HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-01-14 Park Board MinutesEDINA PARK BOARD
7:30 p.m.
January 14, 1992
MANAGER'S CONFERENCE ROOM
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Christianson, Bill Jenkins, Bill Lord, Jean Rydell,
Pat Vagnoni, Jim Fee, Mac Thayer, Andrew Herring, Paul
O'Connor, Beth Hall
MEMBERS ABSENT: Andrew Montgomery
STAFF PRESENT: Bob Kojetin, John Keprios, Janet Canton
I. APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 25, 1991 MINUTES
Paul O'Connor MOVED TO APPROVE THE NOVEMBER 25, 1992 MINUTES. Mac Thayer
SECONDED THE MOTION. MINUTES APPROVED.
II. APPROVAL OF THE DECEMBER 10. 1991 MINUTES
Paul O'Connor MOVED TO APPROVE THE DECEMBER 10, 1991 MINUTES. Jean Rydell
SECONDED THE MOTION. MINUTES APPROVED.
III. ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION FUND-RAISERS
Mr. Kojetin noted that Mr. Keprios and Mr. MacHolda put together the Edina
Athletic Association's Survey. This survey is a list of questions that
will be sent out to the athletic associations. Some of the questions are
from the Park Board's suggestions that were discussed at the last meeting.
Mr. Keprios indicated that he kept almost every question that was suggested
except for the detailed budget. He noted that if this is needed the
information is available. Mr. Christianson stated he would, however, like
to see the trends since 1988. He feels 1991 does not go back far
enough.
Mr. Kojetin stated that in previous years people have tried all types of
fund-raisers in the city. There are a lot of ways to raise money. Mr.
Kojetin pointed out that the Girls Fast Pitch Softball Association has
placed lucite boxes throughout different businesses in the city to collect
people's change. Mr. Keprios indicated that with 50 sites in the city
having these cans he has had two complaints and one was from a Minneapolis
resident. He did give the woman the name of the president of the Girls
Fast Pitch Softball Association. This woman felt the kids should be going
door to door selling items. Mr. Kojetin also stated that there are so many
ways to raise money that it's hard to name what can and cannot be done for
fund-raisers. Also, every three years the Athletic Associations change
their board members. The only people that remain the same are sometimes
the coaches. With new board people every three years there are new ideas
all the time. Mr. Kojetin pointed out that we need to try to strive for
continuity so there are not as many waves.
Mr. Keprios stated that he has forewarned the athletic associations that a
survey in some form will be coming their way in the near future. One
athletic association board member made the comment that the Edina Park
Board should simply tell the associations what forms of fund-raising are
not acceptable. Mr. Christianson noted the associations should indicate
why they have fund-raisers? What are their needs? Mr. Christianson stated
that he understands the grant-in-aid need but feels the associations should
give a more subjective thought on the reasoning for engaging in the
fund-raisers. It was brought up that a lot of associations sometimes keep
quite a bit of money in the bank. Mr. Keprios noted that most associations
attempt to maintain a 10-15% surplus (10-15% of the association's annual
budget).
Mr. O'Connor suggested that there possibly be one big fund-raiser to cover
all of the grant-in-aid programs. Mr. Jenkins asked if the Edina
Foundation does this? It was noted that the Edina Foundation offers
grant-in-aid to the Edina Park and Recreation Programs such as swimming,
tennis, coach pitch etc. but not to the athletic associations. It was
noted that the Park Board needs to get the basic facts to begin and maybe
the athletic associations need an opportunity to come to a Park Board
meeting and explain themselves and ask whatever questions they may have.
Mr. Keprios asked the Board to think about anything else they would like to
see added to the survey before the next Park Board meeting when he will
prepare a final draft. A motion will need to be made at the next meeting
to approve the survey.
Mr. Keprios noted that the Edina Girls Fast Pitch had earlier applied for
and has been approved to receive a $2,000 grant from the U.S. Air Force
pull -tab proceeds. He stated that he told the Edina Girls Fast Pitch board
that in accordance with the Edina City Council's policy regarding proceeds
from gambling sources they could not accept the money if they wanted to
continue to have support from the City.
Mr. Keprios expressed a concern he has with the Hockey Moms. He noted that
the Hockey Moms are not an independently incorporated athletic association,
but rather a very dedicated and successful booster club that raises monies
to improve the Edina Hockey Association program as well as the facilities
at Braemar Arena. A good share of the monies raised by the Edina Hockey
Moms comes from the concessions stand at Braemar Arena, which they donate
time to operate during selected tournaments throughout the hockey season.
