Parks and Community Programs Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes from 2/17/09
The meeting was called to order at 4:05
Present: Bonnie Troubh , Faith Varney, Jeff Mason, Lucky D’Ascanio, Steve Tenney, Karen Jones, and Janet Lane Dye
The minutes from January 2009 were read and accepted.
Jeff Mason reported that his department was busy continuing to plow and groom the trails, and everything was doing well. It was noted that the Community Park Trails are in excellent shape.
Lucky D’Ascanio reported that her department is currently working on the summer brochure. Of note, she is hoping to have seven weeks of summer camp this year as opposed to 6 weeks last summer. Kate Harris will be overseeing the day camp, and they are currently discussing staffing for the camp. Karen asked about the minimum ages for a counselor and Lucky stated they have never set a minimum age but there is currently a hierarchy i.e. preferably certified teachers, then students studying childhood education, and then possibly high school students starting around age 16. There has always been a great interest in the summer camps and they have usually been at or near capacity. There is an expectation there will be even more interest this summer with the economy the way it is. Faith asked about increasing the
capacity if there is larger interest but the budget and space is tight and there is no room currently for hiring more counselors.
Lucky also reported the current winter programs are going well, and the adult ed programs are picking up in interest.
There was also talk of the summer track program. The Department is currently looking for a head track coach to run the program and it is in need of some revitalization.
Lucky was asked about an update on the ice rink proposal. She stated that they are scheduled to make their proposal to the town council on the project, March 9th.
There was some discussion that the town of Falmouth has numerous parks that many
may not even be aware of. The PAC-PAC committee in the past has taken tours of the
parks and Steve suggested perhaps bringing a reporter along for the tour to bring more
publicity to what is available to residents of Falmouth. There is talk of
showcasing a certain activity in each park i.e. snowshoeing in Community
Park or bird watching at the Nature Preserve.
Steve Tenney reported as a member of the Community Facilities Planning Committee that they were busy planning their agenda for the march 12th meeting to discuss the possible uses of the open spaces the town will have once the new elementary school is built. Steve said they had a meeting on 3/5 to go through a dry run of what to expect at the March 12th meeting. Each member will run small groups who will all have individual keypads to answer questions with immediate results. Steve encouraged everyone to attend the March 12th meeting.
Faith discussed the work plan for the year. She explained it shows our plans and agenda for each month and what we expect to accomplish this year. The committee voted unanimously to accept the format of the PAC manual and work plan and the meeting was adjourned at 5 pm.
The next scheduled meeting is March 17th at 4pm 2009
Bonnie Troubh
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