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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-04-20 PRC Packet AGENDA CITY OF MAPLEWOOD PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Wednesday, April 20, 2011 7:00pm Council Chambers - Maplewood City Hall 1830 County Road B East 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes 5.Visitor Presentations 6. Unfinished Business a. Public Meeting – Proposed Four Seasons Park Dog Exercise Area b. Re-Establishment of the Parks and Recreation Department 7. New Business a. Summer Programs Update 8. Staff Presentations (All items under staff presentations will depend on time) a. Park Hours b. Goodrich Backstop Completion c. MCC Fund Discussion 9. Commissioner Comments 10. Adjourn – (9:30 p.m.) Next meeting – May 18, 2011 CITY OF MAPLEWOOD PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Meeting Minutes Wednesday, March 16, 2011 6:00 MCC Tour Meeting Followed COUNCIL CHAMBERS – MAPLEWOOD CITY HALL 1830 COUNTY ROAD B EAST 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Schmidt indicated there was a quorum and called the meeting to order. 2. ROLL CALL Commissioners Commissioner Craig Brannon, present Commissioner Don Christianson, present Commissioner Peter Fischer, present Commissioner Dan Maas, present Commissioner Carolyn Peterson, absent Commissioner Roman, present Commissioner Therese Sonnek, absent Chair Kim Schmidt, present Staff Recreation Supervisor, Jim Taylor, present Recreation Manager, Audra Robbins, absent Parks and Recreation Director, DuWayne Konewko, absent 3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Item 6A tabled at staff request. Items were added under Staff Presentations, Item 8C, April Meeting, Item 8D, Mississippi Park and Item 8E,City Tours. Commissioner Fischer moved to approve the agenda as amended. Seconded by Commissioner Roman. Ayes: All The motion passed. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. February 16, 2011 Commissioner Roman noted under Item 1, Chair Roman should be Chair Schmidt. 1 Commissioner Fischer moved to approve the minutes as amended. Seconded by Commissioner Roman. Ayes: All The motion passed. 5. VISITER PRESENTATIONS a. Emerald Ash Borer Ginny Gaynor, Natural Resources Coordinator and Andy Hovland, City Forester, presented the Emerald Ash Borer Plan. Ms. Gaynor and Mr. Hovland discussed concerns and answered questions of the commission. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Re-Establishment of the Parks and Recreation Department(Item Tabled). b. Dog Exercise Area Neighborhood Letter Jim Taylor, Recreation Supervisor, briefly went over a draft of the Dog Exercise Neighborhood Letter and discussed it with the commission. c. 2011 Parks and Recreation Commission Goals and 2010 Annual Report Jim Taylor, Recreation Supervisor, opened discussion for the Commission Goals and 2010 Annual Report. The commission briefly went over each goal, made corrections, additions and discussed. Commissioner Roman moved to approve the 2011 Parks and Recreation Commission Goals and 2010 Annual Report. Seconded by Commissioner Fischer. Ayes: All The motion passed. 7. NEW BUSINESS 8. STAFF PRESENTATIONS a. Park Hours Jim Taylor, Recreation Supervisor briefly updated the commission of the status of the Park Hours Ordinance. b. Goodrich Park Master Plan Jim Taylor, Recreation Supervisor updated the commission on the Goodrich Master Plan and the neighborhood meeting. c. April Meeting Jim Taylor, Recreation Supervisor, briefly discussed the format for the April Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. d. Mississippi Park Commissioner Roman mentioned an article in the Maplewood Monthly that stated the park on Mississippi was now called Mississippi Park and inquired about the process for naming that park. Staff 2 and other commissioners briefly updated the Commissioner Roman that the space was not technically a park. The commission and staff discussed this further and decided to address the issue at a later date. e. City Tours James Taylor, Recreation Supervisor, updated the commission on a City Tours proposal and answered questions and discussed with the commission. 9. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Roman thanked the North St. Paul Community Center and the Maplewood Community Center for the tours that the commission was able to go on. He also updated the commission on the experience he had at the Camping & Outdoors Expo in which he had booth. Commissioner Fischer mentioned the deer management program that was included in the Maplewood Monthly and suggested that in the future the PRC would be privy to updates and potentially included in decisions regarding the possible expansion and/or improvement of the program. Staff addressed this issue. Commissioner Christianson also thanked the Community Center for the tour that took place that evening. Additionally he inquired about some of the events and contracts that are involved with the Community Center. Staff addressed this issue. Commissioner Schmidt also thanked both Community Centers for the tours. She also introduced the idea of potentially holding the Summer PRC meetings outdoors in the parks. Staff addressed this issue. 10. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:23p.m. View past Parks and Recreation Commission meetings by going to the following webpage: http://www.ci.maplewood.mn.us/index.aspx?nid=673. 3 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK MEMORANDUM TO:Park Commission Members FROM: DuWayne Konewko, Community Development and Parks Director SUBJECT: Postponement of Dog Park Discussion DATE: April 20, 2010 INTRODUCTION I have directed staff to discontinue pursuing a location for a dog park within the city. The reasons for this decision are as follows: As you are aware, Maplewood and North Saint Paul have entered into a joint powers agreement whereby the City of Maplewood will be providing recreation programs for everyone from preschool to seniors effective January 1, 2011. In order to ensure the successof this new collaboration, I have instructed staff to spend additional time on this partnership with North Saint Paul. The result of this decision is that some programs and discussions will be tabled until we have sufficient staff time to address them. In addition to the joint powers agreement with North Saint Paul, one of the goals that the city council directed the City Manager to implement was the “Re- establishment of a Parks and Recreation Department that also included the MCC”. I am pleased to announce that staff is working very hard on this transition and effective this past October, MCC and Parks and Recreation has become one department. Staff will be discussing this item along with the North Saint Paul joint partnership with the Park Commission beginning in January. As we begin to set our sights on goals for 2011, I look forward to working directly with the Park Commission on the Maplewood/North Saint Paul partnership and the recreation of the Parks and Recreation Department. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Agenda Item 6A Dear Maplewood Residents, Background information on the Dog Exercise Area Issue: The Maplewood Parks Commission has received many requests over the past several years for an off-leash dog exercise area and has been working to find a way to address the needs of the community. A group of University of Minnesota students did a survey of people concerning Parks as part of a Capstone project that they did for Maplewood. The survey revealed that the Four Seasons Park neighborhood was one of the areas in Maplewood that people were requesting and could potentially support a dog exercise area. The Maplewood Parks Commission set up a subcommittee that studied dog exercise areas throughout the Twin Cities to see what worked and how they were designed. They also looked at many different locations in the City of Maplewood. After many months of work, the committee is recommending a trial run for a Dog Exercise Area in the Four Season’s Hockey Rink. This Dog Exercise Area would be done on a trial basis and would only be open when the rink is not being used for skating in the winter. Meeting Information: th The neighborhood meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 20in the Maplewood City Hall Council Chambers and will be a part of our regular Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting that begins at 7:00pm. There will be a brief presentation on the proposed dog exercise area after which we will open things up for discussion. If you have questions or concerns, please call the Parks and Recreation Department at 651-249-2007. We hope to see you there! *see map of the proposed dog park area on the back side of this letter Agenda Item 6A Gpvs!TfbtpotQbsl 1685 Gervais Ave 9.48Acres Apr 11, 2008 BE ROOKS AV SEXTAN T AVE Agenda Item 8C AGENDA REPORT TO: James Antonen, City Manager FROM: DuWayne Konewko, Parks and Recreation Director SUBJECT: MCC Fund Discussion DATE: April 4, 2011 INTRODUCTION As per the City Council’s request following the Staff Retreat held this past February, staff is submitting a sustainable five-year MCC budget proposal for council’s review and comment. The following MCC budget proposal puts in place target goals for each respective year going out through 2016 for expenditures and revenue – refer to figures 1 and 2 respectively. The budget proposal speaks directly to reducing the difference, or bridging the gap, between expenditures and revenue. This difference, which we’re calling the “swing factor,” is tied directly to the property tax levy contribution for the MCC. The swing factor represents the difference between the expenditures (see figure 1 for expenditure breakdown) and revenue (see figure 2 for revenue breakdown) for a given year. As an example, the swing factor for 2010 was $414,000, which is the difference between the expenditures ($2,344,000) and the revenue ($1,930,000) for the MCC. Staff believes that a sustainable budget, by the conclusion of this five-year period, results in a property tax levy contribution of approximately $150,000. This figure does not include any monies for Capital Improvement Projects. The table below illustrates the proposed swing factor trend and the corresponding percent change/year over year for the period starting in 2011 and running through 2016. Another element of the MCC budget in addition to the $150,000.00 proposed property tax levy will be capital improvement funds. As Council is aware, CIP funds have been cut from the Community Center for the past five years