Volunteers Green and Browns Court Project Committee 10/16/25

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DRAFTVolunteers Green, Browns Court, Round Church Green

          3 Parks Improvement Committee (ARPA Funds)

Minutes from meeting held on October 16, 2025

Members Attending:  Kendra Ziskie, Denise Barnard, Fran Thomas, Megan Andrews, Jeanne Agner,

Members Absent: Tess Storrs

Guests in person:  John Johnston, Robin Clairmont, Kathy Gruber, Jayne Sheridan

Guest attending virtually:

Public comment: None

Minutes Approved from last meeting on September 11, 2025

Next scheduled meeting - Thursday, November 20,2025

Agenda changes - Move the Volunteer Green discussion to the top so that John Johnston can speak first.

Items for Discussion

1. Status of Volunteer Green project

John Johnston presentation - John Johnston, of Breadloaf Corporation, is a Richmond resident with a background in architecture, design and building.

As we are beginning to work on preliminary plans for a new playground and pavilion with bathrooms on the higher ground, Denise asked John to attend our committee meeting to help us understand how to move forward with this project. She noted the findings of the deterioration of the bandshell by Bob Neeld of Engineering Ventures. She reminded us that Gary Bressor asked that the design of a new pavilion include some pieces (perhaps the weather vane and some timber) as a nod to the old bandshell. Denise also explained that the current bathrooms would need to be demolished in order to build new bathrooms. She explained the considerable amount of time and materials that are needed to restore the playground (resetting and replacing equipment and the wood fiber and reseeding the area) and bathrooms (plumbing and drywall) after each flood event.   We have been working with Hillview Design who drafted four general site plans for the playground and pavilion. We have narrowed those down to two possibilities to further explore.  We had originally asked John to attend to explain to us what a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) is and why we might need one.  He presented to us what a project such as Volunteers Green improvement might really need, which probably is not a ROM. He explained the limitations of an ROM. 

John then explained The “Big Picture" for us. The project will need (not in any particular orde)r:

1. Budget 2. Design by Architect 3.Pricing  4 Permitting 5.Bid  6.Possible Bond Vote  7. Construction

            John explained that a construction project such as this will most likely need a civil engineer, mechanical engineering consultants, specialty consultants (i.e. acoustical study for the band shell), permitting (maybe town and state), FEMA may need to sign off and more. The town will need to bid out - construction manager or design builder including demolition. The project might possibly need a bond vote. John said he thinks the project could cost between $600,000 and $1.2 million.

John then outlined the 3 traditional delivery methods that are industry standard with details and a chart for each of these methods. That chart is included at the bottom of these minutes.

1. Design- Bid - Build (DBB) …. Design team of Architect and consultants, then out to bid and then a construction company
2. Construction Management (CM) - expertise in estimating, invested from start to end. The CM is the advisor (pricing and scheduling), then transitions to the role of builder, and is responsible for delivery of the project within a guaranteed Maximum Price.  A fixed price in that process town could be used to get a bond vote
3. Design Build (DB)- one entity creates both the architectural and construction drawings and builds the project

John gave a summary of the pros and cons of each.

#1- tends to be pricey. The design and construction typically takes longer. Construction cost is unknown until the contract is awarded.

#2 -there is an architect and a construction manager (CM) - more successful. The price is monitored start to finish. Can’t change the design as you go along.

#3. Design Build can be successful but hard to bid out. You would want to get an owner's rep. $15 to 20,000 range)  to represent the town in all aspects.

To bid out

• Ask for design and all consulting fees. Going rate for fees can be up to 40% of the project

7:20 

As we asked questions, John advised us to build the playground and pavilion/bathrooms at the same time rather than breaking it into two projects. There will be a lot of infrastructure that should be dealt with at the same time.

John talked about the importance of an owner's representative to manage the project effectively. A Clerk of the Works was a check on the construction. An Owners Rep does more.

One would develop the RFP with some level of detail and then interview. There are more bidders out there now but costs are going up with tariffs.

A Timber framer - could possibly be a design build

7:32

2. Status of Brown’s Court Project

The committee voted to include this thank you excerpt that was part of a recent post on Front Porch Forum regarding the tree planting event.

Thursday, Oct 2nd was the kind of day that made one proud to be a member of the Richmond community and several nearby communities. For over two hours the area surrounding the pickle ball court was a bee hive of activity as over 30 volunteers, including the staff from the VYCC, planted 60 arborvitae trees around three sides of the courts. This effort required several truckloads of topsoil and a yard of compost to be transported around the site using wheel barrels, buckets and a small tractor operated by Lane Marshall. We will be eternally grateful to Lane for the number of hours he and Mike Barnard spent preparing the site and then to Lane for transporting materials to fill in the trench into which the trees were planted. Thanks also go to Ron Paquette for a yard of compost and to Northfield Savings Bank, Sweet Simone's and Cumberland Farm for snacks and beverages including a jar of "pickles". What was most impressive to the committee was the enthusiasm of the volunteers, their willingness to plant the trees, as directed, and to move dirt and compost around the site. Of course, once the trees were planted, several volunteers put on their court shoes, grabbed their paddles and balls and proceeded to christen the court.

