Here is the transcription with speaker names added based on the context provided. Note: While the city official list mentions **Kari Moore** as a Council Member, the transcript explicitly identifies **Carrie Moore** and **Jen Shore** as the two new Parks and Recreation Commissioners being welcomed to the "full bench." I have identified them as Commissioners accordingly. *** [00:00:00] **Steve (Chair):** Welcome to the Oakdale Parks and Recreation Commission. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. [00:00:05] **Group:** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America... [00:00:15] **Steve (Chair):** Thank you. All right, let's—we have a roll. Everyone's here except for Glenn. And then our two new Commissioners: welcome Jen and Carrie. Thank you for being here. Did the rest of the Commissioners—Jen and Carrie, you will abstain from this vote—did you guys have a chance to look at the minutes? Everything look good? Can I get a motion to approve the minutes of September 19th, 2023? [00:00:30] **Mark (Commissioner):** Motion by Mark. [00:00:32] **Jan (Commissioner):** Second. [00:00:34] **Steve (Chair):** Motion Jan, second. All in favor? [00:00:36] **Commissioners:** Aye. [00:00:38] **Steve (Chair):** Opposed? Motion passes. All right, any old business? Anyone? Okay. New business: again, we have our new Commissioners, Carrie Moore and Jen Shore. Welcome. Thank you. Glad to have you. We finally got a full bench up here; we haven't had one of those in a while. And I'd like to welcome everybody here. This is great. It's good to see everyone. It really is. It really is. It's usually talking to chairs, so that's nice. They're here to see you all right. All right, you're a celebrity now. Yeah, yeah. So, let's get right into it. We have the Oakdale Pickleball Club here. They're going to do a little presentation. So I'd like to have Sarah Scott come up and introduce yourself and let us know what you got going. [00:01:20] **Sarah Scott:** Hi, my name is Sarah Scott. I've been an Oakdale resident since 2006 and a part of the Oakdale Pickleball Club ever since it started. I'm an avid pickleball player and love it. We're a growing club and we just wanted to talk to you a little bit today about some of the needs that we see at our courts. Just wanted to go through some things with you. The Oakdale Pickleball Club, like I said, was founded 10 years ago in 2013, and it started with 29 members. This presentation was made about a month ago; we actually have more members than what's on the slide. We have 192 members, so we've increased by over 50% from 2022. Pickleball continues to be very popular—it's one of the fastest growing sports in America with more than 4.8 million American players. At Tanner Lake Park, that's where we do play. we have four dedicated courts and we do often have more than 30 people playing pickleball with our club. Each court holds four people at a time and we have four dedicated courts, so that's 16 people, plus we do have lines on the tennis court. Here's a picture of a couple of our players having fun, of course. [00:02:30] **Sarah Scott:** So, to get right down to it, the request that we have is we want to help to accommodate the growth and the active players that we do have in our club. Another additional thing that would be really nice for the city with making some of the improvements is that it would help to enable 50 more students to be involved in the Oakdale city pickleball lessons that they do provide. The request that we have: we would request that the courts be resurfaced. Just a few examples of some of the issues that are happening with the courts: the north side of the courts especially are bubbling up; it can be viewed very easily when it rains. Also, there's many cracks on the courts and with the bubbling up, the surface of the courts is cracking off. We would also ask that the courts, when they're resurfaced, the tennis court gets replaced. We hardly ever do see any tennis players on the courts during our scheduled pickleball play times. The way that the courts are set up is half the court are the four dedicated pickleball courts and then the other half is still an established tennis court. If we did change the tennis court over to two more pickleball courts, that would allow us to have eight more people playing. We also would ask that we would be able to have a storage container at the courts that's lockable, so we could put balls there for our players, also brooms and squeegees when it rains so that we can sweep off the courts to get them dry and also to clean off leaves and sand. [00:03:50] **Sarah Scott:** I skip ahead—sorry, I skipped a slide. We do understand that the city's budget for 2024 is nearly final or final, so we were wondering if our request can be a priority for 2025. We're also asking if the lockable storage container—if that is something that we could have now for this season in 2023. The pickleball club is willing to pay for this lockable storage container and we would just need some guidance on the type of storage container, if we could purchase that and where we could place it. We're also wondering in the meantime, before the budget for 2025, if the pickleball lines on the tennis court that are there could be redone for next spring for 2024. The pickleball lines on the tennis court have faded away; they were a blue paint and they're very, very hard to see, so it is hard for people to use that fifth court on the tennis court for pickleball. One thing that the club was wondering is if we would be able to have a name of a contact for the club that we could communicate with about potential improvements. We would like it to be one person that we could communicate with that could