10 2 24 Board of Park Commissioners

H doesn't like that see call this regular meeting of the park board to order uh today is October 2nd 2024 um and pursuant to the open meeting laws I have it right here 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 Vic harus Amber burns my name BJ McDonald so absent is Helen rioo and um Nick cilio um we do not have any citizen input okay accept the minutes yeah can I get a motion to accept the minutes from the September 4th 2024 regular Park board meeting I make a motion to accept we're going to need you to Second those

oh second it oh boy forgot motion made by commissioner Burns to accept the minutes from last month's meeting seconded by commissioner faras no one opposed no new business uh item a is the mass in motion storybook Trail Signs by the rail trail so basically I don't know if we misunderstood collectively if everybody else was under the same impression but Nancy brought this to our attention there the pictures

of this um story book Trail signs they look they're just like kind of wire signs that look like political signs so ny's guys they've got issues cutting the grass and stuff they've got to take them out and can't be taking them out put them back in taking them out they're not going to they're not going to last I'll put the story back in the right so yeah so there's the story's out of o

there's I was under the impression that it was going to look more like the photo with like a wooden post kind of um like you would see on different you know in different places but they're not as of now so Nancy was um reaching out to is it aiyah that yes and to try to see if maybe dery or Diamond Wood Chop students could help them create something that we

can put in the ground and make a little bit more permanent because the that they have now that they're not going to work they won't last and I mean what had happened was she said my signs were fine and then someone took them out and put them on the bench so I'm like that sounds like what my guys do when they find sign so when I asked them that's exactly what happened um and

that's why I called her so I said I think we were all under this misconception that they were going to be like some of the things that you showed us in the packet yeah because they definitely didn't show us no yeah because I think we all would have I mean we I've been chasing our yard sign for the last six months like they don't they don't stay in the ground they're not so I made that suggestion

she said she's going to look into it I you know whether it be um I said sometimes Home Depot donates supplies if you tell them what you're doing and then maybe if Home Depot donated the supplies and diamond or wood shop or whatever put it together she could almost use the signs that she has if they were laminated enough to put on that Podium type so she said she was going to look into

it and get back to me but in the meantime the story book signs are not there if you guys hear because it is through the mayor's office and stuff so if it comes up that's that's the issue that was a mass mass in motions Grant I believe or that was the department so okay um I can always reach out to her too because I I had dery put stuff together for the block party um and it

was like a a project for the students so I could always ask my contact over there for her to see if that's something they would do and they did it for for free so I don't know right I think that's then you just would have to have someone come dig the holes and so okay just I don't think there's really any action just maybe a motion to place on file I make a

motion to accept and place on file second it motion made by commissioner Burns seconded by commissioner faras on in favor I I um the next one is a request uh for the use of Lafayette Park in Mason Street by the the altar of Grace Church on October 26 26 for uh their Revival and it goes from noon until 7:30 this is an annual event they have had it before yes I make a motion to

approve second it motion to approve by commissioner burn second by commissioner andarius all in favor I I motion carries all necessary documents and yeah paperwork yes um item C is a request from the Das for the use of Kennedy Park Drive South Main Street area for their annual Candlelight vigil I make a motion to approve second a motion motion to approve by commissioner Burns second by commissioner faras all in favor

I motion carries item D is the pal pickle ball program um and League updates and rosters so we didn't hear back from them we had tabled this last last month to see if he could get us some rosters um there's some stuff in here but I think at this point and after conversation that I had with Mr Crossing this late in the year the Nets are coming down at the

end of the month um and then they'll be on their own to put up their own Nets and play I felt like we should again kind of Punt until the spring if he wants to get his ducks in a row and um put together a league and submit rosters and all of that he can I did advise him that you know these initial rosters he sent over there's a lot of out of town

people that are submitted on here so the board's going to have to make a determination as far as is there a threshold on how many people should be from Fall River if we're giving out permits I think these are all things to consider for when he comes back in the spring um but as of now it's I spoke with him after last month's meeting and just said look there's only another

month we're not going to permit it out at the end of the season here but if you want to get it in and I advised him of you know the residency thing that we've had with other leagues and people so I feel like I agree with you I feel like we should do that but I also think at some point we should come up with a percentage and be like your team has to

be this percent of Fall River residents and just call it a day um I don't know if that's going to like like stop people or or make people like make up that I don't want to even go down that road but I do think we should give them a percentage because if we ask for rosters they give us rosters and they we're like oh wait this isn't good enough and it's

like I just I I agree but I also don't want to stop people from using these brand new ques so there's that's the The Balancing Act I think where the board was when they requested rosters would be maybe not so much as denying it unless it was you know a more than a 50% type thing but also limiting the number of days right I think that's so I think that's why the board originally never

put a number to it because like you said are we going to be getting correct information once they know the number they'll count and go we're at 40% we need to be at 60% you don't live in Somerset you live and we're not I'm to put my I'm going to put my mom's address I'm going to put you know whatever but I think I think we just had to be I think what the board

did that was we had to be fair because it was a situation where if you were a majority of out of town we weren't going to give you five nights a week we we might give you one because you do have players on your team or on your rosters that are from Fall River but I don't think I think that's mainly why they didn't put a specific um percentage percentage just to answer your question

okay and we all know right now these guys are unofficially running leaks you know they don't have permits they don't have exclusive use of it so everyone is welcome down there and that's been I think the board's hesitation since these pickle ball courts opened is giving exclusive use to one group um I think we need to continue to try to keep it as open as possible and I think with this

group the the the problem with the group and I I shouldn't use the word problem but I think the issue with it is it's a changing number all the time when we we have a league come to us this is their league this is their rosters this is their sign up deadline for sign up deadline for sign up is April 30th you're not having 24 people join the League next week and then 20 people drop

out the week after that that pickle ball thing is almost like a revolving number which is why it's so hard to give them permit for exclusive use of the facility because while the other leagues are set this is it maybe they'll have one or two stragglers or a kid might come move teams for baseball and basketball and all those things like this is kind of like you only need four

people to show up to play so so I think that's been I mean maybe over the we can come up with something or you know kind of investigate what other people do but I again other cities and towns charge for the use of their facilities so that limits this outside taking more than what you need m so that's that's you know something that we really need I mean just like with the pickle ball C

