4.3.2024 Park Board

all right uh welcome to the park board meeting for Wednesday April 3rd 2024 Council hearing room one government center at 5:30 p.m.

um we have uh threee Commissioners rooj McDonald Amber Burns aleno Victor farious oh I forgot to read the proceeding proceeding to the open meeting law any personis may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or any trans trans the meet the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advise that such recording or transmission are being made whether perceived or UNP perceived by those

presents and are deemed acknowledge and P permissible uh so what's next citizen input citizens input Carlo Caesar good afternoon minutes okay first I would like to uh we just need your name and your caros Caesar 367 Frost Street okay for River um first of all I would like like to um St by thanking Mr the Silva for all his work um in charge of this board for um definitely did a very good job and um

and he does a good job for the community besides this um being on this board I guess now he has more time to uh commit to his uh neighborhood uh projects well my um reason that I came in here is um kind of um concerned with the boards and the Committees that been board members are been forced pretty much to resign if they not resigned they've been removed because they have other people to be

replaced with and one thing that I would like to remind is the boards are put together to for check in balances for us taxpayers for us residents so cannot be everybody from one place and not uh having other parts represented so that's that's pretty much how a boort should be should be uh um filled in and um by by state law if if you um if you check the chapter 45 section two is five

board members that um belong to this to this board supposed to belong to this board and why is that is so we could we taxpayers could have check in balances M um one thing that that I'm uh that I'm concerned is um people being remove illegally because according to the chapter 45 section two the board members needs to be um approved their resignations or their removals need to be approved by City Council

vote and the last two board members that joined this board got approved by the city council without the process they supposed to follow by law first they need to approve the remove of the board members and when those seats are vacant then they approve the replacement for those board members so legally by the states legally those two board members still part of this board are we allowed to com excuse me

are we allowed to comment on citizen input that's up to you if you want um I obviously I know who you are Caesar so I know you're talking about me being put on the board however I I'm under the impression that the people that I replaced it was at the end of their term so if if it's the end of their term and they decide not to have them back there

doesn't need to be a vote to remove them so that's the only and like I said I could be talking out of term but I'm almost positive that I I replace someone who it was the end of their term they don't necessarily have to be asked back yes correct I would leave it at that okay that's that's all yeah so I need I need to uh to to check what what what is

the conditions I'm just I'm just by I'm just read the law and what the law says and what the law says is is that so if they are the end of the term or not the end of the term I have to look into their particular assignments the particular seats and times they they serve which I have no problem to uh to to check that and and and again this is I'm not saying that you're

not doing a good job and you know it's it's not bad it's just it's just our city has this thing that we don't follow laws and the laws on the box to be follow that's why they exist that's why they on the law independent who's going to be replaced with who you know I mean that has nothing to do not the person not the it's just the process and we we

have this thing that we don't follow the law we don't care about no but so that's that's one thing another thing and and uh uh on the agenda today um I believe a board member have a requests uh on the agenda too um that's what I was I was informed and um I was told that the um was filed a complaint was filed with the state already about this request so my advice as a resident is

that this person be um uh uh pretty much not into discussions or or um or decisions done by the board so so again to follow the law yep so that's also I will comment on that it is my event my event it is the fourth year in a row that we've had this event and every year we have this event I do not vote on it and that's why we

have a quorum and that is why it's on the agenda we have more than enough people to vote on it okay also this event that we have every single year gives out over thousands of backpacks to this community I I'm not again it's not the proc it's it's the process correct I was also voted in by the city council so there is no there's no Corum there's no uh complaints about me being on this

board I no longer work for the Housing Authority there are no issues with me being on this board I've been on the board almost five years it's it's it's not what what they they're going to give to the community is the process as long as we are the right process we're well within the right for me to be on this board all right we got three minutes all set Mr Victor yes um good luck with that

and when we have three minutes but we have conversations that they three minutes don't it's no valid anymore okay well right now it's you're welcome thank you uh item three accept the minutes from March 6 2024 regular Park board meeting I make a motion to second we have a sec first and the second all in favor I okay new business no no no no that's right you got a second set of

minutes there oh yeah okay sorry about that I didn't see that okay we need a motion for um city council that was held on February 3rd 13 was a joint meeting with the city council uh make a 13th 2024 make a motion to approve or accept second motion's been carried second all in favor I okay new business okay nominations for election of offices of the park board chair and vice chair and secretary so I

nominate BJ McDonald for chair the second second all in favor I do you accept yes okay thank you okay I also nominate Amber you accept the vice chair first I do well you need a second second second we got a second we have a new chair and a new Vice chair no you don't you have to vote them in you nominated them now you have to vote them in all right I'll vote them

in you can't vote you're the chair so all BJ BJ I can't vote on myself right no no so the nomination was Helen Victor and Helen for BJ so now and the nomination was correct me if I'm Victor and BJ for me Victor and BJ for you so now either Amber or Helen have to make the motion to appr app make a motion V vote it you nominated him now you have to vote him

in so vote nominate EJ for president for chair so we have a need a second on that motion no we need all in favor I I I make a motion to I make a motion to approve Amber as the vice chair second all in favor I secretary not me you I nominate Victor as secretary there's no one else we nominate all righty I'll accept Okay so you need second second nomination I nominate Victor

