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2009-12-03 Recreation Commission Meeting December 2009 RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Thursday, December 3,2009 NEXT MEETING, JANUARY 6, 2010 The regular meeting of the Town of Wappinger Recreation Commission was held Thursday, December 3,2009 at Schlathaus Park, 126 All Angels Hill Road, Town of Wappinger, Dutchess County, New York. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Chairman, Ralph J. Holt with the following persons present: Vice - Chairman Gary Trudell and Kay V onReyn, Senior Director. Commission Members in attendance were Bruce Lustig and Max Dao. Minutes for the November meeting were not available at this time. INCOMING CORRESPONDANCE: 1. A letter was received from Morris Associates stating that the Tennis Court project is progressing at a steady pace. The old surface has been removed, the old sub base has been removed and replaced, the drainage system has been installed and has been prepared for the placement of the asphalt. Within the next week the fence contractor will install the fence and gates. The planned completion date of November 26,2009 has been extended to May 30,2010 as the surface for the courts must be applied when temperatures during the day are at 70 degrees and do not go below 50 degrees at night. Mr. Holt mentioned that a woman came up to him at yesterday's Elks party and thanked him for this project and wanted to know when the other two courts were going to be done. 2. A letter was received from Paul Pilon of S&P Architects stating that he was contacted by Bob Gray of Morris Associates in regard to the dugout at Robinson Lane. He was asked if he would inspect the dugout as he was the architect who drew up the plans. He has declined doing that inspection because the builder did not follow the proper inspection procedures. Mr. Holt explained further that the builder of the dugout neglected to get the proper inspections done as the dugout was being built. Thus, the Town is holding up his check. Max Dao pointed out that a step by step approval process should have been given to the builder so that he would know at what stages he needed to have inspections done. 3. A second letter was received from Paul Pilon of S&P Architects with regard to the porch on the Administration building at Carnwath Farms. Mr. Pilon estimates the cost to remove the existing porch (floor, roof, columns and railings) and to construct a wood frame ramp to suit ADA requirements, would cost between $60,000 and $65,000. This estimate was based only on a visual inspection of the structure. Mr. Holt stated that the building has been sitting unused for a year and a half. Alex Reese, whose family is holding a $35,000.00 contribution to be used at Carnwath, is willing to use that money toward the porch repair. There is also a "Friends of Carnwath" account with about $50,000.00 in it that could supplement the money needed to do the job. A great deal of repair work has been done to 1 Recreation Commission Meeting December 2009 date on the downstairs level. The upstairs was slated to be used for an apartment for an on-site caretaker for the property. 4. A phone call was received from Chris Schoen, Vice-President of Little League asking to meet with Ralph Holt with regard to the coming Little League season. Mr. Holt explained that Rob Wilson is the new president of Little League and stated that he would be happy to meet with Little League to discuss plans for 2010. He plans to explain to them that the fields are owned by the Town, and while Little League has unlimited use of the fields, any use by outside organizations or for tournaments must be approved by the Recreation Commission. 5. An e-mail was received from Jaime Borbon of Scout Pack 127, Den 4. Ms. Borbon coordinated with someone to have her Pack clean up Schlathaus Park. They did so and completed the job on Nov 28. After the clean-up they performed a flag ceremony in honor of the memorial.. Their names were requested so that certificates of appreciation may be issued. A discussion amongst the Commission could not answer who spoke to them and gave them permission to do the cleanup. OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE 1. A letter was sent to Rocco DiMase of the New Hackensack Fire Co. requesting the use of their kitchen for the heating of the apple cider and the use of a fire truck and personnel to deliver Santa at our Christmas Tree Lighting scheduled for December 5, 2009. SENIOR DIRECTOR'S REPORT Kay vonReyn began by stating that the average attendance was slightly up for November. She said that the Elks party sign-up, although it is really a Recreation event, went really smoothly. Only one event, the November Birthdays, was held due to the four legal holidays in the month and was attended by 46 seniors.. Eileen Manning, Senior Chorus Director, took the chorus to Castle Point to sing for the veterans. The seniors enjoyed it as much as the veterans and would like to go back in the spring for another "gig". The third session of the AARP Defensive Driving Course was held with 21 in attendance. The set-up works well with the AARP providing the instructor at no cost and the Town providing the space at no cost to them. The photo club has set up a beautiful display in the lobby of the Town Hall. It includes pictures of senior events and antique camera equipment. They did a great job. Ms. vonReyn is happy to be receiving a new A V system for the senior room. The old, enormous TV and cabinet are gone and will be replaced by a drop-down screen and the equipment to show VCR's, DVD's and television programs. She thanks Supervisor Colsey for installing the screen and looks forward to getting the rest of the system. 