2026-10-20 - Dog Park Committee

Verizon 26. This meeting is also available  through Zoom USD download or by phone.   Anyone who's participating through Zoom  USD download or by phone should state   their name and address when

speaking.  So, meeting called to order at 6:02 p.m. All right. Um, here's the  agenda. Share it on the screen. Uh, first item on the agenda is reorganization  paperwork status and current committee

roles. Um,   I'm just going to read a message from Andy  Leighton who submitted that paperwork. He says,   "Reorganization chart and all the meeting  minutes uh were sent and are all set. So, I think

this agenda item  is just a status update. We're good. All right. Next item is the approval  of the minutes from the meeting on September 15,   2026. Minutes were done by Melissa. Um, does  anyone

have any question about the minutes? No. No questions. All right. Um, I make  a motion to accept the minutes of the   meeting from September 15, 2026. So, I'm  going to call out your name. Just let

me   know if you approve. Uh, Barry,  yes. Melissa, yes. Charlie, yes. I think that's everyone. Greg, I'm not sure if  you got the minutes, but technically I think   it's just the dog. You don't get

to vote. Sorry.  Okay. All right. Um, the next item on the agenda   is related to membership. We had a discussion  at the last meeting about creating a QR code   and putting it on the bulletin board

so that  people at the park could scan and apply for   membership rate from their phone at the park.  So, we're looking just for an update on that. So, I think we're half half done with that,  Susan.

Okay. Um, I've got I've got the QR code.   Barry, do you want me to give your update? I  can give it from what you put in a message.   Would that be helpful? Yeah, cuz that's sounding  painful to me.

Yeah. Poor thing. All right. So,   Melissa's going to speak for Barry  because Yeah, I'll speak. I'll speak on   um Barry's most recent update  here. Um let me just find it. Um, I think Barry, you had

created  the QR code. Um, at this point,   I think you had sent an email on that. It's  all set. Um, we just need to get that compiled. All right. So, basically, that's good thumbs  up. Yeah.

Basically, I think our plan was to   laminate it and hang it up. Yeah, that's the  next step. That is the next step. That's what   I'm going to do next. Okay. So, you could put  it on the bulletin

board. I I think the Bolton   board's locked. It has a key, right? No, there's  no key anymore. It's open. Okay. The other thing   you could do if you had two copies is you you know  the like the old

mailbox thing we used to put the   membership things in. You could probably put it  right on the front of that. Just tape it there.   um because as long as it's laminated, basically  we're just

looking for a way to people to scan   to get to the membership link. And I think  that's probably those two are the most visible   places. Anybody else have any other thoughts  on that? No, the only

thing that I need, Susan,   is I need access as an administrator for the  page on Facebook so I can do that. had that   and and when you wrote that I like went on there  quick and tried to figure that

out. Yeah. Um it's   actually kind of a complicated thing to do.  Oh jeez. And I have I I was the administrator   of another group and I wrote down the directions  somewhere to add administrators. Um

I'm trying. No   problem. I think it would be really obvious, but  Facebook management and I wasn't even the original   development. Someone made me administrator, so  I don't even know how they did

it, but yeah,   I can always um I it's been a long time since I  was an admin on a page, but I can look into it   too if that would be helpful. I I would definitely  like to add many people so that we

don't have to   look ever again, but noted and I'm trying. Thank  you. No problem. Thank you. Okay. Uh next, uh   item on the agenda is about maintenance stuff. So,  first I assume we're wrapping up

the season with the seasonal worker. Yeah. I'm assuming we'll get  one more cut either this week or early next. So,   Okay. before the before all the leaves come  down. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um and uh

he's he is   um up to date on anything we want him to do as he  wraps up. Correct. Yeah. When I was away, I was   texting him and he cut well I wasn't around and  everything's everything's fine. Grass

is growing   pretty slowly right now. Yeah. Yeah. So there's  less less maintenance need now. What do we need to   do to the mower for the winter? I'm going to talk  to one of the members up there and