second okay all in favor hi hi okay vote motion to approve Victor as a secretary and I said I second second okay so McDonald Helen and the vote in thank you very much people you can switch switch seats guys here we go b g to have to watch that back Jesus to brush up on our uh my uh going to keep that with you all the time this yeah you're in the wrong seat VJ he can

go whatever one he wants she he the boss seat he wants he likes the left they left no it's fine I don't no he's she's close enough just go sit and let's we can high five so we're closing all right that's all right Item B good M accept various field requests and allow the parks director to distribute permits to leagues that have provided the necessary documentation any conflicts will be reviewed by the

chairman and discussed at the next meeting if necessary so Nancy and I talked about this if there's stuff that comes in that they get it every year Maplewood Park Kennedy Park those types of leagues Nancy will deal with that over the course of the next month if they need to get in if she has questions she'll talk to me we can figure it out but otherwise as long as you have what

you need this is to give her the freedom to give those permits out you know the call them renewal permits we're basically talking mostly League permits when with this yes um I make a motion to approve motion to approve made by commissioner second by commissioner farious all in favor I request from the tree division for the use of Kennedy Park Broadway for Arbor Day event on April 27th from 11: 11:00 a.m. to 1:00

p.m. questions there any conflicting any conflict with that day no no motion to approve second motion to approve made by commissioner rioo seconded by commissioner Burns all in favor I request from the Redemption Church for an event at Lafayette Park Eastern na on July 7th from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. p.m they do this every year right yeah she had originally asked for another location and another date on her

original request that came in last month when we accepted the requests and then now she's changed it to the seventh and at laf it's still at Lafayette but she had a June date she CH said there's a lot of events going on like that in June she wanted to change hers to July so that's the difference on this one and motion to approve second motion to approve made by commissioner rioo second commissioner Burns all in

favor I I uh item e a request from Bristol black Collective for the use of Kennedy Park Broadway on June 8th rain date June 9th from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for a juneth event um I had a question on this so this is a different person that typically does it than there's I just want to make sure if we approve this one if the other person comes in there might be like some sort

of a conflict it's typically the same people who do it every year but this is a new this lady had worked together this is Tia okay never mind with the other girl I don't just don't know if um I don't remember her name is going to do it at all again gotcha but this is Tia that work I do know Tia I the name of the Bristol um Collective I didn't know um but yeah no never

mind I I make a motion to approve second second motion to approve made by commissioner Burns seconded by commissioner far all in favor I item F request from the mayor's office regarding the use of Veteran Memorial Bicentennial Park um on the 4th of July from 5: to 9: for the Independence Day events motion to approve second motion to approve made by commissioner rioo second by commissioner Burns all in favor

I request from the Burns foundation for use of Kennedy Park Broadway on August 24th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for the annual block party back to school event it's now the 31st yeah I so change the yeah motion to approve second it motion to approve made by commissioner rioo second it by commissioner farious all in favor hi hi just so everyone it's clear yeah Burns recused herself from

that exact okay and just so everyone knows the 31st we asked that the events kind of move around because the feast is the week before that so that group yeah we the push ours so it's a Labor Day weekend the 31st sure I only know because I have a wedding to go to oh uh item H request from CI Road neighborhood association for the use of Griffin Park 4th Street

on June 22nd from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for their annual neighborhood community event make a motion to approve second motion to approve made by commissioner Burns seconding by commissioner R go all in favor I item I request from the Highland pediatric for the use of Highland Park president a on May 29th with a rain date of June 5th from 5: to 8:00 p.m. for the annual resource Fair

second yeah this is motion to approve made by commissioner rioo seconded by commissioner faras all in favor I uh request for cleanup by the Cub

Scouts so we received a little bit more information on that originally we didn't have um they were going for the 14th which was a Sunday that was going to be quite expensive so um they're going to do it the 13th which is Saturday and they're going to do it at map Wood Park I make a motion to approve second motion to approve made by commissioner burn second by commissioner rioo all in favor

I um I kept this nice and simple for you huh item K request from greater Fall River Recreation for the use of Ruggles Park Seabury Street for their annual summer kickoff on June 15th I'll make a motion to second motion to approve made by commissioner farious second by commissioner Burns all in favor I I uh request from the for River preservation Society for the use of Kennedy Park Broadway for an educational

lecture on Frederick Law Olstead is that is that mural done or no one more there's one more picture that has to be put up on it um she's probably going to be back when the weather gets a little warmer cuz remember in the fall she had to stop yeah for the weather but there's there's that one big picture of hestad that goes in that last corner and I think that has to go up and I think

the um QR got codes okay I make a motion to approve this is this is not her though this is that this is this the preservation pres Society second oh well I'm still going to proove it but it would be nice if they go they could they may maybe by may I can reach out to that um group and see if they can and they can maybe even do a little kind

of unveiling type of thing or at least make them aware of the event so they know they want to go I can reach out to the uh for River people let them know okay um um I don't know who I made a motion to approve I don't know who second second motion to approve made by commissioner Burns seconded by commissioner faras all in favor I uh item M tree removal at 105 Albany

