PRC 2004 10 26
CHANHASSEN PARK AND
RECREA TION COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
OCTOBER 26, 2004
Chairman Stolar called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Glenn Stolar, Jack Spizale, Steve Scharfenberg, Paula Atkins,
and Kevin Dillon
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ann Murphy and Tom Kelly
STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; and Jerry Ruegemer,
Recreation Superintendent
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
Hoffman: Under reports, administrative, we have a listing of both complaints reports and
compliment reports that we received over the summer. It's not an exact survey but it's a
random sampling of calls that we received and I'd like to distribute that to the
commISSIon.
Stolar: Great. So that would be item 3, or 4 I guess.
Hoffman: 4(a).
Stolar: 4(a), okay. Anyothers? Okay, so I have a motion to approve the agenda as
amended?
Scharfenberg: So moved.
Dillon: Second.
Scharfenberg moved, Dillon seconded to approve the agenda as amended. All voted
in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to o.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: None.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS:
JIM BLED SA W. CHANHASSEN FARMERS MARKET.
Jim Bledsaw: Thank you very much. Well I want to say thank you very, very much for
the opportunity of having a farmers market here. It was something that I wanted for a
long time and just kind of a chance as a pastor to give something back to the community
and that's what we really wanted to do. When we first went into planning to have a
farmers market, the lead time suggested by the state was a minimum of 2 years. And
Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
when we started, it started actually as a committee of the Chamber of Commerce, so as
soon as we committed to letting us, then we were no longer part of that Chamber of
Commerce. They didn't want to sponsor. We had like 9 months lead time which really
kind of put us behind the 8 ball because we didn't have any start up funds, so that was
kind of the down side. The up side is, we did average 3 vendors throughout the year. We
had as many as 6 or 7 at one time and a lot of them came for 1 or 2 or 3 weeks and then
had what they had so, one of the reasons, one of the things that kind of slowed us down
was the necessity of the liability insurance. We were scrambling to try to come up with
the money for that. It came up to $440 so I put in $225 of my own and then we got our
very first vendor and so we ran to the insurance place and got the certificate and then we
were able to actually start but I didn't want to start actually recruiting vendors
aggressively if we didn't have the insurance, because I knew we needed to do that first.
So we met every Saturday from the third Saturday of May to the first Saturday in
October. And the Chan Villager gave us wonderful support, and I did want to apologize,
there were a few weeks that I was not timely in getting my signs down, and that was a no
no which I understood to begin with and a couple times I had the flu and one time it was
raining and I was just plain feeling lazy I guess but, I do promise to do better. I think we
reflected positively on the community. People seemed to support it very, very well.
People just seemed to be very happy that it was there. People were buying things I think
they didn't even want, just to support it. When we started, we started in May and we
didn't have crops yet because it was so cold and all we had was gourds and people were
buying gourds. ... gourd buyer, but anyway, people were awfully nice and I think we left
the park in really good shape each week. There were no problems that I was really aware
of, but the city really was very, very helpful to us. There was one glitch we had one week
with electricity and some poor guy got beeped and came out and turned the switch back
on for us, but it just went very, very well. The greatest frustration was the fact that we
started with no money. We had approached, we had written more than once to the VFW
asking for a grant for start-up funds and didn't get a response to either one of the letters,
so we started really kind of at ground zero, but we took in $775, and our expenses were
$583. We had $440 for insurance, $75 for the signs and $68 for the parking cones, so we
ended the year with $192 and because the fall was so wet and cold, a lot of the stuff froze
out and died so we really didn't go back after the President came. We didn't go beyond
the first Saturday in October, so that affected our income. So we did not come through
with our commitment to pay $100 a month for the park, and I feel really bad about that. I
know we're going to do better next year. We anticipate an average, a minimum average
of 6 vendors and we're aggressively seeking out more fruit and vegetable farmers and
new vendors, so again I want to say thank you for the opportunity of giving back to a
wonderful community.
Stolar: Thank you. Questions or comments.
Dillon: I don't have any questions but I will comment. I did come down a couple times
and I got some produce and it was great and it was, I thought it was nice that it was there
and I hope they can grow and expand and take on a life of it' sown.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Jim Bledsaw: I think it will. I really think it will. We just need a couple more anchors
you know. We've got Dave Boorsma. We've got the bread lady, but we need a couple
really good anchors, at least one more farmer that's local. Al Klingelhutz came once and
Severs Peterson came once so if we can get one of these heavy's in with us, and so we
have 2 or 3 anchors there, that would really help.
