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PRC 2013 09 24 CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 Chairman Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Cole Kelly, Steve Scharfenberg, Brent Carron, Jim Boettcher, Rick Echternacht, Luke Thunberg, and Ryan Lynch MEMBERS ABSENT: Elise Ryan and Jacob Stolar STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Superintendent; Mitch Johnson, Recreation Supervisor; Susan Bill, Senior Center Coordinator; and Dale Gregory, Park Superintendent PUBLIC PRESENT: Chris Johnson 6970 Nez Perce APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Chairman Kelly approved the agenda with the addition of Item 2 under Old Business, Update on Rice Marsh Lake Trail Construction. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Kelly: Any public announcements tonight Todd? Hoffman: Well we should certainly acknowledge that this is Dale Gregory’s last week of employment with the City of Chanhassen as Park Superintendent and that his picnic is Friday at noon at Lake Ann. If you’re able to join us, please do so. Kelly: Dale it’s what, almost, just under 42 years with Chanhassen? Dale Gregory: 42 in November. Kelly: 42 in November. Thank you for all your years of service. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Echternacht moved, Carron seconded to approve the Verbatim and Summary Minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated August 27, 2013 as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. ESTABLISH 2013/14 ICE SKATING RINK LOCATIONS. Kelly: Mitch, I think you’re going to talk to us about the ice skating rinks for this year and the locations. Johnson: Yep, that is correct. Good evening Chair Kelly and Commissioners. If you can believe it or not winter’s just around the corner, which means outdoor ice rinks are open so I’ve kind of put together a list of all the numbers and stuff. It’s one of those things that the City offers on an annual basis over the years. Many locations have the permanent boards and stuff that we maintain for the hockey rinks and stuff and Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 this year it is staff’s recommendation that we follow the ice skating rink locations and hours as listed there below which is the same as last season, which includes at the Rec Center the one pleasure rink and the two hockey rinks. North Lotus, one pleasure rink, one hockey rink. City Center Park, one pleasure rink, one hockey rink and then out at Roundhouse Park, one pleasure rink. You’ll see there the hours and stuff that are listed. The Rec Center, North Lotus and City Center Park would maintain the same hours. For weekdays 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. Saturdays, 10:00 to 9:00. Sundays 1:00 to 7:00 and then school release days we’d do 10:00 to 9:00 with some special hours listed for Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. You will see limited hours at Roundhouse Park. I believe it was a few years ago the park commission decided to reduce the hours out there so basically it’d be closed on the weekdays out there but we’d be open Saturdays noon to 6:00 and Sundays 1:00 to 7:00 but still open throughout the winter break for the local residents and visitors. So you’ll see on the bottom I’ve got the numbers from last year and on the next couple pages at the end of last season we put together some new reports. Usage based on month as well as time of the day so you can see when the busiest times were and the days of the week so I’d be happy to answer any questions anybody has. Kelly: I haven’t checked with the Farmer’s Almanac. What’s the winter supposed to be like? Johnson: I’ve heard cold and lots of snow so, our goal is always to open it the weekend before Christmas. th I think you’re looking, I think it’s like the 19 or something. Our ultimate goal is always to try to have them open before winter break but you know as soon as weather permits we’ll have them out there. As well as for the rink, the open hours and stuff we’ll be renting two warming houses. The portable warming houses for out at North Lotus Park and here at City Center Park. We’ve got the permanent warming house at the Rec Center and at Roundhouse Park. Scharfenberg: And anything different with the warming houses this year Mitch? Johnson: It’ll be the same vendor and same size. It seems to be working great over the last years. At North Lotus it fits just perfect along the boards right by the main entrance. It’s been great to work with. Used Mobile Mini the last couple years. Very affordable. You know just everything we need. It’s got the heat and everything in there. Kelly: Any other questions for Mitch? Thank you Mitch. Moving on we’re back to old business. Scharfenberg: I think we need a motion on that? Johnson: We have a motion to approve. Kelly: Oh okay. I’m sorry. You’re right. Thank you Steve. Any motions out there? Carron: I’ll make a motion to take the recommendation that staff has put together on the following ice skating rinks and the locations and hours as listed on the recommendation. Kelly: Is there a second? Thunberg: Second. Carron moved, Thunberg seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommends approval of flooding 8 ice skating rinks and maintaining 4 warming houses at the following locations for the 2013/14 season: Rec Center 1 Pleasure Rink, 2 Hockey Rinks 2 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 North Lotus Park 1 Pleasure Rink, 1 Hockey Rink City Center Park 1 Pleasure Rink, 1 Hockey Rink Roundhouse Park 1 Pleasure Rink All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. CONTINUANCE OF 2014-2018 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM DISCUSSION, BALL FIELD LIGHTING. Hoffman: Thank you Chair Kelly, members of the commission. Before moving into that, just a little forecasting back on the hockey rinks and the ice rinks. These have been going down over the years so 15- 20 years ago there was probably twice as many locations with all of the different neighborhood rinks. In the 70’s and 80’s probably even back into the 60’s and maybe even earlier than that, people remember there was just about an ice rink in every neighborhood park and