Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-11-03 - 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 November 3, 2009 CONVENE MEETING: Chairman Marc Zimmerman called the meeting to order at 8:30 p.m. The following members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Marc Zimmerman, Jeffrey Kornblum, Ken Frankel, Richard Gutner Glenn Brettschneider, Steve Schoen, Kevin O'Neil, Sari Jablon Absent Council Members: Debra Tempesta Parks & Recreation Advisory Council Liaison: Michael Brown, Village of Rye Brook Trustee Recreation Department Members Present: Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Cannella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant Village of Rye Brook Residents: Michael Borrelli, 175 Betsy Brown Road Robert Hauryluck, 14 Ridge Boulevard I. Minutes: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to accept the September 15, 2009 Minutes. Committee Member Gutner made a motion to accept the September 19, 2009 Minutes and Committee Member Jablon seconded the motion. All approved and the Minutes were accepted. Committee Member Schoen abstained from voting. Chairrman Zimmerman asked for a motion to accept the October 6, 2009 Minutes as amended by Committee Member O'Neil. Committee Member Gutner made a motion to accept the October 6, 2009 Minutes as amended and Committee Member Jablon seconded the motion. All approved and the October Minutes were accepted. Committee Member Schoen abstained from voting. II. Public View Points: Rye Brook resident Michael Borelli, 175 Betsy Brown Road, emphasized that he is present to offer strictly his own view points. Issue 1 - Dog Poo: Having coached Rye Brook Travel Baseball for 3 seasons and used Pine Ridge Park extensively, Mr. Borelli is aware that there is dog poo all over the park and the fields. Mr. Borelli confronted a woman walking her dog at the new field who was using the fenced in field as a dog run. The woman told Mr. Borelli to mind my own business. Mr. Borelli twice called the Rye Brook Police about the dog poo issue. Mr. Borelli wishes to see no dogs on the fields, in the play areas or the big area in front of the park, and considers the issue a major problem. He has many photos of the poo as proof, and has sent the photos to Trustee Rosenberg. 1 1098221.1 Committee Member Gutner stated that he knew of a resident getting a summons because her dog was defecating in the park and that there are signs posted in the park that say"no dogs allowed." Committee Member Schoen stated that this issue has come up before the Village Trustee level. It has been discussed at several meetings and publicly on TV. Superintendent said that it is his understanding that no unleashed dogs are allowed in the parks. Committee Member Schoen said the Village Code states no dogs are allowed in the park unless you have permission to walk your dog in the park. Superintendent Bertolacci said dogs should only be allowed in passive parks. Mr. Borelli stated that he and his family would be willing to pay for some signage for the parks. Issue 2 - Fees Charged for Various Programs Run by Other Organizations: Mr. Borelli reiterated that this issue is strictly his own personal viewpoint as a taxpayer. Mr. Borelli stated that he believes that Rye Brook children should not be required to pay to use the Village tennis courts or fields. He believes this is a topic that needs to be discussed because of the many different children's programs going on in the village and the corresponding amount of money Rye Brook parents are paying for our children who participate in the programs. Mr. Borelli acknowledged that taxpayers significantly fund senior citizens' use of the senior center, and that it was his opinion that there should be similar funding for the Rye Brook children programs -- even though the money would be coming out of our pocket at the end of the day. Mr. Borelli said he believed the discussion of this issue should begin at this meeting as opposed to the trustee meetings. Chairman Zimmerman asked Mr. Borelli if he was proposing that Rye Brook residents not pay field fees for all children's recreational activities. Mr. Borelli said that he believed that If adults were involved in a program, they should pay field fees, but that where kids were involved (whether baseball, lacrosse, tennis etc.), there should not be any charge for field fees - although he did not think it was unreasonable to pay a fee for the parks crew to line the soccer and baseball fields. Chairman Zimmerman asked Mr. Borelli how the Village would pay for the upkeep of the fields that are being used free of charge. Mr. Borelli said that it would be paid by every taxpayer reaping the benefits of the programs that are going on in these fields — including the increased property value to every taxpayer associated with the eligibility to participate in these programs. Mr. Borelli said that his home is worth what it is because of the tremendous programs offered by the Village. Chairman Zimmerman asked Mr. Borelli if his proposal includes not charging fees for outside Village contractors such as Elite Soccer, Life Time Racquets, and any other programs that are using our fields. Mr. Borelli said that field fees should not be charged if the programs or fields are being used by our residents, but that non-residents should be charged. Mr. Borelli stated that he was seeking information from the Westchester County Parks Department regarding the fee structure of our turf field. Mr. Borelli also stated that he will go the Board of Education with the same issues regarding the use of the school facilities. 