that's something you could charge for right we can't charge for baseball fields because the leagues maintain those fields but you know things like pickle ball courts where we Supply the Nets we Supply the lights we Supply there's something where we might be able to go down that road and then all of these uh issues or contingencies on residency and signing up it's kind of like it doesn't matter because the fee is the

fee and if you're going to pay the tax is now Ben no matter who using for the city so I think that that's the round in around we go it's just difficult because of that one you can't but it also it's I think it's also important to understand that it's not just fall river that has these issues like with pickle ball like if you Google it it's blowing up all over the country

and there are some of these issues where some of these groups can be territorial you know can have be expecting things so like it isn't I think it's a good problem to have because people want to use it um but there's I think some additional considerations and maybe the fee is something that could be implemented okay um I guess we just accept and place on file for now they'll have to they'll have to resubmit it well

it wasn't table that was just information cuz they didn't bring it in on time so you don't have to lift it from the table but I think what what you have to do is just accept this place it on file but these rosters of course can't be submitted in spring because they're going to change so at this point you're just going to accept them and and state that they we're not going to have

them facilitate a a quote unquote League at this late time in the season and I do want to stress that the Nets that we are allowing them to put up after um October are their portable Nets they're not to put they're not to hang Nets on no it's they they come they bring their Nets they play they fold up their Nets and they bring them home and they don't bring them home though they're supposed

to bring well no they don't bring them home but that the other item that we probably should entertain with this pickle ball item is the boxes are those staying there all winter that's what they shouldn't I don't think they should I think the when the courts are closed the boxes should probably be removed but that's I mean is that something we can even do right now or is that something that has to be like

next meeting um no we're discussing pickle ball so I think that you can say you know based on this we're not going to we're not going to give them a league but at this point when the when the season is through in October that either you're going to allow those things to stay or you're not going to allow them to stay um if you want to yeah I mean I'm going to guess that

either way if you take them out you'll be having that item on your agenda next month so I think that we should accept this place it on file when the courts are shut down officially shut down those boxes should be gone and next year if they wanted to put them back they need to come back to us and ask for um permission to put them back because I feel like other leagues have will have a

separate like storage thing but that goes when they're they um season is yes and then are the porter potties gone do we know it not as of the no cuz he has a tournament the F the October 16th that we appr they didn't move it either though they moved it to the side it was right at the front entrance they moved it around the corner so at still kind of

at the perance I know but at this point like you said it's 21 days I'm not going to bang my head against the wall but maybe those are the things that we need to discuss when next spring this permit comes up if there's a Pon going there it does not go at the front entrance of the courts you know the Box needs to do this with the box or whatever but um okay

that's but the board can definitely say when they can do like the baseball league Little League though they have the box outside and the P of party is outside we nobody else can see it so well yeah yeah they're around the but but the the Le doesn't keep any storage boxes or anything there after the season like the build this is during the season North Park at one point used to have um

a pod right that they had in because they didn't have a lot of storage there so during the season when they had a little league there the Little League had a pod and when the season was over the Pod had to be removed so I don't know whether you're going to meet with any resistance to that but the board can well I mean we never approved it to begin with so no we didn't

um okay so I make that motion place it on file everything's got to go of will you draw up a letter that we can sign and sent him to remove the no I or just tell them I will send him an email stating that the board voted to um not have him make up a league but the box once the season closes and on Nets are removed the boxes should also be removed

for the season yeah and I would give him a date because he could be like my season's not done until Christmas well you right here make the date well the Clos October 31st right that's when the parks one week you want to give it one week after the Halloween gives them time to take it out I think that's fair enough you can okay so we'll go with November 7th or I'll go the Friday so second yeah

so the motion is to place his league on file until next year and then the addendum to that is to let him know that because it's the end of the year the board would also like him to uh all boxes get get everything out of there P John should be removed by within a week of Clos November second and he should also understand that that's not specific to his pickle ball league in courts the

parks and throughout the City close on the 31st so we're giving him an extra week to get his stuff out of there made that motion seconded by commissioner farious everyone agrees all in favor I um item e are a couple of complaints uh regarding unpermitted use of Lafayette Park Mason Street and pusy Park and Warren Street um so I had Nancy and I had conversations about this uh I read through each of these I don't

know what kind of teeth this board has other than passing along these complaints um they're not the first time we've heard them this group is from peski okay just so thank you for coming um the conversations with Nancy were to pass along to the police department and advise you know we have we've gone that route already we've gone through our neighborhood can you just yeah can you just come down on the mic so that um

whoever wants to have a conversation both of you can come both of you yeah you can both come there's if you'd like just got to tell us both your names just your name and address please just for the record we're on camera sure U my name is Paul L I live at 466 Warren Street for River thank you for coming down Paul so so Mr L is who sent in this

letter okay yes we I do have some of our our Nabors here some of them couldn't make it because of work they're going to try and make it here but um everybody has concerns with this I mean you've read the letter I me I have copies if anybody needs copies of it but this has been going on for at least five years it started out uh small events like soccer um and then the volleyball nets

came in and more volleyball nets came in and then now it went it's escalated into selling beer merchandise clothing jewelry they brought um grills in now and they've got it looks like a circus now what response do you get when the police are they nothing um most of the time when we call the police is because there there's so many of them there's over a hundred of them every weekend and I'm I'm being like

real low on the 100 it's probably closer to two they take up all our parking spots they Park they turn around in our neighbors's yards um they you seen what I wrote on there they they they're using my B my house as a my property as a bathroom I was going to ask what this picture was it's it's um it's urine and feast it's everything we picking up diapers um I probably got

three soccer balls in my yard that my dog confiscated already so I'm not going to give them back now but the most I mean the kids play I I got no problem with people playing but it's it starts at 2:00 on a Saturday afternoon they set up all these net all these tents and they bring in food they bring in the booze they bring in merchandise and they set up all the I mean they set

up I think 6 t0 this last weekend and they park in front of your garage they'll park in front of your driveway they'll turn around in we've got neighbors with sprinkler system they turn around in their yard in the Company Vans and uh it's it's when the cops come yeah a lot of them leave they they move their vehicles you know the the police have other issues police have a lot of

stuff going on anyways too and and I understand that and I I I got all respect for the police you know and they'll come down they've tagged cars for blocking driveways garages in front of my driveway I got pictures to prove it and the thing is they'll park there to put their fourways on by the time the police come yeah the car's gone so you know the police get sick of it and I

would get sick of it too but the neighbors are really fed up with it it's they're throwing they're leaving garbage behind um and you know the yeah there's no Porter John's I doubt if this any license there's not so I think that's like the thing for us it's a health issue and that's where we struggle or I don't speak for you guys but the where I struggle with a lot of these things is

you just heard us talk about pickle ball in these different fields and it's very hard for us to police um and I'm not diminishing any of the things that are are going on here or don't take this as me not believe in you but I'm not sure what kind of teeth we have or what we can help with and I don't want that to sound like I'm shrugging my shoulders um

