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PRC 2018 02 27CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 27, 2018 At 6:30 p.m. the commission interviewed applicants for the Park and Recreation Commission. Chairman Scharfenberg called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve Scharfenberg, Cole Kelly, Rick Echternacht, Jennifer Hougham, Karl Tsuchiya, Meredith Petouvis, Lauren Dale and Grant Schaeferle. Jim Boettcher arrived late for the meeting. STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Superintendent; and Katie Matthews, Recreation Supervisor PUBLIC PRESENT: Scott Wosje 7125 Northwood Court APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Scharfenberg: So we have any changes to the agenda? Hoffman: Chair Scharfenberg I recommend we add a recommendation to the City Council concerning your candidate interviews. Scharfenberg: Okay so we’ll put that as number 2 under new business. Any other changes to the agenda? Okay. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS. Scharfenberg: Okay, no public announcements tonight. Hoffman: Other than the ice rinks are borrowed time so skate the next couple of days. VISITOR PRSENTATIONS. Scharfenberg: Do we have any visitor presentations tonight? Scott Wosje: I do. Scharfenberg: Step up. State your name and your address please. Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 2 Scott Wosje: Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity. Scott Wosje. Last name’s W-o-s- j-e. 7125 Northwood Court, Chanhassen. Here tonight to put on the radar, not that it’s not already on the radar, mountain bike trails within Chanhassen. I live in the Longacres neighborhood. There’s a number of dads and moms too that are passionate about mountain biking and they do Mammoth. Some trails back there are private. To my knowledge there’s nothing in Chanhassen that would allow us to do mountain biking so we’re always having to put our bikes on our car racks and go somewhere so I’m also, so myself, I’m also President of the Association which means I’m just the sucker that says no I won’t volunteer. I always do so the Longacres Association throw their name in the hat as far as being interested. Also have a son on the Chanhassen Mountain Bike Team that, the Mountain Bike Team is also looking for a place and I feel probably the most, in addition to wanting a place for myself and my family to go mountain biking, I probably feel most passionately about the kids because it’s a club sport so I get struck between going to the Superintendent Clint who is doing a marvelous job and saying help us with this but it’s a club sport. It’s not technically an official sport so they have to raise their own money and it’s, the school gives them the opportunity to do it but it’s not like one of those official sanctioned sports like football or something that they get money for and is a higher level. The thing that’s important about mountain biking is, at least in the high school level is nobody gets cut so you can have the most unathletic kid out there that has no friends and he’s out there on a mountain bike and they’re part of the team so mountain biking is really important for the kids as well so it’s been proven and I’m happy to do a presentation. I’m happy to throw it to the commission on what can I do that it generates revenue if you do have a mountain bike place for people to come to. Spend some money. Mountain bike so tying it into some type of revenue generation for local businesses so I would ask that you consider it. There’s, I’ve talked to MnDOT about limited public use over off 212. They’ve got some turn back land there and not that the City has any money to buy land. I understand that and I wouldn’t ask that but they are open if we found the right area or the park commission was open to identifying the right area off of 212 where they have excess right-of-way land and they have done it in Mankato for a mountain bike trail. I met with them a couple weeks ago to discuss it so want to present it. Not present it but present the concept. Ask the council, the commission excuse me, to take it under consideration and maybe bubble it up in any way we can for the residents of Chanhassen. Scharfenberg: So Scott where does the current club go to to train mainly around here? Scott Wosje: They go to various places. Eagan, what is the mountain bike. Thank you. Lebanon Hills in Eagan. The Minnesota River Valley trails. They do go behind Mammoth a little bit but they’re cautious because so much of that land back there is private land so they’re trying to be careful with the trails. They don’t want to use it and get in trouble. They have used it a little bit and then the park that’s over behind Mammoth that’s actually on Chaska property they’ve used as well so they did have one practice on the school, high school land but it didn’t work out very well. It was just flat and just didn’t do anything for them so they tend to travel quite a bit quite