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03-07-2005 PRCEM MINUTES Parks, Recreation & Community Education Advisory Board March 7, 2005 Members present were: Mike Schiesl, Mike Cannon, Beth Hepola, Lora Muilenburg, Kirk Kosel, Lenore Flinn, and Bill Arndt. Also present were Dolf Moon, Sharon Armstrong, Marv Haugen and Karen McKay. The meeting was called to order at 5: 15 pm. A motion made by Kirk Kosel and seconded by Lora Muilenburg approved the minutes dated February 5, 2005. The board unanimously agreed. Introductions - New board member Beth Hepola was introduced to the board and staff. She has accepted a three-year term on the board. OLD BUSINESS 2005 Budget - Dolf distributed a budget worksheet that is used by staff and updated on a monthly basis. NEW BUSINESS Community Education - Sharon Armstrong, Community Education Programmer, presented a slide show outlining the development of the Community Education Program in Hutchinson beginning in 1984. Many of Community Education's adult classes were accredited until Ridgewater College took that portion of programming over. Today's programs are geared towards self-improvement, arts and crafts, aquatics, and healthy lifestyles. The youth camps held during the summer months encourage the athletes to participate in sports when they are in high school. Finding instructors and staying current with the community's needs are always a challenge. There are approximately 250 programs offered each year. Burich Arena East & West - Marv Haugen, Facilities & Operations Manager, supervises the skating program and the summer swimming program. New in 2004 was the naming of the arenas. The Burich family made a $100,000 donation to the city to pay off the debt of the west arena. The Youth Hockey Association now makes their ice time payment directly to the City rather than 50% to the City and 50% to the bank. Citizens Bank has provided the City with an ice resurfacer in 1990 and 2000. A new resurfacer will be needed by 2010. The main ice users at the arena are the Hutchinson High School, Youth Hockey Association, Figure Skating Association, tournament use, and private rentals. The ice will be removed from the arena after the annual figure skating show and a circus and a wrestling meet are scheduled following. The six weeks of summer ice will be in the west arena this year. Minutes PRCE Advisory Board March 7, 2005 Page two Rec Center/Pool Report - The high school uses the Rec Center gym Monday through Friday from 2:45-6:00 pm for practice. Adult volleyball leagues use the gym Monday through Thursday in the evenings. Some of the improvements in the Rec Center in 2004 included a new gym floor, gym lighting, scoreboards, aluminum siding on the upper walls in the gym, and lobby rugs. Kirk Kosel, a volleyball league player, noticed that the noise level increased in the gym with the replacement of the scoreboards. Marv told the board that the summer swimming lesson program remains steady with 1,000 participants. He also showed the board a comparison of open swim participants from 1984-2004. The summer of 2004 was unusually cool. Mechanically the pool is okay, however with no exciting amenities for swimmers to play on, the participation at open swim is greatly reduced. A diagram for an improved outdoor pool has been done including an area for lap swimmers, drop slides, spray features, shallow water play, zero depth beach area, sand volleyball and sand play. This would be a $1.5 million project. The restrooms and bathhouse would need to be renovated to meet the state capacity mandates. The mechanical room would also be moved to a separate area near the pool. Marv is investigating funding options, including a 1Iz cent sales tax referendum, bond issue referendum, capital improvement project and revenue bonds. Willmar had a project that was built with a 1Iz cent sales tax and was able to sunset the tax early. Dolftold the board that now is the time to take a serious look at the situation with the pool being 20 years old and that there are going to be maintenance issues coming. He will be watching to see what other communities are doing to raise funds for other large projects. Bill Arndt asked Marv about the reduction in open swim hours at the outdoor pool. Marv told the board that the pool was operating on a shorter day than two years ago and the season was also shortened by a week. BOARD MEMBER ITEMS Bill Arndt asked what the cost of outdoor ice rinks is. Dolf told the board that it cost $8,000- $9,000 and that this year was a short season. Bill wondered if the PRCE Department considered reducing the fee for indoor open skate and get rid of the outdoor ice rinks. Dolf told the board that the full fee needed to be paid in order to operate the indoor ice rinks. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 pm by a motion made by Kirk Kosel and seconded by Lora Muilenburg. The board unanimously agreed.