HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-11-28Page 1 of 8
DRC2012 -11 -28
Dryden Recreation Commission
Wednesday November 28, 2012
Members present: Monica Armstrong, Vicki Wilkins, Sharon Todd, Steve Meyer, Jeff
Humphrey (Chair)
Community Association Member: Wendy Martin (not present)
Town Board Representatives: Linda Lavine and Steve Stelick, Jr. (not present)
Town Recreation Director: Melissa Bianconi
DCSD Liaison - Abby Adams (not present)
Business meeting called to order at 7:05 PM
Reading of the Commission's Meeting Minutes:
Jeff Humphrey suggested grammatical /spelling changes
A motion to approve the minutes of the last regular meeting of 10/24/2012, with
the recommended changes, was made by Jeff Humphrey and seconded by Steve
Meyer. The motion was passed.
Recognition of guests and community communications:
No guests
is Dryden Central School District Liaison monthly update - Abby Adams
M. Bianconi - Abby Adams is unable to serve as the DCSD liaison but she will help
find another one - Tracy Kurtz is willing to fill in.
Town Board monthly update: no members present
DRC and DYC merger update:
Melissa Bianconi checked and the two groups can meet together in January
She has met with the Youth Commission and they are on board with most of the
suggestions of the Recreation Commission except the name of the combined
commission. She has also been working on the legislation for the combined
commission. It is almost finished and then she will send it out to all of the members.
One of the projects that the Youth Commission has to work on and will probably be
one of the projects for the combined commission, is a youth needs assessment.
M Bianconi is hoping to have all the details worked out by the end of the
week. It appears that the new commission will come together as a 9 person
commission with the youth commission's natural attrition. The Commission will
look at the new applications (including those that have to reapply) and they will
make a decision regarding Commission members.
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The DYC has lost a lot of their funding from IVY and the County so they have
had to cut a lot of programs. Perhaps their old programs could be suggested to the
new commission and then on to Melissa.
Community Center Monthly update; Wendy Martin (not present)
Bianconi has sent out a final report form to the community centers to
follow up, she feels this is a good way to get inforniati on, The 4 -H project may have
to wait till next year but they have funds from 2012 which they will keep for the
2013 year so they can finish the project, Survey Monkey appears to be a good
program for the Rec commission and l ec Department. There will be $32,000 cc
grant this year, not as much as requested but still $2,000 more than last year. The
Commission asked for $35,0009
Town Recreation Department upda te : Melissa Bianconi
Melissa Bianconi sent an email to other Boards and Commissions of the Town
to encourage participation in the budget process, Members from the Planning
Board and the Conservation Board, members of the Ellis Hollow Community Center,
and the Executive Director of the State Theatre, who helps with the music series,
came out to support the recreation budget. M Bianconi doesn't understand the
confusion; a small number goes a long way in Recreation. She wishes she had an
explanation about why everything happened the way it did. The board members
went fine by line to cut funds, Borne staff members were here and some weren't and
it was just luck that M Bianconi was there and available or changes might have
occurred that would have been detrimental.
Jeff Humphrey wondered how the Town Board feels they have the authority
to do that? l4 Armstrong - when you have people that strictly loaf at numbers, then
they don't understand that there are people associated with those numbers. They
just need to crunch numbers and just start cutting and they don't understand why
this needs to be this much because they are not involved in anything else but the
Finance stuff
J Humphrey questioned whether the Town Board has the power to just make
those cuts? M Biancon[ - they would have had to be voted on by the entire Board so
they would Have had to make those ruts on Friday, brought to the Town Boa rd on
Monday and given enough time to review it, and then they can say, yes, this looks
good and let's vote on it.
In different circumstances, that could have happened. She believes it could be
worrisonie; they could have made a few .small changes in that scenario that could
have been very different. Luckily they ended up voting on the version that the
Supervisor had presented earlier.
The Recreation Budget is not the original budget M Bianconi asked for but was the
budget she was aware of, From M Bianconi's perspective, she budgets
conservatively and the Department tends to use all of it. She rarely asks for more
than they need. She feels they were treated as though she had a frivolous budget and
she has had years and years to ask for more than they need and never has. She has
voluntarily reduced expenditures. The whole process was very flawed.