honestly. We’re not the only ones that are struggling with it. Shakopee is saying can you get something between us and Shakopee so they can use it too so it’s other people Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 3 are asking. The challenge with, over behind Mammoth is they’re also going on streets at times so it’s not probably the most safest thing quite honestly. Tsuchiya: What kind of terrain are you looking for and I guess you’re probably looking at a circuit too so length of circuit. Scott Wosje: You know ideally 3 miles is a nice length if we can get it. It’s what’s called single track ideally so it’s single file. In fact I thought about bringing pictures because so many people think of mountain biking as X Games and things like that where you’re doing BMX type stuff when the reality is you’re going through a trail and sometimes the trails are 12 inches wide and it’s a dirt path and sometimes it’s a little more open but typically it’s a 3 mile trail that’s through different types of terrain. It’s nice to go through a wooded area a little bit and then come out and have more of a field or almost, not marsh but rougher setting if you will. And then their races typically will be like that. They’ll come out and do a big field where all the spectators can see them and then they’ll go back into the woods and towards different terrain. They go down to Mankato quite a bit and do the Mount Kato ski. There’s a trail set up there as well. Tsuchiya: So it doesn’t sound too dissimilar from cross country running in a certain way. Scott Wosje: It’s not. I mean cross country running probably wouldn’t go through the woods as much. Tsuchiya: True, yeah. Scott Wosje: But you’re right, it would be somewhat similar and very natural. I mean the trails, we’ve got enough volunteers to be able to help build the trail. It’s just we have to find the land for it. Tsuchiya: Okay, thank you. Scharfenberg: Anybody else have any other questions for Scott? Kelly: Yes, Scott I do. I thought I read somewhere where the Carver County parks was looking into doing something for this. Have you approached them and what is their response been? Scott Wosje: Well Mr. Walsh, and Mr. Kelly. I’ve talked to Mr. Walsh and I’m hopeful of that. My perspective of that is they believe, they as a county believes that it’s important and part of their future but it’s not part of their near term future. I think it could be baked into their master plan at some point. I think Minnewashta would be a possible consideration and maybe you can Mr. Hoffman, maybe you can echo. I’ve only talked to him a couple times so I do know that it’s on their radar and they meet with other agencies to discuss it but the specifics behind it or how far along it is, I’m happy to research it but I can’t tell you factually. Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 4 Kelly: Well I can call Marty and ask him about it. Scott Wosje: Yeah that would be awesome. Hoffman: It’s currently not in the master plan for Lake Minnewashta but they’re in their 2040 master plan process, just as the City is and so this is the time to start the conversation and see if there’s a space in the alignment for it. The terrain that’s being discussed is present at Lake Minnewashta but it’s also being utilized for other trail systems also at the present time so does it fit and then will it go into the master plan and then after that who funds it. Scott Wosje: We have looked at other opportunities. Crown College, we approached them. They have a lot of land and they have cross country skiing and running but they did want us touching with mountain biking there more coveted cross country trails. Echternacht: Scott is the club both Chaska and Chan combined or is it? Scott Wosje: Right now it is. You have to have 10 or more teammates to have your own. We see at some point they will be separate as Chaska gets to have a few more students on their team and then they will have to separate and be separate teams but as of now because Chaska doesn’t have enough the Chan/Chaska has one combined team. Echternacht: Okay. Tsuchiya: What season is the club operating in? Fall and spring? Scott Wosje: They start practicing, they probably get a little serious about practicing after July 4th. Tsuchiya: Oh, okay. Scott Wosje: And their last race, it’s pretty chilly, is at the end of October. Maybe end of October for sure. Tsuchiya: It’s only cold for the spectators right? Scott Wosje: That’s the biggest problem, yeah you are correct. You’re bundling up pretty good but yeah, so it’s the, like a September-October as far as school year time. It’s those couple months but they do practice as a team yeah usually after July 4th. Tsuchiya: Okay. What kind of, probably minimal but the environmental impact or I guess erosion impact does mountain biking typically have on terrain? Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 5 Scott Wosje: The biggest erosion impact that I see is actually at the bottom and actually at the top. You’ll have trails, if you have the trail come right up to the top you’ll see that erosion will start at the top and come so a lot of times you’ll not come quite to the top. You’ll come to the sides so you’re not eroding from the top down and it stays much more stable. And then on the bottom if it’s too wet we tend to put in rock or some type of bridging to go across to eliminate erosion on the bottom because that’s where you get all the runoff. Kelly: Scott once there’s two teams for each high school is the vision that they’d share the same place to practice and have meets? Scott Wosje: I would think that would be the case. I’m not going to speak for matter of factly but. Kelly: Right. Scott Wosje: But I can’t see why it wouldn’t be the case unless somehow Chanhassen High School could get Chaska to put something in possibly. Kelly: Okay, thank you Scott. Scott Wosje: Yeah. Scharfenberg: Any other questions for Scott? Scott thanks for coming to the commission and we’ve I think had one presentation in the past. Scott Wosje: Oh okay. Scharfenberg: Regarding mountain biking so. Scott Wosje: Can I ask how recent that was? Scharfenberg: I think within the last 2 years. They were interested at the time at the property down, that’s being developed now south of Lyman. Between Lyman and 212, the new development down there. Scott Wosje: Okay. Scharfenberg: They were talking about wanting potential, the potential of putting something in that wooded area back there. That was kind of peaked their interest when that was being developed. Scott Wosje: But that kind of faded off. Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 6 Scharfenberg: Yeah. Scott Wosje: Yeah. Kelly: I think we had a couple coaches come in and talk to us. Scott Wosje: Okay. Kelly: It’d be right about 2 years ago yeah. Scott Wosje: Okay. Thank you. Appreciate the time. Scharfenberg: Thank you. Alright, next item of business is approval of the minutes. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Echternacht moved, Hougham seconded to approve the verbatim and summary Minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated January 23, 2018 as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 8 to 0. DETERMINE DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR APRIL 9, 2018 JOINT MEETING WITH CITY COUNCIL. Hoffman: Thank you Chair Scharfenberg, members of the commission. So annually you meet with the City Council on one occasion. Typically in a joint session. That will occur on Monday, April 9th starting at 6:00 p.m. That’s the current schedule so to facilitate that conversation it’s always best to at least forward some conversation topics that you know will be brought up by the commission that evening so that council can have some forewarning of what the conversation will be like and so that’s our task this evening as a commission to identify what those topics would be. I’ll format those into a memorandum form and then send those off to the City Manager. Scharfenberg: Thank you Todd. So we’ll open that up to discussion. Todd did send around or attached to our packet was the memo from last year in terms of the discussion. What items would the commission like to bring forth for that meeting in April? Kelly: Well you know I think we some of the things we’ve accomplished we’d talk about first and then move on quickly to what we see going forward and of course we’re going to get the Lake Ann, Lake Susan excuse me, lights which both we and the City Council were very involved in and they know that but I think we need to show them what we’ve done for the year. And then you know we can mention Lake Ann but until a developer really brings anything, I mean we know it’s out there and we’re ready to you know have fun with that and figure out where to go with it but until somebody steps forward with a plan and tries to buy it I don’t think there’s a whole lot to talk about other than you know we’d love to have a trail around there. People want Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 7 open space but there’s going to be a lot of debate going on so I mean we can mention Lake Ann. And then I think we need to talk about how we’re going to fund the older parks and that’s kind of what I think one of the next steps is, you know we have at least 2 parks that should be completely refurbished right now and city staff has put together a plan for refurbishing the parks over what, the next 20 years Todd? Hoffman: Correct. Kelly: And have they seen that yet or should we bring that to the joint meeting? The plan. Hoffman: Yeah they’ve seen it. I think it’s a good conversation because it’s being talked about as a key financial strategy this year for the council to actually identify the funding source for the park replacement schedule. Kelly: Okay, and then we’ll be able to have a copy of it on our computer at the same time. And then kind of look at, you know I don’t think we have a whole lot going on in our