Continue Discussion Regarding City Events and Staffing

The purpose of this case is to clarify and gather Council feedback to provide direction to staff in terms of how to commence in any planning for City events including the 2020 Happy Days Festival and the Summer Concert Series.

Happy Days Festival: A Special Meeting of the Happy Days Committee was called on Thursday, May 14. The purpose of the meeting was for the committee to provide a recommendation to the City Council as to whether the annual Happy Days festival be canceled, modified or commence as usual. City staff provided an update on COVID-19, shared a message from State Fair officials, presented research regarding what other Counties and Cities are doing in regard to their fairs and festivals, reviewed what a modified version of Happy Days could look like and provided a recommendation to the Committee. Staff's recommendation was to cancel the 2020 Happy Days Festival for the following reasons:
1.Budget
2.Staffing (Discuss Administrative Intern & One FT Employee Leave of Absence [LOA])
3.Sponsorships
4.Volunteers
5.Governor's most recent recommendations

Committee members provided feedback on staff's presentation. The minutes of the May 14 meeting are attached to this case. Also attached to this ase are Staff's presentation/notes. Per the Council's request at the May 26, work session, the 2019 budget is also attached to this case. Staff will also present its findings in terms of sponsorship interest as requested and provide an update regarding the two contracts that have already been signed (Anderson Race Management: 5K and Youth Fun Run Coordinator and Hello! Booking Inc.: G.B. Leighton representative).

A total of 764.75 hours and $18,454.01 are invested by City of Ramsey staff to make the Happy Days Festival possible. The hours included are total hours, but the wages here do not include comp time. So, the hours are accurate but the wages will be short since there is no dollar amount assigned to the hours put as comp time.
•    Admin: $6,242.77
•    Community Development: $546.93
•    Engineering: $823.85
•    Finance: $126.75
•    Police: $4,464.35
•    Public Works: $7,845.33

Please note: These values show an estimate as to how much time each department invests to Happy Days.


Summer Concert Series:  Also on May 26th, there was acknowledgement (consensus) that the June concerts at The Draw would be canceled.  Additional discussion included developing a plan for some or many concerts to occur in July and August with respect to appropriate distancing at the amphitheater. Staff is proceeding with organizing and planning for the concerts at the amphitheater and will finalize details following consensus of the Council that this is still desired. The plan as of this case preparation, given the goal of trying to limit attendance (within the amphitheater proper) to 250 persons is to require concert goers to register for 'tickets' on the city's web site—similar to what had occurred with the Drive-in Movie. This would likely occur with Ramsey residents having 'first dibs' and also release opportunities in groups of 50 over a few differing days to provide opportunities for different residents to register (versus a person simply signing up for every concert). Another operational aspect to attempting to provide for appropriate distancing, may be to limit to the lower tiers of seating in the amphitheater to couples that are 55+ in age, the upper areas to groups of family members that arrive together, and also restrict children and pets within the interior of the amphitheater seating.

As for performer funding, Council may recall that for a normal season the approximate cost for bands is $20,000, with the Ramsey Foundation covering about half the expense through business donations, and the city's contribution of $10,000 from the Lawful Gambling Fund. For the July/August concert season without participation from the Foundation, the costs of concerts would be $17,150, less an anticipated sponsorship of $2,000 from Trott Brook Financial for a total of $15,150.

Note: The second attachment highlights the status of various other city events affected by the pandemic, as a informational item only.

Staffing:  As the City Council is aware, the 2020 budget includes funding for interns.  Two of the interns included in this funding have not been hired; the Planning Intern and the Administrative Intern (Happy Days Intern).  The reason for not hiring these interns is primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, staffing resources are still needed to do any Happy Days related work that may be decided upon.  In addition, on or near August 1st, the Communications and Events Coordinator will be out of the office for approximately three months.   If Happy Days occurs, staff recommends that it consist of 1-3 recreational events for the community, not a weekend of the crowd-intensive activities that would normally occur. Staff have strategized how to best cover any Happy Days work that may be needed, as well as how to cover the ongoing work of Communications and Events Coordinator.  Consequently, staff recommends increasing the Recreational Specialist, Abby Proulx, from 20 hours per week to 40 hours per week, effective in mid-July (or sooner if needed) through the return of the Communications and Events Coordinator.  Staff will work with AFSCME (the union) regarding this temporary change. The Recreational Specialist is well aligned with the skills needed for this role and she is fully aware of City operations and processes.  This recommendation still results in a net hourly loss of 20 hours per week; however, staff believes that other internal staff can temporarily absorb other duties that are needed. The funding to increase the Recreation Specialist's hours, at her normal rate of pay, is well within the current budget given the savings that will be realized with not hiring two interns.   Staff will be available at the meeting to provide additional detail and to answer questions.  

Staff is requesting direction regarding the Happy Days Festival (10-15 minutes), and consensus concurrence on the plan for summer concerts (5+ minutes)—including an understanding that flexibility will be required on how operationally they are organized as conditions may change, and ideas emerge on how to maximize the recreational and social experiences of concert-goers, while attempting to comply with State issued guidelines.  Staff also requests consensus acknowledgement on the staffing plan outlined above (5-10 minutes).

Funding includes; Public Works, Administration, Police and Park & Recreation staffing, (with Summer Concert band costs an approximate $15,150 from the Lawful Gambling Fund), and the Happy Days Fund - for Happy Days specific programming.

Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Mark Riverblood
Communications and Events Coordinator Megan Thorstad
Administrative Services Director Colleen Lasher

To provide direction to staff in terms of how to proceed in the consideration of any 2020 Happy Days related events, and the Summer Concert Series.