Dillon: Did you ever approach the Kerber's that have the farm stand down?
Jim Bledsaw: Well we approached them a couple three times but they didn't, at this
point there. But we do have about I'd say 8 different vendors who approached us last
year, but I was able to say yes we are because we were still trying, dealing with the
insurance issue and could we get it. Maybe not. Maybe so. So by the time we got that
resolved, they had already paid an annual fee to a farmers market further away, so we
actually had people driving through Chanhassen to other places, so we're going back to
them and we're hoping that we catch them before they do anything about next year with
their farmers market and we can lure them over so.
Spizale: I thought it was a great start. It's a great location. Just need some time and a
good season.
Jim Bledsaw: Yeah, I was just tickled. I just felt like it was just perfect.
Stolar: Steve?
Scharfenberg: Any changes Jim that you plan or anything new for next year?
Jim Bledsaw: Well I would like for us to have some kind of a concession if we can. I
don't know if we would be able to, but there are concessionaires that have coffee. There
are concessionaires that have other things like that. There's a guy that has nuts. Ifwe
can get some kind of concession like that, that will be nice for people to, they get a free
bread sample and a cup of coffee, that will be nice. The main thing is that we want is
more fruits and vegetables there. Everything was on Dave Boorsma this year and he had
a really rough year weather wise and his fields were so wet, it buried his tractor a couple
three times, so we need another fruits and vegetable guy there. And if it goes really slow,
if it doesn't turn like the way we want it to turn out, we could even have a booth that we
would make available to churches to have things just for free. I know a lot of
communities do that when they have a festival or something like that, they'll have just
free stuff there so I know Westwood's that kind of a church and a lot of our churches are.
So we may, you know if we only have 5 vendors, we may open one up and say okay, if a
church wants to come in and give free hot chocolate or something, that's fine. So, and
we also provided a free booth to Girl Scouts and also to the Lion's Club. I think we're
going to change our procedures that way to make it possible for non profits to come in for
no fee. So we charge them the $20 stall fee, and then we give it back as a contribution
so.
Atkins: So could a service group like that sell coffee? For instance.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Jim Bledsaw: Yes, they could.
Atkins: Girl Scouts or something.
Jim Bledsaw: Our main thing is making sure that we have adequate waste receptacles
there which we were supposed to provide our own, so we'd make sure we'd have those
and everything was up and clean and ready to go when we left. But that would be a real
possibility. There also is a new vendor that's talking to us that's interested in selling
coffee, and when they do that, a lot of times they'll have a little sample with it so.
Atkins: Right. The $100 a month fee, now is that, how was that figure arrived at? I
don't recall.
Hoffman: Negotiations.
Atkins: Yeah. And will that be carried over, a debt?
Hoffman: I don't believe so.
Atkins: It's just going to go away.
Jim Bledsaw: I don't know how we could ever do it.
Atkins: Okay. I forgive it.
Jim Bledsaw: I'm looking for my 225. No, not really but.
Atkins: So you're all set to go though next year with the insurance?
Jim Bledsaw: That we are. We're having a wrap up meeting Friday night and then next
week we're going to be aggressively approaching vendors and hoping to nail them down.
The reason you have to have a really good lead time is so many people will sign in
advance for the upcoming year. Once they give their money, the farmers market doesn't
want to refund it. So that's why we'll be doing that aggressively next week.
Atkins: And my only other comment is, the more signs the better because you know a
couple times I didn't go because I just totally blanked it out but in see that sign, oh yeah,
gotta go. I mean the more the better.
Jim Bledsaw: That's a good idea. We'll do some more signs.
Atkins: Yeah.
Hoffman: ... very nice.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Jim Bledsaw: Yeah, they're nice signs. They're tearing up my Buick but they're nice.
Hoffman: Really noticeable. Well I hope Jim you put the $192 back in your pocket and
then you'll be the shortest.
Jim Bledsaw: Wouldn't that be nice.
Stolar: The vendors that there were this year, they're committed for next year then?
Jim Bledsaw: Pretty much. The only one.
Stolar: I mean there were 2 besides yourself.
