Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 20, 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 and Deanna Guyer. Absent: 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 May 16, 2016 Commissioner Tony Pederzani moved to adopt the minutes from the May 16, 2016. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. Banner Policy – Kevin Dunleavy presented a draft of a banner policy to the Commissioners. Kevin said that he looked at other banner policies online and included items that he thought might be applicable to our facilities. Commissioners will review and discuss the banner policy in the next Commission meeting. B. Grace Capital Church- Wyatt Park- August 1st through 4, 2016 from 9am to 1pm for a Missional Vacation Bible School. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to withdraw the request at the request of the applicant. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. 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 tabled the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. D. Laconia Multicultural Festival- Rotary Park- Saturday, September 10, 2016 from 6:00am to 6:00pm for the annual Multicultural Festival. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request for the annual Multicultural Festival. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. ReMAX Bayside - Opechee Park and Robbie Mills Field, Friday, June 24th from 8:00am to 9:00am at Opechee Field and 6:00pm to 8:00pm at Robbie Mills for their Challenge the Wind hot air balloon program. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request for the hot air balloon rides. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor.  B. Laconia Middle School- Opechee Park, Memorial Park, Smith Field & Track, - Monday through Friday August 15, 2016 through November 10, 2016 from 2:30~6:00pm for Fall Sports and March 20, 2017 through June 1, 2017 for Spring Sports. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. Grace Capital Church- Opechee Cove picnic area and Opechee main Field- Sunday July 17, 2016 from 11:30am to 4:00pm for a picnic in the park. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request and grant a waiver for the use of 20lbs propane tanks. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. D. KG Tennis Pro - Memorial Tennis Court- July 5 through August 11, 2016, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 12pm for a Teen Tennis Boot Camp. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. E. Leavitt Park Assoc.- Leavitt Park - Saturday, August 27, 2016 from 3:00pm~6:00pm for the annual Leavitt Park Carnival. Set up date Friday, 6:00~9:00pm for the Carnival possibly including a small petting zoo with fence. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request and grant a waiver for the use of 20lbs propane tanks. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. F. Lakes Region Community Services- WOW Trail- Thursday, June 30 and August 4, 2016 from 10:00am to 2:00pm for a Bike Riding program NE Disabled Sports. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request for the adult bike riding program on June 30 and family bike riding program on August 4, 2016. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. G. New Horizon Band of Lakes Region- Rotary -Tuesday, August 16, 2016 from 5:30 to 9pm for a free musical concert. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request for a free concert and will coordinate with the Belknap Mill for the use of the bathroom if needed. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. For the use of bathrooms, coordination with the Belknap Mill was suggested. H. Hands across the Table- Opechee Cove Picnic area- Wednesday, July 13, 2016 and August 17, 2016 (rain date of August 24) for a picnic at Opechee Cove. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request. Seconded by Pederzani. All were in favor. I. AA - NH District 11- Opechee Point, Colby Field- Saturday, September 10, 2016 (rain date Sept. 11) from 9-5pm for summer picnic. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request and grant a waiver for the use of 20lbs propane tanks. Seconded by Pederzani. All were in favor. J. USA Mavericks Baseball- Memorial Park Baseball Field, June 22, 2016 from 7:30pm to 10:00pm for a baseball game. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance and payment for the lights. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION The following wedding requests for Rotary Park have been approved administratively: a) Allison Lemire & Tadd Hooker- Saturday, September 24, 20167 from 4:00am-4:30pm for a wedding ceremony. b) Jessica Hayward- Saturday, July 30, 2016 from 3:00pm to 6:00pm for a wedding ceremony.  IV. NEW BUSINESS: V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Don Richards, President of Weirs Community Park Assoc. passed away last Friday June 17, 2016. Kevin Dunleavy said we lost one of our most dedicated volunteers. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Connie and their family. VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: VII. PUBLIC COMMENT: VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: X. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: A. Leavitt Park Association –May Minutes of the meeting. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report C. Tardif Park Association- no report. XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Asst. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek This has been a very busy month, getting ready for summer! All lifeguards, collectors and camp counselors have all been hired! I haven’t been able to say that for a couple of years. I am truly hoping for a great summer season for Laconia Parks & Recreation. The Opechee Day Camp participants are a little low, but this is usually what happens. Our parents tend to wait for the last minute to register their kids. The numbers will jump soon. The counselors have been through their training for the camp as well as a tick training to help the kids learn to recognize and remove ticks. Always good to have more trainings! Tennis lesson and swim lesson sign-ups are doing well. We do still have spots available though. The Adopt A Spot program did well. We were able to get some new interest in the program and I hope this trend continues. The camp opened today Monday, June 20th and our beaches open June 25th. The 4th of July is ready other than parade participants. We are in need of them. Please help us talk it up to people and organizations. The pickleball program has increased their numbers due to the snowbirds coming back to town! Happy to have them all here. Wish us luck for a great summer season. Enjoy time with your families. 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 Mowing and trimming Trash removal Pet waste bag restocking Irrigation startups Lining for track and field events Bathroom startups  Planting area preparations  Planting area watering  Trash/recycle barrel placement Beach Raking  Memorial Day preparations  Motorcycle Week preparations  Bathroom cleaning •We are now in the midst of our busiest time of year with athletic field maintenance, event preparations, Muskrats baseball, peak mowing season, planting area preparations and beach season preparations. We are essentially fully staffed for our maintenance department. We are finding that it is increasingly difficult to effectively keep up with the amount of territory we need to cover due to new facilities, more planting areas, more irrigation systems and increasing demand for facility maintenance. Maintenance staff is working hard and we will catch up once we get through the Fourth of July. •WOW Trail – Phase 2 of the WOW Trail is slated for construction around the first week of July. A section of the trail will be going through Bartlett Beach. The contractor will be using a small piece of the Bartlett Beach parking lot to mobilize while they are working in this area. Construction is expected to be substantially complete by the end of October. •Memorial Park – The new scoreboard has arrived and is slated for installation this week. The wood poles supporting the existing scoreboard need to be replaced prior to installing the new scoreboard. The concrete pad for the new press box has been poured. Several of the lights are out on the athletic field lighting. An electrical contractor has been contacted to repair them. • Beacon Street West Riverwalk Connection – Construction of this Riverwalk segment is nearing completion. It is expected that this part of the route will be open to the public in the next few weeks. • Weirs Beach water quality –USGS has installed a weather buoy and weather station at Weirs Beach to monitor weather conditions to help determine when water quality levels are above the  thresholds. We will be working with USGS and NHDES on the program as they implement this unique pilot program. •Happy Tails Dog Park – The Planning Board gave their blessing for the dog park project at the Spruce Street lot. We are awaiting work from the National Park Service to make sure they have no concerns in relation to the original acquisition of this property through the LWCF program. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Staff meetings, City Council meetings, Special Events Committee, WOW Trail Board, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, Weirs TIF Advisory Board, Novus Software tutorial, Leavitt Park air conditioning, Huot Center Advisory Board, NHDES for Eagle Scout boardwalk project, Budget Hearing for City Council, Planning Board and Janitorial Contract renewal. • Winnipesaukee Muskrats – The Muskrats have started their season at Robbie Mills Sports Complex. Everything seems to be working fine with the new management group and I have received no complaints from the public. Banners for the barrier fence is due to arrive this week. • Parks and Recreation Budget – I presented the proposed Parks and Recreation budget to the City Council on June 6th. The request for a new full time year round employee was discussed. Additionally, Capital Improvement items and operating budget line items were presented without major concerns being raised at this point in the process. • Fourth of July Event – The Fourth of July Committee will be hosting the annual fourth of July event at Opechee Park on Monday, July 4th with a rain date for fireworks only on July 5th. • Laconia, Weirs Beach, the Weirs Community Park Association and Laconia Parks and Recreation lost one of our most dedicated volunteers and advocates when Don Richards passed away last Friday. Don was the long time President of the Weirs Community Park Association as well as a longtime member of the Laconia Planning Board. Don led the community effort for fundraising and construction of the Weirs Community Park in 2014. His passion and pride for Laconia and Weirs Beach was unmatched. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Connie and his family. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Pederzani motioned to adjourn at 8:35pm. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Commission Chair