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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-08 - 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 January 8, 2008 CONVENE MEETING: Chairman Steve Schoen called the meeting to order at 8:05pm The following members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Steve Schoen, Cliff Shaw, Richard Gutner, Steve Epstein Kenneth Finder, and Jeffrey Kornblum, and Debra Tempesta Absent Council Members: Recreation Department Members Present: Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant 1. Minutes: Chairman Schoen asked for a motion to approve the November and December 2007 Minutes. Committee Member Gutner made a motion to approve the November 14, 2007 Minutes and Committee Member Kornblum seconded the motion. Chairman Schoen Yes Committee Member Shaw Yes Committee Member Gutner Yes Committee Member Epstein Yes Committee Member Kornblum Yes Committee Member Tempesta Yes Committee Member Finder Abstained Committee Member Gutner made a motion to approve the December 3, 2007 Minutes and Committee Member Kornblum seconded the motion. Chairman Schoen Yes Committee Member Shaw Yes Committee Member Gutner Yes Committee Member Epstein Yes Committee Member Kornblum Yes Committee Member Tempesta Yes Committee Member Finder Abstained 11. Public View Points There were no Public View Points. III. Basketball Subcommittee Report& Mandate Chairman Schoen stated that the basketball sub-committee was going to meet tonight before the Parks and Recreation Advisory meeting but some of the members couldn't make it. There were a couple of things we wanted to go over. This past weekend we started playing man to man defense for the second half of the games. We had discussed this when we had our meeting at the Posillipo Center a few months back. Chairman Schoen asked if any of the members heard any feedback or any problems or issues. A reminder was sent out to the coaches on Thursday before this went into affect and it was also in the rules. Chairman Schoen suggested we wait a few 1 weeks and e-mail the coaches for any feedback. We also wanted to talk about the draft process even though the process is good the way the teams are made up. Maybe some of the coaches have some thoughts on the draft process. Committee Member Shaw said he got a parent complaint from one of the 4th and 5th grade boy's teams. They had 7 kids on the team and 2 of the kids don't know how to play and they have no chance to compete and the other team had 9 kids on the team. The parents weren't sure how the ratings came out to equalize the team. Committee Member Epstein said with the draft process there is never more than one difference in terms of the number of kids on the team. Either a kid got hurt or backed out from the team. Committee Member Shaw said he was told that one of the lids that is a good player never shows up. Superintendent stated that if one team has nine players, the other team has eight. Committee Member Epstein stated that he has raised this issue before which there are situations where certain kids who sign up and don't have a serious commitment to rec. You could have a player on the team who is very good and is playing CYP, tennis etc. and doesn't show up for the rec game and it creates an imbalance on that team. Committee Member Epstein stated that assuming we are doing standings, an issue came up that a team had only 4 kids and finally a 5"' player did show up. But the question was if there were only 4 players, is it a forfeit? In the past we have always given a player from the other team to that team and let them play, however if we keep the standings, that should be a forfeit for that team with the 4 players. Superintendent stated that the standings are up on the Rye Brook website. Chairman Schoen suggested that we have copies of the standings each week and also e-mail the coaches with the standings. Committee Member Epstein stated that once you start keeping standings there will be more pressure on the coaches not to play the less good players if they are in a situation where the score is close. Committee Member Gutner stated that he had some complaints from coaches and parents of the 6' and 7' grade boys' team regarding Sunday's game. The score was 27 to 0 by the second period. The team that had 0 was missing their 3 best players. As soon as those other players showed up for the second half of the game, the final score was 47 to 39. The other coach just kept the same kids in the game and one of the parents asked why you don't tell the other kids not to shoot. The coach said I am playing the game like I play the game. I think it has to do with standings and it will probably come into play more and more and you are going to see higher scoring games. Committee Member Gutner said the biggest complaint is that 3 or 4 kids show up for a practice during the week. Committee Member Shaw said one of the reasons we did the standings was to make the league more important for the kids who don't show up but if that is not happening, then we should forget the standings and try something else. Committee Member Tempesta stated that last year the coach for her daughter's team was very good and she never documented it and this year the coach is really very bad and would have to write that the coach is really bad and document it. Chairman