The Becker City Council meeting for August 5 outlined some decisions regarding exciting new changes for the community. Becker citizens can look forward to some upgrades to parks and streets in the near future.

Upgrade For Carl E. Johnson Park

Carl E. Johnson Park, located several blocks north of the Becker Fire Station, is getting some much-needed upgrades this year. The Public Services staff, Parks & Recreation Commission, and the Parks and Athletic Facilities Master Plan have all rated the current playground equipment as poor. 

According to Josh Kuha of the Becker Rec. & Leisure department, “Investing in Carl E. Johnson Park will be impactful for our community as the park resides in an area that is underserved compared to parks in other regions of Becker.”  He goes on to note the accessibility of  the park to the surrounding community.

The budget for the upgrades came to $80,000, which comes from Becker’s Capital Improvement Fund (CIP). Four companies were asked to come up with designs for the new playground, and ultimately the design created by Webber Recreational Design was selected by Parks & Rec. as the best fit. The proposed design includes a new swing set, a playset including slides, and a couple of climbing nets.

New Dog Park

Parks and Recreation approved the lot north of the Becker City Park as the location for Becker’s new dog park. This area was considered ideal since it already has its own separate parking lot and it is not surrounded by housing. The park will consist of two separate fenced-in areas, one for small dogs and another for large dogs. The dogs will be allowed to run off-leash within these areas.

The Parks & Recreation Commission has suggested engaging Bemboom’s Fence Inc. to provide the fencing for this new park, which is projected to cost $21,290, which will be paid for from the CIP.

If all goes as planned, fence installation should begin in mid October, 2020.

Employee Recognition

The Employee Retention Strategy Group suggested some changes to the Employee Recognition Policy. The main changes would include the recognition of part-time workers who worked at least 1,040 hours annually, a list of reasons to cover audit questions regarding the use of public funding, a differentiation between awards for full-time and part-time employees, a schedule to give awards quarterly, and the specification of the service award as being a gift certificate to Pebble Creek. The purpose of the policy is stated as “to promote employee morale, job satisfaction, teamwork and productivity, and to thank employees for their work throughout their careers and to recognize their contributions to the organization.”

Grant Writing

Following the decision to not create a position for a grant writer on Becker City Council, an alternate solution has been brought forward. Hoisington Koegler Group Incorporated (HKGI) would be hired to help pursue grant opportunities for the remainder of 2020 and the entire calendar year of 2021. All grants would still go through the proper channels, and ultimately be approved by the City Council. Sherburne County has been using HKGI for some time, and has shown a return for $81 for projects for every $1 spent with HKGI. Therefore, the financial cost to the city is nearly nonexistent, since this agreement is predicted to bring in more money via grants than the city will spend on the grant-writing.

Regarding The Use Of Automatic Pool Covers

Last year, an option for automatic pool coverings was considered as an alternative for fencing as a safety option for in-ground pools.  The Planning Commission decided against this idea, deciding that fencing was the only viable option for pool safety.  All language regarding automatic pool coverings has been removed from the pool code for the city of Becker.

Proposed Change To RV Parking Ordinances

Changes to chapter 9 and 11 parking ordinances would allow for a residential property to have up to two RV units parked on the lot.  A motion was also made to remove section 9.19 of chapter 9 in Becker city code, which stated that vehicles and watercraft stored in the front yard of a residential lot must remain one foot away from the sidewalk or five feet away from the street. Some definitions pertaining to the parking of recreational vehicles were also changed.

2020 Street Improvement Project Change

Recent soil borings done at Becker City Park revealed poor sub-grade and the presence of clay.  A solution was proposed to add an inch of aggregate base and add an inch of bituminous. Parkview Street and surrounding cul-de-sacs were meanwhile shown to have a sound aggregate base, so a proposal was made to do a deeper reclaim and produce a thicker aggregate base. This would result in a cost-savings for the contractor and reduce the construction impact on residence. These proposals would increase the project cost by $7,456.90, which still comes in under the original budget for the project, which is $499,174.44.

Frontage Road/Energy Drive Project

On a similar note, some new information regarding the Energy Drive Project has resulted in changes to the project. The County requested changes to align with various current policies. This will add $47,107.24 to the project’s cost.