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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-15-2009 NRRC 02 Apr Minutes City of Hastings Natural Resources and Recreation Commission Minutes Parks & Recreation Conference Room April 14, 2009 – 6:00 pm 1) Roll Call at 6 pm: Commissioners Flaten, Schommer, Miller, Rohloff, Smith and Tessmer-Tuck, Superintendent Smith, Parks and Recreation Director Bernstein. Absent: Commissioner Vandehoef 2) Approved February meeting minutes. Motion by Smith. Seconded by Miller. Passed unanimously. Setting Agenda 3) – Agenda item #14, “Scholarship Program” was moved to the top of the agenda. 4) Departmental updates were reviewed with NRRC members. Staff found out today that Portable Barge will be installing the public boat dock on the Mississippi next Monday. Director Bernstein mentioned that our softball league has 17 women’s teams currently. This is impressive since larger community programs usually average around 12 women’s teams. Staff mentioned that the Wednesday Walkers program has been going well and that a biking event, City Cycle, will be held at the end of May to encourage bike use of our trail system. Scholarship Program 5) – Staff met and discussed options for the program after the last NRRC meeting. A hybrid of the existing program and other possible options was developed. The proposed program would utilize the Federal Poverty guidelines, as required by the HFAC grant agreement, and would provide either free or reduced passes based on income. The City has been using the Dakota County School Lunch guidelines in our current program, but our grant specifies use of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. One change that was suggested to the draft program is to provide up to $100 per child less than 18 years of age per year, instead of per household member. The granted funds would cover either 100% or 50% of the program cost depending upon whether the applicant’s income is below the federal guidelines or below 150% of the guidelines. This program would not be available to residents of surrounding townships as has been the case in the past. The amount of scholarship applications per year has risen by about 25 applications per year since the program’s inception three years ago. Staff is attempting to make sure that families who really need assistance can receive it. Commissioner Schommer commented that he thinks the proposed program is well laid out and makes sense. Commissioner Miller asked how this program would help to save the City money. Director Bernstein replied that since we will be using the Federal Poverty Guidelines, which are a little more stringent, the amount of applicants who will qualify for the program will be reduced. Also, the current program pays for 100% of program costs for anyone who qualifies – this program will implement some families at 50% scholarships. Commissioner Smith agreed that the proposed program seemed fair and would meet our state grant requirements. Other commissioners were in agreement. Director Bernstein stated that ultimately, we are taking the same pot of money and trying to stretch those dollars out among more people. MOTION: Commissioner Tessmer-Tuck motioned to accept the proposed draft as written with the change to provide “$100 per child under 18” and bring it forward to the City Council. Seconded by Commissioner Smith. Passed unanimously. Vet’s Baseball Fundraising Update 6) – Commissioner Schommer updated the NRRC on the Veteran’s Baseball fundraising project. He stated that the stakeholders who contributed most to the park in the beginning are being given the first opportunity to donate for naming rights and other opportunities. Treasure Island, who is currently listed on the score board, may be interested in sponsoring the press box. One issue that was mentioned is that even though some companies may be interested in the opportunity, they may not be able to commit due to economic difficulties and employee lay-offs. Klaus Nurseries donated 10+ container-grown shade trees and 7 B&B Japanese lilacs to the project. Director Bernstein mentioned that an opportunity has arisen to obtain some premium field sand (about 40 truck loads) from a school who is removing their sand football field. He is checking with our Public Works Department to see if we can handle that kind of material transfer – this could save the City about $25,000 to redo the infields at Vet’s. nd Commissioner Schommer mentioned that volunteers will be working to spruce up Vet’s on May 2 - feel free to come and lend a hand! Highway 61 Bridge Update 7) – Director Bernstein has been in many meetings regarding the new bridge. The trail to the north of the bridge currently dead ends. Staff is trying to extend the construction zone across the RR tracks to the Washington County portion of the trail. MNDOT is stating that they do not want to extend the construction zone to include this area. Staff believes that due to safety issues regarding some of the proposed business entries and exits, the construction zone may need to be extended. Staff is working with MNDOT on these issues. The City Council recently decided that until the trail leading north from the bridge has a more definite, specific purpose, it does not make sense to construct the spiral access walkway from the bridge to Levee Park. Director Bernstein also mentioned that the proposed walkway had a very large footprint and would have had a very industrial look, possibly blocking the river view. On