CIP right now so we have to look at what developments are, you know and this is maybe city staff and Todd tell us what developments are going on and what kind of monies we’re expecting to see coming in this year to know where can we move forward. I think a sport court was put in. I can’t remember if that’s 2019 or 2020. We juggled some stuff around and I haven’t looked at the CIP that closely recently but I think those are kind of the big issues that we need to talk to, have a joint meeting with them. Scharfenberg: Okay, anybody else? I would like to put forward at least some discussion points with them on Bandimere just about finishing Bandimere. I know we’ve had those discussions with them in the past and you know there’s been a couple of items, at least the sport court and a shelter, and even if it’s not a large shelter, talk to them a little bit about that because I think there needs to be. I mean it’s the only park now that doesn’t have a shelter and so you know on some level if you want a shelter in a larger park it’s going to cost money. We don’t necessarily have the money in the CIP to do that and do you wrap that into something with the sport court and do a referendum to finish off Bandimere or finish off Bandimere and something else. I mean I think you could build some interest around that to complete Bandimere and that so I’d like to talk to them about their thoughts about that. That doesn’t mean necessarily lighting Bandimere as part of that. I don’t think there’s going to be a push necessarily to do that in light of Lake Susan you know at least for ballfield purposes to light those other ballfields out there. I’m assuming soccer would probably like us to do that to some extent to increase capacity with respect to soccer. But I would like to include a discussion at least about Bandimere as part of that. Kelly: Yeah, now’s the time. Here’s kind of my thoughts is the big push this year is going to be trying to get funding for the parks. The old parks and then I was thinking we’re not going to get a referendum out of them this year but next year is when we make the push but to plant the seed is probably a good thing. Because it’s either a referendum or they bond and until we get the Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 8 funding sorted out for what we need I don’t see them bonding or doing a referendum but to put the seed in is probably a good idea. Scharfenberg: Todd can you share with us at least as a commission you know so everyone’s kind of maybe on the same board regarding, and the same level playing field in terms of this funding issue for the parks because they’ve had some discussions about options. Could you share with us kind of what those discussions have been to date? Hoffman: I sure can. So the goal is implement park replacement schedule and the action is initiate funding of an annual park equipment replacement schedule to efficiently address aged and deteriorated park equipment and infrastructure. You can see it ranked 1.6 so it’s fairly high on their key financial strategies and what they want to do is find cash on an annual basis. Right now the conversation has been around a quarter of a million on an annual basis and then set a schedule which we currently have. We have the overall schedule. Now once it turns into a financing tool that will be refined and actually identified because the 250 you know may not equate to two playgrounds or three playgrounds. You’re going to have to decide on a number and that 250 may go up or down depending on which particular projects are being financed on an annual basis. So the funding options are a variety. Primarily right now I think what they’re looking at is that, potentially that excess cash that was utilized for the park shelters and so that project, park shelters are done in 2018. This is the last year of the park shelter initiative and what that was funded with was the excess cash at the end of the year so you know you have $12 million dollar budget. $11 ½ million dollar budget. There’s a little extra cash left over at the end of the year and they financed those shelters with that cash. They’re also taking a look at a franchise fee for roads and if you take franchise money instead of levied money you’d have some additional cash that you could utilize there and so that’s an option as well. So that’s a discussion that the council will be having with staff and our finance group will be involved in that. Our administrative group and so they haven’t scheduled that conversation yet but it’s going to be taking place here sometime I would say around mid-year. Scharfenberg: So just to kind of, you know just kind of talking this through a little bit. What would you know, what would be our discussion point with them? I mean obviously we would like to see something done along those lines that we do have parks that are in need to repair and updating. Don’t we have to necessarily wait for them to decide what the funding source