##VIDEO ID:16c1XFhzqAk## December 10th meeting of the Park and Recreation Commission and just do quick updates for Commissioners we have K is online is that right yep okay and we're at four right now so that's three three out of the four of us correct Peter anything 75% okay um nothing okay Kate we're not hearing you if you're you're muted ah that was a struggle struggle bus nothing for me okay um I just have a couple things um I do have a meeting this week with the chair of the select board and the chair of the school committee um to discuss the usage at um 36 King Street try and work some things out there um and then the chairman of the select board did send out an invitation to all of the boards of committees if we're interested in having a joint meeting at some point I know we have one technically yeah scheduled to for the appointment but he was this was more broadly if there are issues or discussions that we want to or all commits yep or say like to com in individually not not all once um so if we decide at some point you know we don't don't have to do it now but if we think about some topics that we want to discuss with select board work on scheduling that for sometime probably in the New Year about it right so I guess we have a disc discuss about our photo policy we're going to move up on the agenda want to move up front where everybody can see accept the meeting last time no we're gonna skip over that you waiting for me well we're getting here somewhere all right yeah my couch uh can you guys all get together for a quick photo can you guys get together for a quick photo please photo yeah just do a quick just hop on for a quick you can reach here come on go over there please you go for photo please thanks we go around I'm always in the back awesome actually I just realized everybody but aici and you can't Beed you're no photo so can you go over there nice that's what it's like we have to tell the kids can't demonstration I appreciate that you guys want to make the no photo policy um easy for people but a lot of times many times we'll call the parent because we have this great picture we want to put on the cover of our brochure or throw on a Facebook post and we'll say to them hey we have this great picture of so and so you know we'd like to add it to you know our social media page and you said no photo I did yeah oh no no you can just take that off many many many many times we want and any other parks and departments across the state are moving to make it a little bit more difficult and that if it's really important people that they'll send us an email and just ask our photos I think that's too much people ask and then like I said you guys go to clickbox n you know nine times out of 10 every time we followed up with that it's been they didn't even realize it please share the picture I think when people see that they get scared and they think that you know the the picture is going everywhere you we have a very small place very small amount of places things go on Facebook page our Instagram our brochures and couple emails every once in a while con of contact they go directly every we so I know that you guys wanted to hear some more about it um we adopted this policy here which is pretty much word for word the sherbury pro Recreation um Department's policy they said it's been great they've had uh you know many uh you know they've had they have not had a lot of people asked to be opted op they've had no issues with people being in pictures I did send something out to the mass Parks and Recreation um you know weekly email that goes out had some feedback coming in uh most of people say they buried in their waivers so that people don't even realize it's in there and then if they want to come out of the picture then they will come and find us um after the fact generally speaking but um overall I think this is a pretty clear policy it's going to be in our camp dos um fact it's in our camp fo right now just as a trial period um and we've had two emails come in ask people to come up to ask for people to not be in photos we have a booklet another thing that happens we got to look through documents and documents and documents when we do have photos we do go back identify the child identify who's not not no photo we have to go through all those things to make sure it's a constant you know looking for information when this is going to give us a very clear clearcut small group of people that genuinely can't be in photos and can't be Shar so I'd like you guys to adop this policy so we can make it official um but it's difficult for staff it's difficult for the parents they don't even understand what they're doing have to time design on and it makes kids unhappy when we got to pull them from a picture can you stand on the edge so he can blur you out or drop you up we don't tell them that the time but we're constantly reconfiguring kids and pH to adopt you to make sure that we're get this thing the parents AR sure they put in the right information that's that's all I got questions I think a couple things to add just so that everybody is kind so number one is since we adopted myre eight years ago we've never changed any kind of our photo policies is what we built into the system really what we brought over from our old system you know in that time we realized that there are things that you know need to be updated this being one of them and to the point that Cass is making uh one of the things that we adopted um a couple years ago was Camp dos so Camp dos is a much more thorough program for those of you have kids in the programming you guys have probably done the camp dos program uh you put in all your medical information all of your emergency contexts that you know one of the things is is that you know this photo policy is much clearer in Camp dos than it necessar neily is when you're going through the myre registration so essentially what we're doing is is rather than you know on myre saying hey you're going to be yes photo no photo in this process that you're doing once a year so not only can you opt out of it every year when we start Camp dos over you can also opt back into it so it just makes it a little cleaner um and Camp dos is a once a year Camp do is yeah so we we upload that um once a year it just went through it's we adjusted the re-update for this year so de if anybody's getting an email every single day just hop on there and just fix whatever little piece missing for a program right fix whatever rers and then they'll get the things say that's out of date you just go through and confirm information or so as far as this goes um regardless of if it's the old way that was yes or no on my Rec or it's this policy that you know it's coming here and you need to send us an email um in doing so you all did talk about this in the last meeting um kind of something that slipped through the cracks was that we had already floated this into Camp dos when we resigned the contract with Camp dos this year so when we got our first email we were kind of surprised like Hey where's is coming from but since then out of the you know we'll say couple hundred people who have gotten the email about Camp docs and signed we have gotten two people who have sent us an email and saying I'd like to wish out of the photo off and things like that so just to give you guys an idea and I know that there was some controversy as far as like is it going to work is it easy it has seem to be pretty easy for the couple people um who have done it when this kind of fell through the cracks with going into uh Camp dots we would love to actually get a vote and enact this into place and you know continue give an update just like everything else we do it's not an NLB all if we figure out that something is hard for parents then of of course you know we we've done that we've talked about those things and we've made the necessary changes every step along the way and everything we've ever done but like this does really seem to be working well and and to cass's point like we did reach out to the mrpa we spoke to many different communities this you know with the exception of a couple little minor changes is exactly from one of our colleagues um programs so it really it doesn't make it harder for parents I know that was the biggest um biggest worry so that's I think it's a good thing for us to adopt this it's it's something that a lot of places are doing and we can you know help people navigate it through relatively easily Mrs Shrewsberry does this already it's in place yeah I mean it sounds like um having the the parents that are signing up for it if they don't like it send it bring a piece of paper I think that that makes sense um is this would this sort of be the official policy the way it's written now yeah so this is the new update so there a little awkward hand in in which part