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11-09-11 Special Meeting
MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF
THE NEWTOWN PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION
TOWN HALL SOUTH
NOVEMBER 9, 2011


1.  CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Marks called the meeting to order at 6:03pm.
        
Commission Members present:  Marks, Crick Owen, Yochum, Brookes, DiNicola, Yanni, Jr.
Commission Members absent: Barczak
Staff present:  Mangold, Reggiano and Samuelson
Staff absent:  None
Public:  None

2.  ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES


(m/s/c:  Marks/Crick)  “Motion to accept the minutes from the October 11, 2011 meeting as amended.”
Amendments are as followed; under Public Participation sentence should read Mr. Marks added that people should be advised that there is a trail plan at Fairfield Hills; under Chairman’s report the following was added – Mr. Marks advised that the Fairfield Hills baseball field was utilized by a non-Newtown organization based on feedback from the Commissioners and was charged a fee of $400.00 for surcharge and $300.00 for lights.  In the future, field use should continue to be controlled by Parks and Recreation and the Parks staff should determine when there is a problem with wear and tear.  There is a need to come up with a potential policy for the Commission to review and consider.  How to charge, (same fee for each field?), treatment of residents/non-residents are just a few of the issues to be considered.  There is a need to set things up before proceeding.  Mr. Samuelson, Ms. Mangold and Ms. Reggiano will sit down with the Board of Education and set up a mutual fee structure.  Regarding potential field rentals, the emphasis should be on not for profit organizations rather than profit-making organizations; and under Dog Park Update it should read Twenty Five Dogs walked in the Labor Day Parade.

3.  PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

  • None.
4.  CORRESPONDENCE

  • None.
5.  CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

  • Chairman Marks, Director Mangold, Assistant Directors Samuelson and Reggiano along with the First Selectman held a forum with the sports organizations in town to discuss the future needs of each organization. All above felt the feedback from the groups was very helpful. Director Mangold will forward the minutes from that meeting to the Commission members to review.  The First Selectman was very interested and wants to move forward but money will be an issue. The First Selectman asked if the fields need to belong at Fairfield Hills all in close proximity or spread out around the town.  Chairman Marks will address this issue with her. He feels as well as the sports groups that centrally located fields would work better. The First Selectman would like to check with Land Use and Planning and Zoning to see if any parcels of land could be located for this use.  Tournaments are easier to hold when all the fields are close together.  The First Selectman will have a follow up meeting with these groups.
6.  DIRECTOR’S REPORT

  • With the cancelation of Halloween this year, the candy that Parks and Recreation collected at its Halloween party was split between the houses on Main Street and St. Rose’s Trick or Trunk.
  • Destination Newtown will be held tomorrow at the Congregational Church from 4:00 – 7:00pm. All are invited to attend.

7.  ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF PARKS REPORT

  • See Field Report.
  • Storm damage – a little over $12,000.00 in fence damage.  Dickinson Park Gate crushed.
  • Crew was at a meeting with Public Works to go over storm damage cleanup.  FEMA has given the town 30 days to clean up for reimbursements.  This is a very aggressive plan – our staff will be working on this for the next 4 weeks.  The Parks and Recreation Fall work schedule is gone as of this point since entire crew will be working on the storm cleanup.  Chairman Marks asked Assistant Director Samuelson to send an email out to the sports groups explaining the storm clean up and that work will not be done as planned. Assistant Director Samuelson spoke with Babe Ruth today – there is still a lot of damage, all the batting cages are damaged.  They belong to Babe Ruth – they will have to have them replaced.
  • Parks and Recreation November work will hopefully be able to be completed in December – depending on the weather.  The crew is working a lot of overtime.  Our crew was very prepared with our equipment before the storm.
  • CL&P storm staging is still at Fairfield Hills so the front fields cannot be used as of yet.
8.  ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF RECREATION REPORT

  • 1st Annual Haunted Hayride was canceled for this year due to the storm and all the damage.  It will be planned again for next year. The 8 & under Halloween party was postponed.  It was held on October 28th.  Dickinson Park was packed with over 160 kids.  The same night was the Grades5/6 Halloween Party at the Teen Center with 105 kids in attendance, it was a great group of kids and the volunteers were great also.  Kevin Koschel was the DJ for the night.
  • The Dog Howl-o-ween party held October 22nd, made $552.00 for the dog park.
  • The winter book is behind because of the storm.
  • We have collected $1,200.00 for drop in soccer held at the Newtown Youth Academy.
  • The Annual Turkey Shoot will be held this Saturday.
  • A summer fee schedule was handed out to the Commissioners for review. The day camps at Treadwell and Dickinson Park will again run for 7 weeks.  The fee for Dickinson Park Day Camp will increase to $125.00 for residents and $150.00 for non residents who work in town.  Treadwell Day Camp will increase to $145.00.  All other fees will remain the same with the exception of Eichler’s Marina.  Eichler’s Marina fees will increase as follows: 5% increase to residents, if the fee is paid in full before February 28th there will be a $50.00 rebate; 10% increase for non residents, if the fee is paid in full before February 28th there will be a $50.00 rebate.
  • The site survey for the security system at Eichler’s will take place in the next few weeks.
  • Director Mangold will have a report on the budget from Eichler’s Cove for this past season for the next meeting.
  • The Commission will also discuss surcharge fees at the next meeting.
(m/s/c: Yanni Jr/Yochum) “Motion to approve the fees as amended.”

OLD BUSINESS

9.  DOG PARK UPDATE

  • The dog park account has $19,755.42.  The next fund raiser will be December 10 at the Breakfast with Santa.  There will a chance to take a photo with Santa and Mrs. Claus for $10.00 per photo.
10.  2012/2013 BUDGET UPDATE

  • The Budget Request was handed out to all members and staff present and reviewed.  This budget summary shows the full amount of money requested.
  • This is the fifth request for the approved maintainer that we were not allowed to hire.  We now have a supervisor on long term disability. This situation with the employee on long term disability needs to be resolved. So we are actually two people down as of now.  The First Selectman requested that Parks and Recreation eventually handle all the contracted maintenance at Fairfield Hills – we do not have the manpower to handle this request at this time
  • The Tween Camp age group will be moved back to Dickinson Park this year. This age group will still have its own trips a few days a week, but now will be part of the Dickinson Day Camp.  There will be no raises for Camp Counselors this year.  But there is a request for three new counselors this year for the Tween Camp.  
  • There will be no head WSI this year as we now have a Water Front Director handling these duties.
  • Lifeguard Budget - $20,000.00 was removed last year. To continue with the same level of services these fees must be restored.
  • All employee expenses are now in each department’s budget.
  • The Capital requests and infrastructure requests were reviewed and further discussion will be needed on these items.  The Commission will hold a Special Meeting to discuss these items further on Wednesday, November 16th at 6:00 pm.
  • Director Mangold will forward to all members the updated changes made so far to the budget request.  
11.  PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT/MISSION STATEMENTS

  • The discussion was tabled.  The Commission agreed to work on this at the December meeting.
  • The Commission will have an abbreviated agenda for the December meeting so that they can work on The Plan of Conservation. Chairman Marks asked that Assistant Directors Samuelson and Reggiano send their reports ahead of time to the Commission for review.

12.  CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN – CIP UPDATE

  • The CIP is with the Board of Finance.

13.  SPORTS GROUP MEETING UPDATE

  • See Chairman’s report.
14.  OTHER


NEW BUSINESS

15.   OTHER

  • None.
(m/s/c: Yanni Jr/Yochum) “Motion to adjourn”. The meeting was adjourned at 8:28pm.

Respectfully submitted by,
Donna Benson
Clerk