Board of Commissioners Meetings

The agenda for the September 9, 2025, Joint Scott County-Three Rivers Park District Board Meeting is available here.

The Joint Meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. at Mississippi Gateway Regional Park, 10360 West River Road, Brooklyn Park, MN 55444.

Recommendation:

NO ACTION REQUIRED.

Background Information:

Any individual wishing to address the Boards on subjects which are not part of the meeting agenda may do so at this time. Such items will typically be referred to staff for review, action and/or recommendation for future board action. The public will also be provided an opportunity to address the Boards on items which are on the agenda at the appropriate time.

If you would like to submit written comments in advance of the Board Meeting that will be shared with the Boards, you may post them below in the comment box under the agenda item you wish to address or under People Wishing to Address the Boards if it's a topic not on the Board Meeting agenda. Comments received by 3:00 p.m. on the Monday before the Board Meeting will be shared with Commissioners at the meeting.

Recommendation:

NO ACTION REQUIRED; THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.

Prepared By: Patricia Freeman, General Manager of Scott County Parks and Howard D. Koolick, Three Rivers Park District Director of Finance/CFO; with input from a variety of Park District and Scott County staff.

Background:

On December 16, 2010, the Park District and Scott County entered into a joint powers agreement that defines the roles and responsibilities for operations and maintenance of all regional park facilities in Scott County. The agreement requires the preparation and adoption of an annual budget. The staff listed above, along with Brad Chock, Director of Maintenance, Lynn Stoltzmann, Director of Facilities, Tom Balk and Justin Markeson (supervisors for the parks in Scott County) and other staff have met and developed budget recommendations for 2026.

2026 Budget Overview

The recommended 2026 Scott County-Three Rivers Partnership budget strives to:

• Continue to provide high-quality services at four regional parks (Cleary Lake, Spring Lake Park, Doyle-Kennefik and Cedar Lake Farm), two park reserve (Murphy Hanrahan and Blakely Bluffs) and 16 miles of regional trails.
• Continue natural resources management throughout the Scott County Parks.

The recommended budget includes staffing, supplies, and services to meet these goals and is funded primarily by a contribution from Scott County, park use fees and grants from the Metropolitan Council.

The 2026 budget totals $3.93 million. The following table compares the 2025 and 2026 budgets.

The proposed budget includes increases in revenue from park user fees, the Met Council Equity Grant and the Scott County contribution.

• Park Use Revenue - An increase of $69,985
  • Golf Revenues - An increase in green fees from $16 to $18 per round plus increases in most golf revenue streams based on collections over the past several years.
  • Other Park Use Revenue - A decrease in several winter recreation estimates based on historical collections that factor in the past two years of little to no snow for skiing.
• Met Council Wellness Grant - An increase of $20,964 to fund the increased cost of the Wellness Coordinator whose FTE was increased during 2025 in order to expand the wellness program.
• Scott County Contribution - An increase of $128,829 to fund the increased operating costs for staff wages and benefits, supplies, equipment operation and maintenance.

Proposed expenditures include costs for operations at existing parks. No new staff is being proposed and minor increases in some expenditures are included based on historical usage and cost.

• Wages and Benefits - An increase of $181,878
  • Includes funding for 25.05 FTE positions based on existing compensation plan.
  • Health Insurance increase of 9.5%
• Supplies - An increase of $5,000 for various maintenance supplies
• Contractual Services - An increase $29,400
  • Fleet Maintenance - $25,000 for increased costs of fuel and maintenance of equipment and vehicles used to maintain parks. Utilities - $4,400 for various utilities at Cedar Lake Farm
• Other - An increase of $3,100 in credit card fees based on increased usage by park guests.

Commissioners will not be asked to approve the budget at this time. The Scott County contribution will be included in the Scott County budget. The Partnership budget will be reviewed and approved by the Three Rivers Park District Board once Scott County has approved its budget. Both approvals are expected to occur in December or early January.

Attachments:

Scott County Budget Presentation for Joint Mtg - Sept 9 2025.pdf

Recommendation:

NO ACTION REQUIRED; THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.

Patricia Freeman, General Manager of Scott County Parks; Justin Markeson, Park Maintenance Supervisor; Tom Balk, Park Operations Supervisor; and Thomas Gorycki, Strategic Programs Manager of the Scott-Three Rivers partnership

Background:

This agenda item reports on highlights of partnership work and projects of note to date in 2025. A list of highlights submitted by work group staff is attached for reference.

