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PRC 2006 05 23 CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MAY 23, 2006 Chairman Stolar called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Glenn Stolar, Jack Spizale, Jeff Daniel, Anne Murphy, Steve Scharfenberg, Paula Atkins, and Tom Kelly MEMBERS ABSENT: None. STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; and Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Superintendent PUBLIC PRESENT: Dick Mingo 7601 Great Plains Boulevard 952-934-7236 Harold Lund 20 Kelly Road 952-448-2381 st Mike Poppitz 630 West 1 Street, Chaska 952-451-9360 Adam Dittrich 1960 Trillium Court 952-230-9714 th Bob Meuwissen 201 West 77 Street 952-934-7433 APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Spizale moved, Murphy seconded to approve the agenda as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Stolar: Todd or Jerry, any announcements? Hoffman: None other than the opening of the Lake Susan playground, which has been out of commission since last August and so we’re happy to have that open and the commissioners visited that this evening and I think the community is slowly learning day by day that it’s open and there may also be a newspaper article coming soon so that will help spread the word. Stolar: Great. Thank you and thanks again for the picnic tonight. Hoffman: You’re welcome. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: Harold Lund: Thank you. I’m Harold Lund. I’m here in regards to the ballpark…present to Todd. Hoffman: You don’t have to talk right into it. There you go. Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Harold Lund: Okay. And I’m here, actually I’m a member of the Chan Legion also and the reason we’re here is we want to have a new ballpark for an amateur team over by Lake Susan and we’ve done some tough ground work and a ballpark that already is there, we are now an established team in Victoria. I have the coach, Dick Mingo and another representative who will probably want to get up and say a few words too. But our biggest concern is, I think the community is ready for it with a new school coming in and we would like to have also our own legion team besides an amateur team here. The park down, the ideal spot and what happens a lot of times in amateur baseball, a lot of the communities get on a state tournament and sometimes that generates about $50,000 and you have to have like say we have a park here and then say a park in Chaska for example. So you have to have two parks because it’s that big. I’ve had the fortune to be in state tournament…for Victoria so I had a chance to be there and see what it’s all about and amateur ball is really a great entertainment for the little kids. It’s a clean sport. You don’t have any rowdiness or anything going on. I think it’s just an asset to Chanhassen. A lot of these people up here, I know this young man, I know last fall I hadn’t seen him for a long time but it’s just here to try to convince you folks there’s a need and I would like to have, I’d like to have Dick Mingo come up too because Dick too is a resident here and at one time was a player here. And he works with the Twins groups and he gets a lot of, around a lot of places and has a lot of connections so he’d probably give you more feed than me. If you want to talk about painting I could do a better job. But thank you anyway. Stolar: Thank you. Hoffman: Dick’s been at this podium a couple times anyway. Dick Mingo: And they should have never built that Goddard School. Good evening. My name is Dick Mingo, 7601 Great Plains Boulevard. Long time resident here in Chanhassen. About 50 some years and really it was baseball that brought me to this town and found a life for me playing here. I played for Excelsior, Minnesota back in 1949 and 50 and then in 1949 Excelsior, we had a hell of a team. We wound up winning the Class A tournament. In those days there were three classes. There was Class AA where the town teams could pay an unlimited number of players and the major league of that was a 7 inning where we had Austin and Albert Lea and Rochester and Winona and they were paying guys and giving them jobs and they were making better money there, playing that kind of ball than they were playing AA pro ball. And then the Class A ball, which was what Excelsior was in, where you could bring in 3 players that you could pay during the season and any other player had to live within a 15 mile radius and then there was Class B where you could not have anyone that lived outside of a 15 mile radius. Well Chanhassen at that time was Class B, and it just so happened the same year Excelsior went to the State tournament, which was at Detroit Lakes that year, Chanhassen was in that tournament. Had a nice little ball club. All home town kids playing up there in Detroit Lakes. Well it turned out that in 1952 I was about to get drafted and I was working for a cement contractor out of Excelsior. I’m telling you life history… I’m digressing a little bit but I was working for a guy named Lenny S. A cement contractor and it just so happened that one of his workers was Arnie Sayer who happens to be from Chanhassen. His sons live here now and he said well why don’t you come over and play a few games for Chanhassen before you leave for the service, because I was being drafted and I was leaving shortly so I did that. To make a long story short, I wound up being kind of a lifetime resident after Chanhassen, or after getting out of the service. So I played 2 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 here in ’52 and then when I come out of the service in ’54 I played there one or two years and wound up teaching school at Waconia so then I moved there because that’s how I got the job. Catching for the Waconia baseball team, and eventually I left there and came back here to kind of revitalize the team. Things had kind of fallen on hard times here. We had a really nice club here for a number of years, and so anyhow, I’m here basically to plug that we try and bring town baseball back here because I think we’ve got enough young kids. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that we get our own high school. I’ve been after that for years really and it finally looks like it’s going to come into fruition. But we should have our own town baseball park. I’d like to see us get lights. I’d like to see us get dugouts. We’ve got a nice field down here. We put dugouts in there and put a nice grandstand up and I mentioned that I was, the reason I worked for the Minnesota Twins. I worked for them for 17 years traveling around, putting on baseball clinics throughout the upper Midwest. Last year we were heading out to Watertown. We had a client which by the way, we’re going to be there a weekend after next but I told a couple of guys I work with, this is the worst ballpark in the State of Minnesota, because it used to be. It was a…couple little wooden bleachers. Just a crummy ballpark. Well we drive out there and man oh man. Could believe it. They’ve got a beautiful stone stadium basically, with a grandstand behind it with concession stands. Everything you need. Press box. Just great. And they’re telling me what they’ve done out there to pay for that, every new home that goes in out there, they’ve got a, I don’t know what you’d call it. $1,000 feet that’s tacked onto the building permit or something to pay for that, and then the Lion’s Club has put up a great, big hall adjacent to the ballpark for picnics and that kind of thing. So I was just dumbfounded. So it would be just fantastic if we could get that, and then we have lights. Our high school team could play night games here, when the weather gets nice, like today. Our Legion team, which we would have one of our own could play in lights. Our town baseball team could play there. And I’m sure we’d probably have a Babe Ruth team, kids like that that also could play in there at night when their parents can watch them because let’s face it, it’s pretty tough for parents who’ve got youngsters