HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-02-07 - Parks and Rec Advisory Council Meeting Minutes Parks &Rec Advisory Council - 07 Feb 2017 g 8:00 PM - Minutes - Adopted Page 1 of 5
MINUTES OF THE VILLAGE OF RYE BROOK PARKS
AND RECREATION ADVISORY COUNCIL
938 KING STREET
RYE BROOK, New York 10573
February 7, 2017
Convene Meeting:
Parks and Recreation Advisory Council Chairman Buzin called the
meeting to order at
8:01pm.
The following Members of the Parks & Recreation Advisory Council
were present:
Advisory Council Members:
Chairman Buzin, Emma Saghir, Scott Tillison
Absent Parks & Recreation Advisory Council Members:
Susan Gardner, Michael Keilman, Adam Zahl
Recreation Department Members:
Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent
Jennifer Leichter, Office Assistant
I. Minutes:
a. Approve January 10, 2017 Minutes:
Chairman Buzin asked for a motion to accept the January 10, 2017
minutes.
Council Member Saghir made the motion to accept the January 10, 2017
minutes and Council Member Tillison seconded the motion. The minutes
were accepted and approved.
II. Public View Points:
2.1 Roberto Cuesta was present at the Recreation Advisory
Council meeting as an observer as he is a friend of Council Member
Keilman's. He said he moved here from Miami, Florida three & a half
years ago and has 2 boys, ages 7 and 10. Both his boys play Recreation
Basketball, Recreation Baseball and Travel Baseball, but they also
play on other leagues in other towns. He said he feels the Recreation
fees are more than reasonable. He said he is just at this meeting to
observe and bring his insight as well. Chairman Buzin said we are
currently one person short and we will be looking for new members on
the Recreation Council come April. He said he wanted Mr. Cuesta to
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Parks &Rec Advisory Council - 07 Feb 2017 g 8:00 PM - Minutes - Adopted Page 2 of 5
come observe the meeting for himself to see if he would be interested
in becoming a member.
2.2 Council Member Tillison said playing at Bellefair creates
an interesting situation as there are always too many people at that
gym. The gym gets crowded and it is unmanageable and creates a lot
of tension. He made some suggestions as how to better organize the
space for the game. Chairman Buzin asked Superintendent Bertolacci
if this was doable. Superintendent Bertolacci said it is doable but what
would be more doable is to use Bellefair on Friday nights for practice
and have the kids play the games at Ridge Street. Council Member
Tillison said Ridge Street has some of the same issues as Bellefair as
the kids come in and the people come in for the next game and they
stand in that corner and they start wrapping around the corner and
dribbling the ball on the court. He said someone needs to be
responsible for making sure people sit in the bleachers. Council
Member Tillison said his public view point on this is that as a
Recreation Department he feels we are putting the people who are
running the score table in a tough position. He feels the staff does not
know how to handle the parents and when they try to their attitude is
unprofessional. He stated the staff needs to be addressed regarding this
matter. He said we need to have an authoritative figure at the
basketball games that can handle the crowds. He said he has had
parents tell him they are going to file grievances. He feels this matter
needs to be addressed before it becomes an issue.
The Council also discussed at length the subject of kids umpiring the
games and the abuse they take from the coaches.
2.3 Council Member Tillison said he had another public issue
he would like to address which was to eliminate the basketball
participation trophies as he feels they send the wrong message to the
kids. He said it is time to get rid of the participation trophies as they
are not beneficial to the kids based on pyschologists and child
development professionals who have studied the subject. Chairman
Buzin said he agreed with Council Member Tillison on the matter, but
he would like to place the subject as an item on next month's agenda
to discuss amongst the entire Council.
III. Superintendent's Report:
3.1 After School Program Update
Superintendent Bertolacci said the program has brought in $120,725 to
date. He said we have the months of March, April, May & June left which
will bring in approximately $15,000 a month. The Recreation Department
sent out notification to one family that they needed to behave or face
suspension for a given period of time with any future disciplinary issues to
be suspended from the program. Subsequently, the family contacted the
State. The State came to inspect and investigate their complaint. The
Village received 2 violations. One was because we did not give them
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Parks &Rec Advisory Council - 07 Feb 2017 g 8:00 PM - Minutes - Adopted Page 3 of 5
copies of the documented incidents in a timely manner and the other had
to do with background checks on staff.
