Health, Recreation & Events Committee

TOWN OF MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA RECREATION COMMITTEE Monday, April 1, 2019 Municipal Complex, Committee Meeting Room, 3rd Floor 100 Ann Edwards Lane, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Minutes Members Present: Gary Santos, Chair; Tom O’Rourke, G. M. Whitley Staff Present: Eric DeMoura, Steve Gergick Mr. Santos called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m. 1. Approval of Minutes from the February 4, 2019 meeting Mr. O’Rourke made a motion to approve the February 4, 2019 minutes. Ms. Whitley seconded the motion. All were in favor. 2. Public Comments Mr. Kevin Cunnane, 3032 River Vista Way, Mount Pleasant said they had a conversation started at the retreat. He said he made the statement that one side of town seems to have a lot of facilities and the other side of town has fewer facilities which was accurate. He said what he was mentioning or complaining about was that the north side has more acreage because a lot of it was donated by developers because they were forced to. He said that the people who bought homes there, their contribution when they bought their home went towards that land. He said the developer was not taking it out of their pocket, they are spreading it around amongst those houses. He said they had already paid for the land in Carolina Park, Park West, and Dunes West to get the Park West field, the Park West Recreation Program, and Carolina Park. Mr. Cunnane said that when they look at the entire town, they need to catch up on north end. He said by catch up he was talking about the passive places where a mom might be able to push a stroller for a child to pay on a swing set. He said that literally a park bench and swing set goes a long way. He said they could use it for the small children and teenager may go there and make a new friend. He said these were not the children that are making the championship sports teams as  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 2 of 17 they will be busy with other things. He said these were the children that are getting into trouble if they do not have some place to meet and hang out. He said that it changes a child’s life to have that and he thought that the whole town deserves it. He said that if one looks at the concentration in the Old Village which he had been reminded had been there for 400 years which is how they have so many. He said that was the perfect model of how spacing should be and other places in town that should be looking at and how they could create those little opportunities for people to push a baby stroller, for a child to swing on a swing set, and just a couple of benches to hang out like other places have. He said he thought that the whole town deserves to have little more of those simple recreation places as opposed to the massive complexes. He said that complexes were great, and he was not putting them down or putting down all the work that went into those. He said what he was saying was when there are numerous places it creates opportunities to capture people that they are not capturing with their sports programs. Mr. Santos said that Mr. Cunnane was right as years ago this was the only area developed down here. He said the area like one sees across from Alhambra Hall where they have swing sets. He said he thought a lot of neighborhoods have their own recreation areas with their own swing sets and their own pools and things like that and a lot of newer ones do have them. He said that the bottom line was he thought that the Town had done a great job with the recreation facilities that they have. He said as they had talked about earlier, when they were young their parents had to get them in the car and drive them everywhere, they needed to go. He said they have Park West that serves 15 different types of sports and recreation activities. He said they are getting ready to build another outdoor basketball court at Carolina Park. He said that Carolina Park was another one that offers multiple opportunities for recreation. He said he understood what Mr. Cunnane was saying about the swings but he said that a lot of that falls on the homeowner’s associations and a lot of them do have that. He said that was he opinion on that and appreciated his comments.  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 3 of 17 Mr. John Neher, 3694 Waldorf Court, in Carolina Park, had a question about the reservations for the fields for the upcoming year. He said he had seen prior that there was a discussion about some associations or groups for the budget year starting in May. He said he did not know if putting out how much field rentals would cost and who they are available to if that would be something that came out in April or May ahead of that so the organizations could prepare for that. Mr. Santos said they already had a meeting with various athletics groups whether it was lacrosse or soccer and said he would defer to Mr. Gergick or Mr. Jimmy Millar as they were in the meeting. Mr. Gergick said they had a meeting with different groups that were interested in having long term field rental that was in the town. He said they are not able to say exactly how much field rental space they will have in the fall until they complete the fall registration period