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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.12.20 Parks and Rec MinutesFarmington Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes from the February 12, 2020 Regular Meeting Members Present: Laurie Suchanek, David McMillen, Elizabeth Koss, Ashley Crabtree and Brian Tennant Members Absent: None Other’s Present: Parks and Recreation Director Randy Distad I. Call Meeting To Order Chair Suchanek called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Quorum was present. II. Approval of February 12, 2020 Meeting Agenda Director Distad amended the agenda by asking to add an item under Discussion Items, Letter F, Discussion about Parks and Facilities Tour with the Rambling River Center Advisory Board. Moved by Crabtree and seconded by McMilllen to approve the amended meeting agenda. All persons in favor (APIF). Motion carried. III. Approval of January 8, 2020 Regular Meeting Minutes The meeting minutes were approved with no revisions identified. IV. Presentations A. Public Comments Director Distad shared with Commission members that should there be a member or members of the public attending the Commission who wanted to speak to the Commission about something that is not on the agenda that it would be appropriate for it to be allowed under this agenda item. Currently the agenda does not identify a place for the public to address the Commission. It would also be appropriate to set a time limit on how long a member of the public could address the Commission. By consensus members felt that five minutes would be a good time limit. V. Business Items A. Elections Chair Suchanek asked if anyone was interested in nominating someone as the chair or was interested in serving as chair of the Commission for the coming year. McMillen stated he would be interested in the chair position. Chair Suchanak asked two more times if anyone was interested in nominating someone for the chair position or was interested in running for the chair position. Since there were none, nominations were closed. By a vote of 5-0, McMillen was elected Commission Chair. Newly elected Chair McMillen then asked if anyone was interested in nominating someone as the vice-chair or was interested in running for the vice-chair position. Suchanek stated she would be interested in serving in the vice-chair position. Chair McMillen asked two more times if anyone was interested in nominating someone for the vice-chair position or was interested in running for the vice-chair position. Since there were none, nominations were closed. By a vote of 5-0, Suchanek was elected as the Commission Vice-Chair. B. Commission Bylaws Director Distad shared that Tennant created a draft of the bylaws and were included in the meeting packet and asked Tennant to review the draft bylaws. Tennant reviewed each section of the bylaws. There was discussion and revisions suggested for the draft bylaws. Tennant shared he would update the draft bylaws based on the feedback he received and will provide them to Director Distad for inclusion in the next meeting packet. VI. Discussion Items A. 2020 Work Plan Review Chair McMillen reviewed the work plan and Commission members identified items that were completed since the last work plan review. Director Distad shared he would update the work plan based on the objectives that were identified by Commission members as being completed. Director Distad also said he would have the work plan review as the last item on the Discussion area of the agenda, so the review of the work plan would more accurately show what was all completed during the meeting. B. Bike Pedestrian Plan Priorities Director Distad reviewed the plan priorities. He said that one of the priorities was to improve bike and pedestrian safety along the MN TH 3 corridor. He shared that this is currently being worked on through funding from MN DOT that will help to pay for the construction of a separated trail on the west side of MN TH 3 that would fill a gap from 205th Street to Willow Street. He suggested the Commission should look at another priority that wouldn’t cost much to implement, but has good potential for improving the safety of bike and pedestrians. Commission members reviewed the priorities and determined the next priority should be to install pedestrian signage prior to enter the roundabouts to alert drivers about the pedestrian crossings. Director Distad shared he would discuss this with the city engineer and see about approaching both MN DOT staff and Dakota County Highway Department staff to install this signage. C. City Communication Process Director Distad shared that the city’s Communication Specialist Lauren Siebenaler is scheduled to attend the April 8 meeting to share information with the Commission about the processes the city uses to provide information to the public. He asked if there were any other additional things the Commission wants the presentation to include. There were no other items identified for the presentation. D. Open Meeting Law Review Director Distad reviewed the Minnesota open meeting law information that was included in the meeting packet. Commission members shared they appreciated receiving this information, so they are aware of what the open meeting law consists of. E. Review Work Session with City Council Commission members shared they were pleased with the meeting they had with the City Council and were appreciative of being given the opportunity to meet with the City Council. Commission members shared they wanted to keep this discussion going about a possible having a referendum to build out of Jim Bell Park and Preserve. By consensus it was felt that a letter of recommendation should be written by the Commission to the City Council to fund and complete a community survey in 2021, in order to gauge the community’s receptiveness for a referendum in 2022 to build out Jim Bell Park and Preserve. The Commission determined a letter of recommendation would be drafted at its next meeting. F. Park and Facility Tour Date with the Rambling River Center Advisory Board Director Distad shared that the Advisory Board identified the date of August 12 at 6:00 p.m. be the date and time for a park and facilities tour. This date appeared to be a conflict for the Commission and they asked Director Distad to see if the date of July 8 and time of 6:00 p.m. would work with the Advisory Board. Director Distad shared he would discuss this new date and time with the Advisory Board at its March 9 meeting and would let the Commission know when it meets again on March 11. VII. Commission Roundtable Tennant: Didn’t have anything to share. Crabtree: Didn’t have anything to share. Koss: Didn’t have anything to share. Suchanek: Shared that she read an article about a south of the river coalition that is looking to raise money for an inclusive playground in Apple Valley. She shared she was willing to contact this group for more information and would share any information she receives with Commission members at a future meeting. McMillen: Reminded Commission members about the Rambling River Center arts and crafts fair being held at Schmitz-Maki Arena on Saturday, April 18, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. He shared this is a fundraising event for the Rambling River Center. VIII. Staff Report Director Distad provided the following information on the following topics: A. Summer Seasonal Staff Recruitment • Made Commission members aware that the city is now recruiting for summer seasonal positions with the Parks and Recreation Department and asked that they spread the word about this, so there is a good pool of applicants for the open positions. B. Arena • Staff members have been working with Wold Architects and Engineers staff on finalizing the construction plans to relocate the Zamboni resurfacer. Bids will be opened on March 11 and is hopeful that bids are competitive and come in under the budgeted amount. • Shared that as part of the relocation project, the consultants and staff completed a review of the site east of the arena to see if a second sheet of ice could be built on this location, but determined due to the delineated wetland, wetland buffer setback and storm water management there was not enough space to construct a second sheet of ice on this location. C. Rambling River Center Banquet Room Floor • Informed Commission members that staff has completed removing the old floor and laying the new floor. D. Dew Days • 2020 Dew Days will be held on the fourth weekend of June instead of the third weekend in June. This means the Dew Run will be held on the weekend before Dew Days because it is part of a series of running events called the ground pounders and the Dew Run date cannot be changed. The Parks and Recreation Department and Dakota County Farmington Library Branch are co-sponsoring a kid’s concert downtown by a group called Koo Koo Kangaroo, which is a national entertainment act. IX. March 11, 2020 Meeting Agenda Items The following items were identified by Commission members for its March 11, 2020 meeting agenda: 1. 2020 work plan review 2. Draft Commission by-laws 3. RRCAB park and facilities tour date and time 4. City communication presentation discussion 5. Parks and Recreation Department’s 2019 annual report 6. Volunteerism in Parks and Recreation Department 7. Community survey recommendation 8. Inclusive playground information X. Adjournment Moved by Suchanek and seconded by Tennant to adjourn the meeting. APIF. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:26 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Randy Distad Parks and Recreation Director and Recording Secretary