This transcript appears to be from an Oakdale Recreation Commission meeting. Based on the context provided, here is the attributed transcript. [0:14] **Commission Chair**: it's a Recreation Commission on August 15 2023 please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all you okay roll call looks like we have everyone here so uh we're good to go on that Julie Jeffer here and council member Markham is here uh did everybody have a chance to look at the minutes on from July 18th yep [1:00] **Commission Chair**: any questions or concerns can I get a motion to approve can I get a second second motion approved on favor aye past okay let's move on to Old business we had talked about the parks tour so we have decided I had Saturday August 19th starting at 8 30 and Lasting to 10 30 in that area we will visit golfville Northdale Furlong Oakfield and the Bark Park we will be there if anybody out there would like to meet us at any of these please do we'd love some input from you [1:48] **Commission Chair**: on Saturday September 16th we will be at Garden Boulevard Tilly totlot Tower Park Guthrie Park same thing will be from 8 30 to 10 30 in that area so we'd love to see people out there to come along and put us input and see how we're doing with the parks any comments on that [2:10] **Commissioner**: where are we going to start [2:12] **Commission Chair**: uh we will start at the Golf View on Saturday August 19th all right are you coming today one time 8 30 8 30. let's get up and I don't want to ruin not ruined but take up a lot of Saturday with people and that stuff [2:33] **Commission Chair**: so that's what we'll start and then we'll just hop from along as we go um other old business I have something we had um oh those uh the volleyball courts that you have put out in St Paul to go take a peek at I did go look so uh it was interesting the one over on Minnehaha it's just a single Court and it's not nothing special really yeah it was yeah it was very hard I had my 16 year old with I said get on get down there and see how hard it is it was definitely harder than football fields [3:20] **Commission Chair**: um I wouldn't want to be diving on that but those are the kick ones so maybe they can do something if the guys are on a regular Court sure the one at Duluth case beautiful that was uh that was great it had three chords and they had benches they had uh the tall chairs for the judges it was really well done same type of turf but very nice and um something very good they did a great job that was Duluth and Duluth case Park and then um the Maryland one had a double Court and that was hard to see because uh how they do it you have the grass and it [4:05] **Commission Chair**: Blends right into the grass how they put it they put it on that was really nice that's a nice park there actually I've never been out there so I think I I liked them they look nice I'd like to see the bigger ones for the actual regular volleyball is there wear on them like uh can you tell like there there is some and I don't know they said 2018 or 2017. but for that old they held up okay and what I can do I took some pictures that I can send everybody you know I'll put it on and send it to all of us you know I can do that I took some pictures of each one so but um yeah it was worth a nice little Saturday morning drive and check that out so I would uh [4:51] **Commission Chair**: as we go further I think that would be the way to go over sand I like to have them check out maybe a little softer Turf if somehow they could do that or a softer base but uh yeah that was nice so I did that uh any other old business that we need to chat about good um let's move on to new business uh Parks and Rec commission work plan draft [5:25] **Commission Chair**: yep I just wanted to formally announce that we're starting at draft we did that at the um six o'clock Workshop today how the process will go we kicked that off today [5:38] **Commission Chair**: um it will need to be approved by us at our October meeting Council will then review at their workshop in November and then it will be informally discussed at our year-end appreciation dinner so that's kind of how that process will be and like I said I'll send you out my notes and revise the the work plan that we worked on and you'll have that for the next meeting and I should say for our next Workshop um in September all right any questions for Juliana I just went through it so thank you thank you uh any other new business anyone would like to discuss or you're gonna have in mind nope all right [6:23] **Jeff Koesling**: yeah I don't don't have a whole lot we've transitioned from the summer Sports the softball baseball over to football and soccer we Cruise the last couple weeks we got I believe 13 14 Fields installed stitched out painted nuts out on the the ones that we do have I'm sort of waiting to see what happens with Skyview they had a couple over there if I'm talking with mark we'll see what what uh what they're going to use and what they're not going to use so we know what's available over there so otherwise uh we're just keeping up our seasonal staff our last one will be done on Friday of this week so it's already they're already heading back to school it's crazy yeah they are so [7:11] **Jeff Koesling**: um they did a great job for us this year um we just keeping up with Moen it's now it's with all the rain it's the warm days and cool nights it's taken off so yeah we're going to miss those six kids so like I say not a whole lot um we're just uh we're trying to keep up with everything and it's it's we had a good summer so it's been busy good yeah any questions for a job all right thank you