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September 15, 2026 – Recreation Commission – Video & Transcript

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September 15, 2026 - Recreation Commission

 
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Okay, I'm calling the meeting to order. When you... No.
When you read the agenda.

I think you might have to read this paragraph.
Yeah, for sure. Chapter 2 of the Act of 2025, this meeting will be conducted in person and or via remote access in accordance with applicable law. If this meeting has only remote access, no in-person attendance by members or the public will be permitted. If the meeting has remote access, one may watch or participate remotely. With the meeting link, it can be found at... Did I say that? No, it's on the website. It's on the website, okay. When required by law, allowed by the chairperson to provide public comment or otherwise participate in the meeting, we do so at meeting location in person or remote access is applicable. Other comments, it can be limited to two minutes per person. And reviewing the agenda, call the order, review agenda from public, which is like a comment. Minutes reviewed and approved. Minutes made from 12-3-2025, 1-29-2026, 3-2-2026, and 4-16-2026. And report, review, discuss, review, discussion, and approval of draft fiscal year 2021. Annual report, due September 30th, 2026. Post-election annual organizational meetings, review of progress on objectives for fiscal year, fiscal year 2026. Proposed objectives for FY 2027 and beyond. Vote to designate a recreation commissioner to serve on the Community Preservation Committee, the CPC. Return ending June 30th, 2027. Chairman, SUBJECT TO SELECT BOARD CONFIRMATION. VOTE TO DESIGNATE CHAIR TO SERVE UNTIL THE CLOSE OF 2027 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING. VOTE TO DESIGNATE A CLERK TO SERVE UNTIL THE CLOSE OF 2027 ANNUAL MEETING. SET A SCHEDULE FOR UPCOMING RECREATION COMMISSION MEETINGS. NUMBER 6, COMMISSIONER ANNOUNCEMENTS SLASH LIAISON REPORTS AND CONCERNS. A LOOT 20 LANDFILL VISIONING COMMITTEE.
DETERMINED LIAISON TO RESPOND TO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT.
PLANNING COMMITTEE, CPC TO ENSURE RECREATION INTERESTS ARE CONSIDERED IN LONG-TERM PLANNING, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOOT 20 SOUTH LANDFILL PLAYGROUNDS AND SCHOOLS RECREATION PLAYGROUND. THANK YOU. RECREATION DIRECTOR'S REPORT. SCHEDULE THE NEXT MEETING DATE AND POTENTIAL AGENDA ITEMS AND TOPICS NOT REASONABLY ANTICIPATED BY THE CHAIR 48 HOURS IN ADVANCE OF THE MEETING.
SO. NOBODY IS ONLINE.
NOBODY IS ONLINE. SO WE CAN CHECK THAT OUT. I'LL JUST CHECK THAT OUT. YOU CAN JUST LEAVE IT ON THE MEETING.
YES. REVIEW AND APPROVED MINUTES

2025, 2029, 2026, 2022, 2026, 2016, 2027, 2028, 2031, 2032, 2032, 2033, 2034, 2035, 2036.
TAKE A PAUSE, PLEASE. APPROVED AND MOVED ON. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay.
Okay. Okay. So after the election and the organizational meeting, the view of the objectives for the next several weeks for FY2026 because of debtors in the few thousand 27 and beyond. So is that
you have one of my six goals

just kind of open for him or reading through this or how do we
So I put the FY2026 goals in the packet just to review, I think it's good practice to be kind of a progress update where we are on the six goals and then if there's new or different goals or reprioritization of goals and for FY2027 what started in July, but
I will say about collaborating with the board.
Keep it every on field maintenance. We got a note. The eastern Mass softball men's senior softball league that uses to do it and they wrote that they felt like the field conditions have been the best that they've ever been in the contingent. So they got some new folks to take care of the baseball field that you could W. And so that's working and then some of the other efforts that we made this year. Are being are well received. We are definitely front just from a metrics point. It's hard to measure the condition of We Maybe you get less complaints now than we did years ago. But we still get complaints about the shortage of fields, the number of fields that we have, but not the condition so much. And so I would say that that was a success, that goal. Yeah, that's great. And then other parts of Alpine is still under renovation. There's plans to put irrigation at Clayford 5, 6, 8, and 9, I believe. And then we completed some projects up at the high school at the varsity and JV baseball field. 9's the one that's in the back corner. Yeah, that one. Okay. It needs irrigation. And then 7 is not touched. Not yet. I think there's a phasing plan that's happening. So 5 and 6 is first. 8 and 9. And then there's 7. Okay, 7 is the one with the bowl? The 7 is the one with the bowl. The bowl goes on right at the parking lot. Yep. That one might be up. So if they hit over the net, it goes right into the parking lot. That's the whole problem. It seems it works now, yeah.
But, yeah, I just thought we very rarely get written emails that say our field conditions have improved.
And so that was just in the last 10 days or so. So that was great to see. Did you say DPW has new? Staff assigned to Cochituate or? I think they have new personnel that have kind of broader experience with specifically maintaining baseball fields. Okay. Yeah. I play softball and I think the Cochituate fields are excellent. I'd agree. Probably some of the best since I've moved to town. Yeah. And Cochituate is a workhorse of a site for us. Like it is 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. Yeah. And so you'd think it would be in rough shape considering how much it is used. But it's in pretty good. It holds up great. I mean, it has irrigation and it's a good spot. So it'll have to be good. Yeah. And clay pit fields, I think, are improving. Considering we're in a drought, a lot of the fields are in really good shape. Well, what's the status in terms of being able to water going to drought? Municipal uses are still allowed. And so within reason, there are irrigating fields that have irrigation. Yeah. That's good. That's good.
When is Alpine supposed to come back online?
It was supposed to be this fall. DPW felt very strongly that it needed another season to kind of establish. And so we're hoping the spring. Uh-huh. Weather depending on the March. Was it delayed like anything other than just weather? The drought. Yeah. Are they saying? Yeah. I mean, they did truck in water and try to help the drought-like situation. But they just felt like it would establish better if we waited until the spring, which did not make me so very happy about it. Well, I think. I think the collaboration is a good and ongoing goal. Are there any like pain points or tension that we could help address? With DPW? Uh-huh. No. We have a good working relationship with the DPW to make sure things are getting done. In the last two years or so, the town manager's budget assigned $100,000 to help some of the ongoing issues. And that has helped. And so we spent that money at Alpine. The high school varsity baseball field and at Clayford Irrigation. So it's not a ton of money in terms of field projects, but it's helping. And so every fiscal year, we'll have a new $100,000 to spend. Okay. That's replenishing. Uh-huh. That's good. Yeah. That's great. So no pain points, I would say, right now. I would say there were times in my tenure here, man, where there were pain points. And now we're working through all of those. That's great. What about that subcommittee that was created? Is that that capital planning committee? The capital improvement planning committee, yes. Yeah. Oh, right. That's, yeah. Are there any updates from that committee, or how do we? So that committee meets regularly. I have not been invited to or attend any of those meetings. We did submit our capital plans in July and August. Most of the recreation items now fall under the facilities department budget. Including the playgrounds. Some of the field stuff falls under DPW.
