Appointed Committees

Parks & Recreation Consolidation July 30, 2018 Attendees: Tom Barry, Dave Lakefield, Scott Collins, Shaun Sipma, Perry Olson, Ron Merritt, Jared Olson, Elly Deslauries, Lisa Jundt, Kelly Matalka, Brock Harstad, Anne Nesheim The committee discussed the following: Goals and Objectives  The primary goals are to improve services and make quality of life a priority  Need to be able to sell the consolidation to the community especially if there may be an increase in cost  Need to memorialize why Recreation is going to the Park District and not the other way around  The benefits to the community should outweigh the costs  Initially should be a net zero increase but as services are added, costs will increase o Those costs will have associated revenue streams to pay for them through the use of fees or group fundraising  Most other cities operate with a combined Parks & Recreation Board o Only two states have separate taxing authority through a Park Board  Having separate taxing authority is a huge benefit because quality of life does not have to compete with other city services for funding  Citizens gain from the focus the Park Board has on one purpose  In the past, Community Facilities funds were used for Recreation related projects. With that no longer available, Recreation would have to compete with the rest of the City departments in the budget.  The Committee will need to communicate numbers to the citizens of Minot, especially if any tax increase will be necessary, now or in the next few years  One goal is to get more people involved in activities Employees and Benefits:  Civil Service will not be an issue  Pay and benefits will be a fiscal responsibility of the Park District  Currently, both entities carry similar insurance coverage o Similar health plan o Voluntary dental o Park Board does not offer vision; City has voluntary vision insurance  Pensioners could be grandfathered at the current contribution rate  Vacation is different; Park Board allows a carryover of 40 hours at the end of the year that must be used by March; City allows a 240 hour carryover  The City would pay out unused vacation that cannot roll over  Park could roll in accumulated sick hours and years of service  Both pay scales are similar 1|Page   There is no Human Resources department under the Park Board; activities are handled by admin and accounting  There are currently 10 civil service employees in the Recreation Department and 1 part time employee Fees:  Many current youth programs are subsidized in order to be at no cost for the public  If fees will need to increase those costs need to be communicated o Elly can work on a marketing campaign to address program changes  Adult fees currently pay for youth programs  A gradual increase can be implemented  If a fee prevents participation, the Park Board will find another way to pay for a program Analysis of Assets:  A long term lease can be drafted for the Auditorium to turn over ownership to the Park District once City Hall is relocated.  A benefit to keeping the Auditorium as a City asset is the access to CDBG funds  Need to identify activities that take place in the Auditorium and what goes in each room, to be include in the lease  The Auditorium must go with the consolidation as the facility is needed to run programs and maintain scheduling Action Items: 1. A meeting should be arranged between Dave, the City Attorney, the Park Board’s Attorney, and the County Auditor, with input from the State to ensure any transfers are done correctly at the County. 2. Scott will provide a full list of assets and a layout of facilities. Analysis will need to be done to determine the cost/benefit of each asset. 3. Elly will work on developing a formalized list of goals and a purpose statement a. The goals should support why we are consolidating 4. A public meeting should take place- possibly in September a. Need to discuss details with the City Council prior to the public meeting b. Need to discuss details with Auditorium staff The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 21, 2018 at 2:00 pm in the Auditorium, Room 203. 2|Page