Street uh DCM is doing sidewalk repair the tree has sidewalk lifted 4 in and they cannot repair it without removing the tree I make a motion to approve second motion to approve made by commissioner Burns seconded by commissioner rioo all in favor I uh item n it's the North Park earmark uh for arpa funding an update uh with the status of that project there's an email here from State Rep

fiola's Chief of Staff Tyler C looking for an update as the arpa money must be spent down by December 31st 2026 but we have been told that the state contract must be filed by May 15th do we know if that's do you want to come down Mr alare so we've been Al Vera City operations director congratulations than thank you um so we've been working with an architect RTA um we've had some Renditions but uh we have

$150,000 so to do what we want to do it's going to be somewhat complicated is anything that we do there we have to make sure it's 88 compliant so $150,000 is really not going to get us the state-of-the art items that we're looking at doing so we have one more rendition coming out uh which is going to be closer to that $150,000 and within the next week I'll try to get that over to you folks and

make sure that you get an idea of what we're looking at um is that May 15th that's of this year so that's next month they need the contract correct so it what they initially planned we're going to skew that down dramatically to make sure that we can afford it uh what was initially planned was not something we could afford um so that's where we stand at this point I'm hoping to get a third

rendition within the next couple days how much did Miss uh representative P get so it was probably about $210,000 and with some design uh items we're probably in the17 25,000 to 150,000 at this point we're going to do something it's just the tiered like so you could see the field right like so that you could have seating on that Hill correct uh the thought process by doing that is you're

going to have to have ADA compliance and when you have something that much of a pitch you're going to have to have walkways zigzagging and for that cost is just not prudent or not even even for us to even entertain moving forward so there's a couple ideas that we threw out there but we'll get something very shortly within the next couple days questions for Mr Al I will say that

um initially we were told that it was going to be at this this date and then we were told that it had to be that we had until the uh 2026 time frame so now we have to have a contract by a certain date but once we have that we can get the work done by the 2026 time frame so it's it's been moving it's a moving process at this point our goal is to try

to expend that absolutely okay thank you right I make a motion that we whenever you do get all the information that we get something back to uh Tyler just so that they're in the know and given theel already yeah and then also like yeah given the timeline for the board to approve it or whatever I I don't know it would it would have to it would have to main meaning basically we would have to

approve it right okay we we probably shouldn't wait to approve it to get it to Tyler is what you're saying correct um well well actually I don't know we've we've been back I've been back and forth with Tyler on on this occasion so you could actually get it to Tyler to just have him give you any feedback you know what I mean and then it whatever changes have to happen then when it does come

yeah at the beginning of May they'll know how Tyler feels how the representative feels about it and then the board yeah I think my only concern is just to make sure that it's on the agenda for the May meeting because then we won't hit the time we won't so why don't we do this uh once I get my hands on that I'll forward it over to Nancy she can share it with everyone and at

the same time it'll go to uh yeah that way if we have feedback in the meantime we don't have to wait till the meeting or if there's something that want to right okay tweak at the meantime thank you Mr Al thank you um so yeah I make that motion that we'll receive everything as soon as he gets it and then kind of move forward from there second so motion was made by

commissioner Burns to have Mr alera keep us in the loop with the um Renditions as he works through in the next couple weeks hopefully for any feedback prior to the May meeting and then in the May meeting hopefully we can just approve it and get it moving MH motion was made by commissioner Baron seconded by commissioner Rigo all in favor I any commissioner inquiries um welcome AB board yeah

congratulations thank you yeah just um I want to say Obviously thank you to Joey Joey and I joined together in 2020 um so I'm sad to see him go but um I look forward to whatever the future holds for him and for all of us um and I know I just we're all here because we care about the Community we want to make sure that we are the voices for the community um

and I just want to make sure that everyone's working together that we're all cohesive and and we have that common goal to make sure that we're representing the community and giving the community what they deserve and what they need um and that that's essentially what um Carlos was trying to say and I 100% agree with him when it comes to that um so yeah that's all I really have yeah thank you anybody

else I agree with that thank you to Joey for everything he's done um did a good job I guess the only other thing that Nancy that came up that we spoke about was the last Easter egg hunt up at Davis Park that I just think everybody should probably be aware of um we voted to approve it at the last meeting they were supposed to have an Easter egg hunt at

Davis Park and we kind of told them if they wanted to have it there that was fine but maybe another Park might have been a better spot there were uh reports of DJs and you know a lot more than what was originally reported to us and what was asked for so I guess it's just also a reminder that when things come forward as new business items transparency helps this board understand what these events

are and what's going to be happening um because it's it's not fair to us to find out after the fact that what came before us was not exactly what you know the event entailed so I guess that's my just two cents on that we had been in contact and then no one got back to us and it happened anyway so okay also just to double dot on that it's not that we

won't approve it so I just want to throw that out there it's not that we're against it it's just we just need to be we're not here to stop any we need more information of what's going to be there yes yes so that's just my two cents on that um so that do I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second it motion to J made by commissioner Burn seconded by commissioner FIS all in favor

I