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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-11-10 Recreation Committee MinutesTown of Reading 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867-2685 1-.~ 6 _CL IV ED J N CLERK D!NG, MASS. 2004 ULC Z2 P2: 50 FAX: (781) 942 - 5441 RECREATION DIVISION: (781) 942 - 9075 READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES November 10, 2004 Town Hall Conference Room Attendance: Patrick Fennelly, Rec. Committee Chair, Nancy Linn Swain, Rec. Committee Vice- Chair, Frank Driscoll, Rec. Committee Member, Bernie Winne, Rec. Committee Member, Steve Meehan, Rec. Committee Member, Rick Shaffer, Rec. Committee Member, Mary Ann Kozlowski, School Rep., Mike DiPietro, Associate Member, Gail Wood, Board of Selectmen, John Feudo, Recreation Administrator Guest: Daniel DiCenso P. Fennelly called the meeting to order at 7:31 PM. B. Winne made a motion to accept the minutes from Octoberl3, 2004. N. L Swain, seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of acceptance of the minutes 6-0-0. New Business J. Feudo introduced Daniel DiCenso as a proposed programmer for the Winter/Spring season. Daniel is a cartoonist that specializes in Anime and Manga Japanese cartooning similar to the popular Pokemon characters on TV. Mr. DiCenso is looking to hold his classes in Reading for elementary school age children. Mr. DiCenso described "anime" as a "trend of America". His proposal stated that the classes would run 6 weeks for 1.5 - 2 hrs per week. His target age group would be 8 -12 years and even into middle school if the Recreation Division so desired. Mr. DiCenso worked for the Pike School in Andover as well as The Art Center of Chelmsford. He has good experience working with Children and enjoys it very much. The cost of per student would be approximately $65 including all the supplies that the kids would need. Due to the fact that this program is a small classroom program, Mr. Dicenso would need to fill out the Town's indemnification in lieu of having formal insurance. The Recreation Division would mark the program up approximately 20% to cover rental and administrative fees. R. Shaffer made a motion to have the Recreation Division work with the Mr. Dicenso to come up with a program and offer a pricing strategy that is consistent to other used by the Recreation Division. M. Kozlowski seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of the motion 6-0-0. J. Feudo proposed a new program developed by Program Coordinator Dan McGrath. The program is an after school activity. It would include study time as well as a gym type activity or "life skills" section once a week where the student will be able to learn CPR, eating healthy or study skills. The program would be run every Tuesday and Thursday and would run from Mid February to the end of the school year. The idea of the program is to give the student a safe place to go after school to ' work on homework and learn discipline and good habits. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES CON'T Nov. 10, 2004 The Recreation Committee recommended having a disciplinary policy for students involved with the program. J. Feudo stated he would like to use a similar 3-strike policy he uses for the Nashoba Learn to Ski Program. J. Feudo also stated that the division would like to keep the fee for this program under $200. The hope is to get enough kids to continue with the program next year. N. L. Swain made a motion to accept the program in concept and adjust pricing and add in a disciplinary program that is consistent with other Recreation Division programs and leave development of fee structure in the hands of the Recreation Staff. S. Meehan seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of the motion of accepting the program in concept and adjust pricing and add in a disciplinary program that is consistent with other Recreation Division programs and leave development of fee structure in the hands of the Recreation Staff 6-0-0. Frank Driscoll entered the meeting at 8:35 PM. Administrator's Report J. Feudo mentioned that the friends of Hunt Memorial Park were granted $12,500 at Town meeting to begin phase II of their original plan to rehab the playground at Hunt. J. Feudo expected that the Board of Selectmen will be seeing a proposal for phase II from the Hunt group soon and would keep the Rec. Committee posted. J. Feudo thanked Nancy-Linn, Bernie, Mary Ann and Steve for helping with registration day. The day was a bit disappointing number wise for skiing and Sunday basketball. The Division managed only about $15,000 of business versus about $30,000 from the year before. J. Feudo stated that part of the downfall in numbers to skiing were to the fact that Nashoba Valley did a mailing offering the same program to Reading Participants directly without the transportation at a significantly lower price. J. Feudo said he would continue to market both Sunday Basketball and Skiing and hope there is a late November rebound for both programs. The Halloween Parade was a great success. This year Magician BJ Hickman wowed the kids and parents with some excellent magic. There was an estimate of 200 kids and close to 300 people total for the event. The event was sponsored by the Reading Rotary Club , First Call Mortage Co., and Athlantic Food Mart. J. Feudo mentioned that the search for a Sunday Basketball supervisor is over. The division has added Sean Brussard to supervise the program. Sean is a 1994 RMHS grad and captain of the 1994 Varsity Basketball Team. Sean is very enthusiastic and should work out very well. J. Feudo handed out the Memorial Park survey to the committee to review. J. Feudo mentioned that he was looking to finish his final class for his master's degree. He is looking to take the class from March - June. He asked the committee if there would be a problem moving the Recreation Committee meetings either Tuesdays or Thursday for the three months. The Committee seemed to think Thursdays would be the best night. J. Feudo said he would let the 4 A= committee know the dates once they are finalized. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES CON'T Nov. 10, 2004 J. Feudo handed out the Day Care proposal that would go hand and hand with the prospect of adding a new gym to the H.S.. The Recreation Division would look to run the day care program in an effort to help create revenue to pay for the financing of the new gym. He reminded the committee that the proposal is a simple FYI and was in it's early stages. N. L. Swain recommended when the time came to discuss the concept a subcommittee should be developed to take a close look at the upstart and staffing etc. P. Fennelly mentioned that the Board of Selectmen met with the Peter Moscariello, and members of the Babe Ruth organization. He stated he would have liked to have had a larger committee representation and he spoke with the Board of Selectmen Chairmen to discuss why the Recreation Committee was not formally invited. B. Winne made a motion that no agenda items be added to the Recreation Committees agenda that are modifications to facilities until a resolution on the process is finalized by the Board of Selectmen. S. Meehan seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of the motion 7-0-0. B. Winne made a motion to adjourn the meeting. S. Meehan seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of ending the Recreation Committee meeting of November 10th 7-0-0. Meeting adjourned at 9:29 PM. Respectfully submitted by: Jo eudo Recreation Administrator