I'm I understand like during the week if it was happening during the week I could call up one of the Departments and they could send a crew down on the weekends it's it's shut down right I know this think they know and they know it right and they know it and they'll put up the tents and the Nets and everything on a Saturday afternoon and then they don't come down till Sunday night they stay up

there all summer all all weekend and it's it's crazy and they're out there till like midnight wasn't this part of the idea with building that volleyball court that was built at Kennedy there was a new you know the Ecuadorian volleyball court that they built the the thought was to get because you know that we've I haven't been on this board for five years but we've heard that this has been going on for

years and I think that was part of the thought was let's build them a place to go play that isn't you know where they that's where they should be playing let's build them a so they're not bringing their own Nets and they're not aside from all the other Stu that's going on just to give you a little background originally when this first started they would put the Nets

up and I would send the guys to take the Nets down yeah I don't know how many I don't know how many Nets these people have because they never came and get the Nets and the Nets just kept on coming back and com I had like Nets thousand but now they got them down before Monday before you can get in well yeah exactly so now they're down before Monday when they play when they play

this isn't just for fun they play for money they play for $100 a person because a few of the neighbors had I think it was a Fourth of July party one time and they were there and they said they had a bunch of guys there you know they hey let's go over and play volleyball we'll play these guys and play one of their teams they said yeah you can play but it's a $100 a person a

person I mean it's they do it for you know they for money which whatever I mean this was the problem I have is is the health issue the the mess that we have to deal alcohol is a problem selling things is a lot the whole thing is a problem and I mean whether we have to see if some of these departments can go out on the weekend um because it's

not like it doesn't happen I think it's a regular thing even with the weather turning they're still out but the problem is if they go yeah we're going to have guys come in on the weekend and they don't happen to be there that week that's six hours of overtime for them to come and see nobody so the only send it to the administration and ask for that right and the only thing with that is I

think I I think the main thing and we've tried this is the police and I and I've had officers call me and they go there and some of the officers they had to get like Spanish speaking officers to go there and the officers spoke to them in in Spanish and said listen this is not something you can do you need to get per permits you need to whatever but it just

doesn't seem to go anywhere yeah and you don't know who's organizing it I mean they that was have no I've gone over there who's in charge and none of them speak English which what whatever some of them do I shouldn't say none of them some of them do but uh are you running this thing no no no we're just here for fun right but clearly what the therefore they're making money they're it's like

it's like a carnival seriously is um two years ago they drank late in the night and when they left one of the guys ran over one of their others right in front of my garage ran him over who was under the car back to back over him and left and someone I mean this was brought up at one of the um Niagara Association meetings I brought it in there and fr I

told the mayor I may cougan at the time and you know that was supposed to be looked into right well I think that was the mayor's thought was trying to build the courts down at Kennedy so they had more room and they weren't you know all everybody in that neighborhood there's brand new courts down there and I think he's been down there and tried to tell them go play down at these new courts

there's probably more than one group because they play at Maplewood they play at Lafayette they play at palasi they play everywhere right so and we've got plenty of parks for them to spread out and play volleyball just got to cut out all the other stuff that goes along with it there's no I heard you're talking about uh P there's no Pon is around 466 Warren Street that's what they use as a

Pyon the fence right there it's disgusting I mean seriously is I just had a tree cut down because the top of it was dead I'm beginning to think it's because of them you know all these years of of poisoning the the soil around there there's no grass growing around that tennis court well you know it was a tennis court one time there's no grass cuz they lay out um artificial turf so

the grass is is just dirt I see the the grass crew there I think they come on Monday or Tuesday it was Mike I'm not sure what his his whole name is but um and I showed him the mess that they left he took pictures who is that the for one of my for I I let him take pictures because my pictures are in black and white I don't have a color no yeah we oh

did they come in color okay great but it it's pictures are deceiving if if you see it firsthand it's it's disgusting no and I can smell I got a rabbit near my my my uh shed there in a cage and I'm like Bo it's it's only one little rabbit I'm constantly putting stuff in there like it can't be I go around because now I see the stain coming through into my

yard you know and they they go on my garage on my wall I don't I don't even know what to say yeah I mean it's and neighbors if you come front them I've already almost gotten into fist fights with these guys just to move a car out from the front of my garage so my daughter could that's exactly why I don't send you know our guys in there because our guys don't

have the authority to do that the police have the authority that if you're not going to listen to what they do they arrest you and off you go my guys I don't want them yeah to get and and one they don't work those days either but I would have them come in but for what a confrontation it's not going to work that's and we don't know who who's the

point person to say let's sit at a table and have a conversation about what you can and can't do in the Parks and when you can and can't do it and if you can't abide by it you know these are the consequences I do go on Saturday put our lawn chairs out there just wait yeah I mean you could go around and just take pictures of all their Vans they're all Company Vans they all they're all

workers they're all hard workers they all do Roofing and carpentry and Plumbing and Electric they're all all their company vehicles are there they bring their all their family they entire park they got a nice water um water sprinkler there all the kids are playing in it they play in the playground they the kids are I mean kids are kids they make noise they play you know whatever which is part of a park right right

right you know but it's the late night and even the water they shouldn't be hooking up water things there no it's a splash a water splash pad whatever so if they're the parks Clos at 9: yes so if they're there past 9: the police should be kicking them out and if there's booze there at any time that should be I would assume confiscated and you know and they're not supposed to be selling food

out of there even to each other then that's just against all of the city ordinances so that's what I'm saying and what he's saying there are multiple violations to what is going on here and someone need to find I to say who's I feel like we should find out whose beat path that is like police officer that's their their route I I know that certain like Kennedy Park when I have mine there are

