05-03-1994 Park Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE CITY OF ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON MAY 3, 1994 (�#4) UPDATE ON PARK PLANNING PROCESS - MEETING WITH CITY COUNCIL Chair Flint inquired about the status of the survey and Gerhardson passed out the questionnaire which is proposed to be used. After reviewing the questions, Vongries suggested that the word "elected" be deleted from the fifth line on page 1, as he felt that was unnecessary. He noted he was concerned that the list of activities should be rotated so that the people being surveyed were not biased by the order in which they were listed. He also wanted to include hunting on the list. Discussion ensued regarding the possibility of when people responded affirmatively to a certain activity, to just have the surveyor ask them where they usually do this activity, rather than go through the entire list a second time. The Commission felt that question #73 should be kept as a follow-up question. Vongries commented that he felt the questions regarding whether the citizens would like more facilities provided and the potential cost of providing those facilities should be at the beginning of the survey rather than at the end. Hurr stated that she felt that the intent was to discern what the people wanted in the way of facilities and amenities rather than financial issues regarding the provision of those items. Chair Flint commented he felt the survey was well put together and would make a good survey. Hurr commented she would like to see a question included in the survey regarding the issue of user fees for specific activities. Vongries suggested the following question be included at the bottom of page 4: "If the facilities you desire were available would you be willing to pay a user fee to have them?" McMillan commented she felt questions #91 and #92 should be one question, as the way it was presented was confusing. Gerhardson stated he would communicate the proposed changes in the survey to staff and keep the Park Commission informed of the progress. (#5) REPORT ON JOINT MEETING WITH AREA PARK COMMISSIONS AND ORONO SCHOOL DISTRICT McMillan stated that area Cities, including Maple Plain, Independence, and Medina have had round table discussions about their park systems. She felt that it was very informative to hear what other communities are doing in this area, and while they didn't get into specifics , most of the communities are also doing surveys to determine what their residents want to have in the way of park facilities. She stated that most Park Commissions are trying to solicit more funds from their City Councils to implement more programs. She noted that basically the School District was there to get more funds from the communities to run their programs. Hurr commented that perhaps they should get on the mailing list from these neighboring communities to receive their Park Commission Minutes which would help Orono be more informed regarding what the other communities were doing. 5