HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-11-24 Recreation Committee MinutesOF R
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Town of Reading
Meeting Minutes
Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Recreation Committee
Date: 2015 -11 -24 Time: 7:00 PM
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Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Selectmen Meeting Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street
Purpose: Meeting with Little League & Babe Session: General Session
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Attendees: Members - Present:
John Feudo, Kate Kaminer, Mike DiPietro, Adam Chase, Nancy Linn Swain,
Rich Hand
Members - Not Present:
Mary Ellen Stolecki, Dan Foley, Jeanne Borawski, Emily Sisson, Frank
Driscoll
Others Present:
Genevieve Fiorente, Jeff Pierce (Babe Ruth), Tom Fratto (Little League),
Steve Zessis (Little League), John Halsey (Board of Selectman)
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Genevieve Fiorente
Topics of Discussion:
K. Kaminer calls the meeting to order at 7:06pm.
J. Feudo starts the meeting off by explaining the process of the lighting project since March
of 2015 about getting price quotes on each individual field and how the original estimate
was just about one million dollars. J. Feudo presented this at Spring 2015 Town Meeting and
asked for the one million dollars. Town meeting members approved the capital expenditure.
J. Feudo stated that the borings that were dug on the fields were $35,000. Also, upon
meeting with engineering, there are other site development costs fro design says J. Feudo.
J. Feudo goes on to explain that with these costs, there needs to be a prioritizing of the
fields presented in the RFP in case the costs exceed.
J. Feudo says that he invited Babe Ruth and Little League to meet with the committee
because the committee must figure out the priority of fields. J. Feudo says that feedback
from them is beneficial to the decision making of the committee. The committee agrees. J.
Feudo states that the intention is not to pin organizations against each other but for the
organizations to explain their growth and needs to the committee so they can make the
best decision on priority of fields. J. Feudo also touches briefly on a meeting with the
Superintendent of schools and athletic director and the quality of lights on turf 2 and how
they need and upgrade.
K. Kaminer asks the committee and baseball groups if they have any questions on J.
Feudo's update. Everyone indicates no. K. Kaminer then asks the leagues about their usage
on the fields.
S. Zessis from Little League Baseball starts off by telling the committee about what fields
Little League currently uses. He states that Little League uses Tennis Court Field at the High
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School Complex, Hunt Field, Barrows Field, and Joshua Eaton Field. S. Zessis explains that
Little League plays in Spring, Summer, and Fall. S. Zessis says that currently Little League
has 1,156 individual registrations and the age range is 6 1/2 - 12 years of age. S. Zessis
states that Little League is very active with participation in all three seasons.
S. Zessis says there has been a big issue with rescheduling games and practices. He goes
on to explain that without the lights, Little League can accommodate about 300 games and
50 practices but with the lights, they can have 250 practices and 450 games. S. Zessis says
that during fall ball Little League has to stop games early and with the lights they can
extend games. He projects a 60% increase and goes on to state that lights would be
equivalent to adding an entire field for their organization. S. Zessis also mentions that
extended games in the Fall would be helpful to commuting parents who struggle to get to a
5/5:30pm game.
K. Kaminer thanks S. Zessis for the numbers he has provided. The committee also thanks
him for all the information and comments that it was very helpful.
J. Pierce from Babe Ruth then starts to speak on Babe Ruth. He states that there are 150
spring players and 100 players for the summer league. J. Pierce says that there are 50 fall
players that participate in a clinic style format. J. Pierce talks about the use of the fields
stating that they use Symonds as their number one field and were using Washington as
their two. J. Pierce explains that since they have been making significant updates to Morton
like new dugouts and backstop, that Morton is becoming their two.
J. Pierce says that they do not need the lights there and that it would not increase
participation for Babe Ruth. Jeff expresses there is a maintenance concern on Morton if
there is extra use on the field as there are volunteers who help to maintain the infield. He
mentions he would not like to see out of town users.