I think the only major one that pertains to fields coming up is, I think it's in the five-year capital plan,
is this Route 20 South Landville potential field. But that's under the DPW's capital budget. Great. Okay.
What's the status of the dog park?
So the Wayntown Center was bought by a new firm. And that firm kind of took that project on because the group that met with us probably about a year ago now had gone to them to see if they could put it on that site. And I think that they are. They're still working through some of the details there. I think they've hit a wall where, at some point, I think they want to hand it back to Recreation. It makes it a little hairy because it's not our property.
I don't have a full update on where that stands.
That's always been an issue in terms of, well, maybe not so much for the new owners. There's always an issue. And there's always some type of insurance issue. Anytime that. Anything that was going to be done at the town center, it was always. It was owned by an insurance company. It was always in the insurance. Well, we don't cover this, we don't cover that, blah, blah, blah. Now, soon, that's not going to be the case. So I think that some of the hurdles that they're running to are insurance related also. I don't know. I haven't had a brief conversation with the owners there. I think whatever hurdle that they're facing in terms of liability. And insurance that the town will also face. So I think there just needs to be a discussion of who wants to hold that responsibility for a dog park. And who has said that they want the Recreation to take it back? I had a meeting with Jesse Barrett, huh? It was the first time I met him, and it was a meeting about another topic. But he just mentioned that they might be taking this back towards the town. Do you know more than that? Or I know very little about this topic. So I. I. I was hoping that somebody on the commission would know more about where this is. I'll forget if the group that presented on it, did they touch on insurance issues and how other towns that have them are doing it, or? They did a little bit. I remember back then, I had been working with that group for a little while. Most towns that set these up are not operated through the rec department. They're operated through like 501c3s or, you know, animal groups that kind of develop over the need. I would expect that that's the path. Yeah. I don't think, I don't want to speak for anybody. So I'd be very surprised that for us to step into a private venture. But I guess if it helps facilitate, but I would imagine that the 501c3, that way the dog park folks can. Yeah. Yeah. I think the path forward. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Also, I learned that if there is a 501c3 of some sort, it's going to be the dog park folks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's probably just, why didn't I think that when our house went into paperback, we made a little bit of an estimate about probably, Lectio wouldn't have walked through the door to see if they'd got back in and she was there or not, reduce as much as possible. Yes. Yes. I think number four, I think in order for me to bring this forward, maybe I should be looking at other policy draft documents that the town has. And I can just kind of mirror the content and then see if we can drill it down from there. Yeah, I think that might be a good place to start in terms of framework. When we last, or at least on this topic, the field naming policy, is that what you're talking about? Yeah, the last time that was on the agenda, I had done a little bit of research looking at how other towns structured it. I pulled a lot of good content from that, but I didn't pull this town's policies, which are varied because a lot of these towns policies are born from various boards and committees. And so maybe the select board policies would be difficult to start.
So if that were the case, you'd probably be looking at a select board policy would be one that would apply to all organizations within the town.
If this commission developed a naming policy, I think it would apply to this mission's properties. But I think it could petition other, you know, whether it's conservation commission or select board to also adopt the policy or some other policy. Mm-hmm. To apply. To apply kind of more broadly. So everyone's, everyone's, I don't know, up here with the same dance card.
Wouldn't you think?
Dance card. Well, I don't think I want to say anything. What are you saying? Everybody's, everybody's, everybody's up here with the same quote unquote basic regulations. And right now they're not. And I think, I haven't seen it, but I've heard that the schools have a naming policy that they don't name. They'll absorb property after people, but I haven't seen that in writing. I don't know where that is. I haven't seen the policy that exists. I just forgot it.
But from your perspective, does the select board, does the select board want us or some other organization to come up with a policy that they would then endorse?
Or do they want to come up with a policy? So I'm going from memory here. I think after the first time we had this on the agenda, one, someone on this commission was tasked to go talk to our days up in the select board. And the. Select board recommended that this commission focus on a naming policy for our parks and our parks. Yeah. Is that right? If I get back to us. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I think that's how it went. Yeah. Okay. So then it would sort of be, if other people wanted to adopt our policy, that would be fine. Or if they wanted to have their, set up their own. Mm-hmm. But all of it would go back to the select board. Wouldn't you expect it would go back to the select board in terms of an overall. Yeah, I would imagine that. I mean, it sounds like we would go ahead and put in the work. Yeah. And still have to go to the select board and say, here's a recommendation. Yeah. So our work is still. I think recommendation does have control over recreational properties. So I think that you could, without the confirmation or affirmation from select board. You could create a policy for our properties, but I think if we want to go more broadly, then it would need to be adopted by the select board. Okay. It could be wrong, but. So we never had a policy to name one? No. Okay. And is there a current, is there like a pipeline of requests to name rec property? So at the last minute, I think that one of the meetings that you were at, Jeff was here and he was talking very much that if this field at the Route 20 South landfill becomes a field, that that is a terrible name for it. And so I think that there would be some requests to name it something else and that it would be on this body to make that decision. And then in my time here in Wayland, yes, I've done a lot of requests to name different parks or parts of parks. Um, some have been named like, uh, before my time, it was Art King. Um, also before my time, Eric Schwartz at Riverview. So things kind of have happened kind of outside the parameters of a policy. Um, but we have. We have had, for Conchituit alone, I think that I want to say we have eight memorial benches there now and probably three requests to rename that property. Correct. I think it's a good idea to take this farther and try and develop one. Yeah. And I could just take our first initials of all of our names and just name it Jamal. Good. Yeah.
Yeah.
