Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Laconia Community Center 6:00 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 Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Lauran Ringer and Deanna Guyer. Absent- Rodney Roy and Arthur Kirk. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Secretary Liza Kelleher. Absent- Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek and Asst. Director of Recreation and Facilities Matthew Mansur. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of November 15, 2021 Commissioner Deanna Guyer moved to adopt the minutes from the November 15, 2021. Seconded by Commissioner Laura Ringer. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Belknap Mill-Rotary Park and bandstand- Fridays, May 20, June 3 and 17 th, July 1, 15 and 29th, and August 12 and 26th and September 9, 2022, from 4:00pm to 8:00pm for Arts in the Park summer concert series. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. B. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park, Bandstand and Peter Karagianis Way- May 20, 2022, from 9am to 3:00pm and May 21, 2022, from 9:00am to 5:00pm for Coffee Fest Art Walk & Musical Entertainment. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. C. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park and Bandstand- Saturday, June 25, 2022, from 12:00pm to 4:00pm for Historic Laconia Scavenger Hunt. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. D. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park and Bandstand- Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, July 1,4,6,8,11,13,15,18,20,22,25,27,29, 2022 from 9:30am to 12:30pm for Kids in the Park. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. E. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park and Peter Karagianis Way- September 24 and 25, 2022 from 9:00am to 5:00pm for Belknap Mill Quilters Guild Quilt Show and Journey. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor.  F. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park, Bandstand and Peter Karagianis Way- Saturday, October 15, 2022, from 9:00am to 5:00pm for Riverside Duck Derby. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. G. Belknap Mill Society- Sunday, November 27, 2022, from 9:00am to 3:00pm for Yuletide Traditions. Commissioner Guyer motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. H. New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Assoc.- Wednesday, June 8, 2022 from 4:00pm to 10:30pm for Baseball State Championship. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of tournament fee, light fee, and the submission of the certificate of insurance for Baseball State Championship. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. I. Laconia Youth Soccer- Opechee Park, Robbie Mills and Leavitt Park- August 1 through October 22, 2022, Monday Thru Friday from 5:30pm to 8:30pm and Saturdays from 7:30am to 4:00pm for Laconia Youth Soccer Season. Commissioner Ringer motioned to accept the request for Laconia Youth Soccer Season League. Seconded by Commissioner Hamel. Commissioner Guyer abstained. There was no quorum for this vote, therefore it is not approved at this time. J. Lakes Region Sled Dog Club, Inc.- Pump Station on Old N. Main St.- February 11 to 13, 2022, Friday through Sunday from 8:30am to 4:00pm for 93 rd World Championship Sled Dog Derby. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the certificate of insurance and special event approval from the City Council. Special event fee has been waived. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. K. VISTESS (Volunteers in service to Elm St.)-Sledding Hill and parking lot- Friday, February 18, 2022 from 5:30 to 7:00pm for ESS Community Sledding night. Commissioner Guyer withdraw the request in the table. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: A. Allie Gould- Bond Beach- Saturday, June 25, 2022, from 1:00pm to 5:00pm for a wedding ceremony. Commissioner Guyer withdraw the request in the table. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION A. Belknap Mill Society- Rotary Park and Gazebo- November 18, 202, Sunday from 9:00am to 300pm for a Yuletide Tradition. B. Humble Grunt Work-Leavitt Park- Saturday, January 29, 2022, from 11am to 3pm for a Veterans appreciation event (horse drawn rides). IV. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Hours of operation for City owned cemeteries. No update 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- January 5, 2022 Minutes of the meeting. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Director’s Report submitted by Amy Lovisek These past 2 months have been keeping our department busy with maintenance and program responsibilities. Our Foreman has been away on medical leave since November 1 st. Dane Anderson our #2 guy has taken the reigns and he is doing a great job. Well done, Dane! The Northern New England Recreation & Parks Conference was this week in North Conway. I attended a number of good classes, but the most I received from going to the conference was the networking. It is enlightening to hear what other towns are doing as well as offering advice to others. In our budget, we have a cemeteries line. The trustees of the trust are responsible for giving us that money. There are some new trustees and they asked for a tour of the cemeteries this past month. It was a cold and rainy tour, but they were quite pleased to have seen what and where we maintain. I had a meeting with Joyce Endee of Gilford. She expressed interest in the Weirs Beach Restoration project. Knowing that one of the plans is to install an extended jetty out into Winnipesaukee, she was interested in having a registered light house placed at the end. As the light house she is envisioning would be too large, I suggested a gazebo instead. She was interested in this idea as well. She is offering to help fundraise for this option. I was emailed by another abutter of Memorial Park regarding baseballs in their yard. We are working on possible solutions. The LPD building has had mold identified in the building due to an issue with one of the compressors in their HVAC breaking and causing too much moisture in the air. We have ordered new compressors to fix the problem. We also hired a company to clean the ducts throughout the building and another company to clean and abate the vents and tiles. This has been quite the project and will cause us to go over budget significantly. This was all approved by the City Manager. We received a donation of $3,000 to install a security camera system at Bartlett Beach. The rest of the money for the project will come from our budget. This is something we would like to do throughout the park system. We used to do a staff meeting of the Foreman, Assistant Director, and myself weekly. When the Foreman had to be away, we started having weekly staff meetings with the entire staff. This has been extremely beneficial to everyone. Maintenance staffers know what is happening and why and the office staff hears all that maintenance does. We will keep this going when the Foreman returns. As a department, we are working on a list of areas we could use help with. Jobs that could be outsourced if the seasonal staff is not available. We are also looking to use the resource of the prisoners from Concord to do many jobs. This is free labor and all we have to do is provide the tools and any materials needed for the job. This will take a heavy burden from the maintenance crew and allow us to get more done to enhance the park system. We had a number of trees removed from around the city as they were all in poor shape and would soon become a hazard. We removed 1 tree at Wyatt, downtown and Opechee, 2 at Bond Beach and Hillside Cemetery. The sledding hill is officially open, depending on the conditions. The maintenance staff is notifying Matt of conditions and he posts the information on our social media to inform the public. The ice rinks should be ready as of January 15 th. We are putting one more coat of water on this evening and with the deep freeze we should be up and running tomorrow. Our maintenance crew have been busy with…  Maintaining walkways and parking lots  Checking for trash  Filling dog bag dispensers  Clearing of invasives from park areas  Checking sledding hill  Prepping the skate rink and ice  Assembling desks  Cleaning and repairing all light fixtures at Leavitt, Tardif and some of City Hall  Closed the gates for the track and all tennis and basketball courts, WOW trail, Weirs Beach, Bond Beach and Robbie Mills  Repaired gym lights at the Community Center  Reorganize and clean the shop  Removed small set of non-compliant bleachers from Memorial baseball  Winterized all summer equipment  Inventoried field and turf supplies  Installed snow fence at Weirs Beach  Fall clean ups  Removed old tennis posts/concrete from Tardif Park  Completed winterization of all irrigations and buildings  Graffiti removal  Fix plumbing issues at the Library  Move bookcases and fix glass panes at Libraries  Many more other items XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Guyer motioned to adjourn at 6:18pm. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Commissioner Chair