Skatepark Meeting

JOHNSON SKATEPARK & BIKE TRACK COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES JOHNSON MUNICIPAL BUILDING / REMOTE ATTENDANCE BY ZOOM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2025 Present: Committee Members: Casey Romero, Howard Romero, Alexis Daniels, George Swanson (by Zoom) Absent: Greg Fatigate Note: All votes taken are unanimous unless otherwise noted. 1. Call to Order Casey called the meeting to order at 5:36. 2. Elect Chair for FY 2026 Howard nominated Casey for chair, seconded by Alexis. Casey said she is willing to serve as chair for another year. Casey was elected chair. 3. Minutes of June 11, 2025 The minutes of June 11 were approved by consensus. 4. Directors’ Orders Casey said June orders paid in July totaled about $3,557, which included the grant-funded Let’s Roll program, some FEMA expenditures that will be reimbursed eventually, work on the shed that was paid for by the Vermont Community Fund Flood grant, and mowing. This month the total of directors’ orders is much less. The cost for reinstating the water system is something we will need to talk about. The town wants us to take it out of our budget. 5. FEMA: Any Updates Casey said there are no official FEMA updates. Everything she reads is saying is that new money coming to our county will all be in housing. She doesn’t know about money already approved and supposedly coming to us. 6. Grant Work Updates: Manny Pad & Security Cameras Casey said we got a $2,225 Green Mountain Fund grant from the Vermont Community Fund to build a new manny pad and get new cameras. The problem is getting a carpenter to build the manny pad frame and do work on the shed to accommodate the new cameras. We have the cameras except for one solar camera we still need. Based on advice from the sheriff’s department, Isabelle Sullivan and others, we are going with Ring cameras. That means using a subscription service which currently costs about $100 per year. We haven’t found a local carpenter to do the work so far. We need another solar camera to put by the dumpster. It was out of stock on the Ring website and we will get it when it becomes available. The cameras were purchased at a sale price. We got 3 cameras – 2 to put on the shed roof to survey the skate area and one in the “jail” part of the shed. The Skatelite for the manny pad is going to be done by the Hall brothers. George asked if Casey had approached the high school about helping with the carpentry project. Casey said no. She wanted to use someone we have used before. She wouldn’t be comfortable handing it over to students, even with their teacher there, without one of us being involved with the specs. Howard said maybe we could use students if we had a detailed drawing. Casey said with someone experienced we don’t need that. Casey said she contacted a local computer technician recommended on Front Porch Forum to ask if he could work with security cameras. He says he could. His rate is $100/hr. Alexis said the former tech person at the school is now working on his own and is another person we could consider using. Skatepark & Bike Track Committee Meeting Minutes p. 2 August 13, 2025 7. Report: Let’s Roll Program Casey said she was at most of the Let’s Roll sessions. They only had 3 or 4 kids, but brothers and sisters and stragglers were also able to participate in an informal way. The moms were all really helpful. Casey said the arts camp only had 11 kids rather than 18-20. That has never happened before. She has no idea why. They were going to do a spray art project today but she doesn’t know if it happened since it rained. 8. Laraway Report George said the students are on vacation now. Staff only had a one-week vacation this year because of the 5-session program Laraway uses now. Students had 2 weeks off. Staff had one week and they will have an in-service next week. Then the next session will start. The new schedule is working well. A shorter time away from school is conducive to the learning process. This is their second year doing it. They have a great school garden. They will be making donations to Salvation Farms. They are rebuilding the greenhouse. Graduation was last week. One of the graduates will be traveling in Europe. 9. Site Maintenance Work & Recent Issues Casey said Seamus Hernandez is a fabulous worker. He can do a wide array of tasks. He is where he says he will be when he says he will be there. He is in frequent communication. We only have him for one more week but after that he can be available on some weekends. There is an issue with the water at the park. Howard said we know the valve underground is leaking. He took the top part apart and put it back together and could still hear it leaking. Tom and Nate did that work all over again and came up with the same answer. They say someone is going to dig it up. Casey said at the moment it looks like the one to dig it up will be Greg Fatigate. They talked to another person with a higher rate who wasn’t available for a partial day’s work. But Greg is not available until October. Howard said we are hoping to be able to get water to the community garden, which doesn’t currently have water. Casey said in the short term the village will need to turn on the water briefly at times to refill containers. Once the excavation is done, the vision is to put another fixture for us in pretty much the same place as the old one and also to add a yard hydrant near the paved parking lot area. Howard said we would like to see a curb stop installed somewhere in the line so we can turn the water on and off with a wrench. Casey said there was an issue Nate solved. For potable water there is not supposed to be any place where water drains to the ground because there is some possibility contamination could percolate up. Nate figured out he could put a double check valve in the pump house that means there will never be a question of contaminating the water supply. 10. Adjourn Alexis moved to adjourn at 6:09, George seconded and the motion was passed. Minutes submitted by Donna Griffiths