playing ball to go watch their kids play in the afternoon. They’ve got jobs. It’s tough to get away and do that but if we play a few night games when the weather’s nice, it’d be no problem. We could do that. And you could have other community activities of course going on in there. And I know that’s expensive but I pushed for this and pushing for a town golf course but that, maybe someday that will come to fruition too when I’m dead and gone but I really encourage this to go ahead and try to put us up a nice facility. We’ve got beautiful softball fields. That’s great, but how about the baseball? I’d really love to see that come to pass here and I’d be willing to put in a lot of time to help you folks out. In fact I’m also going to go the Twins. You know the Twins have got a deal where they’ve been carrying money in a pot for building of fields in various communities all over the upper Midwest, and they think if we put an application in, we could get some money from the Twins also to help in the future additions to that park down there, because I think that’s a pretty nice ballpark. There are some drawbacks to it. I don’t know exactly how much parking we’ve got down there, but I think it could be made into just one real neat facility that this community could be proud of, and would allow their youngsters to play down there. The first couple years and we probably would have a team. Obviously we’d probably bring a couple ringers in to play for us until we get a little more mature group, because I was known for that. I was Ringer Mingo. I used to bring in all kinds of outside players. I brought them to Waconia. I brought them in here…and I think we’ll remember that when we have some of these kids. And I want to share one more little side light. I said if we indeed would ever get this to pass, I would love to see us name that ballpark after Lawrence. No one 3 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 ever called him Lawrence, Boogey Wraser. Boogey Wraser was with this town team from day one way back, I think it started about ’46. Lou Bongaard had a shop in there where he sold tractors and stuff like that. Farm equipment and he was the guy that got things started, but Boogey Wraser played with team from the beginning and during all the tough years, Boogey was here. Working on the ballpark. In fact when we built the third park, because this is really the park we had down there, the last one was the third park. Boogey’s brother and myself, the three of us more or less built that park. Boogey and his brother brought in a tractor and we would drag it and we did work on it and the Legion helped to furnish the money and we were able to move the ballpark from the north side of the highway, which at that time didn’t exist. In fact that’s why we had to build a third park because the highway went through the middle of it and we moved it to the south side. But I would love to see us name that field Boogey Wraser Field if it ever comes to pass. I guess I’ve used up a lot of time here but thank you very much. Stolar: Thank you. Harold Lund: I’d have the coach come up here and talk a little bit. That coaches the Vick’s. …Mike you want to get up? Mike Poppitz: Good evening. I’m not a very good speaker. I’m sort of rough so just bear with me. Currently we have a team in Victoria that’s called the Vick’s. It’s a Class B team which has a very good level of baseball. We have a good team. I mean we have a team that’s, this year again we’ll compete for a State berth. The kids are young. Our average age is probably 22. Our core is like 27-28 year old guys, so they’re going to be around for a while. I would hope for another 6-7 years at least. They will give you some very good baseball to watch and we do come over here. We do accept us…baseball team. We’ve talked about this over the last couple of weeks. The guys are set for coming over to Chanhassen to play next year. I mean we’ve had nothing but horror stories. I could tell you stories about Victoria in the last 5 years but I’m not going to get into it because it’s a long ways from Halloween but. If we come over, it isn’t going to be, you know we’re not going to be trying to wedge you guys against those people on that stuff. We’d just make a 100% commitment to this town and give you the best possible program, the best possible we can give. And we do have kids from Champlin on the team right now because we have no place really to put in Chaska or with us, whatever, and they play for us and you know, like I say. It’s a young group. It’s a fun group. Last year one game away from winning the State tournament so that’s not a bad team. Especially playing in the section that we play in. There’s Chaska, Shakopee, Jordan, Prior Lake and us and now Green Isle’s coming into it too so. It’s probably, if not the second toughest section in the whole State of Minnesota for Class B baseball. So you will see some quality baseball so, I just hope that you accept this because we’re willing to come. And we’d be, you know one thing I tell my guys is that whatever, you know whatever you do, you respect the town that you’re playing for and you respect the uniform that you’re in and they do. And they’ll, I mean they will do nothing to disgrace your town. If they do, they’re not with us. They’re gone. Okay? Thank you. Harold Lund: I’ve got to get the banker up here. Hoffman: Is he writing a loan? 4 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Adam Dittrich: Hi everybody. I work down at the Americana Community Bank here in Chanhassen. Actually live in Victoria. I’m I think the only player that lives in Victoria and plays on the team. And I guess I don’t have a whole lot to add to what these guys said other than, I grew up in New Ulm in southern Minnesota which is kind of baseball central and it really is an asset to a city to have something that on Friday nights and Saturday nights, Sunday afternoons, people can get together and see some good quality baseball. Not have to go and pay $5.00 for a beer and $30.00 to sit behind home plate or whatever. Just come out and see some guys that are really out there to play for fun. I think it would be a great asset. I went down and took a look at Lake Susan today. The basics of what’s there are really nice. Could make a really nice setting. I don’t know if you’ve all had a chance, if you haven’t, I’d encourage you to go watch a, pick-up a game in Jordan or Chaska, Prior Lake, any of those other teams we talked about that we play against. It’s really a fun atmosphere and something I think the city can enjoy with the sounds of future prospects for a Legion team to have a facility like that, it’s just great. You can get not only the amateur state tournament as was talked about earlier, but also the Legion state tournaments which actually I believe revenue wise are quite a bit larger. So I’d just encourage you all to really strongly consider it and thank you for your time. Stolar: Thanks. Commission members have any questions? Anyone? We’ll start with you. Any questions of our guests? Daniel: Sure. So is it your intention to move? Move the team from Victoria to Chanhassen? Harold Lund: Yes. Daniel: Okay, and the reason for that is just not a good relationship with the community or? Harold Lund: Yes. That’s about, yeah. It’s not a good relationship with the people that we had talked about. We, how can I say this? About 4 years ago? About 4 years ago we were asked to build a new field in Victoria. It’s call D-Town Park. It was like where the ice cream is, community center, all that stuff. With the understanding that since it was posted for 10 years you know, I mean I was in Park and Rec in Victoria. We posted the thing saying that we were going to put a new park in the D-Town. Light it. It was going to be an active park. Everything else like that. So when the time came to build a park, we, the baseball team, we stuck in time, money, energies to get the basic concept in. The ballpark, the fencing. We built dugouts. We laid out the field for them. You know we did