of it just um the second line recreation in writing via email or handed in in person yeah before participation I I think um like you just would like that to be Rewritten so it's not via email or in person it's just via email or in person yeah yeah we want to make sure when we're going back and forth that people are just coming in and just telling us you can also as well you know we wanted something tangible not just a like by the way yeah I'm totally delivered delivered in person yeah we change hand it can be changed to delivered I just had to the reason why I say that as had to reread that a couple times could just be me delivered in person it's pretty it's always hard when you have to like in in yeah um Kate do you have anything I I think I expressed my opinion on this pretty strongly last time so I don't have anything else to add [Music] um hey I I was not at the last meeting you in favor of this or have issues I was opposed as Alicia just said yeah I was opposed to making it harder for parents to opt out um and but I understand your point saying that if people don't read documents that's a whole other issue that's not going to be solved today by this but the just making parents write an email send an email just seem seem like an extra hoop for the parent to go through so that's why I was pretty strongly opposed to this last week or last month I should say I I said change your mind no I understand your point but no it doesn't change my opinion how many how many [Music] opt outs do we get now say about 10% okay so one of the issues with the opt out thing now as well um and I've done it personally is when you're going through the registration process and if you're registering somebody on the phone and you're kind of going through it and you're talking them through that process and sometimes it's even something as simple as like there's no photos involved I'm registering this person for a bus trip and you just click no and my record's just in there for perpetuity so if no one ever goes in there and changes that then that person's just stuck with that if you had done that for one of your daughters back in second grade and just never thought twice about it they're just in there like that forever and the great thing about you know moving it on to the camp do side versus the myre side is now like I said you're getting you're getting the opportunity to at least like say oh once a year you're being reminded kids a no photo I'm going to switch that this year or you know I need to I forgot I was going to send this email and you know make sure that this is on there so can I ask then will the parent see so someone who's not you know brand new to registering in would they be able to easily see I'm opted out I want to opt in or vice versa because that I mean that's a valid point but we we just said that this I I know you have to go through the camp docs paperwork every year and so people may change their minds totally get that been one of those people but is how how would you know if you're opted in or opted out to make that change is it in the paperwork that you see well you're going to see this photo policy once a year now K so it's going to remind you like oh I I did this last year and I voted no and I want to have that change at which point you would need to call the office same thing as if if you're in my Rec you have to do the exact same thing if you were a yes and you wanted to switch you'd also have to do the same thing regardless of where you were you know you have to contact us some way right now it says in writing not via phone to can't to change it you could call it it before but you're not gonna there's not a we a book no in terms of like as you go through the you know name address age doctor's note whatever there's not a box that says photo no photo no no there is not not there is you don't you won't know other than trying to remember whatever is in the last and to that that's what I'm saying to that end like we don't know that now right so I know we can put tags on the accounts that's what we're doing okay so so Kate when you would go into to um Camp dos then we would be going anybody that sent in that email that said there no photo we can go in and tag them as no photos so that's how you would see that on your account so you would see so you would know if you wanted to change it you could as a parent you could see that yeah yep okay well I mean I definitely agree that a policy and updating all that is very good Kate do you have a beach pass no okay if you did um when you hide in your account you would see that in your in your in your notes so it tells you exactly like what all your information is there and the way that we tag somebody who's a photo who's a no photo it's it would be in those administrative notes as well that you can just see in your homepage okay well that's good yeah I mean I guess I think I get that we don't want people who don't care or happy to have their kids in pictures just to be checking your box as they're running through all the check boxes that are there um it'll no longer have a check box at say no I know I realize that what I'm what I'm trying to get to is is there a is there an in between where you you aren't accidentally checking the no photos box this policy right here is going to fix that if they really need to be photo they're going to make sure the streamlines the amount of no photos that we get a lot of places like they said vary in their paperwork they add it to a gigantic waiver and then they just say you can't be in in the program you say no so the whole do you know what I mean so it's I think this is something that I would hope you guys would trust us on the ground floor doing the work that this is something that's going to be better for us as a department certainly better for our employees to function and to be able to share the great things that we do um I appreciate the concern but we did take this thing pretty through before you know bringing this whole thing to um we believe it's the best way to move forward with our photo policy based on our professional experience and doing a job no I mean yeah I think I I guess I would I would be willing to try it for a year and or you know for a sign up season andit see what you know if we get uh if we don't hear anything from parents or we you know then we maybe continue if we hear a push back revisit that one other thought and I don't know how access dat is but have like a someone's registering like have a dropped out box so it isn't a check box but it's a dropped out box that sends an automated generate so that again think about sort of the work effort that parents have separ comes still registration form and there's a drop down box set an automa that's kind of that's kind of that's kind of what we're trying to get away from now because right now when you register in my it is a drop down and it's yes or no and that's what we're trying to get away from and to cage point you know it is is very simple right now it's a a yes or a no and it's it's almost a little and that was what I was trying to say it's almost a little too simple because once you've done that now that's it like that's perpetuity and no one really ever thinks to go back and change that right it's not oh you know I wasn't okay with it because we were in a certain situation at this time or my kid was too young or something like that so now we have all of these kids who are impacted and not necessarily even um still in they like we have a lot of parents to C this point go oh I didn't remember checking that almost all of them you know when you go through the sign up signups especially like something with C there is a lot of like questions that you have to answer you know you're going to get uh an email to fill out uh Camp dos are you aware that you buil you know yes I'm aware of that you know what size is your kids's t-shirt you go through like it just asks you a whole series and you're just like oh my gosh when is this over now right so you know people just kind of go through and try to get through it as Qui as possible and now yes we it it is an extra step you know however it's now once a year it's hey this is our policy if you want to not be a photo send us an email you know and and then it's very easy for us to go simple my I know you guys say you want to make it easy but this is purposely making it difficult for the strict reason that people are just hitting the button by accident well it's not entirely it's not process more thoughtful not difficult it's making them by sending an email and saying my child is no photo there's intent to that whereas right now if they're just going through and checking the boxes and they're just a yes or no real quick or you know it's a no right now but then there's nothing in our process there's nothing in the system that allows them to