Minutes - Parks and Recreation Commission - 06/12/2014

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Motion carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Olson, Commissioners Chubb, Fyten, Mobry, and Trappen. Voting No: None. Absent: None. 5. COMMISSION BUSINESS 5.01: Consider Policy for Naming Public Facilities Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood provided background information regarding naming rights and the policy outlining that process. He referenced two example policies of other municipalities, including one from the City of Champlin. He stated that aspects could be taken from each policy to create a policy from Ramsey and asked for input from the Commission. Chairperson Olson believed that there should be structure and guidelines for naming rights. Commissioner Fyten agreed that a policy should be created. Commissioner Mobry questioned the criteria that would be used to determine what would qualify for naming rights. Commissioner Trappen agreed that some guidelines would need to be determined in order to assist in who would qualify for naming rights. Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood provided an example of the Lions logo being displayed at this shelter and noted that the Lions contributed $377,000 towards the shelter, which made the decision easy for the City. Chairperson Olson stated that she agrees with the 60 percent threshold discussed in one of the example policies. She also believed that situations with tree plantings or dedication benches should also be included in the policy as those situations arise much more than naming rights. Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood confirmed that the Commission agreed with an application process for this, similar to the other actions that come before the Commission. He questioned if the Commission would be in agreement with developing a petition process, similar to what is used by Sioux Falls. Commissioner Trappen stated that the number included in the Champlin language, of 20 people needed for petition, seemed to be such a small amount of people for such a large decision. Consensus of the Commission was to direct staff to develop a naming rights policy using the policy from the City of Champlin as a starting point, but using an application process rather than a petition process; to include a threshold for donations of more than half or 60 percent; language specifying that the request would go before the City Council but approval is not guaranteed. Park and Recreation Commission /June 12, 2014 Page 2 of 5