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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-08-13 Recreation Committee MinutesFAX: (781) 942 - 5441 Town of Reading 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867-2685 .rojU (61 Lk M I AJJ. RECREATION DIVISION: (781) 942 - 9075 READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES August 13th ,200, Attendance: Bernie Winne, Rec. Committee Chair, Claire Bolger, Rec. Committee Member, Vice-Chair, Jack Downing, Recreation Committee Member, Nancy -Linn Swain Rec. Committee Member, Barbara Faso, Recreation Committee Member, Mary Ellen Stolecki, Rec. Committee Member, John Feudo, Recreation Administrator Bernie Winne called the meeting to order at 7:37 PM and asked the Committee to review the minutes for the July 9th Meeting. J. Downing pointed out a typographical error on page 2, line 6. The word should read "scarce" not scare. J. Downing made a motion to accept the minutes as amended. M. Stolecki seconded the motion. Motion passes to accept the minutes of July 9th 6-0-0. J. Feudo introduces Barbara Faso to the Recreation Committee as its new member. B. Faso mentioned that the Lions Club is looking to host a community day. B. Winne asked if we could add the item to the "New Business" section of the agenda. The Committee agreed. B. Winne stated that he would like to give the Recreation Committee a run down of the financial situation of the Recreation Division. Bernie stated the Recreation Division two years ago showed approximately $220,000 at the end of FY01. The Rec. Administrator at that time noticed that the revolving fund that was being utilized was not supposed to carry more the $10,000 forward each year, so the Division needed to spend down the model. Basically, each year on June 30th the balance was inflated due to the fact that the most of the revenue for the Summer season came in during the months of April, May and June and most of the summer expense are paid out in July, August and September leaving October as the truest month to evaluate the financial situation. Bernie stated that the model that was used to spend down the surplus was too aggressive, add that with rising and new expenses that equaled the current deficit. B. Winne stated he had three avenues he would like to investigate. They were putting together a sub-committee of 3 Recreation Committee members and the Recreation Administrator as a finance committee, pull together a group of committee members to serve on a Marketing Committee and finally evaluate program fees. B. Winne asked if there were any volunteers for the Financial Committee. Nancy Linn Swain stated she would be interested. B. Winne also stated he would like to see C. Campbell and K. Kaminer serve on the sub-committee as well. Ll J. Feudo explained to the recreation committee about the different Revolving funds and how they work. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES CON'T PRICING OF PROGRAM J. Feudo put together a proposal to raise fees for each Recreation run program for the Fa1UWinter Season. The three programs were Travel Basketball, Sunday Basketball and the Learn to Ski Program. Sunday basketball, 12-Week basketball program. Proposed fee $100 -1St child $80- 2nd Child C. Bolger suggested changing the marketing of the program. The Committee discussed some different types of marketing and pricing structures. M. Stolecki proposed $99 for 1St child and $80 for the 2nd child. B. Faso seconded the motion. Motion passes to set fee for Sunday Basketball at $99- 1St child and $80-2nd child 6-0-0, Travel Basketball, 15-Week basketball program meeting 46+ times. Proposed fee $200 including the Winchester Tournament Games (paid for individually in past seasons.) The Recreation Committee had a discussion on what a fair rate would be per hour taking into consideration gym rental, equipment, referees and administrator planning time. J. Downing made a motion to set the fee at $199 per participant and include the fee of the Winchester Tournament. N. Swain seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of setting the travel Basketball fee at $199 per participant and including the Winchester Tournament 6-0-0. The Learn to Ski Program is a 6 week ski program that includes supervised transportation to and from Nashoba Valley. In 2002 the Recreation Division offered the option of taking lessons for a small extra fee. After doing research, the Recreation Administrator f6und that a small percentage (less than 10%) actually opted not to take lessons. B. Winne suggested having just one price and parents could decide if the child would take the lesson from week to week. The Committee seemed to agree. The proposed fee for the ski program was $235 to include supervised transportation to and from Nashoba Valley, lift tickets and lessons for six weeks. M. Stolecki made a motion to accept the fee of $235 as proposed, J. Downing seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of setting the fee for the Nashoba Valley Learn to Ski Program at $235 to include supervised transportation to and from Nashoba Valley, lift tickets and lessons for six weeks 5-1-0. OLD BUSINESS J. Feudo stated that he had indeed received a proposal from Mel Suarez regarding the RC Airplane program. The Committee reviewed the proposal and accepted the program as proposed. J. Feudo discussed with the Recreation Committee the philosophy of dividing Travel Basketball teams this year into two equal teams instead of the having an A and B squad. J. Feudo stated that he didn't think it was fair to classify middle school players a "B" players. Instead he would like to call the teams Red and Black. The Committee asked a few questions, but over all liked the philosophy. J. Feudo also stated he planned to lineup some independent friends of his to evaluate the talent and help make teams. ADMINISTRATORS REPORT J. Feudo stated Camp numbers have made a nice come back over the past month and have increased by more than 10%. The increase has. been attributed to returning kids from previous weeks that are READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES CON'T really enjoying the staff we have. We have received many phone calls complimenting the camp staff and the program. J. Feudo stated he would like to investigate avenues to completely fill camp next year. He suggested that the marketing sub-committee could look at that. J. Feudo gave an update on summer programming noting how well tennis was going compared to last year. Gregg Luongo has done an excellent job running the clinics for the summer. Other programs to be noted were the boys and girls basketball clinics were both a successful. J. Feudo stated with the summer coming to a close he was happy with how things went, but sees room for improvement in some areas and will spend some time evaluating each program with the Program Coordinator Dan McGrath to make any changes necessary. J. Feudo mentioned that there would be a Board of Selectmen hearing on the Relocation of Imagination Station and approval for skate park site will take place at September 2nd, 2003 at 8:30. Location will be the Birch Meadow Cafeteria. J. Feudo encouraged as many Committee members to be there as possible. Finally, the Recreation Division is in the process of evaluating the proposals received from the two special needs organizations for a one year programming contract, EMARC and Alternative Leisure. J. Feudo asked for two volunteers from the Rec. Committee to help with the process. N. Swain and. C. Bolger both identified themselves as interested in helping. J. Feudo stated he would give them the information following the meeting. B. Faso updated the Committee about the Lions Club Community Day tentatively scheduled for May 22nd. The Recreation Committee Chairman appointed B. Faso as the Recreation committee liaison for the Community Day Committee. M. Stolecki made a motion to adjourn the August 13th Recreation Committee meeting. N. Swain seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of adjourning the August 13th Recreation Committ ee meeting 6-0-0. Meeting adjourned at 10:10 PM. espectfu ubmitted by: _-9 ohn u Recre ministrator