ooh that is one thing I did forget okay put that at the end yeah let's table that maybe maybe print those out and we'll grab them um so I will I'll I'll attendance right so call attendance for everybody are there any members on there uh no oh so then you don't have gra a seat yeah no yeah I was going to say if somebody if somebody was on there we'd have couple more people wondering sir come on in you hop on in make it seem less painful though let's be honest all right so um the first order of business for today is going right into public comment um so uh do anybody have any public comment and we do have a sign and we do have a signing sheet if you can when you you you could do public comment and then I know no it's okay so I'm Ken heric um I'm gonna join the select board in a few minutes but um so I understand tonight on your agenda you're gonna talk about uh dedicating a component of the Birch Meadow area complex in honory of honor of Dr James and I would just like to say I wholeheartedly support that um I knew Jamie for a number of years and um even with his untimely sudden passing I was still learning more about he was such an unassuming person but he was so educated and so smart and the other thing I remember about Jamie was um even in in discussions with the posing points of view he was always kind and thoughtful and and polite and and um we should all be more like that but among his greatest dedic um dedication to the community were his many many years on the Conservation Commission um he was an integral part of the MVP master plan which no doubt led to the about $5 million we got for the Mallet SS project in some way and um and as a longtime champion of Birch Meadow and I believe part of the Birch Metal Master planning trust is going back to 2012 whenever it was done so so I'm fully in support in anything I could do to help the process of um I think this is a great idea and I appreciate the work staff has done um working with his family find something Chuck is well back there there he is there he is hey Chuck yes and Chuck thank you I know you know um so anyway I won't be the only one who can testify to this so thanks thank you thank you do you have any public comment Yes actually I had qu a couple of questions one um I if you want to slide up a week ago Saturday or two weeks ago Saturday I'm not sure which uh my husband and I counted 28 people on the pickle ball court at Memorial Park and we were just wondering why there would be 28 people on that court at one time okay so part so I I I don't mind having having the questions I just want to make it make it clear gener speaking public comment is an opportunity for you to make comments to us and it's not necessarily a dialogue because we because it's not necessarily an agenda item right so we aren't up because of open meeting law typically public comment um if it is an area that isn't covered by an agenda item we can't necessarily have a dialogue about it if the public comment was more related to something that we were discussing then it we would have more freedom um and in this case I don't know if you want to make any you know talk about any part of the of where we ended up um as far as where we ended I know you had sent me an email as well and I did share it with Eric as well too and I I don't know if you saw my response I sent back that's kind of where we are um after our last meeting at the Pleasant Street Center I did bring it up with Matt corales who brought it up with um Tom Council as far as the deed um and if you know they thought we were in violation of the they did go of the deed they read it they did say that um the language in was very subjective and at this time they didn't think that the town or the recreation commune was in violation of that deed so that's where it stands right now so as of now it's kind of business as usual at Memorial Park as far as pickle ball um we have made some changes there to allow open play on Fridays and I think that's gone pretty well um and our lessons are going on down there as well too that's taken away some time from the pickall players I'm as far as just 28 folks being on the court I'm assuming it's during transition times when groups are coming on and possibly coming off with kind of giving an answer um to your question yeah and I I would suggest uh Mike May Avail himself to you if you have questions about kind of like the logistics of pickle ball but I don't think we need to get I don't think we should bog down into the logistics of how the pick a ball transitions work but Mike is probably the best person to go to if you have questions about like logistically how the pickle ball Works in terms of people coming gu and we did bring up in January about had concerns about the parking and the noise and they haven't been addressed I don't think by the committee and we're just wondering where all of that stands and do we need to put that on the agenda is there a way that we can put that on the agenda I see pickle ball on the agenda but I'm I'm not seeing yeah so with with regards to where traffic is I'm not sure that that a recreation committee kind of over oversight um make mention I know the folks who live in that parking area in that and geta duplex um home there that white home they did reach out to DPW in the engineer um Department asking if they could possibly look at the parking lot and put in some lines there so there was more proper parking I think they started looking that at last week so I know I think Ryan peral um who's the town engineer he's working on that right now so I did touch base with them I don't think anything's been finalized I'm in the beginning stages doing surveying see what they can do but they want to make sure whatever they do is done correctly by the laws so putting in park it's done efficiently and correctly so they did start working on that last week they gave me a heads up and noise so do you have do you have any other spec specific comments you'd like to make that if you create a problem by your policies then you need to deal with the consequences and I don't see that happening with the recreation you went from two tennisball tennis courts to four pickle ball courts and there are some problems in the neighborhood because of that policy that you made and I think you need to address those consequences okay thank you anything else all right any other any anybody else here for public comment all right um so next topic is the discussion and possible vote of naming a pathway at Birch Meadow after Jamie man former conservation member presenter we have Chuck and is Matt here yeah Matt hopefully yeah hope you can see me or hope you can I don't know if you want to see me or not but can see we can see and hear you so I we put the screen up you have that I share the screen we grabb a slide from the Birch metal master plan that shows the main spine and uh what you'll noticed is uh well I'll just start off by saying uh when I first got hired by reing I was interviewed by Jamie why is this not sharing and uh so I was pretty impressed that Jamie would even come to interview me because uh he worked for ch2m Hill which is a legendary Consulting and engineering firm that played a big role in anama Canal and so