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2009-01-14 Recreation Commission Minutes January 14,2009 RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, January 14, 2009 NEXT MEETING, FEBRUARY 4, 2009 The regular meeting of the Town of Wappinger Recreation Commission was held January 14, 2009 at Schlathaus Park, 126 All Angels Hill Road, Town of Wappinger, Dutchess County, New York. The meeting was called to order at 7:10pm by Chairman Ralph J. Holt with the following persons present: Kay Von Reyn, Senior Director and Commission Members Bruce Lustig, Gary Trudell and Max Dao. The minutes from the November meeting were approved with no corrections. OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE 1. A memo was sent to the Supervisor and Town Board requesting approval for salaries for our Gymnastics, Aerobics, Volleyball, Basketball and Baton Twirling programs. This was approved on Resolution #2009-12 at the January 5, Town Board meeting. 2. In the absence of a Recreation Director, letters were sent to the heads of all programs that appear in our Recreation Guide, asking that they supply us with information for the 2009-2010 Recreation Guide. We have received a fair number of responses but a great deal more must be done before we go to print. 3. A letter was sent from Kay VonReyn to Patty Polak of Meals on Wheels forwarding to her a donation check from Anna Marie Romano. This check was sent to the Senior Center in error. 4. A memo was sent to Supervisor Colsey asking that Gina Palazzolo be added to the gymnastics payroll and Marissa Bisaccia be taken off. This resolution, #2009- 44. was passed at the January 26, Town Board meeting. 5. A letter was sent by the Recreation Dept. to S & S Worldwide requesting the credit balance of $294.49 on our account be returned to us. These checks were received on 1/15/09 and forwarded to Town Accountant, Frederick Awino 6. A letter was sent from Kay VonReyn to Judith Blumberg at Myers Comers School including the tip sheet that A-B-Senior Volunteers are given when aiding children in their reading program. This program for children in Kindergarten, is in addition to the reading program already in place. It will work with dexterity skill for younger children. 7. A fax was sent to the Southern Dutchess News outlining the Recreation Winter Programs (Gymnastic and Basketball) and the winter event planned at Camwath Farms. Gary Trudell, who is in charge of the Winterfest at Carnwath has been getting positive feedback from the public and is looking forward to a successful event on January 31 st. Mr. Trudell asked about the procedure to be followed in regard to the $15,000 grant for Camwath. Must Town Board approval be obtained ~or the use of this money? Mr. Holt said yes, it must be apPRECElVED 1 AUG 1 ~ 2009 TO\NN CLER~< Recreation Commission Minutes January 14,2009 8. An e-mail was sent to the Southern Dutchess News Letter to the Editor department to thank and list all the area businesses and professionals for their generous donations to support the senior Elk's parties. 9. A memo was sent from Ralph Holt to Supervisor Colsey asking for paid comp time for Eileen Manning and Kay V onReyn when attending the Recreation Commission meetings. This was approved by the Supervisor as there is a "Comp Time" line in A-7020.199 for just this purpose. INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE 1. A memo was received from Supervisor Colsey and the Town Board indicating that the reimbursement for mileage has been adjusted to be consistent with the IRS rate of .55~ per mile. 2. An application was sent by Doug Haan to the DEC licensing him as an authorized pesticide technician so that we may use him should the need arise. There is no charge to us for this licensing. Mr. Holt stated that it had been our plan to send one of our Maintenance men to be certified for this license but because of cutbacks no one would have been available to attend this meeting in February. 3. Resolutions approved at the January 5, 2009 re-organizational Town Board meeting are as follows a. 2009-1 - Appointing Chairperson of the Town of Wappinger Recreation Commission - Adopted b. 2009-8 - Establishing Petty Cash Funds for various offices. Adopted. Recreation will continue to have a fund of $200.00. c. 2009-12 - Establishing salaries for Seasonal Recreation employees in our gymnastics, Aerobics, Basketball, Baton Twirling and Volleyball. Adopted. d. 2009-29 - Mileage as mentioned above. Adopted. 4. A letter was sent to Ralph Holt from Roland Norris of the Wappinger Yankees requesting field usage at Robinson Lane for the 2009 baseball season. The commission approved his request as the Wappingers Yankees are a Town supported organization. 5. A letter was received from the Dutchess Co. Youth Bureau stated that because of budgetary constraints there may not be any funding available for the 2009 YDDP "Learn to Swim" grant. This year's was reduced 3% from the promised amount so we should still get $6,322.44 for 2008. SENIOR DIRECTORS REPORT Ms. V onReyn stated that the attendance for December was the same as last year despite the unusual number of delayed openings and snow closings. Besides the two planned closings for Christmas, we had two snow closings and three two-hour delays. We had to re-schedule our December Birthdays until January. 