2009-02-04 Joint WS CC P & R Minutes Approved

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Meeting Minutes 02-04-09 JOINT WORK SESSION CITY COUNCIL & PARKS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, February 4, 2009 - 6:30 p.m. A Joint Work Session was held February 4, 2009 commencing at 6:30 p.m. between City Council and the Parks & Recreation Committee. Mayor Capra and all Council Members were present, as well as Mr. Mark Statz, City Engineer, Mr. Paul Palzer, Public Works Director, Mr. Dallas Larson, City Administrator and Ms. Kim Stephan, Staff Liaison to the Parks & Recreation Committee. The Parks & Recreation members present were: Chairperson Suzanne Seeley, Vice-Chairperson Kevin Amundsen, Committee Member Mark Haiden and Committee Member Lori Harris. DISCUSSON ITEMS: Park Projects: System for managing and closing out Park Projects in conformance with expectations of Parks & Recreation and City Council. Chairperson Seeley began by saying the Parks & Recreation Committee has been disappointed and frustrated in the outcome of the recent Park Projects and suggested the largest problem was communication among all parties involved and perhaps lack of clarity as to what the expectations were for each project. Mayor Capra asked for specific examples of how things could be handled differently. Committee Member Harris, as the member most involved with the Tracie McBride Memorial Park renovations, spoke on the problems with this particular park. Committee Member Harris prefaced her comments with she had not been to a few Parks & Recreation Committee meetings at one point as she was frustrated and considered quitting after seeing the outcome of the renovations to Tracie McBride Memorial Park. She was disappointed after the committee had worked so hard on the planning that the outcome was not at all as intended. Committee Member Harris said that the committee had specific goals, in writing, but plans were changed multiple times without ever coming back to the Parks & Recreation Committee. There were problems with the contractor (sod, trails, painting, and the window in the utility building), the vendor for the play ground equipment (installation of the Merry-Go-Round) and the design being altered due to installation of additional drain tile. The contractor did come back and reset the Merry-Go-Round, but neither with the first installation or the second adjustment did they contact Public Works to say they were doing it, they just came and did it and left. Committee Member Harris stated that if a committee member had been the contact person the problems would have been caught right away. Mr. Palzer said that the old existing play structure was actually two (2) feet lower than originally anticipated and there were problems with drain tile. This issue resulted in extra costs which meant the project had to be cut back elsewhere. Everyone agreed that the planning people are being left out of the loop as project changes occur the decisions are being made by Mr. Larson, Mr. Palzer and Mr. Statz and not getting back to the committee until the work is completed. Council Member Broussard asked the committee to consider whether they were willing to have projects stopped and wait until the committee has their meeting once a month to be able to make decisions. She also said she personally counts on Staff to make these decisions. Chairperson Seeley suggested the committee does not necessarily have to have a formal meeting to review a project, if something needs to change the Committee Project Manager can be contacted. If it is a simple decision that the 1 of 3