for me it was really great but Jamie was just another person he was just another guy he treated me like an equal and ultimately I ended up being hired here in reading and Jamie was always there had a cell phone number for support and advice Jamie uh reached out to the community and always was interested in helping preserve Conservation Area and you're all well aware of casine field and Jamie would tell me many stories of bringing his kids down there to watch the butterflies and see the frogs and talk about the Flora and the fauna and so this path this main spine path is very close to cine cine field there's no path right now around cine field but I think there is a proposal at some point to have one go through there and then off into Morton field and and like that so to to kind of create an area um for someone that's been a big part a big supporter of read big supporter of the environment for an area that was uh delineated as a wetland um and to honor him that way I think would be a great you know a great achievement for this town I know that it's not often done here and but but um I think the contributions that Jamie made uh would kind of stand out and be held high amongst other people that uh see this dedication we did have a sign to show you I don't know if that's available I pretty simple uh just memorializing the path um and uh Jamie mullen's name would be on it uh so I guess with that without rambling without taking too much of your time I'll turn it over to Matt and uh Matt please take over at this point great thank you um and and thank you all for those kind words and I don't know if Karen is still in the room or not but I think I heard Ed the words kind thoughtful and polite I not sure I saw too much of that growing up but it's good to good to hear that that's how he treated um you all his colleagues um I'm personally sick of meetings by about 2 pm and here we are at 6:40 so I'm going to keep my comments pretty short um first of all I just want to thank all for for considering this dedication um it means a lot to to me uh my sister my mom um really I think it's a great thing for for not just our family but more importantly the town um I think Karen did a great job kind of highlighting and Chuck did a great job highlighting the work that my dad did with um the Birch man master plan uh serving on the conservation committee for a number of years town meeting member um so I really just want to keep this short and try to boil it down to what I thought growing up I saw my dad as my dad's greatest one of his greatest strengths in whether he working with the recreation committee um the conservation committee or whatever it might be and that was really connecting people right he could talk to me a 5-year-old about butterflies on the casting field Wetlands he could talk to you know an expert like Chuck he could talk to a developer whether it was um you know a contentious case or not he was really able to meet everyone where they were and treat them with respect and try to find common ground and connect them and so I think this path that connects you know multiple different use areas whether it's a baseball field uh casine field the Wetland areas I can't really think of a better way to um remember him and his legacy that I think he left not just for me but for the town uh so with that again I don't want to take up too much of your time I just want to say thank you again um this means a lot thank you very much Matt I really appreciate you you being here I'm Jamie's behalf and so thank you um so discussion yes CH so I would support this uh Jamie was a thoughtful uh kind uh very intelligent person a great town meeting member uh and uh you know as as Z already said a lot the community I think this is a a great uh tribute to him yeah yeah thank you go um I knew Jamie in a a probably an early version of his career before he went to yeah I think he was mopy National transportation systems center and um he helped Mentor me in my early days I always thought he was a great guy I moved to reading lived here for many years and then retired and then found out he was around so that so it's funny how that connects um I love this this idea of naming this path so it this is a nice spine and it connects up to the across the the road to those Wetland areas and everything so where would the where would the sign actually be which end the send or that we'd work with Chuck and probably work with DPW to find the best location so it wouldn't you know have an impact on whether it's the cutting the grass or whacking all that stuff so logistically you put you put at both ends it's open yeah that would make more sense yeah you can go [Laughter] now speaking Andel stopped by the office she couldn't be here um today she wholeheartedly wanted us to mention that she supported um this idea based on Jamie m m and what he's done in the past um and Kate CER um J didn't talk much on it but she's kind of sticking her stance as far as name and things she kind of really doesn't have an opinion on it she really doesn't overly agree on naming things after individually so she said there was no difference with uh this one as well too um I knew Jamie through a couple different Pathways since I've been here in town um and I just Echo everybody's sentiment um I think in my uh email when this first came up the first thing that popped into my mind everybody has said is thoughtful um uh certainly kind he always sought compromise I always enjoyed his comments at town meeting um anytime he stood up I knew that he was going to say something rational and smart and taking into account the other side of the argument um and that he would fiercely make his case but it was always with a lot of respect so um knowing what he has done for this community I think it's I think it's a very this is a a great thing to do um the one kind of uh caveat I'll make and I you know if we if if we do go down the path of doing a vote here two questions one is this a vote to recommend to the select board to adopt this yeah and I think Chuck you're going with conservation tomorrow so I think it's a vote of basically support from committe I don't know if it's an actual vote I think it's a recommendation of support to move forward with this project correct correct Chuck yeah a vote to support and then the Conservation Commission is going to have the same vote tomorrow night and then it goes to the select board oh okay yeah okay I did speak to the chair as he's the official and I told him I was coming to say this and why and he thought he thought it was a nice idea's going to support this because you know we don't have jurisdiction you know well but I mean c field all that but um you know the bare the the plan and all that and Recreation Department so we didn't want to vote to approve this so we just want to vote to support um this nomination that makes sense um also please pay attention so because one of you is going to have to make the motion so um the uh the the second thing and I I would intend if we do get to the vote I would intend on on on voting for but um I think I I know I mentioned an email um just wanted to make a public comment that um that I I think it'd be good if the town had some sort of