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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-02-12 Recreation Committee MinutesTown of Reading 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867-2685 FAX: (781) 942 - 5441 RECREATION DIVISION: (781) 942 - 9075 READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES February 12, 2003 Attendance: John Feudo, Recreation Administrator - r, Jack Downing, Recreation Committee Chairperson Susan Faye e Dave Bryant -0 Christopher Campbell Alan Beaulieu ~ Sue Cavicchi Kate Kaminer Lorraine Salter Kerry Bramhall- Guest Jack Downing called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM and asked the committee to review the minutes of the January meeting. A. Beaulieu made a motion to accept the minutes from the January Recreation Committee meeting. S. Cavicchi second the motion. J. Downing asked if there was any further discussion. A.Beaulieu asked if the phase "Junior Camp" could be amended to his statement on page 3, 4 paragraphs down. D. Bryant also noted a few minor adjustment as did S. Cavicchi. Recreation Administrator J. Feudo asked the Recreation Committee if it would be all right to bring a miniature tape recorder to help complete the minutes accurately. The Committee agreed. J.Downing called to vote the motion to accept the minutes as amended from the January Recreation Committee meeting. Motion passed 5-0 in favor of acceptance. SKATE PARK J.Downing started off by welcoming Kerry Bramhall to the meeting. (K. Bramhall has been one of the leaders for the construction of a skate park in Reading) J. Downing spoke briefly about the report of progress that the group had made (see January 2003 Minutes). J. Downing referred the group to Table 2, which focused on median scores as he felt that was the most realistic table. He stated that although Memorial Park came out on top there were a number of other viable locations. He noted that Memorial Park was ranked high in almost all combinations categories except Visibility. Lorraine Salter entered the meeting at 7:56 PM. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES Con't A.Beaulieu explained that he tried to sum the ranks of all the individual criterions to try to come up with a general Ranking. He concluded that he felt the Recreation Committee should pick more than one site to present to the Board of Selectmen. The Committee talked about the possibility of presenting to the Selectmen. The question was raised of why the Board of Selectmen would accept such a recommendation. J. Downing stated that the ranking were done independently by 11 of the most qualified people in Reading that know the Fields. A.Beaulieu mentioned that the expansion of Barrows Elementary School would possibly eliminate the Barrows Basketball Court option. S. Cavicchi agreed. K.Bramhall asked which would be the top 6 sites. J. Dowing listed the following: In no particular order: Memorial Park Volleyball Court Soccer Back board Burbank Arena Killam Barrows D.Bryant brought up the fact that the Board of Selectmen have already turned down Memorial Park as a possible site and suggested to not prioritizing them just list the top 6 choices. A.Beaulieu and S. Cavicchi agreed. S. Cavicchi felt that if the Sub-Committee could come up with a point system to apply to each location it would clarify some of the confusion. Then present the top few sites to the Board of Selectmen. The Recreation Committee then pondered the question of how many sites would be appropriate to present to the Board of Selectman. J. Downing suggested to pick between three and six, A. Beaulieu suggested three, L. Salter suggested four. The rest of the Committee seemed to agree that between 3 and 6 would be accurate taking into consideration sites such as Memorial Park would be a "tough sell". K. Kaminer added that the Board of Selectmen always takes Residents proximity into consideration so the Rec. Committee may want to weigh that criterion heavier. S. Fay mentioned that the presentation to the Board of Selectmen should be to the point and not filled with too much detail to avoid confusion. The Recreation Committee agreed. J.Downing felt the Sub-Committee should go to present their finding to the Board of Selectmen. He suggested putting together a PowerPoint presentation after he finalized the report from the Sub- Committee. S.Cavicchi made a motion to accept the preliminary work in progress report of the Skate Park sub- committee with the Recreation Committee recommended changes as the final Skate Park report. The presentation to the Board of Selectmen will include 6 public sites that had the highest number of points. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES Con't D.Bryant seconded the motion. J. Downing called to a vote. Motion passes 5 - 0 in favor of accepting the preliminary work in progress report of the Skate Park sub-committee with the Recreation Committee recommended changes as the final Skate Park report. The presentation to the Board of Selectmen will include 6 public sites that had the highest number of points. KIDS CRAFTS Recreation Administrator J. Feudo discussed the possibility of adding a new program for the summer called Kids Crafts. Kids and Crafts is an Arts and Crafts program for kids ages 2 -4 years old with a parent. The program would be run for 4 weeks over the summer, two sessions each Tuesday starting the second week in July. The program would take place in the Main cafeteria at the High School and would run during the day along with camp. J. Feudo felt this would be a great way to not only fill in the void for children ages 2 -4 but also give parents the opportunity to visit camp and see the operation. He went on to ask the Recreation Committee for comments and questions. A.Beaulieu stated that he like the idea for the following reasons, it hit a demographic that is relatively untapped, it's a short term commitment and fills a slight void in our summer program. D.Bryant made a motion to accept Kids Crafts as a new program offered by the Reading Recreation Division. A. Beaulieu seconded the motion. Motion passes 5-0 in Favor of the program. FIELD FEES J. Feudo discussed with the Recreation Committee that it was not feasible in such a short time period to come up with a per hour rate for field use. The Town Manager emailed the Recreation Administrator suggesting that any significant change in Field Fees really should be posed to the Board of Selectmen for a public hearing. J. Feudo still felt that a per hour rate could be done but suggested implementing it next Spring. Also, explaining the situation of budget cuts and the fact that the two seasonal workers may be cut by the Department of Public Works. The question then became; should the Recreation Committee raise the per game rate. J. Feudo advised that raising the game rate coupled with the loss of the two seasonal workers could really create a problem with the organizations. K.Kaminer suggested perhaps not raising the fee and organizations could use the money they are saving to pay a landscaper. J.Feudo stated that he thought only people hired by the Town of Reading were able to work on other fields, but he would check with Cemetery Division Head Bob Keating. J.Feudo also explained to the Recreation Committee that he was alarmed over the amount of money the division has spent over the past calendar year. In comparing the January status of appropriations from FY02 and FY03 there was an approximate difference of $75,000 less in FY03. He felt this was a direct result of a few factors such as the new program coordinator position, the purchase of Rec. Trac and agreement of paying the Facilities Dept. $3,000 per month plus 10% of all gross Revenues over $320,000. The Recreation Committee felt the amount of money that the Recreation Committee was paying out to the Facilities Dept. seemed a little on the high end. K.Kaminer made a motion to have the Finance Sub-committee meet with the Recreation Administrator to discuss the history of the Budget. A. Beaulieu seconded the motion. Motion passes in Favor 5 - 0. A.Beaulieu stated the he felt that it was important that everyone of the Recreation Committee start getting the word of mouth out about the new carry in carry out policy in the parks. He felt that was the best initial way to create awareness. D.Bryant made a motion to table the Field Fee issue until all members of the Field Scheduling committee were present. A. Beaulieu seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of tabling the Field Fees issues until the March Recreation Committee meeting. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:(See Skate Board Park Report above) K.Kaminer, L. Salter and J.Feudo have begun the process of hiring a new Tennis professional for the summer. They would be accepting quotes until February 14th and then would be interviewing the candidates the following week. They hoped to have someone in place before the new brochure hit home. Before the meeting adjourned J. Feudo asked if anyone would be interested in helping out with the Eggstravaganza. Committee members were receptive and asked to be reminded in March. A. Beaulieu motioned to adjourn the meeting. D. Bryant seconded the motion. Motion passed 5 -0 in favor of adjourning. Meeting Adjourned at 9:44 PM Respectfully su itted by, . Feu o recreation. istrator n