Member News

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  • 31 Jan 2025 1:28 PM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    MRPA Annual Conference 2025
    October 27 - 30, 2025

    Heritage Center of Brooklyn Center
    Brooklyn Center, MN 

    The 2025 Conference Planning Committee is excited to bring to you the 2025 Minnesota Recreation and Park Association Annual Conference. This year’s conference theme is Rooted in Community, Growing Together. The 2025 conference team is devoted to delivering a conference that will explore all aspects of parks and recreation.

    One of the most important parts of any Conference Committee is the recruitment of high-quality speakers and engaging educational topics that will spark the interests of everyone in your organization. Please consider either submitting a proposal or forwarding a proposal to a person that may be interested in sharing their talents.

    To submit an Educational Session Proposal please visit: ­­­­­
    https://form.jotform.com/250054492458156

    The deadline for Educational Session Proposals is Friday, March 28, 2025.  

    If you have questions, the Conference Committee members would be happy to assist you:

    Carrie Anderson, Conference Committee Co-Chair                                                      
    carrie.anderson@cityofroseville.com

    Greg Simmons, Conference Committee Co-Chair
    gsimmons@goldenvalleymn.gov

    Aaron Thelen, Program Committee Co-Chair  
    athelen@newhopemn.gov

    Paul Pearson, Program Committee Co-Chair
    ppearson@plymouthmn.gov


  • 27 Jan 2025 10:56 AM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    MRPA Awards of Excellence

    Now's the time to show your support for your agency! The Awards of Excellence program recognizes agencies or organizations in Minnesota for outstanding achievements in parks, recreation, and leisure services.

    We invite you to participate and submit your agencies' outstanding programs, projects, or initiatives.

    The Awards of Excellence application is an online process.

    *Nominations are for new or purposefully updated/changed initiatives completed in 2024.

    Administrative or Management Strategies:

    https://form.jotform.com/250224157362147

    Park & Facility:

    https://form.jotform.com/250224036697154

    Programming & Events: 

    https://form.jotform.com/250224000061130

    Marketing & Communications:

    https://form.jotform.com/250223759753158

    Sponsorships & Partnerships:

    https://form.jotform.com/250224347178153

    Volunteer Initiatives:

    https://form.jotform.com/250223885875163

    This is a scored process, so complete answers to the application questions are valuable to a project’s overall score. Those applications that meet scoring criteria are presented with an MRPA Awards of Excellence plaque. All nominations must be submitted by the application deadline of March 2, 2025.

    We encourage all agencies to submit at least one project application. Let’s highlight all the great projects happening in Minnesota!

    Sincerely,

    Stacy Chouinard and Carissa Goebel

    Co-Chairs, MRPA Awards Committee


  • 27 Jan 2025 10:56 AM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wants your input on the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP)! As a leader and manager of a local parks and recreation system, we want to understand your priorities, challenges, and ideas about the future of outdoor recreation in Minnesota. If you aren’t already familiar with the plan, it is considered Minnesota’s outdoor recreation policy plan. It gives outdoor recreation decision-makers and managers a focused set of priorities and suggested actions to guide them as they make decisions about outdoor recreation. The National Park Service requires this plan to maintain eligibility to participate in the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (also known as the LAWCON or LWCF) program. The previous Minnesota SCORP can be found on the DNR website.

    Minnesota outdoor recreation agencies have a variety of strategic plans in place already, such as: the 25-year Legacy plan, plans developed by the Minnesota DNR, Metropolitan Council, and others. Because much important work has been done in this area already, we will incorporate existing goals and strategies into the next SCORP; with the addition of new and emerging information and priorities highlighted by local providers like you. Your input, along with research and other information on outdoor recreation, will be considered by the project team and a steering committee to develop the plan.

    Please use this online form to share your feedback by February 7.

    Responses provided in this survey are optional and will remain anonymous unless you share your contact information for follow-up. Please contact Diane Anderson, Parks and Trails Planner (MN DNR), if you have questions or to share any other resources that may be helpful for planning: diane.k.anderson@state.mn.us or 651-259-5614.


  • 21 Jan 2025 12:02 PM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    2025 MASS Conference "Pit Stops for Active Lives"

    April 10-11, 2025 in Duluth, MN. 

    $169 Member 
    $209 Non Member

    Deadline for registration is Monday, March 31st

    Click here to register

  • 13 Jan 2025 10:18 AM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    Congratulations to the MRPA professional award recipients for 2024 at the Annual General Meeting and Awards Luncheon on January 10, 2025. Thank you to New Brighton Parks and Recreation for hosting. Also, thank you to long-time North Star Partners, Landscape Structures, Inc. and Flagship Recreation, for sponsoring this event. 

    Pictured from left to right:

    HORIZON AWARD

    Jessica Christensen Buck, Corcoran

    TOMMY JOHNSON AWARD

    City of Duluth (Jessica Peterson pictured)

    CLIFTON E. FRENCH AWARD

    Tracy Petersen, Edina

    NELSON - NILES AWARD

    Carrie Anderson, Roseville

    Nikki Friederich, St. Louis Park

    HORIZON AWARD

    Jessica Christensen Buck, Corcoran

    Kevin O'Brien, Faribault

    LEADERSHIP AWARD

    Jason T. West, St. Louis Park


    (Not Pictured):

    BOARD AND COMMISSION AWARD

    Troy Fritz, St. Cloud

    LEGISLATIVE AWARD

    Representative Leon Lillie


  • 8 Jan 2025 7:55 AM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    Join the Leadership Network on Tuesday, January 21 from 1 - 4 p.m. at Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park for a workshop on building your team.

