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2010-02-03 NEXT MEETING, MARCH 10,2010 <~. ~~ (Ql~ rOtz.,. 4'Oy W~ /11 OJ ~ '>-0 O~ ' <'e?Ie? ~IV ~~J:>J:> Q~.~rlV()'~ The regular meeting of the Town of Wappinger Recreation Commission was held ~ il> Wednesday, February 3,2010 at Schlathaus Park, 126 All Angels Hill Road, Town of Wappinger, Dutchess County, New York. Recreation Committee Meeting February 3,2010 RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, February 3,2010 The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Vice-Chairman, Gary Trudell with the following persons present: Kay vonReyn, Senior Director. Commission Members in attendance were Bruce Lustig, Uma Satyendra and Bill Bitterlich. Minutes for the January 2010 meetings were approved with no corrections. Mr. Trudell began by welcoming and introducing Bill Bitterlich, the newest Recreation Committee. OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE 1. A memo was sent to the Town Board and Supervisor Colsey from Kay vonReyn suggesting a way to save the Town $2400.00 on Town and Senior trips by booking the buses ourselves for "destination only" trips. The cost for these buses would be paid for directly by the participants of the trip. 2. A letter was sent from Kay vonReyn to Karen Noye thanking her and the members of her Financial Literacy Class for sharing your knowledge of fraud protection with the Seniors. Many agreed that they had learned something new. 3. Letters were sent to five (5) Porta-john companies requesting bids for our porta- john needs for 2010. 4. Letters were sent to five (5) Pest Control companies requesting bids for tick spraying at eight (8) town parks for 2010. 5. Letters were sent to the six (6) bands scheduled to play in our Summer Concert Series requesting fees and contracts. Dates have already been assigned. 6. Six (6) letters were sent out to the participants in Winterfest II, thanking them for their help and enthusiasm and expressing the hope that they will help us out again next year. 7. A letter was written by Gary Trudell to the Supervisor, in reply to his letter to the Committee, with regard to our plans and expenditures for our Recreation events. A copy is in each member's packet. 8. A memo was sent from Kay vonReyn to Supervisor Colsey and the Town Board requesting that Kathi DeLisa fill in at the Senior Center until a new director is hired by the Town. INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE 1. One (1) additional resolution was received from the January 4,2010 Town Board meeting regarding Recreation as follows: .' Recreation Committee Meeting February 3,2010 a. Resolution # 2010-3 - To send to all households a Calendar of Events for 2010 which would take the place of separate mailings and publication of the Recreation Guide and the Bulk pick-up mailing. The Calendar of Events can be found on the Town website at townofwappinger.us. (Adopted) Mr. Trudell noted that the Easter Egg Hunt for 2010 is scheduled for Saturday, April 3, Holy Saturday. In the past, Recreation has scheduled the event the week before Easter so as to allow for a rain date. The event will be, again, at Camwath Farms. 2. A letter was sent to Supervisor Colsey and forwarded to Ralph Holt regarding our holiday display at Schlathaus Park. Sue Close of All Angels Hill Road suggests that we skip the political correctness and add about a thousand more strings of lights on the trees lining All Angels Hill Road and on the house. Supervisor Colsey's accompanying letter suggests that Ms. Close should consider aiding in the 2010 holiday display and meeting with Ralph Holt and/or the Committee to discuss her ideas and concerns. Mr. Trudell stated the, per Supervisor Colsey's request we have begun to remove the holiday decorations from the grounds at Schlathaus. Mrs. Manning called Rev. Harris of the Grace Bible Church to help remove the creche. He was able to get the help of his sons, and they moved the creche into the garage. Graham Foster was passing by the park at the time the creche was being removed and was concerned that unauthorized persons were moving it. Mr. Trudell explained that Town employees are not permitted to put up and take down these decorations, therefore, it must be done by volunteers. 3. A letter was sent to the Supervisor and copied to Jaclyn Smith indicating that our application for the 2010 YDDP Youth Bureau grant for $4,654.00 has been accepted. 