all right I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Cranberry Township Parks and Recreation Commission June 19th 2024 um let's start with the Pledge of Allegiance Al flag United States and we have our statement of adequate notice pursuant to the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was sent to the cranberry press the Trenton Times and the home News Tribune on April 99th 2024 posted on the bulletin board posted on the Township's website and sent to those who requested a copy of this notice okay attendance uh Kelly lry here Bren do we do that uh Brendan Hansen uh here five deepo here Omar here Katie Harmon Adam Cano here three he's here Sally o Grady here two okay Christina here three uh Fallon here sorry what's the number you need hours your uh oh volunteer hours put in between meetings two thank you and we'll back DEA I say about six all in yeah all right before we move on to the minutes I just want to briefly note that today is juneth it is federal holiday the state observes it will observe it this Friday and municipalities and counties vary in how they are when they observe it so I just do want to note that we are meeting on juneth all right um the minutes oops are not available right now because of an oversight on my part um I did want to point out that since the Parks Commission and board of recreation Commissioners were abolished the web pages on the town website for those boards have been taken down and along with them the links to all of the old minutes going back however far um that is something we're going to maybe take a look at to see if we can get those archives somewhere on the web it might even still be possible to find it through the URL might still be up there you could maybe find it through a web search or something but the page with the list of minutes and agendas the Parks Commission and board of recreation Commissioners aren't listed anymore um of course there are also meetings for both boards that didn't have an opportunity to get minutes adopted um we're powerless to do anything about that at this point we we as the parks and rec commission are not empowered to adopt minutes for the old bodies so um fortunately they're all online and um and uh we'll uh have to see what we can do about getting the old minutes that we have um put up online again okay reports from the township committee can you um can you come up to the mic just we we can all hear you but I want it on um on the recording Michael fronte under the township committee um so yeah so I think um not too much going on in the township I think you guys own the two biggest projects going on right now the accessible playground and the the refurbished tennis pickle ball courts that are on our list um at Monday's meeting we're going to be reviewing um progress against 2024 goals there's also a letter that's going to go into every mailed in everybody's tax bill that going to have to be done in the next two weeks so if there's anything particular you want in that make sure you get that to the mayor like very quickly in the next week or so so just just to be clear you mean that the township is sending everyone a tax bill and with the tax bill will be a letter from exactly it's kind of it's kind of our one annual opportunity to um sort of get something in the mail to every every tax owner in town and then we actually have extra copies that we'll make available for people that rent in town but basically on it there's going to be recycling reminder there's a QR code to sign up for Township updates and then basically we put in it kind of a year-to-date accomplishments you know of sort of what what's been done so far this year and so we're going to be having a work session on at Monday's meeting to sort of talk about accomplishments and so that the mayor has some some content to put in that in that letter about year-to date accomplishments but if there's anything particular you'd like in that or like to feature that every Township knows about I'm sure the combining of parks and recs will be one of the featured items um but I think if you have any specific things you would want to make sure get into people's mail it arrives like around August 1 is when it hits their mailbox so yeah all right I think we might want to include our ask that something about the in future upcoming inclusive playground be included yep I'm sure that's on that'll be in there sure as about the big projects that are going on so um yeah but if there's anything you think about like especially events that would be like middle to late August through cranberry day kind of Zone would that would be a good time to get that in there as an upcoming event so I'm sure National Night Out will be in there um so the events that are coming up quickly but if there's anything you want specifically it's a good chance to get that into the mail so all right thank you anyone have any questions all right thanks cool thank you environmental commission I attend Ed the meeting last month there was nothing really to report on I gave them an update on our new status as a new board um they also did have a meeting this Monday um which is unusual we don't usually see the passage of two meetings between our meetings um but we did I did not attend that meeting because I had nothing to report because we hadn't met yet and it was canceled anyway so I'm just finding out I'm glad I didn't show up um shade tree commission uh there are no representatives from the shade tree commission here oh oh no there are hello hi I'm Jackie Johnson thank you for coming we just welcome you new committee and the commission I guess and we're looking forward to working with you uh if you have any questions feel free to contact us I guess that's that's all I have a question um apparently it was not put in our budget but put in the shade trees budget to add trees around the new walking trail in Village Park and I'm curious about um what's happening there whether shade tree has come up with some trees and what kind and will will there be put in and uh we will um and we'll let you know or you know talk to you about where find out where you're interested in doing it too but we won't be planting any trees until the fall because this is not a good time right now but you do have that on your list to put trees around Village Park walking trail it's on the list okay good thank you and I just say that because I know how popular the Heritage Park walking trail is and it's because it's all shaded people come from all the surrounding areas and and I often ask them why and they say because it's it's shaded the whole thing is nice and shaded so it would be nice to get that around our Village Park walking trail all right thank you um anybody else all right moving on uh parks and preserves updates I have nothing to note myself um anyone else have uh an update to report from their walkabouts cranberry Brook preserve we had a um we had a walk with Dr um Jessica wear and Kathy East looking at all the bugs that we could find uh throughout the uh preserve it was quite enlightening and a great well attended uh session anybody else so I did uh in my six hours I did two hours at the two locations that I was given one uh I spent a fair amount of time doing the the Westfield property and um it's wonderful it's actually the first time that I actually made a way out there and um on my way in I I did notice that the um um the Porta partty was off and it was uh on the floor I think it was lying flat on the ground at that point it seemed like it was there for some time and I think I'd gotten a note around uh indicating that that may need some attention uh can I don't know if that's something that you know has happened since or if that's still sort of outstanding but other than that I think the the rest of the space itself was reasonably well-maintained nothing of not I'll just pause there see we got a message from DPW that that was a Boy Scout uh U project and they're waiting for the company to take it away oh so it's not the responsibility of our Township I see okay it's actually not the town's Porta poot it was something that was brought in for a Boy Scout event and never took it away so um I think we're somebody's reached out to the company and asked them to come get it okay okay I mean yes as long as it's not a health hazard you know the way it is on the floor um I also did make a trip out to Reinhardt again not something I've done before uh you know I I got to say that that to me was a little bit more of a um a challenge challenge to say the least I barely made it in uh maybe about 100 yards and found that it's not navigable um to the point that perhaps you know as a group we probably need to really think about whether that is a trail uh or more so a preserved land because at this point everything's grown in so much that it's um not just the the walkway the path itself is is challenging there you know there there's no Walk Way per se you you do find your way around it uh but also the fact that there seems to be a lot of vegetation that's grown in and doesn't really allow uh anyone to really walk through leave alone you know family and kids and things like that so that one certainly on the list I think to look at from a slightly more longer term perspective um but U Westfield that property looks you know should be should be navigated more can I piggy back on that and say that the cranberry Brook preserve which is the area behind the school the actual mode trails in the towards the field area are in great condition but the eagle scout Trail that's closest to the brook is also the brush is really encroaching and I'm not sure who updates these so the Reinhardt preserve needs it the eagle scout Trail needs it and the Cranbury um The Brook Trail which is behind the firehouse the small trail that goes to yunami Woods they're overgrown um I had offered to go in and and uh clear that one and I'm not allowed to use any power tools or anything on it so I I believe now that we have these designated Trails I would think it would be the Township's responsibility to maintain them am am I right there Ken or I would have to check with you know public works to see you know what their what their responsibilities are on that I mean if we're going to if if we're built if we built them yes then we need to maintain them but residents were told that they can't maintain them so I would think we really need to follow up on this or as DC said take them off of the website if they're not maintained um also there's still a tree down in unami woods which I reported last month and um in Heritage Park they painted the white lines between the parking spaces which we had asked them to do but they did not paint the yellow line for the no parking so I'd like to see that on their things too list to paint the yellow line along the side so those were were my parks and preserves and um like I said I I think we're we're in we really need our Trails our hiking trails maintained we'll have to um talk with the township about those Trails I do think that yeah suggestion I know the the Boy Scouts are always looking for conservation hour service hours it's a very specific kind of hours and those Trail maintenance counts for that for the Boy Scouts so I don't know if that's I don't know if we're allowed to do that well they can't use power tools either P Clippers on Clippers yeah hand clippers and stuff like that but I I I'm happy to look into that if that's something because they're always needing it's it's conservation service hours it's a very specific kind of service hours and these absolutely hit that yeah and there's 60 Scouts in troop 52 and this is a great project for them to tackle flexible done with hand tools it's very clear what to do it's very uh and it was originally one of them was originally a scout Trail so it's clearly in the scope two of them look at so I'm happy to take that if you want that to explore yeah I think we'd appreciate that um as long as it doesn't interfere with what that I don't know I don't know what town would do like they can't go in with I mean they're not going to use tool or Machinery to go in to clear a trail right so it's well they have weed whackers I mean that's that's what it I don't think that a mower would fit in but if they went just on each side with a weed whacker I I'll find out from Public Works what what they would do okay and um if if that's an option oh I think that's a great option sure yeah sorry excuse me thank you with with rinard um you know in a conversation with a resident from the town I also understand that there may be poison ivy um overgrowth uh you know on that trail or you know close to the trail yeah that is something that was also pointed