BROOKINGS — Members of the Brookings Park & ​​Recreation Commission formally met with the agency’s new director, Kristin Zimmerman, at a meeting Monday night.

“We are thrilled to welcome Christine.[She]has come here with some great experiences,” said Deputy City Manager Jacob Meschke. Mr. Zimmermann said, referring to the 30 or so applicants for the position.

Plus, she’s from Mojave County, Arizona, to Brookings, where she’s a parks manager and police overseer as part of that job, “which is unique and interesting,” Meschke said.

“I’m really excited. We have a great team here and I’m happy to be a part of it,” said Zimmermann.

She said she was born in Iowa and has lived all over America. After her college, she went to Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, where she worked for 12 years. After that, she went to Maryland for a bit, then to Arizona, and now she’s “happy to be back in the Midwest,” she said.

Pioneer Park Bandshell

In one of its updates on Monday night, the commission got an estimate of the cost of repairs to the Bandshell project and when those repairs are expected to take place.

Josh Bauman, interim assistant director of the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Division, who works with DesignArc, said the current estimate is about $290,000, which doesn’t include the planned electrical work. said no. He said the grant funding is being considered.

In the ensuing discussion, Meschke noted that if savings are found in other parks and recreation projects this year, some of those savings could be diverted to the bandshell project. One possible example given by Meshke is the renovation of a basketball court at Pioneer Park, where he has a budget of $100,000, but the estimate/estimate is from his $31,000 to his $32,000, so you can save. The amount will be approximately $70,000. He said those potential savings could go toward bandshell projects.

Meschke also said the Bandshell project is currently being envisioned as a 2024 project, with tenders expected to open in the fall of 2023. The goal would be to complete the work comprehensively as soon as possible in 2024 so that the facility is ready for use.

“From the city’s point of view, the idea of ​​this administration is really to take care of the assets that we already own and that exist,” Meschke said.

The Board ultimately supported a motion to prioritize bandshell projects for cost savings, if any, in other areas.