process behind naming Parks Pathways Fields what have you um it seems like we're naming a lot of things recently and it would be good if we had a process behind it um I fully support Jamie in this case um but you know the I guess the the the the Devil's Advocate would say are there other people that have would would Merit equal consideration for this that we're not considering because there is no formal process that somebody came up with this idea it's a very generous and amazing idea but should we have a mechanism to capture other other names for future things so we we have policy FF on the school committee and uh Aaron probably share that I'm aware of that yes so that's pretty pretty thorough yeah I just I just don't know that that's sound wide no no I'm saying U that could be a model for absolutely the town so yes aware that um great uh so any other comment or discussion want to wel uh yes you have a comment we are allowed to go to the audience would maintain it the signs no the whole path and the signs would that public works so that's actually already existing that's a uh actual pave path already that's already there right now that was part of phase one of the Birch metal project so it's actually open right now um goes right along where that Pavilion area is and DPW manages the upkeep of it right okay not quite in the right place the Pavilion H it's pretty close actually it's right behind those binges midle pretty pretty close the Ang let the know how we can we have a motion I move that we support the dedication of the walkway in Jamie M's memory is that work works by me chck did we miss anything on there sounds fine Che all right have a second and we will take a vote do we need because we have nobody online I think we can just do a hand or yes all those in favor all those opposed and one two three four five six to zero we didn't have to elevate you I don't yeah I didn't get a glow I feel bad about it thank for that thank you very much for spending some time with us uh and uh we will if if if you didn't quite catch it we will be recommending uh to the uh to the select board to adopt the uh adopt the sign and um you might be called upon to go before them too so great great thank you so much thank you all and um hope you have enjoyed the rest of your night take care thanks Matt thank you okay thanks and thank you Chuck as well really appreciate you spearheading this good luck good luck in your meting said that staff will take it to the select board so you guys have to do that unless you want to process also I think J J myself right there all right Jo the Amplified um so one of them is Bob if you want to talk about one here so I did change the date on that one just Ave you so um what was that back in April we we had um approved the Amplified sound for the the police department is having a challenger game at hunt on June 2nd it's now being to June 9th and they just want to request the Amplified sound again for sound equipment and do the national anthem on June 9th at Hunt so basically the same thing we had approved previously just moving a date discussion okay do we have to do we make a motion on these or do we just vote on it I just recomendation to the board approved by you guys to vote I move that we approve this thank you Mike second I'll second right every time all all those in favor all this post get it next one we just had one more from the reading public library this is for the juneth event that will happen on the town common from 1 p.m. to 700 p.m. from June 15th requesting use of Amplified sound use of musical instruments for General announcement as well as music any discussion okay have a motion approve the June 18 celebration at the reading public library sound on on sorry Town common on June 15 to uh for Amplified sound second second thank you all those in favor six nothing all right uh the meat of the meeting um updates and discussion of the swep recommendations to the select board which include recal updates and potential site locations for fickle ball fields parking etc etc um so was the plan to have Representatives talk a little bit about yeah I know and Rec Chuck and Angel I know Chuck you present presented at the select board meeting was it last week or the week prior I do have that presentation I don't if we want to put it up there and kind of I don't think we need to go through every single slide I'm sure you don't but I think slides 30 I think it was 30 through 38 are kind of the meat in the guts of that and I think that's going to be the most started 28 I have actually a a question on a earlier slide I think it's 14 or 15 there's one second can you though Jim I think I parcel out behind the Bas not asking I should Chuck was still here that was uh it's it's land I mean there's no way to get there you got to go go through Wetland Wetland so it's not really uh usable and the rifle range shoots that way that too I was just curious what that parcel I do so the original uh charge was just that small parcel that yeah that 28 28 the town meeting authorized a purchase from zany uh back in 2019 I think it was and we then went to the select board and got approval kind of look at the whole the whole the whole area down there yeah there's the original right piece no I was just curious about that plot back there because if that's actual that's a bigger Uncle land back there and if you could make a field back there that would be what were you talking sorry I was loading this up the baseball field that far back baseball field is that what you're talking it's back on page if you if you go to slide 15 quick you can it's actually slide 14 I don't know why no that's 14 this is 15 15 so this area back 0 41-59 it's just locked in right up so there's no way to get there it's with I mean you can get there obviously but You' be encroaching on uh conservation land so right there's really nothing you can do with it other than you know give it the give it the conservation right I was just curious about it I would field space is rare yes so I think the the main gist of this was kind of look at what the sweat committee which has I believe they have Sun that had already what they proposed to the the select board again this was just their recommendation I think kind of going through the the last pages um kind of give an idea it was kind of I think four or five different ideas this is kind of the basic and it kind of goes from the smallest part to the biggest and this was the first one here we all know that we're in need a Fields as well um with this being said we also know that recal is going on as well too so this parcel of land could be used for something something else depending on how that project ends as well so um I think we got to keep in mind that this was kind of done possibly a little bit prior to the start of the weal um committee as well too so this was one of their proposals multi-use liting cords that would include Youth Soccer lacrosse field hockey basketball courts pickle ball could be a dog park mix in there um the next one was just a bit more um this did include a senior center as well as the parking area um off to the side as well um next one outside the box a little bit um this is obviously would all be dependent