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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-03-04 - 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 4, 2014 Convene Meeting: Chairman Jamie Schutzer called the meeting to order at 8:23PM. The following Members of the Parks & Recreation Advisory Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Jamie Schutzer, Frank Carbone, Adam Berman, Adam Zahl, Christopher Dutra, Brian Funtleyder, Scott Tillison, Traci Erenfryd, Jennifer Wohl Absent Parks & Recreation Advisory Council Members: Recreation Department Members: Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick Andrew Rosson, Co-President Rye Brook Travel Baseball I. Minutes: a. Approve February 12, 2014 Minutes Chairman Schutzer asked for a motion to accept the February 12, 2014 Minutes. Committee Member Berman made the motion to accept the February 12, 2014 Minutes and Committee Member Dutra seconded the motion. The February 12, 2014 Minutes were approved and accepted by all. II. Public View Points: Chairman Schutzer reported that the wall at Pine Ridge Park is down and asked Superintendent Bertolacci if a new wall will be built. Superintendent Bertolacci said it has to go out to bid. Then we will check for footings. It would probably get built in the spring. The courses were removed below grade so it's not a tripping hazard. All the debris was removed from the area. Committee Member Funtleyder asked where we are with the face masks for the Little League softball pitchers. Superintendent Bertolacci said Janice will be ordering the masks for the Major Softball League. III. New Business: a. Travel Baseball Partnership: Chairman Schutzer introduced Andrew Rosson who is the Co-President of the Rye Brook Travel Baseball Club. Andrew said in the spring, field availability is at a premium. Our goal is to find time slots at Pine Ridge and Garabaldi Parks. In the past we have scheduled our practices around open dates. We play our games exclusively on Sundays in the spring because Little League doesn't schedule games on Sunday. Our goal is to find more guaranteed time slots. We would probably have 6 to 7 teams playing. One of the thoughts in talking with Paul Rosenberg, Chris Bradbury and Jeff Rednick, was possibly using the fields in the afternoons prior to the Little League games which, probably would present maintenance issue for the Little League games because the fields are prepped in the morning. Andrew said there has been some discussion around town that our club is anti Little League. We don't discourage our players to play Little League or any other activities. We would like to encourage our players to play Little League. We have discussed with our Board whether we can offer some incentive to our players and offer them a credit toward our program if they play both sports. In turn we would like some field consideration. 1168377.1 Chairman Schutzer asked for any suggestions if Travel Baseball were to use our fields before our game and the field is already prepped in the morning. Superintendent Bertolacci said if the field is used at 4:30 in the afternoon, it will get ripped up and it's not going to be in game shape when we play. Are we okay with that and do we have an open field for that particular night. Friday nights we are holding pitching clinics for boys and girls. Committee Member Berman asked if Travel Baseball could use the Port Chester Middle School field under the lights when we are not using it. Superintendent Bertolacci said that may be an option if Port Chester is not using the field. Superintendent Bertolacci said we would like to work with Travel Baseball but before we can commit, I have to see how many teams we have. Leaving the field ripped up once in awhile is okay but using the field 5 days a week before our games is an issue. Andrew asked if there is any way we can hire someone to prep the field at 5:30pm after our practice. Superintendent Bertolacci said to prep the field would require 2 men and they would have to be paid through the Village. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would touch base with Andrew at the end of the week. IV. Superintendent's Report: a. Carnival Update: Superintendent Bertolacci said the carnival will be held at 900 King Street, same location as last year. We will post on our web site that we are looking for food and craft vendors. Westchester Burger said they would be interested as a food vendor but not a sponsor. Chairman Schutzer spoke to Lifetime Fitness but got the round around. He is waiting to hear from the senior general manager. Committee Member Berman spoke to Q Restaurant and is waiting to hear back from them and he will call Firehouse Deli to see if they are interested. The carnival dates are May 2, 3, 4. b. Spring Programs: Superintendent Bertolacci reported there are 59 players registered for Minor Baseball, 38 Major Baseball, 53 Major Softball and 29 Minor Softball. Committee Member Tillison suggested the Minor Softball girls join the Minor Baseball as an option. c. Other Updates: Superintendent Bertolacci reported that 5 residents are signed up for the CPR class being held tomorrow night at Village Hall. Another class is scheduled in 2 weeks and there will be one scheduled in the