Park Commission: College Grove Tree Planting - 2026-10-20

AI-generated summary. Written by gemini-3-flash-preview from the transcript below, which is the record. It may be incomplete or wrong; it does not report votes. Every item links to the moment it began.

The commission reviewed progress on the College Grove tree planting project and authorized permits for several athletic leagues. A fee adjustment was granted to a frisbee group due to lighting issues at Tufts Park.

0:37 College Grove Tree Planting and Celebration — Representatives provided an update on soil preparation and fencing for the College Grove project and received a provisional permit for a community event on November 14th.
21:07 Hub Sports and FM Collective Permits — The commission approved a permit for Hub Sports at Memorial Park and a performance grant for FM Collective at Riverside Plaza.
23:32 Wright's Pond Access Policy — A proposal regarding vehicle stickers and walking passes for Wright's Pond was tabled until January.
26:31 Volo Permit for Tufts Park — Approved a request for Volo to utilize field two at Tufts Park on Tuesday nights through mid-November.
30:14 Lampshade Fee Adjustment — Reduced the permit fee for Lampshade Ultimate Frisbee by $300 because the lighting on Field 4 was inadequate for night play.
45:07 Minutes and Columbus Park Memorial — Approved the August meeting minutes and tabled a proposed memorial at Columbus Park until February because the petitioner was not present.
49:54 January Planning and Policy Review — The commission discussed future reviews of fee structures, pavilion reservation policies, and field priorities for youth sports.

[Reggie Graham]: OK, we've got short agenda and short permit applications. So if we can get out of here by 630,

[Reggie Graham]: Oh yeah, that's all right. They're not on the agenda, so they're not getting discussed. All right. Let's see. Trees Method would like to discuss preparations for the College Grove tree planting.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: So I just came here to give you an update of what's happened. who lives on, I don't know, Sweden. And so this past Friday, we broke ground. We also had, in laying out the different areas, we made accommodations to all the things that you had mentioned, Reggie and all the other things in terms of making sure things were distanced, we actually added three feet just to be super sure.

[Unidentified]: There's a six foot wide gap between the end of the tennis courts and the boundary of the tennis courts and where the land had gotten tilled. So we're giving them a lot of space. Oh, okay, good.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: Okay, so next, what happens is that we've actually, we sent out a notice to all the folks, but we had to make a change because we were actually going to accelerate the process to make the actual celebration, the day that we do something, just more focused on that. And then that same day, Leslie and Julie Beauregard are going to be supervising a group of people that are going to spread that out on the three blocks. The next thing that's going to happen, too, is that they're also going to put out a line.

And, um, what the, the idea behind this is that we're going to be covering the entire area with wood chips because the wood chips are number one to protect the areas where the plantings are, but also, The witches are also going to be the base for the pets. So in talking with Ugo, Ugo doesn't know if he has enough witches for that entire piece. So it's also easier for him when he cuts down a tree and then chops it to just go straight to the site and just dump it versus going all the way to, I'm forgetting where the recycling is.

So we want to make Ugo's process a lot easier and quick, so he's just going to put the chips there. We hope to have a team there probably within a day or two to spread this stuff out, spread this stuff out. Number two, the travel path that Dan does around each of the three areas, we're going to put fencing.

[Unidentified]: It's actually a trench. He's got some kind of trench tool that they'll use to dig a trench. And we cleared this with digsafe, so we're not going to cause any disaster. So the fence will actually be buried like six to eight inches down.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: And then the idea is for the fence to be there for about three years minimum, just to make sure that everything else can kind of grow and be set and then eventually take down the fence. There are things that I think that might that we would like to ask you, if possible, is that on that day, there's gonna be a lot of commotion in that area of the park. And I don't know if we need a permit, because the idea is that- Which day are you talking about? I'm talking about the November.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: November 14th. This is where we have people from the neighborhood coming to volunteer to help put in the fence, having people in the neighborhood to hopefully spread the woodchips. And whether it be Trees Bedford, you might have a geologist who actually lives in the area to tell us about the geological history very briefly about this site, which was really eye-opening for me. Leslie, you might be talking about possibly the history of that site, where it was a former traditional school.

And then we'll also have food there, too. Julie Borgard, who is in charge of the planning crew, she will be organizing those things. But we didn't know if we needed a permit to use that, if we needed to possibly use tennis courts or something like that. We might need a PA, I'm not too sure. We're still trying to figure this out, because we don't know how many people will show up. And then we do have a rain day for the next day, but again, if weather is not helpful, then we might have to push it further.

