In response to a cut in state aid to the City of Grand Marais, Park and Recreation Manager Dave Tersteeg presented to the park board on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 a list of suggestions on how the rec park could cut costs and increase revenue. Reducing pool hours was on the list of ways to cut costs.
If pool hours were decreased 1½ hours a day during the nine-plus slow months and decreased three hours a day during the summer, Tersteeg reported, annual savings in staff time would be over $12,000.
Tersteeg recommended ending weekday adult swim at 11 a.m. and ending open swim at 7:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 8:00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays during the off-season.
He recommended that summer hours be 8-11 a.m. weekdays for adult swim and 1-8 p.m. all week for open swim. Office Manager Samantha Williams said a lot of campers check in midevening and like to run over to the pool before it closes. Later in the meeting, Head Lifeguard Charles Christiansen said he would like to see the pool stay open until 9:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Sundays have been especially slow at the pool, and closing all day Sundays was another option presented.
“I feel the overall impact on the level of service at the pool with this modest reduction in hours would be minimal,” Tersteeg wrote in a memo to the board, calling the current operating schedule “generous.”
Total labor costs at the pool, which include lifeguard duty, cleaning, swimming lessons, maintenance, and management and administration (which Tersteeg said he is trying to keep to a minimum), is about $130,000, 46% of the pool’s total operating cost.
Todd Miller said that while he is open to reducing financial loss by reducing hours, he is concerned about losing the availability of the pool “one hour at a time.”
Tersteeg will track pool usage over the summer. Any changes to the schedule would not take place until fall.
To bring additional revenue to the campground, Tersteeg suggested raising monthly rates, which currently run about half the cost of daily rates, with a rate scale that would bring in more money per month from trailers spending fewer months. Twenty-six percent of the park’s monthly guests stay only one month, while a handful rents for five months each year and gets free storage for the seven off-season months (paying an average of $3,000 annually, including utilities, garbage service, and grounds keeping).
Tersteeg suggested pro-rating monthly rates based on how many months the guests stayed, with, for example, the one-month seasonal price at 75% of the daily rate, the two-month price at 70%, the three-month price at 65%, etc.
One park guest who stays for three months each summer spoke up, saying that a rate increase of 15% could be very difficult for people on fixed incomes. Board chair Lindsay Mielke said she wants to keep the sites affordable.
The board decided to table the discussion until fall, when next year’s budget and rates will be on the agenda.
Another of Tersteeg’s suggestions on generating revenue was to sell convenience items in the park office. Tersteeg wrote in his memo that year after year, office manager Samantha Williams “has to turn away business from family travelers fresh off the road, craving a candy bar, chips, gum, or an ice cream treat.” He believes s’more fixings would be “wildly popular,” along with batteries and lighters.
Todd Miller said he would like to avoid taking significant amounts of business from local merchants. One option would be to lease the space to a local merchant, he said. Walt Mianowski said he likes the idea of having a place where kids can pick up an ice cream bar without having to walk down the street.
The board passed a motion authorizing the office to sell several convenience items particularly useful to campground guests.
Pool improvements
Head Lifeguard Charles Christiansen reported, “Since our April closing, we’ve had a lot of compliments on how nice the pool is and how clean it is.” The new climbing wall was expected by the end of the week, after which it would be installed professionally and inspected by the state. The Pool Pals brought in $500 toward the cost of the climbing wall at a May 17 pancake breakfast, leaving it about $2,000 short of the total needed. Christiansen said he hopes the climbing wall and positive reports in the community will bring more people to the pool.
The pool is fully staffed for the summer, and five new swimming instructors recently completed training.
Harbor happenings
The Army Corps of Engineers recently made some great improvements to the harbor, Tersteeg reported, including fresh paint on the ladders, the addition of several ladders, and new non-frayed cable lines that will be safer to grab on the way to the lighthouse.
Board members discussed conflicting opinions on whether to allow boats up to 35 feet into the marina’s new finger piers. Todd Miller stated that the average Lake Superior boat is 35 feet long, and he knows of no marina on Lake Superior that does not allow them. He had been told, however, that park staff has refused larger boats asking to dock, adding that Grand Marais has a reputation of not being open to transient boaters. He said he thinks the park needs a clear set of rules for boaters.
Samantha Williams said she thinks seasonal slip holders need to practice on the new piers for a month or two before having to navigate around larger boats. Lindsay Mielke said she thinks they should see how traffic flow goes over the summer before giving blanket approval to larger boats.
Dave Tersteeg said 30-35′ boats have not been turned away, but he wanted park staff to have the discretion to consider what other boats were there before allowing a 35-foot boat on an inside finger pier. He asked the board to make a motion giving staff that discretion.
Miller said he would be okay giving staff discretion as long as 35-foot boats were given the space when it’s available.
The board unanimously passed a motion giving park staff the discretion to decide whether the inside finger piers have enough room to accommodate 35-foot boats.
The Park Board discussed a request for a peddler’s permit that Jack Stone, owner of Fall River Trading, has made to the city council to allow customers to test-ride canoes from the beach near the picnic pavilion. According to Stone, Fall River Trading is the exclusive U.S. distributor of Langford canoes. Stone hopes to open a retail store selling canoes and other outdoor gear in Grand Marais next year. The council will consider the request at its June 10 meeting.
Park Board chair Lindsay Mielke said she was in support of the request since it was consistent with the rec park’s goals. Bill Lenz wondered if Fall River Trading would be carrying liability insurance. Walt Mianowski indicated he thinks the endeavor represents progress if it brings new business to town. Todd Miller expressed a concern regarding what they would do if other businesses made similar requests. They could take requests on a case-by-case basis, Carol Backlund said. Miller said, “I want to support what he’s doing,” but wanted to make sure it was consistent with the city’s agreement with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conservation easement on the harbor
In light of the questions that would not be answered for the park board before June 10, the board decided to send a recommendation to the city council that Stone use the east bay or the area in front of Lake Superior Trading Post, spots that are not part of the conservation easement.
Campground noise
Park board member Bill Lenz, also on the city council, reported that the council is likely to pass a noise ordinance limiting the hours during which local establishments can play music outdoors. Lenz recommended that the park maintain a stricter set of noise rules since people are in such close proximity to each other in the campground without the benefit of building walls between them. No action was taken.
In other news, rec park staff will be maintaining flower planters and handling weekend garbage collection in downtown Grand Marais this summer in order to fill an employee shortage in the city maintenance department.
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