on the lease um with the Burbank Ice Arena which they still have another 18 and 1 12 years I believe under the current lease um so again this is thinking outside of the box and maybe using that land that is a little flatter over there but um there'll be a lot that would have to be done obviously for this to to go through um number four multi-use recreational again they're using that back parking lot which is outside of the jurisdiction or the scope that um the town does have um in this also mentioned um the public and the private partnership um where they did go out for the request for proposals that one group came back the edge I think we all saw that presentation I want to say it was about four months ago um as well so that was the fourth option and then the final one just to cover all the bases they said do it all um which would include everything including the dog park multi-purpose field Community Center parking garage um again swx wasn't to say what they were going to do with the land it was to come up with possibilities to explore every single option um that they could think of based on community feedback there was a lot of studies that were done there was a lot of data that was compiled as well yeah so if I can back up sorry no go ahead sorry if I no no I think Angela may have reported it at one of these meetings uh we started the process with public uh public comment as to uh what what people members of the public wanted to see down there we also did a a survey and both the public input and the survey set the Baseline for those those recommendations everything really uh centered around uh Recreation uh and some type of community uh Community Center so uh we did do the RFI which which Jim mentioned uh which was uh we did get one respondent which was Edge Sports and they came in with just a really high level it's almost like a marketing piece uh they wouldn't like to hear me say that but marketing piece for a to build a uh like a multi-purpose type uh facility that could be by seniors and pickle ball court basketball courts indoor lacrosse Ty uh maybe an aquatic Aquatic Center all of those things were were highlighted in our survey so that's kind of what set the Baseline for those recommendations I think the you know and clearly it's now in the in the hands of the select for we were just uh doing the research and giving them our thoughts on that uh you know obviously the the the loudest voice uh was pickle ball uh no something we need to I mean and and always thoughtful always you know there weren't too many pitchforks at the me the yeah Kidd uh but uh we do need to do something something about pickle ball so you know that's you know that's again in the hands of the select board now in terms of what what will go down there but it was a good process there was a lot of discussion uh you know the dog park was was a good discussion as well you know that doesn't require a lot so whether we could maybe sneak something down and there for that a little corner [Music] yeah great yeah yeah um I think I went questions comment I I'd like to add one of the one of the key proposals out of it was also I think the next slides six there's a because there's a big hunk of the Z land which is wetlands and I think it's like maybe it's more than 10 acres of land down there and I think the the idea was that that should be uh made into conservation land yeah which would be a big bonus for um the town developing various other things and doing things and the other thing down there you made me think of when you said zany is you know there there is probably some level of contaminants down there we don't know what uh they had left construction material and stuff down there so really it wouldn't be prudent for the select board to do anything down there whether it be a senior center or anything until yeah till that real study is done there was some uh lower end type study done way back by Weston Samson but not not the type of thing you'd need if you had kids and adults down there on the RS makes sense and the and um but the West Samson looked at this was a Nike Site back in the day and where the launchers and all that stuff was where the baseball field is right not not this amul land so that's a that's a positive thing right um I walked I walked through there and there's all sorts of crap back there there like a a couple card down I they were in the pictures presentation a few weeks ago comments questions uh ideas thoughts this is this is an opportunity for us just to kind of discuss it um and bring up elements that we might want the select board to be aware of what is the timing of recommendations decisions like is there any sort of like timeline yeah associated with this not really part of the reason that's so is it really needs to we need to get to the to the bottom of what we're going to do regarding a senior center that's a competing site so I think once they've made that decision if it goes down there then you know that could be all Bs off in terms of what we did from a recreation standpoint so once that's done then I think the select board will put together some level of an action plan and timeline for what to do to you know I don't know I don't sound like a broken record but this would be an ideal place for pickle ball so um competing the competing with the G Gun Club if they a senior center or Community Center down there or a recreation facility down there you would almost certainly want to have pickle ball courts there as well that was a Kevin just a little Lev that was a I coach baseball for years and the summer teams would that was like I call it our home field because at 10 o' on a Saturday morning you have a game and all of a sudden gun on the other team funny you tune it out though we were just say last night you do tune it out got to be coming win no absolutely we we' definitely Ping On The M but I mean I just you know I was I was down there Sunday afternoon and um there was the New England um Skating Club Skating Club had a big event there yeah um so we we do have to be yeah it is used that parking lot is used and um I feel like when it's used it's used a lot like it's a there's not a lot of like quarter Field parking a lot events it seems like high school hockey gam state tournament games it is in the winter it's it's definitely yeah summer little certainly a little practically empty in the summer but it was cool to see this the skaters getting ready outside I mean I I I think it's great to see all of the different options kind of laid out which is which is nice it's helpful um I think what hopefully whatever the select board comes up with doesn't doesn't I'm hoping they come up with multiple options to explore more in depth and not just fixate on one solution or one of these options is to kind of say okay can we come up with some proposals that have variations on a theme that we can you know price out having multi-purpose Fields here and thick ofall Fields here or what if you know basically have a lot of if then questions and answers ready so if recap if if if the senior center goes somewhere else then then we can do this if it goes here then this is how we would work around that and and and and change things so I'm hoping that