[Unidentified]: Yeah, having the fence there to keep everyone safe and to keep wood chips and all the other material in on the other side, within the fencing, rather than finding its way out. Yeah.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: And it works too. I mean, having done this before over at the Tufts Park, um, With that website too, there'll be a section where it will also talk about the history of the project. So one will be just a basic description of what we're doing. The next step will be the history of the project, but it's going to be geared for really showing other people in Medford, you can do this too. So we have two different project people that are working on that, that live in the community, and they're working on that.

So the plan is to have at least one five foot by seven framed sign that we actually put into one of the plots that's going to be fenced off so that people that are walking by or driving by in the cars, they can see this so that they can read it. And then the other part of the side, we'll just kind of talk about a little bit of the project, how that should work. Yeah, and then we talked with Jim Doyle, who is the new tree warden, and he was very supportive. We will give him a list of species of trees that we're hopefully able to get. Hopefully, because they're being ordered And again, it's a turning thing, because just like with any project, some things you expect, some things you don't. We were originally planning to use the fence on the tennis courts as a barrier, but we decided that since we were going back six feet, we can't use it.

And we haven't determined the date yet, but as soon as those trees are available, we'll come back to you and ask, you know, any advice or support or any permits that we can do.

[Unidentified]: And we want to make sure that this, are you a committee? We want to make sure that you are included in whatever posters that we do.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, if there's anything that we can do to help with that, whether it's on our sites, we'll do that.

[Unidentified]: We were very mindful, in addition to moving the whole planting area away from the tennis courts by six feet, well it's now six feet, with some wood chips so that there's no planting there. And we also, yeah, it is. And so we also moved the boundaries on either side because they seem like community paths, you know, people do cut across and we wanted to honor that. We didn't want any barriers. And so we moved the whole project probably six feet on either side. So it's smaller than, the original sketch indicated. But it is a large, it is large.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: So if there's any advice or any concerns that you have, you can hopefully answer them or then lastly, in terms of, is it possible to reserve a part, or is that necessary?

[SPEAKER_06]: So there aren't actually any trees going up right now, you know what I'm saying? Now that we're setting the soil and letting the soil get ready.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: The idea is the compost and there's something that's called biochar. What you want that to do is you want that kind of seeped in. We're going to mix it in with the lime and it's kind of like a nice stew. Yeah, basically enriching the soil. During the winter it's just going to sit there and it's just going to ferment. It's going to be yummy. And then so whatever we plant in there, hopefully they The soil isn't the best, as we found out, and it was definitely challenging getting down, but again, we hope that these amendments will balance those things out.

[Unidentified]: Well, we're planting also drought-tolerant species, so we're not planting something that will need fertilizer. That's not the right kind of plant for that site anyway, so we're making sure that we're honoring the soil and the plants. There's something worse than that. see the tree dying first. We planted it in the wrong place, so.

[SPEAKER_12]: No questions, but thank you so much for all the updates and information. It's exciting. Well, thank you.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: You guys were just awesome. So we want to thank you very much for your involvement.

[Reggie Graham]: I do. OK, just a couple of questions. The fence is going to have a gate?

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: No. No, what it is is that it's going to be a temporary fence. And the wrapping will overlap. And then we'll tie it with a cable tie.

[Reggie Graham]: All right, so on the 14th, you're going to have food set. What kind of food are you going to have?

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: I don't know. Right now, I know that pizza is, we're looking, I know Julie Beauregard, I can have her contact you.

[Reggie Graham]: There's a specific reason why I asked the question. The reason why I asked the question is if you're going to cook food, we'd have to send you someplace else. But if it's prepared food, You're OK.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: OK. So underneath what you just said, if it's Kung Fu, we have to go somewhere else.

[Reggie Graham]: No, no, not somewhere else. We have to go to the Board of Health.

[Reggie Graham]: That's good for us to know. I mean, you know, barbecue and so on. And approximately how many, I mean, this is probably a ballpark, but how many people? About. About. As I'm thinking, I know where the spot is.

[Reggie Graham]: Spots are not really a place where a whole bunch of people can stand. Right, right, right. OK. So it very well could be that we might have to, I don't know, maybe give you a permit for the tennis court that day. Yeah. No, see, that'd be an option. Yeah. Give you a permit for the tennis court for that, so that you can put your overflow. Right. In the tennis court and so on and so forth. And you can still see what you're doing and what have you. They might even bring some chairs or something like that.

[Unidentified]: Would they be allowed to bring chairs? Yeah. To the tennis room. I mean, I don't know.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: We would love to use that tennis court. The only thing that we want to be really mindful is that people use that tennis court a lot. If, like, the one thing that we don't want to see is, like, we're interfering with normal parking.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: I don't know. I would think it's longer. At least four hours, I think. Four? Yeah, maybe like eight, nine to one. I don't know.

[Reggie Graham]: I know we can't put up a fence in two hours. Oh, it's the fence construction.

