Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at 7:00pm at the Community Center. 2. COMMISSION MEMBERS ATTENDANCE: Jeff Pattison (Chair), Mitch Hamel, George Hawkins, Rodney Roy, Kevin Dunleavy and Liza Kelleher. Absent- Dave Plourde. 3. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Denise Gray, Amy Newell, Timothy Shedd, Kerri Howe, Charlie St. Clair and Jim Lyman. 4. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: George Hawkins motioned to accept the last month’s minutes as read. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor. 5. OLD BUSINESS: Facility Use Requests: • Laconia Youth Soccer- Leavitt, Opechee, Robbie Mills, Woodland Heights, Bobotas and Elm Street Fields. August through October 2015, Monday to Saturday from 5pm to 9pm for youth soccer practice and games. Mitch Hamel motioned to remove the request from the table. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request subject to submission of the rosters, payment for non- resident users’ fee, certificate of insurance and final scheduling with the Parks office. Mitch Hamel seconded. All were in favor. • Linda Phelps Wedding- Rotary Park Gazebo- Sunday, May 24, 2015 from 1pm~5pm for a wedding. Commissioners left the request on the table due to no representation. • Greater Lakes Child Advocacy Center- Opechee Park- August 1, 2015 from 5am to 1pm for the annual triathlon fundraiser. Commissioners left the request on the table due to no representation. 6. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: • King/Bowler Wedding-Rotary Riverside Park- Saturday, August 15, 2015 from 3pm to 5pm for a wedding. Commissioners motioned to table the request due to no representation. • Laconia Motorcycle Week Assoc. - Opechee Park- Friday, June 19, 2015 from to 3pm for a Bike show and swap meet. Mitch Hamel motioned to accept the request subject to submission of a certificate of insurance. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor. • Laconia Motorcycle Week Assoc. - Weirs Beach- Wednesday June 17th (rain date June 18th or 19th) from 6pm to midnight for fireworks. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request subject to submission of a certificate of insurance. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor. • Weirs Action Committee- Weirs Beach- July 3, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25, 31, August 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29 and September 4, 2015 Friday (Saturday rain dates) from 6pm until midnight. Rodney Roy motioned to accept the request upon subject to submission of a certificate of insurance. Mitch Hamel seconded. All were in favor.  • Stinson/Dowling Scholarship Fund- Opechee Park (Smith Track, fields and beaches) - Sunday, June 18, 2015 from 9am to 12am for a fundraising event. Rodney Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Mitch Hamel seconded. All were in favor. • Timothy Shedd-Amy Newell Wedding- Rotary Park Gazebo-Saturday, July 18, 2015 from 1pm to 2:30pm for a wedding ceremony. Mitch Hamel motioned to accept the request subject to submission of a certificate of insurance. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor • Laconia Youth Lacrosse- Robbie Mills, Leavitt Park and Bobotas Fields- Monday through Friday, March 16, 2015 through June 20, 2015 from 5pm to 8pm for athletics practices. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request subject to the submission of rosters, non-resident users’ fee, key deposit if needed, a certificate of insurance and final scheduling with the Parks office. Mitch Hamel seconded. All were in favor. • Laconia Youth Lacrosse Jamboree- Bobotas, Robbie Mills, Leavitt and Smith Fields- Saturday & Sunday, May 23 & 24, 2015 from 8am to 8pm for Memorial Day Lacrosse Jamboree. Mitch Hamel motioned to accept the request subject to payment of the tournament fee, concession stand fee if needed, a certificate of insurance and final scheduling with the Parks office. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. • Laconia High School Girls Lacrosse- Community Center Racquetball Court- January 1 through March 22, 2015 for pre-season training. Rodney Roy motioned to accept the request as long as the coach is present and subject to scheduling with the Parks office. Mitch Hamel seconded. All were in favor. • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation- Opechee Park- Sunday May 17, 2015 from 7am to 1pm for a fundraising walk. Mitch Hamel motioned to accept the request subject to payment of the special event fee of $100.00, submission of a certificate of insurance, key deposit of $25.00 per key if needed and City Council approval for fundraising on City property. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. • Lakes Region Sled Dog Club- Pump Station Field Hay Field- Friday, Saturday & Sunday, February 13, 14 & 15, 2015 from 8am to 4pm for the Laconia Sled Dog Derby. Rodney Roy motioned to accept the request. Mitch Hamel seconded. All were in favor. • Lakes Region Community Services – WOW Trail- Sunday, May 17th, 2015 from 8am to 3pm for a charity walk. George Hawkins motioned to table the request due to no representation. Mitch Hamel seconded. All were in favor. 7. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: 8. NEW BUSINESS: • Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park facility use requests discussion. Kevin explained that Beth San Soucie of the Belknap Mill Society is asking if there is a way that facility use requests for wedding ceremonies can be done without attending Parks and Recreation Commission meetings, using Skype or Facetime as a potential option. Kevin said there are many people that are from out of town or out of state that need to come to the Commission meetings for ceremonies at Rotary Park and receptions inside the Belknap Mill. Several Commissioners expressed concerns about using electronic methods instead of attending meetings in person. Kevin said that Administrative approval through the Parks and Recreation office could be an option. George Hawkins and Jeff Pattisson suggested the Commission create a policy allowing Kevin Dunleavy  to give administrative approvals for the use of the Rotary Gazebo for wedding ceremonies only without the need for applicants to attend a Commission meeting. Kevin Dunleavy said he will draft a policy to present to the Commission for their review at the next Commission meeting. • Rodney Roy mentioned that with the upcoming Lacrosse season at Bobotas Field, there is a need to put a fence at the end of the field along the neighboring properties for safety reasons. Rodney presented a budgetary proposal from Superior Fence for the fence in the amount of $4,380 and wondered if the Parks and Recreation could share in the cost using the user fee fund. George mentioned that there is a need to get bids from three companies as required by the City. Rod said that the School Department and the Laconia Youth Lacrosse could help in the cost sharing. Kevin said he would reach out to the School Department to get further details and will report back to the Commission. 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS: • Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce Environmental Award – Weirs Community Park. Kevin said that the City and the Weirs Community Park Association received an award from the Chamber of Commerce for the Weirs Community Park Association. Kevin said that he and Don Richards were able to attend and accept the award. 10. PUBLIC COMMENT: 11. COMMUNICATIONS: 12. 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 13. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Directors Report Submitted by Kevin Dunleavy Department Updates: • Recent maintenance projects and activities include: Winter snow removal, sanding and salting Storm damage cleanup Various work orders at City Hall, Library, park houses, LFD and LPD Rink flooding at Leavitt and Memorial Parks Maintenance shop organization and cleanup Trash removal Pet waste bag restocking Oil checks at various facilities Book case installation at Gale Library Tardif Park House cleanup  •Maintenance staff has been focusing on snow removal and rink preparation. •Skating Rinks - We now have the Memorial Park and Leavitt Park rinks available for use. Lights are available until 10pm nightly. We installed a timer at Leavitt Park rink this simmer so lights can be utilized. Now that these rinks are operating, we will make attempts at getting Opechee Cove rink operating as long as the ice conditions and thickness allow. •Parks Operations Manual/Reference Guide – All parks staff have been working on the creation of a comprehensive manual for the Department. This manual is intended to serve as guide for all activities and information relating to the Department. It is expected that this manual will be a work in progress that will improve efficiency, result in better service to the public and will provide a guide for current and future employees. •Weirs Beach Sand Migration Study-Phase 2 – We have received the draft report for Phase 2 of the Weirs Beach Sand Migration report. The report has been reviewed by Parks and DPW and the final report is expected in the next month. A presentation of the findings will be scheduled for the City Council before spring. •Lighting Improvements- The lighting improvements are starting this week at several City buildings including the Parks maintenance shop and the Leavitt Park House. Upgrades should be complete in two weeks. •Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Staff meetings, Main Street Bridge construction, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, Safety Board, Dubois King Engineering, Weirs Action Committee and Master Plan Committee. Asst. Directors report Submitted by Amy Lovisek All programs are running smoothly at the Community Center. We have all our basic programming and then we added a new (renewed) program and that is racquetball. We have moved the dance classes that were using the room to the basement and opened the racquetball court for actual play. This has been a huge success so far. I have started to help out with the NH Coffee Festival that is held downtown. I am trying to get involved with this type of event in Laconia. This is right up our alley. I will be helping them with the city’s paperwork, forms and will help that day with kid’s events. This will be a really great thing to bring back to Laconia. I met with the Weir Community Park Association to discuss this year’s annual Easter Egg Hunt that will take place at their park. The date for this event is March 28th at 10:00am. I am always looking for volunteers to help with this event. Please let me know if you can come. At the beginning of the month I attended the Northern New England conference at Attitash. I went to many great sessions and have brought some interesting things back with me. I will be implementing them asap. We have the Sledding Party on January 23 from 6 – 8pm. Feel free to come down and enjoy the hill as well as the bonfire, cocoa and cookies. We should be getting the Tree City USA award again this year and it will be our 25th year. We would like to do something special for this event during our annual Arbor Day Celebration. I will let you know what our plans are so you can try to make the event. I have been working with the 5 Laconia schools and USTA (US Tennis Association) to get tennis into the schools. I am putting the effort into this for 2 reasons. First, that it is a “lifetime sport” and these kids will learn the sport and be able to play it throughout life. And second because it supports our parks as well. The more interest in the sport the more our courts are used. This is what this department wants. As of January 16, 2015 the Memorial Park and Leavitt Park ice skating rinks are open. This has been a difficult thing to accomplish. The Leavitt rink was seeing some serious vandalism. We got the word out and that was significantly reduced. Always nice to have people on our side!! 13. DATE OF NEXT MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm and the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 7:00pm at the Community Center.