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PRC 1992 10 27 ~ CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 27, 1992 11""". 11""" vice Chairman Andrews called the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Fred Berg, Wendy pemrick, Jim Andrews, Dave Koubsky, and Jan Lash MEMBERS ABSENT: Randy Erickson and Larry Schroers STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Coordinator; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Supervisor; and Dawn Lemme, Program Specialist APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Koubsky moved, Lash seconded to approve the Minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated September 22, 1992 as amended on page 19 by Jan Lash changing the word "barelx" to "fairly". All voted in favor except Andrews who abstained and the motion carried. LAND DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL. SITE PLAN REVIEW-GOODYEAR AND ABRA AUTO SERVICE CENTER. Hoffman: Vice Chairman Andrews and Park Commissioners. This is a proposal for the subdivision and replat of Lot 2, Block 1, Chan Haven Plaza 3rd Addition into three separate lots. Two of those which will be used at the current time. The conditional use permit for an auto service center located in the Business Highway District and the Site Plan review for Goodyear and Abra Auto Service Center. The vicinity of this development, as you can see from the map is just to the east of McDonald's and then just to the east would be the emission control center there. Some land which is left undeveloped. If you continue traveling to the east. then you'll come to the DataServ location. It's a fairly straight forward subdivision. The adjacent zoning up to the north is again Highway Business. To the south Highway Business District but then if you travel just across the Lake Drive East you run into single family residential, lower Chanhassen Estates neighborhood. To the east again would be DataServ. The industrial office park and then back to the west is Highway Business District. The recommendation on this was forwarded to Sharmin Al-Jaff, Planner I on October 12th noting that this would be formally addressed this evening by the Park Commission... Being situated in the Highway and Business service district, this development is subject to commercial/industrial park fees. These fees are currently assessed at the rate of $2,500.00 and $833.00 per acre respectively for park and trail. As such the Goodyear site will be charged $3,245.00 in park and trail fees and the Abra site will be charged $2,614.00 in trail fees. The recommendation would be forwarded to the Commission to accept fees in lieu of any land dedication, trail construction. Sidewalk is in that area. Obviously not an appropriate place for parkland. Andrews: Where exactly is the mini-park from this site? Southeast? Hoffman: Directly south across the street. Andrews: Okay, now I can see it. Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 2 -' Hoffman: It should show the two lots which are being used at the curren time are the ones closest to Highway 5 and then you've got an outlot. Or Lot 3 which is the adjoining Lake Drive East and I don't have any idea what the future use would be for that lot... Andrews: I can't read the diagram. Do you have a better copy of the site plan? Hoffman: The site plan? I do not. That's what they forwarded to us. Andrews: Are those lots approximately, is that 90 feet across or 190 or? I can't make it out. Hoffman: Yeah the top one is, the Abra site is 90 feet across. The other one is somewhat slightly wider than that... Andrews: They seem like awful small lots to handle the kind of traffic or the cars that are going to sit on the property. I have no problem with the approval but it seems like they're trying to pack an awful lot of car parking activity in a pretty small area. Hoffman: I would presume that they'll need to meet zoning regulations. Lash: Are you looking for a motion? Hoffman: Correct. .....", Lash: Just to accept the fees? Andrews: Is there any other discussion? Comments? Can somebody put forth a motion please? Lash: I make a motion that we accept park and trail fees in the amount of $833.00 and $3,245.00 for the, now wait a minute. The Goodyear site is $3,245.00 and the Abra site is $2,614.00. Andrews: Do we have a second? Koubsky: I'll second. Lash moved, Koubsky seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommend to accept park and trail fees in lieu of land dedication or trail construction as part of the Goodyear and Abra Auto Service Center. The fees to be collected at the commercial/industrial rate in force at the time of building permit application. The current rates are that Goodyear pay $3,245.00 and Abra pay $2,614.00 in park and trail fees. All voted in favor and the motion carried. Hoffman: A member of our audience this evening, Mr. Kotsonas is from that neighborhood. Mr. Kotsonas: 'Does park and trail fees...would that stay in the area or is that go into a general fund? ~. ,...., J!I"'" Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 3 Hoffman: It goes into a general fund for park and trail development. Mr. Kotsonas: The new trail down to Marsh Lake that... Hoffman: Correct. There are plans currently to connect that along that service road which serves that Metropolitan Waste lift station and then connect it to the new housing development which is currently... Mr. Kotsonas: Will it go up to Lake Drive East? Hoffman: Not the trail system. It would be back on the street I think at some point unless Eden prairie has a connection. Mr. Kotsonas: ...to that mini-park there behind the housing there. Is that the... Hoffman: Yeah, that's serviced by sidewalk but I would think that closest north/south segment which would not be on the street would over at the Eden prairie/Chanhassen border once it gets that far. you wal ked. . .? the be Have THIRD QUARTER PARK AND TRAIL FEE REVENUE REPORT. ENDING SEPTEMBER 30. 