Parks & Recreation Minutes - February 2nd, 2026

Parks & Rec Minutes
February 2, 2026 @ 7pm

This meeting was held both via Microsoft Teams and in person at the township building.

• Call to Order
• Attendees: Helen Eckel-Wiener, Sam Wiener, Katie Brauchle, Liz Malone, Anne Duzan, and Jane Kennedy
• Staff Present: Jessica Markovich
• Public Comment
• Minutes approved – November 3rd, 2025
• Election of Officers – Action Item
  • Chair – Anne nominated Helen to be reelected as chair, Sam seconded it. The motion passed 4-0, with abstention from Helen.
  • Vice Chair – Helen nominated Anne to be reelected as chair, Sam seconded it. The motion passed 4-0, with abstention from Anne.
  • Recording Secretary – Helen recommended for Jessica to be made Recording Secretary. The motion passed 5-0.
• Old business
  • NYC On Your Own Bus Trip Recap
    • Jessica gave a report from the New York City bus trip, which went over very well. The Township had received very positive responses about the trip. All participants and the bus were prompt for arrival to and departure from New York City. One participant asked for more trips to New York City and places such as Atlantic City and Washington D.C. Jane also expressed a positive reaction about the trip and residents being excited for future trips. Anne mentioned potentially adding a summer trip.
  • Tree Lighting – December 7th
    • It was a success! This year we had the s’mores table again, and Helen and Liz suggested preparing the s’mores to hand out ahead of time or having premade s’more treats. They were very well received. We had purchased new lights for the tree and they lit up perfectly. For the future, it was discussed adding a tree topper and more lights where we can. With the Meistersingers’ Director’s retirement, the Board hopes that the group will still come to the event. The Meistersingers’ and Shannon Cooper’s Dance Academy’s performances were excellent, and the Santa was great.
  • House Decorating Contest Recap
    • The Board has a great time looking at all participants’ houses! Jessica reported that all the winners who picked up their prizes were happy, and that the one winner had just moved to the township so this win was exciting. We only had 17 participants (1 had to drop out), so the Board expressed that hopefully registration will be back up and include more businesses now that The Campus has entered. The Residents’ Choice was popular on social media again. Jessica reported that it seems that people are following the map of the participants that we posted as we had received a question about it.
•  New Business
  • Brett Klukan Resignation
    • The Board will miss Brett and wish him all the best! With this resignation, a position for the remainder of his term is now available.
  • PA Recreation and Park Society Membership – Action Item
    • Last time, the Board decided that Helen would be the only Board member to have a membership, but other Board members expressed that they still have been receiving communications from them. Jessica suggested that the having a membership means that you will be receiving communications while others do not, but rather that it focuses more on access and discounts to events hosted by the PA Recreation and Park Society. Helen expressed that she does not see emails regarding events even though she is a member. The group decided to table renewing their membership.
  • Hybrid Meeting Policy – Action Item
    • A Hybrid Meeting Policy was brought before the Board for them to consider maintaining having their meetings be held in a hybrid format, allowing for both board members and residents to participate virtually.
      • A motion was made to remain with this Hybrid Meeting Policy. The motion passed 5-0.
    • 2026 Event Dates – Action Item
      • The Board agreed to the following schedule of events:
        • Clean Up Weekend – March 28th – 29th
        • Easter Egg Hunt – Saturday, April 4th
        • Riparian Buffer Maintenance Day – Saturday, April 11th
        • Caln Elementary Spring Fair – Friday, April 17th
        • Potential Adult Art in the Park – May 16th
        • Clean Up Crew – Saturday, July 11th
        • Summer Series – Saturday, July 18th
        • National Night Out – Tuesday, August 4th
        • Summer Series – Saturday, August 15th
        • Potential Adult Art in the Park – Saturday, August 29th
        • Community Day – Saturday, September 12th
        • Clean Up Crew – Saturday, October 10th
        • Halloween Party – October 24th
        • Clean Up Crew – Saturday, November 7th
        • Potential Adult Art in the Park – Saturday, November 14th
        • NYC Bus Trip – Saturday, December 5th (if buses are available)
        • Tree Lighting – Saturday, December 6th
        • Art in the Park dates will be presented at the next meeting. For potential Adult Art in the Park mediums, the group discussed the following ideas: portrait photography, portrait drawing/painting, collage making, sculptures, acrylics, pastels, . Portrait art could tie into the America250 theme. Anne suggested having costumes for the portrait photography. Jessica will look into art instructors in these areas. Jane suggested doing murals in the parks for Adult Art in the Parks to help brighten them up. Liz had brought up the idea of placing flower boxes around the township and having them decorated as a part of Art in the Park. Anne said that the EAC could be interested in participating in a flower box project and recalled that at a previous Town Tour, historical plants were discussed. So, with this idea, the Historical Commission could also have their own flower boxes and plant historical plants. Jessica is reaching out to Krapf Transportation to see if the date of December 5th is available for a bus trip to NYC, and see what dates are available for Spring and Summer
          •  A vote was held to approve these 2026 event dates. The motion passed 5-0.
  • County Commissioners Clean Up
    • Jessica informed the Board that Beth Intoccia from the West Vincent Litter Lifters/Chester County Litter Lifters reach out to Abbey and Jessica about organizing a clean up for the Chester County Commissioners in Caln Township. She asked for the Township’s help in securing a road closure permit for the event from PennDOT, as it will not be safe to have volunteers along the road with traffic. Their clean up would be Wednesday, April 1st for 2-3 hours in the morning on North Caln Road. This clean up would be for the County Commissioners’ office, but the Parks & Recreation Board would be welcome to attend.
  • Sand Volleyball Court Reservations
    • Driven Dragons Volleyball Academy had reached out again to inquire about reserving the sand volleyball courts at Lloyd Park this summer. They requested to reserve them from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. every Monday and Wednesday from July 7th through August 26th . As we don’t have a recreational reservation system set in place yet, Jessica asked the Board if they would like to proceed moving forward for reservations this year the same as last year, or if they would like to move forward in a different manner. Jessica informed the group that they did receive a complaint about the courts being reserved last year as it limited time for other groups, but that it was before the reservations had begun and that they had not reached out again. The Board decided to move forward with approving the reservation with the same requests for cleaning up after they use the court and hanging up their permit. Jessica will reach out to them with the approval, requests, and ask them to post it at a later date. Liz suggested posting online the hours that the volleyball courts are reserved for so residents are aware ahead of time. The Township is in the process of looking for a new website, so Jessica discussed how they are also looking at online reservation systems, and how some other townships handle their sand volleyball court reservations. Sam expressed that if they are taking care of the courts, then they should not be charged.
      
