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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.13.23 Parks and Rec Minutes Farmington Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes from the September 13, 2023 Regular Meeting Members Present: Katharine Caron, Cody Fishman, Megan Merricks, and David McMillen Members Absent: Katie Putt Other’s Present: Parks and Recreation Director Kellee Omlid and Recreation Supervisor Missie Kohlbeck I. Call Meeting to Order Vice-Chair McMillen called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Quorum was present. II. Approval September 13, 2023 Meeting Agenda Moved by Caron and seconded by Fishman to approve the meeting agenda. All persons in favor (APIF). Motion carried. III. Approval of August 9, 2023 Regular Meeting Minutes Moved by Merricks and seconded by Fishman to approve the meeting minutes with no revisions. APIF. Motion carried. IV. Presentations A. Public Comments There were no public comments shared at the meeting. B. Rambling River Center Operations Report Recreation Supervisor Missie Kohlbeck shared information and numbers for program participation, rentals, and memberships at the Rambling River Center (RRC). This included annual numbers from January 2017 through August 2023. Program participation numbers are better this year than the last two, but not back to pre-covid numbers. Programming has also changed with few card games and no dominos being played at the RRC. Participation in bingo and wellness and exercise classes have been good. Commission asked what the requirements are to be a member. Adults ages 50 years and older are eligible to be a member; membership fee is currently $39 for the year. There is a Financial Support Program (FSP) that aids with the annual membership fee. The passenger van is here! Staff is working with BlackFire Creative to get a few options for logos and text to be wrapped on the vehicle. The raffle fundraiser with the Farmington Rotary was a success with 291 out of 300 tickets sold! The RRC and the Rotary each made $4,416. In addition, for every ticket purchased from Sara Butruff, her company, Travel Leaders – Galaxy Travel, would donate $5 to the RRC. Thanks to the 45 tickets sold by Ms. Butruff, $225 was donated to the RRC. V. Business Items A. Meeting with City of Empire’s Parks and Recreation Commission The draft agenda for the joint meeting with Empire Parks and Recreation Commission was included in the meeting packet. This included agenda items the City of Empire emailed Director Omlid. The meeting will be Monday, October 23 at 7 p.m. at Farmington City Hall. We will meet prior at 6 p.m., it will be a short agenda so the meeting is done by 6:45 p.m. Moved by Fishman and seconded by Caron to approve the agenda and meeting date of October 23, 2023 for the joint meeting with Empire Parks and Recreation Commission. APIF. Motion carried. VI. Discussion Items A. Review Parks and Facilities Tour with Rambling River Center Advisory Board and City Council Commission thought the parks and facilities tour was really good and cool to see all the parks. Also, very beneficial and worthwhile for new members of the city council, Rambling River Center Advisory Board, and parks and recreation commission. Commissioner Fishman’s takeaway from the tour was adding lights is important as would make the parks and amenities (i.e., pickleball courts) more usable longer in the spring and fall. Director Omlid mentioned the Rambling River Center Advisory Board (RRCAB) thought the tour was eye opening and they didn’t know we have so many beautiful parks. One of the RRCAB members recommended moving the tour to the fall, so it wouldn’t be so hot. Commission members stated in the fall it starts to get darker earlier, so would need to start the tour earlier than 6 p.m. if push back to September. B. Review Fall Food Truck Event with City of Empire’s Parks and Recreation Commission Director Omlid read the email from Blue Loon stating their sales were off again this fall, so would be interested in participating in the spring event, but will probably need to decline the fall invite. Empire Parks and Recreation Commission (EPRC) reviewed the event at their meeting Monday and talked about the lower attendance as well. They thought the home football game contributed to the lower numbers and wondered since the State Fair and Dakota County Fair were relatively recent, perhaps that could have played a part in the lower numbers. EPRC suggested Friday, May 17 for the 2024 spring event. Commission members thought the event was good and heard comments that folks appreciated the lines weren’t as long. There wasn’t much garbage, so could tell numbers were lower. However, the playground was packed. The food truck events will be discussed at the joint meeting on October 23. Commission agreed with May 17 for the 2024 spring event. C. Rambling River Park Approved Master Plan Director Omlid reviewed the presentation of the Rambling River Park master plan to city council at their August 21 meeting. A few changes were made to the master plan including trying to avoid the