The Crookston Parks and Recreation Board met Monday afternoon in the City Hall Conference Room to elect new Officers for the Board and discuss updates for Karn Field and the Softball Program. The meeting began by approving the minutes of their meeting they completed back on November 15th, 2021.
Election of Officers
The meeting continued with the election of Mike LaFrance to continue his position as the Chair of Park Boards. The Board then elected Board member Bridgette DeLeon as his Vice-Chair.
The Board approved both choices unanimously.
Karn Field Update
The Board then heard an update from Mike LaFrance on new updates for Karn Field. They discussed that City Council had approved the Light and Electrical Improvements for the Field with the addition of 60 new lights and cleaning of the glass panes over them. “We got the go-ahead to bring in Musco Lighting to put in new bulbs and clean the fixtures and glass. Our lights are currently functioning at about 50%, and with cleaning and new bulbs, it’ll upgrade them to about 90%.” Park and Recreations Supervisor Scott Butt, “We’re then going to upgrade the electrical box so that we just flip one switch to turn all the lights on instead of going to each light pole to turn them on individually. It’ll just be one circuit breaker that turns them all on, which will make things a lot easier and safer.” The Board believes the price for the additions will be $9,900 without setbacks, which will be paid in by the Baseball Association. And to make sure that there will be no water damage or pooling near the electric box, Supervisor Scott Butt plans to move a water faucet and create a retaining wall to prevent any water from reaching the box for safety. They also plan to pull the water line back about three to four feet and reposition the spicket to prevent water from reaching the box while still having a functional faucet. With weather permitting, the Board believes Karn Field will be in pristine condition by the start of the baseball season on April 5th. Mike LaFrance also brought up plans of a nearby concessions stand to be transformed to a uni-sex bathroom for the public and a resting area for the umpires, with the Baseball Association paying for its competition.
Softball Program
The Board continued with a report from Scott Butt on the Softball Program for the spring. He reported that Parks and Recs Head Jake Solberg has an order in place for shorts and jerseys for the softball teams and looks to start some traveling plans for the older softball teams. They discussed that the Youth Program will gain 12U and 14U traveling teams that will play throughout the spring and summer in a new league. “The Youth Softball Program will have a 12U and 14U traveling team, one group will play on Monday night, and the other will play on Thursday night, and they’ll be playing in a league with Thief River Falls, Red River Falls, and other teams.” Butt explained, “But they’ll be playing in a more competitive league, and our younger kids will still be playing with Fosston and Bagley in their Wednesday afternoon tournaments, but the 12U and 14U are going to get more competitive and will try to improve the program that way.” The Board also expressed concerns about girls losing interest in the Junior High Softball when they reach that age as before, if the girls wanted to continue playing over the summer, they would have to travel to other towns to play, but with the new traveling program and league, they won’t have to leave and will be inclined to continue playing.
Other Items
The Board then heard from Scott about the process of “Spring Cleaning” the arena and Park Shop of old equipment pieces and machinery they have in the buildings and a new software system that City Hall was installing. The system will help it communicate news within itself and with the public and assist in scheduling. The Board then heard from Bridgett DeLeon about the Town Pool, with some chemical imbalances and lack of chlorine that has closed the pool again due to the population being greater than expected, but plan to reopen it again tomorrow. The search for Coaches is still ongoing, and new applications have come in from the High School, and Jake Solberg is beginning to look through them for filling the coaching positions.
Their next meeting will take place on Monday, April 25th, inside the City Hall Council Chambers.
