e e e e e e e e e e e
all right um good evening everybody uh my name is uh rich and I'm puffing for Eric Eric is not feeling well tonight so I'm pitch hitting came out of the bullpen I feel great so ready ready to go um so the first um order for us tonight
is to approve and discuss the minutes from our last meeting do a quick roll call and a roll call thank you you just go around Eric bamer uh John Federico Mike Colton Kevin
Le uh rich and just call the meeting okay call the meeting order it's uh 6:35 all right here we go um so let's uh look at the minutes and have any discussion on on the minutes from our meeting last week
meeting quick meeting yep on February 18th minutes world record right want to come we get any extra credit for you guys we just had a motion from Michael
Michael accept move to accept oh wait there is a typo um it's in my name Laura N and seconds there's an n on the end of my name that should just be taken off it's clearly not a big deal but where's that which agenda item review proposal SL
vote Snack Shack is it oh right there I'm the only one that saw it clearly because it's my name but oh yes catch catch them all like you're like our A+ student yeah yeah watching it so we got a motion Mike and
Eric you second it yeah all right all in favor yep go around the room right I don't I don't what it makes it easier we have to go around the room sure yes M
yes I I and I Y you said I I don't have a vote you Canon St we need to elevate to elevate some sorry all right we like to be nominated to elevate to a member tonight we got
here Rock pap go for it it's all you step forward sure I'll do it motion motion second I didn't I can't make a motion someone's gonna make a motion I make a motion Elevate Kevin to full membership okay wait are
you a member or an associate we need to do two we need two we need five we need two more because there's only three of us so one two four Kevin and somebody else five one two three four
okay here we go Vice chair damn [Music] railro restart with the motion well I'd restart with with her here with the minutes okay hi Kate thanks for joining us we got we got now gotta reset we
gotta reset ready all right um so um in terms of the minutes have any discussion on the minutes a motion to approve the minutes motion second okay second all
right all in favor all in favor I think we need to go around the room because we're on video mman is I Lor is I Kate CER I Eric Bamber I richand I okay all right the minutes have been
approved we have a quum we have five yeah five with ma K all right thank you katees all right next up um on our agenda is any public comment so anybody
on um the meeting tonight any comment Angela's hands up Angela Angela hi Angela you can unmute she should be able to unmute herself can you unmute yourself Angela That's oh it's not a hand that's just
my yeah my hand is not up we had our little thank you our little glove over your box I apologize we're doing great tonight let's just walk out and come back we all got stuck at the railroad
ground yeah so no public discussion no public comment no all right next on our agenda is Amplified sound we have a um a request for Amplified sign sound from the uh reading Lions Club uh for June 14
was this year 2025 for the uh reading friends um uh family and friends day um be held at Birch metal complex from 10:30 to 300 p.m. any motion any discussion
this is a repeat repeat y repeat same as every year I meet with them every year we go over all the details we talk with DPW we talk with everyone as well make sure everything is up to speed making sure our fields are not going to be damaged whether it's through Stakes or Vehicles being driven on the field um I
met with them once already I know it's got to go to uh the uh Department review team to get approved as well it's typically in April where they sign off at it as well but um this year it is also matched up with the fireworks last year we had separate days so this year it's back on um the same day as the
friends reading Recreation fireworks which is great so hopefully everyone can make it it's a good time last year there was a ton of people at the fireworks I didn't get the chance to go to the town day but I heard that was pretty well attended and hopefully this year it will not be as windy pretty windy two years
ago was two yeah so move to accept second second it all in favor M Lauren n i cage C or I Eric bam or i h rich and I motion is
approved you can take that all right thank you sir all right thank you all right next on our agenda is the discuss and vote for temporary lights for the springtime 2025 at the coolage middle school um and ready United Soccer Club
and I think P we're going to turn the floor over to you talk about it so take it away thank you very much United Soccer Club um we're asking for a repeat request of our um outdoor portable lights for the spring season at coolage um we'll
putting them up for the season probably April beginning of season through the you know end of May the objective here is to maximize the amount of the field space we can use past start the field we' had
Seasons so just want to request it again what's what's the cut off time at the end at 10 or 9 or 10 o'clock across the board lights are lights are out do they practice that late not usually no no we'll probably go as late as 9
9:30 at believe believe didn't you get new equipment last year I seem to remember s just r equipment yes just R yeah and P what type of lighting do you use uh we're going to be our preference is solar
power okay solar power okay when you say your preference is solo power does that mean that you're you don't know for sure whether or not that's what you're going to get likely going to get solar powered um we rent them from a utility company so Sun so we they know we want them so that's where
positioning is for just out of curiosity are they more expensive than are thought yeah but they're nicer they're much nicer quiet too is that you play daily is it every day uh just a little per
those times I see you remember last year the um residences that border the only reason I know it is our tax account and it is up then she was here at at the meeting did you alert them at all or did
you yeah so letters were sent out uh last week we sent it out we did get one response via email from 104 Street Laura Ryan which I think everyone either saw in an email um as well and the two points she mentioned uh was that she was hoping
they are soar um there has been diesel in the past and she does state in the letter that they have smelled the diesel fumes coming off of there before um and then the second thing was last year there was issues with the solar power lights not working properly so they had to be moved by DPW they moved them over
to the parking lot area um where they could be serviced by the sunbell truck and it's a heavy battery they have there so we had to move them over there and then when they were getting moved back they were placed closer to coolage so there was two lights facing out towards Forest Street in the woods I think it was for the last two weeks that they
were they were set up that way and I did talk with youth soccer there was a week left when I did notice that um they did point out in this letter that when they were set up that way it was shining into their house and they want to make sure that they will not be shining that way this
year yeah be a problem so all lights will face towards the schoolage SCH SCH schol schoolage nickname it's a good one ter I know last time they had the repairs they fa back towards the woods
you know and last couple weeks we'll do is we'll put them up against the forest fac the school if we need to maximize leg we put them in the goal post facing each other but we'll be facing the neighborhood okay and then I I know that field is getting lined um for lacrosse and the upcoming weeks I know the
athletic director did reach out just making sure that it is far enough off of the field and the playing field so that it won't be an issue and it'll probably be beneficial to you to keep it away from lacrosse balls getting thrown at those as well yeah um and the only other question I do have if it isn't solar
just out of respect to the neighbor um if it is going to be gas I'm not sure if we should take a look at this again and have a vote on that I don't know if we're voting based off of solar only tonight or if they cannot get solar um I would hate for it to be a surprise to
these neighbors who have reached out that there's four gas ones there so don't know how we want to approach that we can that firm up with our provider this week let you know what you mean okay so I mean tonight I don't know if the vote is specifically on
solar I mean when are they go when are they supposed to be put out uh be going out the first of April beginning of the SE and PD have a commitment yet from um we're just waiting for final commitment here to commit to the sunell people okay but they haven't committed to you like
they have one in reserve or anything for you they said they have them at this point yeah that was if somebody El came along and said here's the check here's the deposit right you wait get first official conation okay I mean we could vote on solar and if for some reason that does change we
could hold another special Rec meeting like we did you know last week a quick one to to revote based off it being diesel or gas well I I'd like to avoid a second meeting for that like maybe we can structure a provisional vote here