out Reinhardt is always in bad shape Pino needs it too but we were told by um the EC before that poison ivy is native and they don't control that so um that's something we we should look into too but I know Pino also needs maintenance I don't know if she can talk um yeah I I don't know about the long-term viability of Reinhardt honestly um I've only been there once and it was rough going and I don't yeah it's I don't know about the long-term viability of that as like a marked mapped usable Trail um I I also don't know how many people use it I think it's a rather small number this should be brought up at the EC meeting yeah because these are their preserves I'll take this to them all um all the all the ones we've mentioned are preserves all right anyone else have a park preserve updates I was just going to mention the um benches at Village Park and milstone park they're I have pictures too they're in like disrepair right they're like slanted downward they're not painted and then in particular at Village Park the grass between the playground and the basketball court and the tennis courts it's sort of like choppy in that you trip right there's roots coming up there's huge patches that are just empty it's not filled with grass and so if there's like vegetation attention that could be paid there and I think again the benches to me seem like a pretty small upkeep project if that could be added at some point okay um we can reach out to I can reach out to uh DP and ask what their situation is um and if you could could you send those those photos Along by email I'm not sure actually how much data you can put in an attachment on our Municipal email but um we don't need it in high definition so I'll try I once had to send out like a thousand photos and I was like this is not going to work um I have some updates um in um Heritage the uh uh mulch that we put down to go by the Beamer Memorial is gone uh it's been mowed away uh I'm not sure the date we put it down but I imagine it only lasted a year or less um I would think that maybe we could do something that we did over by the Porta John by the playground where we hemmed in the mulch with some railroad ties um would be my suggestion since uh the mulch did work out well just didn't stay in place so um that would be my suggestion to try to remedy that because if you look where the Porton is it has no problem with keeping the mulch in place um also um I did some working over in Millstone um just some minor things uh some of the trash cans there are older style and and could use some repair SL painting um the uh the back stop on the uh the field there is ripped and hanging from the fence I don't know if we want to remove or just replace um it's you know um when I say back stop it's a screen that they put behind the uh home plate um for distraction for fishing or whatever it's a very minor piece it's not you know a high-intensive this is not a fence repair this is just a replacing of a screen but uh the screen there is uh in tatters what's left of it uh another minor thing is that one of the uh picnic tables from the playground has been moved over to the baseball field if this is its new home fine if we want to have Jerry move it back to where we place in the park that would be a suggestion so uh I'm just letting you know where it's at over in milstone that's it as far as the mulch and and Heritage along the Beamer the Beamer Trail um that was our solution to people taking a shortcut parks department solution and it was low shortly after they put it in and we mentioned it to DPW and DPW said it's part of their regular maintenance so basically we didn't need to mention it every time however it's been a long time since it's been replaced so it doesn't look like it has ever been replaced I don't think they have but that was I'm telling that was their response before was it's part of their regular maintenance okay well us as parks and wreck I would suggest that we could do better age and keeping putting up some sort of framework to keep the mulch in place is not going to really cost us a lot with a couple railroad ties or whatever that we could do there so that would be my suggestion all right we can um no I mean we can we can suggest that we can notify that to DP but that's going to be uh their decision ultimately and not ours unfortunately um should we move on to our Recreation director unless anyone has something else all right can thank you we're we're bus busy with um registration for summer camp and finalizing the details for the trips and the busing and Staffing and all that kind of good stuff so it's been very this is a very busy time of year for us it starts Camp starts on Monday uh we have several weeks that are full um of the senior Camp um which is grades of four to nine uh there's I think five of the seven weeks are full and we have a couple in the junior camp that are full as well so um so that's that's been keeping us very busy we did have a senior lunch um last Friday which was interesting because town hall is now closed on Fridays for summer hours so uh we had to open up the building for the seniors and uh I opened up the building and then somebody must have come in and knock the door uh after the fact and people couldn't get in so then we had to make sure we got the building open I had to have Jerry come over and and re unlock the building for us but this is the LA that was the last um senior luncheon that we'll have in town hall for the uh for the time being until we can get back into the senior um Senior Center so we'll be the next next one will be over at the library um but other than that that's that's what we got going on we kind of covered the um Public Works list quite honestly uh with all the reports from the um different uh facilities so I think we're good there how many weeks is Camp seven seven weeks and there's no breaks it straight seven weeks right starts June 24th ends August the 9th what were the projected enrollment numbers because it felt like a lot of the weeks were fully subscribed pretty early or was that what you were planning La last year uh we didn't set any limits and we found we had busing issues so we were good we take 45 kids in each the Junior and senior Camp which is 90 kids and we'll take 10 in the little kids so that's a 100 so hundreds of of great number for us if we reach it we did reach we were over a hundred on several weeks and we found Staffing was a little bit of a problem and busing was a problem so we limited it this year to those numbers and we didn't we didn't get there right away you know if people registered on time or early enough they would have gotten into the weeks that they that they wanted to and what are the weight lists looking like like what how many people the most I think in any week was was less than 10 it was seven or eight yeah sometimes though people won't sign up for a weight list if it's full they won't they won't put their name on it but if somebody does withdraw then we'll go right to the weight list and you know at least we have something to be able to fill the spots if that Happ does the cranberry Arts Camp used the the school buildings they they haven't done their camp now in a couple years oh okay all right all right um what did we end up deciding with um the financial aid piece well at at our last meeting we approved the financial uh assistance uh program okay but what was the how are we work it's based off of the food the school lunch program okay the free and reduced lunch yeah I can send that out to everybody if you're interested but uh that's how we and I did you know I did research on other towns and almost every one of them does the same thing Ken in regards to the change in parking for the summer have the uh counselors and the staff as well as the parents know the we we uh are going to be sending out our first week parent information probably tomorrow and that'll include a map of where they need to go and how they pick up and draw vault is going to happen yes so everybody will be notified uh you know how to get in and out of uh the uh parking they're going to they're going to come in you know off on the side here and drive down the black top area drop off and then just come right back out so everybody is going to be accessing uh through the West Property road is that correct yeah not all the way down though they're going to pull right into the black top and then pull down the black top along inside the school drop off at the end there and then right so we'll have like a whole chain of having traveled that road many times the worst part is the initial pull in yes and are do we have police presence lined up for we're going to we're gonna have our staff out there okay yeah okay I I know i' i' I've gone through there too when they did when they redid Town Hall years ago when we were parking over there in fact we we had to do the same drop off probably I don't know 15 years ago um but we did it it worked so okay and we met with the we met with the school too and went over everything with them I mean I just find the bottleneck right off of Main Street is the worst problem actually so all right we're gonna hopefully keep everybody moving and trying to get them to you know carpool and all that kind of good stuff or walk right A lot of them do walk or ride their bikes all right just one more comment on on the camp I had inquired about opportunity for a student high school graduate student uh to be a counselor and I was told that the waiting list now is 15 people deep and uh last year we we U the uh the hourly wage because uh maybe to increase and improve the number of counselors that were available and I think it may have worked well yeah we um we did there was a shortage last year year throughout the state of Summer workers um seasonal employees but this year we had a huge number of applicants we really did so we didn't have any trouble at all F filling our our vacant spots which was good and you know the minimum wage in in the state right now for well seasonal it's a little lower but uh we don't we don't really even look at that it's like $15.13 is the minimum wage so you know so we give a counselor 1525 to start not not bad I mean I remember I remember working for $7 an hour so but uh yeah we had we have a good staff we we have a good number of of uh our senior staff are coming back so um we're excited we're looking forward to a good summer and one one final question maybe um you said that five of the seven weeks are full um are you projecting to sort of Hit the typical um numbers by the end of the season or we so we do end registration two weeks in advance of that of a week um so right now you can't even if there's a spot the the first two weeks of Camp you can't register for anymore we need we need to book trips with final numbers you know get purchase out so um I mean financially we are almost at our Revenue numbers from last year so um that's because we did raise the rates a little bit because our busing did increase and so did our rental the pool so everything increased for us this year so we also had to increase the fees a little bit so you know financially I'm I'm sure we'll we'll do fine ask one more question question sorry I just I wasn't on you know Parks no I was on Parks not R before but can you just tell me about the the unpaid people that work at the camp like how how is that determined so for uh we have counselors in training um that can work if they're going into um 10th grade so up the camp goes up to going into ninth grade so for the kids going into 10th grade there's a counselor and training position available and they just help a a group uh they'll have at least two counselors with them at all times um we we've done that in the past and we got away from it for a little while now we're because we had so many applicants and so and there was a number of them that were that fit that counselor and training that's what that that's an unpaid position volunteer as long as you get through that that year with with good marks we will you know make every attempt to hire them as a counselor when they're eligible at 17 years old so that's that counselor and training do they have to pay for Camp no so that's an advantage to go on the trips and stuff yeah and and most of those kids have other things going on so they'll work you know maybe two or three weeks and then take a couple weeks off and and come back it it we we work around their schedule with that all right I'm gonna move on to Old business okay um Park maintenance Pavilion roof at Village Park um is there are there any updates on this I still only have one quote um I I like these guys um I don't see any their quote doesn't look outrageous i' be happy to submit