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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-05-13 Park Board MinutesEDINA PARK BOARD MINUTES Tuesday, May 13, 1980 Edina City Hall 7:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Virginia Shaw, George Warner, Les Wanninger VII -D Chairperson; Bill Lord, Mack Thayer, Arthur Erdall, Joan Lonsbury, Mary McDonald, Marilyn Wooldridge, STAFF MEMBERS: Bob Kojetin, Rick Jacobson, John Keprios, Rosie Hafner OTHERS PREStNT: Margie Basil; Marilyn Hoch, Edina Girls Athletic Association; Mary Ellen Hurley, Edina Youth Softball Association; John Turner, Edina Hockey Association; Bill Dorsey, Edina-KEGA Gymnastics Association; Roger Buxton, Edina Basketball Association; Bruce Dougherty, Edina Jr. Football Association; Gene and Sue Holderness, Dr. John Bergman, Dr. and Mrs. John Baumgartner, Mrs. Remona Settergren, Mr. & Mrs. Art Rotman, Mrs. Carol Rothe, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Lavine, Mr. Greg Anklam, Edina Swim Club; Nancy Carroll, Pat Stewart, Margaret Burt, Bev Olson, David Schlee and Phyllis Gilbert I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM APRIL 8, 1980 Mrs. Shaw added to the statement regarding recommendations to the Park Board to read as follows: "Mrs. Shaw requested that anyone who knows of someone who wants to be on the Board to let her know so she can inform the Council" Arthur Erdall MADE A MOTION to approve the Minutes. Mack Thayer SECONDED. CARRIED, II. PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT AT ARDEN PARK Mrs. Stewart presented a petition signed by the residents around Arden Park requesting more and better playground equipment in the park. They pointed out that the slide in the park is dangerous and there is nothing at the bottom of the slide for the youngsters to land on but the ground, which becomes muddy when it rains. They requested that the new equipment be made of the same redwood type material as the existing equipment. Mrs. Shaw inquired as to how many signatures were missing from the petition. Mrs. Stewart stated that there were perhaps only two or three from the area across the street from the park that she could not get ahold of. Mr. Kojetin presented a brief background on park, stating that in 1975 there was a meeting with the residents surrounding the park and they didn't want any improvements, but did allow the one piece of playground equipment and stated that they wanted to keep the park looking natural. He pointed out that in his opinion the park does need preschool playground equipment. Mrs. McDonald mentioned that the neighborhood has probably changed since the survey was done and is now in need of this equipment. Mrs. Stewart also requested some park improvements including sidewalks and a parking barricade. Mr. Kojetin noted that some of these improvements are included in our ten year development plans. Mrs. Stewart presented some ideas on the type of equipment they would like put in the park. Mr. Wanninger suggested that we look at this park when our Capital Improvement plans are put together. Mrs. Lonsbury MADE A MOTION that the Park Board accept the petition and instruct the staff to investigate the possibility of putting in the equipment as soon as possible. MOTION CARRIED. Mrs. Shaw than d..Mr,s. Stewart for attending the meeting. III. YORK PARK SUMMER PLAYGROUND PROGRAM Mrs. Margaret Burt presented a petition signed by residents around York Park requesting that the Summer Playground Program be re -instated in the park and that the park be cleaned up. Mrs. Stewart explained that there is a lot of vandalism going on in the park. The park has become a hangout where teenagers go and drink beer, smoke pot and generally harass the youngsters playing in the park. Most of the parents won't let their -2 - youngster go to the park unescorted. These teenagers leave empty beer bottles and all types of debris in the park that needs to be cleaned up. She pointed out that the situation has gotton so out of hand that last weekend there was a sign in the park the teenagers had put up stating that they had moved to Pamela Park and gave directions on how to get there. She also noted that these are not Edina teenagers but teenagers from Richfield and West Bloomington. Mr. Kojetin informed the Board that he has talked with the Edina Chief of Police trying to set up some type of police:patrol-fbr the park. This doesn't help much, however, since the teenagers park their cars a couple of blocks away and run into the woods by the creek when they see the police,making it impossible to find them. The Park Board was very concerned about this problem, however, and felt something should be done to alleviate it. Mr. Erdall inquired as to when we had discontinued the Playground Program in this park and why we had done so. Mr. Kojetin explained that we had cut down on the entire program last summer due to lack of attendance and held the program on an every -other -day basis. Mrs. Lonsbury pointed out that this is an expensive program to maintain (costing $10,000 per year). Mr. Kojetin suggested that we could wait and see how many youngsters sign up for York Park this summer. If enough youngsters sign up we could have the program there. Mr. Keprios pointed out that the playground leaders have mentioned having trouble in this park due to vandalism. Mrs. Lonsbury stated that we must have a follow through from the police