Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING February 20, 2018 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 Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance. Deanna Guyer, Arthur Kirk, Rodney Roy 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 January 16, 2018 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from January 16, 2018. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. New Hampshire Interscholastic athletic Assoc., Inc. (NHIAA) - Robbie Mills- June 6, 2018 Wednesday(June 7, 2018 rain date) from 2:30 to 9:30pm for the NHIAA Baseball semi- finals. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request for the NHIAA baseball semi- finals subject to the payment of $100.00 special event fee and $80.00 light fee and submission of a certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: B. Laconia Youth Soccer – Robbie Mills, Opechee Park, Woodland Heights, Elm St. School, Leavitt Park, Sanborn Park & Bobotas Field – July 30 through October 27, 2018 Monday through Friday from 5:30pm -8:00pm, Fridays 5:30pm -9:00pm at Robbie Mills, Saturdays from 8am to 5pm for Soccer 2018, October 6, 2018 for the Tournament at Bobotas Field. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request for the Laconia Soccer 2018 season subject to submission of non-resident user’s fees, light fees and certificate of insurance. A key deposit of $25.00 per key is required if needed. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. Commissioner Guyer abstained. All were in favor. C. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park Gazebo- May 25 through September 28, 2018 every other Friday from 5:30pm to 8:00pm for Music on the River Concert Series. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request for the Music on the River Concert Series  conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. D. American Cancer Society Inc.- Opechee Park House and Field- Wednesday to Saturday October 17-20th from 5pm-9pm, Sunday October 21st from 9-3pm for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraising event. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. E. Advantage Kids Tennis- Memorial Park Tennis Courts- Tuesdays, May 1 through June 5, 2018 from 3:00-6:00pm for NH Lakes Region Middle School Tennis. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. F. Laconia Motorcycle Week Assoc. - Weirs Beach- Wednesday, June 13, 20186pm-11pm (rain date June 14, 15 or 16, 2018) for Laconia Motorcycle Week Fireworks. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. G. Laconia motorcycle Week Assoc. - Opechee Park- Friday, June 15, 2018 from 7am -3pm for City of Laconia Bike show and swap meet. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION The following wedding requests for Rotary Park have been approved administratively: A. Stacia Stalczynski & Brian Figueroa – Endicott Rock (Weirs Beach)- Saturday, June 2, 2018 from 12:00pm for a wedding ceremony. B. Carla Sarnie- Rotary Gazebo- Saturday, August 18, 2018 from 3-4pm for a wedding ceremony. C. Vanessa Russell & Sean Harnois- Rotary Gazebo- Sunday, October 13, 2019 from 10am for a wedding ceremony. IV. NEW BUSINESS: A. Rotary Park Fencing- Kevin Dunleavy explained that we need to put some fencing along the river because of an area near the pedestrian bridge is open to the river. Shrubs that were invasive species were removed last fall in this area. Kevin said that ornamental steel fencing is slated to be installed in this area. Kevin requested funding from the user fee account in the amount not to exceed $4,400 for the cost of the fence and installation which will occur in the spring. Commissioner Roy motioned to allow the use of the user fees to fund this fencing project in an amount not to exceed $4400.00. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. B. Boy Scout Projects- Tardif Park House Ramp - Kevin Dunleavy explained that he was approached by Boy Scout Jacob Miner who would like to replace the access ramp at the side of Tardif Park House. Commissioner Guyer motioned to approve the replacement of access ramp at Tardif Park House. 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 –February minutes of the meeting. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report C. Tardif Park Association- No report Mitch Hamel suggested to have an annual meeting with all the Parkhouse’s officers (President and the treasurer) and to talk about any concerns and accountability for the Parkhouse. XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Asst. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek What an up and down weather winter! It has been very difficult to have any serious outdoor winter recreation. I was forced to cancel the Winter Carnival that was scheduled for the beginning of this month. We did have snow, but there was a lovely thick ice layer on top of the snow. For safety reasons, I made the decision to cancel the carnival and I turned it into a skating party. We had a good number of people come down and enjoy the beautiful ice, freezing temps, a bonfire and cocoa and cookies! All was not lost. After we received all that snow on Wednesday, February 7th I decided then to have a sledding party that Friday. The conditions couldn’t have been better and the word spread really well. We had a bonfire, cocoa and cookies for over 100 people! Huge success! Now that we have this major thawing we are losing our rinks and sledding. It’s really sad to have to close these in February. This may cause a problem for the February vacation programs that I have scheduled. I have a sledding party, an ice skating party and a cardboard sled race scheduled. I will make the decisions on those in advance so I can give everyone proper notice. I have been working on the Maintenance Operational Manual (MOM). I am trying to compile all information into one manual