Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Tuesday, January 16, 2024 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: Deanna Guyer, Rodney Roy and Laura Ringer. Absent- Arthur Kirk. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek and Secretary Liza Kelleher. Absent-Asst. Director of Recreation and Facilities Matt Mansur. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of November 20, 2023 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from November 20, 2023, meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Lakes Region Girls Softball- Opechee Park field D- April 1, 2024, through July 31, 2024, Monday through Friday 5:00pm to 8:00pm, Saturday and Sunday from 8:00am to 7:00pm for Girl Softball. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Ringer seconded the motion. All were in favor. B. Belknap Area Market Management, Inc.- Weirs Community Park lower parking lot, restroom and electrical outlet- Saturdays, May 25, 2024, through October 5, 2024, (except for June 8 & 15th) from 10:00am to 1:00pm for The Market at Weirs. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Ringer seconded the motion. All were in favor. C. Lakes Region Sled Dog Club – Goat Field on the corner of North Main and Old North Main Streets, parking – February 16 – 18, 2024 from 8:30am – 4:00pm for the Sled Dog Races. Commissioner Ringer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements listed in the application. Commissioner Roy seconded the motion. All were in favor. D. NHIAA – Robbie Mills Baseball Field – June 4 & 5 from 4:00pm – 7:00pm (times will alter as these are game times only) for the NHIAA Semi Final Baseball games. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request with all the requirements listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor.  E. The Belknap Mill – Rotary Park & Bandstand – Fridays, May 31, 2024, through September 6th from 4:00pm to 9:00pm for the Arts in the Park Summer Concert Series. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request with all the requirements listed in the application. Commissioner Ringer seconded the motion. All were in favor. F. Anomaly Baseball League – Robbie Mills Baseball Field – Saturdays & Sundays April 12th through October 26th from 4:30pm to 10:30pm for Anomaly Baseball League Games. Commissioner Roy motioned to deny the request listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: A. 603 Bandits- Robbie Mills & Memorial Field- May 1, 2024, through August 10, 2024, Friday from 6:00pm to 9:00pm, Saturday and Sunday 9:00am to 9:00pm for 603 Bandits 13U Baseball. Commissioner Roy motioned to table the request due to representation. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. B. Robbie Mills Fencing- Director Lovisek explained that we need financing for Robbie Mills fencing if we need to do it right away. The Commissioner decided to leave this in our old business. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION A. 603 United- Laconia Community Center- Thursdays, January 11 through February 29, 2024, from 4:30pm to 6:00pm for Unified Adult Basketball. IV. NEW BUSINESS: a. Discuss Park Hours- The City Council Subcommittee Government and Operations Committee asked the P&R Commission for some suggestions to change the park hours to alleviate some bad behaviors in the parks in the downtown area. Park hours for the parks are between 7:00am to 10:00pm except for Weirs Beach, which is from 7:00am to 12:00am. Commissioners agreed to leave the Park hours from 7:00am to 10:00pm except for Weirs 7:00am to 12:00am. The Commission felt they did not want to take away park time from the citizens because of a few. 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 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 We are now officially in the winter season and the conditions are starting to show as they should be. Our sledding hill is finally open, now that we have snow! The ice rink is another story. We are going to try one more time to get that open and if this doesn’t work, we will scrap the idea for the year. The entire staff of this department (excluding Liza) took a safe driving course through Primex. This is a result of multiple accidents city vehicle wide, and we are trying to do what we can to avoid these accidents. The budget is in and I have already met with Kirk regarding it. The areas of increase are the Maintenance buildings, Outside Contracts and Equipment. We also discussed CIP and what my top needed 4 are for the year. Keys, truck, basketball court resurfacing and Tardif sewer line replacement. I have had multiple meetings regarding the homeless in the downtown area. One of those meetings contained the idea of an 8’ tall fence around the entire park. I am not in favor of that idea. Another meeting was the Government and Operations meeting, which is a subcommittee of the City Council. The topic was altering the