that you know if a or b or whatever I mean I trust that people work as best he can to get solar and if he can't I don't think I want to say no to the gas because this precedent that
we've already had it there maybe we can communicate that to the neighbor that every effort is being made for the solar and frankly the gas is much more a pain for us to have to fill up and it's not there's no incentive for us to really go out there and yeah have that I'm fine
with and in the letter it seemed like their biggest concern was really the light shining in their in their house not yeah they didn't like the smell but yeah I mean we all understand dire I
noticed her last sentence was we have a problem and I was like I was like no I think she meant to put we don't have a pro or do not have a i if anyone else caught that I mean the last sentence I mean we can read it it's unless they are solar powered and
Shining only towards the school we have a problem right so you think you might know this week this week yes yeah so so and the other thing about that the head's shining you know those are
directional somewhat so you can I don't much you can point them properly yeah I'm not sure I don't know if it's just a lift straight up Pete or if you gota if you can manly adjust those so that they are coming coming down but I mean I don't think that's the the issue with the light shining I think it's more
they're not solar if sunb doesn't have the solar have you reached out to maybe United Rentals or somebody else yeah I know they reach out a couple different providers that we've used the P if we lock you into solar only is
that really a tough one for you it is in the remote chance of all four the intent here is to have maximized lights limited field that's really our intent if they didn't have all four solar could you get like if they only
had like two or if they only had three could you get as many as you could solar abely if we had let's say only three solar and one gas we'd absolutely go for that our to maximize solar number and if we were to do that we
could obviously have the one that is gas further away from Forest Street y again this expense the club is bearing on its own right we've had extra expense past couple years like the extra expense for this moving from P parties now 8
compliance we had some increas in expenses and I think these made every accommodation to make those and it does take a lot of pressure off of me as far as field space because as you all know and I think I said every time you come here is we don't have enough field space
right I say we allow it and let these two figure it out yeah yes I mean you understand the intention of the city and how many nights a week is it five five nights you there five week
nights week nights yes so we need a is anybody in the on the anybody on the zoom call any comments all right can we have a motion I would move that we approve approve it with solar being
first CH mixture being second choice and all gas is third okay second ER second y okay let's do a vote all in favor I oh I want to add oh goad they
that they should be you should try and point them away from the the house okay yeah I okay I kage camer I bam Rich hand I all right motion
approve just keep us informed keep in the loop good luck again thank you guys daddy daughter dance as well daddy daughter dance is what Friday Friday night yeah we about 120 family sign up so far so friend of
ring Recreation so that's probably Shak you 14 the FI house soon very soon all right guys take care thank you and then they just have running space on the for the rest of it's
Insanity I've found the last like two three years with my daughter it's yeah we used to be a had to move it out of coolage I think it was right before I started hi they had to turn away like a hundred folks and then last minute they shifted to get into the Fieldhouse and they were able to accommodate itself
what's the age range elementary school right is it I mean you probably I'm not sure I think it's open for anyone to be honest with you I think it's generally K through 5 it's like it's the majority of it's like K through three yeah but you
do get some of the older girls there cool it's great right all right thank you so next on our agenda here is the Birch Meadow phase two in pickle ball yes so we are going to start with Birch Meadow phase two we have the public
forum that was February 25th we held it over here at the uh Town Hall conference room um I want to say we had about six uh neighbors that did attend it was myself Ryan peral Jenna was on Zoom and then we also had Steve from activitas
who's the archite architectural design consultant um there as well and we got a lot of good questions as well I'm actually going to kind of show what was presented and kind of go over the main points and the there was really three big takeaways that night um that the neighbors spoke to us about
so G to share my screen Kevin you're probably already laughing I don't even have to look up I've got so much better at this I'm so happy for you appreciate it look at that W instant here we go I wish I could make it bigger all right so this
is the presentation that um was there um why did it go blank here we go all right so we're back um and I know Melissa pooie she was in attendant she sat and listened um which was which was nice as well she showed up um all right so this is what they
presented um this was just the the intros in the agenda one over introductions the existing sedition photos you'll see proposed site plan playground equipment review and then the next steps and then we opened it up to questions to the public and we're probably there for about an hour answering um questions and it was
recorded So if you have a chance um I would recommend jumping on RCT TV's YouTube channel and just search uh for February 25th it's under Birch Meadow Phase 2 public forum these are some of the existing conditions over at Birch Meadow and this
is the approximate project site so if you look at it this is down on bankr AB we have the Tot Lot that you will see on the West Side um it rolls into the one basketball court as well as the four pickleball courts that have been put on there on the pavement and then there is
the rise playground that's part of this it's just a resurfacing of that this is being paid by the school but it's coming directly from us for cost savings it's going on in the same place um I think the allocation was $140,000 for that so that's coming back to the town but
they've matched up these projects just for the cost savings um as well uh this is the current existing photos that are in there right now um pathways are going to be updated basketball courts will be updated the
pickle ball courts will become basketball courts um the Tot Lot is getting a complete redo as well there's going to be some renderings that you're going to see that'll give you a pretty good idea of what it's going to look like um this has been going on for a long time there's been many different renderings that have happened I actually
got some updated ones this morning that I'll be sharing at the end based on some of the feedback and the comments that we received from the public just some more photos of the current conditions it is showing some of the baseball field we're not really touching anything on the baseball field other than adding a
concrete pad that sits behind the back stop area in the dugos that helps from a lot of the eroding of the grass it ends up getting chewed up and it just tightens up the entire area and it's common on any new fields that we do including barrels that we're going to be working on in the upcoming months they'll be doing the same thing as
well site plan the design process this kind of walks you through the beginning stages this probably goes all the way back and to 2007 when Birch Meadow master plan started um and that started on my first go around here looking at the entire space and then it was broken
down into Birch metal phase one two and potentially phase three as well um bottom left where it's kind of the small writing it kind of talks about the most desired improvements that were done during all the studies one was a upgraded new lighting that was very high that was 80% of folks wanted that
restrooms we completed that with the Birch metal phase one and the new Pavilion passive Recreation was another top one with paths and trails kind of connecting the entire area um new Synthetic Turf field was on there as well too that ended up I think being Turf two when we updated that one um and
then multi-purpose Court rounded off the top uh top five things that the public wanted to see happen down here and I think these surveys happened 2014 17 and 19 um this is kind of just an overview
as well um it shows a little bit more of what we're working on if you're looking at it right now you see two basketball courts that are up by the Hawks Fieldhouse those are no longer you see the eight pickle ball courts as well those are no longer there as well those are the two multi-purpose so this is probably going back almost
six seven years ago and then whether it's through meetings um public forums things have shifted is there anything on those B bball courts there was nothing there so underneath that area what they found out there was a lot of storm water and things like that that they couldn't
really disturb or disrupt that land so there was nothing there and they used that site basically for archery for the gym class during the school year so this was probably last year's rendering this kind of shows where we thought we were going to be um what has
