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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-07-10 - 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 July 10, 2012 Convene Meeting: Chairman Jamie Schutzer called the meeting to order at 8:21pm. The following Members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Jamie Schutzer, Frank Carbone, Kevin O'Neil, Brian Funtleyder Glenn Brettschneider, Adam Berman, Adam Zahl, Jennifer Wohl Absent Council Members: Christopher Dutra Members of the Public: Norman Scott, Maurice Poplausky Recreation Department Members: Robert Bertolacci, Parks &Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant 1. Minutes: Chairman Schutzer asked for a motion to accept the June 12, 2012 Minutes. A motion to approve the Minutes was made by Committee Member O'Neil and seconded by Committee Member Berman. The Minutes were accepted and approved by all. II. Public View Points: Norman Scott, Rye Brook Resident, addressed the committee regarding field usage at the Rye Brook Athletic Field and the Blind Brook High School Field. On July 4th he decided to go to the field at Blind Brook High School with some other dads and their children ages 4 to 9 years old to kick around a soccer ball. After being there for a short time an officer asked them if they had a permit to be on the school field to which the reply was no. The officer told them they would have to leave the school field because in the past, equipment on the field has been moved about. Mr. Scott asked if they could play on the Rye Brook Athletic Field, to which the officer said no because you don't have a permit. You need a permit for 6 or more persons playing. Mr. Scott said if he were playing on the field and someone with a permit came on the field, he would immediately get off the field. Mr. Scott asked, as a resident, if a recommendation can be submitted where a blockage of time would be allowed for free play for residents. Chairman Schutzer said we have a beautiful facility and on weekends if no one is using the field and a resident would like to utilize the field to just kick around a soccer ball with their kids and not have to pay the $125.00 for 2 hours. The police are just doing their job and if you don't have a permit to be on the turf field. You will be asked to leave. 1168377.1 Committee Member Berman asked if there is any way we can come up with a resident priority permit for that field. Superintendent Bertolacci said the policy for usage of the turf field was made by the Village Board. Committee Member O'Neil said Westchester County funding went into the turf field. You have to get a permit for use on the turf field and we can only charge double for a non-resident, and to make it free it would have to be free for all. Committee Member Berman asked if there is any way to go on line that day and get a permit. Superintendent Bertolacci said if it's a holiday, you can't get a permit that day because no one is in the office to issue one. Chairman Schutter asked if we could have someone sit at the turf field like the tennis attendant do and issue a permit that day. Committee Member Berman asked if the Village Board can initiate a system that would allow a resident to go on line 5 minutes before they decide to rent the field and print out a permit and pay on line with a credit card. Superintendent Bertolacci said every permit has to be approved by my office. It is a money making facility, and if people are just walking on it and playing, use of the turf field would get out of control. The field was a Legacy Grant funded by Westchester County and the Village subsidized the rest. it cost 3.5 million to build the field and it would cost about $750,000 to $1 million to replace the turf. Committee Member Berman said we should take the issue to the Board of Trustees and see what the rationale is behind it. Superintendent Bertolacci said the council could make a recommendation to the Village Board to review the current policy for the Rye Brook Athletic Field or the issue can be brought up to our Recreation Liaison, Jeff Rednick, and he can bring it to the attention of the Village Board. Committee Member Brettschneider said that plastic water bottles are left all over the basketball court at Pine Ridge Park. He usually ends up picking them up and putting the bottles in the receptacle. Superintendent Bertolacci said that there are garbage receptacles all over the parks and it is still an ongoing issue with the plastic bottles and garbage. III. Superintendent's Report a. Rye Brook Birthday—Follow-Up Superintendent Bertolacci thanked the council members who helped out at the Birthday Celebration. It makes the event less stressful when there are enough volunteers. This year we had sausage and peppers, pizza frit and watermelon. Superintendent Bertolacci asked if anyone 1168377.1 had heard any feedback about the food. Some of the Council Members said they heard great reviews about the food this year. Committee Member Zahl asked why the food ticket booth was so far from the food tent. . Superintendent said the reason is we want to get the people as they come in to purchase their food tickets and drop their food donation in the truck. Which is parked near the ticket table. Chairman Schutzer said there was a little confusion about the food tickets and also why were there only two people selling food tickets with the line so long. Superintendent said that was an issue and next year we will have more people selling food tickets. We took in $2,600 on the food; only the dough and wedge rolls were donated. Committee Member Berman suggested selling tickets on line a week ahead of time or have tickets for sale in advance at the office. Superintendent Bertolacci said it is better to keep the tickets to sell at the event; otherwise i would have to account for all the money in the different places. b. Movie Night in the Park Movie Night in the Park will be held this Friday. The movie is Scooby Doo Curse of the Lake Monster. Superintendent Bertolacci said we have a new screen that is double the size of the other screen we had. c. Summer Camp Update Superintendent Bertolacci said there are 139 kids registered in the Day Camp which is down from last year. Everyone seems to be having a great time at camp even with the hot weather we had the first week of camp. The Travel Camp is full to the max. The 4th and 5th week may have 5 slots left. d. Special Event Superintendent Bertolacci said he has been looking into a new special event like a carnival, to be held in April to coincide with our Little League Opening Day. We can run the carnival for a weekend with rides, games, food etc. There is no out-of-pocket expense for the Village. The company brings in the rides and the Village is responsible for collecting the money for the tickets. The company gets 80% and the Village gets 20%. One of the areas of interest to hold the carnival would be 900 King Street because there is no grass there. Superintendent Bertolacci said if the council would like to move forward with this event, he would get some facts and figures together. Chairman Schutzer said it's a great idea but my only thought is to have it later in the spring because the weather could still be cold. Superintendent Bertolacci said the later you go in the season, these companies are already booked. The only out-of-pocket expense is to purchase the food and its 100% profit for the Village. The Village would be listed under their insurance as additionally insured. 