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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-28Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission March 2018 Meeting Minutes (DRAFT) 28 March 2018 at 7:00 PM Dryden Town Hall The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM. Members present: Stephanie Mulinos, Diane Pamel, Claudia Haferkamp-Wise, Paula Klaben, David Peck (chair) Liaisons present: Alice Green (Town Board), Marty Conger (Dryden Recreation) S. Mulinos made a motion to approve the minutes from the February 2018 meeting. P Klaben seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously. Town Board Update A. Green Town Board approved the Dryden Space proposal for a program for Middle School children in May and June. Andrew Pierce has been hired as the Recreation Supervisor. He has done some part time work and will begin working full time on April 9. Currently working on a Recreation Coordinator designation for Marty Conger who will be overseeing the Recreation Department. Recreation Department M. Conger The Recreation Department did get an intern through Tompkins Cortland Community College. He completed his 20 hour requirement but will be sticking around to help as needed. He can use the additional hours to help satisfy his Cortland STate requirements. New programs will be starting next week. Held a two day lacrosse clinic at Tompkins Cortland Community College which was attended by twenty-two kids. The kids also got to go to a TC Panthers lacrosse game, and The Dryden Hotel donated pizza. The Easter Egg Hunt will be held this coming Saturday. A number of summer camps have been confirmed and she's working on some others. Registration is open for the Color Run on May 19. Applying for a grant from Dupont Pioneer to build a new building to store equipment. D. Pamel shared about a program the library is running in partnership with Dryden Rec. Members discussed the status of the web site and the differences between the Town and Rec Department web sites as well as the need to update the site information. TCYSD Report D. Peck mentioned the Dryden Youth Program and Dryden OURS reports as well as K. Bennett's monitoring report from her visit to Dryden OURS. Rail -to -Trail A. Green The Town Board approved a plan to use funds from the Recreation Reserve Fund for the Town's portion of the matching grant. Those funds will be replaced through fundraising by the Friends of the Dryden Rail Trail group. Applying for a strategic tourism grant to study a section of the trail that crosses Route 13 Hope to have opening ceremonies for the trail in August. There is still some work to be done before the trail is ready for a grand opening. D. Pamel asked about the status of the Fit Trail. D. Peck shared that the supplies have been purchased and are being stored at the Highway Department. It will be installed once the weather allows. S. Mulinos asked if Dryden Lake Fest is happening this year. M. Conger shared that the Dryden Lake Festival is scheduled for July 28. A. Green shared that the festival committee has applied for a county tourism grant to help fund the event. Community Spaces S. Mulinos The Town Board approved a Community Spaces proposal to fund ($400) a youth development programming initiative. Students will generate ideas for something they want to have happen in their community. The sessions will be facilitated by Dave Hall. The money provided by the town will be used to fund the idea the students develop. Some concerns that this becomes another RYS thing. The intent is to include students outside of the Dryden schools and those already served by Dave's program. S. Mulinos advocated for having multiple discussions in different locations around the town, but the logistics didn't work out at this time. A. Green suggested seeing this as a pilot that can be expanded on later. D. Pamel shared similar concerns. D. Peck asked about the age target. S. Mulinos said the age range is seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. The discussions are open, so students can invite their friends to attend. Recreation Supervisor search update D. Peck shared the outcome of the search and organization structure fell in line with some of the discussion in February about adjusting to strengths. Andrew's strength is working directly with the programs, and Marty's strength is organization, administration, and seeking grants. The desire is that the department be more than just sports and include camps and other programs. Some of that can come through partnerships with other groups like the library. C. Haferkamp-Wise asked what email goes to who. M. Conger clarified that the email situation was still be worked out. D. Peck asked whether it made sense for Marty to have an individual town email address in addition to access to the Recreation Department address. D. Pamel asked about the summer camp. M. Conger clarified that she will be working with the summer camp director this year 2018 Meeting Calendar D. Peck shared about the calendar. The agenda is always open for suggestions if anyone has a topic they'd like to discuss or a program they'd like to have presented. M. Conger mentioned a discussion with A. Green about meeting in other spaces. This has been done in the past and probably should be again. It did not bring more people to the meetings. D. Peck talked about the need to define and communicate what DRYC is. Other groups like Rail to Trail have a very specific purpose and the name tells you what it is. DRYC is a little more nebulous. S. Mulinos said that the people we have had come to meetings were coming with a request or to present about a program. D. Pamel asked whether we could open meetings to people with ideas for programing. P. Haferkamp-Wise suggested having an open house meeting for people who have been involved in programs to provide feedback. Several members suggested having food and using a different location. P. Klaben commented that the best time to reach the Ellis Hollow folks is during Music in the Hollow. D. Peck suggested having flyers or having someone talk about DRYC prior to the music as a way to publicize a open meeting. S. Mulinos suggested it's important to talk about more than programming. Part of the commission's purpose is to be a liaison between the community and the Town Board and Recreation Department on matters related to recreation and youth development. Getting input on what people would like to see and letting them know what already exists is helpful though. Need to cast a broad net. S. Mulinos asked about the scheduling of RYS visits and concerns about having enough time in meetings if we over program. She noted that she knew they would rather come more than once a year. D. Peck said the idea is to have them give a 10 -minute snapshot report a couple of times a year and save a larger report for the RYS Program Report meeting. 2018 Goals S. Mulinos asked if we should schedule an event and if we would schedule it for a regular DRYC meeting time. D. Peck suggested we would schedule it on a weekend or an earlier start time. The group discussed informal ways to solicit input from the community at events like Dairy Day, Dryden Lake Festival, the Color Run, or the summer music series. D. Peck wondered about community events in Freeville, McLean, Varna that we could go to as well. S. Mulinos talked about the issue of scheduling DRYC members to staff these events. D. Peck suggested that we should have members there to interact, but we can set up a suggestion and feedback process that doesn't require direct interaction so that it doesn't have to be staffed the full time. A. Green suggested having a storyboard that shows existing programs, offerings, and partnerships DRYC is already involved in. D. Pamel asked if the purpose was to solicit input for adult programming or recruiting volunteers. S. Mulinos suggested adding this as an agenda item. D. Peck stated that in the process of soliciting ideas we can introduce DRYC to more people and expand the idea of what recreation is. D. Peck noted that we hadn't actually developed a list of goals. S. Mulinos suggested it was fine to adopt one goal for the year and focus on accomplishing that. We've talked about a communication plan in the past and maybe getting input and promoting DRYC can be our goal. The meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM.