Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
March 14th, 2012
Meeting called to order: 7:35pm.
Commissioners in Attendance: Al Larson, Dave Romejko, Rob O’Connor, Dan Rezende, Jason Race, Sharon Parlapiano, George Caye, John Caldwell, Katie Graham, and Ray Favreau
Also in Attendance: Deputy Mayor Gary Bazzano, Council Liaison to PARC
Approval of Minutes: February Minutes Approved.
Public Input: None
Report of Council Liaison: The Town Council approved PARC for ten members. This will allow for five each Democrat and Republican with an alternate from each group. Next meeting will have Katie Graham become a permanent member and Andy Paterna will get reappointed. Dan Van Horn will become an alternate to PARC. Gary chaired the first meeting of the Town Council sub-committee on “Athletic Fields”. The group shared many ideas and will focus on four main issues.
- Stadium Field
- Nevers Fields
- Lights (on Stadium field or other areas)
- Farm Field across from Ayers Road. (in PARC master plan)
The next meeting will be held on March 26th.
There was a complaint that was put on the Democratic Website about the Wildlife Sanctuary on Niederwerfer Road. The Parks dept was in there later that week and cleaned up the area along with the other parks in town. Parks Dept. did a great job in opening up the parks after the October storm to make them safe for town residents.
OSTF: The town is moving forward to try purchase the King St. property.
Report of Parks & Rec. Director:
- Community Center: New Stairs have been closed because they are non compliant. Town is working to correct problem.
- Lawrence Road Park: With Town Manager support & approval, Ray may go to Town Council to ask to rent the Brontosaurus (cost about $10,000) to clean up the stumps and smooth the trails in the park and also some other areas in town. Would need TC permission because of the spending freeze.
- Ellsworth Gym: Restroom is finally being repaired to be handicap accessible. Thank you Patrick Hankard with the BOE!
- ADA Compliance Project: Work will start next week on the following; LL complex Rotary Field and Nevers Baseball & Soccer Fields. They are going to make changes to allow access to the fields by changing parking and creating access ramps and paths to the fields.
- Little League Complex: Covered Batting Cage is almost complete. Ray has put in a request with the town to drop the requirement to paint the facility. Michele Lipe, Director of Planning and Pat Kenned, PZC Chair will look at the facility and put in the request. Ray & John are meeting with AL Maximino this week to look at repairing the damaged outdoor batting cages in the LL Complex.
- Indoor Batting Facility (Nevers Park): The building was opened on March 10th. The high school team has been using it this week along with Legion Hitting Practices.
- Town Council: Spending Freeze in Place.
- High School All purpose Field: Parks has put an item in the budget to purchase a Verti Drain Aerator ($22,430) and a Redexim Over seeder ($12,550) to help with the drainage problems. The Aerator was put into next year’s operating budget so will not be purchased until this summer. Ray has asked Cambridge Systems to drill 4 to 6 foot deep holes 2” in diameter in the field every ten feet. These will be filled with sand and should help with draining the water vertically off the field. This project will cost around $25,000.
- VMP: New entrance sign has been placed. Thanks to Park crew members and Gary Schact from DPW for all their help. The cost for the sign was around $1000.
- SWWWW: They group has ordered 4 bike racks to be deployed in town using money from South Windsor Community Foundation. One five hoop rack will be placed at the SW High School.
- Youth Sports Initiative: Ray would like to get Teddy Herrera to speak to the town. He is biking across America to raise awareness to childhood obesity. He is riding “Across America For Childhood Obesity”. He will be in the area between April 13th and 17th. A motion was made by Al and Seconded to allow Ray to spend up the $1500 to have Teddy speak. This was voted on and passed unanimously.
- Ray met with a group of concerned parents and with the High School and TE principals about the sports teams in the High School. They are looking for ways to improve the sports teams and may want a member of PARC to sit on a committee. More info to follow.
- Tennis Courts: All High School and TE tennis courts are open.
- Ray and John met with the Health Dept. about changing the mosquito control plan. This year they will be treating water ways on key public properties to kill the larvae and not the adults with DEEP approved eco-friendly organic measures.
- Jim Snow Golf Tournament: The Men’s Golf Club at Topstone will hold the tournament on Sept, 28th, 2012.
- Avery Gardens: Park and Rec will be taking over the management of the garden in 2013. They will recommend a small fee associated with the plots for water use. The Parks Dept is also looking at using other areas in town for gardening.
- April 6th is the Easter Egg Hunt at the SWHS. The set up for the event begins at 9 am. Anyone is invited to help.
- Parks & Rec Magazine is at the printers. Parks and Rec is using extras page space to make 4 page flyers for future use. This first run will feature the VMP highlights.
- Ray and Matt Galligan testified at the capitol in favor of lifting the ban on pesticides and restoring Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which successfully passed the Planning & Development Committee on route to the Senate. Hurdle #1 crossed!
- Eagle Scout Project: Jon Ockert is redoing the dugouts at the LL complex on the Major B field to include re-shingle roof tops, fresh coat of paint, and stone dust floors.
- Ray is moving forward with the ADA audit that was discussed at a previous PARC meeting. He has the OK to draft and distribute Request For Proposal to hire a contractor. They will cover all Parks and Rec. facilities along with the Town Library and Town Hall.
SWW&WW: Please check out the updated website and see events planned on the calendar. Rob has submitted the Bike Friendly Application for the town. The Town Council Sidewalk/Bikeway subcommittee has met and agreed on three things to work on;
- Rewrite the ordinance on repairing of sidewalks in town.
- Make wider lanes on sides of roads that are under repair.
- Identify and repair connectors in town to parks and neighborhoods. SWWWW already has a list of connectors and would need to prioritize the list and give to Parks Dept.
James Snow Memorial Naming: At the November 17th, 2010 PARC meeting the members voted on a motion to send a letter to the Town Council Naming Committee to name the south entrance of the Charles Enes Community Center the James Snow Recreation Center. The motion also stated that the name would go with the Recreation Department if it would move from its present location. Alan will work with Ray to get a letter out to the Naming Committee.
Healthy Food System Project: Ray will check on the books ordered for members “The Town That Food Saved”. Andy Paterna sent an invitation to various town groups about the Home Grown Food System/Farmers Market. The meeting will be held Friday April 13th at 6pm in the SW Community Center Banquet Hall.
By-Laws: Article 1 needs to be changed due to increase in PARC members. Jason made a motion that was seconded that would change Article 1 to a ten person committee with two alternates instead of a nine person committee. This was voted on and passed unanimously.
Ray asked that we recognize Craig Zimmerman when it comes time to dedicate the new Baseball/Softball Facility in Nevers Park. We can look at a plaque for the inside of the building.
Motion made and seconded to adjourn.
Meeting adjourned at 10:10 pm
Next Meeting: 7:30pm April 11th, 2012
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
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