which would be in August and they would have a better idea of how many fields they would have available. He said they do expect to have excess fields available and they were able to identify a number of fields. He said he thought it was two fields Monday through Thursday and three fields on Friday and some on Saturday and Sunday as well that would be available for rental to different groups. He said that was what they knew would be available at this point and they will be able to allot those fields for the different groups that are requesting field usage at this point. He said that then in the fall once they have a better idea of how much space was available after they complete the fall registration then they would be able to make other space available and that would be more on a month to month basis. Mr. Neher asked how one would get on the list of groups that might want to rent. Mr. Santos said he was going to recommend that he contact the Department after the meeting or whenever. Mr. Neher asked if that was something, they could make public, so they do not have meetings with groups that everyone does not know about. Mr. Santos and Mr. Gergick answered in the affirmative.  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 4 of 17 Mr. Gergick said if he could give them a call and he would put him in touch with Mr. Matt Hansen, the Athletic Division Chief. Mr. Neher asked if there was something going on with Patriot’s Point field complex in the coming year or years that was going to make it a different set up and if so, was there some place he could find that out. Mr. Santos said he would defer that to Mr. Gergick again. He thought what he meant was whether those fields were coming open. Mr. Gergick said that they have had multiple fields that have been used exclusively under a contract agreement with a local travel club that are now going to be available. He said there would be five additional fields that the Town would have in its inventory to be able to use for programming which will help them greatly to meet their program needs for the residents and participants in the program. He said that was the reason that they could meet some of the expansion of the Department’s programming in four-year-old sports, flag football, and some other things. He said it would be allowing them to utilize the fields during the day time without going late into the evening, so people do not have games stacked late on school nights. He said that space available after the Department’s program needs are met would be made available to the public for rental. Mr. Santos said there would be fields down on the south end and in the northern part of town, but they would not know until they see how large the Department’s program was going to be. He said then they would know what they could do with the fields as far as leasing them out or letting other people use them. He said the good news was that the Department got the fields back and there would be more fields to be able to do things like lacrosse. Mr. Gergick said it would be two fields at Cheryl Woods-Flowers and three fields at Carolina Park. Mr. Neher said the Department was doing a great job. 3. Budget Review FY 2020 a. Recreation Department operating expenditures  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 5 of 17 Mr. DeMoura said he would provide the highlights for the Recreation Department budget as well as Capital for next year. He said if the Committee had their budget books, they would find the Recreation Department on page 89. He said that a couple of things that would stand out was there was a decrease in the budget of approximately six percent. He said he wanted to point out that was not indicative of a decrease in level of service. Mr. Santos asked if they had the slides for the overhead screen. Mr. DeMoura answered in the negative. He said what they were doing was moving out maintenance items from individual departments into the Capital Fund. He said there was one large amount for building improvements that was currently housed and proposing it not be in the Recreation Department but those Building Improvement funds need to be Capital items. He said that one of those was $360,000 and they can see the large impact to the budget. He said there was nothing with regard to delivery of service. He said on the increase side there was the four percent on average pay for performance recommendation as well as the one percent mandatory retirement contribution by the Town to the retirement system. He said there not any proposed new positions for the next year. b. Recreation Department capital and maintenance expenditures Mr. DeMoura said they would see them starting to move towards other Capital projects that have been talked about and approved in the past. He said that once the gym is complete which was any day now, they would start moving to the track in the back, the lights, and all the improvements that they know about back there. He said they plan to start with the next phase of Carolina Park and that was in the budget. He said on page 159 of the budget book it lists the Capital items for the Recreation Department under Capital Programs and Projects. He said that first listed was Memorial Waterfront Park. He said he had alluded to this project during the kickoff presentation and would