The Crookston Parks & Recs board met on Monday, October 17, in the Crookston City Hall Conference Room. After the Call to Order, the board began the meeting by approving the minutes of their last meeting on September 19, which it did unanimously.
REGULAR AGENDA
The board’s regular agenda included a discussion about the Crookston Sports Center. Director Jake Solberg reported that there was about one sheet of ice down on the Event Rink arena and would begin the compressor to add ice to the rest of the arenas on Friday, October 21, and lay it in the arena on Monday, October 24.
The board also began discussions about the eight reserved parking spots lottery the public could purchase for $250 if their name were chosen from a lottery they entered. The board then received a recommendation from board member Tim Moe to eliminate the reserved spots after hearing they had received no applications or checks for them despite the lottery coming up this Friday. He argued that the spots caused unnecessary problems for the workers during snow clean-up, limited the parking spots for the staff that worked nights, and prevented some players and families from accessing some of the rinks where games were played. “You see those spots and them not being utilized all the time. With many different things going on there, you see grandparents or parents with young kids walking a long way to get to the center and talking to people in the community, and people from out-of-town wonder about them,” Board member Tim Moe explained. “It was something on the agenda, I brought it up, and the board had an excellent discussion about it and what we want to see out of those spots and with the community facility. We wanted to see the full community be able to access those spots.” The board approved the motion unanimously.
FALL ACTIVITIES
The board then began a discussion about its Fall Activities. Solberg reported that Fall Activities had ended or had finished multiple weeks earlier. He reported they had 16 participants in the 5th and 6th-grade travel volleyball teams and an increase in kids on their volleyball teams. They also had 25 participants in 5th and 6th-grade tackle football, 19 in their new 3rd and 4th-grade tackle football programs, and 25 in their Kindergarten through 2nd-grade flag football program. Solberg said he had received a lot of good feedback about them joining the Greater Grand Forks Youth Football league, and the board would need to decide if they would continue participating in the league.
YOUTH HOCKEY COMMITTEE
The board then began a discussion about the Youth Hockey Committee. Solberg explained that he, the high school hockey coaches, and two Crookston Blue Line Club members currently made the committee but wanted to add two more committee members from the Park Board to help even the voting. “We were going through our handbook and revised it and decided as a committee to add a Park Board member to add another vote and person,” Solberg explained, “To help us with decisions for things that go with the Youth Hockey Committee.” Board member Tim Moe volunteered to be a part of the committee to help even out the voting, and Solberg said the committee would officially make a motion to add a second Park Board member to it at its next meeting.
WINTER REGISTRATION
The final item on the regular agenda was a discussion about the registration for their winter events. Solberg said registrations for the sports were lower than expected. He explained that only 23 figure skaters had signed up for the season, which was much lower than what they usually have at this time of year. Hockey was also down on registrations, with only 41 kids signing up for mini-mites and 12 for mites. Wrestling only had five sign-ups, but Solberg wasn’t as worried about that as it had more time than the other sports. Solberg said they were planning to put out flyers for the events soon to hopefully help raise the number of registrations for winter sports. “We just want to get the word out there. We will be sending more information out that registration is open, but right now, our numbers are a little lower than I expected,” said Solberg. “We want people to come in and register with all of the winter activities we provide through Parks and Rec. Registration is open, so come out and register so come out and register. If you have any questions, you can call us at 218-281-1242.”
The next Parks and Recreations board meeting will take place on Monday, November 21, at 4:45 p.m. inside the Crookston City Hall Conference Room.
