Park Board meeting 7-5-2016

The Rensselaer Park Board and the Rensselaer Park Corporation met on Tuesday evening in the old Monnett building once known as Rensselaer Hall. (For an explanation of Board and Corporation, see here.) After some preliminaries, they discussed and approved a re-roofing of the gazebo in Hal Gray Park.

It was noted that former head of the Parks Department, Hal Gray, was celebrating his 90th birthday.

A discussion of soccer focused on the lack of response from the soccer people. They have not signed a lease for using the fields nor have they presented proof of liability insurance. The Park Board wanted to sponsor the soccer program but it is still being sponsored by Saint Joseph's College even though the college no longer provides facilities for them. The Board decided since the lease had not been signed, they could change it. If the soccer program wants to continue as a SJC program, the lease will be $1000 plus utilities rather than $1 plus utilities. The question was then how would it be enforced if the soccer program ignored the lease. That discussion was not conclusive but the Board was adamant that the program needed to show proof of liability insurance or else there would be no soccer this fall. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

The transfer of Staddon Field is still not complete. It just drags on and on and on and on and on and on. I am sure there is an interesting story here but I doubt if the many lawyers involved will ever share it. Because the property is not in park hands, fundraising for improvements has stopped. There was then a lengthy discussion of fundraising.

The Board continues to be frustrated by the lack of communication and cooperation with the Blacker Trust, which contains funds to improve the parks. Having watched this frustration for a couple years, I think the Park Board needs to realize that they are never going to see money from this trust and move on.

Glen Allee proposed that the Park Corporation hire a part-time program director who would be charged with developing programs that use the park. The pay for the person would be partly determined by how successful he or she was in developing programs. The members attending agreed to begin with an informal search for candidates for the position and if they cannot find anyone, the search would be publicized.

The Board approved purchase of a mule vehicle and some metal frames for picnic tables. The park currently transfers old wooden picnic tables for various events but they are heavy and subject to rot. Tables with metal frames would be lighter and less subject to rot.