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PRC 2013 02 26CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 26, 2013 Chairman Cole Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve Scharfenberg, Cole Kelly, Elise Ryan, Brent Carron, and Jim Boettcher MEMBERS ABSENT: Tom Kelly and Peter Aldritt STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Superintendent; and Mitch Johnson, Recreation Supervisor APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Cole Kelly announced that there were two visitor presentations added to the published agenda. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: None. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: Laurie Susla: Hi. My name is Laurie Susla. I'm on the Board of the Lotus Lake Conservation Alliance and I'm here tonight to ask you to consider a request. Back in 2011 we came to ask support from your commission in protecting Lotus Lake. You all graciously held a special meeting and discussed the issue of how to protect the lakes against AIS infestations. You passed three motions at that time asking City Council to act to support our efforts to keep AIS out of Lotus Lake. Council responded that they didn't feel comfortable doing something for one lake that they didn't do for the rest of the lakes and so your motions weren't put through City Council, as you guys all know. So what have we done since that time? We continued our 2011 efforts to inspect as many boats as we could coming into Lotus Lake. We also won the City's environmental award for excellence in 2011 from our work to protect Lotus Lake. We combined the Lotus Lake Homeowners Association with the Lotus Lake Clean Water Organization because we were both working towards the same goal so we've become one group now. We represent about 150 lakeshore homeowners and about 250 families who are not on Lotus Lake. We've also become a non - profit organization so we've done some administrative work. We've also been doing quite a bit of work with the Watershed and the City to help protect not just Lotus Lake but all of Chanhassen's lakes. In our opinion and the opinion of the LLCA it's critical that the City develop a plan for AIS prevention that will be three things and those three things are, effective, boater friendly and fiscally responsible. Last year Chanhassen spent $10,000 to protect it's lakes. Also last year Chanhassen spent $3 million dollars on it's parks. That's a lot of money but when you take a look at the ratio of lakes to parks, the lakes are receiving a third of one percent and we think that it's time that we have to stop looking at lakes as something that can just be used. They're something that needs to be protected. Lakes are a very important part of recreation in Chanhassen. On the City website the lakes are described as the jewels of Chanhassen. Last year at the LLCA, my organization spent $12,000 and the Riley- Purgatory -Bluff Creek Watershed District spent $2,000 on AIS prevention within Chanhassen. Combined with the City's $10,000 for a total of $47,000 protecting the lakes. Everyone in my group, everyone who enjoys the lakes are very grateful to the City, to the Watershed for providing the funding and the leadership to get this done. It was a huge step that happened last year and we're all very thankful. But we have to ask, what do we get for $47,000? It was a part time inspection program that met 2 of the 3 criteria. It was very boater friendly. There was very little impact on the boaters at all and it was very fiscally responsible. The City didn't spend very much money on it so for those two criteria it was good but we missed the criteria of effectiveness because there's no way that a part time inspection program is ever Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 going to trul` protect the lakes. The onl` locall` implementable AIS prevention program, the onl` thing we can do our own selves is inspect all of the boats before they enter the water. The DNR is not going to solve this problem for us. They don't have the funding. They don't have the personnel. It's just not going to happen so we can't wait for them. If we want to protect the lakes it's up to us. We have to work with the Watershed, the Count`, and the DNR to develop and implement a plan that will truly protect the lakes. Not just from zebra mussels but from all the other AIS that are on the road. City staff has proposed that the program for 2013 be essentially the same as the program that we did in 2012 which absolutelv is better than nothing. We're also going to add one hour on in the earl` morning hours but again with the part time program it's just, it's simply doomed to fail. Last year we did an analysis of the license plate data that was collected by the inspectors at the ramp and we learned that over 75% of the people coming to Chanhassen lakes are not from Chanhassen. Thev're from neighboring communities as well as far off communities and we just feel that people who come from other cities don't feel the same ownership, the same pride in the lakes that we as residents of Chanhassen do. It's important that we, that we keep our own lakes nice for the people who live here. I'm here tonight representing, as I said, the 400 families that belong to the LLCA in asking you to please add to next month's Park and Rec Commission meeting an agenda item to discuss AIS prevention in Chanhassen. The LLCA would like to make a presentation, short, 15-20 minutes and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. Before the Citv Council makes important decisions it considers input from the City's commissions and we're asking `you to consider this important issue and provide the City Council with recommendations for how to handle AIS prevention as we move through the next several `ears. Thank you for considering this. Cole Kell`: Thank `you Laurie. Anvbody have any questions for Laurie? Carron: I have one. Do you have the log from your inspectors last gear that you might be able to share with us? Laurie Susla: Absolutely. Todd has gotten all that data together and we had over 3,000 inspections, I mean 1 f would be of interest to vou. We also have it summarized. Carron: Okav, thank vou Scharfenberg: So Laurie just in preparation for next month's meeting, besides I think you're looking for full time inspections at Lotus? Laurie Susla: We're not looking for full time inspections at Lotus but we are looking to have all the boats inspected before they enter the lakes and the issue that we have with trying to do inspections at event lake is it's just so vend costIv. The LLCA over the past 20 `ears has spent $20,000 truing to protect Lotus Lake. So far we feel that we've been effective. We have no evidence of anv zebra mussels infestation but we see 3 times more traffic than anv of the other citv's lakes so we're 3 times more exposed and we just, we aren't sure that we are going to be able to sustain the level of work that, you know the level of financing that we've been doing. We're asking our members for a lot. Rvan: Laurie, if you were on the agenda for the next time and you did a presentation, would the presentation just focus on Lotus Lake or would it incorporate all the different associations? Laurie Susla: No. No, ever since back when we got the feedback from the City Council back in the Fall of 2011, we have been taking the other two lakes under our umbrella because Ann has nobody to speak for it and Susan onl`- has 19 homes so really we're the only group that can speak for the other lakes so we've been reallv. Ryan: So the plan would include all lakes? Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Laurie Susla: Yes. Yes. Rvan: Okav, thank vou. Cole Kellv: So Laurie what has the Citv Council addressed for this vear so far? Laurie Susla: In a working session they were presented by Todd with a plan for 2013 and that as I said will be the same as what was happened in 2012 with the exception of an addition of one earl` morning hour from 5:00 to 6:00. I'm not sure if that's at all the lakes or all the days or how that will be. Hoffman: Well it's at all the lakes and all the days that thev're working. Cole Kell`: Oka`, so the Citv Council hasn't voted on anything for 2013 at this point? Laurie Susla: No. Not to my knowledge. Cole Kell`: Oka`. Any other questions? Thank `you Laurie. Laurie Susla: Thank vou. Joe Shneider: I'm Joe Shneider at 1035 HolIv Lane in Chan. I just wanted to reinforce what Laurie just said and give you a couple pieces of data that are pretty recent. One of the things Laurie said is the DNR is not going to protect your lakes and I don't think there's any question about that. I was listening to Steve Hirsh of the DNR, he's the Director of Ecological Services and he's got responsibility for the aquatic invasive species program, speak at the, testify at the House Environmental Finance Committee last week and his message to the committee was vend straight forward. He said the DNR is going to focus their inspection, their AIS inspection program on high use zebra mussels infested lakes. So that's Minnetonka. That's Mille Lacs. That's, pick the lake, right. That's where they're going to focus and their concept is stopping the spread from those lakes. And he said second of all that local government units are expressing lots of interest in protecting the lakes in their local areas with inbound inspection, and that I think would be consist with what Chanhassen has done and what other cities around us have done recentIv. And his third comment was, he called that a good cooperative, a good complimentarN arrangement and the problem with that is that the local governments are not positioned to be successful at that. There's no program to follow that they can just pull out of, pull the internet and execute. There's a lack of people with the skills that are needed to be able to pull this off in the local government units, and there's clearly a lack of funding. So it's a huge