HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - OS - 12/11/2018 Open Space & Recreation Committee
December 11, 2018 Meeting Minutes
Call to order at 6:36PM
Members Attending: Peter Pescatore, Dustyn Masca, Chuck Peterson, Deirdre Riley, Eric
Eisenhower, Tom Callahan
Guests, Pam Feeney, Health Agent and Joy Pratt Shiffmann, Chair, 250th Anniversary
Celebration Committee
Pam Feeney came to the committee to enlist the OSRC to support her effort to provide
Tick Prevention handouts at the trail heads of town parks in conjunction with the
committee's effort to have trail maps available. The committee agreed to work with the
Health Department to accomplish this communication effort. I had also asked Pam if she
would be involved with the committee's action item to re-establish Earth Day as a
community event and she agreed that she would join in the effort.
The Chair asked for discussion of the minutes from 11/13/18, there were no changes
offered and a motion to approve was made by Deirdre and 2nd by Eric. The motion was
approved by a vote of 6-0.
The Chair reported that Chris Senior had agreed to discuss the issue of Organic Turf
Management and the use of Toxic Herbicides on town properties but could not make our
next meeting on 1/1/19 but could meet with us on Tuesday 1/15/19.
The chair asked for a motion to move the meeting to 1/15/19. Tom made the motion and
Chuck 2nd. The committee approved the motion 6-0.
Joy Pratt Schiffmann discussed the activities of the 250th Anniversary Committee and
confirmed that her committee would welcome the support of the OSRC. The chair
reported that no member had volunteered to date and he would attend the next meeting
on Jan 9th as the committee's representative and solicit a regular attendee at our 1/15/19
meeting. During the discussion the planting of an American Elm as part of the celebration
was brought up with Eric reporting that the American Elm is still susceptible to beetle
infestation after 20 years and only hybrid varieties of Elms are immune to the beetles.
We briefly discussed the changing of the season messaging that the committee had already
determined that we would piggyback on to the recreation newsletter and would co-
ordinate with the Health Department to also include the Tick Awareness Messaging.
The committee also briefly discussed the ADA access program with Deirdre reporting on
her research into grants to support the effort. We deferred an in depth discussion until
future meetings, although a very good solution for access to Wheelwright was made by
Eric, "provide handicap only parking at the top of the entry hill to allow access to the main
trail". To be continued.
The chair had skipped over the Sub-Committee and Liaison reports and Chuck made his
report from the combined Harbor Committee and Master Plan meeting that he attended.
He reported that the Harbor Committee discussed access to the harbor, the health of the
harbor, i.e. salinity and septic pollution from the Gulf River, scheduled periodic dredging
of the harbor and channel and support and preservation measures for the commercial
fishing fleet. Chuck will continue to work with the Harbor Committee to insure that they
integrate the common goals and language contained in the 2018 OSRP as they work to
complete their plan.
The chair had to curtail any other discussion to attend the Master Plan Meeting, in process
simultaneously with ours, to answer their questions regarding issuing a letter of
recommendation for the 2018 OSRP.
The chair asked for a motion to adjourn and that was made by Tom and 2nd by Chuck. The
motion was approved 6-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Pescatore