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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-05-03 - 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 May 3, 2011 Convene Meeting: Chairman Marc Zimmerman called the meeting to order at 8:35 p.m. The following Members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Marc Zimmerman, Ken Frankel, Jamie Schutzer, Kevin O'Neil Sari Jablon, Adam Berman, Frank Carbone, Brian Funtleyder Absent Council Members: Glenn Member Brettschneider Members of the Public: Richard Gutner, Jeffrey Kornblum Recreation Department Member: Robert Bertolacci, Parks &Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant Chairman Zimmerman welcomed the two new council members: Frank Carbone, lives at Belle Fair and has two sons active in sports. Brian Funtleyder, lives at 17 Beechwood Blvd., and has two children, 5 and 7 years of age and both love sports. Chairman Zimmerman explained that prior to the meeting, the Minutes from the last meeting are sent to the council members for any corrections or additions. Then an Agenda is sent out to the members of the council so they may add any topics to that Agenda for discussion if any. The format is generally the same each month. I. Minutes: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to accept the March 8, and April 5, 2011 Minutes. Committee Member Schutzer made a motion to accept the March 8t' and April 51" 2011 Minutes and Committee Member Berman seconded the motion. The Minutes were approved and accepted. Committee Members Carbone and Funtleyder abstained from voting. II. Public View Points: Committee Member O'Neil stated that he received some positive comments that Garibaldi Park is in great shape especially the infield. Chairman Zimmerman said he had several practices at Garibaldi Park and it is in fantastic shape. Committee Member Schutzer reiterated that the gate at Pine Ridge Park, new field, doesn't close properly. There had been an issue with the gate last baseball season. Superintendent Bertolacci said the latch is bent and has to be bent back. He will have the park's maintenance men take a look at the gate and fix it. 1146739.1 Committee Member Frankel stated that home plate at the Port Chester Middle School, where our Men's softball team plays, is raised up and is very dangerous. Superintendent Bertolacci said that he will look into that issue. Committee Member Schutzer asked about getting more recycling bins at the bottom of the stairs to the Rye Brook Athletic Field. Chairman Zimmerman stated that there were many activities going on at the Rye Brook Athletic field this past Saturday, and that people were complaining about cars coming in and out of the lower handicap accessible lot. After both baseball games and softball games had ended, a police officer came by and gave out a few tickets to two of the cars parked there. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would have Kyle or Janice send out an e-mail to all participants using the Rye Brook Athletic Field to use the Blind Brook School parking lot for drop off and pick up. Committee Member Funtleyder said that certain situations have arisen, particularly in the 2nd grade, regarding the way rec teams are made and rules communicated to parents concerning team formation. He believed that the more persistent parents seem to get around these rules. Committee Member Funtleyder said that because his daughter is shy, he requested to coach with someone else who has a daughter that his daughter is friends with. Although he was told that there is a very strict policy not to take any requests, that the coaching and placement are random, when the teams were made, he thought it was obvious that teams were put together honoring certain parents' requests. Committee Member Berman stated that you do get one coach request but you can't request certain children to be together on a team. Committee Member Funtleyder said several people expressed that some parents requests are honored because they are loud and persistent with the staff. Committee Member Funtleyder said that he spoke to Janice about the issue. He stated that the recreation staff doesn't have the backup for Janice to tell those parents that rules are applicable to everyone and that they can speak to the board if they are unhappy. Committee Member Jablon asked if, when signing up younger aged children, parents could request them to be with one other friend. Some kids are hesitant to be on a team with all other kids they don't know. Committee Member Berman said there was a request with the boys' basketball to have 3 (instead of 2) coaches because of so many conflicts preventing both coaches from being able to show up. He said it was impossible even to do that and maintain balanced teams, so when you start putting requests of kids and coaches to be together, you are going to run into too many problems. Superintendent Bertolacci said it is not an issue to pair coaches together. in the next couple of months, this Council will be discussing some policies regarding how the teams are going to be made up. We are going to hammer out a strict policy on how to handle any type of request or issues that arise. The Council will make its recommendations to the Superintendent and we will work this out together. Moving forward we