everything except you know, we even did the infield. We sodded, or seeded the infield. Whatever it took, well we did. We probably spent close to $20,000 plus just unlimited number of hours of volunteer labor to do it. Because we you know, that was supposed to be our field. So we come to the planning commission. We wanted to get the lights going and that stuff, and went to a park and rec meeting and a couple of people argued about it and went to City Council. They passed the lights. A week later they reneged on it and said, no we’re not putting lights on it so we had no field to play on except the old field which is Lion’s Field right by the church, and the City took care of that field for 3 years. Well it looked like a cow pasture. I mean we went out there last fall and we spent what, probably another 300 hours of labor doing that field to get it back up into playing shape, with the understanding that that field would be used by us, the two legion teams in Victoria and the high school, and nobody else. So we did it. Had no problem. Come scheduling time and that stuff, 5 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 all of a sudden there’s a bunch of other teams, Babe Ruth teams and that stuff. They don’t…holes dug. Grading for baselines. Don’t do anything using the field. Kind of starting to go backwards again. So I think from our standpoint we’re getting tired of being lied to. We’re just looking for some open air. That’s all. That’s all basically we’re looking for is just some love because, I mean they group is a fun group you know and I mean, they will interact with you, your kids. It doesn’t matter. They’re basically kids themselves you know and they just want some respect and some love. That’s all they want. And I can say, we’ll…we’ll do anything required to, if we have to go out there and grow the field ourselves, cut the infield ourselves …we’ll do it. We don’t care. We just you know, we just want to have some respect. And not be lied to. Daniel: Your games are played on Sunday, correct? Harold Lund: We play 5 times a week. Daniel: Oh, 5 times a week. Harold Lund: We play basically Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But they’re not at home all the time. When you’re with B-ball, which is different than C-ball, you play a bunch because you have a longer rotation. There are more pitchers. You have guys that need to play to stay sharp. Rest up. You need to play to stay sharp because it’s better pitching you know, so we play a bunch. Daniel: One other question? Go ahead Dick. Dick Mingo: If I could add something to that because I have been conversing with some of this but, one of my intents if we do go ahead with this is that we would put a notice in the local paper to notify everyone that would be involved. It might be interesting, and paying for this ball club, anyone from 16 to 46 maybe that would want to come out that has got some playing ability, come on out and we’ll have some try-outs too. I would guess, although what he’s thinking about, but I would guess that the ball club that they bring from Victoria, the fellas we’d keep from that…I would think we’d fill that in with two-thirds players that might be a little bit better right from our own community. I’ve got to believe there’s some pretty, pardon my French, damn good players that have got college experience that aren’t that old that live in this community that might be interested in coming out and playing some ball yet. Right here and we’d surely invite them all and give them a look. Some high school kids. We’ve got neighboring school district that’s loaded year after year with that huge school they’ve got at Eden Prairie, and I think there’s some of those kids that we go to church in Chanhassen that might be interested in trying out so we might pick up some pretty good players from that area. I failed to mention something that I’m sure none of you even realized. We’ve got a couple pretty good ball players that have played in this town on some of those early teams. You’ve probably never heard…Bob Johnson. Bob Walky Johnson. Kid who came up from Edina High School 16 years of age and he was playing when I came out here ready to go into the service. Hit nothing but…What Walky ended up doing, he got, Edina had a hell of a left hander pitcher in high school and the pros were after him. They signed him and the deal was, he wouldn’t sign unless they signed Walky. Well the left handed pitcher didn’t last but 2 years in pro ball and Walky wound up playing 10-11 years in 6 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 the major leagues. He was always a utility man but wound up hitting with a…batting average of about 280 something, and he played in Chanhassen. Still in town. Still lives around here. Would love to come out for anything we might have to do some advertising. The other guys that some of you have heard of, a guy named Badger Bob. Ever hear of him? Badger Bob Johnson. Hockey coach at Wisconsin and he found up in the pros and winning the Stanley Cup. He played. Was a pitcher. I played against Bob in high school when he pitched for Roosevelt High School. I was at West and he played for us. Him and his brother. Both played here in Chanhassen. Back in the early 50’s. So we’ve got a little bit of baseball history that we’d like to bring back and see if things can’t be rebuilt here in Chanhassen. Stolar: Just to try to expedite this, if you have some additional questions but I’d like to try to limit this to about 10 more minutes. Okay. Daniel: How intentional is the Legion of getting a team here? Is it just something kind of pie in the sky thing that they’d like to do or is it something that they plan on? Howard Lund: Right now we sponsor, joint sponsor with Chaska and Chan Legion. Because they have an A and B because of so many kids, so we donate $6,000 a year and we have Chanhassen kids on that. So I think the way the growth factor is going out here, you know in a few years we’re going to have no problem. We already have no problem sponsoring a team at the Legion. I think that to me we’ve been really blessed down there on that corner and I’m thankful I’m a part of it. I’m an officer down there and part of the group that helped build that. And I’ve always been in Chanhassen when I sponsored the first hockey team here for kids, which was the North Stars. I also sponsored the Mavericks baseball team for 5 years. So I’ve been involved in quite a bit of stuff in the community. I’ve always been a big product of kids are our future in this country, and as a veteran I respect that so. Stolar: Tom, any questions? Kelly: I assume with the schedule, 5 games a week, that lights are pretty much a requirement on any field that you’re playing on. The only question I have is, I guess I don’t understand what the requirements of these baseball fields. With the exception of lights, is there something wrong with the big field at Bandimere? I mean is that field a suitable field for amateur baseball? I think the fences go 360. Is that still, I guess I don’t understand the whole requirements for size and lights are needed… Harold Lund: That field is pretty well booked with kids programs out there in Bandimere. Ruegemer: Yeah, so is Lake Susan so anything that comes into town is going to bump but we can work around that. Hoffman: We’re just trying to create a town ballpark. And on a single basis, like the field at Lake Susan, that would be easier to accomplish than trying to mix it in with what else you have going on at Bandimere. Kelly: Okay. 7 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 There were comments from the audience that were not picked up by the microphone. Stolar: We’re going to try to limit this to about 5 more minutes because we have the rest of the meeting. Paula. Atkins: I actually remember that grandstand. We’ve, step one, is this where you come first or have you been talking about this with the Lion’s, Rotary? Anybody? Harold Lund: This is our… Atkins: We’re your first step right here? Harold Lund: I’ve been talking to