it or I'll continue to look for two more quotes I mean either way is fine with me um I I think we need three quotes unfortunately okay is that is that right yeah how much how much is it I'll have to pull it up okay I don't have it off I mean over over a certain amount you don't under a certain amount you don't need three quotes but it's not a lot of money so I'll have to get back to you have to pull up for my email it's like 2650 or something like that alrighty uh gazebo like did I mean to take this off the agenda we're done with this right okay fixed it's fixed problem solved um future projects water bottle drinking fountain um drink fountain station Heritage Park that I believe is still not installed not installed not even started so that was on dpw's list can any word from them on that get to it they'll get to it when they can get to it we have this is this is a busy time of year well right now actually starting to slow down a little bit with the dry weather and the heat the grass is not growing as as fast as it was in the past so they might be able to get to some of this stuff right can you please put that on their list this time along with more wood chips at the along I have thank you we have our answer on that one for now it's not the answer we want but this uh we can move on from it um B from it but I have the email that information it was a total of uh like $1,245 and uh 38 cents so so you won't need three quotes you can get that I can move forward okay what's the threshold I believe it's 20 $2,650 all right terrific thank you Adam um I put a check mark next to water bottle was like that's a solve problem we're just moving on to the next agenda chess tables we are [Music] um we do we have any updates on this from anybody we're still looking to oh I'm sorry go ahead thank you uh so I circulated the email that we were talking about the chest tables October November of last year Sally and I and um I forget who else joined us but we met with the company that was going to lay down the slabs we have the quote I believe that we were waiting for additional money in the budget for this year which we received so this also circulate this but this is what the chest tables look like so it's three seats around one open space for a wheelchair Walker or whatever um if someone needs to stand or something uh and the quote is for two chest tables six chairs including free $8,100 and then there was a second quote from All American Concrete to put down a total of three slabs because eventually we'll get a third table and that was $4,000 a piece so I believe eron had all the information the W2 forms and everything else and we were waiting to cut the PO based on the money in the budget and that's where it was left um I don't have any updates I haven't heard anything about movement on I I'll follow up on that if you want to give me that um where is our I'm not remembering where is the location we we picked on Heritage Park um from the parking lot on South Main Street just to the left of the circle you start going around the circle to the left and there's an open space there a little bit of an open space under the trees to the on the inside of the circle on the outside of the circle outside of the circle we're not touching the inside because different clubs use it for different things all right so we will and I can confirm that with the construction people when because I was with I believe it was Matt Scott and we okayed the spot he okayed it so if you need me to go over and and confirm the spot when they come to do their work I'd be happy to yeah um I will reach out to I'm not sure who am I reaching out to on this one I'll take care of that okay yeah um who are you reaching out to I'm gonna talk to Aeron she's the uh person in finance that does the purchase orders just to make sure of you know we have the money and what else she may need from us because she'll she'll need information from the contractor I don't know if you do you guys want to take a look at those thank you um so that closes that item the walking trail Connection in Village Park we don't have any updates on this one either it's something we are still looking for to happen it's oh it's done I'm sorry I haven't been in Village Park recently no oh no this is this isn't the one from the affordable housing developments um that's done yeah this is connecting the trail that like 50 feet gap between the trail and the sidewalk leading up the driveway it's not even 50 it's probably 30 and apparently I that's why I wish I had last month's minutes some that was going to be included in some other construction project but I don't recall what project that was with that was included with it's not articulated with with a specific project it was just when something's going to be paved in the town it's they're going to be directed to go and and do that little spot like yeah so I will take that off the agenda for next um for next month since there's not much to speak of until I wouldn't take it off until done well I I mean I don't want to put I mean I we're going to keep it on our on our list but I don't want to notice to the public that we're going to talk about it if we don't have anything to say um but we can put like a separate item for you know future listing or whatever um or maybe we'll keep it on I don't know what do you what do we all think should we keep that on the agenda right very all right we'll keep it on it it's just been my um yeah they're not on the agenda they get forgotten about all right kayak project Village Park this is also was this also something I wanted to take off the agenda because that is not happening we are not doing that um not right now not right now no um or next month or the following month uh and um we did want to uh talk about recreational zip lines and fitness equipment as a sort of longer term plan um if anyone has done any research on that today um now it's or anyone has any further research or have further thoughts on that uh that's what this agenda item is for but I don't have any updates per se I have the quotes for bra zipline and fitness I think from our last meeting we're going to table that to understand what the needs of the community are for different age brackets and then talk about that so you could table this or keep it on the agenda move it to another subcommittee whatever you think is best but I do think it's if line will be fun just have that noted yeah I do too so I remember a few years ago when I first started on Rec we looked into zip lines and we ran into a problem with liability that we didn't want to consider it is that like did you guys get past that hurdle um not really past the hurdle but I think everyone's envisioning up in the air Costa Rica type zip lining this is lower to the ground there's some towns neighboring towns that have the zip lines closer with a seat so we can share those videos and a lot of the companies that are doing the inclusive playground and went out for bid also Supply those and they have their security protocols and everything else so it's pretty neat I'll circulate the video and um I think Adam found another town last year that had it oh there's one in Montgomery that I'm aware of yeah um we have insurance and we have a bunch of liabilities all over the town the lake is a liability I mean we're not filling that in it was certain levels it's why they didn't want to do a dog park tons of towns have dog parks they didn't want that certain level of liability to put a dog par here it's the same manufacturer as the inclusive PL ground thing and ability to lock the seat so that if you are having an event that you can lock the seat so that no one came and go on the on the zip line iest had a playground last week that had that if the town determines that there was like a a big event in the park and they didn't want anyone on that there's an ability to lock it so that no one can use it all right so another idea for when the time is right subcommittees um Circle procurement we're going to move right past that because we didn't meet or do anything umip oh did I did Skip fitness equipment um same deal as as the zip line if we have um updates or research I'll also circulate the email of some of the pieces that were recommended from other companies and what's in place with towns so it's Mommy and me type of equipment like new moms and babies could go on some something together um there's and the idea was to find strategic locations in Village Park Heritage Park Millstone of like stations so then it gets people moving around in the park for health and wellness uh so I'll circulate that as as well these are all thought starters nothing concrete and then based on I think deac was putting a list together it may or may not fit into that um just on that the the ziplining was there a particular age group the guy was targeting is it youth under 133 over 13 is there like all above the seats like adjustable there's like a little seat belt there's a back it's probably a weight restriction yeah it sounds scarier than what it is but when you see the video you're you're gonna want to ride it there's no seat in the one that I saw on Montgomery and there was plenty of adults taking rides on it when I was walking the trails through the park there so I would think somebody's going to try it out if they see it and they're there whether they kids or not all right um inclusive playgrounds I have not received any Communications from the township on this one we know that we have the money we know we have upate we have an update oh we have an update the equipment has been ordered um we have a tentative uh delivery date of early July like July 3D they said was the scheduled delivery date but because of the July 4th holiday it might take us into the following week um after that then we need to schedule the installation we're hoping to get this done you know by Late July early August or sooner or sooner if if we can possibly do that that is fantastic I'm and along with the lines of the inclusive playground May if we could add an event potentially or tag it onto something else to do some sort of ribbon cutting or opening that I think it would be great to inform the town to come and visit and they get an idea Ken and I talked about like there's a popcorn machine that's available that we could use to make it like festive and fun for for the kids and families that come and visit when when we're ready to launch it yeah oh I don't know it'll be ready by then but yeah may not be um Brendon can we go back to Circle procurement just minute can you remind me who's on that Commission because I'd like to I believe I signed up for it and I I want to get that going because our goal is to come up with ideas this year to put it in January's budget it's you and me Sally and Kelly are you on that no yeah she she left the we can only have three so Sally Brendan and was it you Christina who was it there was a third there was a third this is the yeah this is the sort of circle or it's more elliptical at the new walking trail in Village Park the circle provides a focal point with an opportunity to do something to make it a some to draw your attention somehow with you know landscaping or you know we're not going to do statuary but that you know it's not impossible um but something you know an something artistic to draw your attention or or something like that possible pavers with bench is similar to The Heritage Park Circle yeah in the middle there so it would be nice if we had a a member who was on wck to come with me and Brandon volunteers s and I will make all the decisions if you guys want this is just a this is your opportunity to par it's a great opportunity to to say wow I got that in Cranberry you know I I'm happy to join if there's no former okay yeah let's are there any rack members okay we'll do that um let us before we leave the premises after our meeting put our heads together and try to find a date on the calendar where we can meet um pigle ball courts I don't know why that I should have taken that off too I have a question I have I have an update on that as well you like um I met with the township engineer um earlier this week uh to go over the project with them and to get a proposal from them so hopefully they said should take about a week to get a proposal for them um we are still waiting to hear about one of the state grants um so that might put us in a little bit of a circling pattern until we know where we're going to have the money uh actually coming from unless we can use the township money and get reimbursed by the state Grant that's something I would have to find out from uh Denise if that's a possibility or not but uh in talking to the engineer you know we they