certain people that that's their area I know they're going to be at whatever event is there because that's literally their area to to patrol well there is there is a name on the the ferreras on that letter she calls the police more than I do I have a I have a um a privacy fence I have this the park fence chain link and then I put a privacy fence I

left like a foot foot and a half so I could get behind it you know to work on it and she has more pitches um them urinating pointing it at her flipping her I mean she's called the police more than I have where they've done damage to her property um I mean they're damaging mine too but yeah I don't see it sure so the police tell me Well if you see him doing it but I can't

see through my fence right I see it the next day when the sun's out and I walk back there went what the H you know what I mean but you can't I'm not going to patrol my yach the whole weekend no right not you have to right well maybe we can maybe we can uh I believe did you send this letter to the mayor's office as well yes I did yes

cuz I got a call from the mayor's office and I had said you know we know this is an issue it needs to be addressed by the police so I don't know if an reached out to the police and I had said to Ann I know that the mayor um did originally around to these folks and ask them you know hey we got a new court why don't

you go down there and use it and and I asked if he had gone lately she wasn't sure I you know I did what I could do in the in the inum but maybe that's the followup though is to I we can't get a meeting with the mayor maybe and somebody a representative from the police department to try to figure out maybe Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon at palowski Park we're G have the meeting yeah it's

probably chairs if he wants a hamburger something I won't charge him neither I'll I'll do that on my own private property I have no problem with it but yeah I think it it needs to be addressed because just take a ride by there you don't even have to stop you you you won't have no place to park anyway so my other question is I don't know if Fall River does this but

is there a way to put like residential parking like is that a thing no I know that I didn't I don't think it is but like that a possibility I I think they tried it I don't know if they well I don't think you can because technically we don't do Resident right it's usually resident parking is because that there's you know the Street's not wide enough or whatever like with Boston or or I don't think

they would do that because New Bedford has it Newport has it and it's not even the Street's wide enough it's just if you live here here's a Perma you can park wherever so like wean down on people who don't live in that neighborhood from parking there right but then a point of what do you do with people that visit a public park there's no parking they park on the street yeah so

that would be okay we have a similar uh I don't think it's been going on nearly as long as what's been going on at peski but we have a complaint from Lafayette Park too from the Neighbors at Lafayette Park that there was a group of people with a bounce house and with all kinds of stuff that we had no idea that they were there so it's the same I mean that'll be

next just rate that bringing in listen there's not there might not be enough room there although the way to destroying the park trees are getting destroyed they're falling down they're missing I say just take get rid of the T squats and just plant trees in there yeah there's there's not I mean yeah there's no tennis cour there it's just a court there's no's no Nets it's kind of run down the an old tennis

court that was never yeah oh put pickle ball there let them fight it out I mean they they're drilling into the tennis court to put their Nets up anyway no we don't want pickle ball there neither it'll be worse so no it's a part peep like pickle ball they just take over so that's what I'm saying they the same thing find it out pick noise ordinance Now everywhere a lot more noise property

value maybe that's what we can I think we need to to talk to the mayor and talk to uh his office and see if we can have a meeting if we can get a meeting like you said on a get I'm free Saturday so I I can go if it ends up being I feel so bad I'm a homeowner so like I can't even imagine it was never this bad I think

you should go buy so you have an inside oh I will I'm going to buy you one of those Halloween decorations that goes off with motion and he going to scare the crap out of and just put it right in that corner a tree that walks just scare them um I think I think like you said maybe if the if the mayor's office wants to reach out um cuz they're aware of it as well if

maybe we can arrange a meeting and with the police department ourselves because I don't know what powers the police department has I'm sure that if you don't have a permit to use a park they can ask you to leave yeah if you're causing a commotion a public I think like I mean step one if they go there and they're drinking I would think the drinking I would think if you could s merchandise andell food

they are pretty much annihilating every city ordinance we have over thereon maybe you disagree but I think if we were able to take the booze and the food out of there then they're probably not going to be there all night they're probably not going to be peeing anywhere right they don't like isn't that part of the problem I mean well the thing is you can't get a porta potty in a park without a permit they're clearly

not going to get a permit they've never been in front of us for a permit wouldn't allow be allowed under a permit so it's well don't say that because we have a porta poy without a permit not going there NY don't piss me off well owning all these these businesses and companies they have they they probably have access to part of unless they go to these job sites and do the same thing to their property

but it's it's it's coming to a head I think you're right it's coming to a head on a lot of residents and and me mostly because it's my property being damaged and they just they don't care they tell you whatever I think he's brought it forward to the Niagara neighborhood association he's brought it forward to us the mayor's office has now been informed I don't want it to seem like

we're sitting on our hands but I think like that's but if they're they're operating this without permits isn't I mean the pox you guys we would call the Poli call the police right we would call the police say they don't have a permit for this and the police is we don't have like if we go something going to do well that's what I'm saying I think cuz if we

go down there on a Saturday and say hey we're from the pox Department you guys got to leave they're going to tell me the same thing they tell you right I mean so up with the police though and so that's what I think I think from here I'll save you a pocking spot my driveway has to be you know one of us with the mayor and the police department to say all right we're going

to and it's probably going to take being down there more than one Saturday it's probably going to take some follow up on the police Department side to well the police department knows I mean this has been going on they've been called quite a bit so it's not it's not going to be a big surprise to them right they they've been called from the the ferreras on there multiple times and I've had

numerous conversations with the police about this and that and telling them listen I can't send Joe Blow in there to say hey you guys got to leave the guy's going to give him a punch in the mouth I I don't know what to expect I don't know maybe they're nice people but the point of it all is they're not going to leave you yeah okay goodbye but if someone's going to take you and your family and

caught them off in the cruiser they're going to have a little they're going to pay a little bit more attention and not that we want that to happen but it this is just disrespect this and we're not saying you can't go there and they're not saying you can't go there but they're saying there is a time and a place and there are rules and regulations to follow and if you're not

going to follow them then yes you are going to be asked to leave yeah or find or ticket it or whatever the ordinance say there rules there's rules on up there right what they can do and can't do yeah we have rules all over the place yeah you can't bring grills in you can't have alcohol you you the ordinances in the city of for River say you can't bring precooked food to sell do you have

signs that say all this no you don't have signs there's not really like is there even anywhere to hang I guess we would just have we have to hang them on your F it's fine I don't no I I I don't think the it's like anything else the sign is not going to make a difference I think they know they're I mean I don't need a sign to tell me I'm not supposed to