kids and families spent a lot of time there. Due to a lot of factors, indoor ice primarily but just some decreased use over the years, ice rinks have been reduced but we will be adding back those rinks at Bandimere as a community park site at some point in the future so, I think we’re pretty well leveled off where we’re going to stay static for some time and then the residents south of Highway 5, right now they would be going to the Rec Center or City Center Park and they’ll have an option in the future of going to Bandimere Park for both hockey and pleasure skating, and then a warming house per the plan so that’s kind of the future of ice. Ballfield lights, we were talking about two different sites potentially for lighting. As a part of your CIP discussion at last month’s meeting you discussed putting athletic lights at Lake Susan Park or at Bandimere Park potentially on baseball softball fields 1, 2 and 3 and so the commission directed staff to obtain some additional financing information for the commission, which we’ve done. Also you’ve received recent email correspondence from the CAA by email today and then also Recreation Superintendent Ruegemer has passed out a usage chart of all of our ballfields in the city. You can see that’s primarily dominated by CAA but there’s other activities there as well. The high school, Tonka United, adult softball, Rec Center Sports. Noting where those activities are taking place. In the packet you have the recommendation that you presented at last month’s meeting for the CIP from 2014 through 2018 and then a letter from WSB, Jason Amberg. Jason Amberg is the individual that originally developed the master plan for Bandimere Community Park. They are formerly a Brower and Associates. A firm which merged with WSB and so now you have a much larger firm. Jason is very adept at managing these type of projects. Works a lot with athletic fields and park planning projects and so he’s confident these numbers are accurate. They are probably somewhat conservative but I think they’re right in the ballpark of what we’re taking a look at. The contingency is simply that. It’s a contingency for unknowns that are found. Either soil conditions or other issues that you find along the way which typically do happen at a construction setting. And then the estimated indirect costs of 15%. That’s for all your engineering, testing. Materials testing. You know site planning. Staking. And all the other professional services that go along with this type of project. So Lake Susan ballpark, about $227,000 or $225,000 in round numbers to light that ballfield at Lake Susan Park. And Bandimere, just about double that. Slightly less at $450,000 to light 3 fields that are currently at Bandimere Park. Electrical services noted on one, Bandimere at $35,000. At Lake Susan $30,000. There’s also some additional numbers from a project that was recently completed in the city of Eden Prairie and the costs and estimates that were, well actually the bid costs that were received there for that particular project. So tonight the job of the commission is to either stay on that $250,000 number and add a park to it. A location or modify that number. Or you could delete that project as well so it’s really up to the commission to decide and give staff direction on where they would like to put those dollars, if at all in 2014 CIP. Kelly: Hey Todd so if we decided that we want to do one field at Bandimere, and let’s say the largest field. I’ve got that the costs would be $150,000. The electrical out there I think would still be the same even though we’re doing one for all three because you’re setting up for all three fields, $35,000. 3 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 Hoffman: Correct. Kelly: That sounds correct. So that would give us $185,000 so that would give us $18,250 in contingency possibilities and $27,375 in engineering and other costs. So I come up with a total, if we went that route of $230,625 if we just did one field at Bandimere. Does that seem correct with my numbering? Hoffman: Yes. Kelly: Okay. And then what did, CAA said what? 25% of $200,000 was what they came up with, wasn’t it? Hoffman: 25% of whatever it would cost to light Lake Susan is what their proposal would be now. Kelly: Okay, but would they transfer that to. Scharfenberg: They said they wouldn’t. Hoffman: They said they would not. Kelly: Oh they said they would not. I misread that, okay. Scharfenberg: They said they couldn’t commit to anything at Bandimere at this time. Kelly: Okay. Hoffman: But that would be up for discussion if that’s what the commission decides. Scharfenberg: Right. Kelly: Because my personal thoughts is if we’re going to light a field, we’re in a position to do one field. Not more than one and Bandimere eventually is going to be lit at some point or another and I don’t believe it will be done through. Thunberg: Referendum. Kelly: Thank you, referendum so at some point or another it will be done by the City and so do we start that project now or do we wait on it is the question and it does, from what I understand, and Jerry you can confirm with me, baseball could use another field? Ruegemer: That is correct Chair Kelly. Kelly: Okay. Discussion. Comments. Questions for anybody? Thunberg: As far as lighting Bandimere, part of the previous conversations we’ve had were, if it becomes kind of a destination, what the overall goal would be. Is if we light all of the fields eventually and I think part of that also is then if we’re going to do that we would want to do it right and take the time to design or plan if you’re going to do 3 fields or you’re going to do you know, I don’t know if we could ever do all of them at one time but there’s the benefit of the economies of scale and hopefully then if we can do it in bigger chunks it’s cheaper in the long run if that was the goal. That being said I think that route would 4 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 take a little bit longer and with the growth and the added teams that we heard from CAA in the email that he sent, they’re definitely adding teams. They just added the 16 to 18 year olds as well as the other leagues are getting bigger so