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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-03-13 Park Board MinutesEDINA PARK BOARD MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, March 13, 1979 7:30 p.m. PARK BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Virginia Shaw; Chairperson, George Warner, Joan Lonsbury, Mack Thayer, Frank Gyetvan, Al Fischer, Arthur Erdall, Marilyn Wooldrige, Mary McDonald, Les Wanninger STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Kojetin, Rick Jacobson, John Keprios, Cecelia Smith OTHERS PRESENT: Margie Basil, Dorothy Anderson, John Nelson; Edina Swim Club Mrs. Shaw welcomed new Park Board member Arthur Erdall to the meeting. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 13_ Minutes approved with change of line regarding golf course fees to read: The only increases that Mr. Valliere suggested were in the 9 hole non -patron fees (from 3.75 to $4.00) and 9 hole golf car rentals (from $5.00 to $6.00). Mr. Gyetvan MADE A MOTION to approve the minutes as corrected. Mr. Warner SECONDED. CARRIED. II. SWIM CLUB Mr. John Nelson was present from the "Edina Swim Club" and gave a brief overview of the club. There are approximately 100 to 125 members in the club. Youngsters can start to participate in the club at the age of 6 or 7. Flyers are sent out to the grade schools stating that anyone of that age that can swim the length of the pool can juin the club. The club breaks down to 3 basic groups; heavy workout (swim 2 hours per night, 5 nights per week), medium workout (Wednesday & Friday nights), and light workout (Tuesday and Thursday nights). The age breakdown consists of: 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15-18; with interest tapering off around the age of 12 especially for boys due to other interests. Greg and Ann Anklan are the coaches hired by the swim club to help run the club. Mr. Nelson briefly went over some of the achievements of past swimmers in the club, e.g., 'last year 3 qualified for the junior olympics. He brought up the case of his own somF stating that this sport has really taught him dedication. Mr. Warner asked if there was anything the Park Board could do for the swim club. Mr. Nelson explained that they could use 2 more swimming work out boards (these are boards that help to build the muscles of the swimmers). The swim club has purchased 3 such boards but could use 2 more. One of the main problems is storage space out at the pool. Mr. Kojetin pointed out that in the Capital Improvement budget, along with rejuvenating the roof of the pool, they are hoping to re -arrange the inside of the pool area to allow for better traffic patterns and storage space.. Mrs. Shaw inquired as to whether or not any of the swimmers were taken from the high school teams. Mr. Nelson stated that the swim club could actually use some encourage- ment from the high schools particularly with the boys. Mr. Nelson also brought the subject of the Aquatennial Meet which is to be held this July 21 and 22. He stated that they would like to use the pool Friday night, July 20 in addition to Saturday and Sunday. This would allow more time to run the meet. In the past the members of the swim club have worked from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight on Saturday running the meet in order to get everyone in. If the pool could be used on Friday there would be no need for such a long day on Saturday. Mr. Jacobson pointed out that this would mean closing the pool for a few hours during open swimming on -2 - Friday. This should not cause much of a problem for the public, however, since the pool wasn't used much during these times. Mr. Kojetin pointed out that candidates for this meet come from all over the United States and Canada. Mr. Warner MADE A MOTION that the pool be made available on Friday, July 20 to the Swim Club for the Aquatennial Meet. Mr. Gyetvan SECONDED. CARRIED. III. ART CENTER Mr. Kojetin explained, that the Art Center Board is functioning very well since turning it into a working Board with By-laws and guide lines. It would still, however, be under the wing of the Park Board. The Park Board would appoint members to the Board of Directors of the Art Center. Mr. Kojetin had passed around a sample copy of the By-laws for the Park Board members to read and look over. He explained that the members would be reporting to the Park Board as apposed to reporting directly to the Council. Joan Lonsbury MADE A MOTION that the Board accept the By-laws in concept. Marilyn Wooldridge SECONDED. CARRIED. Mr. Kojetin then reviewed the Income and Expense Report for the Art Center. He explained that being $2000 in the red when the Center was