go back and say oh I I forgot that I was that so so this yes it's it's creating intent where there's not right now and then it's creating a place for every single year to say oh that's a reminder yeah I did this or let me go check on that I would say lastly you know Kate I if I can offer this you know we are coming into one of our biggest enrollments which you know we just did ski club and we got a couple other things coming up you know we could definitely get some feedback in our um end of program survey we could add that as a question you know did you did you feel that the photo policy you know update worked well was there you know and then maybe bring that back to you in January February and if there's anything egregious you know we can always look at taking a look at walking it back or changing something I think that would be a good idea Tim to make sure that make sure that people aren't just put out I would hate to see people it it seems in town there already I is a group that doesn't for whatever reason like spark and wreck I just don't want to feed the fire of having people say we're difficult to work with and so that's my main concern to your point about updating I do remember updating the policy pre maybe it was pre our current software because I I I know all those forms and all that paperwork and I remember and I remember changing the status once our child was a certain age um because our opinion changed on that so I do I it used to be if not currently it used to be an annual process but um also to sales point you know if we give it a try and if we hear there are you know unhappy customers that we rethink this policy I don't want to go out there and have people say oh my gosh they're so difficult to work with now we have to do this that's what I'm trying to protect the team from yep agreed and like I said I mean we could put that in our exit survey we do exit surveys for our bigger programs and that's definitely something that we could you know it's a very simple there's there's probably a question we could drop or add one in there and just see what the feedback is um but I will say overall in the past couple weeks in this being in you know Camp docs we've had positive feedback if you will slash no feedback and the you know few people who have needed to navigate it have you know very easily gotten us the email and there is a binder that exists and it seems like it it's going in the right direction okay yeah I mean especially in today's world with AI and how easy it is to autogenerate with AI is just something you have to be mindful of and not make it difficult I it's important to have these policies I definitely appreciate all the thought that has gone into it there's a lot of passion around this I can tell so I appreciate that I just want to make sure we're doing right by our community [Music] um yeah I think with with those caveats of let's a couple months have come back to it yeah let's do this this round of signups get some feedback once those programs are done and come back to it before well actually we're not gonna do that camp what campt starts well campt will start but I mean we could in theory I mean it's it's not hard for us to switch usually don't upload the first US camp until about try to wait till that may first time okay do it because of the turnover of the visits and inations have't May one I was going to suggest that we come back to it in either February or March and just give an update at that point because at that point before like I said we could we could very easily pull y a trial policy yeah y it's pilot y pilot okay yes I then I would say I make a motion to have this um photo pile and policy instituted and then we'll review at March okay you want to second that sure that sounds fair second that all right roll call vote uh Peter yes Kate yes all [Applause] yes thank you C thanks Cass I know you've done a lot to get that up and running thank you Kate all right minutes any notes or I did not get to minutes I was also not here for no I didn't see anything that needed to be changed so I could make a motion unless we need to talk about them I don't think so all right all right I will make a motion to accept the minutes from November 12 2024 all right again roll call Kate yes Peter yes yes all right um I guess next is the yeah Scott Brown yeah um so Scott put in uh a resignation from the park commission um apparently he received a a new job role and his work commitments were going to increase um so he felt like there you know to not be here for the commission so um we we do have to just acknowledge that um we do have a a vacancy letter um Kate you're not here so you can't sign it I do have to turn it in by new tomorrow um but I can get Saul and Peter signature I think that should probably be good enough as chair and vice chair um and um yeah so you know we appreciate all the the time that Scott you know put into the board and um fully understands you know with for commitments this is all go so um yeah and I guess the the select Board of the T ta's office has posted it previously or announced it at some other meeting um no so I did send an email to the um Town Administrator okay um to let them know when um he resigned um so we we will have um so we have this moment we're acknowledging it now um we'll acknowledge it um at the uh Monday uh December 16th meeting uh if we have a quorum because we would have to do a joint meeting so I don't know um I can be there if you're available I should be able to be there although my recollection is that it is sort of desired that we do it as a joint meeting but it is really the s portsview perview I'm Prett sure checked in today with Diane C and said that it does have to beting okay pretty I feel like when we brought you on that it was just like you and me that were there yeah last select was that they yeah I'm pretty sure that when I was when I was appointed to a partial term there it was just a select board yeah well you got eled that's all good so yeah I guess the the feedback with town clerk was that it does have at least should be well we'll we'll do our best then okay um so there you go um I have that we have quum Kate do you think you would be able to attend on Monday the 16th where where is it being held and at what time will be at the uh library but I do believe you could join via Zoom if you cannot physically be there meeting usually starts at 630 or something 630 or seven once we get the agenda I'll know where we typically I want to say they have like Department stuff around 7.m um that's pretty common I'm checking my calendar now I don't think it's an issue but I'm just checking [Music] 16th I should be able to be there if the library and if you can 6:30 at the library I should be able to make that I'll I'll send you out a calendar invite so that you will have the access to the zoom meeting just in case and um maybe a closer idea of a time frame that we could be going on great okay okay um so that being said we have an applicant for the vacancy Mr Norm young here um so I I figured um we would just do a little intro just so you guys could meet Norm if you don't know him already um you know he's been on Lon youth baseball and softball for six years uh the board specifically um and then helped coach um and helped out with the administ means that you're 10 plus years right um and you've been you know a really great part of that Sports Council for the last few years as well so um I don't know any questions you guys have for Norm or uh anything you want to say Norm oh I think I just want to help drive you guys are doing a lot of great work I want to it just left the board as president so I need something else um so I'd like to be able to help the town and you know continue and support some of the great work that you do and just so you guys know you know Norm has been instrumental uh with Dave as far as helping get a lot of the uh field and the tennis sport project he's been a big part of that from the Sports Council so um you know in a way he's been involved for a couple couple months now you know intimately with that so he's been a great asset to have and um has attendance selectboard meetings and stuff like that when we've needed um some support in those moments so all right well I'm sorry I'm not there to say hello to you in person Norm but hello from afar nice to meet you virtually voice from kids in the program so I have an 18-year-old a 17y old and a 14y old so yes yeah black football my youngest was in the black football championship yes cre experience Norm Watch televised on his phone and phone under the table so my mother oh my all right okay so Tim I'll let you to take over this one um we usually start the discussions on um Beach topics so yeah so just just to remind everybody who hasn't been here uh we typically used to do this in November or December