it's not it doesn't become a kind of a singular Focus um and then the other comment I have on the public private partnership is that if uh if we do go down that path uh and I've said this before I sound like a broker record probably like we we absolutely have to have Ironclad kind of like control control reading comes first when it comes to you know within reason obviously you know a private partnership is not going to come here if if if we say we own the own all the all the space but we should have priority um and that priority should be in perpetuity not you know kind of like something that Fades away um as has happened to this town in in a couple key areas so um those are my those are my two thoughts it's really hard to dive into like details I think and to discuss real big details because um the senior center is such a big looming project that I think we need to have a clear sense where that's going to end end up um so and you got to kill them too yeah so from from a space perspective I think these two things combine and then from a cost perspective kill them right um so you know what's the community's appetite for it all um I will say that there are there's going to be a financial Forum um coming up in I think next week yeah and then they're going to keep doing them on a regular basis um to keep talking about about all of these different elements there's multiple large projects so I definitely encourage everybody here to please pay attention to those so that you so that if we get asked again for ideas thoughts um we're we're kind of aware of kind what the what the costs of the other projects are and how they would affect anything that um that we would we would kind of have more of a purview over I mean one one thing that's useful to note is that the multi purpose field idea those those would not be full-size Fields those are maybe us you know they could get a full size field off the the scope of that land they have yeah they would be a small one they could soccer mro soccer right that's that's I just wanted to mention and and when we talk about multi are we talking tur fields or grass yeah and gra for like light light it yeah yeah and the the other component to this is we have Birch metto master plan next phase to think about right um obviously we have phase two that is just we're beginning yeah just beginning um but eventually but eventually phase three eventually phase three has Fields right it has reconfiguration of the uh the fields uh beyond the uh out Fields um behind coolage right GNA be ter yeah there the plan the the the plan currently is All Turf and multi-purpose so you have more softball more lacrosse more soccer opportunities to kind of crisscross so um what's what's the definition of a full-size field is it a 120 by defense socer I would say soccer is the biggest soccer is the biggest and yeah but yeah 120 field5 or 80 something like that yeah but definitely 100 you definitely need to have 120 that's the whole issue with Turf to then it's not you can't play football though 110 or what is it the E team can play there yeah was that 10 yard short I it's 20 I think it's like 80 I think it's 40 at Midfield I believe a 45 the 45 yeah yeah 90 I play plus plus the 10 yard you B that is that is correct I don't want to run I I don't want to run any farther than that do not make me run any farther so the when they rebuilt that uh so a girl's lacrosse field is bigger than the boys uh the dimensions so they re so the girls could never play that but they made it so they could they made it now I believe so they can play their games and they had to upgrade the lights but they just couldn't they just couldn't squeeze out a few more yards it just wasn't gonna happen um any other discussion on this we're not voting on this at all right there's no vote here but yes I would find it helpful as we're considering um slicing dicing this property I know it's kind of B fashion but just to have like laser pointer I'm not from here but you know I would find it helpful talking about it just so I can be on the same page make sure that we know um the other is just I think I mentioned it before but I'm on the trails committee and we do a good job I think knitting the town together and because of recent efforts we now can park at Camp Mata and walk all the way across to haal and which I think is great I don't know it's at the wrong part of April for this it's up by chest but I just wanted to sort of bring that idea out there that it's nice when you can bring Town thanks anything else okay uh let's bring it around to bring it around to the beginning uh anybody want to take a look at the did a very nice job minutes looking at the minutes so we can officially approve them yeah when the flags are going in I'm GNA you I'll get that and steal my thunder fine fine fine it's on the minutes the I pretending to have read something did you see them they're no window they um yesterday the day before d p basement make sure I send them up to you prior too I want to tell them every day call what you my song was on our I float back and for okay uh any discussion on minutes Corrections okay um and I have a motion we'll through the minutes of April pause sorry Che I think de organization was raised I think they should be 115 Pall has raised 115,000 yes and you didn't mention that 15 initially and there was another 100 Don I think you mention got that all right move to approve the minutes as of April 9th 2024 okay all those in favor raise your hand all those post have been approved uh items uh Mike you have five minutes pick ball ites pick a ball um the the big initiative this year has been open play on Friday evenings um it's been going pretty well uh I'd like my my plan is to actually talk to Ed and try and get maybe something on the the w website because uh um we we've been doing a pretty good job of getting beginners there and um experienced players but we're we're sort of missing a middle demographic this they see posts from Mike Colman and they think oh that's not for me until so that's just something I'd like to work on a little bit um it's been pretty successful people have been having a good time um meeting and and playing you seen new new folks showing yeah and the rest of the time um particularly around around some of the tennis stuff uh there's been some openings and uh we've seen some some families come up um mother and daughter came up and um they were serving like this but which is illegally can't but um so it was it was fun to to see that and um as far as I could tell players have been have been getting on the courts I did uh a review of who made reservations for one week and there were more than 55 people making reservations um well duplicates I do jump in there and check as well too I've seen a lot of open spots I feel like I've seen more openings than I did last year so I'm hoping people are you know they're filling in people come in play and but I think people have more of an opportunity to get on there opposed to it being booked up immediately I saw a bunch of um poor college kid or kids back from college they had all different College sweatshirts on the other day what are they doing not working um so it's been pretty going pretty well the