4. A previously received e-mail from the principal of Myers Comers School requesting the use of Schlathaus Park as a gathering place for parents and guardians in the event of an emergency at the school. The school has been notified, per the Supervisor, that the meeting place designated for such emergencies is the Town Hall. 5. Three (3) resolutions were received from the January 25,2010 Town Board meeting regarding Recreation as follows: a. Resolution # 2010-58 - Authorizing acceptance of the 2010 YDDP Youth Bureau grant. (Adopted) b. Resolution # 2010-59 - Authorizing the use ofCarnwath by the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce for a membership breakfast to be held on May 5,2010. (Adopted). Mr. Trudell stated that Joe Ennesser also received approval from the Supervisor to have the quarterly Greenway breakfast at Camwath. c. Resolution # 2010-62 - Authorizing the schedule of Recreation and Senior Bus Trips. (See description above in Outgoing Correspondence #1) Ms. vonReyn explained that this was the memo sent to have the participants pay for the "destination only" trips, so that the Town does not have to pay for the bus. (Adopted) 2 Recreation Committee Meeting February 3,2010 6. An e-mail was received from Rhonda Daeumer, seeking a refund of the $30.00 basketball fee she paid for her son, Paul. He has had several medical emergencies and the doctor will not allow him to participate in any sports. He attended only one class. Mr. Bitterlich asked how many classes were in the program. Mrs. Manning stated that there were nine (9). Mr. Lustig stated that he has always felt that part ofthe fee for a programs should be for registration and the rest for the program fee, thus when a cancellation takes place only the program fee is returned and not the registration fee. He feels that it takes time to process all of the paperwork and would like to see this put into effect for the 2011 programs. Mr. Trudell asked ifthe basketball program was paying for itself. Mrs. Manning stated that in the past, upon low registration, we have combined the lOAM session for 7-12 year-olds with the 11:30 session for 13-15 year-olds to save money in salary and custodial fees. Ralph Holt and Jaclyn Smith decided to keep the classes separate for fear that the older children would cancel. However, Mrs. Manning stated that overall, gymnastics has taken in so much money that it will likely pick up the slack ofthe basketball program. Mr. Trudell asked for a vote and all agreed to give a full refund due to the child's medical problems. 7. A letter was received from Matt Meybohm with regard to using Robinson Lane for a baseball tournament from August 27 - 29,2010. The Wappinger Little League Board has already approved the use of the fields for this tournament. The event will be held in the memory of Sgt. Matt Palmateer and Koreen Flynn. As this tournament is not sanctioned by the National Little League Organization it will be necessary to get Town Board approval for this event. At a previous meeting Ralph Holt mentioned a similar tournament that was held at Robinson Lane to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Assn. Mr. Lustig indicated that although Little League has approved the fields it may have some impact on the Senior League games as it has in the past. Mr. Trudell said that the previous un- sanctioned tournaments have not been discussed with Little League and feels that they should pay for field usage as any other outside organization would. He also stated that tournaments of this type are usually made up of travel teams and therefore most of those playing are not Town residents. Fall Ball would normally have started by this time so arrangements must have been made accordingly. With last year's tournament, there were so many people in attendance that the bathrooms backed up, requiring Recreation Maintenance to help with the problem. Recreation also had to collect the garbage at the end of each day as so much had accumulated. A vote resulted in total agreement that a memo be sent to the Town Board stating that we sanction the tournament but highly suggest that not only field usage be charged but that any use of our Maintenance staffbe billed to the tournament organizers. Also, a certificate of insurance would have to be provided, other than Little League's, which will be on file. 8. A follow-up letter was received, per Ralph Holt's request, asking to estimate what fields would be needed for this event. Seven fields were named including Holt, SL1, SL2, R1, R2, F2 and F3. The number of fields used and the need for lighted fields may vary depending on the number of those participating. The committee asked about the new rates for field usage. Mrs. Manning indicated that it is now $50 per field use and $125 each time a lighted field is used. Mr. Trudell spoke of 3 Recreation Committee Meeting February 3, 201 0 the scheduling of the Wappingers Yankees indicating that they have not been paying for field usage because they brought in a great deal of money by selling advertising signs that line two (2) fields. It appears, however, that this year the Yankees will have to pay for field usage as it has been determined that only four of the team members are Wappinger residents. 