Here is the transcript with speaker names added based on the context provided and the dialogue within the meeting. **Speakers:** * **Chairperson:** The presiding officer of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (referred to as "Mark" at [7:21]). * **Dave:** Dave Toombs, Committee Member. * **Craig:** Craig Angrimson, Committee Member. * **Randy:** Randy Geller, Committee Member. * **Noel:** Noel Geller, Committee Member. * **Eric Carlson:** Parks and Recreation Director. * **Kayla:** Kayla Helgerson, Recreation Staff. * **Nate Rosa:** Recreation Superintendent. * **Bill Bird:** Recreation Manager. * **Mia Sornson:** Summer Coordinator. *** [0:04] [Music] [1:08] **Chairperson:** I would like to call to order this meeting of the Apple Valley Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee for uh June the 5th, 2025. At this time, I'd like to invite all those present who are willing and able to please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. [1:29] **All:** To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [1:46] **Chairperson:** All right. Uh, good evening everyone. Um, first thing we need to do is have an agenda for this evening. And I think everybody had a copy of it and has had a chance to look at it. Um, there was one other thing that I wanted to add to it. Is that been added or we need to do that? You you can do it right now. We can do it right now. Okay. Uh, it was something that I brought up at the last meeting and that's in regards to uh Redwood Park, the um monument sign. Uh, that is not our responsibility. It's not our cost, but um I just was thinking that it might be uh a good idea for the committee to make an advisory to the city council to maybe start the process of um the financing [2:32] and u design of that sign so that it can possibly be done with the conclusion of our redoing that park. um is the park is going to be a real eye changer to begin with and I think having that sign there would be a great uh addition and like I say it's not ours but I think um we're an advisory committee so we can advise the city council and I I think that would be a good idea. So I would like to add that as that would be E agenda item E. All right. So, uh, I need, uh, a motion for approval of tonight's, uh, agenda. [3:16] **Dave:** I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as amended with 5e added. [3:18] **Craig:** Second. [3:19] **Chairperson:** I have a motion by Dave and a second by Craig. Uh, all those in favor signify by saying I. [3:24] **Committee Members:** I. [3:25] **Chairperson:** Anybody opposed? And that passes. Um, next up is the approval of the May 2025 minutes. [3:39] Oh, that's right. Well, it's right there. No, no, I I can see that. I can see that. I I just I guess I'm looking at the—no problem—lack of audience. I just thought, well, we might as well just skip over. No, can't skip the audio. Okay. Um, so we will we have time for uh audience participation, which we do every meeting. Uh, looking out at the gallery, I think. Uh we don't have anyone here that is looking to uh speak to us tonight. Uh again, just a reminder for anyone that might be watching us. Uh if you have any suggestions, ideas, anything that you'd like to share with the committee, we would love to hear from you. Um again, uh first Thursday [4:26] every month, 7:00 p.m. We're in the city hall. So come down and see us. We would love to hear your ideas and thoughts. So, now we will go on to the approval of the May 2025 minutes if that's all right. Uh, perfect. Okay. Uh, have you all had a chance to look at those minutes? [4:45] **Chairperson:** Are there any changes or additions that you think need be made? If not, I would look for a motion to approve the minutes for the May 2025 uh, meeting. [4:55] **Randy:** So, moved. Uh, moved by uh, Randy, the guy with the wet feet. [5:07] **Chairperson:** All right. I have a motion by Randy. [5:10] **Dave:** Second. [5:11] **Chairperson:** Second by Dave. All those in favor signify by saying I. [5:14] **Committee Members:** I. [5:15] **Chairperson:** Anyone opposed? And that passes. All right. We are at the agenda items. Uh, first is the committee's annual report and I guess that is Kayla. Yeah. [5:27] **Kayla:** Yeah. I didn't know that until today. So me. Um, Mr. Mr. Chair, members of the committee. So, annually, one of our city ordinances requires you as a committee to prepare an annual report of all of the things that you did in 2024 or each year. This year was 2024. Um, and so staff have put that together on your behalf for u just taking a look at all of the things that you have all accomplished over the past year and looking through our agendas and our minutes and and everything that you did. [5:58] So, we put that together on your behalf and it's customary for you to approve that before we pass it off to city council for them to approve it. So, I can stand for any questions that you might have about that report and then we can move on to the department report. [6:20] **Chairperson:** Can we get a copy of that report? [6:22] **Kayla:** It's in there. Yes. Yep. So, that report was included with the link of the whole packet, but I'm happy to provide you one if you'd like. [6:26] **Chairperson:** It's just tiny. [6:27] **Kayla:** Yes. So, I can I've got a copy right here and I can give it to you. [6:29] **Chairperson:** Awesome. Thanks. Are there any questions? Any questions? I guess not. Okay. So, then I will have you make a motion to approve it. Okay. Or or not, if that's how you so decide. And then um we'll move on to the next item. [6:44] **Craig:** Make a motion to approve the committee's annual report that has been prepared for us. [6:49] **Chairperson:** All right. I have a a motion by Craig. [6:52] **Noel:** I'll second that. [6:53] **Chairperson:** I have a second by Noel. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. [7:02] **Committee Members:** I. [7:03] **Chairperson:** Opposed? It is now passed. Thanks for taking care of that. That was great work, Kayla. It was interesting to read. Elected. Great. Um, so then moving right along to Mark—I don't mean to take over your thunder here. [7:21] **Chairperson:** No, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Oh, you have the floor. [7:24] **Kayla:** The department report is the next item on the agenda and that is the committee's portion of the report is at the beginning of that report as you are part of our an extension of our department and the work that we do. So um your portion is at the beginning and then the rest of that report is kind of a fleshed out um detailed description of what the department has accomplished in 2024. And again, as with the committee's report, we look for you to take a look at this and if you so choose to approve it, then it will go to city council for their approval. So, if you have any questions about the department's annual report or anything that was accomplished in 2024 by the department, I'm happy to address those questions. Otherwise, um staff may also chime in if they have things to say. [8:07] **Chairperson:** Any questions? That is a great report. I mean, you guys did an awful lot. awful lot this year. [8:13] **Kayla:** Thank you. [8:14] **Chairperson:** All right. I'd look for a motion to approve the department's um what's it called? Annual report. Annual report. Kind of a mouthful. [8:24] **Dave:** So moved. [8:25] **Chairperson:** Uh I have a motion by Dave. [8:27] **Craig:** Second. [8:28] **Chairperson:** Second by Craig. All those in favor signify by saying I. [8:32] **Committee Members:** I. [8:33] **Chairperson:** Opposed? That it passes. Thank you very much. [8:35] **Eric Carlson:** Thank you, Mr. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, before you move on, just want to uh give a positive shout out to Kayla. Kayla gathered all that information and data. She set it up. She got the pictures. She um designed it. Um [8:55] put it all together. And so I I I think it really looks really good and I think it does a great job of letting the community know what you accomplished as a committee and what we accomplished as a department. So just want to publicly say thanks Kayla for putting that together. Did a great job. [9:11] **Chairperson:** Very good. Thanks, Kayla. [9:13] **Noel:** Is that available for the public to see on the website? [9:18] **Kayla:** Once the council approves it um next Thursday, then we will replace our 23 report with the 24 report on the website. [9:26] **Noel:** Excellent. Thank you. [9:27] **Kayla:** You're welcome. [9:28] **Chairperson:** Okay, we are up to division updates, aquatics in uh youth and family. Looks like that is Nate Rosa. [9:36] **Nate Rosa:** Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee. Uh Nate Rosa, our recreation superintendent. Today, we're going to do an update on the Splash Valley Water Park. Uh Steve Skinner, who is our recreation supervisor that oversees the facility, put this together for us, but he is training our staff tonight so that we may open tomorrow bright and early for water walking. So, again, just introducing Splash Valley Water Park. It is no longer the Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center. So, we have rebranded. We