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MCC Advisory Board Minutes 10-20-2009COMMUNITY CENTER ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2009 Board Members Present: Ron Broekemeier- Chair, Sandra Theros -Vice Chair, Jennifer Bethke and Wanda Kraemer Board Members Absent: Clint Herbst Staff Member Present: Kitty Baltos- Director 1. The meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m. by Ron Broekemeier at the Moose Sherritt Ice Arena. 2. A tour of the arena and maintenance areas was provided by the head of maintenance for the arena. 3. Consideration of addine items to the aeenda: a. Ice Arena discussion — Kitty Baltos (Item 10) 4. Consideration of approving the minutes of the September 2009 meeting. A MOTION was made by Wanda Kraemer to approve the minutes of the September meeting as submitted. Jennifer Bethke SECONDED the motion. There was no discussion. MOTION passes unanimously. 5. Update Items: a. Usage summary through September 2009 -Kitty Baltos reported that the numbers were only slightly lower than the previous year. Kitty reported that two times per month there is a program called Keru Moto in the Warehouse. This is a gaming group and the head of the organization is very good at bringing in people and it's a different crowd than the Warehouse room usually sees. It's going well. Teen Center hours are no longer being offered. The center is open for family night on Monday and Thursday during which time all ages are welcome. The Teen center was seeing fewer than 20 people per month so the expense of the attendant could not be justified. There have been no complaints regarding this change at all. The numbers for birthday parties is starting to rise a little bit. Kitty is still working on the remodeling plan. While Council approval is still needed, Kitty has talked to the Park's Superintendent Tom Pawelk about using his staff in December to do the remodel work. b. Financial summary through September 2009 -After a quick review, Kitty reported that there were no real items of concern or note other than how well the program revenue was doing for 2009. She highlighted a new program, Friendship Island, that did surprising well considering the slow start. This program will continue to be offered. As a follow up from a request from Jennifer Bethke on what items were in the miscellaneous revenue account, Kitty reported that over $5,000 was incorrectly recorded to this account. Kitty has brought this to the attention of the finance department and they will make a journal entry to correctly show the items in the revenue lines in which they belong. c. Manager's Monthly Recap -The Board reviewed the report with some minor discussion. Kitty reported that the software upgrade did happen in September and the new software is not as accommodating as anticipated or reported. Kitty is working with the Technical Support department to fix programs that are not working and to bring back features that were previously available and now not available. The Technical Support department has been responsive, but Kitty noted that she has not been impressed yet with the new software programming. d. Farmers' Market Update -Sara Cahill supplied a great update in the Manager's Monthly recap. The Board discussed the new location and Jennifer Bethke noted that the vendors are happy with the new location. There were some problems with vendors loading and unloading and creating a blockage for the other vendors, but that has been resolved. Jennifer reported on a concern about the Market Manager and seeing her in the library checking out a book or a magazine. Sandra has noticed that the booth is sometimes not attended. Wanda Kraemer noted that the manager or the booth is not very visible. The Board would like to see perhaps a banner identifying the booth and the community center. They'd also like to see the Market Manager promoting the community center and its programs. Kitty will follow up with Sara on this. e. Bertram Chain of Lakes Advisory Council- Neither Kitty or Ron Broekemeier were able to attend the previous meeting. The Board requested information on funding for the park. f. Senior Center Update -Kitty reported that Pam Loidolt had asked her Board if they would like to serve as Liaison. At this time, since it is not a voting position, they will provide updates as often as they can to Kitty for reporting but not have an individual identified as the Liaison. 6. Consideration of policies for the community garden for 2010. The Board was happy with the policies currently in place. Kitty reported that some current gardeners were asking if they would be given first opportunity to reserve for next year and could the get their same plot. A MOTION was made by Sandra Theros to allow the 2009 gardeners to reserve first starting in January 2010 for a month or an acceptable time to be determined by Kitty, with the option of reserving their same plot, then City of Monticello residents, and then residents outside the City of Monticello. No other changes in pricing or policies to be made. This motion was SECONDED by Jennifer Bethke. The MOTION PASSES unanimously with Ron Broekemeier abstaining due to conflict of interest, he is a current gardener. The Board asked that Kitty advertise the garden as early as possible, perhaps in the upcoming newsletter to the City residents. 7. Discussion and consideration of seasonal hours for the community center as a budget reducing measure. Kitty provided information indicating the areas in which cuts to expenses have already been put in place. This report also identified the potential savings to be seen with the switch to seasonal hours. After discussion the Board requested to table the item to enable them to discuss this with members and community members. They did indicate that a permanent cut to the hours on Friday evening should be considered. S. Consideration of fee increase for group users. Kitty reported that the community center's group rates had not increased for quite a while. In 2009, the community center absorbed the sales tax increase and the increase in minimum wage both of which affected the group revenue. Kitty had asked Tricia Menth, the Event Coordinator, to let groups reserving for 2010 know that the prices were going up by .50 cents per person. The community center does a good group business and Kitty felt that a small increase now and perhaps another in the future would be easier for groups to tolerate and not choose to go elsewhere. Ron Broekemeier made a MOTION to increase the group rates by .50 per person beginning January 1, 2010. Wanda Kraemer SECONDED the motion. The MOTION PASSES unanimously. 9. Discussion on ten vear anniversary celebration for the communitv center in February 2010. Kitty reported on some of the suggestions the manager's had come up with so far. The theme is everything revolving around the number 10. Other ideas suggested by the Board were: a special for Charter members, buttons identifying 10 year anniversary, a scavenger hunt around the community center or around the City, relay races, family Olympics, trainer time, bring a friend free, vouchers for concessions, door prizes. Kitty noted that the staff will continue to work on ideas and report back. 10. Added item -Ice Arena, the item was not discussed due to time. 11. The meeting adjourned at 6:16 p.m.