Parks & Recreation Board Meeting Minutes - June 2nd, 2025

​Parks & Rec Meeting Minutes
June 2, 2025 @ 7pm

This meeting was held as a hybrid meeting – both via Zoom and in person at the Township building.

• Call to Order
• Attendees: Jane Kennedy, Helen Eckel-Wiener, Katie Brauchle, Brett Klukan, and Sam Wiener
• Staff Present: Abbey Swan and Jessica Markovich
• Public Comment
• Minutes Approved – May 5, 2025
  • A vote was held to approve the minutes from the May 5th, 2025, meeting. The motion passed 4-0, with an abstention from Brett Klukan
• Old business
  •  Art in the Park Update
    • The first Art in the Park of the summer is on Wednesday, June 4th! Jessica read an update from Liz who couldn’t be in attendance, which detailed that this session’s activity would revolve around making seed packets with wildflower designs on them. There would also be tables for painting, drawing, and coloring where attendees will be encouraged to draw wildflowers and pollinators. Attendees will also be encouraged to submit their artwork to the Art Show at Caln Community Day. Kim Jackson from One For All Art will be helping out again this summer, and Katie also is planning to be there as well. The craft for July 2nd (Bee Hotel) had been adjusted to being a Bee Bath – Abbey found this as a replacement for the hotels as they are a bit more complicated to create. The Bee Bath will be filled with stones and so insects like butterflies and bees can stand in shallow water to cool off and not drown, and it would be made out of little saucers. There is also an idea of creating a bigger one for the pollinator garden in Caln Municipal Park and attendees can paint rocks to put in there.
    • Jessica also gave updates for the Art in the Park sessions for Adult – Parks & Rec was approved to hold the photography class at the Spackman-Davis Farm on August 16th from 6 PM – 8 PM. The photographer is Drew Tolbert. He will be at the event around 5:30 PM and welcomes any and all camera equipment. In his classes, Drew likes to pair attendees together who have the same photography goals so they can work together – this class will be ran like this. The class size would be limited to 20-25 people, with an absolute maximum of 30 if there is a lot of interest. The next Adult Art in the Park is a botanical sketchbook class with Margaret Saylor on September 27th from 1 PM – 4 PM. It will take place here at the Township building, and everyone will walk over to Meadow Park to pick a plant that they want to sketch and bring it back. Margaret will be there to instruct the class and give them tips. The class size will also be around the same with 20-25 attendees. Drew will be $175/hour and Margaret’s rate is $400. Attendees will have to purchase tickets, the final price being anywhere from $10-$15. Helen mentioned a discussion of having a price for Caln residents and one for non-residents, which Abbey and Jessica agreed would be good to do. Tickets will be sold through Ticket Leap. There is a rain date for the photography class, which is the following weekend, but there is not one for the botanical sketch class as it is inside.
  • Summer Series Final Planning – June 14th
    • The first Summer Series moving will be Wonka, with an activity start time of 7:30 PM and a screening time of 8:30 PM. Jessica brought up how the last activity discussed for the event was creating a candy bar design and then putting it on the bars. For this, there will be two different types of labels that attendees can design - one with the Wonka logo that attendees can color in and a blank one where they can make something from scratch. Jessica also mentioned the idea of making candy jewelry with candy that has holes in it, such as peach rings, and putting them on an elastic string. Abbey also found a craft activity pack on the Wonka website with coloring pages that we can print out. As there will only be a few that are able to help, it was decided that everyone would get there around 5:30 PM to set up. Abbey mentioned the idea of hiding a few golden tickets in popcorn bags for attendees to find and return for a prize, and the Board was enthusiastic about the idea. It was suggested to laminate them to reduce them from getting messy. Jane asked if food trucks would be attending again, but due to lack of sales in the past at these events, they would not be in attendance. The group also talked about when they offered ice pops for one year with popcorn and decided to consider this if it is hot.
• New Business
  • America 250 Event
