Recreation and Parks Committee Meeting Minutes
RECREATION & PARKS COMMITTEE
Minutes
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
7:30 am
Building #7 Conference Room, Avon Town Hall
Call to Order –
Bob Yass made a motion to call the meeting to order at 7:33 a.m. and was Joe Weist seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
A. Attendance – In attendance were Barbara Ausiello, Jennifer Das, Donald Droppo (via phone), Ravi Hanjan, Joe Weist and Bob Yass.
Absent: Kelly Jackson
B. Introductions – Ruth Checko formally introduced the new members to the committee.
Nomination and Election of Committee Chair
Barbara Ausiello made a motion to elect Joe Weist as the new Committee Chair person.
The motion was seconded by Bob Yass and passed unanimously.
III. Nomination and Election of Committee Vice-Chair
Joe Weist made a motion to elect Don Droppo as the Committee Vice-Chairperson. The motion was seconded by Barbara Ausiello, which passed unanimously.
Minutes of Preceding Meeting – November 19, 2020
Barbara Ausiello made a motion to accept the minutes of the November 19, 2020 meeting as presented. Don Droppo abstained from voting since he was not present at the November meeting. Joe Weist seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Public Comment
Barbara Ausiello said people had spoken to her regarding the use and availability of the gym space for the Avon Travel Girls basketball programs. She said the travel teams did not have set gym time and there were issues getting gym time because of the Valley Travel Team. She said Avon Travel Basketball had to get gym space in other towns. The issues were about Valley Travel Teams getting gym time over the Avon Travel Teams and the Avon Travel teams getting less gym time than they were accustomed to in the past. Barbara said as a parent it was frustrating week to week not knowing where they were going to have practice. She said it was also frustrating for the coaches.
Ms. Checko said there was a lot of frustration on the part of the Avon Girls Travel. Ms. Checko said back in January of 2019, the Town updated all of the Public Use Regulations that accompany the Public Place Ordinance. During that process, we realized that the way the classification codes are written, for prioritizing user groups, that groups like Valley Travel Basketball has the same priority, as Avon Travel Basketball, based on the number of residents they have on their rosters. Ms. Checko said each of the travel leagues provided her with their team’s rosters. Valley gave her one or two teams that were 75% Avon kids. Ms. Checko said she then sat down with the three groups’ requests for gym space, Avon Boys Travel, Avon Girls Travel and Valley Travel and she gave Avon Girls first priority, Avon Boys second priority and Valley third priority. Ms. Checko said the only group that she heard from that were not happy with her, was the Avon Girls Travel parents. Ms. Checko said she gave Avon Girls Travel what they asked for in terms of gym time. The times that Avon Girls wanted was very limited, so they finally realized that in being so specific in what they wanted, they actually limited themselves into a very narrow window of gym space.
Barbara Ausiello asked if in the end, anything had changed because they seemed to be getting more regular gym time then. Ms. Checko said no nothing was changed and they did get what they requested. Ms. Checko said she would be meeting with Christina Giannini for next season so that when she is questioned by the parents she will be able to tell them what was discussed in their meeting.
Ms. Checko told Ms. Ausiello that part of the problem is that the Avon Girls Travel season starts sooner so they can pretty much use the gyms as they need. Once the Recreation leagues start and the Valley Travel teams start, the gym space is limited so it becomes less consistent for the Avon Girls Travel in terms of gym availability. Ms. Checko said she believes the Avon Girls Travel season also extends beyond the Recreation League, which is 10 weeks, so once Recreation leagues are done, more gym space becomes available again.
VI Director’s Report
Fisher Meadows -
Ms. Checko said the improvement project on Fisher Meadows Softball Field #3 is almost complete. The entire infield was redone by removing the old material, replacing the subbase and infield material. It is draining very well now. Concrete slabs were poured for the new covered dugouts which were installed this winter. The last part of the project is to install the new fencing around the dugouts.
Fisher Meadows fields are dormant, but not for long if the weather keeps up. In the late fall, we aerated the fields and top-dressed them with sand. The sand fills the holes and improves drainage. Later this month soil samples will be taken again and the fields will be fertilized, a pre-emergent will be applied and possibly lime. We will work on new signage this summer to be installed by fall.