like to bring this project forward. He said he would like to bring it back to them during Budget Committee because the final phases of the Waterfront  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 6 of 17 Park include the pier expansion as well as improvements to the building and improvements to the overflow parking area. He said they had money available to do the pier expansion, but some information had come up and they may want to consider foregoing that portion of the Waterfront Park and doing the other two instead as it was about the same price. Mr. DeMoura said he would go over that in detail at the Budget Committee. He said that in addition to that, as mentioned, they have Carolina Park’s next phase. Mr. Santos said they also had a dog park that they said they needed to place there but Mr. DeMoura said there was no revenue at the time. He asked with something that simple could they do that in this next phase as he thought he would be very little amount of expense. Mr. DeMoura said that was exactly what he wanted to talk about. He said that there was building expansion as well as the improvements to the overflow which included the dog park as well as the splash pad. He said those were going to have to go on hold because the pier expansion was $6 million or so project was the priority. He said they may want to change that and if they do, the pier would remain the same and they would have the building expansion and the items for the overflow parking. He said it was actually a little cheaper to do those other two items instead of the pier. He said they were having some trouble with federal permitting and things they did not anticipate. He said he would cover that at the Budget Committee meeting. Mr. DeMoura said they all knew about the next phase of Carolina Park and it was coming. He said that one newer project to the Capital Plan was the Mount Pleasant Way. He said they plan to ask for the Council’s involvement and input on going forward. He said it was found in the Town’s Transportation Improvement Plan. He said that money for it was through Greenbelt and was going to being allocated to the Town every year. He said that Council had mentioned it as a priority of theirs and the Town would like to get moving on that going forward. He said that was some of the major Capital Projects for Recreation. He said that lastly, they had two vehicle replacements, some John Deere equipment,  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 7 of 17 and related items. He said that overall it was essentially a level service budget from this year and would appreciate their recommendation to the Budget Committee. Mr. Santos said they had talked about possibility of starting to charge for parking again which he thought Mr. DeMoura said was a net of approximately $50,000. He said that would certainly help toward the dog park and splash pad. He said he wanted to make sure that they were still thinking about that as well. He said that not so much for citizens but for anyone that was not a citizen would have to pay to park. Mr. DeMoura said the overall revenue was $110-$120,000 with the parking machines at the Waterfront Park. He said expenses were in the $70,000 range so they did net around $50,000. He said it would be a perfect opportunity at Budget Committee when they are talking about the future of the park to bring that up. He said that with regard to Carolina Park they have $4 million for the next phase of that which looks to likely include a turf field. He said that there would have to be another phase for Carolina Park to complete it which would be all of the other items that are left over like a field in the back and some other things. He said some good things to bring on line with the gym next door is a major capability improvement for the Town which is good. Mr. Santos said it was going to be nice. Mr. O’Rourke said as they talked field use, rental, and things like that, and he did not mean for groups using the fields he meant for the Department’s own programs as well. He said it appears to him that the Town is subsidizing the maintenance of its owned fields greatly. He said that what that means is that people who do not play on those fields ever, through their tax base are paying to fix those fields. He said he wished they could show what they are paying so this is what the Department had to charge the patrons he thought they would understand that. He said they should not just make up a number on what things cost. He said that every time that they have a meeting of the full Council budget and costs come up. He said what they are going to have to do but probably not this year but at least next year was to  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 8 of 17 try to find these other revenue sources in the Town somewhere. He said for him personally it starts with what was fair. He said that right now everybody that lives in this Town was paying for them to fix and have great athletic fields. He said he did not know philosophically if that was where he was. He said he thought that those that use the service should pay that. He said they need to have that methodology there before they start making decisions. He said that the second thing was capital. He asked if this would come from the Capital Budget. Mr. DeMoura answered