problem. I would say it's a good idea. It's a long wa` from being a good complimentary arrangement so I think it's, and that was for 2013, right. I mean I just want to be very clear. That's for 2013. So if you have an expectation that they are going to do something for you, you should put that out of your mind. It's just not in the cards. I could give you chapter and verse on how they're strategies are wrong but that's kind of irrelevant. There's not enough money. They're not going to protect your lakes and the action's going to happen at the local level. This morning the Carer County Board met to approve their 2013 AIS plan and they have agreed to do basically what they did last gear and expand it to a few more lakes. Now that is an at lake landing level inbound inspection. At Minnewashta they did 100% inbound inspection last gear. They did that later in the summer at Lake Bavaria and they did partial inspections at a variety of other lakes in Chan. They're expanding it this gear to include Waconia, which has a major new access that was put in last gear, and some more capability but that's where they were going to stop. This morning however with some really good discussion the Carer County Board decided to do two more things. They unanimously passed a motion to take the first baby step in a multi -lake inspection program and that would be to leverage the Lake Minnewashta Regional Park inspection program and use that to inspect for Christmas Lake. So this Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 is the very first time in the state that we believe that any county government, any local unit of government period is marching down the path of a multi -lake inspection and that's as all of us that look at it, it's the only cost effective way to pull this thing off. If you believe that that's the right approach to stop the spread, this is the way you have to do it from a cost point of view. So Carver Count` is taking the first step in that area. It's not a gimme. The specific language was to, it was a motion to have staff pursue alternative AIS inspections leveraging or using the Lake Minnewashta Regional Park for Christmas Lake so it's a very first time. But while that's a really important first step, and it's really a baby step, it's a step to walk. What was more important was an agreement that they had that Commissioner Tom Workman from Chanhassen proposed. They didn't make a motion on this but the` directed staff to start figuring out a broader multi -lake inspection program that hopefully they can implement in 2014. There are lots of political issues. There are operational issues but the direction from the board was verb- clear. If they don't start this process they know what's going to happen. The snowball effect of all the lakes in Carver Count` coming to them asking for protection and they have no money and have no other plan other than inspecting at the landings. They know they're not going to win that game so it's a, it was a verb- exciting day today. From my point of view it, as I can tell, Carver Count` is the first county in the state, the first local governmental unit that is marching down the exploratory path for a multi -lake inspection so I share that with you. It just happened this morning and I hope that that again puts some emphasis behind your focus on protecting the waters because it's going to happen at a local level. Cole Kell`: Any questions for Joe? Thank `you Joe. Joe Shneider: Thank vou. Cole Kell`: Other visitor presentations? Cullen Balm: Well thanks for having me. My name is Cullen Balm. I'm the head baseball coach here at Chanhassen High School. I do apologize. It's about mv bedtime. We have a 15 month old that's not sleeping through the night so anybody have any suggestions, I'm all game. I'm all ears. In my yeah, my main reason today for coming, and I'll tn� to be quick. I know you guys have other stuff to get to was just to inform you as a stepping point to inform other people in the communitv as far as what's been going on at Chanhassen High School in the baseball /softball complexes. In the grand scheme of things I understand that you've got a lot more other things that you guys are worried about but as we move forward, and this is my second year as the head baseball coach, this is my 7 t year teaching in the district. I don't live in the area. Love to. With grandma and grandpa living in Jordan though we're going to stag there as far as davcare and stuff like that so beautiful place. Love to be here and looking at Chan, looking at the stadium when I took over, I looked at it as a blank canvas and there was a lot of potential there and the tools and the pieces just weren't in the right fit yet and so my thing is as we move forward I want you guys to have kind of the right message. Kind of, you know you hear a lot of rumors floating out around the communitv and it's kind of like hold on a second, time out. Those aren't right. Let's get this straight so hear it from somebodv who works in the district. I have a good relationship with the buildings and grounds. Working with the Dugout Club. Working with the youth kind of all kind of coming together and these gentlemen as well so I guess I just wanted to share kind of the progress that we've made since August at the stadium and moving forward because really we have a pretty cool complex. As you guys know the City gave X amount of dollars. The school district ponied up some money too. There's not a lot of high school complexes that have the ability to play on a field like this and a stadium like this and there's a lot of things that happen, and I don't know if you guys are familiar with where people actually, I mean we have huge tournaments that come in ever` gear. The Gopher Classic is the largest Legion tournament in the nation. There's some 60 to 80 teams and we're one of the host sites and we actually have the 2015 State Legion and I'll get to those things at the end but so, there's a lot of people that come to our citv so we wanted to put a little time and effort so I just wanted to show you, let's see here. There's we go. This is a view from above. Again the baseball stadium. This was last gear. Taken last gear right Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 around football time so we're looking at it probably September- October. You can see, you can't really tell in this picture. You'll be able to compare the present day one versus the one from last gear but we had some summer lows here and I mean vou're looking at a, and I'm not a turf expert. I've learned a lot. I love it. I'm a baseball coach. I want to coach more than this but again I've never known a head coach that hasn't put some time into his field if you want to be successful. When you have a nice field people want to come and play. Umpires want to come and umpire and you know we have the facility with the grandstand and we want to have the same playing surface. So we had some summer lows. We don't want to, we don't need to talk about why it happened and what happened and all those things but those things are going to be corrected here. Some outfield spots. I know some of the City Council members were up there talking with a few members. Denny had, Denny Laufenburger had a couple people up there. Just kind of checking things out. Joe McGough took over at the head Buildings and Grounds right around this, well he's been there now for over maybe a vear and a half or so and he's reallv done a reallv good job of putting people in a position where we communicate together. We're on the right track I guess and so he contacted a guy by the name of John Hopko. He's done some work for the district. I don't know if he's worked with the Citv at all or not but John and his son came out. Thev slit seeded. Thev over seeded. Slit seeded. They top dressed. I mean they did the whole thing. This was taken in August the 24 This was a month later and if `you notice kind of just the baselines, it was all communication and that's the thing where it's a new school. It's a $93 million dollar school. We have a beautiful complex all around. It's a big chunk to be able to coordinate and reallv have this effort moving forward and Joe's done a really good* ob to really kind of change this as far as when we're going forward you can kind of see just the before and the afters. And not oniv just the baseball field but even at the, `you know `you have this beautiful jewel here in Chan and `you want it to look nice. Whether that be the baseball field, the football field, or just the campus itself so we're getting there. We had a work da`- in October here. I'll just show you some pictures. I'll tn� and be quick. Kind of neat though. I mean what, m`- wife always sags Cullen how can `you be at the field so long? Well there's a train that runs through there. Beautiful trees. It's a beautiful night. I mean it's pretty impressive so we did a lot of work up there. Did a lot of edging. Parent volunteers. With the help of the Dugout Club. We've done a lot of the work ourselves. They've kind of given us, I don't want to say free reign but as long as we check in with the district they're pretty, they now know what we're about and what I'm about and the people that are willing to help us out so the trust has been built. Basicallv been built there so we edged some stuff again kind of maintenance for base running. Rounding bases and stuff. Same thing at first base. But you can kind of see some of the work that we've done. Here's a great example. We did the work, we probably took out, they estimated between 6 to 8 yards of just icky dirt in probably I don't know, 1 or 2 dump truck loads. Bv 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning it was gone and that was unheard of with kind of the old mentalitv of the wav the district had been run so I mean it blew our socks off and it reallv gets me excited for this upcoming gear. So here's looking from center field and this was in, this