Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MAY 15, 2017 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 recorded this meeting. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Chair Mitch Hamel called the roll with following Commissioners in attendance: Tony Pederzani, Deanna Guyer and Arthur Kirk. Absent- Rodney Roy. Parks & Rection 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 17, 2017 Commissioner Tony Pederzani moved to adopt the minutes from April 17, 2017. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. Review of rule against use of Coast Guard approved life jackets. Kevin Dunleavy said that if there is no interest from the Commission, the item can be removed from the agenda. No motion was offered by the Commission. Commissioner Guyer motioned to remove the request from the agenda. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. B. Under His Wings Preschool- Leavitt Park Basketball Court- Sunday, May 21, 2017 from 9am to 5pm for 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament. Kevin Dunleavy said the applicant called and wanted to withdraw the request. Commissioner Kirk motioned to remove the request from the agenda. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. Lakes Region Community Services- Opechee Park- June 3, 2017 from 10:30am to 1:30pm for Fishing with Father Figures. Commissioner Guyer motioned to approve the request for the Fishing with Fathers event with a waiver of the propane tank policy. Commissioner Pederzani seconded. All were in favor. B. Laconia Multi-Cultural Festival- Rotary Park- Saturday, September 9, 2017 from 6am to 6pm for the Laconia Multicultural Festival. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION  • Adam Boehmer and Ryan Vachon – Rotary Gazebo- Friday, October 5, 2017 from 2:00pm to 6:00pm for a wedding ceremony. IV. NEW BUSINESS:  Proposed project requests from User Fee revenue fund 1. Partial funding for picnic pavilion at Opechee Park. Kevin Dunleavy said that the Opechee Park Clubhouse donated around $18K to build a picnic pavilion at Opechee Park Cove. Kevin said that this amount will only fund a small pavilion that would accommodate a couple picnic tables. Kevin said that an additional $5k would allow the pavilion to be much larger and would fit several tables. Kevin said he is looking to have the pavilion be placed on a concrete slab and it would be made out of steel with a metal roof. Commissioner Hamel asked if electricity was going to be available at the pavilion. Kevin said it was not in the current plan. Commissioner Hamel wondered if the electricity could be run from the City pump station on Busiel Street. Kevin said that he did not think of this but will look into the possibility because the pump station is not that far away. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request to allocate $5000 from the users’ fee fund for the picnic pavilion in addition to the $18,000 that was donated by Opechee Clubhouse. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. 2. Partial funding for sign improvements at Memorial Park. Kevin Dunleavy said that he would like to request funding from the user fee fund to help with the Memorial Park sign project partially funded by the donation in honor of Jeff Pattison. Kevin said that they are planning to use granite posts and the Parks operating budget is tight. Kevin said that this park does not have a sign that identifies it like almost all the other parks. Kevin said that the sign has been ordered and is expected to be delivered in mid-June. Kevin said he hoped to have the project completed by the beginning of July. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request to use $1000 from the users’ fee fund for the sign at Memorial Park. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. Deanna Guyer mentioned that Laconia Soccer League donated money for the netting for Bobotas field. Deanna also mentioned that Laconia Soccer League wanted to replace the scoreboard at Robbie mills soccer field and would like to donate funding for that also. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: • Election of Chairperson and Clerk- Commissioner Pederzani motioned to nominate Mitch Hamel for Chair and Commissioner Roy for Clerk. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. VII. PUBLIC COMMENT:  VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: X. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: A. Leavitt Park Association –No report. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No Report C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Asst. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek We have been preparing for summer and doing a bunch of programs this month. The camp is falling into place for the summer. I am still needing to hire one more counselor and then we would be full staff. There is a local camp that will not be running this summer, so we should have more campers. The golf lessons have started and are going well. We had our pumpkin planting day last week and unfortunately it was rainy and Little League was not there. Our attendance was quite poor. We are thinking of doing it again on a better weather day. We had our Senior Senior Prom on the 11th. It was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t well attended. For some reason we were down by almost half. It was unfortunate and we are rethinking this programs future. We planted 3 trees for Arbor Day. One was placed in Sanborn Park, one at Opechee and one at the Riverwalk. I am starting