and we always catch a lot of flack for it because uh people weren't really paying attention or it's not really great to do around the holidays um so this is just our annual reminder that uh in the next couple months February March uh we're going to try to set these rates um I know we have some conversations surrounding some funding mechanisms with clean lakes and things like that that we might want to entertain and talk about over the course of the next couple uh weeks going in months but in an Ideal World I'd like to you know visit this in February um really just kind of see uh you know what our plan is so just to kind of give everybody an idea you know we are Memorial dat of Labor Day uh these past couple season years uh three to be specific and this will probably be our fourth um we'll probably close the Saturday Sunday before Labor Day uh once Sports start and everything we just haven't been able to carry the staff it also helps us be able to break the beach down and you know put a cleaner product forward um as far as having the staff be able to do such um which has been you know well received in the past couple years as far as how we've been able to put everything to bed down there um you know Monday through Saturday we lifeguard from 10: a.m. to 5:30 Snack Shack is 10: to 5:30 and rentals are 11 um to 4:30 10 to 10 to four 10 to five um so sorry for the typo there um so the last boat has to be back in um by five uh that's so we have half an hour to clean everything up pack everything up Monday to Saturday or yeah that's Monday through Saturday is it all the only thing that changes is the life guards don't go on until 11 on Sundays because typically we don't have anybody down there um the only thing you know that I want you guys to just kind of think about it comes up all the time is you know do we keep left guards off duty later do we keep the snackshot open later you know we we've talked about this as far as like you know the the main Crush people come down there afterwards Afters go off duty you know just basically because the thought is oh there's nobody here to really check so if you know we're going to have the conversation about you know possibly creating a funding source for clean lakes and adding money to the beach passes or whatever else you know this especially people who live around the area who are you know proponents of this you know that would be a great thing for everybody to finally you know jump in and say Hey you know this pass is whether you're walking riding driving no matter what you know the money like we've said for years goes towards helping you know the park helping everything else and paying for those things so um things conversations to be had uh other than that um you know the he is just you know do we open the beach later keep people on you know later in the day something to think about so anyway as far as it goes um this is what we had last year so families up to five people were $90 for residents 150 for non-residents just as a reminder everybody um the resident non-resident rate cannot have a departure of more than 30% so we can't just jack up the non-resident rate not with the resident rate so just be mindful of that as we're talking about these kind of things um you know 3050 5095 couples our senior resident um is 15 non-resident 25 and Senior couple 2540 um so we do have the senior couple that like if they're a grandparent and they're a child Giver a child care uh person um that they can add you know their grandchild um at$ 10 or $15 per member um just kind of help people out with that that was something that we enacted during Co that we've kept going on since then um and then additional parking we do make a considerable amount on the parking at10 and $20 which is pretty standard um for everywhere and if you are coming in and you're just parking instead of having a membership it's uh10 or $20 covers the car and the driver's banned for the day and then um be$ four or5 per person um for the wristband for the day uh other than that that's really what we have um I can send this out via email if anybody wants to kind of Deep dive into it I've had conversations with Saul and you know we've looked at the figures and you know historically gone over certain numbers um you know last year we you know ran up against another year where you know Beach did not make money in fact we deficit spent and a large part of that was the pathway and some other stuff that we did um so you know in overall budgeting we do have to look for some of these special projects that kind of pop up go into um you know and the other piece is just making sure that you know we're staying ahe curve um we have a very good rate of retention so typically we're on the higher end of our payroll um we don't necessarily bring in a lot of people at step one because we're only hiring two or three new people a year down there it's a job that people like and they come back every year and we're very fortunate for that um so just kind of staying ahead of that is just something that we have to do and I've been going through and looking at you know money that we spend on sailing and things like that how do we you know break things out so that we can be a little you know typically the most that we've ever made was you know about $15,000 in a summer and that was summer after covid when we were just slammed um but you know it's not a huge Money Maker for us and it is a break even thing and we run very very tight margins so we have to make sure that you know when we're doing this that we're doing it the right way and you know we are very competitive slash cheaper than everyone else around us by a long shot couple questions where did we land up the the annual pass R then we talked about that a couple are you talking about like a boat yeah Bo we haven't gotten there yet so the first thing we need to figure out is how to create storage down there well I think there's there's two there were two two two concepts or or programs potentially one was um a storage rental so for people to bring their own votes down and keep them there right the other was just a membership for the for our rentals so rather than paying a per hour every time y pay at the beginning of the season part of your membership and check it out for a okay I don't remember talking about I must missed that me it's good idea yeah um yeah I mean that's an easy one the bigger one would be like where we put storage racks but the like having it part of your membership for the year yeah I was that's actually pretty awesome that way I mean people don't let's say yeah you want to rent a boat number of times during summer members P for to right like an add on time like here's an extra 50 bucks per person two times pays for the sum right yep and maybe people use it a lot and some people get it use it yeah there you go no that's a great idea that one's easy so we can definitely I I don't know if you know I'll look on Google and see if anybody else does anything similar or to your point like what does it cost for uh something like that a Ste pass yeah yeah yeah I mean that's the B rental there's it probably be more like in the bike R world I bet you there's places that do something like that yeah the community voting in Boston is on yeah you buy a membership a i they they might even have a just kayak membership because they do a lot of they've done a lot of kayak ble boards which big boost for them yeah like I only I ever see the sails you only ever see the sail BOS there's a lot of kayaks PS coming out of there too and I think they actually those the sale boo they don't really do on a on a daily rental it's only by membership okay um but I think you can do like hourly or daily on the kayaks so it's kind of coming opposite directions yeah great anything else um I just had this in here questions sorry uh another question what's the what's the senior age for senior 60 plus um I I didn't think it would be this has been brought up by a resident or two um you know maybe it's just the Snack Shack and rentals or some and maybe you know maybe we start with one or two nights a week but some something that goes later in the evening just to to give people the opportunity to it'd be nice to have honestly be nice to have the bathrooms open because there's plenty of activity down there if the Snack Shack and some rentals can support a couple of staff yeah want to do that withouts though that's the so that's that's question number one question number two was like we tried that um the summer before Co and we got a lot of flack for you know check parking checking parking and doing all those things yep and I I definitely think it would be great I mean there are a lot of people who can down there it's the other thing we try to do and you know I'd really like to turn the leaf this year is you know we had the idea