9. A letter was received from Robert Wilson, President and Chris Schoen, Vice- President of Little League requesting the dedication of the main road into our Robinson Lane complex to become Bill Farrell Way. The dedication is planned to take place on opening day in April of 20 1 0 if approved. Mr. Trudell said that he spoke to Ralph Holt earlier in the week and suggested that since fields have been named in memory of certain individuals, it would be nice to have a dedication to a living, and still involved coach, Bill Farrell. Mr. Bitterlich was not familiar with Bill Farrell. Mr. Trudell gave him a short summary of Mr. Farrell's accomplishments with Little League. The committee agreed to this proposal and to pass it along to the Town Board for approval. 10. A letter was sent from Supervisor Colsey asking the Recreation Committee to reconsider our spending plans for upcoming events. A copy was sent to each member of the Committee. Since there were so many items in this correspondence, Mr. Trudell spoke to Mr. Holt about responding. Would we reply to them individually or as a committee. Mr. Holt preferred that we respond as a committee. The committee discussed some of the items, including the Community Day proposal but did not reach any final decisions. 11. Two (2) e-mails were received from June Ellen Notaro of the D. C. Youth bureau. The first is asking if the Town would like to sponsor an Aquafina Major League Baseball "Pitch, Hit & Run" Local Competition. Registration is free and an Administration packet will be sent to aid the project. Flyer available in each member's packet. Mr. Lustig suggested sending it along to Little League. Mr. Bitterlich said that an event like this drew from a very wide area and entailed a great deal of work. The second included a listing of youth opportunities including scholarships and activities. Anyone interested please see Mrs. Manning for a copy of what is available. 12. An e-mail was received from Nicole Gallaher requesting a pro-rated refund for her daughter Kaitlin for our Gymnastics program. Kaitlin has been diagnosed with a compressed spine injury. (No mention was made that this injury happened at one of our Gymnastic sessions.) Kaitlin attended four out of nine gymnastic classes at $5.00 a class. The pro-rated amount of refund would be $25.00. The committee voted to approve the refund. 13. A request for field usage at Robinson Lane was received from the D.C. Men's Senior Baseball League for the 25+ and 35+ leagues. These leagues have used our fields in the past and are our main source of income for the use of lighted fields. They have already been apprised of our raise in fees and are agreeable to the new rates. Their schedule will be sent to Little League for verification of their requested dates. Once that has been done, payment will be sent to the Town. Mr. Lustig asked if municipal sharing of services has been discussed or decided by the Town Board. Mr. Bitterlich said that the difficulty involved in this decision is, once the consolidation has taken place who would be in charge. He predicts that 4 Recreation Committee Meeting February 3, 2010 an agreement will never be reached. Using the Highway Dept. as an example, close to $400.000 dollars could be saved in a consolidation. Kay vonReyn asked, as an aside, about Mr. Bitterlich's credentials. He explained that he has had his own business, Resource Interiors, for 37 years installing bathroom and kitchens. He played professional ball on a AAA team with the Brooklyn Dodgers but never made it to the majors. He is very active in the Republican Party and is the current President of the Wappingers Rotary Club. He is an avid golfer and is very interested in kids and seeing that they get what they deserve. 14. A letter was received from Pete Sanfilippo ofthe Mid Hudson Road Runners asking permission to hold the annual Mama's and Papa's Race on Saturday, July 10, 2010. He also would like to know ifit would be possible to use Carnwath for his annual Sports Museum 5K Race that was previously held at Bowdoin Park. Mr. Trudell said that he has been asking, in past years, whether this would be a possibility and is thrilled to have this opportunity. Letters will be sent to the Town Board asking for approval for both of these events. 