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DRC2412 =11=28
Humphrey pointed out he has seen the Town Board liaison only once in 2
isyears. Cl, Linda Levine has never come to a single meeting but she seems to have
some questions about the Rec department and aslced if they can't use more
volunteers? M Bianconi pointed out that the Rec department already ruses a lot of
volunteers and honestly, it is hard to find volunteers to line the ball fields or
organize the storage shed. That was where they started, with our part time staff
members. There is a lack of consensus, even amongst the Town Board members, as
to what the situation is. M Bianconi is not clear on that yet, is there an emergency
that we are in, what is causing the emergency, are we deficit spending now? These
are questions that as staff we need to know the answers to as we plan for the future,
The Town Board is dedicated to getting the Budget process started earlier. There
has not been much transparency with staff about how this budget process works,
staff has been asking over the years for a schedule, can we know when you are
discussing our budgets so we can come in provide more information and answer
questions instead of the Town Board answering their own questions. They all seem
to agree with that but it is not happening.
A community member has been painting a picture of the budget that isn't
exactly accurate. M Bianconi response was that maybe there are some issues that
need to be looped at, as staff members, they are willing to look at theirs and work
within the guidelines that they are given. We need to have an understarnding of what
the concerns are. She is confident the budget process issues will be resolved but she
40 isn't as confident about the future. She feels that the Recreation Commission needs
to be more present at the Town Board meetings since they are not attending the
Recreation commission meetings.
V Wilkins - remembers the Board members corning, they used to sit in the
corner and chat through the meetings. The members stopped coming after the
election about 2 }rears ago. 8'rodd pointed out that about the tirne the Commission
was having a hard time getting members, the Town Board members stopped
coming. They stopped supporting the Recreation Commission_
V Wilkins asked if their appointment as liaison by the Town Board meant
they were required to attend the meetings? M Bianconi indicated that if they are not
required to attend then why were they appointed? The Commission doesn't know
where the Town Board is in terms of investing in the f4iture. M Bianconi thought she
did but now she is not sure. M Bianconi has been open about the Recreation Budget
with the Recreation Commission; it's the right thing to do, And if the Town Board is
going to come up with directives, then we all need to know what is going on; where
they are headed with things and what the potential problems are. M Bianconi
expressed her concern that the information she has been presenting T written
report, power point presentation, you name it- is not sticking, Maybe we need to
bring in faili
mes, inviting board members, other program leaders and other
volunteers to quantify what we do in a way that is more tangible. It is difficult to
assign monetary values to programs that have so much more attached to thern than
the amount we paid.
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DRC 012 -11 -28
S Meyer- this might sound simplistic but when was the last time these two
liaisons were just asked "we are meeting this date, can you attend ?" V Wilkins - has
expressed directly to there basically "where the hell are you ?" V Wilkins - they were
how we had a pulse on what the Board is doing, they helped us, we had their
guidance, they were advising us. It was mutual and it is missed, clearly missed. A
comment made by Cl Levine shows her complete lack of understand i rig of
community recreation.
Bianconi - And being a new Board member, it's her opportunity to came
and learn. That's what Jason (Leifer) slid, That's why i thinly Jason was so present at
those meetings for so long, when he was a new Board member, that's how lie
learned. Coming in fl it is overwhelming, there is a lot to learn. But you have to be
willing to put that time in and 1 am not positive that's necessarily what's going to
happen, 1 don't know, 1 have never spoken to her, V. Wi11rdns - It seems like we
should be able to reach out to Steve, he has tremendous history with this group,
more than anyone at this table, lie knows what a contribution his presence is and
that it is missed.
M Bianconi - now is a good time to get everybody back on board and get that
communication going again,
Emerald Necklace project:
Bianconi - The recommendation From the Commission went very well
which is why 1 am a little confused, at the same Meeting that they didn't pass the
budget, they approved $15,000 out of this year's contingency. The way the money
from the Emerald Necklace project was presented might have convinced the board
to pass the resolution. The 'I'own Board thanked the Commission for their work on
this project and their recommendation.