changed is that parking lot that parking lot right now was extended to include I think 10 more spaces um after running numbers and getting a cost evaluation on what it would cost per parking spot to add in 10 more parking spots it would have brought the cost up $500,000 so
it's basically $50,000 per parking spot because of what's underneath there so that was that was removed if I had the plans that show the storm water inage underneath there it is a maze of things that I couldn't explain to you if you guys want
I can bring an engineer and he can talk to you in details um very informative um the basketball courts they were showing there are a little bigger than where we are um right now and then on bankr da you're seeing new
parking spots are in that gray area that sits in between two trees um that was a big topic of discussion at public form um we've heard a lot of things that parking is an issue down there when there's tennis going on whether it's a high school te whether there's VAR City baseball games
going on little league parking is an issue there um people are kind of whipping down that street as well we have added in stop signs already this happened about a year ago there is a three-way stop sign that has slowed folks down because it fixed the problem completely no um people will still roll
through those signs um there was talk about possibly adding a little speed bump um but that opens up the door for a few other things and I'm not sure we'd be able to get one in there after talking with the engineers so um right now there is a crosswalk um
that is there um it probably does need to be repainted as well and I believe there would have to be a curb cut put in right across from where you can see that um crosswalk below um in the meeting the neighbors a few of the neighbors were very outspoken saying parking really isn't an issue it's a people issue um we
have signage down there right now that no buses are allowed down there a lot of the times the high school sports teams they'll come down there they'll put in Morton Field even though the athletic director will send out an email he'll put me on these emails saying please park at the field host parking lot and
walk um bus drivers may not see it and they end up coming down here and then once they go straight down there and drop off they need to back all the way up and it's an active area with kids and whether it's the playground or tennis as well so um the neighbors are trying to
get away from that which I do not blame them there is street signs on the left side as well issues in the past were people for the ball games were parking over on the residential side of this area as well so there are signs there that says no parking um we do try to get the police department down there in the
early spring to check it out and if they do see cars they have gotten on their microphones and ask that they do move their cars or they will be towed um so we'll probably try to do that again um it's more just getting the language out and honestly having people follow basic
um signage um so as I said parking they said wasn't an issue and they were afraid that bringing more parking was going to bring in more congestion and putting parking next to that playground um so close to where kids are um the playground will be fenced in but if a kid does get out they're afraid a car is
coming in there and potentially hitting a child where's the entrance exit to the playground so it's showing you right now it's a little where that crosswalk is um where that stop sign is there's one there and there's also one that's on the top left you can kind of see the yeah
see the over my little pointer so right here as well as right here again the rendering has changed a little bit from this um as we go through the actual Gates will be Yeah so basically the playground it's still going to be in egg shape there's a pathway showing going through right here that's already been
removed um so this was a rendering I want to say from about a year year and a half ago but as we go through you'll see it kind of start to change a little bit so here was another updated one this was done prior to our public forum meeting the parking spots are still there um we did get rid of that pathway that was
running down the middle of the playground the basketball courts if I go back if you're looking at the courts right now they look a they've shrunk down a little bit we did that to get it a little bit away from the um conservation L which is on the south side of those courts so there's a little bit of a buffer between conservation so
we did shrink down the quarts um a little bit and conservation was happy with that so is parking in or out then is it out we we getting there so parking is going to to be cut okay parking is going to come out in this picture right here you can see one handicap um parking spot
right here accessible parking lot um those two will still be put in they're going to get moved up to over in this area you're going to see it on the most upto-date rendering that I did get today um and this whole area is almost going to be like green space and you're going to see that that's
going to be replaced by a lot of shrubs and I look at them as kind of barriers to slow kids down as well too if they do come out of the the Gated playground uh this is showing lights as well and these are post tension concrete it's been a big Hut topic with pick ball about post tension concrete what that is
is I mean JP a probably knows a little bit more about it the steel bars that are put in this concrete and it allows the court to move kind of as one so if there's imperfections underneath the soil and things do shift you're not just getting one area that fails it'll slope
itself a little bit down and there's little remedies you can actually do to help fix it the lifespan on a post tension concrete is minimum 25 years up to 50 years asphalt the Asault they're using now sometimes will start cracking in little
as six months to two years so it costs a little bit more you're paying for it though yeah you're you're definitely paying for it but when you break down the cost savings it's not a huge number um because if we're paying like off Courts for paying $74,000 to get the
surface for a second time right over the period of how many years Kate I'm 17 2007 2007 so 17 18 years and we've done it twice and I think we've been very fortunate with those right those courts so playground equipment and kind of
precedent we're still finalizing what we're looking for um I want to go with a more natural feel um I know you're looking at this one right now it's wood it's a certain style of wood that is extremely durable um it's treated in a
way that it's going to last a very very long time um I think keeping it more naturally looking is what a lot of these other playgrounds are going to opposed to the next slide where it's your kind of standard and it's a little bit outdated one of the big requests we've
gotten from a few of the neighbors that live in that area utilize this playground is they want swings right now I think there's a total of four swings is it four or is it two four there's two top swings and then there's two um Regular swings I'm not
sure if there's an accessible swing down there right now but the plan that we're looking for is to get a minimum of six swings down there one is accessible and two toddler swings and then I think it's three um Regular style swings so um
there used to be a lot more swings down there and they were removed I think one of the apparatuses was damaged and it was replaced with a non um swinging apparatus and I know some of the folks that utilized it said we need more swings so playground equipment is going to be for ages 2 to 12 um right now it's
set up more as a Tot Lot which is ages two to five um a few folks brought up the fact that we're mixing two to five year olds with older kids don't think it's a good idea but then there was a number of neighbors um and I kind of had the same feeling is that if you have a two-year-old eventually they're going to be six seven and eight and you're living
in that area they can grow up with this this playground um the playground would be set up so that the smaller equipment is off like I think this drawing on the right if you look at the left side that's for like the two to five and on the right side they've got pictures none of this equipment is set in stone yet they get one of those cargo climbing
Nets um higher slides and climbing devices um this is not at a school so we don't have to have a specific age group it's at a park that can be utilized by anybody so um I think Wilmington just built one it's right off of cross street um it's ages 2 to 12 as well and it's
really nice it's a lot bigger than this but it's a very similar concept and the folks who were at the meeting were all on board with the 2 to 12 minus there was one person that kind of questioned it but hearing the feedback from the others was kind of on board it's a good idea because even when you go as a family have older kids and then the kids
like nothing to do yeah um can you go back um just so I noticed the surface surface that's what gonna mention so the surface is going to be uh foror and play so it's a hard rubber it's not um it's not Tire mulch um it's not wood wood
mulch it's a hard permeable rubber one one piece or not mulch it's one piece yep it's one piece it's a hard rubber I mean it does tend to get damaged sometimes if a kid was going their with a bike and they drop it and their handles have metal exposing it could put