1992. Hoffman: Chairman Andrews, Commission members. Item 3 is the Third Quarter Park and Trail fees revenue report ending September 30th. This last month. It brings pretty good news. We're at 90.12% of our budgeted amount of $145,000.00. It's showing that we have collected $133,000.00 or nearly $134,000.00 in park and trail fees. So it puts us very close to our budgeted amount and we still have a quarter of the year left to go. Last year at this time we were behind 13.52% so with a total of 28% ahead of where we were last year. Being the last quarter of revenues collected totalled $95,000.00 so we've increased substantially since then. In regard to expenditures, at that same time we were only showing $14,000.00 in expenditures but we encumbered a considerable expense at the last half of the summer which will show up in invoices here in the next couple of months. And then we also have the Lake Ann Park irrigation project which is just underway which will, by the time we get through with all the contract payments and fees for service for professional services associated with that contract, will total about $50,000.00 so expenditures will come up rapidly towards the end of the year. Andrews: Thank you. Any quest{ons or comments on the revenue report? Lash: I just want to say that I do appreciate getting these updates. It really makes me feel like I have a better handle than where we were at last year. Andrews: I think the comparisons to the previous year is very helpful ~ too. That takes us to item 4. Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 4 -' STATUS REPORT. LAKE ANN PARK PICNIC/RECREATION SHELTER. Hoffman: Item 4 I asked that our consulting engineer, Max Dobenberger from VanDoren-Hazard-Stallings give the Commission as update and status report of the Lake Ann shelter building. He estimates again that it's currently approximately 80% complete. Even though we are what, 2+ months past our completion date of August 28th. I sat down today and talked, chatted with the painters. One of the subcontractors and he was cueing me on, when was this thing supposed to be completed? August 28th. Gosh, he says, that's what I thought. I just can't see how these people stay in business. I told them to get the caulking in. They didn't have that in. They called me to paint so, on and on. So even the guys on the job complain about not having this thing done. The stonework is beautiful, if you haven't been down there. The shelter is going to be a very nice building when it's completed. Berg: For our grandchildren perhaps. Hoffman: Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, I still think we're going to have a contractor back here in the spring to finish up landscaping and that type of thing so. Even though we let the contract back in February-March, we won't see completion for over a full year. Other than that, again the plumbing and electrical fixtures are going in. The painting is completed. They were sealing the woodwork today. All the concrete work, steps and slab work is done so the building's coming along fairly nicely at this time. They have retaining wall work left to do. Obviously some .~ landscaping work yet to do. They're putting in cabinets. Finishing up the lifeguard area and some corrections to...end of the project. If you have a chance, I'd encourage you to go out there to look. Even since the time we were there, I don't believe there was any stonework on the building at that time. Andrews: Is the general contractor subject to penalty for his poor performance? Hoffman: The contract had liquidated damages included in this but liquidated damages in talking to the City Attorney, don't mean a whole lot. You need to prove damages in order to collect and we will do that in regards to extra engineering and inspection fees which are above and beyond what our original contract with our e~gineering firm was. Their services per our original agreement ran through the completion date so that ran through August 28th. Now when the engineer is out there checking work and doing legal inspections and billing us for that, that's up and beyond our original contract so that money will be held back against the contract. Late penalties which at $200.00 a day has gone to about $7,000.00. So the engineer fees are probably at about $2,000.00 so we will retain $2,000.00 of that $7,000.00 and let the rest be paid because the engineer and the attorneys are claiming that it's not worth the expense to lose it anyway. Lash: So what's the point of us, I mean I thought that was our only leverage in trying to keep this contractor to tow the line a little bit was having a penalty in there. So in the end, if