NRRC Minutes 07-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Hastings Natural Resources and Recreation Commission Minutes July 10, 2006 – 6:00 pm 1)Roll Call at 6 pm: Commissioners Brown, Christenson, Popp, Rohloff, Schommer, Vandehoef, and Vaughan, Parks and Recreation Director Bernstein, Superintendent Smith and Council Members Alongi, Hazlet and Schultz. 2)Approved June meeting minutes. Motion by Brown. Seconded by Vandehoef. Passed unanimously. 3)2007 Capital Improvement Proposals: Director Bernstein reviewed the Capital Improvement Proposals for the Parks & Recreation Department for the 2007 Budget Cycle. Proposals were made and explained for the Civic Arena, the Hastings Family Aquatic Center, the City Parks and the Parks & Recreation Department. At the end of the proposal list, Director Bernstein asked if there were any improvements that he neglected to add to the list. Commissioner Brown asked about the Lions Park Shelter. That shelter is actually budgeted for 2006, and Director Bernstein is discussion options with the Public Works department before coming back to the NRRC on that topic. 4)Discussion of Park Improvement Requests: Council Member Schultz stated that we have about $1 million in park dedication funds available. She cautioned the NRRC that if we don’t start spending that money, we may run into difficulties getting park dedication from developers who question the need when we have such a large sum. She feels that if we receive park requests that are under $20,000, we should be able to just go ahead and facilitate the request. She mentioned that the request from Greten Park came in last fall, and that by the time it gets approved, ordered, and installed, it will have taken 2 years from the time the request came in. Council Member Alongi thought it would be a good idea to set up levels of some sort, where we have certain caps on dollar amounts for requests and timeframes for those requests. The larger the requested amount, the longer the planning/implementation should be. Director Bernstein asked what should be done if the same neighborhood continuously asks for new park equipment, receiving new things each year – Where is the cut-off? Council Member Alongi recommended that the NRRC develop criteria for responding to requests – Cost, Appropriateness to the park, and the Number of Requests made for the park in a specified timeframe. Commissioner Vandehoef expressed that the NRRC agrees that a plan is needed that develops criteria/priorities so that the NRRC can respond to these requests in a consistent manner. Commissioner Vaughan agreed that it isn’t so much a matter of spending the park dedication funds, as it is a need to have a plan in place first, which is the main concern of the NRRC. Council Member Hazlet stated that while we want to keep some park dedication in reserve, we need to start spending more of the money. Council Member Schultz brought out that if we would start to use Park Dedication funds for allowable expenses/improvements, the wards with less money in them wouldn’t be competing with the wards that have more park dedication money for the General Fund dollars at budget time. Council Member Hazlet asked the NRRC to come up with a recommendation for City Council on what to use Park Dedication Funds for. Superintendent Smith mentioned that the additional new park signs that are to be installed could possibly be purchased with park dedication th funds. The NRRC agreed to have a special meeting on Tuesday, July 18 at 5:30 p.m. to develop criteria/priorities for responding to park requests. 5)Department Updates were passed out to the members of the NRRC.