a small little dent in it and then kids will pick at it but there will be a warranty on it and then we can set aside funds to to do patching um so it'll be a fully accessible playground that's important to aot people to not have agre
with you so the schedule that they have so we do have to go to conservation um that's going to be planned I think there's two meetings throughout March and April um cpdc has got to approve it as well construction
documentation look like they abbreviated that um will be done during April through May project bidding will go out May through June bids will come in probably end of June and we hope to start this project on July 7th um my plan is to get out there at some point
this week as well get a picture of the most up-to-date renderings which I'm going to show you once we get through this um we've had the town set up a kind of info page specifically on Birch Meadow phase two um I have a QR code as well I'm going to put a sign up at the playground letting them know what's
happening when construction is scheduled and there's still time to provide some feedback so they can scan the QR code it's got a link to the town page and on that town page it says for questions or recommendations please out to Jim Sullivan when are we doing the tennis courts again tennis courts are going to
be resurfaced uh August 28th to September 12th weather permitting during that window um we did speak with um activitas our consultant and we need to make sure that when there's construction going on over on the basketball courts
or the playgrounds and Tennis comes and they're looking to paint these that there's going to be you know dust control or they're not doing anything that's going to stir up any dirt that's going to blow onto these quarts and then have an effect with um surface and then
another wrinkle potentially is there could be some staging going up over by the ball fields so if you look at this kind of see it right here this area this is what we're looking to do as far as the staging with the materials to utilize this spot um and we are trying
to hopefully give some respit to this area and try to keep the trucks coming in over through the school um for the last year and a half or so they've had trucks coming up and down working on Birch meal phase one so during phase two we're going to do our best to try to keep um stuff away from their
neighborhood are the are the basketball courts lit basketball courts are calling for two lights right now and hopefully the funds will be there that we can get that done I'm going to now just go to that's enough light for the two courts
yep um let me go to the most recent renderings here we go I was doing so well Kevin all right I'm gonna stop share for a second and then we're going to share my next one to show you the most up to-date renderings as of
today so this is the most upto-date rendering almost looks like a new area when you look at that parking going away in the amount of green space that is there in the trees um like I said there was three big issues one was parking number two was wayfinding signage which
I think is important you know letting them know where the restrooms are where the ball field is where the basketball courts are um where the lighted softball fields are especially if we're trying to direct people to park over at the high school um so we will have a wayf finding signage program as well so that all
signs look consistent and what I'm going to do with that is when we're doing that we're going to get signage that will be put up at the tennis court um as well it's got a lot of old signs with the rules and regulations on that as well so um we want to have it all cohesive all the way across the entire Birch Meadow
area so that'll be a big part and then the the third one was just having shade down there um the fact that we're getting rid of the black rubber mulch it's going to definitely make that playground less unbearable during the hot summer months um so there is money in this for trees and shading we don't
have any large shading devices um sometimes you'll see playgrounds that will have those big fabric tension Nets that come up in in um that's not something something we're looking for right now um it is can be expensive and then there's the maintenance of it too getting it up getting it down um wind
damage snow damage if you don't take it down as well too but this is the most current plan right now and you can see the two handicap are the accessible um spots right here which I think is a great location as you see there's a little pathway that leads right into it um to get you in there there'll be an opening over here and then there'll be
an opening over here as well to access this area you can almost see the big swings swings do take up huge spot at this playground but they will be the most utilized feature in that playground staging like I said is probably going to be in this area we're going to be mindful when we do put up
our fences that there is going to be access to the ball field you can kind of see this concrete pad um that's going to be sitting behind um this play I mean this ball field as well too which will kind of tie it all together but I think it flows nice I look at where we started and where we are I think it it meshes
very well with this and then we get these courts redone it's going to be a nice nice little Park um so we've done a nice job chipping away at it I think we still get a little bit ways to go but we're in a good spot again July 7th is when we're looking to start um completion of this
project we're hoping for November wow any questions on this how about the neighbors again you say the neighbors are very supportive of this in terms of yeah they're supportive um they've said a number of times they just want their voices heard which I completely completely respect I'm trying
to make sure that we are over over communicating when we can trying to take their ideas um it was one of the neighbors ideas to put up a sign I think it's a great idea if someone utilizes this playground and they're there in the spring and then they show up in July and it's gone I'd feel pretty bad if someone broke down here as well too so I think
that's a great idea and then getting this page up on the town website putting it up on Facebook um we have a really active team that helps push out any public information through the town of R website as well too so trying to notify as many people of this project as we can
so there's no surprises um but I mean there should be a relatively awood easy project to to get through thanks any other questions on it oh but thank you for
sharing good yeah I something out it's been a busy week yeah Michael can attest to that as well right onto our next uh subject and I don't there's not a ton of updates uh Michael can jump in as well I'm just going to stop sharing my just so people um can see
us um so pickle ball pickle ball updates I don't know if anyone saw the select board meeting last Tuesday um Joel bargman from BH plusa presented the pickle pickleball project to um the select board um he went over kind of
where we started how we got to where we are were and the number that came out uh was $1.89 Million for seven pickle ball courts um um that were lighted with Pathways in there um it included
amenities like benches as well um I was on select board via Zoom I listened I watched um didn't have to speak um but it was clear that that number needs to come down yeah can I ask a question why
do I have an 800k number in my head did we throw that out at one of our previous meetings I'm I'm trying to figure out where that number came from as well too because I think the select board that's where they were kind of on the impression as well too right Michael that 800 to 1 million was kind of the the ballpark I don't know if it was
based off of what other towns have done I think that was in one of our not meetings yeah it was it was definitely because like while I've been a member I remember that yeah yeah so the the 82 million comes from looking at pure
communities around having done construction of pick a walk cours or other things um and looking at what those projects cost okay it was off of
fact so and we did a spreadsheet that we shared with with Jim about all these other projects and they're a lot lower than 1.89 million and some of the some of the places have have built five
tennis courts four pickleball courts three basketball courts for less than that so so we have a disconnect at the moment Jim Jim is working on it so yeah there a number there's so
many factors that do go into it and right now what we're doing which is probably what you're GNA ask um like there's hard costs and there's soft costs there's contingencies that are built into all of these plans um right now we've gone back to um Joel who was the one who presented the select board um with BH plusa to ask for those
specific specific numbers um like what's in the The $1.5 Million worth of hard cost we want to see kind of all those numbers and how we got to this number um different factors that come into play we're building in an area that has lots of trees we're building an area that has a lot of growth or I think they call it
Forest mat where soil does need to be pushed be removed as well too um we are looking at post tension concrete um and I've said this uh in a number of meetings I'd have a hard time supporting this if we were to just do um I want to say I don't want to
throw too many numbers right now because Joel is still working on them um I think the the difference between if we were to do post tension or the standard asphalt um I think it was $290,000 difference for those courts so if you spread that out over getting 25
