Scharfenberg: One thing I had mentioned to Jerry last time was I was, now that it's in front of us. I was watching our scroll one night, the city scroll and I was wondering if we could update some stuff out at the rec center and highlight some of these things that you know the birthday package thing, because other than you know having it be in the Connection, and I think I was looking at Chaska School one time and saw that they had some of that stuff posted on their school, so I thought well you know, we could update our's a little bit and highlight some of those things on it. Knowles: We've also discussed the idea of having sort of an in-house publication that we can distribute with updates. We can roll that out perhaps quarterly and have sort of updates that we can distribute to folks that come into the rec center. Also I think we could be a little more aggressive about working with, putting messages on the web site so I think that's a good idea and we'll pursue that in 2008. 5 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Stolar: I had a couple of quick things. Knowles: Sure. Stolar: One, have we thought about the fitness room, I know this is structural. Trying to get a 24 hour access through membership. So just like you know the 24 hour fitness organizations. All you do, you take a key card and connect it into a computer. If you're authorized to go in, you go in. And if you could bar the access to the rest of the building, put that on the outside, then you could make it a 24 by 7 without increased staffing. It's a capital improvement but something we might want to look at for 2009 in the CIP. What gave me the idea was the Metro Karate also used to do Westside Boxing. He just opened up a boxing studio in Eden Prairie just like that. It's like the simplest thing. I just hook it to my computer. Start it…pretty simple. Daniel: Same concept like the Snap Fitness. Stolar: All those guys. Daniel: Which is a local company but yeah, the only risk you have in something like that is obviously, not necessarily unauthorized access and you talk about capital improvement, it's more than that. You're talking also expenses that you get, it can get very costly with regards to security monitoring so those are things to take into consideration…the foundation of those 24 hour access is not necessarily fitness room. It's the security based on the theft and you know the other issue, I guess, and I agree with, I think it'd be a good concept. Down the road if we could certainly take a look at, because it is, and in addition we can also, because I know right now we use a point of use type of concept where in essence you could do that. You could do a bill or they can do a pre-pay where maybe in the card and continue that type of program but yeah, there's definitely a substantial capital improvement, let alone the security trying to. The other issue is giving access to locker rooms, which you do have access to other facilities. Stolar: That would be the question, so just something to think about. The other thing came up, and I don't know if you guys heard about this. It wasn't really well publicized. Minnetonka High School is thinking about doing a change in their PE program that would enable students, and it didn't pass the Board on Thursday but they're going to revisit it next year. In January. They, to do a change to potentially have students be able to take their own fitness program, kind of an independent study for PE. So if that, something like that goes through, I actually talked with some people in the Minnetonka School District about how they should partner with community ed and with Chan Rec and with you know maybe Minnetonka about working with their fitness centers to develop the program. One of the big issues is how do I monitor or how do I manage it? How do I, well we have a fitness person who specializes in these programs so one of the things they get in the personal training, it's an area that might come open to us soon. They're starting to look at, you know here's your PE substitute course. And it'd be a program that we'd work with. It's teachers of PE that confirm and then execute, and Minnetonka had a unique situation because they what, about 3 years ago reduced the number of class sessions, and that's where this is coming from because kids are like well wait a minute. I want to take my AP Calc. I want to take my English and I have no room for PE. 6 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Knowles: Well we could be ready for such a thing. We do have four people that I can call on for personal training services so we could be geared up to handle something like that. Stolar: Yeah, it was a very long debate. They finished at 11:00 on Thursday, last Thursday and they still hadn't decided what to do. Knowles: Is that at the School Board level? Stolar: Minnetonka School Board. Yeah, it went straight. I'm on the Teaching and Learning Committee so we looked at it first and then it went to the School Board, so like we looked at it Monday and it went to the School Board on Thursday. There wasn't much time because a lot of parents are asking for that because their kids don't have enough time to take courses. And