Parks and Recreation leadership continues to scrutinize operations to provide high quality services to customers while implementing strategies to improve effectiveness and cost efficiency.  At the Ice Arena, we've been able to establish partnerships with great local businesses, which improved the quality of service delivery while reducing the staffing requirements. 

The partnership with Edgetek Hockey provides customers a full service pro-shop experience while eliminating the need for a city staffers to man a desk in order to sharpen skates and sell items, eliminating all related expenses to provide the service.  The partnership agreement with Edgtek Hockey has also added more than $12,000 annually in revenues.

  The partnership with Go4Gold Figure Skating helped bring the Shakopee Skate School to life.  The Shakopee Skate School has dramatically added to the developmental skating services offered to customers, while eliminating $10,000 in annual learn-to-skate staff expenses.  The partnership agreement with Go4 Gold Figure Skating has added more than $100,000 in revenues to the ice arena budget.

  In the spirit of conscientious stewardship and cost efficiency, Ice Arena staff agreed to assume additional custodial responsibilities for the 2020 budget year and beyond, which eliminated $32,500 of ice arena budget expense for cleaning contracts.

Our efforts to pursue efficiencies combined with normal attrition have taken us to a decreased ice arena staffing requirement of 10 (2 Full-timers; 3 Permanent Part-timers; and 5 Part-timers) from what was once almost 40 (2 Full-timers; 2 Permanent Part-timers (29hrs or less per week); and 30+ Part-timers).

  Unfortunately, the COVID/Post-COVID employment environment has severly impacted Parks and Recreation recruitment.  We can not get applicants to apply for our requisitions and we now have a critical need at the Ice Arena.  We have gone out to recruit to fill Part-Time Ice Area roles five (5) times and have had several recruiting rounds without a single applicant.  As a result, Full-Time staff are accumulating unsustainable overtime hours and we are on the cusp of the busy season for the Ice Arena.  Discussions with other Ice Arenas who face similar Part-Time recruitment challenges have shared that they have found success resolving their staffing issues through recruiting for Full-Time positions.

  Therefore, having found no success in every effort to recruit Part-Time staff in the face of a severe staff shortage, we have adjusted our staffing model that adds a Full-Time Ice Arena Specialist with an Ice Arena staff of 7 (3 Full-Time; 1 Permanent Part-Time; and 3 Part-Time).  The new staffing model provides predictable schedules (see attached sample), reduces total ice arena staffing requirement from 10 to 7, and can be achieved for only $10,908.24 in additional staffing costs which are easily covered by the increased revenue and other decreased expenses for the facility.

  Shifting to this model with 3 Full-Time staff decreases Part-Time staff expenses from $104,550.00 to $42,087.24 for $62,462.76 savings in Part-Time staff expense.  The Ice Arena Specialist is a Grade 120 Step 3 position  costing a total of $73,371.00 ($47,710.00 in wages and $25,661.00 in benefits).  Applying the Part-Time staff savings ($62,462.76) to the total position cost ($73,371.00) leaves a balance of $10,908.24 for the position that can be covered by ever increasing Ice Arena revenues and other cost saving initiatives. 

  Therefore, I request that the Mayor and Council approve the immediate addition of a Full-Time Ice Arena Specialist to the Parks and Recreation staff at Grade 120 step 30.