Recreation Advisory Board

Minutes of the Norwich Recreation Advisory Board January 19, 2022 Call to Order 6:03pm. Meeting held by Zoom. Present: Jeff Blinderman, Derell Wilson, Julie Cagle, Cheryl Hancin, Tara Booker, Grant Neurendorf. Minutes of the Sept 15, 2021 were approved. New Business Cheryl gave a facility update. The crew was working on leaves, brush removal, repairing park facility, painting signs, plowing working on building issues. They are working on getting quote to repair announcer booth and dug out roofs at several fields. She reviewed the status of the Armstrong tennis courts. The tennis committee has been working on getting estimates and quotes to resurface the tennis courts. Due to Covid‐19 constructions costs are up and more funding may be needed than initially planned. Julie asked if more donors could be found including funding from NFA. Ad Hoc tennis committee renewal and possible appointment. The tennis committee asked to be extended another 2 years. Due to covid‐19, the fundraising efforts have been slow and the project is not complete. The City Council has it on an upcoming agenda to extend the committee. A member of the committee just resigned and that vacancy will be posted soon also. Program update Fall Session 2 programs are doing great. Waitlists for many such as Karate, tumbling, basketball, dance and pre‐school programs Winter session started early and enrollments are strong. Our annual basketball league is going well, the junior division is full with a wait list. The Sr. Division has a few spots open. We collaborated with NPS Athletic Director Lou Allen on the Sr. division and moved the program to Saturdays to attract more youth. The high school league had low attendance so we are running it as an open rec night for high schoolers instead so that they can still play basketball this Winter. It is open to new registrations. We are following all Dept. of Health Covid‐19 guidelines in all programs. Budget Update: The Rec. Dept. submitted its budget already for FY2022‐23. Meeting to review the budget are expected in Feb./Mar. 2022. Old Business ARPA update ARPA funding and project plans for the Rec. Dept. were reviewed by Cheryl. Cheryl stated she made more requests for the next phase of funding that Norwich is getting in May 2022. Julie Cagle asked about the status of the Aquatic Center. Cheryl stated she submitted the request in her ARPA proposal that was due in October. Julie stated she was on the committee to bring a community center or aquatic center to Norwich years ago and would love to see this finally happen. She stated that New London has more recreation facilities than Norwich and they are getting a Recreation Center and she would like to see this for Norwich too as we have a larger population. The idea for the aquatic center is 2 pools; one for therapeutic needs and swim lessons and one for competitive swimming (especially high school and AAU meets). Cheryl has experience as an aquatic director. Derrell mentioned that a School Building committee was formed by the City and a pool could be added there. Chery asked if herself or Tara could be on that committee to give input. Other Business Jeff Blinderman announced his resignation from the Board. He wished us well and stated he enjoyed his time serving as Chairman. Meeting adjourned at 7:05pm. Next meeting March 16, 2022