Park Board Meeting 12/15 Highlights
Here are the few highlights of the fastest ever MPRB meeting, December 15, 2004.
5:04pm Admin and Finance
$14,518 more for the contract for North Mississippi Regional Park (quite a bit of change in that change order). $15,000 more for vehicle and mower parts. $192,000 from Hennepin County for Phase IV of Mill Ruins Park. Commissioner Fine gives credit where it is due to County Commissioners McLaughlin and Stenglein. Commissioner Dziedzic includes that the county also provided $300,000 for the plank road and $100,000 to study completing the Grand Rounds (NE and SE). More money for park police and rec. programming at Richard Green Central and Harrison Park/School. Commissioner Erwin asks if it was in addition to the standard amount. Gen. Mgr. for Ops (trying out the new titles) Schmidt says additional funding became available. The next item was not on my copy of the agenda or on the website's agenda so I am paraphrasing from the "oral" explanation given by Mike Schmidt. $800,000 more for forestry budget to cover 2004 expenses for battling Dutch Elm and $136,000 to cover changes in the maintenance and parks division that allows the MPRB to meet payroll for the remainder of the year. This is nearly an extra million for the 2004 budget.
ALL PASS
5:08pm Regular Meeting Convenes
Some changes to agenda including a report from the Charter Commission MPRB Committee and a discussion of the Upper Mississippi Planning , the "Commissioner Cup" and invitations to the Annual Meeting
Approved the minutes of the Sept. 15, 2004 regular meeting (check them out here. I take my Commissioner to task for making threats, that weren't threats according to Bob Fine and Carol Kummer of the Standards and Conduct Committee).
REPORTS
Superintendent Gurban mentions he has given a copy of his superintendent's report to everyone and the names of the new district supervisors. (So say them out loud and let their families see them mentioned on TV, in fact say anything!) Commissioner Mason asks about the delay in moving the park police to the headquarters building, Gurban refers this to staff Judd Rietkerk (sorry, do not know your new title) says there is not really a delay as they are still getting conditional use permits and figuring out who in the MPRB to bill for things with the reorganization (SEE OPEN TIME COMMENTS) but the plumbing inspector was in today..... Commissioner Young asks if one of the new District Supervisors is a person of color. Answer yes, one is. Commissioners Mason and Young ask for more detailed reports on TV from the superintendent for the public and themselves.
Judd Rietkerk goes on to talk about the progression of the talks with Cirque du Soleil. It seems they need the fields at Parade leveled to the same height ($300,000) and the MPRB is asking for a longer contract to recover costs of doing this. He is also working with CPED and the Convention Bureau to get this worked out. Commissioner Mason asks if the Lowry Hill neighborhood has been involved or could they be? No not really as this is a permit issue (per Rietkerk) How long is the permit for? 12-16 weeks, So the Parade Fields will be out of use for 12-16 weeks for ballgames? They were going to be turned into soccer field soon so this isn't a conflict (LIZ SAYS WHOA NELLY....WHEN DID BOB FINE'S PARADE PLAN GET THE GO AHEAD AND FUNDING?) and the only site Cirque is looking at has to have the 400-500 parking spaces they need (Parade and new city garage at the Walker I'm thinking) Commissioner Berry-Graves asks if Fort Snelling (NEIMAN COMPLEX) would work for parking. Per Rietkerk, Cirque wants a downtown location
General Manager for Administration (?) Don Siggelkow.. The Foundation has had its first meeting and will be meeting in January to establish officers. The bank accounts have been opened and the balance is $101,000. There is also a Lake Harriet Restoration Account and a group is raising money for a Save the Berger Fountain. If people are interested in donating please contact Don (dsiggelkow@minneapolisparks.org or at 612-230-6400).
Commissioner Young asks are they set up yet to receive endowments? Yes, and feel free to recommend it to all. Commissioner Berry- Graves asks if the Board of the Foundation will be meeting the MPRB members? They can meet in a reception of sorts but otherwise must remain separate entities. Commissioner Kummer asks if the Foundation has contacted Trust firms yet for more donations? Yes, but you need a gift catalog and that is a priority of the Foundation Board. Commissioner Young asks if other foundations like the MPLS Foundation have been contacted? Yes, they helped set this up and more will be contacted as the Foundation becomes established (Liz thinks the MPRB is backseat driving... keep it independent or lose the 503(c) ??? status for the Foundation if you are not careful)
General Manager for Operations Mike Schmidt The MPRB has entered into a relationship with the US Bandy Association. We provide rink time, they do clinics and help teams form. http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Track/2049/English/Bandyhistory.html for those of you for whom Bandy is a mystery.
