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2009-04-01 Recreatian Cammissian Meeting April 1, 2009 RECREA nON COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, April 1, 2009 NEXT MEETING, MAY 6, 2009 The regular meeting afthe Tawn afWappinger Recreatian Cammissian was held April 1, 2009 at Schlathaus Park, 126 All Angels Hill Raad, Tawn afWappinger, Dutchess Caunty, New Yark. The meeting was called to. arder at 7:12 pm by Chairman Ralph}, Halt, with the fallawing persans present: Kay Van Reyn, Seniar Directar, and 9ammissian Members Gary Trudell, Bruce Lustig and Uma Satyendra. The minut~s fram the March 2009 meeting was appraved with no. carrectians. OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE: . . 1. A letter was sent to. Supervisar Calsey verifying that as af 3/12/09 aur gymnastics pragram was sufficiently staffed far a safe learning environment. Mr. Halt explained to. the cammissian the dilemma that we have been gaing.thraugh with the yaung wamen warking in this pragram.. Three af them "left far variaus reasans . and replacements had to. be made thraugh the Tawn Baard. Even a replacement had to. leave sa' the process had to. start again. 2. A letter was sent to. Supervisar Calsey with explanatian of the dallars taken. in fD.r this y~ar's (2009) Gymnastics.program. The 9ancern is that the program pays far . itself. Based an last year's numbers (2008), the fee will 'be raised- tp $45 in 2010. The 2009 dallars taken in far exceeded thase taken,in 2008. . 3.. A memo. was sent to. the Tawn Baard autlining the dates afreturnta warkand, requesting appraval far the Maintenance Dept. warkers. Bap Sheridan and'Bernie Rae have already returned to. wark as afthis date. Frank McKiriney will start.' wark on April 13, 2009 and Jahn Migliare and Vincent LaVacca will start an April 20, 2009. Max Dalenk will return to. wark an June22; 2009. Robinsan . Lane Caretaker Maricelle Diaz began taday, April 1, 2009 and Theresa DeRasa who. was set to. start at Castle Paint and Reese Park on May 11, 2009 will nat be returning. . At the Tawn Baard meeting, Cauncilman Beale questianed the salaries given to. Mrs. Diaz and Mrs. DeRasa. Mr. Halt explained that the jab entailed travel from harne, unlacking gates, putting up flags and cleaning the bathraam, then returning at night to. take dawn the flag and lack the gates. The salary was discussed and the baard agreed that the pay shauld be based an a per haur basis at $7.15 hr. versus a flat rate af$145.00 a week. Mrs. Diaz will meet with Mr. Holt tomorrow, April 2, to. discuss her duties. Mr. Trudell suggested that whamever we get to. care far Reese Park cauld apen and clase the gates at Carnwath as well. Mr. Halt has indicated that Maricelle Diaz might be willing to. care for all afthe praperties. He will discuss that at their meeting in the marning.. Cauncilman Beale also. suggested that the Reese Park gate be left apen during the day. The. cammissian, hawever, agreed that apening the gate may be inviting ATV's and HECE'VElJ 1 AUG 1 ~ 2009 -'-~\MN ell::o' f Recreation Commission Meeting April I, 2009 other vehicles into the park as happens at Castle Point and Camwath. Mr. Trudell said that since Carnwath is considered a park a rest room should be made available. Opening the building for that purpose may create a problem since there is no one monitoring it throughout the day. Mr., Holt would prefer to see a porta- john placed there. 4. A memo was sent to the Town Board requesting that Gary Trudell be appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Recreation Commission. The Town Board approved Mr. Trudell's appointment on Resolution # 2009-132. S. A memo was sent to the Town Board requesting approval for two projects for the improvement of the Carnwath Farms property. Both will be undertaken by two YOlmg men seeking their Eagle Scout badges. The first project is to place two benches on the upper ridge at Carnwath with additional work to the walking trail to be done by David Martinson. The second project will be the installation of a Nature Trail complete with signs ~arking specimens and a guide book to be done by Trevor Hunt. 6. A memo was sent to the Town Board requesting the approval to purchase 2ST of Beam Clay. for Robins~m Lane: This was ap'proved by the Town Board on Resolution # 2009-134. The clay'will be delivered tomorrow, Apri12, 2009. 7. A letter was sent by Kay VonReyn to Matt Alexander, Village Mayor, outlining some ofthe fe'atures/amenities that she hopes will be shared with the architect as this project goes forWard. This community Genter will be constructed on the .property of Veteran's Field in the village and hopefully become abuilding used by the Town as well as the Village for senior activities and after school functions for the youth of the area. , ' 8. Letters were sent to Super Stop & Shop, Shop Rite Fishkill and Hannaford asking " for the donation of raffle prizes for our Easter Egg Hunt to be held on April 4, - " 2009. Both Stop &Shop arid Shop Rite have offered donations in the form of' gift cards. We have also received an enormous donation from John Flowers of Poughkeepsie in the foim of stuffed animals and smaller items to put in our raffle Easter baskets. 