Capital reserve fund - Melissa Bianconi has not d ipped into it. She is not sure how
that is being handled For 2013,
Cl Leifer (at the last Town Board meeting) brought up (a very old recommendation)
the idea of a special tax district to help fund recreation long term. Melissa skated she
feels the Board should come and talk to the Rec Commission about that idea, The tax
will give town residents a better idea of how their money is being spent but the flip
side is that people will complain if they are not using the services, V Wilkins brought
up John Campton's talk on the benefits to the nor user. Both V Wilkins and S Todd
feel the talk could be of benefit to the Ree Commission; it would be a wonderful
reminder of the business we are in.
Making Montgomery
Montgomery Park was deeded to the Village as a permanent green space,
cannot be sold. Melissa Bianconi has been teaching a class at Ithaca College_ She tool
over half way through the semester. They have been Focusing on Planning. With
their previous instructor, they had visited Montgomery Park to do a redesign of the
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park. 'Course objectives point to Comprehensive Community Planning - she realized
her students' had no idea what that means. They came up wi Ch a plan nirig project
named Planning Montgomery. The group decided that holding town hall style
meetings at 7 o'clock in an attempt to get public input just doesn't work; there is too
rnuch going on at that time of day. People don't go to the reetings and then wonder
why or say "I had no idea'. They have created a vision board (4x8) which says at top
"1 wish Montgomery Park was....." Students are going to hang it on the fence at the
park with a bunch of sharpies and rules.
The people who are hanging in the park lately have not been the type that the
Recreation Corn mission wants to attract. Bored high school kids, heroin users, kids
with nothing to do, 8 -9 arrests over the past couple weeks, local residents have a
good view of what is happening there and it is sad.
M Armstrong grew up at Montgomery Park and she always had a great vision
Chat it would always be nice. All the residents From around there have come to
meetings.
M Bianconi is letting the students and Village Board members know this is an
experiment, it could go terribly wrong but we spent only $12 and if things do go
really wrong, we Have a back up board. She is taking some of her students to the
middle school and high school with the board to start getting ideas, Dave Hall,
Primitive Pursuits, has been asked to get his kids to corn down and do it, The class
is trying to get input without making a person gu to a meeting. The board is only
going to be up for about 10 days, if it goes well, then they might puC up the other
board, Hopefully that will spark some interest. M Bianconi passed out a DRAFT of
the plan her students have put together_
Meyer asked if it is the lack of lights at the park?
M Armstrong indicated there is a whole list of pro blerns. There are a lot of
problems at Montgomery Park, the trees ire overgrown, it's been very neglected for
years and gears, no one has really wanted to do anything, Now is it overgrown. The
h]lage had a meeting a coup] a gears ago and about 80 people were there just From
the village alone. A lot of them were stay at home morns that would like to go there
during the day because they can't go to the school to take their toddlers to play. The
village just didn't want to deal with it but they seem to be corning around.
Armstrong backed off for a while because people (other Board members) are being
asked and are asking what is gyring on with Montgomery bark, She has been
pushing people to ask the other Board mernbers when they have questions about
the park, The Mayor is ali for it so he is trying to get the rest of them on board, Chris
Calabro and other local residents are on board.
S Todd asked whether the Town could takeover control of the Park. M
Bianconi stated that would take an act of NYS Legislature which is not impossible,
sounds more daunting than it is. However, the Village actually has some funds that
can go towards this_ M Bianconi's perspective is "Let the Town help guide you guys"
(referring to the Village). legally the Town cannot put hard cash into a Village Park
but she works for the people who live in the vl]lage so she can help guide this
process.
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Lots of work has already been put into the project. Monica's neighbor, who is
Isa landscape architect at Cornell, put in his time, made these nice drawings, It's not
like we didn't do our homework. She is slowly starting to get the Village Board to
come around. Sbnneone was willing to buy an ice rink, with her own money, and put
it in the village park, The Tillage turned that down because they had no place to
store it.
