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04-10-2019 PR MIN 44 City of Meeting of the Elk River Parks and ilk �� Recreation Commission River Held at the Elk River City Hall Wednesday, April 10, 2019 Members Present: Chair Anderson, Commission members Holmgren,Loidolt,Niziolek, Soltvedt, and Williams Members Absent: Commissioner Rathbun Council liaison: Ms. Wagner Staff Present: Parks and Recreation Director,Michael Hecker,Recreation Manager, Steve Benoit, and Recreation Coordinator,Tonya Love I. Call Meeting to Order Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Elk River Parks and Recreation Commission was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chair Anderson. 2. Consider 4/10/19 Agenda Mr. Hecker added Item 6.4 Rivers Edge Commons Park Flag Pole and Item 6.5 Deer Issues IIIMoved by Commissioner Williams and seconded by Commissioner Soltvedt to approve the April 10, 2019 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting agenda with the staff changes. Motion carried 6-0. 3. Consider 03/13/19 Regular PRC Minutes and Work Session Minutes Moved by Commissioner Soltvedt and seconded by Commissioner Loidolt to approve the following March 13, 2019 Regular Parks and Recreation Commission minutes. Motion carried 6-0. 4. Open Forum — None 5.1 Park Dedication — Lawatsch Farms Mr. Benoit shared his staff report. Commission discussed where the access to each lot would be. Moved by Commissioner Soltvedt and seconded by Commissioner Williams to recommend to City Council to accept park dedication for the Lawatsch Farms to be paid for nine dwelling units at the rate applicable when the subdivision is released for IIIIIrecording. This will be $1,425.93 at the 2019 low density rate. Motion carried 6-0. Parks&Recreation Commission Minutes Page 2 April 10,201911111 6.I Great Northern Trail Closure Mr. Hecker shared his staff report. Sharing that dates have not been set and the city will post those dates for the public. Chair asked staff to get answers for the following questions: 1. Location of parking lot and orientation of lot 2. Parking lot access 3. What type of lift stations will be installed 4. What is specific location of each lift station 5. What is the location of pipeline;next to and/or under trail 6. What type of impact will it have on trail 7. What times of day will trail be open and can evening be open hours 8. Can project be completed before the second week of August due to the increased daily use by the HS cross country team practices 9. Will the parking lot be on city property 10. How long will the closure last Commissioner Niziolek suggested being strategic with closing the trail and the times. Do work during the day and keep trail open at night. • Commissioner Niziolek shared that the cross country team uses the trail starting in second week of August for practice and could the work be completed before that. 6.2 _ Rivers Edge Park Rental Policy Mr. Benoit shared report and handed out the Facility Use form stating that the park had 15 wedding reservations for 2018. Art Soup also used the park in past years for their festival. Recent requests have brought attention to new types of rentals and the last time the policy was looked at was 2007. Staff would like direction on if they should spend time on reviewing the policy to update it.A few reasons to do review the policy would be that it was created in 2007, the park has expanded in size, and the demand has increased. Commissioner Soltvedt asked if fees were adjusted when park was expanded. Mr. Benoit stated that staff reviewed the fees compared to other cities and found we were in line with other parks,and without permanent restrooms it didn't seem the right time to change fees. Chair Anderson stated the more the park is used the better and making sure the public still has r ® rE / EI 1r • NATURE • Parks&Recreation Commission Minutes Page 3 April 10,2019 access to use the park and that it is important to establish uses for the park. Mr. Hecker shared another change is that the lower parking lot is considered part of the park after the expansion and has been rented out to large receptions in the past. Chair Anderson shared that addressing the rates to recognize the size of the park would be appropriate to do at this time. Commissioner Soltvedt stated it would be important to get feedback from the downtown businesses as having more events in that park will affect them. 6.3 Field Use Allocation Policies and Procedures Mr. Benoit shared his staff report reviewing the suggested changes the commissioners gave at the March work session and then asking for feedback before going to the youth associations meeting for review. 6.4 Rivers Edge Commons Park Flag Pole Mr. Hecker shared an email from Mayor Dietz, sharing that this year a ladder fire truck will be • used to display the flag for the American Legions Memorial Day program and the Legion Commander has agreed to this solution. Using this alternative will give the Parks and Recreation Commission time to give flagpoles a global view for the entire park system including Rivers Edge Commons Park. Chair Anderson shared with the audience how the commission operates.When the Parks and Recreation Commission gets requests from the community or requests from our own commissioners we typically discuss them when they come in. Budgeting purposes basically need a year out.We take a look at all of the needs and wants in the parks and community and we create a plan. In the case of River's Edge Commons Park if we were going to have a flagpole we have to figure out a plan which would be location and height of the flagpole,lastly costs are figured out by staff. Then in the fall the commission will look at the available funds that are coming in for park improvements,which the flagpole would be, and this past year our Park Improvement budget was like $300,000. Our park improvement needs are planned for the next 15 years which is around nine million.We're looking at a significant amount of need and a limited amount of dollars for those needs. Each year staff puts together a list of items that they recommend sharing those with the commission and commissioners add items or make recommended changes and that goes on to the council for final approval. Mr. Hecker stated that Tim Sevcik texted that park improvements total up to $9.8 million in projects and the Parks Improvement Fund has roughly$190,000 per year. r ® / EIE1 i1 Parks&Recreation Commission Minutes Page 4 April 10,2019 Chair Anderson shared that a request from March to do something in May is not possible, due to not having the budget and there is a process,we have to look at what type of pole,how tall the pole is and how the pole will benefit and impact all park users. Chair Anderson stated he was informed of what was being said about the commission and staff on social media and