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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-07-13 Park Board Minutes 1 Minutes of the Edina Park Board July 13, 2010 Edina City Hall, Council Chambers MEMBERS PRESENT: Jennifer Kenney, Todd Fronek, Dan Peterson, Rob Presthus, Randy Meyer, Joseph Hulbert, Keeya Steel, Ben Pobuda, Ellen Jones, Louise Segreto MEMBERS ABSENT: Bill Lough STAFF PRESENT: John Keprios, Ed MacHolda, Janet Canton, Doug Bauman I. APPROVAL OF THE APRIL 13, 2010 PARK BOARD MINUTES Todd Fronek MOVED TO APPROVE THE APRIL 13, 2010 PARK BOARD MINUTES. Dan Peterson SECONDED THE MOTION. MINUTES APPROVED. II. NEW BUSINESS A. EHS Hockey Alumni Proposal - Casey Hankinson, former Edina Hockey player, presented an idea to the Park Board regarding Braemar Arena. He explained to the Park Board that there’s an alumni component of Edina Hockey which started the “Willard Ikola” golf tournament approximately four years ago. He stated that they have been raising money to update Braemar Arena. In addition, they have also given approximately $10,000 to the “Willard Ikola Scholarship Fund” which goes to players on the Edina Varsity Hockey teams. Mr. Hankinson pointed out that they would like to update the tribute to the champions of Edina Hockey at Braemar Arena. Their proposal is to have a nice mural with some images of Coach Ikola, old hockey jerseys, etc., and give it a new updated life. He added that they would also be honoring Edina’s ten state championship teams. He explained that their thought is to have it located in the west arena as you walk in. Mr. Hankinson pointed out that everything would be privately funded and that they would probably be doing it in phases with Phase I being the mural and images. He noted that phase II could possibly be the component with Coach Ikola as well as updating some of the pictures at Braemar Arena. Mr. Fronek stated that he thinks it’s a great idea and thanked the EHS Alumni for putting this together. He commented that it’s not only a great tribute to Coach Ikola but to the rest of the teams and thanked them on behalf of the Park Board for putting the time into this project. Mr. Keprios asked Mr. Meyer if this has been brought to the School Board to look at. Mr. Meyer replied that there wasn’t a formal vote on it but that there was some brief discussion and support by consensus on behalf of the School Board for the concept. 2 Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that Doug Bauman, Arena Manager, did bring the concept to the Braemar City of Lakes Figure Skating Club as well as the Edina Hockey Association and both organizations support the concept. Todd Fronek MOVED TO ACCEPT THE PROPOSAL FROM THE EHS HOCKEY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION. Ellen Jones SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. B. Veteran’s Memorial Committee – Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that there are now 11 members willing to serve on the official Veteran’s Memorial Committee. He indicated that they recently had their “organizational meeting” where they basically gave their visions and views of where they are headed as well as find out what everyone’s level of support and commitment is. He noted that they were very pleased with the meeting. Mr. Keprios indicated that what he is looking for from the Park Board is the approval of the concept to move forward with this official committee so they can begin to deliberate on the proper site, location, design, etc. Rob Presthus MOVED THAT THE PARK BOARD SUPPORT STAFF RECOMMENDATION TO CONTINUE TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE VETERANS MEMORIAL CONCEPT BY APPROVING THE FORMAL COMMITTEE OF ELEVEN VOLUNTEERS AS PRESENTED. Todd Fronek SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. C. Community Advisory Team Report – Ms. Jones informed the Park Board that on June 18th representatives from the Community Advisory Team presented their findings to the Edina City Council, no formal actions were requested or made. She noted that on June 29th the Community Advisory Team met again to discuss what their next step should be which it was agreed to create a final written report that would be presented to the City Council. It was also decided that they would seek approval from the City Council to apply to the Metropolitan Council for a Livable Community Grant. Ms. Jones pointed out that if they are awarded the grant it would cover expenses associated with developing a technical plan for this small area. That grant would cover planning issues related to transportation, land use, utilities infrastructure, financing and market analysis. She stated that on July 6th the City Council granted permission to apply for this grant and added that the grants are awarded in the fall. She commented that the Community Advisory Team is planning a meeting again soon to review the final report and that she thinks they are wrapping up. D. Park Board Liaison to the BETF – Mr. Hulbert informed the Park Board that the Bike Edina Task Force is looking for a liaison from the Park Board. Ms. Jones stated that she would be willing to do it. III. UPDATES FROM STAFF A. Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail - Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that Three Rivers Park District has completed their second of two Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) open houses. The purpose of the open houses was to educate the 3 public about the findings of the EAW as well as a lot of statistics. He noted that he thought the open houses went very well and there were a lot of good comments and a lot of feedback. Mr. Keprios indicated that there was a 30 day comment period for the EAW which ends tomorrow. He explained that the next step is everything goes to the Three Rivers Board of Commissioners to look at all of the input from the community. At that time they will either accept or not accept the EAW and will then make a determination to see if they will need to conduct any further environmental impact studies. Mr. Fronek stated that in looking at some of the emails, a lot of them suggested that Route 5F was added late to the game and felt there may be some funny business going on regarding how the route was established. He indicated that in regards to financing it’s clear it’s going to be very, very expensive but it was his understanding that Three Rivers had the financing somewhat developed and taken care of. He asked Mr. Keprios to comment on those two items. Mr. Keprios replied that Three Rivers Park District staff proposed alternate Route 5F late in the process. He noted that Three Rivers Park District staff felt that alternate route 5F was bound to happen eventually based on the data they received from the results of the EAW. Mr. Keprios explained that he felt it was bad timing when Three Rivers Park District staff presented it at the last Community Assessment team meeting. He noted that the volunteers were understandably upset because they were told at the start that they would not be entertaining any alternate routes through the process. Mr. Keprios commented that they may have to look at some other alternates if some turn out to be not feasible due to social, economic and/or environmental reasons or other reasons. He commented that it is possible that some segments might fall off the map and they will have to look at another route. Mr. Keprios explained as far as the financing is concerned it is very expensive and he thinks part of the 5F was a way to try to find a way to reduce some of the expenses. He indicated that as far as where the money comes from there is some very good detailed information available on the Questions and Answers section on the Three Rivers Park website. He pointed out that the majority of funding to build the large bridges over the Crosstown Highway and Highway 100 will come from federal dollars through federal grants. Other funding will include bonding and the Three Rivers Park District's CIP which are tax dollars from all of Hennepin County and not just Edina. He noted that it’s not a special assessment but it’s essentially taxation through all of Hennepin County which they draw their revenue from. In addition, a lot will be Minnesota State dollars. Mr. Keprios commented that it will likely take 10 to 15 years to get it all done. B. Centennial Lakes Farmer’s Market - Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that the Farmer’s Market has been successful beyond what they expected. He noted that the first day several of the vendors sold out of their products so many of them doubled up for this past Thursday and they still ran out. Mr. Keprios indicated that a lot of people are showing up early to be assured the product will be available. Therefore, they are very strict with their vendors to not sell anything until 3:00 pm because they 4 don’t want people showing up at 2:00 pm and waiting in line for an hour. He commented they have had very few problems and for the most part everything has been very, very positive. IV. PARK BOARD COMMENTS A. Memorial Policies - Ms. Jones asked Mr. Keprios if there is a policy on memorials. Mr. Keprios replied there is a Donations Policy which was approved by the Park Board and City Council about a decade ago. He explained that permanent plaques are no longer allowed in the park system unless the donation is equal to or greater than $5,000 either singularly or collectively in a group. Mr. Keprios stated that as far as naming things and memorials there really is no policy that addresses that specifically. Mr. Hulbert indicated that with the different requests they’ve had this year for the Flying Disc Championship and the May Term Project as well as a couple of requests for memorials, maybe now would be a good time for the Park Board to have a separate work session to talk about the policy and whether or not they may want to create a new policy. Mr. Keprios replied that he thinks it would be time well spent if the topic was more naming of facilities or parks because there already is a policy in place for donations. He noted that the last time this came to the Park