Town of Holden 1204 Main Street, Holden, MA 01520
Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes
April 9, 2013
Starbard Building
Members Present:
Lisa Post, Erin O’Neil Bradbury, Melissa Staiti, Nancy Owens
Members Absent:
Robin Grady
Others Present:
Denise Morano, Recreation Director
Dee Anne Grebinar, Recording Secretary
Erin called the Recreation Committee meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
MINUTES: A motion was made by Melissa and seconded by Lisa to accept
the minutes of the February 12, 2013 meeting.
The minutes of the February 12, 2013 were accepted as written.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
Programs:
Before/After School Programs
Denise went over the numbers for the Before & After School Programs. We currently care for 255 children each day and have been maintaining strong numbers throughout the year.
Davis Hill – 51 AM and 50 PM
Mayo - 47 AM and 50 PM
Dawson – 27 AM and 30 PM
Adult Programs
Denise gave the numbers for the final session of adult classes: Hatha Yoga on Tuesday and Thursday mornings has a total of 27 participants, Zumba has 12 participants, Zumba with Pilates has 10 enrolled, 3CPYo has 10 participants, Yoga for Every “Body” 13 participants, Flip it for Fat Loss 15 participants and YoTo (Yoga with Toning) has 9 registered participants. Men’s basketball has seen a steady group of 18-22 gentlemen every Thursday and Women’s volleyball welcomes 12-15 women each Thursday. Evening adult classes finish by mid-May, because the schools start having their end of year activities and need the facilities.
Summer:
A copy of the summer brochure is attached. Drawings were done by some of the children in the Before & After School programs that were used inside the brochure and on the back cover. “Happy Birthday Holden Pool” ~ July 16, 2013. Denise plans on having a little celebration that day at the pool.
Discussion was held about Eagle Lake. Denise said she will not be assigning lifeguards there again this summer because the lake does not get used very often. It’s weedy and needs a lot of attention and money to fix it up and there are a lot of environmental issues to deal with to do anything there. Erin said years ago it was a popular place for little children, because the old pool was not good for little children with it’s deep drop off. Melissa asked if we should think about a newer playground there since it is a shady and very pretty spot. Denise said the area really needs too much work. The water does get tested and very rarely is there a problem, but it remains weedy and an unpopular spot to swim.
Denise is in the process of hiring summer staff and hopes to have all appointments finalized during the week of April 15th. Many of the summer staff members from last year will be returning this year, but Denise did need to hire a number of lifeguards. She also needed to replace both of her head lifeguards and is pleased to have Liz Ebbrecht and Alisa White filling those important positions.
An early registration for the All Day Program was held from April 4th thru April 7th for current participants in the Before and/or After School Program, as a way of thanking then for their participation throughout the year. Registration was on-line only. In order to register, they needed to have their school account paid up-to-date. They then paid for their first week of summer in full and $25.00 non-refundable deposits on all other weeks requested. A total of 399 children out of a possible 520 openings have pre-registered for the 8-weeks of program. Denise feels the quality and price of the program and the excellent staff make it a real bargain. Some people in the program forgot to register, so they will now need to register with the general public on
Saturday, May 11th.
Registration for all summer activities will begin on Saturday, May 11th at 9 a.m. for residents and Sunday, May 12th at 9 a.m. for non-residents. Denise, Wendy and Dee Anne will be in the office on Saturday morning in case there are any issues that need to be addressed with the computer system.
The 400 Non-Resident passes were sold out as of Wednesday, April 3rd. They needed to be purchased at the office and we accept cash only for them. We had sold approximately 349 of them on the first day.
Miscellaneous:
The fields have not been released yet. They are in very rough condition. They are muddy, full of ruts, some are still snow-covered and no work has been done on them. One of the fields at Mountview was damaged with a large truck that was on the field boring holes in anticipation of the new school project. If the school project goes through, we will be able to use the fields this spring/summer, but they will become unavailable when construction begins. Denise said all fields get released at the same time and only when they are safe for the children to play on.
Lisa commented that Holden Baseball has taken over the rights to the CRA (Chaffins Recreation area) due to mismanagement by the previous family. Comments were made about how fantastic the new basketball league was this year. They had played their games at the school gyms.
Denise commented that we have links to the Holden youth sports teams on our websites.
Denise thanked Nancy for attending the budget hearing on March 20th. Nancy asked if there was any news about the Recreation Department moving to the old police station. Denise said the idea is off the table for now, even though she thinks it would be a great spot for us and the room to have exercise classes and activities in our own building would be a real plus.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
The next Recreation Committee meeting will be held on September 10, 2013 @ 7:00 p.m.
at the Starbard Building.
Holden Recreation Committee April 9, 2013
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