see if we want   to service it before the winter and have it ready  for the spring or if we want to, you know, just,   you know, put a a gas stabilizer in and let it  go. I think I I also want to plug

it back into the   uh they had that that charging mechanism on  the window that's like a critical charger,   so you can go up there anytime and start it and  start it all winter long last year. as

instead   of the battery losing the battery again. So,  okay, I'll I'll handle it. All right, great. Um, uh, there's a couple other things on the list  here about maintenance. Do we want to talk

about any of them now? all the all the fence  repairs are done and I'll be submitting the   uh you know all the all the parts for for gas  for mowing and for the parts for the fence from   from the

season. I hope I have a whole stack to  submit. So, okay, I filled up the gas probably the   last time this week. So, Okay, great. All right,  good. Um, typically all we do for the winter is   make

sure there's a shovel up there. Um, announce  to members that, you know, depending on the snow,   there may or may not be plowing and people need  to be careful about going up there. If it snows,

the driveway may not be completely cleared. um  and um take the pools out and and probably make an   announcement that the water I'm sure it's shut off  by now. Is it shut off? Actually, it's been

pretty   warm. Okay, it'll be shut off soon. Probably  because we had the first day below 32 just what   yesterday. It'll be shut off soon. Probably  within the next week. And when that happens,   we

usually just make an announcement. The water's  shut off. There isn't water at the park. Um, yeah. All right. Any other questions about maintenance?  You know, probably worth us thinking about next

year um if if uh our seasonal worker was  great, we might want to ask him like,   do you think you might be interested next  year? and sort of rope them in now because   um good to plan ahead. And um

we do have that  big pile of gravel that we need to determine what   we're going to do with. Um where's the gravel? It  is where where the other pile was. Um it's on top   on top of the top soil.

Yeah. Um it it's not in  the park. It's probably about what 20 ft outside   of the park, but um I believe there was, you know,  that was to be used for the entrance path. So,   I'm not sure if we want

to coordinate that now  or wait until the uh spring to do that, but No,   we want to do it now, but with Barry not able  to talk real well. We've been waiting for him.   He brings I don't know. He has

his hand raised.  Maybe we should let him ride. Yeah. He brings   up this little John Deere and Yeah. day. Thank  you, Charlie. So, you know, I know we're going to   coordinate also a volunteer

cleanup day, correct?  That might be the right day to do the stone work   at the same time. We'll have some people there.  So, okay. Um I don't know which weekend we want   to shoot for, but um I I

think that next weekend  is too this upcoming weekend is too close. Maybe   the weekend after that. Right. Right. Now, so  somebody brought up the idea of filling in the   uh the pavers that were paid

for in between  those stones in the walkway. What do you think   about that? Yeah, I think that's easy to do. I  talked to the same person. Okay. I think we just   have to pick the the volunteer day

where we're  going to do like the cleanup. Yeah. Um and then   um we'll coordinate the stone work the same day  because there'll be additional people there to   help depending on what we need. So

maybe the last  weekend in October is too soon only because all   the leaves won't be down. Yeah, I was looking at  like November 7th, which is that first Saturday. Okay, that works. That works with

me. Okay, I you  guys I'm going to let you guys make that decision.   I won't contribute. I I unfortunately I have a  Spartan race that day. So I in Fenway Park, so I   will not be attending on the

7th. Not a problem.  Okay, good luck. Sorry. It's all right. You come   when you can come. Yeah. Okay. So we can we can  uh make an announcement and and uh do whatever we   can get done on that day.

