RECREATION & PARK COMMITTEE
MINUTES
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Avon Town Hall, Building #7
I. Call to Order - 6:10 p.m. – By Chairman, Peter Ponziani
A. Attendance
1. Members & Staff Present
Glenn Marston, Director, Sharon VanDeusen, Admin. Coordinator, Peter Ponziani, David Jadovich, Paul Marioni, Michael Trick, Kathy Thompson
2. Members & Staff Absent
Donald Droppo, Peggy Roell
B. Introduction of new Committee Member(s)
Glenn Marston introduced and welcomed new Committee Member Paul Marioni. Glenn told committee members that Paul is involved with many activities in Town including soccer, basketball and Little League and he will be a great asset to the committee.
II. Minutes – November 19, 2009
After reviewing the minutes from November 16, 2009, Michael Trick motioned to accept the minutes as presented and Kathy Thompson seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
III. Public Comment – None
IV. Director’s Report
A. Registration
Director reported to the committee that the department is seeing a bit of an upswing in registrations, but we are running classes and just meeting the minimum number of students, whereas we used to run classes above minimum and sometimes would fill classes. By running the classes with only the minimum number of students, the department is not making a profit, but simply paying the bill, so we are trying different methods of encouraging people to register. In this fiscal year, the department’s part time Administrative Secretary’s hours are all in the Recreation Reimbursable account, so we have to closely monitor that account to make sure it stays within budget. The money earned from program registrations helps to cover the hours budgeted for the Administrative
Secretary.
Mr. Marston told committee members that the department is starting to set up programs for the upcoming summer season. The Program Coordinator is putting together a schedule of sports camps that will be offered this summer and the goal is to try to run the camps on different weeks so that the same age group is not targeted for more than one camp each week. Some of the sports camps that will be offered this summer include Basketball Camp, Field Hockey Clinic, Flag Football, Lacrosse Camp, Soccer Camp, Tiny Hawks Camp and Volleyball Camp. Glenn said that the Volleyball League that was offered in the fall had 50+ girls registered, which means the interest is there.
Glenn told the committee that Brandon Robertson has now officially taken over as Town Manager. Glenn said at the department heads meeting, Mr. Robertson told them that he was happy to be here and “getting this position was like winning the lottery.”
The Town Council told department heads that the Town would still be run pretty much the same way and there would not be radical changes made.
B. Scoreboard at Fisher Meadows
Mr. Marston informed the committee that the Booster Club had a meeting and a request was made to replace the scoreboard at Fisher Meadows. Glenn told the Booster Club that the scoreboard was donated by the Colbert family and he wanted to speak to Mr. Colbert before any decisions were made. After exploring some options, it was decided that the Booster Club would replace the LCD display with an LED display and it was less expensive to do this. Glenn spoke to Mr. Colbert about this and he was okay with moving forward with the project and may even donate some money towards it. Mr. Colbert did ask Glenn to have a plaque put on the scoreboard honoring Mr. James Murray, who used to be the girls soccer coach at the high school. Glenn will get this taken care of. Mr. Marston also suggested looking into switching
the other scoreboards in town over to the LED displays.
IV. Correspondence - None
VI. Committee Communication – None
VII. Old Business
A. Fisher Meadows Field Project
1. Update
Glenn reported that the Fisher Meadows project is currently on hold until money becomes available.
It was reported that the results just came back on the well tests for the Thompson Brook Road site and Glenn said there is about a 2-year window there. He would like to try to flatten that area out, plant some grass and use it for some open field space for practice fields. Glenn didn’t think there would be money anytime soon for that property.
B. Review of Fees – Further Discussion
1. $ 5.00 per registrant fee for all leagues.
Glenn reported to the committee that all sports organizations have sent in their money for the $5 per fee. Avon Little League, Lacrosse and the Avon Soccer Club are currently holding registrations so there will be more money forthcoming from them.
VIII. New Business
A. Countryside Park – Unplugged Learning Project
Glenn informed committee members that the Town has received a $1,500 check from KBE toward the renovations at Countryside Park for the Unplugged Learning Project. Glenn said this is moving forward and the roof will be the first item that will be worked on and he will get quotes on replacement of the roof. The Unplugged Learning Project is really excited about the renovations to Countryside Park and is working diligently to raise funds to help with the renovations.
B. Avon Middle School Tennis Courts
Glenn reported that Laura Young, a member of the Unplugged Learning Project and ACORN, met with him, Phil Schenck and Brandon Robertson about replacing the Tennis Courts at the Avon Middle School. Mr. Marston told Laura that unless the Board of Education has some need for the courts, then replacing the tennis courts would not be something the Recreation Department would be interested in. There was publicity scheduled to go out that said that the Town was supporting this project, but Glenn had them change the wording on the publicity. Glenn said that unless the Board of Education establishes a capitol project for this, there is no money to do this project because there are so many other projects that would take priority.
C. Miscellaneous
Glenn told committee members that the Recreation Department gave up sponsoring the Halloween Parade and it has been taken over by the Avon Volunteer Fire Department. There has been discussion about giving up the Holiday Breakfast as well because we are not getting that many people to attend anymore. Donna Zyjeski, the kitchen manager at the Avon Middle School, donates her time to the Holiday Breakfast; and volunteers from the Avon Canton Rotary do the cooking for the event, however, there are still the supply expenses, recreation staff expenses and food expenses. When the final report was done this past December, there was an $800+ deficit. The Avon Canton Rotary made a $400 donation to help offset the expenses.
Glenn said we are also taking a look at the Fishing Derby expenses, although we do get between 180-200 people every year for this event (including children and parents). The Town budgets $730 toward the purchase of the fish, but the Recreation Department purchases the prizes and supplies the staff. The fee for the Fishing Derby is $5.00 per child and this money helps to offset some of the expenses, but does not cover them all.
Glenn reported to the committee that the department will start advertising for summer jobs for camp and pool positions in the next few weeks.
1. Adjournment
A. David Jadovich motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:05 pm. Kathy Thompson seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
Respectfully Submitted by
Sharon VanDeusen
Sharon VanDeusen
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