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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity and School Facility Use Advisory Committee - 03/20/2002 APPROVED MINUTES CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2002 7:00 P.M. City Center—Heritage Room I COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: David Larson, Chair; David Luse, Nancy Holden and Phil Rose COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Susan Oswald and Jane Wolfgram COMMITTEE STAFF PRESENT: Jeanne Zetah, Director of Community Education Services; Laurie Obiazor, Manager of Recreation Services; Steve Schultz, High School Activities Director; Lyndell Frey, Community Center Manager; Cheryl Bridge, Facilities Coordinator; Charlie Gross, High School Activities Coordinator; and Carol Pelzel, Minutes Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL A. The meeting was called to order by Chair Larson at 7:05 p.m. The members introduced themselves stating which organization they represent. B. Updated Committee List Holden indicated that she is no longer with Familink and asked that her address be changed to 16894 Honeysuckle Lane, Eden Prairie, 55346 and her e-mail and work telephone numbers be deleted. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Rose moved, Holden seconded, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried, 4-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. August 15, 2001 Motion: Rose moved, Holden seconded, to approve the August 15, 2002, minutes as published. The motion carried, 3-0-1 with Luse abstaining because he was not at that meeting. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 20, 2002 Page 2 IV. ITEMS OF BUSINESS A. Review Actual Fees and Charges for 2001 1. City Facilities Used by the School District 2. School District Facilities Used by the City of Eden Prairie Obiazor explained that this Committee has in the past three years reviewed the City and School District fees and charges for the various facilities to ensure that the fee policy is consistent between the City and School District. These fees and charges do cover the direct costs. Obiazor reviewed with the Committee actual fees and charges for City facilities used by the School District for 2001. She pointed out that there has been no increase in pool rates since 1999 and that was a $5 an hour increase. The School District paid a total of$73,755 in fees, an increase of$2,559 from the previous year. Zetah questioned why there was a$50 fee charged for the Round Lake Park Pavilion when this is available to the School District at no charge. The same was true for the Riley Lake Pavilion. Obiazor said she would have to check into that. She assumes the charge should have been for the park shelters and not the pavilions. Gross and Bridge reviewed the actual fees and charges for 2001 for School District facilities used by the City. Gross explained that two programs were added to the High School Prairie Dome; fly fishing and flag football. Frey explained that the Joint Powers Agreement for the use of Oak Point pool includes a formula for calculating the charge the City pays the School District for the use of the pool. This formula is not working. The City generates additional revenue and cuts back expenses but actually receives a higher bill from the School District for use of the pool. Both City staff and School District staff are proposing a revision to the Joint Powers Agreement. They are suggesting that the City pay the same amount that the School District pays the City for use of the Community Center pool. Frey indicated that the existing Joint Powers Agreement makes it extremely difficult to project the budget for this use. They are suggesting that the City rent the Oak Point pool at the same rate that the School District is charged for the Community Center pool based on square footage. Luse asked if this would occur in 2002. Frey responded that the School District is reducing budget costs and is recommending closing Oak Point pool on Sundays. Of the two facilities, the general population prefers Oak Point,however,based on the costs for operating Oak Point, it makes better sense to have the Community Center pool open. Frey explained that they are proposing that the new Joint Powers Agreement go into effect July 1, 2002. Rose asked if the School District has taken into consideration the loss of revenue that would result from this new Joint Powers Agreement. Zetah said she thought they had. She indicated that she would verify this with those working on the Agreement. It appears that by closing Oak Point pool on Sundays they will be cutting expenses which deals with the loss of revenue. Holden asked why it costs so much more to operate Oak Point pool than the Community Center pool. Frey explained that the higher costs are a result of the layout of the pool and the CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 20, 2002 Page 3 waterslide. The minimum number of staff on duty when the pool is open is seven. This includes six lifeguards. The Community Center requires three or four staff members on duty. Holden asked what the revenue is on an average Sunday. Frey responded that it is between $200 and $300. The pool is underutilized. It is a local pool and if people want to go to water parks they go where there are multiple slides. Larson asked what the current ticket price for the pool would have to be to make a profit. Frey answered that it would take about three times what they are currently charging. They are currently at the market rate. Larson said he was not