provide us with updates about our request and also a person that we can communicate with to give details about our request. So thank you so much for letting me talk to you today about the pickleball club and the requests that we have for the Tanner Lake courts. We do really like playing there; there's a lot of great things about where we play with plenty of parking and a good family park. We're just trying to help to provide more courts for our pickleball players. Thank you so much. [00:05:20] **Steve (Chair):** Thank you. Appreciate it. Nice job. Is there anyone else that would like to say anything while you're here? [00:05:25] **Lita Newman:** I'm sorry, I wasn't participating—could you step up? Yeah, come on. My name's Lita Newman. I know Glenn a little bit from Lions Club. I've been a pickleball player and learned to play pickleball with the Oakdale group. I've been a resident since 1995 in Oakdale. We've come before the commission and other groups in the past with a lot of requests for pickleball improvements. Not too much has happened. We were really happy when we got to move off of the cement from the hockey court to the paved court, so that was really helpful that we got that improvement. That's great. But we really hope that now with more and more club members joining and more people playing that you guys will really consider improvements. I understand that Willowbrook is going to have courts, so it'd be great if that could be more than just four courts there and that maybe the club could play there if that's going to be an option. I don't know what your plans are really for Willowbrook but anything that you can do for us to just make nice courts and have them be safe for us so that we're not slipping and falling and tripping and just to encourage people. Most of us I think live in Oakdale, but even people that don't live in Oakdale, you know, then it's the people coming in that use the businesses in Oakdale and have lunch in Oakdale, things like that. So anyhow, thank you for letting me talk too. [00:06:40] **Steve (Chair):** Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Anyone else? [00:06:45] **Kathleen Schmidt:** Hi, hello. I'm Kathleen Schmidt and I am also a member of the Oakdale Pickleball Club. What I would respectfully ask the Council to do is when you consider the request that Sarah outlined, if you would think about the tennis courts that are available here—they're lighted and they're three courts and they're dedicated solely for tennis. I request that when you consider our request that you think about making Tanners Lake specific only to pickleball, given that there are tennis courts available and they're not as heavily used as the pickleball courts are. So, thank you. [00:07:20] **Steve (Chair):** Thank you. Anyone else? [00:07:22] **Vicki Serner:** Hi, I'm Vicki Serner and I'm also a member of the Oakdale club. I just wanted to mention there are other clubs that play pickleball besides our club at the courts. And there's some other people that offer lessons and stuff there, so it does get used heavily. That's just my addition. [00:07:40] **Steve (Chair):** Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good information. Yes, sir. [00:07:45] **Scott Renstrom:** My name is Scott Renstrom. I'm also part of the Oakdale Pickleball Club. I just want to piggyback on this. I live over by Eastside Park and there are two tennis courts there. Very seldom get used for tennis. I'm not going to say knock them down to build pickleball courts, but I would say that I have visited the courts and they're in really bad shape. So I don't care if you left them as tennis courts, but then also line them for pickleball courts. I went by today and both courts are being used for pickleball. So if we're going to resurface Tanners, it would be really nice if we could resurface Eastside Park. They're really bad. [00:08:20] **Steve (Chair):** All right. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? This is great. All right, thank you so much. This is excellent. We do appreciate that, and that's why we have these meetings. So, anyone on the commission have questions? [00:08:35] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** I do, several. [00:08:36] **Steve (Chair):** Sure, Jen. Go ahead. Oh, you're new—why don't you go? [00:08:38] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** Well, first of all, thank you all so much for being here. This is, as you know, our first commission meeting and you've set the standard for all the other groups, right? I expect to come in each month now and see the room full, so thank you guys so much for being here. But I do have questions. I was just wondering, is there a percentage of the club that is Oakdale residents? [00:09:05] **Sarah Scott:** So before this meeting, we did look at that because it was requested, and 31% of the members are Oakdale residents currently. [00:09:12] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** Thank you so much. And then, listening to some of the other comments, I think I've got an idea of it—let's just assume that I am wildly ignorant on pickleball court needs—but what are some of the other alternatives if these aren't able to be implemented? If we aren't able to resurface some of these? [00:09:30] **Sarah Scott:** There are no alternatives is what I'm seeing. So, like in the meantime, or just any other alternatives? [00:09:35] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** Right. [00:09:36] **Sarah Scott:** Okay, so some other alternatives... I mean, the surface is breaking down which we can't prevent, that's weather and just age. Another alternative could be to put lines on both side of the tennis net and then we would need to put