MOUNTAIN LAKES RECREATION COMMISSION

Minutes for September 26, 2012

7:30 PM Borough Hall

Present: Commissioners - Caputo, Mancuso, Sentowski , Shertzer, Terhune, Wright; Recreation Director – Flynn; Borough Council Liaison – Gormally; Board of Education Liaison - Mitch

Absent: Bednar, Richards, Spoto; Swim Director – Conlin

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A motion to approve the corrected August 21st Minutes was made by Pete Sentowski and seconded by Deb Shertzer. All were in favor.

Swim Director Report - It was agreed to postpone until the October meeting.

Director’s Report – A formal update on 2012 Recreation will be made to Borough Council on October 22. Council has asked for trends in the use of programs and summer rec, new developments, facility recommendations for bonding and capital improvements for 2013, field use systems in development, restructure of Rec Commission, trust fund monies, status of “in house” versus outside programs, beach usage numbers, top 5 issues and goals for 2013. A draft document will sent out to the Commission in two weeks (Oct 10^th) for discussion and finalization at the next Rec Commission meeting. Nicole Wright has volunteered to help Celia prepare the report.

A lacrosse fundraiser will be held at MLHS on Nov 18^th to raise funds for the Cerra family. Funds will be managed through the Boys Recreation lacrosse program.

Recreation Committee Reports -

Programs and Events – No members were present to report. Candy donations have been falling short. Rec Commission will consider ways of driving donations this year.

Sports – Basketball has had an initial meeting to initiate formal establishment of a Board. Celia and Deb S will ensure that all participants sign a conflict of interest agreement.

- Tritown Baseball has asked Rich Squeglia to join their Board. This will allow Travel Baseball to be run in conjunction with their Recreation offering.

- The Sports Committee will meet with Girls lacrosse to discuss whether a program like Laker Future could be established

- Cathy Mitchell would like to set up a Board for Recreation Field Hockey in order to allow the program to be sustainable in the long term. She would like the Board to consider hiring professional coaches from the funds that exist within the program.

- The track program still needs to set up a Board. Celia will discuss with Sports Sub-Committee. The main issue continues to be track availability. Celia will discuss with James Smith. The installation of lights at the track would resolve many of these issues. Cathy Mitchell will update the Commission on the status of this project. This will be considered one of the top five issues for 2013 in the Borough Council presentations.

Finance – See summary attached

Facilities – The sub-committee is exploring a subscription service called SchoolDude.com for Facility bookings and management. This system is being used in Roxbury. Celia will reach out to their Rec Director. The facilities group is trying to set up a meeting with James Smith to discuss.

- Nicole Wright met with Mark Prusina and Joan Best to discuss Borough Facilities Issues. A meeting summary is attached.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:25pm

Action Items

1. Celia Flynn and Nicole Wright will prepare a draft version of 2012 Recreation Program Overview for distribution to the Rec Commission on October 10^th.

2. Program sub-committee will confirm Halloween program details and explore ways to drive candy donations.

3. Celia Flynn and Deb Shertzer will ensure that all potential members of the Basketball Board sign a conflict of interest agreement.

4. The Sports Sub-Committee will meet with Girls lacrosse to discuss whether a program like Laker Future could be established

5. Celia Flynn and the Sports Sub-Committee to meet to discuss the establishment of a Board for the Track program

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 16^th at 7:30pm.

Finance Sub-Committee Report -9-26-12

In an effort to try to find out how other towns handle individual program finances we called two neighboring towns – Montville and Boonton.

Montville – Maryann Witty

· Sports – Soccer, BB/SB, LAX, Broncos Sports(Football)

· $5 per player per sport facilities fee

· Each program is its own entity and collects and manages its own fees

· Each program provides a quarterly financial report to REC

· Each program is accountable to Montville Rec by means of facility use

· Insurance provided by the program

Boonton – Rosemarie Lynch

· Sports – Soccer, Football, BB/SB(all individual entities)

· Each program provides its own insurance

· Boonton does not have any fields(Pepe)

· Very little parent issues to handle therefore no accountability to the rec. dept.

