Parks & Recreation Board Meeting Minutes - May 5th, 2025

Parks & Rec Meeting Minutes
May 5, 2025 @ 7pm
 
A hybrid meeting was held both via Zoom and in person at the Township building.

• Call to Order
• Attendees: Helen Eckel-Wiener, Anne Duzan, Elizabeth Malone, Brett Klukan, Katie Brauchle, and Sam Wiener
• Staff Present: Abbey Swan and Jessica Markovich
• The Parks and Recreation March 3rd, 2025, agenda was posted on the Township website and at the township building on February 28th, 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 18th, 2024.
• Public Comment
• Minutes Approved – April 7, 2025
• Presentation: Jahaco’s Waste2Bench Program
  • Jeff and Amy Burke gave a presentation about their business Jahaco, which is a company that collects plastic bags and manufactures them into recycled materials to create benches (but they also can create other items, such as bike racks and picnic tables). They are introducing a Waste2Bench program, which is a where they ask residents to donate towards creating a bench that can be donated to a local municipality. They are partnered with a company called EcoPlastics in Wilmington, DE, which is where they have their materials manufactured as of now. Sam asked how the benches hold up in the weather, and Jeff answered while the color may fade years down the line, the plastic will remain intact for a very long time and the benches are anchored into the ground. Jeff discussed how they have made some benches into memorial benches with New Castle – the Board was very interested in this idea as many people have come to the Township to inquire about memorial benches. Jahaco’s benches are $850 and come already built by them when delivered and can put gold placards on the benches (even if businesses just wanted to do this as well). Liz suggested that benches could be placed along G.O. Carlson but there was some concern expressed about the size of the area alongside the sidewalk where the benches could go. With the opening of the Meadow Park soon, Abbey mentioned that it could be very nice to add benches there. Abbey asked if the bench as a whole is able to be recycled again, and they confirmed this. Abbey asked what next steps Jahaco is looking from the Board. The next steps that they are looking for are: promotion of the Waste2Bench program to the community, if the Township is interested in adding or replacing the benches, and Jahaco is interested in helping to have conversations with businesses (such as businesses purchasing benches with their logos on them). They will be sending over more pricing information to Abbey and Jessica for the future.
• Old business
  • Easter Egg Hunt Recap
    • It was a great turn out! With over 4,000 eggs being stuffed and hid, we had attendees come up to let us know that the event was fun, which was awesome! Katie suggested that having two people to operate Parks & Recreation’s general table would be beneficial as there were lots of people coming up to collect prizes or to collect eggs if they had arrived later. Abbey said that for next year’s we should make sure that positions are set ahead of the event date, so everyone knows what their role is for the day. Katie also suggested that we could post approximate beginning and end times of each hunt, as there were many families who arrived after the hunts started and finished since we only advertise that we start at 1:00 PM. Sam mentioned that once one hunt started, all kids just went so that it hard to control, and it was brought up that either having more volunteers to let the kids know when to go or to add more tape to the area could help this. It seemed that the volunteers are the Car Seat Safety Check had a nice time and were able to talk to lots of people and give tours of their vehicles, but that there wasn’t actually many who came by to have their car seats checked. If we continue to have this at events, hopefully people will become more used to it and attend it more. It was suggested that maybe we create sign-ups for the car seat at an event instead of just drop ins.
    • A parent had reached out to Abbey about the possibility of adding a sensory friendly egg hunt to next year’s event. Brett really liked the idea and added that we should do more research and reach out to. This also appeared in a survey Abbey and Jessica had put out after the event to ask attendees how the event was and what they would like to see in the future, the results of this and the other questions were:
      • For if attendees would like to see a sensory-friendly egg hunt added, a majority said yes
      • For if attendees would like the event to take place the day before Easter or the weekend before, a majority said the weekend before
      • For how attendees would like to see the hunts commence (have the approximate start and end times for each, have them go all at once, or continue to do it the way we have (one begins as soon as the previous one ends), a majority of people said they would like all of the hunts to occur at once
    • The group discussed that maybe having staggering times would be best for parents with multiple children as some parents expressed they missed one hunt because it started so soon after the previous one ended, as well as how this would help shorten the line for visiting the Easter Bunny and keep things running smoothly.
  • Caln Elementary Spring Fair Recap
    • Despite the rain and not being able to do the bubble activity, it was a great time! Everyone from the Board who attended thought it was a good opportunity for outreach and a fun time.  
  • Clean-Up Crew Reschedule
    • With the recent weather, the April 12th North Bailey Road cleanup had to be cancelled. Abbey suggested moving the event to Friday, which would get a new group of people, and that Public Works will already be scheduled to work during the day. The event taking place in the fall was suggested, and Brett mentioned that fall tends to be the time when insects are bothersome during clean ups, so later fall would be best. It was decided to stick to a Saturday, with it taking place on November 1st.
  • PA Recreation and Park Society Member Dues – Action Item
    • Jessica had looked into if a Board could have one membership as an organization, but found that it seems to just be individually. Abbey and Jessica suggested that the chair of the Board renew their subscription. The Board agreed and decided that Helen would be the one to hold a subscription.
  • Summer Series Planning
    • There was discussion of the removal of fireworks at National Night Out in order to help differentiate National Night Out from Community Day and to save some funds for other activities at NNO that are more in line with Police services. As fireworks are one of the contributions from Parks & Recreation, it was asked of the Board if the removal of the fireworks was something they are ok with. The Board was onboard with the decision if the logistics of the event will still work.
    • Our first Summer Series event is on June 14th with a showing of Wonka. Abbey and Jessica were brainstorming some possible activities to take place before the movie showing. Some ideas were: painting with candy melts and putting them into plastic molds, make your own candy bar logo design and then putting stickers on candy bars, add toppings to your popcorn, and make candy necklaces. The group liked the idea of drawing your own candy bar design and putting it then on candy bars. It was suggested to add another activity to help fil up the time. Brett suggested maybe reaching out to a library to bring the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book to the event for a reading – Anne said that we could even do this for Finding Nemo with books about oceans. Abbey and Jessica will continue to come up with another activity to have.
• New Business
  • Bishop Shanahan Sand Volleyball Court Reservations – Action Item
    • Anne made a motion to adjust the agenda to allow Bishop Shanahan to speak sooner. The motion passed 6-0.
      • Bishop Shanahan Volleyball coaches Bruce and Diana came before the board to inquire about the new sand volleyball court reservations at Lloyd Park. Greg stated that the volleyball team at Bishop Shanahan had utilized the sand courts since 2008 during July as the school’s gym is closed. They stated that they had tried to inquire before about reservations but that the court has been first come first serve, but now with this year’s change they want to know what they can do to create a reservation for their team. Abbey explained that due to limitations regarding staff and website maintenance, a formal reservation system for the courts has not been feasible in the past but that changes are now being made. Abbey reminded the board and informed Bishop Shanahan that, for this season only, the only requirement besides the Parks & Rec Board’s approval of reservation times is to have a sign of their permit created to hang at the courts. Bishop Shanahan asked to reserve the court on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM and Wednesdays from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM during the month of July. Bruce and Diana also shared that they are always interested in getting their team to help with any volunteer projects and to give back – the Board suggested them helping with the riparian buffer tree maintenance and community clean ups.
      • A motion was made to approve the Bishop Shanahan High School’s Volleyball’s team usage of the Lloyd Park sand volleyball courts from 6:00 PM to 8: 00 PM Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 4:00 PM to 6:00 Pm Wednesdays in the month of July. The motion was passed 6-0.
• Adjournment