2 Recreation Commission Meeting December 2009 Mr. Lustig asked ifthere was any further word on the joint Senior Center with the village. Mr. Holt explained that that project is no longer an option and it is the intention of the village to put in a skate park. He said that other towns that have set these parks up have had many problems with injuries and high costs of insurance, which is why Recreation never considered putting a skate park in. BRUCE LUSTIG'S REPORT Mr. Lustig has no report at this time. GARY TRUDELL'S REPORT Mr. Trudell is happy to say that his volunteer was back to help him finish the framing for the south facing viewing area and that Rick Bishop and his sons came down and helped contour the area. All that is left to do is to put down the weed block and place the item 4 around the bench. Mr. Baisley, whose property is next to Carnwath asked if a patio was being built. Mr. Bishop said yes, and we could sure use some wood chips to go around the frame. The wood chips were delivered two days later. Three scouts have completed the work that they agreed to do for their Eagle Badges and the fourth one, Matt Brace, is finalizing his plan. He will be installing the trash receptacles and the trail markers. He would also like to raise money to put a sign at the south facing viewing area explaining exactly what you are looking at from that spot. Mr. Trudell suggested to him that he be at Winterfest on January 23rd to meet the man who writes the hiking column in the Poughkeepsie Journal as he can probably name everything that can be seen from that vantage point. Mr. Trudell would like to have a "grand opening" ceremony in the spring. MAX DAO'S REPORT Mr. Dao has no report at this time. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Mr. Holt said that the budget for 2010 has been reduced to a "bare-bones' level. He feels that this is to give the Town Board something to build on. No final decision has been reached on the budget because a quorum for the Town Board was not in place. Much of what we asked for will not appear in the budget and that will leave Recreation in a tight spot. Mr. Trudell asked if Parkland Fund purchases are affected by this new budget. Mr. Holt explained that the budget has no affect on the Fund but that we do need Town Board approval to spend it. Mr. Holt suggested that he would like to see a member of Recreation go to a grant writing seminar and learn the procedure so that we may have more money to use to supplement the Town budget. 3 Recreation Commission Meeting December 2009 The first Senior Elks Party took place yesterday, December 2nd, and was a complete success. We start as early as August soliciting donations from area businesses to pay for these two parties. We have some great professionals in this town who we can depend on to come through for us if we should fall short of our goals. Thus was the case this year. We would not have been able to put the small bottle of wine in the gift bags if it were not for these two gentlemen. The Christmas Tree Lighting is scheduled for this Saturday, December 5th and all plans are in place for that event. The two maintenance men have set up the park and will be on hand to help. Gary Trudell will be heating the cider in the New Hackensack F.D. kitchen and Bruce Lustig will be in charge of the hot cocoa. The donuts have been ordered from Meadowbrook Farms and Santa will be arriving on a fire truck as usual. Little League and Soccer donate goodies for the gift bags given out by Santa. Also included in the bags are apples and a Christmas tree ornament. The Recreation Guide must be ready for Town Board approval by December 16th to be presented at the Town Board meeting on December 21 st. Because of the illness of our Recreation Director, Jaclyn Smith-Imm, we are behind in our information gathering for the new guide. Mrs. Manning spoke to Mrs. Smith-Imm and was told that she would be in on Monday, December ih to start working with Stephanie Kovalsky to put that information together. Mr. Holt asked Max Dao and Bruce Lustig if they had ever seen the porch and the first floor of the administration building at Camwath. Neither had seen it. Mr. Holt would like for them to meet there one day and see what has been accomplished and what needs to be done. There will be a meeting this Saturday morning, December 5th, at Schlathaus Park to discuss the new monument that is planned for Schlathaus Park. Mr. Holt suggested the location of the new monument be close to the other so as to keep it away from where the water lays after a lot of rain. Mr. Holt said that Supervisor Colsey has informed him that our maintenance men could not put up the creche, menorah and the other symbols at Schlathaus because it would be using taxpayers money to put these in place. Therefore, the Supervisor will arrange for volunteers to set the displays in place. Mr. Holt pointed out that over the years our maintenance men have set up receptacles for most of these so that installation is an easy matter. The creche however does require four men to put it in place because of its size and weight. Mr. Holt asked for volunteers from non-town employees. Ms V onReyn suggested the scouts that have been helping Mr. Trudell at Carnwath. Mr. Trudell spoke about Winterfest and hoping that we could have flyers to hand out at the Tree Lighting on Saturday. Mrs. Manning suggested taking last year's flyer and changing the date so that at least the basic information can be handed out. It was agreed that that would work well. A music program has been set up to take place in the chapel during the event with 6 groups from our area schools including vocal as well as 4 Recreation Commission Meeting December 2009 instrumental groups. Max Dao will be the emcee to announce the musical groups. Mr. Trudell asks that parking spaces be reserved for the musicians behind the mansion. We are planning for overflow parking but the site of such has not yet been determined. We hope to use some kind of shuttle bus. Dick Lahey is willing to display a sleigh but not to have one used for sleigh rides, besides the fact that the cost for the hiring of a horse would be prohibitive. A tractor from Roger Humeston and a hay wagon will be much more practical depending on the amount of snow we receive. Food for the event will be sold by Joanne Weber selling chili for the Camwath Garden Club, the Rotary selling hot dogs and the Elks will be selling hot meatball sandwiches. Recreation will sell cider and donuts. Mr. Holt wants the stove in the kitchen checked out to make sure it is in good working order. Plans are being made for the set-up ofthe chapel for entertainment and the food tables. Signs will need to be made directing people to the event as well as around the property. Mr. Trudell has a large number of volunteers to help with the event. A program will be made up with a list oftimes and events to be given out that day. Mr. Trudell also enlisted the help of Graham Foster to keep the parking areas free of snow so that we don't have a buildup of ice as we did last year. A network of phones will also have to be made up. Eileen Manning Recreation Secretary 5