Next Step: Meet with Chief Tovo, CFO and Celia to discuss how if any changes can be made to the way we handle sports accounting in ML.

To be discussed at meeting:

· Individual sports programs finance structure

· Annual Operation and Capital budget

· Preperation

· Quarterly reporting

· Website/Service for Rec program registration and fee collection

· Trust Accounts

DPW/Rec Facilities Sub-Committee Meeting Summary – September 26^th, 2012

Present: Nicole Wright, Mark Prusina, Joan Best

Also copied: Mark Caputo, Celia Flynn

Nicole explained that she and Mark Caputo comprised the newly formed Recreation Commission Facilities Sub-Committee. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss current and upcoming issues regarding Borough owned facilities used by the Recreation Commission.

Mark Prusina explained that the BOE pays to maintain Midvale, Taft, and the New Fields. The Borough is responsible for capital improvements.

Tennis Courts: The Doublier Courts (Right hand side when looking at the courts from the High School) are in dire need of repair. The work will require a complete tear-p of the existing surface and then a resurface. Cost for the work was quoted at $85,000 in 2011. These courts were resurfaced in 2005 at a cost of $78,000 but the mushy fill beneath the courts significantly shortens the life of the court surfaces. There is also an issue with the light standards on the courts. The current standards were installed used and one came down in the storm of October 2012. The other standards have been informally tested and appear sound at present but there are funds in the current year budget to replace them. In addition, there is about $4000 for the installation of a swipe entry system to the courts. There are also funds for an equipment storage shed ($5000 - $6000). Nicole asked if shovels were causing damage to the court surfaces. Mark felt metals shovels would be inadvisable but the sensible use plastic shovels should be fine.

Wilson Basketball Courts: The courts require resurfacing, replacement lighting and fence repair. Estimated cost for all repairs is approximately $50,000.

Fence at the back of Birchwood Volleyball Courts: There has been a request by Mountain Lakes participants in the Hub Lakes league to install a fence at the back of the beach volleyball court to keep the ball out of the woods. Mark felt that the only way to handle this would be to install a black fence similar to that at the lower New Field (nets tend to cause trouble with wildlife, vandalism and ground keeping). Nicole is to follow up to get an idea of what height and width the fence would have to be. A formal cost would have to be worked up but Mark felt that the cost would be no more than $4,000 to $5,000. Nicole explained that given the scope of the facility capital requests for 2013, the Recreation Commission will have to decide if it wishes to recommend this expenditure once a firm estimate is in hand.

Currently, Mountain Lakes has four Borough owned playground facilities – Island Beach, Birchwood, Haswell Field and Taft Field. All playgrounds must be recertified annually but the criteria for certification is ever changing. Generally, higher quality playgrounds tend to withstand the changes to certification requirements much better than budget options. At present, the Haswell Field playground will not qualify for recertification – the initial project was privately funded and the equipment is made of wood, which fails more quickly than metal. Mark estimates that it will cost approximately $120,000 to tear down the existing structures and replace them with good quality compliant equipment.

Mark Prusina requested help from the Facility Sub-Committee to perform a new Borough Facility Audit. The existing audit is over 20 years old. He would also like the Recreation Commission to confirm what town green spaces should be considered and maintained as parks. He would also like clarification as to who is responsible for Boat Launches.

In future, Mark hopes the town will undertake projects to revitalize the sled run and build a pavilion at Birchwood. In addition, if Borough Council chooses to undertake modifications at Cove Park, Mark would like to have Recreation Commission involved in the project with respect to ensuring that the space meets the residents’ recreational needs.

Mark would be willing to attend Recreation Meeting(s) to discuss any of these issues further. In addition, he would like Recreation Commission representation on the DPW Facility meetings in future.