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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-02-02 - 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 February 2, 2016 Convene Meeting: Parks and Recreation Advisory Council Chairman Rick Buzin called the meeting to order at 7:46pm. The following Members of the Parks & Recreation Advisory Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Buzin, Adam Zahl, Scott Tillison, Michael Keilman, Susan Gardner, Emma Saghir Absent Parks & Recreation Advisory Council Members: Jason Steinberg Recreation Department Members: Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Jennifer Leichter, Office Assistant I. Playground Presentation Superintendent Bertolacci introduced Jeff Stowe from Kompan Playgrounds to present proposed plans for the Garibaldi playground. Mr. Stowe gave a brief background about himself prior to explaining that Superintendent Bertolacci approached Kompan to replace certain areas of the playground. Mr. Stowe mentioned we are limited by space but want to keep the same footprint and work within a certain budget and that these are the parameters by which we are dealing with. He referenced what was done at Pine Ridge Park as an example so as to find some pieces and different lines that were not used there and throw some things in that may be custom that we will not see elsewhere. He showed and discussed two different models as options. He mentioned the second option which was about $10,000 dollars more in the budget. When he was done presenting he looked for feedback from the Council. Superintendent Bertolacci expressed why he was in favor of Option 1 and that was because there was less opportunity for people to vandalize the equipment. Chairman Buzin added it is also a different model. Mr. Stowe stated that all of Kompan's equipment is about graduated challenge. Everyone agreed a slide needs to be present. Council Member Tillison asked what is the most popular piece of equipment on a playground? Mr. Stowe responded swings are always popular and they take up a lot of room when there is limited space. Council Member Tillison agreed on Option 1. There was discussion of the springers and the various options that they could choose from. Mr. Stowe said he would work with Superintendent Bertolacci on following up. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would like to put this on the Board's agenda at the end of this month. He said if we order in the beginning of March we could start construction in June/July and we can do our opening playground event and show a movie after similar to what we did at Pine Ridge last year. Mr. Stowe completed the presentation including the Q&A segment and exited the meeting. Chairman Buzin said we should come to some kind of consensus so that Superintendent Bertolacci has an idea where we stand. Superintendent Bertolacci said we should put together a 1168377.1 recommendation to the Board. Council Member Tillison said very few kids from Rye Brook play on the equipment at Garibaldi Park. He said he understands that it is our park and it is our responsibility to make it nice. He wanted to know if we ever work with Port Chester in this type of situation as we are basically building this playground for their town and their kids who live around there. Superintendent Bertolacci said there are numerous residents of Rye Brook that live on that end of the Village and 25% live in the Port Chester school district. Superintendent Bertolacci said he does not poll everyone in the playground but some of them are Rye Brook residents as it is a Rye Brook park. He also added that some of our Rye Brook residents utilize Port Chester parks and Port Chester does not come to us for money to support their park. Therefore, he did not know if we had any grounds to go after Port Chester for funding or anything for a Rye Brook park to support such a venture. Superintendent Bertolacci said that everything that goes in to the park is a capital investment and the capital investment does not go to Port Chester it goes to Rye Brook. Chairman Buzin asked if the Council was leaning in the direction of Option 1. Council Member Tillison said that if vandalism and graffiti are a huge concern then Option 1 is really our only choice. Chairman Buzin turned to Superintendent Bertolacci for his recommendation. Superintendent Bertolacci said his recommendation would be to go with Option 1 with the other springers; the jeep and the motorcycle. Chairman Buzin stated Council Member Tillison is recommending Option 1 with the jeep and motorcycle springers. Council Member Zahl seconded it. Option 1 was accepted and recommended to the Village Board. II. Minutes: a. Approve January 5, 2016 Minutes: Chairman Buzin asked for a motion to accept the January 5, 2016 minutes. Council Member Keilman made the motion to accept the January 5, 2016 minutes and Council Member Gardner seconded the motion. The minutes were accepted and approved. III.Public View Points: There were no public view points to report. IV.Chairman's Remarks—Rick Buzin Chairman Buzin said he would like with the permission of the Council to slightly revamp the protocol for meetings. For future meetings, it was decided that the agendas would be circulated on the Fridays before the Tuesday meeting. Further, it was decided that attendance should be confirmed by the Monday prior to the meeting directly to Superintendent Bertolacci and Jennifer. It was noted the agenda items should go to the Chairman. V. Superintendent's Report: a. Circus/Carnival: Superintendent Bertolacci said the Village Board did discuss the circus for the spring but he felt they did not want to do the circus in the spring or any time in the near future. Additionally, he said he was given a directive not to do a carnival in the spring therefore there will be no special events for this upcoming spring. Council Member Tillison asked Superintendent