of doing like food trucks on Thursday down there and staying open on Thursdays I still think that would be you know pretty awesome opportunity and you know a great a great opportunity especially for some of the local businesses who we have it at some of our other events to come down and come down Thursday people aren't traveling it's just like a good night so I mean yeah I that's something that I think everybody want to do and I know the staff would love the hours yeah I mean you know one one suggestion I did here was and maybe this is a way to to ease into it uh maybe do you know once a do that once a month as an open house and and not have the memberships and the the parking requirements something you know the food trucks bring into activity or something else that we yeah to justify it yeah it's like second Thursday at the beach yeah yeah well that's something Joe Knox and I are sitting down to kind of revamp that so we'll see we'll see what third Thursday is gonna look like this year I think we're gonna try to do away with a couple of them and spread them out throughout the year rather than back to back to back they haven't really they haven't really been as productive as they were pre covid yeah but yes yeah maybe it's a you know maybe it's a Once of you know I don't I don't know what the reaction would be if we had B trucks there every week if it turns into it because I know that the one we had it was a big party with the band and kickoff summer party kickoff was was big yeah but that Drew a a big crowd and a lot of people if that was a a weekly event I think that would be a bit much but yeah last year the rotary I think ran the carnival and this guy over here ran baseball [Laughter] am but we still Sol out the pizza track yeah yeah no um so yeah just anything like that you guys want to just send me emails kind of sit down come in we'll have conversations but um really try to get this kind of package together for February March so that we can vote on it we can put it out there and up on the website y um the goal is always April 1 to have uh sales open that way we can start having a funding mechanism for our staff trainings and all that kind of stuff and if anybody's out there watching this on repeat or YouTube wants to send us a suggestion or comment please do y right thank you um and so are you suggesting prop you thought about this is the r last year change or no change or uh haven't gotten there yet I got to run the numbers we haven't really seen we're we're right in the middle of the budget St right now too so we also have to talk about this we have to talk about this too which um so uh at the end of November the queen Lakes committee turned in a budget to the town administrator's office um uh so essentially for fiscal year 20 6 which will be starting July 1st um 2025 so this upcoming year um they would be asking for $10,000 from Parks and Recreation um and then increasing that by five grand um each following year um so I have asked uh John Fon the uh the chair of the clean links committee to just come in chat with you and Peter um so that we can kind of go over the numbers um they just see arbitrary yeah so what's what's the jusic what's what's the like hey let's get $10,000 yeah well and the other issue and and we've talked about this and I know that you guys know this process as well um as D had mentioned earlier you know money coming into the each is a bit so it's it's you know if you're asking for 10,000 we can't necessarily guarantee we're going to get that um you know if if we put on uh like a percentage or uh percentage increase to the rates or like you know let's just say we're going to add $5 onto every um you know membership and then that goes to them it still is you know I truly don't think we'd be able to make 10 gr um so these are things we just tend to need to have that conversation with them and and what do they want to use do they want to use the money dedicated solely for I I don't have a full explanation of that um they did kind of go through um the things that they had done in previous years um so yes weed removal um was one of those components um what is the I can't think of what it's called there was something Rob was talking about the AL that that's proposed for next year Dash di assisted yeah or something it's a basically using a a diver in a vacuum to pull out growth from specific areas um yeah I mean the rationale is from the discussions I've had on and off with them um that yes these would be funds dedicated to Long L uh sort of quality of use improvements whether that's weed removal or trying to figure out how to get the water cleaner clearer uh the Muk Island REM the Muk Island removal was part of that so you know the essentially the looking at it as we are a a heavy user of that resource and should support the Improvement of it yeah I mean I still stand by you know number one you know as looking at this it's something that definitely has to have like here it is here's the plan clear plan bids attached to it things like that like it can't be an AR arbitrary number that it's just like hey this is what we're getting you know I think historically we need to see like what was Light and Water paying to have the services done by those guys coming out how are they done right we don't know what that number is I think that it's worth the ask the other thing is is that you know if we're going to be authorizing funds or creating funds or whatever this is going to be you know one of you needs to have a have a seat on the clean Lakes committee so that we can be driving the conversation or at least these need to be joint meetings it can't be the you know a separate entity just saying hey we want X number of dollars and then you know if this is money that's coming out of the park and rec funds or if we're generating These funds then it needs to be something that we have absolute control over whether they're submitting the bills to us or whatever it is because ultimately it'd be the same thing in my opinion as field paint Highway sends us the bill and we and you essentially when you come in and sign the AP packet you sign off on it or you have questions you say yeah that's not going to happen um there needs to be complete control over the fund it's not just we should be submitting this to the ta's office if we're going to be the ones who are raising the money not clean links yeah I think they were asked to do that so that I I understand that exercise I'm just saying if it's going to go like this that's the way that it in my opinion especially you know knowing that in our best year we've never made $10,000 at Long Lake yeah we made $9,700 is what we came out with um that it's something that we really have it's not attainable right now and there has to be a really good plan and we have to go into the budget season like we would have needed to bid out RFP what RFQ whatever you want to call it at the end of August and put this into the budget for next year so what we would need to do for this next fiscal process that's coming up it's already too late essentially yeah I mean the numbers just kind of like you saidage I don't think theyve spent $30,000 on the lake in the history of you light and water I very highly doubt that that's a number that you would see that they spend on L light they I don't know about long L they've been they have spent a significant amount ofy last couple years on the lead and that's that is a large yeah my my biggest concern like I said is that you know I would like to see what the plan is for that 10,000 like you know is that an arbitrary number or is there legitimate you know um projects that add up to that amount um I mean I so I I mean I hav again I haven't dug through their budget recently I think there is there certainly are projects that could add up to that amount easily um but that's what I'm saying is it can't just be hey we want to do this project so we're going to do it so we need this much money it needs to be here's our plan what can we achieve this year yeah no and I don't don't disagree with that at all and I I think it it as you said a degree that it you know I think we I think it makes sense for us to contribute to cleaning up the lake because the the I don't know if it's gotten worse I notice it more but you know the experience in the lake is not fantastic yeah the water is there's a lot of stuff growing in it and you know you come out covered in algae and green stuff smell like mud smell like mud and yeah it is it is the lake a pond yeah but you I mean it is if you actively manage it I think it you know could be uh a more enjoyable experience for everybody so I also think that you know the argument could be made that because it's it hasn't been the focus because it's not a water it's not for the drinking water the the bulk of the care has not gone towards long