since they're doing it anyway, but that's something to think about that that might be a specialized program. See if it goes through and I think other schools might look at it. At least that's what the Board was saying. Knowles: The other comment I'd like to make on that, you know the 24/7 access kind of thing. The subject came up with the locker rooms. The locker rooms, if they're provided, they also lead into the gym area and the gym areas leads into the school and there could be a whole chain of things that have to be accounted for with that whole thing so. Nothing that can't be overcome I don't suspect but there's, it's not, there's more to it than just. Stolar: No, that's a big investment, a big change but something to think about. Hoffman: A couple of pieces of news for the Rec Center. The CIP for 2008 includes new furniture for the lobby. That was approved last night for the City Council. And that's a $18,000 investment. The lobby furniture is original to the opening of the building. And then $10,000, the first of three installments of $10,000 per year in new fitness equipment and primarily cardio equipment for the fitness area so we'll be getting 3 new machines here after the first of the year. Daniel: I can't remember. Is there a monitor? I know there's a TV. Did we talk about a monitor or something, monitor, display events? Hoffman: Flat screen. Daniel: Flat screen. Any, did that make it into the CIP? Hoffman: We're just discussing that as a part of our programs. It's not in the CIP but that's something we want, find a spot for it and then we have the building to manage it. We'll go ahead and install it. Daniel: Okay. I think it certainly would help Tom's case, especially with the way you could bring information. The scrolling information where people can. We can do all sorts. We can do advertising. I think somebody mentioned before. We can do some sponsorship. Let alone talk about the events that are going on. Special events that are scheduled as well. And I think it'd also be beneficial for example you know my son's actually going to be going to one of the party's 7 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 that are going to be rented Saturday, and you know to also display, you can do all sorts of things once you get that type of program where you can tell them where to go. What room. You can now have that information versus quick printing it out. Pages on a sign or maybe Spockee Party this way. You know that type of thing so, and that's my only comment to you as well Tom. The party packages. You know the school that my child, my sons go to, almost every weekend the gym is rented out for birthday parties and now it's ironic that our neighbors are having a party. My son's invited to it and it's actually at the Chan Rec Center. Works out great because he goes straight from Tae Kwon Do and then at noon he goes right across the hall and to that party so. But also the nice thing about it too, which we talk about advertising, but also the word spreads because you know a lot of people, you know not everyone reads the Connection, about that and I kind of forgot mine as well that we have that type of option. But then actually talking to a couple of neighbors who…they talk about boy, it's great. Everything's outside of our house. Don't have to worry about getting that trashed and for 2 hours get the kids, and at the end of the day it's still cheaper than Chucky Cheese. That's, a couple of them have already talked about going in that direction and saying oh geez, that's a great idea. We should look into that for our son's birthday party. That type of thing so I think we'll see, I think once word starts to spread about those type of programs, and whatever the fee may be, I'll tell you it's a lot cheaper than having kids at your house or going to, like I said a Chucky Cheese because you can host a certain part of the party in the conference room and then you can go over to the gym and let them run around for an hour and do whatever. That would be massive so I think that would, I think as time progresses that's going to be a very big success for us and I think it's going to encompass a lot of, hopefully your time as well as some revenue for the city. Knowles: If I may be allowed to drop some names. One of the parties we booked for December was the Mears family so hopefully we'll gain some momentum. Daniel: That'd be nice. Stolar: Any other questions? Okay, thanks Tom. SENIOR CENTER REPORT. Bill: Good evening. Thank you. There's a couple programs I want to highlight for the past fall. We had some, we did a couple different things and special events that really went over well so I thought I'd fill you in on them. The Senior Commission has an open house every year in the fall so this year we combined it with the Senior Safety Seminar and it worked out really well. The commissioners had a format where they had an open house and entertained questions from the public and then we led right into the safety seminar and then we featured a meal from the congregate dining site. Always trying to promote that, so that went over really, really well. About 50 people and it was a nice day. Senior Commission launched an ICE card. It's an emergency card with a little sticker that you can put on your cell phone. The first number you dial is an emergency number so Sharmeen and the commission have been working on that so that was the format to launch it in September and it was really well received. Then the October flu shot clinic. We gave out the most shots we've ever given out in October. 