it's not good for ~ anything. Park and Rec Commission Meeting ~ October 27, 1992 - Page 5 Hoffman: I don't understand either Jan. But in asking what else we can do. If this was a business. If this was a building in which you set August 28th was the completion date because we're planning on opening the next month and we have a business to operate and you can show that you're going to lose $40,000.00 in business a week, you can do that but in a building of this nature, you don't have much to press them against for liquidated damages. When you throw in $2,000.00 worth of city inspection fees for our inspectors but. Andrews: The only people who win are the attorneys so. Hoffman: And he spoke the truth in that regard. He said, don't tell me to fight it because you'll pay me and you'll lose. OKTOBERFEST. "...... Lemme: There isn't a lot to report aside from what is in the update here. We felt Oktoberfest went really well this year. We had great weather. We had a lot of people out there. More people than what I was told were there the previous year. We had a couple of new attractions which were both received real well. The petting zoo and pony rides and the kind of a mini farmer's market idea. Those were real fun and real well received. Todd and Jerry and I had kind of a brain storming meeting for next year and we have a lot of good ideas. Maybe if we can just incorporate a couple ideas each year we'll have a really top quality event but for the items that we had this year and the previous years, we thought it went really well. I don't know if I remember seeing many of you out there. There were so many people that came by and we were selling vegetables and pumpkins and squash and stuff but it was a fun night. Are there any questions or anything? IfI"". Lash: I had a couple of comments. I was there and I thought it was great. And I was looking at your brainstorming and some things I think I would like to see added or changed or whatever, and then there's a couple that I a little more skeptical of I guess. One would be the garage sale. You kind of look at that as, I think the flea market is kind of a neat idea but the garage sale I think may get to be more of a headache than what you. I'm thinking of the one, they have one in the Fall every year at the Middle School. The Boosters club and I mean it's just a tremendous amount of work and I think we'd maybe be biting off more than you'd really be willing to chew. And then I said this about the 4th of July and maybe I sound like I'm getting to be kind of old and crotchedy or something but I really have a problem with getting the little mini midways in on these things. I just always look at these things that we have up here, it's a time for you to come with your kids and to do things that are different than the Carver County Fair and all these other little things when you have those set up and they're such money, little money grabbers. You know then your kid wants to go on the merry-go-round 42 times and it costs you 2 bucks. When I think of really nice and attracting people to these events is that it'sa fun thing to do with your family and your friends and your neighbors and it doesn't have to cost a lot. So as soon as you get those little rides in there, it starts to get expensive for people and some people just can't afford that. Those were the only two things that I saw. The ones I wouldn't be really Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 6 -'" excited about. The rest of them I think sound fun, especially the bake sale. I think that would be fun. And another band too. I know the kids would like that. They hate the polka band. Lemme: It's not really even a polka band I wouldn't say. They tend to playa little bit of everything but they don't seem to have, draw huge amounts of people so. Lash: Like the 4th of July. Lemme: Yeah. Andrews: You know Clear Springs School up there, I think it's their Fall, no Spring Fling. They've brought in a guy that sings kids songs for the kids and he packs in a whole courtyard full of kids for an hour. And all he does is sign kids songs and I don't know if you can contact Clear Springs, they'd probably give you a name. Lemme: I think that that's Michael Phillips. Andrews: That Michael, yeah. Lash: There's the Teddy Bear Band. Andrews: Yeah, there's I'm sure many of them around but the little kids sure love that and it keeps them entertained for a while and let's the -' parents sneak away to the beer tent or whatever. Lemme: There was discussion of making this an all, to do some of the things that we want to do, this would have to be an all day event. It wouldn't be able to take place from 5:00 until 10:00 or 11:00. So something else to look at. Hoffman: If Commissioners would as well, I mean these brainstorm sessions are just held and I appreciate Jan's influence because you throw these ideas out because you see the mini-midways are very popular but if that's not what we want. Not how we want to mold these events, then we need some input from Commission members and then we can continue on in a little more traditional or different I would say fashion. Lemme: I think it would be fun to make this a really unique, to have some unique attractions. Park and Rec Commission Meeting ~ October 27, 1992 - Page 7 with their machines and they're profiting and now it's not our community people anymore. 