Board and ultimately the City Council the resolve that the City Council had at the time was that they would prefer to deal with them on a case by case basis. Mr. Keprios commented that there are policies out there in communities that are all over the map with all different types of stipulations. He stated that he would be happy to have a work session but would need a little more direction from the Park Board on how they would like him to proceed. Ms. Segreto indicated that she would find it helpful and would like to talk about memorials during these times of economic shortfalls and budget constraints. She noted that it’s hard to decline any contribution that someone wants to make and wondered whether they could aggregate contributions so that maybe the plaque wouldn’t carry just one name but it would be an aggregation of perhaps five people just to get more money coming in. It’s just a thought. Mr. Hulbert replied that he thinks it’s a thought that’s worthwhile to get into a little bit. He indicated that he thinks it might be a good idea to throw more ideas out on the table. Mr. Keprios clarified that the Park Board would like the work session to address memorials, donations and naming of facilities/parks. Mr. Meyer asked Mr. Keprios if he would distribute the current policies to the Park Board so that they can understand the framework that is currently in place. He noted that then they can come back with some questions and then maybe touch on the naming aspect as well. He commented that they are not going to get through all of this in a single session but they certainly can build on a foundation so that they have some basis for future decisions. 5 It was decided to hold a work session an hour before the August 9th Park Board meeting. B. Edina Aquatic Center Hours of Operation - Mr. Meyer indicated that he has been hearing some negative comments about the pool closing earlier this year and that there are some swim clubs using the pool. He asked what was the evolution of this issue. He noted that one of his concerns is the impact that it’s had on families who aren’t able to get to the pool until 6:30 pm. Mr. Keprios explained that the reason they decided to close the pool an hour earlier was not a directive from the City Council but it was a general directive to try to find ways to make cuts, savings and efficiencies across the board. He stated that he thought it was a wise move on Mr. MacHolda’s part to make that executive decision to close earlier. Mr. Keprios stated that there are true savings there and yes, they are receiving some negative feedback and will probably have to reevaluate it for next year. Mr. MacHolda explained his reasoning for making the decision he did. He noted that in 2009 part-time seasonal staff’s wages were frozen and in 2010 their wages remained frozen. He indicated that when looking at hours compared to neighboring facilities to his surprise Edina was open later than St. Louis Park, Bloomington and Richfield which close at 7:00 and 7:30 depending on the day and month. He noted that by closing an hour earlier in June and July and half an hour earlier in August there would be a savings. He added that it takes approximately 22 to 24 people to run the facility at approximately $10.00 per person/hour, so it is a big savings. Mr. MacHolda indicated that once they made the move to change the hours, due to the economic times, instead of making further cutbacks they decided to generate a little bit of revenue. Therefore they went knocking on competitive swim team doors because with swim teams only one employee needs to be working. He noted that they didn’t have to go as deep with their cutbacks because of the revenue they found in the evening by the swim teams. Mr. MacHolda pointed out that they did look at other things but they didn’t want to compromise what they currently provide to their patrons. Mr. Meyer stated that perhaps maybe one or two nights a week they could stay open a little longer. He noted that he thinks the biggest thing was it was a surprise to them even though the new hours were posted and publicized. Unfortunately, it was probably one of those things that they did not notice until they were at the facility and it was closing an hour earlier than what they had become accustomed to. Mr. MacHolda indicated that he wishes there would have been a better way of communicating this and hopes that they will be able to reinstate it next year. Mr. MacHolda commented that they have thought about extending the hours on Friday and Saturday nights and call them family nights since swim teams are using the facility Monday through Thursday but is has not happened. 6 C. John Valliere - Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that John Valliere, Manager of Braemar Golf Course, gave his letter of resignation today for retirement. He indicated that it will be effective August 27, 2010. He commented that Mr. Valliere has been working for the City of Edina for over 40 years and noted that he will be dearly missed. Meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm