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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-11-02 - 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 November 2,2010 Convene Meeting: Chairman Marc Zimmerman called the meeting to order at 8:35pm. The following Members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Marc Zimmerman, Ken Frankel, Richard Gutner Kevin O'Neil, Glenn Brettschneider,Jeffrey Kornblum Jamie Schutzer,Adam Berman Absent Council Members: Sari Jablon Recreation Department Member: Robert Bertolacci, Parks &Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant Trustee Michael Brown,Parks & Recreation Liaison I. Minutes: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to accept the October 5, 2010 Minutes. Committee Member Gutner made a motion to accept the October 5, 2010 Minutes and Committee Member Berman seconded the motion. The October 5,2010 Minutes were approved and all accepted. II. Public View Points: Committee Member Schutzer asked Superintendent about the gate in the dugout at Pine Ridge Park's new field. Committee Member Schutzer said the clasp doesn't hold the gate closed. Superintendent Bertolacci said the clasp on the gate will be addressed by the spring season. Chairman Zimmerman questioned whether Pine Ridge Park was being closed at dusk on Halloween night to prevent kids go into the park. Chairman Zimmerman remarked that he recalled the park being open for a supervised shaving cream/mischief marathon. Superintendent Bertolacci said the park wasn't always closed on Halloween. Chairman Zimmerman asked if there was any thought to open the park with supervision for an hour to let the lids do their thing and close the park after that. Chairman Zimmerman said there was some positive response on the work done at Garibaldi Park. Chairman Zimmerman commented on how much better the park looks, but the dirt still had potentially dangerous areas in and around the infield. Superintendent Bertolacci said the work at Garibaldi Park is finished and the sod that was planted will get cut down in the spring. Committee Member O'Neil asked if the bases at Garibaldi Park were put away for the season. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that Rye Brook Travel Baseball didn't notify the Recreation Department that Rye Brook Travel was using Garibaldi Park for the Rookie League program. Committee Member Schutzer said that other teams that come to play on our fields have commented that our fields are the best to play on. 1131236.1 III. Superintendent's Report a. Basketball Season Superintendent Bertolacci reported that there are over 300 kids in the basketball program, down about 15 from last year. Superintendent Bertolacci said the basketball season will begin the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Janice is waiting for information on the other basketball schedules before scheduling the recreation games. Committee Member Berman said he would e-mail the AAU schedule to Janice. Superintendent Bertolacci said that practices will start in about 2 weeks. IV. Old Business: a. Basketball Committee Report: Jeff Kornblum Committee Member Kornblum reported that the basketball sub-committee met and recommended to Chairman Zimmerman that Committee Member Berman be appointed to the basketball sub-committee. Chairman Zimmerman has accepted the recommendation of sub-committee Chairperson Kornblum to appoint Committee Member Adam Berman to the basketball sub-committee. Committee Member Kornblum recommended at the sub-committee meeting: 1. That man to man defense for the older grades is at the coach's discretion for the second half of the season. For the first half of the season, 4d'grade and up must play zone. 2. All jewelry including silly/rubber band bracelets must be removed. 3. Committee Member Kornblum reported that someone mentioned not keeping score during the 2nd and 3rd grade basketball games. Committee Member Kornblum stated that last year two young girls were keeping score for the 2IId/3rd grade basketball game. They gave one team extra points and the other team less points and the kids that were scoring knew what was going on and they were getting upset. We ended up telling the scorekeeper to turn off the scoreboard,which was not a big issue, since all the kids usually know what the score is. Committee Member Berman said that during the discussion the point brought up was that the 2 graders have never played before and they are intimidated by the 3rd graders. This is a learning experience for the 2nd graders, and that there would be less pressure on kids and coaches if the score was not kept. Committee Berman stated that he has seen scores that were 10 to 0, at which point they would usually stop keeping the scoreboard for the team with the 10 points. Superintendent Bertolacci said kids play basketball at home without a scoreboard. In a basketball program, having a scoreboard makes the basketball program more official. Superintendent Bertolacci's opinion is that if a team is up by 10 points, shut the scoreboard off. If it is early in the game, you can turn it back on for the next quarter at zero to zero. Committee Member Berman suggested that we clarify that point with the coaches and the scorekeepers before the start of the season. if there is a problem during the season, Janice can send out another e-mail to remind the coaches and the scorekeepers that the coach can get in trouble and the game can be shut down. Chairman Zimmerman reiterated that if the point spread is 15 points,the scoreboard should be shut down. Committee Member Berman suggested that we come up with a set policy regarding scoring so Superintendent Bertolacci can e-mail out to everyone so there is no misunderstanding. Chairman Zimmerman asked the committee if there is any problem with the coaches' discretion playing man to man the second half of the season. Committee Member Berman said the problem with man to man defense is that it takes excessive time to line the kids up to see who they are guarding. Chairman Zimmerman said the real concern is the difficulty of the less skilled players to pass the ball. It is easier for an unskilled player to run around and play defense, and much more difficult for such player on offense to dribble or pass the ball to avoid a defensive player that is right up in your face playing man- 1131236.1 to-man defense. While we leave it to coaching discretion, different coaches have different ideas about winning and losing and therefore it should be up to the referee to tell the coach to drop out of man to man defense if it appears to be providing an unfair advantage and inability to run an offense. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that if the team is winning by 10 points or less, with two minutes to go you can press. b. Community Events 1. Fall/Winter Indoor Movie Night Committee Member Schutzer said the Movie Night in the Park was well attended. He suggested bringing the movie indoors for the winter. Superintendent Bertolacci said there will be a Movie Night on Friday, December 10"' at the Anthony J. Posillipo Community Center. Superintendent Bertolacci reported that we have the equipment needed to show the movie, so the only cost will be the$250 license to show the movie. Committee Member Schutzer suggested maybe a Toy for Tots Drive on Movie Night. Superintendent Bertolacci said that someone in Village Hall usually collects Toys for Tots every year. Committee Member Schutzer suggested coordinating with that person and collecting the toys together. Superintendent Bertolacci said the recreation department will either send out an e-mail or a post card with the information on Movie Night. c. Keeping Pine Ridge Park Clean Committee Member O'Neil asked if Frank gave a list of items he would like to add to the budget for the maintenance of the parks. Superintendent Bertolacci said that Frank Errigo will sit down with him before budget time. 1. Status of Updated Signs to be Placed Around Pine Ridge Park Outlining Dog Walking Rules. Chairman Zimmerman reported that there have been a couple comments from the public about the status of the updated signage in Pine Ridge Park. Some community residents said they would be willing to donate some of the signs for the park. Superintendent Bertolacci said the signage in the park will be updated during the winter months. 2. Removal of Garbage Bin from Pine Ridge Park Road near Recycling Bin Trustee Brown said the recycle bin was located near the basketball court. Superintendent Bertolacci said the recycling bin will be back where it belongs by the end of the week. V. New Business Chairman Zimmerman had asked the counsel at last month's meeting to think about some community events that we can discuss for community involvement. Committee Member O'Neil suggested a volleyball marathon for a charity. Committee Member O'Neil said you get some teams together and you play for 24 hours for charity. Another idea is some variation of the Amazing Race. Chairman Zimmerman asked what facility we would be able to use. Superintendent Bertolacci said probably the high school gym but we would probably get billed for usage, or maybe the Bellefair gym. 1131236.1 Chairman Zimmerman said that it was possible that the school would waive its charge if the program was to raise funds for a charity. Chairman Zimmerman asked Superintendent Bertolacci to reach out to the school to find out if it is a possibility to use the school for a charity fundraiser. Committee Member Brettschneider said he thought the idea of a Halloween event/parade brought up at last month's meeting was a good idea for next year. We have a whole year to plan for it. a. Spring Volleyball Clinic—Lower and Middle School Girls Committee Member Brettschneider said that last year an older girl's volleyball program was implemented which was very well attended. Committee Member Brettschneider thinks we should start the volleyball program for the girls in the 5th and 6th grades. Superintendent Bertolacci said we had a girls' volleyball program for grades 5d, 6`h and 7d' grade in February when there was some gym space. Superintendent Bertolacci said there were only 2 girls that registered. Committee Member Brettschneider thinks that the junior varsity and modified girls would sign up. Committee Member Brettschneider said he would talk to Coach Whitman who coaches the junior varsity volleyball team to see if there is an interest. Committee Member Gutner said by starting the volleyball program at an earlier age, when the girls do get to the modified level,they have a better understanding of the sport. Committee Member Brettschneider said he would look into when volleyball programs typically start. Superintendent Bertolacci said the problem would be gym space because of our basketball program. Chairman Zimmerman said the girls in the community are really getting involved with the rec teams, soccer and basketball. The volleyball program would be another positive athletic program for them to do during the winter cold months. Superintendent Bertolacci said he might be able to fit the volleyball program on Saturday afternoon in the middle school gym. Chairman Zimmerman suggested a weekly e-mail to go out to the residents letting them know about the volleyball program that will be going on sometime in February. Chairman Zimmerman suggested keeping the Volleyball Clinic on the agenda under Old Business. b. Spring Baseball - Looking Ahead at How to Split/Combine 1St and 2nd Grade Boys and Girls Chairman Zimmerman said over the past two years there have been different thoughts and a lot of discussion about splitting up the 1't and 2nd grade boys Rookie League baseball. Chairman Zimmerman said that the present 2nd grade now likely is more girl than boy populated. Looking ahead, the question is whether to split the grades and/or the teams by gender. If we split the grades, we would end up with fewer 2nd grade boys' teams,but perhaps more 2nd grade girls' teams. Chairman Zimmerman said there was a strong feeling last year that more girls played baseball if they were offered an all girls team. There was not a huge difference in skill except for a few of the better players, and often times,the all girls teams whipped the boys' teams. Superintendent Bertolacci said that the biggest reason we switched was because some of the 2nd graders were top notch athletes and it posed some danger for the 1"graders. 1131236.1 Chairman Zimmerman stated that we would still have that conversation because there will be better and potentially stronger 2nd grade kids who pose a danger to 1't graders. VI. Ajournment: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Committee Member Brettschneider made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Committee Member Berman seconded the motion. All approved. The meeting adjourned at 9:50pm. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council will be held on December 7, 2010 at 8:30pm. Minutes prepared by Cannella Swick 1131236.1