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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-07-09 - 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 July 9, 2008 CONVENE MEETING: Chairman Steve Schoen called the meeting to order at 8:40pm The following members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Steve Schoen, Richard Gutner, Debra Tempesta Ken Frankel, Jeffrey Kornblum, Sari Jablon and Marc Zimmerman Absent Members: Steven Epstein and Glen Brettschneider Recreation Department Members Present: Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant Paul Rosenberg, Village Trustee & Liaison to Parks & Recreation Department 1. Minutes: Chairman Schoen asked for a motion to approve the Minutes for June 3, 2008. Committee Member Richard Gutner made a motion to approve the June 3, 2008 Minutes and Committee Member Jeff Kornblum seconded the motion and all approved. 11. Public View Points: There were no Public View Points. 111. Superintendent's Report a. Birthday Celebration Superintendent Bertolacci stated that the Rye Brook Birthday Celebration took place on June 14th. We had the Port Chester and Rye Brook fire departments cut up a car for a demonstration. The bomb squad did a demonstration. Funds were down somewhat for this year. Probably sometime in January, we will start working on 2009 sponsorship for the birthday. If anyone is interested in helping out it would be greatly appreciated. Committee Member Gutner asked if the people that have tables set up pay for the spot. Superintendent stated that whoever had a table set up at the birthday usually would contribute with volunteers. Superintendent said for next year's celebration some changes would be to have a few different rides. Some events you can't change such as the rock wall, bouncing castle, water balloons, slide and the dunking machine. If there were more funding we could have bigger rides. The more sponsors we get the more attractions we could get. I Superintendent said we need to work on a letter and make phone calls. You want to go after the bigger businesses because they give you the big money. Chairman Schoen stated that for next year's celebration, we will get a sub-committee together to help get the sponsorship started earlier. You don't want to hit on the same businesses that we have hit on in the past and you have lots of different entities hitting on basically the same businesses for sponsorship. Committee Member Zimmerman suggested in "A battle of the Bands" that would draw an older crowd, i.e. for older lids, but I don't know if that would work liability wise. Superintendent Bertolacci thought that would be a good topic to discuss for a Teen Night program. Chairman Schoen stated that the Recreation Department does a great job each year and it is a very important event that brings people together. b. Travel Baseball Superintendent Bertolacci said the travel baseball completed their spring season with no complaints. After last month's meeting, Superintendent went to their placement meeting. The travel club tried to reach out to everyone who tried out. There were 9 kids that weren't placed on a team and the travel club created a rookie program for those kids in the summer which is instructional and they play games on Saturdays. The travel club will announce their fall team the second week in August. Superintendent Bertolacci followed up with Big Apple Baseball and was told if there are kids that don't make the team and they are interested and don't mind paying a higher fee, they will take those kids into the program. The fee for Big Apple is $600.00 and $225.00 for Rye Brook Travel Baseball Club. There are options out there for the kids interested in playing baseball if they don't make the fall travel team. Chairman Schoen asked Superintendent Bertolacci if the travel club had any request of what they would like to have done by the Recreation Department. The travel club asked for the connection to our sprinkler system. Our Village Administrator, Chris Bradbury is working on that issue to see if there would be any concerns raised with our unions to see whether our parks staff have to be using our equipment or whether we sub it out. Trustee Rosenberg stated that they just want to hose down the field before games. There also was an issue with garbage that wasn't dumped at the Blind Brook School field, the fields weren't lined. Superintendent Bertolacci spoke with Jonathan Ross, Assistant Superintendent, and he wants to deal with the travel baseball club directly. As of right now the travel baseball club is dealing with the school district. Chairman Schoen asked about the mowing of lawns schedule. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that the lawns will be mowed on Mondays and Fridays, weather permitting. Chairman Schoen stated that one of the things that had come up with the travel baseball club is their interest in installing batting cages. The areas proposed are one cage behind the scoreboard of the new field at Pine Ridge Park between the left field fence and the bordering property of the Egols' residence. There is some area between the outfield fence and their fence where a batting cage could potentially be installed. The other location is in the far corner of the old field adjacent to the fences that border homes on Berkley and Winthrop. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that it may not work there because it is right near the residents. Chairman Schoen stated that it is something the travel club would like to do and the location behind the new field at Pine Ridge Park is a bit more isolated and not as many residents are affected by it. Chairman Schoen stated that the travel baseball club is hiring an architect to do some renderings and they would 2 arrange for the funding of it. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that the travel baseball club needs to make a presentation to this council and, based on this council's reaction, we would make a recommendation to the Village Board at a public meeting. Chairman Schoen stated that if there were a cage at the old field, the idea was to have a bigger space that can be sub-divided into a cage for hitting and a cage for pitching. But it would be more visible both from Pine Ridge and closer to the neighbors. Superintendent Bertolacci said the AED is ordered and should be in next month. It will be stationed at the turf field. We will purchase another one next year for Pine Ridge Park and eventually have one for all the parks The AED will be in a weather proof box and all the specifics will have to be worked out. An alarm has to be set up so if anyone touches it, the police are notified and they will send a car over. Chairman Schoen said that the equipment box at Garibaldi Park has plenty of quick dry but no rake to fix the field. c. Flag Football Chairman Schoen stated that there are some e-mails going around about flag football. The new name of the organization is the Rye Town Youth Football Group and has all new people involved in the program. Committee Member Frankel said there will be two flag divisions,kindergarten and 1st grade and 2nd and 3rd grade. IV. Lacrosse Chairman Schoen said we discussed at the last meeting about a survey to be sent out to the community regarding the interest in lacrosse. The goal is to get the feedback only from the people interested. It would be a program we would run in the fall. The Blind Brook Middle and High School are fielding lacrosse during the spring season and to help facilitate the program the Recreation Department would like feedback on an instructional program beginning in the fall. The survey would ask: I. Would your child be interested in participating in a weekly fall lacrosse program. 2. Gender 3. Grade (Fall 2008) 4. To avoid conflicts with other programs, what would your preference be for the day of the week to hold the program 5. Are there any other days and times that would not work for your child's age group based on other known conflicts. Committee Member Gutner asked when the survey would go out. Superintendent said the survey would go out next week in an e-mail through community pass and their reply would go into the recreation's general mailbox. Trustee Rosenberg suggested using the Rye Brook web site for the survey. Superintendent stated that the lacrosse coach for the girls is interested in doing a clinic for the 3', 4', Stn and 6th grade girls on Friday afternoons. Superintendent said that Coach Forzaglia is the only coach that has approached him. Chairman Schoen stated that we would have to talk to Jim Spano to find out if both coaches would be committed. Chairman Schoen stated that Mr. Spano was hoping to see from our survey who is interested because he would then have to figure out with all the other sports going on that require the use of the fields, where will this sport get squeezed in. Chairman Schoen suggested talking to Jim Spano to see if that's the day he can schedule. Superintendent stated that it's a recreation program and he would have to figure out where the program will go. Committee Member Gutner suggested we still 3 put on the survey what day of the week or weekend would be a preference for the program for who is interested. Committee Member Jablon asked about the lacrosse equipment. Chairman Schoen said that each person is responsible for their own equipment. You can get a lacrosse stick for about$30.00. The coach would probably tell the participants what equipment would be needed. V. Community Center Chairman Schoen said a sub-committee of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council met on July I" to discuss the process of outlining a proposal for a community center in very high level form that the council will look at together. If the council thinks we should move forward with it, we will work through Trustee Rosenberg and with the Board of Trustees to present it. The sub-committee called on some of the surrounding communities to find out how they utilize their community center, what services it provides and what the centers consist of. The sub-committee spoke with the towns of Greenwich, Harrison and Scarsdale. Scarsdale gave us a lot of information and their website is www.scarsdalecommunitycenter.org. They don't have a community center yet, but the website outlines what they have gone through in terms of design, thought process, membership, funding, and financing. Chairman Schoen said the oldest reference shows they have been working on the center from 2001. The outline provides all the necessary high level things that we would be interested in using for our own purposes for a proposal. We discussed what our facility would have. If we have a pool, would it be indoor vs. outdoor, issues of a land swap at Crawford Park and parking. Our goal would to put forth something that would include all those elements. Chairman Schoen stated that Harrison has two facilities that are quite old. One facility is open 6 nights a week during the year. Superintendent Bertolacci has a brochure of all the activities they offer. Committee Member Gutner went to Greenwich and they have the Boys and Girls Club which they use for everything. There is also a Community Teen Center which they are having a lot of trouble with right now. It is not run by the town or parents but by the kids. It was a regular teen center run by the town and then was abandoned. The Boys and Girls Club has an indoor pool, computer rooms and classrooms, and the town uses the facility. The next sub-committee meeting will meet on Monday, July 28th at 8:30pm. Chairman Schoen stated that next month's Rec. Council meeting may be light in attendance because of vacations and kids coming home from camp. The next Parks and Recreation Advisory Council meeting will be on August 5th at 8:30pm. The September meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council will meet on September 91h at 8:OOpm. Adjournment Committee Member Richard Gutner made a motion to adjourn meeting at 9:35pm and Committee Member Sari Jablon seconded the motion. Minutes prepared by Carmella Swick. 4