8. PRSR 01-08-2003 J
City of
Elk fir.
River
MEMORANDUM
TO: Park and Recreation Commission
FROM: Michele Bergh, Recreation Manager
DATE: January 8, 2003
SUBJECT: Update for December 2002
2002 was a great year for the Recreation Department. It was our first year as an official city
department. Throughout the year we had approximately 8,300 registrations compared to
approximately 7,500 registrations in 2001 for Elk River programs(total registrations in 2001
were 9,100 for programs in Elk River, Otsego, and Rogers). We took 705 registrations for
November and December. Some of our highlights are as follows:
U Pass Wellness Program
We have been offering adult wellness programs for about one year now. In November 2002
we began our U Pass program,which allows participants to buy a pass to attend any class on
the schedule they want. With our busy schedules,this really helps those who may not be
able to attend the same class each week due to schedule conflicts. We have 81 participants
for the first sessions and had classes that averaged 8-10 during the day and about 15 at night.
These are great class sizes and it was exciting to see many people attending more than one
class in a day as well as attending more than once a week. The program also includes a kick
off event,which was a sampling of classes,personal training consultations,door prizes,and
more for November and December. We had approximately / of those who purchased a
pass attend this event. For January and February,our kick off event was a 2-hour workshop
on yoga presented by the Director and Owner of the Yoga Center of Minneapolis. We have
also added discounts on other wellness related programs for adults to those who purchase a
pass to allow a more well-rounded wellness program.
Discounts for City Employees
Beginning in 2003,city employees who work at least 20 hours a week on a regular basis as
defined by the employee manual are able to participate in all adult wellness programs offered
by our department at a discounted rate of'h the resident fee. This encourages employees to
participate in our programs as part of the opportunities offered by the Wellness Committee.
Wellness Committee
We have been work for a couple of months now on getting this up and running for 2003.
We will be having a kickoff event for city employees in January. The calendar includes
fitness consultations,the discounts mentioned above on our programs, brown bag lunch
events on nutrition and stress, a walking program,a blood drive,participating in the Relay
for Life, and more. Our areas of focus have been defined as promoting physical activity,
nutrition,and health management. We are excited about promoting health for all employees
and hope that we will see a high level of participation.
Skate Park Meetings
We have had one meeting with community members regarding the proposed skate park at
Lions Park. There were 18 people in attendance and people were very excited about the
opportunity. We will be meeting again on January 16th at 6 p.m. at Lions Park Center to
discuss design options for Phase 1 of the park.
Annual Ice Show
We have begun registration for our annual ice show at the Arena. The theme this year is
Beauty and the Beast. We have traditionally had about 90 participants in this and expect the
same this year.
These are just a few highlights for the Recreation Department. We have been very busy with
the new programming we are offering and we are already busy working on the summer 2003
programming. If you have any suggestions, ideas or anyone you know who might be
interested in working for the Recreation Department, please be sure to let us know.