Parks and Recreation Commission
Community Notes Monday, March 12, 2018 @ 7pm Town Hall Commissioners in attendance: Sal Ledda Chuck Dello Iacono Jim Maher John Maida Not in attendance: Jonathan Briggs Also in attendance: Tracey White, Administrative Assistant to the Director; Debbie Anderson, Parks and Recreation Department Assistant Director; and Bob Stanley, Recreation Department Director Agenda Public Comment Minutes Director’s Report Assistant Director’s Report Permits Art in the Park Policy – Discussion and Vote Review Town Counsel Recommendations – Discussion and Vote Old / New Business Public Comment Selectman Mike Butler and Chief of Police Michael D’Entremont, who work on Drug and Alcohol Awareness initiatives for the town came to inform the Commission of their position supporting the ban on marijuana retail shops, which will be a ballot question in Dedham on April 14. (The Town Meeting voted to ban retail shops in November, but now it will put on the ballot for the entire town to vote on.) Mike Butler said that he thinks the ballot question is confusing: a YES vote supports the ban on retail shops and a NO vote will allow retail shops. Michael D’Entremont said their concern focused on the public health impact, especially on adolescents having greater accessibility. Since the Commission’s client base is youth, Mike Butler said that he and the Chief wanted to be sure that the Commission has the information and knows their position. Mike Butler explained that a YES vote will still allow growing and smoking marijuana as the state law allows but they are concerned about selling, because the state hasn’t finalized regulations on retail shops yet. Mike pointed out that nearby towns of Westwood, Norwood and Walpole have already banned retail shops . Michael D’Entremont expressed concerns that with retail sales of marijuana there will be increase use and there are no standards to measure level of impairment while driving vehicles under influence. He also said that CO observed and increase in automobile accidents due to marijuana. Micheal D’Entremont expressed other concerns: impact on other retail businesses; since it is federally still illegal, there are not many banking services and this could lead to having an excess of cash on hand in the retail shops, which could increase the possibility of robberies. In response to a question from the Commission, he said this ban does not impact medical marijuana. Minutes February minutes were reviewed by the Commission. Two points of order weren’t in the minutes – 1) a meeting that the Director of Parks and Recreation had and 2) Damage at one of the fields. The minutes will be amended to include these points. Director’s Report Bob Stanley, Director of Parks and Recreation reported. He is concerned about the town closing of buildings during snowstorms, (such as is predicted for tomorrow.) The policy is that if town hall is closed, all town facilities must be closed all day long. Bob stated that this is a problem sometimes, such as last Thursday, because the storm was over by 10am. He would like to have this policy changed, because he estimated that 50% of the time it doesn’t work – the conditions/situation changes by 3 or 6pm at night and programs could still be held. He reported that the facilities were overall ok, from the last storm: The Dolan Center took in some water. He expressed concern about the windows at the pool – they are 30-40 years old. The windows were not approved by the town manager, again this year. Gonzalez field: had RAD and Actvitis come out to find out what happened with the nets because the entire pulley mechanism came down. The system may have been installed wrong by RAD – and this may have happened a few times in other locations. The poles will be replaced, possibly this weekend, but it depends on the upcoming snowstorm. However, the manufacturer and RAD are disagreeing on whose responsibility it is and there is some concern that this could delay the work. Capone renovations: they are working with baseball. Concession stand: The meeting didn’t go well – There seems to be miscommunication. Georgio is concerned about digging because of possible contamination. There is debate/disagreement as to how deep they have to dig. Commission member recommend consulting Paul Cocci, because he has built homes on the Rail Trail. Jim Kearns’ – capitol recommendations. All got approved except for two items. 1) Safety recommendation for one of the fields: Commission members expressed disappointment that a safety recommendation for one of the fields was not approved and asked Director to contact the Town Manager to discussion this concern. Members stated $35,000 is not a lot of money compared to the town budget. 2) Removing the tower for the bridge. The town is looking at the security system for whole town. At the Finance Committee meeting last Saturday they were questioning how money is spent and asked some of the same questions. One item of concern is that the Finance Committee won’t approve funding for Parks and Recreation Department staff to attend Conferences and some Commission members characterized this as ridiculous and the Commission members suggested that the Director, Assistant Director and Pool Director should all be going to these conferences. The Director stated that recently he attended a Conference recently in Falmouth MA that towns from all over the state attended – he paid for it himself. The Director thinks that the Town Manager would support him attending conferences, but the Finance Committee does not. At the last meeting the Commission did all the permits – there was a lot of confusion. Tracy spent time sorting it all out: Soccer wants to start earlier. The Director described how they are making changes to the schedule. The Commission accepted the Director’s report. Assistant Director’s Report Debbie Anderson, Assistant Director for the Parks and Recreation Department Reported.