one feedback I'm getting about open point way is that that they like it people like it and they would like to consider another time and um I was thinking of talking to you you guys and saying what about maybe Sunday afternoon but that's just a um yeah we can look into it yeah cool that's great I'm glad to hear the Open Play is working out yeah and there's a lot of people want to play so right okay so I don't I don't think we had numbers the last time but the um day that we had uh April 7th right um at the Fieldhouse we raised about another $6,000 so oh since on April 7th oh it's in here in the minutes is five and I just okay that's what I said at the time but yeah um Recreation and admin and program coordinator report Ed you can go first I got pictures and I like to end with pictures so if you want to go first the pictures ampire game Ed gets no um not too much um nothing crazy just kind of follow the spring programs starting to come to an end so it's just like day-to-day maintenance as things come up there um next couple weeks we are offering a free intro to pickle ball lessons for 60 plus community um that was based on some suggestions from some people in the pick ball Community um our pick ball instructor Jack drink water is running them um just so it's on May 28th and June 4th eight eight people per class it was limited so like people can only take one so it's 16 new people getting introduced to the game um that's that Park where's that that Parker yeah so indoors um yeah we had some space and they actually worked out quite nicely they filled up definitely within the day um not immediately which is a little bit surprising but uh it did F the day um for summer dation right now just working with the directors and the specialty counselors to order the supplies and get ready for orientation and obviously um you know it's going to be starting up before we know it uh summer programs pretty much everything is all set to go um adding some things here and there um as we have space and ideas come through if we can do it we like to obviously offer it and to the community and see what um and then last week I reached out to all of our vendors and everybody about fall programs already um all of our like indoor facility requests need to be in by June 15th for anything from September to December 31st so um that's what I'm gonna be doing the next month or so it's kind of just planning and organizing the fall already so that's been good had a couple meetings with some new vendors hopefully hoping to bring in for the fall a new basketball clinic company and then um some of you probably probably know Pim Penny um from she has a company one onone college Consulting so looking to do a couple of presentations about the College admission process Common App um and then also some um like sports recruiting stuff so little intro presentations there maybe in the fall so that's what I've been working on and I think the the new basketball program I bringing is a former reading High alumni Jackie Lions who was a really good player back in I think the mid like 2005 my first tenure here she was excited to be welcome she was very excited yes um said her parents still live in the in Reading in town um she was very excited to kind of offer this and give back to the community a little bit so really excited um at one point I think it was maybe in the fall you had the um inclusions was it inclusion Sports yes I mean I they were on my vendor list that I reached out to um I haven't heard back from them a ton not really sure what reason was there I've like kind of reached out to a couple of different emails and just having heard back um I have been in really early talks with this gy in wimington that offer some like inclusion uh type programs just for like Fitness and whatnot um but yeah it's kind of something it's too bad they haven't responded I know so in a meeting uh we hosted a meeting the other day in Reading with the local um rec department and someone responded about the inclusion program and they were having similar issues and I think they finally just got back to them so I don't know if they're short staff right now but we can reach out I forget which community that just finally got a hold of them as well too so we can follow up with them yeah so it's been kind of something I've been yeah trying to get back and I know they be offered them long ago um so yeah are you getting inquiries from the community about more inclusion opportunities um it's not something we get over often um I mean it is something that like I have looked into more and I've browsed you know the web and try to find companies and opportunities um I did actually reach out to another company that does some like hiking and stuff um can't think of the company I saw in my head right now but again they get back to me so uh I guess they weren't too interested um so I think kids test kitchen too might do some yeah yeah they're very they're very responsive actually so um that is something we can look into more with them yeah okay and and I think we can do a better job marketing saying a lot of these programs are open to all I think some folks will see it and they think maybe it's not for my kid but I mean a lot of times we end up calling and they will make accommodations um we'd be willing we have a volunteer coordinator to if it's just simply someone needs a one-onone a to help somebody whether it's cutting food or you know helping them you know push them along if they're playing t-ball or something along that um we can certainly do that yeah absolutely as well too we do we don't get a lot of calls about looking for I guess you know inclusive programs um a lot of are kind of focus on IEPs behavioral plans that need assistance with one-on ones and things like that especially during our summer camp season um as well but Ed's always trying to find stuff um but I know the inclusion group has been a little bit difficult of getting a hold of and we do reach out to um the communitas I think they used to use in the past as well too and we constantly keep getting you know that they don't have enough staff um we try to get them out for training for our staff as well to work with the kids who need 101 and every time we kind of It kind of pushed to the side yeah um at some point maybe we can ask um the YMCA to give an update just where they are with their funding because I think that has to be spent by a certain time yes yep I know John's been pretty busy there's been a lot of do you know exactly when that needs to be spent by um I believe it's probably the end of this fiscal year so that would be June 30th so probably our next meeting yeah I can get we want to make sure that we're we're using that so I actually checked with Sharon and finance about the YMCA and the funds so since they are already given to the YMCA in full and there was a check that was made out the YMCA has encumbered those funds so they can use them however they see fit for the programming so um there's no sense of urgency to um for them to spend the funds they'll be there and um that's that and John said that he's more than welcome to give an update in in June I talked to him a couple weeks ago sure I think the rec departments however the rec committee still has to sort of oversee that those funds to make sure they are being spent yep every six months he'll give an update which yeah said he'd come in June he was January right six months ago yeah so it's probably it was right around it was early it was in January but it could have been December yeah I think end of the year yeah so probably thank you J all right on to me yes nice work Ed all right so I officially made it a year as of two weeks ago I'm still here congratulations appreciate your patient for being guid me along the way star do better this year I think I got a lot done this year it's always hard kind of coming into a new community figure out do what's been done what hasn't been done and trying to figure out where to begin um there's a lot more to do which I'm excited about but I think we've had a good first year and we've got a really good team now a full staff team as well so looking forward to having another good year um on my end I'll try to keep it quick I know Celtics are playing tonight and folks probably want to see that field scheduling summer I'm in the process of finalizing that coming to an end with all our spring Sports season it's gone pretty well again thanks to the athletic department and Tom Za working with him BPW crew trying to get Fields ready when they can and all the youth organizations as well they've all been great to work with um worked for a number of town sometimes they don't all get along um they actually work really well together and make sure if they're not utilizing spaces they do give the opportunity for other groups to get on there because we are so limited with field space in town again I'm working on another AED I don't know if I mentioned at the last meeting but we're trying to get an AED over at the coolage middle school now this would be our third one to go along with Parker as well as the one that's located at the field house closest to tur 2 um that would be donated by Youth Lacrosse once again um Meadow at Birch Meadow with the DPW and Belco who was a landscape company um that worked on phase one of the Birch Meadow um plan um they went out there I don't know if anyone's been out there near the Pavilion they put down some wild grass seed in that little triangle Pizza area there's a little mesh net around it right now um that's going to be wild grass that's going to be growing there and then they went around and they put down um grass as well in all the areas that didn't take because the seating went down so late in November um and they're touching up a few little items off their checklist uh few signs were put up backwards out on that new parking lot so they're moving those around so DPW is on top of their checklist making sure they did exactly what they were supposed to do before they sign off on that um the end of phase one um Birch metal phase too as I kind of mentioned a little earlier we had a nice town meeting with uh Jane Wellman um and all the players that are going to be involved in this we want to make sure we overly communicate with the entire community on this project so setting up uh meetings prior to it um notifying all the key players the organizations the Departments the schools um as well with everything that is going on um with that project so there's no surprises um I think we're going to be meeting in probably a couple more weeks to go over the next step and maybe set some dates um to have uh I know we are going to have a public meeting um for the public to come and speak about phase two um prior to it kicking off pollinator Garden I don't know if anyone's seen it um complete they've got the stanions that have gone down and they've got the noo signs on there um and there's some pollinator signs out there as well saying what they are again we're not going to see a return on it till probably about 3 years um or so but should look pretty nice once fully Bloom so that is all done um a reminder Town day 8th reading wreck we did sponsor some of the games for the kids down there Big Daddy racing is going to be coming there will be laser tag and then there'll be a whacka mole game myself and Ed are going to try to be there based on our schedule we'll have a table setup down there um fireworks are June 15th this year a lot of the times it preceded Town day but the firework vendor couldn't get there on June 8th so that will be on June 15th so we're trying trying to do a good job making sure we are advertising that as much as um possible I met with the police I met with fire and DPW to go over the area that has to be fenced off um and spoke with the firework vendor to make sure all those permits are set as well so everything looks good as long as we get good weather for that day um that's it and then I'm going to go to you have a crowning achievement you got to tell you got to talk about crowning achievement yeah what did you put up last week what did I put up yeah you show those pictures now pictures did I jump did I jump the gun I don't know what did I do you know oh down at hum Park yeah oh no I heard there was struggles down in Hunt Park and little league needed a little bit of uh help with getting um scoreboard back up and working so I spoke with Jared Stanton who spoke with uh one of the electricians who installed it 30 years ago he came out there kind of looked at it and we went from maybe having to dig up a 200t toing a twoot little hole underneath the scoreboard thanks to uh one of my friends who's an electrician out in Westford um I connected little league this is separate from the town little leag took care of this he came out he h the scoreboard what I was talking about though up and running the dogs what's that the dog signs oh the dog signs I did put up so I thought you talking about that oh the dog signs are more important the dog sign so there's been uh trying he's so accomplished in the last month that he doesn't even know all great things that trying to be little bit of humble here um we did get some dog parks uh no dogs on athletic playing field signs put up at some of the ballparks uh if you're around town there are a lot of dogs um and they are going inside the fields um so we do put up some some signs right at the little entrance ways I think we got them at stures Hunt Park right now the major Fields um as well so trying to keep some tabs on that um probably bringing it up to the recreation committee to make it a little bit more formal I don't know if it'll be something that will be on our um field um policies um there's not a lot in the bogs right now so I think we have to really dive into that it's a h topic around town not only in our Parks but also in it's Town Forest conservation land as well too so something we need to uh get on all right did I forget anything else good do yeah you're good I'm want to share my makeing pretty good time we very appreciated you I appreciate you guys too hold find the right one I share one second all right just share the screen a little quicker I think Jim sharing screens is my new favorite part of meeting much quicker than last time all right so this was as of this morning I got a nice email from DPW these are those Six Flag polls uh these are in the ground right now Flags will be going