Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING November 16, 2020 Laconia Community Center- Parks & Recreation Office 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Commissioner Rodney Roy called the meeting to order at the above date and time. RECORDING SECRETARY: Secretary Liza Kelleher recorded this meeting. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Rodney Roy called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Tony Pederzani, Deanna Guyer, Arthur Kirk and Mitch Hamel. 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 October 19, 2020 Commissioner Arthur Kirk moved to adopt the minutes from October 19, 2020. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Laconia Motorcycle Week Assoc.- Endicott Park- June 16, 2021 (rain date June 17 th and/or 18th) from 6:00pm to 11:00pm for Motorcycle Week Fireworks Show. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the certificate of insurance for a firework show. Users fee has been waived. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. B. Laconia Motorcycle Week Assoc.- Opechee Park- June 18, 2021, Friday from 7:00am to 2:00pm for City of Laconia Bike Show & Swap Meet. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of insurance, banners and electrical requested also. The swap meets vendor fees may be required by the City of Laconia if needed. Users fee has been waived. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. Lakes Region Girls Softball- Opechee Park and Memorial Park- April 1 through August 1, 2021 Monday through Friday from 5:00pm to 8:00pm and Saturday from 8:00am to 6:00pm for recreational softball season. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon submission of non-resident users fee, storage fees, $25.00 key deposit if needed and the submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. D. Lakes Region Girl Softball Summer of Chaos- Opechee Park and Memorial Park-July 30 th through August 1st, Friday from 4:00pm to 9:00pm, Saturday & Sunday from 8:00am to 8:00pm for summer chaos softball tournament. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request pending upon submission of the tournament fee, lighting will not be required and  the use of 20lb propane has been waived. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. E. Lakes Region Girls Softball Fall into Chaos- Memorial Field- October 8 through October 10th- Friday from 4:00pm to 9:00pm, Saturday & Sunday from 8:00am to 8:00pm for fall into chaos softball tournament. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to schedule conflict with Laconia Youth Soccer to use the Opechee Park for the tournament. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: A. Administrative Approvals with regards to Coronavirus B. Coronavirus updates- We are contemplating what we are going to the Community Center to remain open. Commissioner Roy ask the question of the possibility for the LAYBL to use the facility, as of now they are waiting for the school to decide whether to have a basketball season. If they do then LAYBL will also try to have a season following the CDC and state Guidelines. C. Protocol concerning non-profits using Weirs Parking lot for fundraiser. Commissioner Roy motioned that the Weirs parking lot will not be used for fundraisers during summer season except Motorcycle week. Language added: Rule #20 – Parking lots will not be used for fundraisers during Black-Out Dates (Memorial Day to Columbus Day), except for Motorcycle Week. Seconded by Commissioner Pederzani. All were in favor. D. Laconia Rotary Club Invoice for Rotary Park Landscaping. The letter Director Lovisek mailed was finally received and she was called that a member would attend the Commission meeting, however no one attended. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION 1. Laconia Youth Soccer League- Robbie Mills, Opechee Park Field A, B, C & D & Leavitt Park- August 1 through October 24, 2021, Monday to Friday from 5:30pm to 8:30pm and Saturdays from 8:00am to 4:00pm for Youth Soccer. 2. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park- November 29, 2020 from 11:00am to 2:00pm for Yuletide Traditions. 3. One Voice Ministries, Inc.- Rotary Park Gazebo- November 1, 2020, Sunday from 12 until 3:00pm for Christmas Video shoot. IV. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Naming of the Community Center Gym for Neil Young- Commissioner Roy mentioned that Neil Young that passed away few months ago, started and was involved in LAYBL for 19yrs and was the president for 9 of those years. Commissioner Roy suggested to name the gym or install a dedication plaque recognizing his contribution to the youth basketball in the City. Director Lovisek mentioned that this will need approval from the City Council. Commissioner Guyer motioned to approved that the Gym will be name in honor of Neil Young. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor.  2. Naming of or a memorial at the Skate Park for Ben Emmond- Commissioner Roy motioned recommending to name the Skate park for Ben Emmond with a plaque with his name and will need approval from the City Council. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Skate Park is complete and its ready for use with a ribbon cutting ceremony that will be held this Friday at 3:30pm. VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: VII. PUBLIC COMMENT: VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: Commissioner Hamel suggested to the Commission to potentially cancel the December meeting. Commissioner Guyer motioned for the meeting to be cancelled. Seconded by Commissioner Roy. All were in favor. 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 We have had a surprisingly busy month. This month doesn’t normally have a lot of construction or outdoor programming, but this year is different again! We are very close to completing the new skate park at Opechee Park and we had the 1st ever Halloween at Opechee Park event. The Halloween event which was held on Halloween night was a huge success! We had only 17 candy givers, meaning the volunteers looking to have a plot of land and give out candy to the kids. We also only had 2 volunteers helping with the event. That being said, we had between 600 – 700 people come through to get candy. We had between 350 – 400 kids alone. The event was helped along by New Spectrum Lighting who put some up lights in the trees and provided a lit walkway for the participants to see their way. We also had Pinnacle Lighting provide a light show on the middle school and 3 fog machines throughout the park. We even had a DJ playing spooky music. The event which was supposed to be a one-time program to fill a need for COVID may in fact become a regular thing we do every year. Well done to everyone involved. I was very proud of this event. The skate park at Opechee is nearly complete! They had some rough weather and some nice weather. 