1992 SUMMER SOFTBALL PROGRAM EVALUATION. .1"'""" Ruegemer: Overall the summer softball season was successful. We had a lot of concerns about the ballfields and their playable surface. Had a lot of comments throughout the summer how dangerous it was. We had a lot of recommendations and ideas what to do but the ultimate that we will get the irrigation system put in and operating for next summer season which should be very helpful and get the fields back into shape and get it to an ideal complex. But I won't go through each individual league but I just wanted to say a few words on overall the summer softball league did experience...throughout the majority of the leagues they experienced team growth and you know or two teams, except for a few that stayed the same but for the most part we did experience and so we're going to have to take a look now into the future where we're going to be at and try to gauge and put limitations down like we had talked about earlier in the spring when we had a lot of interest in it. Because we're going to see an increase of softball teams here with all the new industry coming into town and new community members and everything else. We're going to have to make limitations now but overall we could accommodate everybody this summer and the ball fields are going with baseball and Little League and softball and soccer at Lake Ann... For the most part we had a great season. A lot of good ideas did come out and along with the general comments that are listed there for next year and recommendations for next year. Just things that we experienced and that would make the whole operation run a little bit smoother next season are listed there. The Leisure Line worked out tremendous. It was wonderful. It saved on not only staff time but the manager's time as well. They could just give their players the Leisure Line and they can get up to date information about rain outs and schedule information...which was a plus for us in our department. Our total revenues here with 73 teams times the entry fee with a total revenue taken in of $26,645.00. The expenditures are listed down below broken down per expenditure. Total expenditures is $20,095.18...00es anybody have any questions regarding anything with the softball ? Andrews: I just wanted to comment. You talked about reducing the out of town players down from the current 4 to perhaps as little as o. I guess I think we ought to look at like a phase in sort of a situation. Ruegemer: Yeah, it would be...start brainstorming on just how we can... Andrews: And then it wouldn't be too soon to start floating that idea around because I'm sure you'll get a lot of comments on that. Ruegemer: ...something to maybe kick around a little bit and the Commissioners can sort of brainstorm a little bit and come up with a solution. ~ Hoffman: I've fought that battle firsthand. Jerry needs his shot at it. Berg: Is $365.00 a fairly common entry fee? Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 8 ....;I Ruegemer: It's right in the ballpark because we include also Lake Ann Park stickers with that so, if that wasn't included it'd be minus $75.00. For what we offer, we offer if not more... Hoffman: You know towards the end of the softball season the major news networks picked up on I think St. Paul or Minneapolis' fees and how high they were getting because the City was not going to subsidize those programs anymore and the teams and players were complaining. Well we can't afford to pay these entry fees and...really want to play softball so we keep a pretty close eye on that. Berg: What are their fees? Hoffman: Their fees are up around $500.00. Andrews: When we have that field irrigated like we're going to have next year with th~ lighting and everything else, we're going to have a first class facility and I don't think we should apologize for demanding a fi~st class rate either. Especially if we are over capacity. Hoffman: income. Yeah. You can look at the $6,000.00. I mean that's not We're still paying for maintenance and. Andrews: Sure I understand that... Berg: If you raise it to $400.00, it's be another $2,500.00 that you could bring in. ..",JIll' Hoffman: In many communities they take a little different philosophy. Some think they should be charging for all the maintenance and all the essentially user fees. That would kind of... Lash: Just in case anybody doesn't remember the 50 other times I've said it, but I certainly support, if we're getting over crowded, cutting back on the out of town people. And also I liked the idea with the Over 35 League. Either splitting it into two divisions or bumping it into the Over 40. I know it gets real depressing sometimes for some of these teams who just get humiliated week after week. I saw a couple of real young studly teams. Pemrick: Is this firsthand experi~nce? Lash: It's not even fun to watch. It really isn't. Koubsky: Especially when your kids are out there watching. pemrick= Then you have to deal with his ego when he gets home. Andrews: Any other questions or comments on softball? COMMISSION MEMBER PRESENTATIONS: Lash: ago. I was at the compost site not too long ago. A couple of weeks Yeah, I called everybody trying to find out when it was open. ...