1.21.2025 Park Board

welcome to the regular meeting of the oh you welcome to the regular meeting of the park board Commissioners today's Tuesday January 21st 2025 this meeting is being held in the city council hearing room and uh we will start with the open meeting law language pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting

through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible roll call uh commission cecilo present Helen rioo BJ McDonald three out of five for got Quorum no citizens input um I'll accept the motion to accept the minutes of the meeting from the November 6th regular

Park board meeting motion to accept motion to accept made by commissioner second rioo second by Nick commissioner cilio all in favor I I all right um item a there's an approval of a letter indicating that the park board is accepting 2025 Park permit request so that's in the packet um I know when I talked to Nancy last week she was she had started getting in some requests but we wanted to make sure there was a Level

Playing Field for everyone and we can kind of divvy up those requests for some of of the facilities that uh see the high volume of requests you know britland Park and the others so any requests that are coming in are going to be she has them in a file for now and we'll vote on them in March but this was the letter that is going to go out to all the existing Leagues with the

information that um the parks department needs to collect in order to give them their permits um we put a date on it for February 28th I don't know if anybody has an issue with that but the thought was we get everything in by the end of February um whatever can come in for to the board for the March meeting um and then we can you know divvy them up as we

see fit so anybody have any issue with the letter or we'll just take a motion to accept and place it on file motion to accept uh seconded motion to accept made by commissioner rioo second by commissioner Cecilio all in favor I I um the next two requests w specific League requests so we decided to just put those on the agenda the first one is a a letter from the Bristol black collaborative regarding the use of

Kennedy Park for their juneth event on June 21st 2025 it's an annual event if had it the last couple years questions on it to accept motion to approve made by commissioner rioo second second by commissioner cilio all in favor I um there's two requests here uh actually it's just one request but it's two days from the asaro Santo school regarding the use of travasos park for their Fun Run it's on May 21st

and 22nd with rain dates of June 4th and June 5th so we have a motion to approve that as well just just a question on that are they going to walk through cuz are they going to walk through like where they're using just to make sure it's like clean and there's not like things out there I don't know if that's like basic stuff or just they do that normally or the the the park Department

Nancy has guys that'll keep an eye just making sure because I don't want poor God forbid a kids running and like trips over like a branch or a pipe or something yeah something out there we'll um make sure somebody gets out there before but that's the weather will be breaking then so the guys will be out there cleaning it up cutting grass and stuff so yeah I'll I'll I'll make a motion to accept second motion to

approve made by commissioner Sero second by commissioner rioo all in favor hi all right Mr olera your mind coming down for the next couple of items absolutely thank

you so this is item D on the agenda it's an update on the North Park walkway project is kind of where we're at we're teeing that up for the spring I would assume so yes so we uh we we've had um some designers give some Renditions of the of what we could use that the funds for and uh it was later figured out that we were going to put some brand new walk

paths around the the North Park and we do have some um ideas of how it's going to be and I think you're looking at that right there right yes so in in that in that design what we have is do you have it do you want one I have one here no this is I have I so in this design if you notice there's a few items um so what the reason why we did that is

depending on what the cost would be we would be able to just uh pick and choose what walk paths we really needed uh it looks like we could probably fit all of those items in there so uh we're looking at uh so the Design's already done I completed that and um didn't want to put it up at that time to do that because we were behind the behind the gun the gun

so what we did is we're going to do this for the spring okay we'll get better pricing at this point and probably within the next week or so um I'll put that out and get some bids so right now is the perfect time for contractors to bid on this type of stuff so they can the minute spring comes they already know that's already e mared to uh complete okay great yeah so and just

I don't know if Nick you were around when this kind of started it's um representative F got some State funding for some updates to North Park which is in her district and originally the project has kind of evolved we had a couple different ideas Al and I and N um we went and actually walked the park this summer the walkways are in tough shape so um the thought was to redo

those with that money and then this was kind of prioritized as far as which ones they'll be able to to do one through five um so I don't I don't really have any questions I think that was really basically my question was you know when's it going out to bid and then once it goes out to bid it's was a bid stay open for 30 days is that how it works no

no it so what happens is we we tell it how long we want that the period so we'll say uh by law you have to give two weeks to the contractor you can walk them through or this plan would be sufficient because there's no there's no doors there's no play Offices they can just walk through and see for this plan and then they'll give us a quote and then that explains what we want for base

