2007-05-15
City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board: Parks and Recreation Commission
Subcommittee:
Date: May 15, 2007 (8:00PM)
Place: GAR Hall (8 Dane Street)
Board members present: Mark Casey, Gary Lambert, Bill Lowd, Jack O'Neil, Patty Adams, Brian Chirco
Board members absent: Jeff Rubin, Deborah Ploszay, Mike Ralbovsky
Others present: Recreation Director Bruce Doig
Meeting called to order at 8:00PM.
This special meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission was called to discuss the final version of the
Dog Policy to accompany the new Dog Ordinance approved by the City Council.
After the meeting started Bruce left to make additional copies of the proposed policy. Commission
members continued discussing the proposed policy using the original copy from Bruce. Upon Bruce's
return, the commission reviewed the proposal section by section and made changes as necessary.
There were suggested changes to the hours for on-leash parks and a note was added for Independence
Park stating that dogs are not allowed on the beach between 8:00AM and 7:30PM. Another note was
added excluding dogs from all gardens, playground areas and playing fields and any park.
Some additional minor changes were made to the text for other sections of the policy.
The commission reviewed a list of proposed regulations for the use of on-leash and off-leash areas.
Eleven regulations were approved for on-leash areas and sixteen regulations were approved for off-leash
areas.
Gary Lambert made a motion to accept the policy with the suggested text. Brian Chirco seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0).
Bruce asked the commission to also approve a commitment by the Recreation Department to the
Massachusetts Partnership for Healthy Weight. This commitment would allow the department to
use the MPHW logo on our web site and references to the MPHW and its programs. The commitment
would not take any additional time over and above Bruce's time on the MPHW Executive Committee, which
only involves a few meetings each year. Bruce has been active for several months and would like the
department to get more involved in creating healthy weight programs. Jack O'Neil made the motion to
allow the department to submit a Memorandum of Commitment to the MPHW. Patty Adams seconded the
motion and it was passed 6-0.
Meeting adjourned at 9:15PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Bruce Doig
Director, Recreation Department