come up with a proposal they put plans together that could take four to six weeks by the time we actually go out advertising go out the bid and award a contract we could be into the fall and you don't want to start doing pavement and painting and stuff like that as it gets colder uh that's you know the plants plants will shut down in November typically for asphalt you can't you put down the line paint under a certain temperature I think it's 55 degrees so you know realistically this is something that's probably going to happen early next year you know we get the plans go out the bid in the in the wintertime and when the weather breaks next year that's when that project um most likely will happen so in the meantime I noticed there is only one pickle ball net there now I don't know what happened to the other one all right so is it with the head to the water fountain I'm sorry is it with the head to the water fountain I still didn't get you with the water fountain and and Heritage Park is it no we had two Nets there and one's missing yeah it's a joke about like it's missing just like the water fountain piece so I since this project may not happen for a while could we look into getting another net um and there was was something in there that looked like it may have held something at one point but it's not the pickle ball net there was only one net and then there was some other structure in there I don't know what it was that's a pickle ball net taken apart and and aimed to the sky that is a pickle ball net that is that was the other net that is the pickle ball net that's in there my question was uh was my understanding that um before the merger wreck had bought updated pickle ball nets are those the current ones that are out there yeah okay well they did not last because they have been destroyed in whatever time frame they've been put out there because like I said one of them the net is gone and it's in like two or three pieces and the other one you know it doesn't it doesn't look really great I mean uh did we uh discard the ones that were out there or do we still have those that we could put the initial ones I would have to check and I I doubt that not were quity they were even lower well they lasted a heck of a lot longer than the ones that are out there now I mean when when were these new ones put on the court Sally that's a couple years no it wasn't just last year it I believe it was just last year I I don't know I don't think it was question I don't know I think we might have bought them at the end of the year before but they they and they were great in the beginning but you know that's what one thing we're worried about was would these Nets disappear or get vandalized and indeed one was vandalized and the and the ones we're going to get are going to be the heavy duty ones that you know you don't somebody doesn't pull up in a truck and take them away because they're too heavy to do that so um I'll look into getting a you know sounds like we need two again right so I'll see what I could do get something I mean two would be quality uh one at least or if the parts are all there and it can be put back together uh great but I mean it's it's definitely probably not very likely it's definitely been pulled apart and the net is gone on one of them for sure okay yeah okay can I think when we spoke last time there was also um you know a takeaway to try and explore if that that cor can be power washed I I did mention that and I got a very um uh not so friendly look back I didn't get I didn't even get a a reply on that one so I mean we may be able to get a company to come out and do something like that fairly the uh company that's going to do the nons scrubbing non power wash treatment to the cedar shape roof probably can power wash as well I can ask them if they want to give us a quote to power wash the uh tennis court while they're out there yeah that would be great okay that would be great because the the facility yes is not in a usable situation right right all right um senior interest the township has had a senior interest subcommittee that was looking at projects or not projects but um programming for senior interests we are we've been told more or less that that's our job now um we have the senior lunches that are happening and there is some desire in the senior community in town for more um programming we of course have limited resources and limited space on how and when we can deliver this especially right now with Town Hall not with Town Hall but with the parking lot being out of operation mostly um we have limited opportunity right now while this construction is going on to advance that but we are looking for potentially new ideas for senior interest about what we can do sort of on the cheap but also that's quality um uh POS and possibly to supplement or at the time of the senior lunches if anyone has any ideas now or later what this item will Ken what is a typical uh cost for busing campers to an event uh let's see it it they typically do it hourly I would say it's any I mean if it's a local trip it might only be $50 an hour but it's um anywhere from 50 to $150 an hour could there be an opportunity here to take a group of seniors on some sort of Excursion that would be appeasing to them like Gardens or Museum or yeah we've we've done we've tried those in the past and not gotten even a half a Bus full and we can't use like the school bus we would have to use a motor coach because of accessibility issues on the school bus um so a motor coach is a lot more money those those would be probably $450 $500 even if you're just going to a low local um uh location a lot of a lot of times they're not very mobile so we can't like go to like uh a garden where they're walking around and stuff like that most of the time it's a trip to see a show and have a lunch kind of thing um and we've tried it in the past uh they I I did speak to the group uh two lunches ago and it seemed to be some uh new interest in in doing a trip and we do have money to do that so we could try again to do some sort of um like a afternoon lunch and and a show at a at one of the like a sights and sounds it's called so we could we could try that I mean it's I see in uh Monroe it um the buses that are taking some of these from their Community are not motor coach no those are smaller right they're smaller but they are upgraded from a school bus from you're saying but like is that a possibility that could keep the cost down is using some sort of bus like that uh I mean it depends on if yeah th those are usually funded either by the town or the county those uh like in West Windsor we have one of those but they're limited capacity like 15 passengers uh and they have like uh you know wheelchair lifts on them um it's possible I've never tried to do that but if you're going on a group trip you got to have more than 15 people to to uh do a trip like that so um I I could I'll look into it uh some of those busing companies have have all sorts of vehicles like I know A1 has smaller uh vehicles that might have uh the capabilities of doing that what are the what's the average attendance at the senior lunches in town uh uh 15 to 25 are we what's our Outreach to reach just a posting on the website that's it no we do a we mail postcards to every person who's registered for this senior lunch for the senior center okay and every year they go to they have to re-register because I know um from personal experience there are a ways for us to engage with these groups directly in their community and I you know it might be as simple as somebody from the town going in there and and telling them these are the opportunities we have for you in the next three months or whatever you know like a at a community meeting or something like that whether it be you know one of these 55 plus communities or you know like uh the birkshire or you know the cranberry Com or Cranberry I'm forgetting the name Chronicle yeah uh some of these groups that we could directly and let them know I just was trying to see what our Outreach was so basically we're just only sending cards to people that have gone before is that what you're saying no well they they have to if they want to participate in programs at the senior center they have to register for that and that's on and that's on the website okay yeah and and once they do that then we send them we send them the postcard for that program a lot of them a lot of them are not technologically uh capable of of doing emails we we still get phone calls for them to register for the is the number for the senior events higher than what I'm thinking like 55 and up is it higher is a higher number that like a higher age oh yeah like what AG is our senior center go go to an Outreach well there it's a question of who's eligible for the programming and also whether or not they're eligible what's the demographic people actually yeah I I think it's uh I don't think it's 55 I think it's I think it's 60 and up for for our yeah because and I could tell you that we get very few people from Four Seasons or I believe that's what it's called right right um because they have they are they feel like they're the more active seniors and they don't want to be associated with senior center type of activities so uh that's that's you know for them they're they got and I think they have their own Clubhouse and and own programs that that are run over there so we don't see a lot of people from there a lot of them are the longtime residents of cranberry at one point they were residents for you know in town maybe some of them might be actually out of town but um and not very mobile and they just you know they like they like to have some sort of food with their program um you know usually and you know that's why we've done those trips in the past do we know if the Toll Brothers is going to be a similar setup as four seasons are they gonna have their own Clubhouse and uh I I don't know that is anybody aware of they are and typic typically the those communities do have U their own Clubhouse so I have some notes from our October meeting when we were talking about the mayor's Wellness campaign when she came in and talked to us about specific mayor um senior wants which she specifically listed what they were looking for um so I can tell you what they had gathered they had informed her that they were looking for was um physical and mental health opportunities more benches um and then I in my notes put that that was going to be a BSA funded thing I guess there was Boy Scout involvement in providing more benches do you know about Boy Scouts doing benches sometimes they're projects right do they do benches for their uh then it was also transportation to the senior center that was a limiting uh just to we have a lot of mics on right now so if you're not speaking can you turn yours off because only so many will be active at a time um yeah so transportation to the senior senator um then a calendar of events for both town and public goings on in on an online and uh hard copy version so and you might remember that was the thing trying to figure out who would man this ongoing calendar of events let me let me add to that list ktie because I I also had a chance to go through the the senior center the survey that was distributed um there are about 15 things that repeated multiple times in the responses so there's I think we we talk about the Senior Center lunch as an Avenue for you know senior interest and that survey covered a lot of other areas as well um there were at least you know 10 mentions and this is all you know empirical i' I've tried to kind of you know do a rough quick count of what I saw as I read through 10 mentions about sidewalk Improvement so it had nothing to do with entertainment as much as a facility that they needed um there were seven mentions of more benches so that was a recurring theme uh across multiple different uh responders ambient lighting was something that came up um right service and transportation that came up about seven times again so a theme that I think was called out other than that there was um yoga outdoor um exercise music concerts outdoor or indoor now that music concert idea I think one of the respondents said you could do it at the lunch or you could do it as a as a distinct sort of senior interest event we have multiple musicians come throughout the year nutrition uh education mental health awareness um transportation services I think we said that dance theater uh and then cross generational programs that was the other one that was listed where interaction with youth or others I think that was another one that came up but consistently uh benches and sidewalks you know showed up as the as the