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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-04-10 Recreation Committee Minutesore e Town of Reading tVEU Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK C;? `e a /,0 r G MA. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2623 JUH -7 Aii �(' 45 Recreation Committee Date: 2023-04-10 Time: 6:30 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Purpose: General Monthly Meeting Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Michael Coltman (M), Eric Gaffen (M), Bob Weiden (M), Melissa Pucci (M), Chuck Robinson (M), Angela Binda(M), Rich Hand (M) Members - Not Present: Katelynn King (A) Kate Kaminer (M) Others Present: Genevieve Fiorente - Community Services Director Carlo Bacci - Select Board Liaison Karen Herrick -Select Board Ben Ream - Resident Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Genevieve Fiorente, Community Services Director Topics of Discussion: AGENDA • Discussion/Approval of Meeting Minutes • Vote on Amplified Sound Permits • SWEC liaison Report—Angela Binda and Chuck Robinson • Discussion on Parks Field Agreement with Organizations • Birch Meadow Master Plan Update • Recreation Updates B. Weiden calls the meeting to order at 6:35pm. E. Gaffen makes a motion to accept the meeting minutes. R. Hand seconds. M. Coltman makes a friendly amendment for attendance citing that he was listed twice and Kate Kaminer was not listed. G. Fiorente states she will make that change. Vote passes 6-0-1 as amended. A. Binda states that she is abstaining as she did not attend the meeting. G. Fiorente presents the Reading Lion's Club Amplified Sound Permit details for the Journey for Sight 5K. M. Coltman makes a makes a motion to accept the amplified sound permit as presented. R Hand seconds. Committee all in favor 7-0. Page i I G. Fiorente presents the Reading Softball Little League Amplified Sound Permit details for their Championship Saturday. M. Coltman makes a makes a motion to accept the amplified sound permit as presented. A. Binda seconds. Committee all in favor 7-0. G. Fiorente presents the REMAX/Harmony Amplified Sound Permit details for their picnic event for clients. M. Coltman makes a makes a motion to accept the amplified sound permit as presented. A. Binda seconds. Committee all in favor 7-0. A.Binda gives the SWEC update and states that there are several things that were discussed on the last meeting. She first presents the survey to the committee highlighting that Recreation and Open Space were top priorities in the survey. She also states that the "other category' had many responses and encouraged the Recreation Committee to look at the results that were presented. A.Binda goes on to say that the SWEC committee went over 4 possible spaces diagrams given by the architect because the committee had discussed some prior desires for field space, pickleball, soccer, play area, etc. A. Binda states that she had been approached about a drawing that placed pickleball courts next to the arena in the Burbank parking lot and multiple people were upset about it. She answered that she did not know about this drawing and asked a member of the public where they had received it from. A. Binda states that when she asked who gave this drawing to them, they said Carlo Bacci. A.Binda mentions that she wrote a letter to the newspaper because she was upset about what had transpired in the last SWEC meeting. She describes the items that were voted on that were not on the agenda which were to send out RFIs and to go back to the Select Board to ask to expand the scope of work. She adds that there were members of the audience that also seemed to be aware of these items and she as a member was not. She states she felt sideswiped as a committee member during the whole discussion. She adds that the next day the votes were nullified. A.Binda reads a letter written by Heather Clish. A.Binda mentions a timeline of C. Bacci advocating for Recreation at Symonds Way before the committee was formed. A.Binda states that she heard from another committee member that C. Bacci was pushing for pickleball at Symonds Way in the last Recreation Committee Meeting. She goes on to say that she has a problem with things not being done the way they are supposed to be. A. Binda states that other SWEC committee members are great. M. Coltman says that he cares a lot about Pickleball and understands the residents do not want it in their neighborhood. He states that expanding the scope of work may not be a bad idea since the area is limited. A.Binda asks M. Coltman if he knew about the Sth pickleball drawing. He states he did not and adds that he thinks the drawings are a good start. R. Hand says that there are also pickleball courts on the Birch Meadow Master Plan. M. Coltman says yes, but that was before all the noise. G. Fiorente answers that there could be a way to interchange the basketball and pickleball courts so the pickleball courts are closer to the field house parking lot and away from neighbors. Page 1 2 A.Binda says J. Halsey was also at the first meeting advocating for the entire Symonds Way area to be Recreation. She states that the community needs to explore all opportunities before decisions