Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER: Monday, July 21, 2014 at 7:00pm at the Community Center 2. COMMISSION MEMBERS ATTENDANCE: Jeff Pattison (Chair), Dave Plourde, George Hawkins, Mitch Hamel, Kevin Dunleavy and Liza Kelleher. Absent-Rodney Roy. 3. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Candice Murray, Molly Sanborn, Catherine Pellon, Craig Kozens, Nikki Brady, Tony Felch and Keith Britton. 4. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: George Hawkins motioned to table the acceptance of the minutes from the June meeting due to his desire to confirm that procedures for the approval for American Legion baseball were followed correctly. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. Kevin said that he would review the meeting recording and will provide clarification at the next meeting. All were in favor. 5. OLD BUSINESS:  Making Strides Against Breast Cancer- Opechee bathhouse and field – October 15, 16, 17 and 19, 2014 for American Cancer Society fundraising event. Dave Plourde motioned to tabled due to no representation. Mitch Hamel seconded. All were in favor 6. FACILITY USE REQUESTS:  District II AA(Picnic)- Opechee Point- Saturday, August 30, 2014 from 9:00~5pm for a picnic. George Hawkins motioned to approve the request conditioned upon the waiving of the user fee and the use of 20lb. propane tanks for an annual picnic with the understanding that the park is open to the public. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor.  NH Young Republicans- Endicott Park- Saturday, September 13, 2014 from 11:00~3:00pm for a fundraising Picnic. Mitch Hamel motioned to accept the request conditioned upon payment of a $100.00 users fee, waiver for the use of 20lb. propane tanks if needed and subject to final approval from the City Council for fundraising on City property. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor.  Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park- Saturdays, May 23, 30, June 6, 13, 20, 20, 27, July 4, 11, 18, 25, August 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Sept. 12, 19, 16, Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 2015 for the fundraising and community building. Mitch Hamel motioned to table the request due to no representation. Dave Ploured seconded. All were in favor.  Arlene Woodward- Rotary Park & Gazebo- Saturday, August 2, 2014 for a fundraising event. Kevin stated that he spoke with the applicant and they requested that the request be withdrawn from the agenda. Mitch Hamel motioned to withdrawn the request from the agenda. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor.  Crossfit Juggernaut- Opechee Smith Track, Smith Field and Opechee beach for swimming, space for workouts & track- Saturday, July 26, 2014 from 8am to 12am for an athletics fundraising event to benefit the MDA. Mitch Hamel motioned to accept the request conditioned upon payment of a $100.00 user fee, submission of a certificate of insurance and administrative approval from the City Manager in lieu of City Council approval due to the timing of the request for fundraising on City property. The applicant  was reminded that swimming is only allowed within the swim lines, the facilty is to be shared with the public and nothing to be put in the track that may cause damage. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor.  Genesis Behavioral Health- Leavitt Park- August 13, 2014 (rain date August 15, 2014) from 9am-1pm for group cooperative games, therapeutic activities and fun physical activity for clients and staff. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request conditioned upon a waiver for the user fee and subject to a key deposit of $25.00 per key if needed. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor.  Lakes Region Girls Softball- Woodland Heights Softball field– Sundays, August 24, 31, Sept. 7, 14, 21, 28, October 5 and 12, 2014 from 8am to 8pm for fall softball practices & games. Dave Plourde motioned to accept the request conditioned upon payment for non-resident user fees. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor.  Laconia High School Athletics  Fall Sports i. LHS Football- Bobotas Field when artificial turf field not available. August 18th thru November 30th, Monday thru Thursday 3pm to 7pm ii. LHS Boys and Girls Soccer – Rotary Field @ Robbie Mills Complex, August 18th thru November 30th, Monday thru Friday 2pm to 6pm also Leavitt Park field Monday to Friday 2pm to 6pm iii. LHS Field Hockey – Smith Field, August 18th thru November 30th, Monday to Friday 3pm to 6pm (practice) or 3pm to 8pm (games) iv. LHS Cross Country – Robbie Mills Complex, August 18th thru November 30th, 2pm to 6pm.  Spring Sports i. LHS Baseball – Robbie Mills Field – April 2015 thru June 15th, Monday to Friday 2pm to 7pm and Saturday 8am to 12pm. ii. LHS Softball – Opechee Field D, April 2015 thru June 15th, Monday to Friday 2pm to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 12pm. iii. LHS Track and Field - Smith Track, April 2015 thru June 15th, Monday to Saturday 2pm to 6pm iv. LHS Boys and Girls Tennis – Memorial Park Courts, April 2015 to June 15th, Monday to Friday 2pm to 7pm v. Bobotas Field – Light use to occur when artificial field is not available. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. 7. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: 8. NEW BUSINESS: Parks & Recreation CIP – Kevin provided the Commission with last year;s CIP request summary. He stated that the CIP request is due in September and he asked the Commission to be thinking about the various projects. Kevin stated that a sub-committee of the Commission could meet with him prior to the next meeting to help identify priorities. George and Mitch offered to be on the sub-committee. Kevin said he would contact them to arrange a meeting date. 9. PUBLIC COMMENT: Tony Felch of the Leavitt Park Volunteers asked what the status of the new swing set is. Kevin said that the swing set has been delivered to the maintenance shop, but his staff has not had the time to install it. Kevin said they will install it as soon as they get the  chance. 10. COMMUNICATIONS: Thank you letter from Genesis Behavioral Health. Letter from Ms. Brandy Campbell in regards to Laconia Little League. Complain letter in regards to flotation device. 11. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: Leavitt Park Association –No report Opechee Park Association- Income and Expense report Weirs Community Park Association- No report Wyatt Park Association- No report 12. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Directors Report submitted by Kevin Dunleavy Department Updates: • Recent maintenance projects and activities include: Athletic field preparation Mowing and trimming Various work orders at City Hall, Library, park houses, LFD and LPD Beach raking Fourth of July preparations and cleanup Trash removal Pet waste bag restocking Bath House cleaning Employee BBQ setup and breakdown Picnic Table Repairs Planting bed weeding • We are now in the heart of the summer season. Maintenance staff are busy with mowing, weeding, beach facility maintenance and small projects. • Muskrat season has been keeping staff busy at Robbie Mills field. The season is coming to a close in the next few weeks. •Weirs Community Park – The amphitheater building and the pavilion structure have been completed. Additional drainage work has been completed. A recent storm caused some delays in the finish grading. The pedestrian bridge, exterior electrical, landscaping, seeding and general cleanup remain. There has been no word yet on the LWCF grant for the playground structure. • Wyatt Park – We have had experienced delays with getting all the work finished at Wyatt Park. The fencing portion of the work was completed last week. The exterior lights are now installed and working. Work to remain includes the drinking water bubbler and general cleanup. • The Fourth of July Celebration at Opechee Park went well considering the  challenges of working around the storm on July 4th. The parade was canceled, but the fireworks, entertainment and vending were able to be postponed until July 5th. We have received positive feedback about the fireworks show. Other than debris cleanup, there were no negative effects from having the fireworks launch from Smith Field. The track surface suffered no damage. • Weirs Beach saw large crowds over the long Fourth of July weekend. We believe that the plan for this year worked well and no major problems were experienced. Garbage and crowd control was handled well, and I am not aware of any complaints. • The Parks and Recreation Department is now managing rentals at Tardif Park. We hope to be able to make improvements with the situation at this park house, with hopes that a large enough group of volunteers will someday step forward. •Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Staff meetings, City Council, Special Events Committee, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, Safety Board, Main Street Bridge construction meeting, Weirs Community Park construction meetings, Master Plan Committee and WOW Trail Board. •The athletic fields are doing fairly well. Opechee Field is much improved from last year. Fertilizing and aeration have been ongoing. Bobotas Field has been sodded to help establish the field more quickly. The cost of the sod was shared between the school district and the site contractor. • The City budget has been passed by the City Council. Park improvements through CIP funding that were approved include tennis court resurfacing at Memorial Park, new bleachers at Memorial Park baseball field and new mowers. • Due to a lack of interest, we have canceled the summer weekend programs at the Community Center. • Upcoming events at our Parks include the Nor’Easters Softball Classic, Lakefest 2014 and the Classic Waterski Boat Show. Assistant Recreation & Facilities Director’s Report Submitted by Amy Lovisek The summer has been going well as of this point. Swim lessons are one week away from completion and we have positive and negative feedback. We can’t seem to please everyone. All beaches were tested and Bartlett Beach is the only one that was closed down for e-coli. The Opechee Day Camp is going well and we are full almost all weeks. We have a very young group of kids mostly and that can be challenging at times. We are still fully staffed for our lifeguards with only one replacement needed. The collectors are doing well at Bond and Weirs Beach. The lifeguards are attending the weekly in-service trainings on Thursday mornings at Weirs Beach that I provide. This training is just going over the skills that they have learned during their lifeguard training courses. I don’t “teach” them anything as I am not certified to do so. The free tennis lessons that we are offering with the help of Lakes Region Tennis Association are about ½ done. The lessons are quite well attended by all age groups including the adults. It has been getting a great response! This is something I would be thrilled about offering every summer if possible. Enjoy the rest of your summer!! 13. DATE OF NEXT MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:15pm and the next meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 18, 2014 at 7:00pm at the Community Center.