Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING October 15, 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 Mitch Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Rodney Roy, Deanna Guyer, Tony Pederzani and Arthur Kirk. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Recreation & Facilities Director Kevin Dunleavy and Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of September 17, 2018 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from September 17, 2018. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. The motion passed unanimously. I. OLD BUSINESS: A. Project Sweet Peas-NH Division- Opechee Park- Saturday, June 29, 2019 from 7:00pm to 10:00pm for Forever in Our Hearts event. This request is for a Water Lantern Festival where attendees will be able to launch a small lantern in memory of their loved one. Kevin Dunleavy mentioned that they have to check with the Marine Patrol to see if a water event permit is needed because this event is on State waters and under the jurisdiction of Marine Patrol. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance and final approval from the City Council for fundraising on City property. The special event fee has been waived. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. B. Downtown Gym/Real Life Santas Pubmania Team- Wow Trail (Fair Street to Belmont), Saturday, November 24, 2018 from 8am to noon for the Santa Shuffle and Family Fun Run event. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request conditioned upon submission of a certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. C. Letter from Normand Morin regarding the banners on the green wall at Robbie Mills Field. Director Kevin Dunleavy said he contacted Kris Svindland of the Winnipesaukee Muskrats to inquire about the banners on the wall at Robbie Mills. Mr. Svindland said that the banners generate around $15k to $20k a year in revenue and the arrangement with the sponsors is that the banners would be in place year round. Commissioner Mitch Hamel said that these banners do not comply with the banner policy. Director Kevin Dunleavy said that the use of banners on the wall were in place prior to the banner policy and this is a practice that many of the NECBL teams rely on to generate revenue to support their operation. Commissioner  Mitch Hamel said that the immediate issue is the banners that are peeling and the Muskrats need to fix this because they do not look good. Commissioner Roy said that the Muskrats are getting money from the banners all year but not paying anything to use the facility and Parks and Recreation doesn’t get any money for any banners on Parks and Recreation property. Commissioner Mitch Hamel asked to have a Muskrats representative attend the next Commission meeting and asked that the banners that are peeling be repaired. II. FACILITY USE REQUESTS: A. LAYBL- Community Center gym- February 20-24, 2019, Wednesday-Friday from 5:00pm- 9:00pm, Saturday & Sunday from 8:00am to 8:00pm for the Annual LAYBL Basketball Tournament. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request subject to payment of tournament and concession stand fees. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. Commissioner Roy abstained. All were in favor. B. The Salvation Army- Opechee Beach, Parking Lot and Laconia Parkhouse- Saturday, November 17, 2018 for the Annual Salvation Army turkey Plunge. Commissioner Roy tabled the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. NorEaster Softball Club- Opechee Park Fields A, B, C and D, Woodland Heights and Memorial Softball Field for the Annual NorEaster Softball Classic softball tournament. •Thursday, July 25th from 8am to 8pm and Friday from 8am to 5pm for field preparations. Also, July 26 ~28, 2019, the following times for tournament games: • Friday @ Opechee Fields & Woodland Heights Field from 5:00pm ~ 8:00pm • Friday @ Memorial Softball Field from 3:00pm to 10:00pm • Saturday and Sunday all fields (Opechee Fields, Woodland Heights Field, Memorial Softball Field) from 7:00am. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request conditioned upon payment of the tournament fee, field light fee and submission of a certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION The following wedding/event requests for Rotary Gazebo, Weirs Pavilion and Amphitheater have been approved administratively: 1. Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce- Rotary Park - October 12 & 13 from noon to 5pm Saturday for NH Pumpkin Festival. 2. Jonathan Gaines & Else Davis- Rotary Park- June 8, 2019 from 3pm to 7pm for a wedding ceremony. IV. NEW BUSINESS:  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 –September Minutes of the 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 Fall is in full swing now. This month has seen the completion of the fall/winter program brochure, which is in your packets. Just as a reminder, if you know of anyone looking to run a program please have them contact me. I am always looking for something new to offer our community. Let’s keep things fresh. The open gyms have opened as of September 24th. We have a new gym attendant and I’m hopeful for a great year. The middle school, high school and adults have been using the facilities already. The elementary kids haven’t started to take part yet, unfortunately. I will ask the schools to make another announcement. This fall and winter I will be working on the maintenance manual again. This is a live document manual that will