Done. Great. I think, yeah, I'm done. I think ultimately that the idea of developing this policy is to give this policy. Body some guardrails on how to make that decision, which could be a very hard and decision to make. Yeah. Um, and so it's really how you guys want to, you know, set the table before you have to make that decision. Well, if you recall, when Dave passed, there was an immediate thought of renaming Conchituit Field, you know, forget, um, I think that is quieted down subsequently that I, I think, and that, and that gained any, any type of momentum, I think it would have been a real issue raised with folks from Conchituit in terms of renaming that field, which is an identifying field for that section of the town. Right. Or for somebody, it would have been a real, it would have been a pitch for that. And so I think I said this initially when we were first talking about the policy might be that we're not naming fields after people were things, we're changing the names that exist now, like that could be the policy. And then the talk about putting work in the work is done, right? Like that's, you just have to vote that as a policy. But I think that the group should kind of decide what they want it to be.
But then if you change that, then, then we have the Route 20 South landfill field, which is a terrible name for a field.
Hold on, just to be clear, nobody's named it that. I know, it's a joke, it's identified. So right now. The parcel number, right? Right. It would be the parcel number. I'm going to play a nine, five, seven, six, four, three. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Well, I would say that is one of the goals that is worth continuing to leave on the FY27 Coal List and continue to work on.
Like, I don't think it's going to be done in one meeting, I think that we have to put together like a comprehensive draft and then pick it apart. One hundred and ninety-five on Main street? What's happened with that? I think that's completely off the table. I think the timeline is defensive for that, but the town's LSP is continuing to do a short sampling and investigative environmental studies there to figure out the extent of the PFS contamination. They found some other contamination. 60. I don't think anyone else was blessed with these so I'm not talking about them. 60. 60. metals solvable contamination um there's there's also a pip as they call it a public involvement plan for that site which which it just slows down the environmental investigation a little bit because of it the public is involved so they have to have regularly scheduled and posted public meetings related to that site um and those are ongoing they had one recently um so i
i don't remember who's on my head haven't gone on this list but obviously it was important enough at
one time to be listed as one of the six schools and it is not yet done so i it's worth maybe leaving on the list for fyi 27. the reason that one's important um and again this was a uh admission of dave's um that's important because if if they move forward with putting out an rfp for a recreational facility but do not have representation from the recreation commission as to what the actual needs are of the community then who is driving the bus with regards to the rfp so as the lsp continues their work and you know the environmental has got to be solved but when they do get to the stage of we're going to submit this rfp to the public to try to facilitate somebody to develop the site we need to be involved to make sure that the needs of the community the full community um is is met and that it's not just you know targeted towards one type of recreational use no and my sense is you still would be looking at that as an indoor facility
uh yes yeah i mean i i that's my scent my sense is that it probably would not fly in terms of
being used as a uh as a field just based on contamination and all that stuff and you're looking at at um a dummy pond and all that put that whole issue so it probably would be a an indoor facility but to your point mark you said it would be an indoor facility and it would serve a wide variety of needs on the community yeah yeah and understanding that revenue needs to be driven out of that facility or the developing partner yeah but yeah the needs of the community need to be met yeah with that the other thing that complicated like we don't own that parcel right now i mean the town does the rec commission does not and similar to the old the route 20 lent oh that obviously we have an interest in a stake in what the future of those properties but they are not currently under recognition control no i know and that was way back to when when the because it was it was dpw that had a control of that property but dpw had said that if recreation their schools can come up with a plan in the library and the library was part of the two but but if if if recreation and the schools come up with a plan that would be satisfactory for the town the dbw would then say okay we're fine with transferring that the ownership of that property to the schools and recreation yeah because i've been involved with that whole thing so are you suggesting that we have no stake in this at all since it's not our no i think in terms of recreation we certainly have a stake and an interest in that property but we don't currently control it right so right i think it's the board of public works in both cases both properties are under the control of the board of public works but then the board of public works in the past has said that if other organizations in the town could come up with a reasonable plan that they would be happy to to give up their quote-unquote ownership of the property right so i had my senses that would probably still be affordable yeah i think that the purpose of the rfp that was voted on in town meeting was recreational use so i would think that would be what and that's why it might be just like red tape that at some point the board of public works has to transfer custody of that property either to a select board or to wreck action but oh okay so yeah that's what i'm not saying we should take control okay i'm just saying that the select board is going to go out and put out an rfp for somebody else to take which i would imagine dpw would give it to the town i don't think i don't want to get into the legal side of the real estate but the the use yeah yeah i think the spirit of it was that we would be involved yeah yeah
to the field policy and fee schedule yep so we had talked about that that's one of our kind of
mid-year meetings um i think there was a question about different groups qualifying as community groups and just the the way that our policy packet reads and so i have compiled the i that information every year or so we end up uh making a recommendation to this commission with the new packet and adjusted fees if it's appropriate to do so so i i think we do that in february um and that's just an annual goal and i think it should continue to be on the list yeah i mean i know for soccer they do their registrations for spring in december december january okay because that's around the time so last time we this body approved the field policy packet and the new fees it was in february to be effective july 1. so it would be after the end of the season yeah and so if something we're going to change this february it wouldn't be until yeah
yeah because that will okay yeah but all different like not just soccer everybody's
season kind of right extends for so long that we would never want to take it back to the season to change the policies for the fees in the middle of some of these seasons or without notice yeah because i think that was going to be like a seven thousand dollar difference for the spring press but we didn't understand that no yeah i think that well you were talking about
and number seven that's a biannual training that needs to happen
yeah that's a lot of people I'll forget how that went but i think we were being risky with their open meeting compliance at one point and then end up on the list so it might be pretty good i mean i think it's a requirement though i don't think it necessarily needs to be goal but uh yeah and those trainings are come they come from to us automatically right this is a training we do in right now it's online and it comes through if you are not against it yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah well we have that so that's how it is yeah yeah yeah So I think if we scratch three and seven, that leaves us with one, two, four, five, and six. And then obviously, if there's anything else that this body wants to focus on for epitome 75.
What should we be focused on?
I don't feel like this really covers what we should be focused on at all. Where do you have needs?
I don't necessarily know that there's like an urgent need, I don't know what's to happen.
Like there's a lot that happens with rec that is not even close to the trust level. Yeah, I mean like we do a lot like we run summer camps in the town beach and permits and I don't necessarily need commission level support there. I think it's all operating as it ought to.
