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City of Hastings Natural Resources and Recreation Commission Minutes Parks & Recreation Conference Room June 9, 2009 – 6:00 pm 1) Roll Call at 6 pm: Commissioners Flaten, Miller, Rohloff, Schommer, Smith, Tessmer-Tuck and Vandehoef, Superintendent Smith, Parks and Recreation Director Bernstein (via phone). May Minutes: 2) Commissioner Schommer made one correction to the minutes under “Vets Park Donation Update.” The City of Hastings received the contribution from Smead via the Hastings Baseball Community Committee. With this change, May minutes were approved. Motion by Rohloff. Seconded by Miller. Passed unanimously. Setting Agenda: 3) Added Pool Plaster Bid Opening to New Business. 4) Departmental updates were reviewed with NRRC members. HAST Request – Feasibility Study: 5) Kim Olson from HAST contacted Director Bernstein to see if the City wanted to participate in a feasibility study regarding an indoor pool. At this time, the City doesn’t have any discretionary funding in Professional Services funding account. HAST has shown a PowerPoint presentation to the facilities committee of the School Board and Tim Collins has agreed to pay for a share of the study to get the ball rolling. The study would be conducted by www.aquaticprogramming.com in CO. The feasibility study includes using demographics to see what sort of facility could be built that would meet the needs of the community while making money or at least breaking even. The YMCA is aware that HAST attended the conference but Kim hasn’t heard from them since that time. Rohloff had a discussion with Tim Collins – the door is open to discuss this with the YMCA if they are interested. Smith asked what are the current shortcomings of the middle school pool? It is not ADA compliant, the locker rooms aren’t on same level as the pool which is a safety issue, and the old, corroded plumbing is not up to code. This study is regarding programming and would most likely involve more than one pool in the community, including the Middle School pool. The first step is to see what programming the community would want to see and what type of facility would be best suited to these needs. Rohloff mentioned that to refurbish the pool, it is 1.4 million dollars – and this doesn’t include making it deeper or changing location of locker rooms. The City is still trying to close a $500,000-600,000 gap in the budget. HAST is contributing some funds as well. Schommer would like to see a commitment of a dollar amount or percentage of what each partner’s share would be. Kim Olson clarified that the amount would be split equally between the partners involved – if the City joined in with HAST and the School District, it would be about $3,000 a piece. Rohloff stated that he spoke with two Council members briefly about this topic and they mentioned that they couldn’t support it with the current budget shortfall. Smith motioned to table this item the August meeting – the motion was withdrawn. Director Bernstein stated that he is willing to bring this request forward to the Parks & Recreation th Committee of Council on July 20 without a specific recommendation from the NRRC. Miller thought that the study would be a good start in the planning process for when the economy improves. MOTION – Miller motioned to bring this issue forward to the Parks & Recreation Committee of Council without a specific NRRC recommendation. Seconded by Smith. Passed unanimously. Requests for City Contributions: 6) The City receives requests throughout the year to make donations to various special events. The Parks and Recreation Department currently has no set policy for making contributions. Miller felt that we should just deny all requests – Flaten agreed. The NRRC requested that Director Bernstein put a formal policy together to be discussed at the August meeting. Lake Isabel Flagpole: 7) Harold Christensen, on behalf of the East Hastings Improvement Association, requested to place a flagpole at Lake Isabel Park. Mr. Christensen did fill out the paperwork requesting a park improvement which was reviewed by the NRRC. Director Bernstein stated a concern about flag etiquette that needs to be addressed, as we don’t have the staff to be raising and lowering the flag every day. The information from Mr. Christensen states that they would like the flagpole placed near an existing light pole so that it wouldn’t be an issue. In the past, local Veteran’s organizations have maintained the flagpoles in parks and took care of proper etiquette, including half-mast requirements. Superintendent Smith pointed out that there will be extra work for staff, as it is another flag that needs to be maintained. EHIA is willing to contribute $1,500 towards this project and is willing to try to get more contributions, if necessary. MOTION – Smith motioned to approve the installation of a flagpole in Lake Isabel Park, so long as all of the cost was covered by the East Hastings Improvement Association. Seconded by Miller. Passed unanimously. Pool bid opening 8) – The bid opening for the HFAC plaster project was held today at 2:00 PM. The City received two bids on the project. The low bidder was Pool Construction, Inc. with a base bid of $206,000 and an alternate bid of $196,000. Staff is recommending the base bid with a fall completion date due to weather issues in the spring. The