are going to have a strict, consistent policy in force. Chairman Zimmerman stated that as difficult of a job as it is to create balanced teams, Janice navigates the waters somewhat expertly because she really knows the kids and spends time at the process. Committee Member Funtleyder stated that he believes she gets it right because a lot of parents don't complain and say things. Chairman Zimmerman stated that the results show that 1146739.1 Janice gets it right because you don't usually have a team in any sport that is running through the program and crushing all the other teams. Janice knows these kids and their abilities well and she does a very nice job getting the teams evened out. Committee Member Berman said that Kyle has made it crystal clear from when he started that if you ask specifically for your kid to be with someone, he will absolutely make sure your kid is not with that kid. III. Superintendent's Report: a. Rye Brook's 291h Birthday Celebration Superintendent Bertolacci said Rye Brook's Birthday Celebration will be on Saturday, June 18`h at Crawford Park from 12:OOpm to 4:OOpm. The cost will be $3.00 a person for a hot dog, hamburger, chips, a drink and one raffle ticket. b. May Movie Night, May 20`h, Despicable Me Superintendent Bertolacci announced there will be Movie Night on May 20`h at 8:OOpm. The movie will be Despicable Me and will be shown at Pine Ridge Park. in case of rain, the movie will be held at Village Hall. The capacity at Village Hall is 126. Superintendent Bertolacci said that Village Hall is more centrally located than AJP and all the equipment is at Village Hall. Superintendent Bertolacci said we are two weeks into the baseball season. Kyle is doing stats for the major league teams. When Kyle gets all the information, he will ask to have it posted in the Westmore News. Chairman Zimmerman stated that he witnessed Rookie, Minor and Major League softball and baseball games, over the last two weekends and thought that the officiating was great and the kids were definitely having a great time. IV. Old Business 2011 Community Event (World Record Update) Committee Member Jablon asked how this Community Event came about. Chairman Zimmerman said it was part of the non-sports programming of the Recreation Department. In light of the recession we tabled the concept of a community center, a pool, etc. We tried to get some new ideas to better the Recreation Department. We thought about expanding to non-sports programming where we can get more community involvement in the Recreation Department. There was one suggestion of a community event to make a Guinness World Record attempt. The Guinness World Record sub-committee has met several times trying to work out all the issues. Committee Member Brettschneider came up with several possibilities, and trying to coordinate the event at Rye Brook's Birthday celebration where we would could maximize participants for the event. Committee Member Brettschneider has gone through all the Guinness rules and the approval process. Chairman Zimmerman received an e-mail stating that we were approved for the event (good news) but that a world record is a little more involved (bad news). Specifically, to set a record, a team has to stand on one leg for 2 minutes, cannot switch legs and cannot hold on to anything or each other. Another issue was that the event has to be videotaped. Chairman Zimmerman said that as a result, we need to do some research and will not be advertising this event for the Birthday Celebration. 1146739.1 a. Pitch, Hit and Run Committee Member Frankel said the Pitch, Hit and Run went fairly well for the kids that showed up. There weren't that many volunteers to help with the event. The next round for the winners of the first round will be held in Stamford on May 21 st Chairman Zimmerman said that the Pitch, Hit and Run is a great event. It was very well run even, even though just a couple of dozen kids showed up. We need to think about doing this event next year as part of the Opening Day of Little League to maximize participation. Each station takes less than a minute to do. Committee Member Carbone stated he was at the last Pitch, Hit and Run event. It was also picture day and it seemed that kids were sitting around waiting to start the stations. The major league teams went first and the minor league teams waited for 2 to 3 hours to get to do each station. Superintendent Bertolacci said there were a lot kids that year and it takes some time for all of them to do the stations. Committee Member Berman asked if there is a way that we can take the minor league teams one day at Garibaldi and the major league teams on a different day. Superintendent Bertolacci said the event has to be done at Pine Ridge Park because you need two fields. Chairman Zimmerman said there is no way we would do this event in the future if all we were able to get was the turnout we had this year. It is not worthwhile for Kyle to sit there all day waiting for someone to show up. There were only a few 5th graders and some 2nd graders. It's a good event if you can get a decent turnout. Having one Pitch, Hit and Run every 3 years doesn't drum up the buzz the event should have, it needs to have its own momentum. Chairman Zimmerman thought it would be a good idea if we can submit a picture of