Antrim Parks & Recreation Commission
Minutes
January 17, 2013
The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm, following consumption of delicious birthday cake for Celeste.
Attendance
Parks & Rec Commissioners: Joan Gorga, Sam Harding, Peter Lamb, Isaac Lombard, John Robertson (Selectboard ex-officio) and Tim Smith
Recreation Director: Celeste Lunetta
Minutes
The minutes from the December 13, 2012 meeting were approved.
ConVal Agreement
Report on ConVal Budget and Property meeting. John and Celeste attended the January 10th ConVal Budget & Property Committee meeting to represent Antrim’s interest in properties that are intensively used by both the Town and ConVal, in particular, Antrim Memorial Gym and Shea Field. Celeste was able to provide information to answer numerous questions from the Committee.
- The Committee did not appear to be aware that GBS students were using the Town gym.
- The 2003 agreement appears to be the last signed agreement between the Town and ConVal. Updated drafts of agreements have been prepared several times, but signed copies have not been located. Therefore, although some people are working under the assumption that items included in updated drafts apply, the binding working agreement is that from 2003.
- In the 2003 agreement, the Town gym was made available to ConVal for use during normal school hours. However, it has routinely been used by ConVal outside of school hours. Use by GBS before normal AES hours has confined Antrim’s before-school program, often consisting of more than a dozen children, to the Recreation Office.
- Insurance should not be an issue – both ConVal and Antrim should list each other as “additional insured” to cover each other.
- The most difficult issue continues to be who has control over the facilities. Marian Alese of ConVal said their lawyers are investigating who really owns the property, including the gym.
- While it has been understood by some that the Town and ConVal would pay for routine maintenance, such as resealing the gym floor, in alternate years, this apparently has never been written down. ConVal has not paid for the floor resealing in the last four years. The Parks & Rec Commission recommended sending an invoice for the December floor resealing to ConVal.
- ConVal paid for the gym floor replacement X years ago. The already buckling floor has been determined to be irreparable. This issue may be influencing ConVal’s willingness to contribute to routine maintenance.
The ConVal Budget & Property Committee had concerns about people using ConVal facilities for financial gain or for private functions. It was explained that the services, such as exercise classes, are being provided for the adults of Antrim, and use of the Town gym is justified. For private functions, gym use is restricted to athletic events, and users must provide their own insurance.
ConVal uses Shea Field, but pays nothing for maintenance. There is no agreement between the Town and ConVal concerning the use of Shea field.
The Parks and Rec Commission would like to see the issues described above clarified between the Antrim Selectboard and the ConVal School Board soon. John agreed to bring the discussion up at the BOS meeting on January 22.
Parks & Rec Commission members will consider how to approach an agreement for the use of Shea Field, including questions concerning who will perform the field monitoring, who will make decisions about when the field is closed, and who will get notified of such decisions. Peter will send out agreements other towns have concerning use of their athletic fields.
Budget
Update on 2013 budget. The 2013 budget is still under consideration. A Budget Hearing is scheduled for February 4th at 7 pm. It is feared that the ConVal budget will rise substantially due to loss of state funding, and the effect of this on other budgets remains to be seen.
Update on CIP proposal. The BOS is still working on the CIP proposals. They will be considered at the upcoming BOS meeting on Tuesday, January 22.
Shea Field
Update on damage report. There was no response from anyone at AES, GBS, ConVal, or the School Board to the email sent December 15th concerning damage to Shea Field caused by GBS students at recess.
Scoreboard. The Richardson Fund approved the use of funds to purchase a scoreboard for Shea Field. New bases are also needed this year.
Gregg Lake
Discussion of signage issues. A complaint was received about confusing signs at the Gregg Lake Beach. Dogs are allowed in the Boat Launch area only, but only vehicles launching boats are allowed to park in the Boat Launch area, making dogs illegal while walking from a car to the Boat Launch. Parks & Rec will try to clarify the signs when they go back up in the spring.
