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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-03-11 Park Board MinutesEDINA PARK BOARD MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, March 11, 1980 EDINA CITY HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Virginia Shaw, Chairperson; Mary McDonald, Les Wanninger, Frank Gyetvan, Bill Lord, Mac Thayer STAFF PRESENT: Bob Kojetin, Rick Jacobson, John Keprios, Rosie Hafner, Pat Greer, Marion Ward OTHERS PRESENT: Dorothy Anderson; Dr. John Baumgartner, Edina Swim Club Mrs. Shaw welcomed the new Board member Mr. Bill Lord. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM FEBRUARY 12, 1980 MEETING The minutes were approved with the correction that the new room at the Art Center is to be over the kiln room not the garage. Mr. Gyetvan MADE A MOTION for approval. Mr. Thayer SECONDED. CARRIED. II. ART CENTER FEES Mr. Kojetin prefaced the discussion of the Art Center fees by pointing out to the Park Board that the Council had decided to increase all proposed 1980 fees by 10% excluding the playground program and tennis reservation fees. Mr. Kojetin handed out a revised copy of the new fee schedule. Because of the Council's action, Mr. Kojetin continued, he had decided to take a look at the fees for the Art Center and Arena to determine whether or not they too should be raised. Pat Greer handed out a comparison sheet showing how their fees compared. with Minnetonka, Bloomington and the Minnesota Museum of Art and how they would compare with these other communities if the fees were increased by 10%. They also proposed a salary increase for the instructors that had been with them for two years, pointing out that their instructors have never received a raise. There was a discussion and debate as to whether or not the instructors raise should be passed. Mr. Wanninger inquired as to what would be done for the instructors that had not -been there two years. There was some discussion on this but no decision was made. It was pointed out that the 10% increase proposed for the instructors actually figures out to only 5% per annum. There was also some question regarding the proposed non-member class fee being almost a 20% increase. Mr. Wanninger MADE A MOTION to approve the rounded off 10% increase in fees as presented but not raise any fee more than 10% stating that he would like to see the Profit and Loss Statement for the Art Center before making a decision on the instructors salaries. SECONDED. CARRIED. II. ACQUATENNIAL SWIM MEET Dr. John Baumgartner was present with a proposal regarding the meet. He wanted the Park Boards permission to use the swimming pool all day on Friday for qualifying swimmers, pointing out that last year they went until midnight on Friday night because they only had the use of the pool after 5:00 p.m. Dr. Baumgartner pointed out that this is the largest swim meet in the state with people coming from all over the United States and last year there were even some people from Hawaii and the Scandinavian countries participating. Dr. Baumgartner noted that he anticipates even more participants this year. Mr. Jacobson pointed out that the biggest problem with allowing them to have the pool all day Friday would be postponing the swimming classes in the morning. Since the classes are alternated with the other recreational programs for the younger children, postponing them would involve -2 - re -arranging the entire schedule. It was suggested that the swim club could have the pool from 1:00 p.m. on and not interfere with the swimming lessons. Mr. Wanninger inquired as to how much income we lose on this meet. Mr. Jacobson informed him that last year between 12:00 and 5:00 p.m. on Friday we took in $400 in concessions and pool admissions, but the actual amount this year would depend on the weather. Mr. Gyetvan and Mr. Lord asked about the amount made on concessions last year during this meet. Mr. Jacobson reported that total concession sales were $1200 to $1500 last year, of which we receive 25%. Mr. Kojetin continued with a brief explanation of the arrangements during this meet. Mr. Gyetvan felt we should be getting more income from this meet. Mr. Jacobson suggested limiting the number of participants to cut down on the qualifying time. Dr. Baumgartner explained that the state would frown upon that. Mrs. Shaw suggested that perhaps this was a situation where'we could bargin with the Swim Club to recoop some of our losses. Dr. Baumgartner felt as though something could be worked out. Mr. Gyetvan suggested charging an entrance fee.. Dr. Baumgartner explained that an entrance fee of $1.00 per event is charged, of which the AAU gets 75� and the Swim Club gets 25¢. Charging an attendance fee would not work since most of the people attending are working the meet. After some discussion it was decided that postponing the lessons was going to be too difficult to be practical and there was no viable solution for changing them. Mr. Gyetvan MADE A MOTION that we allow the Swim Club to use the pool on Friday from 12:00 noon on, contingent upon the Swim Club making some type of adjustment to compensate us for the loss of income so as we do not lose any revenue due to their usage of the facility. Mr. Lord SECONDED. CARRIED. Mrs. Shaw informed Dr. Baumgartner that if this arrangement was not satisfactory to the Swim Club, to let the Board know. III. FEES AND CHARGES Mr. Kojetin reiterated that the Council had increased all fees and charges by 10%. Not all charges at the golf course had been set as yet, for example, the Patron Card fee. The Council wants to take a good look at it before deciding. The price of golf lessons didn't increase because they decided to shorten the lessons by one day, offering only five lessons for -$30..00 instead of six. This five week session will begin in June. Mr. Gyetvan inquired about recent developments regarding the hiring of the Pro at Braemar. Mr. Kojetin reported that a contract had been drawn up and was going through approval at this time. He pointed out two important provisions contained in the contract: 1) the Pro must keep a minimum of $30,000 worth of inventory from May 31 through Labor Day and 2) we have the option of looking at the books at any time. Mrs. Shaw inquired as to whether or not we take a percentage of the lessons. Mr. Kojetin explained that we only take $1.00 per pupil ($5.00 per session). Mr. Kojetin went on to explain that the Pro is responsible for all his debts,we do, however, provide hospitalization. There is also a provision in the contract stating that the Pro must provide someone in the Pro Shop at all times, and he must be there at least three hours a day. He must also provide two