have our nice mascot themed otter and then our new logo and moniker and icon are seeing up on the board right now. Again, new look facility and landscape improvements. Um, we've added some a lot of stuff in here for cooling for ease. You'll notice right on the side of the building here, this is where a lot of our patients would line up before we opened. We have moved that sidewalk right up against that building there to allow for them to be underneath [10:32] that overhang for shade right off the bat. Uh, this picture's taken around 2:00 in the afternoon. So, right around 11 though, it'll provide more shade for that area. And then to the left on the photo here is our brand new marquee sign, if you will. Nice little bench area. I want to thank the uh committee here for helping design this and put some of the final touches on there. [10:51] **Nate Rosa:** You'll see that our logo is that bottom left corner for the parks and recreation department. Then we have the new Splash Valley logo on the log to the right there. Uh we're looking forward to a lot of our patrons coming down to that park and then jumping on there or sitting on there I should say and then grabbing their photo then helping us market that post that online and just show us the good times and good fun that they're having at our aquatic park water park for us. New look throughout. Um again this is our admissions area. Uh we are ADA compliant throughout this entire complex here. Um to the right side of here is that ADA area that we're looking for and we'll touch a few more points on that in the later screen on it. But really brightened up the area on there. All new paint colors, all new flooring on there, all new branded signing and just wayfinding for staff, patrons, everyone [11:37] to find their way through that facility. Part of that new look is again our improved ADA changes. Uh to the left there, you'll see we've got a a double rail that's close to each other. We have this in our front plunge pool, also in our lazy river. That is an ADA compliance addition for those that uh might need assistance getting into the water until they're inside for buoyancy. [12:00] **Nate Rosa:** To the right there is what is our universal changing table that is meant for adults or other people that might need that for access on here. So again, being ADA compliant, trying to be as inclusive as possible that is in one of our two family changing rooms and then has additional signage on there for people to find their way. And so again, adding new features for for patrons that might need those uh amenities within our facility. Uh new look again on our branding. You'll see that all of our stuff here, it's got the blue waves throughout, all of our signage, and then we have the new logo that's on all of them as well. One of the things that we heard from the public and from the committee here was what can we do to dress up our lazy river? So, if you look in there, we have a bunch of new plantings throughout [12:46] there. And then we also have four additional of our otter statues. We got the one up here showing us excitement, saying, "Yay!" We've got the lazy otter over who's over the pipe on the bypass river. We did also move that pipe to the bypass versus the main channel so that you can flow through that water park without that lazy river without having water splash down on you. Again, comments that we received from the public in order for us to try and make this more enjoyable for many people. And off to the left of this photo, you can't see it. Uh there's an additional otter laying on side. In the very back there, we have a cute little one of an adult otter and a and a child otter as well. We also touched many aspects of this facility that aren't shown to the public. One of them being our mechanical upgrades. Um we did remove all of our [13:31] filters and we've gone to this high efficiency filter here. We replaced four filters with this one. So again, that is very environmentally friendly to us. It's less water waste. It is less chemical usage and it is uh also more energy efficient for this as well. We have this new defender style in our front pump room that does the main pool. [13:50] **Nate Rosa:** Then also a secondary one on its own in the back pump house that cleans for the serpentine slide, bull slide, and also our lazy river. We did some solar upgrades on the roof on here. It's hard to see in this picture because the paint color that was chosen for it kind of matches the well, but that was very intentional. It helps hide those solar panels. But with this, we were able to, you know, helped offset some of our energy usage during the season. And then during the offseason, those will still work and we'll be able to put power back to the grid. So again, trying to be environmentally friendly, forward thinking on here. What can we do to to better make our facilities more efficient and more environmentally friendly? You'll see again throughout here, we've added a lot of plantings throughout the entire complex. Um, we'll touch it a little bit later here, but on [14:36] that walls to the left there, you'll see a new feature that's going to come up in one of our final slides up here. Again, exterior improvements to create a more harmonious look. Um, we've added that shade structure out in front of our concession stand. There will be a sign that goes up there later. I just didn't make it into this photo at on time. But again, we we colored the buildings a darker color that is to try and hide them in the background and then make the park itself the the focal feature on here. We have brand new pops of colors on all of our slides, on some of our furniture, on our new play features that go on the water. We'll get to those in a minute, but really wanted to tie everything together versus having all of our buildings with different colors on here. We did resurface all the slides. [15:21] **Nate Rosa:** Uh we did receive some comments like, "Hey, when were the slides replaced?" we were actually able to salvage the previous ones. Some best practices show that just recotating them with a gel coat, changing the color on here is something that will give us another, you know, 15, 20 years out of these as well. Um, with this as well, best practices show to have the interior of the slides white. So, we did go that route because it shows less fading, shows less usage on there, and just gives that brighter, more inviting color on it. So, you'll see throughout every one of the slides was touched. Um, you know, we had some greens and some dark dark maroons and different things of that nature. [15:53] **Chairperson:** Can I ask you a question? Maybe it's stupid, but the inside of those tubes, how did they paint those? [15:59] **Nate Rosa:** They climbed through them. [16:01] **Chairperson:** Are you kidding? [16:02] **Nate Rosa:** Not kidding. They climbed through them and uh one of those things where they had safety harnesses, everything else met all of our OSHA requirements and did it in a safe manner. But yes, they had to go through them on hands and knees. [16:15] **Chairperson:** Okay. [16:16] **Nate Rosa:** The hardest part, the drop slides are difficult, but the serpentine slide was even more difficult. Yeah. Here are our new shallow water play features. Again, with the marketing and branding, we did remove all of our old play features. The beloved dino slide, um, we did actually repurpose that and put it up for auction. There is a resort somewhere up in the Northern Woods that bought all of our old water features. So, again, those are being repurposed. They did not land in a landfill and they have a secondary life in another resort. Um here you can see we've got our EF100 which is the apparatus off to the right. Uh that there has different water features a smaller turtle tippy bucket. Um there's little spots that children or any anyone that wants to use that can cover the little spots on there and it'll it'll direct redirect the water, add pressure [17:13] to one thing or another and might shoot you in the knee, might shoot your friend on the other side of that in the chest, might you know just spray water all over that. The middle apparatus is our tippy bucket is one of one. Uh it's a nice 20 foot tall, 9 foot wide, but in building this here, you know, it I will call this a gentle line if you will, probably a gentle otter. Um, but with that it it's a big structure. It does dump a lot of water, but there's a diffuser bar in front of that that separates that as well, too. So, personally tested, personally approved. It's one of those where the water is not a forceful downfall on everybody. So, it's a nice great new feature that anyone of any age should enjoy. Off to the left of this photo here is our slide apparatus that we've added to this. Again, it has an ADA component to that as well where there's a transfer station on the middle [17:58] platform for that. So, people um can access that apparatus. We have slides on there. You can't quite see them in there, but in the front of that slide there is some little water tables. And so our youngans could come up to there and different play features will be on there, put your hand on this, water shoot out of that, redirect this to