was in September as well. So you can see the difference between the two. I think this next one is kind of what we could. At the beginning of the gear that last spring we had a guy come up with a roller and they rolled the outfield and so something that I'm looking to get is a reel mower to put the stripes in just like Athletic. Even-body always compares us to Athletic down in Chaska. Me personally let's create our own memories, our own dreams because it's been there since the 1940's or 50's or whenever it was. It's got a lot of history- there. Well let's create our own history-. Here's the difference between the gear so `you can see the picture on the right there, that's the Chaska /Chan football game. One of my assistant coaches has his pilot license and they went up and they took a picture of the game, yeah and it helps out. Unfortunately we lost him this gear. He got a job down I think it was in St. Louis but I mean you can tell even the amount of work that we've done just in a gear. So `you look at whv are we on the right track? It's communication with Buildings and Grounds. I'm here. I work with the District. I want to be proud of something. I want the community to be proud of it. I work a lot with the CAA. We want those people to see hey, we've got this prime* ewel hopefully in 5, 6, 4, whatever `ears it is that you're going to be pla`'ing on this facility and everybody can have a good time I guess. Why do we care, and this is kind of just some, I'll point out a few things. The Legion tournament, that's going to be in 2015 and that's a, I mean that's a huge mone` Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 maker for not only the Legion and the Legion itself and our program but for the community as well. I met with a few people in the communitv and thev're like, they had no clue what this is and I'm like well this is what's going on. They 're like whoa, how can we get involved with this? Whether it's a hotel. Whether it's restaurants. You have a lot of people willing to help out and I mean you're probably, I don't know the numbers and I'm not even going to estimate but I know I mean at the Gopher Classic there is, I think we're host to 8 teams for the Legion State Tournament. I mean we're going to have 8 to 16 teams that are coming in and that starts on like a Wednesday and Thursday so teams are going to come in here. I mean they're going to be going around the community. Hopefully one day we can get the Amateur State Tournament here too. Maybe partnering with Victoria or something like that so I mean there's a huge money maker too for the community as well but just some other stuff too. We had a lot of home plate issues. I took the girls up this summer and we started chipping away. We put a lot of time and monev into this. You can see it basically what was happening for the last 5 gears. They're throwing just this infield mix, kind of the diamond dn- stuff and it was corn cobs mushed up. Well what happened, ever` time it would rain it wouldn't allow the water to actuallv soak down and so if you go back to this, I'll go back to this last picture, that's about 3 inches of icky dirt that I just scraped up and we hauled away and we brought in this new material that's supposed to work pretty decent so we, the idea is we've put a lot of time and effort into, into this and we're committed. That's the hilltopper stuff, for those of you familiar with the athletic field down at Chaska. That's what their mound is made out of and so thev hosted the state tournament ever` gear. The` had a little rain this last gear and the` were able to plav through it because of their mound so if it works well at home plate we're looking to do that too at home but just some other stuff too. I'll just show you some pictures. We've got padding on the backstop. Padding in the bullpens for safety issues. The CAA donated the ramp on the left hand side for batting practice so if we're taking batting practice at home plate, we're not tearing up the grass. We're trN ing to preserve, right. A neighbor of mine, we made a big mat cart. We bought a bunch of mats so we can haul around the field to protect it, etc, etc. I mean we can go on and on and on. The bottom line is, as people see us moving forward we want people to know that we have really good communication with the District. Is it going to be perfect? Well time will tell. I mean there's always things to kind of fix. We have a sand based field and so it needs water and when it doesn't get water and things aren't taken care of, that's when `-ou see some of those summer low pictures and disheartening to baseball fans and an`-bod`- involved in the agricultural aspect at all but we're headed in the right direction and so I, I guess if an`-bod`- ever asks `you, `-ou know what's going on up there? You speak positively about, not onl`- the baseball program but the district itself. Being a district employee. Just some future plans for us. We're looking to get the reel mower up there. That will kind of allow us to stripe it. It's just a mower that's set just for the softballibaseball complexes. For the complex. We're also looking for the concession stand too long range and our goal is maybe by the 2015 state tournament or the, yeah the state legion tournament we have something like that. I know the City gave a lot of money and the idea is okay, I want you guys to know that your investment is being protected and I think that a lot of community members the` would come to the field and thev're like, what is going on up here. This isn't the case. Well hopefully now moving forward people can come from the community and they can take pride in this and say hey, it is being taken care of How can we make it better? I know I've talked to a lot of people in the communitv that said we'd love to help out but we're not going to give you another penny until you know we're moving down the right direction so as a starting place Denny thought hey, it'd be a good opportunity to come to present to you guys to say thank you for even-thing you've done. If there's anything I can ever do you know as a head coach, as a teacher up there I'd love to help. We have our homerun derbv, we have a couple other things that we're working with the youth stuff. If it's alright with `-ou I'd like to just forward it to `you just so you can spread through the communitv as far as what our goals are. We're not really, I'm not asking for much. Just more of kind of an FYI. What I'm about. Who I am. I apologize if I'm, it's been a long night. We had a coaches meeting before this but it's truly, it's truly a great place to come and just hang out and that's kind of the goal is just to bring `our kids up and come up and enjoy it. Whether it's a Red Birds game. Whether it's a Chan baseball game or a legion game. We're kind of all in the same community moving forward and I guess, well we can skip that one Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 but this is kind of a sign you're going to hear me use a lot is the whole idea of togetherness you know and if vou're a Twitter person, if you follow me at all but we use the hash tag one community quite a bit and together we have to move forward so hopefully as a starting place. You guys can see what I'm about. The support from Dick Unger, the Athletic Director. I can't speak for Mr. Doherty just because I don't work with him but I guarantee he would probably be on board too as far as, he knows the passion. He knows what we're about so I guess with that, that's m`- store. It's been a long, well since August it's been a tough battle but we have a lot of, we have the people in the right positions for this to be successful and unfortunately people before they weren't equipped with what they needed to do to get the* ob done and then a lot of change has taken place over the last 6 months or so. Cole Kellv: It's Cullen correct? Cullen Balm: Yes sir, it is. Cole Kell`: Excuse me. It looks like we're moving in the right direction. Any questions for Cullen? Scharfenberg: Cullen just, thank you again for all the work that you've put into that facility. CertainIy the presentation you've shown tonight indicates that your passion for making that facility a top class facilitv is wonderful. I had a question for you with respect to the padding that they put in behind home plate. Did they also do that on the softball field as well? Cullen Balm: I believe so. I think that was kind of one of those, the Dugout Club kind of helped out with that I believe. I' not 100% sure but I know we did put padding back there. I mean it's a safety issue. With the softball field too the` actuallv had to move home plate back a little bit for some of the rules and stuff for the, if you had to have a tournament there was a number of feet down the foul line and stuff but the` did do that and that's one nice thing with the Dugout Club is, we're working together and I don't know if you guys know anything about the Dugout Club. It was a group that was originally started to basicallv take care of the field and work and it's kind of expanded a little bit and now with me at the district level trying to take care more of the stadium fields and them being able to branch out a little bit so, but tning to keep it fair and equitable. I mean that's, it's a tough thing but for me I'm a pretty pro active. I'm kind of a go getter. I'm not one to sit by the wayside and, if there's a need for something I'm going to turn over event rock to tn� to make sure it's going to happen because I've been around the game a long time and when `you go to a place that's, I mean when we look at our field and you go up there and it's cutting ice and everything, it's a spectacular place to play a game of baseball so. Rvan: Cullen, I'd like to commend `-ou on `your leadership. I was involved with the original Red Birds and seeing those pictures and what `-ou have done and `your team has done is reallv tremendous. One gentleman used to have to go