Um, and I doubt it will  rain. Less rain this year, but this time of year.   Knock on wood. Knock on wood. Right. Okay. All  right. Any other maintenance issues? We should   know about or Well, our we

have our new uh we  have new guests at the park. We do. Land lantern   flies. Oh, yes. And basically they've basically  dis disembarked the uh the one tree. I mean I   can't believe how they've eaten

that so quickly.  The new tree. No, not the new. They No, they go   for soft trees. They went for the uh the leaping  willow. Do they kill them? I don't It doesn't look   good. I mean, they've taken a

lot of bark off that  thing in the last normally. So, I've done a lot of   research because my yard's infested. Um A lot of  times what they do is they'll they eat the sap off   the trees, but they

they bring in other pests  that tend to then destroy the trees after the   bark's removed. So, um at this point, they should  be getting close to dying off. Um so, but it does   lead us to to in the

spring we're going to need  to do some form of trapping um of them on that   tree if we really kind of want to save that tree.  Um there there are definitely a lot of different   remedies that we can

impose there um that are  kind of DIY um or we can contact somebody. I   have names of people that are doing remediation  of those but um you know we can I tried the Dawn   dish detergent. That didn't

work. So I went Dawn  dish detergent and water. It says Oh yeah. No,   that doesn't work. I've tried everything. um  what works best for traps, but um I don't know   if that's a good thing to put

around the dogs or  not. So, I think they would probably be best to   have a conversation with somebody that would know  about the appropriate remediation there um given   the fact that there will be,

you know, animals  around and and that. So, um but I I do think   that we're nearing the end of the season for them  at this point. Now, I would think that would be   something the town can help us

with because they  also have a tree committee, I believe. Correct. Marie, help us out. Marie, does  anybody know is there a town tree   committee? There's a tree warden.  Could we ask Could we ask

advice   from that person? Who is that person?  You could reach out to that. Yeah,   he's um his name's Warren. He works through the  DPW. He's part-time. Um, Barry, do you know him? Does your contact

at the DPW perhaps know him?  I can reach out action. We're just looking for a   consult like, you know, some advice about what we  would do and when given the dogs. I mean, I think   these these tree

lanterns are like everywhere.  This is Yeah. So they must be wellversed on them   and they probably know way more than we do and  just you know at least so we know what we'll have   to do and if it's

going to cost money at least we  can plan for it right. Yeah I do have um a name   of a gentleman who I've been working with on my  property here um that you know they're a licensed   and insured pest

control company here so I could  always reach out to him and suggestion is as well.   Okay, great. Good. And it sounds like we wouldn't  do anything until just before the spring. So,   yeah, they

they've pretty much moved on from my  property at this point or they've died off. So,   I think they moved to the dog the winter is  we need to watch Yeah, we need to watch for   um their eggs and we

need to remove those.  That will help immensely in the um fall. So,   in the spring of next year. So, I'll keep an  eye on it. I know what to look for. So when I   go up there, I'll see in the next

few weeks  um as they lay sorry about your property,   but at least No, it's coming eventually.  So they're doing some great things in Rhode   Island to uh feed birds stems and release  them. So it

seems like it's going to be   um hopefully a shortlived issue. All right,  good. I noticed that Greg is here with his son.   Do we want to um share with him what we you know  what our plan is about

their proposed project? I   know some of you spoke to Andy, right? I did.  Yes. Andy called. I guess you're going to have   a potentially have a meeting next Tuesday to  discuss it since it can't be

discussed tonight. We're uh we're logging in to uh the meeting also  on my son's laptop because he has a bunch of uh   stuff prepared. So stay tuned. No, partially my  fault because um I was delayed

in responding to   your email and then by the time we got it  to Marie, Marie was off for a day. Yeah,   we had to submit the agenda early this week. We're  a little bit late. So, what we were

proposing is   um to have a quick extra meeting next Tuesday  and we'll put in the agenda item tomorrow. Um   how would that work for you, Greg, timewise? Would  you be able to jump on the line next

