Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
July 16, 2008
Present: Steve Slozak, Barry Cady and Steve O’Shea
Also Present: Timothy Pascale, Director; Jeanne Guertin, Secretary
Steve Slozak called the meeting to order at 6:13 p.m.
Barry made a motion to accept the minutes from the May 7 meeting. Steve O’Shea seconded and all in favor.
The Commissioners had read over the documents Erin Arbour gave them at the June 4 meeting regarding instituting a no smoking policy for Veterans Park and its playground area. They discussed having a sign saying “Please Refrain from Smoking in the Playground Area”, or something similar. However, this would be difficult to enforce and there could be repercussions from people that see others smoking and nothing was being done about it. Steve Slozak wanted to discuss this with the Board of Health, and is meeting with them directly after the Parks and Rec Commission Meeting. Tim said his staff has not complained about picking up cigarette butts. If we get more complaints about this from residents, then the Commissioners will look into again. The “No Dogs”
policy for Veterans Park is easier to implement since we do have a Dog Officer that can be called to enforce the policy. Steve Slozak will let the Commissioners know what the Board of Health advises at the next meeting.
The Parks and Rec summer programs were discussed. The numbers for all the programs are down. Tim believes the primary reason for this is that the material was distributed later than usual due to the uncertainty of the availability of facilities. The Parks and Rec received $2,000 from the Pessolano family as a result of a benefit golf tournament held at Hampden Country Club. It’s possible that the Hampden Country Club will also donate $500 to the Parks and Rec as a result of the tournament. A thank you letter has gone out to Mark Pessolano for this generous donation. The Monson Fire Department will donate $1,300-$1,500 from a softball tournament, depending on how many participants they have.
Tim commented that the condition of Granite Valley Middle School is terrible. The school is very dirty and he has been getting complaints from parents of the kids attending the camps there. He and his staff have had to clean the bathrooms and other areas. Tim talked to Mike Kane who is the Parks and Rec liaison for the School Committee to let him know about this. Tim has made a list of the existing conditions he found so that the Parks and Rec will not be blamed for them.
Monson Summer Theatre donations are currently at $2,900, and Tess Pellissier needs to raise $5,500 in total. Ticket prices have been raised from $8 to $9, and this should generate another $1,200-$1,500. They still have not heard from organizations that were solicited, which are the Rotary, Lions club, and Wal-Mart. This year a user fee was not charged, and it was felt this couldn’t be done now. If a user fee was charged, it should have been done at the time of auditions.
The power that was installed for Summerfest at Quarry Hill Community School was discussed. The box was installed by the power company on the inside of the pole, which faces the softball field. Danny Tassinari and Tim had wanted the box installed on the outside facing the driveway, but the power company thought it would be unsafe if a car drove off the driveway and hit it. Steve Slozak will talk to Gretchen Neggers about approaching the power company and request the box be moved to the outside of the pole.
The cracks in the tennis courts were discussed. M & M Paving sent a quote of $495 to repair the cracks. Black crack sealer will be put down on 330’ of cracks. If this isn’t done another winter will cause a huge problem with the cracks, and this is already a safety issue. Steve Slozak made a motion to hire M & M Paving to repair the tennis courts. Steve O’Shea seconded. All in favor and the motion passed.
The Parks and Rec Department has officially taken over the maintenance of the school grounds. All four buildings have been addressed. The curbs need to be sprayed before school starts and the bushes need to be trimmed. Rob Meacham gave Tim the best price to mulch the school. John Morrell is going to sweep the schools and the money will be transferred into his maintenance account.
All the schools will be in good shape when school starts. There isn’t enough money to do the high school twice, so they’ll wait until graduation to do the high school. The trimming had been neglected for a long time, so there is a lot of that to do. The drainage area at Granite Valley Middle School has never been mowed or trimmed, so that will take a while to get in shape. There have been a lot of compliments from the public, as well as Don Smith, about how great the schools now look.
Tim purchased a time clock that he installed in the Parks and Rec garage. The employees need to “punch the clock” when they come to work, and this gives Tim a more accurate number of hours that the staff is working.
The sprinkler system at Moriarty Field was discussed and the system is on an even-day schedule. Tim ran a test cycle and Willow Farm will fix what’s not working. Tim wants to run a test cycle every other week. The field will be ready to be played on this fall.
Steve O’Shea said the Summerfest booth for the Monson Baseball Association raised $570. $120 went to the booth, and $450 is going to go towards the purchase of an item (or items) to raffle off. The proceeds of the raffle will boost the MBA account, and some of that money will be donated to the Parks and Rec Department.
Tony Dismukes, the Varsity baseball coach, wants to hold a coaches’ clinic after the Tri-Town evaluations, and he wants whatever coaches are chosen for the Tri-Town teams to be included in this clinic. He already has a list of all our coaches from our 2008 baseball season. It is felt that this will foster more interest for more people to coach. The clinic will raise money to upgrade the field. Tim would probably not charge him for the facility. Tony wants to be involved in the Tri-Town evaluations, which will be held August 27 and 28.
Steve O’Shea sent a memo to the Planning Board to Karen King’s attention regarding signage for the new baseball field at Rogers Field.
Increasing the field use fee from the current $100 fee was discussed. Lining the fields is the biggest expense of maintaining the fields. Just the materials cost $30 per week to paint. Tim suggested an increased fee of $150. There will be between 8-10 teams applying for permits this fall, so Tim needs to know what he’ll charge. Steve Slozak made a motion to raise the field use fee to $150 for 2008. For the following season we should look at other towns to see what they charge. Steve O’Shea seconded; all in favor and the motion passed.
The Community Preservation Act was discussed. Proposals for CPA projects should be submitted by August 2. Steve Slozak, who is on the CPA Committee, said he hasn’t received anything yet regarding submitting proposals. If the deadline is August 2, Tim would want fencing for Rogers Field and a storage shed for the back of the Town Office Building. The townspeople would have to be notified of any completed projects that were funded by the CPA.
Tim discussed with the commissioners the fact that he was hired seven years ago as a Grade 3/Step 1 employee. He is currently a Grade 3/Step 8 employee. Tim and his staff now have the added responsibilities of the school grounds maintenance, the Quarry Hill pool, and possibly the additional maintenance of more town areas. Tim would like to request a reclassification to a Grade 4/Step 1 status. A reclassification would give Tim more of a future with the Parks and Rec Department. The amount for the salary increase is already in the Parks and Rec’s existing budget, so there wouldn’t be any additional monies necessary. The commissioners agreed that a reclassification for Tim’s position is justified and they will request this through the Selectmen’s Office.
The next Parks and Recreation meeting will be on Wednesday, August 20, 2008, at
6:00 p.m.
Barry made a motion to close the meeting at 7:15 p.m., and Steve O’Shea seconded. All in favor and the motion passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeanne Guertin
Secretary
Timothy J Pascale
Director/Program Coordinator
Monson Parks and Recreation
110 Main Street
Monson, MA 01057
1-413-267-4105 ( phone )
1-413-267-0327 ( fax )
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