Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Monday, October 17, 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: Arthur Kirk, Laura Ringer and Mitch Hamel. Absent-Deanna Guyer. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek, Asst Director of Recreation and Facilities Matt Mansur and Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of September19, 2022 Commissioner Kirk moved to adopt the minutes from the September 19, 2022, meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Laconia School District- Rotary Park- Saturday, May 13, 2023, from 6pm~7:00pm for the Junior Prom march. Commissioner Kirk motioned to approve the request there is no user’s fee as this is a Laconia School program for Junior Class Prom walk. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. B. Lakes Region Chamber-Rotary Park, Opechee Park and Wow Trail- Friday and Saturday, October 28~29, 2022 for NH Pumpkin Festival. The pumpkin drop-off on Friday October 28th and the event on Saturday, October 29th from 10:00am to 7:00pm. Karmen Gifford mentioned that all the pumpkins will be picked up Saturday night after the event. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request pending upon the submission of the certificate of insurance, users fee of $240.00, special event and City Council approval. Seconded by Laura Ringer. All were in favor. C. 603 United-Laconia Community Center Gym- Thursdays, January 5 through February 23, 2023, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm for United Basketball. Commissioner Ringer motioned to approve the request and extend the date to March 30th pending upon the payment for Laconia Community Center programs fee and submission of the certificate of insurance. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS:  A. Cure SMA- Opechee Park -Saturday, October 29, 2022, from 7:00am to 2:00pm for 2022 New Hampshire Walk-n-Roll. Commissioner Roy motioned to remove the request from the table. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. B. Possible increase in users’ fees. Commissioners discussed the increase in fees especially for the large special events. Commissioners agreed to the fees increase and to charge a deposit of half of the fees of a certain event. Commissioner Hamel said that this will cover the cost for the clean-up if the users did not clean up after the event. The next step is that Director Lovisek will go to the City Council with the proposed changes to fees. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the changes of fees. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. C. Rules about RV’s, Trailers, and buses. Commissioners suggested adding this to our Rules and Regulations that RV’s, buses, and trailers are not allowed to park in Weirs Beach parking lot. The Commissioner suggested continuing the discussion in our next Commission meeting together with other changes that would be added to the rules and regulations. D. Leavitt Park Parkhouse and/or Laconia Community Center for emergency shelter for Laconia Christian School. Laconia Christian School will use the Leavitt Parkhouse for shelter in case of emergency and if the facility is rented will use the parking lot instead. The Community Center has very limited parking and the school felt this was not adequate for parent pickups. Commissioner Roy motioned to remove the request from the table. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION 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- September and October 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 Ah Fall! What a wonderful time of year! The beautiful colors, fairs, cool weather, and sports make this time of year the best (in my opinion)! Fall also gives our department a small chance to catch up, take vacations and breathe a little easier than we did in the summer months. The grass is starting to slow down on its growth and that allows the crew time to get other tasks completed. We have done another fertilizer application on all parks, not just the ball fields. We are also now winterizing our irrigation systems and restrooms. I was away for some time this past month with Covid and a week off for a much-needed vacation. This said, we have been very busy this month. I have been attending classes at Primex on creating better, more positive cultures in the workplace. This is a class that can only help our department and gives me new ideas on how to keep things positive. We have a new City Manager in the city, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Kirk is going to do a great job for us, and we have already had a number of meetings to discuss things. Next week we will be meeting to discuss solely the Parks Department. He wants to know the good, the bad and the ugly! He also wants to know where the department was in the past, where we are now and where we would like to see our department in the future. All of these topics are great and will allow Kirk to get to know us a little more. We hired a new employee last week. Her name is Jenifer Bennert and has been a seasonal employee for us for about 3 years now. She knows our department and I think will be a great asset to us. She takes pride in her work and is looking to further her education. Please welcome Jen when you see her around town. Bartlett Beach now has a functioning security camera system. There are 4 cameras in total, 2 on the new pole near the entrance to capture the parking lot and park as a whole, and license plates. There are also 2 on a pole on the bath house pointing in either direction on the WOW Trail. Our Foreman Tim Ford is no longer with the department, and we will be looking to replace him shortly. We will be posting the position in the next couple of weeks. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Summer Wrap-Up Swim lines have been pulled out at all of our beaches. Dane has begun winterizing irrigation and will begin winterizing our outdoor bathrooms. Guard rooms are buttoned up and ready for the winter months. Summer Prep I am going to a Career Fair at Laconia High School on Thursday 10/20 with the hope of beginning to recruit some Lifeguards and possibly other staff for the summer. We’ll try to get in there early. We need to pull out all of the stops this upcoming season in order to staff our beaches and our day camp as our Day Camp Supervisors have moved to the Exeter area. Community Center Programs We have begun our fall schedule with rate increases. The pickle-ballers have vanished. I am not sure where they are. I am still averaging about 1.25 pickleball conversations a day, but the actual swarms of pickle-people (as Liza calls them) have not come in yet. I think of it more like when the tide goes way out before a tsunami. We have not found a solution to our shades yet. Operations and Administration The CIP Presentation went well. We snuck into a conversation about a new community center which actually seemed to stick a little bit. This is the time to look at the department as a whole and reflect and come up with new ideas if we would like them. Our new city manager, Kirk Beattie, has asked Amy to identify Where was this department? Where IS this department now? Where should this department go? This was an exciting conversation to have, and I am thankful that Amy brought Liza and me in on it. I look forward to more opportunities to look at this department’s future. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourned at 7:20pm. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Chair Commissioner