185 flu shots and about 20 pneumonia shots were given out and it went smooth. We didn't have any wait. We got people in and out in about 3 hours and it really, really was well received. We used Minnesota 8 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Valley Nursing Association. Their home health division. Their nurses come. They said it was the smoothest run flu shot clinic that they've ever been to. Then another thing we had in November, been playing around with this idea for a number of years and never did it but all of a th sudden got it together. We had a Veteran's Day celebration on November 9. It was better received than I could anticipate. It was standing room, probably about 70 people. 70 plus people. Color guard from the Legion came over and posted the colors. The Legion donated breakfast. We had a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage and a variety of other stuff. We got the Carver County Veteran's Service Officer came and talked about the veteran's services for not only Carver County but also for the State of Minnesota. Then the Mayor of Watertown, K.J. McDonald came and gave a presentation. He was one of the 103, I don't know 100 something veterans that went to Washington D.C. last year from Carver County. They flew them out there for a day and they took medical staff from Ridgeview and whatever they needed to get the World War II vets for the new Veteran's Memorial in Washington D.C. and he put together a DVD and gave a presentation and it was really moving. I heard from people after that, it just was really a moving celebration and really made them remember what they had been through in the war and they were really touched by it. And I also had two females who served in World War II come and talk about the female perspective. We don't hear that very often and it was pretty entertaining when they talked about their undergarment and the clothes that they were issued and different stuff and how different it was for a female opposed to a male. Then Gary Boyle came and updated everyone on the Veteran's Monument. And then Bethany from the Council came. She's got a program, it was featured I think in the July Villager. She and her husband own a resort I think in northern Minnesota and they invite returning servicemen and their families to their resort for a week at no cost, and they're now working to get probably 20 some plus resorts throughout Minnesota to host returning veterans and their families so all in all it was really, th really a nice day. And then another thing we did on the back, on November 10 we partnered with Friends of the Library and they had their first doll show and we hosted a tea party. We had an author come who has written a book, Tea Time and there were probably 10 exhibits at the library that people featured their doll collections so it really, really was a nice event. So that. And the last thing. Medicare Part D, I don't know if you're aware. Medicare in 2007 added the Part D component which is the prescription drug. Well after the year the premiums are going up quite high so I had an insurance counselor come in and talk about the Medicare Part D increases and the computer in the old senior center, we're able to sign people up online and that's social security and Medicare D applications so I think there were about 30 people there so. Anyway that's just highlights, a few of the special events. Day to day activities are going well. There's always something going on and all in all it's been a real good fall. Stolar: Thank you Susan. Sounds like a lot. PARK AND TRAIL MAINTENANCE. Gregory: Good evening. Just wanted to give you a quick update on a few of the projects that have taken place this fall. Out at Lake Ann, the installation of the lights on the soccer field and softball fields. It was moving along but they ran into a lot of problem with rain. Trying to trench. Put the pipes and everything in and that. They were having a lot of trouble. A lot of damage was done to the sod and grass out there. There's going to be quite a bit of restoration to do. They did have a few problems with it, or a couple problems with the pedestals. A few of 9 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 those did not pass. They were not level or they were not, did not meet the consistency that they had to and that and had to be removed, so they'll be re-pouring those. …this winter yet. They did get half of it poured. Cold weather set in and shut them down so they weren't able to get the other half in, but they're still going to be able to put the building up. When they get it, I'm not sure on the dates of that. I think it was in, the first of the year, the building was supposed to be coming so they'll start installing that. We also worked out at Lake Ann at the ballfields. The, I don't know if