that it is important the we all understand the limits by which the commission operates within and that if a decision is made against something that the public is for,in this case a flagpole, does not mean that the city, city staff or the commission are not patriotic. We have no less passion for the flag or anybody out there listening to us on cable. We just cannot install a flagpole without a plan and without a budget. I would throw out the challenge to raise $4000 and then we can come up with a plan. Turn your passion into a community effort to do good things not just for Memorial Day which is one day but for many other days.We are looking at$9.8 million budget with$190,000 a year to spend. Mr. Hecker stated that it is important to remember this group did not say they were opposed the flag at the last meeting, that they would need to consider it due to budget constraints and needing a plan. Ms.Wagner stated that this commission is made up of volunteers. Sharing that there is a process the city has to go by to make recommendations whether it's for$400, $4000 or$4 million. The Mayor was the one who suggested that the American Legion move its event from the Lion John Weicht Park,with the removal of the band shell down to Rivers Edge • Commons Park. It's important that everybody knows that it was never a thing of someone not being patriotic or un-American and that it was rather there's a process that is followed.We will make sure that the American Legion has an event this year for Memorial Day at the downtown park. Chair Anderson shared that we can have our opinions and share them because of our freedoms; encouraging the audience to volunteer in the community. Korrin Kaufmann, 15300 196 Avenue Elk River stated that all the kids here were not even born before 911. If we could get a community group to put flags in every park and have kids take a rotation to take care of the flags. Mike Kaufmann, 15300 196 Avenue, asked how soon the cost will be figured out so they can do some fundraising. Chair Anderson stated it's the time between now and Memorial Day that seems like a long time but it really isn't encouraging us to use the temporary solution for this coming Memorial Day and then work towards the goal and come back in and talk to the commission in October, if,by October you've already raised the money then we still have to make a recommendation to the city council on if we're going to have a flagpole,where that flagpole is going to be and �erE1E1 40 NATURE • Parks&Recreation Commission Minutes Page 5 April 10,2019 the council will have to approve it. Chair Anderson shared we're all looking not just for a solution to the flagpole issue but a solution to many community issues and hopefully your passion can be extended to help solve many of them. 6.5 Deer Issues Mr. Hecker shared that there have been many more complaints about more deer in yards and that he spoke with the DNR who take care of wildlife management. The DNR stated the deer are going to higher ground due to flood waters,looking for food, and that people are feeding the deer which is not recommended.The deer will move back after water recedes and if people stop feeding the deer. Commissioner Niziolek would like to do a flyover of the city and wants to note that this is a discussion about displaced deer due to river flooding. 7. Parks and Recreation Director Update Mr. Hecker shared his staff report. Korean War Memorial Garden volunteers are stepping down stated staff would look for new volunteers. Commissioner Holmgren stated he would volunteer to take care of it. 8 Recreation Manager's Update Mr. Benoit presented his staff report along with a slideshow of the Tea Tasting event held at the Activity Center and shared the Community education program guide. 9. Announcements Commissioner Anderson that Wally Wingard received a lifetime achievement award for cross country skiing and biathlon. He got us going on the trails 31 years ago and energized our community to help build them. 10. Adjourn to Work session There being no further business, Chair Anderson adjourned the meeting of the Elk River Parks and Recreation Commission at 8:12 p.m. P / VI E I E I II NATURE Parks&Recreation Commission Minutes Page 6 • April 10,2019 I I. Work session The work session meeting of the Elk River Parks and Recreation Commission was called to order at 8:35 p.m. by Chair Anderson. I I.I Athletic Field Fees Mr. Hecker shared the Athletic Field Fees with commission members reviewing what the commission had stated at a past work session as to why we have athletic fields and why we charge user fees and asking for more feedback. State Community Pride instead of Community Benefit and add Economic Benefit,remove Reduce the Levy. Mr. Hecker shared current fees that are charged and comparisons of other cities and the field costs per day at the athletic complexes. Commission discussed there being no fees charged to Elk River Youth Associations due to the amount of donations they provide and to keep encouraging them to continue to donate for capital improvements and charging outside Elk River community organization to use fields. Commission discussed how higher fees would be passed onto participants and would keep some from playing;establishing fees for outside organizations for equity and consider asking what each organization can contribute. Chair Anderson suggested the city start a soccer league and get volunteers to help grow it into an association. Commission discussed the cons to comparing field use fees to Arena fees and how it could create each sport against hockey. Mr. Hecker shared what staff researched and came up with for potential fees: $45 a field/per day $25 for lights per field per day Commissioner Soltvedt suggested city look at each Elk River organization have 80%or more of residents to not charge field use fees and encourage donating$10,000 and figuring out what will that go towards. Council member Wagner shared that she liked the idea of charging no fees however, still want to have organizations have responsibility such as, asking the organizations to adopt-a-park and it's their job to help to build ownership. Stating each organization could have a flat fee that NA"MURE • Parks&Recreation Commission Minutes Page 7 April 10,2019 goes into a sinking fund to use towards improvements or expansion and that fee is based on sliding fee scale for each organization. Commissioner Soltvedt asked if city should be doing what Community Education does and charge per child. Commission discussed that organizations outside of Elk River would have to pay a fee to use the fields. I2. Adjournment There being no further business, Chair Anderson adjourned the meeting of the Elk River Parks and Recreation Commission work session at 10:20 p.m. Minutes prepare Tonya Love. • Dave Anderson, Chair Tina Allard, City Clerk NATURE