turn this or that or the other thing. And there's some other little hidden things on top of that deck there where if you stand on one, it shoots water out of another thing. If you put your hand on one, it'll shoot water out of the other side. And then all around that, there's spray features that uh will make that an enjoyable area for everybody. [18:34] **Nate Rosa:** greatly increased our shade throughout the park. So, that was one of the big comments that we heard from a lot of people. We're seeing this online, too, for our social media. There is four shade structures that have been added um two over the water, two on the deck that are basically on a first come, first- serve basis. We did add additional shade structures that are rentable or some of them are if they're open, feel free to use them. And then if you can see in here too, we've added 100 additional chairs to this entire park. We did repurpose the chairs from Redwood Pool being that that is offline for this year and brought them over here. We also added 50 of these new upright chairs that are shown in this picture by the orange chairs and the blue chairs. We added 50 of the little side tables that you can see in between that first set of orange and blue chairs throughout the [19:20] park as well. Again, comments that we receive from the public, you know, looking for different places to sit, put something down, really trying to be customer focused when we did a lot of the upgrades in this facility. This is our new birthday party pavilion. This is where we're looking to have many of our patrons come and and enjoy their birthday party with us. So, we have birthday party packages that we put together. This is by reservation only as well, but we're looking forward to many people here for that. We have food packages that go with that as well. [19:51] **Nate Rosa:** Um, the package itself comes with 10 entries, ice cream for everybody for that 10 entries, and then the the birthday person will get a special little surprise. River cabanas. So, on the southwest corner of our lazy river, um, we added four cabanas that look like this. What we have on here, there's six lounge chairs, two upright chairs, and three of those little side tables for people to rent. Those are, you know, for two-hour blocks is $60 for that block. [20:18] **Nate Rosa:** Uh, very reasonable rate on here. And four of those that are on that back corner of the facility there. So, again, we had cabanas before. People like them. We chose listen when listen to everyone. We chose to upgrade those, make them bigger, and we have a fourth additional one this year. [20:34] **Craig:** And those can be reserved online? [20:38] **Nate Rosa:** Those can be reserved online. Should you come to the park, there's some signage that'll be out there that'll show if it's open or reserved, and there'll be a name on it. So if you should arrive and you see that one of them is open, you can feel free to stop at our admissions counter and then reserve it at that time. They are designed for roughly six people in intended for six people in the area with the chairs that we have in there. New this year are season passes. [20:57] We are piloting those in 2025. We encourage everyone to come out and grab one. It's something that we heard a lot from the public that, hey, are we ever going to have season passes at the aquatic center? Well, now at the water park, we will have season passes. Again, we talked about it earlier. We do have drinking fountains that have been added to both the north and south bath houses. [21:16] We do have an ADA accessibility with the different heights of them. And there's also a bottle filler there as well. And again, we did improved layout inside of the concessions. I know we did the tour earlier today. The intent of that is to increase flow inside of that facility so we have shorter wait times for people as they come up and order foods. We've added fountain soda back in. We've added additional ovens so that we we can cook a frozen pizza in two and a half minutes to to done. So tested that myself and I approved that as well. Um we've also added some other features in there that'll just again make it quicker for patrons to come in and get their food and not wait so long in line. [21:52] **Noel:** What is the uh birthday surprise? [21:56] **Nate Rosa:** It's a surprise. You'll have to book your birthday with us and we'll go from there. [21:59] **Noel:** Are you unfamiliar with the concept of a surprise? [22:01] **Nate Rosa:** I'm I am merely having uh running it past uh us. So, we are looking at having a towel that is um has our logoed with our on it. Um that's a great surprise. We're looking at potentially another shirt. [22:17] Fun little tagline tagline we're working on is you ought to have your birthday party at Splash Valley Water Park. I did. And then it'll have a picture of an out of there with a party hat. So, again, we're still—that's not—we're not showing that yet. So that part will still be the surprise, but those are the avenues and angles that we're looking at. [22:38] **Noel:** That's good sales. Cool. [22:42] **Dave:** What does the—are the—for the season passes, are those just for regular entry or do they count towards any of the other special things that you guys do during? [22:46] **Nate Rosa:** Yeah, so being that we're piloting it this year, um we wanted just to see how that goes. [22:46] So they are for just the regular hours, the 11 to six, you know, seven days a week while we are open June 6th to August 20th. Uh they do not include for water walking. They do not include for any of our after hours before after hours water walking or any special events that we might have throughout the season on here. They do not work for our parent tot time that we have in the mornings after afternoons but we do have different pricing for those. The 10 punch passes are are available and can be used for those different times. Um and then for the parent taught one for every child those for ages you know birth till six every child that comes with any paid child gets an additional one free adult with that. So that is an easy way to get and that's a you know two-hour block before we open for the general public so our little ones can [23:32] come in there enjoy the park and not get trampled over. [23:36] **Chairperson:** How about um somebody goes online, they set aside one of the uh overhead shade areas or they do the B uh the birthday deal, but it is raining. Do they get their money back? [23:44] **Nate Rosa:** Yeah. So, we'll, you know, we'll work with them to see what the weather looks like. We'll monitor that. Uh if it's something where they still want to come out and we're on that iffy spot and we can still stay open, we'll try to get them in. But if they want to have a reservation change to a different date, we'll look to see if we can do that. Otherwise, we would refund for that as well. Okay. And then back to the season passes, another one that we have on here. So, we have our resident rate, we have our non-resident rate, we also have our caretaker pass. So, for [24:18] those that have, you know, small children that either have a nanny or a grandma, a grandpa, a partner, someone that comes out and watches it. That pass is interchangeable, if you will. So one day the nanny can use it, the next day mom can bring the child, the next day dad can bring the child and so on and so forth. It's only one entry at a time. So it's not, you know, two people, two parents or the nanny and the parent can show up and use at the same time. But it is designed so that you only have to buy that one pass for that caretaker. And again, the child can have their own pass, but multi anybody allows for multiple people to bring that child in. [24:51] **Nate Rosa:** We are also taking photos with our season passes. So, that is something that, you know, we can make sure that the right person is using it. And season passes can be ordered online, but will be picked up at the aquatic park on your first visit. That way, we can put a photo of you into the system as well. [25:06] So, we we ask that you go order online. Do not show up to city hall or the community center to grab that. You'll be able to get that on your first visit to Splash Valley Water Park. [25:12] **Noel:** How does the picture system work with the nanny pass? [25:14] **Nate Rosa:** So, the nanny pass for the caretaker, the picture on that one, we won't put a picture in through that. And again, that's going to be the honor system on there. We'll work through that as well. Um, prior experience, past practices show that, you know, there's not much of a a concern for that. Um, the people that really go after that pass use it for what it's intended for. [25:40] **Randy:** How has uh interest or demand been on season passes so far? [25:44] **Nate Rosa:** Yes. So, we as of today, we had just shy of 300 passes. Um, so for our first inaugural season, that is, you know, before we even open, that's a good start. And we anticipate having additional passes that get bought throughout. Uh let's say you show up to the water park and you buy the daily pass. You pay your $14 get in. If you keep that receipt, we'll actually allow you to come back that you're