 |
Newton Recreation Commission
2 Town Hall Road, Newton, NH 03858
Tel: 382-4405 ext. 13 * Fax 382-9140
NEWTON RECREATION COMMISSION
DATE: Monday, June 2, 2014 7:00 PM
Meeting Minutes
- Call to Order Chairman Annie Collyer called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM
- In Attendance: Matt Burrill, ex-officio; John Neveux; Brian Theirrien, by phone; and Annie Collyer
- Introduction of Guests: Leanne Wanchek from the Newton Police, Jeff Gersbach from the Newton Fire Department and Rick Bailey, by phone, from Boy Scouts.
- Motorcycle Rally. Leanne is an avid motorcyclist and is willing to help Recreation set up and execute a motorcycle rally. She suggested the typical fees are $20 per motorcycle and $10 per passenger. If we have a Poker Run, the cyclists pick a card at the initial muster place and get a sheet with their name and card. They then have 3 subsequent stops, with a new card drawn in each place. Leanne will check with the Holy Grail and Seacoast Harley. She will also inquire about other possible sites in Portsmouth. for a third stop. Annie will inquire at the Hen House for a possible muster site and/or finish site. Leanne will also help spread the word among her motorcyclist contacts. At the end, we can hold a silent auction, award prizes for poker hands and have a dinner
with DJ. The best time of year will probably be in early September and the Commission is targeting September 6.
- Partnering ideas with Fire Dept: Trophy Day, Town Day
Jeff explained that a 'Residents Group' has formed that is seeking to increase both positive visibility and also provide information to the community to build support for the Department's capital needs. There are currently 10-12 firefighters and residents who attend meetings, not always the same people. Matt stated that Rec would like to partner with the Fire Department in helping achieve those goals. Two coming events in which the FD could take part are Trophy Day on Wednesday July 13 and Town Day on Saturday September 20. Jeff will check with his group to determine how many are able to serve on those days, and get back to us. At the minimum, the FD can have a firetruck at both events. It is possible that they may be able to serve hotdogs,
chips and soda or water at the Trophy Day at Greenie Park, for $5 each. It is also possible that Rec and the FD could partner to put on a carb-loading dinner prior to the 5k Run, on Friday September 19, at the Fire House. It could be catered and then served by Rec and FD, or the food could be made by FD if there are enough people able to participate.
Rick Bailey has a few programs to offer in conjuction with Newton Recreation: tennis lessons, for the 17th year; a hiking and camping class; and the annual Halloween Party. For the tennis program, Recreation would like to review the sign-up sheet he plans to use and then help to endorse and promote the program once again.
The hiking/camping class is intended to be once a week for 4 weeks, followed by a day hiking trip. Rick and Recreation are planning this for the fall with classes to be held at Town Hall. Class times, hike and fees to be determined.
Rick also wants us to know the Halloween Party this year will be from 6-8PM at the Memorial School on October 24. Annie told Rick that we are now able to order supplies for them, directly with their vendor, with the town credit card. Therefore, when he has his list and is ready, she will meet him at Town Hall to place the order up to the already approved limit of $400.
- Approval of Minutes: John made a motion, seconded by Matt, to accept the minutes from the May 12 meeting as written. With no further discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
- Treasurer's Report: Brian has been extremely busy at work and was unable to do the Treasurer's report. Annie put one together, showing that we have spent $3,373.92 so far in 2014. John motioned, seconded by Matt, that the report be made a part of our minutes for this meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
- New Members - With 2 members having had to resign due to a new job and to family responsibilities, Recreation needs new members. In the absence of new members, Matt suggested drawing people to take part in any one event that interests them.
- Scheduled Business:
- Fundraising & Golf Tournament: Brian, Annie:
Brian will meet with Haverhill Country Club on June 4, will formally notify them that we are cancelling our planned golf tournament fundraiser with them, and seek a refund of our $600 deposit.
-Apple Hill, Granite Fields, Sagamore Brian and Annie have been gathering information from Apple Hill, Granite Fields and Sagamore regarding availability and fees. It appears any one of these could host a Saturday tournament in the fall for a cost per golfer of $90, $50 for the cart and play, $20 for favors and other items, and $20 for food. We discussed the idea, and decided that the Town of Newton has more who would be interested in a motorcycle rally than in a golf tournament. Therefore, we are abandoning the idea of holding a golf tournament at this time.
-Bike-a-thon, Motorcycle Rally- Leanne, Deer Contest : see above, taken out of order. Tabled discussion of a possible bike-a-thon and/or deer contest for now.
