Parks & Recreation Minutes - April 6th, 2026

​​Parks & Rec Agenda
April 6, 2026 @ 7pm
 
Tonight’s meeting will be a hybrid meeting – both via Microsoft Teams and in person at the township building.

• Call to Order
• Attendees: Helen Eckel-Wiener, Anne Duzan, Sam Wiener, Katie Brauchle, Liz Malone, and Jane Kennedy.
• Staff Present: Jessica Markovich

• The Parks and Recreation April 6th, 2026, agenda was posted on the Township website and at the township building on April 3rd, 2026. Agendas were made available to the public at the meeting. The 2026 Parks and Recreation meeting schedule was published in the Daily Local News on December 18, 2025.
• Public Comment
• Minutes approved – March 2nd, 2026
• The Parks & Recreation Board voted to move Lloyd Park Renovations by Boy Scouts Proposal to the top of the agenda. The motion passed 5-0.
  • Vighnesh Vijayanathan presented to the Parks & Recreation Board their proposal for renovations in the dog park section of Lloyd Park. Vighnesh would like to revamp the one bench in the park that goes around the tree for his Eagle Scout service project. They presented the issues with the current bench, and what research, specs, and plans that they have developed to create the bench. The construction would take 1-2 weekends to complete, and they will have a perimeter set up around the tree to keep other park visitors safe. Vighnesh also offered to help anywhere else in the park is needed. Sam asked about one of the dog ramps that was featured in Vighnesh’s initial proposal as a potential, and Vighnesh said yes if the Parks & Recreation Board is interested. Anne suggested adding topsoil instead of mulch to the area around the tree to help prevent erosion. Helen asked if there was anything else that was needed on the Township’s end to approve Vighnesh starting this project, and Jessica explained no but told Vighnesh about the Beaver Creek Trail portion that will be going through Lloyd Park which could have an effect on the projects due to its installation. Sam suggested putting up signage on the play structures for the dog, especially the ramp, to deter people from playing on it. Anne suggested that this could be set aside as a dog activity area.
  • Helen entertained a motion to approve Vighnesh moving forward with this project. The motion was moved by Liz and seconded by Anne. The motion passed 6-0.
• Old business
  • Clean Up Weekend Recap
    • Jessica reported that we had around 95 volunteers over the weekend. In total, 153 bags of trash, 13 tires, rain gutters, basketballs, 6 gas cans, and more were collected. She also reported that a pair of dentures were found. This was less trash than last year, but that is a good thing as less was found! The time slots were shorter this year but still covered the same places, so more of those places were able to be discovered to collect trash from. We hope that this bodes well for Caln Clean Up Crew later this year. The first Clean Up Crew event will be in July and will focus on Valley Run.
  • Easter Egg Hunt Recap
    • Kate expressed that it was good to have two people at the Parks & Recreation table to help hand out prizes and give out extra eggs. She and Liz mentioned how people were still entering the hunt from the back of the park. This year, it was largely attributed to the softball and soccer events that were taking place at the field next door. There was a UTV that was running around in the park before the event began, and Anne said it would be good to not have this happen next year. Sam commented on how nice it was that we separated the hunts by time, but that we can shorten the times in between as the hunts seem to have gone by rather quickly and then the other hunts had to wait for almost 10 minutes to go. The time could be cut to 5-6 minutes. Liz mentioned that kids at the event next door were taking candy out of the Easter Eggs and then putting the empty shells back, so that next year we need someone there or at least a barrier to mark it off. We received a Facebook comment about how the candy that was in the eggs for the under 2 egg hunt were not all baby-friendly, so for next year we can get softer candies or crackers and make sure that the eggs are separated by ages.
    • The sensory-friendly hunt went well! We had sent two emails to parents leading up to the hunt to remind them of it, ask for any feedback, and event details, as well as ask that anyone who did not mean to sign up for this one to let us know so we can remove their name from the list as we had received emails previously from parents asking to be removed because they signed up by mistake. After removing names, 55 children were signed up. We did not have all 55 children come, but rather around 25, but this left lots of eggs for the children who signed up. We received positive feedback and thank yous for hosting this event, and one parent provided Jessica with great resources to look into for another sensory-friendly egg hunt or any other sensory-friendly events that Parks & Recreation hosts. The Fire Department’s presence was great as they gave away popular and cool prizes. A police officer was present at the event, and Sam suggested that inviting the PD to have a larger presence at the event could be something fun. To help differentiate the hunts, Anne suggested advertising the sensory-friendly egg hunt separate from the traditional egg hunts.