2 1098221.1 Trustee Brown noted that the County does not care what fees the Village charges for the turf field, and that the Village may double the resident fee for non-residents. The Village wants to promote Rye Brook usage where we can. Issue 3 — Field Usage on Holidays: Mr. Borelli stated he was aware of issue regarding playing a baseball game on a Pine Ridge Park field on Rosh Hashanah. Apparently a resident spoke with the Village Administrator about not using the field on Yom Kippur. Mr. Borelli believed that the Village Administrator told the Superintendent of Recreation to inform the Rye Brook Travel Baseball Club that it could not use the Pine Ridge Park baseball field on Yom Kippur. Mr. Borelli strongly believed that no Village or government should get involved with closing any public property for any religious purpose. Mr. Borelli asked whether Rye Brook Travel Soccer was notified, if the playground, tennis courts and basketball courts also were closed for the day, and whether the police notified to enforce the closure. Issue 4 — Overage Charges for Field Fees to Rye Brook Travel Baseball Club: Mr. Borelli stated his own observation that (a) the Village charged the Rye Brook Travel Baseball Club for field use overages, and (b) the Club was charged the same field fees for practices and games, although the fields were not prepped for practices. Mr. Borelli suggested that the Village issue a refund to the Club to be used for other Club purposes. Trustee Brown stated that any fee structure discussion or change would be a Village Board issue and suggested that it be discussed with Chris Bradbury and Superintendent Bertolacci. He added that if one private organization is given a cut rate, any other organization that rents the field has to get the same rate. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that when a resident rents one of our facilities, we do not prep the area for their use. Mr. Borelli said that if he rented the field for his son's birthday party and he got hurt because the field was not maintained, he would sue everybody. Committee Member O'Neil suggested that Mr. Borelli get some information from other jurisdictions on how they run their programs and fees. Superintendent Bertolacci said that the Rye Brook Travel Baseball Club has spoken with Chris Bradbury about some issues with rain dates but other then that, he has not heard anything else from the Club on this issue. Chairman Zimmerman stated (1) the issue of the dog poo would be put back on the Agenda for the next meeting; (2) The Village Board is the proper body to determine the field fee structure; (3) we can discuss whether there is any reason to close fields to the public on holidays or other days other than for maintenance reasons; and (4) we have not heard any issue from the Rye Brook Travel Baseball Club concerning overage fees charged by the Village, and think such issue also is for the Village Board. Chairman Zimmerman invited Mr. Bore]li to the Parks &Recreation Advisory meeting in December. Rye Brook Resident Robert Hauryluck, 14 Ridge Boulevard, emphasized that he is speaking only his own views and asked who sets the fees for the fields. 3 1098221.1 Trustee Brown stated that the fees are set during the budget meetings which take place in March. Mr. Hauryluck asked whether there is a priority order if multiple organizations wanted to use the field at the same time. Superintendent Bertolacci said the turf field is first come, first served, and the department determines who is using the field on a day to day basis. Mr. Hauryluck asked if there is a time frame when the field can be utilized and are there any restrictions regarding holidays. Superintendent said the turf field opens at 9:00am. As far as any restrictions for a holiday, that will have to be determined. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would put the issue of priority usage for the Village fields on the committee's agenda for the next meeting. III. Basketball Committee: Committee Member Schoen said the basketball sub-committee met by conference call a week ago, and discussed whether the sub-committee should see and assess the teams before the coaches call the players in order to offer feedback on the fairness of the teams. The basketball sub-committee also agreed to change the mandatory rule for man to man play in the second half of the game to the coach's choice. Chairman Zimmerman stated that there has been a concern expressed for 2nd and 3rd grade basketball teams that there is a significant teaching benefit to having an experienced referee as opposed to a rec employee referee the younger kids