Parks & Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

I'll call the meeting to order. Is it 6 59? Okay. Rough. All right. Good. It's 6 o'clock. I'm calling the meeting to Okay. Is it okay? I'm calling the meeting to order. Uh first we have Ryan, Missy, myself, and Don sitting at the table here. We have Mary Ellen on the phone. Right. Mary Ellen, we we have uh Sarah on the phone too. Correct, Sarah? Yes, I'm here. Thanks.

Okay. Uh, and so we have enough. Ryan got sworn in today. I got sworn in. So, we're ready to go. Uh, and the first the first thing to do is to approve the minutes from our last meeting, which took place on December 4th. I looked at the I looked at the uh minutes. They look perfect. Anybody have any questions about it? No. Uh would you somebody make a motion to accept the minutes, please? Motion to accept the meeting uh minutes from December 4th. Okay. Second, Missy.

Um I missed the meeting, so I can't. Oh, okay. I'll second it. Uh all right. any discussion about it? No, I think just just that will help Mary Ellen with this. You should identify yourself when you when you're talking. Oh. Oh, okay. Uh so Ryan, this is Ryan. I'll make a motion to uh approve accept December 4th. Yeah. Okay. And I second it. Uh any further discussion? No. Uh all those in favor? Excuse me. I Who was that?

It's me coffee. I'm good. I just said I [laughter] Okay. So, um, so all those in favor of accepting the minutes from December 4th meeting, I I

I Okay. Anyone opposed? No. Anyone abstain? No. Okay, we're on to the next thing. Uh the election of uh officers for the parks and recck commission. Anyone want to volunteer? No. Okay. The current slate is myself as chair, uh Sarah as vice chair, and and uh Mary Ellen as secretary. Uh, anyone make any other suggestions?

I don't know. S Sarah told me in her email she's willing to accept being vice chair again. So, uh, hearing no other suggestions. Uh, is the current slate approved for again next year? Uh, somebody make a motion to Missy, can you make a motion? I I think we we have to move to accept the um we could say the current slate of officers from 2025 to for 2026 20 yeah 2026. Okay, great. And and that was uh Mary Ellen made that motion. Can I?

Yes. Okay. Someone second, please. I I'll second. Okay. Uh any discussion? No. Uh all those in favor? I I I I Okay. Anyone? Okay. Anyone opposed? No. Anyone abstain? No. Okay. So, that's the slate again. Thank you for all those that volunteered to do it. Uh okay. The director's report. Don, you're up.

Okay. Um current programs uh include men's basketball, women's basketball, adult co-ed volleyball, and youth basketball. And our spring and summer programs are in the planning stages right now. As far as facilities go, there were four requests for proposals, RFPs received for the three-year Townwoods Park facility field maintenance contract for 26 through 28. Uh we had a Townwoods Park sitewalk on December 5th and it was anticipated and we got the four bids. We had a fifth bid but received too late. Um it was anticipated the contractor will be selected by next week. Um White Sand Beach Pavilion project uh Weiss Construction has been selected for that. This is the same company that completed the Hannes Park bathroom project. Uh, additional funding of $19,999 was approved by the board of selectmen on Monday, February 2nd and on by the board of finance on Tuesday, February 5th, as the bids received were higher than originally estimated. And the $194,999 project is expected to be completed by the end of April 2026. Updates will be provided. Uh, parks and rec budget process. My 26 27 budget operating operating budget requests were completed and returned to the finance director by December 15th. The budgets were sub subsequently reviewed with myself, the finance director and and the first select woman. The budgets were then reviewed during a virtual special board select meeting on January January 26th. And the meeting the meeting with the board of finance was this past Tuesday, February 3rd, which I was unable to attend and Martha

acted on my behalf. Um, miscellaneous items. Uh, a process of determining 2026 summer staff is in process. All 2025 summer staff have been contacted to determine who is planning on returning. This will then determine how many new hires will be required and new applications are currently being accepted and available for prospective day camp lifeguard parking lot attendance. Um there was an initial meeting and discussions on Wednesday January 21st uh concerning the shared cost of parks and rec programs and operations with the town of Lime. Meeting attendees included myself, um Bob Dunn, the parks and rec commission chairman, Martha the first selectwoman, and Anita the finance director, and um the board of finance chairman Bennett. Um no decisions were made at this time, and updates will be provided. Uh the proposed 2026 spring high school rowing schedule has been reviewed or excuse me, received from the district 18 athletic director. There are currently four events listed for Hannes Park. These dates are April 8th, 11th, 22, and 29. And lastly, a representative of Town of OM America 250 committee has completed a facility usage request form to secure Townwoods Park on Sunday, July 5th for the planned Townwood Townwide picnic for the America 250 celebration. The picnic is planned for 1 to four and details will be provided as they develop.

