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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRecreation Comm 02/24/199292 Afin n4 RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES FEBRUARY 24, 1992 Members Present: Ron Reeves, Commission Chairman, commis- sioners Wayne Currie, Bill Ciavarra, Betty O'Connor and Maryanne Panero Grady, and Lorilee Fish, Parks and Recreation Director. AGENDA MINUTES Lorilee spoke with Dr. Warren regarding the Great Woods Summer Program. Dr.Warren stated that ;Tony iModica will call her to discuss the program. To date, Tony Modica, who is the Director of the Great Woods Program, has :not called. Lorilee will call Dr. Warren 'again to get more information on this program.'. Lorilee stated that this is a four week program that runs ;in July. There were three to four children who attended both the Summer Camp and Great Woods School Program last year. Some feed- back from parents was that they would like the camp to be more educational. ` A suggestion from the Commission was to send the camper one half day to the Great Woods ;program and then one half; day to the summer camp. The Commission' would like to integrate the two programs as they did with the CYO Recreational Youth Bas- ketball program. The Commission and Great Woods would have to agree on a set amount for both. A suggestion from the Commission was to have the teachers in the Great Woods program work at the ;summer camp 1/2 day while :the counselors teach at the Great Woods program 1'/2 day ,(switch off). Great Woods split up their weeks into two week and four week ses- sions. If the camp, was an educational camp it could not be deducted on taxes. You can deduct a recreational camp because it is considered a daycare. Bill MOTIONS to accept the 2/24/92 minutes as amended. Wayne seconds the motion., ALL IN 'FAVOR. FI Recreation Commission Minutes February 24, 1992 Page 2 Secretarial Support The Commission feels Lorilee should continue the log policy. Lorilee stated that is not necessary. -Commission would dike Lorilee to focus her efforts on the budget, etc. She should not have to waste her energies on registrations. She will never get any work done if she has a lot of interruptions. Lorilee states what is good about the Recreation Department now is that people call her for different questions, not necessarily recreational questions. If the department does not 'know the answers, they 'go out of the way to find it. Lorilee also feels that an open door policy is extremely important. She is now in the process, of devising the 'rules and regulations for the camp counselors. Lorilee will 'write generalstatements as she did with the 'camp director job descriptions.' The ,Commission feels that Lorilee can only do as much work in one day ,as the lhours ;permit. Swimming ` Peter Perrin, Chairman of the Recreation Commission in Easton, Kevin Wood, Scott Hammon and ? Goodman attended our meeting. The Mansfield Recreation Commission introduced themselves to the Eas- ton Recreation Commission :and stated it was nice to have them join our meeting. The Easton Recreation Commission was invited to this meeting to talk about Mansfield using their 'town pool. Easton has never opened the pool to anyone but Easton residents. Because of economic reasons this year, it would be nice to have a small community, like Mansfield, to participate. Two areas were talked about. (1) The pool is open for general public swim, members only, and ,(2) swimming lessons. It is an excellent program that ranges ;from ,preschoolers to life guards and safe swimmers. There is ;a parking problem. It is a spring fed pond. There are Board of Health restrictions. It is located 'down in a valley and is crowded on Saturdays and Sundays. The Easton Recreation Department has field trips throughout the: summer. The park programs have stopped. They do have t -ball and youth baseball. The Easton Recreation commission then shows the Mansfield Recreation Commission pictures of the pool. It looks like a very nice pool with sandy ;beach and picnic area. -,It is also a nature area/pond with turtles. They do use canoes, but life jackets have to be used. There is a murky bottom. It is 601 in length by 200' wide. ''There are three depths• There is also a'platform dive. The swim lane stays 'open all the time. The swim team was started last year. The Easton Recreation Com- mission would like to tie into our summer camp program. 2 Recreation Commission Minutes February 24, 1992 Page 3 The Mansfield Recreation Commission stated that last year they checked into Foxboro's pool, but it was expensive. Wrentham was less expensive. Lessons: Lessons go for two weeks, five days per week. To cover bus costs, we would need forty or more children to participate in the lessons.We would also need additional supervision for the children taking lessons. 'Mansfield would advertise to see what interest there would be in swimming lessons. If we were to give the campers swimming lessons, the cost would be $45.00 for the lessons and $30.00 for the bus.' The pool would be opened the last week in June through the third week in August. Lessons are over by mid August. Hours for the pool will be either '12:00'or 1:00 p.m. and close at either 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. There are horseshoes for the children to play as well as volleyball. Pool hours will be from '12:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Sundays. Easton would like to 'start out with thirty families for 'a summer pass system. Advertising is important. Easton :is very flexible. The pool will be closed from 9:00 a.m. ;to 12:00 noon for lessons. The cost would be in the range of $80 per family for open swim. Everyone must be registered to enter into the facility. Adults have membership cards. We would treat the lessons and free swim as two different programs, one being for the families in Town wishing to use the 'pool, and the `other 'being the campers. We would not want to overburden the camp counselors with the addi- tional children. We would advertise summer camp as "SWIMMING IS` AN ADDITIONAL COST" The Easton Recreation Commission has one restriction. They 'cannot disrupt the way lessons are given. The hours must stay 9:00 a.m, to 12:00 noon. Lessons are from begin- ners to life saving. Open swim is most desirable for the campers. Easton will come back with a proposal for: 1 afternoon - 4 times per summer Maximum number of families Easton will take The hours available to these families Cost of the lessons Cost for Summer Camp Free Swim 3 Recreation Commission Minutes February 24, 1992 Page 4 Mansfield will probably leave the park at 11:30 a.m. and return at 3:00 p.m. They will swim from 12:00 noon to 2:30 p.m. Every child will have a tag. There is a poolhouse' with bathroom facilities. There was a llot of vandalism this winter. The Mansfield children will have to be supervised. Easton is trying to keep their costs down, but still operate.' The summer camp campers will probably want to go on the field trips rather than take swimming lessons in the morning and 'miss 'out on the trips. At the next meeting the Mansfield Commission will want to ask the Easton Commission if Mansfield can participate in their swim team. Mansfield Commission is very enthusiastic about the family swimming. Wayne suggests :we advertise three separate programs: Family Memberships Swimming Lessons Summer Camp Swimming Lessons -'Additional Charge Business As of July 1, 1992,rDiane 'Troy is going to work part time. The Commission needs to !look into cost cutting measures.' The Commis- sion needs to prepare more for the Monday meetings so the meet- ings will not run so long.', One Commission member would like to see the programs run themselves.= Lorilee knows the 'little' details that needs to be done, the logistics that need to be overseen. She does an excellent job in this ;area. We still need to fulfill the Town's needs. Diane doesn't have the time that ,we thought she would at the Town Clerk's office. In July, the Commission feels that 'Diane should work 6 hours per week in Lorilee's office, rather than work out of the Town Clerk's office. It isnot clear what the responsibilities would be if we were to hire aisecretary. We have to look at the criteria of the programs and 'utilize the limited resources. We have to 'set the criteria and evaluate the'; programs we run. The Commission thinks we should not add programs until we drop some programs. Lorilee stated that a successful program should' continue. Lorilee is as- king for a person to do registrations for the summer and fall r from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Summer camp registrations begin Saturday, March 7. Lorilee wants to hire someone for $6.00 to $6.50 per hour. 4 Recreation Commission Minutes February 24,;1992 Page 5 The Commission thinks Lorilee should make a list of the programs and bring them to one of our meetings.` The Summer Camp Brochures are ,going out this week. At the next Commission Meeting, the Commission will make a final decision on hiring a part time person.' Land Dick Lewis and Lorilee are collecting information on parcels of land around Town for Recreational fields. All resources ;are not available to date. Karl Clemmey:is invited to our meeting, on March ;9th to discuss various land sites. The land committee has to collect more data, but the Commission is interested in hearing what Karl has to say. The committee for this ,project met today, Monday February 24th. Dick Lewis and Lorilee are getting the stats together for next Monday. We need this 'facility to be multi-purpose. The Board of Selectmen are turning this project over to Recreation, Conservation, Engineering,' and planning. Most of the Town land is conservation land. It is a: State process to turn Conservation Land into Recreational Land. Lorilee talked about the different parcels of land around town and why they are not very 'good areas to build a multi-purpose recreational facility on. Camp Flyers Summer Camp flyers will be inserted into the Mansfield News this week. The Commission looks over the Summer Camp Brochure and everything looks ,good. Sweet N'Crafty - Marianne Botti called to voice her concern with the food cart at the skating parties. They are taking away from her business and other town businesses that are open on Sundays who sells food. She is torn between her being a business person in downtown and knowing that groups are trying to earn monies for charity. She asked that Lorilee call her back after our discus- sion. a Discussion: The Elks' truck rounds off the skating parties. It is easier for the truck to be there. It is very convenient for the skaters. The skating parties gives the youths of Mansfield a way to "vent" their energies. The truck compliments the skating. E Recreation Commission Mintues February 24,;1992 Page b Scavenger Hunt - The Commission would like to put together a sub-committee for the scavenger hunt. We need new, creative ideas. This is an activity that costs, very little to run. Ron and Maryanne are on the committee. Fishing Derby - Betty and ;Maryanne have a meeting Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Town Hall for the Fishing 'Derby program. Shear Madness - TABLED. Program Prices - Dog Obedience Fee to stay at $40.00 for 9 lessons. Preschool - Fee to stay at '$45.00 for 8 Classes. The Commission would like to go over the rest; of the agenda, specifically the fees, at 'a special meeting to be held on Monday " March 2 at the Town Hall in Room 1. Diane will post the meeting E and see if there is a room available. Taunton Skating Rink At the skating party last Wednesday, February 19, a child had an accident on the ice.The rink had no ice packs, or 'ice, avail- able. It will be a,policy ;of the Recreation commission, as of this date, that we shall carry afirst aid kit when we transport= children on any sponsored activity. There was very 'little super- vision in Taunton and they had said it would be well supervised.: We will; go to another rink next time. All in all, it was a great activity. Adjournment Wayne motions to adjourn. 'Ron seconds the motion. ALL 3N FAVOR. 10:30 p.m. Resp tfully Submi ted by: u Di ne Troy, Recreati n Secretary Date ayne rie, Clerk Date' 6