Loading...
2008-04-09 Recreation Commission Meeting April 9, 2008 RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, April 9, 2008 NEXT MEETING MAY 7TH, 2008 AT SCHLATHAUS PARK CALLED TO ORDER: 7:00 PM The regular meeting of the Town of Wappinger Recreation Commission was held April 9, 2008 at Schlathaus Park, 126 All Angels Hill Road, Town of Wappinger, Dutchess County, New York. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Ralph J. Holt. Also present were Scott Cheney, Recreation Director and Kay V onReyn, Acting Senior Director. Commission Members present were Gary Trudell, Bruce Lustig, and Max Dao. The minutes of the March, 2008 meeting were not available for comments and: approval at this time. Mr. Holt began by pointing out that this is the busiest time of year for Recreati,on with the opening of Little League, Playground Camps and Programs and Summer Concerts. . INCOMING CORRRESPONDENCE: 1. Letter from Oak Grove Elementary School inviting participation in their Fitness Social on April 23fd from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. Commission member Meera Dave will attend. She will be contacting Dawn Turpin-Orgetas to find out what her' responsibilities will be for the event. Mrs. Dave will report on this at the next Recreation meeting. 2. Flyer from the NYS Dept. of Transportation. Some of their programs may be relative to what we do. Copies were given to Bob Sheridan and Joe Ennesser. Mr. Holt noted that Supervisor Colsey is all for education. When an opportunity , arises we should take advantage of it. 3. Four letters from Supervisor Colsey to Bob Sheridan, John Youngman, Joe DeRosa and Rodney Diaz outlining their requirement to clock in and out at the Town Hall at the beginning and end of their shift. It has since been decided that a proposal will go to the Town Board requesting approval for a time clock to be installed at the barn on Montfort Road. Supervisor Colsey has contacted Paychex to set this up. Mr. Holt expanded on the explanation for this explaining that this procedure takes time out of the workday for our Maintenance team. The Supervisor concurs and will proceed accordingly by putting in a time clock at the barn. 4. A flyer was received from "iTheatrics" promoting a similar program that is offered by Joanne Fenton. A copy was given to Scott Cheney. 5. A letter was received from the Dollar Tree Stores in response to our request for a donation for our Easter Egg Hunt. In essence, it is not their policy to do so. 1 Recreation Commission Meeting Apri19,200S 6. An application was received from the Chelsea Fire Dept. requesting the use of the Castle Point ball field on Friday nights during the months of June, July and Aug. 7. An e-mail was received from Joseph Sagnis complimenting our maintenance department on the clean-up at Castle Point with the clearing of the land along River Road. Mrs. Manning replied to him stating that recognition of a job well done is always appreciated. Copy given to Bob Sheridan. 8. An e-mail was received from Virginia Bailey stating that word has not been getting our about our Recreation programs. She specifically sighted the Easter Egg Hunt. A response was sent by Mrs. Manning stating that the Southern Dutchess News was remiss in printing our press releases for two weeks in a row. There has been no additional response on her part. Mr. Holt left a message for Mrs. Bailey but received no response. He also contacted the SDN to ask that more consideration be given to our articles. 9. An application was received from Raymond W. Pavone requesting work in our Maintenance Dept. Copies included in packets for Ralph Holt and Bob Sheridan. 10. Two resolutions received from the Town oLpoughkeepsie in regard to a resolution outlining the amounts of Land Reservation for new residences being built. Originals given to Ralph in this packet. Anyone wishing a copy please see Mrs. Manning. . . 11. An e-mail was received fr:om Supervisor Colsey with regard to the possibility of an equestrian trail as part of the Dutchess Co:. Rail Trail. The meeting was held. on March 19th and was attended by Ralph Holt. The Rail Trail is eleven miles. long and runs from East Fishkill to Hyde Park with 4.5 miles in Wappinger. A horse trail begs many questions such as. how many horses will use it, who will . maintain and who will clean it up. Much further discussion is necessary. 12. A letter was received from Pete Sanfilippo asking permission to organize a "Senior Run/Walk" for' July 1t\ '2008. This letter has been forwarded to the' Supervisor's Office for approval by the Town Board at the April2St\ 2008 Town Board meeting. Ms. Von Reyn feels that this is not ~ ideal time for a Senior Walk as it may be too warm but since it i& run early in the morning it may be more comfortable. . 13. A letter and form were received from the U.S. Off. Of Personnel Mgmt. requesting employment verification of Matthew Miller. Forms were completed and returned. 