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Parks Commission Meeting Minutes 3/17/21

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Parks Commission Meeting

March 17, 2021 (Happy St. Patrick’s Day)

Attending: Steve Snyder; Ilene Marcus; Peter Poirier, Tracey Brennan, Wendy Benjamin

Held Remote at 712-432-1500

Code 110016#

Steve Called Meeting to order 7:04

The agenda for tonight:

  • Outstanding Minutes – Steve and Ilene will work with Melissa to fix what is missing.
  • Parks Members – someone new from Gould Farm is considering
  • Voice Mail – Steve cleared out and will check with
  • E-mail – Ilene answers many and Steve will ask Melissa to forward them to Ilene/Steve/whoever wants and then we can keep current, and we can clear them out.
  • Authority and Liability
  • Kayaks
  • Beach

Kayaks

Sean and the highway department will build and put the kayak racks.

  • Melissa believes this to be by lottery and we should allow one month from application public to closing lottery process.
  • Melissa also suggests all applicants must sent check that will be returned if they do not win the lottery.

Steve suggests and other members chimed in and discussed and agreed:

  • Sticker with permit number on vessel (we have a whole roll left)
  • Steve would like to see a 2nd sticker on the berth to correspond to the vessel number.
  • Two at a time permits – to limit the proposal is that first permit is $25 or a lower amount and for the second permit we charge significantly more money such as $100+ to serve as a deterrent to everyone just asking for it and running out of berths very quickly.
  • 2 paddle boards are acceptable depending on weight restrictions to be determined by Sean.
  • Steve will put ad in Monterey News for April to check the website on kayak application.

Also for Discussion:people have volunteered to pay for additional racks, and we need clarity on what the rules and advantages would be and if this is allowed.

Ultimate Authority and Liability

All parks’ commissioners agreed, that without clear information, defining responsibility and all agreeing to enforcement we are hesitant to move forward with our decisions and actions.  We will not be opening beach until we are satisfied with answers to the issues raised below:

All Commissioners agreed and Steve will draft a letter for our review to send to the Select Board and Town Administrator to get clarity on the following issues. 

  • Who is the designated decision maker on issues related to parks properties?
  • List of all properties and responsibility under the parks commission and an orientation to our responsibilities
  • List of all Monterey Departments that have responsibility related to Parks Properties and who is responsible for oversight (such as who does maintenance; liability review for all properties enforcement of rules) and how that service is initiated and completed.

Beach and Lifeguard Contract

Contingent on a clearer understanding on liability we will go ahead with the Southern Berkshire Lifeguard agreement with a 5% annual price increase.  The Parks Commission will request a meeting with the board of health and Jim Wildish the Monterey Board of Health Agent.  The Parks Commissioners are not able to enforce rules and wants to make sure to the extent possible we mitigate all risks.  Tracey will follow-up with Melissa to discuss additionally staffing at the beach this summer including what the job responsibilities would be and if the senior tax work-off make sure that all Covid regulations and requirements are met, and risks mitigated.

We got an email from Mike Germain about the memorial brick thing that needs fixing, it is in disrepair.  Ilene will reach out to Barbara Swann to see if we can get info.  And Steve will follow up in the memo to the Town about process for getting it fixed.

New Business

No new business.

Steve closed the meeting at 7:57 pm

Submitted by Ilene Marcus