Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER: Monday, December 15, 2014 at 7:03pm at the Community Center 2. COMMISSION MEMBERS ATTENDANCE: Jeff Pattison (Chair), Dave Plourde, Rodney Roy, George Hawkins and Kevin Dunleavy. Absent- Mitch Hamel, Liza Kelleher. 3. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Councilor Bob Hamel, Kim Blanchard, Tony Felch, Katie Reid, Joshua Hallett, Gregory Packard, Abby Slavin, Elizabeth Ballantyne. 4. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: Dave Plourde motioned to accept the last month minutes. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. 5. OLD BUSINESS: • Laconia Kiwanis- Rotary Park- Saturday August 30, 2015 from 8-3pm for Rogers Motorcycle Ride. Rod Roy motioned to take the request off the table. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request for no fee. Rod Roy seconded. All were in favor. • National Multiple Sclerosis Society- Opechee Park & Parking lot- May 9, 2015 Saturday from 7:30am to 2:00pm for the MS Walk Laconia fundraising walk. George Hawkins motioned to take the request off the table, Rod Roy seconded. All were in favor. Dave Plourde motioned to accept the request subject to a loudspeaker permit, special events permit and a $100 user fee. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. • Abigail Slavin & Gregory Packard- Rotary Park Gazebo- Saturday, September 26, 2015 from 3~6pm for a wedding ceremony. George Hawkins motioned to take the request off the table, Rod Roy seconded. All were in favor. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. ● 2015-2016 Laconia Parks and Recreation Budget Request Jeff Pattison stated that the budget was sent to the Commissioner previously for their review. Jeff asked the Commission if they all had a chance to review the budget. All Commissioners indicated they had reviewed the budget George Hawkins stated the items were all pretty straight forward. Kevin said that the only major change is the request for more funding in the Temporary Salaries item to get more seasonal maintenance staff. Jeff asked Kevin to state which new facilities we now take care of. Kevin said that the Weirs Community Park, increased care at the new Bobotas Field and new Riverwalk segments will be coming next year. George Hawkins motioned to approve the budget request as written. Rod Roy seconded. All were in favor. 6. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: ● Laconia Youth Soccer- Leavitt, Opechee, Robbie Mills, Woodland Heights, Bobotas and Elm Street. July 27 through October 2015, Monday to Saturday from 5pm to 9pm for youth soccer practice and games. George Hawkins motioned to table the request due to no representation. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor.  ●Linda Phelps Wedding- Rotary Park Gazebo- Sunday, May 24, 2015 from 1pm~5pm for a wedding. Rod Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. ●Greater Lakes Child Advocacy Center- Opechee Park- August 1, 2015 from 5am to 1pm for the annual triathlon fundraiser. George Hawkins motioned to table the request due to no representation. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. ●Stephanie Talkington & Joshua Hallett Wedding- Rotary Park - Saturday October 24, 2015 from 2pm~5pm for a wedding ceremony. Dave Plourde motioned to accept the request conditioned upon a $100 user fee. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. ●Christmas Village 2016 – Laconia Community Center- November 13th, 2016 thru December 13th, 2016 for the annual Christmas Village program. Event dates are December 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, 2016. Dave Plourde motioned to accept the request. Rod Roy seconded. All were in favor. 7. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: • Laconia Little League - Colby Field/Opechee Fields A,B,C, Pleasant Street School and Elm Street School from March 1st to July 15, 2015, M-F 5:30-9:00pm, Sat and Sun 8am-9pm for youth baseball practice and games. Rod Roy motioned to accept the request subject to non-resident user fees. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. • Laconia Little League – Junior All Star Tournament, Opechee Fields A,B,C and Colby Field, June 15 to June 21, M-F 5-9pm, Sat and Sun 8am-8pm. Dave Plourde motioned to accept the request subject to a $200 tournament fee. Rod Roy seconded. All were in favor. 8. NEW BUSINESS: 9. PUBLIC COMMENT: 10. COMMUNICATIONS: ● Letter to the Commissioners from Don Morissey (Turkey Plunge Chairman)- Jeff stated there was an appreciation letter received from the Turkey Plunge. 