up temporary nets every single time people played, which is every single day of the week, multiple times a day. So that could be another alternative, and that also goes back to needing a storage container for extra equipment at the park. [00:09:55] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** Have you picked out what an acceptable storage container might look like? [00:10:00] **Sarah Scott:** Well, it would have to be large because we would want to store brooms in it and we use buckets, like Ace Hardware buckets, and then we fill them with balls and then we put them throughout the court. So I guess I would defer to... I don't really know the size of the container. [00:10:15] **Steve (Chair):** If you're looking at that, in Oakdale Athletic Association, we had put equipment boxes behind some of the fences at the fields. Do you recall, Mark, where we got some of those? [00:10:25] **Mark (Commissioner):** Yeah, there's one over in Maplewood—or they call it White Bear—by that Planet Fitness over there and Cub. There's one there, there's one in Woodbury. So those are—and there's enough because we put squeegees in there. As long as you put like a squeegee in there and a broom, they would fit. And if we were doing the temporary nets thing, they're about the same; they're a little shorter than a broom, so they fold up. It's a—those boxes are about that long. Just right over at Walton, if you look behind the backstops, you can see the equipment boxes. East Side too has one. They are metal. [00:10:55] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** Steve, can I touch on this? [00:10:56] **Steve (Chair):** Sure. [00:10:57] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** So I'll share this with you. So if you guys—all of you members—if you're next time you're down there on the backstop at Tanner, they're called "job boxes." You'd see them at construction sites. That one at Tanners in the last six years has been cut out of the concrete and stolen, along with Horseshoe Park at the same time. Originally, the first time they took it, we lost a pitching machine that was in there. All we store in there now is bases. I would just hate to see... we would have to mount it somewhere. It's got to be outside the court areas. I would hate to see—I don't want to sound negative on it—but I'll guarantee you down there, it's going to happen. We've gone through three of them and they're about $1,250 a piece just the job box alone. [00:11:35] **Chuck (Commissioner):** Jeff, do you think if we had something of low value, do you think that would still be attractive? [00:11:40] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** I don't want to see—I just want something that's going to work for you. For example, once... I think it'll just make them... we have a lot—I hate to say it—we just have a lot of... not more vandalism, but a lot of graffiti. It's just... it's down there at night. There's not a lot of houses that face it. And I would just hate to see your club lose equipment. I know those job boxes, that's why we use the heavier ones because they're hard to sort of... anti-theft, unless they cut them. They cut them right off the concrete. We had them bolted down with 5/8 inch bolts. [00:12:10] **Chuck (Commissioner):** For the ones where you have just the bases in there, are they still the same box? [00:12:15] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** Now this one has lasted; they haven't touched the one currently for four years. We haven't had any issues. The one at Horseshoe, it was the same time they stole three of them there—5/8 inch bolts, six bolts into the concrete. They sawed all them all right off and took the whole box, which I'm thinking they're... I don't know what... we don't keep tools in there, but the biggest thing of value was the pitching machine is what we lost on the original one. So we just quit storing it in there now; it's basically bases, rakes, couple tools for digging out bases, but they still take them. So we'll just have to find something that's going to work in an area where it's going to work and it's going to be secure. Because I'd hate to see you guys lose your equipment. I don't want that to happen. Brooms aren't that hard, squeegees aren't that hard—but the boxes aren't cheap. I'm afraid if we put a cheaper version or a cheaper box or storage container, it's going to make it that much easier for them to get in there. But we'll work—I'll work with you. We'll find something. I'm more than happy to help you and do what we need to do down there. I'm just afraid of that taking place. I don't want to sound negative on it, but be aware of it. We've been lucky for five or six years; it hasn't happened since. [00:13:15] **Jan (Commissioner):** I just have a question. So, does can anyone tell me when Willowbrook might have their courts done? That's my question, because I'm thinking maybe the club could move there, that might be a better option. [00:13:25] **Steve (Chair):** Willowbrook is probably not 2025. I think was just mentioned at the earliest right now. And as we're talking about that, 2025 is what we're talking about here. 2024 is done. So just know that. So, hold on one sec. And so we'll go with 2025 at looking at this, and I think the first thing that we'll talk and recommend is the stripes—the blue stripes you were talking about. Look at that, or whatever, but the blue stripes. [00:13:50] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** Steve, can I touch on that quick? On the blue stripes: when they redid those courts, they'll do the green then the white stripes. That's all sealed. The blue stripes were because they put that sealer over the white and the green, and that was done