The Crookston Board of Parks and Recreations met on Monday afternoon inside the City Hall Conference Room. After the Call to Order, the board began the meeting by approving the minutes from their meeting on October 17.
REGULAR AGENDA
The board first began discussions on its Winter Recreation programs. Director Jake Solberg explained that numbers had increased to over 300 kids participating in the winter programs, which was a dramatic increase from last year, where they only had about 200. Solberg then went into the recent activity that had been happening at the Community Pool, saying that one group of children had finished swimming lessons. At the same time, the Cathedral School had also used the pool several times this winter. Solberg also explained that the pool was looking to hold an Open Swim on Wednesday, December 28, and have it open for afternoon hours during the holiday break once the schools let out for the holiday break. Solberg then gave a report on the Crookston Sports Center, saying that they were still struggling to find some employees but was looking to change the full-time scheduling to help bring in and keep employees. “It’s tough to get employees and part-timers as they’re currently down about six to eight employees,” Crookston Mayor Dale Stainbrook explained. “So, they’re redoing the scheduling with the full-time to try and make it work, but there were a couple of good compliments about the restrooms being more maintained out there, which is a great thing, so kudos to the staff out there keeping an eye on things and checking them more than once a day.”
New Park Chairperson Discussion
The board then began discussions on the process of picking a new chairperson for the board. Chairperson Mike LaFrance announced that he has one more month left on his current term and informed the board that they would have to decide who would take his place by their next meeting in January. “He’s got one more year left, and then he’s done his full four-year terms,” Dale Stainbrook explained. “I think he goes through January of next year, but he was willing to step back because he’s done in a year with his terms, so he just put it out to the board, who’ll decide in the next meeting in January who is going to be the chair.”
Snow Clearing Efforts
The final item on the Regular Agenda was a report by Parks & Recs Supervisor Scott Butt about how the department was going around clearing snow from the sidewalks for children and some of the department’s buildings. “Scott Butt mentioned about out there with the snowfall and the wind that you would never know that they cleared the sidewalks the way the wind blows, but he’s got kind of a pattern with the park department,” Dale Stainbrook explained. “They go up and do around the schools first, in case students are walking, then the emergency routes, then they spoke out from that way. With Marine taking care of the bridges, some of the walking trails, and the library.”
The next Parks and Recreations board meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 17, at 4:45 p.m. inside the Crookston City Hall Conference Room.
