10 PRSR 04-14-2021 Memorandum
To: Parks and Recreation Commission
From: Michael Hecker, Parks and Recreation Director
Date: April 14, 2021
Subject: Director’s Report
This report is a monthly highlight of department activities related to recent collaborations, strategic
planning, staff changes/developments, and park operations.
Active Elk River - Orono Park & YAC
On April 5, the City Council approved the contracts for the Orono Park general site improvements, the
restroom and shelter building, splash pad, skate park, YAC restroom building and the YAC concessions
building renovations. We received 11 bids for Orono Park improvements with the lowest bid from New
Look Contracting at $1,332,974, less than the engineer’s estimate of $1,671,050. Bid Alternate #1 for
pickleball lighting was not accepted to keep both projects under budget. The replacement of an Orono
Park shelter was also not accepted.
Six bids were received for the YAC Concessions Building. The lowest bid of $268,200 from Ebert
Construction was $100,000 more than the engineer’s estimate of $165,000. Staff discussed rebidding this
project, however rising and volatile material costs would likely not improve the numbers. The renovation
is required to meet MN Department of Health requirements and regulations for food and beverage sales.
City Council approved this project and the restroom building for $326,918.
Orono Park work is expected to begin this May and the YAC project in early August after the baseball
season. The septic system, estimated at $160,000, will go to Council for approval next month. A pre-
construction meeting with SRF and New Look Contracting will be scheduled in the coming week.
Woodland Trails Regional Park Grant Project
The WTRP signs from the grant were installed by the volunteers. They are new signs with both
winter and summer walking trails. This closes out the WTRP grant project. The Woodlands Archery
Range is expected to open April 15 and the water feature on the Glacial Ridge Nature Play Area is
expected to open by May 1.
Item: 10
Woodland Trails Regional Park Recreational Facilities Dedication
The Woodland Trails Regional Park Recreational Facilities Dedication is set for Saturday, May 8,
rain or shine. The DNR granting authority is scheduled to inspect on Wednesday, May 12 after
which we expect to receive the balance of our grant funding. The Commission should consider
expectations for a dedication keeping in mind we still need to practice social distancing protocols?
GNT Partners Meeting
Staff attended the Great Northern Trail Partners Meeting at the Zimmerman City Hall on April 7 to
discuss preferred routes of the GNT through Zimmerman, Livonia and Baldwin Townships
and Princeton to Milaca. Many gaps and a few very challenging segments exist between Zimmerman
and Princeton. Public meetings are planning to be held this June by the GNT Partners to address
the gaps and provide recommended route alternatives.
Pinewood Golf Course
In February, the Council considered the sale of Pinewood Golf Course. Proposals were accepted and one
approved on March 1. Jenifer Abrahamson, Trevor Birdsall and Adriene Thompson will own and operate
upon sale closing and the contractual 120-day notice with ERGC. The city administrator is assisting with
the transition.
Park Maintenance
Park Maintenance has been busy prepping fields in anticipation of ERHS softball, baseball, and
lacrosse seasons that started late in March. The new ball field groomer was used for the first time at
LJWP. It was rewarding to see the field used by the girls’ softball teams for the first time. With the
ERHS stadium under construction, the lacrosse teams will use Oak Knoll fields.
Recreation Programming Staff
We have updated the FT Recreation Coordinator positions to better reflect an effective delivery of
programs and special events. The new job descriptions are: Recreation Administrative Coordinator
(Tonya), Recreation Special Events Coordinator now full time (Karen) and Recreation Sports
Coordinator (vacant). One of the Recreation Sports Coordinator essential functions will be to work
closely with athletic youth organizations to schedule athletic fields and the FTCEC. This position
has been posted with a submission deadline of April 26, 2021.
Recreation Programming Staff
Our recreation programming staff met with ISD #728 Continuing Ed programming staff to discuss
partnering on new/existing programs including Safety Camp and nature programming for 2022.
Tennis Courts
The Trott Brook Park tennis courts will be closed until replacement later this summer because the
surface cracks make them unplayable and a potential liability. The entire court, fencing and
foundation will need to be replaced and existing lighting will be inspected.
The tennis net was installed in late March at Highlands Park for pickleball and tennis.
