HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-02-10 Recreation Committee MinutesMinutes
The meeting of-:the Recreation Committee came to order at 7:35 pm
in the, Conference Room of Town Hall on February 10, 1993.
Pre8:ent3at the meeting were members Kate Kaminer, John Pacino,
Gordon Richards, Fred Conover, Ed Hanley, Lorraine Salter, Gary
Roberts and Tom Zaya. In addition were staff Ruth Cogan, and
guests Paul Lucerto, Dom Orosco, Dave Blanchard, Arthur Kramer,
Marlene Foley and Jerry Pothier.
The minutes of January 13, 1993 were approved as presented 5:0:0.
Paul Lucerto came to speak to the Committee about a Summer League
for Youth Baseball. It would be for 8 - 12 year old boys and
girls on weekdays 6 - dusk. The cost would be $40 for the first
child, $25 for the second. The program would begin the week of
July 4th and go to the week before Labor Day. There will be 8
teams, 2 games a week. The teams would be different from the
spring teams. Conover asked whether the games could be played
during the day. Hanley asked how many games would be played per
night and how would excess registrants be handled.
Salter arrived.
Kaminer gave a brief synopsis of the meeting last year concerning
Hunt Park. It was noted that if there were any early start re-
quests that neighbors would be notified. Lucerto noted that no
Sunday games were scheduled for this summer, however, because
they planned to play on Friday nights Sundays would be held in
reserve for rain dates. They also planned a fifth game for Satur-
days that would begin at 5:30 pm. Mrs. Foley said that she had
no opposition to a 9 am game start time on Saturday mornings nor
people being on the field at 8:30 am. Three members of the
Recreation Committee remembered that at the meeting last year it
was said there would only be one All Star day of games. Lucerto
noted that the request for that day would be to start at 11 am in
order to get in three games and trophy ceremonies. Foley said
that she did not mind the one hour early start. Kramer noted
that he would rather have the games played over 2 Sundays with
noon starts than one Sunday with an 11 am start. He later
changed his mind and said that the one 11 am start was ok. Han-
ley asked how the neighbors felt about the 5:30 pm Saturday game.
The neighbors were not pleased with this. Conover asked how long
the season was; 17 game schedule. Conover noted that he felt
that it was too many games in light of field availability and
that in the past one team did not play on Saturdays. Kaminer
asked why they could not stretch out the time; Lucerto noted that
the season was already extended one week to eliminate the Sunday
games. Salter asked if Lucerto had any feedback from the par-
ticipants; he noted they want to play as many games as possible.
He noted that the season is only eight weeks long, that the
neighbors have the field the rest of the year and weekdays. Con-
over asked if they could play on other fields; Lucerto noted that
Hunt was the only regulations field. The Committe thanked Lucerto
for his input.
Jerry Pothier came in front of the Committee with a new program
request for a Little League Challenger Division for physically
and mentally handicapped kids ages 6 through 18. The rules are
the Little League safety rules. The class officers and team cap-
tains at the high school have agreed to participate as "buddies"
for the kids. The program would run in May and June, one or two
games per week. The only expense would be the cost of a $15 um-
pire per game. If it run with the Recreation Division the
liability issue would be covered under the Town's insurance
policy. Otherwise, the group would have to buy a one million
dollar policy at a cost of approximately $500. By being with
this organization the kids will have kids from other towns to
play with (no scores kept, fun only). Little League has offered
to donate equipment. Dates and times will be announced. The
cost would be $25 per child. A motion was made by Pacino,
seconded by Salter to approve this program. Motion passed 6:0:0.
Dom Orozco gave an overview of the soccor program. He noted that
1000 kids and 250 adults participate in the program each year.
They use a variety of fields and would like to pay to maintain a
field but the Committee noted that that would not ensure their
exclusive use. Orozco noted that that was why they had not done
so. They would like to host a soccor camp this year the week of
July 19 at Parker from 9 am - noon for Reading kids.
Supervisor's Report was given by Cogan. Discussion was held con-
cerning the incident on the Parker ski bus. Hanley, Salter and
Kaminer all noted that they felt the kids should be kicked off
the bus for the remainder of the program.
The outstanding clinic fee from last summer was paid that day.
The applications were received for the Supervisor's position.
Pacino, Kaminer, Conover and Salter will meet as a subcommittee
and recommend their top five candidates. A date of March 1 was
set for their meeting.
The Master Recreation Plan Subcommittee report was given by John
Pacino. He noted that it was a very productive meeting and that
they had changed the name of the subcommittee to better reflect
their work. He said that they had a lot of work to do and that
they may be enlisting the help of other members to help. Right
now they are updating the inventory of available and potential
use space. Donald Nadeau, the COnservation Administrator, had
been very helpful giving them maps and state inventories. The
next meeting has been set for February 17 at 7:30.
Teen Subcommittee had no report at this time.
The Field Subcommittee will be meeting on February 25 at 7 pm at
Town Hall. Cogan gave present members requests received to day;
the remainders will be sent out after the deadline.
Kaminer noted that a member is need as a representative of the
Recreation Committee for the Drug and Alcohol Council as Salter
would like to step down from that position. Cogan gave an over-
view of the Council. Kaminer asked people to think about it
before the next meeting.
Cogan noted that all Sunday concerts had been scheduled. Because
no one wanted to play on July 4th, the season will run from July
11 through August 29. Two new bands have been booked, including
a local jazz orchestra. The Wednesday childrens concerts is in
the process of being set.
Meeting adjourned at 10 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Zt cam-
Ruth L. Cogan .
Acting Recreation Supervisor