any of you were out there this summer and that but we've had a bad lip from the infield going to the outfield. The kids tearing the infields all up and they just keep moving the ag lime out and it just keeps building up. We've gone around. We've removed all of the lift. Cut the sod out. Completely redid the arc's and re-leveled the ballfields. Removed some of the irrigation, re-did those and got them all really looking pretty darn nice and that right now and that so they're going to be, they'll be set for this spring. Field 1 we had trouble this year with the ball playing. Football out there. It took a toll towards the end of the year with the rain so seeding is not an option with it out there because it just would not have come back. We literally cut the whole outfield part of center field. Removed all of the sod and re-graded that and had them come in and re-sodded the whole field so it's, it will be ready for spring. But football really, really took a toll on that one this year so. And outside of Lake Ann, Bluff Creek, we're working on adding that ballfield out there. We've got that one pretty much complete. The ag line is in. The fence is in for the back stops and everything. We did get the concrete poured for the bleachers, so pretty much all we've got to do to get it going is get the bases put in come springtime and we'll have an additional ballfield there. One other project we did this fall, this summer we noticed that the, we were having some complaints about the deterioration of the boat landing at South Lotus Lake and the concrete was really getting bad and so we did some minor repairs on it and that and Todd talked with DNR about it. About replacing it. They wouldn't replace it but they would supply us with all the concrete that we needed to do with the planks. Concrete planks they call them. So we got the concrete planks. We also, what they do now to help eliminate the power loading of the boats, they have two concrete slabs that are 4 feet wide, 12 feet long that go outside of the planks where you back onto so they extend that area out so you can't blow that sand out and they supplied us with all of that. And we did the installation of that late this fall. Got that in. The crew really didn’t want to work in the water and the cold so they came up with a very ingenious way of doing this. They put together most of the landing or the concrete slabs together on shore and we put a loader on each side and we put one in the back and we took the whole thing and we just pushed it out there in one motion and it worked great. They didn't have to work in the water at all. They were really thankful to get that over so, but it is, it's really nice down there now. It was kind of unbelievable when we took the old planks out, the concrete that you get in the water probably about 10 feet and there was a good foot to foot and a half of silt over the top of the actual concrete so it definitely drops off a lot faster now with the new concrete in there and that and it's a nice addition to it. Daniel: …the one way either. I think that…which way it went but. Gregory: The what? Daniel: If I remember correctly, backing in, it shifted once you got out, depending upon how long your trailer was. It had a hole. 10 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Gregory: Yeah. It's actually extended because of the hole that's there and now those extra 4 feet slabs on the outside is going to do that. The problem we're still going to have is you're going to get in there and you're going to launch your boat and it's going to be deep enough there, but you go out about 20 feet and it's going to come up to only about a foot and a half deep. I mean it's that shallow in there so they've got to be very careful of that. I mean you can walk right around the outside of that whole thing and only be knee deep and that and you walk through the center where that hole is and you'll be up to your chest. It's a, not a good deal but. Flooding. We got started last Wednesday and the weather has really been in our favor this year. We started Wednesday. We've gone 24 hours a day with the trucks. We did talk about Sunday. We took off Sunday so the guys could have some time off but they're back out there again tonight and they're going around the clock and we will continue that. We're getting a real good base on it so if we do get some warm weather, hopefully we'll be able to sustain any warm weather, but we'll continue flooding until getting close to opening up and then we'll switch nozzles and we'll go to the fine nozzles and start putting the leveling, or the fine coat on so it's nice and smooth. But they're coming along great. This is the best flooding weather we've had so it's really been going good. Stolar: Hopefully it will keep this way for a while. When was the last time we had rinks around the break in winter? It's been a while right? Gregory: It's kind of funny. I looked at the 25 years and that and last year was the latest we've ever opened and that was well into January and the year before was the earlier we've ever opened, but we only opened for about 3 or 4 days and then the warm weather came and we had to close. Stolar: We had to