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MCC Advisory Board Minutes 09-21-2010MCC Advisory Board Minutes 9/21/10 MONTICELLO COMMUNITY CENTER (MCC) ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21,2010-4:30 P.M. RIVER ROOM Board Members Present: Ron Broekemeier- Chair, Jennifer Bethke, Clint Herbst Board Members Absent: Board Liaison Present: Staff Members Present: 1. Call meeting to order Darren Paumen, Sandra Theros Susie Wojchouski Kitty Baltos- Director, Sara Cahill The meeting was called to order by Chairman Broekemeier at 4:34 p.m. noting the absence of Darren Paumen and Sandra Theros. 2. Consideration of adding items to the agenda a. Building Maintenance 3. Consideration of approving the minutes from the August 17, 2010 regular meeting JENNIFER BETHKE MADE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS SUBMITTED. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY CHAIRMAN BROEKEMEIER. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 4. Update Items Kitty Baltos noted that there would be a free showing of Ghostbusters in the parking lot by Walgreens on Saturday, September 25th at about 7:30 p.m. The Ghostbusters car will be on display. Susie Wojchouski suggested that Public Works might want to flag the potholes in the lot. Baltos agreed to perhaps use cones to identify those areas. They'll turn off one streetlight, bring in a few picnic tables, and have a port -a -potty on site. a. Visit summary through August 2010 Baltos pointed out that member check -ins and attendance were a little low for August. b. Financial summary through August 2010 Baltos pointed out that revenue from memberships had increased from July to August by about $4,000. She indicated that the amount listed for concession food product was much too high and stated that she would look into the issue. She noted that weddings did really well in August and that MCC has weddings booked through November. There was a brief discussion about perhaps offering a winter wedding rate to encourage year round facility rental use on weekends. Clint Herbst asked if there had been much interest in Christmas parties. Baltos stated that it is likely that the liability issues and cost of such an event for businesses in this economy had prevented this as an option. She noted that the Chamber has an annual holiday banquet and smaller companies often use that event as a Christmas party. Jennifer Bethke asked if it would be a possibility to host a Casino Night type of event for smaller companies. Sara Cahill noted that MCC had hosted a New Year's Eve Around the World event in the past and indicated that they might MCC Advisory Board Minutes 9/21/10 be able to market it to companies as a holiday event for employees for a flat rate for the evening. Wojchouski suggested that MCC might consider doing private marketing outside of the city. Baltos agreed to perhaps focus more on corporate memberships and contact Xcel about such options. c. Manager's Monthly Recap Baltos noted that there was a good Movie in the Park turnout for Disney's "Up." She indicated that the kid's martial arts classes are full in part because they are more affordable than classes at Dojo. Baltos provided an update about the new Electronic Reader Board sign. She noted that the sign is very attractive and designed for wind load. Staff is working to obtain a sign permit. The sign will be radio controlled and networked through the liquor store. MCC staff will run the messaging with training provided by Dectronix. Wojchouski suggested that the MCC look into weather insurance. 5. Consideration of 2011 preliminary budget for the community center a. Membership rates for possible inclusion of childcare or fitness classes Baltos provided revenue and expenses information related to childcare and fitness classes for the board to consider. There was discussion about options for handling tiered memberships or package tiered pricing as well as possible changes to the childcare and fitness rates. The board noted that the goal of changing the pricing would be to get more people to sign up for membership. Baltos expressed a concern about offering free childcare because of the fifteen child maximum and MCC status as an unlicensed facility. Bethke asked if we could conduct a survey asking questions related to monthly childcare costs. The board also suggested that the survey might include questions about parking and general satisfaction with membership pricing. MOTION MADE BY RON BROEKEMEIER TO CONDUCT AN EMAIL SURVEY ABOUT MEMBERSHIP ISSUES AND TO BRING THIS ISSUE BACK TO THE BOARD IN OCTOBER. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY JENNIFER BETHKE. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. b. Purchase and maintenance requests for possible budget reductions Baltos summarized the budget as submitted to the city specifying that $41,000 in requests had been cut from the proposal as detailed at the last board meeting. In addition, the $300,000 funding request for the dehumidification system had been forwarded to the 2012 budget process. 