out with his Wet Vac to get some of the water `-ou know removed from the field so just to see the transformation that `-ou and the team has made is you know, should make the school proud, the City and the District so nice job and thank you for coming in to share. Cullen Balm: I appreciate it, thank you. And I think that was, and I'm a pretty humble guy and I had my day in the spotlight. I mean it is what it is but it was a total team effort. It reallv was. It wasn't just me. I just happened to be the point man you know and thank goodness my, I'll give a shout out to the wife letting me take the kids up there and you just kind of mess around a little bit but as m`- mother in law said, she had never been to Chan the other dav so the` had a basketball tournament. My niece was playing there and she said I've got to go step out and see my third grandkid so she had to go over and see the baseball field but I appreciate it. You know that's, it's a beautiful facilitv, it really is and I look at that and I think of all of the things that I can do and Dick sometimes just kind of like okav youngster, have a seat and let's take one step at a time so but, from what I heard the history of baseball here in Chanhassen is, it's pretty strong. Even back in the 30's and 40's and I could be wrong but that's kind of Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 what we're trying to revitalizing with the Red Birds with the legion program and the high school program all working together. We're in the same spot. You've got a diamond like that, I mean it's a pretty cool place to showcase so appreciate it. Cole Kelly: So just to end it up here, the Red Birds aren't taking care of the field anymore? I know that they had to get out and Elise being on the Board was out on the field their self getting it prepared for Red Bird games. Cullen Balm: No, and one of the biggest, there was a clogged drain and that's probably what you were talking about around the first base side, or third base side, and that's been fixed and just everybody being on the same page. You know this is how we do it. This is how we clean up. Home plate's going to help a lot and that was, I mean honestly I probably spent probably at least an hour and a half before every single game going out there. I mean we did everything other than to light the thing on fire to try and dry it out and so I'm hoping this will definitely help but if everybody does their little part, I mean it doesn't, things flow pretty smoothly you know and it's great because I'm really, you know I talk to Terry basically every single day with the Red Birds and Mike Mattson with the Legion and so all three of us working together along with the coordination of the Dugout Club and the Building and Grounds with the District, I mean it's a win/win situation. It reallv is and I'm reallv excited to see if everybody says what thev're going to do this summer, which isn't tough. It's just communication aspect, it should be a pretty fun summer. Cole Kelly: The pictures make it look real nice, thank you Cullen. Cullen Balm: You bet, appreciate it. Thank you. Cole Kelly: Let's see if we have any other visitor presentations. Laurie Susla: I just forgot to tell you I brought you all a presentation I wanted to give you so. Cole Kellv: Oh, thank you Laurie. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Scharfenberg moved, Carron seconded to approve the verbatim and summary Minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated January 22, 2013 as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. 2013/2014 LAKE ANN BEACH LIFEGUARD CONTRACT. Ruegemer: Thank you Chair Kelly. Just wanted to go through the staff report tonight. We do have a couple representatives from the Minnetonka Public School District here tonight to address any questions the commission may have tonight. So just wanted to begin that as we know Minnetonka does, the Minnetonka Public School District does provide lifeguards out at Lake Ann Park and have done so since the early 1970's so we've had a very long standing relationship that we've, that's worked out very well through the years. We've worked together since 2007 to have a kind of a multi -year contract. That's really a nice set up that we've had certainly with the City Council endorsing that multi -year contract. I wanted to give the Park and Rec Commission a little background as to kind of how we come to the contract itself so I'm going to kind of give you just a quick historical lesson on last year's contract. Last year's contract was based on 26 hours a day times 72 beach days so that basically started roughly about June I think Stn last year and ended about August, about the third week in August so that's what the beach contract is based on. So last year the total beach season was 1,872 hours and the hours of operation were 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. Actually it was June Stn to August 19 last year so moving forward going into that, we have an illustration kind of on the second page of the staff report that kind of had kind of Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 how those 26 hours were kind of broken down per day and then how the lifeguards were kind of positioned within those hours on a daily basis and Ben or Nolan can certainly go through that with you if you have questions on that after the staff report. So based on last `ear's kind of criteria, moving that forward into this gear there were some changes made in kind of the hourly wages by the Minnetonka School District so the same level of service we had last vear would cost us a little bit more than $32,000 this gear and Ben certainly can go through that. Kind of the changes in staffing and training to accommodate that higher hourly wage and give you a little background on that as well. Ben did attach, which was very much appreciative, the different options that we certainly can consider here tonight. Going forward with the 2013 and 14 contract. Staff did review the different options and is recommending approval of Option D tonight. With that to kind of keep the same number of beach days at 72, to kind of get within our budget that we've allocated for 2013, staff is recommending that we reduce the number of hours from 26 a day to 23 hours per day with that. The new proposed contract would increase 3.2, excuse me 3.6% from 2012 and would be a total of $28,66 and that money was included in the 2013 Lake Ann Operations budget. I'll introduce Mr. Ben Bartell. He's the Director of the Minnetonka Aquatics for the school district and Ben can step up and give you a little background of the program and answer any questions that the commission may have tonight. Ben Bartell: Yeah hi, how's ever`-body doing? My name is Ben Bartell. I became the Aquatics Director at Minnetonka in the August of 2009. To give you a little background, pretty much everything in the Aquatics Department had been run through Community Ed up to that point and then they made a large renovation, I think it was a $6 million dollar renovation, is that? $6 million, about a $6 million dollar renovation of the pool and they decided to kind of take all of their aquatic programming and try and kind of put it under one roof and then they hired me to kind of run and oversee all that with the intent of tnIng to you know improve the quality of our, and the reach of our programs. I've been working with Jerre for the last couple of `ears on beach contracts at Lake Ann. I brought Nolan Sinkler here with me tonight. He is one of our beach supervisors and he's been working at Lake Ann as a guard, a lead guard and a supervisor for the last 6 `ears so to give you a little bit of a background on the price change. This summer was extraordinarilv hot, as you probably all know. On top of that there was a pretty large amount of drownings in the Minnesota lake area so reallv what that did for us was it reallv was kind of a call to action to kind of reinvestigate our program, our services. How we do things. How we're coming up with our pricing. How prepared are our guards, and you know after looking at ever`Ihing we felt that it was satisfactory- for what the Red Cross recommends but at the same time it did not reallv line up with our vision of where we want our lifeguard services to be. The biggest change and adjustment which this price change reflects is that we are going to massively increase the amount of training hours that we go through with our guards prior to and during the summer season so we kind of came up with a price number and I've been kind of working through different options with Jerre so if you guys have any questions. Cole Kell`: Questions for Ben? Carron: I've got one. Ben, maybe you can help me out and just going through. You must have some sort of a formula for how many, how big the area is versus how many, you know the high population times of people swimmers versus guards. Can you kind of talk about that a little bit? Ben Bartell: Sure. Actually I'm going to refer it to Nolan's expertise a little bit here. What's our? Nolan Sinkler: Our recommended number is, should I speak in the mic here? Yeah. Ben Bartell: Yeah, come on up. Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Nolan Sinkler: I'm Nolan. Our kind of guideline is we would like to have about 25 swimmers in the water per lifeguard on staff so a typical busy day at Lake Ann there's 100 to 150 people and so at peak hours we have 4 lifeguards so that's kind of how we base our staff. Ben Bartell: Right and on other days when it's been over 90 degrees we have brought in an extra guard during those peak hours just to make sure that we kind of take some, not necessarily take pressure off of those other guards but just to make sure that we are all, everything in the water is being accounted for. Cole Kelly: Ben when you say massive training before the season and during the season, and I'm kind of a numbers guy so I'm looking at 11% reduction in hours and a 3.6 increase in the cost and so I'm looking to see where it's justified. You haven't really told me about the additional training you're doing beyond what you've done in the past. Ben Bartell: Well I mean first of all I don't have all the numbers with me but we have not made many_ price increases over the last 7 -8, 6 years. Ruegemer: Yeah, at least going back to 2006 the price really hasn't fluctuated. Ben Bartell: Right, so there's really no price change in the last 6 years so the cost of business obviously has gone up. For our training what we're looking to do is to, I mean almost triple the amount of hours for our guards. I mean maybe even more than that. In fact right now we do, we get everybody together and we do a couple different training sessions prior to the season. We do maybe 5, 4 or 5? Is that right? Nolan Sinkler: Before the season? Ben Bartell: Prior to. Nolan Sinkler: Yeah we have two big like 5 hour days that we do with our returning lifeguards Ben Bartell: Okay, right. Yeah and now we're looking to do closer to 10 big sessions with all of our guards and then we want to meet consistently, right now we meet every other week at a beach to do in service lifeguard training to go over things. We recertify everybody at those time and kind of go through all the standards that kind of the Red Cross gives but we want to go above and beyond that and so we want to add more hours to those sessions and then go weekly. Our plan is to go every Friday morning to do lifeguard training and go through scenarios and just kind of throw any kind of, anything that we can throw at our guards to get them prepared for situations just because it gets out there and it's sometimes a little more complicated than just watching the water and going and making a rescue. There's a lot of preventative guarding that needs to go on and at the same time the beach guards are expected to deal with if somebody falls and cuts their leg. A child loses their parents. All those kind of things can all kind of happen and those aren't always covered by the Red Cross training and so we're trying to get them prepared to juggle worst case scenarios so that if you know a kid loses their mom and somebody just fell and has a concussion and there's a fight that we're still making sure that the beach is protected and the people in the water are being watched so that's kind of where that training comes in. Cole Kellv: Gotch va. Thank you Ben Bartell: Yeah. Cole Kelly: Any other questions? And let's see here. Rvan: Cole? 10 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Cole Kellv: Yes Rvan: I don't have anv questions and I know that `you made a note that the safest place to cut hours is earl` in the dav but as a `you know mother of young children, that's typically before the lunch hour, 11:00 to noon when I think there's a lot of young families at the beach and granted the parents are in the water with the children. You know it's always nice, because it does get bus` and it gets pretty active with young children to have lifeguards around so I don't know if this is directed to you or to Jerre. I do have a concern about cutting that 11:00 to 12:30 hour and if you see something different you know I'd love to hear your thoughts but as a mother of young children that's a popular hour to be at the beach and verb- concerning to me not to have lifeguards during that time. Ruegemer: Well I think the reduction of hours earlier in the day was kind of based on kind of the high averages throughout the course of the day versus you know kind of hour to hour. I think 2:00 to 3:00, 4:00 is kind at the peak of those hours. The heat of the dav and that sort of thing. You know just been going on basically numbers or averages and that was the reason reallv for the reduction earlier in the day. Boettcher: Real quick, your chart here still shows 26. Where would you take the lifeguards off? What hours? This, and this is still coming up with the 26 per day. Ben Bartell: That's the current, is that correct? Boettcher: Yeah, that's 2012. Where would the 3 hours come off? Where we'd go from 4 to 3 or 3 to 2. Ben Bartell: I believe in Option D which is what you had it would go 12:00 to 6:30. Rvan: Instead of 11:00 to 6:00. Nolan Sinkler: 11:00 to 7:00. Boettcher: Instead of 11:00 to 7:00. Rvan: Yeah. Nolan Sinkler: So there's, I think it's 2 guards leave a half hour earlier at the end of the day and then there's. Ben Bartell: 2 guards are there for, not there for another hour. Boettcher: So 6:00 to 6:30 would just be 2 instead of 3? It would be 2 from 6:00 to 6:30 I think and you took 2 off of the front. Nolan Sinkler: That's 2 out, yeah. Ben Bartell: The top 2, 11:00 it's got 2 guards and then 11:30 has 2 guards. Those would be cut. That reflects 2 hours because there's 2 guards for half an hour each and then that 6:30 is 2 more so there would still be from 6:00 to 6:30 3 guards. Boettcher: Oka`, good. Rvan: But to clariA- from 11:00 to 12:00 there would be no guards. 11 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Ben Bartell: Correct Nolan Sinkler: Yes Carron: Is there anv, is there a case where `you just have one guard at a beach or is it, you want to have a minimum of 2? Your guy's feeling, yeah. Nolan Sinkler: I mean our feeling is, you know we do talk about the ratio of swimmers per guard but at the same time the amount of space that the guard has to cover does also come into effect. I'm not sure how comfortable we would be with just one guard covering that amount of space. I mean maybe you could, what do you think? Hoffman: Yeah likewise. We would not be comfortable just because if they want to react to a situation, either for their own safetv or for the safety of the public, having 2 people there is going to be a benefit. Ben Bartell: Right, especially if you need to be calling 911 or fetching the AED or, yeah. Cole Kell`: Jerre, this question's more for you. Since the City came up with the idea that we should do Option D, I'm just looking at Option D. Kind of curious, or is it, excuse me F. We might drop a day a week and wh`- was that ruled out? There's Monday, was it being looked at because Monday's are so light or was it ruled out because we have plenty of people out there so it's not safe to go a day without having a guard there? Ruegemer: Yeah I just really felt that you know the 72 days is kind of the maximum days that we've had. To me that seemed like a good option to kind of keep with kind of the days that we had for coverage wise. If you start cutting, it seemed like last gear we had a really a hot summer and with that I really didn't want to cut things earlier in the season. You know kind of when school gets out. The lifeguards are on duty and kind of at the tail end of the season it seemed like we have been kind of maintaining a pretty good average. You know typically in the past around that first part of August we really start to tail off. People are going on vacation and they're going doing different things before school starts and I reall` just felt that reallv in the last couple `ears those numbers have really been kind of been maintaining themselves. Therefore that's whv I wanted to keep to the 72 days. Cole Kell`: Right, okay. Ben Bartell: And I was going to say, from our side the temperature and weather will drastically affect those numbers so it's hard to anticipate when it's going to be, because you know we might have a cloud` day... and if happens to work out on a Monday where you don't have guards, that's fine but then it's just too tough to predict. Cole Kell`: Oka`, good. That answered my question. Elise you have any other questions? Ryan: I don't have questions. I think I've made myself fairly clear. I'm very concerned about the absence of a lifeguard at 11:00 just because with, when you have young children, one child runs one direction. Another child runs another and vou're counting on a lifeguard and not to have somebody there I think is, it just concerns me. Cole Kellv: So Jerry 12 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Hoffman: We have some personal discussion between modify it to 11:00 to 5:30. What would the discussion be on that? Scharfenberg: Well I would, you know I was thinking at least keeping it til 6:00. You know not necessarily going to 5:30. Ryan: Option B. Cole Kell`: I'm going to intercede here for just a moment. So we're looking at the difference of, if we stag with what we're at last gear that's Option A, correct Jerre? Ruegemer: No option, actually last `ear's number was not included in the options for the two gear contracts this year. Cole Kell`: Oka`. So Option A doesn't tell me what time of day it is. That's why I assume that's option. Ben Bartell: Well Option A is the same amount of hours but with one less week at the end of the season. Ruegemer: It's 65 days versus 72 days. Cole Kellv: Got it, okay Ben Bartell: Sorry. Ruegemer: And if the commission would like to entertain `you know cutting back days from 65 to 68 or 70, that sort of thing, that certainly could be discussed as well. Cole Kell`: Well if we look at Option B we've got 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We're at about what, $600 bucks more and what does that do to our overall budget? Ruegemer: We would be slightly over the budgeted number but we could make that up within the budget throughout the course of the gear. Rvan: Or trim a dav at the end or, like you were saying. Ruegemer: Absolutely. Yeah, Ben and Nolan are certainly a verb- willing to discuss any options really to fit our needs with the Citv. Lake Ann is reallv one of the busiest beaches and stuff that thev have so it's reallv in ever`-bod`-'s best interest to have the best package for our community and for the school district as well. Just make sure there's a safe beach. Cole Kell`: Now when we, it's probably in here but when we do 72 days, that's June 9 th through August 19 th Ruegemer: It is June 8 th through August 18 this gear for 2013. Cole Kell`: Oh that was last gear, okay. June 8 So basically it's based on when school gets out and when school, or at least when the sports season start in August for the kids it sounds like. Ruegemer: Right, yeah. We've kind of carried lifeguards through kind of the Miracle Kids Triathlon weekend is that tail end of August. 