3.2 Rye Brook Athletic Field—Turf Replacement
Superintendent Bertolacci said the project will go before the Village Board
to approve the project to go out to bid and set a proposed budget by the
end of February. We are still waiting on percolation test results from our
consultants.
3.3 Other Programs
Superintendent Bertolacci said that there are a few items before the
Village Board on next Tuesday's agenda for fee schedule approvals. The
items are as follows:
Tennis Instruction Amended Fees
Basketball Camp Fee Amendments
Extended Day Camp Fees (Run The Camp Until 6pm For People That
Work)
New Program for Pre-K Baseball
IV. Basketball Subcommittee Report—Mike Keilman:
Mike Keilman was absent and nothing was reported.
V. Grievance Subcommittee Report -Adam Zahl:
Adam Zahl was absent and nothing was reported.
5.1 Coaching Incident From Basketball
Chairman Buzin wanted to go on record for saying Adam Zahl did a
phenomenal job with regard to the basketball incident with the coaches.
He said Adam did a great job on the resolution and he wanted to thank
him on behalf of the Rec Council and the community for doing a very well
thought out & well written report. Superintendent Bertolacci said he had a
note from Adam Zahl, who could not attend tonight's meeting, that he
wanted to put into the record that Berk stated that he denied using
profanity and his denial of that point should go on the record although it
does not matter his conduct definitely violated the Code of Conduct. One
point Adam would like to discuss that came out of the incident is spectator
behavior at Recreation events. Therefore, Superintendent Bertolacci said
we will table this point until the March meeting.
VI. Baseball Subcommittee Report - Scott Tillison:
Council Member Tillison said Rye Brook Travel Baseball received some
feedback from the people who participate in it and they said they love the
Rye Brook Travel Baseball Rookie program that they run in the summer
and could we do something like that in the spring as well.
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To directly quote from an email Council Member Tillison recently
circulated to the Recreation Council:
"Rye Brook Travel Baseball would like to implement a spring
baseball program that would target the younger kids, primarily Ist
and 2nd graders. This program would duplicate Rye Brook Travel
Baseball's Rookie Ball program that currently operates in the
summer. They are looking to implement this program based on
feedback of parents who have participated in the summer Rookie Ball
program indicating that they would like the same offering in the
spring. This program would be in direct competition to the Rye
Brook Recreation Rookie Ball program. Rye Brook Travel Baseball
has approached the Recreation Department to see how we can
cooperate to deliver such a program.
RBTB feedback also indicates that parents are in favor of
professional coaches and discouraged by uneducated parent coaches.
While the committee believes there is some merit to this, we
discourage completely replacing parent involvement with professional
instruction. The parent/child relationship has always been a hallmark
of Little League baseball and any program we endorse should
continue to emphasize this. What the committee recommends is that
professional instruction is used to structure and manage the practices,
and parent volunteers would be instructed on the key fundamentals
targeted in these practices.
Members of the baseball sub-committee have discussed and
believe that the Rye Brook Travel Baseball Rookie Ball program is a
good format and would be an improvement over what we currently
offer. We should work together to see if these changes can be
implemented for the upcoming season."
Chairman Buzin said there are logistics involved regarding this matter in
the way of field usage and other things. His sense is that the Council feels
it would be good to have ongoing discussions with them regarding this.
His suggestion is that we sit down with them and discuss a needs
assessment of what they need from us and what we need from them and
come to some agreement that will be mutually beneficial to both parties.
VII. Old Business:
There was no old business to report.
VIII. New Business:
There was no new business to report.
Ix. Adjournment:
Chairman Buzin asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Council
Member Tillison made the motion to adjourn the meeting and Council
Member Saghir seconded the motion. All approved and the meeting was
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Parks &Rec Advisory Council - 07 Feb 2017 g 8:00 PM - Minutes - Adopted Page 5 of 5
adjourned at 9:16pm. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation
Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 at 8:00pm.
Minutes prepared by: Jennifer Leichter
1168377.1
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