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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-03-17 - 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 March 17, 2015 Convene Meeting: Parks and Recreation Advisory Council Chairman Jamie Schutzer called the meeting to order at 8:35pm. The following Members of the Parks & Recreation Advisory Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Jamie Schutzer, Scott Tillson, Frank Carbone, Brian Funtleyder, Adam Zahl, Absent Parks & Recreation Advisory Council Members: Adam Berman, Steve Ketchabaw, Christopher Dutra, Traci Erenfryd Susan Epstein, Village of Rye Brook Trustee Recreation Department Members: Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant I. Minutes: a. Approve February 3,2015 Minutes: Chairman Schutzer asked for a motion to approve the February 3, 2015 Minutes. Committee Member Funtleyder made the motion to approve the February 3, 2015 Minutes and Committee Member Zahl seconded the motion. The February 3, 2015 Minutes were approved and accepted. Committee Member Carbone abstained from voting. II. Public View Points: Committee Member Erenfryd e-mailed Chairman Schutzer regarding the Scarsdale Rec Department offering rec night for the middle school students 2 or 3 times a year. They come and hang out at the gym for a few hours with a DJ and it is chaperoned by parent volunteers. Committee Member Erenfryd thought it would be something the community would appreciate and it is a nice safe way to be social. Trustee Epstein said they have a special facility which was left to the Scarsdale Rec Department. The Scarsdale Middle School PTA along with the Rec Department sponsor the rec nights for students in 6th grade and 7th grade. Trustee Epstein asked if the Belle Fair gym could be used for a rec program for 6`h and 7th graders. Superintendent Bertolacci said he didn't think that Belle Fair would be acceptable for that program. Committee Member Carbone said his wife is on the board at Belle Fair and they meet the 1st Tuesday of each month. The board is open for suggestions and you can bring to the board what you would want to do but be prepared for many questions. Trustee Epstein asked if there is a relationship with Atria and if there is a room that they would let us use. Superintendent Bertolacci said he has only been in the lobby of the Atria but he also feels that for liability reasons they wouldn't let us use the room or pool. 1168377.1 Trustee Epstein recapped the facilities that could be used as rec night such as the school, Doral Arrowwood, Posillipo Center and Crawford Park. Also Trustee Epstein suggested getting in touch with Jeff Diamond who is on the school board. Chairman Schutzer said he would give the school board a call to discuss using the schools etc. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would get in touch with Jonathan Ross also. Committee Member Erenfryd said that at previous meetings she suggested many times that posting advertising signs would be helpful. I feel strongly that if Rye Brook put their signs to advertise our programs at a strategic location it would spread the word. Trustee Epstein asked if Chipotle has a Board that we can advertise our registration for programs. Committee Member Carbone said Belle Fair has a Board and anyone can post on the Board. Superintendent Bertolacci said the signs for registration go up at the corner of the Rye Ridge Shopping Center and near the parking lots of the school. Superintendent Bertolacci said we were able to send flyers through the school many years ago. We now use Community Pass to get the word out. For the past 7 or 8 years we have had a hard time to put our flyers out through the school. Superintendent Bertolacci said the PTA had registrations for their spring programs months before we even put our Spring/Summer brochure out to the residents. Superintendent Bertolacci said there would be some changes made at the school with a new Athletic Director and a new Superintendent of Schools. M.Superintendent's Report: a. Spring Carnival: Superintendent Bertolacci reported the carnival would be held on May 15th, 16th, and 17t" at 900 King Street. I have contracts from 900 King Street and The Arbors and we are waiting for the Village's signature on the contracts. We have contracts from the Carnival Company and will be currently working on the insurance documents this week. Superintendent Bertolacci said we are starting to get craft vendors and food vendors in. Trustee Epstein asked if we get a percentage from the vendors and the carnival games. Is this a negotiated item from the carnival company? Superintendent Bertolacci said we get a fee of$500 for food vendors and a fee of$200 from the craft vendors and $100 from each carnival game booth. Superintendent Bertolacci said we get a proposal from the carnival companies of what they are giving and that was the best proposal. It's hard to track what revenue goes into the game booths or food booths. Superintendent Bertolacci said there will be a new ride, the Hurricane and a 75 ft. Ferris Wheel. The advertisement for the Carnival will be in the Brochure, Westmore News, and e-mail blasts will go out when the date for the carnival gets closer. b. Men's Softball: Trustee Epstein asked Superintendent Bertolacci if he has enough teams for Men's Softball. Superintendent Bertolacci said he had responses from 8 or 9 teams and 11 teams would be needed to break even using the lights at the Port Chester Middle School. Committee Member Tillison asked if we pay for the lights, are there other ways that we can utilize the field to make up for the lost revenue if we don't have enough Men's Softball teams. Superintendent Bertolacci said we could run softball out of that field but there is no additional money to fund the lights. 