Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING June 19, 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: Commission Chair Mitch Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Deanna Guyer, Tony Pederzani and Arthur Kirk. Absent-Rodney Roy. Parks & Recreation staff: Recreation & Facilities Director Kevin Dunleavy and Parks & Recreation Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of May 15, 2017 Commissioner Tony Pederzani moved to adopt the minutes from April 17, 2017. Seconded by Commissioner Arthur Kirk. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. Laconia Multi-Cultural Festival- Rotary Park- Saturday, September 9, 2017 from 6am to 6pm for the Laconia Multicultural Festival. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request for the Multicultural Festival. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. Hands Across the Table- Opechee Park- June 28, 2017 from 4pm to 8pm for an outdoor picnic. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request for an outdoor picnic. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. B. Laconia Youth Lacrosse- Bobotas- June 20 through August 1, 2017, Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm for Laconia Youth Lacrosse Clinic. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request for a Lacrosse clinic. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. C. Grace Capital Church- Rotary Riverside Park- July 16, 2017, Sunday from 7am to 2pm for Church Picnic event. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request for a church picnic event and waived the restriction of 20lbs propane tanks. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION  • Charles Campbell and Chris Santti – Rotary Gazebo- Sunday, October 1, 2017 from 1:00pm for a wedding ceremony. • Kevin Dunleavy asked the Commission to clarify what their interpretation was for requests made for weddings at Rotary Park when it involves residents vs. non-resident. Kevin said we get requests from parents or family members that are residents when the bride and groom are not residents. Kevin said that his interpretation is that facility use requests submitted by either the bride or groom or parents of the bride or groom are not subject to the user fee if they are residents of Laconia. Kevin further explained that we recently received a facility use request from a cousin that is a resident. All Commissioners clarified and agreed that the people that are getting married and their parents are the only ones that can be exempt from the special event fee if they are Laconia residents. The non-resident fee or special event fee will be charged to anybody requesting any City park facility if they are not from Laconia. IV. NEW BUSINESS: • E-Cigarettes and Vaping in City Parks- Kevin Dunleavy explained to the Commission that there has been a significant use of E-cigarettes and vaping in our City Parks. Kevin said that he provided to the Commission a report with information on the harmful effects of the second hand smoke and vapor from this activity. Kevin recommended that the use of E-cigarettes and vaping be prohibited in all City park areas. Commissioner Pederzani motioned that Kevin proceed with the process of incorporating into the Parks and Recreation Rules and Regulations the prohibition of E- cigarettes and vaping conditioned upon and final approvals needed from the City Council including changing of the ordinance. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. • RE/MAX Balloon- Opechee and Robbie Mills- June 23, 2017, Friday 7:00am to 10:00am at Opechee and 5:00pm to 8:30pm at Robbie Mills. Chris Kelly of REMAX explained that he has been able to book the REMAX hot air balloon for this Friday. Mr. Kelly explained that this is the same situation as last year with the balloon being tethered to vehicles on the edge of Opechee Field in the morning. Mr. Kelly said that the Boys and Girls Club will stop and it will be an educational experience. Mr. Kelly said that they are looking at bringing the balloon up to Robbie Mills Complex and will give tethered rides as a fundraiser for Laconia Little League. Mr. Kelley said he would bring the required certificate of insurance prior to Friday. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request for the hot air balloon rides conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. • Robbie Mills Rotary Field soccer scoreboard- Commissioner Guyer mentioned that the Laconia Youth Soccer League will be donating a new scoreboard at Robbie Mills Rotary Field for soccer. Kevin mentioned that Rob Bolduc from Laconia Youth Soccer approached him recently about replacing the scoreboard and a potential new location was discussed. Kevin explained that the current scoreboard works but has been problematic  and is located behind the soccer goal where it frequently is hit by soccer balls. It was determined that the new scoreboard could be relocated closer to the storage shed area where it can be visible and where it can easily be connected to power. • Parkhouses Minutes and Income and Expense Report- Kevin Dunleavy said that we are not receiving minutes and reports on a regular basis and wanted to bring this to the attention of the Commission. Kevin said he felt it was important that this information be conveyed to the Commissioners so they are aware of the happenings of the various park house groups. Commissioner Hamel proposed for Kevin Dunleavy to ask the park houses to provide monthly minutes of their meetings and submission of monthly income and expense report. Commissioner Pederzani motioned that the park houses submit the monthly minutes of the meeting and the income and expenses report to the Parks & Recreation Department. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: 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 I have been working on getting our summer season set up. With all the changes this year, it has been a bit more difficult. We are also not at full staff for lifeguards at the beaches. This a quite the stressor, but I think we will be ok for all three beaches to open. The Opechee Day Camp will start Monday, June 26. We can take up to 50 kids at camp and currently our best week is at 35 and our worst is 24. People are still coming in to register though even though school is now out! All trips are set and they will be going to lots of fun places. We are also the lowest fee around, but we don’t subsidize anyone and we no longer accept the state payments for child care. Swim lessons are going to be tough again this year as I again only have one employee trained in WSI (Water Safety Instructor). The lessons will have to be located at Opechee Point again this year. We did this last year and did have a lot of resistance, but our hands are tied with the limited employees. The changes I mentioned earlier is the fact that we will no longer be collecting $10 per car at Weirs Beach. As you know there will now be 2 kiosks at the beach and roughly 10 throughout Lakeside Avenue. Therefore, the collector position is now known as Park Attendant/Enforcement. Their main responsibility will be to keep the beach and bathhouse clean. Their second is to write any parking tickets that are necessary in the beach parking lot as well as the Lakeside Ave. areas. There is going to be a large learning curve for both the employees as well as for us full time staffers. However, once we have tried it a couple of times it will be easy. We have only 10 lifeguards with 1 fill in. My optimum number is 13. I understand that a new guard may come in soon, and if that is the case we should be all set. The new website will be up and running as of July 10th. I will be doing the main trainings for this and will be able to train others. The site will be quite nice and much more user friendly. The young lady who asked to build the Free Library has completed the project. It is located next to the Weirs Community Center side door closer to Rt. 11. The box turned out great and we are getting her a lot of publicity on it. She is even doing a facebook page for it! Well done. B. Directors report 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 and Muskrats Planting area preparations Trash removal and litter pickup Pet waste bag restocking Bark mulching Mowing and trimming Placement of trash containers Playground repairs Motorcycle Week support Irrigation startups Beach cleaning Bath house openings • Maintenance activities the past month have involved lots of mowing and trimming. The grass is growing fast with all the rain and our crews have had to work through some tough conditions to get the job done. Interscholastic sports have come to a close as we now transition into field preparations for the Muskrats and other baseball and softball events. Maintenance staff is also preparing for the opening of our beach season •Happy Tails Dog Park – NH Historical Resources has determined that no archeologically sensitive resources exist in the project area. Next steps include meeting with Happy Tails Dog Park members to finalize an agreement, naming of the park, setup of the funding and the bid/RFP process. •Memorial Park- We are still awaiting the completion of the sign from Adel Signs. We were expecting the sign to be completed and delivered by mid-May but we are still waiting. Granite sign posts are ready for delivery by Swenson Granite and will be delivered when the sign is completed. •Normandin Square Park Area – An RFP has been advertised and proposals are due back to the City on June 20th. A firm will be selected shortly after and work will commence as soon as possible. • 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. • Upcoming Events – LRGS Babe Ruth Softball Northern State Tournament at Opechee Park and Woodland Heights, June 30 to July 2nd; Fourth of July Celebration at Opechee Park, July 4th; Music By the River Concert Series at Rotary Park on select Friday nights; • WOW Trail – The City of Laconia and the WOW Trail had a well attended ribbon cutting ceremony on June 11th behind the railroad station followed by a gathering at Bartlett Beach. A mural by Stand Up Laconia and Navigating Recovery was unveiled on the back wall of the bath house and a new volleyball net that was recently installed on the beach was utilized by many. Also, a new railroad crossing was installed at the end of Keasor Court so pedestrians and bicycles from the area can more easily access the WOW Trail and Bartlett Beach. • Leavitt Park Tennis Courts – All paving and fencing work has been completed. Remaining work includes the finish colored coatings and lines for the court and installation of new nets. The courts are expected to be open to the public around the first of July. • Robbie Mills Water Supply – We are in the process of finalizing a License Agreement with the State of NH for use of their water tank and to install two wells on the Hank Risley Field area. The City Council has approved funding for this work and once the agreement is in place, we can start work on getting the wells dug and tying in the water system to Robbie Mills. Unfortunately, we are relying on portable toilets and mother nature to provide us what we need for bathrooms and water. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include WOW Trail Ribbon Cutting, WOW Trail Board, Special Events Committee, Dubois King Engineering regarding Robbie Mills water supply, Busy Corner pre-bid, Casella Waste and DPW about solid waste needs for the summer, NHDOT Bureau of Rails regarding Keasor Court crossing, Lakeside Avenue ribbon cutting, bench dedication for Don Richards. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Guyer motioned to adjourn at 8:20pm. 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.