The Crookston Board of Parks and Recreations met on Monday afternoon inside the City Hall Conference Room. After the Call of Order, the board began the meeting by approving the minutes from their last meeting on August 15, which it did unanimously.
Crookston Sports Center Updates
The board only had one item on the Regular Agenda, which was to discuss the updates happening at the Crookston Sports Center that was presented in the City Council Meeting on September 12. Director Jake Solberg reported that he had gone to the City Council about issues with their control systems in the Sports Center and hired Wir3d to look through the system to do an independent study on their H-VAC and software systems. Wir3d had found that the Ice Arena control system had long-standing issues and hadn’t been functioning properly for several years. Wir3d recommended that the software be updated and completely replace the programmed sequence to meet the original sequence of operations for about $44,220. “They found that our software system has some defects in it, so we got it approved for them to come out and start the process of rebuilding that system from the ground up at City Council last Monday. We’re still in the process of getting a contract, and some paperwork still has to be involved with right now,” Solberg explained. “But the ball is rolling with the company, I’ve been in touch with Terry, who presented last week, and he said that he’d be getting that contract started and get back to me.” The company also recommended that the City utilize another commissioner company to check the work and make an annual contract for them to come in and check its operations to make sure it still operated correctly, but Director Solberg reported that they have not made any decisions on that yet.
Solberg also reported that he had found the spray pump on the condenser unit for the Blue Rink had broken, and he had had to order a new pump on Friday. “A spray pump went out, which circulates the water throughout the whole system, from the condenser to the compressor, to cool it down. This unit sits outside, and when you turn that pump on, it pumps water and circulates that water through, and that motor has a fan that rotates and pushes the water through, and it was in pieces when we took it apart last week,” Solberg explained. “So, Friday, I ordered a new pump for that condenser unit, and I was told it will hopefully be here midweek this week.” Interim City Administrator Charles “Corky” Reynolds reported that they would also repair the original pump to have it be ready in case the one they have breaks, so they can continue having ice in the arena. He also reported that just over 100 people came out to the “Give Hockey a Shot!” event and said it was a great event with high school students and other hockey players helping others that needed help.
Crookston Community Pool Updates
Solberg then gave an update on the pool, sharing that two or three new guards were going to be hired, which would allow “Open Swim” to happen on Saturdays once the guards were trained and is hoping to add various activities and enhancements to help promote the pool. “Cody Brekken came back, he started earlier this month, and he’s looking to promote the pool. So he wants to bring in things like Music Swim, underwater lights, and Open Swims once a month to remind the community that we have the pool and anyone can come in and swim.”
The next Parks and Recreations board meeting will take place on Monday, October 17, at 4:45 p.m. inside the Crookston City Hall Conference Room.
