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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-06-12 Recreation Committee Minutes - Draft O �L OFR c Town of Reading ' e Meeting Minutes _ R E::C I V Up ' w .�- OWN tea :. UP— R K , lArco Board .-Committee -Commission Council: 2010JUL . P : 05.. Recreation Committee Date:. 2018-06-12 Time: 7:00.PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General. Discussion Session: General Session . Attendees.: Members - Present: Emily Sisson, Rich Hand, Adam.Chase, Lori Russo, Mary Ellen Killion (associate) Members- Not Present: Chuck Robinson, Dan Foley, Mike DiPietro, Kate Kaminer (associate). . Others Present: Genevieve Fiorente - Recreation Administrator_ John Halsey - Select Board Liaison Minutes Respectfully Submitted, By:, Genevieve Fiorente Topics of Discussion: ***********DRAFT COPY ONLY*********** Discussion starts at 7:03pm. G. Fiorente asks.J: Halsey if he would like to speak first_. He states that he can wait until.other agenda items have been discussed. G. Fiorente presents the mock playground rules that have been passed around at a prior meeting. She explains.how there are rules and regulations for Parks•& Field but nothing. specific that is placed by the playgrounds that give generalized rules-for the play structures. She stated.that M. Hannaford.is now the Parks,.Cemetery & Foresty Supervisor and has looked over the rules as well. Committee members discuss the rules,.specifically pertaining. to the dogs-inside'_the play area. G. Fiorente states that there is no law that says the dogs cannot be inside the play area according to C: Amendola at the Police Department but it can, be a rule we implement through the Recreation Division..J. Halsey says that there is -however a leash. law that people-do have to follow. He adds that a subset is multiple dogs in the play area that canalso be problematic..when_particular dogs do not get along. The committee agrees. E. Sisson:makes a suggestion to reorder the rules to make it flow better. She.goes onto say. : that-she would:say the top.3 issues at the playgrounds are dogs, vandalism and trash. The:. committee agrees on her suggestion and points. G..Fiorente,states that she will reorder the rules for better.flow and share again with appropriate parties in Parks before official signs are made. A. Chase.also.states that instead of adult supervision required the rule should say adult supervision recommended. The Committee also agrees. G.. Fiorente said she will also make that edit. M. Killion asks about where'the signs will be placed. G. Fiorente says right on the fence when people walk in or right next to the playground.itself: Page 1 G. Fiorente,talks about the Birch Meadow Master Planning Subcommittee. G..-Fiorente states . that-the-committee officially appointed 3 people to the committee imFebruary, Dan Foley, Rich Hand.and neighbor, Shannon Fratto..She says that Shannon Fratto is now helping as a part-time town employee and can no longer serve on the committee. She said it-is the committee's.job to appoint a new member of the subcommittee. The.committee discusses. the appointment of a new member. They:agree that there will be. great value in the near future to perhaps add another,member to the committee. that is a neighbor. M: Killion.asks for a.directive and indicates the need foractive. 1.Halsey gives. more background on the subcommittee and states that the Recreation projects.the past few years have been put on-the back burner due.to finances. R. .Hand mentions some.of the prior discussions of the plan that originated from the survey. He speaks to M. Killion'spoint ..on active;recreation and says that the survey results called for walking paths and bike: ::for. active recreation in:the area. :G. Fiorente says that there should probably be another survey done since the. last one came out.1n :2015. M. Killion says she will be more than happy to volunteer on the subcommittee. J. Halsey exits:the room and indicates:he will :return in a moment. G. Fiorente:asks the committee if they would be willing to meet earlier in the,evening or a different day to get more of a quorum._ The committee is open to discussing other day.and times possibilities and suggests that:G. Fiorente or D. Foley send out'a poll. They briefly discuss some.other days and times that may work.-- J.: ork._J: Halsey returns. G. Fiorente talks about a couple pending improvements. She.says that she has metwith Parks, Water and Highway on ways to improve the drainage down at the.Killam Elementary Softball Field. She goes on to say that fixing thefield would make the field playable for leagues like Reading Softball Little League. She also states that most recently,-Reading. Little.League, has approached her for their need for-an intermediate field for the 12 year old_ boys. She states that this:intermediate field needs to be a softball field and-that they bring their own..mound. I Halsey adds.specific details on the .requirements and dimensions of the field. The committee is in support of fixing the drainage down there... G. Fiorente says that there have been,prior plans to improve the area but there was still some question on when .the KillamBuilding Project.would becoming into the planning stages: G. Fiorente said that:now that the plan is looking like itis 5+.years away that a .remedy,to the field now to provide-much needed additional field space for many leagues will. be extremely beneficial.The committee agrees as does I Halsey. G. Fiorente says that the project stage is now with engineering who will be working on some surveying of the area.,G. . Fiorente also adds.that the Killam.Principal is on board with the project and she plans to keep her-updated on-developments. G. Fiorente says that nothing is guaranteed until passed through appropriate channels but she and other-departments/divisions are working together proactively on a solution. C R. Hand exits the room: G. Fiorente gives a brief update ori the Pickleball Court lines and.says she is trying to schedule'a.datewith-East Coast Seal Coating who lined the.Wilmington existing tennis courts for picklebalk G. Fiorente says that she thought it was irriportant use:a company