Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Tuesday, May 21, 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: Administrative Secretary, Liza Kelleher recorded this meeting. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Deanna Guyer and Arthur Kirk. Absent- Laura Ringer and Rodney Roy. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek, Asst. Director of Recreation and Facilities Matt Mansur and Administrative Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of April 15, 2024 Commissioner Arthur Kirk moved to adopt the minutes from the June 19, 2024, meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Weirs Action Committee- Weirs Beach- July 3 & 20th, August 3 & 17th and Sept. 1, 2024, (rain date July 27th and August 10th) Wednesday and Thursday from 4:00pm to 12:00am for July 3rd, 2024, Fireworks. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Kirk seconded the motion. All were in favor. B. Mitze Tucker-Opechee Smith Track & Park House- Tuesday, June 4, 2024, from 8:00am to 2:00pm for the annual 5th grade track meet. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. C. Lou Athanas Youth Basketball-Laconia Community Center Gym- December 15 through March 16, 2025, Thursdays at 6:00pm, Fridays at 5:00pm, Saturdays 5:30pm to 8:30pm and Sundays from 8:00am to 1:30pm for LAYBL games. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. D. Lou Athanas Youth Basketball-Laconia Community Center Gym- February 19, 21 and 23, 2025 from 4:00pm to 9:30pm for LAYBL tournament event. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. E. City of Laconia-Opechee Park Parking Lot- Friday, June 14, 2024, from 7:00am to 3:00pm for the Bike show. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the  requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. F. Laconia Motorcycle Week Assoc.- Weirs Beach- Wednesday, June 12, 2024 (rain date June 13th) from 7:00pm to 10:30pm for Fireworks show. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. G. Joseph Vano- Opechee parking lot, cove picnic and bathroom- Friday, July 12, 2024, for a birthday party. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. H. Advantage Kids- Memorial Park Tennis/Pickleball court- June 22, 2024, from 10:00am to 1:00pm for informal meeting, play tennis and yoga practice. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Kirk seconded the motion. All were in favor. I. Bethany Miller- Leavitt Park picnic area- Saturday, August 10, 2024, from 9:00am to 8:00pm for 100th birthday celebration. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Kirk seconded the motion. All were in favor. J. Kathleen Curran- Leavitt Parkhouse picnic area- Saturday, July 13, 2024, for a family get together event. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. K. Weirs Community Park Assoc.- Weirs Community Hall and parking lots- June 7 th through 16, 2024 for bike week. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. L. Belknap County Democrats- Leavitt Park house picnic area- August 11, 2024, for the blue bash 2024 from 12:00pm to 8:00pm. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. M. Christmas Village- Laconia Community Center- November 15, 2024, through December 15, 2024 for the Laconia Christmas Village 2024. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Kirk seconded the motion. All were in favor. N. Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region-Rotary Park- Saturday, August 31, 2024, from 12:00pm to 4:00pm for International Overdose awareness day vigil. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. O. Karl Nunes- Leavitt Park picnic area- Sunday, May 26, 2024, from 4:00pm to 6:00pm for a birthday celebration. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Kirk seconded the motion. All were in favor. P. 603 United – Leavitt Park basketball court-Mondays, June 24 th through August 26, 2024, from 4:00pm to 6:00pm for sporting event. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor.  Q. Holy Trinity- Opechee Smith Field- Friday, June 7, 2024, from 9:00am to 2:00pm for the school field day. Commissioner Kirk motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: A. Northern NH Soccer Club-Leavitt Park-Thursdays, April 25 th through June 20th, 2024, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm for U19 soccer club training/U12 program. Commissioners motioned to remove the request due to no representation. All were in favor. B. Robbie Mills Fencing- Commissioners in favor of building a new monster board by Hewlett Tech school at Robbie Mills. Sponsorship and fees will be decided by Commissioners later. R. Laconia Rotary Club- asking for $1000.00 donation towards Rotary Park landscaping. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request to donate $1000.00 for landscaping at Rotary Park. Commissioner Kirk seconded the motion. All were in favor. III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION A. The Belknap Mill- Rotary Park- Tuesday, May 14, 2024, from 2:00pm to 8:00pm for the mayors’ task force subcommittee summer safety cookout for the community. B. Iryna Novos-Weirs Community Park Pavilion- Saturday, May 4, 2024, from 10:00am to 2:00pm for a birthday party. IV. NEW BUSINESS: V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: VII. PUBLIC COMMENT: VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: Picnic and birthday request in the parks- Director Amy Lovisek suggested that the request for picnic/birthdays in the City Facilities except for Weirs beach should be administratively approved in the office and the Commissioners agree as we have done that previously. X. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: A. Leavitt Park Association- April 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 Spring is here in beautiful New Hampshire! It is a lovely time of year to live in NH. Enjoy your chances to be in our parks soaking up the sun. We will be presenting our budget to the city council Monday, May 20 th at 6:00pm at City Hall. We are planning to highlight the wins for the department, our CIP asks, and encourage the council to follow the City Managers lead in salary increases and incentives for retention. His plan is a great start in this difficult situation. We have a new employee, and his name is Nick Patterson. He began Monday, May 6 th and is still here, which is a good sign. Leavitt Park has their new flooring in now. It looks great. The playground earthwork has been completed and the playground will be installed the last week in May. The gazebo has finally gone out to bid or will be this week to get that built asap. The Bond Beach bath house is coming along. The walls are being built as we speak. Pumpkin Fest will be in downtown Laconia as well as Weirs Beach. The tower will be downtown, and the event will be based in that area. The Weirs will have attractions as well. The United Way had their annual day of caring last month. We had Pleasant Street School kids cleaning up the WOW Trail and Elm Street School kids cleaning up Bond Beach. It was lovely having the extra help. The Key Club and Kiwanis Club did a clean-up of Bond Beach as well as an Earth Day project. They cleaned the leaves and such from the park area and we appreciate their help. I was approached by a resident who wanted to do an ArtWalk downtown. She is looking to paint the benches and flowerpots as well as electrical boxes and the sides of buildings where possible. Attached to this report are some pictures of ideas she will use for paintings. She will clear coat the paintings for ease of cleaning of graffiti. MD Building Services will be taking over our cleaning services for the city buildings. We are looking for them to also clean the bath houses as well during the summer. This is a change over from Joyce Janitorial who had cleaned our buildings since before I started here (a very long time). We wish MD well on this new adventure. I attended the Huot Tech Career Day at LHS last week. I was able to speak with many kids regarding seasonal employment and I believe this provided us with a few new potential hires. Half of the department attended a first aid training put on by the fire department. This was mainly regarding applying for a tourniquet. We were given basic instructions on how to use the kit, and basic CPR. It was a great refresher for some and a beginner course for others. Always good things to know when out and about on our roads. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Beach Prep Beach Prep seems to be pretty smooth this year. We’ve got a few applicants for the remaining positions we’ve got left. I am hoping we can get them wrapped up soon. I fear I may be juggling some staffing at Bond this year, but I am confident I can make it work. Beaches look good so far and we will be continuing with the “Carry In/Carry Out” policy that we began last year. Opechee Day Camp We have 224 spots filled out of 320 which is roughly 70%. This puts us 35 spots ahead of where we were last year in terms of registration. Lucius will be back this year as a counselor this year – making him the 4 th returnee at ODC. Declan will be unable to make it back, but we have had some very strong candidates apply. Which is wonderful. Lucius, Maddy, and Ashlynn will all be our Lifeguards for the Day Camp. Community Center Programs As we move toward this year’s summer schedule (below), I am pretty happy with this past year’s winter schedule. We have had some grumbling, but no real big blow-ups regarding pickleball this year – which would be a first. Line Dancing will be moving to the Belknap Sportsman’s Lodge for the summer because to use their Air Conditioners, so we will offer Pickleball Monday-Friday in the mornings. We usually take in swarms of people on days with bad weather and we also begin to see many beginners take advantage of the empty space to practice. C. Foreman’s Report submitted by Dane Anderson COMPLETED Column2 Project Additional Notes Basketball Courts Netting repairs and replacements. Bond Property Forestry- Large downed tree removal from abutting condo association property. City Hall Electrical- Installation and wiring modification for new ceiling fan in IT office. City Hall Furniture- moving and removing of requested furniture items. City Hall Furniture- Assembly of new display case for mayors office. City Hall Electrical- Lighting- Public restroom light fixture replacement. City Hall Electrical- Lighting- Colored entry lighting swap outs. City Hall Vandalism- Graffiti removal Dog Park Grounds- Illegal dumping refuse removal. Down Town Grounds- Seasonal benches moved out of storage and placed in downtown locations. Equipment Summer maintenance equipment checks and preparations for mowing season. ERP Parking Lot- Entry gate modifications to allow for easier operation when opening and closing. ERP Plumbing- Installation and main line modifications for new 2' backflow ERP Grounds- Snow fencing and sandbags removed. ERP Safety- "No lifeguards on duty" signs moved off of posts and mounted onto new lifeguard chairs. Facilities End of Winter temperature and fuel level, plumbing, building locked and secure, 1-2 times per week. Gale Library Plumbing- Exterior spigots turned on for season. Gale Library Electrical- Lighting- Burnt out bulb replacements. Gale Library Furniture- Hanging of painting. Gale Library Furniture- moving and removing of requested furniture items. Gale Library Forestry- Storm Damage- Large downed tree and limb removal. Gale Library Unsheltered- Camp and waste removal to dump. Gale Library Safety- Door alarm batteries replaced throughout facility. Goss Library Plumbing- Exterior spigot turned on for season. Goss Library Electrical- Suspicious wiring report followed up on. LCC Horticulture- Plant beds cleaned up, fertilized and mulched. LCC Carpentry- Gym garage door repair. LCC Electrical- Lighting- Lighting repairs in director and front offices. LCC Plumbing- Gym women's room faucet replacement. Leavitt Forestry- Tree removal of tree impacted by new playground pad and new grade work. Leavitt Playground- Special Projects- Demo of old playground and site prep for new play equipment install. 