Notes from 7/10/23 Park & Rec Board Meetings
A Quincy Votes! observer has provided their notes from the 7/10/23 Park and Recreation Board meetings. These are notes, not minutes. While care has been taken to create them, there may be errors or omissions in the notes.
PARK DEPARTMENT:
Faxon Park:
Adam Nazzarro of Quincy: Sat. Sept 23rd, 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM Softball Charity Fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis Awareness. No fee.
Pageant Field:
Quinlan Family: Sunday August 13th, noon to 5:00 PM. Fee $225, approved
Wahlberg Scholarship Fund, Saturday Sept. 2nd, noon to dusk. Fee $225, approved.
Bourgoin: Sat. Sept. 10th. Fee $225, approved.
Brill Field:
Chris Bell Norfolk County Sherriff Office, Thursday July 20th, 10:30 to 2:30, Hockey Cares for Kids program. No fee. Approved.
Fenno St. Basketball Court:
Kevin Mahoney: Monday Nights. July 10th through August 23rd. QNBL Basketball League from 5:00 to 10:00 PM. Girls play 5 to 6 PM. League after that.
Discussion: Neighborhood issues (complaints) if it goes beyond 10:00 PM. There were previous complaints about the positioning of the flood lights. Paul (Park Dept. head) will talk to the League Rep and set guidelines on start and end times. Provisionally approved. Games cannot go past 10:00 PM.
Safford Park:
Wollaston Hill Neighborhood Associate. Sept. 16, 23, 30, Oct. 7th. Saturday in the Park. Food and Vendors; they would like portable toilets, more waste barrels, and a "plug receptacle on the outside of the electrical box.
Discussion: The electrical outlet outside the box, will cost some money. Portable toilets also cost the Park department. (They have an agreement w/ a vendor, but it costs a couple of hundred dollars). We (Park Dept) have done it at certain places, depending upon long people are there. Saturday in the Park has turned into a nice little event and draws a lot of neighborhood residents to it. We have done it (provided portable toilets) for street hockey and other tournaments. Paul (Park Dept) will have a follow up conversation w/ requestor. Should there be a fee? Another concern: with all the rain, driving vehicles on Safford Park might wreck the grass and tear up the ground. Need to evaluate where the food trucks could go.
Motion: rely on Paul and Dave's professional judgment to represent the City's interest with regards to both the electrical outlet and providing porta potties.
Old Business:
Awnings not up yet. Jay asked about them again.
Jay asked permission to clean the main entrance of Forbes Tower Hill. (Granted). His team will leave neat debris piles for pickup by the Park department. Jay will contact the Sherriff's department for a correction cleanup crew to rake up.
Jay asked if some of the pine trees could have their lower branches trimmed to increase light. No harm to trees. He also wants Forbes Hill mowed.
Power-wash the table outside Adams Field.
Plaques were hung. Numbers were heavy. Paul will make arrangements to ship the numbers to the families.
New Business
Next meeting August 7th.
Pop Warner Football asked to practice at Fore River Field. Request by 94 Elite (a basketball program). This will be a first-year Pop Warner team.
Discussion: In the past, usually requested a roster to confirm at least half the participants were from Quincy. (With baseball teams, the teams with the highest percentage of Quincy kids got Adam's field). For River: can support 2 "pony" leagues / games. Quincy Youth Football does not use Fore River field. The Board does not usually permit practices, but might want to in this case. Questions need to be asked "will they be bringing a storage shed? (Board does not want a storage shed on the property). What will they do with heavy equipment (like blocking pads). Will the field need to be limed (marked for playing)? Where will the games be played? What league is the team playing in? The request is for Monday - Wednesday -Friday, 6:00 Pm to 8:00 PM from August 2nd to November 1st.
Decision: need more info. Will contact the requestor and bring this back to the Board at the August 7th meeting.
Dave Murphy's Commissioner Report:
Thanked Paul for the plaques on Adams Field.
Friday Nights at the Amphitheater:
Successful
Couple of hundred people
Lots of positive responses
Friends did an excellent job of bringing life to the Amphitheater
Sally Owens had a Merrymount Park tour (Pageant Field, etc.).
The Mayor led the tour and presented Sally with a birthday cake to celebrate her 75th birthday.
Beachcomber site:
Passive park
Planting plans developed
95% done
Some stones will be installed to commemorate some of the groups that played there
City Council approved stadium improvements.
The pedestrian bridge is being studied by engineers
Improve retaining walls
Free Jacks:
Watch party at Kilroy Square for the Free Jacks championship game. 300+ people attended.
Procession planned for Saturday at 11:00 near the stadium
Mass Fields:
Repainted and relined
One basketball hoop seems to be too high.
Dave will have someone check on it.
RECREATION DEPARTMENT:
Summer Program
230 returning staff
55 new hires
Almost all have completed training. Only one clinic training session remains.
Most activities have opened (as of July 5th)
New Hire: City Council approved one new position.
Will be used to help with Adult programming.
Person who was hired was former interim Athletic Director at Eastern Nazarene.
Old Business
Ran Lifeguard class. Only nine kids started the class, only 4 were invited to finish, and of the four who finished, only two were hired. Having a hard time filling the night shift.
Swim lessons: had 305 participants in session 1. Session 2 sign-ups are underway.
Recreational swim has reopened. Number of participants is high. 62 were at family swim, and 15 adults were doing laps on a recent night.
Night programs at 4 locations have started. This is funded by a $30k grant.
Happy Acres is at Broad Meadows. 25 participants in two three-week sessions. (Inclusive camp).
Inclusion services at other rec programs are doing well. Did research on what other cities/towns are doing for inclusive camps, and found they (like Quincy) are for school age. Don't do anything for 3- and 4-year-olds.
Numbers for Summer Camps: Today (July 12th), 1,077 participants in various Recreation programs.
There is some frustration with the "us vs. them" between Recreation and Quincy Public Schools. This week, with all the rain, even though the Rec department made facility requests months and months ago (and never got a response) when due to rain, they went to use a High School, they found a basketball camp in progress that refused to share. They had to do tennis in the cafeteria and squeezed volleyball into two courts. QPS is using SouthWest for Special Needs; A DARE camp had Atlantic, when we asked them to use Fore River. It's an ongoing "School side vs. City side" issue. Rec Department sees it all the time, even though we have it booked, the school lets others book over them and don't enforce the "you need to share if it rains" philosophy. The Schools charge the Rec Department too, for custodians, etc.
Pickleball: Tuesday night adult recreation program at Broad Meadows is coming. Other adult programs will be added. 4 pickleball courts are limed at Broad Meadows and there is room for 4 more.
Recreation staff is helping at the Gordon Amphitheater; gave water out one night. Popcorn might go over well, and have a snow cone machine, but not sure the adult/older crowd would go for snow cones.