summer. The class is 6:OOpm to 10:00pm and the cost is $40. The AEDs have been installed in the bathrooms and they are working on the code for the door. V. Comprehensive Plan Survey: Chairman Schutzer reported there was a meeting last night. The next public workshop is March 24`i'. The biggest item in Parks and Recreation is Garibaldi Park which will be addressed within 3 to 5 years. They also discussed zoning for homes. Longer term planning is buying up rows of houses and building a rec center. VI. Baseball Sub-Committee Report: Committee Member Funtleyder said there was some talk about the 5th grade baseball kids staying on the same team going into the 6`h grade. The question is why we have it for baseball and softball and not basketball. Committee Member Carbone said it was put into Little League for continuity and to conform to Little League. It wasn't necessary for basketball because we never had trouble with the number of registrants. Committee Member Erenfryd suggested that Travel Baseball use Crawford Park for practice. Superintendent Bertolacci said they could request Crawford Park but it is used every day in the spring by Port Chester and Rye Brook soccer teams. 1168377.1 VII. Basketball Sub-Committee Report: Committee Member Berman said overall it has been a successful basketball season. Most of the games were very competitive, kudos to Kyle and Janice. The County Center Teams have been picked and there hasn't been too much complaining. Committee Member Dutra said the only thing he heard was we have a 5th grade team and a 6th grade team. Committee Member Berman said the 5th grade was the bottom of the totem pole in the 6`h grade tournament and the 6`h grade was the dominant team and hopefully they can advance further. Chairman Schutzer said he never saw kids get a technical. There were 2 boys in the 4/5 basketball division who got a technical talking back to the ref. There should be some type of penalty for anyone who gets a technical. These are 4`h graders showing no respect. Superintendent Bertolacci said we should have something in our rules where a player would have to sit on the bench for a minimum of 1 quarter if he or she gets a technical. Committee Member Tillison said the basketball season was successful. The teams were fairly well distributed. From a parent, coach, and kid perspective, the season was awful. The kids' behavior is coming from the coaches and the example the fans in the stands are setting. I have spoken to Kyle about having a meeting with all the coaches and if you don't attend, you don't coach. If you argue with the coach on one call you get a warning, a second argument is a technical and if you argue a third time you are ejected from the game. Poor parental behavior has to stop. Committee Member Berman said a lot has to do with the referees. They have to keep control of the game. There was another issue at one of the games and Arthur Smiths who refereed the game will write up the grievance and send it to Superintendent Bertolacci. Superintendent Bertolacci said he was told the kid was driving the lane and the other kid moved in front of him while he was driving and got knocked down. This was a 5`h grader playing together with a 4`h grader and he just happens to be an aggressive player. Committee Member Dutra said the point is the kid can't mouth off to the referee. Superintendent Bertolacci said this issue is going to be taken up by the basketball sub-committee for the next season. We also have information on other referees that we will be looking into. VIII. Grievance Sub-Committee Report_ No grievance to report. IX. Old Business: a. Men's Softball: Superintendent Bertolacci said the lights will be used this year for Rye Brook Men's Softball League. Port Chester games will be at 6:30pm and will not be using the lights. We are changing the bats for Men's Softball this year. We will use the Rye bat list, the single wall bats. We will see how that works this year and if it doesn't work we will supply the bats for next year. Committee Member Wohl suggested a co-ed adult softball game. Superintendent Bertolacci said depending on the lights etc.; we may do a co-ed softball league in the fall. Committee Member Berman asked why rec doesn't get 6 bats and those are the bats that everyone would use. . Superintendent Bertolacci said we are going from the USSA bat to a restricted single wall list that is going to bring the quality of bat down. We are going to look and see how it works. If it's a problem, we will deal with it then. Committee Member Tillison asked about the artificial pitching mound that was discussed at previous meetings. Committee Member Dutra said he did some research on portable mounds. The cost is probably around $1500 to $2000. He sent the link to Superintendent Bertolacci to look into the portable mound. 1168377.1 X. Adjournment: Chairman Schutzer asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Committee Member Berman made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:50pm and Committee Member Dutra seconded the motion. All approved and the meeting adjourned. The next meeting of the Parks and Advisory Council will be on April 1, 2014 at 8:00pm. The meeting adjourned at 9:50pm. Minutes prepared by Carmella Swick 1168377.1