like, you know what, this is awesome. I want a season pass. We'll we'll take that $14 and we'll add it towards your season pass as well. [26:17] **Randy:** So that's something that would be like printed on the receipt so the customer would see that or is there going to be like a sign for that or something? [26:22] **Nate Rosa:** Uh that's something we'll have some signage on the counter when we go through that. It won't be a permanent structure on that, but yes, we'll get that information out to people. [26:27] **Randy:** How many passes do you have to sell this year to make it worthwhile? [26:33] **Nate Rosa:** And that is not that that is not just the pass itself. It's how many times have those passes been used as well. So at the end of the season, what we'll do is we'll look at all the information. uh we'll meet together determine you know do we move on with this pass and are there any options that we can do with that season pass as well. [26:50] **Chairperson:** I would just like to say job very well done. I mean that looks like a brand new facility out there. It really does. I mean and part of it was it was an old facility before and it was really showing its age but I think you guys did an outstanding job of making that look good. question I would have is, you know, I guess our main competition is Cascade Bay. Um, that's kind of a dated facility now, too. Do we—I've never been there—how do we compare with Cascade Bay? I mean, in terms of admission, um, do we know how many people they have? Are people from Apple Valley going there in the past or how can we how can we capture some of that? [27:44] **Nate Rosa:** Okay. So, we've been working on our marketing. Uh we do have in our in our val packs that most of us get in our mail here. You know, we started off with one in June. Thank you, Randy. Uh it is for our birthday party packages. So, that is how we're starting with some of the promotions right now for June. We do have a BOGO coupon that's going to go out in those val packs as well for that'll be good for July and August. And those will be from one o'clock on, buy one pass, get another one in on there. [27:59] other ways that we are looking to rise ourselves to the top on here. Again, you know, we we've added some of the amenities that our competitors have and we've changed some of the things that we're going to offer that they they don't offer and so hopefully our patrons will see that like you know what I'm going here now. Um again, we've changed the branding on there. Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center doesn't roll off the tongue as well as you know some of our competitor's name or our brand new name, Splash Valley Water Park. So, that was very purposeful on on doing that rebranding and making it more friendly to all ages, all groups, everybody on there. Other things that we were doing on here, too, is, you know, we've added the shade structures, right? We have probably the most shade out of any of the water parks that I'm familiar with in our area. So, word of mouth should [28:44] get us out out right away. Working very closely with our communications team. If you've jumped on to the city's Facebook page and our parks and recck department Facebook page, you'll see a lot of little snippets that come through there. We're going to continue to add those fun little excitement things in there. Here's this, here's that, you know, what's the next thing on there. Um, other ways to make sure that, you know, we can rise to the top. One of our current features is we do allow people to bring in food and beverage. A lot of our competitors do not. And so, that is a value added that we offer. We are changing some of our menu items, looking at trying to have some competitive meal deal prices or combo prices on there, too. So that again, you know, for those that want to come to us that might have a a financial barrier, if you will, we're trying to do our best to limit those with the BOS, with trying to [29:29] reduce some of our prices. Our recreation wellness fund will be coming online soon, so people can use that if you're a citizen of Apple Valley towards one of our season passes. So again, we're trying to find ways, we're adding different ways to add that value to everyone. [29:47] **Randy:** Um, I got a question for you. So, in the past, we do a lot of traditionally advertising on our city website, our park and rack website. However, if somebody types in South Metro Waterpark, and we had our own site um that really was able to lay out pictures, everything, I think it would be more effective. Um I think does Valleywood have their own site? [30:08] **Nate Rosa:** Yes. [30:09] **Randy:** Okay. Um very similar to that concept. [30:14] **Nate Rosa:** We are we do have our own landing page right now. The entire city as a whole. We are revamping our entire website. So it is an ongoing product process too. Right now um ours is coming up soon for our entire parks and recreation page. So we will be addressing some of those features on that page to try and highlight it better. Um, if you go on Google right now and you type in Splash Valley Waterpark, it pops up right away over some of our competitors too if you look at it. Um, so we are looking at that marketing, trying to find ways to optimize our name on those different websites as well. [30:58] **Chairperson:** Okay. How is our admission compared to Cascade Bay? Are we pretty much the same or? [31:02] **Nate Rosa:** So, a lot of [31:02] different pricings for our neighbors to the north there. They have a price that's a little bit lower than ours, but that's only for half the day. Ours, you know, if you want a full day, there's a higher weight, higher price, much higher price, so you have to pay for that. Um, for us as well, we have those BOGO coupons that we're offering in July and August. So, again, that will beat our competitor. Um, with our season passes on here, we've got our setup here that allows for those that really want to utilize the park. They're they're well priced. Um, we spent a lot of time looking at that to make sure that we're in a an affordable but also an an acceptable price range for all aspects of that. So, we don't have a non-resident fee that we charge. So, it wouldn't cost them more to come from Eagan to there is there's additional—it's a $10 difference. So, our resident rates [31:49] or non-resident rates are $10 in price. So, we do have different rates for our season passes, but for our daily admissions, there is no resident non-resident. Correct. [31:53] **Randy:** Why have a BOGO pass in the packet? Because we want them to come. Why don't we just have BOGO days? [32:02] **Nate Rosa:** We could go down that route. Some best practices show, you know, having it for the every day for the certain time frames allows um for that to function at a better better operation for you know, if you if we just have a day, it's one of those things someone might not be able to make that day. So having every day with that BOGO on the after 1:00 allows for more access for more people. [32:29] **Randy:** Okay. Have it every day. You don't have to have that pass though. [32:32] **Nate Rosa:** That's part of our marketing. So with that as well, you actually can go online to valpac.com, type in Splash Valley Waterpark, and once those come online in July and August, and you can use those BOGO passes from that as well. For those that may not receive that in the mail, similar to what Sever does. Sever Cornmaids. You go on their website, you can print it off. Yep. Okay. So, it's a it's a dual purpose. It is a BOGO coupon, but it's also marketing advertising for—I I get the marketing point. That's entire life. [33:06] **Noel:** Any other questions? Uh, not a question. Just wanted to say that uh with uh with this rebranding, I think you're very well positioned to be a true destination for family fun south of the river. if not the Twin Cities Metro. So, nicely done. [33:12] **Chairperson:** That looks like a destination. Yeah, it looks great instead of a pool. Yeah. Yeah. Good work. [33:14] **Nate Rosa:** So, thank you everyone. Thank you, Mr. Chair and C and committee members here. And then a thank you to everyone that's been involved on here. I mean, this was truly the entire team, our maintenance boots on the ground, you know, doing all the hard work, getting the day-to-day stuff ready, working with us to decide, you know, hey, what's the best practice for this from a maintenance angle? what's the best practice from this from a staffing angle. I want to thank Eric for running [33:52] the numbers on here and directing us on there. Kayla for doing all of our contracts, Steve for overseeing the maintenance and helping out that. And then Brian's expertise. He's worked on some of our other other projects. Um greatly helped on getting us through this as well. And then our staff, you know, we've got Bill Bird here, we've got Mia, our summer coordinator. We've invited everyone to have their eyes on here. Want to thank the public first and foremost for passing that 2023 bond referendum. This does not happen without them. Want to thank the PRA committee here for all your support and guidance for stuff that we've done making the decisions on this. Thank