    • Anne also suggested purchasing a backdrop frame that can be moved into the pavilion so the Easter Bunny can sit under there to remain cool and still have an Easter-themed backdrop/photo area. Anne suggested making one out of PVC pipe. Jane emceed the event, and the Parks & Recreation Board commended her for a job well done!
    • Jessica mentioned that due to the sun, a lot of the candy was melted, so as we only have so much time to put out candy, if we can hold it off until closer to the event starts to help mitigate this issue in the future.
    • Jane discussed how once the egg hunt was over, parents and children started to leave the park so she suggested that having other activities, like coloring sheets, could be beneficial to keep kids entertained. It was wonderful to have all the families out there and together, so Jane suggested adding more for next year to keep kids entertained and busy.
• New Business
  • Lloyd Park Renovations by Boy Scouts Proposal
    • This was moved to the beginning of the meeting.
  • F.I.S.H Event Collaboration
    • The organization Fathers Involved Shedding Hope (F.I.S.H.) hosts a fishing rodeo every year to bring families together and bring children how to fish. They are interested in moving the event or hosting another one in Caln Township and collaborating with Caln Township Parks & Recreation for the event. They are looking for a financial contribution, so this is something that Parks & Rec would need to consider and have added for next year’s budget. Jessica will be reaching out to their founder to see if they can join at next month’s meeting.
      • Helen entertained a motion to table this discussion of the F.I.S.H. event collaboration. Moved by Sam and seconded by Katie, the motion passed 6-0.
  • Caln Elementary Spring Fair Planning
    • This event is from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM on Friday, April 17th at Caln Elementary. Jessica asked if Helen had heard where Parks & Rec would be located, and Helen said that she has not and will reach out to her contact. Helen stated that last year, Parks & Rec was supposed to be outside but had to move inside due to the rain.  Anne suggested that it would be good to have two set ups to have prepared for if it rains or if they are outside. Helen said last year we had giant lawn games to have inside. For an inside activity, the group decided to have giant Jenga and for the outside activity, they will have their bubble station. Helen said that she would double check to make sure that there were no bubble vendors hired already for the fair Anne suggested maybe having a PVC build station and maybe having this for Community Day. Helen, Anne, Sam, Katie, and Abbey will be in attendance. The plan is for everyone to arrive at 5:30 PM, but Jessica will confirm with Abbey and let them know if they need to be there earlier. They will also have out fliers for their events, and Jessica reminded them that they should promote that they are looking for a new Parks & Rec member.
  • Summer Series Planning – July 18th and August 15th
    • Jessica reported that due to the movie licensing, they had to switch from Night at the Museum to Newsies. National Treasure will play in July, and Newsies in August. Jessica suggested both movies start at 8:30 PM with the themed activities starting at 7:30 PM. The Board agreed to continue to follow this schedule. For themed activities, Jessica proposed creating a treasure hunt for National Treasure, potentially building it off how they have the actual search in National Treasure. The prize could be gold coins. The Board liked this idea. Helen asked what time the Parks & Recreation Board should get there, and Jessica said they should plan for 5:30 PM. For Newsies, Anne suggested creating news articles and having children create their own newspaper layouts, and the articles could be something goofy. Jessica suggested creating templates for kids to follow as well. Helen suggested making a skill game where kids have to toss papers into a mailbox. Anne suggested the idea that maybe local newspapers would be willing to donate any for the event.
    • Jessica discussed with the Board about having Texas Roadhouse at the Summer Series events. Helen asked if they would be coming as a vendor, and Jessica said she didn’t believe so, but that she would like to reach out to them to confirm exactly what they would be doing. Anne suggested maybe finding someone with an ice cream truck to come to the events. Jessica said that she would reach out to Cassy from Texas Roadhouse and report back to the Parks & Rec Board.
  • Adult Art in the Park Updates
