Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Monday, March 21, 2022 Laconia Community Center 6:00 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 Roy called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Laura Ringer, Deanna Guyer and Arthur Kirk. Absent- Mitch Hamel. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek and Asst. Director of Recreation and Facilities Matthew Mansur & Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of February 22, 2022 Commissioner Arthur Kirk moved to adopt the minutes from the February 22, 2022. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Newfound Regional High School- Robbie Mills Baseball Field- Friday, April 15, 2022, from 6:00pm to 9:30pm for Newfound vs Winnisquam Baseball Game. Commissioner Guyer motioned to approve the request pending upon the payment of special event fee, lights and the submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. B. Laconia Lacrosse Club- Bobotas Field from March 14, 2022, through June 12, 2022, Monday thru Saturday from 5:30pm to 7:30pm and Sunday from 8:00am to 6:00pm, April 28, 2022, all day. Leavitt Park Field if there is conflict with LHS in Bobotas-1 or 2 days during the season and Sanborn Park if Bobotas is not open for Lacrosse Practice & Games. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request minus the tournament pending upon the submission of the roster’s payment of non-resident users fee and submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. Commissioner Roy abstained. All were in favor. C. USDA Forest Service White Mountain National Forest- Opechee Track- Wednesday, April 6, 2022, from 8am to 11am for Pack test for Wildland Firefighters. Commissioner Kirk motioned to table due to no representation. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. D. Laconia Motorcycle Week- Opechee Park- Friday, June 17, 2022, from 7am to 2:30pm for Motorcycle show. Commissioner Ringer motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the certificate of insurance and waived the cooking rule and the use of 20lbs propane gas and users’ fee. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor  E. Laconia Adult Coed Softball- Memorial Softball Field- April 2022 through November 2022, Monday-Friday from 5:30pm to 11:00pm, Saturday and Sunday from 8:00am to 11:00pm for Laconia Adult Coed Softball season. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of certificate of insurance, light, storage, concession stand, and non-residents users’ fee. Key deposit of $25.00 per key is needed if required. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. F. The Downtown Gym, LLC- Wow Trail- Saturday, April 30, 2022, from 9am for the 5K Run and Walk fundraiser to benefit the Children’s Auction. Commission Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of $100 users fee and submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. G. Laconia Baseball Foundation Inc. (Winnipesaukee Muskrats)- Robbie Mills Baseball Field- June 10,13,15,16,20,22,25,27 and 30th and July 1,2,4,9,11,12,13,16,18,21,22,30, 2022, playoff August 1-8, 2022, from 6pm-9pm, batting practice starts 2 hrs. prior to the game for Winnipesaukee Muskrats 2022 NECBL season. Commissioner Ringer motioned to accept the request pending the submission of the certificate of insurance and waived the cooking in the park, the use of 20lbs propane and light fees will be billed later. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: A. Real Life Church- Opechee point- Sunday, July 17, 2022, from 7:30-3:30pm for a church picnic. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the certificate of insurance and payment of $50.00 special event fee. Key deposit of $25.00 is required if needed. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. B. Real Life Church- Rotary Park- Sundays, August 14 and September 11, 2022, from 11:00am to 12:00pm for the water baptism. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the certificate of insurance and the users fee has been waived. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. Laconia Little League- Opechee A, B and C & Colby Field- April 1st through June 15, 2022, for the 2022 Monday through Friday from 5:30pm to 8:00pm, Saturdays from 8:00am to 5:00pm for the 2022 Laconia Little League season. Commissioner Ringer motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the rosters, nonresident users fee, concession stand fee, storage fee and submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commission Kirk. All were in favor. D. Laconia Little League- Opechee A, B and C & Colby Field- June 15 through August 1, 2022, Monday through Friday from 5:30pm to 8:00pm, Saturdays from 8:00am to 5:00pm for the 2022 Laconia Little League All-Star practices. A new FUR will be submitted for games (tournament). Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of non-resident fee. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. E. Laconia Little League- Opechee Colby Field- August 4th through October 30, 2022, Monday through Friday from 5:30pm to 8:00pm, Saturdays for the games from 8:00am to 5:00pm for the 2022 Laconia Little League Fall season. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the certificate of insurance, submission of the nonresident users’ fee and allowing to install a new water valve after consulting a plumber. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor.  F. Shed request by Laconia Little League- Commissioners Guyer motioned to accept the shed that will be place behind the dugout on field B and will be removed at the end of the season. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. G. Winnipesaukee Muskrats- Robbie Mills Baseball Field- May 1 through August 28, 2022, Sundays from 9:00am to 5:30pm for Senior Muskrats Baseball games. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of non-resident fee, key deposit of $25.00 if needed and the submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION A. Maegan Maloney- Rotary Park Gazebo- Sunday, September 18, 2022, from 2:00pm for a Wedding Ceremony. B. Elizabeth Constance- Rotary Park Gazebo- Saturday, September 17, 2022, from 2-6pm for a wedding ceremony. C. Laconia Lacrosse Club- Laconia Community Center- March 17 through April 8, 2022, Thursday & Friday from 6:00pm to 7:30pm for Youth Lacrosse Practices. IV. NEW BUSINESS: A. Beach Rules and Regulations (No cooking)- a discussion was had in regard to the no cooking rule at the parks. A bulleted printout was given of the positives and negatives of the rule, and it’s determined to leave it as is. 