Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING September 16, 2019 Laconia Community Center- Parks & Recreation Office 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Commissioner 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 Mitch Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Tony Pederzani, Arthur Kirk, Rodney Roy and Deanna Guyer. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek, Asst. Director of Recreation and Facilities Matthew Mansur and Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of August 19, 2019 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from August 19, 2019. Seconded by Commissioner Arthur Kirk. The motioned passed unanimously. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Lakes Region Girls Softball/Lakes Region Chaos- Opechee Park Field A, B, C, D- October 26 & 27, 2019, Saturday & Sunday from 8:00am to 6:00pm for the Fall Into Chaos Softball Tournament. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of $300.00 tournament fee, key deposit of $25.00 per key if needed, and submission of the certificate of insurance. The use of 20lb propane gas has been waived, extra garbage cans have been requested as well as the use of banners and fencing will be put up by the league. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. B. Celebrate Laconia – Stewart Park, Rotary Park, Gateway Park – December 1, 2019, Sunday from 11:00am to 11:00pm for the Light-Up Laconia Holiday Festival. Parade will start from Opechee Park and will end at Stewart Park. Commissioners requested updates as they go on with the planning. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request and waived the users fee pending upon the Licensing board and Special Events approval, loudspeaker and vendor permit approval and submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: A. Caldwell Banker Cares- WOW Trail- Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 10:00am to 1:00pm for 3rd annual Poker Walk. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request and waived the users fee pending upon submission of the certificate of insurance for the annual poker walk. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor.  B. Checklist for facility Use Request- Will be adding in the Facility Use Request Form *Describe what they need from the Department *outstanding balance *previously waived user fees *payment for large event fees from $300 to $500 (maybe altered at Commission discretion) Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the changes made for the Facility Use request form. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. C. Muskrats Contract- No action was taken until our next Commission meeting. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION The following request have been approved administratively: A. Ginny Sanborn (Sanborn Auto) - Rotary Gazebo- October 26, 2019, Saturday from 12:00pm to 1:00pm for a dog wedding ceremony. B. Tamela Turner- Rotary Gazebo- October 20, 2019, Sunday from 1:30pm to 3:30pm for a wedding ceremony. C. Nicole Cash & Tyler Leach- Rotary Gazebo- May 30, 2020, Saturday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm for a wedding ceremony. D. Laconia Little League- Colby Field- Saturdays morning, August 14, 2019 to October 15, 2019 for Fall baseball. IV. NEW BUSINESS: A. Request to install signage and winter accessories to the bridge across from the Gateway. Deb explained that she wanted to ask permission to use the bridge for the sign and Rotary Park to distribute hats, scarves and mittens that would be available for people in need. Deb has local businesses as drop off centers for the needy. Deb explained that she spoke to Michelle from Vista and she is willing to help her to use the facility for drop off area. Amy suggested to have a place that is dry for the distribution area versus leaving the articles out in the snow and rain. Commissioners recommended to reach out to the Bank of NH, Chamber of Commerce, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul and/or Isiah 61 café so it would be easy for the people to grab what they need and partnering with organizations will provide the outlet for the people in need. B. New policy to prohibit golfing in the parks. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request to add to the rules and regulations the new policy “prohibiting golfing in the parks”. 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- No report. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report. C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Directors Report submitted by Amy Lovisek This month was the end of a very unique summer. Full time employee changes and seasonal staffing shortages. I for one am happy to see the change in weather. This change however does not mean we aren’t busy. The maintenance department has a number of projects they are working on this fall. Some of those items are a new water line to the Bond Beach bath house, installing the new centralized irrigation system, preparing the new holiday tree for its debut and still do all the things we normally ask them to do. This is just to name a few! Eversource, with my permission, removed a couple of trees from Wyatt Park along Rt. 106. I placed a call into them and asked them to remove the stumps as well and they did that as well as loaming and seeding the areas. That was more than I expected them to do. Then they offered to plant a new tree that would remain a relatively low tree as it is under the power lines. They planted a dogwood tree that will not grow more than 30 feet! Thank you Eversource! I have been attending a number of Special Events meetings this past month in relation to the Chaos & Kindness Block Party that Recycle Percussion is planning on September 21st. This event has gone through many changes and with a week until the event has possibly changed again. The location may have changed to the O’s parking lot instead of the Union Avenue location. This is a great idea and will save them a lot of hassle closing the