Pottstown Area Regional Recreation Committee

PARRC MEETING MINUTES January 25, 2022-A hybrid meeting In Attendance: Michael Lenhart, Borough of Pottstown Charlie Valentine, West Pottsgrove Township Cathy Paretti, Upper Pottsgrove Township Rich Sichler, Washington Township Jay Erb, North Coventry Township Tim Konetchy, Montgomery County Planning Commission Karen Nocella, East Coventry Township Craig Colistra, Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation McKenna Powanda, Douglass Township Tricia McCloskey, PARRC Regional Recreation Planner Bill Keohane, Lower Pottsgrove Township Meeting Notes: 1. Call to Order- 4:35pm and Pledge of Allegiance 2. Welcome, no introductions needed. M. Lenhart ask the group if a reorganization was needed and the Committee determined that it was not needed this year. 3. Meeting minutes from December 7, 2022, were motioned for approval by B. Keohane and seconded by C. Valentine; all approved. There were no abstentions. 4. Public Comment-none. 5. Executive and Subcommittee Reports. a. Treasurer’s Report. C. Paretti previously provided the Financial Report and it was accepted by the Committee. [M. Lenhart shared the screen and shows the Financial Report]. C. Paretti stated that she made an $8,000 deposit for the PAHWF grant funds for the PARRC Community Survey. PARRC’s share is due in the amount of $51,305. C. Paretti stated that she sent invoices to the municipalities for the difference between the costs for seven versus eight municipalities. C. Paretti stated that the Judo funds have not been received yet. b. Events Subcommittee. C. Colistra stated that the subcommittee met last week and discussed an event for 2023. One idea was to do something on National Trails Day which is June 4th. This could be an opportunity for municipalities to schedule a hike or walk in a park, and to engage participants about volunteering. C. Colistra stated that J. Erb indicated he has a conflict that day. C. Colistra explained to R. Sichler that developing a volunteer base and holding volunteer events is part of the PARRC Strategic Plan objectives, and that successful events were held last year. K. Nocella stated that last night her Park and Recreation Board met and has scheduled a hike at 10am on June 3 at East Coventry Nature Preserve, and that they may need funding for snacks. C. Paretti stated some money is left over from last years events. K. Nocella also stated she East Coventry Township will also be holding the bird box building event again this year, and that the costs of materials went up from $12 to $20. C. Paretti pointed out that Washington Township will need event funding too. M. Lenhart indicated that Pottstown would be will to hold an event as well on 6/3, like a walk on the Schuylkill River Trail at Riverfront Park. West Pottsgrove could join in with the Borough for a joint walk along the SRT. M. Lenhart stated that the Audubon Society contacted him about birdwatching programs in the past and he can contact them to see if they are still interested in doing a program in Riverfront Park. J. Erb stated that Chester County 1 PARRC MEETING MINUTES, January 25, 2023 holds a hike with Audubon Valley Forge, one per month for about 6 months at each County park, and it is a very popular program. K. Nocella stated that Eric Hughes holds guided bird hikes in Ellis Woods Park and has a sheet to find local birds and plants along the hike. He does the hikes once per quarter. J. Erb indicated he will see if he can find anyone who might be interested in holding a hike if he is not available. He stated each municipality should think about which park would be best for holding a walk/hike. C. Paretti stated that she will talk to the Althouse Arboretum about holding a hike on National Trails Day. c. Financial Sustainability Subcommittee. M. Lenhart stated there was no further meeting. The officers did meet to discuss the recreation assistant position which will be discussed later on the agenda. A meeting will be held next month to discuss funding years 6 through 10. A funding resolution will be needed. d. DEI Subcommittee. T. McCloskey stated the need to set up a committee at this point since the grant for the Community Survey is now in hand. DEI training needs to be discussed, in terms of who will participate in the training and when and in what format will it be provided. B. Keohane stated that PARRC should consider expanding the training to governing bodies and managers. M. Lenhart stated that the committee needs one municipal representative in addition to C. Colistra and T. McCloskey. 6. County Planner Updates. T. Konetchy stated that any open Minigrant will need a one-year progress report by May 1st. The Minigrant interactive map update was featured in a DCNR newsletter and he will send the info to PARRC. The County’s Hazard Mitigation Plan is complete and comments can be submitted to the County. It then goes to PEMA and FEMA for review. The Multi-Regional Greenway Plan is complete and will be uploaded to the County website soon. a. Berks County Planner. R. Sichler stated he both emailed and left a phone message with the Berks County Planning Commission but has not received an answer back. He stated he will contact them again. 