in the affirmative. Mr. O’Rourke asked if the projects would be bonded. Mr. DeMoura answered in the negative. He said that this was money that the Town had been saving up and it was ready to be allocated. He said that they had not bonded Carolina Park and had not had a bond for a number of years and they had just been issued one for the fire station and public works facility but otherwise it had been through some Impact Fee money and special revenues that include Hospitality or Accommodations Tax to a level that was appropriate under the law. He said that the rest would be money that had been saved. Mr. O’Rourke said that the reason he asked that was that he remembered some presentations that Mr. Gergick had given and also emails on some of the amazing things they had done in the Recreation Department. He said that one was camps and they had been killing camps for a lot of years. He asked the question if there was anything, they could do capital wise that could maybe not have a waiting list the day after they open the registration. He asked if it was another building, was it more staff, or what it was to be able to not just take that project margin that they see and really love and double that or more importantly how do they take the citizens who want to avail themselves to the camps and get them more. He said he understands if there are a lot of children and it rains really bad, they had to get them somewhere. He said that was the key. He said he was wondering what it was. He said with wait list, one part says that great, but the other part was there are a lot of citizens that want to take advantage of that are not doing it.  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 9 of 17 Mr. DeMoura said those were excellent points and said Mr. Gergick needs to weigh in on this. He said that one thing that he and Mr. Gergick had spoken about and would love as they get through budget possibly in June, was to start having regular conversations with Committee, if they are willing, about ways to optimize revenue and talk about other ways to utilize recreation properties to raise money to help recreation. He said as they know it was hard to reach recreation. He said most of the funding sources that are available to them are usually targeted toward Transportation or Stormwater. He said there are not as many things targeted towards support of recreation. He said they would love to start that conversation going forward. Mr. DeMoura asked Mr. Gergick if he had any comments. Mr. Gergick said that facility wise it was the indoor facilities that are the primary ones that are necessary for the camps and it was critical having those program areas. He said that the next facility that they have on their master plan was at Rifle Range Road with the gym and program building once that becomes a funded project. Mr. O’Rourke said that was long way off. Mr. Gergick said it was a long time off but that was the next thing that they would implement if funding was available as far as additional space. Mr. Santos said that they could issue bonds. Mr. O’Rourke said they could do a zillion things and they could find a building that was empty and lease it for three months. He said that they do not need to have a discussion there. He said he would welcome that discussion and said he thought that staff knew what that were talking about especially those that are out there getting dirty every day. He said it welcomes that as long as it filters up from staff to the Committee’s meeting rather than us going that way. Ms. Whitley made a motion to approve the Recreation Department operating expenditures and the Recreation Department capital and  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 10 of 17 maintenance expenditures on to the Budget Committee. Mr. O’Rourke seconded the motion. All were in favor. 4. Discussion on Inventory of Recreation Facilities Mr. Gergick said that he was asked to add this on to the agenda to have a discussion about the inventory of facilities as it primarily compares to the north, south and central areas of the Town. He said that he had provided some information to them in advance to lead that discussion. He shared a map of all the different facilities that are located in the Town and said it was always in the Recreation brochure. He said there was probably a larger concentration of activities in the south and central areas than in the north side. He said they do have a lot of their larger facilities such as Park West, Carolina Park, and the future expansion of Rifle Range Road in the north and central areas of the Town. He said he had provided a document of the inventory of the facilities with all of the acreage for each of them. Mr. Santos asked if they include the facilities that the Department shares with the school district. Mr. Gergick answered in the affirmative. He said that the largest acreage was in the north area with 318 acres of their total 503 acres. He said that 65 acres were in the central area and 120 acres are in the southern area of Town. Mr. O’Rourke asked where the lines were with northern, central, or southern. Mr. Gergick said that northern facilities that they have are White Hall Terrace, Carolina Park, Hamlin Brewer Tract which was 240 acres by itself, but they only counted 120 of it as belong to the Town of Mount Pleasant, Park West, and Palmetto Fort Interpretative Trail. He said that the central areas are the Etiwan Kearns Park, R. L. Jones Center, Thomasena Stokes- Marshall Senior Center, Wando South Baseball Field, Mugsy-Kerr Tennis Complex, and Sloan Park Baseball Complex. He said that the rest of the facilities are in the southern area. Mr. Santos asked what area of Town White Hall located in.  