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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-02-08 - 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 February 8, 2011 Convene Meeting: Chairman Marc Zimmerman called the meeting to order at 8:40pm. The following Members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Marc Zimmerman, Ken Frankel, Richard Gutrner Glenn Brettschneider,Jamie Schutzer, Sari Jablon,Adam Berman Absent Council Members: Kevin O'Neil,Jeffrey Kornblum Recreation Department Member: Robert Bertolacci, Parks &Recreation Superintendent Cannella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant 1. Minutes: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to accept the January 11, 2011. Committee Member Gutner made a motion to accept the January 11, 2011 Minutes and Committee Member Berman seconded the motion. The January 11, 2011 Minutes were approved and accepted. Committee Member Brettschneider opposed one section of the wording in the January 11, 2011 Minutes. 11. Public View Points: There were no Public View Points. III. Superintendent's Report a. Basketball Update Superintendent Bertolacci reported that the County Center teams will be posted this weekend at Ridge Street School in the new gym and at the Blind Brook High School gym on Sunday. Play-offs are scheduled for this week, and this Sunday is the official end of the basketball season. Committee Member Berman asked Superintendent Bertolacci if the County Center teams can be posted online. Superintendent Bartolacci said that the teams would go on line next year, but not this year, since we did not communicate to let people know that we would post it online. IV. Old Business a. 2011 Community Event 1. Guinness World Record Update/Alternatives Committee Member Brettschneider looked into options for world records, including a dodge ball game. The largest dodge ball game was set the prior night including about 2,000 people. Many of the records set are from colleges — for example another record set for 31 hours in a volleyball match. Committee Member Brettschneider said he did not think we reasonably were in a position to break any of these records. Committee Member Brettschneider said he was a little disappointed that he doesn't have any good news, because it was more difficult than he expected to find some record to break. Committee Brettschneider suggested that we go back to our original idea of having a volleyball tournament for charity. Committee Member Brettschneider said if you come up with the right specific event and they accept that, that is the key to doing it. Committee Member Berman asked if there was a help line on the Guinness website. 1138935.1 Committee Member Brettschneider said there is a service that if you want to do an event and they will organize it, they will work with you to come up with an event, and they sponsor it. The idea behind Guinness is for companies to do an event and bring publicity to that company. Chairman Zimmerman suggested leaving the topic on the Agenda for next month's meeting. b. Snowperson Contest Award Superintendent Bertolacci reported that the winner of the snowperson contest would receive a t-shirt and potentially the front page cover of the winter brochure 2012. Chairman Zimmerman made a motion for Committee Member Schutzer to be the judge of the snowman contest because he spearheaded the event. Committee Member Brettschneider seconded the motion and all were in favor. Committee Member Schutzer reviewed the snowman photos that were e-mailed to the rec department and announced the winner of the first annual snowman contest was Kaleb Lcikcn. An c-mail will be sent to Kalcb to let him know he is the winner and a t-shirt will be ordered for the winner. V. New Business: a. County Center Team Selection Issues Committee Member Frankel reported that last year as a coach of 4t" and 5t" grade basketball received e- mails from a couple of parents campaigning for their kids to be put on the County Center team. Committee Member Jablon commented that her husband also had received similar c-mails. Committee Member Frankel questioned whether there were some coaches voting for kids that may or may not have been worthy of being on the County Center team, and whether as a result the best 10 kids are not being put on the team because of these issues. Committee Member Berman said the basketball sub-committee addressed the issue briefly at the beginning of the basketball season. That is one of the reasons the last two selections for the County Center are made by the Recreation Department. Committee Member Berman commented on a similar call he received about coaches voting for each others kids for the County Center team, and suggested that the rec department select all the players for County Center team. Committee Member Berman said that coaches arc under enough pressure volunteering their time and coaching. Committee Member Frankel commented that even as a coach, sometimes he does not get to see all the players eligible for the County Center team play. Committee Member Berman reiterated that the issue needs to be addressed by the basketball sub-committee for next year's program. Committee Member Berman said the sub-committee discussed having the basketball rosters reviewed by the sub-committee before the rosters go out to anyone. Chairman Zimmerman said if we do not have a process to decide which coaches should or should not be