afterwards. So the sealer wasn't put on it, and that's why I definitely agree with you, that needs to be redone. That needs to be looked at, unless we're going to go a different route and add the two courts on each side—four more courts. But yeah, it definitely needs... we were down there at 5:00 today and toured it. Definitely the blue is a lot... but that's why it wore. When they originally do the courts, they put a clear sealer over it and that's what locks that paint in, and the blue was added after the project. [00:14:35] **Jan (Commissioner):** Well yeah, so my question has been always, you know, what's going on with Willowbrook? Not only timeline, but how many courts would they maybe put in there? [00:14:45] **Steve (Chair):** It's not that far yet. We had that schematic, I think there was four to eight at that time on the schematic. And as Jeff mentioned, we're just not that far into this yet. [00:14:55] **Jan (Commissioner):** But we're already looking at 2025. [00:14:57] **Steve (Chair):** Yeah, but we haven't started that process. We're still working on the Commons Park, or the main park in the center. That'll be next year and then there'll be—we're looking at possibly four new parks in the next three or four years. Up three up there and then we're looking at the one down on Fourth Street where the transit will be. [00:15:15] **Jan (Commissioner):** But I guess my point is, if there's money in the budget for those new parks, and pickleball is pretty positive that it might be a possibility... [00:15:20] **Steve (Chair):** Sure, yeah. I just don't think they're that far in the—we're not that far when we're looking at our budget, absolutely. If we can find that information out and kind of find something that is suitable for the next year or so, absolutely. Then yeah, that's how the process works. It's just we're not that far. And then when we talk about a CIP—that's our Capital Improvement Plan—and that's 2025 is where the pickleball over in Willowbrook would start to happen at that time once we get it all together. But as Jeff mentioned, it's proposed. There's nothing in concrete on that design yet. And our one of our Council members can probably touch on that too, who knows more about it, Council Morcomb. So that's where we're at there. Steve, you got a hand up here? Oh, I'm sorry. Come on up. [00:16:05] **Rita Perkins:** My name is Rita Perkins and I'm also a resident of Oakdale since 1998. To answer your question or one... what's an alternative? I don't see an alternative. We're going to play at Tanner's Lake. The alternative is we're going to get hurt because the court is not safe. It's not going to be safe. And so I think it's imperative that the surface gets fixed. I play at other courts around town—I play in Stillwater, I play in Woodbury. Stillwater’s had their courts redone twice, resurfaced. Woodbury's had theirs done in the last few years, like two or three times in the last eight years. And I've been at Tanner since we started playing pickleball there and it's the same surface and it's getting bad. And the alternative is people are going to get hurt if Tanner isn't fixed. Thank you. [00:16:55] **Jan (Commissioner):** Thank you. Jeff, I feel like you know so much more. Is there anything about the resurfacing that you can share with us? [00:17:00] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** Not in the future, not like for next year. And we toured it. I'm down there daily and the Council was down there today. It's glass. If it's a bad surface, it's all cosmetic. There's a couple cracks on the west side on the tennis court side. I would be more than happy to meet you down there. Trip hazards—I don't know, Andy, if you want to touch on that. [00:17:25] **Andy Morcomb (Council Member):** Well, I'm shocked to hear that because we were just there two hours ago. I did stop there on my way from work this afternoon. I was down there around 4:30—we probably just missed each other—and there was four people down there playing pickleball. I asked them, I said... because they saw me walking around, "You must be inspecting." I said yes, I am. And the one lady said, "You know, the court is really nice." This is just what I'm saying. And it looked nice. Like Jeff said, it was glass. And agreed on the blue stripes; that has faded on the west side. So that's where we're at there. [00:18:00] **Sarah Scott:** There is a difference when it rains than when it's dry. I have some pictures if you'd like, Jeff. I can show you. I think I sent them? [00:18:05] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** Yeah, I sent them. [00:18:06] **Sarah Scott:** So it starts to bubble up when it's wet, and then if you step on those bubbling up spots, then that's where it chips off. So it's harder to see when it's dry what the surface problems are. It's much more evident when it's wet. Thanks. [00:18:20] **Scott Renstrom:** I can speak... most of the places where the surface actually is deteriorating is on the north side. They're pockmarks, they're about this big. It's still playable. A lot of our concern is that that's going to progress through the winter once the moisture gets in underneath that surface and then more of it's going to come up and flake. That's one of the reasons we're bringing it here to the... [00:18:40] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** Yeah, no, and I agree with you, but I don't see trip hazards down there at this point. No. If it's cosmetic, it's cosmetic, but we have to be... and you guys are passionate about it, I totally agree with it. I would say there's no tripping hazards, but it just... it may be a minor thing. That's what I'm hearing right now. And I sure didn't see that. [00:19:00] **Scott