knowing that and having heard their side of the story, it feels to me that you know a handful of years down the road we’re going to likely have more than just Bandimere and more than just Lake Susan lit. We’re probably going to have all of them so my vote or my preference would be to do the Lake Susan field now if we’re in the position to do one field, knowing that let’s do the Bandimere right and do it at chunks of time so in the long run it’s cheaper for the City to accomplish. Carron: Is there, Jerry is there any reason, I guess I asked Todd in a separate email, why Lake Susan over Bandimere? Never really answered do you have any idea why? Ruegemer: Well I think Lake Susan has been you know CAA’s focus for a number of years to kind of build that into a, kind of more of a grandstand destination type of stadium type of area. I think that, I think maybe just because of the discussion has been about Lake Susan. About dugouts and improvements. Batting cages, those type of things so I think that’s been the focus but obviously long term I think it’s CAA and everybody else’s goal to light Bandimere as well so I think initially that’s why the conversation has been about Lake Susan. Scharfenberg: And Brent I think to tag onto what Jerry says, I think part of it is, is that they’re looking for the need, part of the need is for the larger ballfield and that is the next, that is the other larger ballfield besides Bandimere 1 that would facilitate that so I think that’s why they’ve been pushing at it, and they’ve done some work and updated. You know they put in the batting cage over at Lake Susan and they moved the fence, the backstop up closer so I think they’ve been putting some effort into it so I think that’s why they’ve pushed Lake Susan. Hoffman: In the future Bandimere, if you think about the site, it really runs north to south. Starting on the north. Athletic lighting will go on the tennis court. The hockey rink. Potentially a pleasure skating rink and then soccer field is at, labeled 1 right? The first one right in the open of the park Jerry? That’s soccer field 1? Ruegemer: Which one? Hoffman: The one right in the open. The first one. Ruegemer: The first one is Field #1. Hoffman: Soccer field 1 and then baseball fields 1, 2 and 3. The other two soccer fields, 2 and 3 are going to be a little bit more touchy for lighting since they’re tucked so back into the, but that’s a lot of facilities so you’ve got 5, 6, 7, potentially 8 sets of lights in Bandimere Park and then potentially 10 sets of lights by the time you’re said and done so. Scharfenberg: Well and to, Luke to answer your question in terms of you know doing the lighting. We can afford to do Bandimere. I mean we have the money to do Bandimere so it’s not like it can’t be done. So the, and the plan is there you know in place to light those particular fields so it can be done now. Boettcher: Well I think too with the fact that the CAA would put in their monies, with what they said, we should take advantage of that. I mean if we did Bandimere first, I mean last month I was more of a proponent going forward with Bandimere but if they still do have those funds on the table and it’s for Lake Susan only, I would say why not take advantage of it because if we did Bandimere now and said in 2 years we’re going to do Lake Susan, then those funds have dried up. 5 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 Scharfenberg: I don’t know that those funds have dried up Jim. Boettcher: Well they may not. I mean you can’t foretell the future but it’s there right now. Scharfenberg: Right. Boettcher: We know it’s there. You know the commitment has been made and I’d say, I would take advantage of Susan for that reason. Or move that direction. Echternacht: Well we’re reading what they stated in their letter to Todd. They say they just can’t commit right now the same percent but once we decided what we wanted to do they would take a look at their commitment if we want to do Bandimere. They’re not saying they’re not going to give. They would just, would have to look to see probably what the totals are to decide what percentage they would give us. I still think they would give us money if we went to Bandimere. Carron: Well I’ve been doing some thinking and I went out to Susan and looked at that site and I was asking Todd you know, would you consider same offer on Bandimere and obviously that we all know when we saw that email, and I can appreciate that for the fact that if he’s willing to, you know the CAA’s willing to throw out 25%, they’ve got you know a sword in the fight so they should have a little bit of a say so I respect that and it’s, I mean looking at these numbers that’s just under $57,000 which is a pretty good sum of money. If it comes a little higher, little lower but that’s again a good sum of money so with that in consideration I drove through Lake Susan and my first thought was, is the facility going to be able to handle it? Double headers and that sort of thing. I think it is. I think the parking lot, the two parking lots are good enough size. And I agree with Luke too on Bandimere, I think you could go in there and you could start it and light a field but I do know that we will get more bang for the buck later on. Now obviously prices will probably go up for materials and what not but if we light more than one field we’ll get a better deal as in what Eden Prairie was looking at there on the deals that they’re getting. Now granted they’re smaller softball fields and, well fields in general but not too bad a pricing. So after doing some consideration and just kind of thinking about it, I was, was kind of looking at Bandimere to start that project and go forward but I understand the CAA has been doing some stuff in Lake Susan and if they’re willing to upfront and tell us right now that they’d be willing to put up 25%, I think I’d be willing to, willing and, not only willing but I think there is also the need that we light a field and if we can somehow word it in the recommendation, or how I could word it in the recommendation, my recommendation would be that we move forward with Lake Susan and they would take 25% of the cost and it would be under a separate