RECREATION & PARK COMMITTEE
MINUTES
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Avon Town Hall, Building #7
I. Call to Order - 6:09 p.m. – By Peggy Roell
A. Attendance
1. Members & Staff Present
Glenn Marston, Director, Sharon Brummert, Admin.Coordinator, Peggy Roell, Kathy Thompson, David Jadovich.
2. Members & Staff Absent
Donald Droppo, Paul Marioni, Peter Ponziani, Michael Trick
II. Minutes – September 21, 2011
After reviewing the minutes from September 21, 2011, David Jadovich motioned to accept the minutes as presented and Kathy Thompson seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
III. Public Comment – None
IV. Director’s Report
Glenn informed the committee about an incident over the weekend at Countryside Park, in which a car drove into the lower pond. A woman was teaching her daughter how to drive and she accidently hit the gas instead of the brake and the car went over the curb and down into the pond and fully submerged into the water. Both people were able to get out of the car and were not injured, but one was transported to the hospital just to be checked out. The Hartford dive team was called to get the car out of the pond. The DEP was also contacted and there was no contamination to the pond.
Glenn told committee members that budget has been submitted close to zero, with most of the reductions coming from the Special Revenue account. Glenn said the department didn’t take any hits in the General Fund, but he also didn’t increase it either.
Due to the mild and almost snowless winter, Glenn said we are ahead of the game for field this year. However, due to the storm in October/November, the town crews were not able to do any fall field prep, so the guys are currently working on that now.
Glenn said the basketball season just ended and some age groups were up and some were down. There were very few problems at the schools this year, with just a few at Pine Grove School. Glenn said there were no problems at Roaring Brook School and he attributed that to gym supervisor Kaitlin Stacy, who did an excellent job. Peggy asked Glenn to write her a letter, thanking her for a job well done.
There have been a lot of scouts calling Glenn about Eagle Scout projects and Glenn is working with them on this.
Glenn said he had a meeting with the Directors from the town’s that participate in the Farmington Valley Recreation Activities and everyone agreed to run the Field Hockey League again in the fall and Farmington and Granby will be joining the league this year as well.
V. Correspondence - None
VI. Committee Communication – None
VII. Old Business
A. Fisher Meadows Field Project Update
Glenn informed committee members that the Fisher Meadows Field Project is essentially complete. He said everything has been done except for the DOT count, otherwise the project is shovel ready. Glenn said we had $80,200 and we didn’t spend that much and the balance will lapse back into the Fisher Fund account.
Glenn mentioned that a town resident addressed the Monarch butterflies at Fisher and what the project would do to them. Mike Cegan had someone look into this and as a result, a butterfly garden will now be incorporated into the project.
Glenn said the Avon Soccer Club informed him that they will need two more U10 soccer fields this spring, however, we don’t have room for them. Glenn contacted Avon Old Farms School to see if they had some space we could use and unfortunately, they don’t, so the Soccer Club may have to use Huckleberry Hill and Roaring Brook School.
B. Capital Improvement Program Budget Update
Glenn said the biggest priority in the Capital Improvement program is the tennis courts at Sycamore Hills Recreation Area. The Assistant Town Manager asked if it could be put off one more year. Glenn said that Avon Middle School and Thompson Brook School tennis courts were having some work done and he asked Bruce Williams to see if the Sycamore tennis courts could be done in conjunction with those two projects and maybe it could be done for less money. Bruce will look into this and get back to Glenn.
Glenn reported that the Town Council accepted the idea of putting the pool on a 3-4 year cycle so we can build up the epoxy. Glenn said that a second David Theriault of the Public Works Department has been certified as a CPO, Certified Pool Operator. Sean Harrington and Paul Hoekman are certified as Aquatics Facility Operator’s and Scott Rand and David Theriault are certified as CPO’s.
C. Summer Day Camps – Pine Grove as a Permanent Location
Glenn said he has had a number of conversations with the Superintendant of Schools about Pine Grove School as a permanent location for our summer camp program. The Superintendant thought this was a good idea and has pretty much assured Glenn that we would be able to keep the program at Pine Grove School permanently. Glenn also told he committee that the summer camps will now include children entering 6th grade in the fall. He said we have added enrichment programs to our camps this summer. The Enrichment programs will allow campers to sign up for programs such as Karate, Cooking, Knitting, Paper Mania, Tennis and Art classes for an additional cost. Glenn said the information is up on the website and will send out email blasts to the current database about the programs being offered this
summer. Peggy Roell suggested getting it on the Avon Patch and doing an article in the Valley Press. Glenn said we are working on better marketing.
D. On-Line Program Registration Update
Glenn informed committee members that the department started using a new registration software program in January of this year. The new software allows the department not to charge a processing fee for online registrations and the online registrations were 50% in January and 84% in February. The new program is not as sophisticated as the ActiveNet system, but it does what we need it to do.
VIII. New Business
- Request for Supplemental Appropriation for Sycamore Hills – At the March 1 Town Council meeting, Glenn asked the Town Council for $ 28,900 – from Recreation Surplus – for the following (the fund has a $ 97,875 balance as of June 30, 2011:
- $ 10,000.00 - The Bath House portion of the Sycamore Hills Pool Area has had problems with the paint on the floors and lower walls of the 8 shower rooms and the two adjacent hallway areas almost since the building opened in 2000. The Office Building and Guard Station do not suffer the same issues. Temporary solutions have consistently failed. The solution offered is to have those areas sandblasted, the floors and blocks re-sealed, cured and re-painted.
- $ 8,000.00 - The interior and exterior of the buildings need to be properly prepped and re-painted.
- $ 800.00 - 3 Water fountains and the 5 pavilions within the Pool enclosure need to be prepped and repainted.
- $ 1,300.00 - The two doors to the storeroom adjacent to the Pool Gate and Director’s offices need to be replaced.
- $ 1,600.00 - Both Overhead Doors to the “Pump House” need to be replaced.
- $ 2,200.00 - All door hardware, pulls, plates, and locks need to be standardized and updated.
- $ 5,000.00 - The Handicapped Pool Lift for the main pool no longer meets ADA standards and must be replaced (recent ruling).
- ADA Requirements for the Sycamore Hills Pools – this requirement is to provide one means of access to the Wading Pool and two means of access to the Main Pool (in excess of 300 linear feet). There are questions still to be answered. The above lift is to bring the current 12 year old lift up to code. This is minor. The other two means of access are still being researched. The Town Council has asked Glenn to apply for a waiver, but Glenn is trying to find out if that process is available; and under what circumstance the waiver would be entertained. Glenn will also be asking colleagues how they are handling the mandate. Peggy suggested looking into the feasibility of using the abilities of Avon High School and/or Avon Middle School tech programs to build our own ramps.
- Misc. – Since the Avon Public School System is no longer doing summer programming, the Recreation Department is soliciting and will be reviewing proposals to take over Recreation related classes. Glenn suggested that some of the program instructor’s compensation proposals were beyond what is typically paid. He stated that in some cases, this will not be well received by the instructors. The Summer Theatre Program is being retained by the School System and the Recreation and Park Department may be doing registration only for the program by allowing use of the On-Line registration package. Should that happen, the Recreation Department would add only the $ 5.00 per registration Facility Maintenance fee; but also made it clear that only the registration would be handled by Recreation
Staff.
- Set Dates for Future Meetings – the Committee decided that meetings should be set on an as needed basis.
IX. Adjournment
A. David Jadovich motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:30 pm. Kathy Thompson seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
Respectfully Submitted by Sharon Brummert
Sharon Brummert
Sharon Brummert
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