Marielle and excuse me, Tim just uh came into the room. So, sorry, Don. Oh, okay. Thank you. Okay, that's it. And Marielle and I have all this and I will forward it to you in the morning. Okay. Okay. Okay. Anyone have any questions for Don or comments? No. Uh okay. Uh and hopefully uh whoever takes over the fields at Town Woods will continue to do a beautiful job out there.

Okay. Uh the next thing is the playscape update. Uh of course nothing's going to happen until sometime in the spring. Sarah, right? They're ready to go in the spring maybe for the playscape. Let's see. I have the the Hannes Park playground materials were delivered to public works on January 27th and the materials will be stored there until installation at Hannes Park in the spring. Okay, great. Great. So, we should look forward to that being out there uh this spring.

Uh okay. Uh next one, the uh softball infield update at Townwoods Park. Of course, nothing could be done in spring. you have an update on that? There has been no recent discussions with Little League about reworking the infield, but a pre-season meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 10th, with Little League to discuss the upcoming season, and that will be part of the discussion. Okay. So, we'll probably see some action on that too this spring.

Okay. Uh, next one. Uh, the current Don and Winnie have been working on the program structures and fees. As Don mentioned, we had a meeting uh just to discuss some of that with Martha uh and Don. Anything else? This is an ongoing process right now um with Winnie and I. Okay. Uh so we should uh [snorts] uh have a little bit of a restructure on that coming up. Uh anybody have any questions or comments?

Uh okay. Uh, next one, uh, is goose mitigation plans for the spring at Hannes Park. I discussed it with Don. We still have, uh, credit from last from last year's budget for two more applications of Goose Scram. It's the current budget, not last year. I mean, yeah, the current budget, I should say.

Yes. that uh so that come this spring we'll have to see what how that pans out and uh yeah we'll do at least one treatment if not two in the spring and then Don has put that in his budget for next fiscal year perform more treatments seems to work pretty well as long as it doesn't rain too hard at least it works for a little while and we still have the deep deep coyotes we could put out there if we have to. the uh uh Sarah wrote uh me about if any everyone recalls that Denise, who was a wildlife consultant down in the Greenwich area, came to one of our meetings last year and has volunteered to talk about uh proper ways to add eggs and and help control geese moose population. And Sarah, I believe, would you like to say something about you're going to arrange for the next park and wreck meeting to invite Denise uh and we can have a discussion and and the idea was maybe also inviting uh the Rogers Lake Authority people so we can do a good job on that. The Rogers Lake people did a the a good initial job last year. The goose population was slightly down. So, uh, Sarah, you want to mention that at all?

Yeah, sure. You covered it well. Um, I did reach out to Denise a short time ago to see if she's available for our regular scheduled meeting in March, and if she's not, then I'm happy to meet with her another time, and then I'll connect with the RL folks who indicated they would get volunteers together. So, just want to get Denise's ideas, make sure we have a timeline, get a plate of volunteers, and be ready to go when the spring season is upon us. And then obviously hear from Denise if she's able to attend our PRC meeting on any other recommendations she has as we come into the season. Thanks.

Sounds good. Uh, anybody have any comments about that? I think Yes, Bob. It's Martha. Can I say something? Yeah. Oh, yes. Oh, yes, Martha. Of course.

I just want you to know that last night there was a facilities meeting at the high uh at for region 18 and Ron Turner um provided some information about another um deterrent for geese that he's using at the high school that he's having excellent luck with. Um and Andy Russell called me today and sent me some information. I will share that with uh Don tomorrow. But I also uh Andy's wondering if we should uh ask Ron if we could come over and look at uh get a have him show us how it works because it's a it's like a remote control thing. And he said as soon as he's had excellent luck at the high school because they're having problems with geese on the fields. So

Oh, that'd be that'd be wonderful, Martha. Yeah. So, I will set that up and uh you can come watch a demonstration. Any ideas are appreciated because it's a problem all over this area. And uh I think if we have a multi-pronged approach, we may see better results. So, that would be great. Martha. So, you're going to uh give this information to Don and then he'll pass it on to us, I guess, right?