contract so that the City wouldn’t be tied with them in on that. Scharfenberg: Remember they said though in their, when they came here, they don’t have that money available at this time and we would front the money for them and they didn’t have any sort of repayment plan in place. Carron: Right and Todd correct me if I’m wrong but is there suppliers, I think we were talking last time suppliers do things where they could maybe, separate contracts. They could either put that on a payment plan or put that up for them to sell the equipment. Hoffman: There are lighting manufacturers that have financing plans. Whether or not it would work where they would sell this to two different entities and finance. We could pay cash and they would finance their portion, that would have to be checked into but there are companies that will provide financing so they’ll up front you the lights and pay whatever percentage that is. Enter into an agreement for payment for the rest. In this case you know we would be the cash partner. They would be the credited partner and we would have to investigate if that would work…but it might be an option and that would be our preference over the City being a creditor to the CAA. 6 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 Kelly: Any other questions? Comments? Scharfenberg: Todd have you had any conversations with Todd Gerhardt or anybody else regarding the lighting issue? Hoffman: We’ve had conversations. They don’t have an opinion on it either way. They really want to leave that recommendation up to Park and Recreation Commission and present that to the City Council. Scharfenberg: Okay. Kelly: Anybody out there willing to throw out a motion? Lynch: I’ve just got a quick question. Kelly: Oh sure, sorry Ryan. Lynch: No, no problem. So are they willing to do this 25% just for Lake Susan or for Bandimere? Like do they want us to do Lake Susan or Bandimere? Like have they decided if they’re willing to do the 25% at Bandimere or just at Lake Susan? Kelly: They offered 25% at Bandimere and they said they can’t commit percentages to Bandimere. They don’t know what the City’s going to come up with so they can’t get back to us until after, if we come up with something at Bandimere, until we come up with what we come up with. So we don’t know what the offer would be at Bandimere at this point. We think there would be an offer but we don’t know. Questions? Comments? Motions? Echternacht: Well whatever motion we end up with I think we need to have something regarding the payment from CAA wording. Scharfenberg: Todd when would council take this up for approval? Hoffman: If this is in 2014 they’ll take it up this November or December. Scharfenberg: Okay. Carron: Well I’ll make a motion and we can discuss it afterwards but I’ll make a motion that we amend our current CIP to add $175,000 for the lighting of Lake Susan to our 2014 CIP and with that understanding the fact that the commission would be paying 25, or 75 percent of that and we would enter into a separate agreement with the CAA for the other 25 percent. Kelly: This was for at Lake Susan? Carron: Correct. Echternacht: What was the dollar amount? Carron: I guess I’ll explain myself. $227,700 was the estimate. 25% of that is just under $57,000 so it comes out to be about $170,775 and just round numbers I came up to $175,000. Kelly: Further discussion? Questions on the motion? 7 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 Scharfenberg: Can you re-read the motion one more time? Carron: Sure. I make a motion that we add $175,000 for the ballfield lights at Lake Susan into our 2014 CIP to take the place of the current $250,000 at the athletic field lighting with the understanding that that would be for 75% and the CAA would enter into a separate agreement for the other 25% with the vendor that is awarded the contract. Is that clear? Somewhat close? Kelly: And I didn’t hear at the beginning but you said at Lake Susan right? Carron: Correct. Kelly: Further discussions? Questions? Second. Boettcher: I’ll second. Kelly: There’s a motion on the floor that we add $175,000 for a ballfield at Lake Susan to the 2014 CIP with the understanding that the City of Chanhassen is putting in 75% and that the CAA would be committed to 25%. And this again is at Lake Susan. Carron moved, Boettcher seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommends that the City Council approve the 2014-2018 Park and Trail Acquisition and Development Capital Improvement Program CIP amended to add $175,000 for ballfield lights at Lake Susan Park into the 2014 CIP, taking the place of the current $250,000 for athletic field lighting, with the understanding that the City of Chanhassen would pay 75% of the cost and the CAA would enter into a separate agreement for 25% with the vendor that is awarded the contract.All voted in favor, except for Scharfenberg who opposed, and the motion carried with a vote of 6 to 1. RICE MARSH LAKE TRAIL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE. Hoffman: Thank you Chair Kelly, members of the commission. Just a whole lot of anticipation and excitement that this trail is progressing so nicely. We were talking before the meeting, Eden Prairie paved today so their section is paved. We start paving our final section on Thursday. Barber Construction anticipates that they’ll pave on Thursday-Friday and then complete the paving on Monday. We’ll have about a week or two of final restoration after that. Eden Prairie is going to allow their trail to set up for about a week before they get back in and do their restoration. In approximately 2 to 2 1/2 weeks this trail will be open within the cities of Chanhassen and Eden Prairie. We’re working on a ribbon cutting, ground breaking or ribbon cutting event in October between the two cities and so you’ll see invites for that going out to commissions and councils and the public. It’s a 3 mile loop all the way around the Rice Marsh Lake. This final segment is some of the nicest trail on the full 3 mile loop. In our section we pass through 7 private properties as a part of an easement that has been there for over 30 years. Those private property owners have been very cooperative. We’ve