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City of Hastings Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes – Special Meeting Parks & Recreation Conference Room July 20, 2010 – 6:00 pm 1) Roll Call at 6 pm: Commissioners Garrett, Schommer, Miller, Flaten, Vandehoef and Rohloff, Parks & Recreation Director Bernstein, Maintenance Supervisor Likes, Councilmember Slavik Absent: Commissioner Smith 2011 Budget Discussion: 2) Staff was notified that the City is potentially in a $1.5 million budget reduction for 2011. Department heads were asked to review budgets and brainstorm ideas to reduce expenses and increase revenues. Bernstein came up with many possible ideas which were contained in the memo to the PRC for the July 13th meeting. The City is facing this shortfall due to the loss of local government aid and the devaluation of home values. None of these ideas have gone to the Finance Committee yet.  Outside Skating Rinks: School District does reimburse for ½ of expenses through Joint Powers. Recommendation to only open Wallin, Lions, and Pioneer warming houses – the most popular ones. The other rinks would be maintained but no warming shelters open/staffed. This would reduce the staffed shelters from six to three for a savings of approximately $8,000-$9,000. Discussion about staffing warming houses with volunteers was thought not to be viable or sustainable. The idea of closing all rinks for this season is not supported by Council at this time. A question was raised regarding opening the shelters when the weather is bad or the temperature is very low. Staff feels it is important to open the warming houses for safety concerns regarding children who may walk down to skate during bad weather. This is a similar procedure to what other communities do in this instance. MOTION : Commissioner Miller motioned to recommend only opening Wallin, Lions, and Pioneer warming houses for the 2010-11 season. Seconded by Commissioner Rohloff. Passed unanimously.  General Fund Reductions: Director Bernstein mentioned that staff is reviewing budget accounts and is shifting money from one account to another in order to keep the budgeted amount the same but still be able to provide as many services as possible.  Pool Hours: Staff is recommending closing the pool one hour earlier for the 2011 season. This would reduce the pool season by 90 hours and would save approximately $13,000 in lifeguard and front desk personnel costs and about $1,300 in concession personnel costs. The pool currently has very low attendance during the 7:00-8:00 PM timeframe. Staff would like to possibly offer a special day of the week for season pass holders to enter the pool an hour early in order to encourage the purchase of season passes. While our season pass sales have evened out, the punch card sales have been increasing. Swim lessons are very popular and staff is planning to add more classes next year to keep up with the demand. Commissioner Schommer asked about the possibility of having “adults only” evenings at the pool, similar to teen night. Staff has attempted to hold adult theme nights but received very little response. Commissioners asked about the possibility of contracting out the running of the pool. Director Bernstein stated that there are numerous examples of communities who have contracted out facilities only to take them back in-house because it didn’t work out well. One example is the concession stand at the pool – at one time, it was contracted to an outside vendor but the City didn’t see any revenue and the vendor had no investment in the facility. In the case of the HFAC, the City would still be responsible for the facility since it is City owned. MOTION : Commissioner Miller motioned to recommend reducing the pool hours by one hour in the evening. Seconded by Commissioner Vandehoef. Passed unanimously.  Civic Arena Season: Another possible option is to close the Arena for 3 months during the summer to reduce the amount of staff time/expense. The Parks & Recreation Department has developed a plan to restructure the department when the current Arena manager decides to retire. At that time, the department would have one person assigned to manage both the Arena and the Aquatic Center. The last two years, the Arena has sold ice hours in July and has made enough money to cover the bills. Commissioner Rohloff mentioned that since Council just approved a resolution authorizing the HHB to further explore building a training facility on the Arena property, it would seem inappropriate to not allow the purchase of ice hours in the summer. Bernstein mentioned that staff needs to focus on selling the Arena more, especially during off-peak times. As soon as the reorganization plan can be implemented, this will save money for the City. Councilmember Slavik asked the PRC to come up with a recommendation on this option for the