9. A memo was sent to Supervisor Colsey requesting the use ofthe Town Hall for playground registrations on the follOWIng dates: May 1 st and 2nd, June Sth and 6th, and June 19th. This request has been approved and listed on the Town Clerks calendar. 10. Letters were sent to Enviro-Clean, Superior Sanitation and Big Top Portable Toilets thanking them for their bids for the 2009 porta-john contract. M&O Sanitation was the lowest bidder for this contract and approved by the Town Board on Resolution # 2009-112. Their base of operation is in Poughkeepsie and Mrs. Manning was encouraged by the fact that they would be available in any emergencies without extra cost to us. 11. Letters were sent to Craig Thomas Pest Control, NY Tick Control and Waverly Pest Control thanking them for their bids for the 2009 tick spraying contract. Bug Busters was the lowest qualified bidder for this contract and approved by the Town Board on Resolution # 2009-130. Three sprayings will be done this year. 12. A press release was sent to the Southern Dutchess News to promote our Easter Egg Hunt on April 4th at Carnwath Farms. Request was made to have this article 2 Recreation Commission Meeting April 1, 2009 run in two editions: March 2Sth and April 1 st. Cookies will be baked, as in the past, by the RCK Gourmet Club under the direction of Linda Leopardi. Gary Trudell will have a table where the children can make and play with GAK, a kind of Play-Doh, but of a different consistency. INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE '1. The following resolutions were approved .at the March 10, 2009 Town Board' Meeting.' . a. 2009-104 - Site improvements at Robinson Lane (Cement slab for Beam Clay and the extension of the storage building.) . b. 2009-10S - Approv~l to get bids to replace the 1st base dugouts on SL2 and Memorial Field at Robinson Lane. The original specifications that were . presented to' us were ~ot'approve~ by th~'Buildi1ig Dept. so that the bids based on these plans were not acceptable. Supervisor Colsey called an engineer, Paul Pilon and asked him if he would draw up, proper plans for these two dugouts. 'Mr. ,Holt asked Mrs. Manning to send the new plans to the four companies whose bids we received originally. Mr. Holt stated it is not realistic to think that these dugouts could be done 'by April 18th, opening day, but the hope is that we can hav'e them done shortly thereafter. .c; 2009-112,-- Acceptance ofthe, bid from M & 0 Sanitation as the lowest bidder " . for the 2009 porta-john contr~ct for 2009:, , d., 2009- n 5 - Acceptance of agreement with the Wappinger Yankees per their request for $1000 tb help sUPI>ort their teams. Roland Norris, who has been with the YaDkeesfor many'years"submitted a s~hedule for his teams as well. e. 2009-116 - P,t.pproving Eric 'Kirsch and Christopher Berger as coaches for the Wappinger Winter Basketball Program. . 2. A letter was sent'to Ralph Holt from Gary Mensching inviting him and the Recreation Commission to 'opening day of Little League on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 9:00 AM. Senator Saland will be present to give out awards to the Senior League boy'.s team that won the State Championship in 2008. 3. A memo was received from Supervisor Colsey confirming the use of the Town Hall by Recreation for the Playground sign-ups to be held in May and June. He asked that these sign-ups be staffed by volunteers as much as possible. 4. A letter was received from the NYS Dept. of Public Services announcing a meeting on Frid,!-y, May 1,2009, regarding an increase in gas and electric delivery revenues for the Fiscal Year starting on July 1,2009. Please see Eileen Manning if you wish to receive a copy of this notice. S. The following resolutions were approved at the March 23,2009 Town Board Meeting: a. 2009-124 - Additional workers for our Gymnastics Program b. '2009-128 - Pay scale and starting dates for seasonal Maintenance employees. 3 Recreation Commission Meeting April 1, 2009 c. 2009-129 - Approving the site improvements at Camwath Farms to be done by the Boy Scouts. d. 2009-130 - Acceptance of Bug Buster's bid for the Town tick spraying contract. e. 2009-131 - Established pay scale and start dates for Park Custodians Maricelle Diaz and Theresa DeRosa. f: 2009-132 - Acceptance of Gary Trudell as Vice-Chairman of the Recreation Commission. g. 2009-134 - Approval to purchase Beam Clay from Partac Peat for use at Robinson Lane. 6. A letter was sent to Mary Schmalz from Kay V onReyn thanking her for her suggestion to have the 8th Grade Girls Chorus sing at the Senior St. Patrick's Day Part~ . 7. A letter was sent to Carol DiMaria ofSt. Mary~s School from Kay VonReyn thanking her for the 8th Grade Chorus' beautiful performance at the Senior St. Patrick's Day Party. Mr. Holt noted that they. were a wonderful addition to the ce1ebra.tion. 8. A letter was sent to Msgr.Joseph Martin ofSt. Mary's Fishkill th8.nking him for his wonderful performance of humor and song at the Senior St. Patrick's Day Party. . 