Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER: Monday, October 20, 2014 at 7:00pm at the Community Center 2. COMMISSION MEMBERS ATTENDANCE: Jeff Pattison (Chair), George Hawkins, Rodney Roy, Kevin Dunleavy and Liza Kelleher. Absent- Commissioners Mitch Hamel and Dave Plourde 3. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Tony Felch, Brendon Bilodeau and Samantha Bennett. 4. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: George Hawkins motioned to accept the last month minutes. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor. 5. OLD BUSINESS: • Laconia Kiwanis- Rotary Park- Saturday August 30, 2015 from 8-3pm for Rogers Motorcycle Ride. Tabled due to no representation. 6. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: • Binning Wedding- Rotary Park Gazebo- May 16, 2015 for a wedding ceremony. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request subject to payment of $100.00 non- resident users’ fee. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor. • Jenovese/Bilodeau Wedding- Rotary Gazebo- June 25, 2015 5:00pm rehearsal & June 26, 2015 7:00pm for the wedding ceremony. Rodney Roy motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance and subject to a $100.00 non-resident users’ fee. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. 7. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: 8. NEW BUSINESS: ● Certificate of Insurance Policy- Kevin stated that the certificate of insurance limits have been a problem for some the facility users, particularly those holding wedding ceremonies at Rotary Park. Some insurance companies will not provide a million dollar policy for a wedding ceremony. Kevin stated that it appears some insurance companies will offer the specified $1million limit as evidenced by one of the certificates provided by a wedding request earlier in the meeting. Tony Felch said he has a company that the Leavitt Park Club recommends to renters that covers the limit. It was determined that there appears to be options for facility users to acquire the necessary insurance. 9. PUBLIC COMMENT: 10. COMMUNICATIONS: • Letter from Danny Iacopucci- Eagle Scout candidate. Danny Iacopucci send a thank you card to the Commissioners for letting him installed a flower bed, trees and picnic tables along the WOW Trail as part of his Eagle Scout requirements. 11. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: Leavitt Park Association –Minutes of the meeting 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 for interscholastic sports and youth leagues Mowing and trimming Various work orders at City Hall, Library, park houses, LFD and LPD Weirs Community Park opening preparations Event support (Making Strides for Cancer, Weirs Park opening) Trash removal Pet waste bag restocking Fertilizing, aeration Picnic Table Repairs Planting bed weeding, pruning Pruning Fall cleanups Building winterizing Irrigation shutdowns Infield weeding Remove swimlines Mow sledding hill •Weirs Community Park – The grand opening of the Weirs Community Park took place on October 15th. A luncheon was provided by the Weirs Community Park Association followed by a ribbon cutting and tour of the new facility. Everyone was impressed with the new park. Parks staff all pitched in to help apply the finishing touches so the park would be ready for the opening. •Athletic fields – All athletic fields are getting attention in the form of fertilizer, overseeding and aeration. The general condition of the fields is very good. We expect even further improvement as we move into next year. •Maintenance Staff- Our seasonal staff has a few weeks left before they leave for the season. Unfortunately, we have had to replace one of full time year round maintenance workers, Kris Genakos, who has decided to pursue other opportunities. We are fortunate that we have been able to bring on board Shannon Tucker to fill this position. Shannon has worked with us seasonally for several summers, and he brings much knowledge and experience with our operation. We look forward to having Shannon with us as a full time year round employee. •Canada Geese - Our Department continues to struggle with Canada Geese at several of our parks. In response to the problem, we have installed fencing and coyote decoys to help deter the problem. We have had mixed results, but will continue to do the best we can with this difficult challenge. •Memorial Park Tennis Courts – The Memorial Park tennis courts were recently  resurfaced along with crack repairs. The fifth court at this facility had a low spot that was patched to help prevent ponding. Due to the need to have the asphalt patch cure, we could not resurface this last court this season. The contractor (Vermont Tennis Courts) will be back in the spring to complete the resurfacing of this last court. New net posts will also be installed in the spring. •Eagle Scout Project/WOW Trail- Danny Iacopucci, an Eagle Scout candidate from Belmont, recently installed a flower, trees and picnic tables along the WOW Trail at the north end of the DPW yard adjacent to the WOW Trail and Opechee Lake. Danny did a great job and we expect the public will enjoy this area for many years to come. •New Truck- We put into service a new utility truck for our Department this summer. It has utility cabinets and acts as a mobile repair vehicle since it can carry tools. The purchase was funded through the Capital Improvement Program and the Internal Service Fund. •Parks and Recreation CIP - I presented the Department’s CIP request in September. There is a public hearing for the CIP on Tuesday, October 21st at City Hall for any members of the public who wish to speak. •Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Staff meetings, Special Events Committee, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, Safety Board, Weirs Community Park construction meetings, and Master Plan Committee. Asst. Director of Recreation & Facilities Report submitted by Amy Lovisek All programs are running smoothly this fall. We are having a decent turnout for numbers on almost all programs that are currently happening. We had a major push to complete the Weirs Community Park for its grand opening ceremony. That was celebrated on October 15th and I think it went quite well. The park was beautiful as we all knew it would be. Job well done to all involved. The Laconia Parks & Recreation Department was given $500 for Franklin Savings Bank as a donation to be used for any program we see fit. This was quite unexpected, but greatly appreciated. October 18th is our 2nd Annual Elementary School Halloween Dance. I am writing this report before that occurs so I will inform you how it went. We will be having our annual Pumpkin Carving Night this coming week on the 23rd and then on the 24th we are having a new program called Pumpkin Glow Walk. This will take place on the downtown part of the WOW trail and we are asking the public to bring in their carved pumpkins to be judged. We will set the pumpkins up along that part of the trail and have the public walk and judge the contest. This should be a lot of fun and a nice new program. I spoke at the Annual HEAL conference on October 16th regarding the Wyatt Park Project. We are constantly praised for this project and I wanted to pass that along to the Commission. Happy Fall to you All!! 13. DATE OF NEXT MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 and the next meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 17, 2014 at 7:00pm at the Community Center.