      • A vote was held to approve the Driven Dragons Volleyball Academy’s requested reservation time slot of 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. from July 7th to August 26th every Monday and Wednesday for the Lloyd Park sand volleyball courts. The motion passed 5-0.
        
  •  EAC Report
    
    • Anne reported that the EAC will be hosting their first event: a seed starting/stratification event on Saturday, February 7th. There will be two sessions: one at 2:00 P.M. and 3:30 P.M. Participants will learn about planting native seeds in jugs and containers to start their growth process. This will be their first event, and the EAC is excited to have more, such as a seed collection in Meadow Park, a seed cleaning event, and another seed stratification event. Anne also mentioned that the EAC in interested in coming to Parks & Rec’s events to learn from them and incorporate sustainability activities/lessons when possible. They are also interested in creating their own Clean Up Crew, but specifically for invasive weeds removal. They would like to do a big clean up at the Spackman-Davis Farm before the picnic (similar to Clean Up Weekend) and find other places to clean as well. They would like Parks & Rec’s help in planning this and incentivizing volunteers. Anne asked if the group had any questions or concerns to bring back to the EAC. Helen said that providing Parks & Rec’s volunteer list for the invasive weeds removal events could help. Liz discussed how she has been thinking about revolving this year’s Art in the Park theme around Valley Run and that if the EAC had any ideas for environment/ecological art ideas that could incorporate education about these areas that that could be beneficial. Anne suggested also doing an art project with recycled materials.
      
• Adjournment

Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Markovich
Recording Secretary