9. Our first quarter safety report was received from Doug Haan, Town Safety Officer, outlining repairs to be done at our various parks. The playground equipment at Martz Field was vandalized. An acceleraht was used to bum holes in the hood and slide. Copies of this report w~re given to Ralph Holt and I3ob... Sheridan. . . .'. . 10. A memo was received fr9m the Town Board outlining the "Medical Coverage for Volunteers Endorsement" as is included in the Towns Workers"Compensation . package. A volunteer does not include offenders serving Community Service as directed by the Courts. Coverage is available as an endorsement for youthful . offenders. Copy to Ralph Holt. . 11. A notification of Town Hall usage was sent from the Town Clerk's Office to Recreation for the Montclair Town Houses Annual Meeting on Oct. 28, 2009.. A copy was given to Joe DeRosa, Jr. as he may need to open and close the building. 12. A Field usage request was received from Boy Scout Troop #86 for the use of Castle Point on Saturday, June 20, 2009 from 11 :00 am to 4:00 pm. The commission approved their use of Castle Point. 13. A second field usage request was received from Brian DeVincenzi of the Millbrook High School District to use Holt Field including lights on Saturday, April 25, 2009 for games at 3:00 pm and at 5:30 pm. Mrs. Manning indicated that in the past this group, consisting of various area high schools have used Renegade Stadium, but that is not available to them this year on that date. SENIOR DIRECTOR'S REPORT Ms. VonReyn began by stating that the numbers were down slightly from last. year due to weather and illness. Three active members of the center passed away in ,'.., 4 Recreation Commission Meeting April 1, 2009 March, including Fred Wise, Dora Dunn and Charlie Brewer and two members that have not been in for a while, Mary Sidote and Bette Bennett. The center had two scheduled closings for senior events celebrating St. Patrick's Day with 69 senior in attendance and Bingo Bango in Fishkill with 38 seniors attending. Since there were no new members signed up in March, Ms. V onReyn will be doing a bi-weekly column in the SDN to promote the center. AARP tax assistance was made available to the seniors. Liz Alexander and Bina Atharina set up in the senior center and assisted 16 seniors with their returns. The senior bus trips are progressing nicely, Th; "Wearin' on the Green" sold out and went without a hitch on March 13th. The April23d trip to Mohegan Sun is also sold out and we are about to start the sign-ups for our May ::rip "Red Hot and Blue" which will go in May. Thanks to Gary Trudell for putting the an,'1o~n~ements for these trips on the board at Schlathaus Park. These trips, have also qeen advertised in the Senior Gazette; the SDN ~d irithe Poughkeepsie Journal on~line listings. Pat Brown of the OFA spoke on nutrition and eye health on March 27th arid showed ashort, very informative video produced by the ~ighthouse showing strategies for coping' with diminishing' eyesight. Ms. V onReyn stated that a resolution r~questing $3500 for a feasibility study for'. the proposed village/town Senior and Teen CenteratVeteran's Park was tah1ed at the last. Town Board meeting: Mr. Holt anq.I are going to write a letter describing the' seniors' urgent n~ed for this type of facility, to be presented at either this Monday's Board meeting or the next. GARY TRUDELL'S REPORT Mr. Trudell stated that his wife met with the second Boy Scout, Trevor Hunt, who. will be working on the Nature trail at Camwath. He would like to see the trail run from the main road down between the Carriage House andthe Gazebo toward the river. There is also another trail that goes off to the left before you reach the parking lots. He would like to develop both trails and print a brochure with descriptions of plants and trees along the route. Mr. Hunt is writing up his plans for his scout master for approval. If approved he hopes to get the help of his entire troop for these projects. . Mr. Trudell is hoping to hear from the other Boy Scout, David Martinson, about putting in the benches at the top of the hill at Carnwath. He will be on Spring break next week and it would be a perfect time to get that portion of the job done. Mr. Trudell asked if the state grant for $15,QOO.00 has been received and Mr. Holt verified that the money has been received and can be used as long as permission is received. Mr. Trudell asks that we all should be getting the word out about Carnwath~ especially now that the nice weather is here. Many people are still not aware that it is now open every day. 5 Recreation Commission Meeting April 1, 2009 BRUCE LUSTIG'S REPORT Mr. Lustig stated that all Soccer activities that were to start by this time have been postponed due to weather and field conditions. Mr. Holt asked if any consideration