NEWTON RECREATION COMMISSION
DATE: Wednesday November 6, 2013
TIME: 7:00PM
LOCATION: NEWTON TOWN HALL, 2 TOWN HALL ROAD
MEETING MINUTES
- Call to Order: 7:00pm
- In Attendance: Annie Collyer: Chair, Ray Thayer: BOS Liaison, Marilyn Landry, John Neveux, Sally Woodman: Members, Jessica Brasier: Vice-Chair, Diane Morin: Secretary
- Introduction of Guests: Jennifer Klopotoski: Resident
- Approval of Minutes: Minutes from October 16, 2013
- Woodman motioned to accept the minutes as written. Landry seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
- Input from residents: 10 responses out of 1400 households.
Town beach: Majority of responses would prefer having swim lines, swim raft, and a Recreation sponsored BBQ at the beach.
The Lifeguards question was incorrectly worded on our survey so we can’t really determine the value of the responses. Collyer spoke about the cost of having lifeguards on duty versus swim at your own risk. The salary and cost of newly required safety equipment for Lifeguards would be above $25k.
Collyer is looking at outsourcing the swim program to the YMCA of Haverhill. She is waiting for an estimate of the cost for the program to be brought to the town beach. A comment on one of the surveys suggested swim lessons be done in a controlled environment such as a pool.
Movie night at the beach had low interest.
Security system had mixed reviews. One resident commented to turn the light back on at the parking lot.
Greenie Park: Majority of responses favored the importance of the playground, skate park, basketball court and playing fields. Also of importance to residents was blazing the trail in the park. Better parking and landscaping would help make the park more user friendly. One comment was to keep the skate park the way it is.
Adding an ice rink to the park was high on the list. Collyer explained why we cannot use Country Pond for ice skating. Due to insurance liability the town would not be covered. The liability is the depth of the ice cannot be guaranteed to be consistent.
Adding a water fountain received high importance.
Movie night’s responses were of lower importance. Security at the park was rated medium in importance.
Comments: Comments from residents included more opportunity for kids and improve the skate park. If ice rink added a winter festival or family skate night would be nice. Another comment was to expand the basketball court onto the tennis court.
Collyer reported that one of the picnic tables collapsed. She is unsure if it was malicious or not.
Other Programs: High in importance was the roller skating and ice skating events. No other suggestions for vacation week were received.
Memorial Day parade was rated high.
Town day was very important with expanding the day high as well.
Town wide flea/yard/craft day was high.
Offering different classes at Town hall, nothing stood out.
Lessons for tennis, skateboard, and golf were of average importance.
Antique cars were a low priority.
More trips for seniors were low.
Jenifer Klopotoski joined the discussion around 8:00pm. She thanked the commission for their hard work. She reviewed with the commission her responses to the survey. She doesn’t frequent the beach and would support swim at your own risk. Keeping the beach clean is important. She would like to see movie night continued. She places a high importance on keeping Greenie Park’s ball fields in great condition. She would like to see the skate park moved away from the playground area. She expressed no opinion on the trails because she does not use them. Nor does she use basketball court. She believes an ice rink would be welcomed by residents. She likes the idea of having activities such as shuffle board, Frisbee golf, etc… She recommends
lighting be added to help players and fans get from fields to car when a baseball game finishes after dusk. Classes at Town Hall are not high on her list. Having Town day in conjunction with another activity in the town is the best approach. She had no comment on the Antique car show. She would like to see Commission support the Halloween and egg hunt events sponsored by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
- Update on playground equipment:
- Money bars have not been picked up yet. They will not be installed this year.
- We received the paint specs for merry go round and monkey bars.
- Swim line Permit: Morin reported that she has submitted the variance for the buoy swim line and is waiting to hear back.
- Holiday Luncheon at Roma’s: The event is full. The commission received an invoice from Roma’s for 70 meals. The total cost is $1243.71
- Poinsettias’ will cost $3.50 versus $3. The total cost for 68 poinsettias is $238 and is within the budget.
- Update: Some members walked the Marshal and Old Town Road trails on Tuesday, October 22, 2013 in order to determine how much clearing needed to be done. They were joined by Selectmen Melvin.
- On Friday, October 25, 2013 Collyer and Morin worked with 2 town employees clearing the Marshall and Old Lower Road trails. On the Old Lower Road trail towards the Whittier street end the residents abutting the trial have been putting their yard debris on the trail. The commission will ask the BOS to notify residents along the Old Lower Road trail not to put their yard debris on the trail.
- Update of meeting with Derek Swanbon: Collyer called Chief Streeter about the security cameras. He suggested speaking with the town’s security company. Morin met with the representative. She reported that the cameras would need power and the recording device would need an environmentally controlled building. The representative suggested we wait on installation and to perform the work in conjunction with the revitalization of the park. He would review the design plans and make recommendation on where to place the cameras. Jennifer Klopotoski, a former member of the commission, reported that there were cameras at Greenie Park in previous years. She suggested we speak with the police.
It was decided to revisit installation of security cameras as part of the revitalization project.
- Announcements:
- Other Business:
- Collyer will contact Natural Playground with the ideas the commission has for Greenie Park.
- Correspondence:
- Next meeting: Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00pm
- Adjournment: 8:40pm
Posted on 11/21/2013: Newton Town Hall and Newton Town Web Site
Respectfully submitted,
Diane M Morin
| 