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 11 of 17 Mr. Gergick said that White Hall was in the northern area. He said that the Hamlin Brewer property was right on the boarder of the north and central areas of Town. He said in the information he had provided it said which ones were developed and what was at each facility. He said there were differences between the areas of town with the large complexes on the northern side of Town and the smaller pocket parks and smaller facilities that have developed over time on the southern side of Town. Mr. Santos said they had the neighborhood sports program where they have reached out to the various subdivisions to let them know that the Department would be happy to do some things in their neighborhoods should they want to. He said such as 4-8-year-old children where they do not keep score. He said it was an opportunity for them to get on a bike a ride up to their neighborhood open space and let the children play with other rather than getting in the car and going to one of the complexes and playing. He said he understood there was some people doing that, but they have not come through the Town on it, but he was glad to see they are taking advantage of it. He wished they would let the Town get involved but at least they started that program. He said there was also the grant program they are doing with some of the unincorporated areas like Snowden and offering an opportunity to get involved with the Town and be able to have some things there as well. He said that White Hall was a perfect example as it was a great facility that helps that neighborhood and gives them an opportunity to have recreation. He said there was a lot of things that they have going on that encourages the citizens to get involved without having to get in a car and drive all the time. He said he was glad the Town was doing that for them. He would love to see them come through the Town on it but if they are out there doing it, he was glad they are taking advantage of it and the neighborhoods are allowing them to do it. Mr. O’Rourke said it was hard to have this discussion, unless they know what the goals are. He asked what they are trying to get at. He said it was also not something they can do in a meeting. He liked Mr. DeMoura suggesting they have regular meetings and throw things out and see what happens. He said at the end of the day it was not just what was a park. He  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 12 of 17 said was it a neighborhood park, a mini park, sports park, or special use facility. He said that Mugsy-Kerr Tennis facility was a really nice place but if one was not playing tennis then they are not going there. He said that knowing what we want and if they want to divide the town into three sections it was not unfair to say they want an equal amount everywhere of what they are going to have. He said if it could not be done then it would not be. He said he thought it was a fair question and a good discussion, but he does not think it was quick for anytime soon. He said he welcomed the discussions next year, but it should all start with goals. He said it should start with what are they looking to do. He asked if they are trying to have an equal number in each area or not. He said he thought that the answer was probably yes, but they have an inventory. He asked if they call parks a regional park or a neighborhood park. Mr. Gergick answered in the negative. He said there are certainly some that are more for everybody to come. He said that Park West was a very large complex and has everything they have anywhere else in one location. He said that Carolina Park will become more, as they move forward there will be further development with a playground, basketball courts, and lot of things. Mr. O’Rourke said they have everything there and if that was called a regional park, he said that maybe they should try to have a regional park in one part, the next part, and the next part so that it was fair. He said if they are going to have a tennis facility then they have a tennis complex here and there or whatever it was going to be such as a swimming pool with the same type of things. He said that just to point to a map and say there are six here, six here and six there it does not tell the whole story. He said it all starts with goals and what are they doing to do. He said then they would work on it and it would take a while to get there. He said that not too long ago, before Hugo, there was nothing above Long Point Road. He said there was not even a Mount Pleasant above Long Point Road. He said it just takes time, but they owe it to everybody to make sure they get it right starting with the goals.  