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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-03-12 - 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 12, 2013 Convene Meeting: Chairman Jamie Schutzer called the meeting to order at 8:20pm. The following Members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Jamie Schutzer, Frank Carbone, Brian Funtleyder, Kevin O'Neil Adam Berman, Christopher Dutra, Adam Zahl, Glenn Brettschneider Absent Council Members: Jennifer Wohl Recreation Department Members: Robert Bertolacci, Parks &Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant 1. Minutes: Chairman Schutzer asked for a motion to accept the Revised February 5, 2013 Minutes. Committee Member Berman made a motion to accept the February 5, 2013 Minutes and Committee Member Funtleyder seconded the motion. The February 5, 2013 Revised Minutes were approved and accepted. Committee Members Berman and O'Neil abstained from approving the February 5, 2013 Minutes. II. Public View Points: Chairman Schutzer reported that on the basketball court at Pine Ridge Park there is a big crack in the blacktop that starts in the center of the court between the two drainage areas and goes toward the small basket. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would take a look at the basketball court and see what has to be done to correct the problem. Committee Member Berman said residents asked him about the fencing around the Harkness Tennis Courts that was damaged by the hurricane. Superintendent Bertolacci reported the fence was fixed about two weeks ago. The tennis courts will open on Monday, March 18th and residents will need to have a tennis pass by the first week of May to use the courts. The bathrooms at Pine Ridge Park will open on Little League opening day. The outgoing committee members who have served 2 two year terms are Committee Members O'Neil and Brettschneider. Committee Member O'Neil said the Blind Brook School Board has a policy in place for their facilities usage. Obviously, the school board hasn't spoken to the Village regarding their usage policy. There could be a potential confusion when you get into casual usage for the middle school and the high school. if you have a student ID, it seems that you can have as many as you want on the field. Committee Member O'Neil asked how we coordinate with the school if at all. 1168377.1 We could state that the school policy applies to the upper baseball and football field and the lower Rye Brook Athletic Field defaults to the policy of the Village. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would talk to Chris Bradbury, Village Administrator, regarding the school policy. iii. Superintendent's Report: a. Carnival Update: Superintendent Bertolacci said the Carnival is one month away. We still need volunteers to cook on the grill and to serve the food. There will be 2 '/z hour shifts and there will be a spread sheet where you will be able to call in and sign up. Committee Member Berman suggested that who ever signs up to have 2 or 3 preference times in case the first available time is already taken. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that signs for the carnival will be in place at certain locations this week. E-mails will go out each week reminding the residents of the dates. An ad will be placed in the Westmore News. There was an article in the Rye Patch and the Port Chester Patch and it's on Facebook. The workers that will be cooking and serving will be just handling tickets for the food and drinks, no cash will be handled. The hours of the carnival are Friday 5:OOpm to 10:00pm, Saturday 12:OOpm to 10:00pm and Sunday 12:OOpm to 5:OOpm. Just a note to let you know that Committee Member Wohl got 10 volunteers for 12:OOpm on Saturday. Registration deadline for Men's Softball is Friday 3/15. There are 3 new teams coming into the league and one team, Coffee Wiz dropped out of the league. IV. Basketball Sub-Committee Report: Committee Member Berman reported that basketball ended this week. One major issue is at the 4/5 boys game, the referee didn't know the rules. We need to have continuity with the referees. The other issue was that some coaches were a little more out of control than normal. We need to address this issue with a little more of a formal process for all activities. Committee Member Berman suggested one violation means X (a warning) second violation, you don't coach the rest of the season. Superintendent Bertolacci said we will go back to certification for the coaches and have them go through the process that we did years ago. The 6th grade boys won their second game and are in the mals. it's nice to see our teams advance to the 2nd round. Chairman Schutter said that he received an e-mail from a dad whose son plays on the 861/9th grade basketball program stating that there are no trophies for that team that came in 15`place. Superintendent Bertolacci said it's a very laid back program. The coaches of the 8`h and 9th grade program are Varsity Basketball players at Blind Brook High School. Committee Member Berman said it you are giving a trophy for a 6/7 grade play-off game, it should be trophies across the board. Chairman Schutzer said the County Center jerseys were way too big for some of the kids. 1168377.1 Superintendent Bertolacci said we did a T-Shirt bid and a new company won the bid. We were not sure of the sizing because of the different company. Next year we will order size appropriate. Committee Member Berman said the committee had many discussions of how many games needed to qualify for County Center. The last game was a makeup game because of the weather and it may or may not have impacted the decision of who made the County Center team. There was definitely one, possibly 2 players who were placed on a County Center team very close to that 60% line before that make-up game was played. Committee Member Berman said it is an issue that has to be addressed for next year. Also, for next year we have to have a formal injury policy in place. This year if a player had an injury but attended the game, he would be eligible for County Center if he was chosen. We need to have a more rigid policy in place. Chairman Schutter said Kyle did a great job with the basketball program this year. V. Baseball Sub-Committee Report: Committee Member Carbone said we haven't got a lot of response for the baseball draft but it may be the coaches are still in basketball mode. We discussed at the meeting that kids that were on the Major League teams last year and are still age eligible and are playing will stay