15. Two young ladies came in from R.C. Ketcham High School asking if they could use the boards at Schlathaus to advertise an event that they will be holding in March. Because we have so many events planned for Recreation and the seniors the committee decided that it would not be possible at this time. It is also a general consensus that if we let an outside organization use the boards once, a unfavorable precedent may be set. The committee discussed some plans for the Easter Egg Hunt coming up on April 3, 2010. Mr. Trudell expressed a concern because of the spending freeze. Our usual orders are placed very early in the year so that merchandise is guaranteed to us. We will have to wait for March 1st before we can place an order. SENIOR DIRECTOR'S REPORT Ms. vonReyn had no report planned but said that her newsletter was enclosed and that would cover all the upcoming events for the month of February. She pointed out to all that the senior website also covered all upcoming events. She said that it has been great working with everyone Mr. Trudell took this opportunity to wish Kay vonReyn all the best as she leaves to join her husband in Pittsburgh. Her last day will be February 12,2010. Mr. Lustig asked if the new Recreation Guide was completed. Mrs. Manning said that the 2010 Calendar of Events could be found on the Town website at www.townofwappinger.us. BRUCE LUSTIG'S REPORT Mr. Lustig said that thing were quiet in Soccer at this time of the year, but he wanted to send "kudos" to Gary Trudell for a job well done for Winterfest II, especially since we had no snow. 5 ~ Recreation Committee Meeting February 3,2010 UMA SATYENDRA'S REPORT Ms. Satyendra also stated that Winterfest went well, but it was very cold. She appreciated that vegetarian chili was sold as part of the food concessions. BILL BITTERLICH'S REPORT Because this is Mr. Bitterlich's first meeting as a member of the committee, he had no report. Mr. Lustig made note that Mr. Bitterlich would be assigned a park that he would check on a regular basis. Mr. Trudell said that he was sure Mr. Holt would take care of that on his return in March. VICE-CHAIRMAN' S REPORT Mr. Trudell began by thanking Bruce Lustig and Vma Satyendra for working at the Winterfest and to Kay vonReyn and Eileen Manning for doing the office and sign work in preparation for the event. Six thank you letters have already gone out to volunteers with several more to be sent out. On the Sunday following Winterfest, the Poughkeepsie Journal did a wonderful article on the event. The Southern Dutchess News also did a big front page article the following week, the majority of which was an interview with Mr. Holt. Ralph Ferrusi, writer of the "Hike of the Week" column in the Poughkeepsie Journal wrote a fantastic article praising the Carnwath property and the events held that day. Mr. Trudell has written his reply to Supervisor Colsey's Memo of January 13, 2010, which was sent to all committee members. Mr. Trudell's letter encourages more use of Carnwath park and our other parks A general response letter will be put together by the committee in response as well. At the last board meeting a discussion came up about moving the Sports Museum out of the dormitory building. The Town Clerk has also been asked to move the archived paperwork out of the building with the intent to shut off the heat in the building to save money. Mr. Lustig sees the opportunity to rent out the facility to various groups to raise money. Mr. Bitterlich said we are not allowed to do that. Mrs. Manning asked how that differed from field rental or rental of the large meeting room in the Town Hall for outside use. Mr. Bitterlich explained that we are allowed to rent to a non-profit organization to defray expenses. He continued by saying that he knows how the Committee feels about Camwath but his view is very different. He feels that Carnwath should be sold. This proposal would have to go to Albany to be approved. The park has become a terrible drain on the finances ofWappingers in return for what is invested in it. He feels that no one has yet come up with a feasible solution to the problem. Mr. Lustig pointed out that the property was originally purchased to maintain open space. If sold it would go to developers and the open space is lost. Mr. Bitterlich continued by saying that there are