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Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Present: Steve O’Shea (Chairman), Peter Beaupre, Michael Arbour
Also Present: Tim Pascale, Director/Program Coordinator, Jeannie Guertin, Secretary/Clerk; Reed Coles, Ed Yesu, Gary Webber
Steve O’Shea called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m.
Mike made a motion to accept the November 20 minutes and Peter seconded. All in favor and the motion passed.
Reed Coles appeared in front of the Commission to discuss the Flynt Park area of Monson. He wants to focus on the future of that property, and distributed pictures that were taken from the History of Monson book showing how Flynt Park used to look. Reed is part of a group started by Dan Laroche, Town Planner and Interim Town Administrator, called the Monson Downtown Economic Revitalization Initiative. Other members of this group are Jeff Lord, Jo Sauriol, Tod Beall, Peter Barnett, and Steve Lowell. The committee chose the slogan “Monson Rocks” linking the association back to the old quarry days. There is a website with the same URL and a Facebook page. The committee is planning on bringing more arts and culture into town. The website will have
a calendar with links, including the Parks and Rec Department. It will also link attractions together via the calendar. This will hopefully generate more interest and attract people to the town and boost the economy. Flynt Park could be Monson’s main attraction with an observatory tower. At one time Flynt Park had a zoo and a museum. The revival of Flynt Park could be accomplished with a combination of volunteers and grants. An organization called Artplace has awarded grants in the United States of $50-$500,000. Many towns including Easthampton, Shelbourne Falls, and Providence, Rhode Island, are bringing more arts and culture to their communities which are bringing in a great number of visitors. Reed would like to see more done with the existing buildings in town, such as the former Quarry Tavern and former Zero Corporation. Reed is the contact person for the revitalization group and wanted to have the Parks & Rec
support of developing Flynt Park. It is expected to have an agency assigned to help Monson, which will cost $10,000 and be funded through grant money. More information should be available in February.
Ed Yesu said he had e-mailed Cheryl Clarke regarding the condition of the Quarry Hill gym floor. Tim said the gym floor is being redone during school vacation on December 26, 27, and 28. Ed also asked about having a 30 and over basketball program for men, and said he’d volunteer to lock up and bring back the keys if we had a Monson league. Gym time is the biggest factor since we have so many basketball teams needing the gym for practices and games. Tim will look at the master schedule once we receive all game schedules to see if there is an open time to have a men’s league. In the meantime, Peter said that Brimfield has a men’s basketball league every Sunday at 9:30 a.m., if Ed wanted to look into that.
Ed would like to be the Tri-town A division baseball coach. He also would like to have an earlier evaluation in late January or early February, so once the weather breaks they can get started right away. Gary Webber, the Junior Varsity baseball coach, is running a program on Sunday mornings from 8:00-11:00 a.m. in Wilbraham. Gary coaches two fall teams, and he’s helping a lot in Monson and is running a baseball association. Ed would also like to keep the same three coaches together but realizes the coaches’ sons may not end up together after evaluations. Craig Szado, the Varsity baseball coach wanted to have tryouts in March. Tim entrusts Craig to choose the tryout date. Ed will email Craig. Having an earlier evaluation date is
difficult due to conflicts with basketball and gym availability, and it is tough to have tryouts in the middle of another sport season. Ed suggested a Sunday morning. There’s been a question as to whether we stay in Tri-Town or go to the John L. Sullivan (JLS) league. The first Tri-Town meeting is January 10. Gary felt it depends on age group. Gary lives in Palmer runs a baseball program in Palmer. He said he has tryouts in January and conducts them around basketball schedules. This has worked out for the last three years. He suggests you have January evaluations for all teams. That way everything is lined up before March (uniforms, etc.). He feels it does benefit things overall and you can get parents on board a little quicker. Gary has three official tryout dates, and the participants have to be there two out of the three dates. If they don’t make two of the dates they are put in a B division team or
lower. He tries to make it as fair as possible, but there is always someone who isn’t happy. Steve suggested that Gary reach out to Craig since he’s the one in charge of tryouts. Craig was disappointed last year that kids didn’t show up that should have been there.
Ed wanted to discuss age requirements for baseball. Tri-Town is by age, and the rec league is by grade. The Monson Parks & Rec Department has to follow the rules for each league when players register. Even if a player has stayed back, if he is playing for a rec team, he has to play in the grade level he is currently in. Ed said that players shouldn’t be held back, and that’s where early tryouts help out. Ed will go to the January 10 Tri-Town meeting to discuss their age requirements. Tim will also be at that meeting.
Steve Gordon is expected to be back from medical leave on January 16. Effective January 21, Jeannie will be working part-time in the Town Clerk’s office.
Peter asked if there was any feedback on the pool, and also the status on dehumidifier. Tim said we have to wait until next budget to request the repair as a capital project. Debi has that request, and Finance Committee will have to approve around January through March. Steve thought we should try to move this along because conditions will be worse in the summer. Liz should gage where other schools are at with a humidity meter. The pool cover is broken now and if it’s not fixed there can’t be any swim meets. Peter has talked to Liz about a Sunday where he can work on the floor. He has volunteered to strip the floor to try to clean it. Steve said he could also help with that.
The next meeting will be January 29 at 6.00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannie Guertin
Secretary/Clerk
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