weake even when even when the funding's there uh that's probably well yeah I mean I I think that that's certainly been true in the last few years when they changed the funding structure right uh because light water felt like they could only work in the are that um were attached drinking water so like I think the biggest outside of like them removing the invasive material like us hiring ing the goose Patrol has been like one of the best things that we've done to be able to help the water quality at and to to that end I mean that is something that we spend a significant amount of money on just so everybody is aware you know this year we're going to be on the hook for somewhere in the neighborhood of an additional $2,000 because now that we switch to have a health official we are now going to have to pay for water quality tests which used to be free through Thea Valley so I'm working on that right now to try to I did reach out to noova Valley to see what the fee was um there is a fee they charge for non-members um so um everything I could tell on the website is going to cost us anywhere between $2,000 and like $2,500 to do those weekly tests um because our health our Board of Health agent is unable to do those things uh I did talk to Jim today and he had mentioned that the uh we will be able to work with them through June June 30th so we at least have June covered but if we do want to contract them contract with them July through AUST that's something we look at to that is another cost that's G to pop up yeah does the Clint Lakes committee work with vcr's lakes and bonds program yeah I I don't know that would be a good uh if you want to reach out to John Pam and ask him that question well do we have a a rem meeting well I've asked today I sent a a request for us to sit down and have a inperson meeting um with the hope that in January we can have a discussion that our nextend about it I did mention the Sal so two of our staff um I ran into them at bizaar they're on the environmental club and I did kind of uh mention to them this is something that we're talking about and you know it's something through clean lakes and we're we're trying to do this so they were going to go back to their advisor and see if it was something that you know they might be able to work on through the environmental Club to help us figure out funding mechanism or something like that um you know because at the end of the day there's there's there's probably stuff out there that we can apply for either Grant wise or things like that that you know we might be able to yeah the the other just in terms of and I don't know how we how we will end up structuring this if we end up doing it but um it would be worth looking into whether or not we could assuming we you figure out a structure and say whatever it is some some amount per transaction I I I don't think it makes sense to commit to a a fixed dollar amount it's going to be a I think project by project and it's something that's jointly done well I that I mean in terms of expenditures yes I think funding maybe we start a you know a search charge or a percentage or something and and just start putting funding in um because the projects can be I you could do small projects or if you build up a a reservoir I mean I think the you know they were talking about hundreds of thousands for yeah the we removal mil foil removal but is it mil foil removal on the beep side or is it mil foil REM the other side of yeah and they're they in the conversations I've had with John which have been brief um they are I think very amenable to for long like projects that are really directed at improving usability and enjoyability over it's not long like I think is less of a lake Health concern there're certainly more growth than they would like but compared to spectacle and and Forge Pond there's not as much overgrowth so but no the I think the other possibility would be that to well I I don't know if this is allowable or not based on the revolving fund and other things but to funnel the money through CPC yeah we we'd have to look into that um then they'll know some of those buckets you just can't right you know just because that would that would give us the opportunity to get a little bit of match from the state and increase the funds yeah yeah I mean just based off the last year's numbers to give you guys a ballpark and every membership level if we wanted to get to that $10,000 everything would need to go up approximately $18 per membership that's a big jump so I I know c c is not here so um I know this is not a maybe not a popular opinion but uh I I would think hard about a small sear charge Camp to they use the lake we can make the lake cleaner it'll be a happier experience for everybody and that's a you know that's a big number in terms of people so it's a a much broader spread so they are asking for funding through the general fund they do not right um but yeah they yeah that the I don't if you you probably Haven thought that so for a period of time the the cell tower somewhere was funding clean Lakes directly um and the state told us we weren't allowed to do that I forget the all the details but had to be the money had to be managed by a board not a committee so then it landed with the water department who felt like they could only use it around water related or water source related areas and the funding kind of dri up for was harder to use other other yeah something that's not in the water table Long Lake is not a a water supp so clean lik has been in a bit of they're they're trying to figure out their funding so they are asking for the town to start providing some direct funding they're getting asking a fair amount for see yeah I think one of the biggest things that you know we can also do is my plan was to address the rotary uh the Apple manra Athlon is a very very large funding source and I think that that could be a possible um that could be a possible place to look and say hey this is what we're trying to accomplish and what can what can you guys put towards from the app man what is the donation back for this sure and then on top of that if we wanted to you know come up with some sort of other event whether truck whatever so yeah yeah and I mean one of the discussions was do we you know for this cleanup process you know specifically cleaning the swim route the first and we shouldn't talk money we should talk about what's the plan what is the plan for whatever activities to to clean then start thinking where the is coming and that's I feel like we're sort of ahead of and that's why I said that was my first statement like we need we need like a hey this is exactly what we're going to do and this is what it's going to cost and then we can say okay well we're GNA cut X Y and Z because we just can't get there like when we go through our Capital funding or CPC funding that's the process that we have we have to figure out how much the things are going to cost First go present that and then that's when get ask so and I would agree if we're going to you know spend money this year cleaning up the swim box and doing you know getting all that deck G latinus of there that we can um you know I think that would have impacted maybe drive people back to bring more people in and then that search charge becomes nominal because it's now shared across the board yeah um and I don't know that that is the right I don't know if that Dash process was the right thing right for our problem because I don't from what you guys have said it is not largely case of things growing in the swim box it's the material below yeah right yeah right and I think the dash is specifically to like remove I think one of the first just personally I think one of the very first steps and something that c cuses some of that to get into there is the fact that like we haven't stucked the maintenance plan we didn't dredge the frog one we haven't done the cleanouts a lot of the stuff is passing through into the lake right now because the catch Bas that's supposed to be catching it is not been maintained properly yeah I mean there there is I don't think we want to get into yes there's a bigger problem there's a bigger problem of nutrient yeah addition to the leg but um yeah I think we want to figure out how we can address it whether there are you know additives that are supposed to eat Buck artion to help the I mean great not I mean I I don't know the utility of them but they are in a lot of places that's true and they supposedly do have some utility and I think in this to you know Peter one of the things that I put forth in one of our conversations just in the in the if we're going to if we are going to you know seriously do this which you know it does benefit everything that's happening at Long Lake I think the very first step is you know everything that we talk about is really