70 degrees in November is unheard of! The park is small for a skate park, but will be perfect for what we are looking for. Every age and ability level will be able to be on this park and succeed. There will be a grand opening on Friday, November 20, 2020 at 3:30pm. I hope you all can make that. Thank you for your support of this project. It is highly anticipated by many! The budget is due December 4th and I am in the process of completing it. There will not be many huge changes for the most park. I may be asking for more money in the Maintenance Grounds account which we use for things like fertilizer, mulch, compost, seed, flowers for everywhere, irrigation supplies and many more items. We cannot seem to be able to complete everything that is desired with the limited budget we have been working with. I will send along the budget to you once it is complete. Tim Ford and I have been moving forward with our ADA self-assessment for the parks and facilities. The police, fire, libraries and public works are all doing their own buildings. We have completed Leavitt, Tardif, Sanborn, Opechee, City Hall and the Community Center. We have quite a few to still complete, but we are making progress. The St. Joseph Church rectory and the old Holy Trinity School are now under our responsibility. We have done some fall clean ups at this time as well as winterizing the fountain. We are leaving the heat on at a minimum, so we don’t have to winterize the buildings. The Laconia High School is using a room in the basement at the Community Center for their restorative justice program. This means the kids that have out of school suspension come here with a teach or 2 to work on school and do community service. I met with Tara Shore from the Belknap Mill to go over possible ideas for future programs we could collaborate on. This coming month we will be spending a good deal of time cleaning out and organizing the Community Center. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Beaches Update There is not much to report on the beaches this month. The lakes we lowered considerably, for a time period, but we were unable to attack anything on the beaches during that window. We will keep in mind possible tasks for the lowered lake period two years from now. The only thing that comes to mind as of yet is a cleaning/raking out/ of the swim area at Opechee Cove. Fortunately, we did have a brief spell of good weather when I was able to take the tractor and Sand Dollar and clean up the cove a little bit – its not 100% where we want it, but it is looking much better. Believe it or not, the time to begin looking for staff is just over the horizon. Unfortunately, we do not yet know if that staff will look like Beach Caretakers again, or Lifeguards, or what. Camp staffing will also be upon us soon. Most importantly though, might be seasonal maintenance staff, which could begin as early as April. Halloween at Opechee This event went very well. We estimate to have had close to 700 visitors come through. New Spectrum’s laser and light show and pageantry was incredible and drew in people from all around. All told, they donated close to $3500 worth of rental equipment and labor. Our volunteer candy givers stuck through the cold and low visibility (because of the smoke) for over 2 hours and were still very positive about their experience – many wishing to come back again next year. Overall, it was a very successful event. Outreach We have not had many people join our Facebook page, so I have joined some of the local Laconia Facebook groups in order to push our page and get more followers. Please follow us on Facebook, its Laconia Parks AND Recreation (No &). I believe the old page will be deleting itself soon. The City of Laconia is making sure that its website is ADA Accessible and so we have gone through and made sure our attachments have met the criteria. Community Center during the Fall We are steadily gaining programs back here in the Community Center. As of right now we are having line dancing, pickleball (groups of 10 signup online), LRGH Strength Training, Northeast Passage groups, and a senior meditation / arts & crafts / board games group. Along with individual rentals, we are finding ourselves busier with getting groups in and out of the building and disinfecting after each group. We are slightly concerned that one of our newer groups will try to take advantage of the space, so we are monitoring closely. Additionally, Laconia High has been using one of our “garden level” rooms for their In-School Suspension. They have cleaned and painted it and it looks great. This has been a great partnership. C. Foreman’s Report submitted by Tim Ford Park, field, cemetery mow, trim leaf clean-up Install snow fence around new skate park Start clearing parks and fields for winter – remove trash barrels, remove banners on poles, put away benches, put away soccer and field hockey goals and nets, batting cage nets Repair heating valves – LCC Setup and take down for election Check walks – snow, ice, sand where needed Set up and clean up for Halloween activities at Opechee Spread fertilizer on fields and park turf Winterize Parkhouse bathrooms and irrigation systems Line fields for games and practices Install fence at Endicott Rock Park Repair toilets as needed – Opechee and City Hall ADA inspection and repairs of park houses and city buildings Take soil samples for analysis Repair heaters at Leavitt Re-adjust clocks and thermostats with time change Repair broken window – LCC maintenance garage Remove flags from poles Graffiti removal – Sanborn, Wyatt, Rotary and City Hall Shrub removal – City Hall Window screen repair – City Hall XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourn at 7:45pm. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Commissioner Chair