Jim Bledsaw: The only one I think that probably may not is Dwayne Otto. Dwayne Otto
has that, it's called Otto something, but he's in charge of the plantings out at the
Arboretum and he came out and he had like 2 or 3 really good Saturdays and then it kind
of went down a little bit but I think the only reason he was out there is they were doing
road construction in front of his place and he usually sells at his place, so he never said
like 3 words about next year. And every time we'd talk to him about it he would like fall
silent so we're going to contact him but I kind of think he'll probably be the only one that
will not be coming back.
Hoffman: What was he selling?
Jim Bledsaw: Well he sells plants and stufflike that. Like day lilies and all kinds of
landscaping things and he has just a tremendous amount of work setting up and taking
down you know, and this is stuff he can just leave at his house so I kind of think he
probably won't be back but.
Stolar: And then the other thing, I know we didn't quite do it this year but if there's a
chance to co-program, if we have something going on, that made sense to help give the
visibility so, I've forgotten on the calendar when 4th of July will be this coming year, but
if there's a way to incorporate it, that would be a nice way to give some extra visibility.
Jim Bledsaw: I really would have thought the President would have shown up at the
farmers market. I went over there and got my ticket and I said, wait a minute. We have a
farmers market, and she says, I don't think you do this Saturday. So that was the end of
that one so.
Stolar: But yeah, I went a couple times. Enjoyed it and I think, yeah I hope it grows.
Jim Bledsaw: I mean the people there, the vendors there really worked hard to make the
people feel welcome and make it a happy thing and talk to the kids and stuff like that so
that makes me feel good.
Stolar: Well thank you for your efforts and preparing for us.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Jim Bledsaw: Alright.
Hoffman: Thanks Jim.
Stolar: Any other visitor presentations? Seeing no visitors, why don't we move to
approval of Minutes.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Stolar: Any updates, comments regarding the minutes. Todd did a nice job taking them.
Hoffman: Taping?
Stolar: Taking them, right? Submitted by Todd Hoffman. Wasn't this the week that you
had to, the month you had to take the notes.
Hoffman: Yeah. The abbreviated version.
Stolar: Yep.
Scharfenberg: The content was right. I think there was a couple of statements that were
attributed to one person that actually came from another but.
Stolar: Did you want to correct them? Okay.
Scharfenberg: The theme was accurate. The important stuff, it's all the thoughts were
appropriately captured.
Stolar: Seeing no comments, do you have a motion to approve the minutes?
Hoffman: That would have been on verbatim right? In the verbatim minutes?
Scharfenberg: Yeah.
Hoffman: Nann still is learning the new voices.
Spizale: I'll make a motion to approve the minutes dated September 28th.
Stolar: Can I have a second?
Dillon: Second.
Spizale moved, Dillon seconded to approve the verbatim and summary minutes of
the Park and Recreation Commission dated September 28, 2004 as submitted. All
voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to O.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
2005 MIRACLES OF MITCH TRIATHLON.
Ruegemer: Thanks Chair Stolar. I did have a couple conversations, or about 2 or 3 since
the first triathlon in August with Tony Schiller with the Miracles of Mitch committee.
They really would like to kind of nail down, they did have a very successful first event
with 300 kids participating. They'd like to double that to 600 kids next year. In order to
do that they really would like to start planning and get the information kind of on the
books so to speak for next year. They'd like to, in conversations with Tony Schiller, he
really felt that moving the event from Sunday to Saturday might give them kind of boost
in not only participation but also with volunteerism from local churches and other groups
that are probably more willing to assist on Saturday mornings. It looks like in talking
with Tony, and some of the other committee members, it does look like the timeframe
would be the same. First thing in the morning, similar to what we had out there on
Sunday last year. That typically is the last weekend that the beach is open for the season,
and moving it to Saturday, I don't view that as a major obstacle for the event. Lake Ann
participants. You know typically on kind of the tail end of the summer the beach traffic
has really kind of slowed down by that point anyway with concessions and some picnics
and that sort of thing. People really are focusing on school and other types of activities
so they really would like to start again at roughly about 9:00 in the morning. Kind of
even with the increased numbers, they're still thinking that the event will probably go to
about 11 :00 or 12:00 that day. And I don't anticipate that to be a real, a super big
problem with that and I communicated that, to Tony that I would bring that up tonight
with you. Really one of the main points of getting this information, as far as having a
date secured for next year's fund raising effort for the foundation to go to Cargill, you
know Pillsbury, Target, a lot of the big, larger corporations that said they would like to
assist but didn't have that time last year, for last year's event, or this year's event in
August, so looking forward I think they'd like to secure the date so they can approach the
big corporations and get some funding and/or volunteers from these corporations so it is
staff s recommendation that the commission recommend approval to the City Council of
setting the date for Miracle Kids Triathlon for Saturday, August 20, 2005. And at this
time, in talking with Tony, I would like to discuss a lot of the details at a later time but
just secure the date for this time and then that would then go then at the council, get
approved and then a lot of the details as far as what our involvement is going to be from
the city, if the volunteer committee would like that, we certainly will assist in some way
or fashion as we have in the past this year, and then we'll discuss that probably at a later
time. Probably before the first of the year or shortly thereafter.