I think it's where I need assistance is when things become like like political like name
naming sites, which would be a big one that I think that this department needs. Um,
that would be one. Um, I don't know, not much else. I mean,
all the programming for the different activities that the kids have, you know, squash, whatever, whatever the different, whatever the different programs that are listed in the core of the course. I think, you know,
another place,
the rec commission could be helpful to the rec department is advocacy. So like this new capital improvement planning committee is putting together the capital plan and some of which are properties that we don't necessarily, like, it's not my place to submit a capital request related to 195 or Route 20 South landfill because it's not my property, but there is obviously some advocacy that can happen to make sure that the CIPC is aware of recreation's needs. Um, or wants on those sites or sites that it's kind of span across multiple departments. So we'll call it conservation land or even sled for like, even the, this one 14 West plain street wasn't our property, but we had an interest in it. And so to continue to kind of with an eye for the long-term capital plan, advocate for land. After all, you know, still, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, if not more um and that's one of the things that's one of the topics in terms of the south landfill that we'll address today because i think if you look at what i listen to for selectmen meaning there was a public comment opportunity which i missed but i'm around and listened to to select when they were discussing the the cell phone and there is there are um some people on the water cycling who are uh questioning whether there's a validity to you know putting fuel there or actually developing the property at all based on the financial uh situation the town is in um so i think that when we get when we get to that we need to have a discussion about how we as recreation commissioners can reach out through the different athletic groups that can plan their support through the board of selectmen about the need of having that field built now because that's that will be very helpful in terms of getting what having that advocacy advocacy from a variety of sports teams why is it getting that more role in a positive direction yeah and we don't i think they'll get they'll get um some members of the board of selectmen will be away there's no real advocacy for their school so what's why would we yeah why would we make the priority and i would say that soccer and lacrosse both spoke to the root 20. committee and so yeah we can absolutely um i think be the conduit to help the different users of our fields yeah i think even football i think oh adult soccer yeah yeah a variety of um people who feel happy feeling feel hockey yeah that's for me but i think i think it's necessary for us to get that word out sooner than later you're going to give us a little update in terms of of i mean i think you're pretty much it i mean there's yeah well it's been our work is done but yeah we'll get there yeah
and then just to answer your question about kind of what what i need at least or the department
needs i think that i would look at you all i mean you guys are out there in the community in all various different ways to kind of be the eyes and ears of recreation and we we have a three-person team right now i didn't tell you that peter francois who was our admin in office uh resigned in july and left in august and so we've been a little bit short staff but we run very lean um just doing the programs that we do now and so we're not always looking out there like what's the what's the next best program that we can run because we have our hands full with what we have um but if you remember a couple years ago there was a critical need for child care in this town a group of parents came to us and wanted us to build a rec pass program which we did that also dissolved this year and it's it was a great program it served its need the base program was able to kind of establish more spaces in their child care program and we there was just wasn't a need for it anymore so so we're not running that this year so i think that we had the ability to kind of pivot and restructure what we do to make that happen and um right now there's like a group of you know concerned citizens waving their hands and saying this is what we need you to do so um when that happens we always raise our hand and say we'll help um but i'm not aware of any kind of fires that need to be put out right now so if you all are then i think that that would be something that a i would want to know about or b could become a goal yeah boots on the ground
and you know if there's not that's great like that you know that we are providing the services
that we need this to but but if there's a gap you know you guys are out there people say hey why doesn't the rec department do yeah what is it i would love to
has there been any feed did we update the um number of porta potties at the high school because
i was going to reach out to ask for an update from the user groups but they're not really in the swing we did i think originally the ask was to open the you know the actual bathrooms there and we looked at the cost and they were astronomical and so our solution which we were going to try for a year was to add i think we doubled the amount of porter parties that were there and changed the locations of them and that happened and i've not heard any complaints since um
and i think i would have i talked regularly regularly with the
wayland high school athletic director who is usually the one to raise his hand and say we have a problem um so i i think that we solved that problem and that cost is sustainable to continue as it is yes more so than opening the bathrooms absolutely it was yeah it hasn't improved at least anecdotally and i haven't heard negative items and i have certainly shared the prospective cost and yeah i think they're being served so at least twice a week now so i think our solution there works yeah uh what was the cost of that i was saying i i was 37 yeah 37 i think it was in the minutes 37 down when i was annual yeah yeah you should become a custodian you know pretty difficult
yeah

it's because it's weekends and nights and holidays that you have to be open you know

um are you looking to backfill the position
we will um you know what you need on that front i think so we um i was talking to mark earlier before this meeting started about our summer we had a really good summer in terms of like all the metrics say that we had a good summer you know in terms of not just dollars but like people served and yeah you know swimmers at the beach every metric was great but it was really tough summer on our team here and so we're looking at potentially like rewriting the job description for that role and seeing how we can focus on the sports and you know what we can do in the needs of the students as well but there is um you know i was a swimmer at the beach i was lucky to be treatments yesterday and and we are really lucky to have had you in in the bad time so i cannot even remember. Its a lot of fun one night. Gea whats good. role and seeing how we can alleviate some of the pressure points um and then we'll probably look to post and fulfill that position like december or january just so just too many hours too much work yeah like we had some a lot of 60 hour weeks and some of it was being uh short staffed at certain points um it's just a lot in the rec department it's like um you know it's every rec department it's like this is what we signed up for so nobody's complaining about the number of hours it's just it's a lot it's a bear in the summer um well the other part of it too is how the government operates yes as opposed to what the recreation department operates in terms of hourly the programs that you run five days a week right that's seven days a week honestly and this building goes into a four-day work week schedule and so their hours are different from ours and so so any of the work that we do that touches other departments which is a lot of like financial stuff that we have to work with the treasurer's officer payroll or all of that has to happen in a smaller time frame and so it just kind of changed it puts a little pinch on but we work through it and yeah yeah it's friday you know something you need some kind of it support and there isn't any until monday so it's there are challenges but we are working through those challenges but none are they cooperative investment yeah yeah yeah they are okay they are that's good so you don't need permission level support on that right now i don't think so i don't think i don't think we even meet any resistance with in terms of rewriting job descriptions posting that division and filling it we just want to make sure with our team that it's it's it's what we need and want and so that we get the right person for that i'm going to marketing department yeah or the rec department yeah it's it's constant like you know keeping up with social media and website updates and stuff like that and responding to yeah issues yeah i'm sure it's like yeah and it's you know it's mostly it's our small little team that does that well there's got to be an AI plug-in for that couple here's my calendar yeah yes give it two months we have um we have some folks in the rec department that are very AI non-AI adopters some folks just concerns about environmental concerns and other regulated concerns so not everybody's using it i think the select board is in the process of developing an um an AI policy for the town as well which is great yeah i mean i'm hearing it it's needed