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 13 of 17 Mr. Santos said that he liked the idea of Mr. DeMoura of sitting down as there was more revenue to be had through Recreation that could help whether it was hospitality tax or bringing in events. He said they had talked about that before. He said there was an opportunity for them to do more through Recreation to help support other areas of the Town. Mr. Kevin Cunnane said that he had put this on the agenda. He said he looked at the map and sees the things above Highway 41 and it was made to look like it was out in the neighborhoods, but it was all hugging Highway 17. He said on Highway 41 there was not a single Town facility and there were about five to seven thousand homes that was a big swatch of town with nothing. He said Oyster Point has a trail and another county park was coming but they do not know when. He said there was no actual recreation there yet. He said there was going to be a walking trail and there was empty land. He said there has got to be a way that they can equalize it a little bit better. He said that maybe something as simple as starting a teen center like they have the senior center. He said to lease an empty building like the Bi-Lo that was close to the Connector that was now closed and put rock climbing walls, bowling alleys, tables to play checkers or whatever the teens want and model it after the senior center. He said that seems to be a model that works. He said it would be more central than things like the Darby Building that are tough to access when one lives in the north end. He said he knew that went both ways because if you want sports, they have to drive up to Carolina Park to play soccer and it was far. He said that he drives from Dunes West to Patriot’s Point and it was far and that was part of joining the organized sports. He said that it was the non-organized things and what was there for the children that was idle. He said that was something that really needs to be looked at and needs to be made more fair across the Town. He said that no teen that was 14 years of age was getting to the Darby Building to go to any programs there if they live on the 41 corridor. He said it was just not happening. Mr. Santos said they have programs in the building at Park West. Mr. Cunnane said there was tiny building at Park West. Mr. Santos asked if there were three rooms in that building.  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 14 of 17 Mr. Gergick answered in the affirmative. Mr. Cunnane said if one lives in Planter’s Point that was six or seven miles away. Mr. Santos asked if those program rooms were used a lot. Mr. Gergick answered in the affirmative and said they were used extensively. He said one used during the school year for Mom’s Morning Out and the others are used extensively during the year with afternoon programs, adult programs, and summer camps. Mr. Cunnane said they are full, and people would not look at a program there if they had to drive an hour each way and they have multiple children trying to juggle that. He said they are not going from up there to the Darby Building and it was not happening. Mr. Santos said that was why he was saying they have those programs there at Park West as well where they can ride bikes. Mr. Cunnane said there was three rooms for half the town, and it was time to look at expanding it. 5. Program/projects update Mr. Gergick said spring registration had been fantastic and the programs are doing very well. He said that the participation numbers are up in almost all sports with the exception of youth lacrosse being down by three people. He said adult sports was higher than last year in soccer and softball. He said they can look at the registration updates and said he added to the program update, by request, was Facility Rental Revenue. He said they have compared 2019 year to date which was through February compared with 2018. He said between rental, staffing, and lighting fees they collected $44,000 and in 2018 for entire year was $114,000. He said if they were stay on that pace, they would be more than $240,000 for the year which would be more than double than 2018. He said there was a lot of rentals taking place within the Department. He said that swim lessons were going up and doing very well. He said that their Summer Camp registrations took in $410,000 in the first day. He said it was a very busy day and kudos to a lot of staff that made that happen. He said Sock Hops  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 15 of 17 continue to go well at the Park West Gym. He said that on March 2 they had the Jim Ryckman Tournament at Park West and was an excellent event every year and they had 14 teams participating in it. He said it was primarily local teams, but people travel, and they had teams from Tennessee and Atlanta. He said that in Special Events in March they had Artfest held at Towne Centre and drew approximately 4,000 people. He said they have the three Art on the Half Shell oyster sculptures that are at Waterfront Park. He said they get a lot of great compliments about them and he was expecting that to take off and draw more interest with people wanting to do more of them. He said upcoming events in April were the Farmer Market starting the next day, the Cooper River Bridge Run was this weekend, the Alhambra Hall Easter Egg Hunt on April 10 and Park West Easter Egg Hunt on April 16. He said they try to do the Easter Egg Hunts and Christmas and Halloween events at