Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER: Monday, March 16, 2015 at 7:00pm at the Community Center. 2. COMMISSION MEMBERS ATTENDANCE: Jeff Pattison (Chair), Dave Plourde, George Hawkins, Rodney Roy, Kevin Dunleavy and Liza Kelleher. Absent- Mitch Hamel 3. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: City Councilors Bob Hamel, Armand Bolduc and Brenda Baer, Barbara DeAngelis, Diane Murphy, Jeff Tenley, Mark Dadian, Michael Kitch, Alan Cushing, Deb King, Meagan North, Stephen Greenwood, Karen Bassett, Meredith Horton, Tony Felch and Randy Brough. 4. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: George Hawkins moved to accept the minutes from the February 17, 2015 meeting. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. 5. OLD BUSINESS: I. Facility Use Requests: • King/Bowler Wedding-Rotary Riverside Park- Saturday, August 15, 2015 from 3pm to 5pm for a wedding. Commissioners have work out that the Director will administratively approve all the weddings in Rotary Park. Administrative approval confirmed by Kevin Dunleavy and a letter will be mailed out to those requesting the use. II. Laconia Muskrats Agreement- Muskrats requested an extension for the completion of the observation deck and will partner with the Hout Tech Center to complete the work. Kevin said he had provided the language to the Commission and that he recommended the extension be dated November 30, 2015. George Hawkins motioned to approve the request for the extension of the construction of the observation deck and if the project is not complete by November 30, 2015, such project will be grounds for termination of the agreement. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. 6. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: ● Laconia Public Library- WOW Trail- Saturday May 16, 2015 from 10am to 1pm for the walk between Gale Memorial Library and Goss Reading room. George Hawkins motioned to approve the request conditioned upon a special events permit. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. ● Altrusa International of Laconia NH – Use of WOW Trail - March 16, 2015 through late fall of 2015 to enhance community literacy. The Altrusa Club is proposing to hang 35 pages of a children’s story book along the fence of the WOW Trail. It would be placed on the WOW Trail this spring on corrugated plastic sign board and fastened with zip ties. The displays will be taken down in the late fall. Kevin emphasized that The City of Laconia is not liable for any vandalism or damaged done to the displays. Dave Plourde motioned to accept the request. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor.  • On Goal Soccer Camp- Leavitt Park Field- Monday through Saturday, June 22 through 27, 2015 for a soccer camp. Rodney Roy motioned to accept the request for a soccer camp subject to submissions of non-resident users’ fee, submission of a certificate of insurance, and conditioned upon approval from the City Council for a fundraising on City grounds. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. • Donna Evans- Rotary Park Gazebo- July 18, 2015 from 3pm through 5pm for a wedding ceremony. Administrative approval confirmed by Kevin Dunleavy and letter will be mailed out to the requestor. • Holy Trinity School – Opechee Park – Tuesday, June 9, 2015 from 9:00am to 2:15pm for their annual end of school Field Day. Kevin mentioned they may need to use Smith Field if the LMS P.E. classes on the Opechee Field. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request with the understanding that field is open to the public conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. • Triana Fernandez Phelps Wedding – Rotary Park Gazebo – Saturday, August 8, 2015 from 2:00 to 6:00pm for a wedding ceremony. Administrative approval confirmed by Kevin Dunleavy and letter will be mailed out to the requestor. • NH Interscholastic Athletic Assoc. – Bartlett Beach – October 3, 2015 from 6:00am to 5:00pm for the Bass Fishing State Championship. Rodney Roy motioned to accept the request. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. • NH Bass Nation – Bartlett Beach – June 28, 2015 from 3pm to 5:00pm. Kevin mentioned that the beach could be open to swimming with swim lines installed. It was stated that boats will be allowed 10 at a time coming to the beach and the swimming lines could be adjusted during that time. Kevin said they would need to use a designated area away from the swim lines. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request subject to payment of the $100.00 special event fee and a certificate of insurance. Dave Plourde seconded. All were in favor. • North/Puglia Wedding – Rotary Park Gazebo – Sunday, October 11, 2015 from 2:00pm to 5:30 pm for a wedding. Administrative approval confirmed by Kevin Dunleavy and a letter will be mailed out to the requestor. • Mark Dadian – Hillside Cemetery – Tuesday, March 17, 2015 through May 17, 2015 for tapping maple trees. Dave Plourde motioned to accept the request. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor. • Laconia Kiwanis Club – Opechee south parking lot – May 16, 2015 from 10:00 – 2:00 for their annual bike rodeo. George Hawkins motioned to accept the request subject to submission of a certificate of insurance and waiver of the special event fee. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor. • Faith Alive Christian Fellowship – Memorial Baseball Field – Saturday, June 6, 2015 with a rain date of June 27, 2015 from 7:00am – 5:00pm for a free kids carnival. Dave Plourde motioned to accept the request subject to a propane tank waiver, submission of a special event permit and submission of a certificate of insurance. George Hawkins seconded. All were in favor. 7. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: ● Laconia Skatepark Grant Opportunity- George Hawkins tabled due to no representation. Rodney Roy seconded. All were in favor. 