the rd south side of the bridge, the construction limit for MNDOT ends at 3 Street. Staff is proposing that MNDOT bring the rd trail all the way down from 3 Street along the west side of the Mississippi Belle and connect it to the river trail. Another update was regarding the proposed staging area in the Mississippi Flats area. The existing power lines were going to be temporarily moved by MNDOT and then returned to their original position. The City proposed to move them permanently along the Flint Hills property and hide them a bit more, but the cost was around $650,000-700,000. MNDOT has come back and said that they will move the poles to the Flint Hill property and use wood poles instead of steel. This will save quite a bit of money. There will be one steel pole on the northeast corner of the property and this will cost the City about $15,000. MNDOT’s next step is to do the soil borings in this area. MNDOT will provide approximately $43,000 to the City to restore the prairie area after construction. Levee Park Recommendations 8) – Director Bernstein has been unable to connect with Councilmember Slavik, but the Levee Park Task Force did identify some recommendations which were shared with the NRRC. One recommendation was to bury the two electrical towers by the bridge. MNDOT is planning to replace the west electrical lattice tower with a monopole construction. The City wants them to replace the east one as well. MNDOT is arguing that the east tower is not part of the construction limits, but staff is saying it is an aesthetic issue and should be replaced. Hastings to Red Wing Trail Draft Plan 9) – The draft plan was sent via CD to the NRRC for review. Director Bernstein th is planning to have Jeff Schoenbrauer present this draft concept plan to the City Council on April 20. Joint Powers History/Budget 10) – Director Bernstein provided the NRRC with a brief history of Joint Powers. An old version of the budget was inadvertently included with the packet information, so staff will email the current budget to the NRRC for review. The City Administrator directed that there be no budget increase whatsoever this year. Under contract, the school’s support staff receives increases, so this meant that some other programs had to be reduced. Commissioner Miller asked what issues the NRRC has with the present Joint Powers agreement. It was explained that the main concern is with the adult user fees which are currently $26 per player. These fees are paid to the Joint Powers agreement. Now that the City runs the softball leagues, as well as other sports leagues, the City still has to pay the user fees to Community Education. Staff feels that this money would be better spent by putting it back into facility improvements and maintenance. Initially, these adult league fees were intended to reduce the amount owed by the City and School, since they were included as revenue in the agreement and then the remaining expenses were split 50/50. However, with the City paying user fees and being a member of the agreement, the effect is an inequitable arrangement. It was noted that this is a difficult issue as there is some unhappiness on both sides of the agreement. Commissioner Miller stated that he feels that we need to take a fresh look at the agreement based upon current needs to guarantee that it is still meeting the needs of both parties. Superintendent Smith asked if there was a sunset clause in the agreement. Director Bernstein replied that he has been told the agreement has been in effect since 1973 and that there is no sunset clause to his knowledge. Times have changed and now the league isn’t being run by an individual, it is being run by the City. Staff feels that this adult revenue would be better used by being put back into the programs and in fact, our softball users are questioning why the money isn’t being put back into the fields. Due to the economic circumstances, Director Bernstein has been discussing this with our City Administrator and the Parks & Recreation Committee of Council. The general consensus of the NRRC is that the Joint Powers Agreement needs to be reviewed and revised to make it more equitable for the current situation. NRRC Goals & Objectives 11) – The document handed out at the February meeting was revised based on the NRRC’s suggestions. Commissioner Miller suggested rewriting point # 2 under “Provide Quality…” to state “Continue to research expanding Vet’s Athletic Complex for both youth and adult use.” Commissioner Flaten asked about the background of this point. It was explained that developing Vet’s Complex for both adult and youth use would take high- impact sports activities out of neighborhood parks and put them into a city-owned property more suitable for high- impact use and traffic. Director Bernstein stated that the revised document will be brought forward to City Council. HFAC Project Bid 12) – The bid opening for the pool plaster/drain project occurred today at 2:00 pm. No bids were received. Two companies that had wanted to bid could not secure their bid bonds in time. The drain project will proceed as we are getting quotes to do that project independently before we open this summer. The plaster project may take th place this fall or next spring. Staff will advertise again for a plaster only bid with a new bid opening date of June 9. MOTION to adjourn. th Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12 at the Parks & Recreation Office. Adjourned at 7:42 p.m. Minutes submitted by Kristin Behrens