to 50 years and then you think of the potential that we're putting these courts on an area that's next to Wetlands as well where the soil may not be as stable it I'd have an anxiety attack every year when we had snow melt going out there looking and seeing if we
had our first crack or not um do we know that this what's it called postens concrete do we know that it could um survive those conditions you just talked about so basically post tension is what they build uh parking parking garages
okay that are constantly shifting um as well too so and and some of the other peer projects in the other towns have used post tension concrete it's not a an unknown construction but is are the what we comparing to other towns are they is are
the other towns refurbishing existing or itru and some of it is you know scrape up everything that's there right which is sort of like removing the the forest mat but sounds like you've got some
significant infrastructure cost I mean there the Unseen yeah there certainly before you get to see is the worst thing you can do is go to town meeting and underbid a project and then the cost comes back higher right um because then you don't have
enough to complete put in uh I think right now it's at 10% but you know I haven't seen any of the breakdown of the hard cross or and we were only the soft we were only doing
kind of ridiculous the land correct that when that all went down on our vote was mostly here's the land correct yeah that's to designate
designated so it's kind of so are we gonna come back with a recommendation to them or whatever or I think we need to wait till we get these hard cost numers and look at them we met yesterday myself and Jane wman Ryan and uh Jenna um were both uh out yesterday
we filled Ryan in today but we met with r PPA I think was seven in there and they kind of laid out some different things as far as numbers and stuff like that and I know at the select board meeting I think it was um Mark and Melissa actually asked to see those hard cost numbers as well so yeah someone
Jack do you mind just muting yourself um so we uh reached out to Joel today to ask him all of these questions and find out where all these hard cost numbers are um I believe the select board is looking for us to go back um with kind of a revised plan when these numbers do
get posted and we're informed um but our goal I think right now is to get this project you know where slow bit what's that cost where they're going through their cost estimator right now I the exact same thing and then I read the article again yeah and it was like oh no
that's why I was asking about like okay so the idea just said here's the land we didn't I hope it's not blown back at us to that we're like no no we just voted on the land and then there was a presentation to us about what it would look like and I think that the figure might have been thrown out we're still
in I think so too and then there was a comment that the pickleball Community had been doing someing 200 yeah okay we and you know in the other pickleball news in uh this Sunday we're having another Community Day event uh fundraising it's been
pretty successful we almost almost everything everything's full all the all the good spots are taking but um so we we're raising money we've got it'll be over 200k once come in um but
it you know the pickleball Community looks at this 1.89 Million number and says this is not right so that's we're not comfortable with that feels double based on everything we heard it was 20%
AUST just built something massive and it's you know I have pictures it's beautiful um it's a much it was a much bigger project and it came in at 1.6 million so if you double that was the
five tennis courts four pickup ball courts and three basketball courts so this is this is like twice more than twice it's like area and you got to keep in mind this is this end price as well too so this is after all the bids were done you know where they looked at did
they use their contingencies as well you know how far over or below did these projects go you know we could go in there as a town for 1.8 it could be I think we need to be closer to the 1.5 number um we go out to bid and then you know the cost estimator was off on the
fencing they were off on the post tension it was actually a shorter number and then completed project could land at 1.4 you said they had 1.5 in hard cost so that means 390,000 in soft what's that 390,000 in soft
cost 160 for additional engineering and um architecture work that's already done and in a year salary I would recommend that you jump on and watch the
presentation yeah I don't want to say the wrong I read the same thing on and I was like thinking I was like this can't be right and and I feel bad for say you or whoever else they you know it can't be right and and I was
talk included post tension concrete for the tennis courts not not the pball courts or basketball courts but um and there shouldn't be that big a differential between asphalt and po tension it's a yeah I mean there's a
there is a difference but not 300K difference this is this is a a you know less than 15,000 square ft of surface it's not that much right yeah so so what I will say is
we're gonna be getting those hard po broken down completely so the Silver Lining is is you have the town the 1.9 in everyone's head so you're going to be heroes when come let's go um Chris Haley I know he was saying you know the numbers got to
you know can't be higher than 1.5 and I know pickle ball is you know the they want to push a project forward that they're comfortable with as well they don't want to just push it Forward because they enjoy playing pick a ball they want to do it responsibly as well too which I I appreciate that as well too and they've they've been good help with giving input um I know they want to
see these hard numbers as well as Mark and Melissa on the selectboard so we're hoping to get these hard numbers so that you can look at it um I think is even too high I mean it is I mean talking, a square foot so with it so with this it is including the lights it is including all
the conduit it is including um the drainage systems that are got to go under the court as well it's including all the tree removal the soil removal um as well so it does include a lot of stuff the board is not key is it shouldn't cost ,000 Square no way just
no but we we're not there yet yeah we're not there yet there's no let not panic ready to panic but I want ready to it's good it's good I told you you're gonna be a hero when you come in and we're being mindful I don't know if
anyone's looked at kind of what's coming up on town meeting you have the kilum school project you have the reading Center for active living you have $3 million worth of money in the um High School field house flooring that's going as well and then you know you're looking at another that was that was done last meeting what's that that's that was done
last meeting I think the high school's already done was that in the fall was done last got approved in the fall that's right but it's still in the it's allocated there you know what the cost was for that phase two we just phase two right
now we have $2 million for that that's already been no no yeah I just was curious to what the cost was 2 million and then pick a ball right now is sitting at .89 million play and of the basketball
courts is more than seven pickleball courts by a lot It's just tough you know we have looked at a lot of things there's no apples and oranges to do any of that on but most of the
projects um for we on the order of um you know pick a just just putting it down come in at less than 80k a court can we
find it's in it's it's all public documents so it's a it's a challenge to go get it because you have to go to the towns and find um and then there's different numbers so sometimes it's it's bid you know construction what what they pay out
others it's what the town meeting approved which which are two different things when they were built when they when they were built and yeah sounds like converting courts it's cheaper I mean this is a this is a significant
build I'm just wondering about the site remediation stuff if that's one of the first things that they're up saying that's probably right so that could be we don't know um but until you get the break stuff that can be brought to the comp
it's clean fil it could actually stay at Simon's way there's lots of places where the fields are kind of low and it'd be nice to and there's different cost savings I know um in our meeting yesterday was what can DPW do to help out as well too and you know if they are able to clear
some of the soil can they stockpile it and then DPW can take it and bring it down to their compost as well um what those savings are we've asked our architect and design firm with bh+ say to give us those numbers so we're waiting to get the hard costs I know every they did a lot on the tennis court
build PW they were great like especially the real the infrastructure stuff with HTS and remove czy well underneath those tennis there a lot of action going on and they were good too that's that's the one good thing
about this site there's nothing underneath so that is so that's sort of that should be a good thing apparently not apparently but anyway it is a starting point the number is certainly higher than anyone has thought and we're looking and I know Jane wman said it a