a new program that will go through the month of June. It is called Explore Laconia’s Parks. We are asking the families to visit all 9 of Laconia’s playgrounds during that month and if they complete it and bring in the signed sheet they receive a prize. The prize is a free kiddie cone from Happy Cow. The owner donated 100 to us for the program. Thank you Happy Cow! Let’s get families visiting our parks! We as a department are aware of all the drug issues that surround our parks. In order to tackle this issue we are meeting with the police and fire on how best to handle them. We have a training with the police on the 16th for the maintenance crew on how to identify and properly dispose of potential drug paraphernalia. This training will hopefully keep our crew safe. Enjoy your spring! B. Directors Reports submitted by Kevin Dunleavy Department Updates: • Recent maintenance projects and activities include: Work orders/repairs at City Hall, Library, park houses, LFD and LPD  Athletic field preparation for interscholastic sports Spring cleanups-raking Trash removal Pet waste bag restocking Brush cutting, tree clearing Equipment preparation for season Placement of trash containers Mowing and trimming Planting bed cleanup Set up for Senior/Senior Prom • Parks and Recreation maintenance staff is very busy getting the parks in order for the season. This is the busiest time of year for us and the late winter has put us further behind than we would like to be. We have filled several seasonal maintenance positions and we have a pretty good crew for the season. We have hired a handful of seasonal maintenance staff which has been helpful. Our goal is to have the park system looking decent for Memorial Day weekend. •Happy Tails Dog Park – The archeologic survey work has been completed and is being submitted to the State of NH Historical Resources for review. Once we hear back from NH Historical Resources, we will know if we can start the construction of the dog park or if we have to perform further and more intensive archeologic investigation. •Memorial Park- The irrigation system has been completed at the park and is ready for operation when needed. Signage improvements are due to be completed in the next month. •Normandin Square Park Area – Parks and Recreation will be seeking quotes for hardscaped elements for this area. Parks and Recreation staff will install the planting areas that will grace this new addition to our park system. This area is slated to be completed by Memorial Day. • Weirs Beach Restoration – The City is working on gathering more information relating to mitigation of impacts of the project inside the shoreland. Once this information is gathered, the City will be meeting with the mitigation specialist at NHDES to discuss options for the City relating to mitigation requirements. • Laconia Little League Concession – Laconia Little League has finished the concession stand repairs and improvements and everything has been inspected to the satisfaction of the LFD. • WOW Trail – There will be a ribbon cutting at the railroad station and celebration to follow at Bartlett Beach for the new section of the WOW Trail. The trail is seeing significant use already and we expect this amenity will be very popular with locals and visitors. The WOW Trail organization is working on a conceptual route design for the trail from Lakeport to the Weirs. • Leavitt Park Tennis Courts – Vermont Recreational was selected as the firm to perform the tennis court reconstruction. Work has started on the courts including the installation of the gravel base and the binder course of pavement. The fencing and the final course of pavement is expected to occur this week. Completion of the project is anticipated around the end of June. • Robbie Mills Water Supply - With the recent developments of the lack of water service to the Robbie Mills Complex, the City has been investigating our options. We have received estimates for well digging and water line installation as options for providing water to the site. In the meantime, we have placed portable toilets at the field. We will need to find a source of water that can provide sufficient yield to  adequately irrigate the athletic fields. We will be working with the State of NH to coordinate any improvements that need to be constructed to get water service back to the facility. • Weirs Community Park Bench Ceremony - There will be a bench installed in memory of Don Richards at the Weirs Community Park amphitheater. A ceremony/reception will take place on May 21st to recognize this donated bench that was made possible by the Four Seasons Association and Weirs Community Park Association. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Staff meetings, Huot Center Advisory Board, Leavitt Park Tennis Courts, Lakeside Avenue Improvements, VHB Engineering for Weirs Water Quality project, NHDES Invasive Species Coordinator on WOW Trail, Eagle Scout Candidate for project, Arbor Day Celebration, Special Events Committee, and Hutchins Electric regarding electrical projects. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Guyer motioned to adjourn at 8:21pm. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Commissioner Chair This meeting facility is ADA accessible. Any person with a disability who wishes to attend this public meeting and needs additional accommodations, please contact Mary Reynolds, meeting ADA coordinator, at City Hall by calling (603) 527-1265 at least 72 hours in advance so that the City can make any necessary arrangements.