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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06.10.15 Parks and Rec MinutesFarmington Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes from the June 10, 2015 Regular Meeting Members Present: Mike Haley, David McMillen, Gene Spars, Chad Elliott and Rob Carpentier Members Absent: none Other’s Present: Parks and Recreation Director, Randy Distad I. Call Meeting To Order Chair McMillen called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Quorum was present. II. Approval of June 10, 2015 Meeting Agenda Moved by Carpentier and seconded by Haley to approve the meeting agenda. All persons in favor (APIF). Motion carried. III. Approval of May 13, 2015 Regular Meeting Minutes Moved by Haley and seconded by Spars to approve the May 13, 2015 regular meeting minutes. APIF. Motion carried. IV. Presentations None V. Business Items A. 2016 and 2017 Park Improvement Fund Budget Recommendation Director Distad provided the following projects for the Commission to consider completing during the 2016 and 2017 budget years: • North Creek Park warming house and shelter building improvement at an estimated cost of $200,000 • Prairieview Park improvements including expanding the playground equipment, new shelter, paved looped trail, new basketball court and new bocce ball court at an estimated total cost of $150,000 • Troy Hills Park playground replacement at an estimated cost of $60,000 He further shared the Commission recommended to the City Council to construct the warming house and shelter building in North Creek Park in 2015, but the City Council deferred this improvement to 2016 because of the cost. Chair McMillen stated that he would like to see the North Creek Park warming house and shelter building be recommended because there is a need for this type of facility on the northern area of the community. Elliott asked what the current park improvement fund balance is. Distad stated it was over $200,000, but there is not much annual revenue coming into this fund because development has slowed down and there is no other dedicated funding source such as an annual property tax amount or liquor store profit transfers identified. Moved by Haley and seconded by Spars to approve and recommend to the City Council the North Creek Park warming house and shelter building are identified in the Park Improvement Fund budget to be completed in 2016 and the Prairieview Park improvements be completed in 2017. APIF. Motion carried. B. Outdoor Pool Recommendation Director Distad shared with Commission members the information from a City Council 2016 and 2017 budget work session that occurred on June 8th where the City Council discussed the following items relate to the Outdoor Pool: • not including money in the 2016 budget to open the pool • not include money in the 2016 budget to construct a splash pad • include money in the 2016 budget to demolish the existing pool and fill in the area and seed it with grass • not have a referendum in 2016 related to a new aquatic facility and outdoor athletic complex Director Distad reviewed some possible options the Commission should consider if it wished to make a recommendation to the City Council about the status of the outdoor pool. Carpentier asked the community survey showed support for closing the outdoor pool. Distad stated the question on the survey did not specifically ask about just closing the pool, but instead asked if there was support to close the pool if a splash pad was constructed. He stated the results of the community survey showed there was support to close the pool if a splash pad was built in its place. Chair McMillen stated that given there is $45,000 included in the budget for demolition, another $14,000 could be added to the budget to continue covering the annual subsidy of $59,000. Haley shared as long as you keep the pool open, it keeps people satisfied. He stated that he feels his future desire is to have an aquatic facility constructed in Jim Bell Park and Preserve in keeping with the recommendation that came out of the Aquatic Feasibility Study report. Spars stated he agrees with Haley that a new outdoor aquatic facility being built in Jim Bell Park and Preserve makes the most sense, but also understands the reluctance of the City Council to put this on a referendum ballot given the budget constraints it is working under. Chair McMillen stated for immediate concern the Commission should recommend to keep the outdoor pool open because there will not be an outdoor aquatic facility in Farmington and residents would have to travel outside Farmington to use an outdoor aquatic facility. He would like the City Council to know the Commission wants an outdoor aquatic facility in Farmington. Elliott stated he also understands the City Council’s reluctance to ask the residents for a new pool but feels an outdoor aquatic facility is an important amenity and has mixed emotions about keeping the current outdoor pool open. He shared that he doesn’t think the community should be without an outdoor aquatic facility and would like to have a conversation with the City Council about addressing moving forward with a new aquatic facility being built in Jim Bell Park and Preserve if the City Council decides to close the outdoor pool after the 2015 season. Haley agreed with Elliott and stated that he is in support of closing the pool, but only if the City Council would be willing to look to the immediate future to replace it with new facility in Jim Bell Park and Preserve. Carpentier agrees with closing the pool given its current age and condition. He feels an outdoor aquatic facility is an important amenity to attract new residents meaning it has potential in assisting with economic development and growth in the community. Moved by Elliott and seconded by Carpentier to recommend to the City Council they would support closing the outdoor pool, but however feel very strongly there would be a discussion between the Commission and City Council about a plan to replace it as soon as possible with the end goal of it being economically viable to do so. APIF. Motion carried. C. Identify Date for Joint Meeting with Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) Chair McMillen shared that he and Haley are members of the HPC and the HPC would like to have a joint meeting with the Commission to discuss wayfinding information and signs be placed in parks near the downtown directing people how to find historical properties in and around downtown Farmington. Director Distad suggested having this joint meeting on Wednesday, September 9th at 6:00 p.m., so it could be held right before the Commission’s regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. He stated this way there wouldn’t have to be a separate meeting created on a different date, which would require some work in scheduling a joint meeting. Moved by Haley and seconded by Carpentier to ask the HPC to have a joint meeting on Wednesday, September 9th at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall. APIF. Motion carried. Chair McMillen stated that he and Haley would reach out to the HPC members to see if this date and time would work. D. Identify Date for Joint Meeting with Empire Township Park and Recreation Commission Chair McMillen informed Commission members that he and Director Distad had discussed this and because the Empire Township Park