number of times so them sharpen your pencils go back look at it go back look at it and we do need to see these hard costs and when they come out board pickle is is not behind this number we it's way too high
and that's not always obvious that we will work with on the record things to look at too they can do Alternatives as well to if we can't get that number down which we don't want to do we want to get Seven Courts that are lit um and do it all together there are alternatives we can put in there if we were to go to the town saying you know
we want 1.5 to be all in um if it comes in and it's it's higher we can pull whether it's the lights potentially to be a second phase guys can buy the lights or we pull another Court I think right 200k is going into this project no I understand but if you frame it like
okay because we got ask for the going to pay for the light found just ending you know we're very happy to have made our 200 day goal um that's without a project that's approved through town meeting there's lots of
funding uh opportunities once you have a projects been approved so we will continue to fund raise not that um ious to do that anymore but there was there was costs that were put in there and um it was brought up at
the select board there was $45,000 for you know benches and trash receptacle that's one that's going to get taken out and you know benches we could we could get benches donated um I can purchase benches benches a lot cheaper than that as well so that's one of those items I'm
sure you have Capital whatever that can come right off that and then we're looking to buying them oh yeah we got money in the revolving fund and then $100,000 that we do get in capital each year we said you said put name on right I think there's lots of opportunities like that
in fact for pickle ball you don't need necessarily the post there's lots of U sort of portable pick a ball nets that are first class and great playing there plenty of opportunities but that's those are
savings that should be reflected in the in the price so when you go down to six courts and it's 1.3 million that's still not acceptable because you're only getting six courts so you don't want to
spend that much on one court right just that's that's really where we have to go you know oh yeah we could take out the lights but you're going to get Seven Courts without lights for 1.4 million that is a nonar doesn't there's got to be a way to Value engineer whatever they
put together right to get this seven you get your seven CTS lit for way after to this price don't look at it your eyes I mean one of our board members is used to be a contractor and this is
crazy crazy stuff so the you know the dollar figure per square foot should be or even per Court you know like I mean post tension concrete you can get a you know what's the estimate for the price for that you
know $150 I don't want to quote any numbers I'm an engineer not not a construction so those costs hopefully will become available so that we can see down every dollar did they give them a timeline on all that uh we reach out to
them today I know the select board I think they have their next meeting next week they're probably going to be looking for for updated numbers that are lower than what was brought up but would you to send those out once you get them I can do that for the recreation committee yeah yeah yep thanks I'm just curious
now yeah and I mean Jim hasn't seen all this stuff so I'm not holding anything back I'm not I don't want to speak and say the wrong there was no blowback or anything out of Select board was there or as far as well just us just you and
anybody no it was just the number just the sheer just like us just you know does it mean yeah okay so everyone's asking for the complete breakdown which today Jane mman sent an email out to them asking exactly for all those specific so we can all wrap our
heads around it but I would recommend if you didn't watch the select board meeting to watch the presentation that Joel did he kind of broke down where he was getting some of the costs they are the big numbers you're not going to see what it cost for fences you're not going to see what it cost for the post tension asphalt you'll see some differences um
and he's trying to break it down if we were to cut this cut this cut this what the cost savings could be as well so we're moving very fast he's been charged with it from the select boards standpoint this is the person that'll
come back with revised BH plusa yeah so BH plusa and activitas are joint Partners on this okay um so they're the basically the firm that is working on recal as well as pickall as a combo you kind of they have to work kind of both
together question the cost of Rec there could be some potential imagine though BH and plus is working more on recal not activas yeah yeah so yeah there's a lot of questions that need to be answered and the select
board feels exactly the same way that you feel exactly the same way that R PPA feels there's got to be some kind of like one of those bids that the company really doesn't want to do it but we'll throw out a high number if they say yes
okay it's it's not a bid I I I yeah I stand you know regardless of what number they come out with this still has to go out for bid and it will probably come in we would hope lower at reasonable numbers because that's what all the bids are for town meeting correct right in
regardless of how much we have with pickleball or what wre is giving you still need to go with that like you said that full amount you're gonna see that big number yeah it's PV steing the bar High to sit there and there are certainly are some uncertainties with the economy and where it's going whether you know the post
tension concrete and the seal and the fencing like is that going to go up or not so I don't know if they're thinking you know we need to build in a larger cushion as well but like I said we don't want to go to town meeting and get approved and then be like oh it really was 1.8 because when we do go out to bid
anyone can bid on this so I mean anyone who knows anybody can send them to the town page this someone but they got to look at the project as a whole you can't just bid pieces all together you got to look at the entire project as a whole so it does get a little bit tricky you usually have a contractor and then they sub it out you know more than me to
folks that work directly under them and then there's markups from them as well so once we get these numbers they will be shared with the the select board and I can share them um with you so we can all wrap our heads around it but if you want to get ahead start and you're interested check out last Tuesday's um
select board meeting where Joel um bar from BH plusa does present and then you'll hear the comments that come from the select board and a lot of them are valid all right well thank you for the update a Mike thanks for the updates thanks for staying on top of it and thanks for looking at the numbers you
know I I agree with you in terms of like this is the starting point you're not happy with the number you guys got to work on it to um get it better um and you said next week I I mean we're hoping for some updated numbers I would assume that it's going to be another topic that does get brought up um whether next week
at the select Bo I know they're putting the agenda together today I don't know if it's on there or not but I would say it's going to be on there relatively soon before um it gets uh finalized with the warrant and goes to town meeting because this would be a 2third vote to pass okay excellent all right uh any
other uh discussion before we turn the microphone over to Ed to give us an update I one more it's a question on pick a ball um was a beautiful day today we were up at uh Memorial plane do you know when they're gonna Nets Nets so
Nets are starting that is on my updates over here Micha got on the top lot going on but I still got a little bit of a memory to try to remember all this stuff um I'll jump into my updates right okay it's always
the fun one in stuff today tennis Nets uh they're going to begin putting them up this Friday um they're going to start with bankr High School tennis season starts on Monday the high school season starts on Monday so they're going to be getting the tennis Nets uh up for the triy outs to
begin next Monday so they'll start over at bankof then I would assume that they're probably going to go to Memorial Park Sturges um and then Washington um as well I think those are all our tennis cours and barrows I'll probably put them up at barrows Barrow isn't in the best um big
right now so those will be going up um barrows Elementary I know we talked about the fencing um kind of got a curve ball thrown to us yesterday um the project manager from Premier fence um resigned so we're back at kind of square one with just trying
to get on a timeline our plan was to get the the fencing and The Dugout done at barrows um starting probably as early as next week and be completed by mid April so it does not affect the Little League season and their games that start on April 26 so we're hoping to hear from
them by tomorrow to meet their new project manager and set up a a Time timeline to get that rolling so it won't disrupt the the season um staying on baseball um passed over all the information on the gifts we accepted from Reading Little League I know they're looking to start that project
relatively soon and that's the hunt Snack Shack renovation project um so you might see that happening in the upcoming weeks um it should be done relatively quickly uh going to girls softball I met with uh ring you softball on Friday
