Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
December 14th, 2011
Meeting called to order: 7:35pm.
Commissioners in Attendance: Al Larson, Dave Romejko, Rob O’Connor, Dan Rezende, Sharon Parlapiano, George Caye, and Ray Favreau
Also in Attendance: Gary Bazzano, Deputy Mayor
Approval of Minutes: November Minutes Approved.
Public Input: None
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Report of Council Liaison: None
OSTF: None
Report of Parks & Rec. Director:
- Ray attended the annual Park and Rec Meeting where Tony Hawk was the keynote speaker. His group has said they may be able to help us with Skate Park Design.
- Storm Update: It is estimated that the Parks Dept. could be three times over budget for tree maintenance. Town is looking to get reimbursed for 75% of total cost ($8 million) of the clean-up of debris from storm Alfred.
- Town Parks: Nevers, Donnelly and Wapping Parks are now opened. Nevers trails are cleared. There were 300-400 trees removed from Nevers Park alone. Wapping and Donnelly trails are clear but Ray will be looking to get a group of volunteers to haul out debris to open sites so they can be removed by the town. These Parks were either too wet or trails too narrow to get equipment in to remove limbs. Three of the four batting cages were damaged. A soccer goal and fence at VMP and a soccer goal at Ellsworth were also damaged. The town will look for money to repair these from FEMA or the town insurance policy.
- Community Center: Handicap Ramp should be completed by the end of the year.
- Indoor Batting Cage: Walls are almost complete. Heating to be installed next week. Look for opening of the facility in January 2012.
- Rotary Pavilion: Three retractable walls were installed on the south side of the pavilion. New lighting was installed inside to increase rental use next year. This project was done with the help of the South Windsor Rotary Club.
- High School All Purpose Field: The field has major drainage issues. Looking at different alternatives short of redoing the whole field. The preliminary cost estimates range from $100,000 and $200,000.
- Ray and John attended summit on the Pesticide Ban on school grounds. They are worried that the legislature will extend this to all high schools and possibly town parks. They would like to see a compromise to be able to use some products on the weeds.
- Skate with Santa: Rec. Div. had another successful event on Dec. 10th at the SW Arena. Thanks to Karen O’Connor and Prudential Realty.
- Ropes Course: Being inspected next week. It sustained some damage due to falling trees. This should also be covered to repair by FEMA or Town Insurance.
- P&Z Commission: They are having two work sessions to update their 10 year Master Plan for the town and would like our input. PARC is scheduled for a 10 minute “recommendation report” on Tuesday January 31st, 2012 in Town Council Chambers. The meeting is from 7:30-9:30.
- Town Council: The Town Council may implement a spending freeze at their next meeting. This could impact our current fund balance of $451,900 and stall any projects we have for the fiscal year.
ADA ISSUES: Ray had two areas he discussed at the meeting
- ADA Audit. Ray asked that $50,000 be put into our 10 Year Master Plan. This will be for a complete ADA compliance audit of all Parks & Rec. Buildings and Facilities. The audit will be done by an outside professional contractor.
- Rec. Div. is starting a Challenger Basketball Program similar to the Baseball Challenger Program. Coach Bullock at the High School along with the few girls on the High School Basketball Team will assist with the program.
Ray is working with the Superintendent of schools on trying to implement half day Wednesdays (early release days for teacher professional development) throughout the school year and trying to coordinate the 4th R Program to allow kids to stay in school to help the parents with day care issues.
PARC Budget: Current Budget is $4500. Minimal spent this year. Dave Romejko will see if we could get Coach Pasquoloni to speak this year. Ray will also put in for $4500 for next year’s budget for PARC.
SWW&WW: Rob spoke at the Bike Summit at Yale about becoming a Bike Friendly Community. Members attended the Bike/Walk CT Annual Dinner on December 13th. The group was well represented with ten members at the awards dinner.
PARC 10 Year Master Plan: Ray presented the plan with last month’s updates and also added a $50,000 line item for “Mandatory ADA Audit” in year 2 (2012-13). This was approved by the members and Ray will finalize the plan.
PARC By-Laws: Members reviewed the changes from last month’s meeting and some changes were made and approved. A motion was made and seconded approving of the new amended PARC By-Laws. This was voted on and approved unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm
Next Meeting: 7:30pm January 11th, 2012
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
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