The Montpelier Board of Parks and Recreation held their meeting on Wednesday, November 3rd at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was called to order followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Village Manager Jason Rockey and Board Member Matt Reid were both absent.
The board first moved to approve minutes from the October 6th meeting as well as the October 31st financial statements. Updates regarding Storrer and Founders Park were then given.
At Storrer Park, the Water Distribution Department is almost done with the terracing and dirt removal for the basketball court project.
Appreciation was shown by the board for the hard work done on the project. The cost of materials is being taken care of with donations and the Montpelier Rotary is managing the project.
The Rotary plans on having the basketball court poured in the Spring and also plans on adding fencing to the North and East sides of the court.
At Founders Park, planters have been started. The sidewalks will be poured once the planters are finished. The stage is set to begin construction sometime in mid-November as long as weather permits. The bollard, drinking fountain, bike racks, and fixit station have all been received.
The two trash receptacles were lost by the shipping company and are now being remade and will be resent. The billboard is scheduled to arrive in December and the new trees will arrive on November 16th.
Due to the rainy weather and shipping delays, the project will need to receive an extension from the state due to it being funded through a state grant. The original time for completion was December of 2021 but it now looks to be completed around March of 2022.
A monthly park update, and recreation update were then given to the bord followed by a discussion regarding the pool rehabilitation project.
Current projects to take place in 2022 are to refurbish the waterslide, replace gutter grates, replace the Virginia Graeme Baker grates, epoxy the locker room floors, and to refurbish the sand filter.
The idea of adding pool basketball or pool volleyball was brought up as well as a mushroom water feature or climbing wall. It was stated that a new pool house is a must for the future and that a zero-depth entry should also be added.
Discussions continued with it being said that the deep end should remain and not be replaced with something else, and that a pool concession stand should have access to patrons outside the pool in the future. The board felt that completing work in 2022 and then making a plan for the future on a large scale was the right way to go.
Next the board discussed the possible addition of a sixth baseball diamond. It was stated that at the last meeting the youth baseball league had asked for the addition of a new field to make it easier for them and for tournament use. The proposed location was along Platt Street at the location of the U6 and U8 soccer fields.
Discussions followed with the board first stating that they would like to keep the area open for soccer fields. It was also stated that the current fields are under used and that few baseball games were scheduled on Saturdays this year and on some nights only one game was held instead of two.
The league participation numbers have been steadily declining over the past decade. The Pony League is done using their field by July 4th and could have the base paths shortened to accommodate younger teams.
The board members also stated that, while they are excited to see the league trying to grow, it is not necessary to create a new field at this time but that the issue could be revisited if league numbers increase.
In additional business, the municipal Pool and Pony League parking lots will be repaired in 2022. It was stated that the parking spaces at the Pony League parking lot should be widened due to congestion issues.
Portable restrooms were removed from the parks in October due to vandalism that caused structural damage to a portable restroom. The Park was charged by the restroom company for the damage.
Due to a tree being planted in a location at the Municipal Park that was not approved and that could impede future park plans, the board requests that anyone who may want a tree to be planted at the park in the future bring their request to the board before planting.
Jennifer Schlosser then informed the board that she has decided to not ask for another term on the park board. Her term is up on December 31st, 2021, and is now a school board appointee. The board then moved to adjourn for the evening.