biggest sort of area of senior interest that they were Keen to get some attention when I read that I felt really bad about the state of our senior center it seemed like every respondent said it's embarrassing and depressing to be in it so I feel like we might need to make a budget request for next year to do something with it because no one wants to be in a room that's looking terrible yeah we um we're stuck with that room where the town's not interested in a building um yeah which is something that some people some seni years are asking for but it's not we don't that's not in the cards in the immediate future um there may be some opportunity for like some interior design maybe like at low cost kind of like like drapes or something um but I don't think I'm not sure that anything significantly structural can be done for that room um I'm sympathetic uh it's not a very bright lovely room um but there you have it um can I ask a question the senior center is it just a room to host lunches and some of these events is that all it's used for I mean it's they uh they can come during the day and and use it they've they've had maang groups come and play down there um we've had seated exercise classes down there in the past is it an opportunity to take advantage of the conference room in the library and poost the senior Cent there until this room is shed up a little bit that's something we would have to yeah really book in a room and I know they're allowed food in that conference room and it's well that's we're gonna yeah that's what we're going to use in the meantime for the for the lunches yeah there's another issue with limited parking at the library and limited Mobility by some of the seniors who aren't willing or able to move from a further parking space to the um Library if the library lot is full and if there's you know 50 to 25 people coming for that and regular Library patronization there's not going to be enough spots for everybody so I have a question um suggestion comment Monroe has a really nice Senior Center um as far as libraries go cranberry is allowed to use Monroe Library it's a reciprocal thing anything in middlex county is there any way we could check with Monroe and see if cranberry residents could use the Monroe Senior Center you know a contractual thing where cranberry pays so much a year for any any cranberry resident to use the Monroe Senior Center I don't know if any other towns have one I just know Monro is really nice and new and big and they have loads of programs and and those programs are filled very quickly uh having had two relatives that have lived in Monroe if you're not on it calling when they open the reservations you don't get to go well so still for so many other things at that Senior Center is that something that could be looked into would they like cranberry doing their own just in their space not cranberry no well no I would think just any cranberry resident would be allowed to go and sign up for anything they wanted though and cranberry could do their own cranberry could also host events there which would give more events but initially just taking advantage of the events they have I don't know whether Monro would let us do that but I I don't know either but I'm inclined to think they would hesitate given that they have have capacity issues already serving their own population um space there I seems like something that might be more feasible um Can someone look into that you look into that can um that is something we how many responses do we have for the senior survey 83 83 50% are over the age of 71 so yeah we well cranberry's obviously has a much smaller population than Monroe and a much smaller senior population than Monroe um and right now the groups of seniors that are looking for programming are skew a little bit toward the Elder more Elder side with more limited Mobility um so that's something to keep in mind right the other thing they said was transportation so they may not be able to get there so I mean it's it's something worth looking into may not maybe not even Monroe but Plainsboro too they may be more willing to um look into something like that too why don't we action item like identifying a bunch of towns that we could reach out to and see if they're interested in as send and receive like for seniors like princeon high school but we're doing at the upper ages as well and if they want to use our senior center they're welcome to right or our new pickleball Nets or you know whatever we have to offer also I heard really um easy thing to fix would be access to the room people have said that they wanted to access the senior center and they found it really difficult to have the door unlocked this is not me personally this is just what people have shared with me and I feel if that seems like something that we could easily address once the room is there's no no issue with that all they have to do is come to the office and we give them a key so many stairs if you already have Mobility we have an elevator we have an elevator and a ramp um and some of these issues are PT and we painted down there only a couple years ago uh because they you know and we redid the floors down down there we we um um cleaned them and Polished them and I mean you there's only so much you can do down there it's yeah the room is the room it's going to have that big concrete ramp there which is not particularly that's not going anywhere um you know there's I think maybe some utilities toward the ceiling those aren't aren't going anywhere right I've seen a lot wor spaces so it's it's not you know it's not better than the Boy Scout room yeah do do we do we have a subcommittee on this senior interest do we want to we don't have a sub committee on senior interest um who's going to look into the reciprocal with other towns I could tell you East Wind will tell you to go take a hike ask okay you can ask really really nice I think if we're willing to pay you know well are we willing to pay that's that's a question we don't have the answer to don't don't put out money yet know but but I would think they'd be more willing to have us if we if we would and if that's something we need to ask town for a bud had an agreement with East Windsor for recreational services for years and you know that and they pay for that so it's not not anything new it's new for this right okay so it looks like our the budget we have for this year is um for related to seniors $6,000 for the Golden agers That's not ours that's given to them so um we exercise actively this trips for them this is senior center programs um do you want to oh it's um this is Ken what you went to the budget committee these are the line items um it was 6600 for uh senior fellowship and exercise programs um 1,000 for busing for trips and 6,000 to defay costs for launches twice a month does that sound right three main things and then the golden agers is yep that 66 goes right to them the the golden age and goes right to them so we have that money for the lunch the $1,000 and we have $1,000 for for senior trips that and that nobody has asked for and we the last few we've done we haven't done so we end up using it for for lunch programs anyway is there is there's a separate line item here 6,000 for the golden aers yes and then there's 6600 that goes for the exercise and the uh yeah that that's another one that just goes right out right okay what's been spent so far on the budget for seniors in 2024 do we know I think any of us have that number yeah I would have to look and then what is the golden aers like how's that it's like a it's a senior group from but it can be people from this whole area it's not just like uh cranberry and they run their own programs yeah they run their own programs they have a they have a lunch program as well but they go out to eat but everyone that comes to the senior center can also be a golden sure and they they have a m not everyone wishes to be they have a membership fee for that they don't always go out they often have different um Community organizations sponsor their lunches I know the Women's Club did it the St Anthony's church women's did they used to do pod loocks but they don't do those they don't do that anymore at all wait it's a public organization or private membership base that's subsidized partially by the town I don't get that the ladder it's it's not a it's not a Township run thing it's um a private gr subsized by the town for lunch out and that's all they do I I don't know everything they used to have an entertainment at each of their lunch in but I don't know what they do with their lunch outs they have speakers I think they have music yeah they I know they have music because some of the guys that they use that I use too so is there a lot of overlap between attendees uh oh well I would say probably probably quite a few of them that go to the Golden Age come to ours as well yes and the fellowship the senior Fellowship exercise that's a a separate organization yeah doesn't have as clever of a name right that's just for the senior exercise class yeah but I I if I'm um correct I believe that the cranberry senior is only for cranberries and the golden Ager is for anybody there are a lot of non cranberry residents that come to that yeah golden age is for the whole area yeah yeah and they come and make a budget request or it's just s a like a Goodwill gesture who Golden Age yes oh yeah they they actually got more money this year because they asked for more so it feels like we should do that too right well I'm I just I don't understand the concept about a private membership lunch that's getting equal funding as exercise classes and trips you know we'll we'll I'll delve into this a little bit more and I'll look at the budget the senior issue is new to a few of us here on on this new board um and we're still getting up speed on it um just like with everything that government does or everything that anybody else does we're not going to make everybody happy and we have to factor that in right at the beginning um but I I think there is area for us to improve uh the services that and programming that we offer as a town what go ahead I was just going to say um you had mentioned the sidewalks which I think lots of families have noticed as well and so some of the like infrastructure and accessibility issues that it sounds like they're naming and it's like recurring for them and it's an issue so both benches and sidewalks is that something that we could tackle again separate from the programming which sounds like it has its own challenges I don't think we can I I in my reading of the ordinance is that we really can't do anything about sidewalks that's up to the TC to deal with directly okay um and I don't know yeah I don't I don't know what's going on there um as far as benches we could handle that in as far as they're in Parks but you know like a bench along Main Street not necessarily something that that's within our jurisdiction yeah um and having said that there's a bunch of benches in Heritage Park like they're they're all over the place I don't think we need any more benches there I me we we could certainly put more benches yeah but I don't I don't think they're needed it might be I mean and I'm happy to do this too for the parks that I'm assigned to but to think about like where benches could be placed or would be optimally placed because if it is coming up it might be nice to just say we've addressed it and thought about it just infrastructure wise and what we're offering within the town that won't just serve seniors um so I don't know a scouting project I know we've addressed this uh this was a pet project of the late Tom Widner and some of the issues we ran into were uh we were a Parks committee so we really didn't have jurisdiction over Main Street and then uh most of those houses you know are you know people weren't necessarily supportive of having a bench in front of their house or you know right would be on their technically their property or their right aways or whatever so um there were some issues there but um by all means I mean mean if they're saying we need more benches i' be I would be open to hearing where they're where they're looking to locate these benches and maybe we can help in some way yeah it's certainly within our you know I I don't think it's wrong for us to give the TC A little nudge and say take a look at benches but in terms of planning and organizing and looking at vendors and all that it's I if the town wants us to do it I I I guess we could but it's not really part of our job as the ordinance is written um but the a lot of the other stuff is like um a lot of the programming and stuff um ride service I'm not maybe that that could