This project would not have come to fruition without the help of many local individuals and several of Richmond's town departments. We would like to start by thanking Josh Arneson and Duncan Wardwell from the Town Managers office, Steve Cote and the Water and Sewer department, Mike Parent and Jerry Levesque from the Fire Department, and Pete Gosselin and the Highway Department. Their assistance saved the committee and the Town from having to use outside contractors and materials not included in the installation contract. Thanks also go to the Richmond Conservation Commission, which recommended to the Selectboard that they allocate the funds necessary to purchase the trees, two benches, an accessible picnic table and hoses and to the Selectboard for showing their support by allocating the funds.

See the video developed by MCTV regarding the tree planting -https://youtu.be/pma7qfMuETU

Kathy Gruber explained the tree watering schedule. They will be watering twice a week until the weather gets really cold. It takes about an hour with two hoses running. Double watering the south side. Twice a week until it gets really cold. We mentioned that we might want to consider mulching next spring. Discussion of asking Northfield Saving Bank if they might want to sponsor a tournament or fundraiser for that.

Fran received several notes regarding the post from the Front Porch Forum thanking her for the update. The Community Senior Center had a nice post with pictures about the tree planting. Fran also submitted some photos to the Times Ink.

Three members of the Friends of Pickleball group, Kathy, Jayne and Robin explained their role. They are to be an ad hoc group assisting with managing the court and play. Jayne read the philosophical statement re the role of this group.  Attached to the minutes below.

When we get closer to the next season the group will meet with Josh and Duncan to firm up who will do the scheduling. They will develop a budget and submit it to the Selectboard for inclusion in the next townwide budget. The group will decide when to take the nets down and when to close for the season. The town will not be plowing the Browns Court parking area this winter so it won’t be open after the snow.

It was noted how wonderful it is to see families and young children playing.

Suzanne from the library has written to Selkirk to get paddles that the library will lend.

8:00

• Amenities- benches, table and shed update.

The benches and table were delivered to the town earlier this week. Steve and Brian

from Water and Wastewater assembled them. Matt Cross will be attaching the benches to the concrete pads.

Members of the pickleball group will take a look at a shed that has been offered to see if it is something we can use. Denise is going to talk with the RHS alumni association to see if they might be interested in having their donation go towards a kiosk.

• Parking update- a subcommittee met with members of the parking committee and a

neighbor to review the parking plan for the pickleball courts, including a 30-spot gravel parking lot with possible overflow parking at the schools. Duncan will have to get the RFP for the parking lot together, sent out to possible bidders and posted in local papers. Kendra reminded us that one of the quotes had all the specs, and that we/Duncan should sit down with Pete to finalize the RFP. As soon as our funds are reimbursed with FEMA monies, the project can be ready to go.

• Softball field and team benches - This is on hold as we wait for funds
• Celebration next spring - Perhaps a tournament. Northfield is interested in underwriting

•  Other Brown’s Court

1.The Town is working on fees for when folks want to rent facilities at Browns Court.

2.The town is working on getting the property boundaries defined, agreed to and then the legal documents signed by the Town and the adjoining property owners. 

8:14

3. Budget

•  Fran and Kendra presented a budget with the current expenditures to date from each of

the funds - General ARPA, Designated funds, Donations from RHS, Lawnmower sale proceeds and Conservation Reserve Funds.  Kendra discussed the budgeted amounts for various projects, including fields and other expenses, and mentioned the $35,000 allocated for fields.  We are below budget for some items but higher for others, such as pickleball.

•  FEMA reimbursement monies - Josh reports that the money is slowly trickling in. Denise

will continue to monitor to see when the parking lot work can be done.

• Discussion of tree budget. Any tree work should be part of the town annual tree

maintenance. Fran will talk with Caitlin Littlefield, town tree warden, to be sure that money for regular tree maintenance for all three parks is in her budget for the town budget.

4.Other

Denise will be presenting at the Selectboard meeting on Monday. She will give a brief update on the progress with Brown’s Court projects including the pickleball court and the tree planting.

Jeanne will work on a draft End of Year report for the Town Report. It will need to be turned in by late December to be included in the report.

Possible topics for next meeting:

1. Parking lot update - meeting with Pete G. RFP info
2. FEMA money - update
3.  Browns Court
4. Volunteers Green

1. Discussion of information from John Johnston's presentation.
2. Develop a plan of action so that we are ready when we have the funds.

1. Round Church Green

Meeting adjourned at 8:38

Related Files:

Pros and cons of Three Traditional Delivery Methods - Design through Construction

Mission statement of the Friends of Pickleball ad hoc gro