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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-02-25 Recreation Committee MinutesFAX: (781) 942 - 5441 Town of Reading 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867 -2685 RECREATION DIVISION: (781) 942 - 9075 RECREATI( 2010 Town Hall Conference S Attendance: Bernie Winne, Recreation Committee Chairmen, Nancy -Linn Swain, Rec. Committee, Chris Campbell, Rec. Committee Member, Frank Driscoll, Rec. Committee Member, Mary Ellen Stolecki, Vice - Chairmen, John Feudo, Recreation Administrator B. Winne called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM. C. Campbell made a motion to accept the minutes from the January 13th meeting. F. Driscoll seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of accepting the minutes including a recommended change of a small grammatical mistake for January 13, 2010 by a vote of 6 — 0- 0. Field Issue: J. Feudo stated that he and B. Winne were requested to meet with RYL and the Town Manager. RYL made a number of requests at the meeting and laid out the field schedule as presently approved. They brought three major concerns to the table; seasonality, Red Thunder soccer program and use of Longwood Place. RYLAX maintained that on paper, the schedule appeared to heavily favor the RUSC organization. The Youth Lacrosse organization felt the fact that Longwood Place has been strictly a soccer field put them at an unfair advantage and they felt that needed to be considered with in the distribution of fields. The issue of Red Thunder also came up and the fact that the organization has close to 70% of out of town participants using Reading fields was an issue. Finally, lacrosse continued to plead the case of seasonality. That topic has been closed as the Recreation Committee has deemed soccer a spring sport as it is considered the "main season" not only in New England, but in much of the country at the youth level. The committee will look at the demand for a program as an indicator of season. Upon hearing these facts the Town Manager asked the Recreation Committee to reconsider the schedule and gave guidance to the Recreation Chairmen and Administrator to splinter the larger groups into subgroups and permit them separately. The committee chairman appointed K. Kaminer and C. Campbell along with himself to reevaluate the current schedule and implement the instructions of the Town Manager. This committee will need to act swiftly and address the appearance of the inequities of the schedule. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES February 25th, 2010 Con't F. Driscoll exited the meeting at 7:32 PM. Reading School Department Extended Day Program J. Feudo mentioned that the school department, through adult and community education, will be introducing a new extended day afterschool program starting next fall. This program will encroach on some of the current activities run by the Recreation Division and will need to be worked out. This also raised some concern on several different fronts. J. Feudo stated the Recreation Division would have liked to have an opportunity to do some collaboration with this program; however the opportunity was never presented. He also stated the fact that the school department is running such a program begins to open the door for them to impede upon other areas already being handled by the Rec. Division, i.e. camps and clinics. The Rec. Committee also expressed their concerns. The Committee felt the Rec. Division needed to be preemptive before other programs begin appearing and competing. They recommended that the Rec. Administrator seek council from the Town Manager on the best way to approach the situation. J. Feudo stated he would talk with the Town Manager. New Art Program The Recreation Division is considering hosting a mural program over the summer. They are currently investigating several locations. The two major possibilities would be the back of the tennis hit wall and the green shed. The location needs to be close to a bathroom and shelter. The committee felt the tennis hit board would make the most sense, with the caveat that the mural may be painted over after the program is completed. Administrator's Report J. Feudo announced that Reading Town day will be June 19th. FORR will again do the fireworks display that evening along with some live entertainment. J. Feudo gave a brief update regarding the Winter /Spring programming. He highlighted that the Spring Jr. League baseball sign -ups were going well. Travel Basketball was wrapping up during the first week of March. The season has gone extremely well thanks in part to Jim Sullivan and our coaching staff. Registration Day for Summer programs will be April l Ot' at Coolidge Middle School. This is moved up from previous years. Hopefully the early bird gets the worm. By starting early, the hope is folks will be able to set their summer schedules earlier. Washington Park playground process is moving along. An RFP has been done and we await responses from qualified providers of playgrounds. Our former vendor GAMETIME has fallen off the bid list, thus making an RFP necessary. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES February 25`h 2010 Con't The Recreation Committee will likely hold the public hearing for the Joshua Eaton Master Plan in April. The Committee is making great progress and is moving toward being set to review the plan and invite the public. J. Feudo mentioned the Health and Wellness Department is running a program on what parents need to know about social host responsibility as it relates to underage drinking. The Memorial Park renovation project will begin in April. The contract will be awarded in March. RCASA Nancy -Linn Swain mentioned the school department hosted a night with Michael Fowlin. He is a well known child psychologist. He presented a number of role play situations and interacted with the audience. He took on a number of personas to display different behaviors. N. Swain spoke about the Health Fair in March at RMHS. She also noted that the youth crew continues to grow. It is now up to 40 students. M. Stolecki made a motion to adjourn. N. Swain seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of adjournment 5— 0 -0. Meeting adjourned at 8:35 PM. Respectfully submitted by: John A. Feudo Recreation Administrator