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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-03-10 Recreation Committee Minutesv Town of Reading ~~i 16 Lowell Street D Reading, MA 01867-2685 4: j b..J FAX: (781) 942 - 5441 RECREATION DIVISION: (781) 942 - 9P,75 READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES March 10th Town Hall Conference Room C) Attendance: Bernie Winne, Rec. Committee Chair, Mary Ellen Stolecki, Rec. Committee Member, Barbara Faso, Rec. Committee Member, Nancy-Linn Swain, Rec. Committee Member, Kate Kaminer, Associate Member, Mary Ann Kozlowski, School Member, Rick Shaffer, Rec. Committee Member Chris Campbell, Associate Member, Jack Downing, Rec. Committee Member, John Feudo, Recreation Administrator. Guests-Jane Duggan, Lisa Jellison, Mike Moscariello, Dave Gray, George Ravanis Meeting Called to order at 7:31 PM. The Committee was asked to review the minutes from the February 18th meeting. N. Swain made a motion to accept the minutes from February 18th. K. Kaminer seconded the motion. There was a brief discussion in regards to the minutes regarding the date that need to be corrected. Motion passes in favor of acceptance of the minutes 5-0-0. J. Downing entered the meeting at 7:33PM. J. Feudo introduced Mike Moscariello from Reading Men's Softball league. Mike was looking to receive permission to hold an annual women's Softball Tournament for the Dates of 6/19 and 6/20 on the Lighted Softball Field and Street Field. The group would need to begin early on Sunday morning at 9:00 AM. It should be noted that this same group held this same tournament last year with out any problems. Mike stated that the people that came to Reading last year enjoyed the facilities and were hopeful to play there again this summer. The committee asked if this event would conflict with any other event. J. Feudo stated that Youth Softball would be the only group it would effect and it could be worked out as it has in the past. Mike stated that he would be willing to trade any other Sunday to RYS if needed. The question of fees came up. J. Feudo stated the Rec. Committee would be taking up that very issue later on in the meeting. R. Shaffer made the motion to grant RMSL a Sunday permit for 6/20 for the Street Field and Lighted Softball Field. B. Faso seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of granting RMSL a Sunday permit for 6/20 for the Street and Lighted Softball Field 6-0-0. M. Stolecki entered the meeting at 7:41. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES Field Fee Schedule J. Feudo stated that he was submitting a draft of the field fee schedule for 2004 to the Rec. Committee. The Schedule is virtually set, but the Committee needed to look at the Tournament Fees and how to charge applicants. J. Feudo stated he recommended a $150 per day charge. M. Kozlowski stated that the Committee needed to take a look at what type of tournament was being proposed to determine what the fee would be. N. Swain mentioned it might be important to differentiate between resident and non-residents. B. Winne suggested a $75 per field per day. R. Shaffer felt that was too low considering the amount of time and wear and tear spent on the field. R. Shaffer made that motion to institute a Tournament rate of $150 per field per day (based on a ten hour day). K. Kaminer seconded the motion. Motion gets a 4-3-0 vote and does not carry. J. Downing felt that the $150 was too high. J. Downing made a motion of charging groups a flat fee of $75 per field per day. K. Kaminer seconded the motion. Motion is defeated 1-670. More discussion ensued by the committee. R. Shaffer made a motion to set the tournament rate at $125 per field per day. M. Kozlowski seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of setting the Tournament fee at $125 per field per day 6-1-0. Sunday Morning Approval for the Jay Jellison Race Jane Duggan and Lisa Jellison were on hand to be introduced by J. Feudo as coordinators for the Jay Jellison 5K Race. The event is an annual one. The event in the past has started at the Practice football field, with construction going on this summer they will be forced to start on the H.S. track. It was recommended that the group speak with Phil Vaccaro, H.S. Athletic Director to discuss logistics. J. Downing made a motion to allow for the Jay Jellison event to take place on the H.S. track from 7:OOAM -1:00 PM only after discussion with the Athletic Director and knowing that the High School construction will impact the event. M. Stolecki seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of allowing the event with the provisions stated 7-0-0. RYB Bathroom Proposal J. Feudo introduced David Grey and George Ravanis. They stated that they had brought a proposal to put an ADA compliant Bathroom at Hunt Memorial Park. David stated over the years there have been a number of issues with not having a bathroom at the park. David mention items such as kids having to disturb neighbors and well as the chance of a child catching Hepatitis B from kids using the woods. They stated their intentions were to do what was best for the neighborhood and to try to accommodate requests made by neighbors. The proposal stated three options. The option that seemed most feasible by the recreation committee was the option that called for adding a bathroom into the existing structure, which would require the least construction. R. Shaffer asked if this was expected to cost the Town any money. David stated that Reading Youth Baseball would take care of all the costs involved including having a maintenance staff come in and clean it to comply with board of health regulations. R. Shaffer agreed that it seemed to be the best scenario for participants and neighbors. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES The Committee seemed to agree that it was a good idea but felt a public hearing would be necessary. Recreation Administrator stated he thought this might be a public hearing for the Board of selectmen and would ask the Town Manager for guidance on how to proceed. Let the record show there was no opposition on this item from the Recreation Committee and they accepted the Reading Youth Baseball proposal. Administrator's Report J. Feudo gave the committee an update about the High School construction project. The project was estimated to begin near the end of April and the Practice Football Field and old pool area would be lost for the year. J. Feudo stated that he was able to receive permission to use the Varsity Football Field for T-Ball this Spring. J. Feudo mentioned the Athletic Director only would allow T-ball due to the fact that the kids would do very little destruction to the field. This was the only way the concession would be made. J. Feudo noted that the committee would be meeting with the Selectmen on March 30th. The three areas the committee decided to focus on were: 1)Ban on Memorial Park lifted, 2) Ban on Sunday Morning Play lifted, 3) Future development of Parcels in Reading. J. Feudo noted that the hiring process for summer camp was going well. The Camp would return over 90% of its staff from the previous year and would only be looking to fill 3 positions, one being an assistant director position. Currently, we have received over 30 applicants and planned on interviewing 17 of them. Negotiations with the school department were set for the end of March. The hope was to reduce the current $36,000 paid out annually to $25,000 which is closer to what is really spent. J. Feudo stated he would up date the committee in April with progress. The Summer Brochure has been sent to print. Program Coordinator Dan McGrath put together his first brochure. It is expected to hit Reading Homes March 19th. Finally, the Recreation Division will be hosting events on back to back days in April. The Egg Hunt will take place on Friday, April 9th and the Summer Registration Day will take place on Sat. April 10th. Volunteers are needed as usual to make both days a success. Sub-Committee Reports J. Downing stated the YMCA pool was shut down from January 19th - February 5th due to some extended operational problems. The air handling system was shut down due to a malfunction. The problem has been taken care of and the pool is functioning back to normal. M. Stolecki made a motion to adjourn the meeting of March 10, 2004. R. Shaffer seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of ending the meeting 7-0-0.