 Hello, everybody Oh readings Sorry about that working out. I'm familiar Wi-Fi here Great, this is Carolyn, can you hear me? Yes, I can as usual my video is not working so I'm just gonna have to be a an invisible participant That is fine with me Welcome, thank you Um Let me start off I apologize. I am I Just finished a practice. So that's why I'm a little bit out of breath and I'm starting this up I got stuck trying to figure out how to work a Wi-Fi that's that familiar with my computer. Okay Welcome everybody to January January commission meeting We do have a I think it's a relatively Light schedule for us here in terms of the necessary have to the things that we have to cover You all had a chance to see my agenda if there's anything that is new or that it's not in there feel free to introduce at the end There is space for it to be introduced at the end So we are the first thing I want to do is Hit record It says it's already recording It is recording The first thing I want to do is before we take care of minutes and And everything else I would like to give Sarah you all a chance. I want to introduce Sarah This is her first time on the board here at her first commission meeting with us And so we certainly want to welcome her we've had a period of time where we have been short on our commission And we are almost at full numbers Sarah is the second to last person to come in but I want to give Sarah a chance to just introduce yourself Briefly tell us where Who you are what your what your interest what brings you to the commission And if people if you know people in the commission or or if people want to Share where we know you from we can do that but Sarah Thanks Ray. Hi everyone. Um, I do know a few people here, which is exciting I so professionally, um I am an assistant dean at northeastern university, but I work in uh, totally online programs. So I work from home out here and have done that for a long time um I grew up in Amherst and moved back here left and moved back here to raise my family. I have three kids Who are six almost 13 and 14 so kindergarten seventh and eighth grade? um And have been making as much noise as I can for a long time just about equity and opportunities for kids in sports in the community. I also have A mom who's retired and lives in the community and is always looking for different ways to be involved So but mostly I think someone I don't even know who but someone I like have met with the superintendent a bunch of times I've met with all sorts of coaches just about how are we increasing opportunities for our kids to to play sports throughout their lifespan without them having to go play cub sports without All the transportation is falling out the family. So, um, I guess somewhere along the way I made enough noise that they asked me to join the committee and Excited to be here. Thank you, Sarah. I will say that Um, I don't make the appointments. I sit on the interviews. I was excited to have Sarah put in I think her her background in academia, but certainly her advocacy Uh, as a parent of of You know students young students young community members that are have been in our programs as many of our commission Have had kids have come through our programming. Um, you know, we know we know the two older ones Because of basketball and that's that so that I can speak later on About like my first my first interaction with Ewell's was through basketball has been through basketball I believe that uh, you know In looking at the way Her kids and the kids around them are taking care of I think Sarah is a strong advocate for the for the activity of Of kids in our sports programs and beyond And so welcome, uh We we do have one more space that will be filled and I believe that it will be filled And by the time we have our next meeting um Into the general minutes. I want to assume Uh that matt is going to be able to do the minutes here again for us I'm looking for matt on the Matt is not here So In that case, do we have somebody who will be able to take minutes for us in matt's absence Do I have anybody that would be willing to take minutes in matt's absence today? Uh if you make the board Yeah, I mean will the video be made available soon I I'm not one to take minutes in real time. But what the video I was going to say I was going to say if I didn't have somebody that wants to take minutes in real time Then we certainly could do it off of the video slash Online transcript. I hate the I hate the audio transcript of these because I stutter a lot and And so I can't even read the thing I cannot read the transcript of those because I always run for cover, but um, it's actually fun To take a look and see what they what they think that i'm saying um So thank you andi if you would be able to do that. I would appreciate it Yeah, I will Thank you. Also welcome sarah by the way Thank you Yes The second thing is and I put it in my introduction here um Not in the introduction but in my invitation to this meeting It is Increasingly a concern of town hall that we have an identified chair There are people here who've said that they can't do a chair I'm not going to twist on my whole thing is I'm not going to twist on If I need to have somebody become a chair and essentially Just be a point person for For the commission words I want to make it clear that the reason why a chair is important for us is because you guys don't work for me The and I'm not I'm not trying to twist anybody's arm on this But you guys don't work for me as the rekt director Um, you are You are a Service for me. You guys are a community. So your service to the community But your voice is independent of mine I should the way it's set up right now is that when people want to know what the rekt commission is thinking of The one name they look at the one name that they look for is mine Because there is not a commission chair It is not somebody who speaks as a spokesperson for the commission And I haven't I don't believe stepped in the wrong direction in representing the commission's interests I Not I don't speak in advance of what I think is a consensus But I think it does help if there's somebody if there's somebody who can or would Be able to present themselves as a As a chair Then that person and I could basically spend as much time as necessary, which is not very much time I don't believe but you could spend as much time as necessary for me to Uh, prep you for me to have conversations with you. I think that gives me a chance to talk to a point person from the commission As an even influence you don't have to take the responsibilities that I have of putting together the the agenda Of of of lining up the agenda I'll still be involved in that if you want to take that over you certainly can But if the process right now of my Putting together an agenda and running the commission meetings is okay with you all It doesn't have to change that part of it doesn't have to change but we do need somebody to town hall needs somebody to step forward and be a a person of contact for the commission carolin Sorry, I was muted I am willing to do that For a bit of time. I think my term ends in june Okay, and if that's you know too much of an inconvenience then never mind, but I I know that you've been looking for someone for a year And it's off push it still is taking this off push but go ahead carolin Um, I'd be happy to meet with you like you know downtown Okay, any day and just talk about what it means, but I don't think it sounds like it's a big burden It feels like as you say, it's really just a point person and I've been on the thing for a while So I could probably do that, but um, you know, it's only gonna last a few months I appreciate it and you can be the test case if you do it and it's it's clearly as low maintenance as I think it is Uh, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it ends up being heavy and there's no There's no sense if you need to step down from it for a lot of for any different reason Then we can try and find a way to make that work But if there are people who are looking as carolin gets ready to term out Maybe that's a chance for us to look and see what it is that position entails So we can do maybe something you want to do more I do want to I mean basically my pitch there and thank you carolin You and I can talk about about you know, sort of moving forward next steps If you're okay, that will put to a vote in a second, but uh, if that's If that's something that that is okay with the commission Then you and I can take the next steps towards making that happen I do just want to say that any commission members should feel free if if what we are doing Doesn't work for you in terms of what your voice is how much your voice is weighed in terms of how I see I don't think that I don't have the sense that people are concerned about About my misrepresenting or my taking your voice from you But if there is a concern that you all have about about what the commission can or should be doing Then then you can speak through your your commission chair and speak to me directly and we can change the way we're doing it But in order to make the meetings work I hope that people are okay with the way that we've been We've been sort of operating up to this point if it shifts because you all want to shift it I am I am here as the director of recreation to speak to you and not speak for you Chairman is your hand up again I was going to say and carolin as well, you know I can serve as backup or you know, find out how things go Um, we can talk about transitioning in the summer if that would if that was That'd be awesome Thank you. Uh, so we have four members here And two members two active members that are not here today Uh, I believe that we definitely have we have the quorum I believe we can take the vote if there's a procedural issue about having those two people not here, but Uh I would like to offer a vote to the commission as to whether or not carolin would be Acceptable as a chair. So all in favor raise your hands all opposed Ray, I'm just wondering if maybe if just for dotting eyes and stuff one of us would make the motion I'm sorry. Yeah, but um Yeah, I'll make the motion for carolin to serve as chair Motion for carolin to serve as chair Now let's vote all in favor and a second to a second I'm sorry I You got to understand I have I am very very little experiences and no problems. I've been on the planning board for a while. So this is like Feed in to me, but yeah, so if someone would second it and then This is