never be done as it will change. This is a major item to have for our department. It will help our employees in the future know what needs to be done for the different facilities. Sgt. Gary Hubbard and I met with the City Manager to discuss changing our Parks & Recreation Rules & Regulations into an ordinance. At this point the rules are at the city’s attorney’s office for any language that needs to be changed. Once I receive them back we will put it on the agenda for you to approve. Then it will go to the City Council for approval. The reason we are doing this is to make enforcement easier for the LPD. The police need an ordinance to really enforce a rule. The Pumpkin Fest is October 12 and 13th. We are sponsoring the horse drawn wagon ride again this year. It is $5 per person and I am hoping for decent weather. It will be cool, but dry I hope! We had the Explore A Truck Day on September 30th. It was a Sunday this year due to circumstances, but it didn’t seem to deter people from coming. We had the same amount of people this year as we have in the past on Saturdays. It was a pleasure working with Phil from DPW on this project. Have a great fall! B. Directors Report submitted by Kevin Dunleavy • Recent maintenance projects and activities include: Work orders/repairs at City Hall, Library, park houses, bath houses LFD and LPD Mowing and trimming Bathroom cleaning Trash removal and litter pickup Pet waste bag restocking Irrigation repairs and shutdowns Infield maintenance Athletic field preparation Irrigation repairs and monitoring Aeration, overseeding and fertilizing of fields Event support: Pumpkin Festival, Muskrats Baseball Tournament Planting bed cleanup/weeding/mulching Starting fall cleanups Winter will be fast approaching and our maintenance staff has plenty to do before the end of fall. With the warm temperatures, mowing activities are still on going. We will be performing fall cleanups with the leaves starting to fall. Interscholastic sports and youth sports will be finishing around the end of October if they are not done already. Staff will be working on the turf maintenance for a while longer. Irrigation systems and restrooms facilities will be shut down now that the weather is getting colder. • Events – Parks maintenance staff were busy getting the Downtown area looking good for the Pumpkin Festival as we provided some minor event support. A couple fund raising events occurred at Opechee Park and wedding events still are occurring at Rotary Park and the Weirs Community Park. • Weirs Beach Restoration –An update to the City Council on the status of this project is recommended based on the requirement for mitigation of the impacts and the potential cost implications of this mitigation. I will be coordinating with the engineering consultant on an update with the City Council. • Weirs Community Center Improvements- Broadview Construction has completed work on the bathrooms at the Community Center and they look great. • Opechee Fence Repair – Vermont Recreational has completed the repair of the damaged fencing at Opechee Park. • Native American Sculpture –With the condition of the sculpture continuing to deteriorate, and the safety of having it at its current location, I recommend that the City investigate options for taking it down until a plan for its future can be determined. • Bond and Bartlett Beach drainage projects: Final engineering plans are complete and the Bond Beach project will be going out to bid this fall. • Laconia Downtown Riverwalk – Busby Construction and Belknap Landscape has completed what they can of the Riverwalk segment behind Walgreens. Additional work behind the Landmark Inn is on hold  until work on the hotel is completed around the first of November. Busby Construction and R.M. Piper has started mobilizing to the start the construction of the Riverwalk segment behind the Laconia Spa. Work on this segment will occur into December. • Perley Pond – No updates. We will be performing brush cutting around the pond once the ground freezes. • Memorial Softball Irrigation System – Gilford Well has been awarded the Memorial Park Softball Field irrigation system project. Work is expected to begin this fall with some finish work to be completed in the spring. • POMC Memorial – No updates. • Parks and Recreation CIP – I will be presenting the CIP request to the CIP Committee on Wednesday, October 17th. • Meetings that I have attended the last month include City Council, City Staff Meeting, Special Events Committee, Riverwalk Construction meetings and inspections, DPW Construction Syncronization Meetings, Downtown TIF Advisory Board, Boy Scout project meetings, construction oversight at the Weirs Community Center bathrooms. Commissioner Mitch Hamel asked what the status of the Native American Sculpture at Opechee Park is. Director Kevin Dunleavy said that he is recommending the sculpture be taken down due to its current condition and for safety reasons. Director Dunleavy said he would like to meet with a contractor with a crane to see how the sculpture might be removed and put on a trailer where it can be moved to be stored until a plan for it’s future can be determined. Commissioner Roy motioned to have the Native American sculpture removed for safety reasons and stored until a plan for it’s future is determined. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourn at 7:53pm. 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 Cheryl Hebert, 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.