14. A letter and map was received from Morris Associates, Town engineers, outlining costs for the walkway/roadway at Carnwath Farms. The estimated cost for this project is $45,500.00. The original, including the map, were given to Ralph Holt. Mr. Holt will be speaking to the Town Board about the access road at the April 14th Town Board meeting. Mr. Dao points out that the road will make the property readily accessible to ambulance / fire trucks and will therefore give it good reason for being approved. 15. An e-mail was received from the NYS Health Dept. discussing two dangers that we must be aware of at our summer camps. One, is a game that children play to create a brief "high" called the Choking Game, in which a child chokes themselves. 82 children have died in. recent years as a result of this game. The second danger is the spread ofMRSA, a staph infection that has been in the news 2 Recreation Commission Meeting April 9, 2008 lately. This e-mail wasforwardedtoScottCheney.Mr. Cheney assured the Commission that the Camp Directors and Counselors would be made aware of these problems. 16. A memo was received from Doug Haan, Town safety officer, with suggestions for repairs at our parks and playgrounds. Copies have been given to Ralph Holt, Bob Sheridan and one has been included in Max Dao's packet. Mr. Holt would like to meet with Max Dao and Doug Haan so that Mr. Dao can be a liaison to Bob Sheridan in matters of repairs to our Recreation properties. 17. An e-mail was received from Town Clerk Chris Masterson with information about the Rabies Clinic to be" held on May 10th at the Town Hall. This info was forwarded to Scott Cheney for advertising on the board at Schlathaus Park. 18. An e-mail was received from George Kolb asking the Recreation Dept. to make a list or listings of all buildings and structures on our properties for insurance purposes. Mr. Holt remarked that no CO has ever been filed for the Town Hall. The article stating this in the SDN has opened an inquiry into what other properties do not have filed CO's. : "19. A building permit was received from the- building department allowing the electrical work to be done in the Senior Room, Main Meeting Room and the Supervisor/Comptroller Joint Lunch Area. The permit-is on display in the back window of the Senior CeI).ter. :Est.imates will go to the Town Board on April 14th for the electrical work to be done. The Seniors are looking forward to their new kitchen. 20. A promotional packet was received from Peter Spink requesting the opportunity to entertain for the Town.ifpossible. Packet sent to Scott Cheney. 21. An application for employment was received from Valerie King. She' would like to work in the Senior Center or in any other position available. Copy to Ralph Holt and Kay V onReyn." 22. A pricing packet was received from Chris Formichelli of Sun Wallpaper and Paint asking to be considered for Recreation's needs for paint. 23. An e-mail with letter and map was r:eceived from Bob Gray, town engineer," showing the projected moving of the fence position at Carnwath. Forwarded to Ralph Holt. ". '. 24. The following Resolutions have been approved at the February 25th Town Board Meeting: a. #2008-72 (Adopted) Correction of Appropriation including salaries of Sue Borchard, Aaron Brooks, Frank McKinney and Ralph Holt as well as the adjustment of Recreation Petty Cash's allotment of$200.00 b. #2008-74 (Adopted) Disposal of Computers in basement at Schlathaus Park. Mr. Holt stated that Graham Foster said he was going to take care of this for us. At this point, this has still not been done. c. #2008-75 (Adopted) Acceptance of the voluntary resignation of Anthony Musarra, now on permanent disability. d. # 2008-76 (Adopted) Repair/replacement of kitchen in Senior Center. e. #2008-79 (Adopted) Acceptance of Recreation Funding from the Youth Bureau of our Learn to Swim Program. 3 Recreation Commission Meeting April 9, 2008 25. Resolutions adopted at the March 24th Town Board Meeting. a. #2008-105 Approval to bring in seasonal maintenance employees. b. #2008-120 Town Bulk Pick-up approved c. #2008-121 Adjusting Commission members terms and dates of reappointment. The actual resolution has not yet been received. Town Clerk Chris Masterson has gone back to 1952 and has reconstructed all boards and commissions in the Town and designated re-appointment dates for all members including Recreation. A Commission members term is five (5) years while the Chairman must be re-appointed every year. OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE 1. Memo to Supervisor Colsey from Ralph Holt asking for a replacement employee for maintenance to take Anthony Musarra's place. Mr. Musarra is now on permanent disability and the full-time slot needs to be filled. 