andy trying to try to be a last-minute replacement as a chair. He knows the rules No, I'm kidding. Uh, is there a second go for it in? Let's see it. I second There's a second I would like to now Pause I would like to now Uh, ask for a vote all in favor of carolin serving as chair All right And then carolin are you a yes also? Oh, if I get to vote yes, I'm a yes if you andy will do the meeting running Yeah If you will do the the uh, whatever that's called a formal part roberts rules Okay, because no one else really does that as well as you seem to be you know, you're good at it. Is that okay? Happy to chip in as as the as the chair desires carolin great Thanks Awesome. Thank you. So, uh motion passes. Uh, congratulations carolin All right. Thank you And again carolin you and I can speak off on About all the opportunities about what we do next um Okay that taking care of I've been looking in the I guess for public comment the next the next thing on the agenda is public comment There are no members of the public in the in the attendees pool except for one We have amy rusekki here if Amy is here I can actually bring her off now if necessary, but amy is here in a depth of a couple of capacities But I am going to actually invite her right now into the room and you'll be had a chance to meet her before I'm going to invite her Into the meeting room. I have to move her back Afterwards if necessary That she's here now. Amy. Are you here? I am you just unmuted me. Yeah Okay, I did I apologize. Uh, Amy Amy is Is uh dpw she is Uh, she's here. She's been with us before you all remember her from our from our CPAC proposals Amy could you share with us sort of your role in what you and dpw are looking for in this in this uh position inside the meeting Sure. Yeah, I'm I'm not here with a specific agenda. Um, I just know that especially a lot of conversations recently um regarding the playing fields, um have talked a lot about the the maintenance and the upkeep and condition and stuff like that of the playing fields and while Ray has been great at, you know, answering the questions that he knows It's the dpw staff that does a lot of that maintenance And so I just kind of want to be here to be able to answer questions if they come up or if I don't have answers Get them to you in the next meeting. But um, just kind of to make sure that We can get you guys the info that you need As as you need it Thank you. Amy. So uh in terms of our field interests in terms of our pool interests If and when we have issues Amy and or Any other members of dpw that would be here from commission here commission here Are here to answer some of those questions that maybe I don't have You know We will be moving into some as we get into the spring seasons, especially we'll be Looking at questions about availability about upkeep about maintenance. We'll be looking at access these are all issues that I I'm Eager to have amy's eyes and ears For in our in our commission meeting. So welcome. Are there I can say right now. Are there any questions that that we have about field? Any questions that commission members have I can while she's here on On our panel. Are there any questions that anybody has? extremely pertinent or or down the road For amy and dpw because the transition Uh, I can't put her back into the attendee's room here the transition out of that Of that open question. Do you have any field or? or facilities related questions for dpw the transition would be for me to pass over and talk to let andy speak about cpac and Are there any questions about field any questions comments concerns about field or field maintenance? Scheduling anything Then I will return amy again. Thank you raise your hand if you if you have anything you want to chime in on Or if there's anything that I need you for I will be looking for you Okay, thank you All right I can jump in on the cpac P so I actually was not present for our final vote which occurred december 20 something but Just as a refresher for folks for cpac. There were originally 15 proposals that were brought forward actually Yeah, 15 proposals of which four of them were recreation based so crock of farm elementary school playgrounds for river community school The community rec fuels the war memorial bath house and the war memorial pool improvements If anybody had been keeping track and we mentioned one of the last calls as well, but We typically have the neighborhood of two to three million. Um, so sarah, I'm sorry Sorry, andy. I just wondered if you could clarify. I don't know what cpac is. I'm not sure what we're talking about Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, sorry about that. Thank you. So it's the community preservation act commit a committee So it's part of your cpa and then we add the seon for fun at the end, but It's um About eight or nine folks. I want to say you've we've got representation from various boards and there are some at-large members as well as well And it's essentially, you know, we we evaluate proposals for funding For projects that fall under one of four different categories recreation open space Um historic preservation and community housing And there's some rule there's some rules around how the money gets allocated but um typically We have about you know, two million or so to to allocate and the the requests the proposals we get Are kind of read around two million. So we've been able to approve just about everything I say that because I've been on the committee for the last two years. So this is my third go round Based off that experience. That's where we've been this year. There was over eight million dollars worth of proposals So we knew originally right up front. There would be some some significant challenges to make this work um, there are some some mechanisms we can use debt service and so forth to be able to kind of stretch that out a little bit, but Um, I did want to recognize uh, sonia aldrich and shan manja manjano manjano Um manjano manjano. All right. I'm apologize, john for the for that, but um, they they went through and helped us really Um develop a path to be able to get as many of these projects approved as possible at smaller amounts Um, so of the rec committee proposals the crocker farm elementary school um, that one was was actually just pulled from consideration. So Um, it was deemed not particularly time sensitive And so a dug slaughter pulled that The war memorial bathhouse the war memorial pool improvements which amy presented to us in detail in a previous meeting Those were both approved at full funding levels And then you know when I mentioned the eight million really the big the big Bogey in that was the the fort river rec fields project, which was a three million dollar ask um Without getting into like all of the details. This is tied to the potential, you know, hundred million dollar Uh development of the schools. There's some concern that um The budget override given the the magnitude of it that it may not be palatable to voters But but if we could use some c-pack money to subsidize that a little bit and reduce the overall ask that maybe it would It would make it easier to pass um that said it was um The the committee did approve a smaller amount. So 404. I'm sorry. It was 700,000 Which is going to would be a bonded. So it would be a debt service that I think we amortized that over 10 years. So It's actually 70 000 per year would come out of that. That's contingent upon obviously the the project being approved this spring so That said, um, you know, I think Good to have, you know, the two fully at born memorial fort river, you know smaller amount. I did just just for my own benefit I did want to call out because I was not in favor of the three million as as proposed And I think there's some folks who may be confused because I'm on the rec commission and I you know, it is a very important thing to me You know, my my concern was not around the investment. It was just around sort of the mechanism of Of how it was kind of presented as this three million may make it May make the the overall project more Um passable or more kind of appetizing to to um to residents and You know, I I didn't think that that actually had any impact on whether this went past or not. So You know, I was more inclined to uh to to vote for some of the community housing. So Again, I some folks may be confused by that but um Anyhow, that's the round up happy to Answer any questions that folks may have I would like to very publicly thank andy and matt because I know it was a Heavy the amount of asks this year The amount of sort of strain that it took to try and make decisions. It's shopping with a very limited budget And I think that you know, they were asking great questions of us They're asking great questions of each other from why I was like, uh town hall was very happy with the commission with the c-pack committee In the way that they were trying to To honor their their responsibilities and making those decisions I am a director of a town department. And so obviously when the decisions are made and funny My job as a director is to essentially respond to those decisions I'm appreciative of I would I would have been appreciative if the answers would know because I would have assumed that that the Articulate defense that andy just offered there if it was no was to all the things that we said we wanted or needed Then I would have assumed that that was for a reason and as a public servant I would have found a way to try and figure out what we're doing And what we do now Now with the yeses yeses also lead us For myself for the rec commission. We're going to have to try and figure out. Okay. So we have this money What are we going to do? The fort river project if that passes if if we get through all the phases that are still in front of us But that fort river project is goes through the three million is is successful and and The c-pack investment is involved in those recreational fields That is our next home and trying to figure out what our relationship is with the school department And in terms of maintaining those fields in terms of making those fields work for programming in terms of sharing access And any other any other sort of what where the next steps there? That is the next major concern for my department Of course when it comes to war memorial That that is the middle of about two or three different long term Visions we want to make sure that you know the next steps now if we have If that is funded in full if that is something that