Bertolacci if he had any background as to why the Board did not want to do a carnival. Superintendent Bertolacci said he did not have an answer because he was just told that he did not have to focus on the carnival for the spring. He said he assumed the Board did not think he could get a carnival off the ground at this late of a date. Chairman Buzin added the Board wanted to have a change and he thought the theory was that if the circus was going to happen that was one thing and if not it would be nothing. Chairman Buzin mentioned an email he received from Trustee Rednick 1168377.1 regarding the subject which he read aloud. In short, Trustee Rednick confirmed that the Board agreed to take a one year hiatus from the carnival and that they would fund an event but they did not like the circus idea. There was also the feeling that the Rye Brook birthday party may be getting a little stale so perhaps it could be changed up a little bit. The Board asked to hear what the Recreation Committee's thoughts were on the subject. Overall the Rec Council was not pleased with the Boards decision. The Council discussed many pros to having the carnival. Chairman Buzin said he would reach out to Trustee Rednick and possibly the Mayor regarding the Council's thoughts about not having the carnival. b. Rye Brook Birthday: Superintendent Bertolacci said the Village Board would like a different type of theme for the birthday party this year so he will be working on that over the next few months. The Council discussed some past themes of the birthday party. c. Recreation Leader Position: Superintendent Bertolacci said he is going to begin interviewing for the Recreation Leader position next week. The Council segued for a few minutes to reconstitute the subcommittees before the subcommittee reports. Chairman Buzin referred to Council Member Keilman to take the lead on confirming the members on each subcommittee. The below was discussed and confirmed: Village-PTA Coordinating Subcommittee— Chairman Buzin, Emma Saghir, Susan Gardner Basketball Subcommittee—Mike Keilman, Adam Zahl, Susan Gardner Grievance Subcommittee—Adam Zahl, Jason Steinberg, Susan Gardner Baseball Subcommittee— Scott Tillison, Jason Steinberg, Emma Saghir VL Village-PTA Coordinating Subcommittee—Rick Buzin: Chairman Buzin said they had a meeting with the PTA which included the following people; himself, Superintendent Bertolacci, Cheryl Artabane, Jamie Coffey and Janice Kunicki. He said he thanked the PTA for getting out the advertising for the Winter Festival as it was very helpful. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that starting next year the Rec Department will be taking over the after school program therefore we will be running the YMCA program that is currently at the school. VII. Basketball Subcommittee Report—Mike Keilman: Council Member Keilman stated they had an incident at the Friday night game but other than that incident all seemed to be going well. Council Member Tillison was asked to give details of the incident. The Council discussed the incident at the game at length regarding the coaches/ referees and options about how to deal with the coaches. It was suggested that they have meetings with the coaches before the season starts. Chairman Buzin recommended officials report bad behavior. The Council discussed the idea of having a professional teach how to coach. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would send out a message regarding warnings/technicals to the referees by the end of the week. There was much discussion amongst the Council regarding how to enforce penalties. Council Member Keilman said he would work on coming up with something regarding remedies and penalties for misconduct. 1168377.1 VIII. Grievance Subcommittee Report- Adam Zahl: a. Code of Conduct: Council Member Zahl said there was nothing to report. IX.Baseball Subcommittee Report - Scott Tillison: Council Member Tillison said he had a meeting with some people from Rye with the hope that something would come together whereby we could do some joint baseball this spring but he does not think it is going to happen. He said that maybe there is still a chance that we can play some inter league games but he was hoping we could go further than that. Chairman Buzin asked for an update from the last meeting because there was difficulty with numbers. Council Member Tillison confirmed we are still having the same issue with numbers. He said he thinks our relationship with Port Chester is still solid so the Rec Department should get in touch with the Port Chester baseball people about doing inter league games with them again. Further, he stated in the minors we did inter league games with Irvington and he thinks we should continue to do so. He said when it comes down to it we are going to have a very fragile minor league Little League system because there will be no 4t'graders. He said Rec baseball is not a travel baseball, it is the community baseball league and it has been that way forever and it will continue to be. There was much conversation regarding Rec baseball and Travel baseball and how travel baseball imposes on Rec baseball. Council Member Tillison said it was great that we got together the clinics and he felt the only thing that we could do better would be to get the word out sooner as it would help drive the numbers of participants up. Superintendent Bertolacci said there is one more clinic tomorrow night. X. Old Business: There was no old business to report. XI.New Business: There was no new business to report. XII. Adjournment: Chairman Buzin asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Council Member Tillison made the motion to adjourn the meeting and Council Member Zahl seconded the motion. All approved and the meeting was adjourned at 9:31pm. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at 8:OOpm. Minutes prepared by: Jennifer Leichter 1168377.1