-Donations to date- vote to accept. Brian will contact Ravensburger who has donated $500 for the golf tournament, and will seek to get them to agree to a 3-year donation amount, and offer them 2 permanent metal parking place signs at Greenie Park in thanks for their donation. John will likewise contact Pest End to learn whether they will just donate the $250 to Newton Recreation, without a golf tee. Annie will offer a permanent parking sign to Jamie at Gibbs Construction for the $900 of clean fill they have promised to donate. We will give all donors acknowledgement on cable, the town website and on Facebook. The Commission received a donation of a water cooler from Kingston Mechanical, a value of about $700, and Annie motioned, seconded by
Matt, to accept the gift. Discussion followed that we need to make sure it is usable out of doors, and Annie will check that out. The Commission voted to accept the gift. Annie has told Kingston Mechanical that we will give them some kind of acknowledgement at Greenie. All members agree that fundraising with door-to-door knocking to businesses should continue, and we will rethink our efforts in that direction in the next meeting.
-Thermometer- Town Hall, Transfer Station 50/50 Annie said that Joab Owen, HS shop teacher, has agreed to build a frame and stand for a 3'x6' banner so it is firm but portable, with scraps from the shop with his graduating seniors. There would be no cost to Newton for this. Annie made a motion, seconded by Matt, that we spend $140.50 plus shipping, to order a 3' x 6' banner with red vinyl tape that we can customize for our fundraising efforts. The motion passed unanimously.
- Greenie Park: Annie- Goal to see how much needed for this year
-Security Cameras, quotes, internet-trenches, conduit- who pays
Annie has been gathering quotes for various aspects of work to be done at Greenie Park. She distributed spread sheets of what she has found to date, and suggested we spend some time on going through this at our next meeting. Further updates will be coming in, and she will email those to Commission members for prior review. Then we can determine what goal to put on our fund-raising thermometer for the remainder of this year.
-Trail Signs, Cert of Appreciation for Tyler
Annie stated that the new trail signs will be ready along with the map of Greenie Park in the next week or two. She made a motion, seconded by John, that we ask the BOS to give a certificate of appreciation to Tyler. The motion passed unanimously.
-Environmental Science, Cert of Appreciation
Annie motioned, seconded by John, and passed unanimously, that we recommend to the BOS that they award a Certificate of Appreciation to Mrs. Salade's Environmental Sciences class once they complete their expanded parking lot planning at Greenie in the next few weeks.
- Memorial Day Parade wrapup: Matt
Matt will prepare a How-To checklist for future use
- June, September Senior Events: Sue
Sue was ill and unable to attend tonight. Annie noted that 6 Seniors will be going on their own to the musical this Wednesday. Many others came in once the article finally appeared in the CTN, but we were past our cut-off date imposed by the North Shore Music Theatre. She noted that we need a minimum of 3 months to plan, gain BOS approval, publicize and give our count to the vendor. Next meeting, we will begin planning our Fall trip. Perhaps we can set aside a portion of this year's warrant article to apply to a Spring trip so that we are not in the same situation again, with not being able to plan a trip until it is almost too late because we have to wait to see whether the warrant article passes first.
- Red Sox World Series Trophy: Matt
See discussion above with the Fire Department representative. Matt will prepare a flyer for this event, with a suggested donation of $5. We will also have a 50/50 raffle during the event.
- Adult Dinner/ Dance: Annie
Annie is waiting to learn about availability at the VFW Hall for a July 19 Dinner/Dance. DJ Matt McElroy is available. She has ascertained that we can cater a dinner for $10 or less. Therefore, per prior minutes, she will seek to secure the facility.
- Swim: Lesson Contract, Permit Update, Beach Cleanup: Annie, John
Matt reports that it is likely that the BOS will approve the swim contract with the Regional Y tomorrow. The new cost of the contract will be somewhat higher, due to the need for a Y-supplied lifeguard during swim lessons. Annie motioned, seconded by John, passed unanimously, that we authorize payment of $1676.48 for the Contract. Once approved by the BOS, Annie will publicize the lessons- at $50/student, $140 family max for Newton residents, and at $65/student, $160 family maximum for non-residents. Registrations will be by mail, and John will be at the Beach for in-person sign-ups on Sunday June 15th from 10-12, when he will also be helping Len install the raft, swim ropes and signage, and badmitton net for the season. He will make sure the 'No Diving" sign is prominently displayed in the shed window.
-Tree removal, clean up- John Owens Annie said that John Owens as Tree Warden is the one to clean up the dead trees at the beach. She has spoken with him and has been waiting to hear back on a date. John will follow up.
- Town Day: Annie, Matt, Brian Tabled
- Townwide Tag Sale- Tabled
- Town Beach Signage for Winter Closing: Annie Tabled
- Announcements
- Other Business: Annie will obtain consignment tickets, virtual for Water Country and physical tickets for Canobie Lake. Mary will sell the Canobie Lake tickets at the Selectman's window as in the past, and Water Country will be all on-line sales at a further savings per ticket of $2. Once we have the tickets, Annie will publicize their availability
- Correspondence
- Adjournment at 8:25 PM
| |
