Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Present: Michael Arbour, Steve O’Shea and Steve Slozak
Also Present: Timothy Pascale, Director; Jeannie Guertin, Secretary/Clerk
Steve O’Shea called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. Steve O’Shea made a motion to accept the June minutes with the following corrections: Mike Arbour made a motion to accept the April minutes; Tri Town’s next meeting will be held on Friday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m.; Mike Arbour seconded the motion to adjourn. Mike seconded the motion to accept the June minutes with corrections. All in favor and motion passed.
Summerfest was discussed and it was agreed that everything went well, including any involvement that was made by the Parks and Rec Department. There was a softball game at Quarry Hill the night of the fireworks, but the game had ended just as the fireworks truck came in to set up.
Monson Summer Theatre is going well, and tickets were just ordered today. “Kiss Me Kate” is this year’s production.
The Monson Youth Baseball Association did not meet in July. Their next meeting will be in August at which time they’ll set the dates for Tri Town evaluations. School starts on August 26. Also, the high school soccer try outs start that same day. The MYBA will look at the first two weeks in September for evaluation dates, which will give time to publicize the dates through the school. Evaluations were held at Quarry Hill last year, and that would be the best location to hold the evaluations this year.
The Exmark mowers are still in bad shape due to their age and wear and tear, but they will probably be able to make it through the season.
Mike talked to Sam Bilotti, who at one time expressed interest in helping out with the tennis court repairs, but he is now not in a position to do so. If the Conservation Preservation Act changes their policies to include the renovation of existing facilities, this would be a project for CPA funds. Steve Slozak hasn’t heard that this has been done yet.
Regarding the additional 3 yards of infield material that was delivered to the third field at Rogers, CPA funds will not pay for that. They are paying for the proposed 200 yards that was approved; however, there was 203 yards delivered. The Parks and Rec Department will pay for the additional 3 yards (3 yards @ $18.50/yard = $55.50). The field is almost completed and the Cemetery Department was ready to help spread the infield material on July 12, but the Parks and Rec Department was short one man, and they were unable to complete the job.
Tim distributed the year to date budget for the new fiscal year. We may be losing money on the camps this year because of low turnout. The second week of the Basketball Clinic is low, and could be due to a number of Monson kids attending Ferdie’s Soccer Camp in Wilbraham, which is the same week.
Because of the dry conditions, Tim went to Rogers Field and opened up the drainage system on Friday, July 9. The Highway Department helped dig up sections of the drainage system and there are a number of problems. The system was installed many years ago and problems uncovered included caved in basins and several dysfunctional pipes. John Morrell is aware of the problems and is on vacation this week. Tim will talk to him next week when he gets back and ask his advice on how best to approach repairing the drainage. Local masons may be contacted to recommend the building of new basins.
The high school soccer field has been filled and seeded. Lower Rogers field was filled in and will be seeded once the seed is purchased.
There was an incident during the Track and Field program last week in which a parent e-mailed Tim and copied in the Selectmen. Amongst the parent’s allegations, was that Jim Pennington yelled at her son and mistreated him. The parent wanted an apology from Jim. Tim responded to the parent that he wanted to contact Jim Pennington before he reacted. Jim’s version of the incident is different than the parent’s, and since then, Jim and the parent have been e-mailing each other directly. It’s the Parks and Rec experience that Jim Pennington has never mistreated any Track and Field participant, and, as such, have never received a complaint before.
The next meeting of the Parks and Rec Commission will be Thursday, August 26, at 6:30 p.m.
Prior to each meeting Jeannie will send a proposed agenda to the Commission, then Steve O’Shea, as Chairman, will approve a final agenda, which will be posted.
Steve Slozak made a motion to adjourn at 7:21 p.m., and Steve O’Shea seconded. All in favor; meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannie Guertin
Secretary/Clerk
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