Recreation & Community Services Commission

RECREATION & COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION APRIL 20, 2023 MEETING 5:30 PM MINUTES RECREATION & COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION – In attendance: Philip Pessina (left 6:46pm), Kristen Jensen, Harold Panciera, Andrea Dallas, Mahrang Danish, Matt Fraulino, Rogers Pylant, Jeanette Blackwell (5:37pm) Absent: Lincoln Everest, Dan Deconti, Sowgol Zakarian Staff: Cathy Lechowicz, Director AGENDA: Call Meeting to Order: Meeting called to order at 5:35 pm Public Hearing: No members of public in attendance Approval of the Minutes: Motion to approve February Meeting Minutes by Rogers Pylant and seconded by Kristen Jensen. Approved unanimously. Department Reports: Director Lechowicz said things in the Senior Center are going well and things are busy. Big Night Out Bingo tonight. Tea Party happened this week. Lots of bus trips. Many new members. Clerk position is posted internally now. Rec Department is busy. Team meeting happened today. Calibrating staff for all the new programming. Hiring for two new positions that are added in the recreation division: Program aide Custodian, interviews today, and Custodian Pool will be posted publically. Grant-funded position with ARPA grant. OLD BUSINESS: Recreation Center update – Meeting next week to go over last punchlist items with the chair of the building committee, Chris Holden, and the architects to get the last few things done. Pool has opened and things are being offered there. More daytime sessions added. Minimal indoor pool offerings during summer. New Veterans Pool will be primary setting for summer water activities. ARPA funding – New position has been posted for a 15-20 hour Program Coordinator position to help facilitate the grant funding activities. Over April break, there were three arts trips. 17 students have signed up to work on the art mural from Artolution as you drive up the hill from Hunting Hill Ave week of 4/24. Students from Beman, High School, and a few magnet schools. Unveiling of art mural will be Friday, May 5. Mural will be brainstormed as a group. It will be appropriate to our community. Budget Update – Department had the budget presentation with common council on Monday. Challenging budget season. Power Agreement is significant because the building has not been opened a full year yet. Director Lechowicz makes a proposal and discusses with the mayor. He presents budget to the council and each department gets to present to council. Council members asked good questions and the meeting went well. Councilwoman Blackwell highlighted that Dir Lechowicz and team did a good job of presenting the budget and provided comprehensive budget narrative. Questions around power agreement were interesting because the council has already voted on it but now it needs to be paid for. Senior Center Clerk position was not budgeted at the right number of hours. Request for Appropriation for the Senior Center because of significant unexpected building repairs for $30k. Anticipating contributing an additional $20k in revenue for the general fund. Net would be a $10k ask. Veterans’ Pool – Director Lechowicz was out there today and it is on-schedule. Only holdup was the electrical panel, but it has arrived this week. Should be completed by Memorial Day and have a mid-June opening after filling pool and training staff. NEW BUSINESS: Sports Grants Process – requests total $12,500 over the allotted $40,000 budget for the 2023-24 season. Discussion of applications. Follow-up questions to be developed and Director Lechowicz to communicate back to teams for Addendum. Need to take a harder line for those who are not doing the applications properly. The Commission needs a rubric going forward. Responses will be required by May 8, in time for May Commission meeting. MISCELLANEOUS: Next meeting is 5/18. ADJOURNMENT Kristen Jensen made a motion, Rogers Pylant seconded. Meeting adjourned at 6:55pm.