[Reggie Graham]: at least four, I think I'm really talking about the people that you're going to have. They're going to be, you know, your audience, not so much your work.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: It'd be a hundred. I mean, it's, it's so hard to say. I mean, I have, like we have our, on our email list that we send out, it's, it's around 200 folks. The signatures that we have, that's supportive. And so they're going to help out. It's over 120, but I wish we could look into a crystal ball now. There might be a way we could say, ask if you plan to come or just show up.

[Reggie Graham]: Well, no, that's fine. I'm just trying to make sure that you're accommodated. So at the end of the day, I would think that you would probably get your idea of how many people are coming and so on and so forth. We could definitely give you a permit for the tennis court for four hours or something like that. Okay. I mean, that way people would know that you're going to be there and so on and so forth. And, um, I'm sure that they'd be glad to know that there's going to be some trees there. Cause it, you know, it'll provide some shade or something like that.

[Reggie Graham]: I don't, I don't know. I have to come up with a time slot. What date is it, November 14th? Yes, over a week, a week, a week. Are we meeting before then? No, probably not. The 14th doesn't sound, that's two weeks. We don't meet in November or December, right? That's right, huh?

[Reggie Graham]: So we'll give you a provisional permit, and we'll put the times in when you guys figure it out. OK.

[Kevin Bailey]: I'm going to do it as all day for right now, just so it's in there and people can see that it's on hold for the tennis court so I don't accidentally book a tennis program or something like that. Not that I think anyone would for November. But I'll put it on hold and then if you can just get back to me at the actual time, then I'll make the adjustment. OK, thank you. Thank you very much.

[Unidentified]: You have brought up food. I did have a question. We were kicking around the idea of having a food truck. Do we need a permit for that?

[Kevin Bailey]: Oh, okay. Food trucks also needs to be sent to the mayor's office so that it goes through city council. It's a pretty simple process, but you do have to email Lisa Koyani in the mayor's office, let them know their food truck name and all that.

[Reggie Graham]: But that was a kick around idea, right? Hello? Hello? That was a kick around idea? Yeah, we're not- You're not sure?

[Reggie Graham]: Well, if you do, process that you have to go through. But if you don't, then, you know, it's just, you know, teacher and... Lisa.

[Unidentified]: Coliani and the mayor's office. Okay. Coliani's board. I think that's all.

[Reggie Graham]: Oh, we'd like to see the signs. Okay, before we move on. Before we move on.

[Reggie Graham]: We don't have a next meeting, so you're going to have to send it to us by email or something like that. Just send us a picture of it. The reason why is because we've been burned before by artwork, et cetera, et cetera. So we want to see what's going up so that we don't have any complaints.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: We, you know what I'll do too, is that I will, yeah, I'll make sure that, yeah, you get that.

[Unidentified]: Sorry, we don't get that back to you. I know, but don't worry, that's what happens. We shouldn't, but.

[MPS Member Aaron Olapade]: All right. We got you? I think so. Is there anything else that we need to? Let the logo wear off. Okay.

[Unidentified]: Is there a logo or do you folks have a logo for your department or just? Our department?

[Reggie Graham]: Well, don't worry. We get our gratification in other ways. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Good luck with your project. Yes.

[Reggie Graham]: All right. So let's go to the permit applications. We'll talk about January after that. get the people out of the way. So what do we got?

[Kevin Bailey]: The perm applications, these are the ones from September, Hub Sports. We already gave approval for them on the Memorial Softball Fair on Wednesdays. Because we canceled in October, we already gave that as a provisional approved. We then used it just officially, we want to make sure that the park commissioners are aware that we did this. But Hub Sports typically does to use Memorial Park as well, their repeated organization. The second one is FM Collective. This is a new one. This is part of the FDR Council grant to do a formant at Riverside Plaza. Again, this was originally supposed to be addressed in October. We did give the apartment approval. so that they can make the necessary planning to have this event. But again, wanted to show the commissioners this approval that we did is on October 25th from 11 to five. And on the back page of the application, you can have a say a little bit more about the event. Relatively small, they're expecting about 50 people, no alcohol, no food or anything like that. That would be a lot of event.

[Reggie Graham]: Yeah. So are there any questions? Anybody on the committee have any questions about that? What kind of music do they play? But you know, I'm not really a big fan of doing the hokey pokey and stuff like that.

[Reggie Graham]: Pop up Latin hip, and they have a website. Well, if there's any riots on the 26th of, uh, we'll deal with it accordingly, right? Yes. Okay. What else? All right. This one, this one says table for January. What's, who is this? Cycle surround record.

