Wallingford Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes October 7, 2009

Transcription

1 Recreation Commission Members Present: Dave Gelo, linda Mercuri, Phylis Murray, Roz Gallagher Recreation Department Staff Present: Director of Recreation John Gawlak Recording Secretary: Joanne Vass Opening Remarks: linda Mercuri called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Wallingford Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes October 7, 2009 Minutes: linda asked for a motion to approve the September meeting minutes as is. Dave Gelo made the motion which was seconded by Phylis Murray. Old/Current Business: Dance Pass Fees: Roz Gallagher initiated another discussion regarding fees. John Gawlak provided the Commission a 9 year history of fees for the program. It was voted on and agreed to keep pricing as it is. Vending: Due to the overwhelming requests to vend in parks, John will put a program together and put park vending out to public bid in the spring. A draft will be available beforehand for the Commission's review. The permits would run from mid March to Halloween. Director's Report: John Gawlak (refer to copy attached) Additional comments: 1. Community Lake Car Top Boat Launch(kayaks, canoes): An inquiry was made as to the status of the project. John explained that we are currently awaiting a decision on a federal grant that is being pursued by the local USDA office and Mark Cummings. If awarded, the project should then be expedited. 2. Planters at the Recreation Dept.: They are still sitting on the side of the building. Linda will give Henry McCully a call in the morning to remind him to move them. We have been waiting since Labor Day, their original installation date. 3. Harrison Park Dedication: will be Sunday, November 8. Linda has a sample of the invitations. Michelle is getting the plaques fixed. Dave will call Mr. Beaumont- we need to know when the park was transferred to the Town. Michelle will then get another plaque. Dave suggested that all the trees be numbered in advance. He will contact Bob Beaumont to get numbers. It was suggested to place another sign under the Harrison Park sign denoting the park as a memorial to World War I Veterans. A discussion ensued. It was decided to take a visit out to the area for best placement of the sign. 4. Community Day Race: The event went well, with a few minor issues to be improved for next year (registration process, T- shirts, the course itself). All in all it was a nice flow with family day. Phylis stated that the Duck Race fund raiser went well. S. Soccer League: The League President will put in netting and hoping to share the costs with the Town. The issue at Pragemann has been temporarily resolved. There was a savings on aeration and drill seeding as it was already included in Town Bid Contract. Money savings may be used in goal areas. Hopefully DPW will turn on the irrigation systems earlier in the future and not wait as they did this year. It is a monetary waste. 6. Maynard Parker resignation: a discussion ensued regarding additional Recreation Commission applicants. Details of November plans to honor Maynard were also discussed. 7. Pragemann Park former tennis court site: aturally Green gave John a quote of $30,000. to level and reseed area. Henry will try to work on the area in November. Four inches of material and seed is needed. The area is approximately one acre and will add a needed green space to this park. 8. Board of Ed Fields: John and Rob Croston met with Darin Novak to work out issues. John explained that we rely heavily on the large school fields. Some are full of weeds and have puddling issues. We pay for lining/dragging of their fields on Fridays for weekend games. John is trying to get John Thompson to survey Moran. Mr. Thompson will survey the infield and come up with figures. Mr. Croston has someone wishing to donate clay. The meeting went well.

2 9. Lil Recers Preschool Program: John mentioned that the paperwork was completed. There were only a few items in question when the inspection took place and most have already been addressed. This will put our licensing in compliance for the next four years with the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health. New Business: Seasons of Celebration: Event will be held December 5 from 1:00PM-4:00PM. Set up for the event will begin on Monday, November 30 and will finish on Wednesday December 2 with the decoration of the Town Hall. The parade will march downtown. Refreshments will still be served uptown. CT. Recreation &: Parks Association- We will be hosting their event entitled GET IN THE GAME here at the Recreation Department. After several education sessions, there will be a tour bus to the new Meriden Sports Complex, Sheehan High School and Choate Fitness Center, Ice Rink and Track. Next Meeting: The next Recreation Commission meeting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. at the Recreation Department, 6 Fairfield Blvd., Wallingford, CT. Motion to Adjourn: linda Mercuri asked for a motion to adjourn, which was made by Dave Gelo and seconded by Phylis Murray. The meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Joanne Vass, recording secretary 2 U:\Rccrearion Commission\Mecring Minu[cs\Mccring Minutes 2009\Rec Comm Meeting Minutes Oct 2009.doc

3 Director's Report: October 7, 2009 Irrigation systems at a variety of Parks have not been turned on since last year. Pragemann Soccer field with lights has been closed for a month due to the turf being extremely dry. A memo was sent to DPW explaining that the/original quote did not meet public bid pricing as recommended. A revised quote was issued as the company was not following pricing detailed in bid. The work was scheduled for the week of September 21, Family Day and the race merger went very well. The idea put on the table by this department to collaborate with the YMCA and to merge the races into one and have it coincide with the Family Day event proved to be quite successful. Collaborations like these go along way in strengthening relationships with other agencies in providing the community with wonderful programs and events Mark Cummings of the USDA and Roman Mrozinski, SWCD, back in the spring proposed a car top boat launch for the Quinnipiac River. They will provide the engineering, project supervision and funding. The design is in the working stage and currently waiting decision on the federal grant. If the grant is approved the project will be put on the fast track to completion. The area for the launch will be at Community lake. Planters will finally be installed after Labor Day holiday. As of this report Sept. 24 the planters have not been installed Soccer League is requesting labor assistance of DPWfor nets and pole the league wants to purchase to assist in eliminating the balls shot on goal from going into tick infested swamp land. The league also would like to add a storage building on a temporary basis but will be unable due to the restrictions placed on this area from the State of CT Depart of Health. The league is working out what they feel is a priority putting funds towards netting or fields. Commissioner Maynard Parker resigned effective June 24, 2009, I have informed Mayor Dickinson about possible replacements and waiting his decision. I have been informed of three potential candidates. One has removed his name, Councilman Jerry Farrell Jr has recommended a Mary Beth Francey and I have recommended Ron Piazza