2. A thank you letter was sent from Kay V onReyn to Martin Peiffer for donating a cordless phone, stand alone amplifier. and cane to the Senior G:;enter. 3. . A thank you letter was sent from Kay V onReyn to Dwight P~iffer for donating a 32" Panasonic color TV with stand cables and remote to. the Senior Center. .A TV and VCR are still needed for Schlatha.us Park for CPR and First Aid classes to be held there shortly. . . 4. A letter was sent to the Arner. Red Cross confirming our dates for First Aid, CPR and RTE courses for summer camp employees. Mr. Cheney explained that RTE is "Responding to Emergency" a combined course of CPR and First Aid with additional information added. Two RTE's are required for each camp so that one can stay at camp while one goes on the out-o(-camp- bus trips. 5. Thank you letters sent to Stop & Shop, Shop Rite and Hannaford for their generous donations to our annual Easter Egg Hunt. And to Linda Leopardi of RCK for having her students bake the cookies for this event. 6. Community Day requests sent out to Mycor Holding for the use oftheir property on Myers Comers Road for the staging of our parade line-up and to Roger Humeston requesting the use of his flatbed truck and his property for the fireworks display. 7. A letter was sent to Heather Ryan of the District Attorney's Office explaining our expectations in the resolution ofthe problem caused at Rockingham Park in January 2008. Mr. Holt explained that some of the flooding that took place after the vandalism evened out the ground somewhat by allowing the mud to settle. Two estimates were received, one from Neave Landscaping for $29,370.00 and one from JVB Landscaping for $4,700.00. We will go with the lesser of the two estimates as we wish to restore the property to its original condition. Mr. Holt also wishes to have the vandals given a substantial number of community service hours to pay back the Town. JVB Landscaping will roll and seed the ground and maintain it for the year with three additional visits. 8. Letters sent to Enviro Clean and Superior Sanitation thanking them for their bids for our porta-john needs for 2008. The bid was giverito Big Top Portable Toilets as they were the lowest bidder. 4 Recreation Commission Meeting April 9, 2008 9. Letters were sent to the organizations that requested the use of our fields at Robinson Lane and Castle Point requesting payment from them. It has since been established that any check over $300.00 must be a certified or cashiers check to be accepted by the Town Clerks Office. A letter requesting a waiver will be sent to the Supervisor asking that playground registration checks not be subject to this ruling. RECREATION DIRECTOR'S REPORT Mr. Cheney began by informing the commission that he will be meeting with Jackie and Jill Smith, the Camp Summer Directors, to discuss returning Directors and Counselors. He will then determine how many slots are available for new hires. The band scheduled for the July 3rd slot in our Summer Concert Series, "Bill's Toupee" will not be able to fulfill their obligation. I have hired one of the groups that sent in demos to me, "The Steve Schultz Band". . Mr. Cheney stated that he still had no computer service at Schlathaus Park. Could someone please speak to Craig Roberts to have this taken care of. Mrs. Manning will call and set up an appointment. GARY TRUDELL'S REPORT Mr. Trudell began by explaining that he and his wife Marion have been working at Carnwath planting flowers. Th~y planted a butterfly bush on the bank between the . upper and lower parking lots. They are also working on the wild flower bed that you will see to the left of the entrance road. At our last meeting reference was made to the fact that many of the High School seniors need community service hours to graduate. He suggests that they might possibly help at Camp Registration, not dealing with money but handling flow of traffic and information. He also suggested trail clean-up of debris at Camwath. While working at Carnwath, Mr. Trudell was approached by a woman who asked if a circular trail could be put in so that her walk would leave her off where she started.. Mr. Holt suggested that Mr. Trudell contact Joe Ennesser of Greenway to discuss this possibility. Mr. Cheney stated that he would get a contact at the High School for working the trail and in other capacities. It was suggested at earlier meetings that a summer concert be held at Carnwath Farms to promote the property and introduce it to residents that might not be aware of it. Mr. Holt indicated that a great deal of work would need to be done, including tick spraying, before we could consider the possibility. If the concert is planned for the ball field area it would need to be mowed, sprayed and we would need to supply a flatbed truck, electricity and portable toilets. Having it during the day will allow people to walk the trails, we can open the museum and in general