Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING September 18, 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, Rodney Roy, Arthur Kirk and Tony Pederzani. Parks and Recreation staff: Recreation & Facilities Director Kevin Dunleavy and Parks & Recreation Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of August 21, 2017 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from August 21, 2017. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. Parks and Recreation Department Capital Improvement Plan Kevin Dunleavy presented the Capital Improvement Plan request for 2018-2019. 1. Beach Facilities Drainage Improvements-Design $40,000 Opechee Cove – Opechee Point 2. Beach Facilities Drainage Improvements- $120,000 Construction Phase – Bond/Bartlett Beach 3. Gale Avenue Waterfront Improvement $65,000 4. Playground Revitalization $15,000 5. Leavitt Park Basketball Court Resurfacing $15,000 6. Centralized Irrigation Control System $50,000 7. Memorial Park Softball Field Irrigation $25,000 8. Skate Park Improvements $75,000  Kevin said that he will be presenting the request to the Capital Improvement committee in October. Commissioner Roy motioned to approve the CIP request as presented by Kevin Dunleavy. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. The Downtown Gym/Santa Fund of the Greater Lakes Region- WOW Trail- Saturday, November 25, 2017 from 8am to noon for the Real Downtown Santa’s Fun Run. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. B. Belknap Mill- Rotary Park- June to September 2018 for Levitt/AMP Grant Laconia Music Series. Jennifer Anderson from the Belknap Mill Society explained that they are looking to submit a grant application for funding for a music concert series at Rotary Park next summer. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a schedule for the concert series when it’s available. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. Celebrate Laconia – Laconia Community Center Gym and small conference room, Friday, February 2, 2018 from 8am to 10pm for the Miss Laconia 125th Scholarship Pageant. Pam Clark of Celebrate Laconia asked if there were restroom facilities available besides the gym restrooms. Kevin Dunleavy said that they could use the basement restrooms and the room outside of the restrooms if needed. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request to use the Community Center for Miss Laconia 125th anniversary Scholarship Pageant. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION IV. NEW BUSINESS: V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: VII. PUBLIC COMMENT: VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: A. Request by Tardif Park Club to have the ceiling in the main hall painted. Commissioner Hamel asked Kevin if Tardif Park is having a monthly meeting and requested that the Commission receive minutes of these meetings. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request and requested Tardif to submit quotes to the Parks Department. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. X. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS:  A. Leavitt Park Association –September 13, 2017 meeting minutes. B. Weirs Community Park Association- July 10, 2017 meeting minutes. C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Asst. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek This month I have spent a good bit of time looking for new programs to offer during the fall and winter months. I have been able to find a few ideas. You will see all the new additions in the Fall/Winter Program Brochure that is in your packet. The brochure is going out as of tomorrow in the mail, but this will be the last time I mail the brochure to my list of over 250 recipients. I have put in the brochure an announcement that states that if they want to still receive the brochure they much provide us with an email address and we will send it that way. If anyone wants the brochure mailed they need to let us know as well. This will save a lot of time and money for the city. We are doing something different this year to help the NH Pumpkin Festival. The parade we did last year is being taken over by the LRGH. Therefore, I came up with the idea to have horse drawn wagon rides through the downtown area. We have a certain route that we will be taking and we will be charging $5 per person to ride. Heritage Farm is who is helping us with this. We are also going to be hosting a Winter Carnival this February 3rd. It will be held at Opechee and I have the NE Wolves to help in running the games. I have attached a map of what we will be having for games this year. Weather and conditions permitting of course. If any of you can help out in the planning or running the games I would be greatly appreciative. All after school open gyms open as of today. This also includes the evening basketball. We no longer will be providing dog obedience as a program here at the LCC. The instructor has retired and the woman that took it over wants to do more than just one evening of classes. She will be hosting this program at Tardif Park House. That is a good thing for the park as well as the instructor. This does leave a time slot open for a new program on Wednesday nights. We will come up with something to fill it. We are keeping one of our seasonal employees working up at the Weirs to keep up with the enforcement at the parking lot. He will remain working until Columbus Day. 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 youth sports. Planting area weeding, watering and maintenance Trash removal and litter pickup Pet waste bag restocking Elections setup and breakdown Mowing and trimming Event support – Multicultural Festival, United Way Day of Caring Busy Corner Project Fertilizing athletic fields Painting Bathroom cleaning Walking path maintenance Fence repairs • With the beach season behind the Department, Parks and Recreation maintenance staff has been busy with mowing, athletic field preparation and routine maintenance and repair projects. The fall season is when we try to address outdoor repair projects like fencing, painting building maintenance before the snow arrives. This year, we will be using our new dump truck and leaf vacuum to more efficiently perform our fall debris cleanups. This equipment will make this task more efficient and less labor intensive. Parks and Recreation will continue to staff our park attendant position through Columbus Day at Weirs Beach on a part-time basis. The attendant will continue to enforce parking at the beach lot and Lakeside Avenue through Columbus Day. The attendant will also pick up litter, empty trash containers, monitor bathrooms, clean bathrooms, perform general cleanup along the boardwalk and beach areas and will assist visitors with the kiosks if needed. • United Way Day of Caring – Parks and Recreation partnered with the Laconia Rotary Club with a cleanup and brush clearing project at Rotary Park. Additionally, a volunteer crew from Laconia Rotary, LRGHealthcare and Martin, Lord and Osman helped with brush removal at Meredith Bridge Cemetery. Many thanks to the volunteers who helped with these projects. •Happy Tails Dog Park – Additional survey work has been requested by Eversource to ensure compliance with any regulations relating to the access drive to the dog park. Review of the draft agreement between the City and Happy Tails is ongoing. •Normandin Square Park Area – Parks and Recreation has installed new plantings at the new park area. Parks and Recreation will be installing the new irrigation system this week. • Weirs Beach Restoration – No update. 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 – NH Pumpkin Festival, October 13th & 14th,  • WOW Trail – Parks and Recreation continues to work with the WOW Trail to install signage along the trail. New directional signage is expected to be installed the week of September 18th at the Belmont-Laconia town line. There have been seven groups who have stepped forward to adopt all sections of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the trail. These groups will do annual cleanups along their respective sections. Signs will be installed on the trail recognizing these groups. Various events and charity walks will be occurring this Fall along the trail. • Robbie Mills Water Supply –Gilford Well continues to work on the necessary water connections at Robbie Mills Complex and the State of NH water tower. • Native American Sculpture –Fundraising continues for the project. • Robbie Mills Complex, Laconia Rotary Soccer Field Scoreboard –Through a donation from Laconia Youth Soccer, a new scoreboard was installed at the Laconia Rotary Soccer Field. DPW and Parks and Recreation performed the installation. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include meetings for the City Council, various meetings regarding the Robbie Mills water supply, meeting with the Peter Johnson, SAU Facility Director, meetings with Boy Scouts for Eagle projects, City Staff Meetings, presentation for the Lake Winnipesaukee Association, conference call with Woods Hole Group (Weirs Beach Restoration). XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourn at 8:04pm. 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.