-I I'" Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 9 " Obviously it wasn't advertised well enough this year. And I asked, I read in the paper in the Herald one day that Chaska offers at their compost site a couple of specific weekends where residents after showing proof of their residency, have free. composting rights there. And so I checked when I was trying to find out the hours because we had a major load to take down there this year. And Mayor Chmiel happened ~o be driving by my house so I flagged him down and asked him if he knew the hours and then I mentioned this to him. I said maybe we want to look into offering this as an incentive for people to do their composting instead of you know throwing them out along side the road. And he said, well we can't do that because it costs us $1.00 to get rid of it. And you know I said oh okay, and so then he drove away and then later on I started thinking about it and I've never gotten back to him because I didn't understand. Maybe Tom knows. I didn't understand what he meant by that. If he's talking about $1.00 a bag or $1.00 a load. So anyway, when we got there I asked the guy who was working how this worked and he said, well this Aagard I think had the big dumpster and then they came and would load up the big dumpster and take it out to Carver and dump the leaves out on a field out there. I said why aren't we actually composting out here? Well, you know we'd have to have somebody come out and move it around and spread it around and figure out where we want and this is supposed to be a park someday. And I said yeah, I'm aware of that but I don't really see what having a little compost out here would really hurt in the overall scheme of things. If it is going to be a park someday so I just thought maybe since it is a park property, we should discuss what we want going on out there. And through a composting site or if it's just an interim dumping spot or people to bring their things and then have to pay someone else to haul it away. Maybe we could come up with a better plan. Hoffman: Currently it really isn't a composting site. It's a transfer site.. . Koubsky: ...1 lived in New Brighton and they would compost there. It's Just a matter of driving into the pile of leaves and turning them a couple times once a month or something. Within a year those leaves turn into compost so then you'd have two piles. You'd have your compost pile that people come up and take the compost and that went real quick you know because that was nice, dark, rich organic matter. But then they'd just start another leaf pile. And the loaders would just...drive in there and toss it around. It seemed to work pretty well. pemrick: Is there a problem with odor on that? Because that's alongside our street. I don't back up to it but some of the neighbors do and I know our little neighborhood backyard compost can start really getting fragrant. Jf"'" Hoffman: ...depending on what kind of wasts is dumped out there. City's struggle with it on a yearly basis and it seems everybody's always trying something different. Chaska had their composting site up off of the community park, or Friendship Park and then they closed that down just because of use. Misuse and abuse and that type of thing. That's when they went to this system out where now you're charged but then they give you a few free nights and Victoria does a drop off where you can just Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 10 .."., drop off free and the public works will load them up. They just treat it as a transfer site and then they haul it off into some field site again. And we drove through Edina this evening and they were just dumping them, a little more high class. They dump it right on the asphalt parking lot in Edina and then I guess the public works crews load it up from there and take it wherever they take it. Lash: That's because they don't have any open fields. Hoffman: Yeah, no open fields left. But Bandimere Park will obviously not be used as a park site in the very near future. We're addressing currently with the person farming the property that we're going to switch farming practices there to cut down on erosion. But coordination and maintenance of actually operating a composting facility there would be something that we'd have to take a look at. Not my area of expertise but there's quite a few of your County employees that work with that recycling and waste control. Lash: If there was a smell factor, could we have the site where the stuff is unloaded closer out to TH 101 so it wasn't as. Pemrick: They can smell because now that I think about it, there is a compost site in Waconia wh~re my husband had his office before moving into Chan. And people would come and dump leaves and bundled sticks and what not and boy, you'd walk by there and you'd just about collapse. The stench was so bad if the wind was, and it was in an industrial park that ~ had an open area. Hoffman: Once it starts to decompose, sure. Pemrick: Well I would think that would be a real concern. Hoffman: We have a Recycling Commission which addresses the composting issue so potentially I'll discuss with Jo Ann Olsen, our staff member who works with the Recycling Commission, to address some of those questions and come back to us with a report or some information on what their potential future thoughts are for the composting site. Lash: At the 50 cent a bag, and that's not like it's going to break anybody but if you'd have, if you're in some of the newer developments where you'd have the one tree in your yard...it's not a big deal but then it's just a real hassle to have to even just drive down there with it to start with. But then if you're someplace that has a lot of leaves, and now I have a lot of leaves, it does get expensive. You know we thought it was going to cost us, we didn't know that there was the truckload thing so we figured, we went prepared to pay $20.00 to get rid of our leaves and that seems like, I mean yeah it's nice to have trees with leaves but you already broke your back raking them all up and then you have to pay $20.00 to get rid of them. It rubs a little salt in your wound. Hoffman: What was your bill? ....,;I Lash: It was $10.00. $10.00 for a trailer. Park and Rec Commission Meeting ,~ October 27, 1992 - Page 11 Andrews: Any other issues? Berg: Yeah. Did I miss something or, I don't want to take the Commission's time with the parking signs down by Carver Beach. At the small beach. Is it still all no parking? What finally happened with that? How was that resolved? Hoffman: No parking. Or the parking area, the parking signs will go in down at the, or no parking signs will come up in a small area there and then we'll put in the parking signs. It has not been done to date so. Lash: We adjusted it to 3 spots with one handicap. Andrews: While we were talking about the compost pile, and talking about Bandimere Park. It was just an idea that just kind of popped in my head but the idea perhaps instead of farming Bandimere, why not attempt to reforest it and let it grow back as a long range goal as a large forested area? Hoffman: It's an idea. It just doesn't match with our current. Andrews: At the rate we're going with trying to develop that park, it may work out pretty well. But it's just. II""" Hoffman: We looked at an option of either grassing it out in natural grasses or right now we have a person who's interested in putting it into alfalfa, which is a nice ground cover. Lash: I think by the time it would start getting reforested maybe we'd be able to go ahead and develop it and then we'd have a whole bunch of trees to have to cut down. pemrick: Say, I was going to tell you. All those new trees in the park are gorgeous. Lash: In which park? Pemrick: In the Bandimere Heights Park. There must be 8-10 new trees and they're good sized ones. Berg: We just got a ton. Hoffman: 40. Lash: Now were these from Gorra or are these the tree farm? Hoffman: Moving up to 100 trees. About 50 of those into park sites out of Gorra's place. Dale tagged 25 trees out of the tree farm and then we moved 25 and an adqitional, probably about 45 out of the Erhart Tree Farm. So putting 150 trees into the parks this fall. ~ Pemr ick: noticed. They're a nice variety. They're not all just one kind I Thank you, whoever coordinated that. Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 12 --" Berg: Up by Lotus Lake too, they got about 8. Hoffman: Yep. South Lotus Lake got 10 deciduous and 5 conifers~ Andrews: Any other items? ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS: Andrews: Any highlights there Todd that you wanted to call our attention to? Hoffman: Administrative Presentations, other than the ones here in the packet. We will be interviewing candidates for the Commission vacancies at our November meeting. We've got Commissioner pemrick, Andrews and Lash who's terms expire at the end of December. So those folks will be letting us know, some already have, of their intentions for this coming year. So the ad has gone into the Villager and then we'll schedule interviews for our November meeting. Lash: Is that the Tuesday after Thanksgiving? Hoffman: The Tuesday right before Thanksgiving. So candidates, so we'll really be interviewing with 4 commissioners will be interviewing the candidates. Berg: 3 commissioners. I have conferences that night. -" Hoffman: Okay, 3. Lash: If we are not re-applying, would we then be involved in the interview process? Hoffman: Not as the resolution reads at this point. Lash: Okay. Hoffman: I'll read it again but I don't think it addresses that particular situation. Other than that, the Ice Tea Grant application is going out. As you can see this first go around is probably a long shot b~t it gets us in gear anyway there for the subsequent dollars which are coming down the pike. This is a big program which hit the State about a year ago. Everybody was talking about it and the money is finally here. As you can see, the award of bids on"Lake Ann irrigation system came in real favorable. We had an estimated expenditure of $60,000.00. Our low bid was down at $45,000.00 so those folks do have pipe on the. field right now and will be doing a majority of their work this fall. Or a portion of their work. About half their work this fall and finishing up in the spring as well. Item 8(c), the MRPA 55th Annual Conference in Rochester. They've made a special effort this year, the conference .committee to get commissioners involved. I know MRPA in general really thinks that the Commissioners are what makes our entire park and recreation community operate on a local level and yet you go