Schoen stated that one of the other points brought up was coach's evaluations. We should send the evaluations to all the coaches to distribute to their parents. Committee Member Tempesta said she understands how the teams are put together and make the teams fair as far as their skill level but its potluck when you're putting chemistry of a number of kids together and putting the kids together with the chemistry of the coach. It's human nature when a coach sees potential in a child and pays attention to that child. Committee Member Epstein stated that there is a child on the 6th and 7th grade team that has real severe emotional problems. He does not play at the level of the rest of the team. He is playing and getting an opportunity and that is what rec is all about. It's about taking each kid and making that experience special for that kid. Committee Member Tempesta stated that last 2 year her daughter was able to learn certain rules and it was a much better experience for her, unfortunately the chemistry isn't there this year. Chairman Schoen suggested that if an e-mail is sent to the parents with 5 or 6 evaluation questions, they may be more inclined to open it up and write a couple of sentences and send it back to the rec department. Committee Member Finder said with the soccer, parents that were disgruntled would fill out the form and those that really liked the coach and are friends with the coach would put in a good word and the ones in between don't do anything. Superintendent stated that most of the evaluations we get back are positive. Committee Member Epstein asked if Janice or John get a sense of who the coaches are where a connection isn't being made with their players. Superintendent stated that he has seen at least two games each week and there are two coaches both watching the game and there are 2 or 3 girls or boys sitting on the bench. One of those coaches should be talking to the players and telling them what to do and that is not happening. Superintendent said he would send an e-mail out to the coaches this week and make a point of telling the coaches to talk to the players and explain to the players where they should be and what they should be doing. Committee Member Shaw stated that the 8th and 9th grade boys program is great. The coaches are high school kids and it is just a great league that John put together. Superintendent said that is a tough group of kids to deal with. Committee Member Epstein asked how the staffing is with all the different venues. Superintendent stated that Janice has enough staff for all the different gyms. Committee Member Epstein commented on how well everyone reacted when one of the players got injured at the game two weeks ago. Chairman Schoen said if you look back in the Minutes, the basketball committee was basically mandated for a period of time, from sometime in the summer thru December to deal with some gym space issues. Do we want to mandate the basketball committee to be a fully functionally sub-committee the way the baseball sub-committee is? Committee Member Finder asked what the basketball sub-committee would do now that we are in mid-season. Chairman Schoen said basketball issues continue to come up during the season that the sub-committee can work out. We also discussed having some kind of an off-season basketball tournament. The committee met once a month before the basketball season started and about every 6 weeks after the season started. There has been discussion to get Manny Martinez or Mike Welsh to help get more involved in the program in terms of clinics. The basketball committee members are Superintendent Bertolacci, Chairman Schoen, Jeff Kornblum, Brian Grodin and Bill Golden. Committee Member Shaw suggested to extend that committee's term to December of this year and decide if it works, and then decide on a term after that. Superintendent suggested extending the basketball committee to June and make a recommendation from there. Committee Member Gutner stated that when the new season starts in the fall, you may want different people on the committee. Committee Member Epstein made a motion to recommend to Superintendent Bertolacci that the basketball sub-committee remain in existence for a term concluding at the end of June. Committee Member Gutner seconded the motion and all were in favor. IV.Superintendent's Report Chairman Schoen turned the meeting over to Superintendent Bertolacci to talk about the 2007 year's accomplishments, the budget, what the department wants to improve upon, and 2008 objectives. 3 a. Superintendent stated that he put together a list of some of the accomplishments for the year 2007: 1. Downsized the Little League sub-committee with staggering terms. 2. Used wood bats for the Little League. 3. Created a Rookie League for 1st& 2nd grade. 4. Held a Little League Public Forum in June. 5. Held Rye Brook's 25th Birthday Celebration. 6. Hosted Empire State Games. 7. Created Open Gym nights at BelleFair. S. Created a 2nd Grade Girls Basketball League. 9. Expanded basketball games to Port Chester High School and BelleFair gyms on Saturdays. 10. Adopted Credit Card system for payment. 11. Started keeping standings for the older basketball teams and playoff games for the older kids. 12. Installed sprinklers and drainage on the old field at Pine Ridge Park 13. Sprinkler system was completed at Garibaldi Park. 14. Had Movie Nights at Pine Ridge Park and Crawford Park. 15. Repaved the basketball courts at Pine Ridge Park. 16. Hired an additional Park Attendant. 