we now are on the the next stages ourselves dpw You know our programming now has to figure out how to make that that the yeses work for us The great thing about c-pack is that when you if you get that Shiny little prize you get to get the award money or you get the The ability you get the okay to go and shop the way they The way we've asked to shop now we have to make programming work And that's where my department and that commissions advocacy Make things work for us. So our work isn't done because we sort of weighed in on the on the proposals Because we thought about them and asked questions our work now becomes how do we Responsibly spend that money and then program outside of that. So So again, thank you to Andy and the c-pack fair enough um Moving from that We have another guest which i'm excited because I don't like hearing myself talk. I like hearing her talk She's a panelist here, and we know her well Nikki abelia is here to give us updates on winter fest We're right on time. Nikki abelia is here to give us updates on winter fest we've been working to try to put winter fest back into a a primary spot in the in the culture of the Of the town here is the pandemic of course had us shuttered for a little bit last year we tried and then We sort of hit on macron right at the time where Where we had to scale way back on winter fest We have a plan for winter fest this year partnerships with Several entities that I asked nicky to come and just give us updates on winter fest. Nikki. Are you here? I am here. Hi everyone. Um, my apologies. My camera is also not working and I don't know. This is another little little cherry on the sunday for today. I guess. Um, but yeah, so let me start off with um, you know talking about winter fest I was you know on the committee for many many years before the pandemic hit Um, so i'm very excited that we get to bring it back into some capacity It we're definitely easing into it, which is great and I think is important Um, and just trying to take highlights From what we provided in the past and making them manageable and also provide some fun free entertainment for our community. So, um, I am excited to announce that we have made partnerships with Now this is a mouthful. So get ready. Um The bid the chamber and her cinema the mill district the senior center the jones library big brothers big sisters and crest so, um Some of these community partners will be providing Uh, you know entertainment performances or events on their own Uh, some will be partnering with us for major events Um, and others are just there to provide support in terms of setup cleanup execution So let's uh, let's get it kicked off. So I know we haven't had the most, uh White winter in history, but that doesn't matter because it's still winter in new england and we'll get people out with some fun things um, so we have Our kickoff event at cherry hill, which is going to be saturday january 28th from, uh, 12 p.m. To 4 p.m. And it's kind of like a mini version of what our grand finale used to be in the past Um, so we're looking at a blazing bonfire Um with you know marsh mellows. We're getting hot chocolate. Our main partner here is the mill district, which is awesome Um, they're also going to be our shuttle station instead of mill river, which is much nicer So people can you know hop on take a you know, little little bus From the mill district over to cherry hill Enjoy what we have and then be able to you know, get back without worry We will make sure that we have you know, handicapped parking and and available parking within the cherry hill lot for those who need it So that won't be a concern. Um, we're also going to have the foster from uh kids carnival That's actually going to be run by big brothers big sisters Um, so we're we're you know solidifying all of these things this week But as right now i'm like they're all 99.999 percent happening. You know what I mean? um So you know kids will be able to play as many games of chances they would like they get prizes We'll have craft tables with Like two or three different crafts available. Um, if there's snow, we have Sleds available because I know sleds are very expensive And we want to make sure that friends have access to um, you know equipment So we're gonna have that there's also the winter fest wildlife explorers hunt Which features I believe eight to ten uh regional animals that are placed on lawn signs throughout the cherry hill golf course So it encourages people to walk around the course and enjoy the course And they all have fun animal facts on there and they can turn in their little guide and get a get a little gift We're also going to be doing um cardboard classic bringing that back And that's going to be snow or no snow because the kids can show off what they made It can really be almost an art piece at that point. They get a fun trophy. It's a good time Um, and then we are looking at a couple of golf contests that will go on during the day um Those will be you know gift cars to cherry hill will be the price and the incentive We'll have the cross country and hiking trails trails open the senior center will be tabling the event perhaps With some senior helpers who wanted to show off, you know Some little arts and crafts that they have been doing And um, also like I said the mill district Um, I know rey and I were discussing a possible, uh nordic ski demo But that of course is whether Permitting and of course it is permitting, you know, whoever is is you know, would be in charge of that and running that now live jazz Um, so moving on from that sprinkled throughout like I said, we'll have you know, the library's doing things We are excited to announce a partnership with amherst cinema. Uh, we had a great meeting with them yesterday morning Uh, discussing their family Film series that are for five dollars. So five dollar family film series and we're kicking it off on February 4th the day of the lumen area Um And it's a frozen sing-along. So I mean come on. I mean the kids still love it And I think it's great and I think it's really awesome Um, we also made sure to purchase a number of tickets that we will distribute through the family center Um, as well as our after-school programs for children who may not have access to um a Ford movie tickets and want to have a good time So we're going to do that and then leading into um, and please anyone ask any questions sometimes I could just ramble on and Speak really quickly. Um We have uh, the lumen area. So that's awesome. That is a wonderful event. That is a major partnership with The bid in the chamber to execute that and what we have is you know, it's 1500 2000 luminary bags Um, if you don't know what those are, they're just like little paper bags They have a little tea light in it sand and they're decorated and a nice little pattern on the town common um, and we're looking into Getting a local cafe to provide free hot cocoa or very very inexpensive hot cocoa at a dollar a cup Um, and we'll have a bunch of our our community partners tabling that event as well And it's really just a hey come by when you can it's from 5 p.m. To 7 30 Walk around enjoy yourself And you know, it's really promoting our businesses in the center of amherst making sure that hey, you know what? We're here. Let's go have a bite to eat. Let's go check out the toy store like all that good stuff. Um And then we are wrapping up with the uh bids presents Fire and ice which is supposed to be a fantastic absolutely fantastic ending to our winter fest Scheduled this year. There will be life. Uh, sorry live ice carving There will be ice sculptures. There's gonna be we'll be doing our we're doing a craft table with Snow tie dye and some other painting crafts and again, these are all free of cost whenever we table an event for anything like this And it you know, it's gonna have entertainment. It's going to be a lot of fun and uh, we're really really excited for that And i'm happy to answer any questions or if you have no questions. That's good too. Um Oh, I will mention so our calendar. I know people are wondering. Oh my gosh like but where and when and how so I'm working on a uh qr code link tree of sorts. So we'll be able to um um One highlight all of our community partners and make it accessible so you can just scan that qr code and we'll show all the links to our community partners as well as our calendar for Winterfest which will be primarily on facebook I think uh, did I cover that right? You cover it funny is there is it you can pause for a second because there are a couple hands up. Oh, please hands up Let's go Andy You've moved it. Oh, okay. All right. No, thanks. Um, you know, thanks for the uh, the energetic presentation mickey That's um, it's good to hear the stuff. I mean you kind of answer some of my question, which was Where is sort of the calendar? I'm not a facebook user So I guess what you know for me to get this am I Going to the uh to the website or you know, how how else we getting the calendar out to Folks wonderful question. So it is going to be a digital flip book Almost if you can imagine that um, so it'll be accessible on our website as well and that will be in the link tree Through the qr code. So we will make sure and as well as the town website. Um It will have a link so that everyone can come and see what we're offering Okay, cool. And then I guess another question. So you mentioned it's on facebook Do we do I'll reach on other social media platforms? Um, so we In the past we have done, um, you know, we've tried them all the the snapchat the twitters the instagrams um All that stuff and it really does require A full-time person to put the energy into making it was effective. Um, we're not against it, of course uh, but Yeah, right now where I think our focus is that we we have a Uh dormant, uh youtube account, but we can always, you know, make little videos and post them up there Okay, great. Thank you Thinking about departmental sort of stuff We have talked a little bit about the organization of our org chart and and what we're doing with marketing and Right now Our marketing is you're basically talking to the marketing team here Uh, because nicky's here and she's She is she's our social person. It does require us to have somebody that is It's a I think I I'm trying to get us into we do have the youtube station. We do have Uh, we do have access in other places, but nor do it. Well, we are looking for activity and we're looking for a sustained sort of effort and But That is sort of a