    • Jessica had reached out to Daniel Rodríguez and Drew Tolbert (the previous photography instructor for our Adult Art in the Park photography class), and both confirmed! Daniel’s class will be on Saturday, May 16th and Drew’s will be on August 29th.
    • Daniel is very excited about the event and is all good to focus on Valley Run and teach how to work with different materials. Daniel encourages working with natural materials, such as rocks and sticks, as well. The time of the event will likely be either 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM or 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM. Daniel asked that for compensation, he only be paid based on how many tickets were sold, not just a flat fee, as he does not want to be a burden to the township. He did ask to also be paid $80, however, to help cover transportation costs. This event will be focused on sketching Valley Run and working with multiple materials (this can be bring your own and we can provide some). Liz asked if we will be working along the stream or if we will be taking reference photos, and Jessica said that either should be just fine. Helen asked what price we were thinking, and Jessica asked the Board if they wanted to move forward with a $15 ticket again, and the Board said yes.
    • For the portrait photography event, Jessica asked if the Parks & Recreation Board wanted to move forward with Meadow Park. Anne said she liked the idea of Meadow Park, but as well as Lloyd Park. Sam asked what time this event would be, and Jessica answered for 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM for golden hour. Anne suggested for maybe attendees to bring props like old clothing, or blankets and chairs to sit on (as well as to simply just sit on). Anne also suggested making sure to check with Drew to confirm that having props would be alright to have.
      • Helen made a motion to move forward with a payment for Daniel Rodgriuez of a minimum of $80 for a car rental payment for the May 16th event. Moved by Anne and seconded by Sam, the motion passed 6-0.
    • Jane also suggested that with the purchase of the historic house on North Bailey Road, Parks & Recreation can use this space potentially to host classes and other events.
    • Jessica is still looking for a portraiture sketch instructor for a class in November.
  • Park Updates
    • Jessica reported that Abbey is purchasing new playground borders to help keep the mulch in, and that a new swing set has been installed in Lloyd Park. The bathrooms in Lloyd Park are currently closed. Helen asked if we would be putting in port-a-johns in the meantime, and Jessica responded she does not believe so.
  • Anne reported to the Board that the Environmental Advisory Council is hosting an Invasive Species Removal event at the Spackman-Davis Farm on Saturday, April 18th, and that they and anyone else is invited to attend. They will begin cleaning up at 1:00 PM.
  • Jessica reminded the Board that the Riparian Buffer Tree Maintenance event has been cancelled as we now have someone on staff who will help dedicate time to taking care of these trees.
• Resident Tom Parr asked who is in charge of taking care of the book boxes in Lloyd Park. Jessica answered that the Township is responsible for taking care of them and making sure that there are books in there, but that the president of OCHS has been a great help with this effort and has been restocking the libraries. Tom reported that the book box in Lloyd was currently empty. Tom built all the book boxes, so he asked that if he ever misses a repair that is needed for one of the book boxes to please let him know.
• Jessica reported to the Board that during the North Caln Road clean up with the Chester County Commissioner’s office, the Chester County Planning Commission, and the Chester County Litter Lifters, that in just a little over 2 hours, 64 bags, 17 tires, and a couch were found. Jessica thanked these organizations for all of their help and commended them for their wonderful work. The Township now knows what to do in the future for other clean ups when it comes to needing to close the roads.
• Jessica also thanked all of the volunteers and Parks & Recreation Board members for helping out during Clean Up Weekend and the Easter Egg Hunt event.
• For the Art in the Park at the Spackman-Davis Farm event, Liz suggested creating our own sheet for attendees to paint instead of using a paint by number. She showed the Board the mockups of the Farm that she has created. She also reported to the Board that we will have a 3’x6’ canvas mural for Art in the Park sessions where attendees will help to paint an image of the layers of Valley Run. She also showed the Board an example of the bee hotels that they will be making for an Art in the Park project this summer, as well as an example of a shadow box with a clay animal/insect that is a part of the Valley Run’s stream life.
• Adjournment
  • Helen entertained a motion to adjourn. Moved by Katie and seconded by Anne, the motion passed 6-0.

Respectfully submitted,
 
Jessica Markovich
Recording Secretary