He pointed out that this group of women started in the late 1970's at a
time when the Arena Manager needed more staff help to operate the arena's
concession stand at the Edina Hockey Association's International
Tournaments. At that time, the Hockey Moms volunteered their time and then
with the money raised they helped the arena to purchase more improvements
for the facility such as scoreboards, skate tile, glass, lighting etc. The
Hockey Moms have been very successful and over time have generously donated
over $64,000 to the City of Edina for improvements at Braemar Arena.
However, not all of this money came from the concession stand profits. Mr.
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Keprios stated that there is no formal written agreement between the City
of Edina and the Edina Hockey Moms that stipulates how the concession stand
funds should be used. He suggested that the Park Board give this issue of
formalizing this relationship some thought because it will likely surface
in the fund-raising policy survey.
Mr. Keprios noted that the Edina Baseball Association also makes a lot of
money through concessions operations at the Braemar Baseball Complex,
Courtney Fields, and they have poured a lot back into the facility. Mr.
Keprios suggested to the Park Board that a more formal agreement may need
to be established to avoid future problems.
Mr. Keprios pointed out that the Hockey Moms recently donated monies to
purchase goalie equipment for the Edina Hockey Association Mite program as
well as a cash donation to help lower registration fees. Mr. Christianson
stated this is a public facility and if the Hockey Moms are making the
decisions on where the funds should be spent then possibly we should be
looking at charging them rent. Mr. Keprios noted that up until now the
agreement has been mutually beneficial. Bob Christianson stated that the
city attorneys would be interested to know that public money is not going
for public purposes. It was also pointed out that the Hockey Moms do raise
money in other ways also. It was noted that the Hockey Moms only run the
concessions for their selected tournaments. Braemar Arena staff run the
concessions for the high school games and all other activities.
The Baseball Association also has a hired staff and they also pay for
insurance. The Baseball Association does pay a lot for insurance to run
the concessions stand at the baseball complex. The Hockey Moms do not pay
any insurance or rent. Mr. Christianson asked Mr. Keprios what he would
like the Park Board to do regarding this matter. Mr. Keprios stated that
for now this is just informational but, the Park Board may want to consider
recommending a formal written policy for the sake of fairness and
consistency.
Mr. Fee brought up the point that the Edina Hockey Association Board
discriminates against the "C" Level teams. He feels the Hockey Board is
more in favor of the "A" and "B" traveling teams. Mr. Fee felt that a lot
of traveling kids parents are on the Hockey Board and the Hockey Moms. Mr.
Fee feels the Hockey Board is taking a lot of money and just funneling it
back into the traveling teams. The traveling teams, he feels, are getting
all of the ice times. He feels the distribution of ice to the "C" leagues
compared to that of "A" and "B" leagues is 10% to 90% (90% of the indoor
ice goes to the "A" and "B" teams and only 108 to the "C" teams). Mr. Fee
brought this topic up because he wanted to forewarn the Park Board that a
lot of the parents are getting ready to take this complaint to the City
Council. Eventually the Park Board will have to look at this issue. Mr.
O'Connor also stated that this was the talk at the last hockey tournament
he was at. Mr. O'Connor stated he heard the ice was divided 30 hours to
the A teams, 25 hours to the B teams and 5 hours to the C teams. Mr.
Keprios stated that this was not accurate. The A teams get 30 hours and
the B teams get 25 hours of which game hours are included in these hours.
The C teams get 5 practice hours plus the necessary home ice for the
district game schedule.
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Mr. Kojetin made the comment that years ago the "C" teams did not want to
play as much as the upper divisions and this is why they do not have as
much ice time. It was noted that this will need to be reevaluated since it
seems as though this is no longer the case. Mr. Keprios indicated that
this is not a new argument. Mr. Keprios also noted that there would be
more ice available at Braemar Arena for all Edina teams if the Edina Hockey
Association did not host as many invitational tournaments annually. John
was asked why other community teams are allowed to purchase ice at
Braemar. Mr. Keprios indicated that the Edina Hockey Association gets
first shot at all of the prime ice times and then it is up to the Arena
Manager to sell whatever is left over to anyone that is interested.
It was brought up that there have been complaints on why other communities
get to use Braemar Arena on Sunday mornings. Mr. Kojetin stated that the
Park Board set a policy many years ago indicating that the Edina Hockey
Association cannot have ice time until after 11:45 a.m. on Sundays because
of church. This policy is still adhered to today.
Mr. Christianson brought up the point that the Park Board should not be
getting into the daily operations of the Athletic Associations. This is
not something for the Park Board to be deciding. If it goes before the
City Council and is brought back to the Park Board then the Board will deal
with it. It was suggested that the Hockey Association come to the February
Park Board meeting to express their concerns.
