Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING May 16, 2016 Laconia Community Center- Parks & Recreation Office 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Commissioner Chair 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 Chair Mitch Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Tony Pederzani, Arthur Kirk, Deanna Guyer and Rodney Roy. Parks & Recreation staff in attendance: Recreation Facilities Director Kevin Dunleavy and Parks & Recreation Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of April 18, 2016 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from the April 18, 2016. Seconded by Commissioner Tony Pederzani. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. Proposed Facility Use Requests Policy relating to City Council approvals. Kevin Dunleavy said that he recommends the four items shown on in the Commissioner’s packets be included in the new policy. Kevin read the following items: 1. Facility Use request with fundraising on City park land that anticipate revenues of over $2,000.00 will require City Council approval. Notification of all fundraising events on City park land approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission will be formally sent to the City Council. 2. Facility Use Requests for events on City park land that require significant City resources will require City Council approval. 3. Facility Use Requests for major events on City park land that are deemed significant by the City Manager and/or the Recreation and Facilities Director will require City Council approval. 4. Facility Use Requests for events that involve the serving of alcohol on City park land will require City council approval. Kevin said that he chose to keep these items simplified after looking at various ways other communities structure their approvals for events. Kevin further said that it can get very complicated. Kevin said that exact language may change after further input from the City Attorney or the City Council.  Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the propose Policy relating to City Council approval. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. B. Grace Capital Church- Wyatt Park- August 1st through 4, 2016 from 9am to 1pm for a Missional Vacation Bible School. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. Lakes Region Waterski Enthusiasts- Opechee Point- Sunday, August 7, 2016 from 10am to 4pm for Lakes Region Waterski Boat Classic. Commissioner Kirk motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. Laconia Motorcycle Week Assoc. - Weirs Beach- Wednesday, June 15, 2016 from 6pm to 10:30pm for a fireworks show (rain date Thursday through Saturday). Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request for a firework show. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. B. Laconia Motorcycle Week Assoc. - Opechee Park- Friday, June 17, 2016 from 7:00am to 2:30pm for motorcycle show, swap meet with vendors. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request for a motorcycle show, swap meet, vendors and a temporary sign to be put outside the Opechee Park for additional exposure. Commissioner Guyer seconded. All were in favor. C. Laconia Multicultural Festival- Rotary Park- Saturday, September 10, 2016 from 6am to 6pm for the annual Multicultural Festival. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. D. Lakes Region Vineyard Church- Opechee Point- Sunday, August 14, 2016 from 12pm-5pm for annual church picnic. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request conditioned upon payment of a special event fee. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. E. Conant High School Class of 2016 (Senior Class) - Weirs Beach- Monday, June 6, 2016 from 12pm to 6pm for a picnic. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance and payment of a special event fee. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. F. Laconia Skate Park rebuild fundraiser- Skate Park- Saturday, June 25, 2016 from 9am to 5pm for Laconia Skate Park rebuild mission fundraising. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request for the fundraising event. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. G. American Legion Post #1- Memorial Baseball Field- May 22 through July 31, 2016 Monday through Sunday for Baseball games and practices. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of the non-resident users fee, storage fee and light fees. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. H. Armand J. Laramie Babe Ruth League- Memorial Baseball Field- May 22 through July 31, 2016 Monday through Friday from 4pm to 11pm, Saturday & Sunday all day for regular season baseball. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance, game schedule and light payment for 2016 and payment of the 2015 light usage before using the field. Fees for storage, concession stand and non-resident participants has been waived for 2016. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION The following wedding requests for Rotary Park have been approved administratively: a) Gary Ranno & Tara Smith- Sunday, August 6, 2017 from 10:00am-2:00pm for a wedding ceremony. IV. NEW BUSINESS: a) Banner Policy at athletic fields. Kevin Dunleavy explained that Laconia Little League had requested the hanging of banners on the fence at Colby Field. Kevin said that he researched the past Commisison meeting minutes to find out what had happened in the past in relation to banners. Kevin said that he found minutes from 2010 and 2008. Kevin said that the Commission approved use of a banner at Colby Field in 2010 as long as the banner was put up and taken down after each game. Kevin also said that the Commission granted approval for American Legion Baseball in 2008 to put up advertising signs on the fence for the season. Kevin said that the past approvals were not consistent and recommended that the Commission consider a banner policy. Mitch Hamel thought it would be good to have a policy in place. Kevin said he would draft a banner policy for the Commission to review for the next meeting. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mitch Hamel said that members of the NH House Finance Committee presented a donation of $500.00 in honor of Jeff Pattison. Mitch said that when Jeff Pattison decided to retire last year, the Finance Committee presented him with a gift and agreed to donate to the Laconia Parks & Recreation on his behalf. It was suggested someone get in touch with Jeff and ask him to decide what he might like to have done with the donation. Kevin Dunleavy said that Jeff Pattison may also have a preferred location or favorite park that he would like to see something done. VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: VII. PUBLIC COMMENT: VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: X. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: A. Leavitt Park Association –January, February and April Minutes of the meeting. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report C. Tardif Park Association- February and April Minutes of the meeting. XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS:  A. Asst. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek This month I have been interviewing many applicants for the positions of Camp Counselor, Lifeguard, Weirs/Bond Collectors and Beach Supervisor. Most wants to be a collector! At this point I have camp, collectors and the beach supervisor hired. What I need now is lifeguards. At this point I have 9 hired for 13 slots. We are getting there and I have high hopes we will be ok. The Pumpkin planting program is happening this weekend and I have heard we should plan for many kids!!! This is good news. The kids will be planting their own pumpkins for the NH Pumpkin Festival. They will plant them in a newspaper pot and we will provide the soil and seed with instructions for success at home! All for free! We had our annual Arbor Day Celebration on Arbor Day this year at Sanborn Park. We planted 2 trees, 1 for shade and the other for beauty. The mayor read a proclamation and the boys and girls club was there to observe and some read some poems. We are working on the Adopt a Spot for the city and DPW got some of the barrels out to businesses. Camp registration is going slowly. This is normal for our camp as we don’t have a discount for early registration. It will pick up shortly. B. Directors Report submitted by Kevin Dunleavy Department Updates: • Recent maintenance projects and activities include: Various work orders at City Hall, Library, park houses, LFD and LPD Athletic Field preparations Spring cleanups Trash removal Pet waste bag restocking Irrigation startups Lining for track and field events Bathroom startups  Planting area preparations  Equipment preparation  Trash/recycle barrel placement •Spring has arrived after a slow start. Maintenance staff has been focused on spring cleanups, irrigation startups, and athletic field preparation for interscholastic sports and mowing. We continue to look for qualified maintenance staff and have brought on a couple of seasonal employees. We are looking for a couple more seasonal maintenance employees to start at the end of the month. This time of year it is always a struggle to cover everything we are responsible for. •WOW Trail – A public hearing was held by the City Council on May 9th. The City Council will be acting on two major requirements enabling the project to move forward. These two items are  the removal of the right turn lane on New Salem Street at North Main Street and the removal of the parallel parking along New Salem Street from Pleasant Street to Pitman’s Freight Room. The majority of the public expressed support for the WOW Trail to move forward with many stating that the City needs to look at the entire parking situation Downtown. •Memorial Park – I met with the donor on the proposed new scoreboard. The scoreboard has been ordered and is expected in the next week or two. Press box work is expected this spring with volunteers affiliated with the American Legion baseball program. We are re-advertising the irrigation project at the baseball field because of the recent water line leak we had for the water service. • Beacon Street West Riverwalk Connection – I attended a preconstruction meeting for the Beacon Street West Riverwalk connection with DPW to discuss the project. The work is being done by Kip Cormier and is expected to be complete within a month. This segment will tie Beacons Street West to the existing Riverwalk to Water Street. • Weirs Beach water quality – I will be having a kick off meeting with representatives of VHB Engineers and DPW on May 17 at the Weirs to discuss preliminary concepts for water quality improvements in the area of Lakeside Avenue. This project is being funded by a Water Quality Grant through NHDES. The project goals are to implement storm water treatment measures that will improve the water quality at Weirs Beach and surrounding waterfront. •Happy Tails Dog Park – The Planning Board will be addressing the Happy Tails Dog Park project at their June meeting. I am still awaiting feedback from the National Park Service to make sure they have no concerns with this project occurring on LWCF lands. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Staff meetings, City Council meetings, Special Events Committee, Master Plan Advisory Team, Lakeside Avenue reconstruction, Opechee Garden Club, Bow Wow Fest, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, Weirs TIF Advisory Board, Motorcycle Week planning with LPD and LFD, Beacon Street West Riverwalk pre-construction, Main Street Initiative, Little League opening day and a Emergency Management Workshop at LFD. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner motioned to adjourn at 8:40pm. Seconded by Commissioner. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Commission Chair