Memorial Gym
Update on floor refinishing. The gym floor refinishing was completed on December 21-22. The weather cooperated enough that the flooring company declined our offer of overnight accommodations.
Update on climbing net installation. The climbing net still has not been installed.
Update on repairs to basketball scoreboard. This was repaired the same day the vandalism occurred.
Rec Dept Staff and Programs
Update.
- The Rec Office is back on board after the loss of the computer hard drive. The 4th and 5th grade basketball teams have been doing well. The 3rd graders apparently need some extra lessons in how to get along. Signups for spring sports (baseball, softball, and lacrosse) are underway. Summer programs are out.
The basketball backboard is not adjusting up and down smoothly. After a short discussion of the symptoms, Peter suggested how to fix it, and Celeste said she would contact the appropriate person.
Memorial Park
Skate Park
Update on construction details for rebuilding Pyramid.
- Tim will put together a budget for reconstructing the Pyramid with pressure-treated lumber. He will do it a little differently by making the Pyramid narrower and adding a multidirectional “volcano” that is not as rounded as in the earlier drawings. As the cost should be under $5,000, we should not need a warrant. Repair funds might come from Government Buildings; the revolving fund might be able to be used for new parts.
- We would like to proceed with caution with the renovations until we have drawn up a master plan for Memorial Park, which includes possible changes to the Skate Park. For the moment, it was suggested that if we add on to the Pyramid, we should get rid of the mobile ramps, which tend to get pushed into the basketball area where they are potential hazards. “Either anchor it or lose it.” We also discussed rotating features, with those not in use being stored off-site, to provide a variety of challenges. Since most of the Pyramid parts will be built elsewhere in a garage this winter, and will be quickly assembled on site in the spring, we have some time to work on the master plan without delaying the Skate Park renovations.
- Efforts should be made to keep the abutting property owners apprised of any planned changes.
Update on revitalizing Skate Park Subcommittee.
- The Skate Park Subcommittee met in January, when they discussed plans to hold a “Scooter Day” competition with events for scooters similar to the successful skateboard competitions that have been held during Home and Harvest Festivals for the past nine years. They will be meeting again in February to make further plans.
- The Skate Park Subcommittee plans to enlist the help of local kids in March and April for a spring cleanup of the area.
- Trash seems to be an ongoing issue at the Skate Park. Although a trash barrel has been provided, there was some discussion as to whether a broom could be provided for additional cleanup.
Tennis Court/Ice Rink
Updates on condition of tennis court and ice rink set-up. The tennis net was taken down for the winter, but the posts were not removed. The people who had offered to set up an ice rink on the tennis court backed out.
10-Year Plan
Discussion of file set-up for data sharing. A file drawer was set up in the Rec Office with hanging folders and labeled files for the use of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Accumulated piles of records will be placed in the files as time permits, and additional materials will be stored as they accrue. The agreement was that materials in the files will either be copied or used in the Rec Office, so the information will remain available for all.
Discussion of information gathered so far. Issues of the Antrim Reporter from 1927 and 1928 were found that described the donation by Richard C. Goodell of two parcels of land that came to be known as Robert L. Shea Field and William E. Cram Grove. The only conditions imposed on the land donation were that the names be perpetuated and that the land be kept “perpetually for free public use for recreational and recreational purposes. Maintenance and further development of Memorial Park was summarized using Annual Reports dating from 1967 to the present. We still lack information on donation of additional land that was added to the park, including any contingencies on the use of the land. We have also been unsuccessful in locating a report on a UNH Cooperative Extension Service study of the park
area, which was performed over ten years ago.
Plan for next steps. Because of the late hour, the discussion of Memorial Park was kept short. More detailed maps would be useful. Joan will try again to track down information on the later sections of land added to Memorial Park, and contact the UNH Cooperative Extension Service to see if they might have information on the study in their files.
The next regularly scheduled Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 14th at 7:00 pm at the Rec Office.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.
-Joan Gorga, Chair and Recording Secretary
| 