okay uh so we're at the point here i think one is that if i second bullet point vote
to mentally a recreation commissioner he served on a community preservation uh cpc the term ending june 30th 2027 subject to select board confirmation now question is less new have served for years and you would i'm not speaking for you but i'll let you speak for yourself would you like to continue to serve um um i it's a weird concept it's it's just a weird board um i mean i i did a lot of work this weekend it is a board that requires a lot of extra time um i feel the shared issue with pessoal and grandma taught me they popularized these kinds ofon ì°© I spent some time just looking at their main website, the state's community preservation coalition, and there's a lot of resources there, and they, this is a lot, I have no answer for what I want to keep doing, but there's three purposes to it. First is to develop a community preservation plan, so the committee itself defines what their, you know, what the ideal projects are, what their priorities are, and they have to be community housing, open space, recreation, historic, or housing, community housing, so depending on what that committee chooses is really the shape of where the CPC funds are going to go, and our funds have traditionally been, you know, they've been, you know, they've been, you know, they've been, you know, they've been, you know, they've been, you know, they've been, you know, they've traditionally gone towards historic and kind of conservation area with a, with a shot every so often to recreation, and because I don't know that we actually have a developed plan right now, or if that's just our trend, but it would be really helpful for the CPC to, like, declare themselves as, you know, this is what we're trying to build, because then we can approve plans that are in that project, because I was getting really frustrated that they were kind of choosing to, um, not recommend projects that were passing, you know, the application process for being suitable, just it wasn't the preference of the people in that room, and I was taking real offense to it, because a lot of recreation items weren't getting through, um, and I think it goes back to really what's our plan, and I need to maybe not take it so personally, but the person who is the liaison for recreation really has to know all the applicants that are coming to the CPC, and so I'm trying to get them to come in from recreation and research all the other applicants from the other departments to see, is it suitable for our town, and, um, and for that reason, it takes a lot of time, it's interesting, um, and then, and then, like, so the second part is, you know, review and recommend the projects, and the third one is to report, uh, to keep records and, and make sure the budget is in line, but so what you're doing is reviewing potential new projects, but then also progress of prior approved projects, so, I mean, what I'm not good at is, is, is, you know, fighting for something that I'm very loosely, you know, reformed about, so I was thinking maybe somebody in this commission could be better in that purpose, that, that, that specific task, but, um, I also have the energy and interest to continue to support the committee, but if somebody is like, you know, this looks cool to me, um, it is, it is, uh, it's, it's as big of a commitment as you want it to be, but I think it needs to be a big commitment, um, and a lot of it's focused in the fall, right, right, it's mostly November to January, yeah, January, February, um, but just having, you know, keeping tabs on everything else. Today, me, every month, starting in September, they do one thing, and then it's sometimes every other week in that December and January as during the application process, and, um, and then it kind of tapers down and as you get ready for the town meeting,
so. I'll say there's two kind of points of interest for the RAC, or for where I sit with
the CDC for this upcoming year, the Opioid Settlement Working Group, which is a town committee or working group that's been working on this for a long time, and it's a group that's been assigned to distribute opioid settlement funds and other initiatives related to opioid prevention and opioid use prevention. Um, they plan to work with me. We have, um, you've probably seen them here on this building, but there's yellow boxes that hold AEDs at different parks in town. We have three going on right now. The Opioid Committee wants to also put um, hand, uh, medications in each one of these boxes, um, and they also want to install them at sites that currently don't have these boxes, which would take a little bit of money, and so they are planning to work jointly with me to submit a CPC application this year, um, to fund some of those boxes at parks and playgrounds in Town Beach in the coming year. Um, and then the other standing CPC, every other year we go to the CPC and ask for playgrounds. Which will be this year.
They are generally speaking, um, open to the program.
Yes. And I think they have a pretty good, uh, recollection of it, as far as supporting it. It's, uh, yes. Yeah, but, you know, for example, CPC shot down, um, the high school wanted to re-firm their, or rebuild, or build a new, I, I don't know if it was standing at all, but, um, the ropes course for you, and it was just, you know, that group of, of adults had no interest in doing a ropes course, but it wasn't meant for them, you know, it was, it was just, but it wasn't in their interest, so it's, um. And it got denied. And it got denied, yeah, and I, and I wasn't really prepared that, you know, a suitable application could be denied. How much money? It was, let's say. $175,000, it might have been $175,000, um, but I think we were getting grant money, as well. There was an app of some sort. And it, it is a recreational use. I think their, their proposal involved, uh, the rec department having access to this ropes course, and being able to use it, so. Yeah.
So I don't, yeah, I don't think I have that number here.
What were the last, like, four? Because it was, well, it was, like, Dave, it was before Dave. Kelly. Kelly. Kelly. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
I would love that number, for that. Brett, Brett, of course. Maybe, but was it Brett? No, Brett was never, I don't think Brett was ever invades on CPC. It's not gonna work out.
Um, I mean, Leslie, is your, is your, I think you articulated it, the CPC sort of has an agenda that, that, that they like to follow, and so on.
Yeah, I think there's, this is new to me, they're supposed to have an agenda, and I didn't really realize that they're, and so I kind of felt, well, why am I so out of step with this group? What, I mean, are they, you know, how, how are they all kind of generally unilaterally agreeing on, on a historic thing versus a recreation item? And I was taking real offense to it. But I guess I think, you know, we have our next meeting on the, on Wednesday night, first meeting of the session. Yeah. And that's something I'm planning to bring up, say, you know, do we have a plan, and are we following that, or is this, I don't know.
I know, I said it, I think, when you were away, I think, and so I said, you know, good to meet you, they have very, very firm agenda.
Yeah, I think. Things that they want to support, and. There was a sort of a camaraderie between those who were supporting particular items that were quite strong. So the first year I was joined, there was an at-large member that was appointed by the select board, and I thought the committee really benefited from that independent viewpoint. Mike Lowry, he was that person, you know, and this year we don't have. Last year, we did not have an at-large member, and we also didn't have our liaison to the select board attend any meetings. Was it that? Yeah. And it was, it was a real issue.
So.
Yeah. Yeah.
If she was, she was a liaison, and didn't attend any meetings, was there any pushback?