hours of the parks. They suggested dawn to dusk, and I had to explain that will not work as this time of year that means 4:00pm. It also means no one can use the skate park with the new lights they installed. They understood that reasoning. They did ask for the Commission to discuss the hours to determine if there is something we could do to change our current situation. I was again unable to get the 4th of July Fireworks on the 4th. As the 4th is on a Wednesday this year, I didn’t want to move the date to a weekday. I have set it up for Saturday, July 6 th with a rain date of the 7th. The city had its inauguration on January 8th. It was well attended, and the parks department helped in setting it up. Well done crew! I have been asked to be on the LMS Universal Team, which is a committee for the middle school to help alleviate behavior issues. They thought I could give them information on what is happening in the community. I could not give them what they needed but was able to give some insight. I was away on 2 weeks of vacation in our time between meetings as well as 4 holidays. It was very restful and much needed. My staff is amazing and handles the office in my absence very well. Thank you to them. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Beaches We had our summer staff holiday party in December during the holiday break. It was great to see the team again and reminisce. It seems like we will have a handful of staff looking to return (given one of our goals this season was retention & recruitment this is very exciting). I am slightly concerned that we will be swinging too much in the other direction where we have too much recruitment. I have heard a lot of stories about so-and-so and so-and-so wanting to work for us. If this is the case, our goal will be to send surplus applicants to our Seasonal Maintenance team. I am also hoping to have Weirs and, maybe, Bond staff have some landscaping gear on site so they can tackle small things like weed-whacking and some mowing. Opechee Day Camp I have begun talking to Keegan again about rejoining the team and I believe she is interested. My goal is to build this team up and get them some field trips weekly. Additionally I’ll be looking for tricks and tactics for behavior management so that we can reduce burn out. I believe I will be going to the Northeast ACA Conference in March for some industry standards. Community Center Programs Pickleball is here and it has been smoother than usual. Still a few hiccups and complaints, but not as many as we’ve seen in the past. One bit of feedback I am getting is to move the Laconia resident only days to the SHORTER days because there are less participants on those days. I think this is pretty sound feedback and worth looking into. We had a police officer come in a few weeks ago asking about starting a PAL (Police Athletic League). I think this is a very interesting idea and I am looking forward to learning more about it. C. Foreman’s Report submitted by Dane Anderson COMPLETED Column2 Project Additional Notes Bartlett Forestry- Brush Clearing Bartlett Winterization- Board up restroom door Bond Electrical- Installed new electrical line from bath house location to Beach pump vault at water’s edge, ~250ft run. Bond Installed new lifeguard chair and anchoring system Beach City Hall Lighting- Light cover repair City Hall Vandalism/Theft- Paper towel dispenser stolen. Replaced City Hall Relocation of Files and storage boxes from 2nd floor storage to basement storage, shelving broken down and stored. Equipment Repairs/Servicing- Plows checked and serviced Equipment Repairs/Servicing- Kubota tractor repairs Equipment CIP item received. Equipment CIP landscape mowing equipment received Equipment Growing season maintenance equipment Cleaning, PM servicing, storage. ERP Beach- Snow Fencing Installed ERP Drainage- Sandbags used to block and redirect water coming from broken storm water line away from bathhouse ERP Parking Lot- Entry gate modifications to allow ease of operation. Removed for winter ERP Lighting- Parking lot lighting shut off for season. ERP Installed 4 new lifeguard chairs and anchoring system Fall Clean Final mowing and leaf clean-up work, clearing of tennis and basketball Up courts. Gale Plumbing- Employee restroom sink drain line unclogged Library Gale Signage- Removal of signs and posts as requested Library Gale Painting- Elevator service room cleaned and painted with Kilz mold and Library mildew preventor. Gale Carpentry- trim board repairs Library Gale Light Timer Adjustments Library Gale Tree removal as requested Library Gale Carpentry- Table repaired in children's room Library Gale Furniture- furniture and newspaper holders removal. Library Gale Plumbing- Family restroom spud replacement and flushometer rebuild Library Gale Furniture- File cabinet assembly and install. Library Gale Furniture- Hang Paintings Library Gale Electrical- Emergency