Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING October 19, 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 Mitch Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Deanna Guyer and Arthur Kirk. Absent- Rodney Roy and Tony Pederzani. 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 September 21, 2020 Commissioner Deanna Guyer moved to adopt the minutes from September 21, 2020. Seconded by Commissioner Arthur Kirk. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. NH Nor’Easter Softball Club- Opechee Fields A, B, C & D and Memorial Softball Field- July 23 ~ 25, 2021from 7:00am to 9:00pm for the 2021 Nor’Easter Classic. Woodland Heights softball field will need school permission. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of tournament fee, light fee and a key deposit of $25.00 per key for the Nor’easter classic tournament. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. B. Celebrate Laconia-Opechee Park, Rotary Park, Stewart Park and the Gateway- November 20 through January 10, 2021 for the tree lighting Festival and Sunday, November 29, 2020 from 2:00pm to 5:00pm for the Holiday Parade. The Celebrate of Laconia group will sell the trees to anyone to decorate and will be open to the public to walk through. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request for the festival and holiday parade pending upon special event approval and submission of the certificate of insurance. Special event fee has been waived and approval for vendor permit is required if needed. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. C. Weirs Action Committee- Endicott Rock Parking Lot- June 12 through June 20, 2021 from 8:00am to 8:00pm for Laconia Motorcycle Week parking lot. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request for the use of Weirs parking lot pending upon approval from the City Council for making money on City property and submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. D. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park- November 29, 2020 from 11:00am to 2:00pm for Yuletide Traditions. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table the request due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor.  II. OLD BUSINESS: A. Administrative Approvals with regards to Coronavirus – No updates B. Coronavirus updates – No updates C. Protocol concerning non-profits using Weirs Parking lot for fundraiser. Commissioner suggested to block the date from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend or subject to seasonal block out dates. D. Laconia Rotary Club Invoice for Rotary Park Landscaping – No updates III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION 1. Monica Brown and Austin Heter- Rotary Park- Sunday, October 10, 2021 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm for a wedding ceremony. 2. Carri Nagle and Thomas Lanza- Rotary Park- Saturday, July 3, 2021 from 3:00pm to 7:00pm for a wedding ceremony. 3. American Heritage Girls Troop NH 2018- Weirs Pavilion- Saturday, November 7, 2020 (rain date November 21st) from 8:00am to 11:00am for an American Heritage Girls Badge 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- No report. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report. C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Director’s Report submitted by Amy Lovisek The month of October has seen some new directions for the department. We are hosting a Halloween event at Opechee Park that is new due to the virus. We are also looking into a Family Fun Night for virtual games that families can play together. We would post a new game each week on our Youtube channel. The Community Center is scheduled currently by appointment only and in hour slots. This is pleasing some and displeasing others. We are working towards a happy medium if there is one. Our department presented the CIP on October 8th. We were there in person, but some of the board members were on zoom which made presenting a bit more of a challenge. Matt and I worked on this and I believe all went well. The board asked many great questions and hopefully look favorably on our department. The Skate Park proposal is going in front of the City Council again on October 13th to give the final piece for the park. It is confirmed that the park will be located at Opechee Park. It will be 100’ x 50’ and will all be made of concrete. The Council gave us $100,000 from the Non-Capital Reserve Fund and our department found the additional $70,000 to complete the park in one shot for cost savings of over $50,000. The 2 other accounts used were the User Fees and the Parks Coop. Both are contributing $35,000 each. Attached is the rough rendering of the park for your viewing pleasure. The Halloween at Opechee event will be a one-way trick or treating location for those who either want to give out candy to the kids and see the great costumes but don’t want to do that at their houses and for the kids in the same position. We will have great lighting at the event provided by New Spectrum Lighting, and they are giving us a great deal. We are looking for volunteers and candy givers. This event hinges on these two categories willing to participate. We are having some trees taken down next week throughout the park system as they are either dead or dying. Safety first. I am about to sign a contract with Dubois & King to design the Bond Beach Bath house and septic system. I look forward to seeing the results of that design. There have been many great conferences given virtually that I have been able to participate in that are helpful to our department. I look forward to even more this fall and winter. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Beaches Update Beaches are now closed. We are still seeing some light traffic at the Weirs, mostly locals and leaf peepers. Our guard rooms are cleaned out except for the swim lines. Pulling the swim lines out was a bear of an activity. I will need to re-evaluate that process from top to bottom next summer as the swim lines needed a lot of attention all season. Halloween at Opechee Opechee Park will play host to anybody who would like to Trick-Or-Treat in a Socially-Distanced environment. We will establish a one-way path (we’ve been calling the maze) through the main field at opechee. Trick-Or-Treaters will enter the “maze” by the Opechee Park Parkhouse and exit it by the Middle School. We will have a corridor for people to exit and return to their car. New Spectrum Lighting will light the event and are preparing to set up a section within the “maze” that should be really over-the-top and exciting. So far we have 3 people RSVP’d to give Candy and no one RSVP’d to Trick-Or-Treat… we need to really promote this event. We have also received 3 volunteers who will help around the event to make sure things run smoothly – although one can only stay until 6:00 because she needs to “get home for Trick- or-Treating”. Social Media Updates We have been without our Facebook page for nearly a month and a half now. We have created a new one, but it sets us back a little bit as we had almost 2000 followers on the old Facebook page. This has been a big blow to us because this has been our primary way of communicating with the public. Unfortunately, too much manpower has been spent on this and we (Nick, Artie, and I) still have not diagnosed the problem. Facebook has been impossible to connect with and we have just started from scratch – trying to redirect followers from the old Facebook page, but even that has been a little tricky. Community Center during the Fall We currently have a reservation system set up for people to come in and use the gym for an hour at a time. This provides time for us to sanitize before the next hour. The uniqueness of each of the programs we offer has provided individual challenges that we have been working to overcome. We are trying to avoid the “drop-in” nature of so many programs because that will make every activity a period in the day where we are turning away people. Since Line Dancing has many of the same familiar faces, we have turned it into an 8-week program where our Line Dancing ladies will sign-up for 8 weeks and the same 10 people will come weekly for their program. Whereas the Pickleball community fluctuates so much that we have created a “SignUpGenius” website for people to sign up and limit themselves… we have them sign our release of liability the first time they come and we will have them re-submit it in January of every year. Finally, the LRGH Strength Training Women have returned. They sign up through LRGH and Carolyn enforces all social distancing guidelines. It’s almost three similar programs with different logistics. There has been a little bit of a “phasing” period, where we have been teaching people the new protocols. Line Dancing and LRGH Strength training have been very smooth, but our Pickleballers have certainly expressed their displeasure with the new rules – I am anticipating this becoming a little more of a headache before it gets better. Endicott Rock Park Parking Lot Language This has been difficult to come up with because it is kind of like saying “the commission will probably not do this, unless they want to…” If anything. Announcing it just opens up the door to possibilities while not addressing it may prolong that door from being opened. C. Foreman’s Report submitted by Tim Ford Mow and trim parks and athletic fields Irrigation / bathhouse winterization Prep fields for games Weed / mulch plant beds Demo battery powered mower Repair windows and screen at City Hall Tardif Park playground renovations – repair broken equipment, add 300 yards EWF Daily bathroom cleanings. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Kirk motioned to adjourn at 7:49pm. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Commissioner Chair