Stolar: Okay, questions.
Spizale: I think Saturday makes a lot of sense and they're going to need a permanent
date to make plans so that's a good idea.
Stolar: Paula.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Atkins: I just, well I was out there Sunday morning using, we were running around the
lake on the path and kind of got mixed up in it a little bit and it was great but I think
Sunday mornings are really nice just because it's kind of a quiet morning and there's not
as much stuff going on that would possibly interfere with this but I can see their point
too. I wouldn't have a problem with that.
Stolar: Steve.
Scharfenberg: No, no comment.
Dillon: I think Saturday just being, would be a little bit, just for families and kids and
you know. . . all that stuff, again lots of times on Sunday mornings, just maybe more of
them will get freed up to participate if it' s on Saturday so I think Saturday sounds like a
good idea.
Stolar: Okay. When we get into the details we'll probably have some more questions on
that because I think there's a lot of opportunity here. I think it's great. It was a good
event. Just Saturday or Sunday, you know obviously some religion on Saturday is their
religious day but I think a predominant situation here, Sunday we're into more of the
conflict so I think Saturday is a good idea. I think it would work better to get to that. I
still am concerned about what is the capacity. You know they want to get 600, 300 was
quite large there, so yes, we want to increase participation but I also think as we get into
the details you want to talk about potential limits because I think there still is going to be
a capacity issue and I think putting it on Saturday will put you up towards that capacity
more than Sunday, which is good. We want to be at that point so. Any other? Okay, do
we have a motion to support staff s recommendation?
Spizale: So moved.
Dillon: Second.
Spizale moved, Dillon seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission
recommend that the City Council approve the date for the Miracles Kids Triathlon
for Saturday, August 20, 2005 at Lake Ann Park. All voted in favor and the motion
carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to O.
Hoffman: Had lunch with Steve today at the Chamber and he was happy to hear that we
were taking actions.
Stolar: And I think this, between this and Dave Huffman, we've got a couple of great
events and then 4th of July, if we can toggle those three together and co-market those, I
think it's just going to be great for the whole community.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
REPORTS:
RECREATION PROGRAMS. 2004 PICNIC SITE EVALUATION.
Ruegemer: We talked about this a little bit at the September meeting and I wanted to
kind of bring something a little bit more formal back to the commission for your review.
Kind of went through and gave you some information on you know kind of how many
total picnics and stuff that we had this year with the total revenue. Very similar to what
we've had. It's very close in numbers of quantities and revenue. When it's all said and
done over the last 4 or 5 years it's been pretty stable with the dollar amounts again.