probably the windiest day I've ever a part of in Reading um they came to us looking to see if we'd have an appetite to um look at fixing the fence over at the lighted softball field as well as providing some much needed dugouts um
over on that softball field uh ring softball is looking to pay for this project as well they reached out to the northern essic spoke who um they have a big I don't know if it's an architect or construction um uh
program in the school um and they've built a number of these dugouts I think they might have built the one over at Major League field they just did one in North Reading in their beautiful um Dugout so you softball is proposing to pay for the materials and have the vks work on this project it's not going to
happen early this spring um it would probably be in the fall there's a lot of steps we have to go through conservation again we'd have to get the gift but I think we're pretty fortunate to have these youth organizations that have good relationships um with us like we try to do a lot as the rec department to help
maintain their fields as best as we can with baseball you know we redid two fields in the past year so I think they see us putting in the work so they're more willing to give back money to the community so um I think our Department's done a great job building up that relationship so um we do like to get
free money um I know the town does like to get some free money so we can get it they build pickle ball for I mean yeah we gotta find a very early just curious basketball right no no no I did see him this weekend basketball
tournament um so that's something just to keep our eye on down the future can I ask one question on that yeah softball um will that affect phase three of so phase three um big concern I spoke with the engineers I spoke with Jenna um was
making sure that if we were to put in new dugouts it wouldn't have any impacts on the current field where it's located as well as the light pole um if you look at the I don't know if you've been there before and you look at the way the fence is set up many they not in the right place no So the plan
would be to um I think softball is looking to get a price to replace the back stop if it is too expensive um the plan would be to run some new fencing off of that back stop and actually have it angle so that it's parallel to where the third Baseline is meaning because right now far it dropped down there to
the right it off and the benches almost sit behind home plate and there is a light pole that sits in front of one of the benches so the dugouts would actually be moved up more in a traditional way where you'd see it on any regular ball field and they would run parallel off the um first base and
the third Baseline whether it's you know 15 feet off all the way down so um it's definitely needed um I don't know how long phase three is Gonna Come no I know because this goes back to when Anna was playing that this came up and then also
too because it was a became a question of the schools because of and I think we brought Tom's eye in on it because um high school and I'm sure he's was there on Friday with okay on Friday you know what I mean because he was like this
isn't technically our and like so he is all on board with it um as well like I said the earliest I think it would be done probably wouldn't be until the fall we don't want to affect you know the softball season and we're just looking at plans and then there's so many different steps we have to go through with conservation there is some Wetland
that's located behind there so we do got to make sure that we were being respectful of that but the dog oats actually in the fence would actually be moved a little bit further away from the wetlands um with what we're doing but we have no plans running yet it's just kind of a starting point um so I'll keep you up throughout our
meetings on that as well uh gonna get some new backboards over at Memorial Park um as well um was it Monday Monday the kids didn't have school it was packed down there with kids playing basketball um we redid some
backboards over at sturis Park and they were a big hit um I don't want to say it's short money but it's it's pretty good to get those Nets in those backboards and those polls kind of upgraded um I think we can do one a year um and that's my plan this would be our second in two years so I
did get a quote same quote as last year for install and everything I think it came a little over $6,000 so um we're gonna hopefully get that started in the next couple weeks or so that's great uh next week me and Ed are going on vacation to the mrpa conference in
Norwood [Laughter] uh bring by the auto dealership so we'll be there Wednesday Wednesday morning Ed and I are part of the social committee team that's down there um that'd be fun yeah it's fun you guys yeah like it social committee
we and I actually was nominated this year for the northeast regional rep for the recreation region so I want to say it includes 40 tal so a fellow member nominated me take on some more hours and do some say is that a good nomination I
didn't know if I wanted to do it to Ed I'm like I might be myself but um the mrpa it's a group of all the Massachusetts stands from Massachusetts Recreation and Parks Association um the Northeast region meets once a month we share share different ideas we've been relying heavily on them with therapeutic
wreck and what they've been doing in adaptive Recreation as well too so um we're expanding our reach and we don't need to reinvent the whale on all this stuff people have done it they've gone through all the hard times like we tried this it didn't work don't do this do
that um so it's a it's a good group and um there'll be a lot more conferences that'll be going to there's a New England Regional Conference and then there's a um us conferences as well too so I'm I think it's usually out in Vegas so I have to go I have to
go it'll be good good I'll you po if I get to if I win um I don't know if it's contested or not pretend like it was heavily contested so we'll be doing that but it is a good conference there's a lot of sessions and I remember when I first
started here too it kind of opened my eyes John brought me to these conferences I'm doing that with the Ed two where um he's going to new Prof he was in a conference today for new professionals and different ideas and the struggles of being a new professional in the field there's different classes on budgeting
you know how to deal with you know residents who aren't happy how to uh become certified as a playground inspector so we're out there doing classes from 8 o'clock to 5 o'clock there's dinners and then at night you kind of let loose a little bit and you co-mingle and you meet with different
vendors um that are out there as well too and you're bring in new programs um as well too so awesome yeah it's fun so Wednesday Thursday and Friday we will be out there I think that's all I have
Edward um yeah so I guess since Sunday basketball and Thea and all our winter activities ended kind of like January February um kind of f my focus over to summer programs um that's pretty much majority of my time
um and all those program programs went out today live for registration so if you got time HP up HP on our website take a look at everything we have going on um you know throughout the summer we have tons of programs going on on a weekly basis you know on top of our
vacation program that's obviously very popular um we do a ton of sports and stem and art and all good stuff um you know with the Fieldhouse Renovations that's kind of um made us get a little bit more creative with some of our basketball and
other programs that are indoors but facilities gave us a list of times that they allowed us to get into some other schools so that we can still offer you know those popular basketball programs and volleyballs um just a little bit different than the past but happy to still offer those um we also kind of
using the materic cabin a little bit more this summer for some some other stuff um as that's a cool location that we we have um that's that summer dation uh we've been doing interviews right now hiring
um a handful of of new staff so we're in the middle of that process right now and um kind of wrapping that up um you know bring some good younger folks um to add to our you know great list of kids who
are coming back um so excited about that I think we have a really solid um group for this summer so that's definitely exciting um working on bringing in you know the vendors and activities each week to summer vacation so just working
on that um Thursday we have another intergenerational um programs Irish dancers coming um so it's exciting typically we have these um intergenerational stuff at the Pleasant Street Center but actually Jen's idea to
move it over um to coolage and give them a stage and a bigger space so that we actually have about 80 people signed up uh to attend on Thursday um which is you know 20 30 more people then we'd be able to have at the Pleasant Street Center so
that was that was exciting to see yeah nice you know with the recal stuff and the conversation I think again it just kind of shows um what more we could do with with a space like that um and yeah the mrpa stuff I'm excited about that
next week um last year was kind of just kind of taking it in um it's obvious it's a lot but I'm excited to kind of go in with more specific goals kind of you know been in this position for a year and a half and know reading and um what