13 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Cole Kellv: Okay, so we really wouldn't want to cut at the end. Ruegemer: We, I mean Miracle Kids do kind of their own thing for lifeguards anyway so if the commission find it prudent to you know cut it off at the 15 th or 16 of August, that's fine too. We certainly want to keep lifeguards there for the Lake Ann Adventure Camp that's going on out there as well but we certainly have flexibility in those days. Cole Kelly: So anybody, any other questions or does someone want to make a motion? By the way the Gopher's won. Ben Bartell: I saw they were up by 7 with 50 seconds left so. Cole Kellv: We miss 3 out of 4 free throws at the end but we won 77 -73. Boettcher: If I could just ask a dumb, obvious you know summertime, spring storms and stuff, what do you do if at 11:00 on June I Otn thunderstorm. Beach, wind's blowing next 2 days. I mean is that credited? Is it not charged? Is that extra time that we use? Ben Bartell: Any day that we're not sending guards due to weather we don't invoice at the end of the season for that so generally our invoice is just under these numbers because we'll have 1 to 3. Boettcher: So you have been running historically 2 days you weren't there in the season? 3 days, whatever. Ben Bartell: Yeah, it's usually pretty minimal because, I mean it's kind of a lot to cancel but we never charge, we don't charge any of the lifeguarding fees for those days. Carron: Well I'm in favor of making a motion to Option B if I've got any followers. Rvan: I follow. Cole Kellv: We need a second besides a follower. Rvan: Second. I didn't know if that was a motion. Carron: No, it wasn't. It wasn't really. That was more of a conversation. Cole Kelly: I apologize. I'm still looking for a motion or is there more conversation? Carron: I'll make a motion. That the Park and Recreation Commission committee recommends that the City Council approve a two year contract with Minnetonka Public Schools ISD 276 for Lake Ann Park Beach lifeguard services in the amount of $29,187 correlating with two year contract Option B. Rvan: Second. Carron moved, Ryan seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommends that the City Council approve a two -year contract with Minnetonka Public Schools ISD 276 for Lake Ann Park Beach Lifeguard Services in the amount of $29,187 per year. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. 14 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Carron moved, Ryan seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommends that the City Council approve a two -year contract with Minnetonka Public Schools ISD 276 for Lake Ann Park Beach Lifeguard Services in the amount of $29,187 per year. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Cole Kellv: The aves have it. Hoffman: Per vear. Carron: Per year, correct. Ben Bartell: Thank vou. Cole Kellv: Thank vou very much. LAKE ANN PARK BATTING CAGE PROPOSAL: CHANHASSEN ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION. Hoffman: Thank vou Chair Kelly_ , members of the commission. The Chanhassen Athletic Association would like to hire a contractor to improve 3 batting cages at Lake Ann Park. This is an existing batting cage that you're probably all familiar with. It's right outside of Field 42 in the left field foul line. The Association completed a similar project in 2011 at Lake Susan. All donations exceeding $500 must be approved by the City Council. The Association would like to hire a contractor to remove the existing posts surrounding the cage as well as the fabric. That's the metal fabric. Chain link fabric on the three sides leaving the outfield fence and posts that are up against Ballfield 42. The contractor would then install new posts and then the new cages or nets, these would be nets, would be suspected from the post similar to those at Lake Susan. The association would supply the hardware to suspend those nets and then the City would haul in some aggregate material to help with the grading and improving the drainage in the area. The association would hang the batting cage nets each spring after we deliver them to the park and then we would be responsible, the City would be responsible for taking those nets down each fall and storing them. The Dugout Club would also install permanent batter boxes to insure erosion does not occur in those areas. Staffs recommendation that the Park and Recreation Commission recommend that the City Council accept this generous contribution of batting cage improvements from the Chanhassen Athletic Association for installation at Lake Ann Park. Mr. Neils is not here, but that's the recommendation. Cole Kelly: So yeah, I think Todd Neils made the approach back in November and we asked him questions at that time. Anybody have questions for Todd Hoffman or somebody want to move the question? Scharfenberg: I'll move for adoption of staffs proposal to accept the donation of the batting cages at Lake Ann Park. Cole Kellv: Second? Boettcher: Second. Scharfenberg moved, Boettcher seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommends that the City Council accept the donation of batting cage improvements for installation and public use at Lake Ann Park. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. 15 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Cole Kell`: Alright next we have new business. Do we want to add the AIS presentation they requested for 20 minutes to the next meeting? And I was going to ask Laurie if they were showing that presentation to the Citv Council. I can't remember if she mentioned that or not. Boettcher: On the front cover it sags it was presented to the City on September 19 Last gear. Cole Kell`: Right, but she's talking about a new video presentation she wants to show us. Boettcher: Oh video, okay. Cole Kell`: For 20 minutes at our next meeting. So the question is, do we want to add that to our agenda or not? Anv discussion? Carron: I guess my discussion will be brief, outside the fact that I, I don't know. Unless we're talking some serious dollars, what else is there reallv that we can do and maybe we might learn something. I don't think it's a bad thing to have her come in and it's obviously a hop topic. I'm just tentative let's say on I think the City moving forward with what we did last gear is an adequate plan outside of, well Todd what, she said she had given you guys her layout of the logs and that sort of thing. Within that log was there multiple boats found with zebra mussels or milfoil or? Hoffman: Yeah, the City produced a report. There were, the last day of the inspections there was one boat found to be carrying a zebra mussel and it was on a fragment of plants. Fragment of plant material. The boat had been inspected upon departing Lake Minnetonka. It was inspected again upon entering, upon preparing to enter Lotus Lake and then it was just checked one last time at the final minute and they found this fragment of plant with the zebra mussel so that boat never launched. Beyond that there were no other zebra mussels located throughout the inspection process. There was a good number of boats that transported weeds or aquatic vegetation and then there were a few boats that transported water and so we have that complete report. Breaks it down by site and by hour and so there were boats that needed to clean vegetation off prior to launching upon arrival and then there were boats also that left the access, preparing to leave and needed to clean aquatic vegetation prior to leaving. Carron: So in round numbers if we were partially checking last gear, at the cost of $47,000 between the bunch of groups. If we were going to check ever` lake ever` day, is there a figure that we might be looking at? Hoffman: I don't have that number in front of me, no. Carron: That's mv concern is that, I think that number would be really high. Scharfenberg: Todd is Council prepared to put forth the $10,000 again for inspections this gear? Hoffman: Yes. Scharfenberg: Oka`. And that money is coming from where? Just general fund? Hoffman: The $10,000 I believe so, yeah. The council has allocated the same dollars that thev allocated last gear in the budget and then the program will only go forward as it currently, or as it went forward last N if the $2,000 from the Watershed District comes through. The Rile` - Purgatory, which we think it will and then the $7,70 the grant comes in from the DNR and so at this time if those dollars allocations don't come through, then the City Council will have to readdress how they're going to manage the 16 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 program. The program will start and it will be at all 3 access points and Susan and Lotus starting Memorial Dav Saturday and then go til Labor Day. Scharfenberg: So what exactly is it that they want us to address at this next meeting knowing that you know council's alreadv committed to what thev did last vear? Hoffman: I think what Ms. Susla is asking for is to make a presentation on why they would like to see you recommend that an expanded program be made. Scharfenberg: Oka`, Rvan: I'm in favor of having them come back. I know at the very first meeting when they came in there was a lot of hesitation and not, we just didn't know and weren't familiar with what this was and what it was going to be for us, for the council, for the city, for the county for that matter and I believe that it was in this forum that we, that the ball reallv got rolling and a lot of meetings were held because of our recommendation to move it, you know for the Citv Council to listen. I understand that dollars