17. Created a Basketball Task Force. Superintendent stated that these were the accomplishments for year 2007 with a summary of each item. 1. Downsizing of the Little League Committee - The committee was much more productive than our 15 member board. 2. Wood Bats - Wood bats seemed to work out fine. 3. Rookie League — The league worked out well. Some criticism was the length of the season. We will try to get started a little earlier this season and try to get the kids to get more out of the program. 4. Little League Public Forum— There was a decent turn out for the meeting. We received some good feedback and some of it will be implemented in this upcoming baseball season. 5. Rye Brook's 25th Birthday was a success. 6. Hosting Empire State Games was a success and went off without a hitch. 7. 2nd Grade Girls Basketball League — We have 4 teams with 24 girls. They played two weeks of games so far and seem to be doing ok. 8. Expanded basketball games to the Port Chester High School and BelleFair gyms on Saturday—Janice is not happy being in 3 different locations and can't be in all the places while the games are going on, but the additional basketball space will be beneficial to our program. 9. Credit Card Usage - With Superintendent's letter in the booklet, there were a lot of credit card payments. 10. Create a basketball committee- The basketball committee came up with some nice ideas. They were influential in getting the additional space at BelleFair. They came up with some changes to the existing rules. I thank that committee. 4 11. Sprinkler & Drainage at Pine Ridge Park Old Field — Received good comments on that field this year, it was probably in the best shape it has ever been in. 12. Sprinklers at Garibaldi — It was nice to see green at that park. Chairman Schoen asked how the outfield is at Garibaldi Park. Superintendent said the outfield was worked on and is level. 13. Movie Nights - The Movie Night after the Birthday Celebration was a little too much for that day or it may have been the movie that didn't attract the residents. The attendance at other two movies at Pine Ridge Park was great except for the lightning storm at the second movie. 14. Basketball Courts — The basketball courts at Pine Ridge Park look great. We will see how the courts look in a couple of years. 15. Park Attendant - Our new park attendant started two weeks ago. His duties would be lining field, cutting grass, picking garbage etc. 16. Scoreboard— The scoreboard at Pine Ridge Park is working and was used during the fall travel baseball season. 17. Pitch, Hit & Run — Pitch, Hit and Run is growing. It will be held again this year on opening baseball/softball day. b. 2008 Goals and Objectives: 1. The dugouts at Pine Ridge Park and Garibaldi Park need to be redone. 2. Fence in the entire field at Pine Ridge Park old Field with temporary fencing. 3. Put drainage at Rye Hills Park and fencing on the property lines. 4. Plant trees in all the parks. 5. Run the concession stand on the weekends. 6. Implement on-line registration and e-mail distribution lists. 7. Listen to proposals from the Little League sub-committee regarding travel baseball. 8. Listen to proposals on a youth flag football program. 9. Work on a mission statement for the Recreation Department. 10. Look into potential sites for a community center. 11. Continue to develop existing programs and create new initiatives. 12. Work with the Parks & Recreation Advisory Council and Village Board on establishing the scope of duties for this Council. 13. At the request of Village Trustee Paul Rosenberg, we also want to look into potential domes over the basketball courts and soccer field. Chairman Schoen stated that Future Stars in Armonk runs a day camp. There are indoor clay courts there, and an indoor bubble with turf The town owns the land but the facilities are run privately. It has been operating a long time and gets a lot of use. It's in a separate location, sort of set apart from the community. Superintendent asked the Council if they have any other suggestions that we should look into. Committee Member Tempesta suggested that we utilize the list we came up with and decide what we would want to accomplish from that list. Committee Member Tempesta stated that her interest would be in a community center. Chairman Schoen said we talked about a community center but we have not pursued it. Chairman Schoen said in 2004 the King Street field wasn't built yet and there was a push to try to do whatever needed to be done to get the field built and 5 working with Westchester County, the Village Board of Trustees and the government. Once the field was done, the message back from the Village Board was to focus on the programs because we don't have the appetite for another big project. While we did talk about the community center it was always in the background. Now that some time has past, people have seen all the benefits of having the King Street Field and the need for more space for all these programs and the fact that it was necessary. If you are going to run good programs that people want to participate in, it is probably a good time to think seriously about taking