a large number of parks in the Town, many of which are not used or not used to their fullest capacity. He sees Carnwath as a money pit, which is why the Town wants to clear the buildings and eliminate the expenses of heat and electricity. The cost to renovate the buildings and 6 Recreation Committee Meeting February 3, 2010 bring them up to code would be about $18,000,000. The cost to tear down the buildings would be about $12,000,000. He continued that it is getting close to the time when one action or the other would have to be taken. Emergency funds were spent along the way to try and save the buildings, especially the mansion, but the problems still exist. There are parts of the mansion foundation that are actually cracked and ifit were inspected would probably be condemned. Mr. Bitterlich wished that there were some way to preserve the property in tact, buildings and all, but sees no way around it. Mr. Lustig asked if these buildings were inspected before the property was bought by the Town. Mr. Bitterlich stated that when Connie Smith purchased that property she was total blinded by its beauty and did not consider the possible uses or disuse of the buildings. At the time of the purchase the Town was in better financial condition. Mrs. Smith saw it as an opportunity to make it into a really gorgeous park. Mr. Bitterlich said that the Town Board has got to be pushed into some kind of action on Camwath otherwise we may have a terrible liability on our hands. Mr. Lustig asked about the condition of the dormitory. Mr. Bitterlich said that the building is in fairly good shape and could be converted to another use, but we can't sell it, give it away or rent it because we will be making money on it. He spoke with the Town Attorney and Al Roberts said that going to the state to get permission to sell the property is no easy task. We would probably have to get Senator Saland on our side to help us pitch it. Mr. Bitterlich has spoken to Supervisor Co1sey asking him to consider what the legal fees would be to pursue this matter. No viable usage for this property has yet come to light. Mr. Lustig suggested leasing it to the Historical Society for $1.00 a year. Mr. Bitterlich said that they would not pay the millions of dollars to bring it up to code. He admits that it is a terrible problem because of torn feeling about Carnwath. It's a beautiful property and no one wants to see the open space given up. He also stated that he was terribly disappointed with the turnout at Winterfest. He estimated that about 200 people attended the event, but it was about twice as many as last year. The lack of snow may have had some bearing on the attendance. Mr. Lustig indicated that the parking lots were full most of the day. Taking into consideration the turnover of visitors, he guessed that there was easily more than 200. Mr. Trudell spoke of Ralph Ferrusi, the Hike of the Week columnist in the Poughkeepsie Journal, who has visited the World Peace Sanctuary in Wassaic. Mr. Ferrusi said that the Sanctuary encourages children around the world to send them art work promoting peace but have no place to display it. He thought that Carnwath would be an excellent place to showcase this art work. Mr. Trudell contacted the sanctuary and they would very much like to pursue this option, which may have to go to the Town Board for approval. The committee had a discussion with regard to what it would take to get the word out about our Recreation events. Mrs. Manning indicated that the Southern Dutchess News has not always been dependable with our columns and the Poughkeepsie Journal is expensive, except for their community calendar. Ms. vonReyn asked what happened to the proposed sign board that was to go in front of the Town Hall. Mr. Lustig asked if there would be a Recreation Guide this year. Mrs. Manning explained that there would 7 . Recreation Committee Meeting February 3, 2010 be a bulk mailing going out with Town and Recreation information in it. It will be smaller and on less expensive paper, but at least the information will go out. Mr. Trudell has decided to keep a "Light Log" listing lights that he has found on that should not be. The first was that a light was left on in the mansion on the ground floor. It is impossible to say who could have left it on as the building is not supposed to have traffic. He was shocked at the condition of the interior with plaster falling off the ceiling by water damage. Kay vonReyn was honored with a "going away" cake and all wished her the best for the future. Eileen Manning Recreation Assistant 8