urinate in your yacht that that's that doesn't requ a sign they don't respect themselves by running themselves you know their friends over and then leaving them in the road and leaving the SC I mean this this was on video this was on video so was they can't say it never happened right the the kid was brought to what St Luke's hospital so with non-life threaten but he was all busted

up he's laying there motionless like moaning but that could have been my kid and that's what something like that happens it's going we going to be in a different courtroom here but it's sure it's it's getting to the point where somebody's going to get hurt whether it's physically or or whatever cuz like I said neighbors are getting uh fed up yeah yeah so I don't blame them I don't

know who else to call we've called the police I've sent you the letters I've gone to the Niagara meetings come to this meeting thank you so much and no thank you I was gonna say yeah because I I feel like I knew because Helen also lives in that area right and she always complains about so like that's why I was like I wish Helen was here today just get out of actually well she should know

back and they like get into arguments and interactions because they won't leave who do who would they call if someone has a permit and someone is the police the police and that's why I say to them no have your permit with you they get a copy of that permit I say get make sure you have your permit with you that day because if there is issue you call the police you show them hey I have

this field here from 3: to 5: and these people are in the Outfield they can't be here the police in turn read that it's a permit from the board of Park Commissioners and they go you have to leave these people have a permit for this area so it's the police that police the Parx to make sure the rules and regulations are followed through and I'm sure they know that this is

out of the realm of our rules they are aware of functions that take place that follow the rules and they know they have to have inspections and sign off sheets and what these people are doing would require all those departments fire dep Department police department Health Department all of those people that sign off on these events I mean the alcohol is what like to me it should be like

that should be but that should be I don't want to like downplay but that should be easy for the police to come in well they put them in big giant punch bowls yeah but it's pretty obvious are are scattered throughout the park time you see a grill called the fire department the they put them in the grill they put them in those those tents the fire department came when there was

a grill at one of the events that I was at it was permitted but they had to come to it and inspect it and all of that they came you have if you have a girl the fire department has to come and inspect it before you you grow they say if it's less than 10 PB like bottles they won't come but we have the rule and regulation that says no grills in the park without

inspections from the fire department because we can't have people bringing a 12-year-old household Grill into the thing with a tank that we don't know anything about and then something happens so that's why we say commercial grills rented because they have to come with insurance and and someone like this needs like our leagues need a liability insurance policy when you get a permit you need to provide a liability

insurance policy for these things we have everything in place for the leagues that follow the protocol the leagues that don't follow the protocol we rely on the police department to say you can't do this you need to contact these people in the park department and you need to follow their rules and regulations that's what should be going on here done shut down we know you don't have a permit we know you're

not following the rules this party is over that's what needs to happen there I I don't know why it doesn't or hasn't because the police department is well aware of the rules and regulations of a permitted Park so who in the police department do you call let us I think let us let us do that tomorrow this week because they've been called enough times that you know is it called and I don't

mean this disrespectfully but is it have they been called in this settings or is it hey they're here now type of thing because oh no they've been called for they're here now yes oh yeah I know that for but no but I'm thinking maybe it's more effective to have a little bit like to have the meeting with you guys with a representative from the police department representative from the

mayor's office and one of us and all right let's come up with a plan for the next however many weeks because my concern is or maybe some of the push back from the police is yeah we throw them out of there I'm not saying that this happened but we throw them out of there this Saturday they're going to come back next Saturday how many weeks in a row in what is the game plan and

how often can we meet to say all right well for the next three weeks can you send somebody by and can we get them out of there and then let's regroup again even if they come back they're still not supposed to be there KCK them out again even every week this is I'll see you next week like it's I'm sure if they and I don't want this to happen but I'm sure

if they started arresting people for drinking in the park or whatever breaking the Lawan it's like anything else I'm not going to go there again because now I know my buddy and two two of my other buddies just got locked up I don't and I would think that that is I don't know the law but you can't walk down the street drinking it can't expose yourself NE they're exposing

kids yes I think I think BJ's right I think we need to put this is come up with a strategy of maybe contact the mayor's office and ask them to arrange a meeting for all of us and include someone from the neighborhood or yourself or whoever may be available during the day you know I don't know that anybody is available during the day but well I know John Sylvia he he was

try he make I was going to say I also feel like maybe I can call like a c city counselor or two and see like if even if they're on board with it maybe they can Andre yeah I was thinking Andrew like see if I can see if Andrew can come and maybe Andrew can help facilitate something like to get them because I think that's the thing it needs to be a longer term

like cuz if we just throw them out then they're going to come back and then we're going to are we going to have to have this conversation how how many more times what's the long plan here I think once we have the meeting I think once we have the meeting that the that the plan should be in place this is what's going to happen and we say to the police department and what happens if they come

back the following week it's up to the police department to tell us keep following what what we're going to do because us as individual citizens certainly can't go over there and get into a you know a one-on-one with those people this clearly clearly has to be resolved by someone who has Authority to take it to the next step if not just right and Saturday's rolling right around the corner hump day so it's and

it's supposed to be ni Saturday too right they're going to be there it's close to the end of the season around when the Box changes when they pack it up for we can contact tomorrow May's office in the morning let him know you were here talk to him about all this and maybe if he has some time tomorrow or Friday we can get somebody and put try to put something in place for Saturday

to get what time do they like the afternoon like we say yeah they usually show up around what like 2 3:00 in the afternoon they'll start coming in and then they'll set up the tents peek at 5 o' oh yeah 5:00 is if that's what we tell the police maybe in our meeting do we have someone that can go there sometime between 4: and 6 because that's when they're going to be there and

they're going to be doing all the things they shouldn't be doing yeah 8:00 you'll have a full circus going it's do they're out there they out there they're out there I was going to say that's the other thing like I don't understand police are going by my sensor light for my ring on my driveway is constantly going on when they walking by whatever they if they walk by the fence behind my

fence it sets off myarm my uh Sor a hard show yeah but 5 o' yeah it's prime time so that I think that will be what we'll do is we'll follow up with the mayor's office in the morning try to get if I can't make promises for that's what I think will propose if you're in agreement to say hey tomorrow is going to be Thursday is there someone available on Saturday to go down there