on this project and research it out. Committee Member Finder asked if anyone ever suggested building on top of the Village offices. Superintendent stated that he has suggested it. Superintendent said we talked about using the space next door before they built the firehouse. Chairman Schoen asked Superintendent what the top two or three things he would like to see improve going into this new year. Superintendent stated that he wants to get the on line registration going and is hoping by spring it will be up and working. Our existing RecTrac program can do it but it would be $25,000 to upgrade our current RecTrac. We are looking into another company at$3,000 a year and they do all the upgrades for free. There are a lot of companies out there but RecTrac is the top one. Committee Member Tempesta asked if we have the money to go with RecTrac. Superintendent said there is money in the Rec Trust but we want to be physically responsible, you just don't want to do something and have it not be what you want. We are waiting on Cit-e-net who does the Village's website to use us as a test case for their program in the spring. Hopefully, we could trouble shoot from there what we want in the spring and be fully operational in the fall. Superintendent said on an ongoing basis we have to look at our existing programs and think of new initiatives, most importantly the travel baseball and softball. Also, we would like to utilize the field for flag football. Also, we need to work on what the role of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council is as perceived by the Village Board. Chairman Schoen would like to add one thing which is facilities maintenance especially with our baseball program. We should strive to make sure the grass is always cut given the frequency of the ball games, the fields are lined for games, emergency tools, rakes, and quick dry is in the equipment boxes. Committee Member Shaw asked a question about defibrillators. Superintendent stated that he was waiting for information from the police because we are not certified to use them. Committee Member Tempesta said that a defibrillator is a machine that talks to you and you don't have to be certified to use it. The defibrillator will tell you whether or not the person has a pulse and its going to tell you to put the paddles on the victim, move away from the victim and hit a button. You can go to a CPR class which will give you the training to do it on a dummy. Committee Member Gutner stated that if the defibrillator is left at the field in the box the defibrillator comes in is not water tight. Committee member Finder said the machine can be hooked up in the bathroom where there is electric because it has to be charged. Committee Member Shaw said it is set up like a fire alarm box, you have to go in and break the glass and an alarm goes off. Committee Member Epstein stated when you talk about certification, are you concerned about liability issues? Committee Member Epstein said you put the paddles on the victim, and something happens to that person, the first reaction they are going to have regardless of whether it's your fault, you shouldn't have done it. I am not disagreeing we should have it, 6 but it should be used in a way that minimizes our potential liability. Committee Member Finder said that every rec coach should be trained on it because you can't rely on Bert, Janice, or John being there at every game. Committee Member Shaw said that the police are 5 minutes away. Committee Member Tempesta stated that she was trained to use a defibrillator. When you are put under pressure to use the machine, it is not like using it on a dummy. Whether you are trained or not trained to use the defibrillator, it is still a tremendous responsibility, and I do agree all the coaches should have some kind of CPR training, and some kind of defibrillator training. Chairman Schoen suggested doing the training a part of the coaches mandatory meeting. Committee Member Epstein said there are probably steps that certain jurisdictions go through to minimize the risks, and perform that protocol with speed so we can get the defibrillators out there. Lets make sure we are comfortable and have done everything to minimize the risks and to increase the benefits if we ever have to use it. Committee Member Tempesta said to call the American Cross and they will give you the necessary information on completing a course for first aid and CPR. Committee Members Finder and Tempesta have volunteered to do the research on the defibrillator. c. Budget Update Superintendent Bertolacci gave out a copy of last year's budget to the council for them to review. He is waiting on information for his budget from Janice and John. Chairman Schoen asked how you build something into the budget when you are talking about RecTrac, which is very expensive vs. an option that which is not as expensive. Superintendent stated that he gets estimates before submitting the item. He will speak with the village's IT man and get a better sense of where we are going and budget the appropriate amount for that line item. Committee Member Shaw asked if the budget is something the council needs to review. Superintendent stated that he is putting it out there in case there is something he is missing or a capital project that we need to do. Superintendent gave the council