Obviously we have to deduct sales tax and that takes that number down a little bit but we
do collect that at the time of the payment. We do back that tax out right away so we
fulfill our obligations with the Department of Revenue. Also you know Lake Ann, the
pavilion and Lake Susan obviously are still our bread winners for that and are still very
popular for different reasons. The amenities are the same at both and yet different. I
think the picnic sites, being very close to the picnic shelters, as mentioned down below in
the general comments are very popular with people so the volleyball nets, people can
play sand volleyball and kind of be in the general area with that so. I did, in the past I
know the commission has asked staff to kind oflog phone calls as they come in. This
year we broke that down even further and recorded resident and non-resident phone calls
as they came in. And that was recorded in here with that and you can kind of see kind of
what the breakdown was per day of the picnic season. Kind of what that was between
resident and non-resident. I also included kind of the breakdown of the, kind of the
picnic classifications in each location. Whether it be a resident, resident business,
resident school, non resident, non resident business, that sort of thing. Kind of broke
those down. Per day and I guess per number of actual picnics that were booked. I did
include 2004 also 2003 so you can kind of track those down. As you look at the total
picnics, paying picnics, they were very close again. The numbers are very similar per
Saturday and Sunday and per kind of breakdown per classification or category of I guess
the picnic breakdown of who was booking the sites. So that was done throughout the
course of the summer. Just kind of some general comments taken from the picnic
evaluations that I put in the admin section as they come through. I think people, the
overall impression, people really did like the picnic sites. They did like again the
closeness of the picnic, of the playground equipment and some of the other areas and the
amenities that go along with that. I did take a few calls and comments that the picnic
sites weren't clean, and that's something that we did have seasonal staff every weekend,
all those sites, the picnic shelters were cleaned 7 days a week so those comments were
passed onto Dale Gregory, our Park Superintendent and like Jim and the farmers market,
we're going to strive to do better next year so it's important for us to keep that, our image
up with quality and nice cleanly, clean facility for our participants and users so, that's
something that we don't take lightly when we get these types of comments. Just a
general, you know as our picnic sites and that age, we do need to maintain so we need a
fresh coat of paint. At times it's an easy thing for us to do on the inside with the
Sentence to Serve kids have been a very great asset for us and they volunteer. We buy
the material, they apply the labor and the paint and do a lot of, it's kind of a win/win for
both of us. The Lake Susan picnic shelter was re-stained and re-painted late this summer,
early fall so that is done now as well so we're trying to kind of keep up with those types
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
of items as well. As you can see a few customers did think that the fees were high, but
that, I really didn't hear a lot of those types of comments since we've implemented a two
tier system. I can honestly tell you what's happening is, no matter what the reservation
is, everybody seems to have a friend or a resident or somebody involved in the picnic that
lives in Chanhassen so, so we kind of try to keep up with that and if it' s an out of town
business, you certainly charge them the out of town rate with that but it seemed like a lot
of picnics that we're doing are family reunions and/or family get together's of some kind.
Graduations, that sort of thing so people like the privacy of our shelters, at Lake Susan in
particular. They can kind of be off by themselves. Also the picnic shelter at Lake Ann,
they really do like. It's kind of tucked away. We kind of elevated a little bit off the
general beach traffic going down to the beach, so that was nice and people really liked
the beauty of our parks. Really felt that they were kind of up north and a lot of locations
as being close to the lake and have a lot of things to do. It was really, you know we
really do have a nice park system with nice picnic facilities so, and we're pretty much
steady eddy with our numbers and participation and also of our revenue.
Stolar: Alright, thanks. Steve, any questions?
Scharfenberg: No questions.
Stolar: Jack? Paula?
Atkins: Are a lot of them repeat customers?
Ruegemer: They are. Yeah. Yep, a lot of them are. I'd say probably 70 percent. In
some cases higher.
Stolar: Do the, I'm sorry Paula, you had a question? I noticed you talked about the
check the website for availability. Can they also reserve on the web site yet?
Ruegemer: We're, with the new program, software program that we have, we can
eventually move to that. We can currently, they can view it. Well, we have the
capability of customers viewing the availability of that information on line. We do not
have that up and going yet. But it's something that we certainly have talked about at the
stafflevel and to do that. I'm hesitant about making reservations on line just for a
number of reasons, but it certainly has helped to have information on line for people to
check it out and I'd say probably 80, I would say 80 percent of the people had that
information prior to them calling me. So they knew prices and that was helpful. It was.
Stolar: Do you find logging the calls of value? I mean I know we asked for it.
Ruegemer: Logging the calls?
Stolar: Yeah. Just tracking them. Was that a pain? Is it easy?
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Ruegemer: It's not extremely tedious, no. I mean it's, I mean I guess what we're trying
to do is present that information to you guys if you're trying to track trends or certain
patterns. You know if it' s busier on weekends or certain, earlier in the summer with
graduation parties, that sort of thing. If you would like to have the information, it's not a
problem to provide it.
Stolar: Because one of, where I was going with this, I think one of the reasons we asked
about tracking originally was to see the impact of the different tier... or any type of
logging of what the system can actually do for you. It can actually track to see what
dates they're looking, what prices they're looking at, things like that so you might be able
to.
Ruegemer: I haven't looked into that kind of function of the program but that may be an
option to do.
Stolar: And then there's also the question of whether it's even of value. In general.
Have we made any insights from it since we were the ones that asked you to do it, so I'll
leave it to you to tell us when you think it becomes a pain versus value equation. But it
seems like, I was glad we did it now because it helped us, but it seems like the two tier,
you know Paula and Jack, you guys were there. It didn't seem like two tier has an
impact.
Ruegemer: It has not.