are made. B. Weiden states that the pickleball facility discussion has been going on forever and the committee has told the pickleball community numerous times to get organized and start to fundraise. He says they seem to be doing that and we should prioritize a spot for them. E. Gaffen states that Symonds Way is probably the ideal space for pickleball and agrees that it could be a good idea for recreation. He goes on to say that SWEC has been solution first, process second. He says that it is evident from the 5th pickleball drawing that C. Bacci knew about and that there is a special interest there. He states that the survey has not even been closed yet so how can we move forward with ideas. He says that he remembers being a Town Meeting member at the time the Symonds Way property was voted on and that the discussion was that all possibilities would be explored for the land. He goes on to say that we could end up with pickleball as the solution but it hasn't got there the right way. C. Robinson says that no real decisions have been made and he agrees that those items should not have been voted on. He states that SWEC will get back on track. E. Gaffen asks when the next meeting will be. A.Binda answers that is scheduled for tomorrow and there are only agenda items to take votes on the RFI process and going back to the Select Board to expand the scope. R. Hand states that he imagines SWEC will take a step back and reset after the vote. E. Gaffen thinks that Symonds Way will be Recreation but there shouldn't be diagrams made before decisions are made. G. Fiorente says that there appears like there just needs to be better communication and suggests bringing in a consultant to create a more formal process if it is helpful. M. Coltman says that the drawings seem like good data points. A.Binda answers that it is not just a data point when others are getting the information from Select Board members before the members of SWEC. A.Binda says that she has been reading the Conflict of Interest Law and now that C. Bacci is a certified paid pickleball instructor, he has a special financial interest. She states that C. Bacci should stop advocating for pickleball in public meetings which he has already done on multiple occasions. She states she plans to ask the chair of the Select Board to have C. Bacci step down as the liaison to SWEC. A short 5 -minute recess is taken at 7:45pm. Meeting reconvenes at 8:00pm. G. Fiorente gives a quick update on the hiring of Jim Sullivan as new Recreation Administrator Page 1 3 C. Bacci states that Heather Clish was late to the last meeting but most of the committee members were there at the last SWEC meeting. He goes on to say that he did not act unilaterally. C. Bacci said that J. Wellman indicated that a big wave would be needed for it to change the impact of survey results. He says that everyone talked about what an RFI was and that they also discussed relooking at the charge. He states that there was a consensus from the board. C. Bacci says he apologized for pushing for votes not on the agenda. He states that the RFI is a good tool and agrees with expanding the charge of the scope. A brief conversation ensues about the original purchase of the Symonds Way Land. C. Bacci states that A. Binda was fishing for an open meeting law violation. A.Binda answers that she was not. C. Bacci states that he feels he needs to defend himself and said he did not ask for any of the drawings. A.Binda asks C. Bacci if he shared the 5th picture. C. Bacci says he did not. E. Gaffen states that he thinks expanding the purview is smart but doesn't really understand where the RFI is needed. C. Robinson states that he is also in favor of expanding the scope and that in theory, you wouldn't do the RFI until the charge is expanded. M. Coltman states how it has to be looked at in a wholistic manner like they have done with RECALC. G. Fiorente and the committee briefly discuss the new Parks Field Agreement with Organizations that the DPW had put together. G. Fiorente says that she has sent it out to all organizations and that the plan is to meet with them all in person along with the DPW once Jim Sullivan starts. E. Gaffen says he thinks volunteers should have the ability to mitigate small puddles on their own to make fields playable. E. Gaffen also states that having the language in there about players purposefully creating holes in the fields seems unnecessary. E. Gaffen mentions that their cleats create the holes. C. Robinson states that this seems to be only geared specifically toward baseball and softball maintenance so he thinks it should be named as such. G. Fiorente gives updates about the Birch Meadow Master Plan transfer of funds that she will be presenting at Town Meeting on April 27th. She asks the committee if they are still supportive of this. They all indicate they are supportive. G. Fiorente gives other programming, summer staffing and parks updates. A.Binda indicates she plans to leave as a Recreation Committee member when her term is up. B. Weiden tells A.Binda that she is a wealth of knowledge and thanks her for her service. Page 1 4 A.Binda makes a motion to adjourn at 8:50pm. R. Hand seconds. All in favor to adjourn 7-0. Page 1 5