Alhambra Hall and at Park West on both sides of the Town. He said they will have the 2nd Annual Pickleball Paddle Battle at Park West Gym on April 13-14. He said that the Blessing of the Fleet would be on April 28 at Waterfront Memorial Park. He said they get great compliments from that event. He said it was not an April event, but he wanted to let them know about the 24 hours of Nothing but Net put on by Ms. Debbie Antonelli in the new gym. He said the gym was to open soon and they hope to get a certificate of occupancy later this week. He said it would be the first big event over there. He said Ms. Antonelli would be shooting baskets for 24 hours as fundraiser for South Carolina Special Olympics. He said there would be food trucks and ESPN Radio would be doing some sort of broadcast from there. He said it should be a lot of fun and would be nice to have a local celebrity there and draw awareness to Special Olympics. He said he thought she had already raised prior to the event over $30,000. Mr. Santos said it was 100 free throws for Ms. Antonelli in each hour for 24 hours. Mr. Gergick said that she said it was only taking her about 15 minutes to make 100 free throws. He said he was not so sure how it was going to be in hour 23 or 24 as it gets later. She said she was shooting at around 80 percent and has a dish shooting them back out to her and she gets in a  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 16 of 17 rhythm. He said he wanted to mention some staffing changes that have happened on the last month. He said Mr. Danny Johnson was selected as the Sponsorship Coordinator. He said it became a full-time position and had been a part time position for years when Mr. Brad Eggert left. He said they had selected a new Marking Coordinator, but she had not come on board yet. He said she will come onboard April 15. He said that after 17 plus years Mr. Mark Friedrich was going to be retiring on May 3. He said they were very happy for him as his son and daughter-in-law recently had a baby and asked him to be a full-time care taker of their son so he will be able to be with his grandson. He said the Department wishes him well and are going to miss him a great deal. He said that position would be opening soon. Mr. Santos said he was such a nice guy. He said he wanted to give a shout out to Ms. Nicole Harvey and her group in that they did a great job at the Artfest. He said he got to do the opening for that. He said that they had the Reading Patrol at Barnes and Noble. He said it was a great time to be a child and there was so much going on for the children. He said there was dancing, singing, and the Reading Patrol. He said they would listen and were so in tune to what was going on. He said it was Officer Mauldin’s last time as he was retiring. He said it was a great Saturday for the children of Mount Pleasant. He asked Ms. Harvey to pass it on that they did a great job. Mr. Gergick said they had been having discussions about Carolina Park and a change to master plan over there. He shared the current Master Plan with a large baseball field. He said they had been in discussion with Oceanside Academy with Councilman Santos and talked about modifying the area where the baseball field was planned and getting a turf field in that area and be able to accommodate needs for Oceanside that was in need of a football field and stadium. He said that they are talking about the Town building a turf field and putting a football stadium in the area where they could have football, lacrosse, and soccer. He said Oceanside would be able to fund the full cost of the stadium for home and away bleachers at the facility. He said this was an opportunity to be able to have a new facility over there and will allow the Town to gain access to a stadium  Recreation Committee April 1, 2019 Page 17 of 17 type facility at Carolina Park. He said that future expansion would probably be phase 3. He said it would be the extension of the parking lot, perimeter road, and raising the ground in the area because it was low land, providing drainage and building the turf field and stadium in that area. He said that they had just completed the great lawn and the beautiful building that looks wonderful. He said future items to be built would be two women’s softball fields, a basketball court with pickleball lines, a playground, and hopefully a dog park and an additional soccer field for the complex. Mr. Santos thanked Mr. Gergick. He asked Mr. Cunnane if he saw the playground on the northern part of town. Mr. Bob Brimmer, 2380 Parsonage Woods Lane, wanted to say a thank you to the Recreation Department. He said Mr. Gergick commented on the Jim Ryckman 3x3 Basketball Tournament and said when those things go on so long people just see the name and do not know about it. He said that some in the room they knew Mr. Ryckman and it was hard to believe 24 years ago that he passed away. He said he was a mentor of his as a young counselor and he had worked with him in the last few years of his life. He said he appreciate the Town recognizing him 24 years late. Mr. Santos said he went and thought there were 17 teams. Mr. Gergick said it was 14 teams this year. 6. Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:59 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Bedenbaugh, 4/1/19