Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING July 20, 2015 Laconia Community Center- Parks & Recreation Office 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Mitch Hamel called the meeting to order at the above date and time. RECORDING SECRETARY: Secretary Liza Kelleher will be recording this meeting. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Mitch Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Deanna Guyer and Tony Pederzani. Commissioners absent: Jeff Pattison, Rodney Roy Parks and Recreation Staff in attendance: Recreation and Facilities Director Kevin Dunleavy, Parks and Recreation Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of June 15, 2015 Commissioner Tony Pederzani moved to adopt the minutes from June 15, 2015. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. Mitch Hamel requested a press release in regards to the new Opechee Park House sign. Mitch Hamel asked for the status of the Opechee Park Club donation. Kevin Dunleavy explained that there is a process to follow in order to receive the gift from the Opechee Park Club involving City Council action and a public hearing. This action has already been approved and the City is able to receive the gift. Kevin said that the Opechee Park Club is finalizing the closing out of their non-profit. B. Lakes Region Girls Softball- Woodland Heights- Sundays, August 23 through October 18, 2015 from 8:00am to 8:00pm for softball games and practice. Tony Pederzani motioned to take it off the table. Seconded by Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. Tony Pederzani motioned to accept the request and waive the non –resident user’s fee for players who have already paid a fee this year with the understanding that any new players would be subject to the non-resident users’ fee. Seconded by Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce – Rotary Park/Stewart Park/Gateway Park- Saturday, October 24, 2015 from midnight to 11:59pm for Pumpkin Festival activities. Tony Pederzani motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. B. Weirs Action Committee- Endicott Park/Weirs Beach Parking Lot- Saturday through Sunday, June 11 through June 19, 2016 from 7am to 1am daily for the Weirs Action  Committee. Tony Pederzani motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. C. Weirs United Methodist Church – Weirs Community Park Amphitheater/Pavilion- Sunday, September 20, 2015 from 10am to 4pm for picnic, church service, singing and entertainment. Kenneth Dyrsten explained that this is a family day and it’s open to the public. Tony Pederzani motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance and waiver of the special event fee. Seconded by Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. D. Class of 1983 Turns 50- Leavitt Park Field- Saturday, August 8, 2015 from 1pm-4pm for a class reunion, picnic, meeting and games. Deanna Guyer motioned to accept the request with waiver of the special event fee and subject to a key deposit of $25.00 per key if needed. Seconded by Tony Pederzani. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK No requests. IV. NEW BUSINESS: A. Parks and Recreation Rules and Regulations- Discussion about use of camping tents and hammocks at parks and beaches. Kevin Dunleavy said he has noticed that we do have a lot of hammocks being tied to our trees along with large enclosed tents particularly at Weirs Beach. He said he is seeing more every summer. He said the concern with hammocks are that they hang them from trees which can cause damage to the branches of the trees. Kevin said that we are also seeing large enclosed camping tents being set up on the beach and picnic area, which presents a security problem along with and infringes upon the enjoyment of the park by others. Kevin said the issue is not with open sided canopies or the smaller baby shelters you sometimes see. Kevin stated that he would recommend the Commission consider addressing these items in the Rules and Regulations. Kevin also mentioned that another new concern is the flying of drones in the City parks. Kevin said he would like the Commission to think about these items in the meantime and he will draft some language for them to consider. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VI. PUBLIC COMMENT: A. Memorial Park Scoreboard- Brenda Baer explained she received a call from Joyce Donahue who is interested in helping with the funding of a new scoreboard at Memorial Park. Joyce Donahue explained that she heard about some of the problems with the scoreboard at Memorial Park and wanted to find out if she can help with donating a scoreboard in Memory of Kenneth Glidden who grew up in the neighborhood and spent a lot of time at the park. Kevin Dunleavy said he will research the cost for a new scoreboard and will meet and discuss with Mrs. Donahue when he has that information. Kevin said that the baseball season is over at Memorial  Park, so there is some time to get something done in time for the start of baseball in the spring. VII. COMMUNICATIONS: VIII. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: IX. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: A. Leavitt Park Association –No report B. Opechee Park Association- Income and Expense report C. Weirs Community Park Association- No report D. Tardif Park Association- No report X. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Asst. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek Our summer season is in full swing. The staffing issues remain for the lifeguards. We are still at 9 instead of 13, which is optimal. This is causing beaches closures. At this time, we have Weirs Beach open 7 days with lifeguards and the 2 in-town beaches are only guarded on weekdays. During the week the in-town beaches are used for swim lessons and for the local day camps to use. This has worked out well until the staff needs time off. At that time, we take the guards at Bond Beach and move them to Weirs Beach. This doesn’t make some happy, but we are catering to the masses. The 4th of July at Weirs Beach went as expected. The crowds arrived around 4:00am, but were kept out of the park until the opening time of 7:00am. The parking lot was full in a ½ hour and didn’t see much action after that. The park itself saw about 2000 people. We never hit our maximum level of 2200. The 4th at Opechee went well. We did have that rain go through, which made us cancel the parade to the dismay of many. Then the weather changed and the event went off without a hitch. The 2 bands were good, but the fireworks were amazing! We have had many compliments about the fireworks this year. Swim and tennis lessons are going very well. We have a good number of kids signed up for both as well as over a dozen adults signed up for tennis lessons! Football camp is starting on July 20th and we are hoping for lots of kids. This first show at the Weirs Community Park Amphitheater was a success in my book with bad weather looming. The second show will be this coming Saturday, July 18th the performer will be Michael Parent. Michael is a storyteller and musician. The event will be free and we are hoping for a big turnout. The next show will be on August 1st at 6:00pm and will be performed by the Squam Lake Science Center.  The Opechee Day Camp is running smoothly. The camp is not at capacity for any of the remainder weeks, but the kids are having fun! We are headed into week #5 of camp and this week is our annual Peanut Carnival! The carnival is going to be held on July 23rd from 5:00 – 7:00pm. Come by and support our campers and play some games! The NH Coffee Festival is coming up quickly. This event will be held on September 19th from 12:00 – 4:00pm. We are working very hard to make this an event people from around the state attend! Hope you can make that one too. Enjoy the rest of your summer. B. Directors Report submitted by Kevin Dunleavy Department Updates: • Recent maintenance projects and activities include: Athletic field preparation including Laconia Muskrats Pet waste bag restocking Bath House cleaning Irrigation repairs Picnic Table Repairs Planting bed weeding Mowing and trimming Various work orders at City Hall, Library, park houses, LFD and LPD Beach raking Fourth of July preparations and cleanup Trash and litter cleanup Swim line installation • July is one of the busiest months for the Parks maintenance staff. There are lots of events and tasks to accomplish. • We have continued to advertise for seasonal maintenance positions with minimal results. We currently have six seasonal maintenance workers when we would normally have around eight. With the recent approval of the budget by the City Council now in place, we have enough funding for two more seasonal maintenance positions. I anticipate we will be advertising again in the next few weeks. • Our planting bed preparation has been way behind this year. Fortunately we have been planting perennials in many of our beds to reduce costs and planting time and these plants have provided some color in most of our areas. Most beds have been weeded and mulched and we are feeling that we are caught up with the bulk of this work. • Laconia Muskrats season is going strong and our staff is devoting significant time to field preparations at Robbie Mills Field. There are a few weeks left to the season with  some playoff games anticipated. •Danny Iacopucci recently received his Eagle Scout rank for his planting bed picnic area project along the WOW Trail. • Memorial Park – With the help of DPW staff and equipment, we were able to repair the infield lip at the Memorial Softball field, which had become a problem. The new bleachers for the baseball field have been delivered and the concrete pad for the bleachers was poured on July 17th. We are anticipating that the installation contractor will be doing their work in the next few weeks. New tennis posts were ordered for the tennis courts to replace the existing posts which are in substandard condition. • The Fourth of July Celebration at Opechee Park – Opechee Park saw the usual crowds for the celebration. The fireworks were set off from Smith Field for the second year in a row, and the feedback has been positive. • Weirs Beach saw large crowds over the long Fourth of July weekend as well as the weekend of July 11th. We still have some ideas to improve the handling of the large crowds we are seeing. Overall, we feel that our plan is working. • The Gateway Park work at the Main Street Bridge is progressing well with an expected completion around mid-September. The new granite seat walk was delivered recently highlighted by the inscribed “Welcome to Laconia”. Many are excited to see the end result of this public space. • With the passing of the budget recently, the Parks Department has been fortunate to receive funding for several of our requested CIP items. A new large area mower, the Weirs Beach Restoration project and an irrigation system for Memorial Park were all funded. •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 meetings, , Master Plan Advisory Committee and Laconia Area Bicycle Exchange. XI. ADJOURNMENT: Tony Pederzani moved to adjourn at 8:09 p.m. Seconded by Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Liza Kelleher Secretary