Tuesday? Not   sure. We could fit it in under unanticipated  business if you want. Yeah, we tried and and   we were told by the town clerk no. Oh, you  can't do that. Okay. Um it should be fine.   I I

expect it well we can we can schedule it  around you and I expect it'll be quick. Marie   I mean I'm sorry Melissa can you get that agenda  item into Marie for next week? Yes. Uh I'd need to   get

that in by Thursday. Is that correct? Say hi  Marie. Can you confirm? Yeah preferably Wednesday   because um I have to add the Zoom once I get it  from Kevin. So just to make sure we have enough

time. It's just one agenda item. Do you need it  tomorrow by two? Okay. Uh, no. Tomorrow. I mean,   if if as long as it's to me by the end of  the day. Um, okay. Like 4. We leave at 4. Um,   I I can

request the Zoom and just write the  specific agenda item. Okay. I'll just send   it tonight. Marie, I I have a pack day tomorrow,  so I won't be able to do it, but I'll I'll send   it tonight if my

fault. Okay, Marie, why don't you  just request the Zoom right like ahead of time and   then they'll get No, I'm going to, but sometimes  Kevin doesn't respond immediately, right? So, I   will I'm

actually I already had the email drafted.  Um, great. So, I'm going to send that to him. I'll get that over to you tonight, Marie. Thank  you. Okay. And you're going to do this at 6 PM   next Tuesday?

Oh, does that work for you, Greg?  Six. All right. any particular Yeah, that should   be fine. Okay, so we're probably thinking, you  know, 20 minutes max. Yeah. Okay. All right,   great. All right.

Um, we talked about the QR code  already. I have an update on that also. Oh, do   tell. Uh, on the uh pinned membership and donation  post. Mhm. Uh for the donation post portion of it,   uh because

the Facebook page is not explicitly  a nonprofit organization page, it's like the   town. It's kind of all mashed together. We  can't have a donation button. Okay. Okay,   that makes sense. The

Facebook rules, right? Have  to create a separate page and that just you'd need   like a a Milbury friends of the dog park. Exactly.  Which I mean you could do, but I don't know. We'd   have to We

can't even figure out how to add an  administrator. I'm figuring we should not have   two Facebook pages. So, yeah, it makes sense. No,  I think I think you're right. That would violate   um that

makes sense. Thank you for that update.  And I can tell you how much money we have if you   Oh, yeah. Okay, go. Uh so, the dog swim uh took  in $260 total. Great. I'm sorry. $460. $460. Oh,   wow.

That's like twice as much as last  one. Great. So, um, as of right now,   the dog friends of the dog park committee  has a positive balance of five $5,485.20. Well, that's so great. So, ask me  for

money for stuff. All right. Well,   we may need need a new tree or a new  tree warden. Not remediation fixer.   All right. But, you know, hold that thought.  We'll certainly need some lawnmower. We'll

we'll   need some stuff for for um probably the spring.  So, um great. Keep that in mind, everybody. I   hope they those bugs don't eat our new trees.  Not that I want them to eat the old one, but All

right. Um, so we should discuss the incident. All right. Um, do you want to do a quick  review of the incident first and then we'll   um go over next steps? Yes. Just bear with me. I'm just  pulling

up my log. Yeah,   I'm gonna stop sharing for a minute so I can share Marie's the documents that Marie shared. So, by the incident, we are referring for those  that are attending that there was an

incident   at the dog park relative to um a reported  concern about a dog's behavior and um one   of our dog park committee members was present,  Melissa. So, she's going to tell you a little   bit

about the incident. Yeah, so this was back  on October 3rd. Um, we had an issue with a dog   um that was um very high energy resourceuarding  behavior. Um, this dog we had never seen before   at the

dog park. There was a few people up there.  Um, none of us had had recognized the dog. Um,   the dog was initially kept in the small dog area.  Um, the people accompanying the dog were um,   middle-

aged uh, female and male and a very young  child. um probably just starting to walk. Um so   the the dog was initially exhibiting some behavior  in the small dog park that was a lot of whining,   a

lot of whimpering, a lot of trying to get to  other dogs. Um and uh so it put me on high alert   initially. Um so the dog was eventually let out  from the small dog area and into the big dog area

and immediately made a beline for the water and  food bowls that we have there that look like food   bowls. Um, and the dog proceeded to drink dry  the entire bowl of water. Um, the the people uh