our city council for backing and supporting this and pushing it through. And all of the architects that helped us out, all of the design people that helped us out, the public for all their feedback and input, not just voting for it, but you know, giving us those comments. I'd like to see A, B, C, and D. So, this truly is [34:39] is a gem for the community that the community voted for and decided on. Thank you. [34:52] **Chairperson:** Thank you. Thank you, Nate. Okay, next up is uh agenda item D, Kelly Park update. [34:57] **Nate Rosa:** Mr. Chair, members of the committee, no— [35:05] **Chairperson:** Youth and family. Did we move right on? Yeah. No, we're on C part two. [35:12] **Mia Sornson:** Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of Apple Valley Parks and Recre Committee. Um my name is Mia Sornson, the summer um coordinator, and this is my supervisor, Bill Bird. Um today we are here to talk about highlights and the overview um for the youth and family programming and some of special events. [35:40] um um some of the program snapshots. We'll talk about youth um programs and camps, family programs, open gyms, and special events. Um with youth and family programs, something we aim to do um is provide something for everyone, whether it be camps, open gyms, um or early childhood activities. Um, and something we're looking forward to, um, is during the summer. Um, we have some opportunities during our big special events, um, that includes Freedom Days, um, music and Kelly Park, the food truck festivals at the end of summer. So, all things to look forward to. I will pass it along to Bill Bird to talk over some. [36:27] **Bill Bird:** Uh, greetings, Mr. chair in uh Apple Valley Parks and Recreation Committee. Um I'll get into one program, the Little Orchard Preschool. We've had a preschool in Apple Valley—let me move to the microphone—um I would estimate 35 plus years. Um we are bringing that to a closure. Um, we do have the CAP agency in in our facility doing a preschool as well. So, we've just, you know, like a lot of things in life and recreation programs, um, things change. So, we are focusing our attentions in the preschool area on some other programming and [37:12] activities as well as when we have the indoor playground available. That'll be a new option for for preschool age, too. Um the preschool programs uh we had our own separate preschool educational facility. Um but we also do offer preschool programming and uh they are focused around different themes. It's kind of a hybrid of education but recreational. [37:44] Um, and this will be expanding and we'll be using some of our elements of the Little Orchard Preschool to continue building on um, our preschool programming. Camps, it's that time of year where our camps are kicking in in the next week or two. um our three main areas. We've got some sports camps, we have themed camps and trip camps, and we've got a week-long day camp, which is offsite. [38:18] Um our our goal for this area was to offer times that worked for parents, parents that work, parents that don't work. um a lot of options with timing as well as price points. Um so we're playing around with that this year. We expanded our all day camp opportunities this year and uh we're seeing good results with that so far for registrations. [38:47] Um so that's the camp uh area. We the other price point we have a simple playground program um set up which is our most affordable option for the kids to get out of the house interact with other kids um for a half a day. So that's that's a good option as well. Did you want to jump back in? [39:13] **Mia Sornson:** Yes, I'll jump back in and talk um some about the puppet wagon. [39:15] Um so we hope to increase the in uh the attendance this year. I'm hoping to raise um about 100 more people. Um we had some rain last year that um was unable we we had to cancel some um of the events. Um but we are looks things look good this year. So um our top attendance was Kelly Park um with 390 people. So that was um very good. We have a lot of daycarees that attend as well as other families um that are coming in, grandmas, grandpas that are bringing their little kids. [39:52] Um and I've spoken with many people at tabling events and they are always very excited um about all the puppet shows to come. Um and then some of the highlights. Um the puppet wagon has had many stops and people's favorite um were freedom days music in Kelly Park and Night to Unite. [40:15] Um another thing that I wanted to mention is that it's starting its 47th year. So that is something to be very proud of. I mean we've been around for a long time. Um and we're hoping to still continue. Um so stay tuned for free shows for all ages. [40:32] **Bill Bird:** And I'm I'm going to continue. One one exciting thing that we did at the tail end of last year is we got away from a gas powered generator on the puppet wagon that powered our lights inside the puppet wagon and our sound system. Um we by the end of the year we were fully using uh rechargeable power pack. I get there's different names for them, but uh we were able to run off of battery power almost all week for our shows, which was pretty amazing. Then we [41:02] took it to another level this off season. The park maintenance department installed a solar panel on top. I was out there today, our first attempt, it was already charging. They were the staff was out there organizing, practicing. Um, I'm willing to bet that we'll never have to plug our um battery source in all all summer, which is pretty neat. No more fumes and gas and trying to start a generator and all those good things. [41:33] **Chairperson:** And noise, I'm sure. [41:36] **Bill Bird:** Noise, I'm sure. Yeah, gas. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, depending on what way the wind was going, you know. Yeah, it was noisy. So, that's that's—I was really excited to see that work today and in person. Um, open gyms. [42:00] Uh open gyms. Um they are held every day throughout um each week. Um the preschool open gym. I'm not going to get too deep into all these, but um it's mostly open play. We offer um some toys and climbing devices and different things like that, dress up um clothing and things like that. It's mostly open play. We do offer occasionally we offer um some holiday activities and things where Clown makes an appearance from Midwinter Fest or Santa or things like that just to add some excitement. [42:29] Um it's Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It goes down to just one day in the summer because it's nice out and people are playing outside. Um youth and family open gym. Youth open gym is highly attended. Um we're at the point where many days we have to shift into two full gymnasiums. Um so that's very popular. [42:51] It's a free program. Um one other trend that I've I've noticed in the last two years is volleyball. Volleyball is taking a prominent it plays a prominent part of youth open gym now where it used to be on occasion we have volleyball going on every day boys and girls so it's pretty pretty interesting and the family open gym is um that's offered every day um and along with all these open gyms our goal is to maximize our gym use maximize you know opportunities for the community. So, we do have bonus days where we are open when school [43:37] uh districtwide if if there school is out, we we have bonus days and times for for all our open gyms. So, that's proven to be pretty popular. Special events. [43:52] Um we have—I'm going to focus on just our main larger ones. Um, Midwinterfest, brutal cold year this year. Um, people still had a good time, but it was very cold. We continue to grow that event and try new things, and it's an exciting event that's all outdoors primarily now. So, that's that's a good uh good challenge for us each year to kind of refresh in that one. Um, Freedom Days is right around the corner, about a month. [44:25] Um, one area I'm responsible for is the two and five mile fun run and everything is the same this year, time, age categories, those things. We we the big change we had to move locations because of the construction going on at Hayes Park in the community center area. So, we are we have relocated over to Johnny Cake Ridge Park on the east side. That's where the start and finish will be. We have a two and five mile route on that that part of town and uh pretty much everything's going to be the same except for the route. So the food truck festival was our first last year and it went I would say extremely well. Uh had [45:10] a little rain at the beginning but then it sun came out picked up. We had probably about a thousand people I would say 10 food trucks. Um, a lot of great feedback. A lot of I I can tell it went well when the vendors that were there are calling and emailing me to come back. So, that was a good sign. Um, music and Kelly Park. Um, I think they're in their 27th year. Part we partner the city partners. Uh, we're great partners as far as providing music in Kelly Park. This year we do have to shift another construction project within Kelly Park. Of course, um, our June through August concerts will be at Kelly Park, but the two September concerts, including the food truck festival, will be at Corey Point Park [45:57] this year. And I believe that is it. And we just put up some a peek at some of our activities and events. And if anyone has any questions, we'd love to answer your question. [46:15] **Chairperson:** I will just say um I do a lot of bike riding in the summertime and so I do get around to some of the parks and occasionally I run across the puppet wagon. Uh the crowds that are there love it. Yeah. I mean they they have a very captive crowd and they are—you know sometimes it's not a huge crowd—but the ones that are there they love it. Yeah. So I—that's a great job. [46:38] **Bill Bird:** Thank you. Um, one thing that I've noticed too, um, is the the feedback that we get that we're into new generations. You know, there's parents there that attended the puppet shows as a as kids and they have kids now. And it just kind of—we're in two and three generations of puppet wagon attendees. [47:00] **Chairperson:** How do you choose the puppeteers? [47:04] **Bill Bird:** Um, we—I mean we have an interview process. Um, a lot of them have theater background. A lot of them have theater and um public speaking uh speech and debate background. So, they're very very talented and artistic, too. Yeah. High school and college. Wow. Great. [47:29] **Chairperson:** All right. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Great job. Thanks. Well, after screwing up item C, now I think we're ready to go on to item D, Kelly Park update. [47:53] **Eric Carlson:** Mr. Chair, members of the committee, no slides to show you this—oh, I guess we do have some slides. Sorry. Plan, wasn't it? No, you're fine. Um, little update on Kelly Park. Uh, so Kelly Park's going to start construction here. [48:09] Um, Kelly Park will start construction here in July. Again, we're working on Kelly Park. It's going to have a new playground, a performance stage, a splash pad. We're going to have some solar, and we're reusing the water from the splash pad for the irrigation of the park. on the screen on the stage will have a 25 by 15 video screen and obviously work closely with the Apple Valley Arts Foundation uh because of music and Kelly Park. So again, we'll begin construction in 2025 in July. Um it won't be the entire park, it'll just be basically the western portion of the park, which is where the new stage is going to be going and then everything south of where the playground is. U that'll start in July so that we can preserve the space of the playground, the splash pad and the stage, the existing stage area uh for the concert [48:55] series. Then come the end of August, the entire park will be under construction. We hope to be back up and running uh Kelly Park uh in the spring or the summer of 2026. This is what Kelly Park looks like today if you were to uh fly above. And this is what Kelly Park will look like when we're uh when we've got it completely made over. This is an a rendering of what the stage will look like. Um not only will we do we plan to um continue to host the Friday night uh music and Kelly Park concert series, but we also start to plan we also plan to start a few new programs such as a movies in the park series. um turning on a sporting [49:41] game, whether it be the Twins or the Vikings on a on a given day or an evening, inviting folks to come and just enjoy watching the game on the large screen in a park with your friends. I'm we're guessing that there'll be some food trucks involved and things like that. Um so, we're looking forward to those types of opportunities once we're uh back open again. Just kind of another image of a concert. This is just the stage layout. [50:05] Um this is the restroom facility. You can see kind of the spray ground in the background. This the spray ground in the background doesn't really do the new spray ground justice because there will be nothing above ground in the new spray spray ground. It'll all be jets shooting from the ground if you will. There'll be lights, interactive lights. Um so it should be very interesting, lots of fun. [50:25] Uh there's a few other communities that have this type of spray ground and they're they're very popular with those communities and we expect it to be that that way in Apple Valley as well. This just shows the solar panels that will be on the roof and just the layout of the restroom facility. And so we're still conceptually working on the playground equipment. We had a meeting today about it. Um so we don't have any new updated images and I can tell you that the new updated images look uh significantly different than the ones we're showing you right now. We we will be getting those updated images tomorrow. We'll be sending out some information to folks. [51:01] We do have an open house on Monday night 6 o'clock 6:00 to 7:30 here at city hall uh for those that want to come and give us some feedback about what we're doing in Kelly Park whether it be with the playground or some of the other improvements that we're making. Um and so we we'd be happy to talk with folks and we hope that people come and give us some feedback. This is another just kind of an image of of what we're looking at. So this will be mostly wood structure. [51:25] There'll be some plastic slides, lots of climbing opportunities, and the bears themselves that will be a part of this. Um, there'll be play within the bears themselves. They're that big, if you will. And that's what I had for Kelly Park. And I can stand and answer any questions that people may have. [51:44] **Craig:** I got one, Eric, just to prevent my fellow Rotarians from howling. I know the clock's going to be moved, but I didn't see on the image about where that might be. [51:53] **Eric Carlson:** Yep. Whoa. Too fast. Can you back me up one, Kayla? Yep. [51:55] Um, so the clock, um, is basically going to be in about the same spot, but if you can see the tip of the pointer that I've got there, yeah, that's where the clock's going to be relocated. So, it's almost in the same spot. So, um, our construction manager, Krauss Anderson, um, one of the, one of their subcontractors is hired to take the clock, move it off site, store it, protect it, and then bring it back to sight in back to the site, and reinstall it when we're ready, when we're that at that point of construction. There's also a rock there with uh Rick Kelly's plaque on it. That's who the park is named after. He's a former community community development director in Apple Valley. [52:34] that will be taken off site, preserved and brought back to the site when uh when when the time comes. Other questions about Kelly Park? [52:43] **Randy:** So, 12 years ago, we started this Kelly Park project. Y and uh and it's amazing. This final project is almost identical to the original project. I mean, some of the things have changed, been upgraded, subtle change, but it it's really neat that we held our vision. So, that's great. Thanks a lot. [52:54] **Noel:** Awesome. I want to say um really looking forward to adding like movies at the park, especially if there's, you know, food truck support and stuff like that. I think that'll be a really uh popular activity and a really cool thing. I think that um you know, there's not a lot of opportunities. There's not a lot of drive-ins around and that sort of thing anymore, but being able to go out and throw a blanket on the ground and hang out with family and friends and watch a [53:35] movie will be—it'll be cool. So, yeah, great opportunity to build community. Yep. And food trucks will go anywhere that you ask them to come. Yep. You just got to have people—hungry people. Not even sometimes—thirsty people. They'll just show up. [53:53] **Chairperson:** Eric, is there a a reason why we had to wait till July to start on the entertainment uh venue? [53:57] **Eric Carlson:** Um, so we have been we've been working on a few other projects as well. And so just from a from a workload perspective um with all of our other projects, okay, that's just kind of how it all worked out. And we're trying to time it so that we can be reopened um next spring or next summer and not miss the concert season, if you will. [54:21] **Chairperson:** I just thought it might have been better—to you'd have more time to grow grass and do some stuff to— [54:25] **Eric Carlson:** Yeah, there's—I know I—There's no good time. There's no good time. So, we're just trying to do the best we can. Yep. [54:33] **Chairperson:** And you're doing an outstanding job. There's no doubt about it. So, appreciate that. [54:37] **Eric Carlson:** And our our staff is doing an awesome job. [54:41] **Chairperson:** Yeah, we know that. [54:43] **Eric Carlson:** Um and if you don't mind, just maybe some updates on some of the other projects. If you haven't driven by Redwood lately, I would highly suggest you drive by because it is going to be your last chance to see the existing Redwood building because I think it's coming down next Monday and Tuesday. [54:59] It's going next Tuesday it's going to start coming down. Um so, um we have started construction there. There's a construction fence up. We've got signs on there kind of promoting that this is projects being brought to you by the parks referendum. Um all the trees have been cut down. They