Stolar: So that's what we wanted to know.
Ruegemer: We're not getting the high buck non-resident business ones like we thought
we might as far as that goes but we're making it up in a lot of resident reservations. We
still get you know a handful of non-resident business ones over $300 reservations, but
those are quite a bit of large corporations that are coming in. And to some degree I had to
turn away a lot of, you know on the Target Corporations wanted to come in here that
have thousands of people and you're talking about capacity, we don't have it so, but our's
are still kind of the 70 to 150-ish range for picnics and we can accommodate that just
fine. Some people have asked for kitchen facilities but we don't and that's okay, because
a high percentage of people are catering or bringing their own food anyway so. Crock
pots and.
Stolar: Thanks. No questions or comments? Thanks for the report.
Ruegemer: If you guys have any comments or concerns, want to see something done
differently next year, just let me know and we can implement.
Stolar: Jack, do you have any?
Spizale: No.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Stolar: Okay. Let's move onto the Halloween party.
2004 HALLOWEEN PARTY.
Ruegemer: Thank you. I know Corey has talked to a number of the commissioners for
volunteers. If anybody needs a costume, I have the costume inventory sheet right here
for your review. So if anybody would like that.
Hoffman: Some winners in there.
Stolar: Did Corey call this past week for volunteers? Did Corey call for volunteers?
Ruegemer: Did he call you?
Stolar: Who did he call of the commission members for volunteering?
Atkins: He called me.
Ruegemer: I know that, I told him that you were out of, from the last meeting so that
might be the reason why he didn't call you. And Jack, you're on. Steve, you're on.
Scharfenberg: Pizza at 5:00.
Stolar: Okay, that's what I needed to know.
Ruegemer: But all flyers have been distributed and Corey's been working on all the
details of the event and we've purchased over 15,000 pieces of candy yesterday at Target
and did all that and picked up a few things here and there and he's just been real busy
with that. We have the Rec Center staff on duty for Saturday night and Corey's been
working real hard with volunteers and getting everybody all lined up.
Stolar: Do you have the, who is it, the KEY Club again?
Ruegemer: The Key Club I think will be a part of that again. And Fred and Judy Prinze
haven't missed a Halloween Party in a number of years and he just, his only request is he
likes Snicker bars so we buy Snicker bars for Fred. And they set up all the cider and the
cookies and all that and Judy his wife so it works out real good for us. Expectations,
probably roughly 800, kids with parents and 1,000-ish. Corey did take it down a half an
hour to 5:30, or 5:30 to 7:30 I believe this year versus to 8:00 so, which I think will be
fine. That's what it used to be and then he expanded it to 8: 00 . You spend the last half
hour just like ghostville. No pun intended but, that was pretty good. No pun intended.
But that's pretty much it.
Stolar: Should we call this question to order here.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Ruegemer: But that's it so if you have volunteered, we do start at 5:30 so you want to
come a little early and have some pizza and kind of hang out a little bit and regroup and
get ready for the event. Come out to the Rec Center about 5:00, a little bit before
Saturday night. We're all set to go.
Stolar: Great, thanks.
ANNUAL TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY.
Ruegemer: Yep, just an FYI. Just so you can get the date on your calendars so to speak
with the holiday tree lighting. I'll have it again down at the, our new City Center Park
down here which worked out really nice for us last year. For that. The event will be
roughly from 5:00 to 6:00 with the tree going, being lit at about 5:15 so. Chamber's
involved again with that and Santa will be here and it's just kind of a fun event. Get
people involved and it seems like it's been growing every year and I want to say we had
around over 200 people here by last year for the event so, it's a nice event.
Stolar: Okay, questions.
Hoffman: Santa's helper was asking about that today at the Chamber.
Ruegemer: Nancy?
Hoffman: No, Brian. Oh. Wondering ifhe needed.
Ruegemer: He will be contacted.
Spizale: Jerry, do we just call Corey to tell him what costume we want if we want a
costume?
Ruegemer: Yeah, you can write it down. You can write it down and then you can run up
tonight, I can try to find it or bring it with. You can tell me which one you're thinking
about and I can probably match you for size. Some of them are.