on this matter. Mr. Kojetin informed the Board that we are having the same type of problems at Braemar and Todd Park. At the frisbee course in Braemar the vandalism has gotton so bad as to include damage to the golf course and pavilion. Mr. Kojetin stated that he had hired an off-duty Edina Policeman to patrol the Braemar area on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings last year. We must stay on top of this situation this year, however. The Police Chief pointed out that the problem is there is such a demand for off-duty officers it is difficult to get them to work weekends.Mrs. Shaw thanked Mrs. Burt for coming. IV. ATHLETIC ASSOCIATIONS Mrs. Shaw presented a brief introduction explaining that the Park Board and Council had held a special meeting at the Council's request in which the Council expressed concern about the relationship between the Associations, Park Board and Park and Recreation Department. The Mayor had presented five points about which the Council was most concerned. Mrs. Shaw pointed out that the Park Board is here to help the Associations, not just provide facilities. She reiterated that the Park Board does not want to interfere with the internal operation of the Associations and feels that the Park and Recreation staff represent a tremendous amount of expertise in the area of recreation and would hope that the Associations would use this expertise when needed. She then requested that the Association Board members present stand and identify themselves and the association they represent -and proceeded with a point by point discussion of the Council's concerns, as stated in the memo she had sent to the associations. Insurance - Mrs. Shaw explained the Council's reasoning behind each of the recommendations and invited comments from the Association members. Mr. Kojetin pointed out that there are two new items from the Council that deal with insurance. The one recommneding that the City be carried as an additional insured is recommended because city facilities are used in the programs. The one recommending Legal Defense Liability Insurance for Officers and Directors is recommended because of an incident with one of the associations last year in which the legal fees became quite expensive. Mrs. Lonsbury asked the associations for their views on the umbrella insurance policy. Gene Holderness of the Edina Swim Club explained that their club already has this type of policy in the national AAU organization. Bruce Dougherty of the Edina Football Association, inquired as to the cost of this coverage. Mr. Kojetin explained that the cost is negligible. John Turner, of the Edina Hockey Association, pointed out that -3 - they have special.i.ns.urance needs that the other associations don't need these needs might not be covered by an umbrella policy. It was his feeling that the hockey association would be better off negotiating their own insurance to fit their unique needs. Mr. Rotman,of the Edina Swim Club, recommended that the insurance representatives from the associations get together with the Board members and discuss this situation. It was his feeling that this could not be solved tonight. Mrs. Shaw suggested that if any of the associations were interested in this type of meeting they get in touch with Mr. Rotman and see what can be arranged. Mrs. Shaw explained that the Park Boaed is getting involved in this insurance question only because they want to make sure that the associations are protected. Mr. Wanninger expressed the opinion that the coaches should also be included in the Legal Defense Liability coverage. Mr. Turner explained that the Hockey Association does cover their coaches on its policy. Mrs. McDonald inquired as to whether Mr. Kojetin was going to call for an accounting by the associations to make sure they do get this insurance. Mr. Kojetin mentioned that when the time for renewal of the policy from each association comes around he would check on this. Mr. Turner offered the suggestion that an additional insurance item should be for bonding of anyone handling the funds. Meeting Notice - Mr. Turner mentioned that the Hockey Association is trying to work out something with the Sun newspaper that will report what happened at their last board meeting and announce the time and date of the next one. Mr. Dougherty inquired as to what was meant by the phrase "literature that is handed out" memo Mrs. Shaw sent out on this matter. Mr. Kojetin explained that this meant literature pertaining to registration and especially anything regarding team balancing. Mr. Wanninger suggested that perhaps something could be put in the brochure regarding the meetings since they meet at the same time every month. Mrs. Shaw agreed that this was a good suggestion. Dr. John Baumgartner explained that the Swim Club has held two such open meetings with the public, one was well attended and the other was attended only by the Board members. Mr. Jacobson indicated that this would usually be the case. This could, however, be used as an effective way of handling complaints. If a participant has a complaint they are aware of the meeting date and can go and present their argument; if they choose not to attend they cannot say they had no- 'way of expressing their problem to the Board. It was the general consensus of the associations that they could publish these meeting dates and adopt this policy. Grievance Procedure - Mrs. Shaw