started removing fences. They're taking down light poles tomorrow. um if it doesn't rain too too bad. Um so things are starting to move at Redwood Park. If you've haven't driven by Hayes Park, and I know most of you were there recently because we did a groundbreaking ceremony there. Um but there's a lot of activity going on there. Uh today they were putting in some of the underground storm sewer pipe that needs to go in. Um they've been putting in the drain tile on the soccer field that's going to be north of Hayes Arena and they'll be doing that uh type of activity here in the very near future [55:45] on the new quad field complex um on the west side of the community center. So lots of things happening there. The eight new pickle ball courts that are going in at Johnny Cake, construction will start on Monday on that um because school got out today—got out today. So they'll start construction there on Monday. parts of that parking lot will be closed off obviously because of construction. Uh this last the last couple days we've had our irrigation contractor moving a—how big is that line? I think it's a 6 inch main—six-inch main irrigation line that was under—was would have been under the brand new pickleball courts. We moved that so it's not under the brand new pickleball courts. Um so they've been working on that the last couple days. [56:27] Um, and then right after the 4th of July, they'll start construction of the skate park. And the plan is to be done with that sometime around Octoberish. All right. Um, and then we should also point out that on Thursday, um, June 12th at 4:45, we're doing a ribbon cutting ceremony at Splash Valley. And so we invite the public to come and join us. If you're interested um and want to swim, we'll let you in and try out Splash Valley from 5 to 6 at no charge uh next Thursday. Next Thursday only from 5 to 6. So, please join us if you can. I know all of you are invited and I hope that you can make it and participate in the ribbon cutting with the city council. And we are also um got most of the trails around [57:14] Cobblestone Lake for—up on the north side. Um, and our contractors working diligently to get that work done and put back together. We're hoping to get that put back together by sometime in July. And what projects am I missing? [57:33] **Kayla:** Well, we've got the uh—what is it—like six neighborhood parks that are out to bid right now. We open up bids on Thursday, a week from today at 2:00—at 2 o'clock. So, we'll see what those numbers look like. Um my fingers are crossed the numbers come in lower than what they're estimating because if they continue to go the wrong direction, we're going to have to make some tough choices here coming up. So— [57:48] **Randy:** What about the dog parks? [58:00] **Eric Carlson:** The um the hockey rinks where they will convert into off leash dog areas—that those were put into play probably in early April. Yep. In early April. So we've got that at Huntington and at Delaney Delaney Delaney and Huntington. So, those are up and being used. [58:15] **Randy:** Any complaints? [58:17] **Eric Carlson:** Nope. No complaints that I'm aware of. [58:18] **Randy:** Good. [58:19] **Eric Carlson:** And now, am I missing anything? [58:20] **Randy:** Is there any updates on the um city's negotiation with the county for County Road 42? [58:23] **Eric Carlson:** So, there was an open house last night—at or—I'm sorry, today's Thursday. So, there was an open house on Tuesday evening at the senior center for the County Road 42 project. And so, the county continues to move that project forward. They plan on doing the kind of the redwood end of the project in 2027. Um, and that includes the tunnel. [58:50] So, um, that'll be a little bit of a mess during 2027, probably into 2028. Um, but you know, sometimes that's what progress is all about is making a mess first before you can make it better. So, they're going to do it in two different parts. Well, they're not doing all of 42 at the same time. They're going to be doing it in stages as I as I understand it. Um and then the other thing that we should mention is we've started to do the planning for the um community center senior center project and that's where we're planning to build an addition connect the two buildings build an indoor playground improve the coffee lounge make some other improvements within the facility. So internally we've started doing that planning. You'll start seeing some images and some getting involved in that process here probably in the next 60 to 90 days [59:37] because we hope to be out to bid by Novemberish so that we can be breaking ground about March of 26. [59:48] **Randy:** Two small projects. Um the first one I love is the red bench um projects and putting the red bench in in each park. Are we continuing to do that? [1:00:03] **Eric Carlson:** Um, we haven't had much conversation about that, so we'll have to talk about that. Okay. [1:00:08] **Randy:** And Founders Lane, Founders Lane—are you know how we uh we're going to put the uh the bike stand and the imprints—oh, of the flight. Yep. [1:00:22] **Eric Carlson:** I am. So, our engineering department is handling that project and I I don't know where we're at with that project. So, I apologize, but I'll find out and I'll and I can update the parks committee at our next meeting. Okay. And I know Kayla will write a note so that she reminds us to do that. Sorry. As she's over there writing the note. It's very small compared to Kelly Park and all that kind which I love. Kelly Park red bench thing. Um, it faces the sunset. Each uh each park had a red bench that faced the sunset and it's a little bit along one of the trails there. Each park had a a red bench that that was the plan. Oh, it was the plan. Yeah. [1:01:06] **Noel:** Any other questions I can answer? I don't have a question. just uh it's really good to see projects on going on and starting to be completed. Uh Splash Valley was was great like we said earlier, but um great work. It's uh it's great to see everything moving along. [1:01:22] **Eric Carlson:** So, we got to spend that money. Yeah. And and and don't forget we we started off all of these projects with the Hayes Arena project, which we started in March of 24 and we finished in early early to late May, early June of 24. and that project went went off without a hit. And we didn't do a lot of fanfare about it. [1:01:42] Um, and most people don't really know what we did because it just looked a little bit like uh what it was before the project, but we did quite a bit of painting and touch-ups and and it really does look new. Um, but you know, the biggest investment was underground in the concrete with the new floor and then with the refrigeration equipment on the outside. Um, and that has worked out really, really well for us. [1:02:11] **Chairperson:** So, you guys have really done a phenomenal amount of work in an extraordinarily short amount of time. [1:02:14] **Eric Carlson:** Yeah, we're having fun at it. It's work, but we're having fun. [1:02:15] **Chairperson:** All right. Thank you. Thank you, Eric. All right, so that completes item D. Uh, the additional item was now item E. It involves the redwood sign. Um, what are what is the committee's thoughts on us making a suggestion to the city council to have them look at maybe getting that sign in place by the time the park is completed? [1:02:44] **Craig:** I don't have any problem with making a recommendation. The one thing that I'm curious about is how the county's plan for 42 would affect—like I understand it would make sense at some level to have it or to do it when we're redoing the building and the pool and the inclusive playground but if it's going to be pretty close to the road um that may be a consideration which of course the city council could— [1:03:09] **Chairperson:** Right. I—whatever the time frame is—it's just that I think they need a push. Yeah. Yeah. because otherwise it may not get done at all. [1:03:36] **Randy:** I like the idea because we'll be able to tie that sign in to what we've done. You know, I like that because if we leave it up to the county, who knows what it's going to look like. [1:03:42] **Chairperson:** Well, the city council may come back to us and want some help designing the sign. I mean, sure. Sure. Of course they will. you know, so it's it's not like we may not get involved in it, but it's not our project, but I think as an advisory committee, I think we can go to the city council and say, "Hey, we think you should make some progress on this and they're they're going to have to find financing for it. I don't know how much sign's going to cost." And then some—they got to come up with a design for it and get it implemented. They're going to come to us with that design and— [1:03:46] **Noel:** Yeah. So, is that something that uh city staff could help us draft the language that we could approve at a at a future meeting or are you wanting to come up with language now and actually— [1:03:55] **Chairperson:** I—Well, Eric, maybe you can help. Um when I talked with Mr. Lawell, any conversations that this committee has with city council needs to go through you. I mean, there's no way for us to go have some sort of