Ms. Checko said we are going to open the new fields for play for the spring lacrosse tournament and the soccer tournament only. Turf treatment will continue through spring and summer and then the fields will be open fully for the fall season. Joe Weist said he remembered that there were some issues on having the grass grow. Ms. Checko said yes, there was crabgrass, low calcium, the dirt that was there was poor quality and very compacted. Barbara Ausiello asked if there was still the mushy area that was down there. Ms. Checko said something still has to be done with that but she was not sure what the finished product was going to look like.
Sperry Park Improvements –
Avon Little League funded and oversaw renovations on both of their baseball fields last fall. This spring, their enrollment numbers are up again. This will increase our workload for preparing fields. Ms. Checko said Little League is going to be short fields for practices so the Town will try to help them by cleaning up Thompson Brook School and see if some of their practices be done there.
Countryside Park Building –
Ms. Checko said she still has architectural services that need to be done before renovations can begin because the building has structural issues as well as mechanical issues. The fireplace has been closed for use and DPW has reinforced some components of the deck. As for the architectural services, she is planning on funding that out of the unassigned fund balance from Fund 9, which is the Reimbursable account. Ms. Checko said the project is still in the Capital Improvement Plan and will need to be approved at the May Budget Referendum.
Program Specialist
Ms. Checko told the Committee that the Recreation Department’s Program Coordinator, Bonnie Daly retired in December and after a series of unique events, Katie Hennessy was hired as the Part Time Recreation Specialist at 22 hours per week until July 1, then the hours will increase to 25 per week. Ms. Hennessy started in January. Joe Weist asked what type of things Ms. Hennessy will work on and Ms. Checko said marketing, programming, program budgets.
Ski Sundown Recap –
Ms. Checko gave an overview of the after school ski program. By way of history, last fall several board members were approached by residents who were unhappy with the way this department was handling ski enrollment. This is a 5-week program that runs from TBS and AMS after school to Ski Sundown. In 2018-2019 the contracted coach bus company went out of business midseason. Specialty Bus Co. stepped up and finished out that season with school busses. One bus for students and one for equipment.
When we put the program together for the 2019-2020 season, we only sought bids from school bus companies, as historically coach bus companies were out of our price range or would not bid. Specialty Bus Co. was awarded the bid. We were to be provided with two 77 passenger busses for each school. One for equipment, one for students. We enrolled 58 students (plus 3-4 chaperones) in each program. The day the program it was realized that the buses would be too small for the number of people. Calling the bus company, they confirmed that a 77 passenger bus holds 55 students. The bus company told Ms. Checko that a 77 passenger bus would hold approximately 50, 5th -8th grade students.
That first night did not go well and part of the reason was because it took, 30 minutes each time the equipment was loaded and unloaded. The two chaperones from Thompson Brook School quit the following day. The next day we reached out to “coach bus companies” and hired one coach bus for each school and retained one school bus. Equipment would go under the coach bus and the students would be divided onto the 2 busses. The students that had lessons were put on the school bus so it would be easier for them to get to their lesson as soon as they got to the mountain.
Ms. Checko said there were residents who were unhappy that their children were on waitlists (22-24 per school) and pressured us to add busses. We were not comfortable with any of the options being suggested and stood held our numbers at 58. In the end, it was a good thing that we did, because if we had taken those students off of the wait list, it would have created an even bigger problem. Ms. Ausiello said she didn’t even go to the waiting list once the bus was full. Ms. Checko said parents wanted us to add another bus on to the program and the problem with doing that is we would have to also add chaperones to manage that bus. Ms. Ausiello asked if another bus was in the budget. Ms. Checko said it could be at a certain point, because the program has to be self- supporting. In this case we were just under our minimum, so it wouldn’t have paid for the bus. Ms. Checko said the thought going forward is to keep the maximum at 55 students and allow 5 spots on the wait list in case some students withdraw. Ms. Ausiello asked how many students were on the wait list for this year and Ms. Checko said there were about 25.
Ms. Checko said this is a very complicated program to put together and run from the minute registration starts until the program has ended. Any number of things can happen and often does. Our number one priority is to the safety of the participants and the quality of the program. People will go to you about their grievances long before they come to us. This is a perfect example where I encourage you to pick up the phone and talk to me about our position, to support us and or give us some advice.