Was that the concern? Not really. I was just saying, if you're a liaison to a committee, and you don't participate in that committee, why are you a designated liaison? Yeah. I had reached out to her, too, you know, and asked to meet, and we just kind of never heard anything. But, so the CPC can also have, so once the CPC defines what they're. Yeah. know plan is if it's if they're saying you know right now we really want to get the historic things in line for our town they can appoint additional historic members to the board to kind of load it with more um information but also load it with more votes maybe appoint more people who are voting members yeah so so you could have two you could have two recognition members yeah so it says a community could choose to have two at-large members appointed by the board of selectmen one at-large member appointed by town moderator one at-large member appointed by open space um another community may choose to have two elected at-large members and two members appointed by the board there are many different possible options each community choose what's best um for their particular situation if a community wishes to focus on historic preservation work for example it might wish to reserve one of the four extra possible member slots on its cpc for an additional historic preservation expert so if there's a future need we could appoint an additional person but you know this was two hours with my sunday is like looking through and creating these notes if i have to pass these notes to somebody um or if i'm just needed because i this is a real boots and strap committee that you have to come in with your information and it gets handed to you if you don't they want their um they want the backup and they're lovely people it's just it's just uh hopping along you said energy and interest but reservation is your preference to do this again or would you rather pass the baton um i mean i am invested in it but if somebody else is eager to to try it i'm happy to support that person and take on another project um so again i'm not good at dancers yeah you do a really good job with it i'm happy to stay on um you always wrote jeff in no i i do think you do as strong of a job as can be for our commission yeah um i don't i mean i personally know that i wouldn't be doing this i mean having that information and advocating the way that you do um yeah i wouldn't want to put another um on you but also if it's something that you i think you're great at it all right yeah i mean i was wondering if somebody who was more forceful would want to do it i feel like um when i'm uncomfortable learning about new things i'm really like yeah i'm not a good presenter and i'm not able to push those plans and convince the crowd but um when i've done my research i can't i can i can you know pass it along i can i can handle it um i don't know um but do we want to come back to it sure um yeah um we'll have to send anybody tomorrow i plan to go tomorrow just for continuity yeah um you're right actually because the if you were to read about someone else or even yourself tonight it has to be i believe confirmed by the select board before it goes into effect so i think you're still on the hope for me yeah um i i think i mean like i said like i'm very concerned about this and i feel like i die uh i have no way to get your écritk um but yeah i think for me it's important to be able to like write about somebody that's mean mike i think if you're not like that's interesting to me i'll take it all right because i feel like maybe you might be the only other person that could work i think often called on to advocate about things that i don't know a whole lot about um but i think given how the job you've done i agree with mark uh i'm always happy to consult with you like if there's any and you ever want to be a need a sounding board on that would be great yeah i'm more than happy to do that yeah because there are times i've had to reach out and be like i really need support here in this um yeah okay i'm happy to continue on if you want to all right i'm going to make a motion to uh designate ms stewart as the liaison through uh june 2027 to the cpc i'll second that i guess i'll abstain yeah it passes yeah um next one is the votes chair or the chair to serve from my perspective um if you'd like me to stay and continue to do this as the chairperson i'll be happy to do it and by the same token if someone else would would like to to um step in and serve as the chair i'm happy to have that as well um i move to uh approve uh asa as the chairman through the 2027 town meeting second that all in favor you can vote for yourself well then vote to designate clarification vote to designate clarification thank you um vote to designate clarification vote to designate clarification clerk to serve till the closure of the 2027 annual town meeting.
Is that it?
I'm happy to continue clerking and be more prompt with my meeting minute generation. We're delighted with your work. Yeah.
So I need you to ask it.
No, it's not. What are we going to do with dear Mr. Bergeron?
Does he have a subcommittee?

No.
We'll find him.
With Jeff. I didn't know if Jeff was on a subcommittee.
All right. Someone needs to make a motion. Mike Zucchinis, clerk. I move for Mike to continue his clerk. I second. All in favor? Yeah.
Okay.
And then, in terms of what kind of recreation commission meetings, my preference would be to do it similarly to the way we've done the past year in terms of getting together and doing the day. If that is something that's that works, I think we should continue that. Unless someone has a different idea and a better proposal.
And I think that we sort of have to look at it
along the lines of who's available, offer up a couple of different opportunities in terms of meeting and who's available. And most of us can be available at that meeting time. You can either be in personal or by yourself. Do we want to set a monthly cadence? I mean, I think monthly is ideal. I'm not sure that it's absolutely necessary that we do it on a normal basis, but clearly I think if Katherine, in terms of tentative items and all that are important to be able to, you can certainly be a guideline for us at monthly to make sure that we're working somewhere. I don't think we're going to be running on the same rules as we've been all over the past five years, you know, I think we're gonna have to wait. I think we're gonna have to wait. I think we're going to have to wait. it's gonna be a long day to get started. And we think that we've got a good time, but I think we're gonna have to wait. So I think that we've got to wait, Yeah, I think similar to CPC, I think that, especially through the fall, I think a lot of boards and committees take the summer off of this. So I think that, like, at some point, we don't know yet who, there'll be applications before the CPC, and if they touch recreation in any way, usually they want to hear Rick's opinion on it. So those usually happen in December, so you could definitely assume we'd have a meeting in December, which we did last year.
I mean, we have a busy fall, we have Wayland Fest, if the recognition walks in, Walken, Beret, and other boards and committees are, so I think we'll have that.
Or if we do, October 3rd. Come on, guys, let's get our recreation sweaters. Yeah, something at Ralph Lauren. I'm just trying to think of other needs that we have for you folks coming up in the fall, but I think once a month is a healthy, potentially, you plan on it, like, regularly, let's say, like, I don't know, Wednesday every month, and then if there's not a need for that meeting or there's not agenda items, then we could scrap it. But it is helpful to kind of have it regularly for me to plan for it, but also sometimes you can sort of talk to get a hold of it, so it might just help that, no, it's only. So that, from my perspective, third Wednesday of every month would be fine. Is that where we are? So Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Fridays are better for me. Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Fridays are okay with me.
So if Wednesday.
Third Wednesday of the month, yeah. That work? Mm-hmm. Do you think that'll work for Jeff? He doesn't get a vote, he's not here. He almost ended up by CPC. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're talking October 21st. Yeah. That works for the next month. We'll pencil it in.
October 21st, May, November, November 18th.
And around this 12, 15 time. Yeah, that's okay. On Wednesdays, that works, yeah? Yeah, I think it's fine. There was a day and a time we were doing like 10 in the morning. Oh, you were, huh? Remember that?
What's up?
Yeah, we were. I'm good either way. I mean, I don't know, preference. I love it. We can break sandwiches. Mornings. They do crew when he starts that. Bringing pizzas, he never did. Yeah. No, I've heard. I personally appreciate when you all meet during business hours, because historically, years past, the meetings started at 7 o'clock on a Wednesday, and it was. Yeah. I'm going to underlie. That's not necessarily difficult. You're right. I would do it at meetings in my first year in family. All at night. Yeah.