who had experience lining existing tennis court surfaces': G. Fiorente briefly speaks about the color of the pickleball lines which is yet to be determined. M. Killion asks if there is something the company"can provide that would show you what the lines would look like. G. . Fiorente said that she is sure they can provide some aerial views with what it would look like. G. Fiorente gives-a few more updates,on the division. She states that Shannon Fratto has been in the.division for a few weeks and is already helping tremendously with programming Page 12 She also.says that she just had the summer camp orientation at 5pm which went well.'She - goes on to say that the camp will begin in a couple weeks along with other sports clinics.and enrichment clinics. She says it will be another busy summer. G. Fiorente asks.J. Halsey if'he would like to speak now. J.. Halsey says, that,yes, he would like to address.the committee about the 4.17.18.meeting in which the committee voted on what he would like to call a"no-confidence"-vote. He said that he had questions for.the. people who:were-at-the. meeting who voted, Kate Kaminer, Frank Driscoll, Dan Foley, Mike DiPietro and Rich Hand. He states that unfortunately only Rich is here today to speak to it. J. Halsey-announces that the Select.Board voted to-have two liaisons to larger committees and recreation was one of those,committees. He states that both.he and Dan Ensminger ,are- recreation committee liaisons now. - R. Hand reenters the room. J. Halsey reads excerpts of the minutes from 4.17.18. He states that he feels the recreation committee should publicly apologize and.considered the meeting to be a public embarrassment.. I Halsey continues to speak at length about the process in which it happened and that he did not:know that the discussion was goingto take place. He states that he loves the Town of Reading and that he. is involved recreationally and socially with several organizations and boards. He says that these affiliations aren't going away. He points out other members-on the committee and their.associations like the late FrankDriscoll with Youth Softball and Kate - Kaminer being a big advocate for Reading Tennis. I)Halsey says that he-had met with a lawyer twice and had the resources..He says he has been considering'lawsuits against recreation committee members.-He also states that he could fill the room with 60 people. He cites a prior personal recent conversation with K. Kaminer in which she addressed her : opinion.on his involvement on several boards and committees. J. Halsey says that he indicated that he would not stop his involvement: J. Halsey also brings up the L. Gemme portion-in the 4.1.7.18 meeting minutes. G. Fiorente said that what was stated in the meeting minutes was the truth. J. Halsey also states-that there is in implication that he . interferes with town staff which he also says he doesn't. J. Halsey states that he has now requested to get all agendas and recreation committee meeti.ng minutes and plans to be present at every meeting he can. He said that he will be coming to recreation committee meetings instead of Select Board meetings unless a quorum_ . -.is needed at the Select Board or�i-mportant issues are being discussed. Committee members say that they were talking about possible.other days of the week and starting times when J. .Halsey.had been:gone..for a moment. J. Halsey states that his integrity'was questioned and . it needed to be addressed and feels that it is important.to beat meetings moving forward. . R. Hand states that it was.not his personal intention or the board's to.question-j..Halsey's .integrity. G. Fiorente.states that while she also cannot.speak for the.committee members who are not there, she has been at every meeting. She said from her standpoint it was herself and the committee who were.having their integrity questioned based on. several- associations not J. Halsey's integrity. She said.that the overall feel of the committee in her opinion was to suggest having a liaison that wasn't directly.related and.'sitting on boards of youth organizations so the committee could be seen as being as transparent as possible when discussing and deciding on important recreation topics. J. Halsey again emphasized how the meeting minutes read. R..Hand.thanks J. Halsey for coming in to have the discussion with the recreation committee and from a courtesy standpoint he agrees that J.- Halsey should have been informed of the Select Board Liaison agenda item. R. Hand says that the committee cannot take back the process in which it happened but hopes for a better relationship and. communication moving forward from-all parties involved. Page 1.3 . J. Halsey mentions.while the lawsuit is not off the table, he doesn't think it would be the right way.to-proceed. He says he plans to put this behind him and move.forward.-He Welcomes discussions with other members of the,committee that were part of the vote but not present tonight. M..Killion_suggests that a meeting be had with other members-who are not present.and J. Halsey. J. Halsey exits. Committee-members briefly discuss J. Halsey's comments. Several members state they felt personally threatened by the lawsuit comment. M. Killion.asks. about the-minutes and agendas and who they are sent to. G. Fiorente says she has never sent agendas or meeting minutes to her boss or Select Board liaison unless they have -requested them. G. Fiorente says she follows protocol and posts agendas and publishes meeting minutes once they are approved. G. Fiorente says she will now include the Select Board liaison on recreation committee agendas and minutes. R. Hand asks G. Fiorente if she knew J. Halsey was coming in. G. Fiorente states that J., Halsey notified her and D. Foley via email yesterday afternoon that he would like to tome. in. She says she would have updated the agenda if it was in the 48 hour window and the . chairman or herself would have sent it out to appropriate parties. Meeting discussion ends at 9:05pm: After realizing that there was not a'quorum present, the votes are being rescinded and will be retaken at the 7/10/18 meeting. *-**********DRAFT-COPY ONLY***************** Page 14