material what we want for the final material and what it should look like and I think the other question was um at the time we had talked about patching it or ripping it up and red doing it based on the cost Associated but I think ideally we want like brand new at least I would is that also part of the at the time when I was walking through with everyone I kind of questioned myself how

if we could fit all that all that Asphalt in to this project so the thought was our backup plan would be to whatever whatever was cracked we would replace and Patch but I had a contractor go through give me just a basic idea IDE what that would budget wise would look like and we probably that in perfect again so anyone anyone who is not aware with government work we have

to pay prevailing wage right right so we have to go through the public procurement process so in here I have the design of the public procurement process we'll put that through what they call as a comis uh which is all computerized and it goes to All State uh companies that approved companies and we'll just get the work done and then they'll they'll come back with their numbers and as long as it fits in the

budget then we give them the green light to get out there and do it so this is what we call an ifb an ifb It we have to have the lowest responsible bidder so responsible bidder means that yes these companies are responsive they've been doing this work for several years and as long as they're the lowest bidder then they would get the project I think that's kind of all I

have you have no I got anything on that no no no all right so uh I guess we'll just make a motion to place that on file and then maybe we'll follow up with you so we're going to we're not meeting in February so the next meeting would be March so maybe by that time we'd have a contract probably have a contractor by then absolutely yeah awesome yeah if we didn't it was a

problem okay yeah all right and I know that representative F has asked me to because I think there's a timeline on the it is it's December it's December so we'll be way ahead of that okay perfect um I'll take a motion to just place that file yeah I'll take a uh I'll make a motion to put the North Park walkway project on file second motion made by uh commissioner seral to just place this conversation on

file second by commissioner rioo I favor hi Hi and then the next one is the two CPC projects one was the Kennedy Park bathrooms one was the Kennedy Park walkways yes I asked Nancy to put this on or I put this on the agenda basically just to ask you as I know a few months back you had been here these are the two projects we wanted to go forward and

then sit on the CPC meeting I was like wait where's house proposal so just wanted you to come down and just what happened other things in the way whatever No so at at at that time when I presented it every everyone on the board was kind of questioning you know I don't know if we're going to have money for this and so when I talked to John at one point he basically said we're really

going to be tight on this at this time but next year you're almost guaranteed so I I don't want to use the word I don't want to use the word guarant because it's not it's not something that's fair to say but it he'll have he doesn't have anything air marked for that time okay so that's really where we stand at this point okay so basically those have kind of been just punted

until next year and then well maybe well they'll get resubmitted to CPC at that time 100% okay absolutely does anyone have questions on that or anything no no I guess the only other thing that I would just add or just being a part of the board um I know that these the the mayor has I know that they're both priorities I think the walkway to me is Priority One in the bathrooms

would be number two out of those two but I also like the idea of collaboration with the board too like hey does anybody else have any ideas cuz I'm learning more now as being the park board representative on the CPC as far as um what qualifies and you know open space is one of the check marks for CPC to qualify for funding um so I think that you know as board members we may want to

think about other things that we can speak to Mr alera and the mayor about as far as projects that this board might like to see put forward for CPC I know I think the turf at britland Park is something that I've thought about that probably needs to be redone that I think qualifies with under open space um so just I put that out there because these I'm learning kind of as we go but these came forward

and I'm not here to stop any proposals from moving forward but if there are other things that the board thinks um we should definitely let well I mean I know the mayor was was was very excited about transforming that um that that uh restroom it it's a beautiful building um and if we could put some TLC into that it would probably it would be a male and female uh restroom right now it's

nothing there's really nothing that anyone can use right now and there are events that happen there and we could utilize that and put that into great use that's just that was just us talking about that and then at the same time when you walk that those walkways there are in tou shape so that's really what where we stood with that now again if there's anything that the board wants to

talk about Bring It On exactly that's really all I'm saying is just I didn't realize that you know there are other funds you know that may be available to the park Department for these types of projects um so if you have an idea or if somebody comes to you with something you know bring it up at a meeting and let's engage with you know nothing nothing's a bad question at this point right because

we everything everyone has the same mindset and we want to we want to beautify The Parks at this point so whatever we can do and then the last one is just uh oh I guess we need to just place that on file as well they're not really actions to be taken on these it was just more of discussion so I guess it's uh place that on file yeah I'll make a motion to place the CBC projects