qualify us under our senior programming stuff but I'm not i' have to take another look at the ordinance on that one um to your early question right I think where we opened this was ideas um for additional senior interest you know Avenues does this qualif like I mean what we have here does that does that help give it Philip or do we still need to kind of go down the path of having a subcommittee that works through this well well I I I don't think a subcommittee I'm not sure a subcommittee is appropriate until we have an actual project that we're trying to pursue while we're still in the idea phase I'm thinking that we want to keep it as the full group but if I'm happy to entertain opinions of anyone who disagrees I have a question for Kent in your experience have you ever um come across um grants for ride sharing or ride um programs for towns I have I have not done senior uh programming in the past every every town I worked for had its own senior um coordinator and and uh people working on that that side of things there there are grants um because I know West Windsor is getting getting some sort of Grant from the county for a new van but they we have a full-time driver and they schedule the pickups for you know medical appointments and and shopping and stuff like that so yeah there there probably are those out there uh I'm not familiar with them though okay okay doesn't the County run some Transportation Services for Seniors or am I mistaken and thinking that I don't know they do yeah yeah it's scheduled appointment they have it I mean we we certainly have the private what you're talking a private B I would believe that would go over really well just to go to a shopping center or something like that just scheduled runs like you know 9:00 am pick up to shoppr or wherever in C phras but and and to answer your question about sub I think it it sounds like it's needed there's so many pieces and parts and no one's really assigned anything so if you had a subcommittee we could do some research behind the scenes of the golden agors what's available in town what other towns offer and how we can improve ours and then look at the budget and come back because like we're just spitballing but we don't really have any takeaways that's my opinion anyone interested in Kelly did say she would look into the um golden agers so um I kind of agree with with Brendan and I think we should keep it open at this time and we have it but to me I don't I'm uncomfortable that I don't feel like anyone's in charge of this and I read the ordinance to say that this body is but I feel like we need like a packet of information of like here's where the budget money goes and here's who's in charge and here's who you call when you need to get something done for the senior center I don't know who do we go to for that um well I don't want to I want to adjourn today we're not there yet but when we do um I want to sort of have a game plan for how we come back to this topic next month um and we we I don't I'm not sure we exactly have that right now um what do what do we think members subcommittee no subcommittee subcommittee next month sub committee now I don't think a sub committee can hurt I mean if it's if we get information and then we find that you know we don't need the submit subcommittee going forward it can always be disbanded and there's no harm in forming a threers subcommittee all right let's um who is interested in volunteering for that I can I can volunteer as well I've uh I've looked at uh what came back from the the voice of the customer and uh I think we have uh we have some lwh hanging fruit that possibly can be done and some things like we said are more infrastructure which we probably need to kind of take back to time yeah um do we have a third member we don't need one but okay excellent um all right so we've gone over some of the stuff that we need more information on I guess I would ask the subcommittee and any other member who's interested to organize their thoughts on this um to check on the issue with the other towns um and to see if they can put together maybe like any kind of briefing for the rest of us on where things stand as it is now if that makes any sense like some of it we have like the budget or stuff but like we don't all have it necessarily because we haven't all worked on the senior budget when we when the rec board did it last year because we weren't all on the rec are we able to share the old the most recent budget approvals with everyone Ken just so that everyone kind of has a rough idea of like what money we have access to and what has been spent in the all right um do we want to talk more on this or should we close it move on all right let's move on um field and park you signage I haven't gotten that together yet like I said we've been really busy with other things um and I you need to remind me again I thought we were going to work on um you know just exactly what this we were going to put on the on these signs we have an existing sign in Millstone you need to see a picture of is that yeah but that just says field use by permit only I that's currently what right so we we had talked about other things and I mean I think I was going to ask Jerry for his Sign guy and I I will I will do that I will ask Jerry about the Sign Guy I mean the least we should do is have the field use by permit only up there uh because at Village it those signs are either faded away or non-existent anymore they are faded away looks like a blank piece of metal maybe we could just take a magic marker and put it put a side of we we'll get I'll get the field use by permit only a sticker put right but I will get that uh get those up there um made in in up to Jerry for installation before the next meeting sorry Ken one more question for you and and this is uh just handed down and it'sing the RS couple of questions right in the budget we refer to having funded taii and um you know outdoor exercises Etc as part of I think um if I remember correctly from a prior budget there's there's money set aside for things like that it it it goes to to the organization that host it host those right so so that's in this case taii is hosted by the Episcopal church so in this case the town is it but that's the under the guise of the senior Fellowship so there's a senior Fellowship organization there's a golden age and then we have our senior programs at the at the senior center and and so through the the recommission budget the it comes so it comes from the township committee from our budget from the township committee pretty much comes in to the recreation trust fund and we do a purchase order and goes right out out it's that's we're just the place it goes to to to send it out to those so everything referred to here is still the same as what we track yeah yes thanks Memorial B es I don't have anything I do we had um two memorial benches that were in the process over the last year and they have both been ordered and installed and around the new walk and Trail and Village Park that can be taken off of our agenda thank you Sally um and if anybody is interested it is on the website if anybody wants a memorial bench they have the application on the website and the approximate cost and how they fill out what they want to say on it and comes to us for approval we approve it and then it goes um through the purchase order and gets purchased and it gets delivered and gets uh put in so we have two new ones around the Village Park Mory Trail have anything for that yep we met this month the next um event will be uh September 21st from 7: to 9:30 at the Cranberry Inn Tavern tidbits it's a fundraiser for the New Jersey Revolution project and Publishing an updated Third Edition of the book George Washington in Cranberry could you repeat that again where is this event September 21st 7il 9:30 at the cranberry in and it'll have like a signature cocktail some light food um some reenactors maybe for five that's still being worked out and the money raised is going towards publishing the third edition of The George Washington and cranberry book so this is like a pay for ticket to get in kind of gotcha thank you and we're selling tickets soon on the website and they'll probably be available still at cranberry day but there's limited numbers I think it might only be a hundred to to fit into cranberry in selling it what what website oh the historic commission website the is it the historic preservation is it the historic preservation what is it um cranber historic preservation Society yes so that's the um the nonprofit group in town not the the township commission and should have them available um at like a couple of stores in town as well how much are they do you know that I don't remember and I don't want to say it out loud in case it's wrong so not sure reasonable and it all goes to a great cause and the signature comparable with what you might spend normally at the at the cranberry but this time with reenactors in costume which is R is that the night of the or is the before week before that's the 28th but that's not for the revolution all right sounds good uh new business we have the cranberry mom's group did you have any updates on that very confused by this whole process that I've been working on since November but it's brand new um yes so what all do I need to tell you actually let's start with what is it because I think the Parks Commission members so we did talk about it at the last meeting but um so it is a group for um moms of babies so it doesn't have to be your first baby um but if you have a baby it it's just a you know everyone getting together and kind of sharing those you know early days of motherhood um that's it so it's no budget required no big ask no big reach um I have a space reserved at the library we were going to start it as just once a month and kind of see how what kind of need need to be met in the town um yeah what other questions anyone have any questions so and K I apologize I know you got caught in a catch 22 on this and basically I think that I know you reached out to Matt Crane and on the website yeah and he is and I think the discussion I if you were in on that or not but I think the discussion with um was the thinking was this was not a wreck this was if you're going to do something at the library just do something at the library and it does not need to come through the the rec board and is not youve really been part of the W board Parks and Rec mandate so just go ahead and arrange your own event at the library and and make that happen well we wanted it to be something that to to look like the town was sponsoring to to support a demographic like we do things for the senior population we are doing things for different demographics that was how we introduced us and we did it back in right and I think it doesn't have any funding and you already have space well we haded about in the November meeting potentially building in a budget down the road but we didn't want it to be like a heavy lift because it was also the end of the year and we wanted to get the ball rolling yes I think that the challenge Matt is like he he has to put it has to be some organization has to sponsor something to put it on the on the website or put it out in the news so he was like it's not hasn't been endorsed by rack it's not the and Miss Marbel was saying it's not even really kind of part of the recck Mandate or the agenda so it was like just go ahead and do it I think through the library if you have the space and you're and you you have a way to get to those those demographics I think there was no way I didn't sound like there's anything the township could do to help that so I guess I'm confused is this something then that the town doesn't want to be involved in I think the town I mean supports it obviously but I think if you're if you're not asking for funding and you've got the space of the library and you have a way to get to the demographic I don't think you need the township that was I guess what we were think that it would be easier to reach a demographic if it could come through and there would be a place on the rec website to reach more people I mean you can the these were all things that we discussed in the November December January February March meetings yeah but I mean you can and anything in the LI can get on the library calendar and you can advertise it that way I don't think there's much that the township can do to support that besides that unless it it sort of the event gets endorsed by this this board as as something and then but but it would still need to be you know still need to appear somewhere in the mayor's update they'll just put a a link to something so it's got to be somewhere to to list