future that's a future planning question for us Great question. Carolyn Um, I I want to say I also appreciate all the creative energy that's going into winterfest. It's It's really it's really impressive the things you guys come up with And I'm sure it really helps to attract people. I didn't I didn't hear you mentioned snowmaking. Did you mention snowmaking or do we not have a machine anymore? We do have the snow machine. I don't want to speak on behalf of john or superintendent of facilities at cherry hill, but Um, I know we do Um, I I personally don't know the capacity in which it produces snow. So I don't want to speak on that Um, but I'm sure something could be done But I think we're gonna we're gonna figure all that out and hopefully I'm just fingers crossed that we're gonna get this major nor'easter before a week before and it's going to be a winter wonderland over there I'm sure it is My concern has been typically My power, uh, my concern has been that The nor'easters come and then they melt so fast that it's hard to be particularly when we get that snow Um, this is one of those places where speaking in advance if if No, if I hear carolins question as being an encouragement to fire up that snow machine and to and to Make snow by hook or by crook if if if the encouragement here is for us to make sure there's snow out there Then that is this would be great practice for the commission to twist my arm So so I can twist our arm at cherry hill. Um, there is some uh, that There is some resistance from us to do it for for a variety of different reasons But but I think that that would be a case where they obviously for the community if if we need snow And you don't want me to to look look in a direction that that doesn't involve snow Please feel free to Twist forming carolin follow-up um I don't know how encouragement, you know, how much encouragement we could give give to move it along but I think At the very least if we are able to advertise it beforehand If we can get a snow maker that works, I think it will probably help a lot in attendance Um, you know, especially for the cardboard classic, which I think we've made snow for before Yeah, it's it's important. This is winterfest and if we can possibly get at least that on there I think it would attract a lot more people For for the uh, and I see your hand Andy again, but uh for the people who are Uh familiar with winterfest and have a long history of winterfest and participated or what have you I guess one of the things I could ask you is Have you ever had a winterfest without snow that was amazing and magical and that sort of thing where the experience is without it where the experience is with it, um If If it's not a big deal, then it's not a big deal, but I know like I'm I love snow personally I love snow. I wish it would snow every day My answer is my favorite season snow is my favorite thing to work I would love to have snow every day and I think winterfest is added by that I could I agree that the attraction there is with snow If there are people who who whose great memories of winterfest are are heavily attached to the To the presence of snow then feel free to share that with us and share that with me Andy Yeah, so um If I'm trying to make sure I'm following correctly We we have access to a snow machine or we would like rent a snow machine. We have had Uh, we have a we have snow machine. We have snow making abilities. We have had that in the past. I don't know. I've never been I've never been involved in the conversation to make or not make. I've been involved in the conversation in terms of how much Uh, how much work it takes In my mind, I've never I've never actually seen a snow machine operate But in my mind, it's like you turn it on and there's snow. It just shoots snow out there snow out there My understanding now is that it's a lot more complicated than that and it does take some a little bit of work a little bit of effort But yeah I mean no no doubt that it does right? Otherwise everybody would be using it, but I I guess like if we have access to one You know, we don't have a ski slope like this What else are we using it for? You know, this seems like the perfect application. So And I I would say that In my experience for kind of winter festivals, it's winter a winter festival snow Is and and ice and things like that are a big part of uh a big part of that. So I would make a motion to fire up the snow maker Um, I do think it's something that you know, if we really want to Be prepared Then then we should we should plan on doing that in the case that we don't have mother nature helping us out. So I'm well If that's a motion, I second it I I uh I hear the motion the motion has been seconded. Uh, I as the director and niki is taking notes That'll be Whether whether you need to twist my arm and continue to twist my arm on it We will be putting our heads together about how to how to make that a priority for us and And it may be that somebody tells me that it's impossible. I don't know I'm not predicting that but if somebody were to tell me it's impossible somebody was to tell me That's gonna cost us a lot of money somebody tells me for whatever reason that that might end up putting brakes on that conversation Uh, I want to see the thing work. Uh, and I want to see snow. So Yeah I was to say like if we can't do it for this we should just sell it like I I don't know what else we I Yeah was to do that. I I um Never personally saw it in action So I can't speak to you know, it's effectiveness or anything because I would just show up and be like Oh, yes or no. Um, and just told to go on with with my duties as a sign Um, but Ray and I yeah, we can absolutely look into it. See what its You know capacity is like if it's a if it's a an amazing thing and we've just been holding on to it Yeah, let's go. Um, if it's you know spurtin out there, you know Random snowflakes then uh, we gotta see what else we can look into Well, I would say even if even if you can't run enough to get snow collecting I think just being able to walk underneath it Especially on a day when there isn't snow like if you could just walk underneath some snowflakes Then that that I think would also be really fun brings the magic Yeah I'm sorry, um, I was gonna say if if I I know I'm repeating myself, but if we can publicize it if we get a yes And we have time to publicize it. I really feel like it's an important thing That was that was the other I was I was just going to reinforce what you had said earlier I was going to say the biggest thing that I heard in carol's Question and the follow-up was if we can if we can advertise that we have the snowmaker The snow machine there's going to be snow then that potentially draws people It's maybe even especially if there's not snow in the forecast Maybe even especially if we don't know if there's no in the forecast and so that is a way of getting people Sucked into that magic Yeah, well, we are we are meeting with john, um Thursdays though, you know before even the calendar goes out. We'll we'll be sure to have an answer Up to some regard Thank you So I guess that's a question. I'm sorry. Just you know given given our you know monthly ish Kate's we won't meet again before then so You know Do you have everything you need from us or is there like You know, is there Do you Yeah, I don't know how to phrase it but like You know, you're looking If it if the response is hey, it's going to be too hard like Can you just indicate how much we're pushing them? It's it's more of a more of a We're we're telling not asking type of thing Two things on that first thing is My new chair and I in the middle of our conversation part part of that conversation I think that's a strong position for advocacy Carolyn you can follow up with me as we talk about setting up february That that is position that that I think the chair our chair should be Free to advocate for and if we're worried that there's not a meeting time between now and the time that we would be doing it then Trust carolin that we that we will that will be on our conversation. That'll be a matter of our conversation to make sure that we're we're Exploring what we need to explore in those In that conversation The second thing is I do want to turn over just ask nicky if there's anything Any volunteer stuff I heard in andy's question also. Is there anything that you need from us? Is there Is there anything that the commission can do between now and then that we that we need or looking for We know we're talking to use if about some of the things that that uh He's done in the past and some of the resources that he provides for winterfest Is there anything nicky that the that the commission should be thinking about or can offer that we may need? Yeah, sure. Um, so it you know, obviously no no need if you can't do it But we're always looking for hands who want to you know, even if it's just being there for the event like That we have these larger events that would be awesome Um, it gives an opportunity for the public to see you guys and you know, who's who's behind, you know These these big decisions that you know involve all of us um Primarily, uh, you know Somebody who may want to you know attend to the fire the blazing blazing bonfire you know, someone who wants to be in charge of that or um So when he wants to help us fill luminary bags on on that day, I mean, I don't I don't wish that on anyone else but We would be doing it inside the bid in the chamber They lovingly are letting us work in there and then we put them all on sleds and bring them down to the common um Alternatively if you're a golf enthusiast and you want to run our contests for the day of the kickoff You know, we're not, you know, that's that's definitely open as well And if there are no takers totally respect all the respect for that, um, we still appreciate everything that you do And um, thanks for that list Nikki. I guess, um, just for maybe sake of organization Is that is that maybe written down? Right of here the options So that you know, we can we can follow up on that and then one of the items that I was wondering too is um You know, is there like an Amherst wreck table is is it's the type of thing where there's going to be, you know um a window of time where it would make sense for Uh, you know us to be there representing Amherst wreck And then if that is Kate the case or maybe even if it isn't Um, I think it might be useful for us to be able to have Sort of a, you know, 2023 forecast, I don't know like here's