Park board reviews plan

What goes around comes around and a conversation about a new track for remote control car and truck enthusiasts in Dickinson is on a roll.

Kevin Guthrie, a representative of a group of remote control car enthusiasts, came before the Dickinson Park Board Monday to discuss a home for their sport. The group has utilized a piece of land behind Dickinson's Prairie Hills Mall, but is looking for a different location.

"We're looking for land to build an RC park," Guthrie said. "Since we can no longer go where we were, there is no place for us to race our trucks."

The RC club is asking the board for land with access to water and electricity. Guthrie said there are volunteers willing to help with the development of the park. Guthrie suggested using the land that used to be the BMX track.

"That land is owned by the city," Dickinson Parks and Recreation Director James Kramer said. "So our next step is to contact them about it."

In an unrelated matter, personal training is taking a new turn at the West River Community Center. The board approved putting out a request for proposals for personal trainers at the WRCC. Proposals are to be accepted from individuals acting as independent contractors.

Currently, personal trainers provide service to patrons of the WRCC independently without connection to Dickinson Parks and Recreation.

"We didn't know how much demand there would be for something like this," Kramer said.

As growing demand has been shown, the board is taking action to provide more consistent service.

Meanwhile, park district Recreation/Facilities Manager Kevin Klipfel reported a difficulty of filling summer job openings.

"There's not as many people coming on board," Klipfel said. "And there's not as many applications coming in. In the past, we've had as many as 300 to 400 applications. This year, we don't even have 50."

The park district needs to hire about 50 people for the summer.

Heart River Golf Course Superintendent Steve Eastgate also reported on improvements that could be made to the course.

Those improvements include about six changes to the course's overall design. Board President Mike Lefor recommended the public be made aware of the alterations before action is taken. Information will be published in the district's newsletter.

Lastly, the employee benefits and policy manual has been revamped and has been made available to the commission for review before its round table meeting later this month.