conjectured until we have a professional come in and say hey XY andz is what really should be done yeah and I think you know that should be our first step is get a get an environmental expert out here and say okay if you want the biggest bang for your Buck or you know here's your fiveyear maintenance plan and if you follow these things you are going to see an impact because there's nobody to my knowledge there's nobody on clean Lakes who wears that hat either who comes from that background I don't know yeah background so I think that that you know would be our first our first step that we should take is find that person and say okay how do we truly make this better yeah right yep I agree okay um okay is that on let's move on that's good all right so um unfortunately I really do not have a project update uh I'm not sure if any of you I think saw was on the email anybody else who was following along at home who's part of the email chain we went a little over three weeks battling out two words in the activity cost contract um basically the lawyers were just back and forth the company owner to the point that there was you know almost 30 emails and finally they figured it out um the Wednesday before Thanksgiving uh that everybody gave it their blessing uh the contract was signed in that time um I had Cory checked all of our L Tech guys so the actual surveyors are Corey checked and ready to go um unfortunately at this time you know everything kind of got backed up in the holiday season we're trying to get them out here um unfortunately due to weather tomorrow is not an ideal day and we're kind of chasing that right now um so as soon as surveyors can get here I will let everyone know what day they're going to be here the design has started however nothing can actually happen until we have the surveys done and we can actually start to put those to the architectural drawings um so at this point we're about three and a half weeks behind where we hope to be um but I will work with Jonathan to figure out where we can um we're not going to have the bid package ready we were hoping to go to the um planning committee meeting um which is not going to happen in December now uh so now that's going to be a January thing so you know we're kind of a month back and hopefully we can get it done on the front side of January so we can still bid everything out and get the contractors that we're looking for and you know planning us for storm water or something else uh so just the regular building permits so all of our storm water and every so St yes there will be a storm water thing um conservation gave us the clean bill heal um to just go forth so it's really just whatever we need to go through for planning um yeah so hopefully I'll have a better update for you in January but we are a month behind at this point which isn't I know it's not what everybody want to hear but we're going to hammer down and try to catch up does pnbc get involved in this project it's not a vert it's not vertical construction so it's not it's not a building so no just the plan once planning gives us all of our what no I said that is that the that's the vertical construction is the terminology got it if we did a twostory Snack Shack then that something different right yeah so it's not vertical construction so we don't there are certain things that we don't have to go through yeah fingers crossed in January all a much better update for hopefully we have plans and we'll be talking about that take to the planning board and we'll be putting out our bid package okay okay uh 36 King Street so um I mentioned last month it's still the same the new completion date is going to be in May um we won't really know if that changes until we find out about um the hbac units that um are on back order so we can know when they're actually going to drive um because there's other work that's linked to them being installed that's getting pushed off um there uh is a pmbc meeting tomorrow night um and there is a rather large change order that's going to be put in this so if that gets approved then um there's going to be a lot of uh projects that they can get with um internally putting up you know the the drywall all that stuff so um and then you already talked about at the beginning of the meeting but yeah just setting up a meeting with Mark robocker and Justin McCarthy um so that we can start figuring out the the building usage um so with a May moving date um and that's probably optimistic at this point we'll see we'll see what just what we want to do is move in the middle of the summer when all of our programs are right running um well and that was going to be my I think we we had a a quick discussion and yeah figure out if we need to have further discussion but um existing programs at shat Street continue to the end of the summer is that or through this through the end of the school year so the discussions that I've had thus far are the club um which is on the third floor of uh 41 chattic that um we've asked for that to continue through the end of um uh the school year so that would be uh through uh June and um when we do move our offices out um it sounds like the desire of town hall is to move building up to the floor um where we currently are I guess building conservation um what's that it's the land land use Department I don't know if they're using that that term anymore but yes um and then potentially we would we should be able to use that Basement part where they are currently as a preschool um the issue that we have is we don't know how long we have in that building um and then the second piece is where do we move the preschool program to while we're trying to change you know locations so um you know these are it's a program that is already completely sold out this year and as we go into the summer and it becomes a five day a week program um we really can't we can't lose the funds we can't take that program away so we really need to have something solidified as to where that is going to live have an opening date for the center on shed Street I want to say they said March I think it's going to be after that I was talking to to yeah they should be done interior construction by March uh and then she was saying landscaping and um other stuff is going to continue through about April so I can feel looking well of May right now what exactly will be in that building that's going in which building Kate is it the Council on Aging and that who's moving into the building where the tennis courts were yeah that's it Elder Human Services yeah yeah I mean if they're moved in there it seems like there is yeah potentially space you got the multi-purpose room and things on that end of the building it's going to be pretty empty if you guys in schools are in in 36 kingom Street then there's plenty of empty space in Shad Street we to figure out where and how to use it while they're shuffling things around on the other end yeah I think the the bigger concern is like once everybody moves out shot Street there's no there's no space once that bu does go away whether that's tomorrow or whether that's five years down the road oh yeah yeah once the yeah yeah correct that's the that's the bigger overarching we can we can all call in the five of you and say hey moving the preschool downstairs come on bring all your friends but yeah we don't but mean it's going I was I was just thinking the short term of you know there's going to be whatever it is two or three months of overlap while L use tries to go from downstairs to upstairs right there's there's that issue and that's the issue it's like we do need to sort that out there does need to be some sort of timeline for the the pro the program needs to know you know how how are we supposed to schedule how do we communicate with the participants um you know obviously the least amount of changes is ideal um you know I don't want to say hey this week we're going to be at this location and next week we're going to be at that location or yeah I mean do we do we look at one of the school buildings for the summer I think we're back St space but we can definitely yeah we were maxed out of we've already asked those questions for part we were maxed out of Shaker Lan right but there are three other buildings but the little kids in a bigger building it's not it's not necessarily condusive I mean if that if the if the basement the first floor where L use is now it's kind of more it's kind of more of an optimal place to put that program and there is growth potential down there but the problem like I said is it's not about moving that program that part's kind of already figured out we can do that it'll fit well down there there's places we can grow there's things that we could do it's the there's a need for it people you know it is a soldout program it's been a sold out since we started the