Mike Tice and Randy Moss are sponsoring an event for homeless families at Winter Park and have also asked 63 kids and 7 staff from the rec. centers to join them as well on Monday. There will be food, games, gifts and autographs and if the Commissioners and Superintendent would like to go they are also invited.
Commissioner Hauser asks about rinks? Too Warm Commissioner Young asks that we come up with alternative plans for the winter areas due to Global Warming and it's present and future impact. Commissioner Dziedzic suggests artificial ice like at Roseville's Rose Memorial Oval and thinks the Herb Brook's Foundation could fund some of it, then we'd have ice from November to early March. Commissioner Berry-Graves asks about snowmaking machines President Olson cuts it short and gets folks to move on (some heckling ensues)
They move onto consent business and pass everything pausing only to thank the County Commissioners again.
Report from the Charter Commission Committee states that Draft 6 is still to wordy and new round of considerations will result in Draft 7 by 1-6-05. Rewording the Charter is separate from substantially changing it as written about in the Star Tribune. That would need a unanimous City Council vote.
Commissioner Erwin asks if a subcommittee could be formed or if staff could get on the Upper Mississippi land acquisition plan.
Commissioner Dziedzic would like former commissioners to be invited to the annual meeting.
Commissioner Young states that the "Commissioners' Cup" for best holiday decorating will be given out on Tuesday and that the Admin wing needs to step up to the plate next year and do better.
PETITIONS and COMMUNICATIONS Commissioner Mason received multiple requests for the total cost of the Superintendent Search Commissioner Berry- Graves and others met with the folks from McPhail to see about music programs of various types (community bands, summer lessons etc...) Commissioner Hauser asked about the letter of nomination for naming Riverview Plaza for Arvin "OLE" Olson (takes 2 years for naming process to happen -- exception Ed Solomon Park) Thank you to staff for various clean ups around the city etc.
OPEN TIME ( it speaks to a problem in the new system that was pointed out by Judd Rietkerk about expensing the park police move though I had no idea it would come up this quickly)
Liz Wielinski of Northeast Minneapolis (me)
"During the past few months there has been much mentioned about the reorganization of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. We have seen a sample flow chart showing the restructuring of the personnel into new positions such as General Managers and District Supervisors. What we have not seen is how this works in terms of who gets what funding. So tonight I am posing some questions and hoping that either the new superintendent or more likely staff might be able to provide some answers.
Will the funding be divided between the districts before or after shared services are taken from the top? Will the district supervisors all work from the headquarters building or will we be funding more office space throughout the city as well as this six plus million dollar edifice? Will individual districts be able to "buy " more park police hours? Is each district footing the bill for insurance evenly or is there a perk for having an accident free area? Will individual districts be able to bill one another for example if their staff of foresters has to work outside of their district due to say a huge windstorm that affects the Lake Harriet area of town only? Will revenues collected in enterprises be used to offset losses in a specific area? Take my area for example. I live in Northeast, home to both Columbia and Gross Golf courses. Will the extra funds they generate annually be used to subsidize Lupient Waterpark and the Kroening Interpretive Center (part I believe of the new district) or will they be skimmed to pay the tab at the Neiman Sports Complex or to build a parking lot for the TIN FISH?? Since Boom Island is in Northeast do we get the proceeds from the deal with Skipperliner?
How will you address the differences in amenities in the various districts? As Commissioner Dziedzic likes to remind us there is no lake in Northeast. There isn't a band shell either, will we be getting free concerts in the park? What about the Powderhorn Park Art Fair? Will one of Northeast's parks get a "cultural director" like Loring Park? What about fountains and gardens? Will these items be considered citywide and budgeted for as such or will they come from individual districts? Since Northeast may lose both Waite Park and Northeast Park Rec. Centers with the proposed closings of the attached schools, how will the rec. center counts be balanced? These are just possible inequities I see in my part of town.
I believe the citizens of Minneapolis need to be informed of the answers to these questions and probably quite a few more. We will need these answers to make informed decisions during this coming election cycle. In the past government has used the concept of "separate but equal" and it has turned out to be anything but. We would like to see exactly how this will be avoided with the new plan the superintendent and many board members are so wholeheartedly backing." Meeting Adjourned 6:05 or so..
Liz Wielinski