HomeMy WebLinkAboutARC.min.11012006
ABN
DRAFT
ASPEN RECREATION CENTER
ARC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
November 1, 2006
In Attendance:
Board Members: Sue Smedstad, Barbara Owen,
Alice Davis and Debbie Ware.
Staff Member(s):
Tim Anderson, Paul Kulik, Erich Grueter.
I. Call to Order - Sue called the meeting to order with a quorum present.
Committee Comments:
Barbara mentioned to the AC that there was a blackout at the AIG during the
FFO and that the staff handled it very well. There was nothing they could do
about the loss of power and they stayed late and assisted jr. hockey with
rescheduling and keeping the tournament going once power was returned.
Debbie asked that the doors between the TV area of the lobby and the
mezzanine level of the LIA be unlocked during FFO. Staff will take care of
this during FFO play.
Staff Comments:
Staff asked that a discussion about a 4th weekend ofFFO be added to the
agenda, and a discussion about a request for donated ice from the Mother
Puckers be added to the agenda.
Staff also reminded the AC that the City was taking submissions for Volunteer
of the year from boards and commissions if the AC wished to nominate
anyone.
Guest Comments: N/A
II. Approval of Past Minutes: Barbara moved that the minutes be approved,
Debbie provided a second, all approved.
III. Discussion Items:
· Aspen Junior Hockey - Fall Face Off - AC members identified the
fact that there were some adults with poor attitudes at the FFO
which provided poor examples to youth. They felt that staff and
Aspen Junior Hockey handled the situations well, but identified
that it was unfortunate that these incidents took place. In general
the tournament had gone very well during the first weekend of
play.
Staff mentioned that Aspen Junior Hockey was potentially thinking
about the addition of a fourth weekend this year for FFO. A girl's
division had been cancelled as part of the FFO due to a lack of
teams. A late interest began to rise and the potential was there to
add the girls division. Due to the fact that the tournament was
already full for the scheduled three weekends, Aspen Junior
Hockey has been looking at the potential for adding the girls
division on a fourth weekend. Staff has recommended that Aspen
Junior Hockey use their contracted ice to host this division if it
takes place so as to not disrupt other user groups on such short
notice. Due to the number of teams in this division this should
work out. The AC agreed with staffs suggestion, but urged to
work with all groups if some adjustments needed to be made in
seeing that the girl's tournament would be successful.
· Pool Master Planning - Staff reviewed an outline provided in the
AC's packet which laid out the agenda for a public meeting. The
agenda in short would see that the public is informed about all
happenings and direction to this date which have delivered us to
this point in the process. It also identified desired outcomes of a
public meeting regarding consensus to direction and
recommendations, along with general and conceptual plans to be
developed from that point.
With this being said, staff also suggested to the AC that the process
for the outdoor pools and the ARC improvement plan be slowed
until after the first of the year. There were a couple of reasons for
this. 1.) We are going into the holiday season and if we had one
public meeting we might have a slight turnout due to the season.
There would be a long gap between public meetings due to the
holiday season, and this would or could disrupt the progression of
public input. 2.) Through the 2007 budget process with Council,
staff heard some remarks of concerns regarding elements of the
ARC improvement plan. Staff wanted to slow down, meet with
the City Manager and the Mayor to review where we were at this
point, and what our plans were to see that we don't run into any
political walls at this point.
Sue mentioned that staff had surveys from patrons that identified
the need for certain improvements in the ARC and that fitness had
a need due to the high pricing oflocal clubs. These elements
should be conveyed to Council. Staff agreed and plans to do just
that, but in addition, we might implement one more survey and ask
specifically if our user has been a member of a private club in
Aspen over the past two years. This will allow us to better assess if
we are in fact competing against the private clubs.
Staff was also going to touch base with Hagman Architects and
Doug Cook ofCouncilmanlHunsaker and direct them to see that
the Doug Cook would adjust his wonderful presentation which he
brought forth in September, and make it specific to Aspen's needs.