Kennedy Park on file so we'll we'll just you want to just second that second yeah second uh commissioner s just made that motion to place this conversation on file the updates and then commissioner rioo seconded uh nobody's opposed so the last one is the update to the lighting project at Father Kelly Park which also kind of corresponds with um item G on the agenda which is the letter from Mr

hackit that he sent to the CPC so not to get ahead of myself but we'll let Al just talk about the Kelly Kelly Park lighting project so Nancy was was pretty much running the show on that project with the uh with uh Rodney from Stark so I just I got clarification that the project was completed and we're in process of pay making the final payment with a contractor yep

the I know that there was um it kind of goes into item G there was an issue and I don't know if we need to talk to the water department but in within um Mr hackett's letter to the CPC there I don't think the CPC is going to pay for the additional things that he wants to pay for I don't want to speak out of turn but to me I don't I'm

not sure they qualify for CPC funding because they're uh you know the scoreboard the but the one that kind of jumped out at me was the he's looking for or he said that the water pipe or line was damaged on the way in so I don't know if that's a conversation for the water department or your department I this is the first time I'm hearing about that I do know that when there is

a rain when there's uh heavy uh doses of rain in that area the building there the uh there's a a auto body shop that they just yeah come off comes off the rain leaders and and it drench that that area I believe that could be it I'm not sure if that's it but you really get some serious puddling in that area yeah so I don't know I just wanted to make note of

it because it's probably something that's going to fall somewhere between the park department and the water department to be fixed and I don't think because I don't think it's going to qualif I don't know how it works with CPC if something H if they did if the contractor broke it then I would assume it's on them but there's probably something to this water line issue is that's going to come to a head as the

project wraps up that I just think you should probably be aware of yeah and I'd have to bring that up to the architect because he he has to sign off on that so okay I'll bring that up and that's I mean that's really the only thing I think that would um concern you in this board as it relates to this letter from um Mr Hackett because he's basically just saying hey if we came in under budget

can we get a new scoreboard and can we do some other stuff with the leftover monies and that's a question I think for CPC um yeah but the the uh waterline may or may not be something that yeah I I'll run that by the architect tomorrow and then I can I have a copy of the letter too that reference it it just says uh yeah water pipeline replacement cost and question mark question mark

yeah so I know I mean I don't want the Bild to end up on the park Department's desk if it's not part of it no but that's that's the that's IMM material because it what happens is during the project there are some situations that if there is some damage the contractor is responsible that's part of the contract put it back together so they are responsible for that so if if that

wasn't brought up to the architect then I'm not sure because Rodney never talked to me about that okay yeah so I guess that would just be the question then for Rodney is was is he aware of it you know he never he never talked to me about it so I'm assuming that that because he said he basically said we're ready to pay in full and he signed off that just means that everything is is good okay

right and then we'll cut them in the check the city cuts the check and it's done so but if there was some pending issues like that then what we do is we we can hold back some monies that says it's going to be $4,000 so I I didn't get any any uh details back from the architect all right so I'll follow up on that okay thank you anybody else you have anything on the Father Kelly

lights I know the guys will be happy to be able to play softball there we've done a lot for this spot City's done a lot for this spot it's a be it's going to be a beautiful beautiful area I mean there again so and I hate to say it this way but there's always work that has to happen in these in these ball fields I mean something y yep um so if I'll um entertain a motion

to take items f and g together so we've talked about the update to the project and then Mr hackett's letter to just Place those on file yep so make a motion to put FNG uh Father Kelly Park uh project on file motion made to place on file by uh commissioner cecilo second by commissioner rioo all in favor I I motion carries um ow just one second because I just want

to see um item H is a letter of thanks from the dasy regarding the use of kenned park for their annual event they just place that on file as well um motion to acknowledge thank you from the dases for fusing Kennedy Park second motion made by commissioner cilio second by commissioner Rigo all in favor I um item I just suggestions for the use of puski Park tennis area that was

locked up so backstory we were talking a little bit offline and uh this was the area that there was issues with the volleyball and the sale of alcohol and all kinds of stuff that was going on down there this Summer that um to my knowledge was rectified at the end of the summer into the fall that they were G out of there uh the parks department worked with Al's office to lock the

place down nobody can get in there those old tennis courts um but I think this board should also be part of the conversation as far as what comes next for that space what what would the board like to see there uh there's not a ton of space down there but there's enough to plant some grass or clean it up or just not leave it as a locked up um old

rundown tennis courts so I guess um just for you be prepared I will probably send some suggestions over um but I think for today just only having three of us we might want to table this yeah till our next meeting and then we can get some more input from uh commissioner Burns and farious so we'd be tbling I andj because we're not sending a letter of any sorts right we should probably title

