1. Call Meeting to Order
Mayor Havens called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Members Present: Mayor Edward Havens
Deputy Mayor John P. Pelkey
Councillor William Aman
Councillor Thomas Delnicki
Councillor Deborah Fine
Councillor Elizabeth Pendleton
Councillor Matthew Streeter
Councillor Roseann Williams
Members Absent: Councillor Judith Paquin
Also Present: Town Manager Matthew B. Galligan
Town Attorney Barry D. Guliano
3. Public Participation
4. Communications
5. Town Manager's Report
6. Items for Discussion
A. Park and Recreation Master Plan - Commission's Proposals Regarding Next Segments of Plan to be Implemented
Mr. Craig Zimmerman, Chairman of the Park and Recreation Commission made the presentation. He began by introducing Ray Favreau, the Town's Director of Recreation, and Cary Prague, Vice Chairman of the Commission.
6. A. (Continued)
As a short background, Mr. Zimmerman reminded the Town Council that in March of 2001, the then Town Council unanimously adopted the Park & Recreation's Master Plan. The Plan, he said, was meant to be a "fluid" document, in order to meet the Town's changing recreational needs. Also, the amount approved through the passage of the Master Plan was $23 million.
Mr. Zimmerman also mentioned that there were two Referendums asking to implement a portion of that Plan-one in 2002 and a second in 2003-both of which were defeated.
The Chairman said that he was present this evening, basically, because (1) people have some new ideas for doing things; and (2) because the Capital Projects Committee decided to set $100,000 to $200,000 as a goal each year for recreation.
What has changed with the Master Plan, according to Mr. Zimmerman, is (1) the Commission made "some basic assumptions"-one to use Town forces, wherever possible to do the work-thereby seeking a repeat, in the future, to the successful results achieved with the fields at Rye Street Park through the use of Town staff. He noted, also, the savings to the Town because since outside firms could cost two or three times as much as using our own people for the work.
The second change, according to the Chairman was that the Commission had added a 5% inflation factor, each year, using the Rye Street pricing on the "out" years. Mr. Zimmerman then began to refer to the information included on his handouts presented to Council this evening (a copy is attached as Exhibit A. and made a part hereof). He noted that, over a ten-year period, we are looking to spend over $2 million instead of $24 million.
He then pointed out that, on the handouts, improvements were listed in three different ways: per year; per category; and per facility.
6. A. (Continued)
In an effort to forestall questions such as "why isn't a certain project included;" or "why does a particular project have to wait until the year 2006;" etc. , Mr. Zimmerman explained that these determinations remain with the Town Council. If someone tell the Commission that there is $100,000 to $200,000 to spend, he could make an argument that "everything" included should be done in the Year 1. He added that "there is nothing on this list that I don't think is important."
Mr. Zimmerman felt it was very clear that the Commission had achieved the task of reducing the total amount to $2 million; however, he added, "this is the bare bones." Next he added the importance of "timing," and explained that, basically, the year listed was the year for "funding." As an example, he took the yers 205/2006, and the $63,000 for improvements to Rotary and Nevers Road Fields. He explained that the majority of that money was for irrigating the baseball (Nevers) field. Little League, he added, would be contributing $165,000 for other improvements to that field.
Mr. Zimmerman felt it was important to note that not until after the 2005/2006 Budget was approved would the "clock start ticking" for that project. He asked that Council "tack on the fact" that we may then have to go before Planning & Zoning for further approvals; may have to then shut down the fields to accomplish these improvements; etc. All of which could mean, he said, that the field would not be ready for another year or, in some other cases, two years beyond the 2005/2006 Fiscal Year.
He emphasized, again, that the year used here is the "budget year."
A couple of items to be noted was that the Rye Street Park improvements to the fields was on this list in order to present the complete picutre-even those projects already completed. He also noted that there were "a lot of things left off of this Plan that were on the original Plan. The Commission, however, had to prioritize, he said.
Mr. Zimmerman then went into a discussing regarding what was considered "active", or "passive" recreation in the Plan. He also explained that the purpose of the survey sent out to South Windsor residents following the defeated Referendum was to ascertain what citizens were looking for with regard to recreationMost of the returns had indicated that they were looking for more "passive" recreation-namely walking trails, etc.
6. A. Continued
Before moving on to Council questions, and in closing, Mr. Zimmerman said that the Commission hoped, in the future, to be "viewed" as the Town's expert on recreation. He sid that the Commission assumed it would be adked, as a part of the Council's Budget deliberations" if the Comission had any changes; any changes in priorities; did the Plan have to be "tweeked" to meet current needs. He added that some things in the Plan are impacted by other things going on in the Town; or by a limited amount of money.
Mr. Zimmerman then asked if there were any questions.
Councillor Fine questioned the categorization of "active" and "passive" recreation; and said she would like to see three (3) categories-"organizational;" "passive;" and "active;" and asked if this would be possible. Following a short discussion, Mr. Zimmerman said he would look into that possibility.
Councillor Pendleton began her questioning by asking the Chairman if the items listed on the very last page of his handout were included within it; and he replied that they were not, and explained why. Councillor Pendleton then went on to state that she has been asking for some time how the Town can get the paving done of the lower parking lot at Veterans Memorial Park. She said she did not see that listed and whether it would fall into another category. Mr. Zimmerman said he would defer to the Town Manager and the Deputy Mayor. He noted that there are other categories in the Capital Projects Budget; and given the $100,000 to $200,000 which was potentially set aside for recreation, there was no way to take care of paving projects.
Councillor Delnicki, referencing the first column-"Publicly Funded"-asked whether it was in today's dollars, and the second column was in appropriate dollars the year that the projects would be done. Mr. Zimmerman responded affirmatively, and Councillor Delnicki said he was thrilled to see the "Privately Funded" column. Mr. Zimmerman said that the Soccer Club has been the best example thus far, and the Little League is waiting to participate the same way.
Councillor Delnicki asked whether the neighbors on Lawrence Road are involved in the planning process, so that what is coming is amenable to them, and Mr. Zimmerman said he couldn't speak for the entire neighborhood. He said some have been very active and are in favor of this.
6. A. Continued
Deputy Mayor Pelkey, referring to the previous comments concerning paving of parking lots, stated that there are two other areas where funding for parking lots take place within the Capital Projects Budget. Also, funding could be had through the Park and Recreation Capital Projects, which is a separate entity from the Town's Capital Projects.
7. Executive Session - To discuss Town Manager's Evaluation
A motion was made by Deputy Mayor Pelkey to go into Executive Session. The motion was seconded and was approved unanimously.
8. Motion to Adjourn
Following the Executive Session, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia R. Brown
Clerk of the Council
Attmt. (Exhibit A.)
| 