    • Next year, there will be a joint event between Parks & Recreation, the Historical Commission, and the Historical Society for America250. It will center around the Spackman-Davis Farm – there will be a picnic, as well as trolley tours around the Township to visit historical sites (which was done for the 150th anniversary of the township). Tours of the Caln Meetinghouse will also take place, and this site will be celebrating 300 years. Reenactments will take place at the Spackman-Davis Farm. There was a discussion on Parks & Recreation contributing an Art in the Park project at the event. The Township applied for a grant to help cover the costs of the event but have not heard back yet. Guests from Calne, England have also been invited and are planning to be in attendance for the event. Helen brought up the 2nd Annual Spackman-Davis Farm Picnic that will be happening at the end of this month and that Parks & Recreation will bring lawn games. Abbey reminded the Board that if they planned on attending, they would have to sign up as everyone, including volunteers, was asked to do so and that they can sign up through the form on our website and Facebook.
  • Pavilion Rentals Update
    • The Township has been receiving an increase in requests from those who are reserving park pavilions for events regarding what they can and cannot do, such as renting a bounce house. They have been told that there is no express rule regarding bounce houses, but that they have to be mindful of other visitors in the park as they are only reserving the pavilion and not the rest of the property. Our Township manager suggested creating a requirement of obtaining insurance for this. There are also inquiries about reserving the pavilion as a vendor, and there were some concerns on what new guidelines would be made if vendors wanted to come use other parts of the park. Jane suggested that the pavilion rates be changed based on the scale of the event that will be held at the pavilion, as these events would require more cleanup from Public Works to make sure that the spaces are clean for all reservations. Abbey and Jessica will talk to Don about any implications for changing the fee schedule, and Jessica will look into what other municipalities in the area are charging for pavilion reservations. Brett voiced that if someone reserving the pavilion is bringing someone in, the vendor they are hiring will most likely have some sort of insurance, but we should think about creating a policy around what is and is not allowed to be plugged in to the outlets at the pavilion for safety, as well as if generators are allowed. Along with this and the fact that pavilion rentals are also only for the pavilion itself, the Board voiced concern about the policy overall and what changes need to be made. With space in the park itself being a concern, Jane mentioned that finding another space in Caln that the Township could use as an event space would be beneficial, and the Board agreed.
  • Caln Municipal Park Hockey Rink Rental
    • Last year, United Sports was approved to host deck hockey at the hockey rink in Municipal Park, but they ended up not doing it. A representative from Campus came to Abbey to inquire about doing the same thing for this year, but Abbey has not heard from them in a while, so she is unsure if they are still interested. Our Township Manager suggested drafting an MOU with Campus should Campus want to move forward with reserving the space. It would be the same conditions as last time – there will not be a rental rate, but they will be asked to purchase new nets, clean up the rink, and make sure that they are done by noon if it is a Saturday. Helen asked if people used the rink regularly, and Abbey answered that it is used but many people use it for soccer. Sam asked if Campus has insurance, and Abbey said yes. Helen asked if this is a situation where Campus would have exclusive first use, and Abbey answered that it would be like the volleyball courts where there will be a sign with specific reservation times. The Board agreed to the MOU if Campus would still like to reserve the space.
• Jane brought up the idea of adding more signs on the intersection of Lincoln Highway and Municipal Drive to direct people to the Township building. Abbey said it was a good idea, and we will find out where we can put this sign.
• Helen and Jane inquired about how Community Day planning is going, and Abbey and Jessica gave an update on the planning. We have acquired a few gold sponsorships and have eight vendors so far, and we have started lining up our activities. The Board also inquired about the band and Abbey is looking into potentially securing two bands, as one band that we had at a past Summer Series event had sent an email saying they were free that day. Jane also asked if a storyteller of African folklore reached out, as she was interested in attending that day.
• Jane gave a quick recap of the Bus Trip to New York City and that it was a great weekend. Abbey asked Jane if she thought moving the spring trip to a different weekend would be better because this one was so close to Memorial Day and graduation and it seemed that tickets were selling slower than usual.
•  Adjournment