up I believe on Monday the Masons are going to put them up they're not doing a big ceremony for the service Flags they're planning to do that in November on Veterans Day where they'll formalize that um the veteran service agent we will be taking care of that but I think I think it looks great it's a nice opening to the the park and I think the the layout looks really nice do want to look really good when those flags are hung up on there so if you're in the area check it out especially after Monday I think 3:30 is when they're going to be hanging them but again it's really informal um next we have I like this one too so this is serges yeah so I got rid of the old and in with the new um I was able to find a company or Jenna had recommended a company true bounce um where they will retrofit existing poles so that is the same exact pole all I asked was that they went out there and they put a nice coat of vinyl paint on there just to clean it up a a little bit so they came out there on Friday it's I think they were out there about 8:30 9:00 um got both Hoops up so brand new Hoops over at Sturges Park um I think these will probably be the Hoops that we try to replace when other um Hoops are starting to go down pretty reasonable price very durable and the noise level on these you can barely hear when the ball hits that um that plexiglass in the back and obviously they hold up with the wind with the holes in them as well too so Next Step at stes is we're just going to get some benches and uh that Park is pretty much kind of been rehabed I'm going to try to figure out if you looking at the photos there too I noticed there's a lot of sand I don't know where that sand is coming on a lot of these courts so um I'm just noticing it now as well too there's a lot of sand on those courts so can report firsthand that since those have been up it has been like nonstop and we haven't even promoted it yet it was it like spread like wildfire in the neighborhood all of a sudden there's like like me get the court as like kids all the time playing playing basketball it's been great and then uh we I did purchase a bunch of all doet Ed and I went out um last Thursday and one of my biggest pet peeves is showing up at a park and having Nets you know it's $6 Nets so we've got an abundance of Nets so if you ever see any a lot of times we get click fix sent into us we'll get right out there we'll have DPW they put them up as uh as well get three more photos I don't know if a lot of folks know about this project this is what end oh yeah so this PA project was done when the playground was put in gosh probably 20 20 plus years ago um the entire thing the water got underneath it um all the bricks came up they got pulled um we had land Solutions come in here about a week ago they pulled every single Paper out and salvaged as many as they can I don't think we lost many bricks there's even some that are broken that had families names on them they took them all out they relay them out on the ground they went in there they put the prop here stoneage in there and the Rocks so that it would drain properly and they added this nice little um wall around there as well so it took them about 3 days to do um and I think it came out really nice but it's little things like this that the rep department does that I think gets overlooked a lot of the times so I just wanted to make sure I showed this as well and our favorite we got it open for opening day uh the barrows ball field grass doesn't look as plush anymore coach's pitch right on the front of it but this was sent to us by uh reading Lally um their first opening day where they got out there got the lines down and couple little kids wanted to send us a thank you as well too so that's Jared Stanton's kids too so um his kids are smiling that says it all so that's all I got for you that's what I like to end on any questions or anything oh batting one of what's going on with the B some um yeah so I stopped by the batting cages at Simon's way on Friday um they were waiting to get started until the silk sock was put down there that was finally got down there about three weeks ago uh Peter seabold was there Friday um he's got the post are in right now they're just setting right now so he's got all the the main posts I think there's six total posts that are in there so I would say that the Simon Way batting cage I would say it's probably a week week and a half out so then Peter seall is GNA come and fix the batting cage that is over at the back of the high school field as well that fans kind of get destroyed during the Birch met pH kids over so he's going to get out there in the next two weeks and fix those F A up there as well too that's all I got awesome ni pictures anything else just one quick thing um friends and family day yep um first of all I thought it was later in June but is is it June 6 pound day is junee I don't know if they call it Town day or friends ands family that's june8 that's the one put on by the Lions Club okay um and so we're going to have a booth and you know it's going to be up for like I don't know 11 to three or something um I was just wondering what we were going to do in that Booth I mean are we GNA have like handouts or swag or sign up for some of programs what we'll do is based off what we needed far is like Ed's always looking at enroll enrollment numbers um making flyers for programs that need to get a little bit more numbers I know our summer camp is almost full every single week but there are some of the Specialty Sports clinics and programs that need some help so yeah we don't technically have a brochure we got away from the brochure I want to say about 15 years ago so I don't think we're going to be making a brochure but it'll be small little packets of information it's just I wasn't suggesting brochure but like in Trails we have magnets and bumper stickers and I don't know give away stuff just for the kids yeah we give away some swag and and then I was just wondering is there a goal for this um tent um you know is is it to get people to sign up for programs is it to look for volunteers to allergies help with hand intensive projects I it's an good opportunity to like touch the community and I was just wondering if there was a goal PRS for the table you're saying and oh and signing up people to take some shifts I mean you know I mean I think I mean like as out there as we are in the community I think there's still plenty of people who don't know you know either what we do or what we can offer them so it's a great way for us you know to get out there and talk to people and then if any of those you know people want to volunteer you know they have ideas of things they want to offer we can talk with them and see you know kind of the process of how we doing things and yeah being out there would June 8th be too late for a parent to SP their kid up or some program absolutely not no no see I think information if they're not sold out um I mean most of our stuff kind of most of our stuff open up until the there's like through the summer definitely not maybe you right yeah sorry S I make a motion to a j second second well we still have a all in favor post post all right we are adjourn thank you e e e e e e