communication directly to the city council. At least that was what he told me. So, how would—how do you want us to—do we adopt a resolution? Do we say—what's the best way to get it to the city council if that's what we're deciding here? [1:05:07] **Eric Carlson:** Uh, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, um, I'll—I'll use the parks referendum as an example. Um, you may recall that the committee was doing quite a bit of work early on, you know, 21-22 on the parks referendum. Ultimately, you came to the conclusion and developed a memo that as a group you sent to the city council suggesting that the city council pursue a parks referendum because of all the work you had done meeting with the community, evaluating the system, etc., etc. So, a suggestion would could be for you to um develop a memo that the commission approves, if you will, and then it gets sent on to the city council encouraging them to, you know, take these following steps, whatever those following steps may be. Okay? And um as staff, we'd be happy to help craft that memo and have you review it and potentially support it and approve it um at your next regular meeting, which would—which wouldn't be until August because July we don't have [1:06:11] a meeting because we're taking a tour of landscape structures. We normally do a park tour and I'm not—and I think that that's okay. As Craig mentioned with the County Road 42 construction project, the—the—the park—the part of Redwood Park south of 42 won't get really touched until the 42 project takes place because a lot of what we're doing to that portion of the park is related to the 42 project with storm water treatment, um some natural areas, some loop trails and whatnot. So, I think it would tie in well with the schedule that 42 will be on. Okay. And so, I think you have time to breathe, if you will. Um, and I don't think there's a—I don't think there's urgency to make the decision tonight. I think it could wait till August and [1:06:57] still be very timely. [1:07:00] **Chairperson:** No, I don't have a problem with that. I mean, we want to get it right. So, if that's—if we need to come up with a memo, I think that would be that would be great. [1:07:05] **Eric Carlson:** So, so we'll we'll we'll draft one. you guys can edit it and add to it and take away from it and then ultimately you can make a recommendation um if that's what the—the um—consensus is to do so and then we can share that with the city council. [1:07:22] **Randy:** That would be great. [1:07:23] **Chairperson:** Okay. Anybody in favor of that? Yeah, we're good. Good. All right. Um committee staff discussion items. [1:07:34] **Eric Carlson:** So we from a staff perspective, we've kind of given our updates that we have for the evening. If there's questions that you have um on anything related to parks and recreation, any one of us would be happy to try to answer questions that you have. Um, then obviously it's—it's also time for committee members to talk about things related to parks and recreation or things they'd like us to talk about in the future. And you can see that we have a small list of things um and you can add to that list if you want to. [1:08:09] **Craig:** Members, nothing to add, but I I would uh Mr. Chair like to take a moment to uh offer congratulations to Eric Carlson. Um, Eric is um currently serving as president of the Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association, which is the trade association for Minnesota Parks and Recreation Professionals. And uh those professionals close to a thousand strong elected Eric to be their president, their leader. Um, and I think that is uh clearly a reflection of the respect he has around the state uh within the parks and recreation community and just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that honor and uh [1:08:57] wish you all the best as you finish out your term the rest of the year. [1:09:02] **Eric Carlson:** Thank you. I appreciate that. [1:09:05] **Chairperson:** Very wise choice. [1:09:11] **Eric Carlson:** We weren't busy enough, so we decided to take on something else. [1:09:14] **Chairperson:** Busy. You had so much free time on your hands. I'm sure your wife loved that. [1:09:15] **Eric Carlson:** Um I'm—Mr. Chair, members of the committee. Uh Kayla—Kayla reminds me that on your—this—is a picture of some uh signage, some readerboard signage. So as part of our park and recreation sign master plan, there was there's uh some thought about putting readerboard signs in certain parks within the community. [1:09:35] So, we just wanted—we don't want to discuss it tonight as much as we want to just kind of give you a taste of what we're looking potentially looking at and want you to know that in August and and in months to come. We're going to be having more in-depth conversations about—about that, where should we put them, how many should we have, should we have any of them, you know, understanding that there's a cost, they're not free, you know, are we going to get our return on our investment? You know, those kinds of things. Replacement. uh time frames, etc. So, just want to put that in front of you so that you know what they could look like. [1:10:16] **Chairperson:** But we do have some money in the budget for at least some of signs? [1:10:20] **Eric Carlson:** We do. We do. [1:10:22] **Chairperson:** Okay. We do. Yep. All right. Um so the future meeting items—um this update on joint powers agreements has been on there for quite some time. Was that yours Dave? Were you— [1:10:28] **Dave:** Yeah, that's what it was just uh—is—uh thought it was important that the committee understand what agreements the city has with uh district 196 related to parks. [1:11:04] **Eric Carlson:** So, uh, at some point we'd like to to be able to see that and and we can bring a report, uh, an update report to the committee at the next meeting that you have in August. We had given a an update to the city council about joint powers agreements a while ago and so we can update that report and bring it to you as a parks committee um, at in your at your August meeting. [1:11:23] **Dave:** Okay, that'd be great. [1:11:28] **Chairperson:** And then volunteer opportunities. What was— [1:11:33] **Noel:** Yeah, that was—that was me—just um hoping to get some visibility to how the public can maybe volunteer um with some of the projects that are ongoing if that's helping with landscaping or um painting or any—you know like—anything like that. So that's um I'm sure that that's something that's going to develop over time as uh projects come and go through this process, but just wanted to get that on there so that— [1:11:42] **Chairperson:** Okay. Buckthorne. Yeah, there's all— [1:11:44] **Eric Carlson:** Yeah, plenty of buckthorn. But and Mr. Chair, members of the committee, again, we can we can put together a report that talks a little bit about our adoptive park program. We can talk about the work that we do with Eagle Scouts and Cub Scouts uh when they have to do surface projects. Um then there's a number of uh op there's a we get a number of contacts from kids in high school that have to do you know maybe for a government class or at the school of environmental sciences or they might have to do a project um and so we get contacted by them. So there's a lot of different groups that we work with big and small to help uh improve and maintain the park system and so we can give an update about that fairly easily. [1:12:14] **Chairperson:** Yeah. And like we have the electronic message center sign. We could put things on there right there. We could put things on there like volunteer opportunities. Go to the website. [1:12:28] **Randy:** It's a good call out. [1:12:49] **Randy:** All right. Anything else members? Just maybe—this isn't the right time—Back on May 25th, there was a really great article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Apple Valley Park renovation to feature inclusive playground. It was all about what's happening at Kelly Park. [1:13:06] They interviewed some of our city staff for that and it was just a a great article. I hope hopefully that helped educate the public. [1:13:16] **Eric Carlson:** Yeah, we ended up uh from that article, it spawned a CA—KMSP does a noon time um um—it's not a news program. It's more of a a talk a talk program. Anyways, they ended up doing an interview um and kind of did the same thing only it was a live situation. So, um a lot of positive lot of positive feedback, a lot of positive interest in what's happening at Redwood Park. We can't wait for it to get built because we think—pe—the public is just going to love the playground. [1:13:42] **Chairperson:** They're going to love the building. They're going to love the pool. It's going to be a big photo op. Yep. That big red octopus. That will uh definitely be. So, all right. If there's nothing else, I would look for a motion to adjourn. [1:14:03] **Noel:** I'll make a motion to adjourn. [1:14:06] **Craig:** Second. [1:14:08] **Chairperson:** Motion from Noel and a second from Craig. All those in favor signify by saying I. [1:14:12] **Committee Members:** I. [1:14:13] **Chairperson:** Anyone opposed? This meeting is adjourned. Yep. Yep. [1:14:20] [Music]