Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Wednesday, September 24, 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 6:05 p.m.
Barry made a motion to accept the minutes from the August 20 meeting. Steve O’Shea seconded and all in favor.
The sign stating that people should refrain from smoking in the playground area at Veterans Park has not been ordered yet. Tim will order it.
The pool will reopen on Monday, September 29. Parks and Recreation has to raise $21,000 in order to keep the pool open. This will be done by raising fees for all the programs. We are still competitive with other local pools, such as the YMCA. The Booster club is fund raising, also. Tim has met with Liz Manley a few times and she is thinking of various events that can also raise money. One of these is a triathlon where the pool will be involved in the swimming portion. The dehumidifier could not be replaced so it had to be rebuilt, which cost approximately $60,000-70,000. The Booster club contributed $5,000 towards a pool cover.
The Commissioners have not met with the Selectmen yet regarding Tim’s reclassification. The memo requesting the reclassification was sent to the Selectmen on July 24, 2008. The Commissioners agreed that they would request to attend the Selectmen’s October 7 meeting to address this subject. Jeannie will check with Gretchen to see if this is possible, and then let the Commissioners know if that date is okay with the Selectmen.
The fall recreational soccer program was discussed. The program is going pretty well; however, there was an injury during a 1st/2nd grade game last Saturday. Shawn Jalbert broke his leg in two places. Tim spoke with Craig Jalbert, Shawn’s father, to ensure there was nothing Parks and Rec could have done to prevent the injury (rules of the game, etc.).
Barry held a meeting with the individuals who are going to referee the rec soccer games. He let them know that they should look professional, have their shirts tucked in, etc. This year Steve Gordon made up a list of the referees and their phone numbers, so if a ref can’t make a game, he/she could call someone else to cover for him/her.
The field conditions were discussed. Veterans is in pretty good shape. Cushman had to be shut down for several days because of flooding due to all the rain, and the debris that was on the field due to the flooding. The JV field at the High School is in the best shape it can be. The goal mouths at Lower Rogers field are beat up, but the rest of the field is in good shape. Moriarty and Upper Rogers fields are probably one of the nicest fields in Western Mass, and Tim received a note from the School Department saying this.
M & M Paving had been contacted to repair the cracks in the tennis courts. We had signed and returned a proposal and Jeannie has called them twice about coming out and doing the work, but they have not done the repairs yet. R & L has bought them out, and we will contact them to see if they will honor the same price as M & M has provided.
Summerfest had an electric box installed at Quarry Hill. The key to the box will be given to the Summerfest committee, and if anyone wants to use power from the box, they should contact Summerfest.
There was recently an injury at Upper Rogers Field during a Varsity soccer game, and the ambulance had a difficult time gaining access to the field. It was decided to have a sign saying “Emergency Vehicles Only” hanging from the cable near the baseball diamond.
The skate park is scheduled to close for the season on October 30. Besides the many problems the skate park has, recently there has been a large amount of trash left inside the park. Parks and Rec staff worked for 1 ½ hours on a Friday cleaning up, only to find more trash left there the following Monday. Three trash barrels were put in the area, but trash is piled up around them, and not put in the barrels. Tim has contacted Faith Esposito, and she is sympathetic to the problem. She doesn’t want the Parks and Rec staff picking up the trash, and wants the kids to be accountable. She will continue to talk to them, and try to watch the trash situation more closely.
Steve O’Shea questioned the billing procedure for the Five Star Soccer Clinic. The Five Star Clinic made $13 on the Parks and Recreation account, after bills and salaries were paid. It was agreed to review this program and see if we want to continue administering the program from the Parks and Rec office, or have Dave Braskie and Dan Moriarty rent the field for the program, but do their own administration.
Dave Braskie had called the office recently to ask for the names and addresses of those who had registered for the Junior Soccer Clinic. This opened discussion of whether or not it is appropriate to release names of those who have registered for any Parks and Rec program. It was agreed that the only circumstance we would give out names and/or contact information would be to a coach of a rec team.
The Parks and Rec proposal for funding for a baseball field was not submitted to the CPA in time this year, and an attempt will be made to propose this again for next year.
Steven Henaire is planning to work on the dugouts at Cushman as part of an Eagle Scout project. He wants the demolition to be next weekend, October 4 and 5. He needs to complete the project before winter sets in.
Steve O’Shea commented that Monson won third place in the Granite City Electric contest to win lighting for a baseball field and will be awarded $750. The winning town with the most votes that won the lighting was Bridgewater. Tim would like the $750 to be earmarked for the baseball field above Upper Rogers to further along its development.
There is also another fund available, the Baseball Tomorrow Fund. Steve and Tim are working on completing the paperwork for this. It is believed that there is a large amount of funding available, but most towns are discouraged because of the amount of paperwork that has to be prepared and submitted. We could possibly be awarded enough money from the Fund to have the whole field renovated.
Tim wants to address the condition of the goal mouths, and wants to be able to fix all but one of the fields. He will probably hire Dan Strum, who has been doing other work for the Parks and Rec, and wants the goal mouth work done for spring.
Tim wants the Commission to start thinking about lacrosse. The Monson Lacrosse Association uses the JV field at Monson High School, and shares that field with Pioneer Valley spring soccer teams. A lot of work is required to paint the lines on the field, mostly since there are two different methods for the girls’ and the boys’ games. It was agreed that eventually it would take less time to do this. An option might be to have the Monson Lacrosse Association line the fields, themselves, with the mowing done by the Parks and Rec, or increasing the field permit fees. Tim is supportive of the lacrosse program, but the way it stands now, it is not cost effective to the Parks and Rec. Also to be considered is the wear and tear lacrosse games cause on the field.
Basketball flyers for the 2008-2009 season will be ready to go out soon. Suburban evaluations start on October 21, and Tim tried to avoid conflicts with soccer when scheduling the evaluation dates.
On October 9 there will be a former dedication of the track to Bill Devine. There is a rock at the track now that will bear a plaque naming the track after Bill. Parks and Rec has been awarded $100 to purchase shrubs for around the rock. Tim is trying to be creative with a design surrounding the rock.
Monson Summer Theatre brought in about $9,000 this year, which is much less than the approximately $12,000 from last year. Tim will negotiate with the School Department regarding the electricity costs they charged him this summer. This summer less electricity was used than last summer, even though Parks and Rec had their summer programs in there in addition to Summer Theatre.
The Monson High School’s cross country trail had trees on it that were cut to lie across the trail. Also, there were railroad ties that were placed across the trail. It appears as if this was done intentionally, and the trail had to be cleared so that the trail was passable. It’s possible that new people may have moved into homes that have property near the trail that weren’t aware that the trail was a cross country trail.
Selling concessions at Granite Valley Middle School during basketball season will be put on hold. The area that was used to store the concessions is no longer available due to some business offices moving from Hillside. The Booster club may want to do this and give a donation of their proceeds to the Parks and Rec, but they may have to bring in all the concessions if there is no storage available. It’s also possible that the school could give Parks and Rec an alternative storage area to use.
The Tri-Town evaluations went well. Tony Dismukes, who ran the evaluations has asked for advice on how it could be better. Tri-Town evaluation letters went out. For the 8/10 division there will be one Tri-Town team coached by Scott Malo and his brother, Rick. The 10/12 division will have an A team coached by Steve O’Shea, a B team coached by Lisa Lobik and at least two C teams. The fees for baseball, as well as the fees for basketball, went up due to budget cuts.
Steve Slozak made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:58 p.m., Steve O’Shea seconded, all in favor and the motion passed.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. in the Parks and Recreation office.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeanne Guertin
Secretary/Clerk
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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