some things that you should be watching for that we could you know that we could bring forward Um, you know people want to approach us and and ask well, what what is happening? Um, rather than just say hey go to the website or look for the mail or like are there Right, right or something you can provide us Yeah, multiple multiple questions. Oh, sorry. Um, yeah, I can absolutely write down these options And Ray and then Ray can send them off to everyone. Um in the morning, no problem at all And um, I don't see any, you know, we tend to table any event that even that we put on With promotional materials, etc. However, uh, you know, why not for the kickoff event? Have you guys inside the clubhouse and make a fun table that looks actually inviting? Um, that you know people come in and you know Ask questions. You can display what we're working on all that good stuff. I mean, that's an option I'm what we're open to anything and we can make really most anything work um For for recognition. That's not uh, you know online based Thank you Yeah, thank you And so we're we are excited because Winifest is back We're excited because I lost the opportunity to to to experience that last year The I think the town is looking for that opportunity We've had a bunch of different opportunities to get people in large crowds and out and moving and stuff So it feels a little bit normal when we're in When the thing like Winifest comes off I think the general feeling is that we feel a little bit more normal We feel like the town is moving in a direction, which is Which is pre-pandemic Is safe is family fun it's it's uh We have we have all the pieces that I think makes my department excited engaged Fair enough any last questions for nicky before I tell her she can go away Or stay Oh Thank you, nicky Thank you all very very much and I hope you enjoy the rest of your evenings and I'll I'll be in touch All right I actually feel like my times are right on right on uh, we're on the market today. Um, so now briefly uh project updates some some relatively small right now because they're in the middle of of activity I can go backwards because Amherst community theater is very much that they're the most You know far far along and where they are Amherst community theater has little their little mermaid coming in The presentation of little mermaid is coming up towards the end of the month It is thursday friday saturday sunday at balker auditorium I do just want to say it's less of a project But it's another one of those things that we do that we haven't done in a while I am really really excited about the opportunity to come out here And see that I'll be there a few times probably My staff will be working the box office and I'll I'll be somewhere over there to see it. I love uh theater musical theater So it really was a perk when I got a chance to Step into this role and then realized that we are we have under our umbrella the The fine work of the of the community theater and the volunteers that put that on and the professions that put that on I promise to be an amazing show I sort of said this as a as a joke at our department head major thing But I I think I'll be there enough and I'll be just enough of the nerd in the audience there that if somebody goes down with an injury or an illness I think I'm really I think I'm I'm gonna live my fantasy and run up on stage Uh, yeah, so I say that and you know the the dates are there if anybody is interested in getting tickets You can get the tickets through the direct department offices If you know people might be interested people with kids people that are fans of theater Send them our way because we'd love to have them and so So the hats to them is community theater. We've been putting in a lot of hard work on performance set design Youth empowerment We have restarted the conversation in earnest myself and Parts of the town council We have started talk about about taking My notes from our early exploration of youth empowerment both Andy and Sarah were were in other worlds when we were talking about that last year last year's Last year's ARPA grant for a youth empowerment center was directly we were given the the task and Responsibility we accepted the responsibility of doing the early exploration of how to spend the ARPA money Money was set aside for the purpose of building a youth empowerment center in town We are looking right now at Sort of changing some of that it got to be a little much given that they were interested in doing it right away and in terms of in terms of How we thought that money was best spent and also in terms of in terms of just some mechanical issues about what we How we put that together the youth empowerment center youth empowerment idea right now Is a combination as we start the conversation again it's a conversation between my notes and some of the people on the council who were heavily involved in as private citizens originally but then later on as as counselors that are very vested in that that idea and what the initial thoughts were we're putting our heads together to see if we can't We can't make something happen with the ARPA grant and with our With our collective agents where we had a couple brainstorming sessions We're we're going to be working together here and we're hoping to have something some attraction on that ASAP Andy Thanks, Ray. Um I guess I'm curious. So one How much money is there and when you mentioned to sort of build an empowerment center Um, like what what are we thinking the scope of that entails? Is that just like getting staffing? Is that getting space is that? Um, anyway, just as you mentioned I was not part of this world. So I I I can I think I can do the reader's digest version here because I will start talking about it for a while The youth empowerment for me As was introduced it's an idea that we have in in an ideal in a pie in the sky. It's to have a physical center is to have physical building a youth drop-in center with professionals working with where we can Where we can basically have space where especially kids in that gap area that we've done a lot of Thinking about and planning around that those like middle school age. It's basically six to ninth graders that are especially um Targeted by our efforts to give them something that's their own to be creative something that that they can That they can build their their futures with their presence and their futures um that uh That idea You asked how much money there's five hundred thousand dollars. I believe it's five hundred thousand dollars in that grant There's five hundred thousand dollars in it, which was to run a feasibility study and to start the investment That's not enough money to build a spot on a bus line and access and everything. That's not you didn't get enough money I don't think the intention was to to build a great new shining temple um We would love to have that as a future goal but right now we're thinking that the that our focus is going to be on on initiating or continuing or to Promote some of the services that are used in parliament so it would be able to do some of it is Right in line with what we do with the rec department already gym space Give people a chance to get there and get exercise and to sort of run around have fields to play on have Have games to play and game moves and stuff. We're thinking about this is like when we talk about youth empowerment There's a lot of different ideas about what youth empowerment entails that may be Youth empowerment may be Co-curricular there may be school sort of stuff We're talking about doing doing Having we have ideas around job training resume building Speech classes things like public speaking sort of sort of opportunities things like like Financial literacy which I think the school department what we're we're talking about the school department also But the school department will talk about How how a lot of the things that we remember through our through our Times growing up and from what we the model of education was before Things like home ag and financial literacy a lot of times those are things that are casualties in the school department or they just don't have mandatory access to to kids and so some kids might get it from the schools and some kids very easy to just Shift by those sorts of things But trying to find ways to invite people in to give them some of the things that help build them for where their futures are Starting looking at at you know There's a lot of inclusion sort of things that go into empowerment about acceptance and inclusion about Lifting people up and acknowledging people. There's some cultural literacy that would go into youth empowerment There's some civic civic sort of sort of Responsibility or civic training or that sort of thing that could help them things like getting around in a car Or there are a bunch of different things that that I think could go into this and then and we're trying to sort of Narrow that down into a digestible form that we can put on the table and start start In the direction of building programming here We don't want the rec department to be ball and sport And sort of have that be what we're doing if we're involved in this long term We don't have to be rec department doesn't have to be involved in this or have this be our project long term But we are working to try and make sure that because at least part of it is recreation is in line with our recreational interests We want to try and make sure that We are steering some of that in the early stages. I see your hand sarah you Thanks ray. Um, I just wanted to i'm curious and wanted to raise um in terms of the youth empowerment funds Is that something you know thinking about that sixth or ninth grade age like right now Any kids who want to be involved in sports outside of like the recreation stuff? There's no transportation for them There are there is nothing like model un or things like I mean Essentially when we talk about like equity for kids and like empowering kids Basically, their parents have to be able to do that and so I guess I'm just curious like our funds like that Is it something we could talk about as a possibility for funds? For yes So early on there's another grant which Which we got in our last year Which we've been waiting to try and tie into this and tie into a couple other things that we're doing in the department as to How we use it the the biggest goal for a 200 thousand dollar grant For enhancing department goals. We started looking at transportation. We did a lot