Todd and them. Hoffman: This has been a conversation going on in the community for many, many years but Harold and I just talked in the past couple weeks and I said, suggested he come talk to the park board to get things started. Harold Lund: This is called getter done. Atkins: Get the word out. Harold Lund: I think it would be a tremendous asset. Like I said, I’ve been around and kids are our future you know, and they’ve got to have places to go, and not only the kids but parents. We’ve got to do, like Chaska down there. They have a family night, and I’m sure all of you have heard of John Lenzen who’s a great sponsor in the community down there. He has a night where they have, he brings in a big…so they have special roast beef and barbequed whatever, and it’s just a fun night. And the thing is that we would involve that certain night here, or something like that similar, or even like…make it better because that’s just the way I am. Stolar: I’d like to get some more questions out if we could real quick. Okay. Daniel: What is the, Todd do we have anything in the budget? Little bit of timeframe you’ve talked about Harold, as far as next year and some of the adjustments we have to make to Lake Susan. I mean what is it, 360 in dead center? Is that probably about it? And I’m assuming you probably want to get it closer out to 400, which means adjustment of the fence. Harold Lund: 390 would be enough. Daniel: That’s what they have in Chaska right now, isn’t it? Harold Lund: Yeah. Daniel: Yeah, so I mean do we have anything at all in the budget for 2006, or fiscal year to make some adjustments. I mean lights are one thing but also some of the things that need to be done and what type of timeframe, because that’d probably have to be a fall preparation. 8 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Hoffman: Yeah, if this is a priority, you have the ability to make some of these things start happening. I’m not going to let you get it all done this year but yeah, you’ve got the ability to start if you’d like. Stolar: Jack. Spizale: How available is that park as far as…? Hoffman: …they all are utilized but if you turn that into, you saw it tonight. We were all there tonight and enjoyed it. It’s a busy park. The tennis court would have to go to make way for parking. You’d have to expand those parking lots. Create a grandstand with restrooms underneath and so there’s going to be some major improvements. It’s going to look like a town baseball field and so it will dramatically alter what you, what Lake Susan feels like today to a certain extent. Other facilities that are there are complimentary. The park shelter would be complimentary. The playground would be complimentary. And so you’d be modifying it a little bit but I’ll let Jerry let you know what’s going on there today. Ruegemer: Currently we’re scheduled right now, it’s Monday through Friday. 5:30 to dark and then Saturday from about 8:00 to 11:00. I cut it off at 11:00 to make way for picnics, and I don’t have anything scheduled on Sundays. I believe there’s some other activities going on on Sundays as well. Daniel: Do those guys that play there on Sunday Jerry, they don’t schedule the park? They just play there? Ruegemer: Right. Daniel: Because there’s games every Sunday you go by there. They’re playing, I don’t know what teams it is but they play there every Sunday from noon until 3:00 or 4:00 it seems like they’re there. Ruegemer: Seven days a week, there’s activity out there right now. Hoffman: We have, Harold brought it up I believe. There’s a new high school coming into town, or potentially coming into town. There’s an opportunity there to increase athletic space in town. There’s also, like I said, there’s going to be a new sense in this community when the high school gets built here, and there’s going to be some increased activity for Friday night games. Saturday night games. It’s going to be, if there’s a high school built with a football stadium and…baseball being played so there’s going to be a lot of things happening in our future if that referendum passes come this November. So this is one of the discussions that we’ll be having amongst…in the next few months. Harold Lund: Our Legion club also donates monthly, approximately $2,000 out of our gambling funds to the city. And we’ve been doing that now for a couple years. 9 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Stolar: Well Todd I guess my question to you is, what would be in your mind the next step to discuss this? Is it to do some more looking at for us individually to look at other ballparks or what would you say is the next step, if any? Hoffman: The first step, if you want to investigate it, I think it’s to sit down with some park planners and have them take a look at the land that you have available out there and start some preliminary planning because first things first in life and there’s no reason to get real excited if we can’t accommodate a sufficient park and sufficient support services to accommodate a town baseball field in that location. Stolar: And I also think, are you looking for this commission though to give you some, wouldn’t do it tonight but to give you some input as to whether this is something we even want to look at? Hoffman: Sure. Obviously. Stolar: So it seems to me that would be one of the next things for us to do at a future meeting. I don’t know if there’s any background you would like to provide Todd that he can forward onto us, including if you had some pictures of some of the other facilities and if commission members do take the advice and have a chance to go look at some of the other facilities, I think that would be helpful if you could just provide some background and then I think maybe we put it on an agenda for next one to say, to provide, if you want to provide us with a recommendation, that’d be great. If not, if you want it as an open item under new business and we just decide whether or not we want to move forward with these next steps. Because it would take an investment right to get a park planner to look at it, right? Hoffman: Correct. But we have the ability within our CIP. Stolar: Understood. I was just saying I think it takes, we should provide direction as to yes, do we want to move forward with this. Hoffman: Absolutely. Stolar: Do commissioners have other thoughts that we approach, I’m open to any suggestions. Daniel: No, the only comment I’d have is, I mean I guess from our perspective, or at least from my perspective, having played town ball for a few years with Chaska and then also played several years with Chan Legion, the opportunity and I guess that’s one thing that I’d say this city certainly is missing right now and if you look at all the amenities that we’re starting to gain as a community and to regain some of the past that we had with regards to a local town team and a local Legion team is an interesting thought at this point right now. It’s just a matter of if we have the facilities to accommodate that because if you look at Chaska’s field, which if you haven’t had an opportunity to take a look, it’s one of the top ballparks in the state. As well as with Jordan and Shakopee’s really has come along over the years. They’re amazing facilities and as well when you look at each Friday and Saturday night when they’re playing, it is a community event. I mean I have friends of mine that have no interest, have never played ball and they go to Chaska to watch baseball. It’s affordable and I haven’t been there in a couple years. Grabbed 10 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 my two sons a couple years ago and went and watched a game. So I mean it’s, you hit it right on the head Harold. It’s something that’s very affordable and interesting, and if anything try to establish I guess, reinforce some community pride on the end of, on the athletic side of things, which there’s a lot of amenities that this city has, but certainly to bring back town ball and Legion ball would be an interesting discussion. I think you hit it right on the head Glenn, that we need to at least take these steps forward because quite frankly this is a, it’s a big investment. Harold Lund: We can take pictures of where we’re playing now and give them to you, of the stadiums. As we play games and give you a variety of them so you can see some of the stadiums around. Because we play in some pretty nice ones so that won’t be no problem for us to do that. So we’d be happy to do that. Get them up to Todd. Daniel: That’d be great. Stolar: Alright, thank you for your time. This is interesting and I do want to make sure we get it on the next agenda if we can so that we can talk through it and see where we want to go. Is that okay with commission members? Any objection? Okay, great. Thank you again for your time. Harold Lund: Thank you. Stolar: Do we have other visitor presentations? Okay. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:Spizale moved, Murphy seconded to approve the verbatim and summary minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated April 25, 2006 as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. SKATE PARK ATTENDANT PROGRAM. Ruegemer: Thank you Chair Stolar. I’d like to. Hoffman: That was a motion on the minutes? Stolar: Yeah. Hoffman: Should we have a motion to put this on the next agenda? This discussion. Stolar: I guess we could. Anyone want to make that motion? To move to put the ballpark discussion on the next. Daniel: Okay, I move to put the ballpark on the next discussion next agenda. Atkins: I second. 11 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Daniel moved, Atkins seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission direct staff to put discussion of the town team ballpark on the next agenda. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. Stolar: Okay. Now skate park attendant program. Ruegemer: Thank you Chair Stolar. As the commission well knows, the Chanhassen Skate Park was opened in September of 1999. Bar none it’s our most popular facility and destination that we have in our park system. It’s a great asset that we do have for the city, and it’s really, really used to a high capacity. Obviously there has been some concerns throughout the course of time here and recently, really the last 2-3 years it seems like it’s really kind of coming to a head. Just with the profanity language, litter, some other types of activities kind of taking place at that location. We’ve had a number of discussions at, certainly the Park and Rec Commission level with bringing in parents. Do parent organizations of some sort. Have kind of a club of some sort for volunteering and supervising the area. From a paid staff and…kind of policing types of activities, and really the time has kind of come to, really the time has come now that the city is going to hire a paid attendants for the skate park. That really kind of came down really early part of the spring. With that discussion has really, had kind of come to really to fruition now in that we’re going to put that together now, and we’re planning to hire at least 2 attendants for that. The advertising is out right now for that. Attached is the job description for the attendant. We’re kind of looking for somebody that’s you know 18 plus years old. That can certainly handle certain situations that may come up in the park itself. Really our idea behind the position is really to be a good will ambassador. To build trust and also obviously to supervise and build a repoire with our skate park users. Obviously their number one priority is going to be to supervise the park itself to keep an eye on, not only language, behavior, garbage, that sort of thing. …really have a presence there. Much more to be there all the time. Other activities we had certainly discussed is to be kind of an ambassador to our whole park system. Up here at City Center Park. The library area. To kind of walk through the area. Be visible to patrons and guests throughout the course of the night. Help out with any type of activities that may be going on, whether it be soccer or baseball, that sort of thing. Just really have a presence kind of downtown within our park facilities here. The library. The skate park. City Center Park. With their main focus really being the skate park itself. So that advertising, it takes really a very unique position. There isn’t really a cookie cutter job description with that but we’re really, really trying to get an increased visibility over at the park and only that’s going to change things around for the, in a positive way over there. Really I think overall really this spring overall the garbage has been quite a bit better here early in the morning and over night. Unless the park maintenance guys are beating us here by 7:00 or 7:30. The park has actually looked pretty decent in the mornings so. Hopefully kids are seeing the true need to kind of self police themselves for that and hopefully this is going to be one way to enhance our overall facility at the skate park. We’re pretty excited about it too so currently we are taking applications. We have received 4 applications right now. The, we’ll be hiring probably a minimum of 2 people out there for that 2 positions. We’re going to be varying hours out there. Really going 7 days a week up there, kind of going for kind of varied hours on night over the weekends with the weekdays during the schools out, summer vacation. That sort of thing. To really kind of keep kids on their toes so to speak. Not really to create a pattern with that. Just to make sure everybody is behaving and acting the way they should so. Given the job description is listed 12 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 below. Roughly 20 to 40 hours a week, depending on kind of the shifts and the…that we have out there so it’s going to be a work in progress for us. We’re going to be keeping attendance out there. Instant reports. Injury reports. A lot of those type of things that we certainly will share with the commission at a future meeting so, that’s kind of the program in a nutshell and we kind of look at them as our good will ambassador. They’re our first line of defense at that location so, hopefully it’s going to be a great format. Great asset for our department. Stolar: Alright, thanks. Questions. Jack, do you want to start with any? Spizale: Sounds like something that helps solve some of the problems we’ve had, having somebody visibly there, sounds like it work. I hope it does. I think it’s very important to get the right people. That would be the key. And I know you’ll find them. Ruegemer: We’re looking very hard and they’ll start as soon as we can get the right people hired. Daniel: Are there going to be any other type of equipment that they’re going to have access to, the personnel there? I mean two way phones or, I mean from an emergency standpoint. Ruegemer: Yep. I mean we certainly talked about that. At minimum there definitely would be a cell phone of some sort to call out and whether that’s going to be, if we’re going to just sit on a picnic table or erect a gatehouse of some sort. I’m not really quite sure but really I think our main focus was to be out there under the shelter, kind of visible with everybody and kind of build that repoire. Murphy: So 2 people at 20 hours a week, is that kind of what? Ruegemer: To start with. Murphy: And there might be some activity in the library as well? Ruegemer: That same person during their shifts will kind of roam around and make sure City Center Park is, you know activity in the kind of the plaza areas is conducive to what it’s supposed to be down there. Whether it’s library events or music in the park and that sort of thing and really look as this person is really to be our, kind of our go to person on a nightly basis in these general areas. Hoffman: They won’t spend time at the library. They’ll just get to know the staff and check in with them as a part of the park at, that the kids aren’t down there hanging out at the front door. Skating on the benches. Murphy: Good idea. There are quite a few I noticed in the summer unsupervised kids in the library as well. Hanging around this area. So it’s a good idea. Hoffman: Inside is their job. We’ll take care of outside. 