floodway for trails and moving the splash pad to the short term. City council approved the master plan. Commission thought the master plan looked good as there is something for everyone and the process was well planned out. A question was asked what the next steps were. Director Omlid mentioned we have the funding for the playground, so need to identify funds for the other improvements. Staff plans to apply for the DNR Outdoor Recreation Grant, which was a $350,000 matching grant this year. Look for opportunities to present the master plan and funding needs and opportunities. Review 2023 Work Plan Progress Vice-Chair McMillen reviewed the progress of the goals and objectives of the 2023 work plan. VII. Commission Roundtable McMillen: Didn’t have anything to share. Caron: Didn’t have anything to share. Putt: N/A Merricks: Didn’t have anything to share. Fishman: As discussed during the Rambling River Park master plan, embracing the Vermillion River and the importance of it as a trout stream. There is a Twin Cities Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) and their mission is “With over 2,000 members, we are one of the largest TU chapters in the nation. We work to restore and protect metro-area trout streams such as the Vermillion River, Hay Creek, and Trout Brook. We also support the conservation work of sister chapters in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. Serving a large urban area, we are heavily involved in education and events to build a thriving and diverse community of anglers and conservationists." Volunteered to contact TU to invite them to present at a future parks and recreation commission meeting. Director Omlid mentioned the MN DNR would probably be willing to present to the commission as they drop approximately 10,000 trout annually in the Vermillion River at Rambling River Park. Commission thought a presentation after the first of the year would be good timing. Director Omlid will email Commissioner Fishman the DNR contact information. VIII. Staff Report/Updates Director Omlid provided information on the following: A. Boeckman Middle School Safe Routes to School MnDOT Boost Grant Boeckman Middle School was awarded a MnDOT Boost Grant in the amount of $31,000 for Safe Routes to School Programming including, but not limited to, bike trailer (for storage and transporting), outfitting the trailer with supplies for bike education, bike parking racks, funding for community programming. B. Tobacco Free Parks Presentation Dakota County Public Health will attend the November 8 parks and recreation commission meeting to present their Commercial Tobacco-Free Living Program. C. Pilot Knob Trail Preliminary Design The topographic survey and wetland delineation are completed. Bolton and Menk are currently working on potential trail layouts. D. Flagstaff Meadows Park McNamara Contracting started construction of the trail on Monday. The base layer of asphalt is down; staff is unsure when the wear course will be completed. E. Park Dedication Study Staff met with HKGi today (September 13) to review the draft ordinance and to walk through the fee analysis. There is still no decision in the Burnsville case. Thus, the park dedication study is on hold as we are at the point where we need to wait until a decision is made and published. F. Facility Condition Assessments Kraus-Anderson completed facility condition assessments for eight (8) city facilities including the Rambling River Center and Schmitz-Maki Areana. Kraus-Anderson presented the preliminary findings of the facility condition assessments to city council at their September 5 work session. There is approximately $17 million of deferred maintenance over the next 10 years for the eight (8) facilities. Rambling River Center has approximately $1.3 million of deferred maintenance including roof, door and window, HVAC, and switchgear replacement. Schmitz-Maki Arena has approximately $3.48 million of deferred replacement including roof replacement, adding ice breaker system, and revisions of locker rooms 5 and 6. G. Sales Tax and Fees and Charges Beginning October 1, there is a state one percent (1%) tax increase going into effect in the seven-county metro area. The sales tax increase is split 0.25% to support housing projects and 0.75% to support transportation projects in the seven-county metro area. Parks and Recreation fees and charges that require charging sales tax will go up accordingly and will be rounded to the nearest dollar. H. Rambling River Center Passenger Van The passenger van arrived in Farmington! Staff is working with BlackFire Creative to get the logos and thank you message wrapped on the van. The van is 12-passenger which includes the driver. IX. Meeting Agenda Topics The following items were tentatively identified by the commission for its October 23, 2023 meeting agenda: 1. X. Adjournment Moved by Fishman and seconded by Merricks to adjourn the meeting. APIF. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:18 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Kellee Omlid Parks & Recreation Director and Recording Secretary