I just remember being at one meeting with Brad, Dave, Asa.
We had a guest speaker show up, and we were there until, like, 10 o'clock. And I was just like, that's when I was like, no, I need more. Like, 90 minutes. Well, that could have. The chair could have called an open meeting by a place. Because generally, guest speakers are supposed to be listed on it. Well, no, it was a public comment. Oh, it was a public comment. But public comment can be limited to tickets. Oh. No, no. Two hours. It's all. It was one. How much the chair wants to kind of. Yeah. There was a lot of. I don't know if it's on the schedule. No, I don't think so. It is just. Oh, I think I'll throw October 21st on the calendar, and I'll start. Well, I think the naming policy will go back in the agenda for that meeting. Yeah.
Potentially dog park.
If you want to get an update on the dog park.
It sounds like you had something.
I reached out to a member yesterday because I found out about this. Yeah, I guess we have to find out how long they are meeting their meeting. I think they maybe met yesterday. What day did I meet? That was Sunday. So they met Monday night with the town center. So this is for next to reach out to them. You want to do that, Mark? Sure. Or I can. Yeah. So what's going to be the site? Third Wednesday, next meeting, October 21st at 1215. 1215. Okay. So we're going to do Thursday, October 1215. Unless it objects wildly. And then we were just talking about what would be on the agenda for the October 21st meeting. And I suggested potentially bringing the naming policy back. Potentially that dog park is because that's one of the goals. And then I think. I mean, I think it's going to be a little bit different than what you might be to understand that there's needs out there in the town, like I said, that, you know, I don't expect you all to know right now, but if between now and October 21st, you think about a problem that needs to be solved, then that could, we should probably formalize new goals at the next meeting. So, okay.
Yeah, instead of spending the whole time on naming, I'd rather focus on goals.
So, I don't know, but I don't think that that's possible.
I do.
I can probably dig in and see if there's a need on a different level. For support. We're just so used to just making things happen. Yeah. Well, it'd be good to like, I know we all probably feel the same way. Just.
Help make a difference and continue to expand.
I think we do all right a little bit, but I think we can focus our attention where the impact's heavier. Oh.
Okay.

Six.
Yep. The route 20 landfill visioning. Committee is, is wrapped up, right? It's wrapped up. Okay. So, can you give us just a quick little summary in terms of, of what, what it was all about? Yeah. So, a lot was studied.
I think it was 17 different uses explored at the space.
It's a really. It's a really. Neat asset for the town. I think housing was initially prioritized, but, you know, as with all facilities like this, the environmental becomes, you know, touchy. I think where we all landed was, was a good space. So I think number one, I'm going to use my cheat sheet here, but it was grass playing field. With. Without lighting. That lighting was heavily discussed, but with its proximity to. The river. You know, I think we're, we're leaning towards without. School bus parking. With EV charging infrastructure. That's a unique corridor. Just with the electrical utilities running nearby. So that could be a potential location for the EV fleet when it does is, is just. With the electricity. You have to have a car. With the electric vehicle. So. If the basically. You're going to go off. is ultimately put to use and then public works material center and so they they kind of spaced it out and broke it down and put together a conceptual plan yeah and yeah it's a really diligent board a good board to work with you know Tom Faye's a pro and yeah so we're that was what the recommendation was but I think that's kind of where it sits right now okay and they've dissolved that committee correct so they all came also in on the committee reports and just so much is to be helpful really yeah because the aspect of this is a business range but yeah so and reach out to the two the various sports that would use it I think that would put soccer the boss on football um sure lucky uh sure I think that if some strong advocacy for it I'll have an influence in terms of the dorsal yeah I think even emas baseball softball um you know that any relief is a relief to all um so yeah I agree with that mm-hmm yeah get football off their particular field and maybe not I'm not moving them but yeah yeah yeah and a lot of other fields are overlap and so you're right any additional footprint would benefit everybody yeah good um
yeah I didn't
um foreign um um um you and I had talked when we were putting the agenda about getting a group 20 south landfill project in front of the capital improvement planning committee to make sure that it is phased into the long-term capital plan um what I've learned since that we posted this agenda that um because it's not rec owned property and it's owned by the board of public works DPW departments who did a capital request for about five hundred thousand dollars to support design there I don't know yet where that request will go okay um um um um um mm-hmm um um um um um um um um going to come to fruition. I think that's the right place for it to be. Yeah, particularly because, you know, it's going to be involved with it because it's going to be laid down here. So what are the ways I'll do? I would potentially just either like communicate with Tom today or whoever is on the CIPC that's kind of ushering this project along or, you know, work with Tom Holder to make sure that recreation interests are being paid attention to in that project. Like so that, you know, we don't get through design and find out that it's all laid down here in the soccer field, you know, so. I don't think we have those options. I don't think we can formally appoint someone to that role just for like we talked about advocacy or, you know, just being helpful. Well, I think Tom is well aware of the fact that they are the mover of this project, but that the recreation, the design, money for the field and all is an integral part of this whole thing. So I don't think I don't think that's that's been lost in translation. As far as that's concerned, I think it would be a good resource for us as far as that's concerned. And it's not unusual to have recreational assets like a playing field on property that isn't owned by the rec commission, like a lot of schools for deeper conservation of W areas. And so do you have that? Is that so you're just closing up? So you're you're going to be the liaison. Why not? I have to. Recreation directors report not to think if you're interested to hear about what we've got to. What's down there? Yeah. You can use. no no because i have a list and i will go into more detail it's not going to be an hour um i just made a list of things that have been going on in our department i mentioned peter london swath has left us we do have plans to fill that position um throughout the summer we worked the town um migrated to a different platform up for the website like i said we don't marketing department so we've been working through some of those kinks and making sure our website is up to date we basically update every page that we have um we hit a snag this summer in let's say it was may or june with our merchant service provider um those are all our credit cards maybe i told you about this um we just had to work pretty regularly with the the bank and the treasurer's office to make sure the money was going where it's supposed to be and it is um that's really kind of administratively just some highlights um like i said about the town beach by all metrics it was the best summer we have which is what i said last year but this summer beat last summer which is great um you're still doing the water test yeah there's a third summer in a row we have not any closures for bacteria or algae which is awesome we have really good staff retention going on at the beach this year um we upgraded all of the point of sale um stations at the beach this year um which was a win it was a big win um those stations are open like it's about 14 hours a day from may to labor