Pottstown Area Regional Recreation Committee

PARRC MEETING MINUTES May 24, 2023-A hybrid meeting In attendance: Cathy Paretti, Upper Pottsgrove Township Craig Colistra, Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation Jay Erb, North Coventry Township Tricia McCloskey, PARRC Regional Recreation Planner Karen Nocella, East Coventry Township Emma Heffner, PARRC Recreation Assistant Bill Keohane, Lower Pottsgrove Township Tim Konetchy, Montgomery County Planner Charlie Valentine, West Pottsgrove Township Steve Buck, Chester County Planner Rich Sichler, Washington Township Meeting Notes: 1. Call to Order- 4:33pm and Pledge of Allegiance. (B. Keohane ran the meeting in M. Lenhart’s absence.) 2. Welcome; no introductions were necessary. 3. Meeting minutes from April 26, 2023, were motioned for approval by J. Erb and seconded by C. Paretti; 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. C. Paretti stated that there is $17,966.95 in checking and $15,111.34 in savings. C. Paretti stated that all checks have been received, but a check has not been sent to SRG. T. McCloskey provided the contact information to C. Paretti for M. Thompson’s replacement. b. Events Subcommittee. K. Nocella stated that East Coventry’s second Bluebird House event was well attended, 24 people of 32 that signed up were in attendance. She stated that they may not offer lunch next year because no one stayed for the lunch portion of the event. K. Nocella also stated that E. Heffner did a great job of preparing a bingo game and flyer for June 3rd National Trails Day event. She also discussed a related electric fence issue along the trail easement in on the Ussler parcel. C. Valentine stated West Pottsgrove is having a park cleanup event on the third as well, in Murgia Park. He stated that the event needs to be advertised. C. Paretti stated that W. Pottsgrove has $100.00 for refreshments for that event. C. Colistra stated that T. McCloskey should reach out to Rose at PAHWF for additional funds for events. c. Financial Sustainability Subcommittee. B. Keohane indicated he would reach out to Representative Joe Ciresi regarding the Nature Based Placemaking Program. d. DEI Subcommittee. C. Colistra stated that PARRC members had previously discussed the level of interest of municipal managers and officials in participating in PARRC’s DEI training. A proposal was received from the Vereen Group to provide DEI training within PARRC’s regional framework and Strategic Plan. C. Colistra shared his screen with the Vereen Group proposal. Two options are provided one two0hour training and two 3 hour training sessions. The group discussed the two options and it was decided that more people were likely to attend one session than two sessions, and that a September or October 1 PARRC MEETING MINUTES, MAY 24, 2023 PARRC meeting would work best. T. McCloskey will follow up with D. Vereen regarding the scheduling of the training. 6. County Planner Updates. S. Buck stated that the County Trails Master Plan project is continuing to make progress. The focus now is on the evaluation of proposed trails, including the Coventry Trail. He stated there is still time to answer the public survey and provide input through the on-line crowdsource mapping tool. T. Konetchy stated that all PMRPC grant progress reports have been received, and that the municipalities are working on their updated PNDI reports that were necessitated due to a new endangered species. T. Konetchy stated he is currently working on the grant documents for the fall PMRPC round. He also stated that DVRPC Transportation Alternatives Set Aside (TASA) funding is currently open and due in September. The funding is for bicycle facilities, trails, sidewalks, etc. construction projects. 7. Planner Report T. McCloskey went through the Planner’s Report with the Committee. Items included the submission of a SHMG application for the Borough of Pottstown, and work on two DCED GTRP grant applications for Upper Pottsgrove Township and the Borough of Pottstown park improvements. T. McCloskey also mentioned working on the revised PNDI applications and working with the new Recreation Assistant. She stated that E. Heffner is doing an excellent job to date. 8. Old Business a. T. McCloskey shared that the PARRC Foundation IRS nonprofit designation was granted She stated that she may need to file a 990 soon because the start date of the Foundation was backdated to the fall of 2022. 9. New Business. a. Haley Brooks petition. B. Keohane stated that the mother of PARRC’s 2022 summer intern, Shae Brooks requested if PARRC would sign the on-line petition she has created to improve the road on which Haley had a fatal car accident. B. Keohane read M. Lenhart’s email from Shae Brooks to the committee. The group discussed the email and determined that it would be acceptable if individual PARRC members signed the petition rather than PARRC as a group. Haley’s mother made it clear she wanted no contributions related to this petition. 10. Grant Announcements. J. Erb and T. McCloskey discussed the recent grant awards for North Coventry Township. The township received $102,000 from the PA Fish and Boat Commission for the Riverside Park Boat Ramp and Adaptive Kayak Launch project. C. Paretti announced that Upper Pottsgrove received $200,000 from the MontCo 2040 Implementation program for development of the trail in Hollenbach Park. C. Paretti also discussed the status of the Kehl Tract acquisition Prior to Partner Updates, a discussion regarding the Five Year Plan took place. J. Erb. Stated that E. Batdorf, is on board with the five-year plan. C. Colistra asked how this information will be communicated to the municipalities. For the prior five-year plan, individual presentations were made to each Board, which may not be needed this time since it is not completely new information. Both B. Keohane and K. Nocella do not anticipate any issues with their townships. K. Nocella stated that as of December, she is no longer township supervisor so things may change. C. Colistra stated this plan should be adopted prior to the end of 2023. B. Keohane stated he will talk to M. Lenhart and get a date set for a meeting. 11. Partner Updates: • East Coventry: K. Nocella stated that the Bluebird Box was a success and the June 3rd National Trails Day is upcoming. She also reported that the township received $114,000 for a conservation easement and $50,000 for the purchase of 1.7 acres to be added to the East Coventry Nature Preserve. • Lower Pottsgrove: B. Keohane discussed the signage project at Sanatoga Park. He also shared that the contract was signed for the camera at Gerald Richards Park. www.parrc.net 2 PARRC MEETING MINUTES, MAY 24, 2023 • North Coventry: J. Erb discussed that the Coventry Woods Festival had roughly 2500 attendees and had the biggest turnout ever. The goat that won the race won it in for the fourth year in a row. • Douglass: M. Powanda not present. • Pottstown Borough: C. Paretti offered that the Memorial Day Parade is this weekend on High Street down to memorial Park. There will be a reading of Veteran’s names who passed away in the last year at Veterans Island. She also mentioned at flag burning disposal event at 9am at St. Al’s this Saturday. • Upper Pottsgrove: C. Paretti did not have an update for the township. • West Pottsgrove: C. Valentine stated that the first meeting for the Veterans Park redevelopment project was held and that the Murgia Park clean up event is June 3rd. • Washington Township: R. Sichler stated that the Township had another monthly meeting for the preparation of the new Township Parks and Open Space Plan. • PAHWF: C. Colistra stated that he will let the committee know about the PAHWF’s decision on grant soon. 12. Action Items. None. 13. Next PARRC meeting-B. Keohane stated that the next PARRC meeting will be held on 6/28, and to send all agenda items to T. McCloskey. 14. Adjournment- A Motion to Adjourn was made by J. Erb and seconded by C. Paretti; meeting adjourned at 5:39pm. www.parrc.net 3