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ARDEN HILLS PARKS, TRAILS & RECREATION COMMITTEE 2 • for the same reason. He noted those two parks had not been well maintained and were closely located to residential homes so games were no longer scheduled at those ballfields. Mr. Moore advised that the Arden Manor Park blacktop road has been laid. Mr. Moore stated he will be meeting with the City Administrator and Finance Director to draft a proposal to Council for Carey Park improvements and repair to the areas behind Field #1 and#2 to meet ADA accessibility requirements. These costs would be funded from the Park Fund and is estimated at $46,000 to be done as a fall project. Mr. Moore noted the recreation update information included in the meeting packet. REVIEW OF 50'" ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Mr. Moore reviewed the volunteers who assisted with the 50th Anniversary Celebration event which went off without a"hitch." He stated his personal thanks for those who helped to make this event a success. He advised of an upcoming meeting of the City Events Task Force to discuss having another event next year. Chair Johnson stated he too heard comments from many who had a great time. PARK AND RECREATION UPDATES - continued • With regard to the recreation update information, Committee Member Crassweller noted the overall programming appears to be down some participants and asked if thought had been given that perhaps the City is spreading itself too thin considering the size of Arden Hills. He asked if thought has been given to the strongest aspects of the program that should be promoted. Ms. Olson stated this question is always discussed by staff and noted the City offered seven fewer classes which had been quite successful. She noted the decline is based on trends (track participants), the USA Tennis Carnival site being moved to Roseville, and spring ceramics was not replaced since the company went out of business. She stated the egg hunt was down in participants since it was predicted to rain. Ms. Olson suggested the key is to consider the programs that were offered and how successful they were. Overall, she noted that they canceled only three classes. Ms. Olson reviewed staffs efforts to refine the programming offered to eliminate classes that are not well accepted and to concentrate on the best classes to offer. Mr. Moore stated staff has also been discussing the potential impact of lower funding levels due to charitable gambling generating less. Thus, they have developed a policy of requiring programming to provide a 40% overhead. At the request of Committee Member Messerly, Ms. Olson explained how staff calculates • the costs to offer the program, and the minimum and maximum participants needed to realize a 40% overhead. She noted that some programs cannot realize this level of