Colchester Parks and Recreation Commission
June 1, 2009
Town Hall
7:00 p.m.
Members Present: Chairman S. O’Leary, J. Barr,, N. Kaplan, E. Kundahl, C. Williams, C. Ferrante,
A. Spranzo, M. Kennedy, L. Dimock (7:07 p.m.)
Members Absent: L. Stephenson
Others Present: Jay Cohen, Park and Rec Director, Greg Cordova, BOS Liaison, Steve Ashe, Tom Carey
1. Call to Order: Chairman O’Leary called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Citizen’s Comments: None
(L. Dimock arrived at this time. 7:07 p.m.)
3. Acceptance of the May 4, 2009 Regular Meeting Minutes: N. Kaplan motioned to approve the minutes of the May 4, 2009 meeting, seconded by C. Ferrante . All members present voted in favor with A. Spranzo abstaining. MOTION CARRIED.
Acceptance of the May 14, 2009 Special Meeting Minutes: A. Spranzo motioned to approve the minutes of the May 14, 2009 meeting amending to show S. O’Leary voted in favor, correct typo of item 3 William to Williams, and typo of conscience to conscious, seconded by J. Barr . All members present voted in favor with N. Kaplan, L. Dimock, E. Kundahl, and M. Kennedy abstaining. MOTION CARRIED.
4. Reading of Correspondence: J. Cohen said he received a call from a citizen wishing that there were rangers at the park on weekends.
5. Committee Reports:
• Facilities: C. Ferrante met with Steve Ashe from youth soccer in regards to the closure of R7. Soccer is wiling to provide some of the renovations needed for R7, financial and physical. Soccer would like the field closed from the end of June 2009 until the start of the spring 2010 season. They believe that would allow enough time to get the most out of the repair. WJJMS would have to find another place to play. The field behind WJJMS is big enough for that age group. All agreed that this is a tremendous opportunity and all that can be done to make it work should be. Tom Carey, president of youth soccer, spoke with J. Cohen and First Selectman Hodge. They have reassured Mr. Carey that there would be no union concerns with nonunion people doing the work. A
friendly discussion with the school about this opportunity and the need for WJJMS to find another location to should be had. J. Cohen said he would do so.
C. Ferrante motioned to amend the motion made at April 2009 regular meeting, to now rest R7 from June 15, 2009 until the spring opening of 2010, seconded by E. Kundahl.
L. Dimock motioned to close R8 from June 15, 2009 until August 2, 2009 for repair,
seconded by E. Kundahl. All members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
Still no update on the Cody Camp Field or foundation. Chairman O’Leary would like Bob McGovern of the foundation to meet with the commission. Steve Ashe offered to speak with Mr. McGovern and ask him to attend a meeting.
The baseball auxiliary approached C. Ferrante about putting a wireless scoreboard on R1. They would cover the cost of the scoreboard as well as any associated installation costs.
C. Ferrante said he would like to suggest to them a portable scoreboard that can be moved to various fields.
E. Kundahl said the lacrosse tournament went well and other teams were raving about the fields.
C. Ferrante motioned to accept the facilities report as presented, seconded by J. Barr. All
Members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
• Finance/Administration: Nothing at this time. Working with Programs on the funding for the Recreation Supervisor will need to be looked at further, perhaps becoming a monthly agenda item.
• Programs: Some meetings have been held to discuss the funding of the Recreation Supervisor but L. Dimock does not feel they have been all that productive. Programs that could have an increase in fee without pricing people out of them have been looked at.
• Raising the out of town fee is another possibility. The commission would support such and increase if the Park and Rec department saw fit. To increase the cost of programs for the fall prices would need to be determined by mid June.
• Skate Park: None
• BOS Liaison: The Board of Selectmen would like the commission to look at their policy on awarding a bid. L. Dimock questioned who is responsible for making sure the requirements have been met. J. Cohen said that the Park and Rec office is but sometimes it is passed along to the commission. There was discussion that New England Soft Serve also did not have all necessary documentation. Chairman O’Leary told Mr. Cordova that the BOS should go back and look at the town policy which is what the commission used. Mr. Cordova said the BOS does not believe the commission followed their own policy. Chairman O’Leary stated again that the commission does not feel they have gone against their policy. J. Barr suggested a check list for the commission to use to make sure all
necessary items were included. C. Ferrante said he is not comfortable with being the commission members being the ones to determine the validity of the bids. J. Barr said that there is no way for members to know if the paperwork received is authentic.
• Dog Park: The committee remains very active. They are hoping to bring a full proposal to the BOS in July.
6. Director’s Report: Tim Howard has left the department. Hopefully BOE will approve the track RFP for an architect. Thank You to Baldi Sand and Gravel for screening the compose and to baseball for spreading the clay. On going thank to E. Kundahl for helping with the IPM.
N. Kaplan motioned to approve the Director’s Report as presented, seconded by E. Kundahl. All
members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
7. Recreation Supervisor’s Report (Quarterly): No report was given.
8. General Comments: None
9. Adjournment: C. Ferrante motioned to adjourn the meeting, seconded by N. Kaplan. All members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED. Chairman O’Leary adjourned the meeting at 8:27 p.m.
Dawn LePage, Clerk
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