IV. NON-RESIDENT PARTICIPATION AND FEES
Mr. Kojetin brought up the topic of non-residents to the Park Board and
asked the members to give the issue some thought before the next meeting.
He indicated that there are some non-residents that are in the Park and
Recreation's programs. At this time everyone has received their brochures
and a few people have been sending their registration forms in early. This
is the first year we are going to be using a mail -in instead of a mass
registration. Mr. Kojetin stated that the Park office will officially begin
taking registrations on February 3rd. It was noted that when we start
receiving these forms there will be some non-residents sending in
registrations and we will need to know how to handle these registrants.
There are some activities that do charge an additional fee for
non-residents. Swimming, for instance, does not take non-residents until
the all residents have signed up and there is still room in some of the
classes. The question is, do we charge these people more for being a
non-resident? Mr. Kojetin pointed out that there are not a lot of these
people but he would like some reaction from the Park Board on this matter.
He indicated that the staff is not looking for an answer at this time but
would like for the Park Board to start thinking about it.
V. TREE REPORT
Mr. Kojetin indicated that the 1991 Year End Shade Tree Program Report was
handed out to keep everyone aware of what has been happening in the last
year. Tom Horwath, the part-time City Forester, is over seeing the tree
trimming in the Northwest quadrant of the City. He does all of the
inspections and supervising of the tree trimmers.
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Mr. Kojetin also noted that at this time they are working on a tree
replacement program in the Country Club District for all of the Elms that
have been lost. This is being done to bring back the cathedral look in the
Country Club District. Mr. Kojetin also noted that there are a lot of
people who do not want tree replacements on the boulevard, this may be due
to the fact that there is an assessment fee charged to maintain boulevard
trees.
Mr. Kojetin also mentioned that there is a new experimental method of
growing trees in a type of tube that is claimed to stimulate a much faster
growth rate in young trees. We will be testing this new method in our
nursery and possibly on park property.
VI OTHER
A. Edina Baseball Association Drug and Alcohol Policy. Mr. Keprios
informed the Park Board that the Edina Baseball Association passed, after a
long task force came to an agreement, a revised drug and alcohol policy
which affects both kids and non -participants, such as, umpires, parents,
chaperones, etc. All of these people need to remain drug and alcohol free
and adults are also encouraged to remain tobacco free for all trips. If
they do not live up to this policy they will be removed from their
position. Mr. Keprios stated that the Edina Baseball Association did a
good job with this policy and he will be distributing a copy of it to the
Park Board and all of the other Athletic Associations as soon as a final
draft is produced. All of the Athletic Associations currently have their
own drug and alcohol policy that is in keeping with the Park Board's
recommended drug and alcohol policy.
B. Mailing Labels - Mr. Keprios stated that currently when the Athletic
Associations want to publicize their programs he calls the School
District's office to get a set of mailing labels, which typically cost
$15.00 per thousand labels. The lists have not always been very accurate
and there have been a lot of problems with the information on them. Also,
the School District's office does not really think this is their job
responsibilities to run the labels for all the athletic associations each
year. Mr. Keprios asked Mr. O'Connor if he thought it would be possible to
get the list of all of the students in Edina and we would input them into
the Park and Recreation's computer. He assured Mr. O'Connor that it would
strictly be used for this purpose only. As of now Mr. Keprios is the only
person authorized to get labels from the School District. Mr. Keprios
stated that he needs to get the School Board's approval to do this. Mr.
Keprios indicated he would like to get the Park Board's recommendation.
Mr. Keprios feels that he can attain volunteers to input the data on the
City's computer and that this would be a very beneficial service to all
the athletic associations as well as the Edina Park and Recreation
Department programs while removing the burden of providing mailing labels
from the School District. Beth Hall MOVED TO GET THE SCHOOL BOARD'S
APPROVAL TO GET A LIST OF ALL THE STUDENTS NAMES FOR THE PARK AND
RECREATION'S USE TO PUBLICIZE THEIR PROGRAMS. Pat Vagnoni SECONDED THE
MOTION. MOTION CARRIED.
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C. SENIOR CENTER - Jean Rydell asked how the Senior Center construction
project was coming along and inquired specifically about the large wall
that was originally planned to be removed but now is planned to remain in
place. Mr. Kojetin explained the history of the plan and process and
stated that there are upcoming meetings with School officials and City
staff to discuss the issue further.
D. PLAYGROUND PROGRAM - Andrew Herring asked the Park Board that if at
the next meeting they could discuss the Summer Playground Program. He has
received some complaints that there is not very much supervision for such a
young age. Some people think of this as a daycare and it is being used as
such by many parents.
VII. ADJOURNMENT
Mac Thayer MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 9:05 P.M. Jean Rydell SECONDED
THE MOTION. MEETING ADJOURNED.
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