[Kevin Bailey]: That's the one that we've had tabled for a while. This is about, yeah. They can, when we look at the membership to rights bond, if we can look at having a vehicle sticker, but also be allowed to have a, walk and pass as well if people are biking. So just saying that email table.

[Reggie Graham]: Right. That's when we discussed those types of things, right? Yeah. This is the last one for Hubsports. You said we've already done this. They've already started this. Yes. So this is the one that they're playing softball from seven to 10 on Wednesdays. Now the question begs, Who else is at Memorial in the Farp? BSSC and... There's another one.

[Kevin Bailey]: Oh, right, Volo for right now. Volo is also on the call. They emailed me this morning about adding gates to Tufts Park. Okay. I'll just pause it.

[Kevin Bailey]: Yeah, and then we're running a new program for youth that's Ultimate Frisbee with Buddha on Friday.

[Kevin Bailey]: Yes. The lights at Memorial is still on the old timer where it's on and on mute. You know those old dialers where you have those two little pins that say on and off? You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. That's so it's either on and it turns on every day. Yeah. Does it go off at a certain time too? Yeah.

[Kevin Bailey]: Those are the ones that are on the agenda. Like I said, there is Volo on the call about those additional dates. There is also Lampshade is a request to get a refund, or not an adjustment on their invoice from September. And we need to approve the August 8th.

[Kevin Bailey]: Junior, who's on the call, is the last one. And then you have Joseph for lampshade.

[Kevin Bailey]: June is requesting test park, but if you're on the call, he is. Talk to the commission about the dates and times that you're looking for.

[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, for sure. So we're looking for 8 to 11 0T PM on Tuesday, starting tonight all the way to, I believe. 1117 in November. This is for Tufts Park.

[Kevin Bailey]: Are you looking for a field one, two, three? Well, definitely not.

[SPEAKER_07]: I guess whichever field will be available. I'm not sure which one it is, but field one or field two doesn't really matter to me. We just need one.

[Kevin Bailey]: BSSC is right now on field one. So if anything, if it's on Tuesdays, it would be field two is what's available.

[MCM00001461_SPEAKER_10]: Oh, you mean he didn't let you in? I'm going to have to get down to the gym to straighten him out.

[MCM00001461_SPEAKER_10]: Well, guess what? You didn't. Regardless. No, I don't have any questions.

[Reggie Graham]: Not at all. And Chris, did you say you had no questions either? He's muted again. He's having problems with the buttons. I don't have any questions. So we'll just, we'll just go with it. All right. Mr. Civil, you're all set.

[SPEAKER_07]: Hey, let me know what your office address is. I can bring it to you as well.

[Reggie Graham]: Okay, just make sure it's a 3XL because I can't get into anything less.

[Reggie Graham]: No worries. No worries. OK, let's see. What's the last one we have?

[Kevin Bailey]: Joseph is on the call representing the Lambshade Ultimate Frisbee. Okay, we want to go to give you some background lampshade requested to use test park field for in August, September dates. I emailed them on October, because we still didn't receive any payment from them on that for dates. When I did send an email, I had to send a follow up to them. It was after the follow-up that I get an email from one of the members. I have a copy of that in your packet for their email today. And basically said that they're hoping that they can bring the price down, that the field didn't meet their expectation, and that the field lights didn't cover enough where they could use the private area. I personally didn't feel comfortable taking money off of their invoice or adjusting the fees. Since this has been requested by them to use that space, it was approved by the board. And I didn't hear about any dissatisfaction in that space until it was time to request the money for the permits to be paid.

[Kevin Bailey]: No, but the invoice itself were for dates in September. And they only use five out of 12? Five hours, I believe. Five hours, no. It's only four days, I believe, out of those.

[Unidentified]: I can't roll it up. Four days, three hours. four days to three hours a day, 12.

[Reggie Graham]: And they couldn't use it because it was dark or because the field didn't provide enough light. Well, how much were we funding? Approximately.

[Reggie Graham]: I wish they had told us this before. Yeah. Because this is dated October 12th. Today's the 20th. And they used it for what date?

[Kevin Bailey]: From the back, I think for... That was my reason why I didn't feel comfortable making adjustments or changing. you know, if it was after the first date, September 1st, basically as an issue, we would have the opportunity to move them to another location or have the opportunity to cancel it. But I know.

[Reggie Graham]: Are they done for the year? Yes. Are they coming back next year? I don't know.

[Chris Murphy]: That's a question. Go ahead. So it sounds like they used the field. They didn't pay and when you came asking for money, they're like, oh, well, we didn't like the field. We don't think we should have to pay as much. Do I have that right?

[Kevin Bailey]: Give or take. That is my, that is how I took it and that's why I didn't feel comfortable doing.