uh Julie [7:48] **Julie Williams**: thank you so as Jeff also mentioned our Summer Staff left for the season last Friday and we wrapped up all of our camps um once again we had a great staff this year and they really um they really made the camp special for the kids we had a we had a really great year I wish I could have them back every year but we had six like I said before we had six six returners two new staff so everything went went really well we were lucky to have them back movie in the park our next movie in the park event will be on Friday and it will be minions the rise of the group and that will start at dusk so I'm thinking probably 8 30ish this time ice cream treats will be available for purchase before and after the movie we've got our fall and winter newsletter that we're working on that will be mailed to Residents mid-september and it will cover [8:42] **Julie Williams**: Recreation programs um through the month months of October through January so watch your mailbox for that um our Farmers Market it's finally peak season the market has been happened the past couple couple dates that's great to see we had a new food truck I'm not sure everybody stopped and tried that Mr Eggroll so I know Nathan is is trying to get new food trucks to to come in so watch for um new ones popping by in the next couple weeks our summer concert series winds down this month with two remaining concerts um we've got the smooth sensation band tomorrow night and that is a rescheduled date they were rained out before so that'll be that'll be tomorrow and then we've got the revolution five and that's [9:29] **Julie Williams**: a Beatles tribute band and that'll be uh August 23rd and that will wrap up this season for us I'm our pop-up Splash Pad so we did that last Friday that was our first ever was really great it was really successful we probably had two to three hundred kids pop by and that was from one to three o'clock thanks to the the fire department um Kevin and his guys did a really good job um with the with the water and the fire fire truck and kids did uh water balloons and different games and our summer stuff was there so we'll bring that back next year for sure and maybe add a couple more dates dates for that um our amped Up Entertainment series we'll wrap up this Thursday with a performance by the Brian Richards family [10:15] **Julie Williams**: magic show and that'll be at 10 A.M we're also hoping to add a few new Amphitheater programs this fall um just because they are so successful we're thinking we might do one mea or maybe on a weekend we'll see how that goes but we're hoping to add a few more days this fall and that'll be in our fall newsletter awesome we've got Touch a Truck coming up and that'll be on Tuesday September 12th that's from five to seven Maplewood Oakdale Lions Club will again provide concessions for that event and participants um receive that free ice cream once again that's always really popular so we're just finally finalizing all the details for that and getting all the trucks and vehicles lined up for that event [11:01] **Julie Williams**: our family fun flightable is another big event that's um upcoming and that'll be on Saturday September 16th and that is from 11 to 4. Walton and we'll have Inflatables working on finalizing the number of those we also have kids dance and that'll be a family DJ also concessions will be available for purchase at that event as well and then lastly we have a new yoga instructor we're happy to bring yoga back to the Discovery Center or old yoga instructor retired so we've got a new one coming in her name is Judd Vale and she was the former owner of yoga fresh in Woodbury so she'll be there on Tuesday and Friday mornings and Thursday nights so we're excited to have Jen join our department [11:48] **Commission Chair**: and with that I will stand for any questions how did the uh was it touch a fire truck or whatever back a few weeks ago [12:00] **Julie Williams**: yeah right so that was a separate event that was hosted by the police and fire department from for what I hear it it went well I was a little worried because we had a couple t-ball games up at Castle on like that parking lot's gonna be packed sure so I hope there wasn't too many from what yeah I I didn't hear of any issues from what I heard it it went well yeah [12:20] **Commission Chair**: Julian you're from your staff like here was there a lot more kids this year it seemed like it was always packed when they were over here it seemed like at Walton the attendance was up [12:31] **Julie Williams**: yeah we had good numbers at Walton absolutely yeah that was good yeah and the small world camps did really well too good for the preschoolers yeah good [12:45] **Commissioner**: any uh from the last movie in the park any complaints come through because I did see quite a few on Facebook about uh loud people kids just running amok um you know during the movie and not being able to hear it and just [13:05] **Julie Williams**: yeah I you know it's it's really loud I mean speaker system that we have but there are kids that kind of um hang out maybe near the shelter area things like that um we did have the police department come through so um you know we're hoping that um we'll do that again for this movie and um that's something I can communicate with them but I didn't hear that directly okay that's good for you even the city Facebook page okay [13:45] **Commission Chair**: thank you thanks Julie uh commissioner comments Glenn [13:52] **Commissioner**: no I have nothing for tonight [13:55] **Commissioner Glenn**: of course I do of course you do no um I know I always comment like what the