Sedge Meadow Park
Tim and Michael visited Sedge Meadow Park with Park Steward Pat Andreasen who’s done a great
job clearing debris and opening some of the trails. This is an undeveloped park which we have had
some issues with a neighbor regarding park boundaries. We have completed a survey and have
installed new park boundary signs.
Senior Activity Center Sale
On February 16, 2021, the Council approved the sale of the Activity Center building to First Step
Preschool for $610,000. Two proposals were received by the city. First Step will complete nearly $1
million in improvements in the building.
Arena #1 Sponsorship Agreement with Cornerstone Auto
The Council approved a sponsorship agreement with Cornerstone Automotive for Arena #1 of the
Furniture and Things Community Event Center. The seven-year agreement is for $28,500 per year.
Cornerstone marketing staff worked with Blue Tricycle to develop a logo for the arena which
incorporate their brand. This is the third sponsorship agreement through FrontBurner Sports.
MRPA Awards
We have been informed by the MRPA Awards Committee that we were selected as MRPA Award
of Excellence for two projects. Our submissions for the Furniture and Things Community Event
Center and WTRP improvements were selected from nearly 60 applications. MRPA will present the
awards at an upcoming City Council meeting.
Adult Softball
Attached is a letter from a resident adult softball player in response to the Star News article
regarding the future of adult softball and the staff response. My response letter is also attached.
These were emailed to all Park Commissioner several weeks ago. We have a total 13 of softball
teams this spring.
March 22, 2021
Re: softball article in Star News
I would like to first say, “Thank you to Dave Anderson and his son Scott”. They worked countless of hours back in the day
to promote softball to the area, keep the fields in shape, get improvements done to the fields and had them ready to
play in good and bad weather. They were marked, dragged and if a rain storm came thru, water was pushed off so
games could be played.
From those golden years until now, there has been a decline in adult softball, I would agree to that. I have almost 40
years of being on a softball field whether it was playing the game or the years I umpired out on these fields. My
daughter, who is now almost 30, stated to me years ago, the funniest times she had was going to the fields to watch me
play, be with other kids and families, out on the softball fields.
Couple of things I would like to point out from the article, some suggestions and other information to help inform the
board and whoever else is involved with this issue.
Let’s start here with some things that I don’t think has help keep teams or bring teams here to play softball. The city
installed new score boards, they hardly get used. We are told they don’t work or something is wrong with them. Brand
new irrigation system took all summer to install and made the fields rock hard. Water hardly got turned on and then
several times during play, they turned on interrupting the games and had to be shut off. Concession stand has nothing,
no water, no pop, no candy, nothing. How do you expect families to come out and watch if there is nothing to buy for
the kids and ball players? A lot of ball players come right from work and would like a hot dog or something to eat. Put a
microwave to use out there to cook things if needed. Sometimes fields were not dragged, bases still at the wrong
distance for league play and no chalk lines. These are all little things that add up over time to keep players away. We
had men, women and families would come from miles around to play because things ran well, things were nicer than
there local area fields and competition of play was at its best. Lastly playing times, for the first time in all my years of
playing ball, we had to wait 2 hours between games before we played our next game for the night. (6:30 then 9:30)
Twice last year, one game at 9:30 game time, nobody likes that and that is a scheduling problem.
So now the helpful suggestions, start with something to sell in the concession stand. Simple pop and candy. I’m sure
there is a license or something that makes this tough to do but something is better than nothing. This is one of the
things to hopefully help bring out families to the park. Game times, if you have only 12 teams per night, change game
times to 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00. Keep all the teams there at the fields and use all the fields. The article says you haven’t
done any promoting for the league. Well I think it is safe to assume the “golden years” are over and now some
promotion is needed. Calling past teams, send out information to people in January to get involvement from teams.
Promote on Facebook or other means to get teams involved to play. If you let them come to you then yes, you will not
have leagues here anymore.
I’m sure to build this to a 94 team level years ago, it took a lot of phone calls, letters, flyers and meetings to get this
going. I would love to volunteer to help but working 3 jobs and having 2 other businesses it isn’t something I would be
comfortable to do at this time. I would think it would be an incredibly sad day to see this adult league be cancelled or
not available anymore.
Here is my phone number and email if you want to talk to me or get in contact with me for further discussion, 612-281-
4145 and dsgslug@yahoo.com. Thanks for listening, Doug Green