13 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Stolar: Paula. Atkins: Is the skate park open, April? May through September or. Hoffman: April through October-November. Atkins: So that’s how, it’s a seasonal position. That’s all I have. Scharfenberg: So are there going to be people there into the fall or are we going to draw a line in the sand and say after this date we wouldn’t have anybody there? Hoffman: We haven’t decided. It will be during busiest times. October quiets, starts to quiet down once school starts. There is a little rush there towards the end of summer but it’s going to be flexible. We’re not going to stick somebody there to talk to 2 people a day. Scharfenberg: There will be a presence there in the evenings, especially at night. I mean that’s when most of the problems are occurring, I’m assuming is at night so. There’s been discussions with council about this and they’re all for this? Hoffman: Yes. Scharfenberg: Okay. Stolar: Is this a newly funded position or is it taking away from a different position? Hoffman: Newly funded. Stolar: Newly funded. And from what I read in here, it’s one that we hope, like you said Jerry, will provide more than just skate park supervision so to speak. But also be available for more events as we’re talking about increasing the concerts we have here, and the events like that. Would that be a part of what they would do also then is help staff to do some evening concerts. I know those are lunchtime concerts we have right now but. Ruegemer: We’re going to be doing nightly concerts as well on Thursday nights so, yeah I think the position is kind of a blank page right now. It will evolve. It certainly is our hope that we can utilize the staff person and use their creative tendencies and other aspects of our department. Stolar: Just, in thinking through some of the things we’ve been talking about for here, this is going to be more of a gathering place as we see in the future, with the different things so I think it’s, although it’s unfortunate why we have to put this person on. Having someone here as we start doing more activities around here is a great idea I think. Hoffman: Yeah, we can have him do a lot of positive things with some of those activities. Stolar: Exactly. 14 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Hoffman: And just to be clear, it’s an under funded position in this year’s budget but it will not be taking dollars away from existing programs and then we’ll be requesting it as a newly formed position, or operation for next year’s budget. Stolar: Has there been any talk about trying to offset the cost of this with a fee at the park? Hoffman: There has been some but I’m resistant to recommend a fee because I think it really takes away the, fee outdoor parks are all looking to take it away because there are so many free parks out there now that once you put that fee up there, you’re really…kids away. It becomes counter productive. Stolar: Okay. Scharfenberg: I had one follow up question to that. What sort of authority will this person have? I mean are we talking about at some point kicking people out? Because now we’ll know somebody’s there kind of observing what’s going on. We’ll know maybe who the trouble makers are. I mean are you leaving that up to the police to take on that aspect of it or are we going to rely on this person to kind of patrol and say, you know what you’re gone for today. You can come back tomorrow if you, I mean will they have that sort of authority? Hoffman: Most likely not if we, if they get into that kind of a position, they could be keeping a long list of you know, and they’re not going to be there every day. And so if we’re going to start to remove people from the park, they’ll go ahead and call either the non-emergency or the emergency number. Have a deputy respond and go ahead and address that. If the person has left by that time, and it’s just going to be a report. Obviously they’ll start to know names and faces and so there’s going to be I think some general consensus that this person, just by presence they’ll be driving away some of those worst offenders and so it will be some of that, but we’re not going to have, deputize them. Give them a badge. They’re going to be a civilian employee and they’ll call law enforcement if they need to. Stolar: And no action was required, correct? Hoffman: Informational. Stolar: Great, thank you. RECREATION PROGRAM REPORTS: LAKE ANN PARK SUMMER SCHEDULE. Ruegemer: Just kind of an update for the commission tonight. Summer is really upon us now. It came fast again, as it always does this time of year. Staff has been extremely busy fielding picnic phone calls and facility requests for baseball, soccer, boy you name it. There’s been a ton of requests for camps. We’ve done a lot of camps this year, not only for sporting but also theater types of camps. They’re going to be utilizing Lake Ann this year for, our pavilion area. That sort of thing so it’s been really, just been a buzz of facility of phone calls in our office over the 15 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 last month or two. Concessions are going to be opening up this weekend. We’ve had quite a few conversations with our manager, Nick Tomplin’s going to be coming back again for a third summer with us and we’re going to be hiring a fourth staff person down there this year to kind of get in the rotation and the mix. One thing differently this year, we’re going to be staying open one hour later. From 6:00 to 7:00 at night to try to catch some additional beach business and rent some additional boats here beyond the 6:00 timeframe so we’re hopefully, we’re going to keep an eye on that but hopefully that’s going to be a great benefit. The workers down there are truly excited about that, that they can offer that service to our residents and our guests at Lake Ann Park so, concessions is going to be opened this weekend. It looks like it’s going to be an outstanding weekend, by the looks of it right now. Probably one of the warmest on record down there. Typically it’s 50 and raining on the Memorial weekend. We sell a couple sodas and that’ to the staff so we will see. It looks good this year. I did order up a new Aqua Cycle paddle boat for the, and that did pass in our 2006 budget. The new Aqua Cycle 4x4 so that’s another 4 person paddle boat and that should be here sometime next week, so we’re going to take one of the old paddle boats out the fleet and replace one of the original ones from 1993. We’re going to put it out to pasture. We’ve gotten our money out of that and replaced with the new units and we’ll still retain 6 paddle boats, 3 canoes and 2 fishing boats out there so, it will be good. So Coke was delivered today, or ice cream. That sort of stuff is coming Friday. Thursday or Friday, and we should be all set to go. Nick’s got the schedule pretty much done at this point and we look forward to another great summer. People are calling to bring groups down there. Northwest Athletic Clubs are bringing, YMCA. Kids Safari. A lot of groups are coming down to use the beach again this year so we’ll be coordinating that with our beach, with Minnetonka. Providers of our beach services again so we have enough lifeguards and staff on duty during those days so. Picnics like I said have been really been picking up. Projections again, it will be 90 to 100 paid picnics again this year. Revenue was around $9,000. I think our shelters are pretty popular again this year. We’re doing a ton of graduation parties the first part of June with that. rd Weddings. Just booked another group there for Lake Ann August 3. Booked that yesterday so there’s just a lot of activity that people really love the beauty of our parks and the casual atmosphere and all the amenities that we offer so, beach is going to open up as the commission thth knows, Saturday, June 