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Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes October 19, 2021 <br />Page 5 <br />Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said we have 97 benches in the city and <br />adding more. They are looking at replacing benches rather than add more, but they are making it a <br />priority to inspect and clean benches annually. <br />Council Liaison Grant thought it was a good thing for the Committee to bring these things to the <br />attention of staff. There are garbage can covers at Cummings Park and the Arden Hills Foundation <br />will be donating for an additional 18. Every park with a shelter will get their garbage cans covered. <br />Staff has been working on grills, concrete pads and charcoal receptacles pricing. <br />Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen stated the concrete would cost approximately <br />$1100 for the two pads and the dog park. He added that the charcoal grill Cummings will stay and <br />the ash bins would be ordered along with the other grills. <br />Committee Member Beggin mentioned that the woodchips under the swings are gone quickly at <br />Valentine Park. Someone had left a small rake there, and he had used it to rake the area. The next <br />day some kids were playing and when they were done they used the rake to push the woodchips <br />back. A few weeks later the rake was gone. <br />Staff Liaison Vaughan said they would like to and should put rubber mats under swings and <br />slides. The company installing playground equipment would also install the mats. <br />4. NEW BUSINESS <br />A.Personnel and Staffing Needs <br />Chair Van Valkenburg stated that he was the one that wanted to discuss this item to see if they <br />had enough staffing. Clearly they don’t have authority and there is a Personnel Committee but he <br />wondered if anyone had any comments on personnel and staffing as it relates to the parks. <br />Council Liaison Grant said they were expecting up to eight seasonal employees and only had 2.5. <br />On a citywide basis, staff is hard to find office staff also. <br />Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said in the three years he has been here Public <br />Works hasn’t been fully staffed in the summer. <br />Committee Member Poelzer said she would be happy to go the local high schools to talk to <br />athletic directors for them to speak to students about working seasonally as a way to raise funds for <br />their sport. <br />B.Parks, Trails and Recreation Committee Chair Reports <br />Chair Van Valkenburg noted that pickleball is a growing sport and Cummings and Royal Hills <br />have pickleball courts marked. Floral Park will be redone next year. He thought they should <br />consider adding pickleball to their programming. You could have two pickleball games per tennis <br />court if the nets are placed correctly and he felt they should consider that for Cummings Park so <br />they could have up to 16 people playing at once.