CITY PARKS, RECREATION & CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Meeting held Tuesday, March 3, 2020
PROCEEDINGS BY AUTHORITY State of New York, City of Jamestown
The regular meeting of the Parks, Recreation and Conservation Commission of the City of Jamestown, New York, was held on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 at 5:00 in Jamestown New York.
Those present representing the Commission were:
Commissioner Russ Diethrick
Commissioner Cindy DiNapoli
Commissioner Adam Irgang
Commissioner Vickye James
Commissioner Chris Prinzi
Commissioner Jennifer Williams
Commissioner Bob Whitney
Others Present:
Julia Ciesla-Hanley, Recreation Coordinator
John Williams, Parks Manager
Absent:
Commissioner Dave Anderson
Commissioner John Bauer
Commissioner Kim Ecklund
Commissioner Dave Reinhardt
The meeting was called to order by Cindy DiNapoli.
Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting.
A motion was made by Commissioner Diethrick and seconded by Commissioner Whitney to approve the minutes of the February 4, 2020 meeting. Carried.
Opportunity for Persons to Address Commission.
None
Reports of Committees and Projects.
Report from the Riverfront Management Council/Riverwalk: Russ Diethrick asked how the water levels were for the river at McCrea Point Park. John Williams said they were high but it’s typical for this time of year. He said Arborist Dan Stone removed a couple trees at the Keel Boat Landing. Department of Public Works is bricking in the hole so that area will be done in time for the March 14th event.
Turning The River Green: The Chamber of Commerce is turning the Chadakoin River green on Saturday, March 14th. The event is scheduled to take place at 11:00 a.m. John Williams said it snowed last year but there was a good crowd. There will be music too. Julia Ciesla-Hanley said she believed the Chamber was selling cookies and hot cocoa.
Easter Egg Hunt: Julia said the event will take place Saturday, April 11th at 10:30 a.m. in Allen Park. Weather will determine if we’re outside or inside the rink. She has the plastic eggs and candy already. She is waiting to hear back on some donation requests. Cindy DiNapoli asked what we’re doing about having plastic bags for children. Julia said we will be putting in as part of our notices that people should bring a bag or basket for their child to use. Cindy suggested seeing if many anyone might be willing to donate bags for children who come without one to the event.
Baseball: Bob Whitney asked if fees are going up. Julia said no and that this would have already been announced if they were as they would have had to be part of the budget process last year. Julia added that City Rec Youth Baseball sign-ups for the city will take place Monday, March 16th from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the City Hall Lobby.
Labor Day Fest: John Williams said the organizing committee met to discuss possible changes to the Labor Day Fest including the idea of moving the festival downtown. The consensus, including from new members of the committee, is that moving the festival downtown would make it less family friendly so we’ll be keeping it at Bergman Park. John said it’s easier to do the festival there and the site offers more for kids and activities. John said there will be further discussion on whether to move the event to Saturday, but his opinion is that we keep it on Sunday because it’s always been on Sunday. We get a big crowd on Sunday, so attendance isn’t the issue. Vickye James asked if we would lose the Dan Feather 5k Run if we moved to Saturday. John said we would. Russ said it would be difficult with parking if the event was moved downtown. John said we’d lose all the parking revenue we currently collect that helps the festival. Julia said the parking revenues are between $3,000 to $4,000. Russ said the purpose of holding the event at Bergman was to get people to our parks. He said he’d be okay if the event was moved to another city park but not downtown. John said the event take-down time would be harder downtown.
Jackson-Taylor Park: Russ Diethrick stated concern that people will not know what the new names of the park represent and asked if there will be signs explaining the renaming. John Williams said there will be plaques going up that give history on who the people are. He said with the park sign going up so late last year that we just haven’t had a chance to get the other plaques up. He asked Vickye James if she could work on the wording for the signs. She said she would. Vickye said at the opening ceremony for Juneteenth in June that they will be talking about the park name origins so that the community knows who they are. John Williams said a core sample was taken at the park to see what we’re dealing with for building new restrooms. We’re still waiting for the results of that sample. He added the old restroom building will be used for storage.
Good of the Order:
Adjournment
The next meeting is Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 5:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Julia Ciesla-Hanley
