Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING February 18, 2020 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: Rodney Roy, Tony Pederzani and Deanna Guyer. Absent- Arthur Kirk. 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 January 21, 2020 Commissioner Roy moved to adopt the minutes from January 21, 2020. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. The motioned pass unanimously. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Rock Steady Boxing Lakes Region- WOW Trail- Saturday, May 2, 2020 from 9:00am to 12:00pm for Rock Steady Boxing 5K Run & Walk. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request for the 5K run & walk conditioned upon the coordination from the Police Dept. to block for the race start and pending the submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. B. Laconia High School- Rotary Park- Saturday, May 9, 2020 from 4:00 to 6:30pm for Junior Class Prom Walk. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. C. Laconia Little League- Opechee Field A, B, C and Colby Field- Regular and All-star season starting April 1st to August 4, 2020, Monday through Friday from 5:30pm to 7:00pm, Saturdays’ and Sundays’ from 8:00am to 5:00pm for 2020 Laconia Little League regular season and all-star practice and games. 2 All-Star Tournaments (Divisions and state) from June 22 to June 28, 2020 from 5:30pm to 8:00pm Monday to Friday and 8:00am to 8:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Joe Dee mentioned that banners will be put up on the left and right field side of the field and will be taken down at the end of the season. Joe also mentioned that they will use 4 portable lights from MB tractor during the tournament at their expense. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of storage fee, concession stand fee, 2 tournament fees, non-resident users fee, submission of the rosters and certificate of insurance before the start of the season. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor.  D. Laconia Little League- Colby Field- August 4, 2020 through November 15, 2020 Monday through Friday from 5:30pm to 7:00pm for practice, Saturday from 8:00am to 2:00pm for games for 2020 Laconia Little League Fall Ball Season. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon payment of non-resident fee and submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. E. Acton Academy NH/NH Children’s Business Fair- Opechee Park Smith Field- Saturday August 8, 2020 from 8:30am to 2:00pm for NH Children’s Business Fair. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. F. Weirs Community Park Assoc. – Weirs Community Parking Lot- June 13 through 21, 2020 from 8:00am to 12:00am to charge for parking during Bike week 2020. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to accept the request pending upon submission of the certificate of insurance and approval from the City Council for making money in the City property. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. G. Winnipesaukee Muskrats/Laconia Baseball Foundation, Inc.- Robbie Mills-Sundays, May 31, 2020 through October 4, 2020 from 10:00am to 1:00pm for Senior Muskrats Baseball events and the tournament on October 17 & 18, 2020 from 9:00am to 6:00pm. Commissioner Pederzani motioned to approved your request pending upon the submission of the rosters, payment for non-resident user fee, tournament fee, light fee (if needed) and the submission of the certificate of insurance for the senior Muskrats baseball events. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. H. Winnipesaukee Muskrats/Laconia Baseball Foundation, INC.- Robbie Mills- May 31 through August 1, 2020 (subject to playoffs) for summer baseball season. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of concession fee, lighting fees and submission of the certificate of insurance for 2020 summer baseball season. The deposit of $25.00 per key is required, vendors permit needs to be filed at City Hall for vending purpose and the use of propane tank is waived if needed. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: A. Holbrook Insurance & JG Realty- Opechee Park Field – September 19, 2020, Saturday from 9:00am to 5:00pm for the first annual Boggin N Braggin Cornhole Championship. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. B. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park- Every other Friday starting May 22, 2020 through August 28th from 5:30pm to 8:30pm and September 11, 2020 from 3:00pm to 9:00pm for Arts in the Park and M, W, F from July 1, 2020 through July 31, 2020 from 10:00am to 12:00pm for Kids in the Park. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the certificate of insurance. Special event fee has been waived, the use of propane tank has been waived and a special event permit needs to be filed at City Hall for vending purposes and the events themselves. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. C. Holy Trinity School- Opechee Smith Field- June 5, 2020 Friday from 7:30 to 2:30 for a Field Day. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request pending upon submission of the  certificate of insurance for the field day event. Special event fee has been waived. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. D. Muskrats Contract- Director Amy Lovisek explained that she took the contract to the lawyer and the lawyer had to rewrite the whole contract. The agreement is effective on May 1, 2020 and shall be in effect for a period of 5 years but maybe extended by agreement for up 2 additional one-year terms. Termination agreement was also added. The scope of the agreement states that the City grants the foundation for the term of the agreement the non- exclusive use of the facility as provided for the purpose of operating a summer collegiate baseball team. City Parks is not responsible for pedestrian, traffic and parking during games. Compensation by Foundation in lieu of cash rental payment the foundation will list the City as one of its sponsors and thank the City in its promotional materials. The foundation is also responsible for the cost of repair for any damage to the facility beyond normal wear and tear. Scheduling of the facility is the responsibility of the Parks and Recreation Department. Alcohol sales wording should be change in our rules and regulations, because of the family type of entertainment. Mike Smith mentioned also that the deck that was approved is still going to push through with the previous plan. The vendors have to provide insurance and permits to the City. Banners should be taken down after the season, the monster signage will be responsible of the foundation and must be kept in good condition or be removed. The foundation shall at its sole expense perform the regular maintenance of the facility as stated in the contract. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION The following request have been approved administratively: A. Meghan Daigneau & Shawn Sinclair- Rotary Park- Saturday, August 22, 2020 from 2:00pm to 6:00pm for a wedding ceremony. B. Rebecca Lousey- Rotary Park- Saturday, June 6, 2020 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm for a wedding ceremony. IV. NEW BUSINESS: A. Expectations for clean up after events- no action taken. B. Prepayment of fees- no action taken. 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 February has been surprisingly busy, but a lot was accomplished. The New Covenant Church who rents the Memorial Park House has signed a new lease for the future. The new lease will begin in November 2020 and go for 5 years. We have also increased their rent from $1000 per month to $1200. The extra $200 will go into an account specifically for the park house. The first couple of years that money will go to pay off the furnace that was installed in this winter. Great steps forward. Matt Mansur and I met with the LPD in regard to our enforcement issue at Weirs Beach. I firmly believe that we are in a better situation now that we understand our functions and theirs. Multiple city department heads and members of the City Council attended the annual Chamber of Commerce luncheon. It was a nice event and it was a pleasure to be able to speak with members of the business community. The department heads and Council members met together to discuss the personal goals of each Councilor. This was an interesting process and we all learned what our current council would like to see happen in the future with the city. A report will be provided to the City Manager and he will distribute to the department heads. The report will state the top 3 goals of the council and will additionally show all goals from each member of the council. We were even tasked with when we would complete these goals. Tim Ford and I met with Carey Hough the new GM for the Winnipesaukee Muskrats this month. She seems to be full of energy and ideas to make the team succeed. We went over the new changes the Commission would like to see to the contract. We have a great open line of communication now and this is very important for both parties. I met with the City’s legal team to discuss the Muskrat’s contract. They are working on it now and I should have a workable copy for the meeting. I met with other city officials for the preconstruction meeting for the Weirs Bridge replacement project that will be done by DOT. They had thought they may be able to use the beach for staging and access to the bridge, but that doesn’t seem to be able to happen according to the state. There is a senior group called the Friendship Club who meet at the Leavitt Park House weekly. I went to speak with them this week as some of the members keep tripping over the parking bumpers. I explained to them that the bumpers needed to remain there as they delineate the walkway for the ADA walkway. They understood that and we all came up with different ideas to get them to see them. We plan to paint them a bright color, but during the winter this will not help. We are also going to look into the possibility of putting some sort of markers on them to alert people of their presence. They all seemed to think this would work well. I am currently working on the RFP for the netting at Robbie Mills baseball field. The plan is to get this completed before the season opens. The City Manager asked me to find funding in my current budget for the CIP plan for the Weirs Beach Bathhouse Renovations. It looks like I will be able to accomplish this with the parking funds