1168377.1 Committee Member Tillison suggested that Travel Baseball use the field and charge them for the lights. Superintendent Bertolacci said they would have to petition the school to sublet it out. If we were subsiding for all Rye Brook residents its one thing, but if you're subsiding for non-residents your taxes would be paying for lights that the residents aren't using. Superintendent Bertolacci said tomorrow is the deadline and if we don't get 2 or 3 more teams he will have to cancel the program. c. Other Updates The Spring/Summer Brochure went on-line last week and registrations were set for March 16'h In past years certain programs like T-Ball, Tennis and Soccer would fill up the first 10 minutes when registration starts. Registrations are way down compared to other years. Trustee Epstein asked how are the residents are alerted about the programs? Superintendent Bertolacci said that people have to know to go on-line to register. We had declines on registration since we went on-line to sign up. We previously mailed out the brochure and every time we sent it out the brochure the cost was $10,000. We send out e-mail blasts letting the people know that the book is on-line and the date registration opens up. Another reason for low registrations is lower enrollment in the schools. IV.Playground Sub-committee Report- Traci Erenfryd: Superintendent Bertolacci said he asked Kompan to give him a budget for the playground equipment that was on the plan submitted back in December. Superintendent Bertolacci showed two plans of the playground on the board. In designing the playground, we talked about a zip line and extending the playground to the rear of the park another 10 ft. and some other adjustments to the plan. With the addition of the zip line with the existing plan, the cost of the playground came to $162,000. To do the playground without the zip line with the existing plan would cost the Village $144,194. The bigger structures look much better. To get the price more manageable Superintendent Bertolacci asked for a simpler dome structure, remove the hopper; take out the cottage and spikas from the plan which reduced the amount $10,000. Superintendent Bertolacci talked with the design team and they came up with the Classic Dome and eliminating some smaller items and the cost for the design brought the total price down to $115,000. Superintendent Bertolacci said the Advisory Council wanted to configure the plan with the Explorer Dome which is a climbing net. The Council feels this place would be the show piece of the playground for the next 20 years. Trustee Epstein asked if Kompan said what community has the Explorer Dome that we can see. Superintendent Bertolacci said Kompan didn't say what community had that equipment. Chairman Schutzer asked if we would save money having our workers take down the structure at Pine Ridge Park. Superintendent Bertolacci said the money you saving would take the men away from doing other things that are necessary for the Village. Committee Member Funtleyder asked if we can get a quote to refurbish the equipment that is there and get 5 years more use out of what is there. Then in 5 years we can get the granddaddy of equipment. Superintendent Bertolacci said we need to replace the equipment. Superintendent Bertolacci spoke with the design team and I told him our parameters and the design team configured an alternative plan to reduce the pricing on the project to fit in the desired Explorer Dome as well as including the other items in the plan. It is my recommendation to authorize the purchase of the playground equipment to Kompan Playground based on their US 1168377.1 Communities Purchasing Contract for a total price of$120,000. In purchasing this equipment, the Village has $100,000 in the budget and the remaining $20,000 will be taken from the Recreation Trust. I believe the plan that we are putting forward is the best alternative to replace the existing playground at the busiest park in Rye Brook. This purchase is an investment in the children of Rye Brook. Superintendent Bertolacci said he thinks our liaison and maybe the Mayor committed adding the funds to offset the overage but didn't specify the amount. Chairman Schutzer asked for a recommendation from the Advisory Council to move forward with the playground from Kompan Playgrounds. On a motion made by Committee Member Scott Tillison and seconded by Committee Member Brian Funtleyder, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council unanimously recommended that the Village take the latest plan from Kompan Playgrounds, which replaced the Explorer Dome with a Classic Dome and eliminated a few of the filler structures to get the cost of the project down from $144,194 down to $115,811, and to somehow include the Explorer Dome in the plan to get the project to a manageable number and move this project forward. The Advisory Council in their opinion feels that since the playground will be at Pine Ridge Park for the next 20 years or so, it should have all the bells and whistles. The Advisory Council also feels that the smaller items in the project should have their space saved in the plan for potential addition from the operating budget or future Capital budgets. Trustee Epstein suggested that members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee attend the budget meeting. V. Basketball Sub-committee Report-Brian Funtleyder: Committee Member Funtleyder sent out an e-mail to the basketball committee saying we needed to have a meeting and no one on the committee responded. Basketball is over now and we have some thins to discuss but we will save it for the next meeting. Committee Member Carbone said the 9 and 10'h grade boys are in a basketball tournament. Our kids are playing Ossining, Cortland and New Castle. We won our first 2 games and the finals are being played Friday night at the school. VI. Grievance Sub-Committee Report-Adam Zahl: Committee Member Zahl said there was no grievance reported. It was a very quiet season and I thought the people took the zero tolerance policy very seriously. There were a couple of suspensions. Superintendent Bertolacci handed out a one game suspension. VII. Baseball Sub-Committee Report-Scott Tillson: Committee Member Tillison said we have 44 kids signed up for the Majors, 36 for the Minors. We don't have enough girls for the Minors to make 2 teams. We had a lot of 7th graders last year. This year a lot of the 7th graders are not age eligible. Baseball is down in numbers here in Rye Brook, in Port Chester and Travel Baseball. There are too many other options for the kids to join. 44 kids are not enough to have a competitive recreational Little League. There is a thought of bringing other neighboring towns together. What I am hearing is that people aren't signing up for rec because the level of competition is not high enough in Rye Brook. If we are able to add more kids the level of competition will be higher. Committee Member Tillison said Kyle and Chris Swallen of Port Chester are on board with having some major and minor games. Chris has even offered his fields for use. 1168377.1 We will definitely try to get in more major games with Port Chester. Chairman Schutzer asked if we could send the scores to the Westmore News. Committee Member Tillison said he would make sure that happens. Superintendent Bertolacci said we have 3 Major League teams and zero Minor League in the girls' softball. We had 13 girls sign up for Minor League. There is no program for them,just clinics or they go and play with the boys. The only results were they would move up and play with the older girls or they would have no program. The flyers for softball were sent to the Port Chester schools. Superintendent Bertolacci did a nice job putting together a clinic with Pro Swing. We didn't get the numbers we wanted to get, but 7 kids did participate. Committee Member Tillison said he would like to start baseball practice at the school in January. I would organize it but I need the gym. VIII. Old Business: a. Hosting District 20 Games: IX. New Business: Trustee Epstein said her goal is to create a better community. As people age there are a lot of people where their kids are out of the school and there is no way for them to feel part of the community. There were programs for the adults to join but there aren't any programs for them now. My 2 goals are to shape up Rye Brook and to promote the community. The empty nester is the ones who aren't moving. Greenwich Hospital always has lectures where they can sign up. Committee Member Tillison asked what activities can we interest the older crowd besides running. Trustee Epstein said walking, community gardening, exercise classes at community centers, aqua fitness at SUNY Purchase, Boot Camp, Zumba and other activities. Superintendent Bertolacci said we had these activities and didn't get the turnouts because the gyms are so cheap that people are going to the gyms. Trustee Epstein suggested tennis tournaments for different age groups. Committee Member Tillison said if you attach with some kind of a cause you might have a better chance. Trustee Epstein said because you can't pick one other than a playground for a community. Superintendent Bertolacci said we could do a cause for Southeast because we belong to that organization. Superintendent Bertolacci said there was to be a walking path at Belle Fair. Someone was paid to draw up a plan but it never happened. Superintendent Bertolacci will speak to Mr. Bradbury for information on the Belle Fair walking path. Superintendent Bertolacci said we offer adult programs and we don't get anyone to sign up. Chairman Schutzer asked if can send out a survey to the community to see what their interests are. Committee Member Tillison suggested a team competition made up of 4 or 5 people of different ages and do several events. We can have some different events at the Birthday Celebration. Trustee Epstein said that is a great idea to bring these events to the Rye Brook Birthday. Trustee Epstein said we would like to do a better job of getting everyone's e-mail so we can get the community moving. Bowling was another activity that may be of interest. Trustee Epstein said she is also looking for anyone who would like to perform in the park this 1168377.1 summer. If you know of someone to please let Trustee Epstein know. Trustee Epstein asked also if anyone has suggestions to please send an personal e-mail to susanrepstein@hotmail.com. X. Adjournment: Chairman Schutzer asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Committee Member Funtleyder made the motion to adjourn the meeting and Committee Member Tillison seconded the motion. All approved and the meeting adjourned at 11:15pm. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee will be held on Monday, April 13, 2015 at 8:15pm. Minutes prepared by: Carmella Swick 1168377.1