[Chris Murphy]: So the first time they, so. I mean, the first time they had an issue, they should have came to us. It's like eating a whole steak at a restaurant and then saying, oh, I didn't like it. I don't want to pay for it.

[Kevin Bailey]: I believe Joseph, who has his hand raised, is the representative. I know it's a whole group. I think they wanted to just have someone there. Joseph, you're on the call and Aaron knows if there's anything that we're missing on this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just I'll lower my hand. Sorry. Get that out of the way. Yeah, 1st, I'm a player from Wednesday. I just want to apologize. I'm coming as representative of the team today and. Basically, the situation from our perspective is that we paid for. We agreed to pay for the lighting rate, which is 100 out 100 hours an hour. And we were assigned field for, and we learned when we got there, or as we played there that. The feet, the lights were actually really only on fields 1 and 2, so we were really only getting. The kind of the, the light that was coming from other fields, we didn't really have any direct light on our fields. Um, and then. The reason, and this is a kind of a separate thing that we can talk about after, the reason we didn't end up using the fields for the weeks of September, the days of September 15th and September 22nd is because that's when our season had been ended. Like we had sectionals, we didn't qualify for the next tournament. We had paid for those fields and advancing case. So, obviously, we understand if you can't reimburse those, but that was just a separate request, but getting back to. The, the 2 dates that we actually did play there on September 1st and September 8th.

Yeah, we felt that. just the lights were not adequate. And I apologize that we did not reach out earlier. And definitely apologize that we didn't really reach out really until now with a good thorough response, or at least when we sent that email to you. But that is our request. And I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

[Reggie Graham]: I think we have what we need, right? As far as the timeline is concerned. Just like anything else, you know, if you have a complaint, you issue a complaint when you're aware of the situation, you've been aware of the situation for quite some time. Is it going back two months?

[Kevin Bailey]: September. So all of the apartments were during the month of September. Okay.

[Reggie Graham]: So this is their first opportunity to respond after they got the invoice. The second time.

[Reggie Graham]: Well, I'm of the opinion that they should have come to us earlier because we could have probably given them another auction.

[Kevin Bailey]: Right. Or take it out. So people like the SSC who also is trying to look at what field floor is being used and how to change it.

[Reggie Graham]: I don't think people understand that they're not renting Fenway Park. They're renting a smaller space that could very well go to somebody else. That makes it a little difficult for us because we make the assignments based on their requests first in, first out, or so on and so forth.

[Kevin Bailey]: And this original request was for Field 4. They did request lights, but they did request Field 4.

[Kevin Bailey]: Yeah, because they've used Field 4 in the past. So they've known about it. It was definitely during daylight hours that they used Field 4 in the past. This would probably be their first night one. Pardon if I'm wrong, Joe, but I think I think I have an effort that you guys used it in the summertime, probably didn't need the lights at all. These are the first ones that you did actually see the lights, but you have used field four in the past.

[SPEAKER_01]: My understanding is that this is the first time that we had used field four in the dark, so we were not aware beforehand about the light situation on that field.

[Kevin Bailey]: My assumption that it would be enough for Frisbee. I want to do a fast small ball up in the air, but there is enough ambient light that people walk around Tufts Park. They walk around all the time.

[Reggie Graham]: More like I'm Solomon. Split the baby. It sounds like both of both parties seem to have been affected. We didn't get our monies on time and Second of all, they didn't give us the response in time. So we split the baby. They're asking for six. Are we giving three? I'm not asking you. I'm asking the commissioners.

[SPEAKER_12]: I guess I'm not inclined to like give any, but if the group is leaning towards.

[Reggie Graham]: So, you know, you try to accommodate them somehow. I would think.

[SPEAKER_06]: Well, uh, yeah, I think if one of those things where you see the lights where you don't really know how the lights are going to act until it's nighttime and then.

[Reggie Graham]: But there's still some responsibility for it to let us know. So when the split comes in. Chris. Sorry, I. Go ahead.

[Chris Murphy]: What was it? I had to deal with the kids for a second. What's the consensus?

[Reggie Graham]: Well, there isn't a consensus. There was an offer. There was a, there was a solution made since there's some confusion on both ends that we split the difference. There was a $600 return and we're giving back $300. Okay.

[Chris Murphy]: I'm fine with that. I just don't want to set a precedence that, people can use it. And then when it comes time to pay, we just, we're going to start giving hearing grievances about the place, but I'm good. I'm good with splitting the difference.

[SPEAKER_12]: Technically, am I right? We're reducing their bill versus getting a refund because they haven't still paid, correct? Yeah.

[Reggie Graham]: Okay. Yeah. And they still haven't paid their bill? Huh. Well, we'll still give them the $300. Obviously, they didn't use the field, right? They didn't use the field. They said they didn't.