VII. Correspondence - None
VIII. Committee Communication - None
VIIII. Old Business
Fisher Meadows Expansion Project
This was covered in the Director’s Report
X. New Business
A. Spring Field Permits
Ms. Checko reported to the committee that permits for use of the public fields should be easier this spring because the High School athletic turf field is now complete and the field hockey field is back online. Lacrosse will have one field at Fisher Meadows, one field at Thompson Brook, Avon Middle School and Alsop Meadows. Ms. Checko said the Soccer Club will have fields at Fisher Meadows and Pine Grove School. The baseball and softball teams will be at Fisher, Sperry, Buckingham and potentially Thompson Brook School if that field gets fixed up. Barbara Ausiello asked about the fields at the Thompson road and Ms. Checko said those fields have not been worked on because we have been concentrating on Fisher Meadows. Ms. Checko said the other reason we are holding back on the Thompson road fields is because if the food truck festival is going to be there again, we don’t want to use them as athletic fields.
Summer Season
Ms. Checko said we are accepting applications for all of our seasonal staff positions right now. She said we have a good amount of camp staff returning but not a lot of the aquatics staff returning, so if anyone knows of someone that is a certified lifeguard, encourage them to apply. We will open the pool on June 13 and prior to that we will have our staff orientation and training and our set up of the pool. Ms. Checko told committee members that we will be offering adventure camp again this year and there will be 6 weeks of that. Ms. Checko said it will pretty much be the same as last year with a few different field trips added. Ms. Checko explained to committee members that Adventure camp is a program for students entering grades 5-9 and they go on a different field trip every day. The program runs for 6, one week sessions and camp begins July 6.
Approval of Buckingham Field Advertising Sign(s)
Ms. Checko explained that the Recreation Department has an advertising program at Buckingham baseball field that was spear headed by the baseball people and it is in its’ 3rd or 4th year. The policy is written as such that the Recreation and Parks Committee has to approve the signs before they can be put up. Ms. Checko said she has one new sign from Great American Donut and she showed the current signs that are up to the committee members.
Bob Yass made a motion to approve the Great American Donut sign as presented. The motion was seconded by Barbara Ausiello and passed unanimously.
Bob Yass asked Ms. Checko if we have an infectious disease policy considering the coronavirus. Ms. Checko said calls started coming in yesterday, so she contacted Town Manager Brandon Robertson and he suggested Ms. Checko call the surrounding Recreation Departments to find out what they were doing. She said surrounding towns seem to be in the talking stage but no one has implemented anything at this point and they are just monitoring the situation right now. Ms. Checko said a lot of the Recreation Departments wait to see what the schools will do and then follow suit. Ms. Checko said Farmington is talking about eliminating after school activities. Ms. Checko said we don’t have much in the schools this time of year so that doesn’t really affect us. Barbara Ausiello said there is also spring break coming up which will be helpful. Ms. Checko said we are concerned about the upcoming summer and how all of the COVID-19 issue will impact our summer stuff and will people be willing to enroll in camp or come to the pool this summer. Ms. Checko said she did not think we have a formal infectious disease policy except for bloodborne pathogen and hazmat training protocols and we are just following Brandon’s lead and he is being advised by the Farmington Valley Health District.
Don Droppo asked if Ms. Checko had any updates on the Lights on Avon Project. Ms. Checko said ACORN was at the Town Council meeting last week and they asked the Council if they could use the Recreation Department’s unassigned fund balance from our Fund 9 account to help fund the lights. Ms. Checko said the last report she saw, there was about $280,000 in that account. Barbara Ausiello asked what the Fund 9 account was. Ms. Checko said the Fund 9 is called Reimbursable Recreation and Facility Maintenance (Parks). Ms. Checko said those programs have to be self-sustaining and expenses paid out of the Fund 9 accounts and anything that is left or not spent is moved to an unassigned fund account at the end of the fiscal year and builds up over the years. In order to access that money, Ms. Checko has to get permission from the Town Manager, Town Council and Board of Finance. Ms. Checko said, she has only done that once for the Architectural Services for Countryside Park. Joe Weist asked if that money is what would be used to cover something unexpected and Ms. Checko said yes, that is what would be used.
Ms. Checko said she believes that ACORN has close to $200,000 but they need approximately $350,000.
XI. Adjournment
Barbara Ausiello made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:05 a.m. The motion was seconded by Jennifer Das, and passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted by
Sharon Henry
Clerk