2 Recreation Commission Minutes January 14,2009 We had one special event this month, the Christmas party at the Villa Borghese with 83 Seniors attending versus 77 last year. Tuesday attendance is up due to the pinochle group that meets, the "Art for Everyone" program lead by Kathi DeLisa and "Wii" on the first Tuesday of the month sponsored by the Grinnell Library. Ms. V onReyn noted that 20 cards were sent out, mostly Christmas cards to seniors who have not attended in a while. Two new members signed up and we lost one member, Carmela Laurino, who passed away last month. My next priority is to put together the schedule for the 2009 Senior Bus Trips and to close out the books for 2008. MAX DAO'S REPORT Max Dao had no report at this time but stated that he would be delighted to be the Easter Bunny again this year. Mr. Holt asked where we stood on the Easter celebration. Mrs. Manning said that the Easter eggs, the Bunny gift (M&M's) and chocolate eggs have been ordered. It was decided that we would hold the Easter Egg Hunt at Carnwath on April 4, 2009. If the weather permits we can set up hay stacks outside the building for the hunt and set up refreshments indoors. Ifwe have rainy weather or the ground is not clear of snow the whole event will be held indoors. GARY TRUDELL'S REPORT Mr. Trudell expressed his enthusiasm for the upcoming "Winterfest" at Carnwath on January 31 st. Ralph Ferrusi of the Poughkeepsie Journal has been very supportive of our trails as well as the property in general and will be doing an article spotlighting the "Winterfest" in his hiking column. Three walking groups have already shown an interest in the events as well as some scout troops. We plan to have sledding on two different hills for the young and the older children, cross country skiing and snow shoeing. Refreshments will be served and the Rotary will have Hot Dogs for sale. It has been arranged to have Transcare there from lOam to 2pm and the Sheriff s Dept. will make regular stops on their rounds past the property. BRUCE LUSTIG'S REPORT Mr. Lustig had no report but had several questions for Mr. Holt. He wanted to know what the status of the Recreation Director's position was with regard to Richard Bishop. Mr. Holt explained that the appointment of Mr. Bishop has been going on for 6 months. Mr Holt and Supervisor Colsey met with Gina Christiana at Civil Service and even with Mr. Bishop explaining in more detail his experience, it seems that it was not enough for Civil Service to accept. Ms. Christiana said that Jaclyn Smith was more qualified because she has more viable experience with our Recreation Program. Mr. Lustig also asked about the status of the Recreation Maintenance crew. Mr. Holt said that we would only have Joe DeRosa, Sr. and Joe DeRosa, Jr. in maintenance 3 . l Recreation Commission Minutes January 14,2009 until March when our seasonal help will be back on the books. John "Fred" Youngman, who is now on disability will be let go when he is no longer on disability. In addition, Recreation has been asked to be responsible for plowing the parking lots of Town Hall and the Emergency Service Building. Mr. Holt stated that not only has this never been our responsibility before but Mr. DeRosa has had no previous experience with plowing and will ask that another person, either his son or Bernie Roe, accompany him when plowing needs to be done. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Mr. Holt began by stating that he would be on vacation from January 28 to March 2.2009. In his absence, Gary Trudell will be Acting Chairman and will have authority to sign off on vouchers and pay sheets. Although Mr. Holt will not be in attendance, he is looking forward to the first Winterfest at Carnwath being a great success. Plans for this event include sledding, snow shoeing and cross country skiing. Donuts, hot chocolate and hot cider will be served and the Rotary will set up a hot dog stand to raise money for their organization. Mr. Trudell has been the driving force behind getting this whole event together and Mr. Holt is sure it will be a great success. At this point the budget is finalized and has been distributed to all departments. There are reductions in many line items of the Recreation budget. Mr. Holt stated that some of the reductions were severe and in lines that he would have hoped would not be touched. Salaries are remaining the same without exception. Our Maintenance Department is now down to only two men, Joe DeRosa Sr. for working on the Recreation properties and Joe DeRosa Jr. who is assigned to the care of the Town Hall. Supervisor Colsey has asked Joe DeRoas Sr. to be responsible for plowing the Town Hall and Emergency Services Building properties, a task that was done in the past by the Highway Dept. Mr. DeRosa has had no experience in using a plow. Mr. Holt questions the practicality of using Recreation's small plow, especially in a heavy snowstorm. He insisted that Mr. DeRosa not go out in this vehicle alone at any time and if necessary Bernie Roe should be called to assist him when needed. Additionally Mr. Holt explained that when John "Fred" Youngman's disability has expired he will no longer be an employee