yes so the item Jay is sending a letter to the mayor and I'll give the backstory on that too um but I had had some conversations with uh an architect architectural firm uh weson Samson but in speaking with the mayor and with Al it has to go out for you know bid so you can't just engage with whoever you want but the thought is we have all these beautiful Parks the city's actively

working on their open space plan but it the open space plan doesn't drill down specifically into the parks so there's a lot of opportunity and in talking with this specific firm there's also a lot of additional money that's available um for different projects that could tie into water and sewer and all kinds of different creative ways to get some grants to you know beautify some of the

parks update some of the parks I think there's a lot of these smaller pocket parks within the different neighborhoods that are not overly utilized that you know can we bring somebody in to analyze it to get some public feedback from the neighborhood groups that have some of these Parks I mean I drive by Columbus Park and it kills me that there's no little league there anymore you know and

the fields just sitting there but you know so is there something else and are there funds available to make that into like an an allpurpose field where maybe you could play baseball but maybe it's Turf where you could also play soccer and you know whatever else so I think that relying on you know somebody else to kind of steer Us in the right direction and work in conjunction with

um the open space plan I think is money well spent and that's where that's why I put this on the agenda because I think we as a board should tell the mayor that we think it's a good idea to proceed with an RFP and get somebody to engage with the public and get their feedback and to come up with similar to the open space plan a 5-year plan a 10-year plan

for the the park Department you know and which Parks take priority how are other municipalities doing it you know we do they charged to use it do they not charged to use it are there certain facilities where maybe there's a fee Associated you know the ongoing maintenance of it what do other municipalities have as far as equipment and and Manpower like how do we stack up when it comes to that with other U

municipalities so I think all that was part of the conversation that was had that I had with um this firm and you know I brought it to the mayor and he said well it has to go to bid if if we're going to do it and I wanted everyone's feed back as far as what they thought but um that's the backstory with that item as well questions on that no BJ did you get

a cost budget budget cost that you that they offered or they did give me like a ballpark and I I can send it to you um I want to say it was $40,000 and then you could and it's been a couple of months since I looked at it but I can email you a copy of what they sent me um it's a kid I went to college

with and we ran I ran into him and I was like we were talking and he was at a he was at a convention that was in the same Hotel I was at I was in the insurance convention he was in with um Department of Public Works and you know they only he only specializes in Municipal work so we got to talk in and then one thing went to another we had a couple of Zoom

calls and they did put a basic proposal together um that basically outlined the community engagement aspect of it you know the plan piece of it where they how they would prioritize it um I shared with him what was online for the city's current open space plan and said this is what we have now they're actively working on I think updating it for 2025 um but I want to say it was right

around $40,000 was like the initial kind of right indication that he had but I had he also or they were able to um kind of itemize it and say you know for this much you can get this for this much you can get that because Mass General law has a a stipulation in there with between different dollar amounts before you have to go to bid so if if it's under uh 30,000 you can go straight you

can grab the the vid and and work with it as long as the the cost of construction is not greater than 300,000 so there's there's many things we can work send it over to me we'll we'll take a quick and the firm is Wes and Samson I think oh they they're big so we've we've used them in the past so yeah and that's what um pretty good I would assume and

they were I mean everything they showed was impressive they had some stuff from all over the all over the Commonwealth up in Boston and different places so and it wasn't as far as even getting to the construction piece of it it was like here look you know there's x amount of people that live in this neighborhood this park is not being used here's what they think should be used here's how we

think we can help you know and here's some of the grant money that might be available to help you get there so um it was all good conversations but um so so I'll I'll send you that and I guess we'll we'll table that as well items I and J Nick you want I'll make a motion to tables I and J we'll second we'll table items I and J until we have um a

full board next month and um I think that's it are there any commissioner inquiries does anybody have anything else no no no so just make them I guess the last um just I told you guys before but Al for the record too Chris we're going to skip February as well there's not a lot going on in the Parks the we'll get back on our typical first Wednesday of the month starting in

March okay um and continuing we got through the holidays in the winter and unless something you know pressing comes up but it's the you know it's the 21st already today of January so it seems crazy to meet again in two weeks um for for February so it'll be March and then we'll stick to that first Wednesday day of the month um after that okay thank you sound great I'll update you when it

goes out awesome ation yep I'll makeing a motion to adjourn second motion to adjourn made by commissioner cilio second by commissioner rioo all in favor I I thank you