HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-30.pdfPage 1 of 4
Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission
January 30, 2013
Dryden Town Hall
Members Present: Vicki Wilkins, Steve Meyer, Sharon Todd, Stephanie Mulinos, JoEllen Bailey, Tracy Kurtz, Kris Bennett (County Youth Services) and Jeff Humphrey (at 7:25)
Community Association Member: Wendy Martin (not present)
Town Board Representative: Linda Levine and Steve Stelick, Jr. (not present)
Town Recreation Director: Melissa Bianconi
DCSD Liaison: position open Meeting opened at 7:04 PM.
1. Reading of the Commission’s Meeting Minutes: A motion to approve the minutes of the last regular meeting of November 27, 2012 was made by Steve Meyer and seconded by Vicki Wilkins. The motion passed.
2. Introductions: As this is the first meeting of the merged Recreation Commission and the Youth Commission, introductions were made.
3. Discuss/Assign Term Limits M. Bianconi stated that she didn’t yet have the properly formatted legislation for the merger of the DYC and the DRC. It is at lawyer Perkins’ office who has assured her that it will be ready for the February 14th Town Board Meeting. Attorney Perkins has indicated that an issue with the Commission legislation is the term limits. He recommends two of the members’ terms renew at the end of 2013, two renew at the end of 2014, and two renew at the end of 2015. The School Board liaison gets chosen each year. The following term limits were approved: School Board liaison – Seat is still open Terms expiring in 2013 – S. Mulinos and S. Todd Terms expiring in 2014 – J. Humphrey, V. Wilkins, and T. Kurtz Terms expiring in 2015 – M. Armstrong, S. Meyer and J. Bailey
4. Name of the Commission: Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission
5. Leadership – Chair and Vice Chair nominations: S. Todd nominated V. Wilkins as the Chair. T. Kurtz nominated S. Todd as the Vice Chair.
Page 2 of 4 Both accepted the nominations and all the members agreed.
6. Meeting schedule: The DRYC will meet the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7PM at the Town Hall. The logic of that date is it allows time for information and recommendations to get to the Town Board by their first meeting of the following month.
7. Working Calendar: Assign sub-committees: According to the legislation, the Chair (V. Wilkins) will set the direction for each of the following sub-committees: Youth development funding allocation Operating guidelines and by-laws Community Grants What is the job of the liaison to the Youth Commission? The Liaison is the contact person. Each of the programs that receive funding are assigned a liaison who contacts the program and spends some time with the program. When the award letters go out the first of the year, they indicate how much funding they will receive and who their liaison is for information and support. Other years the Youth Commission has supported the following programs: 1. Youth employment in the villages of Dryden and Freeville 2. Dryden Youth Services which is supported by Cooperative Extension 3. OURS (Opportunity, Understanding, Respect, Success) which is another program supported by Cooperative Extension to help youth in the local mobile home parks.
Grants: 2012 final grant reports should be complete by next week and then those reports can be shared next meeting. The applications and funding amounts will be posted next week and the applicants have until mid-March to complete them. In April, the Recreation Department will recommend to the Town Board. Common Grant Report - M. Bianconi has found a program that permits organizations to complete the whole application for a grant on-line. The applicants can load pictures and videos and the Commission members will have the opportunity to make comments and ask for more information directly through the system. It also maintains the records from year to year for reference (this information can be saved to a .pdf and stored locally instead of depending on the “Cloud”). This program should permit everyone to have access to the database so they can go in and look at the applications and make comments. The subcommittee is the only group that can actually evaluate. All the applications still need to be reviewed and voted on by the entire commission.
Page 3 of 4 S. Mulinos questioned whether the Commission is considering using the liaison position for all the programs that get sponsored. J. Humphrey suggested that the Commission wait until they have the grant reports from 2012. M. Bianconi recommended keeping more information on the groups that receive funding and use that information for future decisions and to promote the Town. Getting more involved with the groups that receive funding will promote the Town’s role.
Community Park Development Plan Final financial draft should be ready soon. Consultants are going to present a plan which will be worst case scenario, without help from the DPW or volunteers. He will demonstrate how much savings will be had if the DPW and volunteers help out. On the 2013 Work Schedule, M. Bianconi has the DYC annual report scheduled for March but it probably won’t be ready by then and K. Bennett won’t be available for that meeting. Andrew Pierce (Assistant Recreation Director) will be attending meetings to provide updates to the Commission. The DYC has asked the young people that get the employment grant to come in and provide feedback to the Commission. M. Bianconi suggested that they present to the Town Board (we can have the Commission’s liaison attend as well). That is scheduled for sometime in the summer. M. Bianconi also hopes that each of the Commission members will bring two goals to the next meeting. The DYC didn’t have goals so much as generic objectives with the decision to focus on one objective over another. Rather non-task oriented. The Commission agreed that they will request three presentations from the programs that receive funds. If the Commission decides that they don’t have time or the need for a third presentation, they will make that decision when it becomes necessary. The DYC has, in the past, asked for written reports from the programs that are not asked to present in person. The 2013 Work Plan appears to be a workable guide for the year.
8. Youth Needs Assessment: Kris Bennett In order to know whether we are spending money in the right places, we need to know what the needs are and has anything changed. It has been an informal assessment based on discussions/ presentations by various groups in the county (the school, the county, the Recreation Commission, guidance counselors, etc). Some of the assessment done by the DYC indicated the middle schoolers do not have the same opportunities. There seem to be a lot of programs for the elementary age children and for the older teens. Legislation indicates that the youth needs assessment needs to be done every three years and it is necessary to do the assessment this year because of all the changes that are coming down in the state and local municipalities.
Page 4 of 4 The DRC is also obligated to assess the community needs but not on a distinct or specified schedule. S. Mulinos stated her concern that assessing the community needs should be separate between the youth and recreation… recreation has traditionally been seen as being sports not leisure activities. By doing two different needs assessments, the Commission can look at Youth needs and physical needs. Recreation creates the image of physical activity. S. Mulinos indicated that as a parent of kids that are not necessarily physical, she has concerns about options for non-physical needs/development. The DRC members unanimously and emphatically stated that their goals and the purpose of recreation is not just physical. M. Bianconi emphasized that the goal of this group is partly to undermine that idea; the recreation program is not just sports but also has a community level of concern in other areas. There being no further business, T. Kurtz moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:54 PM. J. Bailey seconded the motion. Respectfully Submitted, Erin A. Bieber Recording Secretary