explained that the Park Board does not want to handle grievance problems with the associations and has appointed Bill Lord as the liason person between the Park and Recreation Department, the athletic associations and the Park Board. Mr. Holderness felt that if a person goes through the grievance process set up by the association and is dissatisfied with the Boards decision the person should not be able to turn to the Park Board with this complaint. Mr. Wanninger explained that the Park Board has to hear such complaints. There was a brief discussion regarding how the Park Board would fit into this process. Mr. Buxton,of the Edina Basketball Association, felt as though the people shouldnot have the opinion that the Park Board is a final court of appeals. He also noted that if these people come to the Park Board and the Park Board reverses the decision of the association we would be opening up a whole new can of worms." Mrs. Wooldridge felt that the Park Board should back the associations on their decision. Mrs. Shaw felt as though the Park Board should have some say in this matter. Mr. Wanninger felt that the associations should sit down and set up some type of grievance procedure to honestly consider certain problems that may arise, e.g., putting the teams together and special cases were the rules of the association should perhaps be bent a little. Mr. Kojetin explained that the Council wants this grievance process set up in an attempt to stop the complaints at the association level. If this fails to deliver a satisfactory solution than they could come to the Park Board. Mr. Jacobson pointed out that hopefully, after hearing the complaint, the Park Board would be able to stand behind the association's decision. Mr. Holderness felt that this grievance procedure should be included in the By-laws so -4 - the associations are covered. Mr. Kojetin also pointed out that this will add some continuity to the Boards when the Directors change. Participation Requirements - Mrs. Shaw pointed out that this recommendation only concerns three of the associations; the Figure Skating Club, Edina-KEGA Gymnastics Association and the Swim Club. Mr. Baumgartner inquired as to what our intentions were in excluding non-residents from these programs. Mrs. Lonsbury pointed out that the facilities are payed for by the tax payers and some'Edina youngsters aren't in the programs while non-residents are. Mr. Kojetin stated that although this is'not a serious problem now it may become one in the future. Mr. Wanninger pointed out that if the number of participants keeps declining, we may have to look into bringing youngsters in from other communities to fill the programs in the future. If we do this we must have some policy to follow. Mr. Dougherty felt that the associations should give prority to the youngsters from Edina. Charging an additional fee, he didn't feel was reasonable. What would the extra fee be paying for? Dr. Baumgartner inquired as to whether any other communities charge an additional fee for non-resident participation. Since they do not, Edina would be setting a precedent which could lead to all kinds of problems. Mr. Holderness presented a few examples of such problems, e.g., it may be considered discriminatory to outside residents. Mr. Holderness summarized some of the feelings of the Swim Club Board in a paper they had prepared for the Park Board -(see attached). He also pointed out that most of the non-residents in the Swim Club are in the program because their community doesn't have such a program or because of the quality of the program. He noted that no other AAU Swim Club has a non-resident fee and there is sharing and cooperation between the community AAU Clubs. He strongly urged that we continue with the present policy regarding non-resident participation. Mrs. Lonsbury pointed out that we charge non-residents higher fees for use of all our other facilities, e.g., the pool and arena. Mr. Holderness questioned this philosophy behind increasing the fees stating that the income from charging a higher non-resident fee would not make that much difference in the revenue brought in. Mr. Kojetin mentioned that because of the increase in number of participants in the Swim Club they have gone to the school district to request that one of the pools in the school be left open this summer to help their program. He wondered if the non-residents were eliminated from the program if the Swim Club would be able to hold all their classes at the Edina pool and spare the expense of keeping the school pool open. Greg Anklam answered negatively and stated that cutting the participants would hurt the program. Dennis Wander from the Braemar City of Lakes Figure Skating Club explaiined to the Park Board their policy in determining participants. They have a list of seven critera,which has been set by the club and professionals, that all skaters must meet. If there are three openings in the club and all the criteria are met by the prospective participants the Edina residents would have first choice. He pointed out that they do have a waiting list with Edina residents on it but believes that these people will be in the program next year when some of the older skaters leave. He also explained that they have a reciprocal agreement with the USFSC that if a person already in a USFSC Club in another city moves to Edina or Minnesota they can automatically be put in our