had been given to rolling the fields. Mr. Lustig stated that Graham Foster volunteered to roll and aerate the fields at the appropriate. time. Mr. Holt also said that Roger Humeston has often volunteered his services to roll the fields for both Little League and Soccer and suggested that Mr. Lustig give him a call. The WUSC was approached by the East Fishkill Soccer organization requesting the use of our fields for a tournament that they hold each year with players from Connecticut, New Jersey and Long Island. The WUSC will not allow the use of Rocking ham for two reasons. The fields are not yet in shape as stated above and the crowds would definitely upset the neighborhood. East Fishkill was offered two developmental fields at Airport Park where there is ample par~ing. Mr. Holt ask.ed if the fence could now be removed from Rockingham. Mr. Lustig said yes bec'ause they wf11 soon be bringing in TruGreen to fertilize and spread grub control on the fields, as grubs are what keep the geese there. In the mean time Soccer can use areas of Quiet Acres to practice. . Mr. Lustig expressed concern for the fincplces of Soccer for the future .and while he sees a need to raise the prices he would also like to'add a surcharge toout-of-town residents. Mr. flolt'agreed as did the rest ofthe.Commission. UMA SATYENDRA'S REPORT Ms. Satyendra had no report. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT . Mr. Holt began by explaining that the Town is questioning whether this group meeting h~re tonight is a Recreation Commission or a Recreation Committee._A Committee can change its members and be disbanded at any time, whereas a Commission is under State monitoring with appointed members that serve five (5) year terms. The Town is considering changing the configuration of the Commission by adding a member and keeping Mr. Holt as the Chairman, but considered as a Town employee and a liaison with the Town. So there would then be seven Commission members with voting privileges and a Chairman who oversees the proceedings with no vote. Mr. Holt maintains th,at we are a Commission and have been for 25 years and hopes that it remains that way. Little League opening day is April 18th and Mr. Holt invited and encouraged all the Commission members to attend. Senator Saland will be in attendance to present awards to the Boy's Big League team that won the State Championship in 2008. Mr.. Holt asked about the status of the defibrillator at Robinson Lane. Mrs. Manning stated that Gary Mensching brought in the old o'ne and received anew one from Inez '6 .~ Recreation Commission Meeting April 1,2009 Maldonado, the Supervisor's Secretary. The old defibrillator will be repaired and used in the Senior Center at the Town Hall. The Recreation Dept. is the proud owner of two new Chevy pick-up trucks. The plan is to sell as surplus or junk the two older trucks that these trucks are replacing. Supervisor Colsey will let us know the course of action that we should take. Mr. Holt stated that, our dump truck is 14-years-old and we may be looking to replace it in the not too distant future. Mr. Holt stated he and Kay VonReyn are in favor ofthe projected shared Community Center for the Town and V:illage to be located at Veterans Field in the Village. The Village will be landscaping the property at an expected cost of $200,000 dollars. The property, being level, will allow easy access for our seniors with convenient ~parking. It may even be feasible to hold some of our programs there such as Aerobics and Baton Twirling and of course the senior exercise programs. Our Senior Center, on a busy day, is cr~wded and noisy with the adverse effect of sp~eading germs during cold and flu s'eason. Ms. V onReyn indicated that thi$ was part of the reason that attendance has dropped off , , Mr. Holt informed the Commission about the status of the curbs at Rockingham as discussed at the last Town Board meeting.' The project is estimated to cost $3,000,000 with the added complication that many of the water lines running into the homes are ' corroded and leaking. The Town has committed to replace these lines at the rate of forty , or fifty a year, but should the curbs be done b~fore'the lines are repaired? It was the general consensus of the Commission that the liIiesshould b~ replaced first. .: . Mr. Holt will be writing a letter to the'Town Board asking for an adjustment to be ~ . made to variousfunds so that we may re-instate our line for garbage collection. :Right now it stands at $500, which has technically alre~dy been spent: Some of the $5000 needed, can be moved from the $2000 budgeted line fof' a Golf Cart. This is not a priority atthis time. There are some other budget lines that can be cut to balance out the other $3000 needed. In an e-mail. from Supervisor Colsey to Mr. Holt, it was made v~ry . clear that Recreation was to use the recycling center for the garbage that was not in dumpsters. Recreation was not to take anything directly to Royal Carting. Since the bucket truck has passed inspection, we