Renstrom:** But right now if the ball does hit those little depressions, it'll scoot off in the wrong direction. [00:19:05] **Steve (Chair):** That's your input's great. I'm all for it. But you also have to understand we have 29 other parks. It can't just be about one park. It's got to be budgeted. And I totally—it does have to be budgeted. And just so you know, I don't know if you watch any of these, but pickleball and volleyball have been main discussions here. And we have talked extensively in some meetings about where to add more pickleball; East Side was one of them also. So there is—we are getting to that point. There's just no magic "we're going to get her done right away" because there's always a budget we have to take care of. We can make recommendations to the City Council and then they'll take it from there. So what we're here today for is to see what the commission is willing to look at and recommend to the City Council on when things can be done for Tanners. We're going to talk up here—one last chance for the floor to talk. Anyone? [00:20:00] **Lita Newman:** I just want to mention that what the city of Oakdale could consider is what other entities do, which is actually to generate some revenue from the pickleball courts. Woodbury charges; they charge a little bit more if you're not a resident than if you are a resident, and use that revenue to help to maintain and to fix up and to create new pickleball courts. [00:20:20] **Steve (Chair):** I agree. Basically, it's like an adult softball program, right? So and it's basically a league that we can look into. I'm on board with that. I like that because maintenance is a big deal on any park and on any court and on any field. So we have to keep up that maintenance. And you know, this is the first time that when I've been here that a Pickleball Club has been up here, and I appreciate that. Now we get to know how passionate, as Jeff said, you are. And that's excellent. It's good to see. [00:20:50] **Rita Perkins:** One more... you are in competition with Woodbury. You're in competition with Stillwater. You're in competition with all the surrounding areas that do have pickleball. And as an alternative, what will happen is if they don't like the courts—if the balls don't behave correctly because there's little depressions in the surface—people will start to move away and our numbers, instead of continuing to grow, will start to decline. Maybe that's not an issue for you, but if it is, that will happen. [00:21:20] **Steve (Chair):** I agree. Because that's an issue in any of our youth sports and any type of competitive sport or anything. It's always a competition between cities on bringing people in and keeping them there. It was a good point about them visiting establishments here. So we want that. We understand that. Okay, one more from the floor and we'll need to move on. [00:21:40] **Vince Scriver:** My name is Vince Scriver, lived in Oakdale for 35 plus years. Anyways, is there plans on patching what's already flaking up then, like they did last year? To help slow down? Because apparently nothing's going to happen next year, correct? So can we prevent some of it or slow it down? [00:21:55] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** That would be addressed in regular maintenance. That's not a budget... yeah. [00:21:58] **Steve (Chair):** Yes, absolutely. Okay. [00:22:00] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** I had a question. When do you play there? [00:22:05] **Sarah Scott:** So there's actually two clubs that play—have established play and agreed-upon times at Tanners. The Oakdale Pickleball Club, we play Sunday, Monday, Wednesday afternoon/evening, like 4:00 to 6:00, 5:00 to 7:00. And then also Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. And then the other group, which is the Oakland group, they play Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday mornings at 9:00. So every single morning there's established play. There's also been some people that have been doing some lessons for people that want to get a little bit more skills building, and that was also some established play on some afternoons in the middle of the day too. [00:22:45] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** Who is Oakland's—this other club? [00:22:47] **Sarah Scott:** So they used to play at Oakland Junior High over in Lake Elmo. That's where they started, and then they came over to Tanner and play on the opposite days that the Oakdale Club plays. [00:23:00] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** Okay. Sarah, can I ask you one question? Your first item... I'm just trying to wrap my head around the statement. Why would fixing the courts enable 50% more students to attend lessons? Can't they attend the lessons now? Or are they just saying "No, I'm not coming to that place"? [00:23:15] **Sarah Scott:** Not necessarily fixing the surface, but adding two more courts would enable more people to come to the lessons. Usually, when you're in a lesson, you want to be playing and you don't want to be sitting around and waiting to play. So if there's more courts, more people can play at the lessons and more people can be enrolled. If you only have four established pickleball courts that can be used, that's 16 people that can be in an active lesson. If there are two more, that is 24 people that can be in an active lesson. [00:23:40] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** Okay, so it's a space issue. [00:23:42] **Sarah Scott:** Space. So if there's only four courts, you can only have 16 players in a lesson. But if there's six, you can have 24 players. [00:23:50] **Steve (Chair):** That's good. I don't know anything about pickleball. And