WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
                                                             RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES
                                                                               NOVEMBER 5, 2007

Adequate notice of this meeting, in accordance with the Open Public Meeting Act, has been given by posting one copy of the Notice of Meeting in the Washington Township Administrative office, by making copies to the “Express Times” and “Star Gazette,” and to the municipal clerk in Washington Township.

ATTENDEES

R. Berrie, D. Detrick, W. Godfrey, M. Kries, J. Miller, D. Schott (arrived 8:30)  J. DeFranza and B. Jeffries were absent. WTRC Administrator and Committeeman B. Mueller were also present.  Guest: D. Dempski, WTYA President and Twp. Committeeman

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

A motion was made by W. Godfrey, seconded by B. Berrie to approve the minutes of the October 2, 2007 meeting. All in favor.

NEW BUSINESS - (Items for Presentation and Discussion)

D. Dempski, President of Washington Township Youth Association came before the Recreation Commission to discuss several issues that he felt need clearing up between the WTRC and the WTYA. He gave a brief history of the WTYA from where they were and where they are now. He was concerned about some rumors which had been told to him about derogatory things that were being said about the WTYA, particularly about how they manage the money they collect for their sports programs.  He explained that at one time the Youth Association had been close to bankruptcy, however, since 2003, through good financial budgeting and good leadership, they have been able to turn things around. If anyone has any questions, they should feel free to contact him and take a look at the WTYA budget, which he has prepared.

D. Detrick stated that before the meeting went any further, he would like to clarify that he had been on the WTRC for the last 10 months and that he had never heard a single bad thing said about the WTYA.  The only time that Youth Association money had come up at all was in the discussion about the roof and where there was a request to cut a break on the usage fees for the fields and allow the Youth Association to pay for the roof.  The decision was made that since the WTRC had the money, rather than do it that way, we would just go ahead and pay for it.  The WTRC thought they would be helping out the WTYA by doing so.  In his 10 months on the Commission there has never been a negative word said about the Youth Association, the funding of the Youth Association has never come up, or the amount of money the Youth Association has. He had no idea where that is coming from and it bothers him that D. Dempski is getting that word coming from this Commission.  The Commission works toward having a good relationship with the Youth Association and if people are telling him untruths, then it bothers him as much as it bothered Mr. Dempski. All the members of the Recreation Commission present agreed with D. Detrick and assured D. Dempski that this was not something which was coming from the Commission.  D. Dempski stated that this is why he wanted to come before the Commission, so it could be brought out in the open now before it escalates into something more.

The second item D. Dempski wanted to bring up is that in the future he will be attending all future field scheduling meetings representing the Youth Association.  He knows that in the past there were problems with no one showing up from the Youth Association for their input, however, they are also on a different time schedule for having to have their game schedule submitted to the leagues.  In the fall the earliest they could ever have their soccer schedules submitted would be August.  There is no way they would be able to submit soccer schedules in May the way the high school can. They may be able to submit a dummy schedule in time for the fall scheduling meeting and they will work on that.  However, if there continues to be problems with getting the fields they need to play on and not being able to get ample fields for practice the Youth Association might have to do away with the soccer program.

R. Berrie stated he too had served on the Youth Association as Vice President, he had served as Soccer Commissioner of the Youth Association for 3 or 4 years, so he is well aware of the problems that the Youth Association has to overcome with game scheduling etc. and he felt that B. Jeffries brought up his concerns at the beginning of the year and we had one issue where there was a conflict, we asked B. Jeffries team to play on S5, which is a regular size field in order to let the high school play on S1and S2. Part of the consideration there was that they are high school players, they are older and bigger they should be on the bigger regulation field. There was another conflict on October 20 and it was worked out this time that the high school played on S5 and the Youth Association played on S2. We always try to be fair and in these two cases, once the high school was favored and the other time the Youth Association was favored. R. Berrie was not aware of any issues with the practice fields. When he asked B. Jeffries how things were going, he told him  that everything was okay.  R. Berrie also said that he had told B. Jeffries that if he ever had any issues with game/practice field scheduling to just let him know. No issues were ever mentioned, beyond that he would need feed back in order to make corrections. In late August we did go to the high school and asked them if could arrange to have the JV team play somewhere else, but it was too late for them to do so because the schedules had already been set.  The high school has already been informed that in the future we will only be able to accommodate the varsity soccer team and that they will have to find somewhere else for the JV team to play.

D. Dempski said that the Youth Association will be offering a girl’s lacrosse program this year and they plan on utilizing the Brass Castle School fields this spring. The boy’s lacrosse program has broken off from the WTYA and will be playing in their own league.  N. Godfrey said that the WTRC had been approached by them about field usage and WTRC is going to accommodate them by letting them use one of the fields. She has been talking with P. deBoer and they both seem to think that the boy’s lacrosse team should use the Pacesetter field for their games and practices.  The Pacesetter field is only being used by Warren United/West Jersey soccer league for practice so there should not be any problems associated with them using the field for lacrosse as well.

D. Detrick said that he is working with another parent to try to start a flag football team in the spring. If they are able to pull it together, it would only be played on Sunday’s with no practice during the week, so it would not interfere with any of the kids participating in the other spring sports.

The next item D. Dempski wanted to speak about was security issues.  The WTYA will probably be replacing the locks on the Brass Castle School sheds because they have lost some of their equipment and uniforms with the current lock/key system. M. Kries suggested that they might want to consider replacing the locks on the baseball/softball equipment boxes also. 