streets. This move will also alleviate the trampling of Torrey Park. An RFP has gone out for the Weirs Community Centers walkway and sidewalk. They are in serious disrepair and are a safety hazard. The City Council gave their approval for the project with the condition that it gets done this year. That will be tough as the season is getting short for this type of work, but I am hopeful that a company will come forward. Our departments CIP plan is complete and into the Planning Office. We will find out when our presentation is to be heard soon. I will let you all know and will hope you can attend that meeting to support the department. A citizen came is to talk to Matt and I about a possible Teen Center in the basement of the Community Center. After meeting with Matt and the Boys and Girls Club it was decided that since the B&GC are starting a teen center at their facility, there is no need to compete with them. We can revisit this after they have had a chance to open their center. Bond Beach Renovation Project: The work is set to start on September 17th. DPW is helping us remove some stumps throughout the park from trees that were dying and were cut down this past spring. Bartlett Beach Erosion Project: Bartlett Beach is still awaiting the wetland permit from NH DES. Loureiro Engineering is responsible for this part of the project. Perley Pond Project: The tree will be pruned on September 23rd. A press release was printed in the Laconia Daily Sun on August 27th to inform the public of our plan. Banner Poles: Krista Larson and I have been working on this project. We have met with the City Manager and are taking steps to move forward. We are going to go out for an RFP and have the contractors design the footings and check the geotech of the soil. This will be an interesting project for me as it is a bit out of my wheel house. I will learn a lot about infrastructure. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Opechee Day Camp Day Camp finished strong with a very successful End-of-Year Party. I did some short exit interviews with the staff after the party and all five of them mentioned the highlight of the year was “the kids”. It is definitely rewarding knowing that our city’s day camp is full of good kiddos. Based on what I have observed, we can do some tweaking to alleviate some pressure points, but the overall culture of the camp is strong. Joyce Janitorial are scheduled to come and clean the floors on Friday, 9/13. I am working on re-tiling the hallway and bathrooms on the field-side of Opechee Parkhouse, and therefore, learning the city’s “bid requirements” also. I would like to explore the option of offering a middle school program for next summer, but there are a number of factors that I want to have cemented before having a group of pre-teens in our care. Will want to have this program decided upon by December for staffing. Beaches The summer rush is over for the beaches. The beaches are still open but we do not have them staffed, the police are responsible for the parking kiosks at the Weirs, and we are keeping bath houses open as much as possible. I am planning on taking a wide look at how we run our beaches – including whether or not we should staff lifeguards. There are arguments to both sides and I know that we are not alone in this debate. Please e-mail or call me if you would like me to elaborate. This year saw more enforcement issues than ever before. This was either because we didn’t have lifeguards and patrons refused to listen to our enforcement attendants or because our enforcement attendants cared a lot more about the rules. Like most things the truth probably lies somewhere in between. We have begun conversations with the PD about having a training with them so we can establish protocol for when those patrons require us to take the next step and/or need to be removed. Once we have evaluated our summer plans, we will hit the ground running on staffing. My goal is to begin recruiting in December during college winter break. Additional Areas Fall/Winter Program – This has been a time intensive project, but our Fall/Winter Program Guide is in Draft form and will be finalized shortly. Once this has been completed, time can be spent on evaluating 2020 Summer Programs. NHRPA Conference 9/19 – I will be going to the NHRPA Conference in Concord on Thursday. I am looking forward to seeing how other cities run some of their programs. Safety Committee Walk-Thru – Stacy from Water Works will be coming to walk through the Community Center/Maintenance Building during the week of the 23rd. I went through Water Works on Thursday the 12th. Explore-A-Truck Day 9/28 – We will be hosting Explore-A-Truck Day alongside DPW - come check out some trucks! C. Foreman’s Report submitted by Tim Ford Weekly mowing – fields, parks, city buildings, every 3 weeks – cemeteries Irrigation – charge, repair (valves, damaged heads) Wire up outlets for clocks in new systems (Wyatt, Memorial SB) Set up for LRGS and Nor’easter tournaments – (Op, Mem SB, WHS) barrels, fences, electric panel Deep tine aerate fields – LP, RM, Bobotas, Lower, Mem BB & SB York Rake Beaches Septic tank pumping at Robbie Mills Drag Memorial SB 3 days per week Robbie Mills – prep for Muskrat and Sr. Muskrat games Drag Memorial BB for Legion Paint lines for softball and baseball Paint Soccer lines for youth and school teams Paint football lines at Bobotas. Lower Field Set up soccer goals and nets for youth and school Remove broken picnic tables from parks – repair if able Water Gateway plants in pots as needed Daily trash pick-up from ground Weed beds – LCC, Busy Corner, Stewart, Gateway, Rotary, Vet. Sq, Library, Millstone, LFD, LPD Prune shrubs – Vet Sq, RM, LPD, OP, Mem Renovate lawn at LFD – power rake, aerate, add compost, slice seed, fertilize, daily watering Renovate Gateway lawn (behind sign) same as with LFD XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourned at 8: 28pm. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. 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.