I've seen you guys playing. Janet, didn't you come and play with us one time a couple years ago? [00:24:00] **Jan (Commissioner):** A few times, yeah. I don't always find the time, but I have played and I enjoy the game. And that's why I have another question. Skyview has resurfaced their tennis courts and striped them for pickleball—the school. So when you're saying like students—and I don't know whether you're thinking students of school age or just students... [00:24:20] **Sarah Scott:** Students that sign up for the city lessons. [00:24:22] **Jan (Commissioner):** Okay. But what about... is there some kind of correlation between like Skyview and using those courts? [00:24:28] **Scott Renstrom:** Can I answer that? Because we've actually investigated that. I'm with them, but with Tartan. We did that years ago—Steve Crosy and I went over and we talked to them and we said, "Is it okay we use your courts?" and they said sure. We said, "Well, we'd like to schedule regular pickleball play." "Oh, you can't do that. If we're not using it, then you can use it." That's the rub. When you have a club, you really want to have established play times that you tell people. If they can't rely on that, people just won't come. [00:24:55] **Jan (Commissioner):** Okay, so that answers that. Thank you. Did they mention weekends at all? [00:25:00] **Sarah Scott:** Yeah, Saturday we play and Sunday also. But when you talked about Skyview... that would only give us two days that we can rely on for a schedule. We want to play every day except for Friday. [00:25:10] **Steve (Chair):** Okay. We'll close the floor. Thank you. All right, Commission. We need to discuss. And what I would like to do is have a recommendation for 2025 that we go and—don't kill me—2025 that we recommend to the City Council that at Tanner's Court 2 (the tennis court) that we line it for pickleball. I'd like to have someone make a motion on that if you agree. [00:25:35] **Mark (Commissioner):** I'll make a motion. [00:25:37] **Carrie Moore (Commissioner):** Second. [00:25:38] **Steve (Chair):** All in favor? I'm just wondering... relining it, is that something that's simple that could be done? There's no money in the budget for 2024—it is closed. So we have to move to 2025. We discussed that earlier. It all has to be 2025. So, we have a motion, we have a second. Any other discussion? All in favor? [00:26:00] **Commissioners:** Aye. [00:26:02] **Steve (Chair):** Opposed? Motion passes. So 2025 will get the—well, we make the recommendation to the City Council that they move forward on that. Is there any other recommendations the Commission would like to forward to the Council? [00:26:15] **Mark (Commissioner):** I think we kind of got to wait to see what happens with Willowbrook to see how much we want to dive into Tanners here. [00:26:20] **Steve (Chair):** Okay. And just so you know, and I agree, but we have marked Tanners in the past as the main park—other than the new development—that we really do want to improve on all aspects of it. Because it is, in my estimate, the premier park in Oakdale. It's on the water; it's just a gorgeous setting. So we're going to get there. And I know we're in competition with other cities, we're well aware of that. But you got to understand there are steps to how we do this. So, at this point, no other commission questions? [00:26:50] **Jan (Commissioner):** My question would be: do we want to investigate or look at what it would be like to charge? I know someone mentioned that they pay in other communities similar to adult softball. [00:27:00] **Steve (Chair):** That's something that staff can look at—what other cities are doing. Correct? Okay. Very good. All right, well, I think we're good. We will close this session and I really appreciate everybody coming out here. Thank you very much. All right, so now we are going to move ahead. We need an update. Jeff, you ready? I'll wait till... okay, give him a second. Thanks, Sarah. Okay, we'll have our Council Liaison update from Jeff. [00:27:40] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** Good evening, Commissioners. I'd like to welcome Carrie and Jen to the commission. That's awesome to see they got them on board. Hope they enjoy it. I've been here 10 years—that's the biggest meeting I've ever had! So you guys got broken in right away. Pretty great for us. You got thrown right into the mix. So yeah, I'll just share: the crew right now, we're busy winterizing all of our irrigation systems and buildings, getting ready for what's coming. Fall sports is starting to wrap up. I think with last weekend being canceled, I know soccer was supposed to be done the end of this week, and then football had another week that might be pushed back. I had to close the fields over the weekend and we just reopened them today. They were still pretty wet. We'll be doing some aeration and some over-seeding. We aerated all the other soccer fields; those are completed. I think that was 5 through 8 that are done. So we worked on that today, got that all done. And then we're looking at starting our fall cleanup. The leaves are still green. Hope it comes down before snow, otherwise our storm sewers are going to be in some trouble. Crews will be going through some plow training next week; they were up in St. Cloud prior week doing that. And I really enjoyed the tour tonight with the Council and the Mayor and our Administrator down at Tanner. It was perfect timing. [00:29:15] **Steve (Chair):** Yeah, appreciate you going out there. I was a little shocked when they brought up all these fall hazards because there's none there. I thought it was pretty clean. [00:29:22] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** So, I'll