the owners were attempting to remove the dog from  the bowl. The dog was not having it. At one point,   there was another smaller dog that had gone over  to the dog. Um, there was a lot of growling, a

lot   of nipping. Um, and I had made the um decision at  that point to confront. Uh, my husband and I were   talking about it actually and we were just saying,  "Have you seen that before?" Um, you

know, and we   both kind of agreed like, yeah, this is definite  resourceuarding behavior. Um, and so, you know,   we the woman that was accompanying the the dog um  made a point to overhear us

speaking and said, uh,   and I quote, "Do not diagnose my dog." Um, and I  said, "I'm not trying to diagnose your dog at all.   I'm just noticing a behavior that, you know, is is  a little concerning

and um, you know, we we don't   know your dog. We haven't seen your dog before.  So, um, are you a member of the dog park?" did   you sign up? And uh she said I don't need to tell  you that and I just

said you know well actually   um you know we do check to make sure that you know  you are a member here that you have to sign off   on that. Um and then became very hostile. So um  my husband and I

made a decision at the time to   phone the police to have them up because we did  not know what was going to happen and we removed   ourselves and the dog and our dog from the dog  park for safety

reasons. Um the police did come   up and advised me that they were not members. Um  they were planning to become members that they   had just moved to town. Um I have not seen them  since. I don't

know if anyone else has. I don't   know if they have um put an application in. I  just know of what I heard them refer to the dog   as by name. So I'm I'm hoping that's their the  dog's name there. Um

but I don't know if it's   a nickname or something like that. But um I do  think before we extend membership to this dog,   we would need want to have a conversation  just regarding the animals

behavior if it is,   you know, resource guarding behavior and and that  type of thing because it it can definitely turn   very aggressive with a dog very quickly. Okay.  Um, anyone any was anyone else

there that wants   to add anything to this report or review? Um,  I don't know the other individuals that were   there. I had not seen them either. So, um, yeah,  just my husband, but he's not here

right now. No,   that's okay. I just I was just asking in case  there was anyone logged on or anybody Oh,   sorry. That's okay. any other other participants  that wanted to comment. So, first of

all,   um people using the park would need to be members  and so this person wasn't a member. Um, and let me   just clarify for anybody attending or listening  that um, it it is appropriate for a dog

park   committee member to ask a person using the park  if they are members. And generally speaking, um,   if a person said, "We're just trying it out to see  if we wanted to be members," we would

advise them,   you know, how to become members. Um but otherwise  people need to be members to use the park and   second that um dogs who have exhibited aggressive  behavior would generally not be

accepted for   membership. It is on the membership application.  So um so that is that is my summary. I uh anybody   want to add anything to that? Obviously this is  our incident policy. I can see

that we actually   need to update the contact, but um generally Yeah,  I apologize. I thought I sent the one that has we   have it as planning. Okay. Now, um it's the wrong  email, but it's the same

policy. It's just a Yes,   the same. Yep. Um and we have it as the our  planning email. It's not summary. The policy   basically says you got to be an active member  and when you sign up for

membership, you have to   self-report whether your dog has um aggressive  behavior. Um and they would generally um we   we would typically ask a person who does so to  either clarify or not bring the

dog to the park.   Um there are rules stated about uh about entering  the park and a dog being aggressive would violate   those rules. Um, since this dog wasn't a member, I  I feel that the best

course of action is is given   that we know the dog's name is to um notify  the individuals who are accepting memberships   um to identify if someone who has a dog of this  name applies um and uh

contact them individually   at that point. Um, it sounds like they may not  have been back to the park anyway and so maybe   they were just trying out the park. Um, I'm a  little dismayed about their

response to you. So,   yeah, it was it was a little aggressive, but uh,  you know, we I I know Barry and Charlie and we   can probably speak to this. We we've had people  come with their dogs just

trying it out and you   know we sit with them we talk with them and  we're all pretty good about if you just want   to come and see if your dog likes it like that's  fine just come and enjoy it.

