Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes - February 3, 2025

​Parks & Rec Meeting Minutes
February 3, 2025 @ 7pm
Hybrid meeting was held both via Zoom and in person at the Township building.

• Call to Order
• Attendees:
  • Board Members Present: Helen Eckel-Wiener, Katie Brauchle, Anne Duzan, Elizabeth Malone, Brett Kuklan, Sam Wiener
  • Staff Present: Abbey Swan and Jessica Markovich
  • Guests: FC Delco
• The Parks and Recreation February 3rd, 2025, agenda was posted on the Township website and at the township building on January 31st, 2025. Agendas were made available to the public at the meeting. The 2025 Parks and Recreation meeting schedule was published in the Daily Local News on December 18, 2024.
• Public Comment
• Minutes Approved – November 4, 2024
• Guest: FC Delco – Brian Courtney, Peye Garcia, and Rob Elliot from FC Delco came to present about the process of getting turf installed at the soccer fields that are at Caln Park West. FC Delco (also known as Spirit Club) has a lease with the township for the fields at Park West, and as soccer operates for about 10 out of 12 months a year, the limitations of this soccer field not being usable in the winter months presents challenges to their seasons with finding alternate places for the teams to play. With the installation of turf, they also mentioned potentially paving the gravel parking lot that is already there to add marked parking spots depending on the needs of the township. The group and FC Delco discussed concerns of stormwater filling the fields and the parking lot, and FC Delco expressed that this would be something explicitly discussed with engineers. Brett asked FC Delco what the agreement between them and the township would look like, and as this is a significantly large investment for the organization they would like to lock in to a long term lease and control the usage of the field, which is similar to how the agreement looks now, so they can create more opportunities to open the fields up to the community. The group also had questions about how this would impact the composting facility also located in Caln Park West, how long of a process it would be to install turf, which is anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks, what its standard life is (“standard” is about 8-10 years), how this could impact the housing around the fields, and if they would take care of the field/the expectations of the township in this maintenance. Updating the lease agreement was also recommended by Abbey due to the changes that this would cause to their agreement as well as the lease’s age. The group decided that they would like to visit the fields themselves to see what the impact would be, and plan to vote at the next meeting if they make a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners that they believe this change will be beneficial.
• Election of Officers – Action Item
  • Chairperson – Anne nominated Helen to be reelected as Chair, Brett seconded it. The motion passed 5-0, with abstention from Helen.
  •  Vice Chair – Sam nominated Anne to be reelected as Vice Chair, Brett seconded it. The motion passed 5-0, with abstention from Anne.
  •  Recording Secretary – Abbey recommended for Jessica to be elected as Recording Secretary. The motion passed 6-0.
• Old business
  • Tree Lighting Recap – the event went well! There was no bonfire unfortunately this year due to the burn ban (that ended the next day). Electric candles were used this year instead for the luminaires and that was a big hit for those who set them up at the event. Liz suggested that we purchase larger electric candles next year for more light. Anne suggested going through some online sources to find wholesale ones. Abbey mentioned how the performances went well by Shannon Cooper’s Dance School and the Coatesville Meistersingers. Kudos to this year’s Santa as well! Anne voiced that she was happy with using real plants for Santa’s tent as it made it look very nice and much more appropriate.
  • Bus Trip Recap – the trip went great! Everyone made it back from NYC, there were no complications day-of. The use of online ticket sales made the process seamless and easier for attendees to purchase them. Working with Krapf Transportation for the first time went fine, and trips in the summer based on this one will most likely fill go over just as well.
  • House Decorating Contest Recap - another success! Katie stated how she enjoys that contestants can’t win two years in a row for the same category, or win more than one in one year, as that gives more opportunity for others to win. The group agreed. It was mentioned that there are many greatly decorated houses that don’t enter, so Abbey suggested that for the next contest that we hand out fliers to homes to encourage entering the contest.
• New Business
  • 2025 Event Planning Dates – Action Item
    • The Board agreed to the following schedule of events:
      • Tree Maintenance Day – March 15th
      • Clean Up Weekend – March 29th and 30th
      • Easter Egg Hunt – April 19th
      • Summer Series – June 14th
      • Spackman-Davis Picnic Event – June 28th
      • Summer Series – July 18th
      • Summer Series – August 5th National Night Out
      • Community Day – September 6th
      • Halloween Party – October 25th
      • Tree Lighting – December 7th
    • A vote was held to approve the event dates. The motion passed 6-0.
      
    • Dates for Art in the Park and Clean Up Crew will be discussed at the March meeting once the schedule of the individual board members and volunteers for the summer is finalized. Jessica reached out to various artists to see what their rates would be for coming to participate in an adult Art in the Park session, and the board wanted to move forward with securing them and seeing what dates they are available. To offset the costs of the instructors, it was suggested that a fee could be charged for these specific Art in the Park sessions – one for residents and one for non-residents. Discussion of other educational events to fit in between events was decided to be talked about at the next meeting.
      
    • Abbey also reached Krapf Transportation to see what dates they have available for another bus trip this spring. The board also discussed the possibility of going somewhere else instead of NYC, such as Cape May. The board settled on Abbey moving forward with securing a May 31st trip and seeing what the difference would be should they go to a different location. It was also decided that Abbey would go ahead and secure a December bus trip date to NYC as well.
      
  • Beaver Creek Trail Grant Support Letter – In order to apply for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Grant, which would go towards the Beaver Creek Trail project (the extension attaching Lloyd Park to Downingtown), Parks & Recreation needs to submit a letter of support. The letter was not received in time for the board to review, but after discussion of what the grant would be going towards, the board was supportive of it.
    
    • A vote was held for the Parks & Recreation Boad to approve the support letter. The motion passed 6-0.
      
  • Hybrid Meeting Policy – Abbey suggested tabling voting on the policy as one has not been written up yet.
    
    • A vote was held to table voting on the Hybrid Meeting Policy. The motion passed 6-0.
      
  • Caln Elementary Spring Fair – Held on April 11th from 6-8pm, Helen was approached by a teacher at Caln Elementary about the possibility of Parks & Rec having a table at the fair. As they are neighbors to Municipal Park, Helen thought it would be a great idea to have the board participate. If their table is outside, the board could bring games, but at the very least the event could be a good outreach effort to promote our events. The Board supported the idea. Helen will move forward with securing a table for Parks & Rec to have at the event.
    
  • Clean Up Crew Rewards – discussion of Clean Up Crew rewards were tabled for the March meeting in the interest of time and the discussion of dates.
    
  • Adjournment