Parks and Recreation Meeting Minutes of July 18, 2011
Room 5, Town Hall
Attendance:
Committee Members: Billie Luker (BL), Rita Mullin (RM),
Staff: Maureen Stevens (MS), Sheila Sturdevant (SS), Marty Tilton (MT)
Tardy: Mike Fitzpatrick (MF), Sergio Coviello (SC), Patricia Fillmore (PF),
Absent: Lynne Clemens (LC)
Call to order: 7:21pm; Quorum, called by Billie Luker
Audience of Citizens: Pierre Ancri; Veteran’s Director-Susan Magner; NR Youth Soccer-Joe Landry and Peter Swart; Martin’s Pond Association- Janet Nicosia
Acceptance of Minutes: Minutes of 6/20/11
(MF) Mike Fitzpatrick made a motion to accept the meeting minutes of 6/20/11 as is.
(PF) Pat Fillmore seconds the motion.
No discussion had.
Approved: 5 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0
Motion passed
New Business
• NRYS-Lights at Maguire Field- Joe Landry and Peter Swart
North Reading Youth Soccer is requesting to have lights installed at Maguire Field Complex on the back field so that practice time and game time could be extended into the twilight hours of the day. NRYS is willing to donate $20,000 toward the project and would like to know if P&R is willing to expend some monies toward the project. Joe Landry handed out a quote from Musco Lighting. The committee and Parks Director are all in favor of lighting at the field. Marty believes it would be a great addition. However, as Rita Mullin states there is a process to go through in order for a project such as this to come to fruition. CPC must be contacted to see if there are any restrictions and there must be an Open Meeting held for the public’s information.
P&R is now an Enterprise Entity, so we can not expend from our budget what we have not submitted in our budget, anything above that must get approved by the town. Rita informed everyone that the project would have to be a full donation from NRYS because we do not have any monies in our budget at this time for a project such as this.
(RM) Rita Mullin made a motion to support North Reading Youth Soccer League donating field lights on the rear field at the Maguire Field Complex.
(MF) Mike Fitzpatrick seconds the motion.
Approved: 4 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0
Motion Passed.
Mike (MF) asked NRYS if this project does not happen before this fall does you have another option. Joe Landry explained that they are looking into portable lighting for the time being.
7:46pm Meeting suspended to attend the LUC meeting with Audubon Society
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8:31pm Meeting reconvened
Pat Fillmore joined the meeting at 8:29pm
• MPA-Clarke Park Playground Equipment
Janet Nicosia did a presentation on Clarke Park’s current status. The bathhouse has construction issues that need to be addressed such as a leak in the roof, crack in the brick wall.
Janet is working with Margie Salt to get pricing on new playground equipment. MPA is looking to take out wooden structures in fenced area and replacing it with spring riders, a merry-go-round and a climbing structure. It will cost approximately $12,915 for the equipment delivered and installed. MPA is asking if P&R can contribute any monies toward this project and would like to know if they can use volunteers to help install equipment. Marty asked what the warranty on the equipment would be if the company does not do the installation. Margie Salt explained that as long as the equipment is installed according to the manufacturers specifications the warranty stands. Rita expressed that she would like to make sure that P&R would be able to support the upkeep and maintenance on the new
equipment. She also asked if we could do a community build and Marty responded that a community build would be fine and the wooden structures need to go. There upkeep is more that what the new equipment would be.
Billie Luker explained our position as an Enterprise Fund and how that effects our spending of monies. Maureen added that we do not have that amount of money in the budget right now for a project like this. Rita asked if P&R could get a breakdown of buying the equipment separately and Janet responded that it is less expensive and easier to install it all at once.
Janet expressed that next spring would be fine to pull the old equipment, but if Marty feels it is too unsafe then they could pull the old equipment asap.
Rita asked if we could take a look at the wine and food monies to see if any of those funds could be used.
• Veterans’ Sign: Susan Magner
The Veteran’s Director is looking to install a “Welcome Home” Veteran’s sign at Parish Park on Park St. The sign would have a wooden frame such as the one at Rita Mullin Park and it would have the moveable letters on both sides of the sign so traffic can see it on both sides. The cost is about $3,000 for the sign and all the funds are being raised by the Veteran’s office. It was suggested to have the sign be full face front toward the street instead of double sided sideways. The purpose of the sign is for welcoming home soldier; announce events like Memorial Day Parade, Fourth of July events, etc. The committee would need to speak with the building inspector to see if this is a possibility and lighting would need to be planned out. The committee very much likes the idea of the sign. The committee tabled the vote until another meeting.
