PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Stafford County Parks & Recreation Commission held its regular monthly meeting Thursday, March 20, 2008, at the Rowser Building. The meeting was called to order at 7 PM by Tom Paton.
SILENT ROLL CALL
Members Present Absent Staff: Guests:
Joe Brito P Roy Newton Lanetta Schools
Bobby Crisp P Brion Southall Norman Schools
John Druiett P Judy Sokolowski Bruce Miller
Brad Eads P Camilla Shover Ed Thompson
Bill Hoyt P Suzanne Smith Joyce Thompson
John LeDoux A Victoria Tom Bonnie Akkerman
Ken Mitchell P Dan Hildebrand F. B. Miller
Tom Paton P Sheila Newton Robert Dittmann
Ingulf Rupp A Evelyn Dittmann
Randy Walther P Jim Lawrence
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
John Druiett motioned, and Ken Mitchell seconded, to approve the minutes from the February meeting. Motion carried unanimously.
PRESENTATIONS BY THE PUBLIC
Mrs. Lanetta Schools requested use of the Historic Port of Falmouth for a historical event. After her event presentation and request, staff asked her to submit a completed Facility Use Request so that the site could be reserved.
Barry Hill with SASA said the St. Patrick’s Day Tournament went well over the weekend, they hosted 153 teams and about 2000 kids, and fields were used as far away as Front Royal. He said that staff and volunteers helped greatly in organizing the tournament. Barry also said that soccer groups like synthetic turf fields and want to keep the support going for upgraded fields.
NEW BUSINESS
· Introduction of Senior Department Staff
Brion Southall, Superintendent of Parks and Facilities: oversees the Maintenance Division and maintains oversight of school ball fields, parks, and parks and recreation buildings.
Dan Hildebrand, Sr. Parks Maintenance Supervisor: oversees maintenance and upkeep of Willowmere and Duff Green Parks
Ed Cottrell, Sports Recreation Manager: plans and oversees youth and adult sports programs and operates the facilities at Courthouse Community Center
Angela Regan, Gymnastics Recreation Manager: plans and oversees all gymnastics programs and operates the facilities at the Stafford Gymnastics & Recreation Center
Sheila Newton, Sr. Recreation Manager: plans and oversees non-sport youth and adult programs, including senior citizen programs
Roy Newton, Parks Maintenance Supervisor: oversees maintenance and upkeep of Curtis Park
Suzanne Smith and Victoria Tom, Facility Scheduling Coordinators: schedule and manage field and facility use and provide supervision at these sites using facility attendants.
· Aquia Landing Expanded Use Proposal
Camilla Shover reviewed the process of meetings, the survey, and the proposal. After discussion, Randy Walther motioned, and Ken Mitchell seconded, to accept the proposal for expanded use of Aquia Landing. Motion carried unanimously.
John Druiett suggested posting signs saying that fines would be imposed for littering. Bill Hoyt asked if volunteers could be recruited to help monitor Aquia Landing and suggested a group be formed, such as “Friends of the Park”.
· Widewater State Park MP
This item was tabled.
OLD BUSINESS
· Athletic Field Taskforce
No discussion.
· Subcommittee Reports
Commuter Parking
John Druiett said he had spoken with Sheriff Jett regarding security and safety issues. Sheriff Jett said he would need a letter from Tom Paton asking him to look into the liability of using a parking lot for commuter parking on a trial basis. Sheriff Jett would then talk with the County Attorney and then to the Commission. Brad Eads suggested that staff check the covenants on Patawomeck Park for restricted use to ensure that the park isn’t restricted for park use only. The subcommittee needs to meet again; therefore, this item was tabled until the next meeting.
Shiloh Community Services
Chris Hoppe headed up the meeting and combined the questions (Chris Hoppe was absent). The first meeting was well attended; however, Mr. Quick did not attend. Various Commission members stated that the information provided by the Shiloh group was inadequate for them to make an informed recommendation. Brad Eads said the subcommittee needed to meet again.
PRESENTATIONS BY COMMISSIONERS
· Bobby Crisp said the unfinished bike trail at Brooks Park is in her George Washington District and would like to know if grant money or land donations were available to finish it.
· Brad Eads said he would like to see the P&R Master Plan, Needs Assessment, and updates to help prioritize needs.
· Randy Walther said he thought that the Fredericksburg-Stafford Park Authority needs to be molded into the Parks & Recreation Commission better.