is before we can really tackle that? Hoffman: Yeah. I would offer to the council that you understand it’s on their key financial strategy. You support it and then let them know that you’re available if they want assistance. So sometimes when they’re developing these programs they may say okay well let’s see, let’s have the park commission develop the first 5 year plan. Let’s send it back to them so we want to see what they would finance and so just offer some assistance. Something that then they could say you know park commission you’re familiar with all the different projects that we have slated. What do you feel would be the first ones to go? Where would you want to schedule them on a Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 9 yearly basis? And then perhaps just offer up any other assistance that they may have and so I think it’s scheduled and you just want to offer your support. Scharfenberg: Okay, thank you. Anybody else have any other discussions that they want to have regarding that meeting? Todd, would you send around to us that memo once it’s done so that if anybody has any changes or they want to put something in. Hoffman: I will. Scharfenberg: Okay, thank you. Hoffman: Be happy to. Thank you. RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL FOR COMMISSIONERS. Scharfenberg: Earlier this evening we had 3 individuals come in and interview with the commission for the 2 openings that we have. That are present. After our meeting with those individuals we ranked the individuals that we would like to recommend going forward to City Council and the recommendation from the commission was to rank as follows: Number one would be Jim Boettcher. Number two would be Bethany Collins. Number three was Adam Smith and number four was Joseph Scanlon. So we would make that recommendation to council. Hoffman: Can we ask for a motion and a second please in an approval. Scharfenberg: Can I get a motion for recommendations to council for new commissioners? Kelly: I’ll make a motion that we recommend as in the following order as Steve already said. I won’t repeat it. That we forward it to the City Council for their appointment making. Scharfenberg: Okay we have a motion. Do I have a second? Echternacht: I’ll second it. Scharfenberg: We have a motion and a second. Kelly moved, Echternacht seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommends that the City Council use their ranking for the following commission applicants: 1. Jim Boettcher 2. Bethany Collins 3. Adam Smith Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 10 4. Joseph Scanlon All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 8 to 0. REPORTS: 2018 FEBRUARY FESTIVAL EVALUATION. Scharfenberg: Katie is going to report to us on Feb Fest. Matthews: Thank you Chair Scharfenberg and commission. I just want to say that the 25th Annual February Festival was held on the first Saturday in February which was the 3rd from noon to 3:00 at Lake Ann and it estimated over 1,000 people were there. Overall I think it was a great event. We had a good turnout. The snow made it interesting and fun and had a lot of really cool pictures with it and I just want to thank you know everybody who’s involved in this. This is a big event for the community and a lot of people put forward through it. The Rotary is a huge event sponsor. The Boy Scouts are a sponsor and then we have lots of volunteers that come. I know some of you guys made it out there so I just really appreciate that and it wouldn’t kind of turn out the way it does if we didn’t have everybody helping. So the Rotary Club of Chanhassen, they coordinated the food and the beverage sale again so Culver’s was there and then they had a concession inside the large tent with just some snacks and some beverages, both adult and non- adult beverages. We had the bonfires so it seemed to be a huge hit. People like using them especially when it was colder winter days and they have S’mores kits that they can buy from the Boy Scouts which are always fun. The Boy Scouts also sell bait on site. Live bait so that’s good for fishermen and fisherwomen who are coming. We also have the skating rink which is a popular free event. This year we had the skating rink and the loop and then for the past 2 years Carver County has brought their kick sleds which go right onto the skating rinks which are another really fun event that we could have on so the kick sled is like the back side of a dog sled so either one person can, you can kind of step on it and scoot along or one person can sit and you can kind of scoot that person so those are always really fun and we’ve enjoyed having Carver County there. We had the wagon rides again. Those are always another free fun event that everybody looks forward to. The wagon rides go down by Greenwood Shores and then they come back. For the second year we’ve had the fat tire bike demonstrations by Michael Cycles so those are kind of right when you come in and those are