02-13-2023 City Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,February 13,2023 6:00 o'clock p.m. Seals moved,Johnson seconded,to approve the fire department needs assessment, deliverables and timeline as written in the document.VOTE: Ayes 4,Nays 0. 21. 2022 HENNEPIN COUNTY YOUTH SPORTS GRANT Edwards said last fall,the City Council passed Resolution 7305 requesting the Hennepin County Youth Sports Program consider us for a grant of$200,000 for a project to provide pickleball courts and more importantly for the grant,youth hockey facilities. That grant would have been for monies to use in the 2023 construction season.The 2023 construction season is rapidly approaching. We are currently noticing, and Hennepin County has noticed,that there have been some delays in fundraising.And there may still be some questions about the end state of these facilities and this project. We've had a number of staff-to-staff discussions with Hennepin County Grant staff on this. And so based on the uncertainties, what we're recommending is that the City Council authorize staff to pull the grant application from contention for this construction season. We can, of course,then resubmit it for future construction seasons, once we have a more finalized plan that seems less contentious. Walsh said he thought that would be a smart play. Our goal is always to be upfront with the Counties that we're applying to for grants because we apply for grants all the time with all our different parks.It's multi- grants and multi-facilities,and we have another big one that will be coming up for sure with Hackberry. It's taken us some time to get through the process.And it's hard to raise money when you haven't gotten through the process yet. On March 6,the Parks Commission is going to have their work session to go through all the good,bad and ugly as to what they like,what they don't like, see what things checks the box,what hills may be too high to climb,what may be the next best alternatives,the pricing,how that works. That's going to be the meeting that is going to vet this then give recommendations to the Council to either continue the process in a different direction or just not do anything. It's the smart play to pull that right now,because we're a little bit behind in the timeframe,and we don't want to take money from somebody else that could be in the process and get the money that's ready to go. Seals said it makes sense. That's a large amount of money.You'd hate to see another Hennepin County city not get awarded and us get awarded and not be able to use it. I also would not like to see future requests looked at differently,for example Hackberry. So I think it's smart. She also mentioned the March 6 Parks Commission workshop. I think there's obviously an interest in pickleball.I don't know if the location is ideal. I've heard both sides of the coin. But really,that's where that conversation should happen. She said it is her understanding concerning the Hennepin County grant that if the City didn't have hockey there,the grant really wasn't as viable. Edwards said that is correct because the grant the City was specifically going after was a youth sports grant. They did tell me on the phone that pickleball is not yet something they categorize as a youth sport and that youth hockey is very much so. So that was what that grant application was resting on,that youth sport component. Seals noted that she thougt it makes sense to pull it out of contention. Page 14 of 16