2006-01-05
City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board: Parks and Recreation Commission
Subcommittee:
Date: January 5, 2006
Place: Beverly Public Library
Board members present: Mark Casey, Bill Collins, Jack O’Neil, Patti Adams, Mike Gaudette, Arthur
Powell
Board members absent: Gary Lambert
Others present:RecreationDirector Bruce Doig, Assistant to the Director Joscelyn Ruelle-Kersker and Bill
Brewer from Babe Ruth.
Minutes of previous meeting were accepted as written.
Bill Brewer was present to discuss Babe Ruth’s plans for Cooney Field. They plan about $20,000 worth of
improvements to the field at no cost to the city. To help raise money they are asking permission to sell
advertising space (in the form of signs) to local businesses. Signs will be hung up on the outfield fence
and removed at the end of their season. They expect to have no more than 12 signs. Signs would be
3’x4’, on sheet metal, printed professionally and sold for about $600. Motion was made and seconded to
accept this proposal. Motion carried with all in favor.
Joscelyn talked about the new brochure that was just delivered from the printer. Evening classes have
moved out of the High School on Monday nights and into the Senior Center. This will provide us with a
better space at a lower cost. Six pages of advertisements are included in the new brochure and we
expect more for the next one.
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Employee contracts will go out soon. Applications for new employees will be accepted until March 10.
Also discussed new process for camp registration and the possibility of Science Adventures offering their
program in Beverly this summer.
Talks continue with Superintendent Hayes on offering ESL and GED prep. A survey is being prepared to
assess the need. Mark spoke about us applying for a grant through the Mass. Dept. of Education.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
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North Pole Calling was a great success.
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Upcoming: Middle School Strength and Conditioning Program begins Jan 9th
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GAR Hall: still working on agreement with Trinity Church for use of the office
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Lynch Park: Roof is finished except for some flashing. Some leaking is still occurring due to something
unrelated to the roof. DPW will attempt to repair.
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Cooney Field: The new backstop and sideline fencing has been installed. Babe Ruth is working with
the North Shore Technical HS to install the concrete block dugouts before next season. Landmark
School has agreed to cover part of the cost of the dugouts if we extend the agreement with them to
14 years instead of just 10 years. The agreement is being worked out to include flexibility for BHS and
other Beverly teams to use Cooney Field when necessary. The commission agreed to these terms
unanimously.
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Youth Collaboration: Still waiting to hear from the State about money for improvements. Hopefully a
vote will be taken next week. Group continues to meet and make plans. If money is approved it must
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be spent by June 30.
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Vitale Site: Work completed for the year will resume in the spring. Looking to use the fields by fall
2007 or spring 2008.
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Equipment: need to come to a consensus on where the Lynch Park swings will be installed.
Motion to install the swings down by Woodbury Beach in the area previously occupied by the tots play
structure. Motion seconded and carried with all in favor.
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First Night Beverly was a great success. Over 800 buttons were sold. Good turnouts were reported at
all the venues. Hundreds of beach balls were tossed off the roof of the Beverly National Bank for the
countdown. The crowd loved it.
Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes – January 5, 2006 (Continued)
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Summer staff: Bruce proposed an hourly pay increase of 25 cents. Increase in camp fees will more
than cover the additional expense. Motion was made, seconded and carried with all in favor to accept
pay increase.
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Enterprise: revenues are up from last year. Discussed Rose Garden rates…should they increase?
Further discussion tabled to March meeting.
DOG POLICY
Mark informed the commission that he received an email from the City Solicitor stating that he was still
reviewing the off-leash dog concept with the city’s insurance company.
School Committee: It was reported that a discussion of a dog policy was on their last agenda but it was
tabled.
A list of parks divided by ward was distributed. Categories were assigned numbers as follows:
1] Dog-Free Park
2] Off-Leash Dedicated Dog Park
3] Off-Leash Limited Hours
4] On-Leash Full Time
5] On-Leash Limited Hours (Current ordinance except Lynch Park)
Bruce handed out a summarized list of items to be discussed including information from previous meetings
regarding the five categories and the eleven criteria established at the 11/12/05 meeting.
Bruce reviewed the document, which listed the following areas for discussion: Categories of Parks and
Criteria for Parks (established at 11/12/2005 meeting), List of Parks to be placed in categories,
Enforcement, Rules & Regulations, Signage/Amenities, Funding for Dog Parks, Liability to City of Beverly,
School Department Policies, Public Hearings, Public Hearings and Ordinance Changes Required by City
Council
Bill disagreed with the items listed under Enforcement and felt that many of the items listed were
unreasonable. The items listed were:
ASO encouraged to enforce Leash Law
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Additional ASO coverage (Budgeted)
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Encourage Police Department to enforce Leash Law
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Deputy ASO (Bruce, others?)
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Citizen patrols of off-leash areas (List of who & when)
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Bill suggested that Education is more important and should be added to replace Enforcement. Bruce
reminded everyone that a list of the current rules for dogs in parks was distributed with the dog licensing
renewals last year and will be distributed again this year by the City Clerk's office.
There was a discussion about the commission looking to receive a list of potential volunteers to help
supervise the designated off-leash areas. Bill stated again that this was putting the cart before the horse
and that the commission cannot ask for volunteers until the proposal is approved and areas are designated
as off-leash. After a lengthy discussion involving all present members of the commission, it was agreed
that a list of potential volunteers should be presented to the commission and would be an important
component of approving the final proposal. It was discussed that this list was requested at the September
6, 2005 meeting and the November 12, 2005 meeting. The commission is not looking for a commitment at
this time but just for a list of potential volunteers to supervise designated areas as with the Brookline
Green Dog program.
The commission began discussing the list of parks to determine categories for each park. It was decided
not to discuss school properties since the School Department is discussing policies for their own properties
and it is not within the jurisdiction of the Parks & Recreation Commission to set policies for the School
Department. Mike Gaudette mentioned that he had made an initial attempt at assigning categories to
each park. There was some discussion about several of the parks categorized by Mike. It was then
decided to use Mike's initial assignments as a starting point for future discussions about categories for
each park. Mike presented his complete list of numbers and Bruce agreed to add these numbers to his list
of parks and send it out to the commission members for their review.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:00PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Gail Carmody
Bruce Doig
Recreation Department