Hoffman: Write down description is the easiest way. . . will not be placed at Carver
Beach. That was the petition. The port-a-potty petition. You guys ever receive that? No
portable toilet. Portable toilet is over flowing. No portable toilet at Rice Marsh. Dirty
portable toilet. Dirty portable bathroom by ballfields. Was our biggest complaint of the
year. We've asked the council to bring $5,000 of that funding back. In 2002 we invested
$26,000 in portable toilets. 2003, $20,000 and this year $15,000 so we asked to back to
$20,000 in 2005. Bicycle almost ran her over on trails. She wants bikes banned from the
trails. This is an interesting one. Bluebirds in bad location. They're next to water. The
complainant believes that the baby bluebird will fly out and drown. Dock under water.
First phone call, they're requesting the city please put up our ordinance sign. Second was
regarding dog feces in her yard. That's Kerber Boulevard. City discriminates against
dog owners by not letting dogs run in parks and making owners clean up after their dogs.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Another complaint of dogs on beach. It looks like, no off leash area. Dog on beach.
Dog on beach. Torn flag on downtown light pole. Why doesn't the city do something
about geese in the parks. They make a mess just like dogs. No goose removal.
Lifeguards were impolite. That's lifeguard, singular. They're mowing parks when
they're wet. That was in the spring. Remember last spring.
Stolar: What'd the lifeguard do?
Hoffman: Just taking her role over zealously as guardian of the beach and making
residents upset. I'm the boss here. ... excessive speeds of the lawn crew driving through
the parking area of the Chan Rec Center. Pot holes in Lake Ann Park. Slipped on the
fishing pier at Lake Susan. Injured their back. People want the update, this person wants
the cardio equipment at the Rec Center updated.
Stolar: Aren't we doing something there?
Hoffman: For next year.
Stolar: That's what I thought.
Hoffman: Bobcat spilled some rock on the sidewalk at Meadow Green Park. A 12 year
old took a spill. He came in and saw us in person. And we apologized and... Skate
boarders in the City Center Park. Skateboarding in City Center Park. Flower damage in
the... Tree trimming trucks driving on trail. That was called in out at Longacres
neighborhood. Debris on trail at Lake Ann. There's somebody that's fallen two times on
the trail due to flooding and algae. That's a problem in the winter as well. That's on
Highway 7 on the trail. There's some drainage problems there. Wet trail at Rice Marsh
Lake. Wet trail at Highway 7. Again those were all last spring. It rained and rained and
rained and rained, and you get these drainage areas, it's a problem. Sand and gravel on
trail on South Highway 101. Next extra trash can at Power Hill. Trees are being cut
down on park property in the conservation easement. Dead or old trees. High weeds.
Canadian thistle. Noxious weeds. Would like to see the city ordinance change that
would allow wine served in parks. That came from Matthew Myers by phone and he also
sent an e-mail, why is wine not allowed in city parks.
Stolar: What is the ruling on that? That if someone, under no circumstance or do they
have to get a special permit like if a group wanted to do it?
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS.
Hoffman: Currently by city ordinance it is not permitted. We have to get a special
permit from the City Council. Compliments. Ballfields are wonderful with great grass
and mounds. The Easter Egg candy hunt was the most organized, fun event they've ever
attended. Downtown flowers. Love the flowers in the park side. Love the flowers near
the fire station. Park looks great in general at Lake Ann. Love the art at Chan Rec
Center. She took the report and it was by someone else but the mayor caught that...
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Susan reported it and took the report so. Best soccer fields in the state at Lake Ann Park
reported by Mankato State Soccer in person. Trail between Lake Ann and Greenwood
Shores is a big improvement. Former Park Commissioner Jim Manders. So that gives
you a taste for the kind of calls that staff takes throughout the year. It's not a complete
inventory by any imagination but it just gives you a flavor for the type of things that we
hear from our residents.
Stolar: On the feedback theme, we were talking potentially if we do another booth at the
business fair, the 4th of July, to have a structured survey versus an open ended survey. Is
that something we'd be interested in doing?
Hoffman: Sure, you bet.
Stolar: Plus maybe, towards the beginning of the calendar year, put a little something
together to work with. Could you kind of draft one of those?
Hoffman: Yet bet. And working off of something like this kind of helps you to get to
that point.
Stolar: Exactly. What are the themes so I don't know if we want to apply that for maybe
a January agenda item to get, should City Council want it, or at least yeah, see what we're
looking at. I think that goes along with what their theme, that they wanted us to start
prioritizing and see what things, citizens really want to do. This is good. Any questions
for Todd, from feedback. Okay. Any other reports?
