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PC Recreation
By Carolyn Reid
Pendleton County’s Recreation Commission recently met in two special-called meetings. The first was held Wednesday, March 15, and was a closed session by way of KRS 61.810(1) (f) For Appointment of or Potential Employment, and KRS 61.810 (1) (c) Potential Litigation. At the end of the closed session, the committee announced the hiring of law firm Adams, Stepner, Woltermann, and Dusing, PLLC, of Covington.
The commission met again in special session Wednesday, March 22, because a quorum could not meet during its regular Monday, March 20, set time of the third Monday of the month. Commission members Allison Nichols, Janice Polley, Emily Wilson, Dixie Wells, Bridget Browning, Adam Bruener, Patrick Clore, Stephanie Prince, and Jason Anderson. At least a dozen audience members were on hand.
Adam Bruener referenced the March 2 town hall and the concerns voiced by the parents and coaches, launching the discussion into the concerns revolving around the lack of instruction and structure, leading James Anderson to say they need to fix the problems and fix them quickly. Anderson then said he was working with high school coaches and others who could help train those who volunteer to coach recreational sports, and he was reviewing videos he hoped would offer help to coaches during leisure time. Anderson also said he and Bruener had had long discussions about how to make the program better.
Director Karen Davis told the commission she had 104 children signed up for T-ball alone, and 292 total had signed up for baseball. That returned the group to how to best structure baseball since it was the immediate sport with such high numbers.
The commission decided, with Anderson’s and Bruener’s leadership, to form team committees in order to decide what kids need to learn. Anderson asked if T-ball would be divided into two groups with Bruener agreeing that would be best. Anderson suggested having a person oversee baseball and softball, and those persons would clarify rules, set coaching guidelines, and other expectations for what the kids need at the T-ball, baseball, and softball levels.
Stephanie Prince offered to help “as a runner” or in some capacity because she said she did not feel she knew enough to help with more, and Bruener said he could help Karen as director, but he has a senior playing softball, and he did not know how much he could be there.
The subject of communicating problems led Bruener to ask, “Are we talking a person on a sub-committee (based on sport) being the first in line of communication?” Anderson replied whoever was there would be the first to be approached with concerns.
Bruener said that person would definitely need to be on-site, and Davis would be there to handle complaints.
The role of overseeing instruction would fall on someone, whether on the board or in the community, to be the expert. That person would set the structure of the rules and enforce playing time for kids. Anderson was clear that every kid needed to see playing time regardless of skill level.
Bruener said baseball and softball needed to be split, and a board member was needed to handle logistics of those teams. He wanted to see an expert and clinics to pull everyone together to teach kids. Anderson and Bruener both said they could help with that.
Nate Jones, who was in the audience, was asked to be the expert for baseball. When he was called on, he gave the commission printouts of what he thought each team should do based on what he had done from his early days to his professional days. He said all sports would benefit from agility/hand/foot/eye coordination drills, and the printouts would benefit all sports. He was clear that he would be glad to help work with coaches, parents who wanted to help. He said he would work with moving the difficulty up as the teams move through age groups.
Anderson stated again, as he had in the town hall, that the best situation would be to see the seasons offset, meaning that the clinics would be during off-seasons for high school coaches as well as teams so they could have input. He hopes to begin that structure soon, but it would mean a sport would be skipped for those clinics until the following year in order to accommodate the cycle.
Patrick Clore agreed the time the sports have is limited, especially considering facilities and time. He agreed they needed to find a way coaches and teams could help with the sports, and Anderson said one thing they heard at the town hall was more community involvement was needed.
Clore also stated that while rec was set up for the kids to have fun, their goal is to help kids learn. “Two hundred kids won’t be playing at the high school level. Instruction, yes, but remember they should have fun.”
He then spoke to the dangers the community faces with the problems. “When we loose the ability of all entities together, we may as well not exist. We need to be cohesive and work together.”
Anderson spoke to the need for structure again, and Prince said that may encourage volunteers to step up.
Anderson also reminded everyone that the indoor sports such as basketball and cheer have only one gym in the county available to use for practice, and those practices are one hour a week. Parents also need to buy into helping their kids learn.
Megan Smith, a member of the audience, spoke up for the fact that volunteers and parents need to take advantage of any resources they can, as well. “My husband and I coached, and we went to watch Nate coach to learn. I think a requirement for coaches should be to learn by watching.
Adam Bruener gave the committee an update on a Duke grant that he is pursuing for the fields. He said Randy Wells of the PC Chamber put him in touch with chamber president Gary Hicks who told him about Duke Energy’s grant. Bruener said due to the limited amount of time he had to apply, he went ahead and applied to replace the shed with a new metal shed, to get six sets of 15-foot bleachers, and to get a chain-link fence to cover the bleacher opening.
Falmouth City Council, he added, said the city could install the speed humps at the athletic park that were donated by Jay-Gee. Those humps will be delivered to the park.
Shane Hampton asked for the fields for soccer starting April 13 and running through June 24. He asked for the use of the bleachers and the electricity, as well. Clore asked if this was a separate entity from rec, and Hampton said he is asking for Wolfpack Soccer. He would need the fields for three days, Judge/Exectutive David Fields stated he would have to talk with the county attorney about the agreement due to liability concerns.
Fields was there to say the PC Athletic Advisory Board had not been officially dissolved since its last meeting in about 2017 or 2018. At that time, the board discussed the new playground to be installed there, and the Griffin Center was put into the hands of the fair board. He said he would have to get with the County Attorney Stacey Sanning to see what needs to be done. Since the board was mostly positions over names, he felt he could call a meeting to have those people officially dissolve the board, and monies could be moved. The fact that it has not been dissolved also means that liability, guidelines, use, and conditions of the fields have not been updated, either. The current information was run through the high school athletic department, and now that oversight has changed.
PC Wildcat Athletic Parents will now run concessions. This is an organization set up to pay fees for families who cannot afford to put their children in rec activities otherwise and has been run in the past by Director Karen Davis.
Baseball shirts and hats have been ordered from BSM Sports, Davis reported, and they are the MLB jerseys like last year’s jerseys. The commission approved the purchase of new catcher equipment, no pictures, and to stop supplying socks and shorts for soccer.
The park maintenance plan requires 40 man hours between two people, according to Bruener, and two were approved for that role. Bruener mentioned that the fields need to be fertilized and reseeded, and the fields need a core aerator and a spreader. The aerator runs around $1,400 and the spreader runs around $400. Fields responded that they could put it in the new 2023-2024 budget if nothing else. The fields will be treated as they are off-season. The board voted to allocate $2,500 to the budgetary needs for the rest of the fiscal year. After some discussion, the commission decided to use a purchase order in order to track those items purchased.
Other items on the agenda that were approved:
Falmouth Baptist’s egg hunt for Sunday, April 2, to be held in the park.
The committee, based upon parental complaints about the lack of communication they are said to demonstrate, will read Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life) by Thomas Erikson.
Jesse Combs of Patriots Football asked about using the football field over the summer, but he does not know how many will be on the team because sign-ups have not started yet.
Bruener said the athletic fields are playable, the trash bins are installed, and the bathrooms are upgraded.
The recreation commission meets every third Monday at 7 p.m. at the BINGO Hall next to Heritage Bank and Howard's Place.