10 for that. Actually probably going to be bringing in, probably the 8 th through the 9 of June too with Cindy Kytell…Minnetonka School West is going to be coming down on those days and bringing probably 100-150 kids down there for paddle boats and water activities, that sort of thing so I’m pretty sure I’m going to be bringing in the lifeguards at least a couple days early for that so we have coverages during those times. With that, so we’ll be open again daily, 10:30 to 8:00 at night so look forward to another great summer. It’s going to be busy out there again. Stolar: Okay. Any questions for Jerry? Questions about Lake Ann? One question, if it’s so nice this weekend, do we, I’m sure a lot of people are going to want to swim there and do they just go in? It’s just unsupervised? It’s just you’re on your own? Okay. Scharfenberg: Wear your wet suit. Stolar: It’s still a little chilly huh? 16 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Hoffman: Lifetime Fitness…Chamber luncheon at their pool would open this weekend and the water slide and everything so… I got to stand up and introduce myself and I said our pool will be open. It’s called Lake Ann so come on down and visit us. So we didn’t miss a beat at Lifetime Fitness. 2006 SUMMER PROGRAM. Ruegemer: Just kind of a summary of our different activities that’s going to be going on this year throughout the course of summer. The summer newsletter is on the streets already. They’re kind of separated out by categories. By field trips. Preschool programs. Youth programs. Adult, youth, that sort of thing here so, kind of they do things that are coming up. We’re going to be offering a trip to the Minnesota Lynx this coming summer. That’s new. The Minnesota Zoo trip is a kind of a behind the scenes kind of a tour. Kind of a go and see kind of the operations of the zoo itself. Kind of on a daily basis what they do to feed the animals, you know that sort of thing so, it’s pretty popular. I know that space is limited so if people are interested in that, I would definitely recommend that. It’s really a cool thing. One thing that we did also offer this year that’s new, is the bug zone on the back page. It’s Bruce the Bug Guy, his name is, and he’s really into bugs obviously but we’re going to be offering some, we’ve got some outdoor recreation at Lake Ann. At the Lake Ann pavilion. It’s kind of our facility for that and he’s the, kind of the close encounters of the buggy kind is where Bruce brings in his oodles and oodles of you know centipedes and things and it’s all hands on type of activities so he’s really, I think he taught at the University of Minnesota. He’s really into his bugs and I think it’s, he encourages kids to come on out and they’re not going to bite you. Just touch them and pet them and hold them and it’s going to be really a cool event. Then also the second kind of leg of that is the Bug Safari where they actually go out. He loves the make-up of Lake Ann and just a great environment for bugs. So they’re going to go out actually on a bug safari and observe all the many different species and critters that Lake Ann has to offer. He loves the water features around there and…ecosystems at Lake Ann Park and it’s going to be a great event. So, and we’re also adding additional, a couple of extra, additional concerts in the park this year as well on Thursday nights. So we’re also going to kind of continue to build upon our programming within our park system here at City Center Plaza, and also continue to add to our total overall programs so, we’re trying to kind of focus on what we have and make it good. Make it great and we found out a long time ago that it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality so we’re really trying to perfect and really go with what we have so. Stolar: Is there going to be a schedule published for the concerts? Ruegemer: Yep. Stolar: E-mail that or something. That just sounds like a great event. Atkins: When is the bug guy coming? Ruegemer: There’s one in June and one in July. 17 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Atkins: I’ve got to talk to him. I found a bug on a camping trip and took a picture of it, and we’ve got to find out what it is. A big bug. Stolar: Any other questions on summer programs? Atkins: Was there any thought about Friday night concerts? Or was it just Thursday. More popular or? Ruegemer: Yeah, we’re just trying to throw whatever’s out there. Stolar: You also get the bands for less don’t you, if you do it Thursday? Ruegemer: Well I guess we hadn’t checked on Friday night pricing but I don’t know. Atkins: I know a lot of people go to Chaska’s Friday night ones but. Hoffman: We’re talking about continuing to adjust the program as years go by. We’re going to build an actual performance stage out here this summer so it will be a little down where the seat walls are and then where the grass is in front, we’re going to put a hard surface there so we can try to create that. Jerry and I talked briefly about, similar to Chaska, we want to get it to where it’s one night for 7 weeks and people don’t have to worry. Is it this Friday or next Friday. They just go. If it’s Friday or Thursday night or Wednesday night, whatever night it is, they just go to the concert. Stolar: In college I was in programming and we did that. We called it Thursday Night Sunset Concert Series, and it just, I mean we’d have a couple thousand each night. It was during the summers, just to, they knew every Thursday night you can go to this place and you’re going to have some sort of band. So exciting. Anything else? SELF SUPPORTING PROGRAMS: 2006 ADULT SOFTBALL UPDATE. Ruegemer: Thank you. Softball has been going for oh about 4 weeks now, and we’ve had a few rain out’s here and there but it seems like it is Friday nights, which is okay because that’s a night that we have the most flexibility on scheduling some double headers here down the road and making up those games here so. Kind of a breakdown, and we did offer…people want to play. We’ve really been trying to get us to do double headers for a little while now and I decided to kind of pull the trigger on that this year. I had umpires that commit to the extra games, and with some additional revenue coming in with that too so, that’s very popular. It seems that we’re going to take a look to kind of what happens for next season. I may be, about the only night I have available is probably Friday nights or Sunday nights for double headers so we’ll see if I can get some additional umpires and we’ll take a look at that expansion of that as well so, that’s been a very popular thing. Tuesday night we are combining again with the City of Eden Prairie to provide, we combined our leagues and we have 10 teams in that. It seems to go very well. Lyndale Fry does the scheduling and, or kind of pretty much all the work so it works out pretty good for me. I’ve done it a couple years and it seems like we’ve been kind of flip flopping every now and again and he seems to enjoy doing it so, we do that so we provide fields. They provide 18 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 fields at Round Lake, Lake Riley and that sort of thing too so it works out pretty good. Wednesday night is kind of like the Energizer Bunny. They just keep going and going and going. As Jeff knows, he’s had…playing in that league for a number of years. Daniel: And my dad. Ruegemer: And your dad? So those guys are also playing double headers on Wednesday nights. Another excuse to get another key of beer and stay a little longer at the park so. Again we have 8 teams on that. That’s been a popular night and I think we’ve got our umpires all ready to go for that and it’s been good. Thursday night is by far our most popular night. With that we fluctuate anywhere from you know 16 to 20 teams on that on Thursday night, and we have 18 again this year. We kind of slid into two different divisions with some kind of inner league play between the upper and the middle divisions and the lower’s kind of by