close it, yeah. Gregory: Right. But I mean we had the earliest opening in 25 years and the latest opening in 2 years and they were both, both years were not real good years. I mean we didn't have a lot of skating time on them and that so, but hopefully this year it's going to be different. Daniel: Yeah, we should be good this year. We're sustaining this nice, cold weather and fortunately there doesn't seem to be any break coming. Gregory: Seems like it's going to be more of a normal winter. We've got snow and everything early and it just seems to be kind of going that direction right now. More of a normal year. Hoffman: Dale, can you describe the flooding schedule so the commissioners are aware what we get into? Gregory: Okay. During the daytime and that we've got 2 guys that will be out flooding with our 2 trucks. Usually that's Charlie and Brad. Evenings, or after work we go from 3:00 to 11:00. We put on 2 more guys and that. That will flood from then and then we do the 11:00 to 7:00 in the morning. So we're running, when possible, we're running 2 trucks 24 hours a day. It's warm enough last night with the weather, it was warm enough we could only run 1 truck through the 24 hours and that and then, but now they're talking 11:00 tonight it's supposed to be starting to go 11 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 down again so I've got 2 guys going out again for tonight. But we, like I say, we've done that, we've called in a little bit extra help this year because the guys get kind of burned out. I mean it doesn't take long for your shift to come around again and, I mean they're going… I run the same shifts as those guys and that. In fact I almost, I'm also scheduled for a shift tonight but this year we talked to the mechanics out at the shop and that and they both helped out through the weekend this year and that so they put some long hours in. But it's been going okay. Hoffman: And your staff is working graveyard shift, and they're working their regular shift in the morning or are they going home? Gregory: They work the regular shift again. Yeah. They work the day shift. They'll work an evening shift and that so they're putting 16 hours in there and if they work the graveyard shift, they stay and work the daytime shift too. Right now we're going around, we're trying to get caught up with trails. We've had, already we've had to go out with the blower because we've got some of them, or the 101 trail, the Powers trail, different ones and that, where the County and State, they plow over our trails and that. I mean we can't do it with just the pick-up anymore so we've got one guy out with a blower doing that and then the rest of them work on skating rinks in the morning. Getting them ready and right now they're getting everything ready for the warming houses so they'll be ready to open up. So it's a lot to keep up with. Stolar: Thank you to you and your crew. Scharfenberg: The Lake Susan neighborhood, is that the only neighborhood park rink we have this year? Gregory: Chan Hills. Scharfenberg: Chan Hills? Gregory: Yeah. Scharfenberg: Okay. Gregory: Chan Hills is the only one. And actually the last 2 nights the guys have been flooding down there, they said that that rink actually had more use than some of the other ones. We're getting people out skating and basically we tell them that if they can get off the rink and let us flood and go back in about 5 or 10 minutes, they can go ahead and skate so we're not chasing them off. We're just letting them skate because I mean right now we're just building up and a little bit of shavings doesn't bother us at all. I think Charlie said the night that he flooded at North Lotus we had 31 people up there at one time. Stolar: I don't know was it Saturday or Sunday some people were talking about going out there to skate already. 12 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Gregory: We have, surprisingly we have people coming out at 11:00 and 12:00, 1:00. They'll park their cars by the hockey rinks there and leave the lights on and that and they'll go out and skate for an hour. Stolar: At night. Gregory: At night. Yeah, we've run into that several times. The guys have run into it this year and that where they'll just go out at 1:00, 2:00 in the morning and skate for an hour. Hoffman: Dale, can you give a quick update on your schedule out at Kerber Pond Park on the tree removal? Dutch elm tree removal. Gregory: That, actually that's next on our schedule. We'll be getting into that once we get calmed down with the skating rinks. Once they're opened and we're onto a daily flooding schedule, then what we do is, we'll go out. We clean every rink. We'll have to put a truck out and he'll flood during the day and then we'll be able to take the other guys and start working on the Kerber Pond Park down there. So that's, right now that's next on our schedule once we get done with the rinks here. Get them all put. That's all I have. Thank you. Stolar: Any questions for Dale? Kelly: I just want to say the trails are outstanding. For those walking and the running paths have been outstanding so far so thank you very much for getting it. I seriously sometimes think you guys