Minutes of the Melville Park Committee Meeting, Wednesday, July 9, 2008, at Portsmouth Town Hall

Attendees: Lisa Bryant, Thurston Gray, Patrick Higgins, Karen Ptak, Jeffrey Richard, Glen Williams, Gene Love, Joanne Emerson; Karen Gleason, Council Liaison
Visitors: Don and Barbara Sly, Louis Blue Eagle of the Aquidneck Island Intertribal Indian Council
  • REPORTS
    • Minutes from June Meeting (E. Rizy): Motion to approve, J. Richard; second G. Kinnunen, unanimous
    • Finance: G. Kinnunen reported year-end balance of $11,168.23. Balance to be carried over to the 08-09 budget, to be applied to Task 1 of the Pond Restoration project. L. Bryant requested that only the Melville Park line item be printed and presented to the committee in the future. The postage account 1-01-441-10009-18 has $86.86 remaining.
    • Correspondence:
      • fax from Aquatic Control Technology dtd 7/2/08; forwarded from Town Administrator indicated that Pond 1 was to be treated for marine growth on 7/3/08.
      • Phonecon and e-mail from Robert W. Davis, Army Corps of Engineers, indicated remedial work would be done on/around Buildings 56 and 106 and the Standpipe. Mr. Davis indicated that the Corps would entertain other remediation if notified by the Committee and if funds were available.
  • OLD BUSINESS
    • Aquidneck Island Intertribal Indian Council Request for a site to be used for Ceremonies. Council Chief Donald Sly said the area would be used for a council ring, approx. 30’ in diameter; members would guard against vandalism and would help maintain the park, reporting vandals. The Committee stressed that there could be no permanent structure and the Committee would consider only ‘non-exclusive use. Possible sites would be surveyed by the AIIIC and Melville Committee members on Wednesday July 16 at 6 p.m. Motion to table a recommendation to the Town Council on this matter made by T. Gray, J. Richard second; unanimous.
    • Pond Reclamation Project (P. Higgins, T. Gray, K. Ptak, G. Love). Results of the 23 June Town Council meeting were discussed; Task 1 at $12,000 was approved by the Council. The Finance Director, D. Faucher, negotiated successfully with the winning Contractor, Pare Corporation, to redo the contract to begin Task 1 for that amount.
    • Trail Work: planned workday on 28 June was poorly attended. Further work will be ad hoc, as needed. Next outdoor activity will be a cookout on 20 September, following the annual yard sale fund raiser.
    • New Storage Facility (P. Higgins): nearing completion, with doors installed. Space is divided between campground tools and park tools, with a partition in the center, and a locked door to each space.
    • Tank Farms: J. Richard stated that he and others are invited to a meeting 14 July at 7 p.m. with the Open Space Committee to discuss appropriate strategies for obtaining additional land for Melville.
    • Park Rules (Sub-committee): K. Ptak handed out a working document, based on RI State Park rules, with modifications to begin to specialize the rules to Melville Recreation Area. T. Gray has made preliminary comments. J. Richard offered to be the coordinator for review; members are asked to send comments to him for the next meeting. G. Kinnunen and G. Love volunteered to assist.
    • Budget for Next Year: The FY 08-09 budget is $15,000, in addition to the $11,168.23 carried over. J. Richard asked that a detailed budget be prepared for FY08-09 committee efforts. E. Rizy stated that he would address this at the next meeting.
    • Mott Farm ditch project: P. Botelho was unable to attend; Work on the ditch is in abeyance pending resolution of pond restoration funding and new budget.
    • Scout Projects: J. Richard reported that T. Garrold’s Troop 22 Newport picnic tables have not yet been installed. E. Rizy reported that A. Loughlin led Trop 7 Middletown in clearing the trail along Tank Farm 1 on July 5, completing his trail project for Eagle rank.
  • NEW BUSINESS
    • New Members: application for three new members are scheduled to be reviewed at the next Town Council meeting. Requests by the Park Committee to review applications and make recommendations to the Council regarding applicant interests have not reached the proper authorities yet.
  • OTHER BUSINESS: none
    • Motion to adjourn at 8:12p.m. by P. Higgins, second T. Gray, approved.

    Respectfully Submitted,
    Edward Rizy, Acting Secretary

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