a copy of the budget to show what he puts in the budget, he doesn't always get. In last year's budget he asked for $100,000 in the parks budget and ended up with $85,000. We wanted to put a walking path at Garibaldi Park from the parking lot into the park. If you walk in there now you see the tire tracks from the police cars. The higher you go with your budget the more you get cut. Chairman Schoen asked how do you put in budget amounts if we decided to pursue the community center. Would you put any money in for surveys or other research? Superintendent stated that would go in the Capital Projects because it would be more than $12,000.00. Chairman Schoen asked about staffing going into the new-year. Superintendent said that we are ok with staffing the facilities we have right now. Committee Member Schoen asked if the day camp counselors wear the same shirts and same color every day. Superintendent said the counselors are given 2 staff shirts for the summer. The other days they can wear what they wish but are required to wear the staff shirt on trip days. Chairman Schoen asked if the Superintendent ever thought about making it a requirement for the counselors to wear the staff shirt everyday. Superintendent said that there special dress up days during each week of camp. Chairman Schoen stated that having them wear the staff shirt everyday creates professionalism and makes the counselors easily identifiable. If you go to any day camp you would see that. Committee Member Tempesta said at Purchase Camp, the staff has to wear that shirt everyday. Superintendent stated that the staff is given one collared shirt and one t-shirt. The counselors coordinate what shirt they wear on trip days. d. Flag Football (Youth) 7 Chairman Schoen said he didn't get a chance to speak with Chris Dutra, who coaches in the Sound Shore Youth Foundation League, which is the private Port Chester Flag Football and Tackle League. Some of the coaches of that league were getting together to talk about things that they can do in light of the experience that a lot of the different divisions had during the season last year. This is what prompted us of possibly considering having the program here. We should talk to them and maybe they can address some of the challenges they had this year. We can interview the i9 person so they can talk about their program and we can try and replicate the Sound Shore program for certain grades or combinations of grades. I don't think it would be a challenge to have a tackle football here in Rye Brook because it would be difficult to support. It's not about setting up a tackle football program, but a flag program. For a lot of kids, the only tackle football outlet is playing in the Sound Shore League and to the extent that parents or kids don't want to be playing tackle football when they hit the 3rd grade because that is their only option. It would be nice to have another option. The program would be played in the fall on Sunday afternoon. Committee Minder Finder asked if we would have enough kids for this program and what grades it would include. Chairman Schoen said the flag division in Port Chester is from kindergarten to 2nd grade and for tackle its 3rd thru 5th grader. Chairman Schoen's thoughts are that the kindergarten to 2nd grade is too big of an age dispersion to be competing against each other. There is also a big age dispersion for the tackle program. What if we can provide an option for those kids who want to play flag football? It doesn't have to be a huge league; it could be 20 kids interested. Chairman Schoen said he has heard that the parents involved in the Sound Shore program would like to see changes to that program or alternatives for the flag age kids. Chairman Schoen said that his son who is in the 4th grade was in the i9 program in the fall. He had a really good time. Committee Member Epstein's concern is that we will get into the same problems that you have with baseball and soccer. The flag football is a terrific program and there will probably be a desire for the program. Then the question is how to set it up. Will the child be able to play travel soccer and play flag football or will the child have to make a choice? Chairman Schoen stated that the core for flag football doesn't interfere with baseball or soccer because we are talking about kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders who aren't eligible for soccer or baseball. Would we want to expand that and make it available so you have two teams that are 3rd graders and 2 teams of 4th graders and they play each other? Committee Member Epstein said he would suggest that we try not to run up against the soccer program at Rye Rec on Saturday mornings because that is the training ground for the kids who don't go on to play travel soccer. Chairman Schoen asked Superintendent how he would get the word out for the flag football program. Superintendent said he would like to hear what 19 has to say before he makes any comments. It will all depend on the logistics and what facilities they would need. Superintendent suggested inviting the 19 personnel to the next meeting. Committee Member Shaw asked if renting the fields over at SUNY Purchase can be an option for us. Superintendent stated that we would get charged for using the field just as we charge them for using our field. Superintendent