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<br />February 15. 2001 <br />Council Meeting Minutes <br />Mr. Bisek stated a good park and recreation program would support itself. One (1) <br />tournament will not pay for the costs to improve the park but over the course of several <br />years it will generate income and become profitable. <br /> <br />Mayor Swedberg clarified Council had asked Mr. Peterson for a cursory estimate of what <br />the various aspects of improvements would cost prior to considering installation of <br />electricity or agreeing to undertake any of the other parts of the estimate. <br /> <br />Mr. Bisek stated that the Parks and Recreation Committee is simply requesting a <br />solicitation for bids for installation electricity at the park. <br /> <br />Council Member Broussard Vickers explained before Council can request bids, it needs <br />to know if it can pay the general amount. Council has requested estimates to ascertain <br />the funding needed if improvements are desired. <br /> <br />Mr. Bisek reminded Council there was electricity at the park but it was totally destroyed <br />and Council needs to decide if it wants to fund electricity to make it a functional park or <br />not. If Council waits too long to improve the park, surrounding communities will <br />improve their parks and draw residents away from the City. Mr. Bisek request that <br />Council not to cloud the picture for the park by adding all the various things discussed, <br />simply consider adding the electricity to make the park functional. . <br /> <br />Council Member Capra stated she agrees the City has a need for recreation but stated <br />there are some nice, functional parks in the City that do not have ball fields. She then <br />clarified Council is simply looking at approving electricity at the park at this point, but <br />wanted an idea as to what the other costs would be. <br /> <br />Council Member Capra questioned whether the 64-team regional softball tournament is a <br />sure thing if electricity is installed in the park <br /> <br />Mr. Bisek explained he was asked to set up a softball tournament for the Fete des Lacs <br />Festival again this year. The Festival was moved to a date one (1) week later than last <br />year and the plan was to draw a state-qualifying tournament. It was discovered that the <br />Festival was on the same weekend as a regional tournament. Mr. Bisck contacted the <br />head of USSSA for clarification on the qualifications and found out that the league had <br />an opening for a regional tournament, which is 100% paid for by the state. The City <br />would get 100% of the revenues from parking and concessions. Last year there were 64 <br />teams in the Region 1 tournament, which adds up to approximately 640 players. Since <br />then, Mr. Bisek has found out that the City will be hosting a Region 5 tournament, which <br />has 36 teams. Mr. Bisek estimates the softball tournament will draw approximately 1,000 <br />people into the City. The City has been named host of the tournament and it is possible <br />to host the tournament without Council support if needed. <br /> <br />L_u <br /> <br />Mr. March noted it would not make sense for the City to have invested a half million <br />dollars in the purchase of the property and improvements to the park if the City did not <br />intend to make good use of the park by continued improvement. What this boils down to <br />is the next logical step for the park, which seems to be installing electricity to make the <br />park more functional for a variety of uses. The problem is the City will spend almost <br />$70,000 for electricity, which is not something that looks glamorous or is noticeable <br />when completed. Mr. March recommended a workshop to discuss how to fund the <br /> <br />Page 90f18 <br />