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City of Hastings Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes City Hall Council Chambers February 8, 2011 – 6:00 pm 1) Roll Call at 6 pm: Commissioners Schommer, Miller, Garrett, Juntunen, Hedin, and Schossow, Parks & Recreation Director Bernstein Absent: Commissioner Smith, Maintenance Supervisor Likes January Minutes: 2) Motion to approve minutes as presented by Miller. Seconded by Hedin. Passed unanimously. Setting Agenda: 3) Bernstein added “CORE Values” to the agenda under New Business. Departmental Updates: 4) Departmental Updates were reviewed with the commissioners Dakota County SHIP Grant Award for Survey: 5) A grant for $12,500 was received from Dakota County to conduct a Parks and Recreation survey in 2011. The last survey the department did was in 2002. A company called Decision Resources is going to conduct the survey for us. Bernstein welcomes any involvement or input from PRC members in the formulating of questions for the survey. If any commissioners would like to be involved, they can let Barry know. Miller also mentioned that the commissioners could forward any questions they think should be asked on the survey to staff if they are unable to participate in person. Decision Resources uses the telephone as the means to conduct their surveys and they get a 90+% return on those surveys. Bernstein has worked with this company in the past and is very excited to be able to work with them on this project. Advertising Program Update: 6) Staff has met with a couple of different sales and marketing firms who have experience dealing with public entity clients. It was deemed necessary to complete a better evaluation of the advertising we currently have and the agreements already in place. Staff is working on the evaluation and then will formulate a plan. We are hoping to have that plan developed and ready to share by the next PRC meeting. Youth Commission Members: 7) A draft of an application form for youth members of the PRC was reviewed. The application reflects a one year term and states that the student must be a Junior or Senior in high school and also must be a resident of the City of Hastings. By ordinance, only residents who live within city limits are eligible to serve on commissions. Hedin asked how staff is planning to disseminate this information to students. Staff member Jared Flewellen is involved with the Youth Planning Council and has also taken on some of the responsibilities of Youth First. The opportunity would be shared with the youth involved in those activities and also with the rest of the student body at the high school. Staff also plans to post this on Facebook. MOTION: Miller motioned to forward the youth application to the Parks & Recreation Committee. Seconded by Garrett. Passed unanimously. Neighborhood Meetings for Westwood & Cari Parks 8) : Staff budgeted for and received approval to make improvements to both Westwood and Cari Parks in 2011. Approximately $60,000 is budgeted for each park. The main improvement planned is to the playground equipment, which is about 20 years old in each park. 20 years is the industry standard for the life of playground equipment. Bernstein plans to gather input from the neighborhoods about the type of play structure they wish to see and also any other park improvements that are desired. After discerning the current needs, vendors will be contacted to draw up proposals for review at another meeting. Bernstein is also thinking of inviting the neighborhood to help staff in the construction of the playground equipment when the time comes. This would foster a sense of ownership and community spirit for the neighborhood. Schossow asked what the timeline for all thth of this would be. After some discussion, the dates of April 19 and 26 were agreed upon to hold the neighborhood meetings. Due to the weather in April, those meetings will most likely be held at City Hall. While there is no formal requirement for the PRC to be in attendance at these meetings, it would be great if commissioners could attend to show their support and involvement. Hedin asked how the decision is made as to which parks receive improvements. Bernstein explained that all the parks/playground structures are prioritized based on age and safety of the equipment. Highway 61 Bridge Trail Options: 9) As part of the bridge project, staff and MnDOT are looking at improving trail access on the north side of the bridge. The original bridge plans had the pedestrian trail crossing the new bridge and ending at King’s Cove. Working with Washington County, there is an opportunity to attach the new bridge trail to the Point Douglas Trail which will run east into Prescott. Washington County is also working on a trail that would go from the area by the Prescott beach north along the St. Croix River. Three concept plans of the bridge trail and the connection to the Pt Douglas trail were reviewed. While MnDOT is the one developing this trail, City staff is involved in the process and are giving input. Bernstein is excited about all the trail opportunities, because Hastings could become a trail hub which would have a great positive economic effect. Schossow asked if all three concept plans have a separation between traffic and pedestrians. Bernstein explained that the first two plans, which show the trail along Highway 61,