only in its second year was not that bad a report; also, there had been more memberships taken in since this report. Mr. Warner inquired as to how many memberships there were in total now. Mr. Kojetin replied that there were approximately 250. It was the general consensus of the Board, however, that this was a good report. IV. SWIMMING POOL Mr. Jacobson briefly went over the Statement of Income and Expense for the pool; capsulising the report by stating that the most positive thing he could say was that we lost $1500 less this year than last year. Revenues were up $5000 over last year. Salaries and wages were up only $1000. Repairs were up due to some valve work that had to be done. Mr. Jacobson stated that there should be more of a profit on concession sales than was shown, therefore, some of the products were being dropped, e.g., low profit items such as Twinkies. Mr. Fischer questioned what had caused the increased revenues. Mr. Jacobson explained that General Admissions were up. Mr. Kojetin pointed out, however, that although general admissions were up family season ticket sales were down. This indicates that rather than buying the family tickets people were buying general admission tickets. Mr. Kojetin brought up the idea of buying a slide for the pool, to be installed by the lifeguard chair, in hopes that it would increase ticket sales. Mr. Fischer inquired as to how this would effect the insurance costs. Mrs. Shaw inquired as to the cost of such a slide. Mr. Jacobson informed the Board that the cost of such a slide would be around $1000 and although other communities that have them report that they get a lot of use, there is no indication that they would increase ticket sales. V. GUN RANGE Mr. Kojetin briefly went over the Statement of Income and Expense for the Gun Range explaining that one of the things we are doing to increase revenue is to rent the range out to other community police departments, e.g., Minnetonka, during daylight hours when it would not be available for open shooting, at a cost of $3000 per year. The Edina Police Department also rents the range for a price of $2,500 per year. Additional revenue is received from security companies, e.g., Pinkertons, that rent the range on an hourly basis. VI. GREEN HOUSE Mr. Kojetin brought the Board up to date on some of the work being done at the Arneson Acres Greenhouse located on 70th street. He displayed photographs taken -3 - that day illustrating the planting of 200 Geraniums and 300 Wax Begonias; which would later be put into the various parks in Edina. Margie Basil then briefly discussed the work that the Garden Club is doing at the Green House. Mr. Kojetin announced that the Edina Junior Federated Women's Club (the organization that sponsors Santa House), wanted to donate $10,000 ($2,500 per year over a four year period) to buy playground equipment for the handicapped. This equipment would be placed in Cornelia Park (Pool). Mr. Kojetin briefly explained the function and use of this equipment and stated that it would be an, excellent addition to the Edina Park system. Mr. Kojetin also annouced that we had received $40-,000'in dedication funds from the Victorsen Property (around 8%) and $29,000 in -dedication funds from National Car Rental for their new office building. Mr. Wanninger brought the Board up to date on School Board decisions regarding school closings. They have decided to close Wooddale School in 1980 and will vote one year from now whether or not to close Edina East. Mr. Wanninger explained that since they could not get the full market value for most of the schools they were going to put a lot of them in "mothballs", with the hope that perhaps 10 years from now the population might be up to the point where they could be re-openned. Mr. Kojetin inquired as to what they would be doing with some of the huts at the high schools after the schools themselves were closed; suggesting that they could be used by the Park Department, perhaps for maintenance buildings. Mr. Wanninger suggested too, that these buildings could be used for certain Park Board programs. Mr. Kojetin then interjected that one of the things the Council wanted to discuss with the Park Board was what could be done with Morningside School. Mr. Fischer requested a report on the use of the Platform Tennis facilities. Mr. Jacobson replied that it had not been used that much this past year (2 or 3 times in the evening and a few times on weekends). Mr. Gyetvan pointed out thi.s was' probably due to fact that few people knew about it. Mr. Kojetin then briefly went over the plans for the irrigation system at the Golf Course. Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Rosie Hafner