of the Town. Bob Sheridan has been asked to become a seasonal employee and will be asked to return in March, whether he will do so at that time is not certain. Our other seasonal employees include Frank McKinney, Bernie Roe, John Migliore, Vincent LaVacca and Max Dolenk. They will be returning at different times during the Spring and Summer. Scott Cheney, our former Recreation Director, has consented to help us out with the 2009/2010 Recreation Guide. He has the 200812009 guide saved in his computer so the creating of the new guide will require just the obtaining of the new information. Although this sounds simple, we must contact ALL those in the guide including our 4 . ' Recreation Commission Minutes January 14, 2009 programs, our Town and Senior Trips and our Summer Concert Series. I have asked my secretary and her assistant to handle that process and forward it to Mr. Cheney. Letters have been sent with the respective pages from last years guide to make it easier for corrections to be done. After almost six months of interviews and planning, Richard Bishop was not accepted as Recreation Director by Civil Service. Our other candidate, Jaclyn Smith has been with our playground program since she was a camper. She has served as a counselor, a camp director and the summer director for the past three years. She is highly qualified to take over the position of Recreation Director and with the summer programs not that far away, it would help us to have a person in that position who knows our programs and needs. Plans for our Easter Egg Hunt are well on their way. It will take place on Saturday, April 4th at 10am in the Carnwath Chapel. Max Dao will, once again, be our Easter Bunny. Planning for this event will be handled by my staff and letters will be sent to area supermarkets to ask for donations for raffle prizes. Mr. Holt spoke of his meeting with the new officers of Little League, Gary Mensching, President, and Roland Norris of the Wappingers Yankees. Mr. Norris was at this meeting because he monitors the use of the lights at Robinson Lane. Also in attendance was Gary Trudell. What they planned seems to be headed in the right direction. In March, Mr. Holt would like to see the light pole on the road into the Robinson Lane Complex that was knocked down last year, be replaced. The pole and the lamp have been ordered and are both at the Barn awaiting installation. As in the past Pantel Lighting has replaced or repaired these poles for us as needed. We would also need to check on some other lights that are out and may need repair. One of the dugouts in Robinson Lane needs to be repaired or removed because it is not level. It is on a field that sits in water when the creek overflows and was part of our claim when FEMA came through asking for damage reports from the April storm of 2007. Nothing has been heard in regard to any money that should have come to us. Mr. Holt stated that the Parkland Fund has about $500,000 in it. Because safety for our children is most important we must consider what needs to be done with this dugout and the first base dugout on Memorial field. Mr. Holt wishes to send out letters once again to receive bids for these dugouts. Mr. Holt is looking forward to seeing the Parkland Fund used this year for new tennis courts at Pye Lane and a new water system for Robinson Lane. A new well would supply safer drinking water while the old system would be used for watering the fields. Mr. Bettina, a Town Councilman wishes to use the Parkland Fund to build a Dog Park in the Town. Several locations have been eliminated for one reason or another so that no sight has been selected as yet. The Commission feels that Recreation dollars should be used for projects that would benefit people instead. 5 . , Recreation Commission Minutes January 14, 2009 Mr. Holt is thrilled that our two new trucks for Recreation have been ordered. It may take eight to ten weeks for delivery so we should have them just in time for the spnng. New business discussed the upcoming dates for our Town celebrations. Easter has been decided as above, Halloween will be on Sunday, October 25th at 1 :30 at Schlathaus Park (ifit rains, we use Myers Comers School as our back-up), and the Christmas Tree Lighting will take place on Saturday, December 5th at 5:00pm at Schlathaus Park with a rain/snow date of Sunday, December 6th. Registration dates for our Playground and summer programs will take place as follows: Friday, May 1,2009 7:00 to 9:00 pm Town Hall Saturday, May 2, 2009 9:30 to 11 :00 am Town Hall Friday, June 5, 2009 7:00 to 9:00 pm Town Hall Saturday, June 6, 2009 9:30 to 11 :00 am Town Hall Friday, June 19,2009 7:00 to 9:00 pm Town Hall Camps will start on June 29th and run through to August 14th this year. These dates had to be determined so that they could appear in the Recreation Guide. Mr. Holt expressed his thanks to Bob Gray and Morris Associates for their generous contributions to the Senior Elks' Party put on by Recreation. Mr. Gray also gave Ralph the name of the owner of the Suburu dealer on Route 9 who could not help us at the late date we approached him but would be glad to help us out next year. Meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM. Eileen Manning Recreation Secretary 6