Minutes - Parks and Recreation Commission - 01/12/2012

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COMMISSION BUSINESS Case #5.1: Review 20111 Park Trail Projects and Activity Park Supervisor Riverblood prepared a slideshow of the 2011 year in review. Last winter there were 6040 rink users that were logged by the warming house attendants for both Ramsey Elementary and Central Park. Ice was maintained at The Draw which was utilized by the PACT Charter school for their outdoor recreation and Phy Ed classes. In the spring each year staff works with Anoka High School football boosters and to date 3,400 volunteer hours have been logged just with this program alone. Cub Scout Pak 362 planted 1,000 seedlings at Elmcrest Park. The Football Boosters painted the hockey rinks. Park Supervisor Riverblood highlighted the Mississippi River Trail successes. Park and Trail system includes the sweet bay boardwalk which is a very important trail segment. Mr. Riverblood explained what is unique is we called on the letter of credit from the Developer. We accounted for our seasonal workers, department of corrections workforce and full time City staff to do some overseeing of that labor which we charged back to the City and in doing so we diffused $59,000 back into the general fund budget. Athletic field maintenance is something that is done from mid April through October. 166 miles of scalping plus stripping was done in a year /season. Parks Supervisor Riverblood stated there is a formula for meeting Tree City USA certification. The investment we put in was approximately $100,000 for 2011, this included moving trees by tree spade work and restoration work along roads and trail Trails that were added throughout the City have been along Bunker Lake Boulevard, Puma Street, Lake Itasca trail, Alpine Drive down County Road 83 and back to Bunker Lake Boulevard. Another achievement was the usage of SHIP's dollars for schematic design for the pedestrian overpass. Parks Supervisor Riverblood also discussed that a number of trail grants were applied for. The one he depicted in his presentation represent a 1.5 million dollar project. Of that 1 million is federal funds, the balance would be monies paid for by the County in Mississippi West Regional Park. Park and Recreation Commission /January 12, 2012 Page 2 of 5