games. IV. Superintendent's Report: a. Harkness Park Drain Line: They are at a stand still because they ran into a fiber optic line to the high school. The actual drain has to go either under it (which won't have any pitch and leave the water nowhere to go), or the fiber optic company has to come in to raise the lines so the job can be finished. b.Rye Hills Park Drainage: We are looking at alternate ways to do the project, ie, with Village staff at a lesser cost. c. Recreation Basketball: i.Number of participants: 316 Boys and Girls in grade 2 through 7rh ii.Number of Teams: 39 teams iii.Overview of Program: No professional jerseys, 9 to 10 game schedule. regular refs for all games, games start on December 5th and are played on Friday, Saturday and Sundays. Practice starts the 16th of November. 2nd and 3rd grade games will start two weeks later. 2nd and 3rd grade will have a 30 minute practice and a 45 minute game. Games will run through February break. Committee Member O'Neil stated that he was at a meeting at the Blind Brook School and Jim Spano, Athletic Director, said they would be offering with the rec department a basketball program for middle school age children. Superintendent Bertolacci stated there is an existing Rye Brook Recreation Basketball program open to 8t11 and 9th grade boys that runs on Saturdays at the Blind Brook High 4 1098221.1 School. The high school boy's varsity teams coaches the 8th and 9th grade boy's basketball program. Superintendent Bertolacci said he and Jim Spano are talking more about the spring programs rather than the winter programs because the winter programs are status quo. Superintendent said that he is looking into having a Babe Ruth League with ages 13 to 15 in the spring to give non-travel participants a chance to play baseball. The parents would be the coaches. iv. Late Registration: 2 residents signed up late and paid the late penalty. d.Recreation Booklet: i. Advisory Council Statement: Superintendent would like to add a statement in his letter stating the following: "The Rye Brook Parks and Recreation Advisory Council holds monthly meetings that are open to the public. The minutes of the meetings also are available to the public on the Village website. Members of the community are welcome and encouraged to attend our meetings and express their viewpoints towards the betterment of the community's recreation programs.,, ii.Mail or On-Line Superintendent Bertolacci asked for feedback from the council regarding whether the recreation brochure should continue on line or whether it should be mailed individually to residents. Chairman Zimmerman asked Superintendent Bertolacci how the number of participants in recreation department programs now that the brochure is online compares with the number registered for programs when the brochure was mailed out. Superintendent Bertolacci said the number of participants signed up for programs are about the same. The only issue is getting out the information for a special event. The cost savings are $6,000 at 3 times a year. The only issue is catching the new people coming into the community and the new kids coming into kindergarten in September. Trustee Brown said that one of the things the Village is working on with the tech is to make our website more accessible for e-mails. The residents could go on line and sign up and when the Village has an e-mail to send out the residents who are signed up to the website will receive the e-mails. Once we start sending out e-mails we think the word will get around and the residents will want to sign up. Chairman Zimmerman asked if they are signed up on the Village website are those residents part of the recreation data base. Trustee Brown said right now we have three things you can sign up for Planning Board issues, Board of Trustees meeting and Agenda or you can sign up for general mail. The benefit of having a global base is the ability to capture a full audience. Superintendent Bertolacci stated to Trustee Brown that if he puts something together about residents signing up, he will put the statement in the winter brochure. V.OId Business: a. Men's Basketball: Committee Member Frankel stated that he doesn't have any update on the program. 5 1098221.1 b. Community Center: This issue has been tabled. c. Little League (Metal vs. Wood Bats) This issue has been tabled until the December meeting. d. Recreation Council Scope: Chairman Zimmerman stated that the Council is still discussing whether the Advisory Council needs to approach the Village Board with some formal determination as to whether we should be doing something more or what we are doing as an Advisory Board is satisfactory to the community. This issue was tabled. VI. New Business: There is no New Business. VII. Adjournment: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10; 40pm. Committee Member Gutner made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Committee Member Kornblum seconded the motion and all approved. The next Parks and Recreation Advisory Council meeting will be held on December 1, 2009 at 8:30pm, Village Hall. Minutes prepared by Carmella Swick. 6 1098221.1