stand for any questions if anybody has anything. [00:29:25] **Steve (Chair):** What's up with the warming shacks? [00:29:27] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** They'll be here on November 15th, they're all ready to go. You know we have that rink over at Northdale, right? [00:29:32] **Steve (Chair):** Is there a shack there? [00:29:33] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** There's a warming house there, yep. The two temps we put at Walton and then one at East Side. They should be here November 15th, we'll get them in place. They worked great the last three years. Julie, I don't think we used them much last year, did we? [00:29:45] **Julie Williams (Recreation Superintendent):** No, well, we didn't have weather that really cooperated. [00:29:48] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** Good ice... 50 degrees in January and then 20 below. It was one of those ice skating seasons. Hopefully this year it's better. But no, I'm open for any questions. [00:29:58] **Carrie Moore (Commissioner):** What can we do for you? [00:30:00] **Jeff Koesling (Parks Superintendent):** You guys are great, you just did it! Just ask questions, and I'm more than happy to help at any time. And I'll just touch on this again—I appreciate Mark, your efforts on the field stuff. You've done a great job with it, so I appreciate that. Of course you had to go on vacation when we got four days of rain. [00:30:15] **Mark (Commissioner):** Well, I'm sorry! Got it up there too—I was up on the North Shore. [00:30:20] **Steve (Chair):** Thanks, Jeff. Julie, what do you have for us? [00:30:22] **Julie Williams (Recreation Superintendent):** Thanks, Commissioners. Yeah, so I just have the update for the month. I just want to welcome Carrie and Jen. It's been a pleasure getting to know you the past few weeks, looking forward to what we can do in the future. Just to touch on the Farmers Market: that wrapped up on Wednesday, October 11th. We had really great fall weather which kept the market really busy until the very end. We had Mr. Eggroll, he was a new food truck addition. Nice job to Nathan Timmons, who's our Market Coordinator. He coordinates both the Farmers Market and the indoor market and he does a fabulous job. We've got an MEA break Amped Up entertainment event—that'll be this Thursday, 10:00 to 11:00. That is the Rad Zoo. They're bringing their radical reptile adventure program. It's supposed to be a little chilly so we're moving them indoors. That is free to the public. We've got another Red Cross blood drive on Friday, October 20th, with the Oakdale Wellness 50 Plus and the Maplewood-Oakdale Lions Club. I believe there's still openings. Another big event coming up: the Flashlight Pumpkin Hunt on Thursday, October 26th, from 7:00 to 8:30 at the Discovery Center. Always a really popular event. We're also doing a pumpkin carving contest. We've got Artist of the Month, painters Susan Solomon and Mandy Madson. Susan Solomon's painting of a bison in a snow-covered Oakdale Nature Preserve was selected by Courage Kenny last year as their featured holiday card. We've got our Art Discovery Fair on Saturday, November 18th, from 10:00 to 3:00; we are full with 21 vendors. Our indoor market will be back at the Discovery Center beginning on November 11th. We're on the lookout for rink attendants—we're currently taking applications. Applications are due by November 20th. Lastly, the Discovery Center display room will receive a much-needed makeover this fall. That is all I have if anybody has any questions. [00:32:50] **Mark (Commissioner):** A question on the work plan? [00:32:53] **Julie Williams (Recreation Superintendent):** Yes, so the plan was to meet with the Council in November to go over that. I believe that's been pushed back now to February. I will let you guys know when those dates are finalized. [00:33:05] **Mark (Commissioner):** Okay, so we're still moving forward with it, it was just pushed back a little bit? [00:33:08] **Julie Williams (Recreation Superintendent):** Because of the holidays, yeah. [00:33:10] **Jan (Commissioner):** Only because you mentioned a program on November 11th... is there anything that you're aware of that's celebrating Veterans Day? [00:33:15] **Julie Williams (Recreation Superintendent):** Not that I'm aware of at this time. [00:33:18] **Steve (Chair):** All right, thank you. We'll have Commissioner comments. Glenn, anything you want to start with? [00:33:22] **Glenn (Commissioner):** Carrie and Jen, thank you for volunteering. I'm not the new guy anymore! I want to make one plug for the Maplewood Oakdale Lions Club—we are having a Halloween decorating contest. It costs $5; there are prizes in three different categories. Check online our Facebook page and get your entry in before October 25th. [00:33:45] **Steve (Chair):** Is that a house decorating deal? [00:33:47] **Glenn (Commissioner):** Yeah. [00:33:48] **Steve (Chair):** Are those addresses published for the public to go see them? [00:33:50] **Glenn (Commissioner):** They will be the day after the closing date. [00:33:55] **Jan (Commissioner):** Under the Oakdale Wellness 50 Plus category, we have a fun event coming up on Halloween afternoon from 1:00 to 3:30. It is line dancing to "Thriller." We do have an instructor that is very good. I think it may be full because it is inside and we have to limit the number of people, but you can always go on Wellness 50 Plus Twin Cities on Meetup and sign up. [00:34:25] **Steve (Chair):** Mark? [00:34:26] **Mark (Commissioner):** Nothing today. [00:34:27] **Carrie Moore (Commissioner):** I'm just so excited to be here with y'all. Just put me to work! [00:34:32] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** I'll