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NEWTON RECREATION COMMISSION
DATE: Wednesday, December 4, 2013
TIME: 7:00PM
LOCATION: NEWTON TOWN HALL, 2 TOWN HALL ROAD
MEETING MINUTES
- Call to Order: 7:05pm
- In Attendance: Annie Collyer: Chair, John Neveux, Marilyn Landry, Sally Woodman: Members, Diane Morin: Secretary
- Introduction of Guests: Cathy Nickola
- Approval of Minutes: Minutes from November 20, 2013
Landry motioned to accept the minutes as written. Neveux seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
- YMCA Swim Program: Morin sent an email to Dan Coffey asking for a formal invoice before proceeding. She is still waiting to hear back from him.
- Report from BOS meeting: Collyer reported that the BOS approved the proposed budget. The BOS wanted to let the commission know that they are appreciative of the work done.
- Warrant article: Morin went through the wording of the warrant articles with the Commission that the DRA has proposed.
Senior Warrant Article: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, as proposed by the Recreation Commission, the sum of $4000.00 for Recreational programs and trips for Newton Seniors.
Greenie Park Renovation: To see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate $30,000 as proposed by the recreation commission, to redesign Greenie Park to make it more functional, safe and multigenerational. This will be a non-lapsing article and will not lapse until the work is completed or until December 31, 2019 whichever comes first.
- Natural Playgrounds Update: Collyer spoke with Ron King from Natural Playgrounds and they will be meeting with the BOS on December 17, 2013. She explained that Ron will go through the proposed plan for improving Greenie Park with the BOS. She suggested that the project be done in stages. The next stage will cost $12000 which will cover the cost for a master plan of the proposed improvements to be done by Natural Playgrounds.
Collyer motioned to request $12,000 be taken out of the Recreation Revolving fund to pay Natural Playgrounds for the master design plan for Greenie Park. Landry seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
- Neveux will be attending CDBG grant application writing workshop for municipalities on Dec 5, 2013 in Concord NH. He will need details of the project for Greenie Park in order to apply for the grants. He will apply for a $300,000 grant.
- Holiday Luncheon at Roma’s: Morin will pick up the check for the luncheon. Collyer will make an announcement asking for people to join the commission.
- Nickola and Collyer will pick up the poinsettias from Newton Greenhouse. Collyer will get an invoice and pass it on to Morin to be attached to the requisition.
- Golf Fund Raiser: The check has been signed. Collyer and Woodman will meet with Christine of the Haverhill Country Club on December 10, 2013 to discuss the menu. Collyer met with the Haverhill Boys & Girls club function coordinators to learn how they organize fund raisers. Their main source of funds comes from major sponsors such as Merrimac Savings Bank, Ravensburger, etc... There are other possibilities for sponsors to contribute. They could sponsor a golf cart which would get their company logo on a banner attached to the cart. They could sponsor a hole and have a banner with their logo placed near the tee. Morin will create a spreadsheet with a list of possible sponsors from a news clipping Collyer gave her. The list will have names, addresses and contact information. To create interest in sponsoring the
event, we could visit the possible sponsors with the master design plan created by Natural Playgrounds to show what their money would be going towards. Another option is to hold a silent auction of sports memorabilia. Several other ideas were brought forward and will be considered at future meetings.
Because the Town is not registered as a 501(c)3, donations would not be tax deductible. John checked into the process for establishing a 501(c)3 deductibility: the town would need to set up a trust and it can take up to 8 months. There are different companies that will file the paperwork to become 501(c)3 registered. Collyer has contacted some companies for quotes.
There’s also a possibility that we join up with the Boys & Girls club and run the function under their 501(c)3 umbrella The proceeds would be split in some manner between us and them. We will have info from the Club at our next meeting. We would need to keep each donation under $5000 otherwise the BOS would need to hold a public hearing in order to accept the donation.
Our cost for the main room is $200. Each player would pay $175 with $110 the cost for lunch, cart for 18 holes, course and dinner.
- Adult Dinner & Dance: To be held at the Haverhill Country Club. The Commission will pay for the DJ. Morin will check with the Newton Greenhouse owner and Christine Connolly about DJ’ing the event.
- Amesbury Sports Park: Collyer suggested proceeding with consignment of tickets. Morin will contact and get the tickets.
- Haverhill Skateland outing: The outing has been booked for Friday, December 27 from 5-7.
- Movie Passes: We can purchase the tickets for $7.25 without restrictions. Collyer will make sure that there is no restrictions on the tickets and if there are we will not purchase them. We may need to encumber the funds so that it comes from our 2013 budget.
Collyer motioned to purchase 100 tickets at $7.25 per ticket from O’Neil Cinemas’ from budget line item Special Programs and not to exceed $800. Neveux seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
- Senior outing: Woodman spoke about a program for next year called Celtic Sojourn. She will get on their mailing list for next year.
- Other ideas for trips are:
Plymouth Rock
Sturbridge Village
Yankee Candle/Springfield Bright lights
Strawberry Banke
Boston Flower Show
Garden Tour
Theatre / Dinner
- Announcements:
- Other Business:
- Nickola would like to join the commission. Collyer explained the process.
- Collyer reviewed the letter she is proposing to send. She will make the modifications suggested and send it to the local newspaper. She will post it on Facebook. Morin will send to Mary Winglass to be placed on the town’s web site and to cable to have a slide created. Landry will email it to residents of Sergeant Woods.
- Collyer would like to switch meeting nights from Wednesday to Monday, keeping it the first and third of the month. Neveux may not be able to make Mondays. He will check his schedule. This has been tabled for now.
- Correspondence:
- Adjournment: 8:40pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Diane M Morin
Secretary
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