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