WTYA is working on having the dugout roof repaired.  They have donations of equipment, manpower and the order is in for the roofing materials which is similar to the other dugout roofs.  They are hoping to have it done by the end of December.

D. Detrick asked D. Dempski if it would be possibly for the DPW to store the water cannon in the field house for the winter months. After a brief discussion it was decided that it would be okay as long as it was taken out by March so WTYA could get into the field house for retrieval of their equipment for the spring sport season.

There was one more item D. Dempski wanted to speak to the WTRC about, not concerning the WTYA, but concerning the planning of the new fields located at the Mill Pond Rd. property. He would like to be able to help the WTRC out with this project, from an open space prospective. He suggested that the very first thing that should be done is to have a serious soil log/testing done on the property to rule out any chemicals, especially arsenic, in the soil. If there is any arsenic contamination then we would need to remeditiate which can be very costly.  So before spending a lot of money we need to get a Phase I or a Phase II study done with soil samples.  He will try to help us out by getting a grant from Green Acres (a 2% loan) because this property is part of our Open Space and Recreation Plan. We will need to get in touch with DEP/Green Acres and see what they will require for soil testing and then go out to bid on the project using the DEP/Green Acres requirements as a focal point for the vendors.

D. Dempski left the meeting at 8:30.

MEADOW BREEZE PARK

Replace Old Playground Equipment with New - N. Godfrey reported that she has been in contact with the vendor and is awaiting price quote.  The playground should be delivered and installed by end of November/beginning of December.

Ice Skating - D. Detrick was in touch with Judy Burton of the DEP who asked him to send her some information and then she would take him to the point of determining whether or not permits are needed. D. Detrick sent her a letter along with a map of the park, and she forwarded the information to the person who would be in charge of this area. To date he has not heard back from them. He has been down to the canal and noted that after the heavy rain we had the other week, the water level was at the perfect depth, but a recent check showed that the water level has gone down, so even though the canal is holding the water it is not holding it perfectly. 

D2 Dugout Roof Repair - Being done by WTYA, should be completed by end November/early December.

Mill Pond Property - Needs Soil Testing. D. Dempski to find out about Green Acres Grant/Loan

Investigate Developing Remainder of Park (Kayharts Lane Side) - With the development of the Mill Pond Rd. property this project is being put on hold.

D2 Player Benches Repair - This will be a winter project to be done by J. DeFranza and W. Godfrey

Repair/New player benches for D3 & D4 - New aluminum benches for D4 have been purchased and the WTYA will be repairing D3 benches.

Horseshoe Court Shed Roof Repair - this will be a winter project by DPW and should be tied into the repair of the Field House roof repair.

Purchase Bleachers (3 row) - 9' 3 row bleacher will be ordered.

OLD BUSINESS

Dr. Wasser Bench - M. Kries reported that the bench Wicki Stone did for Hackettstown and the one they did for us are not the same so we are in the process of contacting Wicki Sone to get the proper bench.

Walking Paths  - D. Schott, M. Kries and D. Detrick met and talked about the milage markings along the walking paths and how to make it easier to understand for the people who use the walking paths at the park.  They thought it would be best to get a map and highlight the two trails and place the map in a kiosk which would be located on the grassy knoll located by the parking lot by S1. D. Detrick spoke to a member of  the Highland Group who said they could build another kiosk, similar to the one they provided for us by the Morris Canal, for the cost of materials (approximately $200-$250). A motion was made by D. Schott to order a kiosk from The Highland Group for an amount not to exceed $300.00, seconded by W. Godfrey. All in favor.

Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award - M. Kries reported that he, D. Schott and D. Detrick got together to come up with some guidelines for this award. They will have something in black & white for the next meeting. 

FINANCIAL & BUDGET REVIEW

R. Berrie reported that to date in our current fund we have a balance of $1,970.07 and there is $4,292.52 left in our park  use fee funds. 

N. Godfrey submitted the Recreation Commission’s 2008 budget request to the finance department in the amount of $10,000. A note was added to our budget request stating that the Recreation Commission would like to start developing the Mill Pond Rd. property for future recreational needs and asked the Township Committee to consider adding additional monies to the Township’s 2008 budget to fund this project.

ACTIVE AREAS

Already covered earlier in the meeting.

PASSIVE AREAS

No one had anything to report

NEW BUSINESS (OTHER)

D. Detrick spoke about the flag football program.  This program is sponsored by the NFL, a registration fee is paid to the NFL and for every person who registers they will send a shirt and flags for them to use. They are starting off with a focus on kids in two age brackets; 9-11 and 12-14 year olds. The program is designed to not conflict with baseball or lacrosse.  This team will fall under the Panther Football Insurance. Right now they are only trying to determine the interest level in participating in such a program.  There is nothing definite at this time.

N. Godfrey asked to change the date of the January 2008 Reorganization meeting.  The first Tuesday in January is New Year’s Day. She suggested that the meeting date be changed to the second Monday, January 7, 2008. If everyone was in agreement to this change then she will advertise for the 2008 Reorganization Meeting to be held on Monday, January 7, 2008. All members present were in favor of this change.

Having no further business to discuss, a motion was made by D. Schott, seconded by W. Godfrey to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 p.m.   All in favor

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Godfrey
WTRC Administrator

cc: P. deBoer - DPW
     D. Dempski - WTYA
     Twp. Committee