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: CIP Rankings – Kevin provided the Commission with a copy of the CIP project rankings and stated that the Parks and Recreation projects were lower on the list. Kevin stated that there are Water Works and Sewer Dept. projects that are enterprise funds at the top of the list that are funded through their individual revenues, which will mean items lower on the list will move higher up. Kevin stated that depending on how the priorities evolve, they may investigate a used large mower instead of an new one. Jeff mentioned the Bond Beach sewer system as being low. Kevin said that this request is for a on site septic system. To tie into municipal sewer would require tying into the Opechee Shores development private sewere. Bob Hamel asked if Kevin had looked into temporary bathroom structures. Kevin said he had not but would investigate the option. Laconia Parks and Recreation Directors Report December 15th, 2014 Department Updates: • Recent maintenance projects and activities include: Fall Cleanups Storm damage cleanup Various work orders at City Hall, Library, park houses, LFD and LPD Rink flooding at Leavitt and Memorial Parks Event support (Christmas Village, Turkey Plunge) Trash removal Pet waste bag restocking Oil checks at various facilities Book case installation at Gale Library Winter snow removal and salting/sanding Christmas light installation Close up courts and Smith Track •With the early onset of Winter, we were not able to do some of the small projects that we had hoped. Much of the maintenance work has focused on winter snow maintenance activities. •Christmas Village – The Community Center once again transformed into the North Pole thanks to the many volunteers that participate in this long standing tradition. Parks maintenance staff was able to provide support with the setup and breakdown of the event. •Many of the City facilities will be undergoing lighting upgrades through a PSNH program called Smart Start. PSNH covers half the cost of the upgrades, with the City’s half being paid through the savings realized in the monthly PSNH bills. Although the Community Center did not meet the criteria, the maintenance garage, some exterior lighting, Weirs Community Center and the Leavitt Park House will all have some upgrades. Other City facilities benefitting from this program include Laconia Police Station, City Hall and the Weirs Fire Department. •Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Staff meetings, Huot Center Building Trades Advisory Board, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, Safety Board, WOW Trail Board, PSNH Smart Start, LPD Police Athletic League, Dubois King Engineering and Master Plan Committee. Respectfully submitted, Kevin Dunleavy Director of Recreation and Facilities Asst. Director of Recreation & Facilities Report submitted by Amy Lovisek Christmas Village had another great year and served many families from the area. Always a wonderful event! They have cleaned up and we now have full use of our building. Unfortunately, we have taken that away from ourselves and are having the floors screened and polyed again. This was a service that the company owed to us from the original installation. This year the process will be free. We would like to have this an annual procedure for the gym to keep it in good condition. This is the best time of year to do it as the programs are already out of the building. We will re-open the gym for all programs on Monday, December 22, but basketball will be here over the weekend before. The Christmas programs went well over all. Christmas Caroling was a lot of fun and worked out better this year because we started earlier in the evening. Santa’s Calling had less calls this year, but was still very well received. The Hurray for the Holidays had to be cancelled due to weather last week, which was unfortunate. The Family Cookie Decorating went really well though. The families decorated their cookies and ate some as well, and then they were able to go into the gym to work them off! That really made the event that much more enjoyable for many! I think that is what I will do again next year. Tim Ford and I have been working to develop a manual for all buildings and parks. All aspects of these facilities and we will try to complete that as much as possible this winter. We will call in this version 101! It will be a constantly changing manual and will be a huge help to everyone in the department. I am offering my services to the group working on the Coffeefest this fall. We will be partnering with them to make things easier. I don’t know what my role will be as of yet, but I am just hoping to help. It looks like there is more of an interest in the racquetball court again! The girls’ varsity lacrosse coach asked about using the court for preseason practices for her team. The dance classes are down to only three at the moment. I have asked the instructor to remove the items that are currently in the room (mirrors, bars and other gear) out into the hall. This way we can use the room for multiple purposes. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your families. 13. DATE OF NEXT MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:35pm and the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at 7:00pm at the Community Center.