In other words, identify what we have that works and the
populations served, then identify the populations we are missing
and what elements will potentially fulfill the need of those
populations and fit our criteria of budget (loosely and space).
· Revenue Update - Staff provided a comparison of October 2005 to
the same month in 2006. Revenues at the ARC without ice fees for
that period were down by about 14% over 2005. The difference
was mainly in pass sales. . This could be due to off season, pass just
expiring at the end of October and renewals coming in November
possibly. None the less, as of November I, staff has begun a
marketing program to get more pass holders. If pass holders bring
a friend, the friend is free and each time the pass holder had their
name placed in a drawing for a nights stay at the Gant and dinner
for two at Elevation. This gets more non pass holders in the door
and hopefully many of them will take advantage of the great values
the FUN pass offers.
In addition, staff provided a year to date comparison of2005 and
2006 revenues and again without the ice fees the ARC was up by
9% over the same period in 2005.
IV. Updates:
· Aspen Junior Hockey Addition: Staff informed the AC that the
construction was completed, the offices were used during the FFO
and the materials seem to fit the LIA well. This also will benefit
staff by junior hockey vacating space at the Ice Garden which we
will allow for staff to house a new IT position in 2007.
· Pool Covers/Energy Audit - Staff updated the AC as to how the
ARC energy efficient projects were moving forward. Council has
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approved the audit and funding to move forward with design of the
elements identified in the audit. It will be after the first of the year
before this is completed. In addition Council had approved the
contract for installation of a pool cover as identified in the audit
and this will be installed prior to Thanksgiving. The pool cover
will begin saving the ARC approximately $6,000 annually in
utility costs.
· Concession RFP - The concessionaire; Champs, is interested in
terminating its contract with the City. This is due to the fact that
their support facilities were coming from the Thunderbowl Cafe
and Iguana's restaurant at Highlands in the past, each of which has
closed. This has made it increasingly difficult for them to provide
the menu, service, and personnel necessary to operate the ARC
concession facilities. Staff is aware of five entities who picked up
packets in the interest of operating the concession facilities.
Proposal packets are due by 5pm on the 3rd of November. NOTE:
Champs does have a contractual obligation to operate the
concession facility until April of2008 if we don't find a new
concessionaire by this time.
V. Action Item(s):
· Board Appointments: The AC confirmed the re-appointment of
Barbara Owen and Debbie Ware by SP ARC to the ARC Advisory
Committee.
· Alice Davis announced that she will be stepping down from the
AC as of January 1, 2007. The board voted on the resignation and
recognized it by a motion from Barbara and second by Debbie.
The resignation was begrudgingly accepted by the AC.
It was mentioned that Rick Newton and Ernie Fyrwald might be
interested in filling the vacancy created by Alice's resignation
from the committee.
· Mother Puckers Request - The Mother Puckers are requesting that
the ice be donated for their state women's tournament to be held in
Aprilof2007. The AC was concerned about maintaining a
consistency as to how donations of ice time were allotted to user
groups. They also identified that youth were the priority in the
ARC and that adults should pay their way in most circumstances.
The AC asked if the women paid entry fees to the tournament, and
would the Puckers make a profit from this donation?
It was determined by the AC that the Mother Puckers should first of all be
informed that Aspen Junior Hockey does not get their ice donated for the
FFO, rather they are awarded a grant request to be utilized towards their
choice of almost $200,000 in purchase ice time during the year. The AC
felt that the Puckers should go through the same process for requesting a
grant as do the other user groups. The AC was willing to offer the Puckers
the youth non-profit rate for the ice, but again felt that adults should pay
their way.
Representatives of the Mother Puckers will be invited to the December
AC meeting to further discuss and explain to the Puckers the direction of
the AC.
The AC asked staff to draft a policy that addresses these requests and the
wishes in direction by the AC so it is clear and consistent in the future.
VI. Other Business:
· The AC members felt that the next meeting should allow some time to say
thank you to Alice for her participation and a small holiday party.
The committee was adjourned and will meet again on December 6, 2006.
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