and impact fees, but I may need extra money from the Users Fee account. I will be asking at the meeting for permission to use this fund. The City Manager believes this is too important a job to wait. Therefore I will be putting this out to RFP as soon as possible to be sure it is completed before the start of our beach season. The Memorial Park netting seems to be a bit more complicated than originally thought. I sent an email out to the neighbors of Memorial Park who came to the Commission about foul balls coming into their yards. The email was to let them know of our plan to install poles on City property and install netting to protect their property. One neighbor emailed back stating that this will probably not be enough. The balls still leave the field of play and hit cars as they drive by and pedestrians as they are walking. I sent the City Manager the email and let him know that stopping “most” balls from leaving the field will cost multiple thousands of dollars. He agrees with the neighbor and wants to try to stop the balls from leaving the field. Tim is looking into the options we have and prices on them. Once we have those I will present them to the City Manager for guidance. This however will not be a quick fix. I still think we will need to put up the netting on the opposite side of the road to keep the foul balls away in the short run. BARTLETT BEACH AND BOND BEACH EROSION/DRAINAGE PROJECTS The Bond Beach project has received some updated budget numbers to accommodate the ADA compliance. We are still awaiting more numbers after posing some questions to the engineers for clarification. Work will start back up in the spring. No update on the Bartlett Beach project. WELCOME TO LACONIA SIGNAGE Completed. Laconia Parks & Recreation will be removing the burning bushes that are blocking the view of the sign located at the Rt. 3 Belmont town line. This work will be done in the spring. PERLEY POND PROJECT The NHDES permit has been submitted. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur The winter is growing long here at the Community Center. More and more people are combating cabin fever by coming for our open gyms, pickleball, line dancing, etc. Our increased foot traffic is a wonderful reminder of the resource that we provide for the community, but it has also pointed out some cracks in our systems that we have been trying to solve. Summer Staffing Lifeguards We are moving forward on Lifeguards. The American Red Cross, State of NH Bathing Code, nor the CDC’s Model Aquatic Health Code have established a Lifeguard-to-Swimmer ratio that we need to follow in our lake waterfront, so we will recruit and hire as many lifeguards as we can and this spring we will perform the distance test to confirm that the lifeguard stations are appropriate distances. I have sent Hiring posters/flyers to Laconia, Gilford, and Belmont High Schools. I have also sent them to both Tilton and New Hampton Prep to target their day students and I have registered with “CollegeCentral.com” in order to post positions at LRCC. We have also posted the positions on Facebook and Indeed. I have not posted in the Laconia Daily Sun yet. I am reworking that posting. We will only have it up for a week or so initially, and then sporadically throughout the spring/summer. We have had a much lower hit rate then what I was expecting so far, although we just received one very promising application via Indeed. I am hoping it is just too early at the moment, but I am keyed into the fact that many parents I talk to do not want their kid lifeguarding. Opechee Day Camp Kathleen has accepted the position as one of our Camp Supervisors again. We are still awaiting confirmation from Alex, but that will not hold up our hiring. Seasonal Maintenance I am still creating literature on this…. I am really still trying to figure out how to sell this position. New Programs and Foot Traffic at the Community Center – Pickleball continues to skyrocket in numbers, while High School Open Gym has ballooned up. There was a moment when we began seeing recently graduated adults playing with the high school kids, but we have begun asking for school ID and that has allowed us to limit it to the appropriate individuals. Even racquetball has been picking up. It’s the same people over and over, but they are coming in more frequent. On top of the increased usage, we have become hosts for Dog Training, Laconia Chiefs Cheerleading, Laconia Lacrosse Club, Tai Ji Quan run by LRGH, and an Open Gym for Home School children led by LRCS. We will also be introducing Beginning Pickleball Lessons and Tae Kwon Do classes. We are still looking for a replacement alternative for the Jazzercise class that we once had here, so any suggestions are always appreciated. Finally, we will host our 6th Annual Cardboard Sled Race on Friday, Feb 28th at the Sledding Hill. It will be followed by our Sledding Party w/ Bon Fire and Hot Chocolate. So please come and attend if you’d like. Facebook – If you are not already following us on Facebook, please do so! We had a lot of views and interactions this winter with the Snowman Competition. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourned at 8:35pm. 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.