We had more access and recreation for transportation before That's one of those targets that we've been thinking about Sort of investing in at least in the short term that doesn't that doesn't mean that we'll have it every year But that 200 thousand dollar grant at least can start to go and bring people in Yes, independence is one of those things that we're looking at trying to coach and And provide the access to independence for kids It doesn't help if they're not on a bus line if they're not they don't have the ability if it's too far removed if We're looking at a physical space We knew that it was going to have to be on a bus I was going to have to be Within a shout this within easy access to the schools because we're looking at after school time We're looking at I forgot about When I was talking about the different ideas for youth empowerment we also talked about the recreational interests of art and And performance sorts of things that would that would ideally be attached to this youth empowerment sense There's a lot of ways that people look trying to get that recreational energy, but In order to be attached to the schools and their after school Opportunities we want access You know, we we started looking don't don't assume it I'm thinking that this is where we end up going because there's a lot of reasons why it's why it'd be a bad idea But when uh, you know with wildwood With the situation with wildwood and closing down we started thinking well, what if we were to Make that our home? What if we were to make that? What if we were to So one of the reasons why it's closing down is because of the amount of money that would take to make that work but try to find a space that is Proxima With is within reasonable proximity to where kids are and where kids could could create create sort of a sense of themselves Um And so so yes access is a major issue if we if we house Programming instead of a physical building right now we house program out of the schools or out of some Stays those are the parts that we have to get to but absolutely a An absolute priority for us is going to be I'm creating programs that are accessed easily by the kids I guess I just want to raise and I know you know We're my family right now is is deeply involved in basketball and I'm just going to use it as an example but I think it it holds true is For any kid who wants to play middle school and next year that will be six through eight who wants to play Middle school basketball and that's kind of a partnership between the school and the rec committee You know, there's no transportation to any of the games and their practices are every night from seven Not every night, but two or three days a week from seven to nine And so I guess when I'm thinking about transportation, I'm just thinking Not even like housing entire programs But I mean it it's basically just a cost for a school bus And I I know families who have pulled their kids out of competitive basketball because They don't have the resources to be driving their kids all over the pioneer valley or to leave work to get them to and from practice Because there's no way because these kids aren't just going to practice after school And I know this is like one little microcosm, but I think it's like true across the board for kids six through ninth is like there's no There's no opportunity just to walk to something after school It's parent dependent to get them back to school And then if it's something that involves a competition, whether that's sports or You know, if it's an academic competition again, it's all parent dependent And so I just wonder it's not a competition for tonight But just kind of laying on the table that that That issue of access is very real and and kids that are getting pulled out of that because parents don't have a flexible work schedule Or don't have a car or don't have x y and z and then they get to high school And they don't have the experience and so they're not getting to continue in those opportunities correct I think well stated I'm learning over the course of my time here Just how different it is to program for rec as it is for the schools the schools have buses Schools have access to buses and so when we pick up programs from the schools I echo that same sentiment that that some of the things that limit our access is Bussing and so that's why that was the center of our thoughts for that our program for a little while at 200 000 to try and come up with a busing plan come Over the transportation plan at least in the Here and now and give Ourselves a chance to collect data to collect experience and say this is an important piece. We've extended access people Our numbers are up because access is up our experience is better because because transportation is there And to try and put that in future lines try and put that in in our budget for the future Trying to convince the town that that is a worthy investment. The ARPA grant would not cover us For year and year out. It's a grant that runs out when it runs out but to gather that information to be able to be able to use that money as a way of Providing and showing what the use of that of that Focuses is an important part of it the schools have a busing budget the schools have a transportation budget It's part of their responsibility. It's part of it's built into their responsibility. It's built into their budget as a reflection We haven't gotten to that stage yet And so that has that we know that's been an issue for when we pick up programs from the school department That's that has constantly been an issue for us in my short time. That's been it's been a loud issue for us Hey, when we were at the schools we had buses that took care of this when we were at the schools We had so-and-so so I hear Other questions about youth empowerment comments concerns Last one is pickleball We we To give you an update on where we are there for andy and sarah who have not been With us when we really got into the pickleball conversation last year Andy you're a c-pad. So you So you had access to what that push was Right now we are in the process of trying to find as I call it pickleballs forever home Uh, they were granted they being being the pickleball the petitioners for a pickleball facilities last year were granted in c-pack a the money to explore A pickleball court a set of pickleball courts here in In amherst. We're in the middle of that curve someplace There are towns that are far along in that conversation that we are There are towns that would love to be where we are right now in terms of having a thumbs up and a yes on that process But pretty much every town is somewhere on that curve pickleball is is a This is what for me as a director of recreation It is it has all sorts of future benefits in terms of programming in terms of getting kids active in terms of Creating generativity and trying to find a way to get the next generation interested in doing something and There are a lot of reasons why I like it. It satisfies a whole that's The interest in pickleball is especially That it's especially peaked in in senior age groups And that's an area that we don't have a lot of programming for so part of this is also my saying We want to try and fill some of the gaps in our programming But uh, but also we took on as recreation is a recreation request last year and it's important that When c-pack gives us a gives us a thumbs up and we're We're sort of championed with the cause of finding its home Then I think that that's an important part of of our job here. We're looking at sites right now We have a we have Another sort of the next meeting that we have on this Is intended to be one where we can start to accelerate that conversation about where that that that site is It it isn't something that happens overnight And I'm hopeful that when it does show up that all of you all will help me in advocating for For as much protection of that as much as much access as much activity on those courses you can find But pickleball is coming and I'm happy to say that we are in the process We've been in the process for a little while, but we are in the process of making that work I wish I had specifics for you at this meeting, but that'll be the next time Andy exciting stuff When you say it's coming what you know, and if you kind of crystal ball gaze here Are you thinking that you know, we'll have a site selected in You know three months six months a year, you know Do we need I think to see back was like 120 grand Is that enough to actually go out and construct? So is it is it just a matter of we find the site and we're We're funded to build it or is there more worth it has to happen after that I'm going to not because I need her but I'm gonna pull Amy in just so that she's able to talk If if there is anything that she wants to add to this one second So to answer your question That's one of the next It's one of the next major tasks for us to find out if that 120,000 dollars is sufficient for what we're looking for There are a couple of proposals that we're gonna have to weigh a couple of sites and proposals that we're going to have to weigh That that are Sort of long term goals They say that to say that they would be the courts would be done right away if we choose them It's attached to a bunch of different ideas that we have for recreational interests and town interests Those those goals might not be something where we have them set in three months six months But we do have that's one of the reasons why we we brought in temporary courts over at Mill River And we may be expanding those temporary courts if we don't have an immediate Court in line 120,000 dollars we're going to cover a couple of those so we might be looking to try and see how we can get get Supplemental funding for those but we have to find the site That makes the most sense for us before we can figure out a calendar. How do I do anything? That no that was good. I you know, I think Generally what you're sensing from us is that there there's kind of a lot of that that's unknown There's no site that we've identified that we could just Paint lines and be good to go like every site's going to need some construction. It's just a matter of where we go whether it's um Like if we take the mill river tennis courts, you know, technically We have to expand just a little bit that area to make the configuration work right now those courts are actually not quite legal size But they work So if we wanted those to be multi-use we'd have to expand the fence line and you