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10-27-99 PRCITY OF OTSEGO PARK & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 27, 1999 - 7:00 PM 1. Call to order. Chair Jeff Bartheld called the October 27, 1999 Park & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 2. Roll Call_ Commissioners: Jeff Bartheld, Nicole Martin, Tom Constant, Sue Kroll, & Mike Day. Absent: Tom Baillargeon and Tony Faust (excused). o mc'lm mh rs: Council Representative Mark Berning, Mayor Fournier, Councilmembers Suzanne Ackerman and Vern Heidner. City S aff: City Administrator Mike Robertson. 3. Additions or changes to the agenda_ There were no additions or changes to the agenda. 4. Consideration of 12ast meeting minutes. Chair Bartheld noted that secretary Baillargeon had not attended a meeting since May due to a busy schedule and the commission had no minutes to be approved. He asked Administrator Robertson what the costs would be if a City staff member could attend meetings, take notes, and type up minutes. Robertson noted that it would be overtime costs to have a staff member there and suggested that a Park Board member take notes and give them to staff to be typed up. Commissioners agreed to try that. 5. Open Forum - 5.A. Jay Swenson - Otsego River Riders 5.B. Ben Hoffineister - Potential member candidate Chair Bartheld noted that both of these individuals were unable to attend due to conflicts. Michelle Berg of Community Recreation was present. Commissioners discussed a variety of concerns with Community Recreation personnel's performance at the recent Haunted House. Everyone agreed that the Haunted House had gone very well but that there some concerns about the coordination of efforts between Community Recreation and the Park & Recreation Commission. Commissioners Kroll & Day asked for more information on the budget of Community Recreation and how services were provided to the communities. Councilmember Berning explained the Community Recreation budget and funding formula. Park & Recreation Meeting October 27, 1999. Page 2. Commissioner Martin said that Otsego's payment to Community Recreation was to run all of the athletic programs, not to pay for their assistance to the Park & Recreation Commission for their events. She suggested that Community Recreation was understaffed, and that Otsego Park & Recreation Commission should seek out volunteers to do the jobs that Community Recreation had been doing. Administrator Robertson agreed. He indicated that the Park & Recreation Commission had come a long way since the Haunted House had been started and no longer needed the assistance of Community Recreation to run the event. He suggested that Community Recreation's role should be to advertise the Otsego events in their bulletin. Commissioner Day, seconded by Constant, moved to receive copies of the Community Recreation budget and a description of the services they can provide to the Otsego Park & Recreation Commission. His motion also included the requirement that future requests from the Park & Recreation Commission to the Community Recreation staff be in writing. Motion carried 5-0. 7. Mike Robertson City Administrator, Administrator Robertson discussed the ice rink. Michelle Berg noted that she makes up the schedule for rink attendants about December 10. Robertson stated he would call about then if weather forced a cancellation of the rink this year. Michelle Berg said that with one day's warning she could cancel the rink attendants if warm weather later forced the rink to close. Robertson indicated that the Council had not finalized the 2000 budget yet but that they had discussed providing some planning staff to the Commission to assist in the development of future park plans. Commissioner Kroll left about 8:00 p.m. 8. Nicole Martin,Budget Advisor. Nicole noted that at this point it looked like the Haunted -House had made a profit. There were no other budget items to discuss. 9. Mark Berning. Council Re or Councilmember Berning said that the Council had approved a concept plan for a residential development just west of the sewer plant. 10. Park Shelter Report. Administrator Robertson said that no work will be done on the park shelter this fall due to the busy schedule caused by all of the City's construction projects. He said he intended to have the park shelter bid over the winter and constructed in the spring. Commissioners urged sticking to that schedule. Park & Recreation Meeting October 27, 1999. Page 3. 11. Park & Recreation Events. A. Haunted House 1999 recap. Everyone was in agreement the event had gone well. The consensus was that the 666 people who attended on Saturday were the maximum that could be handled on one night. The food sales were disappointing, and consensus was to promote the food more in the advertising next year. Administrator Robertson said that the money generated had reached the point where he wanted to hire security next year to prevent any robberies. Commissioners asked that some fire extinguishers be provided for the building, and that the broken windows be fixed. B. Haunted House 2000. Commissioners agreed to go to a second weekend in 2000. The main weekend will be October 27 & 28 with all of the current events. A second date will be added on Saturday, October 21, but it will just be the Haunted House that day without any kiddie events in the building because it is rented for a wedding reception. Commissioners will use remote parking on the other side of City Hall to reduce conflicts with the wedding reception. Security will be hired to protect the money and to prevent any conflicts between haunted house attendees and the wedding reception. C. Winterfest 2000. This is set for January 15, 2000. 12, Newsworthy items - Commissioners .msCommissioners will contact the Elk River Star News reporter to promote the Winterfest and recap the Haunted House. 13. Other Business_ Commissioner Martin regretfully announced her resignation from the Commission effective November 1, 1999 due to escalating demands on her time. Commissioner Day moved, seconded by Constant, to accept the resignation and to thank Commissioner Martin for all of her hard work. Carried 3-0, Commissioner Martin abstaining. Commissioner Bartheld stepped down and turned the meeting over to Vice -Chair Constant at 9:02 p.m. Commissioner Bartheld, seconded by Day, moved to appoint Nicole Martin Chair of the "Friends of the Park" committee. Carried 3-0, Commissioner Martin abstaining. Commissioner Constant turned the meeting back over to Chair Bartheld at 9:03 p.m. Commissioners asked that the City fix the cracked elbow on the well in Prairie Park. Commissioner Constant, seconded by Day, motioned to adjourn at 9:12 p.m. Motion carried 4-0. M ael Robertson City Administrator