on the same team. There will be a snake draft on Thursday night for the kids that are coming up from the minors. Some teams have more kids left from last year so if there is a major discrepancy, in the second round that team doesn't get second pick. There will be baseball practice run by 21" Century Sports on March 23rd at Ridge Street School and April 6th at Pine Ridge Park. There will be an e-mail blast to remind the parents of the practices. The 6th grade coaches are Rob Winton, Paul Rosenberg, Jeff Rednick, Jeff Jablon, John Steele, Ken Frankel. You have to have one 5th grade coach and one 6th grade coach for each team. Committee Member Carbone asked if we would consider a Babe Ruth League in Rye Brook. Committee Member O'Neil asked what is required to have a Babe Ruth League. Superintendent Bertolacci said we advertised in our brochure two years in a row for a Babe Ruth League. in the 2 years one person signed up. We need at least 30 participants to sign-up to have a Babe Ruth program. Committee Member Carbone said he thinks we will get some 5th graders to sign up. Committee Member O'Neil said that 21" Century Sports stated that Little League is losing 2% of players each year. A lot of kids don't want to play Little League because it's not competitive enough. Committee Member Carbone said that is why Little League came up with a 1 1 to 13 year old program. The kids get to play on a bigger field and it's more competitive. We don't have the bigger fields to offer an 1 1 to 13 year old program. Also, we talked about putting up foul poles and other improvements to the field which were given to Superintendent to review. Committee Member Berman asked about the pitching in the Minor League. Committee Member Carbone said coaches would pitch 4 innings and players pitch 2 innings and then the coaches pitch 2 innings and the players pitch 4 innings. 1168377.1 Vi. Old Business: a. Concession Stand/Food Truck Committee Member Funtleyder said he spoke with Anthony who owns Franks Truck and said Anthony had a nice conversation with Superintendent Bertolacci. Superintendent Bertolacci said he filled out a health permit and a vendor permit. He has to park his truck in the street on Latonia Road. Chairman Schutzer asked what the concerns are if he were to park inside the park. Superintendent Bertolacci said the chances are there is going to be people going in the driveway to get to him and I don't want there to be any accidents. Chairman Schutzer asked what is going to stop Dominic from parking his truck on the street near the park. Nothing can stop him. Any vendor has to have a vendor permit. Committee Member Carbone asked if he thought any of the neighbors around the park would complain about the truck being parked there. Superintendent Bertolacci said the neighbors have nothing to complain about. Any truck with a permit can park on the street and sell food. Superintendent Bertolacci said Anthony's truck would be there when baseball opens. Committee Member Funtleyder asked why the Board wouldn't let the truck into the park. Superintendent said the matter never went before the Village Board, Chris Bradbury and I discussed the matter. if he were to move into the park he would have to go before the board, get permits and if you allow him in the park you may have to let others into the park also. Superintendent Bertolacci said in 30 years no one has ever done this. Chairman Schutzer said the reason we have this food truck is because there is no investment and at the end of the season Anthony will be the judge as to whether he made any money. If so, then building a structure for us would be the next step. b. Grievance Committee/Youth Sports Coaches Committee Chairman Schutzer said we talked about the coach's certification at last month's meeting. Committee Member Berman said there has to be a formal process in place where if you get thrown out of a game or get written up by a referee or by a recreation department personnel, that person would have to physically speak or appear before the Superintendent. You would have to ask what happened and tell that coach if it happens again the policy of Rye Brook is that you cannot coach the rest of the season and you will have to apply to the Recreation Department if you want to coach again. if they actually go the next step and kicked out of a game again, they deserve to not coach again and would have to request to coach again the next season. Right now there are no repercussions for anyone and it has to be spelled out to them that we appreciate your time and if you can't control your emotions and keep it in check, you will have to go before the Superintendent for the first offense and if there is a second violation, you won't be able to coach the rest of the season. Chairman Shutzer said when we spoke about the Youth Sports Committee; it was made up of residents. Superintendent Bertolacci said the members of this board made up the Youth Sports Committee not residents. 1168377.1 Committee Member Berman said it is a little awkward for some or all of us to face our peers and tell them they can't coach the rest of the season. it is probably more appropriate for the Superintendent discuss the issue with that person. Superintendent Bertolacci said when we had this committee it was very effective to have your peers discuss the issue with them and it alleviated a lot of issues. it was a first line of defense. Superintendent Bertolacci said it is far better to have it laid out on the Parents/Coaches Code of Conduct that the parents sign on line when registering for a program. Chairman Schutter said we will formalulize a policy to have it in place before the baseball season. Superintendent Bertolacci said if there are any issues that come up in the spring season; it will be taken care of immediately. i will meet with all the parties involved and straighten out the issue. c. New Programs There will be a dodge ball tournament for Teen Night. We don't have a date for the adult dodge ball tournament. We are looking into a Sunday afternoon. An e-mail will be sent out to the residents on Community Pass when we have an affirmative date. Vii. New Business: There was no New Business. VIII. Adjournment: Chairman Schutzer asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Committee Member Berman made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Committee Member O'Neil seconded the motion and all approved. The next Parks and Recreation Advisory Council meeting will be held on April 2, 2013 at 8:15pm. The meeting adjourned at 9:50pm. Minutes prepared by Carmella Swick 1168377.1