2009 taxes – Info pending. Once all received will be provided to Gary. Gary to obtain pricing information for tax returns.
Ice Rink – Still having trouble with 12” stoppers and holding water. Donna will try one more time. She mentioned that she knows someone with the Brentwood Recreation Committee that may have a liner they are not using. Discussion around basketball posts posing a potential problem with the use of a liner. Ideas discussed for next year include using a different location other than the basketball court, which may be too small anyway. Parking lot was suggested.
Turf Care – Mike Motherway discussed status of 2010 turf care plan. $5,000 grant from Dept. of Agriculture should come in February. This will allow for soil tests. He has asked that fertilizer be delivered and on site February. Timberland has shown interest in coordinating an event on Earth day at the park (a possible Fall visit may happen as well). Details to be worked out on work they will provide. Suggestions include, spreading compost, spreading trail chips, spreading playground chips and general clean up. Any more suggestions should be forwarded to Mike M. The trust asked for a progress update of the documentation for the 2010 turf care program. Mike M. discussed general approach with 5 applications of fertilizer and soil tests to determine lyme and seed requirements. Trust noted they would like to see a documented plan as discussed in 2009 review. Mike M. and Bruce will meet Saturday 1/23 to outline the plan.
Legends schedule for spring – Legends baseball has committed to dates from 4/12 to 6/6 giving the park 8k which will be in hand for start of season.
Park Maintenance Budgeting – Trust asked for details on what costs the town will need subsidized by the trust. Town has 15k budgeted (pending town meeting vote), Lewis to provide 8k, leaves roughly 14k for turf maintenance from trust. – Came back to this item later in meeting. Goal of town with regard to turf care is to cover costs with donations. To properly budget for trust portion of costs needed we discussed potential “worst case scenario” items including; concession stand start up costs, applications, Bark mulch (Mike M. to follow up on amount of potential donation), Playground chips (discussed to have on site for Timberland volunteers), lyme and seed.
Park Revenues from user fees – Members of the trust all agree that user fees should only be put towards park maintenance and not fund the concession stand. The concession stand should operate as a separate entity. Mike M. noted that start up costs would be required prior to any revenue being generated. – Later in meeting Bruce noted that the trust had start up costs of $2,700. – This carried into a broader discussion of the concession stand.
Concession Stand – Generally discussed that the concession stand hasn’t and probably won’t be a significant source of revenue for the park. Mike M. summarized 2009 concession stand activity. All agreed that the hours of operation coinciding with scheduled field activity was most successful and that would be the approach for 2010. Need for volunteers were discussed and ideas on how to increase volunteers at the stand were brought up. Working with KYAA and EJBL through registrations and fees to cover concession stand were mentioned. It was suggested to look into leasing the stand to a private party or having KYAA run and split profits. All agreed that an overall plan for the concession stand was needed. Russell will work on drafting a proposal for concession stand operations, incorporating hours of operation aligning with field usage schedule, KYAA/EJBL collaborative efforts with town for increased volunteer staffing, inventory methods, specific products to be sold, etc. Any suggestions or ideas should be forwarded to Russell. (some discussed include; salary vs. hourly staffing to manage volunteers, pizza warmer, bigger fryer, viewing it as a snack shack and not a full service food vendor.)
Banner Sales – Donna will provide samples of letters. Tentative date for mailing set for February. We need to decide on pricing for multiple banner purchases (1, 2 or 3 fields). Question raised if we can negotiate price of banners with vendor. This will help us determine best pricing scale for banner sales.
KYAA/Recreation Committee/Trust collaboration – We discussed need for better collaboration between town, KYAA and trust with regards to park operations. Working together under the town, the KYAA wouldn’t need insurance and the park would have a wider network for volunteers. It was also mentioned that it would be easier to have volunteers that were more accountable for helping at the park. Gary will propose to the KYAA that the trust, recreation committee and KYAA meet to determine how to best utilize and service the park together. Ground rules would have to be established and participants would have to avoid dredging up the past and slowing progress.
Meeting location –
Possible change of location discussed for next meeting. To be determined.