(MF) Mike Fitzpatrick made a motion to allow Veteran’s Services to place a Veteran’s Sign at Parish Park subject to Town requirements.
(SC) Sergio Coviello seconds the motion.
Approved: 5 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0
Motion Passed
• School Year end event at IRP
Billie Luker stated that he was disappointed with the Police detail at the year end event. Motorcycle detail left to go get police car due to rain. Kids were not happy with detail being there. They felt that the police officer was slow to respond to a fight at IRP. It took 7 minutes to get from back of IRP to front where the fight was happening. Then the officer drove over the bridge very fast. Marty stated that the police officer didn’t even get the name of the kids doing donuts in the cars in the parking lot. Marty will get in touch with the Police Dept. regarding the protocol on expectations.
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Old Business
• Parks Director Updates (MS)
o Skate Park at IRP: Marty informed the committee that the parts have been ordered for repairs. The fence was peeled back and fence post thrown in the woods. There are still many people going into the skate park. They clipped all the ties and removed the posts. The parts will take about one week to be shipped.
o Pavilion: Kit came with 4 grills. Marty is going to install grills on a pole sleeve so they can be taken out for the winter. We should think about getting a coal dispenser. The walkway needs to be handicap accessible.
• Recreation Director Updates (MS)
Update on summer programs: Read aloud documentation Lynne gave to Maureen to relay to the committee. The Committee said she did a great job!
Summary of Lynne’s Notes:
Scholarships 2011: Requests for scholarships totaled: $6,616
Amount granted by Recreation Director $3,516
Amount received in donations: $1,879
Total encumbered by P&R $1,637
Previous Years total encumbered by P&R:
2008: $4,717
2010: $7,409
Several of the scholarship families are coming additional day and or for before and after
Care that are not covered by scholarship and are paying for these days.
• SummerScape numbers are creeping their way back to the “good old days” most days are between 50-70 participants.
• Water day has been our highest attended day each week due to the purchase of our new water slide!
• Ipswich River Park day has gone well also. I have some ideas for making it a bit more enticing due to hot weather by providing pops or slushies for walk back to school.
• Kid Connection has had a slower start than usual but this past week numbers came up to where they should be with one day full to capacity.
• Overall I am very pleased with the numbers and the staffing. Let’s not forget the first two weeks included the 4th of July holiday and a busy vacation time.
• Tennis has been steady with a new outline that consists of adding an assistant and running several age groups at the same time. I will review at seasons end to see if it worked out better financially.
• All Skyhawks sports programs seem to have very good numbers.
• Enrichment programs are a flop! Really got them handed over way too late. I will work to improve them for next year.
• ½ day enrollments are doing well. Have had a handful of people take advantage of it over the 3 week summer school and tennis programs.
• All other programs have ongoing enrollments. Some are doing well and some are still light right now.
• Operations Director Updates (MS)
o Facilities Software: Did another Demo with Sheila. Disappointed in the internet server option. We are going to try to take another look at the other two options again.
o Rec Ctr Internet/Cable: This is wording out wonderful.
Working on getting cable in there through the free government access option.
o BBQ Update: The first BBQ was a huge success. Second was rainy but due to facebook people came out at 6 when rain stopped to see Ball in The House. Rita stated that she felt the BBQ were still unorganized, not being ready at 5pm to serve food. She would like to re-look at menu. Rita and Sergio will cook on grill and Josh will serve. Courtney will control getting food to cooks, clean up area, and inventory.
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• LUC Updates (RM)
o Meditation Garden at IRP: Table until next meeting.
• FONRPRC, Inc Updates-(SS)
Walk of Fame: Table until next meeting.
Other Business
• Next Meeting date (SS)
August 22nd, Monday 7pm in room 5
September 12th, Monday 7pm in room 5.
• Agenda Items for next meeting (SS)
o Follow on Pierre Ancri Committee appointment
o 2011 Goals
Adjournment
(MF) Mike Fitzpatrick made a motion to adjourn meeting at 10:10 pm.
(SC) Rita Mullin seconds the motion.
Approved: 5 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 0
No Discussion-Motion Passed
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