Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
July 10th, 2013
Meeting called to order: 7:30 pm.
Commissioners in Attendance: Rob O’Connor, Dan Van Horn, George Caye, Dave Romejko, Al Larson, Craig Zimmerman, Andy Paterna, Ray Favreau, John Caldwell
Also in Attendance: Mary Sullivan, Brittany Garnelis, and Tom Waniewski
Approval of Minutes: May Minutes Approved. There was no June meeting.
Public Input: None
Report of Council Liaison: None. There were some changes being made by the field subcommittee. One is the addition of a Miracle Field. This will be a handicap accessible baseball field. There is currently one is West Hartford. The dimensions are smaller than a LL field. The cost is around $350,000 and the Miracle Field Organization will match any donations. The group is also looking to add a Cricket Pitch in between two of the fields. Gary Bazzano is bringing a resolution to the Monday July 15th 8 pm Town Council meeting to set a public hearing on the proposed fields. Craig brought up a question as to why the entire synthetic field area is not being fenced in. Ray will bring it up at the next athletic field sub-committee meeting.
Report of OSTF: None
SWWWW: Preconcert rides are going on before all the Thursday concerts at Evergreen Walk.
Action Plan: The town is using the resurfacing of Chapel Road as a test case for the placing of “Sharrows” signs on roads that are too narrow for bike lanes. Members will be distributing Sharrow flyers throughout town. The project is set to begin this summer. There is also a study being done on the old five corners to create a Pedestrian/Bike Friendly area to connect the Town Hall/Library area to the Town Center (Hopefully a Complete Streets Design).
South Windsor Food Alliance: The first two Farmer’s Markets have been very successful. The Market has 30 vendors (12 Farmers). June 29th saw 700+ people pass through the market, while 400 were there last Saturday during the hot holiday weekend. After expenses the Alliance still has a balance of $1800. Andy passed out a list of Farms and Restaurant Partners that the Alliance is asking everyone to support. They have also started Cropups.com which will allow local restaurants to order from farmers who will be at the Saturday Market. They can then show up Saturday and pick up their orders.
The group is working on trying to get the Priest Farm as an Agricultural Center.
Soil tests will be done on the Nelson Property in hopes of opening a Community Garden next spring. Tim Shepard has offered the services of his lab for the testing at no charge.
Craig made a motion to suspend the meeting at 7:34 to attend the Town Council meeting on next year’s budget talks and return to the regular meeting if time permitted. Motion was seconded, voted on and passed unanimously.
Report of Parks and Rec. Director:
- Ray informed us that the Town Council will not be taking the $150,000 from our fund balance to defray what was anticipated as a budget deficit for 2012-2013. The Town Council did however approve at their July 1 meeting $100,000 to Little League for improvements of the Little League Shack at the complex. This will come from our fund balance. Tom Ruby is the LL representative to work with the town. Ray thinks he is a good choice for the project. LL will work with the town staff on the entire scope of the project. Ray also noted that people may bring up the times the lights are on at the fields. Current curfews for lit athletic fields: Pepin has lights out at 9:30 Rotary 11:00 and Rye Street 10:30.
- B of E facilities are getting work done using money from last year’s passed referendum. John met with the contractors doing the paving at the high school and we are able to piggyback on that bid and work a deal to pave the roadway from the Community Center Parking lot to the Rotary Hitting facility for $14,300 which is approximately half of what it would cost done independently. Al made a motion that was seconded to spend up to $14,000 for the paving of the driveway and parking lot to the Rotary Field and Batting Facility. This was voted on and passed unanimously. Craig suggested the area at the top be fenced in to prevent people from driving passed the parking area to Nevers Field.
- Patriotic Commission: Approached Parks about beautifying the Monument at Veteran’s Park. The cost would be $53,000 and would be done by donations and in kind services. Craig asked that Ray give him the contact information so he can share this with the American Legion folks.
- Ray showed the group what the complete $250,000 Skate Park would look like and what they will be putting up this summer for $95,000. The construction should start this month.
- VMP: The heavy rains caused the pond to breach and leak into the lap pool. They placed sand bags around the area to prevent more run off. John will have to drain and clean the lap pool but suggested some improvements to prevent flooding in the future.
Other Business: 1) The group voted to not meet in August and will meet Sept. 11th 2013.
2) Rob informed the group that the 4th Grade Bike Education Program will be at all schools during the 2013/14 year. It is part of the PE curriculum. Some of the schools want to do the program this fall. Other towns are trying this program which will make it more difficult to obtain the fleet from Bike/Walk CT. Rob asked if some of PARC money could be used to purchase a bike fleet and trailer for the program. The bikes could later be used by the Rec. Dept for other teaching programs. Craig made a motion that was seconded to spend up to $20,000 to purchase a fleet of bikes and trailer for the 4th Grade Bike Education Program. This was voted on and passed unanimously.
3) Dan made a motion that was seconded to spend $20,000 for the purchase of a scoreboard for the Rotary Baseball Field at Nevers Park. A discussion took place. Some asked if the Athletic Director could piggy back on this to purchase a scoreboard for the Softball Field at the LL complex. Ray said he would inform her if the motion passed and work with her to get the softball team a scoreboard. The motion was voted on and passed unanimously.
Meeting Adjourned at 10:10
Next Meeting: 7:30pm September 11th, 2013
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
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