By Kim J. Harmon

The Parks and Recreation Commission will meet leaders from all the community sports organizations next month and – as usual – the field use regulations will be at the heart of the discussion.

“The organizations have seen these before,” said Parks and Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian. “We refine them every year and we’ll discuss them at our annual meeting with the organizations on January 12.”

The meeting will focus a little bit more on a couple of areas.

One is the rain policy.

“Our biggest problem has been when the fields are closed and (teams) go out there anyway,” said Mrs Kasbarian. “They try to do some repair work to try and make the fields playable and end up causing a lot of damage.”

According to the field use regulations, the Parks and Recreation Department has the final say on whether or not games and practices can proceed in the face of inclement weather. Safety of the participants and damage to the fields is of the utmost priority, regardless of how tight league schedules become.

Whenever there is inclement weather – or the threat of inclement weather – the Assistant Director of Parks, Carl Samuelsson, will make the decision prior to 2:30 pm whether or not games and practices can proceed (field closures are posted on www.newtown-ct.gov, under the Parks and Recreation Department link). After 2:30 pm, and on the weekend, it is up to the organization which has scheduled use of the field to make the decision.

Of course, the Parks and Recreation Department expects good judgment to be exercised, which is why it says one person should ultimately be responsible for making the decision to play or not to play. According to the regulations, if it starts raining prior to the start of the game (or practice), then the game or practice cannot proceed. If it starts raining during a game, the game may be completed but if it continues raining no new games can be started.

Any group using fields after being instructed not to by the Parks and Recreation Department, or any group that uses poor judgment by playing in inclement weather, risks fines and/or forfeiture of all seasonal field rights and will ultimately be held responsible for any damage it may cause.

Newtown has several community sports organizations jostling for field and gym space – Newtown Babe Ruth baseball, Newtown Babe Ruth softball, Newtown Youth Lacrosse Association, Newtown Youth Basketball Association and the Newtown Soccer Club all have in-town and travel programs with American Youth Football, Men’s Weeknite Slo-Pitch Softball, Men’s Sunday Slo-Pitch Softball and the Women’s Slo-Pitch Softball League all mixed in.

And from time to time, those organizations vie with Newtown High School sports teams for field use. There are other organizations, as well – from off-shoot youth baseball and softball teams to a vintage base ball team – which have sought field space.

Scheduling all those organizations can get complicated, which is why the Parks and Recreation Commission will also emphasize at the annual meeting that all organizations must have schedules filed (on Parks and Recreation forms) at least two weeks prior to the start of games. If schedules are not received at least two weeks prior to games being started, it is assumed that fields normally reserved for a particular organization will be available for another group.

The Parks and Recreation Commission hopes to make the upcoming spring season a smooth ride for everyone – rain or no rain.