it you can link to the library event if you want well I think what Katie is been working on and is asking is she does want it endorse by I guess now I'm I'm getting even more confused so I think I think Miss Marbel the way she she said it hasn't yet been endorsed by this committee so if this committee wants to endorse that and then I think that that would be the next step on this but it was endorsed by committee that was defunct so I think she just wanted to and that's why in my email to her that's why I was asking like how much of these things that had already been handled by one group had to go back to square one with this new group was it ever endorsed by the the previous committee I had thought so that's why um in the March meeting they told me to email in you can go back in the meeting in the um minutes go back to the video and I was told to reach out to Iman and she's the one who gave me the L contact Matthew the best thing now this is the official group so if this group wants to endorse that that group as fitting with the Mandate of the of the parks and recck then I think then we can get it published and and supported is it simple vote that we could just vote I mean I I thought it had been voted on too so I I remember that I think we did vote on it as a Rec committee and I think part of the reason we started with the library and Katie you can correct me if I'm wrong is it was like winter time and so I think there is a world where maybe it does start to use like Park facilities or right like and so I do think it could fall within this group I think you could quickly vote and say yes this is in our mandate and this is our scope and we want it and I think that'll that'll make it official all right so I'm hearing a few different things um I'm hearing the town's not really interested but I'm also hearing that we can officialize it um is this ire any support from the rec department from Ken no so right now it would not require any money we had talked about but does it require like uh you know sign up support or it does not have to I was trying I personally seeing how long it takes projects to get through I was trying to we talked about trying to make this as easy as possible and I was stunned how difficult it has still been I mean stunned I think initially it's it's a communication vehicle right to have Recreation support this group and have a communication vehicle for new moms or new parents to reach out and know that there's something available wherever it is it's hosted at the library in May it's hosted at F Park in June but it's a way to communicate right it was trying to form it makes traction then next Year's budget someone will ask for I'm looking to do these events in x amount of dollars and will that get approved can we discuss it so I'm wondering about who analyzed the code and said that it wouldn't be within the scope of the group because I think it falls like directly in the duties and Authority I mean it says oh sorry plan develop and Implement balanced Recreation programs and activities to serve the needs of granberry residents I mean to be honest that's that's what confuses me about tonight's meeting altogether because I I felt like the last meeting the discussion was let's go back to square one let's look at the Mandate for the rec commission and then from there let's scaffold things underneath that and it feels like we got here tonight we went back to what looks like a Parks a Parks agenda so it it feels like we didn't the exercise that where this is causing is that you never went back to sort of looking at the Mandate i d you were going to propose something but it seems like all these activities are kind of floating out there and there doesn't seem to be there doesn't seem to be yet the structure of where these are going to go under and I thought the discussion last meeting was that there would be like tonight was going to be a decision on some subcommittees and then from there the subcommittees was going to put things under so like this is one where it's like I don't know it's floating out there to me it doesn't seem like it to me I don't know whether it fits in the Rec Rec commission and neither did Miss Marabella so I think it was it was just I think it's a matter of and I recognize your confusion on this but I think it was like it seems like it was missing the structure of what is the Mandate of w and I think you guys were going back to First principles of what was in the ordinance and then under that if this fits under there then it's a no-brainer for this group to say yeah that fits in that mandate go let's put that in there and endorse that so I think that's the for me that's where the uncertainty comes from because it seems like we never went back to looking at the Mandate of the new commission and sort of then what subcommittees do you want under that mandate and then what projects would fall under those subcommittees yeah Mike we we've got and and R and I have connected we've got a first pass at what that looks like in a structured fashion don't think it's on the agenda today it's not ready uh to be taken to the group but you know there is there is a view at least I and I have it in front of me it's not quite readable in the print I've taken but looking at it um it's compartmentalized to look at youth under 13 over 13 what do we do for adults senior citizens right and much of what we know that needs to be done is is relatively clearer for senior citizens for adults and the youth uh sort of communities it's very sparse I mean if you look at uh what ideas remain to be done to improve or expand what we can offer to the community that is very sparse uh and what we do today we do do have an inventory of it and you know hopefully we'll we'll get to sort of sharing it as a formal sort of uh of readout for everybody the next time you can meet okay um I think that a cranberry moms group is something that we could get behind my question is I I just I I kind of don't want to have have a member of I feel like who's running it is is my question is it is it you what do you mean running it I mean um organizing it scheduling it securing the space I had that all taken care of because we were going to start this in March and then there was no when I went to send when I got the link to contact I got the link from Iman um I needed a some as you mentioned that whatever it is that goes to Matthew needs to have something to loop back to and there wasn't going to be a Rec board to link back to because that was when everything was getting shut down for two months and so then we stopped and then we came back last month well and everything back can I make a motion that we adopt the cranberry mother's club and start it and go take what Katie's her background and go for it from here yes okay then I'd like to make that motion that the Parks and Recreation Department support a a new group in town of the cranberry mother's club second anybody I'm happy to second I yeah happy to second I guess we vote now um unless we any anyone wants to say anything we'll vote okay yeah okay Kelly yes brandan yes deac yes Omar yes Katie Adam yes Ali yes Christina yes and Fallon yes okay all right so um as far as what else we're doing right now tonight with that is there another item or are we know um so I guess the question then becomes um so I've had a space reserved at the library first Thursdays in the Comm community room the larger space I spoken with Dean at length about this because he keeps asking me when it's actually going to happen um is this something that we want to potentially announce on something that's going out talking about upcoming events in whatever is getting mailed out um is this something that we want to start um in July or do we want to have a fresh start in the fall on yeah well we can ask the um the the mayor to put it in the newsletter but that's ultimately up to her I wasna to the right maybe the right thing to do that Katie would be um if you link to the if if you're doing it at the library right now that link is is its own web page so if you link to that event in the library page that link she can put in the in the mayor's update without needing a PDF of an event or anything like that so as long as the event on the library page has the information has all the information you you need for that event she can link right to that event okay so that's the easiest way to get out of the catch22 you could say Rec is supporting mother's group and you link to the library event and then that gives that that'll that gives the mayor and Matt everything they need to post that and that goes out every any given Tuesday that can go out so you could have it go out for a couple Tuesdays up until then so I don't know all the background but um on this on your information you would have what it is who it's for yeah all that information who's welcome yes whether there's food you know anything like that how long it's going to be the purpose yes so um I think the first couple sessions are going to be more feeling it out um uh a question that I did have originally I was thinking 18 months and younger um you know in a larger Town it would be much younger much smaller age group but you know you have to kind of cast a wider net when you have less people to deal with or you're going to have get two babies show up um so I guess it's 18 months or two years but there's the the babiness if it really starts to change a lot at that age range um for the first session or two I have a friend who works in the baby field in various capacities and she um volunteered to just come and kind of help structure and move things around just on a volunteer again no budget ask um just to kind of help get things moving but it's really kind of a self-perpetuating group that's really just like Fellowship it's moms getting together like I said and kind of helping each other out getting it you know helping get out of those house get out of the house on those early days when you feel like you have want an excuse to just get dressed what about expectant mothers yeah I don't think there's any reason that it would be I don't think it's you know anyone's like cing at the door well actually any Library program is by default open to anybody who reads that description who wants to attend the event so you can put the description whatever you want but yeah and the description was even going to have you know moms and then in parentheses and dads because in our meetings you know Kevin um the former um Rec chair Kevin had mentioned that the this came about because cranber used to have a really robust moms program and then it died out and Kevin mentioned that he actually used to be part of it it was all the moms and him so it's moms or dads or you know a caregiver like it it can really be anybody who's coming yeah we we can't we can't um limit attendance really um but having said that we're you know it's designed for a certain population um should we sorry I'm looking at the clock it's it's getting a little late do we should we move on from this or do we have more all right okay I'm happy to help you navigate through now that you've got official endorsement from this board I'm happy to navigate through how to get that into the mayor's update yes well and I know I can't contact Matthew yep only can can y so we'll we'll we'll help you navigate through now that we've broken that catch 22 so cool thank you all right um Adam any updates on the historic baseball event uh no um filling out the permits and the date is still Saturday October 5th all right fantastic um anything anything else anyone want us to say about that oh um I am you know uh toying with uh our local little league has merged with West Windsor so I did reach out to them to see if they wanted do a exhibition Little League game after the historic baseball to make this a bigger event and uh get some use out of our grand zhai field over there so uh West Windsor my initial discussions with them they are interested so um um hopefully you know come October follow is a smaller segment for baseball generally but um hopefully we can at least get you know like 20 to 24 kids together to have a nice game and you know roll over from the one game into the other and kind of get some you know something for people to come out and watch Saturday October in our Parks fantastic sounds awesome all right uh 2024 townwide event we are we were thinking about that but we hadn't really reached any any decisions about that if I'm remembering correctly we have the inclusive playgrounds potentially do as a focal point for it um but that is still up in the air a little bit um I would suggest maybe that unless anyone has any thoughts on this we Circle back to it next month