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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-05-17 Recreation Committee MinutesI VWII VI FXWOU11I!j 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867-2685 m >CD :~o Crri FAX: (781) 942 - 5441 RECREATION DIVISION: (781142 - READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES -p ` c~ May 17, 2006 Town Hall Conference Room , C) ' Attendance: Nancy-Linn Swain, Rec. Committee Chair, Frank Driscoll, Rec. Commit'te'e Member, Kate Kaminer, Rec. Committee Member, Bernie Winne, Rec. Committee Member, Mary Ellen Stolecki, Rec. Committee Member, Beth Claroni, Associate Member, John Feudo, Recreation Administrator N. Swain called the meeting to order at 7:08 PM The Committee was asked to review the minutes from the February 8th meeting. The Recreation Committee did not meet in April due to lack of quorum and chose not to meet in March. M.E. Stolecki made a motion to accept the minutes from the February 8th Recreation Committee meeting. B. Winne seconded the motion. The motion passed in favor of acceptance of the minutes 5-0-0. J. Feudo introduced Adam Pollock, President of Reading Pop Warner. Mr. Pollock introduced himself as the new President of Pop Warner. He asked to appear before the Committee to discuss the field fees for the cheerleaders of the Pop Warner Program. Currently, the cheerleaders as users of the Turf fields would need to pay the $2 surcharge. Mr. Pollock was looking to have that surcharge waived due to following reasons: • Cheerleaderare not actual game participants. • They are already paying the school department $6,000 for rental for cheerleading. • They only need the field for about two thirds of the season. A long discussion ensued regarding the field fees of the turf fields.B. Winne made a motion to table Pop Warner Football's issue until the Recreation Committee could fully understand the field fees of the turf fields. F. Driscoll seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of tabling the issue by a vote of 5 - 0- 0. J. Feudo stated that he would update the Recreation Committee on the agreement between the Town and School Department regarding field fees for the Synthetic Turf fields. Due to the fact that the Recreation Committee had not met in several months the opportunity had not presented itself. Recreation and Open Space Master Plan J. Feudo stated due to the Recreation Committee meeting being moved back a week, a member of the CPDC was not able to attend the meeting. Town Planner Chris Reilly and members of the READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES CON'T CPDC have been invited in to the June meeting to discuss the Recreation and Open Space Master Plan. - Vice-Chair and Quorum Issues N. Swain stated that attendance at the Recreation Committee meetings has been a bit lacking. The committee has not been able to meet 3 times in the past 9 months due to lack of quorum. One of the factors is the committee is missing a full time member which means there is automatically one person missing each month. J. Feudo asked if anyone knows of anyone interested in becoming a full time member to please have them contact him. J. Feudo mentioned that the Vice Chairmen position of the Recreation Committee is still vacant. Even though there are only a few months left in the fiscal year and changes would be coming, J. Feudo felt it was important to fill the void. M. E. Stolecki nominated K. Kaminer as Vice Chair of the Recreation Committee. B. Winne seconded the motion. Kate Kaminer was named Vice Chair by a vote of 4-0-1. Administrator's Report In February the Recreation Administrator met with representatives from the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, School Department, Public Works and the Town Manager along with a representative of the Recreation Committee to discuss how the new synthetic turf fields. Discussion surrounded the following issues: • Who would rent the field? e Who would schedule the field? • Who get priority? • What would the fee structure be? The decision was arrived at that it would be most productive to set the priority similar to the other athletic fields giving the HS first priority. The HS would have the fields on M - F during the school year, with the ability to block times on the weekend for games and practices. The Recreation Administrator would be responsible for booking both fields and could book Turf Field 2 when ever needed. Bookings for the stadium needed to be cleared through the Athletic Director. When "In Town" youth organizations use the field they will be charged a total of $12 per player using the synthetic turf fields. $10 of the $12 will remain with the Recreation Division. The $2 surcharge will be paid back to the school department from the Recreation Division. This fee is to help defray the cost of annual maintenance on the fields which is estimated at $15,000. "Out of Town" organization will pay the full rental price set by the school committee. The field can be rented by anyone as long as it is open. Outside rentals will be invoiced by the Facilities Rental Department once the event is permitted. f~- READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES COPT J. Feudo then answered a few questions from the Recreation Committee regarding the process and fee structure. The committee felt based on the structure of the fees for the Turf Fields it was appropriate to charge the Pop Warner Cheerleaders $10 per participant for the use of non-synthetic turf areas. M.E. Stolecki and B. Claroni asked if the pathway at Barrows could be looked at near the tennis courts. It seems there is a potential dangerous situation in which the pathway next to the swale has potential for people to fall. The paving of the path is loose and uneven. J. Feudo asked for either B. Claroni or ME Stolecki to meet with him and Bob Keating to see specifically what area they were concerned about to see what could be done. J. Feudo asked the Recreation Committee to support a recommendation to extend Sunday Permits past one time use for the Spring season due to unusually large amounts of rain in the month of May. This had backed up most organizations and having Sunday mornings would make rescheduling easier. Camp numbers for Summer continue to be strong. The annual Egg Hunt was a success. Close to 250 people showed up. Thanks to Mike DiPietro and Kate Kaminer for their assistance with the Egg Hunt. J. Feudo mentioned that Spring Girls Basketball, Field Hockey and Tennis Clinics are all underway and well enrolled. N. Swain gave an update regarding the Initiative Against Substance Abuse in Reading. A discussion ensued. J: Feudo handed out the budget and reported that the Recreation Division is back to break even for FY06. J. Feudo-answered a few minor questions regarding the budget. - - J. Feudo updated the Recreation Committee on the usage status of Memorial Park. He mentioned that the Board of Selectmen allowed the same use that was approved last year only after a letter was sent by the Recreation Committee chairmen outlining the need. It is the general feeling that Memorial Park may not be used after this year. It was recommended that Selectmen Bonazoli be invited into a future Committee meeting to discuss the future use of Memorial and it's impact on youth organizations. J. Feudo noted that he had met in March with what he would describe as the major players in the Basketball scene here in Reading. He noted his goal was to try to get all the Reading Basketball factions under the jurisdiction of the Recreation Division. The initial meeting went well, however there were still a few obstacles to over come to reach and agreement. J. Feudo will update the Recreation Committee on the progress. B. Winne made a motion to adjourn. K. Kaminer seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of adjournment 5-0-0. Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM.