Charlotte County Weekly Department Highlights Published 8/14/18 Community Services Charlotte Sports Park The Charlotte Sports Park and the Charlotte Stone Crabs kicked-off the month of August with a home game against the Florida Fire Frogs, on Wednesday, 8/1. Attendance was 204 as the Stone Crabs took the game with a final score of 6-3. A second match was played between the Stone Crabs and the Fire Frogs on Thursday, 8/2. The Stone Crabs landed another win, with a score of 3-0. The reported attendance was 589 for this game. From 8/3-8/5, the Stone Crabs were away at Dunedin challenging the Blue Jays. The Crabs returned to Charlotte Sports Park on Monday, 8/6, to defend their home in the first of three games against the Bradenton Marauders. With 212 fans in attendance, the Stone Crabs managed a victory with a final score of 2-1. The second game against Bradenton was played on Tuesday, 8/7. This game ended in another win for the Stone Crabs, with a final score of 4-0 and 679 fans in attendance. Game number three will be played Wednesday, 8/8, at Charlotte Sports Park. The Stone Crabs will then welcome the Dunedin Blue Jays for a four-game home stretch, from Thursday, 8/9 through Sunday, 8/12. The Gulf Coast League played games at Charlotte Sports Park on 8/3 and 8/7. The game on Friday, 8/3, was played on the stadium field, as the Rays faced the Baltimore Orioles. Attendance was numbered at 65. The game on Tuesday, 8/7, was played on practice field 5. The Rays hosted the Minnesota Twins with an attendance of 51. The next GCL games to be held at Charlotte Sports Park will be on Thursday, 8/9, and Saturday, 8/11. Both games will be held on practice field 5. Harold Avenue Park Last week here at Harold Ave Park we held Summer Camp Monday through Friday from 7:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. Youth Basketball Practice was held Monday through Thursday in the evenings. Pickleball was held here on Monday from 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and Thursday 12:30-3:30 p.m. Table Tennis was held Thursday from 9 a.m.- 12 p.m. and again on Friday from 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Adult Drop-In Basketball was held on Monday from 7-9 p.m. Table Tennis was held on Thursday from 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m. and again on Friday 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Summer Camp went swimming on Monday and Friday from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. as they do every week. Thursday all of camp went to MOSI in Tampa, there they got to explore everything science. They did everything from small mind-bending games to a 45-min. presentation on all the different planets. It was very neat to see all the kids enjoying themselves, but also learning at the same time. On Saturday, Bonsai used one of our side rooms for their class. Our Youth Basketball Summer League also ended on Saturday, we crowned three champions, one for each age group. All games played were very intense. The 10u champions were Chicago coached by Keelan Ryan; the 12u champions were Motor City coached by Bernard Fullen; and the 15u champions were Phoenix coached by Shawn LeFresne! Ann & Chuck Dever Regional Park Pool For the week of 7/31 through 8/6, Ann & Chuck Dever Regional Park Pool had 880 paid admissions, was visited by 203 pass holders, and 99 water aerobics participants. The Charlotte County Blue Fins held five swim practices resulting in approximately 20 “splashes.” Port Charlotte Beach Park This past weekend, we had pavilion rentals Saturday and Sunday, with a large birthday Party, meeting and Page 1 of 4 beachgoers. The brand new playground is waiting on finishing touches and should be ready shortly. Lastly, Port Charlotte Beach water quality had the all-clear last week, so the beaches are filling up daily! This coming weekend at Port Charlotte Beach Recreation Center, we have a large, all-day, staff retreat scheduled, for a local Charlotte County business. Extension Services • Newspaper Article for Aug. 13 – “Keep it in the pot - control your pothos” • CSP Conference Room - Manager's Meeting – Aug. 13 • Citrus Expo - Lee Civic Center – Aug. 15 • Citrus Expo - Lee Civic Center – Aug. 16 • CED Mentoring - Face to Face - Collier County – Aug. 17 Natural Resources Land Management - This week staff was occupied with the monthly inspections and mowing. Summer is in full swing and vegetation is growing. With some of our equipment being unavailable due to repairs and service, staff was a little behind on the mowing schedule and grass was quite tall on several properties. With the beginning of each month staff visits each property and documents conditions to better address any issues with maintenance or vandalism. This also is an opportunity for staff/public interaction. With 5500+ acres to maintain there’s always lots to do so when we visit the parks for inspections we aren’t usually engaged in a management operation. This is usually when we have the most interaction with the public. Port Charlotte Public Library Summer Reading Program Recap: Children/Teens: Gave out 225 bags and reading logs to kids for summer reading sign up and there were 76 entries for the grand prize drawings. Adults: 23 adults completed the “Bingo Card” and were entered in the drawing for the summer reading grand prize drawings. Programs: Sixty-six (66) summer reading programs with total attendance of 3,966 (At the Read and Feed programs - 1,702 lunches were served to children and teens. Englewood Charlotte Public Library Summer Reading Program Recap: Children/Teens: Gave out 77 bags and reading logs to kids for summer reading sign up and there were 22 entries for the grand prize drawings. Adults: 33 adults completed the “Bingo Card” and were entered in the drawing for the summer reading grand prize drawings. Programs: Six summer reading programs with total attendance of 313. Punta Gorda Public Library Summer Reading Program Recap: Children/Teens: Gave out 125 bags and reading logs to kids for summer reading sign up and there were 38 entries for the grand prize drawings. Adults: 14 adults completed the “Bingo Card” and were entered in the drawing for the summer reading grand prize drawings. Programs: Six summer reading programs with total attendance of 458. Page 2 of 4 Mid-County Regional Library Summer Reading Program Recap: Children/Teens: Gave out 1,000 bags and reading logs to kids for summer reading sign up and there were 165 entries for the grand prize drawings. Adults: 25 adults completed the “Bingo Card” and were entered in the drawing for the summer reading grand prize drawings Programs: Sixty-five summer reading programs with total attendance of 1,519 (At the Read and Feed programs - 734 lunches were served to children and teens.) Historical Center On Thursday, Aug. 3, Crystal Diff and four volunteers presented a Stratigraphy* and Archaeology program at South County Recreation Center’s summer camp. We had 51 children and 7 adults participate in the program. After teaching them a basic archaeology lesson, the kids were given different artifacts and were asked to place them in chronological order based on which layer of earth (stratum) it was discovered. They were also shown a 1.8 million-year-old fossil of a horse’s tooth. Finally, they made paper arrowhead necklaces. At the end of the day, it was clear that the kids learned a lot and had a great time too. *Stratigraphy is the branch of geology concerned with the order and relative position of strata and their relationship to the geological time scale. Archaeologists use stratigraphy to reveal the development and age of a site and its components. The Division of Libraries & History began our “Community Conversations” this month. These conversations are being held to understand people’s aspirations for their community, the concerns they have, what they believe might make a difference in strengthening the community and who should take the lead. These are the conversations completed so far: • Wednesday, Aug. 1, at the Rotonda West Community Center. Englewood Librarian Supervisor Lynda Citro and Collection Development Librarian Michele Duddie met with the Community Relations Committee of the Rotonda West Homeowner’s Association. There were 19 people in attendance. • Thursday, Aug. 2, with Special Olympics Charlotte County. Port Charlotte Librarian Supervisor Tracy Herman and Collection Development Librarian Michele Duddie met with a group of special needs athletes and program coordinators. There were nine people in attendance. • Tuesday, Aug. 7, at the First Presbyterian Church of Port Charlotte food pantry site. Tracy Herman and Michele Duddie met with 24 individuals. Facilities Construction & Maintenance Operations Facilities met with stakeholders in an informational meeting to discuss future development of generator standard operation procedures. A task force will be assembled to discuss format and information to provide in writing a document to cover proper maintenance and responsibilities that will be implemented and distributed countywide. This is in response from the latest after Hurricane Irma action report and from the Clerk's audit that had recommendations that we will incorporate and use to provide better service and oversight of our emergency generator backup systems and service contract. Project Management Construction for the retrofit of the gymnasium lighting at South County Regional Park is scheduled to begin next week. Forensic testing of the Justice Center will begin next week.