program and now it's like well what what's the space afterwards yeah and we also don't know the timeline of how long Town Hall will be in that build L right I I would assume we'd have at least three years yeah I was guessing five but yeah three to five years three on the lowend I I think that's probably Fair um but you know that that is a yeah I mean that's a discussion I think the other one is is as the Shaker Lane project progresses you know that the the the new part of the old building yeah is that viable is that a useful structure do we we I know that's come up a few times so they have said that the demolition fully of that building is part of the plan that's what s was saying we have the conversation try to save some of it I I'm saying I don't know that that is a conversation that we can have because my understanding is that it is already part of plan that's been presented yeah it's worth right it's worth the discussion cost less money not to knock it down um sa 30% of the removal cost well and so part of part of that is that the yeah the the if the demolition is part of the project it SS Leed in the the reimbursement so but I don't and I don't know if that changes if it's only partial demolition or so that's the that's probably I mean that's the reason that they're including it because they get reimbursed for the demolition if it's done as part of the project but so that's something you know in that meeting you know with Justin that might be a good question to ask and I don't know you know I have not been part of discussions about that building I don't know if it is if that part of the building is viable I know there's some you know newer hbac in that part versus the other part I something what you know is that is that another one where you if you did some demolition to it you'd have to bring a whole new part up to code which I suspect you would is that then become cost prohibitive they were saying just to bring up the building to code was basically more than I think if we got the reimbursement from the state would be more to do that than to build a new building in essence yeah but that was the the full building not right the yeah you get rid of most of the classroom Wing which is the old part of the structure that isn't is is the least close to code but you know terms of a longterm option that yeah seems like the only likely place I mean or put an addition on the Indian right that's he talked about that temporary situation you know I did have cads go look at for Camp T at the range of growth we're going now um we went down and we walked uh the Triumph trailers you know we looked at you know what's what's module space look like in that little area adjacent to Indian Hill in the future we need to grow before we can you know come up with a plan because you know we could get temporary structures just like they have the MRE classrooms outside a lot of schools you see you know that's something that we can utilize for preschool space as well so like these are we we we have thought about a lot of these things um you know it's it's a lot more tolerable than you would think as far as the cost okay um so we looked at possibly doing that under mount back of Sher Lane if we weren't able to get to classroom space that we needed so um yeah okay there's yeah there's lots of lots of projects in town so we this true keep an eye on it um you want to go over the flip yeah so if you weren't here you missed one of the greatest nights in Littleton of the year um so ugly sweater trivia night um we did our fundraiser for Holiday helpers um we uh did a ugly sweater trivia night the Outlook uh thank you to the Outlook restaurant for hosting us um at no feet to us um they allowed and graciously allowed us to come in and they had a food menu and the bar was open and pretty much anyone who was anyone in Littleton was there uh there was a lot of fomo on social media afterwards and we've had uh many many requests for when we're doing this again because a they either had fun or B we can't believe we missed it um but it was packed in there it was absolutely amazing thank you to Joe Knox um his Real Estate Group sponsored the band uh Bobby Crunch and the might yoke fund had an amazing basket raffle with some really awesome stuff from ski passes to Wine baskets to a signed Taylor Swift album um so that uh raffle loan that he ran um raised uh $1 13398 thank you Bobby for rounding to the nearest Dollar um and then on top of that um we had a lot of local businesses who Bobby reached out to and they um donated uh some awesome baskets as well uh um and then we had Collective there Collective did a significant donation to the holiday Health push program they also came out um this was one of our first and only events that it was 21 and older only so uh as per their state guidelines they you know wanted to come out be part of it so that was awesome to see them there very well received by everybody who came out so thank you to Collective uh they sponsored all of our prizes so the winning team all got hams the second place team got turkeys and the third place team got a box of chocolates as you can see right there and then we did our ugly sweater contest um so uh we had voting but it was an absolutely incredible night thank you to everybody who played a part in putting it together you know and making it uh making it such a successful event we'll definitely be doing it next year we may be doing one in March but more awesome so there there were 20 teams so there were probably over I would say 130 people in that so just register registered teams registered teams we did it was close to 130 the actual number was 127 um but we definitely maxed out the Outlook we we had closer to uh about 200 225 people up there awesome barely get through yeah as you can see by the photo everyone was SE it and that's how full it was yeah that's great yeah it was awesome and then thanks to Jack Reed um and uh his band Jack and Brian plus one played so it was really just such a good night we had to kick everybody out there at 11:19 1119 on the they overstay they're welcome um so the we do have to accept the donation from uh Mighty O um vote on that um I make a motion to accept the donation of 13 3918 13 3918 from budy o raffle I will second that roll call vote Peter yes gate yes and yes for me thank you to Mighty Oak and I know mentioned earlier and I would be remiss without saying something but uh we were invited to the rotary breakfast last month the rotary lunch last month and they H gave us a $2,500 donation as well so thank you to the Rotary um for making that possible so with all the funds that we did bring in we have more than enough to cover the tags that weren't picked up so we just went through the Amazon registry today got about 76 items that were on there uh and we have 30ish tags left on the tree so um that's where we're at right now but you know even if nothing else gets picked up we through those generous groups we have plenty to cover what we need to get and do 100% fulfillment again this year awesome great job to Kelsey to Melanie Alisha does omen work on this thing so thank you Alisha you do an amazing amazing job on this program uh I do want to go over the budget with you guys morning so sounds good all right we did this we're moving on past that all right director so just doing a quick Finance report I'll go into um our I still didn't find a way to do a nice version of that so I will work on that and bring that to you in January yeah we can sit down at some point okay just have through it um so what I've got right now is just uh year to date so where we are right now um so uh you know we're still in the positive this should be the last month where um we're kind of I don't like using the word deficit spending but we kind kind of are um so this should be the last month uh the summer program registrations will open in January and then that's usually when we move into the six months of you know bringing money in for the year so this is always kind of that like tight realm where we're at right now um but we're still we're doing really good um so yeah um well like I said we'll see the um Revenue up next month um we did finally get the um United Way Grant sorted so it is signed we are going to move forward with that um so I did add that in because that's something that essentially will be Revenue that goes towards the club specifically um so um you know it's nice to be able to have that extra help there with that but that's where we're at questions comments con okay all right um we have no new business unless you do page I've got nothing public input [Laughter] done um old business we don't have any so that gets us to our Ed all right just gota make Peter I second that all right Peter yes Kate yes yes I we are adjourned thank you very much have a good night everyone good night