100 tons of 3/4" rock and 225 tons of sandy fill brought in to build newly graded pad for playground. Leavitt Plumbing- Exterior Spigot Replacements. LPD Parking Lot- Damaged parking bumper removal. LPD Plumbing- Sink faucets and shut off valve replacements for both 1st floor employee restrooms. Maintenance Garage Conversion from winter ops to summer ops. Winter equipment summerized and stored. Memorial Ice Rink- Supplies relocated to more permanent storage bay from out of baseball concessions storage. Memorial Plumbing- Fitting repair to baseball concession water mainline. Millstone Plumbing- Fountain assembled and turned on. Opechee Beach clean ups and grooming Opechee Event- LLL opening day clean ups and prep work. Opechee Cove Masonry- Sealed up between concrete pad and block walls and door frames to prevent wasp nesting. Opechee Cove Playground- Salvaged playground mulch from Leavitt relocated to opechee cove playground. ~50 yards Opechee Day camp Plumbing- Exterior Spigot Replacement. Opechee Point Carpentry- Damaged restroom supplies dispenser replacements. Parks and Facilities Grounds- Winter plow damage repairs throughout properties. Parks and Facilities Grounds- Seasonal trash cans cleaned and put out throughout all parks and grounds. Parks and Facilities Grounds- Spring clean ups, leafs, sticks, debris from winter. Parks and Facilities Forestry- Storm Damage- Downed limb clean ups and removals throughout high use properties. RFP Grounds Maintenance Supplies RFP selections and orders. Robbie Mills Carpentry- Damaged walking bridge board replacements Robbie Mills Electrical- Damage bull pen light switch cover repair. Robbie Mills Baseball- PSU game preps, including weekend double header repreps. Rotary Vandalism- Graffiti removal Sanborn Signage- Park sign straightened. Sanborn Forestry- Arbor Day tree planting Sanborn Grounds- Edging, pruning and mulching for arbor day event. Seasonal Facilities Plumbing- Meters and backflows install, restroom plumbing put together, water turned on, operational checks and adjustments completed to make facility usable. Seasonal Facilities Janitorial- Seasonal restrooms cleaned and stocked for season. Sports Fields Spring Sports Season Field Preparations. Sports Fields Fertility Program- Spring fertilization and seeding application. Sports Fields Delayed opening due to last spring storms and weather. Sports Fields Safety- Divot checks and filling. Staffing Open Parks tech 1 position filled- Welcome Nick. Onboarding and 2 weeks in and going strong. Training First Aid- Partial staff attendance. Vets Square Plumbing- Fountain uncovered and fountain put together and turned on. Vets Square Horticulture- Plant beds cleaned up, fertilized. Weirs Community Park Electrical- Lighting- Pavilion lighting replacements. IN PROGRESS Location Project Additional Notes Bond Beach Construction- Monitoring and documentation of new bath house installation. Bond Beach Site prep work and tree removal for new bathhouse and septic construction. City Hall Plumbing Faucet replacements Department Wide Dog Bags- Checking and filling dog bag dispensers Facilities Plumbing, building locked and secure, as needed. Facilities Electrical- Lighting timers adjustments as needed Gale Library Carpentry- Damaged and stained ceiling tile replacements Gordon Lawerence Forestry- Down limb removal Cemetery Grounds Annual Beds- Prep work. Grounds Janitorial- Property checks and clean up of litter and unsheltered refuse. 2-3 times per week and as needed. Grounds Routine mowing, trimming and trash clean up of parks and facilities grounds. 1 time per every 1-2 weeks depending on priority level of area. LCC Plumbing- Faucet replacements Leavitt Concession building- final flood damage repairs. Drywall, Trim, plumbing fixtures, painting. LFD Central HVAC- Repairs and reinsulate of piping from mold remediation project. Memorial Electrical- Baseball scoreboard repairs. Opechee Electrical- Smith field scoreboard troubleshooting. Paint Paint standards, colors, and procedures project. Parking Lots Parking bumper log replacements. Parks and Facilities Irrigation- Start ups, repairs and programing. Parks and Facilities Carpentry- Picnic table repairs and painting Parks and Facilities Fertility Program- Thatching, overseeding and fertilization. Robbie Mills Plumbing- Concessions building- Water supply trouble with minimal to no well production. Restrooms running at limited capacity in combination with portalets. Robbie Mills Baseball Field- Infield mix project, 66 tons of infield mix being put onto field . Rotary Sun Dial repairs Seasonal Restrooms Janitorial- Checks, cleaning and stocking. 2-3 times per week or prior to event usage. Sports Fields Routine Mowing of sports fields turf. 2 times per week. Sports Fields Game and Event prep for Middle School, High School, Youth and Club sporting events. Spring Clean Ups Grounds- Acorn/Leaf/Pine Cone and Down Limb removal. Stewart Electrical- Park pathway light fixture repair Storm Damage Grounds- Downed and damaged tree and limb removal throughout properties. Vandalism Graffiti- continual monitoring and removal throughout parks and facilities. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Guyer motioned to adjourn at 7:24pm. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Chair Commissioner