Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Monday, June 17, 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, Laura Ringer and Rodney Roy. Absent- Arthur Kirk. 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 May 21, 2024 Commissioner Rodney Roy moved to adopt the minutes from the May 21, 2024, meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Deanna Guyer. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Real Life Church- Opechee Cove and Rotary Park – June 30, July 28 and August 25, 2024-Sunday from 7:00am to 4:00pm for Opechee Point and Cove and 12:00pm to 1:00pm for Rotary Park for a picnic and water baptism. Commissioner Ringer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Roy seconded the motion. All were in favor. B. Laconia Lacrosse Club- Babotas Field- Tuesdays, July 9 through August 27, 2024, from 5:30pm to 8:00pm for Lacrosse skills pickup practices. Commissioner Ringer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Roy seconded the motion. All were in favor. C. American Legion Post 1- Robbie Mills and Memorial Baseball field- June 19, 2024, through July 22, 2024, for the baseball games. Commissioner Roy 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. Alcoholics Anonymous District 11- Opechee Cove Picnic area- Saturday, July 27 from 7:30am to 10:00pm for the annual summer get together. Commissioner Roy 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. Granite State Baseball League- Robbie Mills and Memorial Baseball field- October 12 & 13, 2024from 8:00am to 8:00pm for a baseball tournament. 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. F. Aaron Jones-Leavitt Park basketball court- Tuesdays from June 20 - July 18, 2024 from 8:00am to 9:00am for basketball skills and drills. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Roy seconded the motion. All were in favor. G. Nor’Easter Softball- Memorial Park Softball Field and Opechee Park Baseball Field A, B, C&D- July 25 to 28 from 7:00am to 7:00pm for a softball tournament. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Roy seconded the motion. All were in favor. H. Laconia School- Leavitt Park playground- Tuesday, June 18, 2024, from 9:00am to 3:00pm for a school field trip. Commissioner Roy motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. I. Laconia School- Opechee Park baseball field and Smith Track- Tuesday, June 18, 2024, from 9:00am to 11:00am for 6th & 7th grade last day of school event. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request with all the requirements and changes listed in the application. Commissioner Ringer seconded the motion. All were in favor. J. City of Laconia- Opechee Cove picnic area- Thursday, July 25, 2024, from 10:00am to 3:00pm for the City’s annual picnic. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request for City’s annual picnic. Commissioner Roy seconded the motion. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION A. Woodland Heights School- Tardif Park Playground- Friday, May 31, 2024, from 10:00am to 1:00pm, Monday, June 10, 2024, from 10:00am to 11:30am and Wednesday June 12, 2024, from 8:30am to 1:00pm for field day. B. Lexi Bedard-Bartlett Beach- August 30, 2025, Saturday from 4:00pm to 5:00pm for a wedding ceremony. C. McCleudan-Hooper – Weirs Amphitheater- August 17 & 18, 2024, Saturday from 2:00pm to 5:00pm and Sunday from 8:00am to 12:00pm for a wedding rehearsal and ceremony. D. Kimberly Ross- Weirs Pavilion- Sunday, August 4, 2024, from 2:00pm to 6:00pm for a kid birthday party. IV. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Little League Pump irrigation replacement cost $3400.00 which they are paying, asking the city to absorb some cost. Commissioner Roy motioned to approve the $1000.00 contribution to the pump irrigation replacement. Commissioner Guyer seconded the motion. All were in favor. 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- No report 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 beautiful weather comes new and interesting challenges for our department. Next month I will have been with the city for 25 years and I am still finding new situations that I have never had before. It keeps me on my toes and makes this job amazing. I love a good challenge. I will start with some very good news. Our departments foreman Dane Anderson and his wife gave birth this month to a baby girl. Everyone is happy and healthy! Congratulations Dane! The City Council voted to approve incentive bonuses for city employees. This is the first time this has ever happened, I believe. They left the decision up to the department heads as to how best to disperse them. I decided to hand them out completely equally no matter how long an employee has been with us. This will give everyone a $2,500 raise and I wanted to thank the council and the city manager for their efforts on this. It is greatly appreciated. In addition to the bonuses, the city council will be voting soon on the new budget. In that budget is a change in wages. It will give all wages a 3% COLA and an additional 5% increase. This is another way to keep our employees that we have and encourage others to work for the city. Almost all my staff that is under the SEA union have completed 3 different training courses throughout the fiscal year. This qualifies them all to receive an $800 stipend. All good things for my staff. I am very impressed with them. Our newest member didn’t have time! The ArtWalk downtown has begun and is successful so far. I met with the founder of this endeavor this week to discuss placement of the sculptures. We have some that will go downtown, but the City Council asked that we expand into Lakeport and the Weirs as well. This is very doable as many are looking to display their art. This is a very exciting time in Laconia. The July 4th event will take place at Opechee on July 6th. The fireworks are set to go off for 10pm and the band this year will be Miles to Memphis starting at 5:30pm. I am always looking for more vendors. Bond Beach is coming along very slowly. I am not at all impressed with the work so far. They know my end date for them is June 22 as that is the official start date for the beaches. Leavitt Park playground is coming along quite well. The elements are amazing, and we are receiving several compliments already. The colors are fantastic, and people of all ages are excited to get on the playground. We will have a ribbon cutting ceremony soon. We had an employee get into an automobile accident this month. The employee is ok, but the truck will be totaled by the insurance company. We will need to find money for another truck. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Beach Prep Swim lines are in everywhere except for Bond. Our Weirs team is set with orientation to take place on Thursday the 20th. We’ve had a lot of guys – seemingly from the same friend group – applying for beach caretaker positions. It is interesting because they do not want to deviate to other positions (lifeguards, closers, etc). We are still looking for a “Closer” to work the 12-8 shift and lock up all the bathrooms at the end of the day. We are also looking to have our team do more landscaping maintenance this year during the slow times. Bond is the struggle this year. It has been difficult to find staff who want to be lifeguards. Now we are struggling to get the training done. All while our contractor is struggling to finish the job on the bath house. I am hopeful that Bond can have a successful season, but I am beginning to explore contingencies. Addtionally, we will be creating all new local operating procedures around the ongoing construction and once again after the construction has completed. Opechee Day Camp 304 of 320 spots are full for Opechee Day Camp this summer. We will have a full staff where four out of five are returners. We will also be having a sixth on standby. The hope is to bring him in on Friday’s to give our squad some relief after the week. Community Center Programs Programs have been super smooth for the summer so far as is usually the case at this time of year as there is just less demand for the space. I am interested in how we can expand on an indoor summer schedule, but without AC it can be difficult. Basketball has not returned yet from Christmas Village. I am curious if it will return with the summer. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Roy motioned to adjourn at 7:19pm. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Administrative Secretary Chair Commissioner