has never discussed a fee with them,but we charge them a non-resident rate. Committee Member Finder said that he looked into the use of the SUNY field but it was very expensive. Superintendent stated that Ridge Street School's soccer field will be ready for use next year. Committee Member Finder stated that the school isn't going to let anyone touch that field. Committee Member Epstein said that 1st and 2nd grade level are still hitting the ball off a 8 tee, will they be able to execute plays in football. Superintendent said there is a lot of running plays in the program. V. Brainstorming List Superintendent said he would go through the items discussed and give a summary of where we are with each one. a. Past Discussions 1. We discussed extending the basketball program to mid-March. We extended the program to the first weekend in March and added games during the practice session toward the end of the season. We can't go any further because of the start of the softball/baseball season. 2. Committee Member Epstein said that with the February vacation his team has three weeks in between his last game of the season and his next to the last game of the season. Will the 3rd and 4th grade girls show up after 3 weeks for the last game, because they don't have the playoffs? Chairman Schoen said it works out well for the 5th and 6th grade girls because they have dedicated playoff time a couple days in a row. 3. Frozen Ropes Alternative 4. Big Apple Baseball is about to open. Chairman Schoen said they didn't open yet. Superintendent said once they open he will set up a meeting with them to discuss our needs. 5. Teen Night Open Gym Nights for different age groups. This past fall we offered Friday nights at the Bellefair for different age groups. The only grade with a significant turnout was the kindergarten and 1st grade group. Superintendent didn't know if it was just the timing or the word didn't get out for the other grades. Superintendent stated that we intend run the program again next year. 6. Youth Lacrosse We hosted a Lacrosse camp last summer. The contractor notified us that for this summer he would not be using our facility. This spring the Blind Brook High School will be starting boys Lacrosse. Superintendent stated that he would set up a meeting with Jim Spano and see if we can offer a Lacrosse program using our facility. 7. Stats and Standing for 5th grade and up. The standings are being kept for this current basketball season and we are having a playoff format. We will revisit this issue after the season. 8. Can Travel Co-Exist in spring? Superintendent said absolutely not! 9. Coach/Kid or Coach/Coach end of the season - Something can be done here. We can even take another step and form an All Star game at the end of the season. We can discuss this at Little League. Committee Member Epstein said you don't want to have kids pitching to adults. 10. Eliminate blue line rule in 4th grade basketball. Issue was discussed at the basketball committee meeting and the revised rule has addressed this issue. Basically, we said there is no stalling at the end of the game. The team with the ball must continue to penetrate the markers described above and play offense as it normally would. 11. On-Line Registration— The Village is working diligently to have this option available for spring 2008. 12. On Line Brochure Access - The last existing brochure is available for each publication on our website. 9 13. Credit Card Payments—This option is currently available. b. New Programs To Discuss Superintendent stated that the next program comments were, tennis tournaments, basketball tournament, baseball games, parent child activities,parent/child stick ball tournament, swim program, Frisbee golf, field hockey, sailing through Greenwich, Rye or Larchmont, fishing program at the Keyhole property, family golf outing. Superintendent stated that he will talk with Arrowwood about a golf outing. Committee Member Epstein stated that we don't have a lot of families that belong to Country Clubs because there are so many activities around. It would be great if we could have a family golf outing. Committee Member Epstein suggested looking into the golf courses at Saxon Woods or Maple Moor because they are public. c. Facilities 1. Committee Member Gutner stated that we discussed putting a bubble over the courts. 2. Chairman Schoen said that a Rec Center was priority number one. 3. Superintendent said we wanted to elevate the bleachers at the athletic field. 4. Make the travel uniforms consistent 5. Teen Center—Do a land acquisition or renovate the Anthony J. Posillipo Center. 6. King Street field lights. 7. Use of the Girls/Boys club of Greenwich. 8. Use of Rye YMCA 9. BelleFair Gym time that has already been addressed 10. Basketball space—Already discussed with Port Chester and using their facility. 