Yeah. And we'll talk to Ron Turner and see if we can come over and watch him use this. It's like a remote control. Uh it's called the Gucinator, I think it's called. It's the Geninator. It looks pretty scary. And um [clears throat]

it can go on water or on land. It's remote controlled and it emits a sound that geese don't like. Uh yeah, I've seen I've seen that advertised uh at some spots and uh sure we can give it a try or or maybe it would be good it would be good too before we go and purchase our loan to just try it out down in uh uh or or see them try it out over there. That would be a good idea just to see if it works. Uh all right, that's great. Uh we'll try we'll try just about anything. And I think it'll be very helpful to have uh

uh uh the Denise from the Greenwich area who's got a lot of experience with this come and talk about certain approaches too. So hopefully that can take place if not at next month's park and recck meeting at some other time. and Sarah, thank you for your efforts to contact Denise and uh hopefully we'll get that going before the spring season begins. Okay, that sounds great. We have a a couple ideas, a couple approaches. Hopefully that it'll work. Okay, uh that's that's it for goose mitigation for now. Anybody have any thoughts or comments? Okay. If not, go to the next point. Uh to contact the lacrosse leaders about Valley's participation in sharing fields for the spring season from what I understand. Oh yeah, go ahead, Don.

I've been in contact with the um representative from the lacrosse club and we have a meeting, a preseason meeting scheduled for next Thursday morning to discuss all upcoming stuff with lacrosse. Yes. Because Don has informed me and Ryan they have nice fields over there now, right? They have turf fields or something in Valley the the Valley. All have all new fields, Bob. We'll figure it all out next Thursday. Yeah. Okay. That would be great if we can get them to volunteer some field time uh that they haven't been able to provide in the past. Okay. So, that's good.

I have a question for Don. Who Who is going to be at that meeting? on Alex Stuckle and Wendy and myself. Oh, okay. And the other guy is the what do you call him? Is he the head of the lacrosse club or the president or Well, Alex is the representative for the lacrosse club that I have to that I deal with. I'm meeting with with Matt Reed. I'm meeting with Matt Reed for Little League on Tuesday. He's the president of Little League. Little League. Okay. Thanks. [clears throat]

Okay. Okay. That's great. Like you we get a jump on this before it's upon us before we even Well, I don't know. The way things look outside, it may be a while before this spring sports. Uh okay. Uh any other new business anyone wants to bring up? No. No. I had one I had one question, Bob. Yes. Do are we have have have we been asked or did you already send in our meeting calendar for to the town our dates for meetings?

Oh yes. Yes. I I I I gave a copy for everyone. I sent it to the uh to the minutes people and to uh Okay. the the selectman's office that there is a meet and you should have it in your file. I I sent it out to everyone. Pretty sure I do, but it just came like I'm pretty sure you did that like late December, but um yeah, I did it I did it in December. And and I'm glad you brought that point up because next meeting on March what is it? 5th. When? Yes. March 5th would be the Thursday.

Yeah. Yeah. March 5th. uh the park and wreck meeting because the Rogers Tory Peterson estuary people are having some presentation here in the conference room, the main conference room here. So, we're gonna we're going to go into the mezzanine conference room that's also set up with the uh teams and that the next park and wreck meeting will be in the mezzanine conference room because the Rogers Tory people are having a meeting in this room that night just as a heads up.

Okay. And is I didn't receive any correspondence. Uh there's no other new business. I hadn't received any co uh correspondence. Any public comment other than the people in the commission that are here? There's no people in the audience. Anyone in telephone land have a comment? I just have one com Mary Ellen. I have a copy here of the 26 uh calendar. I could forward it with my report tomorrow. Oh, great. Thanks, John.

Okay. That that'd be great. Yeah, that u all those dates were submitted and actually the next the March 5th meeting and the April 2nd meeting will not be in this room and both of those meetings will be in the mezzanine conference room uh because of the Rogers Tory people are having some sort of presentation. Okay. Okay. Uh I don't have any other comments out in the public. Uh anyway, this is a pretty quick one. It's in the winter. Not a whole lot's going on. So, do we have a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion to adjurnn. It's Missy. Okay. [clears throat]

This is Ryan. I'll second. A second. Okay. Any discussion? No. All those in favor? I I Anyone opposed? Okay. Thank you all for participating and go home and stay warm.