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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-01-05 - Parks and Rec Advisory Council Meeting Minutes MINUTES OF THE VILLAGE OF RYE BROOK PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COUNCIL 938 KING STREET RYE BROOK, New York 10573 January 5, 2016 Convene Meeting: Parks and Recreation Advisory Council Chairman Rick Buzin called the meeting to order at 8:02pm. The following Members of the Parks & Recreation Advisory Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Buzin, Adam Zahl, Scott Tillison, Michael Keilman, Susan Gardner Absent Parks & Recreation Advisory Council Members: Emma Saghir, Jason Steinberg Recreation Department Members: Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Jennifer Leichter, Office Assistant I. Minutes: a. Approve December 1, 2015 Minutes: Chairman Buzin asked for a motion to accept the December 1, 2015 minutes. Council Member Tillison made the motion to accept the December 1, 2015 Minutes and Council Member Zahl seconded the motion. The minutes were accepted and approved. II. Public View Points: Chairman Buzin expressed that former Chairman Schutzer was very positive about the Winter Festival and he is of the same opinion and felt it was a great turn out. Chairman Buzin complimented Superintendent Bertolacci and his staff for everything they did for the festival. III.Chairman's Remarks—Rick Buzin Chairman Buzin thanked Jamie Schutzer for his service as the Chair as he has moved on to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Chairman Buzin also thanked the Council Members for allowing him to partake in this new position as Chair. Chairman Buzin said he wanted to comment on what he sees the role of this committee as. Chairman Buzin said he had asked Superintendent Bertolacci if there was anything in writing as to exactly what the Advisory Council is supposed to do. Superintendent Bertolacci was not able to find anything in writing. Chairman Buzin said he went to the Village website to see what it said pertaining to the Parks & Recreation Advisory Council. Chairman Buzin read his findings aloud to the Council. Council Member Tillison felt what it said was fairly accurate. Chairman Buzin felt it did not say that much. Council Member Keilman asked if what he read came from the Village Code. Chairman Buzin said there is nothing in the Village Code. Chairman Buzin expressed that we are advisory which puts a responsibility on the Board of Trustees to come to 1168377.1 us if they have particular issues. With regard to bigger capital projects, Chairman Buzin said he had a conversation with Superintendent Bertolacci and he feels that if the Board is going to come to us and say they want us to look in to something in particular then unless we are absolutely told that this a project that the Board is willing to finance, he does not think it is fair that we waste time and energy getting together proposals that are not going to see the light of day. Chairman Buzin said the reality is he does not mind doing the work but he does have a problem doing the work and then the Board saying they are not going to fund it as it takes a lot of time and effort and it also takes a lot of time away from the staff as well because they are involved in it too. Chairman Buzin said going forward he would like to have a tighter relationship with the Village Board as to know what they are looking for from us. Council Member Tillison said he did not feel like we have ever had any involvement in big capital projects except for the playground. Superintendent Bertolacci shared historical information regarding some of the capital projects the Rec Council had worked on in the past; the ball field at the new field at Pine Ridge Park and the soccer field which the Rec Council helped write the grant for that the Village got for that ball field, which was a $3.6 million grant. Superintendent Bertolacci said the Rec Council is a sounding board to the Village Board. Superintendent Bertolacci said if there is a major project that needs to be put to the forefront it should come to the Rec Council first, especially if we are trying to sell it to the Village Board as they will be looking for our feedback before they do anything. Chairman Buzin said if we are asked to do something we will do it to the best of our ability but he did not want the Council to spin their wheels. Chairman Buzin said he would like to run everything by the Council whether it be complaints or concerns as he would like them to feel free to voice their opinions. IV.Superintendent's Report: Superintendent Bertolacci stated Kyle Thornton is no longer on our staff as he has moved on to a new position with the Town of Mamaroneck and his last day was yesterday. Superintendent Bertolacci said we are hoping to replace him in the near future. Superintendent Bertolacci said he requested the list from the County and he has not received it as of yet. Superintendent Bertolacci said once we get the list we will be setting up interviews and hopefully hiring someone as soon as possible so that they can begin working on the spring programs and buttoning up camp staff. Council Member Tillison said he wanted to go on record for saying that it was a pleasure working with Kyle for the last several years. He thought Kyle did a fantastic job and hopes we can find somebody that is just as dedicated and he will be missed. Chairman Buzin stated he thought we could all go on record and second what Council Member Tillison said and we wish Kyle well. a. Winter Programs Update: Superintendent Bertolacci said our winter brochure is online and winter programs start next week. Superintendent Bertolacci mentioned the intermediate programs after school at Ridge Street School. Superintendent Bertolacci said we ran two programs, one of them being weaving which was cancelled due to lack of enrollment and the other one which is woodworking which is running. 