Antrim Parks & Recreation Commission
Minutes
November 13, 2014
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 pm.
Attendance
Parks & Rec Commissioners: Mike Genest, Joan Gorga, Peter Lamb, and Isaac Lombard
Recreation Director: Celeste Lunetta
Minutes
The minutes from the October 23, 2014 meeting were approved as written.
Budget
CIP Follow-up. We will prepare to defend our request for $25,000 to be added to the Parks Improvement Capital Reserve Fund at Town Meeting and to spend not more than $93,000 to install 5 bases and three light poles at Shea Field. Peter has already begun to collect materials. We should also be ready to propose an amendment, depending on the results of the vote on the CRF requests. Celeste will include a brief description of our intentions in the December Limrik article. We have also been advised to set up a Facebook page, and put up the pictures, the quote from MUSCO, and any other information we have.
Because we are currently unsure of the exact amount of funding that will be required for Memorial Park in the coming year, we do not anticipate spending more than $10,000, and we are writing grants to cover as much of the costs as possible, we will increase the “Parks Grants” line in the department budget from $1 to $2000, to give us flexibility. This will increase the department budget, which has been kept flat for several years.
Shea Field
Lighting plans. We have explored some grant options for at least partially funding the Shea Field lights. Baseball grants apparently “don’t favor” grant proposals where the field is also used for other sports. We may be able to get other towns to contribute to funding the lights. We will further discuss fundraising efforts and plan for public presentations at our December meeting. See also the CIP budget discussion above.
ConVal Agreement. David Martz responded quickly to Joan’s email, and a meeting to begin negotiations over the shared use of Shea Field is tentatively set for 5:00 pm on November 18th at the SAU Offices. David Martz mentioned that the Town Gym Shared Use Agreement has disappeared after being signed by the Antrim Selectboard, and has not made it to the School Board. Any help in locating it would be appreciated.
Memorial Park
Ten-year plan/Design. Peter Wells will present several alternative designs at our December 11 meeting. He will come out to the park again before then for further site analysis.
Maintenance. Celeste has not heard any more from Harry Payne. Sign replacement was not discussed.
LWCF Grant. The site inspection for the LWCF grant and overdue inspections from previously received grants were completed on October 27. The only issue was a missing sign on the Lucy Hurlin property. We will talk to the Conservation Commission regarding replacing that sign, as the Hurlin property is really under their domain. For the LWCF grant application, Bill Gegas advised us to get a letter written to the History Board regarding any archeology issues, as that can sometimes cause a delay.
Unfortunately, it appears that The Stanton Foundation funds dog park construction only in Massachusetts towns.
Town Gym
Shared use. The Rec. Dept. has designed a Gym Usage Request Form. Approved forms will be signed by the Rec. Director and either the Chair or the Vice-Chair of the Parks and Rec. Commission. Isaac Lombard was elected Vice-Chair. The GBS Running Club has been informed that it will have to submit a Request Form to continue using the gym. In light of the continuing issues with Running Club non-compliance with carrying gym shoes into the building and the fact that the Before School Club has been driven out of the gym on Tuesday mornings when the Running Club is using it, the Commission voted to put the Running Club on notice, and to approve the Usage Request Form for only one
month, pending resolution of issues.
Floor maintenance. The floor reseal is still scheduled to be done on November 24.
Recreation Department
Update. The Commission voted to approve an after-school Circus Arts program show for which donations will be collected to go to the ailing Rick Davis, a circus teacher from Temple.
Gregg Lake
Beach/Boat Launch Issues. The plexiglass on the sign at the boat launch has been broken.
The next regularly scheduled Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting will be held on Thursday, November 13th at 7:00 pm at the Rec Office.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 pm.
-Joan Gorga, Chair and Secretary
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