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need for us to have signage at the facilities. Director Bernstein said that he had sent an e-mail to the <br />Parks & Recreation Directors of 3 cities. He used their comments to come up with the draft policy. <br />Commissioner Vaughan wondered how far should we go with this policy – is it an issue in the arena, <br />when figure skaters are on the ice? Commissioner Schommer emphasized that enforcement will be a <br />huge issue. Director Bernstein mentioned that we can take membership away – if someone is not <br />abiding by the rules, they can be considered trespassing. Director Bernstein will do some more <br />homework and check with some other cities regarding their policies. The NRRC decided to table this <br />issue until next month’s meeting. <br /> <br /> <br />9)Scholarship Procedures: Director Bernstein explained that in past years, the Aquatic Center Manager <br />has had to determine whether or not someone qualifies for scholarship funds. Last year, 90 season <br />passes were given out under the scholarship program. The department would like to make the process <br />less arbitrary and have a way to track applicants better. So, they have written up some guidelines <br />which applicants would have to qualify for in order to receive funds. The income guidelines used are <br />from Dakota County. An application would need to be filled out and income verified. The other <br />difference from what has been done in the past is that this would be a “household” scholarship instead <br />of an “individual” scholarship. A sliding scale would be used based on family size with a maximum <br />of $250 and an amount would be allocated for the household to purchase from various recreation <br />programs run by the City (HFAC, Arena, etc.) Commissioner Vaughan questioned whether giving out <br />season passes was too much. Maybe daily admissions should be given instead. Director Bernstein <br />explained that with this program, a certain dollar amount would be given, and it would be up to the <br />family to decide how to spend it. Commissioner Popp wondered if we should only make scholarships <br />available to the children, but then we make it so that the parents are possibly unable to come and <br />supervise. Superintendent Smith questioned if there is a cap on the number of scholarships that can be <br />given out. There is not. Commissioner Popp said that if we don’t have a scholarship program, we <br />may make it so that a number of families will not be able to use our facilities. He believes we should <br />err on the side of generosity. Commissioner Vaughan felt that the income scale / scholarship amounts <br />seemed high, and that we should lessen them. The NRRC decided to table this issue until next <br />month’s meeting. <br /> <br /> <br />10)Levee Park Meeting Recap: The preliminary design that is going before City Council was shown to <br />the NRRC. The main change is that the restroom building has been eliminated due to parking <br />concerns by the Downtown Business Association. Temporary bathrooms are still located on the plan, <br />although there was discussion about having them in a better location. Director Bernstein mentioned <br />that a stand-alone restroom building is not feasible due to maintenance and staffing issues. <br /> <br /> <br />11)Software: Director Bernstein informed the NRRC that the department needs to upgrade our <br />management systems. Staff has seen demos of various software packages and has found one called <br />Community Season that the department likes. The CEO of the company is Phil Sykes who is a <br />Hastings resident. The software package offers ways to improve our registrations, membership <br />management, facilities management, point-of-sale, etc. <br /> <br /> <br />12)Trail Maintenance: Larson Engineering will be taking care of our trail maintenance this year at an <br />estimated cost of $74,000. Director Bernstein mentioned that he and Superintendent Smith rearranged <br />the priorities for a few of the trails that would be worked on in order to get the most for our money. <br />The work that will be done will be for bituminous maintenance only. The tennis courts at Roadside <br />will be repaired (cracks filled, etc.) by a separate company who gave us a really reasonable bid. <br />Director Bernstein mentioned that one change is that the Lake Isabel court repair has been eliminated <br />this year due to the possible work at Lake Isabel. Commissioner Rohloff asked whether or not a trail <br />connection could be done at Sunny Acres to connect the current trail to the sidewalk. The NRRC <br />decided to view that area on a future bus tour. <br /> <br /> <br />13)New Business <br /> <br />