notified them since the start of the really the CIP when the dollars started to get seriously targeted into the CIP. We notified them that this was being talked about. Then we notified them again as a part of the planning process and then we sent them a note saying construction was underway. The second half or the eastern part of our trail is in MnDOT right-of-way and again when we first started that construction MnDOT said if you’d like to put a trail through there, we’d like to sell you the properties. Let’s get the estimates, the appraisals on the property and those came back at $1.25 million. Something that we weren’t able to obtain so we continued to work with them and they did say that they would grant us a Limited Use Permit to put that trail through there so we have a Limited Use Permit on that 20 foot easement through their property to have the right for that trail to go through there. The neighborhood connection has been graded in and will be completed 8 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 and so we’re hopeful that that development of those 16 homes will go in as well. The connection points currently will be the one that’s on, what’s the name of that street? What’s that street Dale? Marsh, Rice Marsh but what’s the street that goes by? The residential street, that’s the one connection and then the other one goes to Eden Prairie and that’s through that neighborhood so by next week we should be paved and then a couple weeks after that fully open. Kelly: Yeah I noticed Eden Prairie’s side was paved late this morning. I almost drove off the road. I sat looking at it. Hoffman: Looking at it. You can see it. Kelly: I was hoping to get home early enough to take my bike out and go check it out but it was nice to see it done. Hoffman: Braun Testing tested the depth and the compaction today. It was full depth, 10 inches aggregate. In a typical trail section you’re 6 like down at, the park at Pioneer Pass’s park but through this entire section, since we have lots of black soils and low lying areas we put a 10 inch base in there. It met compaction in all but one location where there was a culvert installation so they’re repacking that and that will be tested again tomorrow so site looks great. The one area we really ran over on costs was tree removal. There was quite a bit, few larger trees. To remove a full sized oak was $1,000 per tree on the bid item so instead of removing 3 we ended up removing 18 and most of those were trees that were, looked like they were in jeopardy once the grading started. That they just weren’t in a safe situation so we, that’s the one area of cost over runs. Other than that the project is on budget. Kelly: Thank you Todd. Any questions for Todd on Rice Marsh Lake trail? Next up we get into reports. RECREATION PROGRAMS: 2013 HALLOWEEN PARTY PREVIEW. th Johnson: Thank you Chair Kelly. Staff is working diligently to plan the City’s 29 Annual Halloween th Party. It will be held on Saturday, October 26 from 5:30 to 7:30. This is the fourth event in a series of four community events that we offer throughout the year for the community. Some kind of activities we have going on. It’s all indoors out there besides the hayrides weather permitting. We’ll have carnival games in the gymnasium at the school. Refreshments. Indoor trick or treating. We always kind of decorate kind of a scary and a friendly room for kids to kind of walk through and check it out. We’ll be utilizing volunteers again for this so if any commissioners are interested in volunteering I’d be happy to have you. We’ve got plenty of Halloween costumes you can borrow if you don’t have it at home. We’re also tapping into the local high schools. Typically the Key Club helps us out which has been a great asset that we’ve had to use them. We’re expecting probably 500 to 600 people, including children and parents. I think last year we had about 400 paid children. The cost is $5 per child and adults are free. We’re going to be doing plenty of advertising through the City’s website and Facebook pages. We’ve developed posters that will be distributed to the local elementary schools around as well as the daycare centers to really get that word out there. This is something that is budgeted in our 1600 budget. Just kind of a way to provide you know recreation opportunities for the community and it’s also paid under our community event sponsorship program. Kelly: Any questions for Mitch? Mitch, sign me up again. I’ll be there and thank you. Johnson: Alright. Batman or Mr. Incredible? 9 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 Kelly: I think I have to go back to Mr. Incredible. I think Batman I had trouble seeing. My glasses got too fogged. Johnson: Sounds good, thank you. EVALUATION – 2013 LAKE ANN PARK CONCESSIONS/BOAT RENTALS. Ruegemer: Thanks Chair Kelly. We had another great year this year. We did start off a little slower here with our late spring but with the warmer temperatures really throughout the course of the kind of the second half of the summer, really improved revenues out at Lake Ann making this our highest revenue totals for our entire history of Lake Ann Park concessions so we’re proud of that. We worked hard out there this summer and it really panned out so, really everything was good on the front of boat rentals increased by over 100 total boat rentals out there this year. Revenues were $2,500 more than projected revenues so we really had a great year for the fleet out there and it really, everything really stayed intact here for the summer too. We had a couple you know tweaks here and there and repairs for the paddleboats but for the most part everything stayed in the water all summer long so, and that’s good. So we had a great staff down there this year. Had really a manager that was on top of things this year. I don’t think the concession stand was, probably has never been as clean as it was this summer so we really had a great staff that took a lot of ownership down there in the operation. Great customer service so we’re very proud of kind of our accomplishments here for the year so just a couple things to highlight on the general comments. We continue to be open til 7:00 all year