really fun winter activity that is picking up in popularity so it’s great to go there and try them out and ride them out on the lake. Ride them out on the land and just see how they work in the snow. We also had the medallion hunt this year and I think this was as far as a medallion hunt has ever gone. Definitely have learned more about medallion hunting this year than anything before so we’re just kind of taking everything we’ve learned this year and definitely going to kind of just implement it and we’re always looking to improve everything so that is one thing we are going to work on for next year. The ice fishing contest. So there were 662 fishing tickets sold and this was probably, if you were there or you saw any pictures of them the biggest fish we’ve ever caught. The top 11 were all northerns and then there were some really good size crappies and sun fish and I don’t think any perch landed on the board which is really unusual but you know that’s what kind of keeps us going is all the big fish and the excitement going. Let’s see here. So we had door prizes again Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 11 which are always a hit because you don’t have to have a fishing ticket to win a door prize. You can just come and hang out and they’re free and everybody gets one. And once again if you have, oh. New this year, I don’t think we had it on there, we had a field goal kick and a touchdown toss as our Super Bowl was in Minnesota so we had some beams and a lot of people really enjoyed that. We teamed up with the Rotary for that event. Kari White helped put that on. And I think I also missed the hole drillers. The Rotary is always a huge part of the hole drilling. They come out in the morning and they drill over 1,000 holes and this year the ice was 24 inches deep in some areas so they definitely got a workout so you know we just really appreciate them because that is a huge task and with lots of people it makes it slightly easier. The 24 inches though did not help. Was good for everything else though. Hoffman: Last year was 11. It was real easy. Matthews: Yeah that is a lot of work. I went over this kind of fast so if you have any questions or need me to go over anything let me know but I just want to say it was a great event again. We had lots of help and we really appreciate it and we’re always looking you know onto the 26th year. Looking forward to it. Hoffman: And we want your ideas. Scharfenberg: Any comments for Katie? Kelly: So Katie I got a question for you. What did you salt the water with to get all the fish to bite like that? Matthews: I don’t know but we’re doing it exactly the same next year. Kelly: With the…Jerry and I didn’t have any chance to breathe practically. There were lines up in front of us to weigh the fish. It was really kind of exciting. Matthews: It was. Kelly: And then the boy scouts got involved and said we’ll get rid of the fish for you so that boy was having a lot of fun. Matthews: That’s true and we really, we’ve had the same 3 people. We have like a headquarters and so that’s where all the fish results. Jerry was writing them. Commissioner Kelly was recording them and weighing them and so all those fish results go back into the main headquarters and we’ve had the same 3 people there last year. We’ve been updating the top 10 fish just to help kind of keep people interested in, or you know kind of guessing where they’re going to be and seeing those. It’s a lot easier to do that more efficiently than it is to do all 50, especially with the giant fish we got this year coming in at all different times but they, so we’ve had the same 3 people and they’ve really got it down to a system so they were just tremendous Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 12 help and with keeping things updated to try to help keep the lines down so you know what the bottom fish was so we knew if it was you know under a certain size we weren’t even going to weigh it just to try to get people through faster. Echternacht: Katie this year compared to last year do you know the number of tickets sold last year versus this year and then the same how many fish we caught last year versus this year? Matthews: So last year we had in the 700’s. I want to say 750 tickets sold. Fishing tickets sold. And last year the fish were a lot smaller. I don’t know the exact number of them but I want to say they were roughly the same. They were busy last year it’s just this year we were bigger and last year, I don’t know for those of you who were there, it was about 40 degrees last year and so we were, I think sometimes that has to do with the weather too. Sometimes not so much. It really was a nice day. It was just snowing so but from 40 to what it was this year it’s a little bit of a difference. Kelly: Yeah I don’t know if it was 3, 4 or 5 years ago but I remember when only 49 fish were caught and we had to do the raffle thing so watching, I think we had well over 200 fish brought in. It was really fun to see. Matthews: Yeah. Kelly: It was another great event by the way. Matthews: Thank you, yeah. It is a fun event. Scharfenberg: Karl or Meredith for first timers any comments or anything? Petouvis: Sell socks. Hoffman: Warm socks. Petouvis: Yes. I had on lots of socks but not enough socks. No it was very fun. Samantha and I both had a really good time and Karl and I were hopping. It was fun. Tsuchiya: We were. It was very busy. Petouvis: We’ll have a system for next year. Tsuchiya: We got it down. We know how to pull tickets right down the middle but it was very good. It was a wonderful event. The weather was, I think it was great. It’s Minnesota so I had no complaints. Petouvis: Right. Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 13 Tsuchiya: You know as you’re pointing here you know, make sure people know how to dress appropriately. Matthews: Yeah we get some, we send, you know we ask for a lot of different volunteers and I send it out to a lot of the high schools and I never exactly know how to tell people like, we had some volunteers that were a little chilly so I’m like, you’re going to be on the snow. You’re going to be on the ice you know. Make sure you dress appropriate so it’s always we try to get that message out. Sometimes it’s received. Sometimes it’s not. Tsuchiya: Yeah, absolutely. Matthews: But I don’t have high schoolers so that just might be the way it goes. Scharfenberg: Well I’d say again to staff, Todd, Katie, Jerry, Adam and his crew, just again a wonderful job. Thank you for all of that work. I know it’s a big time commitment that you guys put in. Todd if you’ll express our appreciation to Rotary at your next meeting for all of the work that they do to put on that event. Again it’s just one of those kind of showpieces that we get to showcase our parks and our city and you guys do a wonderful job of doing that and it really shows so thank you again for all that you do in putting that together. I would just ask Katie with the newer items, with the high school with the golf event and with Chick-fil-A. Did they express that they had a positive experience and that they would maybe come back and do it again? Matthews: Yeah so the ice golf event was a DECCA project from one of the high schools. In talking with them they had over 200 people stop by and try to, they had the little ice golf course and then they were taking just free will donations towards, that went towards PROP and they raised $203 in just that event so they were, they were very happy with it and in continuing forward, so this was one of their specific DECCA projects. They were looking for community involvement. They’ve done a few pop up things around for PROP so we’re going to, we’re trying to work on how can we incorporate that again next year because it will be a new group of people if they decide to go on. To go on with this event. Scharfenberg: Okay. Matthews: And then Chick-fil-A I believe they were happy. They worked a lot with the Rotary and Kari White. Just working with Chick-fil-A and some other things are a community event sponsor. They seem to be really eager and willing to help out in the community so I see them being a partner again on some things. Scharfenberg: Good to hear. Thank you. Boettcher: I did notice one thing. This is the first one I’ve missed in 5 or 6 years. Contestant that came in 55th place, I hope that’s not a Brent Carron that we used to know. Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 14 Hoffman: It is. Boettcher: Because I don’t think he’s, I don’t know who baited the hook for him. Hoffman: It is. Boettcher: You might want to check the logistics there. I think there was like one dip and then one pull. Matthews: I know we try to vet them as they come in but he slipped through the cracks. Boettcher: He’s that type of person but glad everybody had fun. I was in Antarctica and I think it was actually warmer there than here so and I couldn’t go fishing down there. Hougham: And Katie I’ve got a few comments. Matthews: Yeah. Hougham: It’s been a few years since I have volunteered at that event and I just felt like something was a little bit different this year. It felt really good. I liked the, I mean the snow helped. That was just really a neat environment to be out in. There just seemed more activity, like more involvement. Like before I feel like people come and they fish and they do their thing and that’s what they do and that’s what it is but this year like with the, with the football stuff going on and the kick sleds, like people were just interacting more and it just felt really neat this year. I tried the fat tire bikes for the first time. They are so awesome. They are so easy to use. It’s just, you get on it and you’re like oh this is going to be so hard because you’re thinking it’s going to be like a regular bike and you sit on there and you just go. Have you talked to that group about partnering at any other kind of event or just in our parks