Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Present: Michael Arbour, Steve Slozak, and Steve O’Shea (Chairman)
Also Present: Timothy Pascale, Director; Jeannie Guertin, Secretary/Clerk; School Committee Members Joel Keller and Joshua Farber; Tim Allen, Mark Bodak, Rob Carpenter, Reed Coles, Zac Coles, Doug Farmer, Fran Feeney, Erin Grassetti, Douglas Guertin, Mary Guertin, Kevin Moloney, Jo Sauriol, Lauren Smith, and Richard Smith
Steve O’Shea called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m.
School Committee members Joel Keller and Joshua Farber appeared before the Commission to discuss the recent vote of the Commission to suspend all Parks & Rec pool programs, effective 2/1/11. Chairman Steve O’Shea addressed the audience and introduced himself, Steve Slozak, Michael Arbour and Tim Pascale, and Messrs. Keller and Farber also introduced themselves. Steve O’Shea said that the decision to suspend the pool programs was not done in haste as inferred in a recent newspaper article. The Parks & Rec Commission had been discussing this beginning last June when they knew it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with the payments to the school. Since then the Commission has invited involved parties to appear before the Commission to discuss this, but there has been
very little response to this.
The School Department charges the Parks and Rec Department $21,000 a year for the use of the pool, and the Parks and Rec Department is $6,000 in arrears with the payments to the School Department for the use of the pool. The Town does not fund the pool and the Parks & Rec Department is not able to fundraise; fees generated from the pool programs fund the pool. The decision to suspend the Parks and Rec programs was made since it would be impossible to come up with the money owed, and it made sense to stop all programs before any more debt was owed to the School Department.
Joel Keller, School Committee member and Chairman of the Budget Subcommittee, said the Budget Subcommittee is looking at all areas of the budget, and had started to look at programs that are not subsidized by Chapter 70 funds. At that point, they were just looking and didn’t feel the Parks and Rec Commission acted quickly with their decision to suspend pool programs, but was probably not good timing. Joel would like to work together to make sure that as many programs can still run but won’t negatively affect the school.
Joshua Farber said part of the process is School Committee has final approval over the budget; they give directive to Don Smith, Director of Business Facilities, and Pat Dardenne, Superintendent. Ultimately, that is something they need to be involved in.
At this point Steve O’Shea asked if anyone in the audience had comments. Several members of the audience spoke in support of the pool and its programs. There were also suggestions of ways to raise more money. Non-money issues of the pool regarding management and maintenance were brought up, but it was decided that this meeting was not the venue to address those issues, and they should be brought to the attention of Don Smith.
There have been informal discussions of the School Committee to give the management of the pool to Parks & Rec or keep it with the school, but there is not enough money on either side to operate the pool.
Tim was encouraged that there was effort made to work together to resolve this issue. Josh Farber stated that a plan is being formulated to have a School Committee member be a liaison to the Parks & Rec Department to continue positive communication between both departments.
The next School Committee is in two weeks, scheduled for Wednesday, February 23. At that meeting there should be a decision made regarding the pool.
Michael Arbour made a motion to accept the November 16 minutes, and Steve O’Shea seconded. All in favor and the motion passed. Steve Slozak made a motion to accept the December 15 minutes, and Steve O’Shea seconded. All in favor and the motion passed.
Erin Greene has been offered the position of Monson Summer Theatre Director/Producer and will meet with Tim in early March. A contract will be discussed at that time.
Tim asked the Commission if they still want to offer summer camps even though we lost about $3,000 on them last year. The Commission felt that the camps are good for the community, and there always shouldn’t be concern about making money. Tim was planning to market the camps differently this year and create one brochure for all the camps. The camps will run for five consecutive weeks, and there will be savings offered to those who sign up for more than one week. This will hopefully boost participation.
On the next agenda, the Commission will be discussing new mowers for the spring. The mowers were constantly being repaired last year, and are not in good condition.
Tim received a call by a parent regarding a complaint against a CYO basketball coach. The parent felt she was treated with disrespect in front of players, as well as her children. Tim will ask her to file a formal complaint and return it to the office.
The next meeting will be held Wednesday, March 16, at 6:30 p.m.
Steve Slozak made a motion to adjourn at 8:15 p.m., and Mike Arbour seconded. All in favor; meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannie Guertin
Secretary/Clerk
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