including 2012 and 2013. As a result of these cuts the Community Center has fallen into a state of disrepair. The proposed budget is designed to begin making improvements to the MCC which will ultimately result in increased revenue, allowing the MCC to fulfill its financial obligations to the City as well. To that end, staff is proposing that council set aside $200,000.00 - $225,000.00 annually for capital improvement projects at the MCC. The goal by 2016 will be to reach a $400,000.00 annual subsidy amount. This figure will include both the $150,000.00 tax property levy as well as the CIP funds noted above (see figure 3 for breakdown of proposed CIP, Tax Property Levy, and overall MCC subsidy amounts). PROPOSED SWING FACTOR TREND – 2011 thru 2016 YEARSWING FACTOR PERCENT OF CHANGE/ YEAR OVER YEAR 2010 $414,000.00 2011 $325,000.00 22% 2012 $285,000.00 13% 2013 $235,000.00 17% 2014 $190,000.00 20% 2015 $165,000.00 13% 2016 $150,000.00 9% Page 1 of 6 Agenda Item 8C ACTION PLAN Staff proposes the following action items to achieve the aforementioned goals: 1) Increase In Membership Levels Increased Family Focus: The Maplewood Community Center will focus on creating a welcoming environment for families and work to grow this important membership demographic. To accomplish this, the Maplewood Community Center will begin by remodeling the building’s flagship amenity - the aquatics center. Staff, with the aid of local contractors, has developed an innovative renovation strategy to make the aquatic center more appealing for families with children of all ages. Improvements, scheduled to be phased in over the next five years, will include increased interactive play structures for older children, smaller slides and water features for younger children, and bright murals designed to create a bright welcoming environment for guests of all ages. Following the lead of many of our area competitors, staff is also reviewing the feasibility of installing an indoor playground again designed to target young families. This project would be undertaken in 2012 – 2013. Continued Senior Programming Offerings: The MCC has experienced great success with our senior demographic. To continue to support these memberships, staff will continue to offer a variety of senior programming options including senior fitness, senior seminars, card clubs, and day trips. To welcome additional seniors to our facility, MCC will be introducing the Healthways SilverSneakers Fitness Program in May 2011. The SilverSneakers Fitness Program is an innovative health, exercise and wellness program helping older adults live healthy, active lifestyles. 2) Increase In Banquet Activities Special Events: MCC will continue to offer special events for audiences of all ages. These special events have proven to be a great source of revenue and as such will continue to be a pivotal growth point for the Community Center. In addition, these special events Page 2 of 6 Agenda Item 8C serve to increase the sense of community in the City of Maplewood while also helping to improve Maplewood’s overall image. Weddings/Banquet Use: The Community Center will continue to increase awareness of our meeting and special event space by participating in a variety of community wedding fairs and expos. 3) Increase In Theater Activities Five Year Rental Contract with Ashland Productions: In 2011 the MCC entered into a five-year contract with Ashland Productions. This contract will ensure a consistent tenant in the theater and a guaranteed annual base revenue of $32,500. Expanded Entertainment Series: On top of shows presented by Ashland Productions, the MCC will also host an expanded entertainment series offering 10 – 20 performances a year from a variety of musical genres. In addition, MCC is currently pursuing grants and other outside funding which would allow them to produce a cultural entertainment series in 2012. 4) Joint Powers Agreement With North St. Paul Increased Recreation Programming For Both Maplewood & North St. Paul Increased Arts Programming For Both Maplewood & North St. Paul 5) Increase In Fitness Activities Streamline Program Offerings Offer Fitness Programs At North St. Paul Community Center 6) Operational Improvements Decrease In Staffing Levels Decrease In Operating Expenditures Secure Additional Partnerships & Grants Page 3 of 6 Agenda Item 8C Eliminate Marginal Programs DISCUSSION Staff is seeking direction from the City Council regarding what the property tax levy for the MCC should be moving forward. Staff recommends that this number should be approximately $150,000.00 to offset operating expenses. This amount should be supplemented annually with $200,000.00 - $225,000.00 in capital improvement funds to maintain the integrity of the building. RECOMMENDATION Provide staff feedback regarding the feasibility of the proposed budget and action plan. Page 4 of 6 Agenda Item 8C Figure1:ProjectedMCCExpenditures 2,450 2,400 2,350 2,300 2,250 2,200 2,150 201220142016 FISCALYEAR Figure2:ProjectedMCCRevenue 2,120 2,100 2,080 2,060 2,040 2,020 2,000 1,980 1,960 1,940 201220142016 Page 5 of 6 FISCALYEAR Agenda Item 8C Figure3:ProposedCIP,TaxPropertyLevy,AndOverallMCCSubsidyAmounts 600 500 PropertyTaxLevy 400 300 CIP 200 Total=Property taxlevy+CIP 100 0 201220142016 FISCALYEAR Page 6 of 6