are limited but `you know ma`-be there's a wav, there's some guidance that we could provide them and information that we could learn on how to `you know address the needs. The financial or otherwise. I just think it would be in our best interest to let them come speak to us. See what we can learn. See if there is anything we can do and then you know if we find information important enough to move forward to the Citv Council, then we can make that recommendation but I believe that's what this forum is all about is to let them come to us and we can make that decision going forward so I would like to have it added to the agenda. I think it's too important not to. Carron: Elise, if you go to page 11 they've got their proposals. Options 1 through 3 and kind of what they're looking at here as far as dollars and the gates have been brought up again. The automated gates. Ryan: Do you have a question? Carron: No, just also the fact that now we know what they're looking for. Ryan: Right and I mean and obviously we just got this tonight so you know review it. If there are questions or concerns that we have, at least it gives them an opportunity to present this to us and if we can provide feedback, positive or negative or but I just think it's important. This is really a big issue for the city, for the sate and I think it would be beneficial for us to listen to them. Cole Kell`: Todd, when is the City Council addressing this? Can we push this off for 2 months or not so we can read this and then address it in our next meeting if we want to move forward or do we not have that kind of time? Hoffman: I'm not aware that the Citv Council will be addressing this again in 2013 Cole Kellv: Oh, okay. Carron: She's looking for us to make a motion. Cole Kell`: Got it. So I think at this point what we should do is read this and then at our next meeting make a decision if we want to move forward in our April meeting to push something with the City because the Citv's not going to do anything different this gear than they're doing so I don't think we need to rush into this. 17 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Ryan: They didn't think that they were going to do anything last gear either Cole Kellv: That's true. Ryan: And I know the discussion is the longer we wait, you know more develops and I just think it's an important issue. Hoffman: If you do something on your next meeting it would be similar to what you saw tonight. A visitor presentation so that you would schedule them for a visitor presentation by the Lotus Lake Clean Water Alliance on the topic of AIS. Carron: I don't see a problem in that and knowing that we're going to have a presentation let's read up on this and kind of come up with some questions at that time so we can ask them, if that's what everyone wants. Ryan: Yeah I mean I definitely think to help guide the meeting. Otherwise it's going to be just a lot of regurgitation of information we've already heard so let's be proactive and with questions and concerns to help facilitate that presentation. Hoffman: Yeah and that's two different topics. If you want to schedule this for discussion, then that's going to be a scheduled item. If you want to hear from them and then decide what to do after you hear their presentation, that would be a visitor presentation so two different topics. Two different agenda items. If you want to schedule this for a discussion by the commission then you schedule it as a new business item. If you want to hear their presentation you would schedule their presentation as a visitor presentation. Listen to what they have to say and then make a decision on any future agenda items based on that presentation. Boettcher: Well I'm pretty much opposed I think most of you know to gates on accesses as well as the DNR is too. The inspections I'm fine. I mean I know the City is, City Council has said they were going to add the hour 5:00 til 6:00 I think it was, which is okay but I don't know that I would get anything else out. I know what their end plan is. I've been to the meetings over in Shorewood and know what they're seeking. I don't, personally I don't need to see it again. I think we discuss it next month I would be fine with that. But as far as seeing it again I can already, I've got the playbook. I can show it if you want. Believe me. My concern is what they are trying to do. I know they are re- doubling their efforts. They're pushed by the one of the presenters that was here this evening that lives on another lake but what I've seen and my experience with AIS, it's almost a moot point in most cases. I mean is it Chicken Little? I don't know. I know the state of Michigan has had zebra mussels for 25 gears and they do absolutely nothing. No inspections at any lake in the state of Michigan and I just called a friend of mine today that lives on a lake in Michigan and that's what he said so I mean is it push comes to shove. Is it our fault if we don't do anything? You know how can you assign blame but personally again I don't need to see another presentation. If we discuss it next month I'd be fine with that. Cole Kellv: If we discuss it next month do you want somebody here from the Lotus Lake Association for question and answer? Boettcher: I wouldn't need it, no. Ryan: So are we discussing it, are we just discussing the three options on if we want to do anything or? Cole Kelly: I think that's what we'd be discussing. 18 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Boettcher: Yeah, that would be my take on it. Carron: We can discuss it right now. Rvan: Well I would not feel prepared to discuss it right now. Boettcher: Brent's a speed reader here so. Carron: Well Jim said it, he's known it and I guess my memory just came back. Ryan: I just don't want to shut it down. I would like to discuss it so if we could add it to an agenda item I would like to do that. Cole Kell`: Oka`, let's add it as an agenda but not as a visitor presentation. Boettcher: Correct. Cole Kell`: Oka`. Do we need a motion on that or can we just add it? Hoffman: It'd be nice to get some direction on what you want the item to be titled and what you want presented. Cole Kell`: I think the item for discussion is AIS prevention for Chanhassen lakes and to review the options brought to the Board by the Lotus Lake Conservation Alliance. Hoffman: Oka`. So do you think that presentation that `you have is what she was going to bring next month? Boettcher: Yes, I do. Hoffman: Alright. Thank you. Cole Kell`: And if they have a different presentation they want to email out to us we will definitely look at that. Hoffman: Okay. Cole Kell`: Alright moving on. What we've all been waiting for. Mitch, I want to hear about the Feb Fest. RECREATION PROGRAM REPORTS: FEBRUARY FESTIVAL EVALUATION. Johnson: Alright, thank you Chair Kell` and good evening commissioners. Yeah back on Saturdav, February- 2nd the City hosted their 20 Annual February- Festival out at Lake Ann Park. It was a great day. I think it was a little chill` in the morning but it definitely warmed up and nice sun. It was great to see the commissioners out and volunteering as well as other members of the community. It's always fun to hear the stories about people traveling all the way from Wisconsin to Chanhassen that weekend or `you know `you read in the Villager the family comes up from Des Moines ever` gear and has a big part` back at their house so kind of fun `you know. It's fun to see that so man`s people are involved with it and you 19 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 know `you always have those new people who have never walked on the ice before. It's fun to watch them take their first few steps out there so really kind of a big winter celebration for us. I kind of broke down the evaluation here just kind of the different aspects of the event. You know the food and drink again was offered by the Chanhassen Rotary- Club and Culver's. It was great to have them out there. Again the Rotary- Club does a lot for the communitv events throughout the gear. We had a couple bonfires. The local Bov Scout Troop 330 came out and sold bait again and had the S'more kits out there and it's fun to see them out ever- gear. Thev've been there for a while now and had some good discounts on the bait as the dav went on so it's fun to see them wheeling and dealing with the kids. We had a skating rink out there that we always do. We plowed it. One of the recommendations next gear is to go back to plowing the loop. We actualIv had an individual who came just looking for the skating loop so you know he thought it would cool if we could do something, maybe not all the way around the lake but just something kind of fun versus just a little circle. It continues to grow in popularity. You know we don't have skate rental but a lot of kids bring their own skates so maybe we can increase the size of that. We had the sleigh rides again this gear. Ken Theis, he provides the sleigh rides at a cost to the City. We had him on the trail again going towards Greenwood Shores and back and forth and worked out great again. He's still really busy. I think he said he had a full wagon every trip except I think his first one of the dav and there was just a safety reason is why we kept him off the lake and up on the trail. Flipping over on the back side, thanks again to Campfire USA and Camp Tanadoona. Local organization who provided ice fishing demonstrations so the` had some fish houses out there with augers and give the kids a chance to come out and ma`-be wet a line and set up tip -up's and that stuff. We had the medallion hunt. Something new this gear. The City staff, with support of the Chanhassen Beyond the Yellow Ribbon, we organized the medallion hunt. I was hoping they wouldn't find it until Fridav after the fifth clue but it was after 3 clues that it was revealed so I had a fun time writing the clues and stuff and definitely create some buzz leading up to it. We got