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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-04-14 Recreation Committee Minutesor F1 X639: 1NCORpO� Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Recreation Committee Date: 2015 -04 -14 Building: Mattera Cabin Address: 1481 Main Street Purpose: Discuss Recreation Business Attendees: Members - Present: Time: 7:00 PM IVEO WN CLERK SS. «i S MAY 18 P 12: 2 5 Location: Mattera Cabin Session: General Session Adam Chase, Vice Chair, Frank Driscoll, Rec Committee Member, Nancy -Linn Swain, Rec Committee Member, Mike DiPietro, Rec. Committee Member, Dan Foley, Rec. Committee Member, Richard Hand, Chairman, Jeanne Borawski, School Committee Liaison Members - Not Present: Kate Kaminer, Mary Ellen Stolecki, Sean Whalen Others Present: Angela Binda, Genevieve Fiorente Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: John Feudo Topics of Discussion: Adam Chase called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM. The committee reviewed the minutes from the February 10, 2015 meeting. N. Swain made a motion to accept the minutes of the February meeting. J. Borawski seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of acceptance of the February 10, 2015 meeting minutes by a vote of 7 -0 -0. J. Feudo distributed an updated Field Fee and Procedure document. This document was updated in draft form for review by the committee. J. Feudo went through the document and discussed processes that were antiquated and no longer used or needed as well as fee structures for field rentals. N. Swain asked about having a new category for non - profits organizations in town. J. Feudo stated that the fees are only currently based on the residency. The policy no longer needed a tournament fee as those types of events no longer take place in Reading. J. Feudo felt the turf field at Parker should have a higher rate of cost based on the market averages for turf fields. Currently the fee is $75 per hour, however, the rate should be closer to $150 per hour. J. Feudo mentioned that he also added in a fee hourly for light use. Currently, lights are being paid for by the organizations that use them at the rate in which the town is charged. The process is clunky and less than scientific. However, in the event a non - Reading group wanted to reserve lights and a field, it seemed to make sense to have a rate similar to those used by the Facilities Department. The committee discussed several options, but arrived at no final decision. Page 1 1 J. Feudo asked the committee to spend some time reviewing the document and the committee could come back to the table and discuss it in May or June. M. DiPietro mentioned that the Town should check with some of the neighboring communities to see what their fee schedule looked like. J. Feudo stated he could do that. BIRCH MEADOW MASTER PLAN R. Hand asked Angela Binda to introduce herself. Angela mentioned she was doing her preparation for town meeting and had some questions about the Birch Meadow Master Plan. R. Hand gave an updated and spoke about the survey the subcommittee had been working on. A. Binda stated she was unclear of how the lights went from a $150,000 capital item to a $1M item. J. Feudo stated that the Birch Meadow Master plan was initially set to cost approximately $2.7M. However, after evaluating the costs on some of the proposed changes, some did not seem to make sense. The shifting of the fields at $1.1M seemed to not provide $1.1M benefit to the Town. However, the funding was distributed in a lump annual average sum as a place holder on the capital plan. Therefore, some of the funding from the field shift was now going to be redirected to the lights. J. Feudo said that the lights were initially going to be phased in but when it was clear that there would be a savings by doing it all at the same time, it seemed to make sense to do it all together. J. Feudo apologized to her for the issue with obtaining the minutes to prior meetings. He said he hoped she now had all the information she needed. J. Feudo mentioned if A. Binda had any other questions about the plan that she was welcome to contact him at Town Hall. Special Permit Request There is a special permit requests for use of Sunday space before 12:00 PM at Memorial by the Boy Scouts for the purpose of a Rocket Launch. The committee felt that the traffic at Memorial Park might encroach on the neighborhoods quiet Sunday morning and recommended that the Boy Scouts use Coolidge Middle School instead. Amplified Sound Request made by SNL Football, LLC for use of sound equipment for July 18th, 2015 at the Stadium football field. N. Swain made a motion to approve the request. D. Foley seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of the request by a vote of 5 -0 -0. Amplified Sound Request made by Connect the Tots for use of sound equipment and musical instruments on May 29th 2015 (rain date of June 5th) at Memorial Park. N. Swain made a motion to approve the request. A. Chase seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of the request by a vote of 5 -0 -0. Administrator's Report: G. Fiorente spoke about several successful programs this spring. She said Track and Field has taken off and was almost sold out. This program would be run by HS coaches Mike Connelly and Alison Boutiette. Open Mat Wrestling was also a new program that had just opened up. Finally, T -Ball sign -ups were going well. T -Ball will begin after April vacation this year due to the snow. J. Borawski exited the meeting. F. Driscoll exited the meeting. J. Feudo reminded the Committee that the lights project for Birch Meadow would likely be on the first night of Town meeting on April 27th. R. Hand stated he planned to be there and represent the committee as its chairman and support the project. J. Feudo gave an update regarding Washington Park. He mentioned that the work would begin again next week and should be finished in a few weeks. N. Swain expressed her Page 1 2 concern with the length of time the project has taken as the playground has been closed for quite some time as well as other areas of the park. Reserve a game reservations will be available on -line beginning May 15. Tennis passes will be available for purchase on April 27tH RCASA UPDATE R. Hand gave an update regarding Chris Herron's talk from the prior week. He said he was amazed to see so many middle and high school kids attend. He thought it would be great to have a couple of those events happen each year in the community. N. Swain made a motion to adjourn. M. Dipietro seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of adjournment by a vote of 5 -0 -0. Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM. Page 1 3