Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING November 20, 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 Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance. Deanna Guyer, Arthur Kirk, Tony Pederzani and 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 October 16, 2017 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from October 16, 2017. Seconded by Commissioner Arthur Kirk. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. Nor’Easter Softball Club- Opechee Fields A,B,C&D, Memorial Park Softball Field, Woodland Heights Softball Field- July 27- 29, 2018, Friday from 4:00pm to 8:00pm, Saturday & Sundays from 7:00am to 6:00pm for the Nor’Easter Classic Softball Tournament. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request conditioned upon the submission of a certificate of insurance, payment of the $300 tournament fee, field light fee, key security deposit of $25.00 per key issued and City Council approval for fundraising on City property. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. B. Lakes Region Girls Softball- Woodland Heights Softball Field, Opechee Field D, Elm St. Softball Field- April 1st through October 31, 2018, Monday through Friday from 5:00pm to 8:00pm Saturday and Sunday from 8:00am to 8:00pm for the 2018 softball season. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request conditioned upon the submission of a certificate of insurance, payment of storage fees and non-resident user’s fees. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. C. Lakes Region Girls Softball – Opechee Park Fields A, B, C, & D, Woodland Heights Softball Field – June 29 thru July 1, 2018, Friday from 4:00pm to 10:00pm, Saturday & Sunday from 8:00am to 10:00pm for a USA Softball NH “C” Division State Tournament. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request conditioned upon payment of light fees, $100 tournament fee, and key security deposit of $25.00 per key if issued. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor.  III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION A. Serrano & Paquette – Rotary Gazebo- Saturday, June 30, 2018 from 11:00am to 3:00pm for a wedding ceremony. IV. NEW BUSINESS: A. Parks and Recreation 2018-2019 FY Budget – Preliminary Discussion Kevin Dunleavy asked the Commission to review the previous year’s budget and provide and feedback to him on any items they wish to address for the upcoming budget. Kevin said that there is little room for additional funding of most line items since the increases in contractual salary and benefits items along with utility increases will consume most of the available funding increases. Kevin said he would be passing along the proposed budget numbers to the Commission in December and final discussion can occur in January. B. The Commission voted unanimously to not have the December Commission meeting. 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 –November Minutes of the meeting. B. Weirs Community Park Association- October Minutes of the meeting. C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Asst. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek This month has seen Christmas Village transforming our facility into a winter wonderland again! They started work on November 10th and will go through December 10th. I have decided not to have the gym floor coated this winter. We have about 8 coats of poly on the floor at this time and I am comfortable with its protection. I will revisit the idea in May to see if we want to do another coat then. May is a better time of year to do the floors as we can have the windows and doors open to let the poor air quality escape. The floors need to stay warm so we can’t do that in the winter. It makes for a difficult work environment! It will be May anytime we need to do this in the future. I added a new program to our Christmas theme this year. We are still doing all of our old favorites, but I am adding “Letter from Santa”. This is where the kids write a letter to Santa and we send them a letter back. We are doing this for free where others charge. The reason this can be free is because we are asking the parent to include a self-addressed stamped envelope in with the letter. Tim Ford and I went to a profession training on hiring for seasonal employees this past month. We came away with a few new things we didn’t know about, which is great. We are looking into a new security system for the Community Center. This will be for both indoor and outdoor. We are looking at making it a high quality resolution to be able to see what is needed to be seen. We have multiple reasons for the need of this system and if you wish I would be happy to speak with you about it. As always I am on the hunt for new programs! If any of you have heard of any that need to be brought to our community, please let me know. I look online constantly as well. It may not need to be new, just new to me! 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 Fall cleanups Irrigation shutdowns/winterization Trash removal and litter pickup Pet waste bag restocking Equipment winterization Mowing and trimming Ice rink setup at Opechee Cove Election setup and breakdown Fertilizing athletic fields Painting Bathroom shutdowns/winterization Holiday lighting • Primary maintenance tasks this time of year are fall cleanups and equipment maintenance. As long as the weather holds up, maintenance staff will work on outdoor projects and cleanups. We are prepared for winter weather when it arrives. •Happy Tails Dog Park – The City has entered into an agreement with Eversource for access to the dog park property. A request for proposal was issued and these proposals are due on November 17th. Proposals will be reviewed before a contractor is selected. • Weirs Beach Restoration – A pre-application meeting is being coordinated with the NHDES, City representatives and Woods Hole Group. City staff is compiling the information needed for  this meeting. We are anticipating a meeting in December. • WOW Trail – Recent discussions about a study on the use of the railroad corridor from Lakeport to the Weirs has created a lot of discussion and debate. The City Council chose to withdraw their request for the study at this time. The City will continue to work with the WOW Trail organization on various projects relating to Phase 1 and Phase 2. • Robbie Mills Water Supply – The State water tank has been drained and the system has been winterized. The new system will be ready for use in the spring. • Native American Sculpture –Fundraising continues for the project. • City Holiday Tree –The City’s official Holiday Tree has installed at Veterans Square. The tree was donated by Steve and Marie Kace of Gilford NH. DPW removed the tree and installed it. DPW and Parks staff will be installing lights this weeks. • Memorial Park - Air Quality Testing - The NHDES has asked to locate their air quality testing trailer on park property again this year. They are looking to place it at Memorial Park behind the softball concession building. NHDES will reimburse us for the electrical usage they need. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Council, meetings regarding Weirs Beach stormwater improvements, meetings with Boy Scouts for Eagle projects, City Staff Meeting, meetings regarding the window replacement project at City Hall and Special Events Committee. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourn at 7:45pm. 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.