Permits None Arts in the Park Policy: Discussion and Vote The Administrative Assistant handed out the “Guidelines for Donations of Public Works of Art for Permanent Display” for the Parks and Recreation Commission to all in attendance. The Commission originally looked at the Town of Brookline’s Arts in the Park policy and, using Brookline’s policy as a model, the Commission drafted revisions and submitted a policy for review to Town Counsel. Commission member said that the Town Counsel came back with a policy with an entirely different philosophy. A lot of it had to do with permanent art. The Commission members weren’t sure why Town Counsel’s philosophy is different on temporary art than it is on permanent art. The Commission wants to go forward and if we need to revise it for temporary art, they will. There was a discussion about Town Counsel’s recommendations and the role of the Selectmen in the acceptance of permanent art prior to the Parks and Recreation Commission’s approval. Commission members expressed being uncomfortable with the Board Selectmen having decision making on park property. This would give the right to the Board of Selectmen to decide standards and could open up Pandora’s Box. The Selectman would be the only ones who can accept, but all agreed that it should be the Park and Recreation Department that accepts. There is already one member of the Board of Selectmen on the Arts in the Park Committee since they were interested in being part of this process. There was also wording in the Town Counsel’s policy that suggested the Parks and Recreation Commission are appointed. This is incorrect, they are an elected body. The Arts in the Park Policy only applies to the Parks and Recreation Commission and would make the Commission the only committee in town with a public arts policy. After discussion, the Commission agreed that they wanted to remove the section in the policy (Section V, Step 5) which gives the Board of Selection the final authority to reject or accept a donation. The Commission approved the policy with Step 5 removed. Review of Town Counsel’s Recommendation: Discussion and Vote The Commission discussed Town Counsel’s investigation into the permitting process for youth organizations. A youth organization that a Commission member said had never submitted in a permit, went to Selectman and filed a complaint that the Parks and Recreation Commission is not holding a fair and open process. One member made a motion to take the investigation under advisement; the discussion continued. Chair pointed out that Town Counsel investigation report made recommendations that are already part of the processes. One thing stood out to him is that she didn’t recommend the Director should meet with any of the groups applying for permit ahead of time. All agreed that the Director should continue to meet with the youth organizations prior to the meeting. One member said that when he does this, they can all work it out. The Commission agreed that the pre-permit meeting discussions are part of the Director’s job. It was pointed out that Commission member John Briggs (who was not in attendance at tonight’s meeting), wanted to be part of this discussion. The investigation cost $10,000 and one member said that it found that the Parks and Recreation Department is not in the wrong. Commission member asked Director his opinion on it and he stated he’s comfortable with 8 of the 11 recommendations. The 3 he didn’t agree with were: 1) Track every field every day – this is very difficult to do. 2) Move permit meeting from Feb to Dec. (just one group wants this.) 3) Post permits on the website – he could try, but would prefer not be locked into this. Everything else the Commission is already doing. One member stated that we now we have good relationships with the youth organizations, except for one organization. The Administrative Assistant pointed out that some organizations may not have understood how the process works, but now that they do, they appreciate the process. Commissioners wanted the opportunity to discuss the recommendations and address them, so that they’re able to document to the public that we have the complaint was faulty and misinformed. A Commission member observed that Town Counsel said we did nothing wrong, but recommendation #6 was surprising to him. (Recommendation #6 was not identified.) Chairs said they need the opportunity to discuss and respond to each one recommendation. The Commission voted on the motion to take Town Counsel’s Recommendations under Advisement – All four voted YES. Old/New Business
Old Business:
Meeting adjourned Notes taken by Kathy Smith Notes reviewed by Heather Springer Community Notes are not official minutes or transcriptions of a meeting. They are intended to provide summaries of discussion and actions taken at meetings. For official meeting minutes, visit the Town of Dedham’s website or contact the Town Clerk. THANK YOU for helping with Transparent Dedham Community Notes Project! Please submit your notes to editorialteam@transparentdedham.org Keywords: Marijuana, Striar Property, Permits, FY19 Budget Comments are closed.
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DISCLAIMERCommunity Notes are not official minutes or transcriptions of a meeting. They are intended to provide summaries of discussion and actions taken at meetings. For official meeting minutes, visit the Town of Dedham’s website or contact the Town Clerk.
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