at 5:00 between 4 and 6 whatever around that time and to try to put some teeth behind yeah you know cleaning it up like you want to go play volleyball you want to use a splash pad that's what it's there for you want to bring boot in here and you know you're be going to the bathroom all over the place like you're going to get fined you're going to get

whatever and you're not going to be down and I can point out where they're going there'll probably be some fresh stuff by then they they have no shame it's disgusting I mean they have no shame they they go right on the sidewalk yeah it's say well never mind maybe not no right on the side and I mean I don't even want to say they'll go you know the plastic bags you get at the supermarket

that you used to put the paper bag in they take the plastic bag go in the Vans urinate in them and then throw the whole bag out in the street right right up all down Jackson Street there alongside the park I've gone out to see trash out there I'm going to go get the trash out the street you know clean it up picking it up and it's dripping it's urine that's that's like that's what

animals do I just you're right okay um I'll make that motion that we contact the mayor's office and we'll be in contact with you guys and we will try and figure this out together Mr L is it l yes you'll be our Point person for contact within the next couple of days sure um and the phone number we have in the packet is good to call you on that's good

okay thank you so much all right thank you so we have a second on second motion made by uh commissioner Burns to place the um complaints on file and to follow up with the mayor's office um to see if we can't come up with a solution to help these folks out um and clean up the park a little bit second and by commissioner faras um unanimous motion carries um all right that was item

e item f is the election of a Park Board member to serve on the community preservation committee Victor's time is come and gone as the representative of the park board on the CPC so um I nominate you VJ I second hand nomination thank you I will accept that nomination um to the CPC uh and I'll follow up with Mr Brandt who's the chairman over there and figure

out what I need to do to uh do that okay and I'll report back next meeting okay I say one other thing oh yeah sure I forgot about another important thing they they park right in front of the fire hydrants too they'll block a fire hydrant on that on Jackson Street side this gentleman's property he's got a fire hydrant they park there the park on his grass in his driveway but this

fire hydrant all along there I think there's two fire hydr two one or two two two fire hydr and they Park their Vans right on the side of fire hydrant so maybe the fire apartment there are you Mr ala okay okay all right pleas tag that because they're supposed to tag him yeah that should be an easy one yeah I mean they've got tags I don't know if they pay their tickets

but they've they've blocked my driveway they come by get the $20 or $40 ticket whatever it is and they just laugh it off load the van they leave it there they don't move them if it's a company van maybe they don't they move I don't even you know yeah I wonder if that's other thing Company Vans I wonder if I've even posted you know no parcking driveway garage and they they don't care

I put line I know you're not supposed to put lines in the street but I put a little spr p spray paint just to help them out trying to help them out you know like we actually put in a driveway we leave the house at 3:00 any time afteron we wouldn't be able to come back home so we actually had to put in the driveway a couple years ago so that we

could not be prisoners in our home on the weekends summer sometimes early win it's very strange and okay thank you again you will be hearing from us all right thank you so much thank you guys thank you this one place on file so item G is the CPC application submitted for the Kennedy Park restroom project on South Main Street um this is for phase one of a twoa two-phase restroom project at Kennedy

Park um that Mr Ola is wants to submit to the CPC board um the phase one is the exterior of the building so if you look at the packet um towards the end I think there's some right the first one is the bath I thought there was pictures in here there are it's probably the last page yeah it's like G the end of G so there's the that's the floor plan

but the the second page of the exterior is what this initial ask is and what it's going to look like um basically he needs a letter of support from the park board um but she's not here to answer any questions so I think my big so I also see on here that the applications must be submitted prior to December 2nd is there two separate like he gets a letter or we he submits a letter and

that's due by no letter the letter goes goes table month yeah so I have some I just have concerns so I feel like not that I'm against any of this I just feel like this is a massive project and I don't want to um so okay so I know that there's one part that's 600,000 there's another part that is 2 million so that is 2.6 in total it's 2 million total 2 million

total okay so I know that there are the sidewalks is one portion and the bathrooms is another there's two separate requ two separate applications so there's two this all we're talking about right now is that dilapidated building at Kennedy Park and all this request is for is to redo the exterior of the building so there's two there's two pictures um um that show kind of how it is now you can see the windows that

are are on there and I have my little star in there that says now and then the plans are how they're going to renovate the exterior the the cost is pH one is 600,000 pH two is 1.4 so so phase one I think is just the exterior not even going inside correct so my concern is we spend $600,000 on the outside of a building make it all pretty and then what if

phase two we cannot get the 1.4 then we just beautifi the outside for the inside to continue to do what it's doing now nothing that's my concern like I don't want to go I think if we were going to go to CPC for funding for something this ain't it unless we can guarantee that we know we will get the full two million for the entire project to make sure we

don't do one and then have to wait one to three years to be able to get the second portion done so that's my concern with this and I don't know how anyone else feels I just think this is a lot of money and that's not guaranteed Victor it's yeah you're right it's it's a lot of money it's not and you don't know how much it depends on what they

have at the CPC too so because there's a there's a so much money that's in there that they allow and it depends on what requests they get I think what this request is supposed to do Victor just so you know is hit on two aspects and I don't know I I I don't know that it meets the recreation one I know it meets the historical One open space Recreation but I think supposed to

crisscross on both so I think that's what this these two applications areh it has set to take try to get money from each each one right I don't know how the CPC does that I feel like it's obviously historic preservation and that's why it's so much money yeah so that's part of the reason I I would assume that you could probably start from scratch and build a similar type it wouldn't look the same it wouldn't look

as nice and as historic but I would think that if the goal was to put bathrooms there you could probably do it for less money the issue with that is it wouldn't qualify for any CPC funds because it wouldn't be historic at that it wouldn't qualify under historic it would still qualify under Recreation and open having a restroom and and the the only other thing that I can suggest is a

lot of times if you contact and and Victor you can correct me if you contact a historic preservation in Massachusetts and you tell them we are going to build a similar fact simil to what the historic some sometimes they give you kind of a waiver correct or or yeah you can work on that one yeah but I I don't know what and I thought M Oliver was going to be here I don't know if they've contacted