as an option to get people out there? Matthews: No I have not talked to them. They’ve come back the last 2 years with the fat tire bikes because this is our big winter event but I know they do some, they do some rides out of Michael Cycles in Chaska but it would definitely be worth having a conversation to see you know if they’ve done any partnerships anywhere else because I think people, you know once you, you’re more willing to try a fat tire bike than just kind of go buy one so it’s a nice opportunity to get people out on different sizes. Different varieties so. Hougham: Yeah so I mean I really like that they’re there and you can try it out because it’s such a new thing but I just think it would be neat if we could try another event or partner with them to get it in our parks. Matthews: Yeah. Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 15 Hougham: Kind of like our paddleboards seem to be doing well. And also when I’m not on the commission in the future I plan to find the medallion so watch for my name in the future. Matthews: Good. Scharfenberg: The only other suggestion I would have with the, was it Gabe was the DJ? Matthews: Yep. Scharfenberg: Is that if we could, because the snow was coming in on his equipment, set it up somehow if there could be a flap that maybe he could put down or somehow we could change. I know the snow was you know, who knew it was going to start snowing that afternoon and blowing into his equipment. We did the, we pulled the equipment back and that kind of worked but if we could kind of do something for him, just for his equipment so that you know they’ve got a money investment there. Matthews: I actually talked to them because, and just about because this event and something we might be looking forward, or talking about in the future is they actually have a van that they DJ out of so that might solve that problem and it’s new. This year I think they got it for the Super Bowl so it’s like a big, like a van that they can pull up and then pull speakers out of but it was, right. I was like that’s pretty smart so they can just pull right out so that might make an appearance next year. Scharfenberg: Just like Scooby Doo. Alright Katie, Daddy/Daughter Sweetheart Dance. 2018 DADDY/DAUGHTER SWEETHEART DANCE EVALUATION. Matthews: Okay so the Daddy/Daughter Sweetheart Dance was the Friday after Feb Fest which was February 9th and that is at the Chanhassen Rec Center and we had a total of 80 dads and 80 daughters this year and each year we get lots of compliments about this event. Something so fun for the dads and their daughters to come to. New to this year we had Davanni’s of Chanhassen cater it so we had some noodles, lasagna. We also had some applesauce and then we provide the cupcakes and the beverages and that seems to go over well. It’s that fine line of trying to find something that little kids will eat but yet will also fill dads up and Davanni’s worked out great. They were very easy to work with and I definitely recommend them next year. DJ Paul was, he was our DJ for the event and he works out wonderful. He actually comes in a tux and so he is ready to go and he matches right along and he plays great age appropriate music for all the kids and he provides some background music through the dinner time. So we had a few different activities that were offered through the night. We have a candy guess and a heart guess which are fun little games for the girls to play and then we’ve got a raffle for the dads. We also have usually a Valentine themed craft. We have a face painter. We have a photo booth which is really fun. It’s inflatable and then she prints out the pictures right there so you get a cute little Park and Recreation Commission Summary – February 27, 2018 16 photo strip and we also, I think games. Face painter. Photo booth. Dancing. Games. It’s a great night. And that is, you know we just continue to hear great things about it and people, we keep feeding people that come back year after year and we get people that are new every year that really look forward to it so, so it’s a great, fun event. Echternacht: Katie one of the things that came out of the applicant’s for our commission was a mother son event and she was, had noticed the father daughter and thought that would be something that maybe we should look at. Matthews: Yeah absolutely. We can definitely look into that. Scharfenberg: Any other questions for Katie? Thank you Katie. Matthews: Thank you. COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORTS. None. COMMISSION MEMBER PRESENTATIONS. None. ADMINISTRATIVE PACKET. Scharfenberg: Todd anything you want to hit on the administrative packet? Hoffman: Not specifically. Scharfenberg: Okay. Alright do I have a motion to adjourn? Boettcher moved, Echternacht seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 9 to 0. The Park and Recreation Commission meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Rec Director Prepared by Nann Opheim