Loading...
2007-07-12 City of Beverly, Massachusetts Public Meeting Minutes Board: Parks and Recreation Commission Subcommittee: Date: July 12, 2007 Place: Beverly Public Library Board members present: Mark Casey, Gary Lambert, Jack O'Neil, Patty Adams, Jeff Rubin Board members absent: Mike Ralbovsky, Bill Lowd, Brian Chirco Others present: Recreation Director Bruce Doig, Assistant Recreation Director Joscelyn Ruelle-Kersker Meeting called to order at 7:00PM. Bruce presented his Director's Report and discussed the following items: INNOCENTI PARK/MCPHERSON YOUTH CENTER: All trees in the park were removed on July 11th. The paving bid is still being challenged. The city is awaiting a decision by AG's office. Paving will be done as soon as a decision is made and paving companies are available. The new skate park was temporarily installed on the old hockey court on 7/11. Equipment will be moved to permanent location after new area is paved. Interior renovations of the Youth Center are beginning with 4-5 YMCA maintenance staff doing the bulk of the work. Interior was painted on 6/20 by Y staff and volunteers. FY 2008 BUDGET: City Budget - City budget was approved for $271,797, an increase of 13.7%. New line item of $30,000 for playground equipment was included. Enterprise Fund - Available balance is currently over $194,000. See handout for details. This does not include the $5600 from BLL or $4000 from Apple Village that should have been received in FY2007. We still netted over $30,000 in FY2007. LYNCH PARK ADVISORY COMMITTEE: The 3rd annual Davis S. Lynch Appreciation Day will be held on Sunday, 7/15. The group is planning to renovate the GBA room ("'$17,000) and have a function in late September (9/29) to promote the desired renovations. There will be a Essex National Heritage Trails & Sails event at Lynch Park on Sunday, 9/30, including park tours and a historical presentation in the carriage house. VITALE SITE: Jack O'Neil and Bruce will meet with Phil Klimowicz at the newly named Birch Plains on 7/13 to discuss use of the fields starting this fall. After this meeting I will speak to Youth Lacrosse about their plans for next spring. Lynch Park: No word from Mike Bouchard about our plans to install the new swings near Woodbury Beach. Bessie Baker: A major portion of the old play structure has been removed. The entire wooden structure will be removed soon due to safety concerns. If we get the budget money this year, this may be the first place we look at to replace this equipment. It is a high traffic park. Vittori Park: New basketball hoops still to be installed. Dix Park: Received a call from a mother who would like us to put a gate at the bottom of the stairs leading to Haskell Street at Dix Park. Still waiting to get quote for work. OTHER ITEMS: Dog Policy Update - The policy will be updated and mailed to the commission members tomorrow. Changes were approved at our last meeting. Bruce received a letter from Corinne Ray and other Obear Park users asking to "rent" Obear Park for 2 hours each morning to run their dogs off leash. They have offered to raise $800-1000 for this purpose and would like to use the park from 5-7AM in the summer and 6-8AM for the rest of the year. This was discussed briefly last month and there was no interest in pursuing this option at this time. Bruce reported that the new enforcement is not working well. The new patrols have been very ineffective. It was decided that a letter should be written to Chief Ray to request that enforcement bebeefed up. Motion was made by Gary and seconded by Jack. The motion passed 5-0. Painting of Recreation Department Offices - Gary had an idea about painting the offices. This will be put on hold until the fall. GAR Hall - The City is looking at a possible sale of building for use that will satisfy deed restrictions. Details to follow. OSRC: Sally Milligan Park - New signs need to be installed at Sally Milligan Park. There is no mention of the Santin Property or the Santin family donation of 20+ acres added to this park a few years ago. It appears that the neighbors have removed the sign nearest Bonad Street. CPR/First Aid/ AED Training - Bruce thanked Chief Pierce and the BFD, Scott Steeves, and Joscelyn. BFD provided free training for the majority of our staff again this year. We purchased an AED for Lynch Park. It cost over $1400 but we did receive a donation of $200 from Beverly National Bank for this purchase. Joscelyn distributed her Projects In-Progress report and discussed the following items: Summer Programs/Camps & Parks: Staffing was added late but all hiring was done in tome to start the summer programs. CIT program is going strong again this summer. The summer staff is very creative and committed to creating a great atmosphere for the kids. Tiny Tykes is now a full day camp, combing the aspects of the old Safety Village with the existing Tiny Tykes program. There are also several summer sports camps running again this year. Evening Enrichment: There are a limited number of summer classes but registration is going well. Starting to work on fall class proposals and brochure ads. Miscellaneous: Joscelyn is working on the brochure for the MRPA annual conference in October. Joscelyn and Bruce will both be presenting sessions again this year. The commission discussed the minutes of the June 7, 2007 meeting. The minutes needed to be changed to reflect that the correct location for meeting was the library and not the GAR Hall. Joscelyn's name was missing a letter and the commission wanted to list the four improvements approved for Odell Park. These minutes passed 5-0 with the amendments discussed. Mark stated that Deb Plozsay had submitted a letter of resignation from the commission. Mark will beging working with Mayor Scanlon to find a replacement. Bruce discussed playground equipment. It was decided that Bruce would compile a list of projects with cost estimates by September. With $30,000 from the FY2008 city budget, possible Friends funding and possible use of some Enterprise Fund money, the commission hopes to continue upgrading playground equipment around the city as necessary. Priorities will be discussed at the September meeting. Bruce mentioned that nobody submitted bids for the concession stand at Dane Street Beach. The bid was reopened and hopefully, someone will be interested later this summer. Meeting adjourned at 9:00PM. Respectfully submitted, Bruce Doig Director, Recreation Department