the winners of the Pitch, Hit and Run to the Westmore News. Superintendent Bertolacci said if we plan on having the Pitch, Hit and Run event, we will make it part of the registration process. b. Teen Night Committee Member Jablon stated that Cheryl Artabane followed up with a phone call to her regarding a schedule of Teen Nights for the school calendar. Superintendent Bertolacci said he did not speak with Cheryl but she may have spoken to Kyle. We do have extra money in the budget for next year to do more teen nights. We do plan on increasing that program for next year. V. New Business a. Girls Softball Chairman Zimmerman stated that he has heard some issues from several parents who have children in the 3rd and 4th grade softball program. The girls play two games each week — one 1146739.1 during the week and one on Saturday, but do not receive adequate skills instruction, other than a basic 10 minute warm-up before the game starts. There is not enough of a structure where the girls actually learn skills, positioning and get enough repetition from drills for them to get enough out of the program. Chairman Zimmerman suggested that the girls could play one game on the weekend and reserve the other weekday slot for a group practice with the other team. At the end of the season the girls would get some real positive instruction out of the program. Committee Member Berman said that in a normal season there is time to practice. This year we had a lot of rain and the fields weren't ready. The I" and 2nd grade Rookie Leagues has a 15 minute practice before each game. Chairman Zimmerman said that he told some of the girls softball coaches there is field space available for extra practice time. However, it is hard for coaches to dedicate more time, especially if commuting from the city. The question presented is whether the girls are better served by practice time to develop skills as opposed to two games weekly. Chairman Zimmerman suggested that Superintendent Bertolacci send an e-mail out to coaches saying that if they believed it was more important to give these girls some skills training, they could agree with other coaches to shorten or replace a weekday game with practice to enable the girls to get more out of the program. Superintendent Bertolacci said these coaches may not be making enough of an effort to organize practices for these kids and make this a positive program for them. Every Sunday there are fields available for their usage. Committee Member Berman suggested that Superintendent Bertolacci send an e-mail to the coaches explaining that there are fields available for practice if they would like to get the teams together other than a regular scheduled day game. Chairman Zimmerman said we also could make it easier for the coaches by saying that one of the two game days is dedicated to practice. This way there is no excuse for not giving more skills training to these girls. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that would cut a 12 game schedule to 6 games. What do we say to those kids that enjoy playing the games? Chairman Zimmerman said there is no requirement that says there is a 6 inning game. We could increase skills training and still have time for a 2 or 3 inning game. Committee Member Carbone asked if you can space the games out on Saturdays where you have 2 1/2 or 3 hours where you can tell the girls the game is at 2PM and we are going to practice at IPM. Superintendent Bertolacci said if it was the beginning of the season, it could have happened, but at this point in the season it can't happen. Committee Member O'Neil suggested that we hold a softball clinic. Superintendent Bertolacci stated there was a clinic offered this past weekend and the varsity softball girls helped out. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that there are 3 coaches per team and there has to be one coach that can run a practice. He will send an e-mail out the coaches suggesting there be a 1/2 hour instruction on a given weekday game and the coaches should work on some instructional skills and then play their game. b. Recognition of Outgoing Members 1146739.1 Chairman Zimmerman announced it was time to recognize our outgoing committee members. Superintendent Bertolacci has put together an award plaque for Committee Members Gutner and Kornblum. Superintendent Bertolacci said the first plaque is for recognition of Richard Gunner's service which says: "Presented to Richard Gutner, We appreciate your devotion to making our community great. Rye Brook is a better place due to your leadership and insight. We were fortunate for the opportunity to serve with you. Parks and Recreation Advisory Council 2011." The second plaque "Presented to Jeffrey Kornblum, We appreciate you devotion to making our community great. Rye Brook is a better place due to your leadership and insight. We were fortunate for the opportunity to serve with you. Parks and Recreation Advisory Council 2011." Richard Gutner said it has been an honor and a pleasure serving on this committee. Jeffrey Kornblum seconded what Richard said. Vi. Adjournment Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to adjourn the April meeting. Committee Member Berman made the 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 be held on June 7, 2011 at 8:30 p.m. 1146739.1