know, put some additional pavement to make those work But other sites that we're looking at would be putting um, you know, putting some pavement down somewhere to be able to put um court dedicated pickleball courts as opposed to multi-use courts at mill river So those are all very much still in the option and we're going to have better ideas on the cost when we have better ideas on The site and what what work it's going to require. Some of them are going to some of the sites are going to need a parking area as well as um the areas depending on where we go, so What what do you think the timing looks like Amy for when we might Feel like we found the right spot For when we feel like we found the right spot Yeah, I'm hopeful that we could you know in the next couple of months have a good feel of where we're going to go um, and then we'll have a better feel of the um The timeline after that Okay Just curious too. Do you need I assume the answers? Yes, but does pickle to pickleball courts need to be fenced like a tennis court since the ball doesn't go as far It does not Okay, all right. I that's my understanding actually ray you might play pickleball and Barely I've I've hit around. I don't know if the terminology is right I've barely played That's coming next also. I don't know if if large fencing is necessary I can Talk to my experts about that, but I don't know if it's if it's absolute or not I haven't seen it without fencing Yeah, I feel like a lot of them when you look at them and again I don't know if this is technically that it's needed or if it's more for ease I feel like a lot of them have low fencing probably just if you missed the ball. You're not running forever to Yeah, that makes sense. I imagine the tall fences That's quite an additional cost so Maybe if you can do a low one keep the dogs out keep the ball in then Who knows maybe we can make that 120 go for Yeah, and when it's done. Well, you have I think the culture of pickleball is like I don't pick up basketball on on You know in a town where there's a lot of people coming over these courts and there's sort of a culture of waiting and there's a culture of sort of competition and mixed levels One other piece that that should be mentioned there is there should be We should be looking at doing stands and and so whether bleach or seedings or or some some sort of Seeding arrangement there that we should be looking at seeding In those places. Awesome That's just for your matches, right Ray so we can all come in and watch I I'm gonna go and try and train in the dark or something I'm gonna try and train in the shadows Go off to be one of those old movies where I go to a sensei often In the In the fields of the woods or something Sanjay. Yeah, Amy if the If the mill river courts are decided to be made into multi-use meaning tennis and pickleball What's the plan for the pickleball nets? How does how does having the two sets of nets work and maintain playability for both sports? It's no, it's a good question. Fortunately, most pickleball court Nets are on wheels They're mobile. That's just kind of the nature of them The tennis nets are not and so that's part of the limiting factor of that space is that those tennis nets would remain And the pickleball courts would kind of be using half of the tennis sports And The the nets would have to be moved Um, you know, if even if we go to another site, you know, the nice thing about it is even You we have the possibility to kind of make these Multi-use sites, you know, you can Move all the things off and it could be a place for street hockey or something like that Like we kind of have some possibilities because of the fact that these nets aren't permanent fixtures. They are Moveable and that's just the nature of them But DPW would contemplate leaving portable pickleball nets in the cage at Mill River and I mean, I I've asked about that. I'm like, are we going to like attach it by like a chain to one wall so that it leaves? I think right Other people maybe didn't share my concern, but I share that same concern Or the temporary courts that are set up there right now We've had a temporary lining of the tennis courts There of one of the tennis courts there into two different courts Are there of one of the tennis courts there into two different pickleball spaces The the one thing that makes it difficult for us to really gauge what the community interests is in that Is that we didn't put nets out. There are the large people large large numbers of people who play pickleball And are heavy into it have their own portable nets and they bring them with themselves But in terms of that drop-in Fold for dropping folks not having a net out there does challenge it But because we we painted it we painted those lines at a time where we were winterizing and the pools were closing We didn't want to invest in new nets right now. You're gonna we're gonna have nets out there for the spring season so we can gauge How many people come over and pick up from We can if it comes down to having somebody go over and drop off that that's for them, but we want to try and do it as as a sort of a departmental loan situation if we need to Until we can find a way to secure it in that space on wheels to the fence or what happens So we can find a way to make sure that it can stay there and stay Basically stay secure so it's an investment that we can keep going Certainly during the summertime that those pools are open and we can just we can basically Like a library card. We could basically loan them out of out of the pool house But right now we don't have that flexibility To stop over in the department office. Did it make sense for us for the fall? So we just wanted to get lines down to get people access But that that netting is is gonna come in the spring I mean, I'll put a I'll just say a word for not making the mill river tennis courts into multi-use Let's let's give the pickleballers a proper home And then then, you know, the tennis courts. I'm at mill river a lot For baseball and the tennis courts are used You know, perhaps not heavily but they are used and you know, just regarding the nets and the equipment You know the mill river and the middle school tennis courts are Maintaining even the nets on the tennis courts is a challenge for the town And I mean Amy has heard me say this before right like Let's have a plan for taking care of this stuff and let's have a budget for taking care of the stuff Right. I mean a tennis net is a couple hundred bucks. A pickleball net must be a little bit less than that We can't assume DPW can't assume rec can't assume that you're going to buy pickleball nets once and it's going to be good for 10 years Right, we don't want to we don't want to end up with nice court surface and lines and no nets for people to hit over No, I I agree with a lot of what you're saying Sanjay and I do appreciate the insight regarding, you know, as we're evaluating sites knowing You know, what what the thoughts are on a multi-use, you know tennis and pickleball like that that's helpful for us to To hear your opinions on that. I mean my observation is that the usage at the mill river tennis courts is by more Beginner players than the middle school courts That the the group of people who tends to play at the middle school is a More advanced group of tennis players and when I see people playing at the mill river courts They are beginners going out to have fun whacking a ball around And perhaps they're more tolerant of the sort of lower quality surface at mill river than at the middle school or something like that, but It is it is a different group. It's a group that's probably less likely to make themselves visible Right in terms of like if you just if you said you were going to paint pickleball lines at the middle school You'd probably hear from the Amherst tennis players I suspect that the people who play tennis at mill river are not aware enough or kind of connected enough to self advocate in that way But there is a there is from my anecdotal observation a community of people who use those courts for tennis Thank you That's that's actually a very helpful suggestion Actually, can I make a comment? Yes, please it the cost of being contrary Um, I go there every day in the summer and I've seen a lot of good tennis players there So I would not argue for letting the courts go bad Um, I and I know people who play tennis over there. I think you're right I think people give lessons there and kids play there, but I don't think that's all that happens there Yes, I hope you did not interpret anything I said to suggest that I endorsed Uh, abandonment or or benign neglect of the mill river courts Um, okay, no I understand I don't think there's anything I said that could be construed that way merely that the the people I observe using Those may not be as noisy as the people using the middle school courts And that we should preserve their ability to play tennis Yeah, I agree. I think it'd be great to to have Room for both, um, you know as much room as possible for both So if if I'm allowed to ray am I allowed to just ask a question of the group? Um, you know, I mean as we are looking at different sites. We're looking at various sites throughout the town um And a bunch of them are You know looking at town owned properties. And so, you know, we think of grove park. We think of Kiwanis um, we think of the cowfield um And then at mill river if we're not looking at the tennis courts the other potential location would be That side parking lot so the parking lot to the left as you come in which would take a bunch of parking spots away Um, so I'm curious what people think about those different options Some of them would take parking from a place that's used so much That's my concern on that site is I don't want to take I get putting a lot of resources in one spot But I'm nervous about an additional resource with less parking to have people access it. Um But you know, there's there's all these various sites. So I'm just curious what you guys think about that. I welcome any input Well, Amy a couple years ago when we were first approached about putting in pickleball courts We all thought that that left side of mill river was perfect And we were pursuing it for a while and I don't know why it didn't go through But I think there's been a decision made that that's not suitable. Ray, do you know the history of that? I do a little bit there was there has been a concern raised that the parking lot is that parking space has been used for for