coaching the various sports,then we are allowing all coaches to manipulate the draft,playing time and the County Center team as they determine reasonable. Some or all of those decisions may not be seen as being as "fair" as other coaches' decisions might be. As far as the County Center team,we need to figure out a way that we take the input of the coaches and input from Janice, Lauren and Meaghan and make up the teams as fairly as we can. Committee Member Berman asked Superintendent Bertolacci if Janice, Lauren and Meaghan are qualified to make a fair decision for the top 10 kids as opposed to the last two. Chairman Zimmerman said they definitely know the players but the question is whether rec wants to take that decision out of the coaches' hands. Committee Member Berman suggested that the coaches vote for only their child's grade because it is a more qualified decision. 1138935.1 On a separate issue, Committee Member Berman said that there are a lot of instances where the ref and umps don't know the difference between the age group rules. There has to be a way to get the rules to them to avoid issues that may arise especially with the older players. b. Aqua Fina MLB Pitch,Hit& Run Competition Chairman Zimmerman reported that our committee members received an c-mail from Cliff Shaw concerning the Aqua Fina Pitch, Hit and Run Competition. The question is whether we want to hold this event. The time line for the event is any time from early March to early May. Superintendent Bertolacci reported that we held the event one year on Little League Opening Day and lost 11 games because of the event. Chairman Zimmerman asked if we have the time and the field space, is it something we arc interested in doing. Superintendent Bcrtolacci said the fields are available on Sundays. The Opening Day Parade is on Saturday,April 9"'. Chairman Zimmerman asked if we want to do it as a rec sponsored event, or would we rather discuss it as a community sponsored event. Committee Member Gutncr asked if we don't do it as a rec sponsored event is there a liability issue. Superintendent Bcrtolacci said if it is not rec sponsored, that party would have to have insurance. The event is open to anyone who is interested in participating. Chairman Zimmerman said he would e- mail Cliff Shaw and give him the dates the field is available, and ask him if he is interested in running it or help tun it. Chairman Zimmerman said he also would ask the travel baseball club whether they would supply volunteers to help run the event. Superintendent Bertolacci said before he ventures into this event,he would need a firm commitment from this committee that they would be willing to help out. Superintendent Bertolacci said the date that would work best is Sunday, April 10th. Committee Member Frankel said that last year Coach Dakcrs said the baseball team would be willing to help if they don't have a conflict the day of the event. c. Spring Baseball 1. Opening Day Parade Superintendent Bertolacci handed out the baseball rules to the committee for review at next month's meeting. Committee Member Frankel asked if we have any ideas of how we can keep people in the park after the speech. Committee Member Berman suggested a vendor come to the park. Chairman Zimmerman said we should try to see if we can get someone in the sports field to be present at Pine Ridge Park on Opening Day. 2. Trophies Committee member Frankel asked if trophies were going to be given out this year for basketball. Superintendent Bertolacci reported to the committee that medals would be given out to all the players. The winners and runner up of the basketball play-offs will get a trophy. Committee Member Berman said some parents were very disappointed that players didn't get any recognition,not even a certificate,when the basketball season was over. Committee Member Berman said the medals are a nice touch but not necessary for 6t"and 7t"graders. Committee Member Frankel commented that a couple of years ago, every kid would get a trophy. Committee Member Bermarr's opinion is that a trophy for the little kids is very important but for 6t" and 7t"grade and maybe 4t"and 5t" grade is not necessary. Committee Member Frankel suggested charging an extra $5.00 so the kids can get a trophy at the end of the basketball season. 1138935.1 Superintendent Bertolacci commented that he is slowly working his way back to the possibility of trophies for participants. 3 1st and 2"d Grade Baseball Issues Committee Member Schutzer reported that there are about 90 children in l st grade. Committee Member Berman reported that there are 40 boys and 70 girls in the 2"d grade. The l st grade is a smaller grade but equal boy and girl ratio. Superintendent Bertolacci said we cannot decide how the teams will be made up until the registration. In the brochure it would read 1st grade/2"d grade baseball. After the registration we can decide how we are going to make up the teams. Chairman Zimmerman commented on the possible continuing issue of parents wanting the girls to play on all-girl teams to increase their participation. VI. Adjournment: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Committee Member Berman made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Committee Member Gutner seconded the motion. All approved. The meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council will be held on March 1, 2011 at 8:00 pm. Minutes prepared by Cannella Swick 1138935.1