will be calling Pantel Electric to have the road lights at Robinson Lane repaired. By them using our bucket truck we save a great deal of money. There was also a problem with the timer that turns those lights on and off and that problem will also be addressed. Mr. Trudell indicated that there was a problem with two of the lights at Camwath. The light by the stairs of the lower parking lot is never on and the light by the entrance to the museum comes on and stays on for only two or three minutes. It is not known ifthis light has a sensor on it. We would also need a light near the basketball court at Carnwath if any kind of stage will be set up for performances. Mr. Holt indicated that now that the maintenance crew has started work again there is a lot of catching up to do. Usually during the winter our equipment is o,verhauled 7 Recreation Commission Meeting April 1, 2009 and made ready for the seasons ahead. This year, without John Youngman's expertise, a lot will have to be done and possibly farmed out if none of our men can handle the.. repairs. When a mower breaks down, and we have to send it out for repair, it will mean not only money, but the time that the mower is down will be wasted. With an in-house mechanic things went very smoothly. The Tennis Courts are next on the agenda. Bob Gray will be bringing someone in to look at the courts. The top will have to be ground down and resurfaced but the fence will be repaired not replaced. Not only will the four courts be repaired but the drainage problem will be corrected as well. Mr. Holt said that the resolution would go to the Town Board soon at an estimated cost of$200,QOO.00, which would corne out of the' Parkland Fund. Joe Incoronato suggested that we charge for permits to use the Tennis.. Courts as Fishkill does, however, without anyone to monitor this use, we are not sure if this is the way to go. Mr. Holtasked Ms. VonReyn to call Cindy Stark of Fishkill to find out how they handle this situation. The water set-up at Robinson Lane will be addressed shortly as well. There will be two wells, one for watering the fields and one for potable water. Mr. Holt concept 'of . the way that the water lines should be Set up is different from the Town's plans. Hewas hoping that a line would be put in place, so that when Little League was ready they co~ld tap into that line and set up each field with what is needed. The estimated cost for this' projeCt may be between $80,000 a,nd $90,000. Mr. Lustig asked abou.t the status of the land to be annexed at Robinson Lane. Mr. Holt said that nothing has been done yet but, eventually that h;md will be .ours. Mrs. Manning requested that the Commission members sign-up.to help at Playground Regist~ation. Mr. Holt added that each member should start to visit their . assigned playgrounds to check for any irregularities that need to be taken care of. Doug Haan's report w'as handed out to all there so that they could see what he is recommending at each park. Bob Sheridan also received that report and will act on those recommendations. Mr. Holt would like to consider putting a small piece of playground equipment in Fleetwood. He will ask Mr. Sheridan for input on this. Councilman Paoloni has requested the use of fields at Robinson Lane for his. men's softball team. Mr. Holt said that he would check the availability ofSL 1, as this is the only field appropriate for them to use. Mr. Paoloni asked ifthe fee for the u~e of the fields could be waived for his league as the fee is waived for the Wappingers Yankees. Mr. Holt stated that Roland Norris is responsible for bringing in a great deal of money for the Town by the rental fees for the signs on the fields. Mr. Trudell mentioned that one day he went by Camwath Farms to open the property and found it already open with two police cars from the K-9 unit parked at the entrance. The officers said that they were running their dogs through some exercises. He 8 Recreation Commission Meeting April 1, 2009 also noticed, later that day, that there were similar cars at Bowdoin Park, probably for the same purpose. Mr. Holt said that he had encountered a similar instance earlier in the year and asked the officers to please advise us when they were going to run these exercises. When Mr. Holt was there, an elderly lady who feeds the squirrels was frightened by the dogs being there, even though the dogs are obedient and under control. Mr. Lustig asked about the status ofthe Rail Trail and our involvement in it. Mr. Holt said that any further involvement on our part will probably not take place until this time next year. Supervisor Colsey is looking into the possibility of an independent landscaper who would care for our portion of the trail. Because the landscaper already has the machines to do the job, he can do the jot? at a much lower cost. . To buy the equipment and hire the manpower for this job it would cost Recreation about $20,000 a year. The landscaper has agreed to do it for $5,000 a year. Eileen Manning. : Recreation Secretary 9