8. NEW BUSINESS: 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS:  • Presentation to outgoing Parks and Recreation Commissioners George Hawkins and David Plourde. Kevin Dunleavy presented an aerial picture of Opechee Park to both George and Dave as a token of appreciation for their outstanding work done for the City of Laconia. Kevin mentioned that Dave played a big role in Little League softball for many years and he spearheaded the dugout construction at Opechee field D. Kevin mentioned that George also was involved in Little League for many years and also was a big part of the construction of the Little League building and many buildings including the Memorial Park storage building. Kevin stated that George Hawkins’ first commission meeting was Dec. 28, 1998 and Dave Plourde’s was March 26, 2001. City Councilors Brenda Baer, Bob Hamel and Armand Bolduc thanked and expressed their gratitude to George and Dave for their many years of volunteer work and dedication. 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: Asst. Directors Report Submitted by Amy Lovisek This month I have been preparing for summer. I know that sounds strange as there is so much snow, but this is what I do. The Spring/Summer Program Brochure is almost complete with some dates missing at this point. Summer camp is in the works of being planned as well. It looks like we will be able to be open for 9 weeks this summer! That is good news to some! I am currently working on field trips to finish with the camp. All counselors will be back this year, which makes things even easier for us. I have even received the camp shirts already as that saved the camp a significant amount of money. Another thing we have really moved forward with is the manual that we have been working on. This will not be an easy or fast process as there are a million and one things to mention in the manual. We have some information already from what Phil Rowley did for Opechee, Robbie Mills and Leavitt Parks and what Kevin Dunleavy did as an overview of the department. We will just be going deeper in our descriptions and give step by step instruction on things like irrigation. It will be a constantly changing manual and will be huge! On Saturday, March 28th we are having the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Weirs Community Park. If any of you would like to help out at the event feel free to show up at the park at 9:00am. The event starts at 10:00. The WCPAssociation is really doing it up this year. They are having a person doing balloon characters and Art Escape doing a craft with the kids. Of course the Easter Bunny will be there for pictures. During February Vacation we had a number of programs during the day for the children to enjoy. We extended our open gym times, had a sledding and ice skating party and on one day we had the cardboard sled race and snow building time. This was a huge success! The race had almost 20 sleds in the 2 age brackets and everyone had a great time. Winner received nice prizes and then the kids actually painted the snow! They loved the water bottles filled with food coloring and being able to spray it on the snow to make patterns. We had a DJ there, which made it feel like an actual festival. The day was a nice one and we had an amazing turn out for the event. This is something I will do each year. I am meeting with a woman that would like to use the upstairs of the Community Center for a prom dress exchange program facility. We haven’t worked out details as yet, but once I have them I will let you all know what is happening. Directors Report Submitted by Kevin Dunleavy Department Updates: • Recent maintenance projects and activities include: Winter snow removal, sanding and salting Ice rink maintenance at Memorial and Leavitt Various work orders at City Hall, Library, park houses, LFD and LPD Maintenance manual formulation Maintenance shop painting Trash removal Pet waste bag restocking Oil checks at various facilities Roof clearing •With the recent reprieve from snow storms, maintenance staff has been busy with snow removal from roofs and parking lots. •Skating Rinks – Memorial Park and Leavitt Park rinks have remained in decent condition the past month. The department was not able to establish a rink at Opechee due to the snow frequent snow events. • Laconia Riverwalk and Main Street Bridge Gateway – The Main Street Bridge Gateway project will start construction around May after the Phase 4 bridge deck work is complete. The Gateway park elements will be the last portion of the project to be completed. Project completion is slated around August 9th. •Lighting Improvements- Lighting upgrades at various City buildings is now substantially complete. The project involved changing many fixtures to LED lighting, installation of automatic shutoffs and exterior lighting upgrades. •Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Staff meetings, Main Street Bridge construction, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, Safety Board, and Special Events Committee. •Athletic Fields - We are expecting the athletic fields to have a late opening again this year. We will monitor the conditions of each field and will allow use when appropriate. •This is the last meeting for long time Parks and Recreation Commissioners George Hawkins and Dave Plourde. It has been a pleasure working with George and Dave, and I greatly appreciate all the ways they have contributed to our park system and City. They will be missed as they leave behind a lasting example of pride and commitment to their community. Thank you to George and Dave! 13. DATE OF NEXT MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:45pm and the next meeting is scheduled for Monday April 20, 2015 at 7:00pm at the Community Center.