Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Present: Michael Arbour and Steve O’Shea
Also Present: Timothy Pascale, Director; Jeannie Guertin, Secretary/Clerk
Steve O’Shea called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. Mike made a motion to accept the April minutes and Mike seconded. All in favor and motion passed.
There is a Tri Town Meeting on Friday, June 18. Steve will get the playoff game schedule to Tim. The 10-12 team was trying to reschedule a game; however, Thursday is the last play date, and the field is being used on Wednesday and Thursday.
One of the Exmark mowers is not working. Prices should be checked for new mowers and see if there would be financing available. Also, what kind of mower would we want to look at.
Two hundred and three yards of infield material was delivered to the new field past Upper Rogers. Tim and his staff have been working on this, but the recent rain has made the clay very heavy and almost impossible to move. The approved proposal to the Community Preservation Committee was 200 yards of infield material, but there was 203 yards delivered and the Parks and Rec received a bill for 203. Tim has submitted the bill to the CPC asking if Parks and Rec has to pay for the 3 additional yards.
There are two 12-14 teams using Veterans 3 field this summer. Kim Hughes is organizing a pick up baseball league for the summer and wants to use a field at Vets for this. She feels there may be more kids participating if the location were centrally located in town and more visible. Kim worked her play dates around the game schedules of the two 12-14 teams. The team that Lisa Lewis manages wanted to use a date on the week of July 12 for a makeup game; however, July 12 and 15 were taken by Kim, and there were no specific dates requested by Lisa for makeup games. The Commission decided to let Kim play on the dates she requested on Vets 1, and Lisa can schedule her makeup games on either date. There should be little to no interference with games being played simultaneously on Vets 1 and 3. Coaches will be notified that in the future, if there are anticipated makeup dates for games, they should be requested with the original permit and/or submission of game dates.
There are three summer softball teams playing at Quarry Hill. Prior to this year, they weren’t charged to use the field; however, Tim is charging each team the standard fee use charge of $200, and the teams were receptive to this.
Tri Town is probably going to force our 10-12 team to play in the A division next year.
Their next meeting will be held on Friday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m.
There is a Monson Baseball Association meeting on Tuesday. They will discuss a portable pitching mound at the meeting. There was discussion at the last Parks and Rec Commission Meeting that pitching for batting practice is making holes on the baseball fields and this could be eliminated if teams had a portable pitching mound for batting practice. Tony Dismukes was going to be asked if his high school class could possibly build one. Also to be discussed at the MBA meeting is the MBA again running the Tri Town evaluations for the Parks and Rec like they did last year. Dates need to be set for when the evaluations will be held.
Some towns may bring back 10-12 rec baseball. This would be a less expensive league to run, and therefore, be more affordable for families.
The Vets playground is holding up very well thanks to the woodchips that were spread by volunteers, and the berm work that the Highway Department completed.
The registrations for Summer Fun Week and the Basketball Clinic have been very low, and the programs may have to be cancelled if the numbers don’t get up around 20 participants per week. The Commission decided to hold the camps no matter how low the numbers are.
Monson Summer Theater auditions start June 24. Last year the school didn’t charge Summer Theatre for the use of the school in return for the Parks and Rec power washing the tables in the cafeteria. Tess Pellisier is considered the Producer this year and Erin Greene will be directing.
The Red Sox bus trip on July 30 is sold out.
The Summerfest Fireworks are at Quarry Hill Community School on June 26.
The basketball hoop on the courts behind the Town Office Building has been fixed. Tim would like to send a thank you letter to whoever straightened it, but we don’t know who did it. Similarly, the electrical box at Rogers Field was in need of repair and it was just discovered that this was also repaired without our knowledge. The 250th Anniversary Committee is planning a picnic at Rogers Field on August 8. Dave Beaudoin looked at the box in anticipating of using power on the day of the picnic, and found that is was in working order.
The new Open Meeting Guidelines were discussed. These new guidelines will take effect on July 1. One of the primary changes is that meeting notices must be submitted to the Town Clerk 48 hours prior to the meeting (excluding weekends and holidays), and the notice must include an agenda for that particular meeting.
The Pool has an outstanding bill from the School for $6,000. At the last pool committee meeting it was proposed that the pool be turned over to the Town. A submeter was supposed to be installed at the pool, which would determine what the cost is to run the dehumidifier.
Steve O’Shea made a motion to adjourn at 7:35 p.m., and Mike seconded. All in favor; meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannie Guertin
Secretary/Clerk
| 