1168377.1 Committee Member Zahl made a recommendation to support the carnival for the opening week- end of Little League Baseball subject to details to be confirmed. Committee Member Carbone seconded the motion and all were in favor. Committee Member Brettschneider said these events are very festive at night with the lights on. Superintendent Bertolacci said lights and generators can be brought in on site. Committee Member O'Neil suggested that the Arbors Board be notified if the event is held at 900 King Street because of the extra traffic, lights etc. IV. Old Business a. Little League i. Summer Teams—Update/Results Committee Member Carbone reported that the 1 1/12 year olds lost after two games. The 9/10 year olds lost to Harrison, beat White Plains and lost to Eastchester. Most of the fields that we played at had batting cages, enclosed dugouts and tarps around the fence behind home plate. The tarp behind home plate prevents people from standing there and also cuts down on any distractions to the batter and the pitcher. Committee Member Carbone said the pitcher mound at the old and new field at Pine Ridge Park needs to be raised. All and all the kids had a great time and it was a great experience for them. Committee Member Carbone said we will work on the issues with the Minor Leagues before the next baseball season. ii. Survey Results Superintendent Bertolacci said the results of the Little League Baseball survey have not yet been compiled. b. Rating Process The rating process for basketball was tabled until the Advisory Parks and Recreation Council meet in September. c. New Programs Superintendent Bertolacci said he didn't get any feedback from the survey Kyle sent out regarding new programs. Superintendent Bertolacci said an e-mail was sent out from Community Pass inviting Rye Brook kids to participate in a free tryout for a Lacrosse Travel program to be held in Hastings-on-the- Hudson. Brian Smith, Blind Brook Varsity Lacrosse coach is putting teams together for the fall and spring season. d. Legacy Project(s) Chairman Schutzer's idea of a new project is building a concession stand at Pine Ridge Park near the tennis courts. Superintendent said you could build a structure and bring a company in to run the concession stand. Committee Member Brettschneider said his project would be to have a pool in Rye Brook which would be a long term project. 1168377.1 Committee Member O'Neal said that in last month's Minutes we were going to wait on any projects until the recreational study comes back to the Village. Village Trustee Rednick said it would be at least a year before we have any results back from the study. Superintendent Bertolacci said if the committee wanted to work on facilities, a pool would be a good one, and a recreation center. V. New Business a. Village Field Usage Usage for fields was discussed in Public View Points. b. Public View Points Message Chairman Schutzer doesn't know if the public knows that our meetings are public. Maybe it would be a good idea to send out an e-mail through Community Pass to inform the residents about the meetings. Superintendent Bertolacci said the information regarding the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council meeting is in his cover letter of the Recreation Brochure. Committee Member Berman suggested sending out an e-mail through Community Pass saying there is a Parks and Rec meeting, date and any member of the public is invited to come in with any view points they may have. Committee Member O'Neil asked if there is feedback through the website for people who don't want to come here to the meeting or can't make that time or day but they want to express a public viewpoint. Superintendent Bertolacci said we do have a website where residents leave us messages and we can respond back to them if needed. Superintendent Bertolacci said he doesn't have a problem sending e-mails, but residents have complained about the e-mails being sent out; chances are the important ones won't get opened and read. c. Coach of the Year Award Chairman Schutter said the idea of a Coach of the Year Award is based on Adam Zahl's comments at the last recreation meeting regarding coaches. What about creating an award for a coach for each sport, i.e., basketball, baseball etc. There are a lot of coaches that give up a lot of their personal time to coach one and sometimes two different sports. Committee Member Brettschneider suggested recognizing a coach instead of an award so it's not a voting issue. Superintendent Bertolacci said it's a good idea if you want to award one coach for each program for the year. Committee Member Berman said you are going to run into issues of who is voting and it will end up the same way you pick the participants for the County Center basketball teams. i would try to avoid that and have the Recreation Department choose the coach. 1168377.1 Superintendent Bertolacci said we could use survey monkey to determine who would be awarded coach of the year. We could send out the survey and ask the appropriate questions to determine the coach of the year. Committee Member Berman asked if there was any answer to the issue of the tennis court fees from Trustee Rednick. Last months Minutes read that, Committee Member Berman was to tackle the tennis court fees with Village Trustee Rednick. Committee Member Funtleyder said last year we were told that we couldn't send any flyers to the kids through the school. I have received information on soccer, cheerleading, football. Superintendent Bertolacci said we have been told by Bill Stark that we can't send any flyers to the school. I can approach the school again to determine if flyers can be sent to the children through the school. Vi. 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. The meeting adjourned at 9:50pm. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council will meet on August 7, 2012 at 8:15pm. Minutes prepared by Carmella Swick 1168377.1