beat the streets. Gregory: Well we had, I had the opportunity this year at our first snow I went out. I had my full crew and we also plowed the Rec Center, the school, the fire station, city hall and we take care of the trails and it took us exactly 8 hours to do all of it. Yeah. So I mean we've got just about as much time plowing now with the our trails and everything as we do with the streets. We also help the streets when they go out plowing. They'll call us. They need like 2 people from the park. 2 people from the water department to help them out. Cuts our guys a little bit shorter and that and it gives them a little bit more time for stuff that they've got to do and that, but we made our commitment a long time ago that we'd always help the streets get their streets and you know we'll work on our trails. Stolar: They've been looking great, so thank you very much. Gregory: We did have one little mishap when, west end of Lake Susan and it was a change in our route. With the addition of the trails on, going south 101, we've got some other ones that we added on this year that I actually made a fourth plow route for our trails and the fellow that took the one plow route didn't realize he was supposed to be plowing the west side of Lake Susan, so we didn't, and that went through the weekend and that and we got the call and that and they said the west side of Lake Susan Park and I drove by it and that, it's open you know there but I wasn't thinking along the lakeside over there so we did get caught on that one but everything's open now and. 13 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Daniel: I thought it looked great. Stolar: Anything else? Okay, thank you. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT. Stolar: Todd, did you want to talk through the administrative report or just informational for us? Hoffman: Just briefly. Last night's news from the council, the CIP was approved. Operating and maintenance budget was approved by the City Council on a 4 to 1 vote and so we're moving forward with our 2008 budget. The CIP is mainly what I talk about in this administrative report, year end report. Wanted to make a couple of notes. The commission has reached it's 40 year th history within the community so you are in the, the 40 year of Park and Recreation Commission in the city. That's a milestone. Obviously many accomplishments over those years. I like to refer to it as incremental accomplishments. You can never accomplish everything all at once. Todd Gerhardt voiced his pleasure in the dog park and all the effort that that took over the past probably 2 or 3 years on the commission and we wrote the check yesterday to the County for $30,000. If you recall they said no. We'll never spend all that money but they found a way to spend all the $30,000. It came in a very detailed fashion. They have to clean pet waste containers more than once a day on the weekends or they can't lift them out of the containers so that tells you. So to each and every one of you I want to thank you for your time and your commitment. Some of you are just getting started on that commission. Some of you have been around for a long time. I can tell you that in 2008 and beyond we're going to be taking on some significant endeavors. We're going to be starting to meet with our neighborhoods on our 2009 trail projects. We'll be naming some sub-committee members to go out and meet with us as a staff with these neighborhoods. We'll actually start that early in the year meeting with the neighborhood out at the Chanhassen Nature Preserve. With that trail coming through. We really find over the years that as long as you engage the neighbors, talk to them about what's going on in their neighborhood, it makes it a much more satisfying process for everyone. The 37 acre unnamed park preserve needs a name and it needs a park master plan at some point in the future. We'll be starting that in 2008 and 2009. If you recall we worked very hard on the 2005 MUSA area neighborhood park and that plat has not been filed so we do not have a park in the 2005 MUSA. That's a problem for the city. We have a strong and proud tradition of providing a park within a half mile of everyone's front door and we haven't done that yet out at that location so we need to accomplish that. Disc golf is on our radar. Ballfield space continues to be one of our challenging areas. We're doing I think a commendable job in increasing capacity at our existing facilities but we're still not done looking for that next piece of land in the community for ballfields. Lake Ann Park expansion, it's on the horizon. It's a significant expansion. Not quite doubling but close at Lake Ann Park in the future. Is there anything that we should be doing today to make sure that that happens in the future? There's some excess right-of-way. Again the largest contiguous woodland left in Chanhassen south of Rice Marsh Lake. If you've had the opportunity to drive the new Highway 212/312, you can just look at it right there. Everyone will know it's there now and so again it's time for us to make sure that we solidify our position with the State. That somebody else doesn't come forward and say, hey you know. Let's use this for some other use than parks preservation. Trails. We have a lot of trails on our agenda. 