Present: Larry Pilchman, Geoffrey Vitt, John Chamberlin,
Michael Jackson, Kathy.Parsonnet, Barry Harwick, Buff Mclaughry,
Peter Krass, Cam Brown, Margaret Cheney
This was the first meeting of the current Fields Committee.
The following issues were discussed and actions taken:
Introduction of the committee members in attendance. A
number of committee members were still to be named.
Next meeting (Monday Feb 7th), expect to have full committee,
at which time we will share introductions along with areas
of expertise/experience as it relates to the work of the
committee. Much of the discussion at this first meeting
recognized the lack of a full committee, and need to delay
discussion about detailed plans until more are on board.
Review of Committee Mission Statement and Action Plan:
Clarification (for newcomers) that the Committee is expected
to explore and present all aspects of the final proposal
to the Dresden School Board, including detailed analyses,
plans, and costs.
Questionnaire:
Status of responses to date: Only 500 of the 6,000+
surveys sent out have been returned. There had been
some concern expressed that not all households received
the survey. (Followup with the Post Office indicates
that they were delivered.) Committee members agreed
about the importance of having a sufficient sample size
in order to make generalizations about what the community
thinks. The following actions will take place
during the last 4 days during which people can submit
their responses:
Posting of Fields Survey Poster around Hanover
& Norwich by committee members. Kathy
will email everyone the PDF file of the poster
Valley News article
Valley News Transaction ad
Sandwich board on Norwich Green
Analysis of Results: The committee
discussed and agreed that detailed discussion of field
proposals and planning (including the Norwich interim
plan) should wait until the survey results are in, so
that community input can be appropriately considered.
Superintendent Gersen reported that Bob Sokol
will be supervising the data entry, tabulating the
raw data, and transcribing the comments. Committee
reviewed and discussed Sokol’s request for
guidance regarding the qualitative content analysis
of the comments offered by the respondents, i.e.,
how to code these comments. John Chamberlin felt
that, based on the input from the May ’04
focus groups, the comments can probably be placed
into the following categories: cost, community
involvement, location, and philosophical concerns
about the role of athletics. John and Kathy will
take a look at some of the surveys within the next
week to see if any others are apparent.
Content Analysis: After the raw data is
tallied, any statistical analysis will need to be
driven by specific questions that the committee
want answered (e.g., the relationships between answers
to one question with answers to other questions).
Some felt that it might be easier to come up with
those questions after seeing the raw data. The committee
would like to have a look at that by the next (tentatively
scheduled) meeting on Monday Feb 7th. Some sense
of the survey results (especially that pertaining
to the Norwich fields) needs to be ready to present
to the School Board by their meeting on Feb 15th
so they can decide whether to go ahead with the
Norwich interim proposal.
Status of Norwich Fields Partnership:
Certain decisions need to be made quickly; the
fill is currently available from Dartmouth College to
be put in the Norwich site, and should the Board go
ahead and give the OK? While the committee thought
it a good idea to wait for the initial survey results
to come back (indicating that there wasn’t a very
strong aversion to the interim plan), it wouldn’t
hurt to bring the dirt over.
Norwich has volunteered to donate construction time
and equipment. Merriman Fund will pay for associated
costs.
Current plan is to put in a baseball diamond and a
‘green area’ (meadow) for general use.
Brief review of Pathways Consulting Proposal
for planning, design, permitting and construction services
for the Norwich athletic fields.
Cam Brown and Buff McLaughry discussed some reservations
they had about some of the costs included in the
proposal. More detailed discussion was postponed
until survey results are back.
Wayne Gersen reported that Act 250 was initially thought
to be irrelevant to the planning, but a recent communication
to his office indicated that the amount of land was
so close to approaching the 10 acre limit that Act 250
might apply.
Discussion about what general issues the committee must
consider in this process:
Urgent pressures to attend to fields at the HS site:
don’t want to miss opportunities to take advantage
of free fill and other discounted services.
Community needs to be educated better about what the
real assets, opportunities and limits are (e.g., NCAA
rules prohibit simultaneous sharing of fields between
college and HS students).
“Image” issue raised during last bond
needs to be addressed.
Communication and transparency of process need
to be addressed. Brief discussion about ways to
‘spread the word’ about committee decisions.
Internet, web, publicity considered.
Educating new committee about what’s already been
done—there is a great deal of information that was
generated during the last two iterations. All Committee
members need access to that information.
Prepare a synopsis of what’s available, where
it is located.
Mike Jackson share with Committee the Athletic Department’s
Needs Assessment.
Organizational issues: Need Co-Chairs, timeline
for process, secretary, sub-committees. Kathy Parsonnet
and Peter Krass were appointed Co-Chairs. Monday evenings
seem to work best for most people in attendance.
Time frame: Thinking that March 05 is too soon to get
a new bond vote, so the next natural date would be March
06. However, March is a bad time to begin a project, because
contractors have already committed to work. Fall
05 is better. Discussed having everything ready
to go for a special vote in September 05.
Action Steps before
Feb 7 meeting:
Hanover Selectboard confirm two town appointees
to committee
Kathy & John meet with Sokol to look at
data, offer guidance
Raw data tabulated and ready to look at.
Summary of information already garnered from
past work, ready for committee members to review.
Committee members currently working on Norwich
plans prepare status report.
Kathy & Peter set agenda and format for
subsequent meetings.
