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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7.b. Director's Report E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting: November 22, 2021 AGENDA ITEM: Director’s Report AGENDA SECTION: New Business PREPARED BY: Dan Schultz, Parks & Recreation Director AGENDA NO. 7 b. ATTACHMENTS: None APPROVED BY: dls RECOMMENDED ACTION: None, discussion only. Park Improvement Fund Balance as of October 31, 2021: $ 3,178,461.67 Inflows to the Park Improvement Fund last month were as follows: Dedication fees – $0 Grants/Other - $0 Interest - $0 Donations - $40,000 from RAAA- Batting Cages (Shannon and UMore) Expenditures – $6186.00 (tennis backboard at Bloomfield and skate park shelter design) Community Gardens - Now that we have had a hard frost, the growing season has ended, and the garden plot program is over for the year. Gardeners have cleaned out their plots and the gardens were tilled. We have received several emails thanking us for offering this program. Here is one we received earlier this week: I was new to the community garden plot this past summer though I’ve lived in Rosemount since 1993. I had a plot just off of December Trail between Shannon Pkwy and Diamond Path. It was a wonderful experience as I got to meet so many nice people along the way, but I wanted to be sure to thank you for having city staff stay on top of keeping our water sources filled. With it being so hot for so much of the summer, our gardens would never have survived without the vats being filled so often. Thank you again for your part in making this a great experience. Thank you again for your leadership in providing for such a wonderful experience in our city. Grandma and Me Tea and the Grandpa and Me Workshop - The Parks and Recreation Department collaborated to offer the Grandma and Me Tea and the Grandpa and Me Workshop at the Steeple Center during MEA break. Fun memories were made for the grandparents and kids alike who spent time together. These events featured crafts, projects, games, and a photo booth along with a variety of snacks. These events were very well received, and we will continue to offer grandparent and grandchild events in the future. Eagle Scout Project – Matthew Snyder, a local Boy Scout, and his crew of volunteers recently built two new tee boxes at the Brockway Disc Golf Course. The new tee boxes were constructed on the 2nd and 4th holes and were built to satisfy Matthew’s Eagle Scout Project requirements. Both of these spots were severely dished after years of use and held a lot of water, making them very slippery and unsafe after a rain. After consulting with our Disc Golf Course Adopt-A-Park volunteers, Matthew built the new tee pads higher than the surrounding area so that they would drain well and remain safe in wet conditions. The new tee pads look great and are a welcome improvement to the disc golf course. Story Walk - The Robert Trail Library and Rosemount Parks and Recreation once again teamed up to offer a Storywalk though Central Park during MEA Break. The Storywalk is a self-guided walk in the park while reading pages from the children's book Call Me Tree by Maya Christina Gonzalez. Laminated pages from a children's book were installed along the path around the pond at Central Park. As you stroll down the trail, you're directed to the next page in the story. A Storywalk is an innovative and fun way for children and adults to enjoy reading and the outdoors at the same time. The next Storywalk will be held during Spring Break in March 2022. Haunted Trail - The 39th Annual Halloween Haunted Trail was held on Saturday, October 30th. The unseasonably warm weather brought over 4,805 people to the event. We collected 660 lbs. of food for the 360 Communities Rosemount Food Shelf. The line of people at one point was past the cemetery on Highway 3, which in turn created some safety issues. As popular as this event was this year, we understand that while having a large turnout is great, the safety concerns of those attending should be first and foremost and we will be addressing this in the coming months. RCC Staff - A nice note our staff received this week: “I was one of the Head Election Judges at the Rosemount Community Center for this past week. I just wanted to send you a quick Thank You for everything you and your staff did to make the election a success at the RCC. Your team was extremely courteous and responsive which was definitely appreciated as we dealt with an amazingly high turnout of voters. To give you some perspective, before the polls opened I asked my team for predictions on turnout and the general consensus was that we'd get about 100-200 voters total. By the end of the day (13 hours), we had over 1700 voters at RCC, which comes out to an average of just over 130 people per hour! That means we had 8x higher than what we expected, and your team helped us get through it. We also had a number of people commenting on how nice and clean the building was, so it wasn't just us that noticed! Anyway, thanks again to you and your team. It may not have seemed like a lot to you, but it was awesome for us.”