101 north trail connection. Not only along 101 but then the Pleasant View connection down to the 14 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 neighborhood trail. Chanhassen Nature Preserve trail. That's underway and it will be finished in the summer. Highway 41 pedestrian underpass. We haven't heard yet but you got word from the County that we scored very high and we just don't know where that's going to rank out yet for the underpass, but that project may move forward and we may start work on that in 2008 or 2009. Lyman Boulevard trail improvements are going to be jointly sponsored with the road project as a part of the high school. Bluff Creek gap trail. Not only the trail to the trailhead at Bluff Creek Drive but also we've started conversations with Scott County. We want to take the trail all the way across the river into Shakopee. Across the old bridge. If you're familiar with the old bridge in Shakopee. It's still there. It was retained for a pedestrian bridge but we have to link Chanhassen and Carver County to Scott County. Daniel: There used to be a link years ago. Before they took down the swing bridge. I don't know if it's still there or not. That goes from, is that still there? Hoffman: Not there. Daniel: They've torn that bridge down? Hoffman: It's burned, yeah. Daniel: Oh that's right. Hoffman: It burned, yeah. So that one's no longer there. Pioneer gap trail. Another significant section of trail, and then again a recreation, our Chan Rec Center. We're going to continue efforts to reinvent the operations at the Rec Center. Carver County Healthy Communities Initiative. It's a great program. Blue Cross Blue Shield grant and Carver County is teaming up with all the cities. Arts Council. Newly formed group that will need the support of the commission. Community Theater. The new Chanhassen High School will provide a premiere theater space for the community…in Chanhassen next, so that's a good start to the list. As a commission you can add to that list at anytime. You can just come to a meeting and discuss it amongst commissioners and direct staff to get moving on another project. For those of you who have been around, you can see, the CIP process comes around on an annual basis and it's really the, it's the strongest way to get things done. Plan into the future. Get them on the books. Council has been supportive. They continue to be supportive and we've got some, 2008 is actually going to be a, not an overly busy year with the CIP but 2009 promises to be an exciting year and we're going to finish off this trail system and move on with our park planning as well. So thanks for your work and we look forward to an exciting year. Daniel: I have two questions Todd. One, what is the process tradition we have for naming parks? And two, what was the reason for the one council voting no? Hoffman: Oh, last night? Councilwoman Ernst voted no and she was not in support of the additional law enforcement that was included in the budget. Policing, contract policing hours. Daniel: Oh, okay. Gotch ya. But it had nothing to do with, it was all tied together with the CIP? Okay. It was nothing pertaining to the park and rec and issues or concern she had? 15 Park and Recreation Commission - December 11, 2007 Hoffman: No. Daniel: Okay. Hoffman: And then second question about the naming. You know it's varied over the years and traditionally you go out and the commission makes the recommendation to the council. The council accepts the recommendation and you can involve the neighborhood. You can involve the community. Or sometimes it's just an automatic, and in this case it's not necessarily an automatic so we need to come up with a reasonable name. Many are tied to geographic locations. Many are tied to subdivision names. You know what is the area traditionally been referred to. Lots of different concepts. So the commission can choose which route you would like to go. Stolar: And you want to wait before we do the master planning, and do that as part of that? Hoffman: Yeah. I think so. Scharfenberg: Todd I noted in your memo you didn't mention, and I'm assuming this is because it wouldn't happen in 2008, but the new water treatment facility on Galpin and that park up above it that we talked about. Is that, when would we anticipate that being, doing that? Hoffman: I think it's scheduled out, the water treatment plant in 2011 or 2012. So we'd anticipate doing it concurrently with the plant so one plan, again a neighborhood process. You're going to build a water treatment plant. We're going to build a park. It's such a small area and it's got that significant slope. It doesn't make sense for one project to go ahead of the other. Scharfenberg: Okay. Stolar: Any other questions for Todd? Alright. COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORT. None. Daniel moved, Kelly seconded to adjourn the Park and Recreation Commission meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried with a vote of 7 to 0. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Rec Director Prepared by Nann Opheim 16