Hoffman: Something to look forward to as well on a future agenda. Most likely in
November is I am dealing with the memorial donations and memorial naming and
specifically a policy concerning those... and a lot of confusion over the years off and on,
on memorial donations and naming of things as memorials so the city manager and the
mayor has asked that we investigate that.
Stolar: Okay.
Spizale: What's in place now? Anything?
Hoffman: We take memorials on a case by case basis.
Stolar: Any other? Seeing none, commission member committee reports.
COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORT.
Stolar: We only have one committee right now which is the dog park one. Have they
had a chance to group yet?
Spizale: No.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Stolar: Okay.
Hoffman: Just FYI. Carver County is hugely into this dog park conversation right now.
They have people by the dozens coming to their board meetings and so it's a big, big
issue right now in the county side of the government.
Scharfenberg: Pro or con?
Hoffman: Both.
Stolar: So I'm sure a lot of people asking to just free up that one area of the park for
leash free.
Hoffman: As that momentum has continued, there's been the other people that have now
materialized and said, no. It should not be the case so both sides running on the issue
now.
Stolar: Okay.
Scharfenberg: What are their arguments for against this?
Hoffman: Not all people like dogs and people with young children don't like to be met
on the trails with dogs that are offleash. Safety concerns. Fear.
Stolar: I think if we can get the group to meet at some point before the end of the year,
maybe just one initial meeting. I'm trying to remember, Jack you're on it. Ann was on
it. Who else was?
Dillon: Tom.
Stolar: But yeah, just maybe if you could get an update to us again maybe before our
January meeting. And actually speaking of which, this is a real heads up. I know it's a
couple months away but December we're going to have an earlier meeting, just to remind
everybody in the month, right. And then we also try to do it earlier in the evening so just
kind of heads up that we try to make it a earlier meeting, shorter meeting and then get
together off meeting as a group.
Dillon: What date is that going to be?
Hoffman: The 15th. Tuesday.
Ruegemer: I think it's the second Tuesday, isn't it?
Hoffman: That'd be the third Tuesday.
Spizale: I've got a calendar.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Hoffman: The 14th, the second Tuesday.
Stolar: So just a quick heads up that that will be the 14th.
ADMINISTRA TIVE PACKET.
Stolar: Any questions on the administrative section? Then thank you Todd for including
the comprehensive plan.
Hoffman: You're welcome. Something to note that came out of the joint meeting with
the City Council is the discussion concerning Herman Field Park. If you flip to the first
page, the agreement when Herman Field Park was accepted as a donation is that for any
reason the City of Chanhassen at any time elects to use the land for other than these
purposes, title to said parcel to Carver County for inclusion within the boundary of Lake
Minnewashta Regional Park.
Stolar: Which is the question that Council person Ayotte asked what we could do with
that since it's not used. Would Carver, well I guess they don't have the cash. I was
going to say, would they take this in lieu of our funding for the dog park but they really
the need the cash.
Hoffman: They'd probably take it but I don't think they're going to give us anything for
it.
Stolar: Yeah. Other questions.
Spizale: Does anybody else, regarding the dog park, does anybody else said that, donated
any money? Any other communities.
Hoffman: Not that I'm aware of. I think it's too removed for those communities to, you
know times are tough, to give a donation to a county system that's in another city so. I'm
unsure of what the final outcome will be at this point but I know the County is very in
depth. It's one of their biggest discussion items right now.
Stolar: And I think from our participation from this sub-committee, what we want to
understand is what are some various alternatives. What are the pros and cons of those,
you know using our own land. Doing a minimalized approach with Carver County.
Hoffman: If you ever get by the front of Lake Ann Park on the frontage road you can see
that the two parking lots just inside Lake Ann are the unofficial dog park for the city of
Chanhassen and that's where the dogs are there on a most consistent basis.
Ruegemer: And the new soccer field.
Hoffman: Extra parking spots for dog owners. In our park system.
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Park and Rec Commission - October 26, 2004
Stolar: Do they let them go off leash there or do they just.
Hoffman: Oh sure. They're offleash. Playing Frisbee. They're on the ballfields. Some
people keep them on leash. Some people run them up and down the driveway, like they
do at Minnewashta. That was a very popular thing to do.
Stolar: Any other questions or comments? Seeing none, do I have a motion for
adjournment?
Atkins moved, Spizale seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the
motion carried unanimously. The Park and Recreation Commission meeting was
adjourned.
Submitted by Todd Hoffman
Park and Rec Director
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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