Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Present: Steve O’Shea (Chairman), Michael Arbour, Peter Beaupre, Jr.
Also Present: Tim Pascale, Director/Program Coordinator, Jeannie Guertin, Secretary/Clerk; Craig Szado, John Fiester.
Steve O’Shea called the meeting to order at 6:10 p.m.
Craig Szado, Monson High School Varsity Baseball coach, appeared before the Commission to discuss baseball evaluations. Craig doesn’t want to change anything that was done from last year except cut down the days and/or hours of the evaluations. He feels one hour for each age group (8-10 and 10-12) is enough time. The baseball evaluation dates will be Sunday, March 23 and Saturday, March 29. Evaluation times for both days will be: 8-10 age group, Noon-1:00 p.m.; 10-12 age group, 1:30-2:30 p.m. The evaluations will take place at Monson High School gym and the evaluation procedures will be the same as last year.
The age requirements for baseball were discussed for the upcoming season. Pete feels a lot of young kids want to play live pitch and not do coach pitch, which they are age eligible for. Steve O’Shea thinks that age group should still be heavy on fundamentals. If there are enough coaches, stations should be set up teaching fundamentals, and concentrate heavily on more practicing and less games. There are some players that have the skill level to play live pitch. When the program for this age level starts, maybe take the players that are more skilled and have them do live pitch scrimmages at some point. Coach pitch was started to replace the Pitching Machine program because we could use more fields in town that do not have power. Now there is no power at any field.
After discussion, it was agreed that the following age requirements be set for baseball: First Start would be “must be 4 years old as of September 1, 2013”; Youth Baseball would be “must be 6 years as of September 1, 2013”; 3rd/4th Grade Recreational Baseball would be “U10”; 8/10 Tri Town would now be “U11”; 10/12 Tri Town would now be “U13”; and 12/14 Tri Town would now be “U15”. These age requirements would be consistent with Tri Town league rules which don’t specify a minimum age requirement for each age division.
Fees for Tri Town will have to go up since Tri Town league expenses have increased. Players registering for baseball for U11 and up will pay the minimum $80 fee and the Registration Form will state that there may be an additional fee required after the evaluation results and the player is placed on the appropriate team. The Registration Form should also state that all players registering should attend the evaluations. Tri Town states that you have to enter an A division team in the 10-12 age group. Tim wants to field an A division 8-10 team.
Tim discussed the possibility of the Monson Parks and Recreation Department staying at the Hillside Building. He has met several times with the Town Planner and Interim Town Administrator Dan LaRoche. We have to prove why it’s worthy to the townspeople for us to stay here. Peter feels we won’t be able to have programs we currently have, possible future programs or storage in the new building. Steve thinks to repair the Hillside Building for occupancy is a short term solution. Money is not only needed for repairs to the Hillside Building, but also to maintain it. Peter wants to prove to the Town that by staying at the Hillside Building we can have different programs including continuing adult education classes, senior citizens’ activities in the gym, use the stage, and town
voting where it won’t interrupt the school. The potential is there to make money from these programs. Steve questioned the investment versus the return. How much is that going to cost? Steve likes the idea, but isn’t sure it would succeed. Peter suggested one section of the building be shut down. There are committees in town exploring the reuse of buildings. We have a building (Hillside) being utilized right now. The Hillside building still belongs to the school and has not been turned over to the Town. Tim said the YMCA wants to run programs in Monson and has nowhere to do it. They have fundraising methods of maybe putting money into this building. Dan LaRoche left it to Tim to explore the idea. The new Town Office building has no community space like the Hillside Gym. Dan will be invited to our next meeting to discuss.
Peter made a motion to approve the minutes from December 18. Mike seconded; all in favor and the motion passed.
Basketball registration fees are almost all paid up, except for the boys Grade 11 team, and a couple other players.
Finance Committee transferred money to return funds from paying employees to cover Steve Gordon’s gym hours while he was out on medical leave.
We have until July to sustain the appropriated pool budget. We spent more on repairs than was budgeted, but that will decrease as time passes, since some repairs, such as caulking around the pool, won’t have to be done every year.. The appropriated budget was $34,000. Tim just completed a six-month analysis for the Finance Committee.
The School Department wants all our summer camps to be in one school, Granite Valley Middle School. If we use the pool as a summer camp activity, the campers will have to walk to Quarry Hill to do so.
Pool parties are going steady, and there is at least one a weekend. More public programs can take place once the team’s swim season is over. Liz Manley, Pool Director, held an after school program for the half day of school in January, and made over $500. She is going to have a whole day swim/fun day on February 14, when the students do not have school due to a teachers’ professional development day. There have been a lot of compliments that the locker rooms and bathrooms are clean.
We should ask Liz to find out where people learn about the pool programs. Peter would like to have a pool time activity at the end of youth basketball season, and have promotional material to hand out to families. We could maybe offer siblings of players to swim for $1, while the players swim for free. They could have donated items for snacks/food and have teams in pool and playing basketball on rotating basis. Tim will put something together and talk to Liz about scheduling this event.
The next meeting will Wednesday, February 26 at 6:00 p.m. The meeting adjourned at 7:56 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannie Guertin
Secretary/Clerk
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