just reiterate what Carrie just said, just excited. Thanks for being so welcoming. [00:34:38] **Steve (Chair):** Welcome to you too. I had the opportunity, thanks to Councilman Morcomb, to meet with the Boy Scouts a week ago. The reason I was there is to meet with them about what they'd like to see with the parks. They had some good ideas: they'd like to see some bike paths, both dirt and paved. Volleyball was one of their things. One thing was kind of cool—they'd like to have maps somewhere of where all the parks are. Just put maps in there for where our parks are; I thought that was kind of a neat idea from these kids. And then one had mentioned trails by lakes. The point was that they were involved and they were really getting into it. And then one other thing that I'd like to do... I'd like to plan at some point a night this winter when the rinks are going on and have a rink tour. Or have a night where the commission is at the "Rink Night" type deal. We have enough people to cover that—we'll just sit there for an hour and see what's going on. I'm going to implement that at some time this winter. [00:36:00] **Jen Shore (Commissioner):** Sorry, piggyback on your maps comment. I made a bucket list item for me and my daughter to visit every single playground in Oakdale. You go online and look at the website... it is really tough to see just at a glance which parks have a playground. You have to click into each park to see if it's listed as one of the amenities. So just something that was a little more user-friendly on the interactive side. [00:36:25] **Steve (Chair):** True. Good. Thank you. Anything else? Councilman Morcomb? [00:36:32] **Andy Morcomb (Council Member):** Hello. All right, thank you for having me. Good to see everybody filling seats up there. A few things: updates from the Council. One, as everyone's been saying, congratulations to Carrie and Jen. Thank you for serving. I will say there were more applicants for these open seats than we've had in many years. There's a lot of interest in our parks. Next, I will say thank you to the Oakdale Pickleball Club. I was really pleasantly surprised to see how many people are involved. These are the conversations that help guide us on what do we do next. Another update is more development in Oakdale: we just approved a site plan vision for just north of Highway 14. There'll be an Aldi going in there as well as a coffee shop. And the last thing I'll share is we did do a tour of Tanner Park. It's really a holistic look that the Council's taking on Tanner in general. We're looking at the playground equipment, we were looking at the building itself that hasn't been used to its full capacity in many years. As a commission, we'd love to get your feedback on that. [00:37:55] **Steve (Chair):** I agree. If at all we can do an on-site commission meeting, that would be a park I'd like to do it at. [00:38:05] **Andy Morcomb (Council Member):** That's great. And just as a follow-up to the pickleball group, too: I think for the Council, it would just be good for us to have the information on what that would cost to do when we talk about budgeting. I will stand for any questions. [00:38:15] **Jan (Commissioner):** Because you mentioned that structure at Tanner—that building—what kind of shape is it in? Is it possible to make that structure so that that is usable by some of those clubs? [00:38:25] **Andy Morcomb (Council Member):** We were down there and there's a plaque on the wall commissioning it in 1994, so it's about 30 years old. Structurally, the building is just fine. Part of it was connecting it to security, making sure it's safe. But it could absolutely be used by nonprofit groups or a business. [00:38:50] **Steve (Chair):** Anyone else? I like the new sign on the wall back there. Thank you very much. That should do it. Can I get a motion to adjourn? [00:39:00] **Resident (Audience):** I just came to listen to see if there was any updates on what was going to be happen to the park next to Golfview Avenue. It's a very beautiful park but it's underutilized. When it was first created, we actually had an ice skating rink, but the city wouldn't put hockey nets, so the kids didn't come to skate. We were told we were going to get pickleball or tennis courts. I'm just afraid that especially with somebody wanting to take that spot over... [00:39:40] **Steve (Chair):** We went to Golfview earlier on a visit and I think we all agreed we wanted to pump that to the top of the list in the upcoming CIPs. [00:39:50] **Resident (Audience):** I tried to scroll through and I did see that 2027 sand volleyball courts was a possibility? [00:39:55] **Steve (Chair):** Yeah, that's still in a phase that we haven't got to yet, but it's on the radar. And about relocating it somewhere else—I haven't heard anything further on that. [00:40:10] **Andy Morcomb (Council Member):** There's been a number of residents in that neighborhood that know that there's someone who owns the old golf land that has interest in developing, but at this point, there are no permits pulled. No development plans in the works. [00:40:25] **Mark (Commissioner):** I know this fall we did use Golfview for soccer for Oakdale Athletic Association, and I'm probably going to use it for T-ball in the spring as well. [00:40:35] **Resident (Audience):** Oh, wonderful. My husband and I have businesses all over the country so I go in and out all the time. [00:40:42] **Steve (Chair):** All right. Now, motion to adjourn? [00:40:45] **Mark (Commissioner):** Motion. [00:40:46] **Jan (Commissioner):** I'll second. [00:40:47] **Steve (Chair):** All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you very much, we'll see you next month.