6. PRSR 04-11-2012Item: 6
MEMORANDUM
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TO: Parks and Recreation Commission
FROM: Michael Hecker, Parks and Recreation Director
DATE: April b, 2012
SUBJECT: Director's Report
This report is a highlight of our Department's activities to inform the Commission on items related
to strategic planning, staff development, park operations and collaborations during the past month.
Bailey Point
We are waiting for a response from the Minnesota Land Trust to our last set of comments on the
third draft of the conservation easement at Bailey Point. Eric Toth has had a survey of his existing
easement area completed and his attorney is working on the language improvements. We have a few
items to iron out and are hopeful to close on the propeny in May.
Pinewood Golf Course
We had an early record opening day this year on March 15. The previous record was in 2007 with a
date of March 26. We have made $17,186 so far this year at Pinewood golf course. In the same
year-to-date period in 2011, we had no revenue. This is the best season start on record at Pinewood.
Hillside Park
GRE has agreed to make a monetarydonation of $8,350 to the Cityfor improvements to Hillside
Park. This is basically the equivalent to the cost of a plan to install prairie grasses and maintenance
for three years to the transmission line easement. GRE has also agreed to deliver new boulders and
spray herbicide to remove bucl¢hom. The staff relationship with GRE has been very positive. I
want to thank Dave Anderson and Park Steward Rich Chndahl for discussing the proposed
management plan to the park and concluding that the original plan of new trees we had been
discussing will be difficult to sustain. We will continue to work with the volunteers and hope to have
a conclusion on this in the coming weeks.
Community Garden
Planning is currently underway for the Elk River Community Garden. The garden will be located in
an area between the YMCA and Gary Street as it has in the past. The Department is working with
Kathy Held who has worked with other community garden projects in designing information and
registration material. Kathy will also be managing the dayto day management of the garden. An
infomrational meeting for interested participants will be held in the next several weeks.
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Staff Leadership Development
We will complete the leadership training workshops for staff on Apri126. Staff is now volunteering
to take on the role of leading the workshops in organizational effectiveness. The main source of
training materials comes from the "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" program byJohn
Maxwell.
Packs Maintenance Position Vacancy
Park Maintenance employee Ross Demant resigned on Apri14 with two weeks' notice. Ross was
hired as the new Parks & Recreation Manager for the City of Otsego. We are now accepting
applications for this vacant position.
Branding, Core Values and Mission
I plan to unveil the new Department mission statement and tagline branding on Apri112 at our
fourth Department meeting on strategic plannuig. This process began in January. We will unveil
this to the Commission at the May meeting.
Senior Center
The Senior Center at 350 Evans (Guardian Angels) will soon be dedicated to programs that fit under
Health and Wellness. Guardian Angles plans to expand programming for older active adults and
wants to continue partnering with the city. This includes using the crurent instructor from the
YMCA for the fitness classes. We will seekto n„nimi~e our staff efforts Guardian Angels are using
fundraisers for fitness and health. They plan to bring in new fitness equipment into the facility. The
city-owned equipment will be sold as surplus (publicsuprplus.com) and the ceramics class will be
discontinued. We will continue to review our services and partnership with Guardian Angels as Sue
departs and we incorporate organizational changes.
Houlton Prouerty
I was approached by a real estate agent representing the Houlton properly. The entire 343 acres
along the Mississippi River is for sale. The list price is crurently $3.9 million. Staff is exploring grant
possibilities. This will probably be discussed at a May City Council work session.
Playground Design Workshou
We had to cancel the original design workshop and factory tour on March 21 becatue of the
personal injury sustained by Rodney. We have rescheduled this workshop for Wednesday, May 2.
All of the Commission members are again invited to attend. Lunch will be provided. This will assist
in the design process for a future destination playground at Orono Park