County Capital Planning –Vertical Infrastructure and Expansion to a 10–Year Parks Improvement Plan

Work groups from the Park District and Scott County collaborated to make changes to the county’s Parks Improvement Plan (PIP), expanding it from a five-year to a ten-year plan and adding vertical (non-pavement) projects. Pavement projects have been in the plan for many years and while vertical infrastructure projects have been included in the past, this effort involved comprehensive review of needs for the next 10 years. The 2025 – 2029 PIP included 10 projects, six of which were pavement projects, and four acquisition projects. Sixteen new projects were submitted to the 2026 – 2035 PIP, of which 11 are vertical or non-pavement projects. Having received review by the Park District leadership team, the projects are now under review by the County’s Governance team.

Marketing and Communications

In 2025 there has been a collective effort to build efficiencies around the development of the monthly e-newsletter for the partnership parks and the “park pages” that occur in the Scott County newspaper the “SCENE”. Additionally, partnership staff have worked to modernize and expand utilization of county platforms, in particular social media and digital signage infrastructure and those efforts will continue.

Recent Park Expansion and Improvement Projects – Update and Community Response

Doyle-Kennefick - The park opened for the first time in September 2024 with the development of 3 miles of hiking trail that traverse through 100 acres of restored prairie, maple-basswood forest, and alongside waterlily wetlands. Several phone calls from community members and neighbors expressing appreciation for the new trails and access to the park. During the summer of 2025, 3 - 8 cars at a time on most summer weekends, based on observations by field staff. Annual use numbers will be available via the Met Council annual use estimate in July of next year.

Cleary Campground - Adding the shower and restroom building and RV support infrastructure and drinking water has been very well received, with many anecdotal stories from visitors. One family shared they have been camping at Cleary for a long time and after asking friends to join them for years, they finally agreed to join them because of the modern facilities now available.

Cedar Lake Farm – Camper Cabins – The site opened end of October 2024 and awareness has been steadily climbing. The cabins were booked out every weekend during the summer. Marketing efforts are being made across platforms such as the magazines, social media, park signage, emails, and newspapers and more. Twin Cities Live showcased the cabins during a visit to the cabins and interview of site staff. The cabins were featured in Lake Minnetonka Magazine, Cities South Magazine and a few other online magazines. A Facebook post on Scott County’s account had a lot of engagement, reaching 137,000 individuals and 611 interactions, the largest reach of a Scott County post in the last two years.

Planning is in the works to pair winter activities and cabin stays as well as introductory camping with community partners. This winter we will offer an introductory ice fishing program and cabin stay, enabling participants to spend the weekend in the cabins while learning fundamentals of fishing.

On the operations front, staff have received positive feedback from guests that highlight the use of Cedar Lakes Farm’s beaches, kayak and paddleboard rentals, fishing piers, and trails during their stay.

January 1 through August 31, 2025, we had 323 nights booked out of 972 nights available. Every weekend, June through August, was fully booked out.

Community Engagement Highlight

The Parks Wellness initiative, in the 2nd phase of implementation and funded by the Metropolitan Council through its Equity Grant Program, continues to be a highlight of engagement efforts to connect residents to the many benefits of regional parks in Scott County.

• Served over 1,200 from January 1 – June 30, 2025
• New partners: Prior Lake and Savage Senior Centers, Furlong Learning, East African Women’s Group, Let’s Go Fishing and more
• Continued work with: Libraries, FRC’s, New Beginnings, Scott County Foster Care Licensing, Anchor Center, Tree House and continued collaboration with the Outdoor Recreation School
• Newly developing partnership with Damascus Way around their re-entry housing services – working with Scott County Corrections to develop relationship and programming. Preliminary interest and discussions around camper cabins, fishing, hiking and kayaking, and more.

Future Improvement Projects - Highlights

Merriam Junction Trail

• Construction is well underway and was at a good pace through the spring. Recent flooding has challenged the schedule and the planned completion at the end of 2026. Depending on the rate of drawdown on the river after the most recent flooding crests, and water levels next spring, paving of the trail, which will be the final construction activity, could go into 2027.
• This 2.42 trail includes a new span over the Minnesota River, connecting Carver and Scott counties. This new trail serving the southwest Metro connects downtown City of Carver across the river through the MN Valley Recreation Area.
• 129,000 visits are anticipated on this new facility once completed.

Play Areas

• 2026 – 2027 A play area is planned for Cedar Lake Farm and a replacement of Cleary Lake’s.

Camping Improvements Partnership with Schools

• 2027 – 2028 Camper cabins are planned at Cleary Lake campground
  • 2026 – Planning discussion to occur with area schools
  • Design and Construction 2027 – 2028

Attachments:

Work Activities Noted by Staff - 2025.pdf

2025 Highlights for Partnership Joint Board Meeting.pdf