Recreation & Community Services Commission

RECREATION & COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION September 15, 2022 MEETING 5:30 PM MINUTES RECREATION & COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION – In attendance: Philip Pessina, Sowgol Zakarian, Rogers Pylant, Jeanette Blackwell, Mahrang Danish, Dan Deconti Absent: Kristen Jensen, Lincoln Everest, Matt Fraulino Staff: Cathy Lechowicz, Director AGENDA: Call Meeting to Order: Meeting called to order at 5:33 pm Public Hearing: No members of public in attendance Approval of the Minutes: Motion to approve May Meeting Minutes by Dan Deconti and seconded by Rogers Pylant, Approved unanimously. Department Reports: Senior Programming is back to normal scheduling and normal numbers of members, including many bus trips in October. Huge demand for programming for new and regular members. Covid booster clinic on 9/15 and 9/26. Flu vaccine clinics will occur next month. Recreation had a great summer of camps. We secured about $60,000 to provide scholarships and additional programming. Fall programming has started and we are getting ready to use the new recreation center. Groundbreaking for new Vets Pool happened. Pool should be open for summer 2023. OLD BUSINESS: Commission – Welcome to new commissioners! There was a question about how the appointments were done. There are still two vacancies on the commission. Must be in accordance with the charter change. Councilman Pessina and Director Lechowicz will meet with mayor on 9/16. Riverfront - Everyone who lives in Middletown should see the plans that were presented in July. Cathy to email the document to the commission. This will be a 10-year-long process. It has been a long-time coming. Renovations at the Rec Center are part of 21st Century infrastructure bond, passed in 2020. On target to be done by end of November. January 1 will be opening of our recreation programs. We’re hopeful to have holiday take place in Rec Center in December but we will see if that can happen. Basketball update – Both leagues have had leadership transitions. This year, basketball will run through Recreation Division. There will be more collaboration between boys’ and girls’ leagues. Registration will open soon. City received from federal government over $20 million through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). We collaborated with Arts & Culture Division and Russell Library to do community outreach. Slight delay in allocation of funds. Purpose of the project is to meet people where they are at with outreach in the wider area and pull people into our regular programs and expand some programs, especially some evening hours at the Senior Center. NEW BUSINESS: Sports grant – Changes to the application process. Removed some redundancies and questions about storage. Asked for last year’s moneys spent and data of organization, rather than projection. If it’s a new league, they could indicate they are new and do projections. Applications will be translated into Spanish and there will be an information session for the sports leagues so they know there have been changes made. Motion to accept by Rogers Pylant, seconded by Mahrang Danish. Approved unanimously. Rental Fee Resolution – In preparation for the new rec center, rates need to be set for renting rooms. Rates were approved at June meeting, but changing it to a resolution form. Rates are embedded into a rental brochure that contains other information. Motion to accept by Mahrang Danish, seconded by Dan Deconti. Approved unanimously. MISCELLANEOUS: Any commissioner who would like to get a tour of the facilities, contact Director Lechowicz. ADJOURNMENT Dan Deconti made a motion, Rogers Pylant seconded. Meeting adjourned at 6:22pm.