Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING July 17, 2017 Laconia Community Center- Parks & Recreation Office 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Commission 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 and Rodney Roy. Absent- Arthur Kirk and Tony Pederzani. 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 June 19, 2017 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from June 19, 2017. Seconded by Commissioner Deanne Guyer. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. Leavitt Park Community Club- Leavitt Park- Saturday, August 19, 2017 from 3pm to 6pm for the annual Leavitt Park Carnival. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request for the annual Leavitt Park Carnival. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. B. Laconia Police Department- Bartlett Beach- Tuesday, August 1, 2017 from 5pm-7pm for National Night Out. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request subject to a loudspeaker permit and waiver for the the use of a 20lb propane tank. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. C. Coldwell Banker Cares- WOW Trail- Sunday, September 17, 2017 from 10:00am to 1:00pm for Putting Kids & Families First Charity Poker Walk. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. D. Titeflex Aerospace- Robbie Mills Field- August 19, 2017 from 10am to 2pm for an employee appreciation day. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a $100 special event fee, certificate of insurance and waiver for the use of 20lb propane tank. Seconded by Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. E. Laconia High School- Robbie Mills Complex, Bobotas Field, Smith Field, Smith Track, Opechee Park Field, Leavitt Park Field- Monday through Saturday from August 14, 2017 through June 10, 2018 from 2:00pm to 6:00pm for interscholastic sports practices and games. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor.  F. Evangelical Baptist Church- Opechee Point- Sunday, September 10, 2017 from 11:00am to 3:00pm for an annual church picnic. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. G. Weirs Action Committee- Endicott Rock Parking lot- June 9 through June 17, 2017 from 8am to 8pm for an annual Laconia Motorcycle Week parking fundraiser. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request condition upon submission of the certificate of insurance and subject to final approval from the City Council for the fundraising event. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. H. AA Area 43 District 11- Opechee Point- Saturday, September 9, 2017 from 9:00am to 5:00pm for District 11 Summer Outing. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request for the annual summer outing. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. I. Lakes Region Tennis Assoc. -Advantage Kids Program- Memorial Tennis Court- Saturday, August 27, 2017 from 8:00am to 4:00pm for a Tennisathon Fundraiser Event. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. J. Lakes Region Tennis Assoc. -Jr. Team Tennis Reading Program- Memorial Park- July 22, August 4 and 11, 2017 from 9:00am to 11:00am. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request for the tennis reading program for 10 year olds and under. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. K. Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region- Bartlett Beach/WOW Trail/Riverwalk Trail- Friday, September 8, 2017 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm for the 1st Annual Strengthen Community of the Lakes Region Walk. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. L. State of NH Dept. of Safety, Fire Standards, Training & EMS- Smith Track – Saturday, July 29, 2017 from 8:30am to 4pm for Firefighter Health & Fitness Training. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request for Firefighter Health & Fitness training conditioned upon the submission of a letter from the State in regards to insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. M. Weirs Community Park Association – Weirs Community Center Parking Lot &Weirs Community Park Parking Lot – June 9th to June 17th from 8am to Midnight – for the WCPA Motorcycle Week parking fundraiser. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request conditioned upon the submission of the certificate of insurance and subject to final approval from the City Council for the fundraising event. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION • Holly and Henry Celenzo – Weirs Beach- Saturday, July 22, 2017 from 11:00am-6pm for a wedding ceremony. IV. NEW BUSINESS: V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS:  VII. PUBLIC COMMENT: VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: • Email from Shawn Garrett regarding the Parks and Recreation Banner Policy. Kevin Dunleavy said that in the email, Mr. Garrett, who is involved in the NorEasters Softball Club, is asking the Commission to reconsider the policy to include an exception that a team, during the commencement of their game, on the same field, could hang a banner with the team name on it behind their own dugout provided that the banner does not violate other restrictions such as alcohol, tobacco, indecent wording, etc… and that it does not block visibility of the field and is not deemed a safety hazard by game officials. The email further went on to state that these banners often have acknowledgement of the team sponsors as well. This is often the only way that sponsors can have recognition, often bypassing names on the jerseys. Commissioner Roy stated he had no problem with hanging the banner as long as they take down the banner after their game is done. Commissioner Hamel suggested that under Kevin’s discretion they can hang banners behind the dugout in the fence. No banner will block any visibility of the official and people watching the game. Kevin said that he would let Mr. Garrett know that the Commission is willing to allow this exception and will let them know that no banners are to be hung on dugout buildings, just dugout fencing where it exists. Kevin said that we can look to modify the policy in the future. IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: • Request by AJL Babe Ruth Baseball to extend operation of concession stand at Memorial Baseball during Laconia Youth Football practices. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the amendment to the AJL Babe Ruth facility use request extending the time frame for use of the concession stand, with a waiver of the concession stand fee. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. X. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: A. Leavitt Park Association – Minutes of June 14th, 2017 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 We are definitely in the thick of it right now. Summer is in full swing and we are keeping up with it. The 4th of July has come and gone and while it was extremely busy, it’s over! The 4th of July this year started off with a large crowd at Weirs Beach. We came very close to our maximum capacity of 2200 people, but didn’t quite get there. The patrons were not very cooperative about following the rules this year. This was very frustrating to the Park Enforcement employees. There was a lot of trash and they tried to keep up, but it overtook the evening enforcement employee. The park was quite messy the next morning. The parade was fantastic and there have been many compliments on the ladies who stepped up to help us. There were quite a few new acts and the parade lasted about 20 minutes from police escort to end! Awesome. I was there to help set up and get things going this year. I also helped at the end as a courtesy. Well done ladies! The activities at Opechee Park were normal and as expected. The Eric Grant Band entertained us throughout the evening and everyone seemed happy to have them. The fireworks were great and we have only heard good things about the event. It does make for a long day though! The Opechee Day Camp is going very well. The first week was completely full and the following weeks have about 35 kids in each week. After having the first week full shined some light on that building with a full set of 50 kids. I think we should limit the camp to 40 kids per week. The building is too small for that large of a group. I would be happy to get any comments on this if you would like to contact me. Opechee Point was posted with high bacteria as of Saturday, July 8th and went through July 13, 2017. This kept us from allowing camps and lessons to be at the beach. We restarted lessons on Friday the 14th and are extending the lessons a week to accommodate those kids. Tennis lessons were delayed by rain and holidays and just started this past Tuesday! Everyone seems happy to be at the lessons. 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 Muskrats Planting area weeding, watering and maintenance Trash removal and litter pickup Pet waste bag restocking Bark mulching Mowing and trimming Fourth of July preparations, setup, cleanup and breakdown Playground repairs Irrigation repairs Beach cleaning Bath house cleaning • With the regular rain the past month, mowing activities regularly continue. Maintenance staff is busy maintaining our beaches and bath houses while fitting in building repairs at various municipal buildings. Our irrigations systems are running and mother-nature is providing significant rainfall for those areas that are not irrigated. •Happy Tails Dog Park – I met with representatives of Happy Tails Dog Park and the donors for the dog park on June 30th to work on the next steps. Topics discussed included confirmation from Eversource on the access, agreement between Happy Tails Dog Park and the City, naming of the park, setup of a maintenance trust and the bid process. •Memorial Park- The sign for Memorial Park has been completed and delivered by Adel Signs. The granite sign posts have been delivered by Swenson Granite to the site. There have been delays with Dig Sage marking utilities in the sign location but we are being told the marking of utilities will be completed before July 19th. Installation is scheduled for July 19th. •Normandin Square Park Area – Ingham Landscaping of Bow, NH was selected to install the hardscape at Normandin Square and they are starting work on July 17th. Hardscape work is expected to take around a week and a half. Parks and Recreation crews will install plantings and irrigation. • 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 – NorEasters Softball Tournament – July 21-23, City on the Lakes Triathalon Sprint Race- August 12th • WOW Trail – Parks and Recreation is working with the WOW Trail to set up an Adopt-A-Trail program where organizations or groups can adopt a section of trail and perform cleanups and beautification projects. • Leavitt Park Tennis Courts – The Leavitt Park tennis courts have been completed and the courts were officially opened on July 12th with a brief ceremony and photo op. • Robbie Mills Water Supply – Well drilling has commenced on the Robbie Mills Complex property. One well has been drilled to 700’ resulting in inadequate yield. A second well is being drilled at another location. If yields from the second well are not adequate enough to support the water needs of the facility, strato-fracking will take place to generate sufficient yield. Additional work will occur on the property of the Lakes Region Facility to tie waterlines to the State of NH water tower. • Native American Sculpture – I have been in contact with Peter Toth, the sculptor of the Native American statue at Opechee Park about repairs. We have received some donations and offers to assist with the repair but we need to find more contributions in the form of housing for Mr. Toth and for fiberglass work. My research indicates that there are a handful of Mr. Toth’s statues that are experiencing the same challenges ours is facing. • We received our new tractor and City mechanics have gone through it to make sure it is set up  properly. This tractor will add a versatile piece of equipment to our fleet and will be used for aerating, snow removal, fertilizing, hole digging, tilling and various other maintenance related functions. We expect that we will also have our new dump truck delivered in the next month. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include Leavitt Park tennis court grand opening, various meetings regarding the Robbie Mills water supply, The Lezama Family Happy Tails Dog Park, Luke Powell’s retirement party, City Staff Meeting, Downtown TIF District meeting. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourn at 8:35pm. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. 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.