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04-07-2003 PRCEM MINUTES Parks, Recreation & Community Education Advisory Board April 7, 2003 Members Present: Jay Betytien, Kirk Kosel, Mike Cannon, Ralph Johnson, Mike Schiesl, Rev. Todd Ertsgaard, Claire Lenz, Bernie Miner and Bruce Peterson. Also present were Dolf Moon and Karen McKay. The meeting was called to order at 5 :21 pm. The minutes dated March 3, 2003 were approved by a motion made by Mike Cannon and seconded by Bruce Peterson. The Board unanimously agreed. OLD BUSINESS Funding Update City/School-Reduction Outcomes - The funding perameters have been set for the school. Dolf will be meeting with school administrators to go over the Community Education budget and from there it will be presented at the April 21 st School Board meeting. Registration numbers are important as is little or no disruption of services. Community Education picked up the middle level sports four or five years ago. They have had an annual loss of$15,000. Dolfis considering cutting the spring sports of baseball and softball in '04, hoping that the youth associations could incorporate the participants in their programs or that the district could take over the programs again. A fee increase from $50 to $60 will also be assessed to the sports participants. In the School Age Child Care the program, "Tiger Zone", which meets in the afternoon at the Middle School will be cut because of low interest. The late start program, school age non-school day care and the summer program will continue. There will also be youth enrichment classes set up after school. The City of Hutchinson is in the process of reducing their budget by $1.4 million with a 15% staff reduction city-wide. The personnel cuts will total $700,000. The area hardest hit was in the PRCE department which saw a 25% reduction of permanent staff. This is mainly due to the fact that many of the PRCE services are considered non-essential. The PRCE 's net cut is $325,000. Six staff were cut, two of which are transfers. The full-time secretary position was cut back to part-time at 25 hours a week or an option was to transfer to another city department for a full-time position. A shared position in park maintenance/compost will shift to full-time at the compost site. Two park maintenance staff were cut as were two programmers, one in youth recreation and one in senior activities. These cuts total $215,000. Following individual meetings with Dolf, a meeting with the City Administrator, Human Resources Director and Dolf was held. Potential retirees were invited to a meeting to see an early retirement package. There are several employees city-wide that are eligible for retirement. The seasonal staff budget will be cut by 20% or $50,000. Full-time staff may be used to cover evening building activities in the ice rinks, Rec Center and Event Center. Operational costs will be cut by 9%. Dolf has requested the City Council consider three options and make their recommendation: 1) Close the second arena which would save $50,000 annually. 2) Buy down the loan on the second arena so that ice rental fees from the Hockey Association would be received by the city rather than to payoff the loan. 3) Cut one more staff person. Other considerations include no outdoor ice rinks or sliding hill staff, which amounts to $2,500 and no dandelion control in parks, which would save $1,500. A $3,000 savings for the city is in the employee uniform rentals. Uniforms have been purchased and employees are responsible for laundering them. MINUTES PRCE Advisory Board April 7, 2003 Page Two Funding Updates City/School-Reduction Outcomes Cont. The budget cuts the city is facing are based on an estimate from the Governor's office. Final figures will be available in May after the Legislature completes their session. If the $2 million figure comes in less than expected, the positions cut will be put on a list of priority for reinstatement. Other departments such as Building/Zoning may be redoing their fee schedule. Raising the fees is not always feasible in the PRCE Department as it could result in loss of participants. Revenue producing areas are important. The PRCE office courtesy window was open 7:30am-5:00pm Monday-Friday and is now 9:00am-4:00pm Monday-Friday. The Event Center courtesy window was open 8:00am-4:00pm Monday-Friday and is now open 9:00am-3:30pm Monday-Friday. In park maintenance, the interval between grass mowing and garbage pick-up will increase. The snow removal process will also be lengthened. Services for community-based activities such as the Water Carnival and Arts in the Park may be charged or eliminated. Some of the open gym, open swim and open skate times may be reduced to accept a private rentals which may pay a higher fee than would be collected during open time. The outdoor pool will be closing five days earlier than last year and open swim will end at 8:00pm rather than 9:00pm Monday - Friday. The city will be contracting with Rev Trac a system to process electronic payments for water/sewer, building permits and PRCE activities. The fee is $90/month for the whole city. The machine used to swipe the cards costs $4.95/month. Statistics show that Community Education registrations increased 10% making credit registrations possible. Participants will be able to register on line or by calling the PRCE office between 9:00am and 4:00pm. The City Council sent five resolutions to the state and legislature protesting the proposed cuts. Hutchinson is second highest cut per capita with Albert Lea facing the largest cut per capita at $3.2 million. Bruce Peterson questioned whether volunteers could cover some of the office hour reductions, or Sentence To Serve staff could help out in the parks. Dolftold the Board that Sentence To Serve may be facing some financial cuts, also. This program is used to help with the Miller's Woods clean-up every year. NEW BUSINESS Library Square Project - The bond fund from the renovation of Library Square has $180,000 left in it. A facelift is planned for the Library and surrounding park for the 100th year celebration. The plans include a new roof, carpeting, and windows for the Library, and a water fountain and landscaping for the grounds. The water fountain may have a potential anonymous donor. Sculptures of the Hutchinson brothers or busts is also an option. The Hutchinson Community Foundation is planning an endowment program over the next three years commencing in 2003. Claire Lenz is concerned with the City spending money on improvements/renovations with the budget cuts taking place. Dolf told the Board that private funding has been successful in the past with a good example being Veterans Park. MINUTES PRCE Advisory Board April 7, 2003 Page three River Grants - The City received full funding of $25,000 for a river stabilization project plus $30,000 from the 3M Foundation and 3M Cares Committee. Master Gardeners is doing planting and the National Guard will rebuild the banks. An environmental studies group at the high school will help plant the river scape. This will be an extension of the previous work along Tartan Park. School Construction Project - The High School uses the city ballfields and pays $600 annually. The Residential Construction class will be building a garage in Roberts Park this spring in lieu of rent. The garage will be used for maintenance supplies and storage. Bernie Miner recommended that an article be submitted to The Hutchinson Leader regarding this project as a pro-active example of how we can succeed. The Hutchinson Foundation supplied the tools to the High School for the house that was built this year. Soft Drink Agreement - The Event Center is set up with a preferred drink, it gives a vendor exclusive selling in the facility. The City Council will be accepting/rejecting a bid from Bernick's Pepsi to provide $50,000 plus two cordless scoreboards, pop, water/juice and snack vending machines in the Rec Center. The percentage of revenue from the vending machines will be higher than it has been in the past. The $50,000 will be used for capital improvements in the Rec Center, specifically lighting and flooring. Ralph Johnson questioned whether the city should be promoting pop and snacks with the increase in health issues for children for example poor diet and lack of exercise. Registration May 6th - The annual early registration for Parks, Recreation and Community Education summer activities is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6th from 6:00-8:00pm at the Rec Center. The Board was invited to volunteer for the evening. May Meeting - There will not be PRCE Advisory Board meeting in May. Several board members will be at the registration, any issues will be addressed prior to the registration from 5:00-6:00pm. The June meeting will be a tour of parks. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:30pm by a motion made by Bernie Miner and seconded by Bruce Peterson. The Board unanimously agreed. klm