Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-29Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission January 28th, 2015 Page 1 of 4 Dryden Recreation and Youth Committee January 29, 2015 Members present: Stephanie Mulinos, David Bravo-Cullen, Tom Fuchs, Kathy Gehring (left at 8PM), and Diane Pamel Staff Present: Jennifer Jones (Recreation Director) and Mary Ann Sumner (Town Supervisor) Youth Services Coordinator: Kris Bennett The meeting was called to order at 7PM 2015 Officers: S. Mulinos was nominated by K. Gehring as Chair and K. Gehring was nominated by S. Mulinos as Vice Chair. Both nominations were accepted and unanimously approved. S. Mulinos said she is willing to serve for another year as most other members are relatively new to the Commission Approval of minutes from December 2014: T. Fuchs moved to accept the minutes, D. Bravo-Cullen seconded the motion and the minutes were unanimously approved. New Business: J. Jones advised the Commission that the new Town Board Liaison is Greg Sloan. Recap of planning meeting: What do we want our meetings to look like? There is some standard business: approve minutes Deadline driven items: Activity Grants Recommending youth funding Discussion Items Action Items Open discussion T. Fuchs asked about a year long calendar that will help keep the Commission moving forward. K. Bennett said that one does exist but that right now they are trying to get a general agenda schedule set up. T. Fuchs said that once the Commission has the definition of their focus and responsibilities then that should guide them. S. Mulinos agreed but feels that a lot of that information will arise as they move forward. S. Mulinos suggested that instead of monthly reporting, D. Hall and N. Nease might be able to provide session reports. They could turn in a report four times a year which will save time for the Commission and require less repetitive writing on the part of D. Hall and N. Nease. Their reports are for the DRYC and would not be written for any other reason. K. Bennett suggested that D. Hall and N. Nease report to a subcommittee rather than coming to the DRYC meeting. Meeting like that will still generate the necessary interaction and information that is necessary but won’t take time during the normal Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission January 28th, 2015 Page 2 of 4 meeting times. Shelly Lester is the supervisor at Cooperative Extension and she also likes to keep the Commission up to date on the budget. S. Mulinos would like to see reports that highlight the high points, low points and needs/ assistance of the youth programs. Another question is whether to have D. Hall and N. Nease come the same night or alternate meetings. J. Jones (Recreation Director) will report as needed. Community Grants – the final reports tend to go to the Recreation Director but the Commission agreed that they should look at them to help make decisions the following year. K. Bennett suggested adding time limits to the agenda to assist in keeping the meeting flowing. That will let guests and liaisons know how long their comments/reports should be. T. Fuchs said that a good agenda will assist him. He likes the idea of getting the reports ahead of time and knowing what is going to happen at the meeting so he can bring ideas and be prepared. Supr. Sumner shared her copy of the Recreation Master Plan and offered to provide more copies to anyone who wanted one. S. Mulinos asked the Commission how long they wanted the meeting to be. K. Gehring suggested a 90 minute meeting and the rest of the Commission agreed that was a reasonable time. A conversation regarding liaisons to and from the DRYC was discussed. S. Mulinos asked what the benefit is in having liaisons from the other boards. Supr. Sumner said the benefit becomes apparent when two or more boards are working on the same project. S. Mulinos suggested that issue be put aside for now, to be revisited in the near future. D. Bravo-Cullen believes that it would be good if the DRYC had a better relationship with Dryden Central School. Supr. Sumner agreed and pointed out that it is part of the Commission legislation. D. Bravo-Cullen is already having a discussion with a School Board member regarding several issues, including the ball fields, and he will discuss this situation with them. The liaison from the school is considered a voting member. S. Mulinos is going to talk to Sandy Sherwood (DCS Principal). Judy Sinicropi is a local college student who lives in Dryden and wants to get involved in the community. She brought her application into the Recreation Office and chatted with A. Pierce and J. Jones. The Commission agreed to invite her to the next meeting. A short discussion was held regarding the night that the Commission meets. The members in attendance all agreed that the 4th Wednesday is a good night to meet despite the challenges that arise at the end of the year (holidays). Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission January 28th, 2015 Page 3 of 4 Supr. Sumner reported that this is the only Board/Commission that does not have a recent directive from the Town Board. If they did, it would probably be regarding park and trail planning. S. Mulinos said that is on the DRYC’s wish list. Community Grant Guidelines: The money available for the grants has decreased significantly in recent years. The initial idea was that the money would be primarily for infrastructure for the volunteer community associations. Some programming received funds as well. The Town has been offering the grant since 2006 but this year might be the last year that the grant is available. Operational expenses will not part of the grant. It is intended to be a one-time only grant for a specific thing such as a new roof. The group agreed that the maximum grant per program will be $1000. They want to know how reduced funding will affect the applicant’s goal. The grants will be aimed at programming, preferably programs that are free or low priced for access by the largest number of people. The applicant has to be a non-profit. Areas for consideration: The cost for participants - priority consideration will be given to low cost or no cost programs. Will the program be able to run without the funding? What are the projected revenue sources, what is their budget and what percent of the total expenses will be covered by the grant? How many people will be served? Has the organization received funding before for the same project? What is the investment by the organization? In-kind investment cannot be volunteer assistance. What benefits does the program/project offer the community or population being served? The funding is for a specific program or event; no mailing list, no marketing, no postage, etc. K. Bennett suggested a scoring system that will rank the applicants. Supr. Sumner pointed out that the grant was originally intended to support infrastructure at the four community centers. Since then the projects and programs funded have gradually expanded to for-profit organizations. It is a Town investment that should be used to improve the quality of life in the Town. K. Bennett asked what the Town Board expects besides the goals/areas of consideration. Supr. Sumner said they are looking for a clarification of the goals for the funding and a proposal to the Board for budgeting next year. K. Bennett asked if it was known when Dave Hall and Nikki Nease should attend. S. Mulinos replied that she was considering inviting D. Hall in the spring and N. Nease in the fall after most of her youth employment was finished. D. Pamel asked if the DRYC wanted to have input in the Youth Employment process. S. Mulinos said that they didn’t want to micromanage the program, it hasn’t generally been the way they do it. D. Pamel said that last year, N. Nease did some workshops on resume building and interviewing. The kids that attended the workshop were guaranteed jobs which means that the kids that didn’t participate in the workshop because they didn’t need it or they didn’t know what was happening. That meant that kids that have come to the Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission January 28th, 2015 Page 4 of 4 library and were hoping to get jobs there, were not given an opportunity. It also means that the employers were limited as well. All understand that last year was N. Nease’s first time handling the youth employment and she was doing what she believed was the best way. S. Mulinos pointed out that the reports from N. Nease and D. Hall are one way communication. They are writing reports but not getting much back from the Commission. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM. Respectfully submitted, Erin A. Bieber Deputy Town Clerk