M Bianconi anti M Armstrong believe it is going to be more work for the
Village, the PD, and the DPW. But none of thern are working together to resolve the
problem, Another concern is the liability bat the condition of the park right now is
really bad. The gazebo is dangerous, M Bian con i said the ree department pulled
their prograrns from the park when they got tired of having to scour the area for
needles before the kids could run around. Armstrong thought it might be useful
to the pillage Board to see that the Rec Commission is interested in he] ping out and
guiding. It wasn't tan long agcy that the Mayor was talking about getting new
playground equipment. So the Mayor is ok with it.
V Wilkins asked about the plans that were drawn up, M Bianconi said she has a
rough conceptual plan done by Dave Cutter. M Armstrong- we don't need anything
elaborate, green space where people can carne and have a picnic or use the pavilion
and have a party. She hopes that the Village realizes that the property was deeded
to the pillage For use as a park, there is nothing else that can be done with it.
V W1Ikins - when something's deeded tike that is there any, is part of that keeping it
at a certain level of qua]ity? M Armstrong and M Bi7nconi both conFrrned that is
part of the deeding and Bianceni has offered to write maintenance pleas for the
Pa rk,
2012 DRC gods update
Park Initiatives - pocket parks like Freeville and Etna. The Etna Community
Association owns the park in Etna and M Bianconi indicated that we never got the
"hook" into the Community Association and the Rec Coin mission needs their
permission to move forward with fining up the park.
Update on the Main Central Park
With the Town not owning any facilities, we are in a bad position, To M
Bianconi, that is the importance of developing the land we have here, it is the only
land we have any authority over in terms of decision making. Every other area will
require a long process of collaboration which isn't a bad thing but realistically the
time frame we are looking at is very long. The Rec Department had some money left
over in the budget so M Bianconi was able to move forward with getting cost
estimates for the park near the Town Hall, Michael Cohen from Bust Nave Play wii[
have report for the Rec Corn mission to read by February. The report will center on
stow to phase the project and obviously there are a lot of variables in cost. It will
provi de a realistic view of the project and the phases.
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Todd - in the town she grew up in they started a park From scratch and
they posted the plans and vision c the park so follts could see 20 years from now
where they were going to be.
V Wilkins asked if the Rec Commission had Long Term Cogs? More than year
to ,year? Becoming Parks and Recreation should be a goal. M 6iancom pointed out
that part of the reason the Town Hall site was chosen was with the iacarntion of
turning it into a park. IC needs to be the Parks and Recreation Department.
V Wilkins inquired about what that involves? M Pianconi — it would involve
Town board action, Going back to the Master Plan and make serious changes, and
update the Master Plan to implement the Changes and Mork with the Planning
Department to do that, Work with Jane and Dan and include it in the Open Space
plan that the Planning Department is working on right now. The Commission should
make sure those two plans, it not combined, are reHective and have common goals,
Resistance? Parks fall under the Department of Public Works. That is where the
resistance comes in, The Supervisor is in favor of smart development and planning
and recognizes outdoor space and recreation as a critical For quaiity of life.
Moving away from the schools as community Facilities is the best approach,
Schools are riot always available for the kids to play and their rules don't always
agree with the desired opportunities of the Rec Commission,
Jim Schug Trail — might not have done any work with the Trail this year.__...
New Programs?
Little Voices, Music and Motion has been successful, every single session was
Filled. The Rec Department is working on getting a paddle program going on Dryden
Labe with Camps over the summer; the instructor has all the equipment. Melissa is
mtin
eeg with the instructor () en Miller) on the 13th; she might be able to add adult
programs which will fit with the Rec Department's goal to increase the outreach to
adults. Golfing was considered as an option For next summer but the local golf
course doesn't allow kids because of insurance issues.
S Meyer asked about reappointments to the Commission by the 'I'o n Board.
The next Rec Commission meeting will be regarding the organization and members
of the new commission, J Humphrey feels the CoMnlission should get the Goals
established at the First meeting. When 13ianconi put together the "laws" For the
new corn mission, she eliminated as many dates as }possible to give the Commission
more flexibility,
Village Roard elections are in March, 4 members are up For election.
There being no more business, V Wilkins mane a motion to adjourn, M.
Armstrong seconded the motion, unanimously agreed.
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December DRC meeting - Cancelled due to holiday
Respectfully submitted,
r
grin A, Bieber
Deputy Town Clerk