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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-19 Recreation Committee Minutes Town.of Reading F^ Meeting Minutes RECEIVED , TOWN r.%LERK" � READING, p pp fs�9+'1NCOR4 R E A D d N , NIA. .Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 018 MA25 PM12: 25 Recreation Committee Date: 2018-03-19 Time: 6:30.13M. Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference-.Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: Continued Discussion on Birch Session: General Session Meadow Fields Attendees: Members - Present: Adam Chase (member), Dan Foley (member,.chair), Emily Sisson(member, vice chair), Frank Driscoll (member), Rich Hand (member), Lori Russo (member), Kate Ka.miner (associate) Members - Not Present: Mike DiPietro, Mary Ellen Killon, Gil Congdon,,Jeanne Borawski Others Present: Genevieve Fiorente-Recreation Administrator Maureen. Hurley 214 Ash Street Larry Hurley 214 Ash Street Tim Higgins 315 Summer Ave John Yurewicz 10 .Fairview Ave Bob Hayes 739 Pearl Street Caryn Hayes 739 Pearl street Domenic Savio 495 West Street Angela Binda-10 Orchard Park Drive Jamie Maughn 263 Woburn St . Caryn Hayes 739 Pearl Street Sally Buemer 276 Woburn St Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: ,Genevieve Fiorente Topics of Discussion: D. Foley opens the meeting at 6:30pm. D. Foley states the first agenda item is re-approving January 9, 2018 meeting minutes.'G. Fiorente stated that.an error was pointed out that she had listed Jeanne Borawski as both present and not present on the January 9,-2018 and. ' that.Jeanne Borawski was present. G. Fiorente.said she made the appropriate edit. F. Driscoll makes a motion to approve the amended January 9, 2018 meeting minutes. E. Sisson seconds. All in favor 6-0. D. Foley moves on to state.that the,March 5, 2018 minutes from the public meeting also need to be voted on..F. Driscoll makes a motion to accept the March 5, 2018 meeting minutes. D. Foley seconds.. E._ Sisson comments that she thought the minutes were a great summation. All in favor 6-0 of amended minutes. D. Foley.discusses the Sunday Field use public meeting that was held two Mondays ago. He states that further discussion of the Board-of Selectmen policy has concluded that the recreation committee did not have authority to vote on.granting the season _waiver for Sunday early start times for the 2018 season to RSLL. He goes on to say that it should be'a Page 1 1 recommendation by the committee.. He.suggests to the.committee that the prior,vote made on March 5, 2018 be rescinded. F: Driscoll makes a motion to rescind the vote.made by the recreation committee on March 5, 2018 to allow a special waiver for early play on Sunday prior to 12pm to RSLL for their . 2018 spring season. E. Sisson seconds. All in favor 6-0. D. Foley says now we need to come up with a recommendation and states that he thinks that this recommendation should be consistent with what was presented in the last meeting. F. Driscoll states that,it seems that when the recreation committee.brings.recommendationss . to the Board of Selectmen their recommendation is overturned. F. Driscoll also comments that since the meeting, G. Fiorente has been receiving'phone calls and emails that are not always friendly. He addresses that the content of one of the most recent emails has: referenced G. Fiorente as scheduling more-field time.to the boys and men than the girls.., G: Fiorente said that yes, that is true that she has been getting several-phone calls and emails, not all of them.being nice. G. Fiorente says she.understands the sensitive nature of the topic and states she would-like to clear the air that it is absolutely untrue that she favors the men or boys leagues'over the girls leagues. G:-Fiorente states that to discredit this theory that she-pulled the spring season data that shows that Reading. S,otball Little- Leag-ue (RSLL).has almost double the space per week than Reading Men's Softball. She said she is disappointed that someone would question her integrity and,the integrity of the recreation committee. She also says that if she or the committee was biased, they would not be having open.conversations about plausible solutions to grant more field space to the expanding. RSLL. She also adds that even though RSLL may have more space in the spring' season than RMSL that that does. not,mean they do not have a need for more space. She .says that other organizations Tike Reading Lacrosse and Reading" .Youth Soccer who.schedule for both boys and girls leagues; come together each season and give and take field space as needed based on their enrollment. She states that organizations understand the lack of field space. K. Kaminer adds that this is nota-new topic and that leagues were initially at each.other's throats fighting for space but know now that working together for a solution-is best. She states that the leagues must amend schedules accord ingly,based,.on the available field space. She goes on to say that there are many organizations who can't even have practice time every week. F. Driscoll states that the same space has been allotted for Girls Youth Softball for the past 10 years. E. Sisson asks R. Hand and A. Chase their thoughts since they; were not present at the public meeting but did read the minutes. A. Chase says that he thinks Sunday play prior to 12pm at-Birch Meadow Fields should be considered. L. Russo says that-that was.the original intention of the committee to open the 3 birch meadow fields prior. to 12pm-on Sundays for all sports:as.needed. A. Chase says that looking it as a smallertarget for each organization as needed presents less of a problem. He adds that we have a lot of.'organizations using the same space and does think that it would have been better to have this discussion-:earlier.He concludes his thought by saying the extra space on Sunday mornings would certainly clear up a problem. K. Kaminer states