Mass historic I don't know I really don't know anything about the application besides the fact that and I I don't either the first time I saw it was a couple weeks ago too was you know when we did the um when I created the agenda but go ahead fix so is this the first this is the eligibility he sent these applications in for the eligibility I don't know if he went to

the meeting he did that's he didn't go to the meeting yet no no they had the meeting but I don't think Mr Al was he was there for the same conversation so I went cuz I knew I was getting nominated for the CPC so I watched the last meeting to try to figure out what what was going on and uh the last meeting there were a handful of projects right

that I think all of them were privately funded but we're looking to this CPC for different you know components of it like there was one that I remember off the top they looking for Windows there was another one so all that stuff is public you can go look and see what they were this these two requests were also in to have preliminary conversations because it sounds like with CPC you move through

the stages so it's like if CPC board thinks that it qualifies for historic preservation they'll move you to the next round exactly they did not take an action on either one of these at the last meeting Cuz Mr Ola couldn't make it so I would assume that he would be probably at their next meeting in October in a couple of weeks to talk about these two items um but I agree

with what you said Amber it's it's a lot of money I would think that there would have to be some um agreement with CPC that they would fund the rest of it if they're going to fund a of it he would have to uh actually go through it basically saying that you resubmit next year next year but I think at that point you kind of need at this point their agreement that they're going

to fund the inside of it they're going to fund the outside of it he go I get Amber saying if he goes right now Victor that this they would only fund phase one with no guarantee they would not give him any guarantee that they would fund the rest of the phases correct is that I think do they ever say like all right he's asking 600,000 for phase one do they ever come back and say we'll give

you 350 y yes and then you got to come up with is that a thing yes so you you can instead of giving you a whole they can even do less because it goes by steps now how many yeah projects which is why you checked off as many because the more you check off right those get priority over you know other ones Lord Jesus I I I I mean that the the walkway

one for 100,000 I think is probably very I think probably very um has a very good chance of getting the 100,000 funding the entire project and as Amber said knowing the whole thing is going to be done from start to finish with CPC money I think that you don't have an issue with I don't know if there's a guarantee or how is there a guarantee of anything I mean we thought we had oper

money Lord give it the Lord take it the way I mean I I don't know how you have a guarantee for2 something million dollars and I mean and and while I think the bathroom is a great idea even we have the and it says in the thing for the Holy Ghost feast and the and the farmers market now the farmers Market's there on that side they are on that side the farmers market is there they're there

from probably July to November the farmers market they're usually on the same side as my block party cuz we're setting up while they're there they on the side street Bradford yeah onless unless they went somewhere else because they're supposed to be on Bradford ad I feel like they are but they're on this side of Bradford ad not that side no yeah no they're on your side black partty side they're up at

South Main and and yes South Main Bradford that the conversation they're talking about is that one up top not where my office is Oh I thought you were talking about the one down below that's even no that's what there's a lot of sometimes homeless people staying gotcha the roof is collapsing yes I to say that's even it needs something needs to be done with it no cuz the other one I

didn't know that those were bathrooms up there because I know the ones they they haven't been bathrooms in a hundred years there's been the roof is collapsing everything ish it's a disaster to be honest with you it's a it's a terrible eyesa and if nothing else should probably that's a lot more be removed in phase one should be removal of whatever but I know they want to try to keep the facade

but I don't know what I wrestle with is this board doesn't write checks for any projects so can't get money yeah so I I think like in in where I'm at is I agree there should be B something needs to be done with that building if there's CPC money available to turn it into bathroom I'm not opposed to that um but if we had to prioritize this versus the walkways I

put the walkways ahead of this project and I also have a lot of concerns of once the bathrooms are built how they're secured you know what it's budgeted for who's cleaning them who's taking care of them who's opening and closing them I feel like there's a lot that goes with this um but I also don't want to stand in the way of a project that you know could be considered for funding so

that's my internal and where I go back and forth with it um I think the next item if we want to just take them together the walkway item H is the CPC application submitted for Kennedy Park walkway Restorations I think that one's a little bit more straightforward you build the sidewalks they're brand new they're going to look nice let's make sure they match um otherwise yeah you know and once they're done they're done

there's a lot of I think questions on on the bathrooms so I because of the due date I feel more comfortable saying we should table the bathrooms so that we can have a better more uh in-depth conversation even if it happens well I don't know if it can happen outside of this meeting but like even if we get the information that we need to make us feel comfortable with it

um so table that but then I do want to approve the walkways because you're right I think that the walkway should be pushed through but um I just have too many questions so why don't we do that then we'll um I'll I'll take a motion to approve the Kennedy Park workways and we'll we'll draw up a letter that I'll sign that will go as a part of um the CPC application for the walkways and

we'll table the restrooms the Kennedy Park restrooms till the next meeting till Mr AR can come in and explain and answer you know some of the questions that you have that I'm sure you know probably ni and Helen might have too um and then I I do think the other kind of uh teachable learning moment from this is I think we should also probably suggest to Mr Aliva before it gets to

this point get us involved and you know maybe we can have some input on some of the projects that may qualify for CPC funding that we would like to see I mean I I talked to you before the meeting I think the britland Park soccer fields need to be redone I think that that should probably be a priority that could be done with CPC money pretty easily you have the footprint there already let's

redo that Turf that's you know 10 or 15 years old clean that place up a little bit um and maybe make it the premiere you know facility moving forward whatever but I think that there I think this board would like some input on the application process before it's especially if it's something that going to end up under our umbrella like we should be able to see it from the beginning thought process to the end

submitt of the application right here's why we're doing what we're doing here's what we're and like I said I think it's a good idea because obviously if there are bathrooms there I think that that'll alleviate a lot when it comes to having events there or you don't need porta potties and stuff because you have a bathroom um like I have to get porta potty every year for when it comes to

the block party but it obviously would be one less thing that I have to worry about um so I do think it's a great idea I just want but the question is would you have to pay toand those bathrooms so those are questions that you have if you wanted those facilities available for your event do you rent them do you does the city provide them for free again like the toilet paper the napkins the

soap the all of that stuff I mean it it sounds small but the park Department budget is small so if you're going to have to be you know relying on all that stuff who's going to clean them who's going to all of that who's going to open and close them when are they going to be open and closed like right I think that there are a lot of questions and it's a lot of money