long. All summer long versus shutting down at 6:00 in August and obviously with the warmer summer that we had, there certainly were requests to stay open longer than we were so we’re going to take a look at that for next year. A lot of that really depends on the staff that we have. A lot of times if we’re hiring college aged kids, they need to go back to college earlier than that or if there’s high school sports type of kids that we’ve hired so there has been at times where we’ve barely made the dates that we have advertised so we’re going to take a look at that for next year and see if we can stay open. Obviously the last two years we’ve had extremely warm August and probably could have stayed open til Labor Day without any problem and extended our season so we’ll take a look at that for next year. Really going to look at purchasing at least 1 or 2 paddleboards for next year to add to our watercraft options out there so I think that’d be a popular. We do get a lot of requests for those annually so kind of our big purchase this year was the air conditioner down there. That really has helped out kind of overnight hours when everything is closed up and the machines are running. Our Twix bars aren’t melting together anymore so that’s a plus with that so that was a much needed capital item that we had purchased here and installed in May so. We had a lot of requests for just general maps of the park this year and that’s something that we can easily accomplished. Haven’t really heard that before that people were looking for maps but something we can just produce in-house and have readily available out there for that. We’re going to get some additional life jackets. You know that’s kind of an ongoing purchase out there. They you know get wet. With all the rentals we hang them up. We Febreeze them and try to dry them out but after a while they do get a little crazy so we just need to replace those so. And our nacho machine, cheese maker took a dump here the tail end of the season with one week left in the season so we will purchase a new nacho cheese machine. Maybe one with chili. Maybe one without, we’ll have to see but the possibilities are endless so we’ll take a look at that here. Hoffman: In the concession business. Ruegemer: In the concession business so we added a frozen yogurt item as kind of a healthy item down there this year. It was kind of met with luke warm response. We really didn’t sell that much of it so we’re just going to continue to you know look for new healthy options to provide for sale down at the concession area so. I think that was pretty much the highlights. Just on the rest of the report, just the numbers kind of broken down for the paddle boats, kayaks, canoes, that sort of thing. The expenditures with both wages and supplies that we purchased our supplies from Watson, Midwest Coke and Cub Foods 10 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 so. And then just attached is kind of a breakdown even more just of kind of the daily rentals for the boats. What else, and just the vendor expenses I think was in there so I will entertain any questions, suggestions. Boettcher: What’s the normal rental time on a, like on a paddle boat. Ruegemer: We rent by the hour. Boettcher: It is by the hour, okay. So when you have 32 of them, if you had 4 boats and each one was out 8 times during the day. Ruegemer: You know what’s really helped too is just doing company picnics and family reunions, that sort of thing, I’m really trying to get those reserved for the groups ahead of time so that we know we have guaranteed rentals as well through that time so I communicate that with our concession staff to put you know 6 boats aside from noon to 6:00 type of thing and then I usually invoice and take care of it that way. I think a lot of companies appreciate that so they don’t have to deal with anything down at the, the day of the event and we invoice them and get paid right away and life is good. Kelly: So just out of curiosity, we buy these paddleboards, which I think is probably a good idea and I know they run from a low of $800 to as high as $4,000, which I know we’re not going to go high end. What kind of hourly rate are we looking at on those? Ruegemer: You know just initial thoughts, I would go higher than the paddleboards, or excuse me, the paddle boats. Kelly: Boats. What are the paddleboats at right now? Ruegemer: $12. Kelly: Okay. Ruegemer: And canoes are $10 so I’m thinking paddleboards would be you know $15 to $20 an hour. They’re a pretty popular item. I think that we could capture some additional revenues on, and justifiably so. Kelly: Right. Yeah, Grandview Lodge down the way from us gets $25 an hour but I don’t think you’re going to quite get that but it seems to that people when they go out, you’re going to get 2 people at a time because they want to go out in partners and so if we’re going to make that kind of money, if we do well on it would we buy 2 more the next year? Would it make sense? That’s a question for next year. Ruegemer: Right. Kelly: But you know stuff to look at because if we can get $15 or $20 an hour, we’re going to pay those boards off pretty quick. Ruegemer: Yeah and I’m going to investigate, I think maybe we had talked about this before but there’s a company in town that I think we could do a revenue share with. That they would provide the paddleboards for us so we’d just do an equal revenue share 50/50 so that is a possibility as well. Carron: In Excelsior, on Lake Minnetonka down there by the trolley they rent them out and I think they use them for a year and then they sell them after that year so I don’t know what the price is but you’ve just got to make sure that you wash them with hot water first but. 11 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 Ruegemer: Twice. Carron: You might want to check that out. I don’t know if you have or not. Ruegemer: I have gotten some price quotes on some boards and we could get nice boards for under $800. Kelly: Any other questions? Thank you Jerry. EVALUATION – 2013 SUMMER DISCOVERY PLAYGROUND/LAKE ANN ADVENTURE CAMP. Johnson: Thank you Chair Kelly. New eval this fall. It’s one of our most popular programs we offer in the summer for the community is our Summer Discovery Playground program. We almost had 400 kids enrolled this summer and basically what it is, it’s a once a week hangout at the local park. We provide part time staff who lead games and songs and crafts and just kind of playground program where kids can get outside and play. It’s all supervised. It’s for ages 3 to 12. We have two programs. 