people in the shop to sell greens fees and merchandise. Regarding Patron Card fees, Mr. Gyetvan felt John Valliere should be present before any definite decision is made to increase them. He did feel, however, that there should be some premium on the privilege of making reservations. Mr. Jacobson pointed out that the Patron Card fees have not been raised in ten years. Mr. Lord and Mr. Gyetvan were of the opinion that the fees should be raised enough to at least pay for the up -keep of the course. The rest of the fees showed the 10% increase that the Council requested. IV. ARENA FEES Mr. Kojetin pointed out that Larry Thayer had called the other ice arenas in the -3 - area to find out what they were charging and handed this information to the Park Board. He also handed out the Profit and Loss Statement for the Board to look at. The P & L Statement looked pretty good, Mr. Kojetin stated, this was due to the increase in specatator fees. Mr. Kojetin also pointed out that Larry had called people to fill up the open ice times that were available, this too increased revenue. Mr. Kojetin reported that he had talked with Jerry Dalen and the only way to save money at the Arena is through utilities. Mr. Kojetin went on to explain that because of the way in which the Arena was built, in order to conserve energy and save money, we have.,to redesign many aspects -of the building, e.g., replacing motors, which is going to cost money. Mr. Kojetin noted that in this discussion Mr. Dalen had indicated he would go along with us if we decided not to raise the fees at the Arena this year. Mr. Wanninger suggested raising the fees for non-residents and keeping it the same for residents. Mr. Wanninger also noted that the salaries had decreased by quite a lot. Mr. Kojetin pointed out that they did not hire an assistant manager when Roger quit and they had cut down on one maintenance man. Mr. Wanninger pointed out that even though there were fewer people they were doing a better job. V. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Mr. Kojetin handed out an outline of Capital Improvements to be done over the next ten years,pointing out that it was only "food for thought." VI. RECREATION REPORT Mr. Jacobson reported that Soccer and Baseball registration were now taking place. The summer brochure will be out sometime in April. He stated that the skating rink season was pretty successful this year. Lewis Park was open the last two or three weeks of the season. We will probably finish construction on Lewis Park this summer. Marilyn Wooldridge pointed out that a neighbor had informed her that last year the 7th and 8th grade girls soccer schedule conflicted with the school activities, and wanted to know if something could be done to remedy it this year. Mr. Keprios said he would check into it pointing out that some of the associations are looking into playing every other Saturday and this would relieve some of this problem. VII. SKATING RINKS Mr. Kojetin proposed closing the warming house at Todd Park next year. Attendance at Todd last winter was very low. Closing this rink would leave us with 12 parks open with warming houses and hockey rinks. He pointed out that we will probably have to close more warming houses in the future because we do not have enough maintenance men to help keep them open. With the number of men we have now we can keep ten rinks in good condition throughout the season. Mr. Kojetin also pointed out that ,we may perhaps in the future go down to six or eight rinks that we could maintain on a seven day a week basis. Mr. Kojetin pointed out that the Garden Park shelter should be totally re -designed and located in a different location so that its facilities could be used for other sports as well. Mr. Wanninger inquired as to whether or not we could cut down to ten parks as early as next year and maintain them seven days a week. There wasth-n a brief discussion as to whether or not this could be done and exactly how it would be done, e.g., going by number of people who use the park or by geographic. location. Mr. Keprios supplied the attendance figures on the warming houses for last winter: Arden- 3,668, Beard - 2,315, Cornelia - 2,550, Countryside - 3,156, Creek Valley - 3,708, Garden - 3,110, Highlands - 3,444, Lewis - 1,181, Normandale - 2683, Pamela - 3,905, Todd - 2,480, Walnut Ridge - 4,525, and Weber 4,306. Mr. Kojetin suggested instead of closing -4 - the rinks possibly taking down the boards and leaving the hockey and general skating area open but not having a warming house attendant. Mr. Keprios pointed out the danger of vandalism without a warming house attendant. Mr. Wanninger MADE A MOTION to take down the hockey boards at Todd and Beard Park but keep the lights on and warming house open with an attendant at Beard, and investigating the possiblity of some weekend maintenance of the rinks. Marilyn Wooldridge SECONDED. CARRIED. Mr. Wanninger also suggested that perhaps we could keep the rinks open later next year. Mr. Thayer pointed out that after we had started the maintenance of St. John's rink at the request of the neighbors,who presented a petition to the Park Board, the rink wasn't used that often and there were very few children using the rink. It was his opinion that we were wasting money maintaining the rink. He had kept an eye on the rink at the request of the Park Board after they had decided to honor the neighbors request. Mrs. Shaw informed the Board that the League of Women Voters were concerned about the proposed plans for Bredesen Park. She pointed out that they did not like the idea of the parking lot or picnic area. Mr. Kojetin suggested that he could contact someone from the League when they review the plans for the park or the League could write a letter to Barr Engineering. Mr. Jacobson mentioned to the Board that in the past the po.ol has been open from 10:00 a.m. -.9:00 p.m. during the two weeks before lessons start and the two weeks after the lessons are over. From 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon attendance has been very sparse. This year he would like to keep the pool closed until 12:00 noon. It was discussed and decided that in terms of saving energy and expenses this was a good idea. There was also some discussion regarding covering the pool at night. Mr. Wanninger informed the Board that the League of Women Voters is doing a survey on girls athletics and would like the cooperation of the Park Board and staff in this survey. It was decided that one Park Board member and one staff member be selected to help in this survey. Mary McDonald MADE A MOTION to adjourn. Mr. Thayer SECONDED. CARRIED. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 p.m.