to these annual conferences and it's always the professional staff which is there so they'd like to see -" more and more commission members come down to these sessions. You're Park and Rec Commission Meeting ,..... October 27, 1992 - Page 13 tuition is free for the conference. The Saturday session is solely for Board and Commission members. I've signed up for that Saturday session. Please check your schedules and if you'd like to come down to Rochester, we'll make arrangements for you. Did you receive the full packet at home? Okay. Conference packet so let me know. All these lame ducks around here you know. We're down to 4 so anybody who is interested, just let me know. Administrative Section. Anything to highlight. Lash: I have a question on the exergliders or whatever. Now are those those orange things that you go like this with? Hoffman: Yes. Lash: Okay. handwriting. And I had a little trouble reading Mr. Conlin's Can you just tell me what the problem is with that again. ,..... Hoffman: Well essentially he had two points to make in that they seem very dangerous in that you can get quite a bit of momentum and so then when a child runs behind and you get struck, which is true but in / addition these were installed below the 12 inch level which was 12 inches which is specified. 12 to 18 inches I believe. So we're very low there. Actually the back of this slide or this swing is only 3 inches off the reselient mat so if you were swinging and you had your feet dangling and you got your feet down under that mat, you could bend over your ankles and your legs. At the time they were installed, the manufacturers' recommendation was well, we thought can we just cut these things off and reweld them. They said, we wouldn't recommend that at all. Then you're opening yourself to all sorts of liability and if there was a lawsuit, they won't go after us. They'll come after you solely. So they reinstalled them at that height. with the new CPSC guidelines which really frowns upon these swings because they're double occupancy and they are very hard and then with the surfacing and the height problem, we felt it necessary to pull those out. They've been removed and unfortunately our new equipment is already called outdated because of the new safety guidelines. Lash: Okay, I was curious because we have those at the Early Childhood Center and I wanted to know. I don't think we have a clearance problem but certainly I do see the problem with kids running behind. If you got nailed by one of those, it would really hurt. And the double occupancy happens too. You know the plus side is that when it's a handicap and you're trying to have it handicap accessible, and also useable, that is the kind of swing that you need to have. ,..... Hoffman: You need to have. The word on the street from Landscape Structures is that they'll have a new accessible swing out in '93. Other than that we have another opportunity for grant money in that shore fishing improvements. And then there's a long item on trail survey done in Prior Lake and then the Tree Preservation Board information. I'm still waiting to hear from the Planning Commission members on their appointment of a commission member and then we'll- go from there. Randy is not here this evening. He called in and said, thank you for the vote of confidence. I didn't get the job and so he'll be our representative on the Tree Board. Park and Rec Commission Meeting October 27, 1992 - Page 14 ..",,/ Lash: On the DNR fishing thing. I think I don't understand. Was this at Lake Su~an or Lake Ann or you don't know where? Hoffman: Either or. That's kind of a pilot project and they came out and said, where in your community could you use some, do you have some fishing opportunities. Some shore fishing opportunity and I listed Lake Ann, Lake Susan, Lotus, and they went out and looked at them and they said we think Lake Ann and Lake Susan have some definite potential. Lake Susan does because of the trail. You could walk down along that trail and just pull up and grade one of these flat areas which they call and have another fishing area. Lash: You're not talking about another fishing pier? Oh, okay. Hoffman: Flat spot is what they call it. Clear out a few trees, make a flat spot and you can cast out from shore. There's walleye fishing in Susan. It's great. They're growing though, right Dave? Pemrick: How many people are you choosing for the. Tree Board? Hoffman: Tree Board will be 4 of those so there would be a 7 member Board. It'd be 3 folks from the Council and Commissions. We'll interview 7 and pick 4. Pemrick: A lot of talent here. I was reading these applications. It's really exciting. .J Hoffman: And they'll really set their own platform and their agenda and then have a big kick-off in the spring and it'll be off your backs. Lash: And Council will be choosing? Hoffman: Council is Richard Wing. Lash: No, I mean who's appointing? Hoffman: The three members. Randy, Richard Wing and a member from the Planning Commission. Interview and pick the candidates. Ruegemer: Halloween Party Friday night, 6:00 to 8:00. Elementary School. Koubsky moved, Berg seconded to adjOUrn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:17 p.m. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Rec Coordinator Prepared by Nann Opheim --'