Sometimes you don't   know but and and maybe you know sometimes people  are defensive about their yeah their dogs you   know it's their child. Um, and you know, maybe  with some thought they decided

this isn't the   greatest environment for our dog yet. And so  maybe that is the case. Yeah. Um, I think if   we have another incident with this dog and they're  not members, then we should we should

be a little   more definitive about requiring membership. um and  maybe have a conversation with that person, maybe   invite them to a meeting um before they they make  a decision. Um does anybody

want to add anything? I'm sorry that that happened. I appreciate you  putting yourself out there. Oh, it's it's fine.   It's fine. I just my biggest concern is, you know,  we we've got, you know, a

lot of dogs there that,   you know, that we don't recognize now. Um we  we do have I don't know Barry and Charlie if   you've noticed it, but I've definitely noticed  a lot more dogs that we don't

recognize. And I   don't know what's driving that, if that's really  good advertising on our part or if it is in fact   um you know there's a dog park uh that is  maybe nearby that's not operating or

Well,   I think we did hear that there was a nearby dog  park that closed and we expected you know and you   guys have done a lot of great work maintaining the  park and it's probably you know word is

getting   out. Yeah. Um and that's great. And we just need  to make sure everyone goes through the proper   channels and the proper process to do so through  the proper channels and and um hopefully

with that   less than pleasant interaction the the individuals  went away and thought about it and said you   know this isn't really a great time for us to  pursue this or um that would be the end of

that question. What's that? Did we put this on the  bulletin board if it's not there already? I   think everyone gets a copy of this when they  apply for membership. Okay. Is that right,   Marie? Do

you know? The town clerk does the  memberships now. Um, we used to give them out   when we did paper applications, but you know, I  would say more than 85 90% of the people do them   online doing it

online. So, that's a good  question. We used to hand this out cuz I I   remember when I did my application, they handed it  to me. But I don't think they get as many paper. I   know when we were doing

them, we would only get  a handful of paper. What if there's another way   we need to distribute this? I don't think it hurts  on the board. What's that? I don't think it hurts   to put it on the

board either. I agree. But when  somebody applies, you have to mail them a tag.   Couldn't it go with the tag? Maybe we can contact  the town clerk and ask them that. Who mails them   the tag? The

town clerk's office. Yeah, maybe  we can ask them if they can mail this. Or if the   people come in for their dog license, they'll  get it with that. But you may want to double   check that they're

being handed out. Okay. And we  probably want to make sure we hand out the version   with the correct contact. So yeah, we could also  um I don't know if this is appropriate or not,   but on the

Facebook page, we can create files. So  you can put them on the Facebook page as files as   well if anyone ever needs it. And this is  also something we could um we could like this is appropriate to

post on the Facebook  page. This is a document with our rules. Um, I don't think it would hurt for  us to, you know, maybe, I don't know,   once a month or once a quarter, like repost these  and just

say just reminders type of thing. Fairy, I see you have your hand raised.  That's why I'm calling on you. Okay. All right. Any other conversation about that? All right. I was going to Sorry, I  have

to go back to the agenda now. Okay. All right. Any other unanticipated business? All right. So, I think our actual next meeting  is going to be very briefly October 27th at 6   PM for 15 or 20

minutes. um to discuss uh the  Boy Scout project. And then our next committee   meeting will be November 17th at 6 PM. I sent  Kevin the request. Did you put the clean up?   Put the cleanup update

request on the uh Facebook.  Clean up date. Yeah. November 7, the cleanup date. Okay. All right, thank you everyone for coming. Um, we will see you all at our next meeting. Um,  motion to adjourn at

6:36p.m. Um, second. Okay.   Melissa in favor. Charlie in favor. Yes. Barry  in favor. Yes. All right, Greg, thank you for   coming and your son, too. And Victor and Marie,  thank you for your help.

And we'll see you all   soon. Have a good night. Thank you, everybody.  All right. Good night, everyone. Good night.