experience the property. IF this concert were to happen we are considering a Sunday afternoon in mid-to-late August 5 Recreation Commission Meeting April 9, 2008 with vendors for food, ice cream and beverages. Mr. Holt has asked Scott Cheney, Bruce Lustig and Max Dao to do some preliminary groundwork for this event Mr. Holt stated that the suggestion of a golf course on the Carnwath property may go against the premise that Carnwath is slated for passive recreation only. Mr. Holt supplied golf carts so that the area could be looked at by himself, Bob Gray, the Town Engineer and Councilman Vincent Bettina. Cost may be prohibitive as one "green" could cost upwards of$5000.00. The expense of the project would have to be balanced by the income generated. Mr. Holt still feels that the best investment that we could make at Carnwath would be to bring in a caterer, Charlie Barola was approached about this, to hold weddings in the chapel. Mr. Barola was willing, and still is, to invest $100,000.00 in the renovation of the chapel to make this project happen. SENIOR DIRECTOR'S REPORT Kay V onReyn began by- stating that the attendance at the Senior Center is up by 15% over la~t years numbers. In March we had a St. Patrick's Day party attended by 71 of our Seniors, also more than last year. We served 2 lunches instead of 3 as we now are celebrating our Birthdays at the, month's special function due to the lack of staffing in the department. Our first bus trip of the year was to Monticello Raceway for a s40w, luncheon and gambling. A good time was had by all. The sing-ups for our next trip to NYC for a tour and Circle Line Crui~e are. picking up now that Scott Cheney has included it in his article for the SDN and a press release was placed by me in the Poughkeepsie Journal. Brain Games at the Center are held on Wednesdays and attendance is growing rapidly. Thanks to Herm London for moderating. Thirty-one Seniors. came to hear Barbara Bambina from the Office for the Aging talk on the programs that the OF A has to offer them. Liz Alexander, working under the co-sponsorship of the AARP and OF A has done the taxes, for 16 of our Seniors free of charge. This month 6 new members joined the center. One of our Seniors, Helen Hayes, passed away. We had a serious medical emergency due to a diabetic/insulin imbalance with one of our members. She refused going to the hospital but Emergency Services did not leave until they were satisfied that she was stabilized. MAX DAO'S REPORT Mr. Dao said he will be escorting his first Recreation bus trip to Foxwoods Casino. He had some questions but was assured that he would have everything he needed from Mrs. Manning before the trip. 6 Recreation Commission Meeting April 9, 2008 BRUCE LUSTIG'S REPORT Mr. Lustig, as a member of the Soccer Board, expressed that board's views in regard to their former president Jim Purdy. They agreed that Mr. Purdy left a bad impression with the new Supervisor with his insistence on turf fields for the WUSc. They feel that the new president Doug LePerche will be more productive in talks where Soccer is concerned. Mr. Lustig stated that the Soccer Club realizes that the Turf fields are not feasible in this economic climate, with Cranberry Hills no longer an option and that money no longer available to the Parkland Fund. However we do have to take care ofthe properties at Rockingham and Airport Park. Rockingham is virtually unusable as a result of the flooding and the vandalism. Airport fields fared better, but we have decided to postpone opening until April 26th. True Green, a landscaping company, came in at the beginning of April and aerated and seeded the fields. By postponing using them we have allowed the grass to take hold. WUSC got in touch with Kate Palumbo, the athletic director of the WSCD, who was generous enough to let us have time on several of the school district's. fields. We also got permission to use some fields on Saturdays at Bowdoin Park. We feel it is in our best interest to close Rockingham aU together and renovate it. This would involve roto-tilling to eight inches down, aerat(ng, adding top soil, fertilizer and pll,tting ~own seed. Once the fields are in good shape we would like to contract to have them maintained on a regular basis. We realize that Bob Sheridan and his maintenance crew do not have the manpower or the equipmentto accomplish what we need to be done. Mr. Lustig continued by saying that Airport Park was c.1osed, as stated earlier, so that the fields would be ready for a late opening day.of April 26th. Quite by accident, it was discovered that a team from East Fishkill was practicing on our "closed" fields. East Fishkill was notified and we have put up orange and yellow caution tape to keep others off the fields. Supervisor Colsey attended our Coaches Dinner that we had at the end of March. The Supervisor admitted that he had no idea how popular Soccer was and was happy to meet the new Board of Directors and to give consideration to advancing the program. Mr. Holt stated that it had been hoped that Fishkill's Supervisor Joan Pagones would make a contribution toward our program since we have well over 200 Fishkill children in our program. If our Supervisor cannot get a firm commitment from Fishkill to help out with Soccer, at future registrations there will be a surcharge added to the fee for Fishkill children. When Fishkill parents are hit with this additional charge we are certain that they will be in contact with Supervisor Pagones. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Mr. Holt said that Castle Point will not be an option for the dog park projected for Castle Point because of the venting canes on the property. Because of this, Carnwath Farms is now being considered as the possible site. 7 Recreation Commission Meeting April 9,2008 Originally Recreation was led to believe that Community Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day would be taken over by or at least receive help from Connie Smith. Since, however, these events are still our responsibility we have all necessary elements of the program lined up, except for a guest speaker, which Joe Incoronato said that he would handle. Camo pollution has checked the water at Robinson Lane and found it satisfactory for use. Mr. Holt said that there has, however, been a lot of plumbing problems with the underground pipes leaking. Bob Sheridan and his men had to dig up four or five sections of the field in order to repair different sections of one line. It is our hope, that with approval of the Town Board at the next meeting a new water system will be approved for Robinson Lane. Two new wells will be dug and used for drinking water and the two old wells will be used to water the fields. The funds for this project will come out of the Parkland Fund. This money can only be used for Recreation and about $110,000 will be used for this project. Mr. Holt indicated that the Tennis Courts project is next on the list. The set of two courts will be made usable with crack filling and some resurfacing. The four courts across the street are not safely usable and are closed off until we can have them properly. fixed at a cost of about $120,000 to $135,000. Thes~ courts have not been worked on for over 25 years. It now will be necessary to dig up the old courts and start from scratch. . Mr. Lustig mentioned seeing the unused tennis courts at Wappinger JHS and thought it a shame that they have fallen into such disrepair. Mr. Cheney said that it is the school budget that maintains those courts..and because of that the Town may not use them without permission, as is the case with their. gym facilities. He feels that things may get worse and not better if the schools disallow us the use of their facilities. It will greatly impact our Recreation programs. Mr. Holt mentioned that money is tight on both side of the fence and that it would be better to work together than to go our separate ways. Legislative Aid, Joe Incoronato has been given the specs for the truck and mower by Bob Sheridan. He will either be going out to bid or, if using State Bid pricing, we can purchase the items needed. Each unit will cost between $25,000 and $30,000. Bid requests have gone out to five companies requesting bids for the building of the 1 st base dugout at Holt Memorial Field. No responses have been received as yet. No word has come in as yet from FEMA on the claim that we put in last year for damages caused by the flooding last April. This dugout was part of that claim. Mr. Holt discussed the amount of vandalism that we experience in our parks with summertime being the worst when the kids are out of school. Weare hiring Vincent LaVacca to work almost exclusively at Martz Field. Not only will this keep the park in shape, but, since he lives across the street, will be a constant pair of eyes on the park. We're hoping that this will deter some vandalism. 8 Recreation Commission Meeting April 9, 2008 Mr. Holt has, in the past, requested that Stop & Shop help us out with our end-of- summer Playground picnic. For many years he had donated just about everything we needed. In the last two years the manager only gave us a discount on the enormous amount of food that we required. Tom McDougall, the manager approached Mr. Holt this year and asked for a listing of what he would need for the picnic as his corporate office wishes to do something special for the children of Wappinger. Mr. Holt will see that a full request list is sent in shortly. The final topic of discussion was the playground sign-ups that are to take place on May 2nd and 3rd. Mr. Holt asked for volunteers as the first night is usually VERY busy. Everyone at this meeting will be working this first weekend. Eileen Manning Recreation Secretary 9