aware that there was open swimming at Oak Point until his daughters went to school. He questioned if there is some type of incentive they could use. Larson said he is trying to determine what the issue is. Frey explained that on weekends, the school's maintenance staff is paid at overtime rates. For that facility, there are three full-time maintenance staff. The Community Center has four full-time maintenance staff for the entire facility and they are not paid overtime salaries (Note: District custodians were scheduled for four 10 hour shifts per week and were not paid overtime rates for weekend work). Zetah explained that the new Joint Powers Agreement would allow the City to rent one-half of the pool. This would allow them to close down the slide and would result in less expense. With the closing of Oak Point on Sundays, Holden asked if staff anticipates complaints from the community. Frey explained that over the last two and one-half years they have cut hours for open swim in half and they have only received two complaints. The Community Center gives the community an alternative. Luse pointed out that a City-wide survey showed that the residents of Eden Prairie want an outdoor recreational pool. He explained that this is something that the City Council will be discussing in the future. Larson asked how many indoor pools exist in the City. Obiazor responded that there are two public and two private in addition to pools at apartment complexes and hotels. Larson asked if they would need to look at further closures to save money. Zetah explained that they are trying to contain costs to benefit the School District and the City. Pool needs can be taken care of by the Community Center. The School District does not want to keep Oak Point open and staffed if it is not used. The pool could be made available on Sundays if someone wants to pay the costs for staffing the facility. Obiazor pointed out that during non-school hours the City operates Oak Point Pool. Luse asked if they have discussed generating revenue or just cutting costs. Schultz responded that this is why this item is being discussed this evening. They are faced with maintaining the same services with shrinking budgets. Schultz said they need to look at generating revenue at some point. Luse suggested they look at promoting certain neighborhoods or classes using the pool for open swimming at a specific time. Frey explained that open swimming would not generate revenue. It costs the City $150 for the use of the pool and they are lucky if they bring in $150 during open swim. This will not happen unless they triple their numbers. Frey said they will be distributing flyers throughout the school promoting open swim during spring break. Larson said they need to develop ideas to get families to use the pool. Holden asked if the actual goal is to reduce costs or to increase the number of hours the pool is used. Obiazor responded that the purpose of amending the Joint Powers Agreement is to have a more CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 20, 2002 Page 4 comparable billing of the operating loss. The way the Agreement exists now, the City is taking a bigger hit. Even when the City took cost reduction measures they were still hit with a big bill. Holden asked if their preferred scenario is to have the pool at capacity seven days a week. Obiazor explained that this would never happen because of the design of the pool. Schultz pointed out that this pool was designed as an instructional pool and not one to generate revenue. Luse explained that the residents are looking for an outdoor pool and it is ultimately those residents who are paying these fees. Residents are also requesting that they add a third sheet of ice. These are both important to the community. Luse said he thinks a joint public/private investment would be appropriate to look at for both facilities. They need to look at all kinds of possibilities to generate income. Rose asked how they determine what the fee is for hockey games. Schultz responded that the School District determines the fee and it is normally the market rate. They are proposing to raise the fee for next year for all activities. (Luse left at 8:05 p.m.) B. Proposed Changes in District Facility Charges Due to Deficit Reduction Zetah reported that staff is considering raising air conditioning charges in the summer from $3.50 per unit per hour to $4. She explained that the High School gym charges have already gone up this year and Community Education staff are looking at other schools' rates. Staff is proposing to get them in line with the High School gym. They are not looking at dramatic changes. These changes will probably be effective September 1. Gross pointed out that part of the budget reduction proposal is to increase rental revenue by $30,000. Schultz pointed out that the largest per hour dollar rental comes from the Dome. Gross explained that the market does determine the hourly rate for this facility and they are at market rate and there is not a lot of room to make changes. Some of their other facilities are below market; however, they are not big revenue generators. They also need to look at increasing hours of use. Gross indicated that they would probably present these changes to the School District in June. Zetah stated that as part of the deficit reduction they are recommending scaling back the number of buildings that will be open this summer. This will allow them to reduce utility costs. The buildings will only be opened for cleaning or office work. They are considering more use at