Oakdale Wellness 50 plus is doing and you can always check out the Oakdale update which is helpful to see what all we're offering because we offer a good variety of different things on all different kinds of activities and topics and whatever but I did want to highlight that on Halloween day we are doing a line dancing event because our line dancing event um July 11th went so well and people really liked it so it's going to be to the music of Thriller it is in the afternoon like from 1 to 2 30 I think and where's that at um Discovery Center okay it's fun yeah absolutely right the instructor we had July 11th really good you know kind of gave you a way to remember all these different moves and um you know so you're not really tripping [14:55] **Commission Chair**: the moonwalk lion dances yeah well the Thriller one we'll see but yeah and join us and you'll find out yeah well I'll bring you here I'll bring him a glove oh there you go all right thank you Glenn [15:32] **Commissioner**: that's all I got to say I've actually been to several of the parks this summer just kind of looking around and I just want to say kudos to Jeff I've been very impressed with what I've seen at the parks that I've visited [15:52] **Jeff Koesling**: I appreciate that and I'll pass that's the crew I'll tell you that they're the ones who who do it they're out there doing it so I appreciate hearing that and I'll make sure they they gets passed along actually good thank you [16:05] **Commissioner**: work uh nope just looking forward to seeing everybody bright and early on Saturday morning yeah true [16:15] **Commission Chair**: all right well that's good um council member Andy Marco what do you got for us [16:20] **Andy Morcomb**: thanks for having me commissioner there's always a lot going on in the city especially right now right a couple things I guess we're in the heat of budget season so your feedback on Parks and we talked about this last month right looking at different parks and when we improve them is really important to the council uh it's helpful I know right now not only are we looking to start ordering equipment for the Commons park right up in the new development in Willowbrook but there's other projects for other Parks like Tilson that were on the CIP plan um but right now the lead times Jeff would know better than I would six months plus sometimes to get it all um so some of those delays actually are possibly going to work on our benefit because if we order a lot of this all at once you get discounts right for ordering volume so there's going to be a lot of things going on especially next year in the parks with upgrading equipment as part of the CIP plan which is good things that need to be done another comment on the Commons park up at Willowbrook is they're doing the trails up there right now so the walking pass around and those are scheduled to be done this fall still which is the start of the trails I didn't know that nice yeah they do a lot all at once up there right yeah it's it's growing that's foreign laughs oh the angle of that roundabout do you mean this is going to be a challenge yes yeah [17:34] **Andy Morcomb**: um the council did get to go and award the acorn awards that we do every year which is a lot of fun and not that it necessarily lines exactly up with what the commission does here but you're also all out in the city and you see the residents you see the commercial properties you see the the churches so next year um please do if you didn't at all this year make sure to nominate a few places because we're we're definitely looking for new people to recognize and new locations we can give Awards to so it's not just the same group of people every time and the last thing and I'm not sure if you've heard this but the city council ended up passing an ordinance which allows ice cream trucks to go about the city again right and we did have a vendor put their name in to pull a permit it's Mick Martin who actually comes out often for uh different wreck events but um they said in August they may be sending one of the trucks around it provide ice cream so if someone comes through a park for the first time and there's an event going on right just something you all should be aware of but uh for people who are interested especially young entrepreneurs I'm a big believer if someone's got a dream and a huffy 10 speed and a cooler they can get a permit too they can start a business but there's only one with the permit right now currently yes so a slow start but it could be an opportunity for people that are using the parks often if they want to um you know have ice cream trucks come around more frequently so [19:04] **Commission Chair**: so maybe Julie if you could send us the name of that one so we all have it so if we see multiple we know that somebody's in violation [19:15] **Andy Morcomb**: yeah I you know I don't think they'll be too big a concern to start that's one of the reasons it got brought up to the council was after living here for over a decade I just hadn't seen a single one I thought that's strange so pretty minor adjustment but those are my updates any questions from the commission [19:35] **Commission Chair**: will you be joining us on the Park walk on Saturday [19:40] **Andy Morcomb**: absolutely I'm camping Friday night and I'll be there uh bright and early to join you so great great I love the outside it'll be good [19:49] **Commission Chair**: any questions at this point I think we're good all right thank you so much thank you thank you okay looks like we're all good thank you could I get a motion for adjournment can I get a second second all in favor thank you very much we are adjourned