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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-03-12 Recreation Committee Minutes � or Town of Reading Meeting Minutes RECEIVED �< TOWN CLERK �op.o READING, MA. Board - committee - commission - Council: 2919 APR 17 AM 9: 46 Recreation Committee Date: 2019-03-12 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General- Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Emily Sisson (M), John Parks (M), Eric Gaffen (M), Mike DiPietro (M), Chuck Robinson (M), Kate Kaminer (A), Patrick Sheeran (A), Mary Ellen Killion (A) Members - Not Present: Rich Hand (M), Adam Chase (M), Michael Coltman (A) Others Present: Angela Binda 10 Orchard Park Drive Genevieve Fiorente Recreation Administrator and liaison to subcommittee Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Genevieve Florente, Recreation Administrator Topics of Discussion: E. Sisson opens the meeting at 7:03pm. E. Sisson make a comment that she did not second the motion on not publishing the recreation magazine more. M. DiPietro recalls seconding the motion. K. Kaminer makes a motion to approve the meeting minutes from 2.19.19 with the friendly amendment. M. DiPietro seconds. Motion passes 5-0. E. Sisson states that in the last meeting she mentioned to the committee about thinking about Capital Planning projects. She says that the Recreation liaison, Vanessa Alvarado, had reached out for some committee feedback. E. Sisson asks committee if they had thought about any projects more in depth that they would like to see. The committee discusses Barrows basketball court and tennis courts as well as the playgrounds that need to get back onto the capital plan for full renovations, the first being the Tot Lot on Bancroft. E. Sisson says that G. Fiorente will look into specific order of playground renovations if needed. J. Parks brings up the drainage issues at several of the fields in Town. The committee chats briefly about drainage issues at Birch Meadow and Symonds. The committee agrees that drainage affects the playability of Page I 1 fields and the infrastructure should be handled on fields before any big projects happen at those fields. 1. Parks also mentions that passive recreation is very important given the latest Birch Meadow Master Planning survey and he would hope that the walking paths at Birch Meadow connecting the fields would be considered as part of the Capital. The Committee agrees that passive recreation is a high priority in the community. E. Sisson thanks everyone for their feedback and says she will relay the information back to the Select Board liaison. E. Sisson goes into the next agenda topic of continued discussion on Sunday Early Start. She states that her and ]. Parks had a conversation in which 1. Parks stated that Reading Youth Lacrosse (RYL) is having difficulty with not having turf 2 or Stadium at the High School prior to 12pm. G. Fiorente states that it is a difficult situation and inquires if it is all in-town play or travel. E. Gaffen says all RYL teams are all travel. The committee has a discussion on Sunday early start times and has a difference of opinion of taking each Sunday early start request on a case by case basis or making it broad to all organizations to have early starts on Sundays all together. The committee agrees that it will ultimately be a Select Board decision. M. Killion suggests making a sheet every year of the requests of the leagues to send to Select Board. She states that on this sheet it should include whether the school or town has jurisdiction over a particular field. She adds that she feels people do not understand the full picture sometimes. M. Killion also says that if anything were to happen that the clergy needs to be notified. C. Robinson voices a concern about all of the fields becoming open prior to 12pm on Sundays since a lot of these fields are in neighborhoods. G. Fiorente states that since Reading Recreation does not rent out turf 2 and stadium currently, that Reading Youth Lacrosse, should reach out to the facilities department and/or superintendent to ask if they could rent those fields prior to 12pm. G. Fiorente states that she has not received a formal request from RYL for early Sunday start time either and says that if they are in need, it needs to be explored months before the season starts. G. Fiorente gives division updates. She states that programs will be live online for registration on March 18th and that she just sent out the magazine to the printer. E. Sisson comments that it will be the last one. G. Fiorente states that she had some conversations with her boss and the Town Manager and that it may have to be revisited. The committee briefly discusses the magazine publishing pros and cons again and still agree that not publishing it is the way to go but sending out a reminder postcard is Page 1 2 necessary. A. Binda states that she likes to read through the magazine and thinks that we will miss a lot of people. She adds that if it is decided not to print it that yes, the reminder postcard would be a good compromise. G. Fiorente gives an update on Recreation Committee resignations. She states that Lori Russo and Dan Foley have resigned for the Recreation Committee and that those seats will be available. She mentions that the current associates are more than welcome to apply for the voting member positions. G. Fiorente gives an update on the Joshua Eaton Playground Improvement that was part of the Capital Plan for FY19. She states that the playground will receive new rubber surfacing and the spinner at the school will be replaced by a climbing clownfish structure. G. Fiorente states that the Principal has been involved in the decision making process and even the kids at the school have weighed in. G. Fiorente gives an update on the porta potty donation by Reading Little League. She states that she saw an email update from Mike Wondolowski, RLL President, on Monday, March 4th that Reading Little League had received all appropriate permits from health and that the parks division had approved locations and fence enclosures. G. Fiorente states that she told him it would be too late for them to come to this recreation committee meeting since agenda was set but can ask chair to get them into the next one. She also tells the committee that she reached out to other internal staff to ensure again that the appropriate process was followed. J. Parks asks if there is an update on the Lax Hit wall and if the appropriate internal staff ever met with Reading Youth Lacrosse. G. Fiorente states that after the meeting she sent out an email with necessary internal staff in dpw, parks, engineering, etc. She says that R. Percival responded that the project discussion should be on hold until turf II logistics are figured out. G. Fiorente says that she agreed and says that RYL was disappointed. G. Fiorente goes on to say that she agreed with Ryan and it is the right thing to do to wait until the project at turf II is done then revisit it at the desired location. J. Parks makes a motion to adjourn at 8:15pm. K. Kaminer seconds. Motion passes 5-0. Page 13