exit door alarm wiring repaired. Library Gateway Events- Installed Christmas lights Gateway Vandalism/Theft- Christmas light extension cords stolen; police report filed Gateway Event- Christmas lights and supplies taken down. Lakeport Event- Christmas tree lighting installation and repairs. Bad GFI 50' lift Replacement. rental LCC Removal of overstock and junk items to dump. LCC Carpentry- basement exterior door weather stripping repairs. LCC Events- Christmas Village- assisted with set up and take down operations. LCC Event- City Christmas Party set up and take down LCC Electrical- Egress lighting checks and repairs LCC Carpentry- New gym storage garage door repairs LCC Plumbing- Gym men's room, ADA sink faucet replacement. LCC Doors- Several lock repairs and rekeying, A+B. LCC Electrical- Lighting ballast replacement in Director’s conference room. LCC Storm Damage- Roof/Chimney repair quote LCC Snowplow piles hauled away. Leavitt Sports Fields- Lighting: corrected direction of 2 field light poles and 50' Lift repaired/secured in place Rental Leavitt Carpentry- Concession building flood damage repairs, stage 1. Drywall replacement. Leavitt Plumbing- Sump pump replacement Leavitt HVAC- Heating failure and thermostat troubleshooting Leavitt HVAC- Furnace servicing Maint. Garage Winter Prep- Convert areas from growing season ops to snow and Yards removal ops. Memorial Courts closed for season Memorial Forestry- Hanging limb removed. Memorial Grounds- Removed/cut off bolts from undeveloped concrete pad  adjacent to HB concession building. Meredith Unsheltered- Abandoned encampment and trash removal, ~800lbs. Bridge Cemetery Mill Event- Inauguration set up and take down assistance. Opechee Parking Lots- Parking bumper log replacements (x2) Opechee Cove Signage- Thin Ice signs installed Opechee Point Installed new lifeguard chair and anchoring system Opechee Smith track gates closed for season Track Rotary Events- Picked up and installed Christmas tree and lights in gazebo Rotary Vandalism- Christmas tree repaired after being torn down. Rotary Events- Christmas tree and lights removed. Sanborn Courts closed for season Snow Lots and walkways cleared 11/22/2023 Removal Snow Sidewalk clearing operations 12/4/2023 Removal Snow Training- Crew training of snow removal procedures. All Staff Removal Snow Development of new weekend snow removal staffing rotation Removal Snow Parking lots and sidewalk snowstorm removal operations 1/7-1/8 Removal 2024 Snow Parking lots and sidewalk snowstorm removal operations 1/10/2024 Removal Sports Fields Winter Prep- removal and storage of goals, nets, benches, bases, tarps, etc. Sports Fields Fertility Program- Soil samples collected and sent for analysis. and Parks Stewart Event- Christmas tree lighting install and repairs 50' lift rental Tardif Courts closed for season Tardif HVAC- Furnace servicing Tardif Forestry- Tree Removal- Began removing dead and dangerous trees throughout property. ~20-30 trees. Phase 1. Training Primex- Defensive driving and snowplow operator safety All Staff Vets Sq Winterization- Fountain Covered for winter Weirs CC Doors- ADA push button battery replacements Weirs CC Doors- New double doors adjusted for proper closing and latching, GSG. Locks cored to proper key, A+B. Wilson Ct Grounds- Lot clean up: brush and branch pile, old lifeguard chairs and footers removal Wyatt Courts closed for season IN PROGRESS Location Project Additional Notes City Hall Plumbing Faucet replacements Department Dog Bags- Checking and filling dog bag dispensers Wide Facilities Winter temperature and fuel level, plumbing, building locked and secure, 1-2 times per week. Facilities Electrical- Lighting timers’ adjustments as needed Gordon Forestry- Down limb removal Lawerence Cemetery Ice Rink Monitoring weather window for initial ice base layer creation LCC Plumbing- Faucet replacements LCC HVAC- Steam trap replacements 9 replaced Memorial Electrical- Baseball scoreboard repairs. Opechee Electrical- Smith field scoreboard troubleshooting. Opechee Access Road- Gate repair damaged by LMS lot plowing contractor 2022-23 winter. Rotary Sun Dial repairs Shop Carpentry- Old Office conversion to Staff room with built in lockers Shop Carpentry/Plumbing- Paint/Cleaning Room Phase 2 reorganization, painting, plumbing fixture repairs/moving. Shop Carpentry- Tool Room Phase 2 reorganization. Sledding Hill Monitor conditions, trash, jump removal, lighting Snow Daily walkway checks and treating for snow/ice. Removal Training New staff onboarding and training Vandalism Graffiti- continual monitoring and removal throughout parks and facilities. Vets Sq Power to Irrigation/Fountains and Lights shut off due to  misuse. Winter Trash Trash- Routine trash can servicing and ground litter removal. Services XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourn at 6:49pm. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Chair Commissioner