Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Present: Michael Arbour (Chairman), Peter Beaupre, Jr., Sara Szado
Also Present: Timothy Pascale, Director/Program Coordinator; Jeannie Guertin, Administrative Assistant; Craig Szado
Mike called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m.
Peter made a motion to accept the minutes from February 11 and Sara seconded. All in favor and the motion passed.
Regarding baseball evaluations, Tim said a couple families commented that we scheduled evaluations on the same day as the St. Patrick’s Day parade and they won’t be there. Other conflicts brought up were hockey season is still going, and some are away on vacation. If a participant cannot attend one of the evaluation dates, they should attend the other. If a participant cannot attend either date, we could set something up on April 4, the evaluation date for U9 baseball and Grade 2-4 softball. It was discussed to evaluate every participant A, B, or C. We are going to place a U9 team in John L. Sullivan (JLS) league which Craig Szado will coach. We will give them a check for the total amount of umpire payments, they’ll write
Craig a check and Craig will pay officials cash at the home games. The season is from May until mid-July, and half the games are home. No play dates will be May 2 (First Communion), June 5 (high school graduation), and no Saturdays towards the end of June.
Sara said that the boys Varsity basketball coach, Joe Trivisonno, wants to run Basketball Camp this summer. He wants to be involved and do something in the summer, or fall or winter vacations. We used to run basketball clinics in the fall. Tim said that he had already contacted the current director of the camp and things are in place to have him return. Maybe Joe could run something in the fall. Peter suggested we could consider Joe for next year. Sara will invite Joe to one of our upcoming meetings to discuss a possible pre-season clinic in the fall.
Craig Szado would like to run a summer Baseball Camp to be sponsored by the Parks and Rec Department. Tim needs to know further information from Craig regarding staff salaries and when he would like to do this. Craig had run a similar camp last year for three weeks, but would like to change this to two weeks. The camp would run for a half day in the mornings. He can use the upper field at Flynt Park, which is where he held his camp last year.
Lauren Smith, the girls Varsity lacrosse coach wants to run a summer lacrosse camp for girls. The camp would take place for one week, from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. at Quarry Hill and she would like the use of the pool. She is going to be assisted by a former player of hers that currently plays at Fitchburg State College. The girls’ lacrosse camp may go the last week of July.
Tim would like to move all the camps to Quarry Hill Community School, except for Basketball Camp. He may add an hour of swim for basketball and the campers would walk to Quarry Hill from Granite Valley Middle School.
The Commission discussed the decrease in participation for sports, and that other towns are having the same problem. Peter feels that kids are specializing in one sport at a young age, and this may be some of the reason why.
Peter wanted to discuss the Instructional soccer program and who is going to run it. Pete said he will not run the program this year. We will consider providing a stipend to the director of our instructional programs to promote more interest and commitment in the position.
Pete wanted to know the status of spring soccer for Moriarty Field. There are portable goals that have to be moved after Sunday use. Teams also will have to stay away from the week before and the week after graduation to allow the school to set up and then breakdown the structures for graduation on Moriarty Field. Tim has already talked to Chris Miller. There is only a commitment from the Maple team, and nothing from Pioneer Valley. The younger teams (U8, U9 and U10) will play sideways at Upper Rogers to allow over seeding at Quarry Hill.
JV baseball will be using Veterans Park and also our Tri Town U15 team can use it. The basketball court at Veterans Park is being built in April, along with a rain garden and skate park. Hopefully, they will wait until July for the skate part when the ground is drier. Peter is concerned about safety with teams playing at Veterans Park and construction continuing at the site. Tim said a fence will be erected around the construction site for that purpose.
At the high school soccer/lacrosse field Tim plans on moving benches to the other side. This will discourage spectators from viewing games from the same side as players and coaches, which shouldn’t be allowed. He has not heard anything further from the Boy Scout who was planning on a bleachers project for the field.
We are all set for using River Hollow Mini Golf Family Center for lacrosse for the instructional and Bantam teams. Tim also wants to make a half field with a goal for older teams to practice. River Hollow worked out well for instructional soccer. It provided us with a field, and they enjoyed having us there, which also brought business to them. They mow the field, and that is also very helpful. Veterans Park should be ready for instructional soccer in the fall.
The pool has not been heating properly and Tim has been working on that. Also, the building inspector, BJ Church, went to the pool and found many violations. The exterior safety door can’t open at all. Locker rooms need to be redone, benches are falling apart and the lockers are rusty. BJ said if the school fixes the door they won’t be shut down. Tim would like to submit the pool repairs as a Community Preservation Act funding project.
There are a lot of people that use the pool, at least a dozen for the Senior/Adult swims and over 20 have been coming for Sunday open swims. Pete suggests we keep the seniors informed about the pool, its programs and the pool’s needs. We should obtain e-mail addresses from Liz Manley so we can communicate with them and add them to our weekly e-newsletter so they can be more familiar with all the Parks and Rec programs.
Three of our basketball teams made it to the Championships: 5th/6th Grade Girls Suburban, 7th/8th Grade Girls Suburban and 7th/8th Grade Boys Suburban teams.
Kathleen Delaney approached Tim about running a new summer theatre program. She, along with Elisabeth Weber, would like to run a Junior Summer Theatre musical. Therefore, in addition to Monson Summer Theatre, and Shakespeare (for Grades K-7), there would be an additional option, which would be the Junior Summer Theatre musical, also for Grades K-7. Kathleen and Elisabeth were involved in a similar program in Hampden that has since folded, and there are many kids that now have nowhere to go. She will submit a proposal and budget to Tim.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 8, 6:30 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:01 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannie Guertin
Administrative Assistant
Timothy J Pascale
Director/Program Coordinator
Monson Parks and Recreation
110 Main Street
Monson, MA 01057
413-267-4105 - Phone
413-267-0327 - fax
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