K. Kaminer asks J. Pierce about his concerns on maintenance of the outfield at Morton.
J. Pierce says town does work on the outfield and that he and his volunteers do work on the
infield. He goes on to state that the outfield does not affect baseball usage.
K. Kaminer touches back on the importance of the infield to Babe Ruth.
J. Pierce reiterates the importance of the infield being maintained and would be concerned
with outside organizations playing in the rain and not caring about the field condition
afterward.
J. Pierce says lights would provide flexibility because they can hop on the field later if the
High School needed the field.
J. Feudo asks J. Pierce if he thinks he would start a Fall Program with the lights beyond the
clinic.
J. Pierce says he would not think that there would be an up in participation to do that.
J. Feudo speaks about wanting to do what is needed first and foremost and thanks the
organizations for their information and their time.
J. Halsey brings up that Morton Field has an opportunity to accommodate high recreational
activity. I Halsey says that he shares concerns on the infield and that there are two things
to discuss.
1. If the lights go on Morton there is demand to rent the fields beyond regular users
and consideration has to be directed to DPW with specific maintenance cost through
the revolving fund.
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2. The amount of Green Space for youth organizations like soccer or SNL can be found
no other place in town and with the lights on Morton it would help.
J. Halsey askes Pierce again about his thoughts on the use of the outfield at Morton. Pierce
says again that there is not really concern about the outfield.
M. DiPietro voices his concern on the maintenance of the outfield for Morton and how we
can come up with a plan for that. J. Feudo says there is a possibility of starting an
enterprise fund but that would need further discussion.
K. Kaminer mentions that she does not want to see Morton become a cash cow and that the
committee is fond of doing what is best for recreational needs of the town users. She goes
on to say that Morton has always been used as a dedicated baseball field and has been
pristinely taking care off. She says how she is puzzled that Mr. Pierce and Mr. Halsey are
not concerned about the overuse of the outfield.
J. Pierce again says that the outfield is not a high concern to him.
J. Halsey says he wants it to be maintained as a baseball facility with other opportunities
and mentions establishing an enterprise fund because there is that pent up demand. J.
Halsey says multiuse is important because it would allow hundreds of more kids more
opportunity, space, and time.
K. Kaminer asks J. Feudo other than Morton what would you rent?
J. Feudo states that out of town use is currently limited as some outside groups do not
respect the fields as much as town users.
J. Feudo speaks on interior space rentals at the schools and how there was a struggle at
first. The schools were renting to outside renters before letting Recreation getting priority. J.
Feudo emphasizes the importance of town organizations getting first priority on fields.
J. Halsey mentions that Reading Men's Softball has a lot of out of towners. J. Feudo
responds by saying that they have been around for years and that it wouldn't exist if there
were not out of towners. J. Feudo also explains that that is the case with the town's special
needs programs. Some programs need out of towners to work numbers wise.
The conversation comes back to prioritizing of the fields. A. Chase asks about the strategy
of bidding smaller fields before bigger fields. J. Feudo answers that this is a good strategy
because if a bigger field goes before, others could get knocked off the list.
R. Hand comments that he thinks Turf 2 is a must because of usage.
A quick conversation ensures about revolving funds for the schools.
N. Swain asks about how much a million would get us. J Feudo could not guarantee how far
the one million would travel based on new conversations of site development with
engineering.
K. Kaminer asked J. Feudo what was needed of the committee and J. Feudo answered that a
final decision on the priority of fields would be needed to move the process along.
The committee then went through listing their top priorities for fields. J. Feudo also pulls up
the estimates on the projector screen given to him by MUSCO Lights.
R. Hand asks about creative solutions like putting new lights on existing poles to which J.
Feudo responded that some existing poles are not tall enough.
A conversation takes place within the committee of pros and cons of each of the fields.
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N. Swain moves to defer the final decision on the priority of the fields to the next Recreation
Meeting on December 8th. Adam seconds and all are in favor 5 -0.
K. Kaminer makes a motion to adjourn at 8:45pm. A. Chase seconds. All are in favor 5 -0.
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