M I made that motion you all right so just so I have it right Nancy um we're going to table the Kennedy Park restroom project till next month's meeting to ask Mr alera to come and uh just explain some of the things that we've brought up here um and I can maybe relay some of those concerns to him in the meantime so that he knows where we're going with that and then we will approve

the Kennedy Park walkway restoration so you and I can draw up a letter to give to Mr Aliva to put in with his submission to get it to CPC okay um and then also the last item here is item I Mr ala provided the scope of work for the proposed walkways at North Park um with the funding that representative Fiola secured from the state to redo that so I don't know you guys remember

backstory originally this started as a project um to kind of renovate the hill and create some steps more seating and some steps there that was deemed not feasible then we had that little Overlook that we talked about that seemed like we weren't stretching the dollar as far maybe as we could and now it's sounds like we'll be able to redo this whole walkway um you know all the way across Snake Hill

there and then down through past the ice rank all the way I mean if we can do all of that I think that'll look pretty good that's amazing um and then I think that also opens up some opportunity with that old skate park there cuz you have the parking from the school you'll have some nice walkways to get to it oh nice little uh maybe some new pickle ball courts more pickle ball opposite side of

the city there's a parking I like it oh was already my thought I wasn't G to put it on I'm staying out of it um I the only question I have we're we'll be able to use that funy because I know that there was like the timing of things and he's got to get this out yeah it's got to be spent within a certain amount of time the clock is ticking it's

been a couple years it's not there's there was change over on the board there was change over it kind of landed on his desk recently within the last year so um I believe he said to us when we met to put the agendas together that this was going to go out beginning of October yeah he said that in he sent an email the other day that said that it was

pretty close to being ready to go out to bid it goes on uh he told us comes which is like a I guess it's a website where all of the vendors can see the different uh things that they can bid on projects right I got yeah that's my understanding of combines yes so he said it if it doesn't go in a regular bid it'll go on combines I'm not really sure which he's

which Avenue he's going to take okay but the conversation that I believe we had was he wanted it to go out at the beginning of October the spe the specifications were pretty much ready to go and they were going to go the hope it be done soon it will come back to us correct I hope so well you can put that that you would like the bids to come back to you

well I mean it's like what if it comes in over or like there isn't a bid that's on in the amount of money that I just want to make sure that if anything any funding needs to come from outside of what um we got from the state I want to make sure that we're not well I think I think the bids it normally brought to you normally and I think that might be

part why it's colorcoded okay because I think it's prioritized item one would be sneak Hill yep item two would be that walkway from the Morton up to the basketball courts oh three so I think that that was the thought process was like all right if we have enough money to do the whole thing let's do the whole thing if not these are this is the well it would all depend how they put that in

the bid if they put it that way okay it because but I thought that's why he did it this way though right no I think he did it that way to identify the different walkways okay but I if if that's and I I could be wrong but if you put out a bid like that it has to have contingencies like okay a um I don't know if you would call it it's not an

amendment I can't remember what you call it but it's something where this is an add-on like number five would be an add-on but you need to bid so that everyone knows they're bidding on the same thing now whether they bid items one through five separately and we go well we have enough money for items one through four we're not going to do five I I believe you can do that if every

person is bidding and knows to bid that way if people put in a total package you have to either put an add-on or a subtraction of in the bid package I know that because we had to do it with the lights got it hopefully like the second it's like the scope of work there are separate items so hopefully it get done like that yeah I'm not really sure how

how he's going to put it out yeah I make a motion to approve so we can get this thing rolling second it so motion to approve was made by commissioner Burn seconded by commissioner varas all in favor hi so do you so there I think the approval there is just that we're updated and um I don't even know that you would approve it it's almost like you would accept the drawings and specification so I don't

know that it would be approved yeah I think that would be you accept the drawings and specifications to be put we needed to approve the project though right because I feel like the Overlook before was we had we have to approve but I I did not do this did we approve this I don't remember it's been so long no we didn't we were waiting for it to come back told us that that was what they

wanted to do so you can approve the board approves the board approves approves this project for the use of um representative fiola's money being used for this project I guess that's what saying yeah yep per we never approved it and we will wait to see what the the bids are do you want the bid prices to come back well if he has them for how long do they have to be posted um I'm not

I think what happens is they have so many days um they have a deadline and we'll have a bid opening this is a significant amount of money right so I would think you have to have a bid opening if it's a bid opening I'm not 100% sure how combines work because that's kind of a new thing um I don't know if combines everybody submits their bid it's digitally do they submit it to

the purchasing department I don't know but I would think there has to be some type of a competitive bidding process where each company submits a bid it's just done digitally probably rather than a packet is there any chance that this the bids would be in by our next meeting next month oh I would say yes if he's saying that the bid if he's saying the bid package is going to go

out they have so many days we'll say 10 days 14 days to submit a bid he has to put in the bid package all bids must be submitted by whatever and I think originally it may have to change based on when he submitted it but originally when he showed just that it said October 10th right but it hasn't been gone out yet so I don't think it's gone out yet so that October 10th may become October

17th I don't know but then if that's the case then I guess what I'll do is maybe you can ask next month or you can you may be able to have let Mr you know have send whatever an email to Mr aliver to let you know when those bids are out and when the bid deadline m is when the bid package goes out I I I would imagine BJ could ask to submit you know

to he can let me know when the bid goes out and then if the timeline works with our next meeting then we can put it on the agenda for the next meeting as just an update to the project and where the bids stand where they came in and that's that'll be that yes okay any inquiries I have one and I feel like I'm opening to C worms I feel like anytime things like

this this are on the agenda if like the like applications to approve or scopes of work for us to approve I if Mr ol can't make it is there someone like second in command that can come to so that we don't hold things up so I feel like this is the second time now we've had to hold something and I don't I don't like it um I would rather push everything through but we want to make

sure that everything's answered so if he can't make it that's fine people have lives but like if there's another person who's like working on this stuff with him or like his second sure I don't know I don't know I can ask ask him if you guys want me to but I just think it would be easier just to not waste anyone's time and just like push these things along I agree I don't know no I

don't know who else would know the information I mean we got in the agenda the information for the first time when we put this agenda together yeah we we put the agenda together last week and myself Mr Aliva and Miss Smith were all together putting the agenda together and I I I don't want to I I just assumed he was coming because we kind of had similar conversations about these things um but maybe I'll make sure

to let him know that you know if we have stuff like this we kind of need him or somebody to be able to answer questions that was it anything motion to adjourn Mo to adjourn second it motion to adjourn made by commissioner burn second by commissioner faras all in favor all all