4 to 12 and then we also offer kind of a beginner program for the 3 year olds. You know we get positive feedback every year. It’s one of our favorite programs that we offer. Been doing it for a long, long time. We hired 11 seasonal employees. One full time seasonal playground director was her title who kind of leads the staff and kind of comes up with the lesson plans, and then 10 part time seasonal staff who are kind of the front line, out in the parks working and stuff. You can see on the back again a little expense sheet for the Summer Discovery Playground program. We go to lots of different parks. Our goals is always to break even. We came up about $1,100 in profit this year based on, obviously wages are our biggest expense but then a little different program supplies, to kind of buy some of those, you know the balls and all that kind of stuff for their games. So it’s very popular. We’re always looking to add new locations with new Riley Ridge Park and seeing the pictures with all the young, new young families in the community. We’re excited to expand to that park and maybe even go into a few new ones that we haven’t been back to in a few years. Another recommendation we’re looking at is maybe offering more week long options. I know it can be tough. Our hours are 9:00 to noon for the morning session or 1:00 to 4:00 so maybe for some families if they can’t accommodate those times, maybe do like a whole solid week. You know 8:00 to 4:00, 8:00 to 5:00 program so we’re going to kind of look into that and see if we can still maintain those staffing levels for some new programs. Going into that, that program runs through the beginning of August. The first week of August and then those first two weeks, full weeks in August we run our Lake Ann Adventure Camp, which is by far our most popular program we offer. We open it up for two sessions. 80 kids a session and it’s just a week long camp. This year we filled it in a day and a half. We usual start getting calls in November-December when registration opens. We’ve had people call from cruise ships on spring break to sign up and, everyone wants to make sure they get that spot. Basically it’s a week long camp out at Lake Ann for kids 7 to 12. You know we do the paddle boating. We do kind of group games. We had a rock climbing wall out this summer. Just anything we can do to get the kids out in the community involved and kind of you know busy. We also incorporated some service projects in the park this year. We planted some lilac bushes behind the tennis courts and also painted the tennis boards in the tennis courts and I think the families as well as the kids kind of, you know something to feel good about. You know the next time they go to the park they can point that out like hey, look what I did so we’re always looking you know for ways to keep it fresh but it’s definitely one of those popular st programs. It’s been around for 21 year was this year so excited to continue to build on that. On the back like you said you’ll see both the expense report for the 8 week long playground program as well as the 2 week long adventure camp. And I’d be happy to answer any questions. Kelly: I read through all the evaluations and after reading through them, I wanted to sign up for the camp. 12 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 Johnson: Yeah, sometimes I don’t know if the staff has more fun or the kids you know but it works great. Kelly: Any questions, comments for Mitch? Thank you Mitch. SENIOR CENTER REPORT. Kelly: Glad you made it back in time. Bill: No traffic. We cruised through. We were in Chippewa Falls. We were on a day trip. We made it back in 2 hours and 10 minutes. No stopping along the way. Pretty good. Anyway, thank you Chair Kelly and I have to say I probably don’t have anything as exciting to report as Jerry and that nacho chili machine. That’s pretty exciting. And Gummy Bears I read yeah so. Anyway, busy as always at the Senior Center. As I wrote in the report, it’s been an interesting year. We’ve had a number of people that have had some health issues or changes in living situations that have been long time supporters and members. Or participants at the Senior Center. We’re sad to see those changes but also we’re looking to engage new participants, and that’s step by step. I’m looking into doing E-Blasts. Partnering with community education. Just getting out in the community and looking at different resources to bring different people in and kind of the trend that we’re hearing with baby boomers, they, it’s more interest based activities then some of the ongoing activities so I’ve added Mahjong. We’ve added a Wednesday walking club. Todd was nice enough to come out and talk about our trail system. That group has now gone on their own. Tomorrow they’re meeting at Lake Susan. They walked at Lake Ann so really trying to mix it up and do some different things. Our numbers have been great. Programs have been filled to capacity but you know times are changing so we need to change with those times so it’s a never ending struggle to be creative in what we’re doing so I’m always looking for that but for some new people I want to talk about some long time activities that continue to be very well attended. Dinner with the Mayor. We switched from Breakfast with the Mayor about 5 years ago to Dinner with the Mayor. I think the Mayor enjoys that as much as the participants do. We do it in July. Coordinate with Mitch before one of the concerts in the park. We always get a band that’s appropriate for older adults. I think a Big Band so the Mayor does an update on the City of Chanhassen. This year we instituted something new. Last year, we get our chicken from Cub and in 2012 I didn’t have enough dark meat so now they check off if they want white or dark meat so everyone’s