CCP 07-13-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

-4— Burg stated that the City has storm water money. Every year there is a pond or two that are cleaned. Grant Wyffels would be the one to direct that to. Grant would know if it is the City's responsibility or Rice Creek Watershed District's. Breuer said Bel Air School student volunteers, have cleaned the creek out in the past. Rice Creek Watershed District contacted us during the winter and they cleaned out all the dead branches from the area. Burg said it would be a good Eagle Scout project. Norton stated he had the opportunity to kayak up Rice Creek behind the High School. He said there is plenty of opportunity for cleanup back there. An audience member mentioned the possibility of a dog park. Harreld suggested Hansen Park in the hockey rink area. Breuer mentioned that when they had discussion about the park designs in the Northwest Quadrant, dog parks came up in the discussion. This was the 10 acres on the northwest side. The biggest issue was the parking. We had no parking in that area. Putting a dog park in an ice rink takes a lot of maintenance. Then there is the expectation there should be water and bags for picking up. At this time, with budget constraints, Breuer said she cannot see going down this road. • Breuer shared with the Commission that reduced service levels was an upcoming discussion with Council. The Department has seen a reduction in staffing levels and cannot sustain what we have right now with the staff we have. Staff made lists of our core and essential services. We are making decisions about what programs we recommend be cut. We have short term plans on what to do now in order to exist, but there are more programs we need to work through. Some programs are not in our facility. The school district charges us fees to be in their facility. Staff clearly came back with the two essential services to keep; parks and the FSC building. Positions cannot be filled, so we need to look at cutting services. Breuer stated after meeting with staff many times, there was a list created of services/programs that we recommend cutting. Strub asked how they can be supportive to Breuer and her team as a Commission. Knowing what is at risk here, he's wondering if this should be a community -wide discussion. Norton asked if there would be any discussion at the Town Hall meeting regarding this. Breuer stated not to her knowledge. Strub commented that this is major, major stuff. Norton said it would be nice to have someone describe this (as Breuer just did) to the citizens. Citizens say we are paying all these property taxes, isn't this awful, and we do not see the community resources that are disappearing. The connection is never made.