11. Carver Center 12. Greenwich Civic Center 13. Refurbish Pine Ridge Park playground 14. Fitness Center at Village Hall 15. Annual request for proposal for t-shirts,jerseys,hats, socks and jackets. Superintendent stated that is what was on our facilities,buildings, fields and equipment list. Chairman Schoen asked if we want to discuss the bubble or postpone it for the next meeting. Committee Member Gutner stated that Village Trustee Rosenberg wanted to talk about the bubble item. Superintendent said he would like to discuss some of the research he did at the town offices. Superintendent stated that in preparation for tonight's meeting, I went to the town offices and looked through Mrs. Crawford Will. Superintendent showed the committee a survey of the property. It shows one section which is the Ridge Street corridor of the property. The survey shows the old house that was knocked down which is to the left-hand side of the driveway. At the top of the survey is the park portion where the mansion is located. At the right hand side of the driveway is for municipal purposes. It is not defined in the Will of what municipality or what municipal use it would be used for. In the Will it states, By way of illustration and not limitation, the use of buildings or improvements constructed on the Ridge Street parcel as a fire house, police station including a court room or overnight lock up facilities or for administrative offices of the town or any subdivision thereof shall not be deemed to be a use which is inconsistent or incompatible with use of the park parcel. To the left side of the driveway, the Town of Rye purchased from the Jehovah Witnesses so there wouldn't be any limitations on that as far as doing anything. Superintendent said as far as he can see something can be done on that 10 property. Superintendent said he was waiting to speak with Ed Beane, Village Attorney, to get his legal opinion on the actual Will. Superintendent said having a community center with a pool behind it with a country club atmosphere would be perfect for this village. Superintendent said we need to establish the need to the Village Board whether it be for a basketball/community center or swimming pool or what we think we need. We have to establish a need for such a facility. Then we need to work out something with the town whether it is a land swap with Elm Hill Park so they can build their garage, an IMA or a purchase agreement with the town. The Village should hire an architect to plan out our needs to what we have available. Superintendent spoke to Scott Hughes to give us a schematic of what can go there. Superintendent's suggestion is to use Scott Hughes or we can do an RFP from an architect. Committee Member Shaw stated that the idea is great but his concern is that when word gets out, you are going to have every neighbor within 2 miles complaining. Chairman Schoen said that having a rec center or a pool can be a benefit to our community. Chairman Schoen stated that for basketball purposes, it would allow us to consolidate some of our use of facilities that we currently have. Committee Member Finder said that you need to have Council look at what gives Rye Brook the right to build there, or Port Chester, or Rye Neck. Committee Member Finder said that the new Council is looking into making changes to Crawford Park like moving the roadway which is part of the global plan they have for the park. Chairman Schoen asked if the Council wanted to discuss item# 6, which is Advisory's Council's Purposes and Duties as per Village Code. Chairman Schoen stated that if changes are to be made, it will be a long process. Chairman Schoen said at the next meeting the first topic will be the Village Code, facilities, and what the Council may do to help you. Also, we can discuss flag football if agreed. Superintendent stated that we have time to discuss flag football. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council will be On March 4, 2008 at 8:OOpm. Committee Member Shaw stated that there is one more issue to address before we adjourn. Committee Member Shaw stated that Superintendent received an e-mail from Nikki Weiss, Ethan Weiss's mother. She wants to run the Pitch, Hit and Run. She feels that she doesn't work and she could do it better than we can. Even though we did a good job, she has a kid in the program and feels she could do it better. Basically, I asked Superintendent to send her an e-mail saying that it's being done the same way as the previous years. We have been successful running this program and would like to continue doing so and Mrs. Weiss can volunteer to help out if she would like to. Committee Member Shaw said he received a call from Pitch, Hit and Run on Friday and was told that Nikki Weiss is registered to do the Pitch, Hit and Run on her own and she is going under the name of Rye Brook Travel Baseball. Committee member Gutner stated that her child doesn't even play on Rye Brook Travel Baseball. Committee member Shaw's concern is that if she does it as well as we do, she is going to take kids away from the program. It's in the brochure that we are doing it on" Opening Day" and it is a nice part of our program. Committee Member Shaw said anyone can call up and register, but the kids can only do one event. Committee Member Shaw spoke with a woman in Atlanta and explained to her we are 11 running the Pitch, Hit and Run as part of a program and it's not really right that Nikki Weiss is going to do it as well. The woman said that anyone can call and say whatever they want and do whatever they want. Superintendent stated that he will take care of the issue. Chairman Schoen asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. A motion was made by Committee Member Finder and seconded by Committee Member Epstein and all approved. Minutes prepared by Carmella Swick. 12