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Home My WebLink AboutDRYC 2025-02-26DRYC 2025-2-26 APPROVED Page 1 of 3 Dryden Recreation and Youth February 26, 2025 Hybrid Present: Leslie Debo (chair), David Peck (vice chair), Julie McLean* Absentees: Jenelle Carr, Will Olson, James Whalley Liaisons: Jason Leifer (Town Board) Kate Shanks-Booth (Tompkins County Youth Services) Athena Steinkraus (Cornell Cooperative Extension – Tompkins County) Vickie Fleming (Cornell Cooperative Extension – Tompkins County) Staff: Marty Conger (Recreation Director) Allison Kjellander-Cantu (Deputy Town Clerk) Guests: Craig Schutt (Conservation Board), Dave Hall (Program Manager of Rural Youth Services), Sienna and Cayden (Students from Dave’s Program) “*” Denotes attendance via Zoom The meeting was called to order at 7:06 p.m., and introductions were made Youth Service Presentation D. Hall introduced himself as the youth program manager for Rural Youth Services, a role he has enjoyed for 28 years. He highlighted a successful year for making snow shelters, with three weeks dedicated to the project. He invited members to come to visit his various programs. He introduced two exceptional students: Sienna and Cayden, both from Dryden. Sienna, an 8th grader, showcased two pouches she had made, describing how she created them by tracing patterns, punching holes, and using cords to hold them together. Her passion for the program is rooted in her childhood experiences riding dirt bikes with her dad and the friendships she formed, especially with Kyle, an aide at camp. Cayden, a 7th grader, demonstrated a drop spindle and how to twist fiber into rope using material harvested from basswood trees. He also showed a hand drill he made from a rock from Cayuga Lake and a forged nail tip, explaining it can take about 25 minutes to drill a hole. He expressed his love for nature and shared a favorite memory of Dave starting a fire during the Primitive Pursuits program, unaware of his own skill. Reports: Cornell Cooperative Extension Rural Youth Services A Steinkraus introduced Vicky Fleming, the new 4H Coordinator, who oversees all 4H departments: road services, Primitive Pursuit, 4H clubs, and the outreach program. We wanted to introduce her to this commission, and she is making her rounds. Sunday, April 27th (CCE) will have a 4H duck race, a Primitive booth, and family activities. A Steinkraus updated that during the February break, there was a day at Brooktondale Community Center where Dryden youth joined the Youth Services, Brooktondale, and Newfield youth. Then, on that Thursday, we had the Youth Winter Olympics A printout of the 2024 Dryden annual reports was passed around, and the information was briefly reviewed. The larger version will be emailed. Dave's 2024 Program Totals: 37 programs, 648 programming hours, 361 duplicate counts, and 86 unduplicated. This does not include the lunch program. That's a total of 163 youths in school. The next page shows the targeted life skill circle. When program managers plan their programs, they are asked to focus on two life skills. As shown, they do end up DRYC 2025-2-26 APPROVED Page 2 of 3 hitting them all, and what is highlighted are the skills he focused on more with the kids. These programs run for six-week increments. Dryden Rural Youth Services OURS and Project Lead: 6 programs,114 programming hours, 37 duplicated counts and 25 unduplicated counts, 300 youth employment total hours, and three youth employees. OURS Program: This program ran one day a week for the whole year with an attendance of 25. That’s roughly two and a half months. As shown on the Life Skills chart, the highlighted skills were the focus. YOURS Program: CCE sent bi-weekly and monthly activity kits while keeping contact with the youth and keeping communication open with our volunteers while moving forward with the program. DRYS Success Story: Each program chooses one story to share. This is the most difficult part of the job. All names and other private information have been changed. The final pages are Dave and Allie's completed training list. Over the last year, there was an average of about 55 hours of professional development training. All (TCCCE) employees are doing one day of mental health training plus 2 hours of prework. The Dryden OURS position is still available. There are three interviews for the Danby position; we would like to hire all three and fill the one for Dryden OURS. Kate will also be there to interview. Those interviews are coming up and an update at next month's meeting. We will keep all involved if we are down to two candidates, and we would like this commission's involvement in the interview process. Once that position is filled, they will have reports on how the programs are going. The hope is to have a week combined with Dave and the new person to help bridge the elementary students to middle school. Reports: Tompkins County Youth Services Department K Shanks-Booth reported that the new county administrator started January 6th and is pleased with what they are seeing thus far. The 2026 budget prep will begin soon, as this is a yearlong preparation. The vitality checklist has been used as an internal tool for the commissions, who are using it to set goals and help improve the commissions in the county. This is to self-assess its functioning across groups like governance, leadership, planning, and youth voice. It then focuses on those areas and provides a snapshot and guide with our technical assistance on how you feel things are going. The discussion focused on the largest changes in average scores from 2023 to 2024. Areas that saw a decrease included the use of established processes for youth development recommendations and the provision of job descriptions for officers. The data will be collected throughout Tompkins County and the average score of each category goes to the county administration. This is the time for a potential update of DRYC officer job descriptions and an orientation packet. Also, a suggestion was made to create recruitment materials, potentially with a QR code linking to the application, and develop a logo for the Recreation Department and DRYC to increase visibility and awareness. DRYC 2025-2-26 APPROVED Page 3 of 3 Lastly, plans are underway to enhance the county website design to be a central platform for resources for youth resources, homeless youth and services, and work. Reports: Recreation Department M Conger mentioned there are three more weeks of winter sports. This Saturday, March 1, the 6-week summer camp program opens. This year, the programs will include archery, soccer, and dance. These programs fill up fast, usually within 20 minutes. She’s looking to hire a camp director for the summer recreation. If anyone knows someone with these qualifications, they can find the job posting on Tompkins County Civil Service. K Shanks-Booth set up a county-wide recreation directors' meeting in Tompkins County, which had a good turnout; she was the only one in person. Recreation Field Behind Town Hall L. Debo informed commission members that CHA plans to attend next month to present their plans concerning the DRYCs proposal and to provide an estimate for the cost of developing the field independently. Given the budget of $500,000, there will be no way to incorporate restrooms, structures, or parking lots into this project. J. Leifer will seek additional funding to cover costs and intends to utilize the highway crew, which possesses the necessary machinery, for certain land-clearing tasks. He also plans to solicit bids for labor associated with activities that the Highway Department and Department of Public Works will be unable to manage. A discussion took place regarding the restrooms at Dryden Lake, which will remain closed until a solution to mitigate vandalism can be implemented. The playground at that location requires immediate repairs. A town board member attended the 2025 AOT conference and engaged with a representative from a company based in Syracuse that specializes in adaptive playgrounds. This potential solution warrants further exploration. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:16 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Allison Kjellander-Cantu Deputy Town Clerk