June Park Board Meeting Items Of Interest
For those who are interested here are some highlights of what has happened at the last 2 MPRB meetings and FYI they are not meeting on July 5th. During the June 7th meeting the most interesting items were the hiring of PDI for a contact of up to $15,000 to give the superintendent a review and Carol Pass from East Phillips coming in give credit to those who helped get East Phillips Park on the bonding bill.
The review is expected to be done by September 1, 2006 ( to cover the Superintendent's last 2 1/2 years of work) with a work plan to last until Sept. 1, 2007 to be determined at that time. His work performance toward the work plan will then be review in Sept. of 2007 at which time it will be decided whether or not to offer a contract extension. If he is not asked to continue on this would leave a mere 4 months to hire a replacement. There was a lengthy discussion over extending the contract right then and there to cover the needed extra months to hire a replacement which led to that issue being tabled. All of this because the current board President Jon Olson and Superintendent Gurban did not bother to create work plans for the superintendent during the last 3 years.
Ms Pass gave a special thanks to Mary Ann Campo ( legislative lobbyist) and the many folks who helped make East Phillips Park go from a second tier legislative agenda item to being a reality. Carol may give out credit to many but she was the driving force behind this issue.
The June 21st meeting was interesting in just a few small details. The final resolution to purchase the Edison Youth Hockey arena passed, the loan is for $710,000 at 4.99%. Then in the Admin and Finance committee they voted for the MPRB to execute an agreement with the City of Lakes Nordic Ski Foundation ( the Loppet folks) to commit up to $150,000 in matching funds for private non-governmental funds they raise. This was a bit of an issue as questions were asked about where the money was to come from and GM Siggelkow explained that since the Wirth Winter Recreational area is part of the "enterprise" division and is also recreational they do have some "tax dollars" in that area that could be used. I am still waiting for this board to define what exactly it means to be part of the "enterprise" division? Both the Wirth Winter Rec area and the Neiman Sports Complex are in this division and yet neither is self supporting which I believe the golf courses and waterparks as well as the restaurants in the parks were suppose to be. I hope that there is a true distinction coming forward in the "Comprehensive Plan" that is being developed.
Still Watching...