1168377.1 b. Playground: Superintendent Bertolacci said the playground is something we are going to have to focus on over the next month. Superintendent Bertolacci said that in the packets that were distributed to the Council were some initial plans that he had Kompan work up. It is a different design for Garibaldi Park as opposed to the same thing that has been sitting there since 1996 which is the basic platform. Superintendent Bertolacci said that the one at Garibaldi gets vandalized a lot and this one is less apt to be vandalized. Superintendent Bertolacci said the gentleman who is working on the plans is willing to come to this committee and put a presentation before us. Council Member Tillison said this project is coming out to $100 grand. Superintendent Bertolacci confirmed for the most part yes as this stuff is expensive. Superintendent Bertolacci mentioned Pine Ridge Park as he believed it came out to about $126,000. Council Member Tillison said based on what he has seen, he felt they had made the right decision with the equipment that was put there as it gets great use and all of the Council agreed with him. Superintendent Bertolacci said in next year's budget he is going to be adding some stuff to that as well for the littler kids to give them more to play with on that playground. c. Winter Festival: Superintendent Bertolacci said he thought the Winter Festival was great and that the ice carver was awesome and did a really nice job playing to the crowd. Superintendent Bertolacci said he felt the choir was good too. Superintendent Bertolacci mentioned we made $875 at the concession stand. Superintendent Bertolacci expressed that the next special event that he is going to be working on would be a carnival but we will not be doing a carnival this year as the Village Board would like him to focus on doing a circus in the Village. Superintendent Bertolacci said he will be focusing on putting together a circus over the next few months. The Council inquired as to what location the circus would be held at. Superintendent Bertolacci said he will try and do it at 900 King Street otherwise he would try and do it in conjuction with the birthday celebration at Crawford Park. There was much discussion amongst the Council Members as to whether abandoning the carnival and replacing it with a circus was a good idea. Superintendent Bertolacci expressed it was not his decision to do a circus as the Village Board wants to skip a year of doing the carnival and try something different. The Council felt a circus would not give off the same vibe as a carnival. Chairman Buzin raised the question of whether it was worthy of a discussion and all members agreed it was. Chairman Buzin said he would reach out to the Rec Advisory Council's liaison outside of the administration. There was continuous discussion amongst the Council members with regard to the timing of the slated event, availability of the circus company, amount of work that would have to go in to the event and the feasibility. V. Village-PTA Coordinating Subcommittee—Rick Buzin: Chairman Buzin said given what happened with the Winter Festival, it was obvious the PTA had been listening to whatever he discussed with them. He said he has had no contact with them as he had been away for part of December. Chairman Buzin said he will get back in contact with the PTA President and thank her for helping us with the holiday event, let her know about the new program and tell her it is a great start to our new relationship. Chairman Buzin said there was nothing else new to report except that it seems we are making progress. 1168377.1 VI.Basketball Subcommittee Report—Mike Keilman: Council Member Keilman said there was not much to say as we have been off for the last 2 weeks since the holidays. Council Member Keilman said the 3 weeks of play we have had so far have been great. VII. Grievance Subcommittee Report - Adam Zahl: a. Code of Conduct: Council Member Zahl said there was nothing to report. VIII. Baseball Subcommittee Report - Scott Tillison: Council Member Tillison said he is concerned about baseball. He does not know if we are going to have any kids for the minor leagues. Council Member Tillison said there will not be any 4th graders as the parents already told him they are not playing. He said there are reasons as to why they are not playing which we have talked about before. Council Member Tillison said being a small town presents some interesting problems that we have to deal with when it comes to baseball and we also compete with a travel organization in the town that does not really work together with us. Council Member Tillison said a lot of it comes down to the fact that we do not have large numbers of people and baseball is one of those sports where it takes a lot of kids to put together a team. He said the kids are stretched too thin with activities already. He feels if the kids have to throw an activity out they will chose to play travel over rec. The Council Members discussed amongst themselves various options as to how to increase the participation of children in recreation baseball. Council Member Tillison shared that he felt the major leagues were going to have a strong season. IX.Old Business: There was no old business to report. X. New Business: There was no new business to report. XI.Adjournment: Chairman Buzin asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Council Member Keilman made the motion to adjourn the meeting and Council Member Tillison seconded the motion. All approved and the meeting was adjourned at 9:10pm. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 8:OOpm. Minutes prepared by: Jennifer Leichter 1168377.1