4 Lil Recer Preschool Program which received an approval for state licensing 2 years ago with the hard work of Michelle Bjorkman, Deb Tansino Director of Lil Recers and James Sayre is up for renewal in February. Staff is working hard now to comply with new regulations facing us with the new 4yr renewal process in January. On Friday, September 25, 2009, an Inspector from the Department of Public Health State of Connecticut arrived for an unannounced licensing visit to our licensed preschool. Michelle spent the better part of three hours to review compliance issues. The issues we are responsible for are mainly paperwork house cleaning, lead test through the local Health Dept and a current Fire Marshall inspection. Once completed within the next two weeks we will be set for our 4 year renewal. The Fireworks on July 3 rd was pretty well attended. The show from a personal opinion was outstanding and Telstar should be commended and be contracted out again next year. The only problem was with the Board of Education and their contractor for grass mowing. The front lawn of Sheehan High School was a mess with many large grass clumps. Lt. Zak and Michelle followed up and were able to reach someone from the B of Ed to have the contractor return to reduce the grass clippings. Field maintenance has been a sore issue between participants of leagues this department and the lack of general cooperation from DPW this spring and summer. Issues have revolved around the Doolittle Park softball and hardball fields. The softball field maintenance issue has been resolved but after two weeks of requests and differing opinions. The latest is the DPW has shut down the hardball field with no notice and as to why and when it may be repaired. After another round of memos the DPW have schedule to perform repairs on August 13 with the Engineering Department. Field repairs were made to Doolittle Hardball field in a temporary manner. DPW stated that they would close the field Oct. 3 rd and perform major work and raise the field for better drainage. However, just recently Henry McCully stated that his department was behind with paving, curbing and the Reskin Dr. Bridge so the field would not be done until next year. Recently I met with the Supt. of Schools to speak about the lack of maintenance happening on school based fields. The Recreation Department was issued permits to distribute to all youth leagues for summer and fall baseball and softball. The fields specifically the 90' varieties are in rough shape to the

5 point they should not be used until proper maintenance is performed. The problem is without these school fields we are limited with what the town has. After a series of s back and forth with the Superintendent I have a meeting to discuss the conditions and potential solutions Oct am at Darin Novak, Supt. of Buildings and grounds office. Pragemann Parking area proposal. This office has received complaints over the last few years regarding the parking of cars. Recently, John Thompson, Dave Gelo and myself looked at an area to the east of field one, southwest of the concession stand that can provide an additional 47 parking spaces. Engineering developed a plan and is working on costs if decision is made to have it paved. I brought Henry McCully out to the area and accepted the project. He said initially the lot can be done by using millings till funds became available for pavement. Update Due to the location of the area and the park located in a protected aquifer the plan was made into an application to P and Z and will be heard on Nov. 10th P and Z meeting. If approved it will be conditional pending application and approval from the State of CT Dept. of Public Health. Update Engineering is making application to DPH by the end of the week. Roger Dann Water and Sewer needs to review application before it is passed on and then to the Mayor for his signature. March 17th memo from Town Engineer John Thompson indicates that a full application for a Water Company Land Permit for the proposed gravel parking lot will need to be filed. This may take a long period of time to receive a reply. See John Thompson's Memo and maps dated June 1 5t indicating that the full application has now been submitted. Pragemann Park the former tennis court site; I am in the process of receiving a cost estimate from a local landscaper to prepare the almost acre site for seed and to grow grass this fall. This area will be kept equipment free and be a benefit to the park with some added green space. I have sent a letter to Henry McCully requesting assistance to add fill, final grade the 40,OOOsqft. Area and to seed to complete the tennis court removal and add valuable green space to this park. Henry replied on October 1 stating that he is very busy and hopes he can fit it in during the month of November. Review Proposed Charter Revision Changes Parks & Recreation Harrison Park Veterans Tree plaques program?

6 The Trust for Public Land will be having a dedication of a park bench in memory of Beatrice Cuneo at the Cuneo Open Space Land. The date is Monday October 5 10:30am Kompan sales rep Colleen Moody has mailed out the playground proposal based on the site visit with her, John LaRue her colleague, Dave Gelo, Linda Mercuri and John Gawlak. The proposal is to look at some ideas for future planning and or the Rotary Foundation Grant that Roz Gallaqher has spoken to at previous meetings. Kompan sent estimate in June of items we selected for a playscape addition to Community Lake Park. See $44, cost estimate. Commission By-Laws I have had the front office staff call area departments for copies of their commission by-laws. To date, I have only received the Town of Cheshire's please see copy