· Joe Brito said he would like to see the Master Plan, including how many parks were needed to serve a certain number of people. He would also like to see a proffer committee. Joe said he had been approached by the City of Fredericksburg and asked if Stafford would like to pay for access to the Rappahannock River. He said that he and Cord Sterling had been appointed to a parks bond referendum subcommittee.
· Bill Hoyt said he had attended several different meetings in the last month, and there is never enough money. He suggested forming a vehicle for land donations and a vehicle for approaching organizations for donations. Bill said a non-profit group could be formed (Friends of the Park). He asked staff to look into an idea to help develop a vehicle to go out and actively solicit contributions to help generate revenues or obtain equipment that is not in the budget. He suggested placing a “Things we need now” list on the P&R website.
Bill Hoyt motioned, and Ken Mitchell seconded, to explore legal avenues to solicit and receive cash, in-kind contributions, and donations. Motion carried unanimously. Subcommittee: John Druiett, Bobby Crisp, and Bill Hoyt
Bill Hoyt encouraged staff to look into expanded use of technology for P&R facilities, such as turning lights on/off; turning water on/off; locking/unlocking gates, etc. Bill said he supported advancing trails and grant funding. He also said that flags and flagpoles are needed at Smith Lake Park, and if flags are lighted, they don’t have to be taken down each day. He said he was going to visit the Field House in Spotsylvania to see if it would be feasible to build one in Stafford. He suggested having benchmarks and asked what we could do to compete and make Stafford P&R a destination.
· Joe Brito asked about the situation at Autumn Ridge regarding SASA and SBL. Suzanne Smith and Victoria Tom said the issues had been handled. Joe asked them to forward related e-mails to him.
· Members thanked all staff for coming and making presentations.
STAFF REPORTS
No questions were asked.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
· Patawomeck Park
Pavilion is under roof, masonry walls complete. Heavy rains have caused much rework of seeded areas. Trees are nearly completely installed. We can’t wait for grass seed to sprout. Bio-retention areas are beginning.
· Smith Lake Park Synthetic Athletic Turf Fields
Six consultant design firms responded to the solicitation. Determination of the most qualified firm is underway.
· Aquia Landing Park
We received a 24% return on the survey that was sent to the 200+ closest neighbors of the park to get additional feedback about concerns regarding the proposed extended use of Aquia Landing Park; discuss this item at the March Commission meeting.
· Widewater State Park
The final public meeting on the master plan was held on 3/13 at Widewater Elementary School; the proposed amenities and phasing were presented for comment. Few comments were received, with most concerns about the road improvements coming before bringing lots of people to the park; will distribute proposed plan at the meeting. No funding is currently available to develop.
· Illegal Immigration Task Force
The Task Force is now determining what recommendations can be made that the County has control over that could affect services available to or provided to illegal immigrants. Recommendations will be made to the BOS at the May 6, 2008 meeting.
· Shiloh
The kickoff meeting of the work group was held February 28; no representative of Shiloh Community Services Corporation (SCSC) was able to attend. Many questions were generated at and subsequent to the meeting. The questions have been compiled and sent to the Parks and Recreation Commission Sub-Committee members of the work group to vet and clean up before sending to SCSC for response. The work group did not want to meet again until responses to the questions were received.
· Athletic Field Status Report
On 3/4/08, I presented the attached status report of the athletic fields informing the Board of Supervisors of the actions taken to improve the athletic fields since last September. The report seemed to be well received.
· Commuter Parking Sub-Committee
A meeting was held 3/10/08; item will be discussed under Old Business.
· SASA St. Patrick’s Day Tournament
The tournament is scheduled for March 15 & 16 on several P&R fields and other local and not so local fields. Once again this year, pending rain is a concern.
· Stafford Baseball Tournament at Smith Lake Park
SBL has been awarded a regional tournament to occur in early July 2008 at Smith Lake Park, the same location of a similar tournament last July, which was successful. We met with representatives of SBL at the park to discuss ways of improving the park for the spring season and the tournament.
· P&R Commission Park Tour
The tour has been rescheduled to April 5, 8:00 AM starting at the Rowser Building.
· Vacant Positions
Administrative Specialist – Has been filled, starting March 24
Recreation Programmer I for Community Recreation (2 positions) – Candidates for interview are being selected.
Assistant Director – Advertisement to close March 28, 2008.
Park Maintenance District Supervisor (1 position) - Interviews scheduled
Park Maintenance Worker I (2 positions) – Candidates selected, approval in process
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 9:25 PM.
CJH:jls