that she thought a resolution was made in the meeting with G. Fiorente,. D. Foley, RMSL, and RSLL to go over field scheduling. G. Fiorente says that yes, there was some negotiation but that was a bandaid and the negotiation did not fully satisfy RSLL. R..Hand says that he questions making a recommendation for one organization and not another. He is concerned that other organizations:that have this need will come forward. He asks the committee why they decided on a 9am start instead of a 10am start'on Sundays. Page 12 D`. Foley said that the discussion for the 9am vs 10a was that each game is at,least 1-1/2 hours so,that would only give them time for one game time slot. . K. Kaminer asks if there has been any compromise on the part of RSLL and RMSL. D. Foley says that.RMSL said they would start their season a week later and would start a half hour later on Sundays. K. Kaminer asks what RSLL compromised. B: Hayes raises his hand to.comment to the chairman.D. Foley approves. B Hayes says that they are permitted until June 15th but they'hope to,finish earlier and`have their championship playoff games on June 9th.,'B. Hayes says if they do not need that week they plan to give it back to RMSL as they did in 2017. K. Kaminer says that she doesn't see if we don't need it we will give it back as being a compromise: . R. Hand asks about the new specific dates-needed by RSLL. L. Russo clarifies,that the need 3 dates for an early Sunday startwhich are 4/22, 5/6, and 5/20. R. Hand says.that they . should be sensitive to church with first communion conflicts. E. Sisson says that in the spirit of the.last vote from the March 5th meeting that the committee recommends to make an exception for the 3 dates needed by RSLL. K. Kaminer' adds that she would like the recommendation to state that there is opposition among the committee members and that it is not entirely supported She adds that"she does find that the committee has to acknowledge.the need of RSLL because of the time constraints. The committee agrees that RSLL.and RMSL need more time to work together to fine tune their schedules. R. Hand adds to the recommendation that there could'bea need for a subcommittee to visit the early start time prior to 12pm on Sundays and that he also finds it important to make sure policies for the-early play are consistent with facilities rental .through the schools and recreation. J..Maughn,raises his hand to speak. D. Foley allows.J. Maughan to comment. J. Maughan asks why the committee decided to rescind their vote and who asked them to. D. Foley- responded that there were comments madeby citizens and,town officials that were unsure of the authority the,recreation committee had to make the vote. He adds that-further exploration of the policy showed that the committee should.not.be making several consecutive exceptions in a season for early starts prior to 12pm as':it is specifically related to a Board of Selectmen Policy. G. Fiorente also adds that`there is a similar-policy with amplified sound permits. She says that the recreation committee has the authority to approve one amplified sound permit but if there are consecutive-requests from the same . organization week after week, the Board of Selectmen has to:be the one making the decisions to approve or not. J. Yurewicz raises his hand to make a comment. D..Foley-acknowledges. J. Yurewicz states that he thinks it is unfortunate that the committee has-presented recommendations before to the Board of Selectmen and they.were not approved. He said it must be extremely frustrating to put time and effort into a board and have that happen. J Maughn says that yes, the committee has given up their own time and has the most knowledge on the issue. K. Kaminer says she appreciates the sympathy but it is the duty of the recreation.committee to be counsel to the Board of Selectmen. The committee agrees.to let G. Fiorente and D. Foley work on the memo and the language of recommendation to.the Board of Selectmen. J A.Chase leaves the meeting at 7:50pm. G'. Fiorente gives a division update which includes the Barrows Playground Capital Improvement project, the hiring of a part-time program coordinator, hiring of-summer camp counselors, and.the.summer_magazine.going to print. Page 13 A committee member also asks.aboutthestorm impact at the.Mattera Cabin. G. Fiorente that says as.of now.we cannot use the cabin since trees have fallen on the roof:and ramp causing damage. She says that the Facilities Department is working to fix the problems but have told her that the cabin is out of commission for at least another month. G. Fiorente says that this presents a problem for programs that occur right-after school and that-the cabin is the only facility she can use-She goes.on to say that she.cannot get any school space until after 6pm which causes a problem with all of.her Wednesday elementary programs: She said she will have to reach out to the police, L. Gemme and the library to.see if they would be willing to help with the space for these already scheduled programs. R. Hand asks if there are any updates-on the. Pickleball front. G. Fiorente said.that there hasn't been conversation recently but she plans to reach-out to parks again to get a definitive yes or no on their thoughts about lining the courts at Memorial Park: -She says she is not comfortable having the recreation division or committee making that type of decision since:it is.directly related to.a different department. E-Sisson agrees that.the.Parks and DPW should come up with a recommendation before it comes to the recreation committee to discuss. F. Driscoll makes a motion to adjourn at 8:07pm. E. Sisson asks about summer camp registration. G. Fiorente says it is sold out in all weeks aside from the 4th of July week: E.- Sisson mentions how affordable the recreation camp is and how much her child enjoys the camp. E. Sisson seconds the motion..to adjourn. All in favor 6-.0. .***DRAFT COPY ONLY!!*** Page 4