happy with that. So anyway that’s really a well attended event. Probably one of our most popular events is the Ladies Luncheon that has been going on for about 8 years and we’re not only losing Dale but his wife, Roseanne has been a sponsor of that event. She pays for the entertainment for the last 7 or 8 years so not only he’s going to be missed but Roseanne is going to be missed as well because she’s been a great community partner. Then the last thing I want to talk about is, Todd Gerhardt about a month ago asked me if we couldn’t do something. He said you come up with st these catchy little names and the referendum is a big item right now so Tuesday morning, October 1 at 10:00 a.m. the Superintendent is coming to talk about the referendum to give information so people can ask questions and get information straight and not hear things second and third hand. You’re all invited to come. He’s going to do a wonderful job with that so hopefully we can, people can hear the right information so those are some things I wanted to talk about and be happy to answer any questions. Kelly: Any questions for Sue? Sue, thank you for your creativity and all your ongoing programs. And for his final park and trail maintenance report, I believe Dale you’re on deck. PARK & TRAIL MAINTENANCE REPORT. Gregory: Thank you. This is, this time of the year and that is really a busy time for us in that we’ve lost pretty much all of our seasonal help except for our 6 seniors that are working yet, and they’re pretty much taking care of our grass and a lot of our park issues and that. They don’t like picking up garbage and stuff like that so I’ve got to have a lot of my regular guys taking up the slack on some of that sort of stuff and 13 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 that so it is a busy time and that. We’ve also got two soccer fields and one ballfield that we’ve taken out for restoration work this year. Re-seeding and getting them ready. One of them down at City Center, or number one at City Center and one at, number one at Bandimere. And also a ballfield 3 at Lake Ann has been taken out for this fall. They have been already worked on and everything else and fertilized and we’ve got them going and hopefully we’ll get some decent grass growing and get them in good shape for next spring. Riley Ridge Park is pretty much completed down there. We’ve still got a few small things we’ve got to take care of down there yet. That was a big success this year and that, having the residents help with putting in the playground. My staff put a lot of hours, after hours in working getting things ready and that for that but it really worked out good and that. It really turned out nice and the people really seem to enjoy down there and that. It’s a very nice park. If you haven’t been down there, it’s really, really well worth going down and see. The Highway 41 stairs project, we have completed pretty much our part of it as getting the base and the hill all stepped in and ready for the contractor. Right now I talked to the contractor today and he’s looking like he’s out like about 10 days and he’s hoping to be in there to start construction of the stairs. One of my guys, Jim Tice and that that’s a heavy equipment operator, he will be working with our contractor out there, setting his forms and that sort of stuff and that so once we get going in there and that, hopefully everything will go good. I just hope we don’t get a lot of rain. It could really be a mess out there if we get a lot of rain to try to get that done so. Pioneer Pass Park. Went down there yesterday and looked at that and this morning and that’s really coming along nice. The ballfield is all graded in and pretty much leveled out. They do have the ag lime in and the trails are pretty much cut in and that. Talked to them this morning. They need a few more loads of base to put in there and they’ll be ready to start blacktopping those and that’s going to be a really nice park down there. They did a real good job on the parking lots. We had a water issue originally and they de-watered that and dried that all out and they’ve got like 2 feet of sand and a foot of rock before they come with the blacktop and everything on it and that so they’ve got a heck of a good base and everything in there so that one’s coming along real good. Moving along so. That’s pretty much for my report. I would like to just thank the commission. I’ve enjoyed working with you so much. Past and present commissioners and it’s just been a lot of fun working here with the City and I mean it’s, I kind of hate to say it’s sorry to go and that but it’s time. So any questions? Kelly: Well you know Dale if you’re kind of fished out sitting up there in Longville next summer and you need a project, when Pioneer Pass is going in, we’ll send you the dates. Hoffman: Volunteer. Gregory: Come down and volunteer to help huh. Kelly: But again thank you again for all your service and interaction with the board. We appreciate what you’ve done and your interaction with us too. Thank you. Gregory: Thank you. A lot of fun. RECREATION CENTER REPORT. Kelly: Jodi went home sick today so she will not be telling us about the Recreation Center updates. If you’ve got any questions you can direct them to Todd Hoffman. Or just kind of read through and Todd will pinch hit. Other than that we can move onto the administrative section. COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORTS. None. COMMISSION MEMBER PRESENTATIONS. None. 14 Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission – September 24, 2013 ADMINISTRATIVE PACKET. Kelly: We got a lot of nice camp evaluations which I already mentioned, and again on the picnic evaluations, they all seemed pretty good Jerry. I mean people always want something more but I think what we’ve got is pretty darn good. Ruegemer: Yes they do. Kelly: Anything to point out that I missed here Todd? I don’t think so. Hoffman: No. Kelly: Okay, is there a motion out there? Carron moved, Boettcher seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. The Park and Recreation Commission meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Recreation Director Submitted by Nann Opheim 15