to give to authorized employees the information they need to complete a job. This will help all new employees as they come into our department. This will be a never ending job, but I am still in the beginning phases for each facility and haven’t started others. We had yoga happening in the racquetball court this past month and will go through the beginning of March. The instructor will be going over to the new swim club and will not be using our facility any longer after that. I met with Brian from the American Red Cross about the possibility of using our facility for a blood drive. They would use the basement and not affect the regular programs. They are being displaced from the Sacred Heart gym due to the Holy Trinity School moving over to that campus. He has put a facility use request in for your perusal. I am planning to increase the Opechee Day Camp weekly rate from $95.00 to $100.00 per week for residents. $130.00 to $140.00 per week for non-residents. Let’s hope for some snow and colder weather for the February vacation!!! 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 Winter maintenance – plowing, snow blowing, salting, sanding Ice rink and sledding hill maintenance Trash removal and litter pickup Pet waste bag restocking Snow clearing at parking lots City Hall window trim work Painting at Community Center and maintenance shop • Maintenance staff has been performing the usual regular snow removal and ice/snow treatment on a regular basis. They are also working on installing new interior window trim at Laconia City Hall. The ice rink and sledding hill maintenance has also been occurring regularly as needed and weather permitting. • Community Center Improvements – We are looking to install new hot air hand dryers in the Community Center public bathrooms to reduce costs, prevent vandalism and to avoid empty dispensers. • The LAYBL Annual Tournament will be held at the Community Center from February 21st thru February 25th. We are always pleased to provide our facility for this major fundraising event for the league. Like any event that brings in out of town visitors, this tournament is good for the local businesses and restaurants while providing our youth a great experience. •Happy Tails Dog Park – The City will be meeting with the selected contractor on February 20th to go over specific details on the scope of the project.  • Weirs Beach Restoration – I met with the Conservation Commission on February 13th to discuss the project and update them on the status. Woods Hole Group is working on conceptual mitigation approaches that will be presented to the NHDES for consideration. • Native American Sculpture –Fundraising continues for the project. Around $800 has been raised with a goal of $7000 to complete the repair work. I will be meeting with a company that does wood testing to determine more specific data on the internal condition of the sculpture and testing is expected to occur in the next few weeks, weather permitting. • Bond and Bartlett Beach drainage projects: Loureiro Engineering has been contracted to perform engineering design for these projects. The existing conditions assessment has been completed and the consultant is working through the engineering analysis and preliminary design. We are anticipating that the preliminary design will be completed in two weeks. Completion of the final design is anticipated by the end of March. Permitting will follow once final design is complete. • Skating Rinks/Sledding Hill – Our skating rinks and sledding hill have marginal conditions due to the warm weather. Memorial Park skating rink is currently closed due to poor conditions. We will continue to maintain these facilities weather permitting. • Fencing Projects – Vermont Recreational was awarded the bid for fencing projects at Opechee Park, Rotary Park and Robbie Mills complex. Work will be scheduled for this spring. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Council, Conservation Commission, Riverwalk project meetings, City Staff Meeting, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, meeting with Boy Scouts for Eagle projects, Special Events Committee. • I will be away on vacation starting February 22 and will be returning on March 5. XII. PRESENTATIONS A. Winnipesaukee Muskrats Update General Manager Kristian Svinland from the Winnipesaukee Muskrats explained that there are a new set of stakeholders for the team. They include Scott Everett and Mike Smith who are both from the Laconia/Gilford area. Kristian mentioned that the Muskrats are looking to expand fundraising opportunities by hosting tournaments, acoustic music or other events. Kristian also mentioned that a new vendor is possible for the beer tent area. Commissioner Hamel is requesting for Muskrats to submit a facility use request to formalize all the requests outside of the existing agreement and wanted to revisit the completion of the deck. Commissioner Hamel explained that the discussion is very important and the Commission would like the opportunity to evaluate who might be the vendor for the tent area. Commissioner Hamel also mentioned that there were some complaints about the banners being left beyond the season and this needed to be addressed this year. Commissioner Guyer also mentioned that she get a complaint and is concerned that there were some kids inside the tent area and this could become a problem. Kristian said that he would address  these issue to ensure they addressed. Kevin Dunleavy mentioned that a fence is going to be put up at the top of the banking behind the backstop for safety reasons. Kristian mentioned that they have a full rooster and found some new coaches and the season will start on June 5th and end around August 12th if there is a playoff. XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourn at 8:15pm. 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.