[Reggie Graham]: Give them a $300. Just give them a $300 credit off of their bill.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. Can you, well, first of all, I appreciate that. Um, and we, can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay. I appreciate you all. And, um, yeah, and your continued approval of us using the fields. Um, we plan to be a lot better about communication. In the future, can you just explain what this motion does it. It decreases the invoice to 900, or we are now expected to pay the 1200 and then 300 will be credit to us in the future.

[Kevin Bailey]: No, no, I don't I don't think that's what we said is the very end. That's why I asked to when you say credit. Okay. So correct me if I'm wrong, the motion is going to be, I'm going to go in there and I'm going to take off $300. Yes.

[Kevin Bailey]: Yeah. That was my understanding. So what I'll do is I'll go in the invoice and I'll take off $300 on a note. I'll say approval from park commission on 10 22. You guys can see that, uh, that money was taken off by the park commission.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay. Thank you so much. I'll make sure we get that paid as soon as the change is made. Thanks so much.

[Kevin Bailey]: OK, what else do we got? That's the approval for the August meeting minutes. And then if we want to discuss the January agenda.

[Reggie Graham]: One thing that I want to bring up before we start I'm surprised that the gentleman that wanted to put the memorial at Columbus Park, they haven't been here? Yes. They were supposed to be here tonight. As you can see, they're not here. So the thing was, is that because the situation presented itself after the mayor had put in her new guidelines as far as memorials were concerned, Um, he actually said that she was going to approve it based on her prior approval. Yeah. And we would put it in the records as such that, you know, there was an exception made by the office of the mayor, um, to give them that. No, the thing is, is that they've asked us to place it at the beginning of the little league field when you go in that gate and they want to put it right there underneath that tree. I looked at that spot. I didn't like it. Kenneth says, well, you know, this is the, this is his field. No, it's not your field. This is a reward to somebody who utilized that field for X amount of years. I think that it should probably go off to the side, off to the left, on the other side of the path. But I didn't, Ugo was, Out of the office today. Yeah, because I wanted I want him to weigh in too. So they're gonna they're gonna Come to us in January February because obviously I don't want them to put the stuff there they have to move it So, you know They're not being here doesn't put them in a very good position position.

[Kevin Bailey]: And to that effect, I didn't realize that this was supposed to be broad.

[Reggie Graham]: So I didn't email that on the agenda, but on the agenda, they talked to me and they knew that the meeting was this week today, today. So that wasn't, that wasn't a question. They were supposed to be here because we were going to decide where we're going to put it. I said, you know, I think this board has the ability to put place memorials like that. where we want it, not exactly where they want it.

[Kevin Bailey]: Yeah, and I know you guys talked about too, just trying to find a good spot where it doesn't get in the way when you're rolling along or stuff like that.

[Reggie Graham]: Right, right. So, you know, I went down there just to make sure that I understood where it was going to be. And it's right as you're walking up towards the lily field, there's a tree right there between home plate and third base, close to the home plate. But It almost announces, well, this is the field, blah, blah, blah. But it's not the place. He needs a place, but he needs a place off to the side, to me.

So for right now, we're going to table until January. Actually, February. They made a big stink about it, and then they don't show up. I know that's not on the agenda, but I just wanted to bring that up because it was discussed. I'll entertain a motion to accept the minutes from the August meeting and the September meeting. Is that what we need? I accept. What did you say, Michael?

[Reggie Graham]: Oh, you accept the, you're going to entertain, you're going to motion, you're going to make that motion? Make the motion to accept the meeting minutes from August.

[Reggie Graham]: And as far as January is concerned, when we get this, uh, Would it be split?

[Kevin Bailey]: No, it's the annual kind of review stuff. I know we'll look at the fees, but I wanted to see if there's stuff that we should be looking at for our proposal. I know this year we talked about having a cancellation policy, but I wanted to just have an opportunity if you guys had any other things that should be reviewed in January that might make sense for our be in our department to kind of look at what other cities and towns are doing or things that the commissioners want to also research for the next few months. So when it comes to January, we can look at those and make any edits.

[Reggie Graham]: I can't think of anything right now. Are there any ideas? I don't have any at this time. Bill?

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I do like the cancellation policy. I think we were talking about the rights pawn thing. I think that that is something that would be worth discussing, right? I know it's on the table until January, but... Well, I don't think it's important.

[Kevin Bailey]: No, but the pavilion will be done this summer. So we're going to do reservations, what the fee should be, all that type of stuff. There's policies.

[Reggie Graham]: Oh, that'd be good. How many people can sit on that? Probably 200?

[Reggie Graham]: Because you can also put some chairs around it, too, couldn't you?