day so um you know they were constantly we were getting calls a lot of like this the you know the receipt printer's down or this is down a lot of it issues and not a lot of it support but um we basically have no it issues this summer due to those upgrades so that was great um we partnered with arts whalen and did a concert series and we did a at the town beach this summer that was wildly successful we had a phone party that was fun um during one of the concerts at the beach there was a pretty substantial brush fire on the lake um which we were concerned would impact the concert but it didn't um but our staff were great and you know worked with fire and ems to make sure everybody was safe um i talked about the opioid settlement group which is interesting putting narcan and all select parks um and that will likely result in a cpa application um i've been working with uh during the summer with the assistant town manager on some ada accessibility improvements and some grant work that would come out of that um that position is also open in the town so that is kind of put on hold until that position is filled um summer camp's also wildly successful i've got a handful of um reportable incidences that have to be reported to the state um generally if there's an injury resulting in medical care some stitches or something like that then we have to report to the state um i would say always normal on that front um we are going to um in light of the tragedy that happened at camp chickamee where we are actively looking at our policies and our disaster response plans just to make sure that we're ready uh to manage or support the you know the camp community if something like that were to happen on our grounds um we revamped our cit program which is a concert training program for uh ninth and tenth graders who support our summer camps and that was wildly successful and we got a lot of great feedback from the parents on that um camps also have really good staff retention uh we had a new licensor from the health department that licensed our summer camps this summer extensive review process they are camp and all camps in wayland are the safest any camp could be i think normally that process it's a it's a tedious process to license a summer camp um and i've been doing it for almost 25 years and this year was the most thorough and comprehensive process we've ever had which is really good news but took a lot more time than we anticipated um i don't know if you remember years ago there was a handful of sports camps that were housed in the wayland rec department they decided to go with a private rec department and they were like uh we're going to do this camp and we're going to firm to run their summer camps um there's kind of mixed results on that and some of them have come back to wayland rec and i i've heard that the football camp is potentially thinking about coming back to wayland rec too so we're happy to have them or not have them like i said we're it's all the same community so we're just trying to make things happen um playgrounds uh we did a hannah williams playground series this summer that was grant funded that annual report is going to be submitted september 30th also i would say that was a wild success we had one rain out that was got rescheduled till october um we worked a lot this summer on moving the children's way preschool which was a house in this building is now at the happy hollow school and so building a playground for those who you know you you guys voted on it um that went to bid and um there were some problems with the bid responses and it is being re-bid right now and hopeful construction happening in october november um we've been working with the pto on some extracurriculars related to that project as well um one fest is saturday october 3rd and i'm going to reserve a spot on the parade from the rank commission and you'd soccer you it's a great parade by the way oh sure um ball field hockey program just started we had 18 of the season when we first entered the commonwealth league in 2023 we only had four teams so that's really great good uh it depends on the age but we're probably about 115 kids in the program altogether which is great um and it is all it is supported by the rec department but is driven by a group of 14 volunteers who happen to be mumps of the bill howie program yeah 14th big number out of 100. i know right pretty good and they all know how to play field hockey which is remarkable um um that's so cool We started some new preschool adult and teen programs that are in our fall brochure, which are going well. Generally, when we offer new programs, it usually takes a cycle or two for them to take off, but the new ones are seemingly taking off this fall, which is good.
We're already looking ahead to the Halloween parade
and some other fall events that are happening. Super Wednesdays, field permits are all out. Like I said, we got really good feedback about the conditions of the field. By and large, there's less complaints about conditions, but again, maybe people just stopped complaining. So if you know otherwise, I'd love to know. We'll review that field packet at one of our monthly meetings that's coming up. And then for capital projects, we're working on putting new wall pads on the town building gym. That should happen before basketball season. We did some repairs to the gymnasium hoops after an inspection that happened this year. We're working, with the school department and the health and wellness department on that ropes course to see that through. Alpine field is growing in, Claypott Hill irrigation is ongoing. Kachitwit ballpark backstops are still holding, in a holding pattern here. I'm going to get back on that. And then I'm working with the DPW engineering department on documenting stormwater control measures for all recreation homes. Which is a lot of stuff. The rec commission owns a lot of very small properties, like on Pond Drive around Dudley Pond, which obviously has some stormwater impacts. So that's another little side project we have going on. That's all I have. That's it. I probably forgot something. One thing. October 21st does not work for me. I'm glad you figured it out. The reason I wasn't paying any attention to October 21st, okay. I'll be in Pittsburgh. Our son's getting married on the 24th. Ah. So that doesn't work for me. Awesome. Excellent. So that's good. Yeah, congrats. Should we move to second Tuesday, the 14th? 14th would be okay. Nope. Oh, nope. 28th? 28th? Well.
See?
See what it's like trying to get you five in the same building. You didn't require it. I've... Do you want to do a week earlier? No. Okay. 14th doesn't work for me. All right. I mean, you guys can go without me. That's okay.
Not, I can do the 14th.
The 28th is problematic. There's no one coming home. We're coming home. You have to do that. That's like a once in a lifetime thing. Yeah. Right. When do you take off from Pittsburgh? We're leaving on Monday. Oh. So we do a four. This commission could meet on the 21st without ASA. It just means somebody else would have to chair the meeting. Come on.
We'll do a meeting.
Or we skip it and go to November. We need a one.
Could we do the 16th?
November 16th? That's a Friday. Well, what? October. On October. October. October 16th would probably be a good time.
I'll be coming back from Texas.
Okay. So no.
You can certainly do the 21st and someone else can chair it.
Yeah. Why don't we do that? Okay. We'll check in with Jeff. He should. Yeah. Okay. He could chair it. Just tell him. All right. I mean, ASA. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, ASA makes it look so easy, but I know it's, it's not.
He's been doing it a long time.
He's been doing it a while. Yeah.
Sure.
So you're going to meet the 21st, which is fine.
Does anybody have any topics that didn't be probably not the topic?
Well, if ASA's not going to be here, then we shouldn't do goals. Cause I feel like. We should all have our goals. Yeah. Yeah. So if it gets to November. Is there a different day? I think it'd be worth talking about CPC submissions or, I mean, if it's a short meeting, it's a short meeting. Yeah. Yeah. On the 21st. Yeah. That's fine. Okay. So just do it with that. Yeah. Yep. Yep. All right. I don't know. Somebody who loves the motion to adjourn. I'm to adjourn. Second. All right. Go. All in favor.