some publicity in the Villager again so really kind of gets people excited about the countdown. Of course everything for the day kind of revolves around the big ice fishing contest. We sold a total of X09 fishing tickets at $10 a piece. As always the sales on the ice the day of are the most popular. We sold 437 the day of Big thanks to the Chanhassen High School Key Club. The` do all the sales out in the lake so great organization to work with and really appreciate their efforts with that. We gave over $6,000 in prizes donated and sponsored by local businesses so it's fun to see them all involved as well. I think we caught 50 fish but awarded only 45 prizes because you can only get 1 prize per person so we ended up just raffling off the last few prizes. So yeah, we had a great time. Caught a couple northerns. Some of those fish you know the 45 th fish smaller than my finger but it's fun when `you see a kid come up and it's buried in his hand and he gets a prize so, go ahead. Cole Kell`: I was going to say was this the most exciting finish you've ever had on the Feb Fest? Johnson: I think it was. It was down to like 15, it was a real slow 14. Cole Kellv: It was down to the half second. Johnson: Yeah, then I think the individual tripped on the ice so it was a little more so yeah, this one will go down in the histor- books with the countdown and the running up's so yeah, it was great. The door prizes, we gave over $3,000 in door prizes away again sponsored bv the local businesses who provided those prizes so real fun event. You know it's always a fun day being outside and so. A couple comments and suggestions on the end, bottom there. We're still using a computer system. It worked great this gear. We always get nervous, you know technology and relying on it but things worked great. Rick Rice, our MIS Coordinator at the City does a great job putting that program together and with staff running it and stuff. The Chanhassen Rotarv, the` drilled over 1,200 holes I think we figured so huge thank you to them. We kind of had some auger breakdowns and stuff but they're out there working hard getting all those so we certain1v appreciate that. We're looking to purchase a couple new augers this gear for next gear. Just to kind of speed that up and get some better ones. Couple other suggestions, maybe get some 20 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 event posters out to the local sponsors, kind of get them involved more as well. And then one other suggestion I put in the bottom there is ma`-be if we could eliminate or look at ma`-be downsizing the contest area a little bit. It seems like ever`-bod`- kind of has their favorite corners up front you know so I don't know if we need to go wav far out. I don't know if people fish out there. It'd be something to look into. And then not listed here but some other things on my mind. Just kind of looking for wags to bring the families out. It all centers around the ice fishing contest but it's fun to see people just kind of out and about and enjoying a winter day so I've already talked to an organization who wants to do snowshoe and cross country- ski demonstrations. They'd bring all the equipment. Maybe somebody who's never gone before, they can kind of walk around the lake so just kind of that kind of stuff to kind of good winter thing. That's all I have. If anybody has questions I'd be happy to answer them. Cole Kell`: Questions for Mitch. Carron: I've got a question. Door prizes. I think we shut it down right at noon this gear. Johnson: Yeah. Carron: Sign up tickets. Last gear we went a little longer. Did you get any feedback on that? I know a lot of people, stragglers were coming in. Johnson: You know a lot of people came to look for them and we just kind of explained that you know we started drawing them at this point so that's when we cut it off and that's about the extent of it so I think there was a lot of people who have maybe been for multiple `ears and kind of just used to coming late and grabbing their ticket but we just thought to be fair for even-body we'd shut it down at a time once we started drawing them. Carron: Okay. Cole Kell`: Mitch I did walk halfway out and to the perimeter on one side and there were people right on the edge fishing so they were out there. Johnson: Oh okay. Cole Kell`: They were out there using all different spots so just so you know they were, it was being used. Johnson: Oka`, great. Cole Kell`: There were some openings you know to get out there. Johnson: Yeah, thank you for that. I'll make a note. Cole Kell`: But it was a great event and the weather was cooperative and at least we got some snow beforehand. Johnson: That was the big thing, yep. Cole Kellv: Thank you. Carron: Great job. 21 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 Johnson: Yeah, thanks. Cole Kell`: And I think we're right back to Mitch for Daddv/Daughter Evaluation Night. DADDY /DAUGHTER DATE NIGHT EVALUATION. Johnson: Yep, so back on February- I O Friday night we had our annual Daddy/Daughter Sweetheart Dance out at Chanhassen Rec Center. We had a total of 59 people for the one night event, including the dads and the daughters. Continues to be a vend popular, exciting program for all the dads to bring their girls out. This gear we catered the meal from Chuckwagon Charlie's. New restaurant in town. Great to work with. I think ever`, the dads especially were verb- impressed with the food and you know I had people emailing me that next week saying I can't believe this food, it was awesome you know. You heard people say, first time I came here we had cold chicken nuggets and now you know we had pulled pork so they were pretty excited about it so great partnership to work with. The first hour we kind of do the dinner and the games and crafts and then we had a DJ come for the second hour. DJ Paul Young. Did a great job. It's fun to see all the dads out there with their daughters. We do some activities like I said, we do some little heart count games where the girls just love it when they come back they're just so excited and I think this gear the winner was, I think I had over 300 hearts up and I think she was about 6 off so and you can still usuallv find them at the Rec Center around Christmas time. Even when I'm cleaning up I can't seem to find them all again so. But yeah, we had a great time. New this gear we added a couple door prizes. We did some door prize drawings for the dads. Did kind of a little date night tickets to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater that were donated so I think they appreciated that too and we had another business, ABC and Togs donated a prize. Gift basket for the girls so we got that out. Continue to have some entertainment. We had some face painting and a balloon sculptor. I think the face painters is vend popular. I think the balloon sculptor we could probably eliminate in the future. Didn't seem to have the interest like it has in the past. And we also had a photographer from Flash Portraits come out and take some nice photos of the couples that they could maybe purchase if they were interested at a later time. But yeah, just a couple suggestions there. Just kind of keep things new and fresh for the people who come back and continue to try to advertise and get as many people out here who maybe have never been. Cole Kell`: Questions for Mitch. Carron: Maybe the photographer, he's new and fresh. They've got those rentable, what do I want to call it? Johnson: The photo booth. Carron: Photo booths, yeah. Have you done that before? Johnson: Yeah I've seen it before at weddings and stuff. Carron: That might be something different. Johnson: Yeah, I think that'd would be great. Cole Kellv: Thanks Mitch. 22 Park and Recreation Commission — February 26, 2013 ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATES: RILEY RIDGE PARK CONSTRUCTION. Hoffman: On February 4 th we met with about 25 neighbors out at the Riley Ridge Park at the model home and what they did that evening is discuss what kind of play apparatus they would like to see in their playground and then we developed this RFP that you have included in the packet so we have mailed the RFP to six different playground representatives. I think there's 5 listed here and then one additional one and so on April 4 th , it's not late March but Thursday, April 4 t at 6:30 those commissioners who are working on the playground projects are invited to come out to the model home again at Reflections at Lake Riley. Sit down with the neighbors and participate and listen to their conversation about selecting one of those playground designs and shelter design for recommendation for purchase. Scharfenberg: One more time on the time Hoffman: 6:30 p.m. Carron: And date. Hoffman: Thursday, April 4 t at the model home and I'll send out a complete notice. We will also email you the designs so all of these designs are coming both in a hard copy, a large board format and then an electronic version so those neighbors that are not able to participate on April 4 t can look at all the designs electronically and then weigh in and pass their vote onto the neighborhood representative. Scharfenberg: So the meeting on April 4 t would be to share the RFP's with them. Hoffman: Yep. Scharfenberg: And get them to commit to one? Hoffman: To make recommendation for their selected choice, correct. Scharfenberg: Okay. Cole Kelly: Any other questions for Todd? Thank you Todd. Anything in the administrative packet you want pointed out to us specific? Any questions anyone has on the administrative packet? Anybody want to call the question. COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORTS. None. COMMISSION MEMBER PRESENTATIONS. None. ADMINISTRATIVE PACKET. None. Carron moved, Scharfenberg seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. The Park and Recreation Commission meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Rec Director Prepared by Nann Opheim 23