6. Consideration of a donation policy for rooms for organizations Baltos noted that MCC often has organizations request meeting space donated or a discounted rate for their event in exchange for listing MCC as a sponsor. She pointed out that it would be useful for the board to put a policy in place to directly address this issue. She indicated that the MCC loses up to $1700 in revenue when providing space for free. She summarized that current procedure is that space is donated only during the week for non - profit groups and only once a month for groups with fifteen or fewer participants. There was discussion about business and personal rates as well as the option of having a non - profit rate only good on certain rooms and dates. Baltos agreed to put some information together related to nonprofit rates for the Mississippi Room for the board to consider. MCC Advisory Board Minutes 9/21/10 7. Discussion of operation of Community Garden Baltos noted that the community garden didn't do very well this year. Two of the thirty -one plots were abandoned. MCC had rented a tiller to churn up the dirt for the garden but it had been hard to control the weeds. There was discussion about tilling the whole garden up this Fall (including the paths) and adding weed control, nutrients, and mulch. It was also determined that it might be useful to do a soil analysis and bring in dirt for next season. Baltos will contact Master Gardeners Fran Fair and Rita McCouley to get some tips about what to do for a better result next year. There was discussion about establishing a newsletter to send to gardeners by email. Baltos agreed to draft the "Bed Buzz" and pass it to Broekemeier for his input. The newsletter would act as a reminder that the garden closes in mid - October. It would also note the January 15th sign up date for past gardeners to participate in next year's garden and the February Vt date, when registration would be open to the public. In addition, they'd be asking for a volunteer garden captain for next season. Baltos noted that she also needed to check on the season end voting and would announce and award trophies to garden winners. Baltos also indicated that she'd check in with Liz, who manages a community garden at Resurrection Church, about her plan for using the SHIP grant they'd received. 8. Discussion of operation of security for wedding receptions Baltos noted that MCC had been very pleased with security services provided by Wright County Sheriff Todd Olson but that they were no longer satisfied with the new County procedure for scheduling for security needs for weddings. The County now arranges for security services on a first come first served basis in an effort to try to more evenly distribute the workload among deputies. The county books the security for the event and pays the deputy and then MCC pays the county for security services for that event. Baltos noted that there had been numerous communication issues and trouble with staffing the wedding receptions since the change. Herbst questioned the need to handle the matter through the County since it isn't working well for the City. Baltos said that she had spoken with Joe Hagerty in the Sheriffs Office about this matter but that nothing had been resolved at this point. MCC staff contacted the City of Big Lake and the Holiday Inn in Otsego to explore other avenues. Bethke suggested that private security companies who employ retired officers or officers in training may also be a viable option. 9. Consideration of added items a) Building maintenance: Herbst asked about the wall in the pool area. Baltos explained that, in order to resolve the problem of positive pressure in pool area, MCC had changed the location at which pressure was exhausted. This approach had, however, resulted in water wicking through the concrete wall and soaking the plywood. Herbst indicated that he suspected that the problem area is more extensive than twelve feet down the wall. He'd also noted he'd had some public feedback requesting that the issue be resolved. Baltos indicated that there had not been time to thoroughly reevaluate the issue but that a team had determined that it might be useful to ask for two estimates: one to do the repair in sections and one to completely replace the entire affected area. There was some discussion about establishing a cap guarantee of $25,000 or so based on a certain cost per square foot. MCC Advisory Board Minutes 9/21/10 10. Adjourn CLINT HERBST MADE A MOTION TO ADJOURN. THE MOTION WAS SECONDED BY JENNIFER BETHKE. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Kerry T. Burri Recording Secretary IJVJ I�.�zI� �>AAA/— Ron Broelcemeier MCC Advisory Chair