Beltz Park to get court updates after big project halted
After aiming for a fast-track process in interviewing interim City Administrator Kristina Handt for the position, the council backtracked its timeline during the council’s Monday, March 11, meeting.
The council had initially agreed to an expedited process to interview Handt for the administrator job. DDA HR, Inc. was hired by the council in February to begin a search for a new administrator, but since Handt was in the pipeline of consideration for positions with other cities – and there seemed to be mutual interest by Handt and the council for the city’s open administrator position – the council decided in February it’d move forward with an expedited process, specifically interviewing Handt on Thursday, March 14. In effect, DDA HR would stop the typical hiring process until a determination was expected to be made on Monday, March 18, exactly one week from the date of the council’s decision change.
Last Monday, the council backtracked on that decision, especially as concerns came to light that there were some key differences regarding pay and benefits for the position.
“Learned in last couple days maybe we may not be fully aligned or some of council may not be fully aligned with interim city administrator’s for salary/package benefits,” council member Blake Roberts said, later adding his concern over the city’s hiring needs for a city clerk and assistant city administrator, saying “We’d be looking at upwards of $100,000 in increase in budget for the administration department. So that gives me a little pause at this point.”
“I think we owe it to the public to –,” council member Sam Husnick started saying. “The expedite thing as a whole gives me a little bit of a shiver, because Kristina has to make some choices along the way and we have to make some choices along the way. It just seems to me that I don’t think we should be stopping the [search] process. I just think we should be moving forward with the whole process; I’d definitely want to look at the whole pool.”
Mayor Mara Bain was not present for the meeting, but the four other council members were in agreement. Bain said earlier that if Handt was still so inclined, she is still welcome to put in her application for the larger process through DDA, HR.
A new timeline for the administrator search has not yet been determined.
Beltz Park
After an abrupt stop on any upgrades at Beltz Park last year, the council is looking to move forward with the reconstruction of the courts at the park. The estimated $650,000 price tag would pay for the reconstruction of basketball and tennis courts, which had been part of the original plan in the whole parks’ reconstruction. The plan also includes some dollars for redoing the siding of the warming house.
The council all concurred that the condition of the courts is poor and that their reconstruction is necessary.
“I was as appalled by the condition of those things; something has to happen now,” Roberts said during the council’s workshop meeting on Monday, March 18.
Council member Leif Erickson said the courts are “just brutal” and said he’d rather do the project this year “instead of waiting another year.”
“Historically, we’ve done a terrible job of funding Forest Lake,” Erickson said, echoing sentiments expressed by Bain at the truth-in-taxation meeting last year.
Bain once again reiterated the historical precedent of only funding parks through park dedication funds given to the city when new developments are built.
“Demand for those funds are great and our pool is really limited, currently,” she said, but added that in recent years the council has approved some efforts to increase the parks funding through general levy dollars, which began in 2021, though she added it’s going to take time to build those funds to a healthy place to fund maintenance and upgrades.
A vote on the approval of spending those dollars for Beltz Park is expected to come up at a council meeting soon.
The conversation around Beltz Park also included debate about when the council would hope to reseat a new Parks, Trails and Lakes Commission after a majority of the past commissioners resigned more than a year ago over frustrations they felt about the city and council.
Two former park commission members were seated in the audience during the workshop and expressed some past concerns that were part of the debate around Beltz Park when the new park’s plan was being developed.
What began with trying to adjust the city budget further downward at the Forest Lake City Council’s budget workshop on Monday, Nov. 20, ended with the council nixing the city’s plans to reconstruct Beltz Park, a project already underway, during its Monday, Nov. 27, meeting.
The city declined to approve contracts for site plan work and the purchase of playground equipment for what was supposed to be the first major phase of reconstruction, which effectively halted the entire project.
The council began debate during its Monday, Nov. 20, workshop about the possibility of diverting funds for the Beltz Park project to fund updates to Fenway Park, which sees far more visitors and needs safety improvements and other maintenance.
After the Tuesday, March 19, workshop, as the council approved this new reconstruction of Beltz Park’s courts, the city would have to give back the grant of $300,000 it had received from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to make the park ADA accessible.
For more about last year’s halting of the construction at Beltz Park, visit tinyurl.com/3exjbaft.
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