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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-04-15 Recreation Committee MinutesFAX: (781) 942 - 5441 Town of Reading 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867 -2685 RECREATION DIVISION: (781) 942 - 9075 READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES April 15, 2010 Town Hall Conference Room Attendance: Bernie Winne, Recreation Committee Chairmen, Nancy -Linn Swain, Rec. Committee, Chris Campbell, Rec. Committee Member, Mary Ann Kozlowski, Rec. Committee, K. Kaminer, Rec. Committee Member, Beth Claroni, School Department Rep., John Feudo, Recreation Administrator Guests: Tom Loughlin Thad Berry Patty deGaravilla Eleana Rogan Conway Fausto Garcia James Bonazoli Bill Hughes Janice Hughes Camille Anthony Wini Pisarz Andrew Grimes Peter Vincent Barbara McDade Peter Coumounduros Moira McGoldrick B. Winne called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. C. Campbell made a motion to accept the minutes from the February 25th meeting. N. Swain seconded the motion. K. Kaminer asked if there was any follow up regarding the Extended Day program and discussion with the town Manager. J. Feudo stated he spoke with the Town Manager and the Town Manager would pass the concerns of the Administrator and Rec. Committee on to the Superintendent of Schools. Motion passed in favor of accepting the minutes for February 25, 2010 by a vote of 5 — 0- 0. Administrator's Report (Partial): The Town will be moving to a 4 -day work schedule starting the week of June 6`}'. The basic hours will be Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 7:30 AM- 5:30 and Tuesdays 7:30 AM — 7:00 PM. Each day is built with 30 minutes for lunch and 30 minutes of flex to be worked out by department. The Recreation staff will be working on plan to handle summer registration and clinics on Fridays. The Summer Rec. Magazine is out. J. Feudo highlighted some of the new programs. J. Feudo has announced the summer intern will be John Halsey, from Endicott College. He will be joining the staff in May. Town Day is June 19'' from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM followed by fireworks event starting at 7:00 PM at the Birch Meadow Complex. Public Hearing for the Joshua Eaton Master Plan J. Feudo introduced the Joshua Eaton Master Plan Committee and gave an overall synopsis of why the Town goes through a planning process. He thanked the public and presented the plan. Tom Loughlin resident of 24 Oak Street presented a plan to address the parking area that would save trees and increase the number of parking spaces. He also made a number of recommendations including paving the path from Indiana to the ADA ramp with asphalt, moving the batting cage to the lower fields to help with noise reduction. There was concern overall about the batting cage and the noise it may cause. J. Feudo passed around a sample of a semi - temporary batting cage for the public to review. There was concern raised about how any earth work including paving areas might impact the flooding of houses in the area. J. Feudo stated any earth work would need to be looked at by the DPW Engineering Division. The one way road was brought up in terms of providing access for emergency vehicles only. The issue of the gate on Cherry Hill Lane was brought up. J. Feudo stated there will be no change to the gate. It will continue to be locked. Overall the plan seemed to be received well. B. Winne thanked all that were in attendance and closed the public hearing. The Recreation Committee took a brief five minute recess. The Recreation Committee had a brief discussion based on the comments from the public hearing. They advised the Rec. Administrator to investigate the issues brought up by the public and the feasibility of making any changes. This committee decided to table the issue until the May meeting where they can look at the updated plan with changes from the hearing. RUSC J. Feudo introduced Peter Coumoundorus and Moira McGoldrick from the RUSC. P. Coumoundorus presented RUSC current numbers on for the youth Travel program. He expressed the challenges that group is facing. He offered to be part of the greater solution and asked what could be done to resolve the issue of field space. J. Feudo stated he was happy that RUSC numbers were strong and said all the Reading organizations have strong and growing numbers. He went on to highlight the purpose of allocating field space in the fall to give organizations a good understanding of what they can expect for space. Thus, organizations would need to consider how many kids they were willing to handle and the sacrifices that will go along with it. B. Winne thanked Moira and Peter for coming in. He reiterated some of the challenges and stated that field space has been an issue for many years. This was another version of it. He reminded the RUSC representatives that Youth Baseball and Youth Softball don't have the luxury of any practice time once their season begins. He stated the Recreation Committee is doing the best they can with the resources they have available, but numbers need to be addressed by organization. P. Coumoundorus mentioned there are ways he felt the Town could expand on what we already have for space by taking a couple of actions and making some changes. He asked about the fate of the Water Treatment plant site. J. Bonazoli mentioned that the site will be on the Board of Selectmen's agenda at some point. P. Coumoundorus also brought up other topics such as Castine Field and opening some fields before noon on Sundays. J. Bonazoli stated he was interested in taking Castine Field on as a project to see what might be able to be done with it. J. Bonazoli recommended having a meeting with all the organizations to discuss the various obstacles the organizations are facing. T -Ball Program The Recreation Committee spoke about the future of T -Ball in Reading. Jack Webster offered to sell his program to the Town. The Town has declined the offer, but has been in contact with RYB about a possible joint venture. The plan would be to continue with the Jr. Baseball league for 5 and 6 year olds and hand off the 7's to RYB. This would create some continuity from T -Ball to RYB. We will also investigate the same topic with RYS to see if they take kids that young. J. Feudo stated he would like to not have to issue field space to the private T -Ball program in town, but will seek a legal opinion on the matter before presenting any possible scenarios. Administrator's Report (continued) J. Feudo mentioned John Halsey Jr. will be joining the Recreation staff this summer as intern. John is a junior at Endicott College. Town Day is scheduled for Saturday, June 19`x' from 11:00 AM — 3:00 PM. Firework s will again be in the evening. An update on the park projects, Washington Park is ready for construction in June. The contract has been signed; we are just waiting on funding to be firmed up. Killam School will also receive a renovated playground this summer. The PTO has already raised about $12K. The Town will contribute $45K to the project. Work at Memorial Park has begun for the renovations. There will be a ground breaking ceremony on April 22 nd at 3PM. The project should be completed by early fall. N. Swain made a motion to adjourn. C. Campbell seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of adjournment 6— 0 -0. Meeting adjourned at 9:28 PM. Respectfully submitted by: John A. Feudo Recreation Administrator