else we can bring to town and offer to the community and learn in this um those sessions and talk to other towns some more um so I'm excited for all that so with all that being say said um jump on other Town websites look at their Rec
Department and then jump back on reading and look at the amount of offerings that that we currently um have it's it's pretty amazing the amount of work that we do for having I'd say somewhat of a small a small team other departments in towns they are departments and they have
six full-time staff um that work for them we have Jenna who's overseeing three different you know divisions there myself Ed and Sue who's kind of got her hands in COA veteran services as well as us too so for what we have I think we do
a tremendous tremendous job and Ed does a great job with all these programs um and another tip of the cap last year we had 35 counselors in our summer um dation program this year we are returning 29 out of 35 it was 30 30 out
of 35 as of yesterday um so the fact that we have such a high return rate um kind of shows um that these young kids really enjoy working with us and I think Ed has already held probably close to 20 interviews for five to six um positions
so we're pretty fortunate um with having is there an age out type situation so we're gonna there's gonna be curious turn over is um it's usually we get them we usually hire them the earliest we've done is um going into their freshman
year um I want to say two years ago we hired a lot of sophomores so they're gonna be going into college relatively soon and they're going to get internships so um there will be some turnover we do try to bring in some younger staff every year so we can catch them for four years um but there at some point there will be some turnover this
year we really didn't push to advertise too much and we had 20 plus applicants last year I think we had 50 55 applicants as more yeah this year like 50% of our staff are either going into
college or currently in college so I mean there is that thought in the back of our heads that you know there might be another year where we do have to hire a larger number but we'll take our step this year for what we have anded will you allow each applicant
an interview yeah uh I mean we've a lot yes we have we keep saying like at some point we need to we found ourselves we out situation where we were saying and that's the nice courtesy you give them
yes yes um it is a lot of time yeah um and but it's great like I people enjoy like bringing the kids kids in a lot of them [Music] is able but then again there is only so
much time in our week we did kind of we did most I me I would say we probably 80 yeah 80% we just only had a few such few spots to fill yeah yeah I think we had four spots to fill and we had 25 to 30 applicants and
now we're down to six so when we lost a couple more they actually brought in more and we kind of looked at it we brought in I think today we had seven folks who were freshman going into their freshman year and they came in and kind of blew us away a little bit I'd say um today so yeah um it was good and there
was some that we didn't bring in you know we do go through their applications we look at it we look at work experience as well too when we bring in those that we think you know have the experience to come in as well too so we try to set a criteria as well when we pick and choose great um I had one more thing but it is
uh slipped oh March March we had a really good March as far as numbers coming in in come February I'm sorry February really good number we beat last February um by a decent amount so I'm always watching the numbers and see how we're expanding as far as registration numbers coming in as well as income
coming in as well because we do get to take that income and pump it right back into the town and it saves saves a lot of different costs are asking for you know more money through the town so hoping March we we'll be the same with all of the summer programs that rolled out I got an email that it
went live and I didn't get a chance to jump on and look were any of them adaptive by any chance uh we're bringing in inclusion people back is that the inclusion Sports bring them back um i' been talking to them for a while now um
springing it didn't end up really working out between our schedules for field space and space uh um so spring it end up working out but we have bringing them in for the summer seeing how that goes and hopefully growing that relationship for do are they offering
sometimes I see in towns when inclusion Sports is offered it's like two different sports did you talk about what sports you would be doing yes track and field and so okay my my only recommendation because as I jumped to the different towns seeing like oh could my kid go here could my kid go here I would notice that like the surrounding
towns I kind of wish they were coordinating which sports they were doing cuz they doing the same ones so I would go to like North Runing and I'm like Oh my kid wouldn't like that and then I would go to like Burlington I'm like oh I wish it was a different thing it's the same thing so if you could just kind of see what other towns are doing and then just make sure you're doing
something different because if people want a town hop it would be available to them and do you see a lot of folks from different towns kind of going here right like guess I would because I travel to many different towns so um like we do baseball in Wakefield and I've done soccer in North ring and I do bowling in
Bera um and I would go to I would love to do something in Runing um but other people would you know they'll get on the computer and what you know I'm not going to drive to like Lexington but I'll drive you know to the the surrounding towns so the ones that touch reading are the best ones and then um Ando I know I
want to end over to talk about doing some adaptive Recreation it was probably gosh three four months ago or so they got back to me last week with some of their offerings that they have upcoming starting in March 22nd I can share them with you they have a therapeutic recreation director that runs these programs in coordination with SNL staff
um which we use SNL right now so I've been speaking with them and asking if they can bring this program to reading as well and not just be focusing and over I spoke with John feudo at the YMCA and he thinks he has some gym space he can give up as well right now so I'm going to try to be collaborating with
them to see if their therapeutic wck person will come over it could be a split like as far as registration numbers like if they register through us we can bring in those funds and we may have to reimburse um and over for their therapeutic recck Specialists coming out there as well too so um they have a
spring session up a summer session up already right now and kind of I want to try to duplicate what they're doing out there and bring it into reading it could be it's an endover for this spring and then it's in reading for you know the early summer months so still looking for that and I know I spoke with John fudo on Monday he's looking at bringing in
some wheelchair basketball and I said I'd love to collaborate with him on that um as well too so we're actively looking to bring in some adaptive stuff um as well and therapeutic wreck is still on our our mind and getting someone who is certified um at some point in the
future as long as it's still still there pumping around the Wheelhouse and trying to make it work yeah it's still there that's allation too conference there's few talks about that session so yeah we were
hoping to bring in an inclusion specialist um to do some trainings this year it's a little it's a little bit pricey um to bring them in this year so we're going to be reaching out to a few more folks to have them come in and talk to our entire staff as a whole um and come up with some strategies on working with
kids who may have you know disability or have IEPs or you know some kind of learning disability as well too so 's been kind of shopping around for that as well to get our staff [Music] trained very nice well thank you both
thanks Jenna too she she left but I want to thank her too you know for everything you guys do it's amazing every time I come into this meeting there's more Rich we don't you I know initi you have always flow come to work day with me drive around
white the strange things you would never do that love to do that love to do that so thank you again Ed and Jim really appreciate and I know you guys stay on top of everything which is which is great you know look you the best interest for everybody in the town and both financially and for everybody if we
miss something feel free to call us doesn't always have to be Kumai iron here you know everything's great like if there's something you want an agenda item you know like I said reach out to Eric as well and we'll uh try to keep lot of big projects coming up um the next two months are gonna be busy every
day it's a meeting with recal or you kind of pick a ball and figure out Solutions and then you've got Birch Meadow Phase 2 coming up as well so a lot of moving parts and then just the random stuff that pops up whether it's with neighbors and parks and just trying to keep everyone happy yeah that's good that's great well thank you um any other
questions from anybody before we ask a motion to adjourn move to adjourn all right second around the room Laura n i cage CER I Eric bamer I
rich and I will be meeting is adjourn at 755 everybody good job everybody e e