club. Mr. Dougherty pointed out that this situation is different for different associations. In the football program, which he described as a "participation program" every Edina youngster is admitted into the program. In clubs such as the Swim Club and Figure Skating Club they are looking for a degree of excellence in their program, which would automatically eliminate some participants. Mr, Holderness pointed out that in establishing this Grievance Procedure we must be certain that we deal with the good of the total program and not one or two disgruntled individuals. -5 - Mr. Buxton expressed the opinion that the associations would be foolish to penalize their own program by not allowing Edina residents in, Dr. Baumgartner stated that bringing in the people from other communities adds character and talent to the swim program; and that any restrictive measures that would do more than protect Edina residents from being eliminated from the program would be ill conceived, ill advised and snobbish. Mr. Wanninger inquired of the Swim Club which they preferred, to raise the fees for non-residents only or to raise the fees for all participants, Mr. Holderness stated that he would rather have the fee the same for residents and non-residents. Mr. Dougherty pointed out that even raising the non-resident fee would not eliminate the non-residents from participating in the program - they would be willing to pay the extra fee to get into the program. It was his suggestion that we look into the reasons why we want to establish a non-resident fee. Mr. Kojetin elaborated on Mr. Dougherty's statement saying that we do not want a situation where people are "buying the best program" for their youngsters. Mr. Wanninger reiterated that this situation will come up in the future as participation drops and we look to other communities for participants. Mrs. Lonsbury thanked the association members for attending the meeting and complimented them on the wonderful job they are doing in running the program. In summarizing the discussion, Mrs. Shaw stated that the associations were very receptive to all recommendations except the residency requirement, Mr. Wanninger pointed out that not all associations are involved with this situation. Mr. Warner felt as though the associations would go along with the suggestion of taking residents on a priority basis on the individual sports but didn't want non-residents eliminated. Mr. Wanninger went into greater detail regarding the Swim Club using the pool at the high school this summer for their program. He stated that they will be paying $2000 of the $5000 it will cost for maintenance to keep the pool open. The school board was doing this on a trial basis for this year. The remaining $3000 would have to come out of the school budget, meaning that some other program would have to be cut. Because of this, if the pool is kept open in the summer of 1981 the Swim Club will have to pay the total maintenance cost. Since many of the children in the Swim Club are not Edina residents he doesn't feel it is fair to sacrifice the school school programs to accommodate them. Mr. Kojetin indicated that he was working with Dr. Lieber and the Swim Club to come up with some type of program in which the indoor pool will be used for the Park and Recreation Department swim program during the summer months. It was pointed out that Mr. Holderness is a non-resident himself although he did live in Edina for several years. It was also pointed out that many of the older Swim Club participants are brought in from the Bloomington High School team by the Swim Club coach. Mr. Wanninger suggested that we ask the associations to inform us of the communities from which they would be bringing in the'non-residents before making a decision on the requirements. He also wanted the associations to get together and determine what criteria they will use in terms of non-resident participation and report back to the Park Board in the fall. Mrs. McDonald inquired about the associations that were not present, the Baseball and Soccer association, Mr. Kojetin informed her that the Soccer Association has incorporated the recommendations of the Council in their insurance policy already but he was not sure of the Baseball Association. am Mr. Kojetin informed the Park Board of a meeting this Thursday, May 15, at 8:00 p.m. with the residents of the Bredesen Park neighborhood to discuss park development. Mr. Kojetin presented a letter from Mr. Larry Laukka regarding the installation of the plexiglass in the arena. Mr. Laukka was concerned about the safety of the fence and urged the Park Board to install the plexiglass. Mr. Kojetin explained that he had received an estimate on the installation of $12,000. If we use the $7,500 donated by the Hockey Mom's we would have to come up with aboot'$5000. Mr. Warner inquired as to whether or not the irrigation system was completed at the golf course. Mr. Kojetin informed him that it will be about two weeks before all the pipes are installed in the ground,and the system should be complete by July. There was a continuing discussion regarding the vandalism problem in the parks, the Park Board's concern over the situation, and why the police cannot stop this problem which has been going on for many years in York Park. Mack Thayer MADE A MOTION to adjourn. George Warner SECONDED. CARRIED. Meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.