[Reggie Graham]: So, okay, so now we have an idea of how many people we can fit there. Now all we gotta do is how, you know, find out how much it costs per seat.

[Reggie Graham]: Looks a lot better than the last time I saw it. Here we go. Oh, it's from last month, yeah.

[Kevin Bailey]: Yeah, just the fee structure and stuff. We'll still look at what other cities and towns are charging. And Marque has a fee permit survey that they come up with.

[Kevin Bailey]: That's Rec and Park. They basically put out a survey. Everyone fills out the survey. So then instead of us calling around and looking, he just filled the survey and has all the fees and all that.

[Reggie Graham]: I think we're kind of unique because we have a pool and a pond. And you know. The water has to say that too. How many people live in Lexington? I think we're like 35,000 maybe? That's just a little bit more than half. So I don't know.

[Reggie Graham]: That's what, I guess we could probably find out how many permits were bought for the pool and the pond for the last two or three years. Because that way we can figure out how many people actually use it, how much revenue we have generated, and we can have a pretty good idea of what we're gonna have available for next year.

[Kevin Bailey]: quarterly report that I already have all that information. I can just pull it up and share it.

[SPEAKER_12]: You put together a report for us. It was financial last year, and I asked for a comparison of previous years. And you said that I think Reggie had requested the report, and it was the first time you had done it. So we didn't have it. Which one is that? And I guess, can we add this year on? Yeah. What were we measuring there?

[Kevin Bailey]: I think it was just how many, uh, who the renters were, who was the highest amount. So you can know, like, I can tell you right off the bat, I know BSSC is probably our biggest renter. This is how much money they brought in. Who was our second? Who was our third? How much they brought in? Yeah, it was probably BSSC, Bolo, maybe USTA after that.

[SPEAKER_06]: like youth and like Medford sponsored stuff, like affect their ability to rent. Like if, um, I know like a couple of minutes ago, you soccer has that, but like, they didn't put anything in there. Right. But like, we're just saying that they have it, but is that like in our policy or is that just like, should we try to like be more like, Hey, we need it for you guys to put your permits in or we're going to rent them because people are asking for those dates and we're Kind of holding them, hoping and thinking you will, but I don't know. I'm like, oh, like.

[SPEAKER_12]: More like have a deadline and then we can review all of them at once versus having in our brain that we know someone's coming along and just hasn't submitted it yet.

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I think like part of the policy is like cancellation policy and more like. Hey, if you're a repeat person, like we can't guarantee up to this date. And like, I know you might get mad at us, but like, it's one of those, like. U-sport priority. Well, I just don't know. Is that like just something that we just like bake in? Like, oh, it's just, or is it actual, like they have priority and it's like. It's always, it's always been U-sports high school.

[MCM00001461_SPEAKER_10]: the new sports always have priority over all the fields, because they're the largest organizations in the city. And that's where we're at. But again, they use the same fields year in, year out.

[Kevin Bailey]: I think I actually agree with your point that we say it, but it's not read anywhere. So maybe it does make sense to have it read someplace else. It's out to the public that they know where those priorities are. But I think to Bill's point as well, is we do have some issues where if the youth sports is the priority, we are making sure like, yeah, until we get their schedule, we're not going to allow the outside third party renters to come in. Do we tell the youth sports, hey, we need to know by this date or reserve it and then get back to us if you can start taking away some space.

[MCM00001461_SPEAKER_10]: Well, let's let's Kevin, let's take a step back. It's not just you sports. It's high school. That's first priority. Yeah. And then we go to you sports because they're always all of them are nonprofit. Then we go to the next tier. If it's a situation where a school is going to use it or not, and then we get to like a for profit organization And that's a whole nother level. But again, the fields are for people that live in the city and get it done. That's exactly where we're at at this point.

[SPEAKER_06]: My thought is, we have an online portal to sign up for a field. So you go online, you see it's open, you go sign up, you wait potentially four weeks to meet with us, and then we go, oh no, that's for a youth soccer, that didn't sign up yet, and we don't know if they will. And like the people have already potentially started signups and stuff in there. So it's like, we either need to let them know that, Hey, that's not available or like, Hey, it said it was available. And we're like, you know, we do our best to find somewhere else for them, but one of those like, I wholeheartedly understand what you're saying, but again, whether it be baseball, soccer, or softball,

[MCM00001461_SPEAKER_10]: You cannot gauge the practice schedules. And they change at a whim. So it's hard to schedule what's going on with the different sports, especially not with the games, but with the practice schedules.

[Reggie Graham]: So what I was thinking is that, Kevin, why don't you excuse yourself if you want. Sorry, I just need to know. No, no worries. No worries. So what I was thinking, Mike, is that with the tools that we now have, whereas before we never had those tools, we do have a calendar. Calendar is filled as soon as we get the permit requests and we decide that we're going to get permits. Most of the sports that you're talking about have already, they're repeat customers, if you will. So we pretty much know that certain fields are gonna be used for high school, soccer, softball, so on and so forth.