That is used for Community recreation that there are things that they use there That happen in that parking lot that the community has interested that we don't want to necessarily Displace That's one of the big reasons why that it's not the only reason but that's one of the big reasons why we look for alternative spacing I think Amy's right though. I think I don't know What what's happening with a cowfield, but it seems like we have lots of other options in town and You know, I guess I don't know how you eliminate them or or not, but I think we should be Active in that because I don't want to fall behind the other towns. Everyone's talking about it Do you have thoughts on which of those sites? Make sense to you or you know, maybe have the ability to have this additional resource at it Um, well, like I said, I don't really know what the deal is with the cowfield. It used to be little, you know At least to be baseball. I don't even know if that's used anymore And it's pretty close to the traffic. So maybe not great, but um Somewhere in the center of town seems ideal in many ways. We talked about gruff park. I don't see I don't know why things have been rejected in the past But they might have those records somewhere So I don't have a better idea That's it's it's helpful to hear all of this input because obviously the more voices we hear we're trying to Find the best site, but you guys Use the different facilities and see how used they are on the weekend or you know Know where you'd like to be driving to do these things. So it's it's really helpful Yeah, is it is it a conversation with dpw? Is that what it boils down to ray? um It's conversation dpw in town hall You know, it's heavily dpw in town hall that we're in the conversation with Is this something we need to set up? We are actually We were going to meet today We do have our next meeting scheduled for next week. Okay All right, look over to hearing And again as commission This is one of those things that the commission should be I could be engaged in Um, if you want to be a part of that we can we can involve Commission members in that discussion directly if necessary Okay, I'll throw out ray that it may be perfectly appropriate to have the chair of your committee there So now that you have one, um You know that that might be a helpful person to those conversations just to kind of hear how we're evaluating and to add that voice How we do that I I am noting that right now. We will offer you that opportunity to come in Uh, Andy your hand is raised. Yeah, thanks ray. Um, so Amy, I think also A question relative to suitability would be Is there an appropriate, um north south orient like Or orientation in the field because I thought that might be Like is that an issue since I think the You know, if it's if it's north south, I don't know that that extra fields or the extra parking space in In the middle of no river it may be oriented the right way, but you know, whatever whatever like I Need to make sure it's oriented appropriately so that could be a first thing I would say that in terms of the cow fields So I've done some lacrosse stuff there and it's just it's it's wet all the time. So I imagine like Building something there is could be probably more effort than it's worth. It seems like gruff park Um, that there's a lot of space that isn't actively used It's kind of my opinion. So that would seem like a A useful spot to go, especially given the amount of reinvestment we've done there. It's like a Gathering spot for people of all ages um So, you know, I like that. I mean ideally I agree with carolin if it could be closer to town um, that would be wonderful, but um, I think gruff park is a logical hub to sort of build out Given the investment that we've done there A couple of A couple of responses inside there. Yes, I appreciate that gruff park one of the spaces that we're looking at is definitely in gruff parks It's up in gruff park and one of the reasons why I think it's fantastic is because it does extend our investment in And what gruff park is becoming. There is space up there. There is there are places do it. Um It is a it's a fantastic vision for how to use that space and also I think one of the things that the town is interested in is making parts of gruff That are not 88 compliant 88 And so that would be a that would be a challenge and a and a benefit of choosing gruff is that we could use that as a way of Move into the forefront the issues of compliance on on gruff Yeah, that all makes sense I'm sorry if I could just add one more thing is like I think kawanas just need like we need a vision for what We should do with kawanas because it's And it's like a clean slate almost right when we do lots of different things and it's one of the drier fields in town, so Maybe that's something we talk about in the future. Yeah Regarding your question on like the orientation, I think there is an ideal orientation Most of the time although when we were looking at those parking spots at mill river You've got the benefit of kind of trees on three sides of it. So it eliminated that Challenge that one location. But yeah, typically you're using a More open space for these and you do have to kind of think about orientation. So you don't have the sun directly in your eye Yeah And I would and I agree with everything sound jay said relative to the You know permanent installation requirement that happened like a temporary net seems like it's The recipe for disaster And as far as I'm concerned again Thinking about that and Sanchez point as far as I'm concerned the temporary nets are for our temporary courts out there Our the the goal for the forever home is to is to As Sanchez said, you know, give them the give pickleball No, let pickleball have it space let sort of Give give them what they were looking for not make it sort of a walk in Sort of half-hearted attempt to just have something for them to play with Our attempts to do that that temporary nets is for that temporary court While we're trying to figure out where the forever home is are there any other pickleball questions comments or concerns I'm happy. There's a little bit energy about that. I'm always worried that That pickleball we know there's energy out there, but we don't want to add to it And so Again, I'm excited about the prospect of it coming in. I'm excited about what it does for the department I'm excited about what it does for the community It really is sort of an exciting idea at the very least But now we're trying to move that in a direction where we can we can say to the To the petitioners who can say to the community where it can say to Everybody it's involved Yeah, sarah Sarah's taking off Thank you, sarah. We'll be in contact about the last piece And so thank you for the pickleball. I will say If there's no new business I can get to so trying to pull without sarah here. We have three Members that are not here in attendance. So it doesn't make sense for us to Solidify a date for the next meeting Here online But I can again ask about it. Are there any dates early February? I would say maybe even They even during the winterfest weeks, but are there is there any Resistance to having an early monday February All your hand is still raised is that so It's a different one. So no resistance to that. I did just want to make a quick comment on the new business piece. That's all right Yes, definitely. Okay, and I will keep brief as just um, you know, I mentioned in introductions that I'm involved with With the youth lacrosse and coaching lacrosse in high school is you know, I reach out to jose Well, I reach out to uray this weekend that you know, one of the things that we found certainly in lacrosse but you know, maybe another sports as well, maybe is that um, You know, there's a there's kind of a barrier to entry and there's some some kids who may not even consider playing the sport because you know their parents didn't play the sport Or they don't know what sort of equipment they need And uh, you know, it's been our perspective From from youth lacrosse that that that has limited some of our numbers. So We've done this in the past, uh, you know, be working with jose on trying to get You know, we've called it like trial lacrosse For a day or like a lax day or something like that Try to get some space. We bring equipment. We bring coaches. We bring players and it's just It's open to anybody to come out and try and so You know, we're thinking about lacrosse, but maybe other sports as well You know that it would be a just a great way to maybe get some people out get folks moving around Get them experiencing different things. So I I'd love to kind of see that be a bit more of our mission Is um, is you know, getting getting those first Experiences setting kids up with really positive first experiences For that type of thing. So I just wanted to share that Thank you. And I really I you and I will be talking about that a bunch I do like what lacrosse does with those it was A cool thing to see that in my first spring aboard To see some of the things that lacrosse was doing. We've done things that are kind of similar with the ruin street hockey thing last year Are that's come up in my conversations about pickleball About doing sort of it. Like if you don't know this, let's just find a way to Get get the equipment in your hands. You can sort of see what it is here. It's a physical curriculum All over the place but to get people to just sort of The experience of playing and playing pick up playing casually playing recreation and maybe it turns into something But I do like that model other new business Andy you and I can talk about that offline also um February meeting, uh, can we are we free to go back to mondays? I can find schedule mondays and try and sort of pull you all for early february if there's Not early like vacation times But have you hopefully we have our last member present also But I can send you all I can canvas you all on email again and figure out what dates work best Are mondays an issue for anybody Gooders days any for me I will start with mondays and then move towards And then we can we can if necessary we can move to alternative dates sound good Thank you all for being here. Thank you for going a little bit over here And I will be in touch soon Again winterfest, uh, you can you can check our website for winterfest information Get to little mermaid if you so desire And if you have any questions always feel free to chat Thanks folks. Thank you. Thank you Good night Good night