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- February minutes. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Director’s Report submitted by Amy Lovisek With the warmth we have experienced for a while now our department has been very busy getting prepared for spring. We are getting a jump start on clean ups. We even have Sanborn, Wyatt and Leavitt courts open as of today! We have been preparing for spring projects as well. We received some money to get some projects completed before the summer season. These projects include the Riverwalk sidewalk repair, Opechee Park track building roof repair, ADA ramps for water access at Weirs Beach and Bond Beach, a new gazebo at Weirs Beach as well as new lifeguard stands and ADA picnic tables. Good things coming to the parks this year! The downtown trees are also being done this spring by Belknap Landscaping. DPW has removed most of the trees there now and 17 will be replaced with larger beds for the trees to grow comfortably. The other areas will be covered with concrete and will match the current sidewalk. We have recently begun some projects in our main office as well. Both Matt and Liza are getting new desks and we are setting their office up completely differently. Currently, it is in disarray, but there is a light at the end. The area will look much more professional when complete. With this change, we will no longer have Commission meetings in the office. It was not large enough for everyone and we feel the conference room is better equipped to handle the meetings. The city also just started us on a new phone system. We are on the VOIP system, and our department received training on that. This new system with include all of the city departments, which will allow us to call anyone with extension numbers and will be internet based. Quite the upgrade. I received a complaint from another neighbor at Memorial Park about baseballs in their yards. We have come up with a plan for this and are taking care of it by installing 2 20’ poles along our fence and installing a net. This will get 95% of the balls headed their way. We received a number of applications for the current maintenance position that is open. We will be doing some interviews next week and will hopefully have a new employee soon. Tim Ford is still away on medical leave and will not be back for at least another month. This hurts our department to be missing an employee, but we are staying on target with fertilizer bids and such. Dane Anderson has stepped up and done an amazing job! We are having a difficult time with items that have been ordered not getting to us in a timely fashion. We ordered 2 vehicles last August and still don’t have either one. We ordered 2 slides last August and still don’t have them. We are not alone in this, but it is causing issues. We are looking to have our beach bathrooms cleaned again this summer by our janitorial contractor. This alleviates a lot of work on our full timers and gives them more time to work on the parks. The police department’s mold situation is getting close to completion. The environmental service is due in this coming week to remove the rest of the mold. After that is complete, we will have to go in to replace the ceiling tiles that were removed. The police will help us with this project as we are getting into our busy season and don’t have as much time to spend there. Eversource is currently working on the footing of the tower at Opechee Park. This tower is located behind the Little League concession building. They are working on replacing the concrete holding the structure up. This project will last a couple of weeks. Our weekly staff meetings with the entire department are working out quite well. It is an opportunity to let everyone know what is happening at the parks and find out from the crew what they are seeing as well. We have come up with a few changes already and we are excited about them. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Summer Preparations Beaches We have not had many hits at all concerning our summer staff. Going through last years records it seems some of our best staff were hired as late as June, but I don’t want to depend on that this year. I am anticipating a lot of patrons to Weirs Beach this year, so it is vital that we have the staff that we need to run it. I am hoping that staff is Lifeguards. The Huot has gotten back to me saying that they will do the LG chairs. I am excited about this. Opechee Day Camp Registration opens April 1st. I am anticipating a RUSH at the door on April 1st. People seem to be kicking the doors down for Summer Camps this summer. I do not know that there are enough in the area. No update on trips yet. Community Center Programs Morning Activities Still continuing to get a lot of requests to expand our pickleball program. They tend to be grandiose, and I don’t even really know where to begin with them. I have looked up programs that some of our pickleballers have requested we try to emulate, and they are actually providing less than what we are providing. The whole conversation can often leave me confused. Line Dancing returning in April. We have not found a solution to our shades yet. School Open Gyms These always seem to be running well. We are hoping to use them as a way of recruiting some future employees. Evening Activities We had a fight during Adult Basketball the other night. Skip broke it up and kicked out the offenders. The remainder of the basketball participants have seemed to react positively, but we will continue to monitor closely. We also have an interesting character who is coming to evening pickleball and being very “over-the-top”. He has also attempted to come to HS Open Gym, and we had to refuse his entry. Spring Cleaning We have done a HUGE overhaul of the office for this spring. Liza and I will be getting new desks very soon and we have gone through a lot of documents to either throw them away or store them more permanently downstairs. Very exciting stuff. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Kirk motioned to adjourn at 7:38pm. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Liza Kelleher Rodney Roy Secretary Commissioner