[Reggie Graham]: It's very well that we could put in a tentative on the calendar so that the people that are gonna make a request for a field, that they would already know that there's a tentative. I mean, you know.

[Kevin Bailey]: Yeah, I think it's good stuff to talk about too. I see your point. And maybe it's having them put it in, and then once they know they're scheduled, then they can kind of chip away, but at least the public knows. It might be discussion, do we set a date to say, like, we need to know by a certain date, and we're going to allow other people to use that field.

[Reggie Graham]: Yeah, because, you know, we do have additional tools that we never had before. The calendar, we never had before. We didn't have a visible calendar for the public.

[MCM00001461_SPEAKER_10]: Reggie, I understand, but you know better than I, if it rains the day before, you want to have your practice the next day.

[Chris Murphy]: If I may. If the worry is upsetting the people that book it, I think somebody had mentioned this earlier, let's just put on the, when they go to book, put it on the application, Medford Youth Sports and Medford High School Athletics have priority on the field. And then when they complain that that soccer hasn't been booked yet, well, we don't see soccer on there. Well, you knew that booking in there that you sports have the priority. So I think just maybe updating our application and to reflect that would solve any back and forth with other people saying, oh, I don't see it on the thing. It should be open. I'm here. They're not. well, we have five years of calendars to go back on that they've booked us and they have the priority. So you knew that.

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm, I'm good with all that. I just like saw it on people's faces as we would be like, Oh, like it's like, Oh, but like I did all this research and looked at the calendar and it was open and it's like, Oh no, it's not really open.

[Chris Murphy]: I think a lot of big problem though is, is people are, I think this is year 10 for me is people nowadays are getting upset with the word no more than ever.

[Reggie Graham]: Yeah. Well, anyway, this is something that we're going to discuss in January.

[SPEAKER_12]: I think it's just being transparent and like lay everything out. So, and then we have a tool to reflect on if there is an issue, we can say, we can definitely go with it.

[Reggie Graham]: I mean, I'm not against it at all. I think transparency is important. One of the things that we as a committee don't know, or commission, or whatever you want to call us, is that sometimes the rec department has uses of the fields. And we don't know about them sometimes. So being on the calendar would be much Um, much more appreciated by some, some people when they're, when they're going in. It's on the calendar.

[Kevin Bailey]: Anything that you see in green, let me go back to a wire, for example.

[Reggie Graham]: No, I'm just, I'm just saying, we're talking about not after the fact talking about before the fact. So you have, you have your schedule for 2027 already. I don't have the spring, but I'll probably have it by like January. That's what I mean. Yeah. So as long as that's there. you know, it's on there, that's all, that's all it's necessary.

[Kevin Bailey]: Just so you know, too, like when you look at anything that you see on the green, that's an internal program with us. Um, red is on hold. So what I did earlier today with, uh, at like a whole, so sometimes it, sometimes it is like a true event or I'm holding it while I'm getting more details. So if you see red, that's kind of a manual holding that spot until I actually put a real permanent. and then the blue is the actual markets.

[SPEAKER_12]: I know you mentioned MRPA and pulling data from there. Are there some, like, happy before January to do, like, research on other communities that might be comparable where I could pull, like, their policies for us to look at? Are there any in the area that you guys feel like would be good communities for me to pull info from?

[Reggie Graham]: When you look at the geographical layout of the towns around greater Boston, the farther out you go, it seems like the amount of wealth seems to increase as the farther farther out you go. So when, you know, the closer in you are, you're going to find, uh, so you, it seems like Malden, Everett, Medford, uh, Somerville, you know, they're going to probably have some similar attributes and so on and so forth. But once you start getting out to Belmont and Lexington, Arlington and so on and so forth, it's a little bit different. So, you know, I think if we're going to do it, we can get apples to apples rather than, you know, I can still like

[SPEAKER_12]: I think, I know in a financial sense, Lexington might be in a different spot, but I do think we have like a 10 to 15 page like agreement for using the fields. So I can, yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I can, I can look at that and see if there are any like topic areas that might be.

[Reggie Graham]: I haven't read 15 pages since I was in high school. It's one thing. All right, anything else? Well, I do think that I'll accept any motions that would come into your heads. Motion to end the meeting. I second the motion. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. No, there he is.

[Reggie Graham]: Yeah. All right, see you guys. All right, thanks, y'all. Hey, have a good holiday.

Aaron Olapade total time: 11.01 minutes total words: 1368	Chris Murphy total time: 2.53 minutes total words: 385