7. Planner Report. T. McCloskey provided an overview of the Planner’s Report, the Quarterly Report, the Annual Report and Trail Sensor Report. Discussion ensued about the trail counters and their value as data for grant applications. C. Valentine indicated that T. McCloskey was to have provided the township with additional data regarding the cost of a new counter. Discussion was also held about the Annual Report and it was decided that after typos were corrected, the report should be resent to PARRC, and to D. Gilchrist, J. Lynch and K. Rossiter. B. Keohane stated he would send it along to Rep. J. Ciresi. J. Erb stated the report should be sent to the new Chester County representative as well. 8. Old Business a. PARRC Nonprofit designation Update. [M. Lenhart pulled up the draft code of ethics on the screen.] M. Lenhart indicated that T. McCloskey needs to make sure all changes are accepted and to remove the comments from the doc. Discussion was held on the gift amount of $20.00. It was agreed to by the Committee that the threshold should be raised to $50.00 and any gift under that amount needs to be reported to the Chief Financial Officer. A motion was made by R. Sichler to accept the PARRC Foundation Code of Ethics with the stated revisions. The motion was seconded by J. Erb. The motion passed unanimously with no abstentions. b. Washington Township status. M. Lenhart stated he is in receipt of all the ordinances, but needs Upper Pottsgrove’s corrected ordinance. M. Lenhart will send a compiled PDF of all the ordinances with the new ICA attached to it. 9. New Business. a. Recreation Assistant Job Description. A discussion of the job description was held. C. Colistra indicated that he used $20.00/hour as a guide. B. Keohane indicated that at $20.00 per hour, there would still be a $3,000.00 budget surplus. C. Colistra stated that the position being remote saves the office space funds www.parrc.net 2 PARRC MEETING MINUTES, January 25, 2023 from Schuylkill River Greenway Association, as well as the position will start later in the year which will save a funds. B. Keohane stated that there will be budget surpluses in year 4 and 5 so the $20.00/hour can be budgeted. C. Colistra stated the position will also need equipment too. B. Keohane stated to advertise an hourly rate range. C. Colistra asked if the person will get mileage and M. Lenhart stated that this is accounted for. T. McCloskey needs to talk to M. Thompson at SRG regarding any PTO, maternity leave, etc. C. Paretti stated that the benefit should be a flexible schedule and not holidays. C. Valentine indicated to remove valid driver’s license from the description. “Willingness to commute” should replace this text. M. Lenhart stated that the job description could be uploaded to the NRPA, PRPS, and PRPS District III webpages, and B. Keohane added that Monster and Indeed should also be used as well as municipal websites and the even the chamber of commerce. A motion to accept the job description with the revisions as discussed was made by K. Nocella and seconded by C. Valentine. The motion passed unanimously with no abstentions. A motion was made authorizing T. McCloskey and M. Lenhart to post the job through the channels discussed was made by B. Keohane and seconded by M. Powanda. The motion passed unanimously with no abstentions. M. Lenhart stated that he will need an interview committee. b. Strategic Plan Review. B. Keohane suggested that a quarterly review of strategic plan objectives was reasonable, rather than a monthly agenda item. T. McCloskey stated that it could be on the same schedule as the Quarterly reports. c. Nature Based Place Making. T. McCloskey stated she would like to further discuss this initiative with the group and invite Julie Fitzgerald of the PA Downtown Center to provide a short presentation to the group after the part-timer is hired. 10. Grant Announcements. • M. Lenhart reviewed the grant programs that are currently open and their due dates. He also added that the Schuylkill River Restoration fund is open as well. 11. Partner Updates: • Douglass: M. Powanda stated that Douglass has three open grants. Playground equipment has been ordered and should be received in June. He also stated that the fencing was installed in several parks. • East Coventry: K. Nocella stated that T. McCloskey is finishing the Shared Schoolyards project and that the playground equipment for E. Coventry Elementary School has been ordered. The entrance signs at East Coventry Preserve have been installed and she is receiving positive feedback about them. The bluebird box program is set for May. • Lower Pottsgrove: B. Keohane stated that the new lighting and camera in Gerald Richards Park is now complete. Comcast will install the camera shortly. • North Coventry: J. Erb left the meeting prior to updates. • Upper Pottsgrove: C. Paretti stated that the Hollenbach Park Master Plan was accepted by the Board of Commissioners, and a staff level meeting will be held tomorrow to discuss upcoming projects and funding. • Pottstown: M. Lenhart stated that Polar Bear Swim and Bonfire will be held January 1st at 10:30am. He also stated that the timeline on the Memorial Park bridge construction looks like the project will be closed out by the end of 2023, with construction starting in late summer or early fall due primarily to the length of time needed to secure required permitting. • West Pottsgrove: C. Valentine stated that Adventure Grove met with the township to discuss inclusive playground initiative and that the township agreed to work with group. The grant currently awarded to Adventure Grove from PAHWF will require an amendment. www.parrc.net 3 PARRC MEETING MINUTES, January 25, 2023 • Washington: R. Sichler stated he is currently working with T. McCloskey to submit an LOI to PAHWF for improvements to Washington Park. He stated the township is continuing to work on Open Space and Park Plan update and is currently in the Community Survey stage of the project. • PAHWF: C. Colistra stated that the LOIs are due February first. The Pottstown Park and Recreation Foundation dissolution is making progress. Roughly $10,000 was owed in fees due to not filing the 990 forms, but all tax documents have now been submitted 12. Action Items. None. 13. Next PARRC meeting-M. Lenhart stated that the next PARRC meeting will be held on 2/22, and to send all agenda items to T. McCloskey. 14. Adjournment- A Motion to Adjourn was made by B. Keohane and seconded by M. Powanda; meeting adjourned at 7:04pm. www.parrc.net 4