fewer buildings. Bridge pointed out that this would affect several groups. Income will be lost; however, they are hoping comparable expenses will be eliminated. Zetah said they will be monitoring these changes to see if it saves the expenses they anticipate. C. Proposed Changes to the Oak Point Pool Joint Powers Agreement CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 20, 2002 Page 5 Frey distributed a sheet showing the Eden Prairie Community Center pool rental rates and the Oak Point pool rental rates. He indicated that the City Council and School District will be asked to approve an amended Joint Powers Agreement for the use of Oak Point pool. They are asking that the City charge the School District the same as the School District charges the City for the use of the two pools. Rose asked, with regard to maintenance, if the School District is paying more than they need to. Frey responded that they did survey other like facilities and it is staff s opinion that Oak Point pool is overstaffed. This finding was based on square footage and hours of operation. Bridge suggested that this might be because of what is required by the School District versus what would be required by the City. Obiazor explained that this item was presented for information only. The amended Joint Powers Agreement will be presented to the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission for their review on April 1 and to the City Council in mid April. The School Board will also be considering this item in April. It is proposed that this new Agreement be effective July 1, 2002. D. Update on the Third Sheet of Ice Frey reported that three years ago the Hockey Association approached the City and School District requesting a third sheet of ice. A third rink task force was developed with representatives from the School District, City, Hockey Association and non-hockey enthusiasts. This task force met four to six times. Their recommendation was taken to the City Council and the City Council said that if they could raise $2 million to $2.5 million the City would then consider issuing $1.5 million of revenue bonds. The Hockey Association has been working on raising these funds. They are proposing that the third sheet be built on School District property which would result in eliminating 130 parking spaces. Schultz pointed out that another lot would replace those spots, increasing parking on that site by 20 spots. Frey explained that he has met with the Hockey Association and they are looking at different revenue sources. Rose asked if the land would be purchased from the School District. Schultz explained that the boundary between the City and School District property on the Round Lake site has changed numerous times as it was expanded or shifted. Schultz said he was sure a request for amending the boundary line would be coming before the School District to accommodate the additional sheet of ice but also to accommodate the increased parking at the High School. This would not be a joint facility, it would be a City owned facility. E. Review and Discuss Committee Purpose and Future Obiazor explained that since this group meets only twice a year, she felt it was important for the Committee to review its purpose. This Committee was set up by the City Council and School Board in October, 1996, to have representatives from both agencies meet together to discuss what is happening with facility use. She asked if the Committee feels there is a benefit to continuing this Committee in its same capacity and would suggest continuing to CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 20, 2002 Page 6 meet twice a year. Obiazor briefly reviewed the Committee purpose. Rose said he feels it is important to continue this Committee. It promotes cooperation between the City and School District and also helps to avoid misunderstandings. He appreciates the opportunity to touch base with the City Council representative and City staff. Larson said this Committee is extremely educational for him. He asked what he needs to do to take this information to the next level. Obiazor explained that much of this information goes to the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission for their review. This information gives them perspectives from both the City and School District and they are not only hearing from City staff. Zetah said this Committee has come a long way from when it was first formed. The School District and City have reduced duplication of programs and facility charges are monitored. They have also discussed many issues and she personally likes having citizen and elected officials' input. This gives them a different perspective. Holden said it is reassuring to her as a parent and taxpayer knowing that these two agencies are working together. It is nice to have the knowledge that they are rational decisions and that they are discussed. The Committee agreed that this group would continue as is meeting twice a year. V. DISCUSSION ON ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the City and School Facility Use Advisory Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, August 21, at 7:00 p.m. Rose asked that an agenda item regarding school use of concession stands at Miller Park during tournaments or scheduled games be included. Obiazor indicated that a progress report on the third ice sheet would also be included on the agenda. VI. OTHER VII. ADJOURNMENT Motion: Holden moved, Rose seconded, to adjourn the meetinz. The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m. The motion carried, 3-0.