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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-09-2010 NRRC 06 Dept UpdatesCity of Hastings Parks & Recreation th 920 W 10 St, Hastings MN 55033 Ph: (651) 480-6175 Fax: (651) 437-5396 Web: www.ci.hastings.mn.us “Creating Community Through People, Parks, and Programs” Natural Resources and Recreation Commission Departmental Updates – February, 2010 Parks Maintenance Activities The maintenance of the skating rinks and warming houses has been a daily task for our staff. With ? temperatures rising above freezing only a handful of days this winter the skating conditions have been very good. Two snow events required staff to focus on trails, sidewalks and parking lots before returning to rink ? maintenance. Staff worked extra to prepare for the Frosty Frolic events held at Pioneer Park on the January 28th. ? Daily checks completed for the aeration system at Lake Rebecca continue to be performed. ? Equipment maintenance, including work re-decking the equipment trailer is being done. ? The City Forester is working with Public Works again this year to notify property owners when tree ? clearance is being done. The City Forester is attending Arborist Training every Friday this winter in preparation for testing this ? spring. Members of our department made an inspection visit to evaluate the progress on the new City Tanker ? Truck. We are expecting delivery in about two weeks. Warming Houses Frosty Frolic was held on January 28, 2010. We had approximately 125 participants despite the below ? freezing temperatures. Last year at this time the total number of skaters using the outdoor rinks was 4,793 and YTD for 2010 ? is 5,055. Rinks and warming houses are scheduled to close on February 15, 2010. As in years past, we will ? evaluate the weather conditions and potentially keep 3 rinks open later. Hastings Family Aquatic Center Hiring process for HFAC has begun with the deadline for applications being March 22, 2010. Return ? staff letters will go out at the end of February. Potential start date of June 12, 2010 and close date of August 29, 2010. Hastings school ends on June ? 11, 2010 and begins on August 30, 2010. Hastings Civic Arena Saturday 2/6/10 Hastings Hockey Booster Days 7:00am - Youth and High school games to 9:30pm ? both rinks. Youth hockey tournament Feb 12-14 weekend ? thth District 8 playoffs U12 A/B girls begin Sunday 2/21/10 and finish Sunday 2/28/10 ? Civic ArenaAquatic CenterYouth First th 2801 Red Wing Blvd. 901 Maple Street 920 W 10 Street Ph: (651) 480-6195 Ph: (651) 480-2392 Ph: (651) 480-6182 Fax: (651) 437-4940 Fax: (651) 437-5396 Fax: (651) 437-5396 Recycling For Earth Day this year, we are planning to hold a Citywide Parks & Trails Cleanup event instead of ? an environmental fair. We are planning to hold the cleanup on Saturday, April 24 and will be sending th out letters to all Adopt-A-Park groups asking them to join us. Will also be advertising the event and looking for additional volunteers who want to help out. Involvement from NRRC members would be great too! You’ll be seeing more information on this as we get more of the details worked out. Hastings Youth First December was a very busy month for Youth First!! It began at the end of November starting the annual ? Youth Planning Council Adopt a Family Coin Drive. Containers, posters and a video describing the HHS initiative were made and distributed at both Hastings High School and Hastings Middle School. raised $4,398.88 for needy Hastings families! In the past six years, students at HHS have raised $31,575.44 Hastings Middle School raised$1,470.00. . The generosity of this community also extends to our youth!! Youth were brought to Target to shop for families and youth. Then gifts were wrapped and dropped off at Hastings Family Service. Youth First also helped organize youth volunteers to help with the Senior Holiday Luncheon at Knights ? of Columbus where over 300 seniors were served. On Tuesday, December 29, a LOCAL JAM was held at Christ’s Family Church with over 100 youth in ? attendance. The bands were terrific and the youth enjoyed the venue with the trendy coffee shop in the church. The next LOCAL JAM dates are set for February 25, April 1 and June 18. Alternative Spring Break is set for March 15 – 19, 2010. This is a collaborative opportunity for Middle ? and High School youth to be involved in community service and fun activities during Spring Break. The service opportunities will include: Hastings Senior Center, Carpenters Nature Center, Meals on Wheels, Regina, Lewis House, Vets Home, Total Life Care Center and Feed My Starving Children. The Fun activities will be an overnight at Camp St Croix, Grand Slam, Geo-Caching with a cookout, “Random acts of Kindness” and either Waterpark of America or Nickelodeon Universe. Please take a moment to check out the website at www.morethanspringbreak.com. The Celebrate Youth Week committee is in the process of working out details for 2010 Celebrate Youth ? Week scheduled for May 17 – 22. This year we again will be doing a community appreciation effort by enlisting adult community members to walk through all Hastings schools, stopping in classrooms to express appreciation of the great kids we are so fortunate to have and to encourage good choices through Prom, Graduation and summer. I would appreciate involvement from the NRRC. Please contact Ann at agrotjohn@ci.hastings.mn.us or 480-6182 if you are interested. Youth First has begun discovery work on a couple of new collaboration ideas: ? A Coaches/Sports providers Summit. The idea behind this is to focus on lessons a child can o learn from involvement in sports: lessons about teamwork, confidence, physical fitness, sportsmanship, competition, leadership, respect, humility and many more without the ‘winning-isn’t-everything-it’s-the-only-thing' attitude. A Senior Citizen Prom; the thought for this initiative is to hold a prom for the Hastings retired o community, giving students another opportunity to volunteer and interact with the older generation. This would enable youth to gain insight and wisdom from the seniors and the seniors could enjoy the enthusiasm and energy of the younger generation, a chance to breakdown stereotypes and form friendships. As these ideas progress, you will be kept well informed!