yeah that's usually a pretty robust topic I think we're trying to go home at some point tonight that yeah okay then let's do that um Parks and Recreation inventory deepo and I did speak uh this month um about um the work he's doing to put together sort of um well you're you're compiling and you know spreadsheeting it but visualizing on paper what it looks like in terms of what we have for parks and programming what we offer what we don't offer where the gaps are and how we can identify the spaces that we have all the Box checked all the boxes checked in the space is where we have potential room for more uh growth and development um I think that um the print out is a little small that we have with us today but that's okay we have magnifying glasses um this is you know we're still sort of getting our C legs here as a a commission um and we're are going to refine our Focus um going forward on what it is we are looking to do and what it is we're looking not to work on yeah if I can sort of add on right like I think we we went back to first principles like we said um the commission's Mandate is very clear there's uh I think about nine things that you know we are as a commission sort of signed up to to empower to do execute um there are about uh six are those that we've kind of identified as being directly um you know directly something that you know we can influence for a specific age group uh or animals pets and there are some things that are intended for the inter the community at large right like you know take a case in point um Kelly as you called out you know plan develop Implement balance Recreation programs and activities that's applicable across uh particularly for youth adults senior but something like you know appoint to Recreation director to assist the Commission in executing responsibilities I mean that's obviously not something that is an active item that we need to track but off of these there are at least two things two three things that I want to call out right there's one you plan develop and Implement balance Recreation to uh make recommendations for maintenance maintenance is clearly something that is in our remit and I think in our two conversations that we've had there's a there's a running list now that at least I'm pulling together and we'll we'll certainly have it for the next run where direct maintenance efforts that are needed small and big right um those two are applicable across all age groups for the senior citizens there's operation and maintenance of the Cranbury Senior Center so that is explicitly an item that uh we have as part of our mandate clearly the survey says people don't find that the maintenance or that facility is adequate uh so Kent to your point if there is aesthetic improvements that can be made then obviously as a subcommittee I think you know will'll spend to kind of pull that in but there is a very vocal ask to improve the facility overall whether that is in a different location or there um that is very much in the remit of this group so something to kind of anchor us back to that um and then the last thing you know when we talk about pets right again it kind of falls in the remit of making recommendations for maintenance of the the parks playgrounds and recreational areas potentially targeted at pets families with pets um when we come back we'll have a more readable version like I said we'll also I can read this fine we'll also we'll also see um you know these are these are things that are sort of quote unquote the what this committee needs to do um we also need to know why we're doing that and by looking at it together we see that there are a lot of places where we're not necessarily you know I guess meeting the objective in in its totality and there's there's areas where we can SE certainly do more uh and that will translate into a list of let's say you know a wish list of things that we want to make sure that you know we're getting on people's Radars yeah so more to come for sure all right um action items we're almost at the end everyone I have a few action items that's maybe an understatement um can I mention one thing that I um when I was going through some of my old notes um 5th of July music were we doing anything with that this year what's that yeah we um so this has been such a confusing thing for me this fifth of July we we were never a part of any of the fifth of July celebration uh up until a few years ago uh when we were asked that we being the rec commission was asked to pay for the food for the band that was playing at the event so we we did that we paid for the food for several years actually somebody from the commission picked up the food brought it over to them well now the band that used to play is no longer active so uh last year we were asked to actually discuss as to whether or not we felt that we should have a band or not and if so we had to find one so we did we found a band and we decided to pay for the for the band so we did that so this year it really has gone kind of through the Wayside with all the changes of the commissions and all that but the band that played last year is available and I guess we need to discuss and and either approve the expenditure or what uh on whether or not we feel that there is a need for a band and if we were gonna if we want to pay for the band do we know do you know offand the cost I don't remember um but they weren't super expensive so um so I'm going to leave that up to uh the board here to um decide on whether or not to have the band um and and if you do decide to have a band there will be a fee involved which we can get to you but I don't have where's the band play in the park in the park okay I've never gone in the park during I just stay by the the bridge I was like band where's the it's before the fireworks pretty much it's much earlier it's for picnic people that want to come and bring their dinner and I believe they played in the Gazebo um thoughts do we quick thoughts yes no yeah um yeah I would say if it's in the township budget that we're happy to authorize that um I'll a motion to have a roll call vote on it if someone wants to make that motion what what what so they they played from 6:30 to 8:30 is what how long the band play for so we're we're we're voting on whether or not to take this out of the the recreation trust fund not the township budget yeah so um that comes out of our trust fund okay but we don't know the number we don't know how much though I'm he didn't he didn't give us a number but I I think it was you know $500 600 I mean it wasn't thousands of it wasn't it wasn't thousands of dollars by any stretch it was than $1,000 I can tell you that so I will entertain a motion that we vote on authorizing less than, doll for this ban for the 5th of July second someone has to make the motion first I'm entertaining it so first motion I'll make a motion okay second I'll second terrific let's have a vote Kelly okay yes hey Brendan yep deac yep Omar yes Katie yes Adam yes and Sally my turn yes there altern yeses have it okay terrific um shall we now move on to action items I have that was a good call though thank you um um Mike will I have you'll refer the trails to the scouts um about uh maybe doing some work there um K we'll talk to DPW about the maintenance list um benches at milstone Park and Village being in disrepair um milstone back stop needs a screen that's what I wrote that's not what it needs attention at the screen um and um I also have a Christina circulate the zip line and fitness staff [Music] um can uh checking out a pickle ball in that situation um Adam quote on the power washing of the courts from the yeah I'll see if he can do it yeah and if not I I can go back in my notes and we had somebody power wash the concrete to the Pavilion a few years prior and I can I can reach out and see what a quote would be from so some of those guys that did it before too our senior subcommittee is going to meet or or not meet necessarily but you know work by correspondents they don't necessarily have to meet in person or anything um and there including discussion with Monroe and some adjacent towns of possibility of use of their senior center the uh Circle procurement subcommittee is going to meet ideally in person um that is what I have anyone else have action items well for DPW either paint the yellow line at Heritage Park work on the water bottle I did write that down but I didn't put a tick mark to it so I forgot to read it out water bottle filling station in Heritage Park and wood chips at Heritage Park with possible railroad ties around them um Ken do we need to start doing any planning for cranberry day they uh reached out to me we have we have a budget of ,000 for cranberry day so we we typically in the the actually the last few years we just paid for one of their um uh performers but previously we would get an inflatable uh ride and and pay for that but $1,000 don't even get you one of those anymore so um no you don't want to purchase that but um so I I just got the email today actually from uh I think Christine right she said uh what are you guys going to do for us this this uh cranberry day I'm like well I don't know I can't just give you the Thousand that we got to pay for something so um I'll go back and ask her what they're what they're planning and what we could pay for so we can just put it on next months we don't have to do any action item then no we don't I mean we don't have to do any action at all really it's just I'll just talk to her and do a purchase order for it sounds good all right write them checks um Bren the one thing is I think grard we said take it to the town commission I know we said there is the Boy Scout option but the decision as to whether to retain it as a trail or not oh yeah I'm going to talk I'm going to talk to EC on that one um I also did not put a tick mark next and you you and I will touch base about um the inventory again this month um I guess in that sense for next month's agenda um perhaps worth having that as an item where we you know under the new business or otherwise where we can sort of talk to it yeah we it beforehand so everyone's got it looked at ahead of time um again please reach out to me if there's an agenda item you would like added or subtracted or what have you from the um agenda and I can add it um anyone else have action items anyone have a motion to adjourn I'd like to make a motion to adjourn oh I'm sorry with public comment yes one more thing three minute limit I'm also the uh I'm also the L end of the library board from the township and the library has been also taking the senior survey and taken that to heart and they are very committed to sort of supporting senior programming and so they're Ada accessible it's a $4 and a half million dollar brand new library building so I just want to encourage as much as possible to use the space we have in town um I also have understood that their interest in going out to other towns is like zero and so my hope is that actually by moving their Friday lunches to the library they'll get used to the library and change will become a little bit easier and the parking situation can be worked out a little bit it's unfortunate this Summer that the school which is the Overflow parking is not available but um the library is absolutely committed to being the senior center for our town the day has a lot more capacity is a lot more available stuff there but there's a technology guy there that helps with all that stuff so my I'm just trying to encourage that we have the senior center we know is not ideal but maybe less focusing on the physical space of that building and more on what programming and services they want and a lot of that can be served out of the library and they're very willing to craft programming and be good partners they have a whole programming staff that does that so the more you can overlap I think in that space and less on trying to improve a basement of town hall and sort of get them their change get the momentum push so that they're actually using that space is well is a great solution for our residents of town so I we can I I don't want to believe I know everybody's late but I just want to encourage that that the the library is right there with you guys they want to support programming they have the space they're they understand the needs they took the survey and absorbed the survey they're looking at the survey just like you guys are they want to be a good partner to support that so all right thank you yeah thank you I'll entertain a motion to adjourn I'd like to make a motion to adjourn second I'll second all right we're adjourned everybody we we don't have to vote on that do we all right we're adjourned