themselves, so it’s been working out really good. Friday night we’re down a couple teams. We seemed to be kind of, trying to kind of feel our way through Friday nights. You know probably our high was 14 and now we’re down to 4 so people are, a lot of the better teams have been kind of moving on for different competition. That sort of thing so we’re kind of re-evaluating Friday nights to see kind of where we go and that may be another opportunity for another double header league for men’s or women’s or however that’s going to work out so. But that’s been keeping me busy as well with that so we just kind of keep plugging away. Stolar: Thank you. Any questions on softball? Okay, thanks. ADMINISTRATIVE: PRESENTATION OF THE 2006 PARK AND TRAIL MAP, CO- SPONSORED BY BOKOO BIKES. Hoffman: Thank you Chair Stolar, members of the commission. It’s been an exciting day. We actually mailed the maps today so it will be in your mailbox the next day or so. This is a cooperative effort with Bokoo Bikes and the City of Chanhassen. Bokoo Bikes makes…$5,000 contribution and again they’re not at all against if we go out and seek other sponsors for this map. But they’re very involved in the community and want to be a part of the map. This is their second time around. We publish it every 2 years and so this year again we were involved with Bokoo Bikes and one of their graphics people and they came back with really four alternatives for something to look at. So we looked at these four. …in Minneapolis. He came up with one concept. A second concept, a newspaper concept…and some people liked this. It’s kind of like the wider shot of the…Discover Minnesota type of a theme approach. And then that approach. The newspaper approach. Four seasons approach. So we took a look at that. They had some very good concepts for us. Almost a Disney World or Monopoly approach. Discover Chanhassen type. So we selected this type of approach. There’s a back of the map and when they came back with some options, and Chanhassen, a Great Place to Call Home with the lakes and then all of the different pictures. This was not exactly how it was going to turn out but we selected this type of a look. They had…in the bottom with all the nature we wanted to bring up and…some folks actually out there on the park and so we’ve done that and you’ll see those in the map. And then of course the business side of the map is the park and trail map, which everybody’s after. They want to get out there and play and they’re running around, walking around so we have the updated map. For those who had, we added a north and south… some 19 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 community contacts. Information about artists and so they continue to refine the product. And here it is. It was delivered on Monday. Very attractive map. It went to all residents in the community. All addresses in the community. If you look at the cover, we included the web page, www …and those who bike, you open it up…photos on the back. There’s freelance photographer works for the Villager…and then also Eric Rivkin is a local resident. This is Mr. Rivkin’s shot on the cover. And then his large photo is on the back of the map. This is a shot of Carver Beach Park, so again most people…understand this is right in downtown Chanhassen. Not in northern Minnesota. It’s a very beautiful shots of our park system. And then inset photos that I talked about, we have February Festival. A shot that was very well liked…The Fourth of July with the sand castles. Dave Huffman 5K Run. And then a trail shot… the last time this map was printed, which was closer to like 50 miles. Stolar: I was going to ask you if that’s something we could have put on here like you know, 2003 census, 2005 census or you know. Hoffman: So it’s in the mail and we’re glad to have them completed and… Any questions or comments? Kelly: Why is there a park, or is it a perspective park there on Lyman and, where the new construction is down there? On Audubon, where that overpass is down there. Hoffman: That’s parkland. Kelly: Oh it is parkland, okay. Hoffman: It’s parkland. There are some like Chanhassen Nature Preserve, it’s just part of the Bluff Creek Preserve. Kelly: Okay. It’s that field that’s right in there? Hoffman: Right. So if you’re ever in Bokoo, please take the opportunity to thank those folks. Introduce yourselves from the Park Commission. They will receive a supply, a couple of thousand of these maps for their business and they put them in every bike sold so it goes right in with all the different manuals. Creates a very nice… You can see a lot for future underpasses planned. I think there’s 5 in existence and 5 more planned and so, and they are very well located in the core of our community where people can get back and forth across the Highway 212 and Highway 5 and make those nice connections. Scharfenberg: Is there any word Todd on that 41 underpass into the park? Is that, I think didn’t they put in a plan for that or approval of that? Hoffman: They were two projects short of the funding cycle. The County will be reapplying next year. Kelly: What was the thought with going with blue as opposed to, previously it’s been…and the blue stands out better but that’s one thing I noticed different about this. 20 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Hoffman: The graphics folks. We just allowed them to make recommendations. Stolar: So the next iteration of this, are we going to put on like the…golf course at all? Hoffman: Yeah we talked about that. Halla Greens will go on and then there’s going to be, this whole area is going to fill out. Stolar: And we actually should put the Rec Center on here too. Hoffman: Yep, correct. Start marking it right now. It comes fast…This is the third one. Stolar: Any questions? Great. Hoffman: And please, if you don’t get it in your mailbox, let us know because…Beyond that in administrative, I’d just like to thank everyone for attending the picnic this evening and thank Glenn…for starting that conversation last year. We thought we could maybe get it in at the end of the season into the project, but this year seemed to work out better so we appreciate you all being there. Appreciate all your work on the, many of you worked here in this room. Many of you worked out in the field working with the neighborhoods and doing the installs, and it was nearly $600,000 in playground equipment over the last 2 ½ years so that’s a major investment in our community and I think we see it paying off now that… There’s still a few odds and ends left to be done. Curry Farms is a never ending project so they’re down there continuing to work and as it dries out we’ll be cleaning that park up. And then just about that time they’re going to introduce another pond project down in Curry Farms Park so we have a future pond project as well but, also the parks are getting cleaned up. This is the time of year when parks really come into their own, and other than the dandelions, we got through that now, but now they’re really looking good. Stolar: Todd the only other item we had at some point was a visit to Seminary Fen at some point this summer maybe. Hoffman: Sure. We do that in June. Stolar: Does anyone have any other items to discuss? Scharfenberg: Just wanted to know if Todd had received any response to his letter in response to the Chan/Chaska Soccer Club. Hoffman: Not from the Soccer Club themselves but from many of the residents that had emailed in response to Mr. Nygaard’s letter, and they were satisfied and happy to see the response. …that the City’s position that the current field allocation is fair and so, but we have not had the opportunity to meet with the soccer associations. It’s my guess they want to get through their season and then we’ll sit down and talk at that time. 21 Park and Rec Commission – May 23, 2006 Scharfenberg moved, Spizale seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried with a vote of 7 to 0. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Rec Director Prepared by Nann Opheim 22