    Click here for the registration form

    Click here to register and pay online


  • 18 Dec 2024 8:02 AM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    MRPA wishes all members a happy holiday season! The MRPA office will be closed for the holidays from December 24, 2024 through January 1, 2025. We want to ensure a timely response to members’ needs -- please contact us by December 20 with any questions or member inquiries. Thank you!

  • 4 Dec 2024 3:27 PM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    Congratulations to professional award recipients for 2024:

    CLIFTON E. FRENCH AWARD

    Tracy Petersen, Edina

    NELSON - NILES AWARD

    Carrie Anderson, Roseville

    Nikki Friederich, St. Louis Park

    HORIZON AWARD

    Jessica Christensen Buck, Corcoran

    Kevin O'Brien, Faribault

    BOARD AND COMMISSION AWARD

    Troy Fritz, St. Cloud

    LEADERSHIP AWARD

    Jason T. West, St. Louis Park

    TOMMY JOHNSON AWARD

    City of Duluth

    LEGISLATIVE AWARD

    Representative Leon Lillie

    We look forward to honoring the award recipients at the Annual General Meeting and Awards Luncheon on January 10, 2025 at the New Brighton Community Center.

    Click here for the registration form

    Click here to pay online


    Newly Elected Board members for 2025

    Thank you to all members who were candidates during this year's election for their support of the Association. Also, thank you to Nominations and Elections Chair, Jerome Krieger, for his leadership throughout the nominations/elections process. Here are the election results:

    • President-Elect: Sonja Rippe, Plymouth
    • Treasurer: Andy Soltvedt, Anoka County
    • East Metro Region: JJ Williams, Washington County
    • West Metro Region: Jenna Smith, Victoria
    • Northeast Region: Carson Law, Wright County
    • Northwest Region: Lynn Neumann, Hutchinson
    • RSC Chair: Chris Morrow, Maple Grove
    • Bylaws Amendment - yes
    • RSC At-Large: Courtney John, Saint Paul
    • RSC West: Luke Kegley, Chanhassen
    • RSC Greater Minnesota: Devin Pewowaruk, Faribault


  • 26 Nov 2024 7:50 AM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    If you are interested in joining the Minnesota Assocation of Senior Services (MASS) please register here: https://mnrpa.org/event-5962770

    Thank you for your membership for the 2024-2025 year. If you have any questions regarding MASS, please contact Lacelle Cordes at lacelle.cordes@rosemountmn.gov Thank you! 

  • 11 Nov 2024 7:31 AM | Bethani Gerhard (Administrator)

    The MRPA election begins in mid-November.  Here are the 2025 MRPA Board of Directors Profiles:

    The MRPA Board of Directors wants to share information in advance related to the electronic ballot you’ll receive as an Association’s bylaws question will be included. The MRPA Board of Directors is proposing amendments to the bylaws that require a majority vote of the professional membership.

    Proposed Amendments

    This email contains two links shown below to the proposed amendments: a red-lined copy of the bylaws as approved by the Board of Directors showing the updates, and a clean copy showing these same updates. The additions are shown in red, and the deletions are shown in red with a strikethrough the text.

    ·       Click here for red-lined copy

    ·       Click here for clean, updated copy

    Legal counsel has reviewed the proposed policy changes. In addition to the proposed bylaw changes, the proposed updated bylaws files also include grammatical corrections and clarification language that do not change policy.

    Explanation

    MRPA last revised its bylaws in 2009. The proposed amendments are part of MRPA’s strategic initiative, which was developed after receiving input from the membership and working with the consulting firm Association Management Center to guide the Association forward. The proposed amendments also take into consideration and incorporate the consulting firm’s suggestions, including the recommendation to review the need for membership approval for bylaw changes. The proposed amendments continue to include membership input related to bylaws changes as outlined in Article XI. Additionally, the proposed amendments ensure current procedures, such as electronic voting and virtual meetings, meet State Statute.

    Ballot Instructions

    The electronic ballot requests members to vote either YES in favor of the proposed amendments as shown in the bylaws files or NO to the proposed amendments. All electronic ballots must be submitted online by the deadline shown on the election ballot email.

    If you have any questions about the proposed amendments, feel free to contact any of us or Michelle Snider at MRPA. Thank you.

    Sincerely,

    MRPA Board of Directors, Bylaws Review Committee


    Jerome Krieger -- JKrieger@blainemn.gov

    Amber Moon Peterson -- amber@cityofnisswa.gov

    Mike Ramirez -- mike.ramirez@eaganmn.gov

    Joey Schugel -- JoeyS@newulmmn.gov

    Dan Schultz -- Dan.Schultz@rosemountmn.gov

     


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Minnesota Recreation & Park Association (MRPA)
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