and Recreation Commission meets on the second and fourth Monday of the month, it would be his recommendation to have the joint meeting on Monday, November 9th at 7:00 p.m. at the Empire Township Town Hall. Director Distad also shared when the joint meeting has occurred in November, the Commission has cancelled the regular meeting in November. Moved by Spars and seconded by Haley to make a request to the Empire Township Park and Recreation Commission to have a joint meeting at the Town Hall in Empire Township on Monday, November 9th at 7:00 p.m. and the regular Commission meeting in November would be cancelled. APIF. Motion carried. Director Distad shared that he would make contact with either the chair or another member of the Empire Township Park and Recreation Commission and would update the Commission at either the July or August meeting on the status of the joint meeting being held in November. VI. Discussion Items A. Park and Recreation Department’s 2016 and 2017 Requested Budgets Director Distad informed Commission members the Departments’ 2016 and 2017 budget requests were submitted to the City Council for review. Primary projects to be completed and requested in 2016 and 2017 budgets were as follows: • Roof repairs at the Rambling River Center • Replacement of fluorescent light ballasts at the Rambling River Center that have a higher power factor, which will reduce the energy costs • Repairs to the main water line connections coming into the Rambling River Center building • Basketball court resurfacing projects in Tamarack Park and Hill Dee Park B. 2015 Annual Work Plan Review Chair McMillen reviewed the work plan and noted there were a couple of items that have been completed since the last Commission meeting. He felt progress on completing items in the work plan was being made. C. Solar Lighting in Parks Director Distad shared with Commission members about the conversation he had with Dakota Electric Association about installing solar lights in city parks. He informed Commission members that Dakota Electric Association does not offer any programs or rebates to help offset the cost of installing solar lights in parks. Spars shared he discussed solar lights with an electrical engineer in his company, and was informed the solar panel should be installed as high as possible in order to reduce the possibility of vandalism. It was also recommended to consider LED bulbs when installing solar lights because of a longer useful life and needing less energy to operate. Director Distad shared he would try to contact a couple of vendors and see if at least two different estimates and solar lighting styles could be received and then he would bring this information back to a future Commission meeting for review. D. City Boards and Commissions Reception Commission members discussed the reception and felt it was a good idea to continue to pursue the facilitation of this meeting. Commission members felt this reception could preliminarily be schedule for Wednesday, December 9th and then see if this date would work for other boards and commissions. It was also agreed the invitation should be extended to all boards, commissions and to the City Council. E. Community Survey Results Chair McMillen asked if Commission members had any observations about the community survey results especially related to the questions about parks and recreation. Haley stated he felt the way residents responded to some questions was confusing. Spars asked how many residents were surveyed. Distad stated that a random sampling of 400 residents occurred. The survey was completed by phone. Elliott asked how long the survey took to complete. Distad shared that on average it took about 20 minutes to complete and the consultant commented that one resident talked for over an hour. Director Distad shared the Commission may want to go on the City’s website and listen to the presentation by the consultant because it was interesting to him to hear how the City compared with other metro communities on some of the questions asked. He stated the consultant commented several times about how high the City ranked with favorable responses when compared to other metro communities based on the same questions being asked. F. Park Maintenance Study Director Distad informed Commission members about the recent City Council work session where a discussion occurred about a study that was done about possibly looking to create efficiencies through having one maintenance unit that would consist of the Street Division and Park Maintenance Division being combined. He shared that this was an item identified in the City Council’s strategic plan. While no action have been taken on this, he stated that he thought it would be good for the Commission to be aware of this. Haley stated he thought this would not be a good idea and felt that park maintenance would not be as high of a priority if it were combined with the street department as one maintenance unit. Chair McMillen asked how this would impact the Parks and Recreation Department. Director Distad stated currently the Department is able to effectively and efficiently communicate about park maintenance needs especially when it comes to prepping sites for programs and events because the communication occurs within one city department. Director Distad informed Commission members that he would continue to communicate with them as the City Council gives this further consideration. VII. Commission Roundtable Spars: Asked about the impact the widening of Pilot Knob Road would have on Fair Hills Park. Distad shared that it wouldn’t have any negative impact because the right of way for Pilot Knob will not change with the widening of the road. He further shared the current trails along Pilot Knob Road will be removed and new paved trails installed as part of the project. Haley: Didn’t have anything to share. Elliott: Didn’t have anything to share. McMillen: Thanked Recreation Supervisor Missie Kohlbeck for creating the Music in the Park program. He and his family attended the May 28th performance in Rambling River Park and said there was good attendance of about 180 people. He encouraged Commission members to attend the next performance on June 25th. VIII. Staff Report A. Project Updates Information was presented about the lighting projects at the Central Maintenance Facility, tennis courts in Rambling River Park and Rambling River Center. B. Dew Days Department Events Informational update was presented about the following Department events being held during Dew Days: Dew Run, Bike Auction, Jewelry Sale, Kiss the Pig Contest and parade entry. C. Music in the Park Program Information was provided about the May 28th performance and the upcoming June, July and August performances. IX. July 8, 2015 Meeting Agenda Items The following item was identified by Commission members for its next meeting agenda: 1. Review 2015 Work Plan 2. Presentation on Rambling River Center first six months 3. Agenda joint meeting with HPC 4. Agenda joint meeting with Empire Township’s Park and Recreation Commission 5. Agenda and park tour with City Council 6. Arena Financial Plan X. Adjournment Moved by Haley and seconded by Carpentier to adjourn the meeting. APIF. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:19 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Randy Distad Parks and Recreation Director and Recording Secretary