Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 01/13/1994

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Case REVIEW AND RECOMMEND CHARITABLE GAMBLING FUND DISPOSITION PROPOSAL By: Parks/Utilities Coordinator Mark Boos Background: As you will recall, in 1992 City Council directed that the Charitable Gambling proceeds should be utilized for park and recreational improvements that benefit primarily youth. Reflected in the Five Year Capital Imp~vements Program is the expected Charitable Gambling proceeds at about $3,000 per year. As of November 30, 1993, the fund contains $35,902.84 with projected annual interest of $1,435.00. Tlie consensus of the City Council and this Commission has been that not only should the Chari~ble Gambling Fund provide for incidental capital improvements, such as the spring riders thatlwere purchased for Woodland Green, the fund should also encourage private contributions and participation via a matching program. The purpose of this case will be to develop a process!'for the dissemination of these funds. Observation: The above introdaction was included in last month's Case #3. Following discussion, the general consensus relative to the questions posed, was that the funds should not necessarily exclude non capital purchases; but for the most part will be capital purchases for property owned and actively maintained for public use. In cases where a request is made for environmental education materials, for example, the r~turn must be quantifiable, tangible and clearly benefit the outdoor recreational realm within Ramsey. Other items of general consensus were: · The program should encourage matches of dollars or labor.as opposed to outfight purchases. · The program dollars generally should not be available for entities or individuals with more appropriate sources of funding for their requests. The program should utilize a priority point system that can be amended by the Commission to reflect needs add make the fullest use of the dollars. (e.g., the point system may weigh youth volunteer participation more heavily against a $200 purchase than a large business who may match the samepurchase with $100 in cash). The application;process should be simple but fair. The program and process should be developed immediately with promotion occurring through 1994. Typically, the proposals will be reviewed and evaluated in winter for activity the following spring. In addition, this will allow the interest earnings to accumulate to a more self- sustaining level, Based on the above, staff offers the attached format as the basis to develop the improvement program. The at~ched document is clearly a draft. Within it you'll see areas such as "This improvement program ....... "or descriptions in italic. Subsequent to the Commissions discussion, Staff Lan embellish upon these areas. In addition, the Commission will need to determine the relative "weight" of the priority statements to develop a point system for evaluation or a similar process. The Commission's priorities and preferred evaluation format should be known so that a fi~lized draft version may be before you in February.