Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Present: Michael Arbour, Barry Cady, and Steve O’Shea
Also Present: Timothy Pascale, Director; Jeannie Guertin, Secretary/Clerk
Steve O’Shea called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. Barry made a motion to accept the November minutes and Mike seconded. All in favor and motion passed.
Basketball season just started. There were not enough girls registered for 5th/6th grade recreation basketball to make a team. The 3rd/4th grade girls recreational team only had two girls from Monson sign up originally, and two girls from Ludlow. (We since have had more girls sign up for a total of seven girls for that age group.) The recreational game schedule just came out the beginning of this week.
The baseball field at Rogers Field funded by the Community Preservation Act monies has been started. It is quickly taking shape and looks very nice. The question of having banners at the field was discussed. The Parks and Recreation Department is limited to 100 square feet of banner space at the field, per a town bylaw. The fence where the banners would be hung is 6’ high and 396’ long. The School Department is exempt from this rule. Steve O’Shea will contact the Planning Board to see if the Parks and Rec Department can get a waiver for this bylaw so more banners can be hung. More money could be raised if there could be more banners sold to businesses. The pool is exploring the possibility of banners in the pool area to generate some money.
The field is “out of the way”, so banners would be less of an eye sore.
The Monson Youth Baseball Association had a meeting on December 14. The MYBA raised enough money to purchase new uniforms for the Varsity baseball team. The “old” Varsity uniforms will be handed down to the Junior Varsity team. Coaches’ and players’ clinics are being planned. When baseball season gets closer discussions can begin on if the MYBA coordinators for each age group can get involved in the Parks and Recreation Department with its baseball program. There is a very good coaches’ clinic in January that the Parks and Rec will publicize in the Community Events section of the weekly e-mail. Also under Community Events an announcement will be made the week prior to each MYBA monthly meeting.
Tim met with Debbi Mahar and Gretchen Neggers regarding the Grounds Maintenance issue. A second meeting was to take place this week, but was postponed. Discussions will continue with Debbie and Gretchen, but the Selectmen will have the final vote on which direction a Grounds Maintenance Department will go, and what will happen to the Recreation piece of the Parks and Recreation Department. Also to be considered are: the employee positions of the Parks and Rec and Cemetery Departments, and what will be the future of each department’s commissions. The Commissioners feel they should be involved in any decision making, and Steve O’Shea will contact the Selectmen to request a meeting to discuss this. The Commission would also like to know what the ultimate goal of the Selectmen is in
creating a Grounds Maintenance Department, and how much money are they actually hoping to save.
Seventeen tickets have been sold for the January 2 Celtics bus trip; six tickets have been sold for the March 26 Celtics bus trip; and seven tickets have been sold for the April 1 Bruins bus trip. Several people have told Tim that they are going to attend the January trip, but haven’t called to reserve tickets yet. Tim has an opportunity to book a Red Sox bus trip in July, and asked the Commissioners if they wanted to approve this trip considering the slow sales of the three current trips. The Commissioners felt that the Red Sox trips are very popular and there wouldn’t be a problem selling out. Tim will move forward and plan a Red Sox bus trip.
The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, at 6:30 p.m.
Steve O’Shea made a motion to adjourn at 6:46 p.m., and Barry seconded. All in favor; meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannie 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 )
| 
