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Home My WebLink About2004-12-14Dryden Youth Commission December 14, 2004 Minutes Present: Tracy Kurtz, Kristen Blackman, InShik Lee, Patty Mooney, Alan Macomber, Nita Baldwin, Kris Bennett; Excused: Eric McConnell Tracy called the meeting to order at 6:40 pm. The minutes from October (2 sections: notes taken by Alan and Nita) were approved unanimously. Updates on programs, monitoring - Alan attempted to visit Police and Community during a scheduled classroom.time (he'd gotten the schedule from Chief Ryan) but the presentation that day was cancelled. He has not heard back from Chief Ryan about the next scheduled times. Kris and Patty both visited Finding Our Strength, Finding Our Voices. The day that Kris attended, only 2 girls were there (but not at the same time); 6 total are participating; participants were recommended by teachers as needing extra attention to build self - esteem. Kris felt that Anne Rhodes' skills in working with the girls were very strong. The participants have identified peer pressure and not feeling accepted for who they are as their prime issues. They are taking action by sharing a statement with the school board and superintendent. They hope to continue the group after the first of the year (if funded) and hope to expand to serve more girls. Patty was also impressed with what the group is doing and reported that the date for going to the school board has been postponed until the new year. One person asked what the cost per participant is of this program as compared to CCE; Kris said she didn't know but it would be hard to compare since programs are different lengths and some youth participate in more than one CCE program. Kris responded to a question from last month's minutes. Eric asked why DYC doesn't get monthly written reports from all funded programs, just CCE. This would have made discussion of Finding Our Strength easier. Kris responded that most programs either run for a short period of time or receive only a small amount of funding and monthly reports would be difficult. They all submit an annual summary. She suggested that liaisons could check in with programs and make periodic reports to the DYC. Tracy suggested that in Jan., when liaison assignments are arranged, we add time to the calendar for reports of this type. All agreed. CCE Updates - Kris reported that Bridget will be leaving her program manager position. She is willing to continue as an hourly employee offering one program a week, Green Thumbs, through the end of the school year to ease the transition. She is also willing to work a few extra hours if needed to help train her replacement or for special events. Kris and Linda Schoffel have discussed a few ideas on how best to continue programming in Dryden while planning for hiring a new half- time program manager. Viola Fitzgerald, the Y2 time Groton program manager, is willing to offer one 5 -week session of Supersitters (babysitter training) starting in January and might be willing to do another session in March. This would mean 2 programs/week rather than the 3 that are now happening. Kris shared some CCE budget updates in light of Bridget's departure; there will be some savings but the cost of running a classified help wanted ad and paying Bridget's accrued vacation time will eat up much of the savings. We have not addressed how recruitment for YCC will occur if Bridget is not working on this. After discussing options for the transition, the DYC voted to have Kris ask CCE that 1) Bridget continue through March with Green Thumbs, 2) Viola offer Supersitters in Jan/Feb and possibly one 4 week program in March, and 3) Linda make a plan for advertising the position and interviewing candidates so a new person could be in place in the spring. They agreed that CCE and Linda will need flexibility during the transition so dates are not firm. On another note, Linda received notice that her grant request from NYSEG was approved; this will pay to run the fall program listing in the Dryden Shopper, Budget Update - Kris distributed a revised and final budge for 2005, showing slight reductions in state aid and a slight increase in county aid, a net increase of $503. Kris spoke with Spvr. Steve Trumbull and he agreed that the Town of Dryden would also increase their contribution to match the increase, giving the DYC $1006 more than had been anticipated in Sept. when preliminary 2005 allocations were made. The DYC voted unanimously for the following allocations for 2005 and asked Kris to send announcements to programs. Nita suggested including the Town's voucher form to make it easier for programs to submit for payment and will fax the form to Kris. 2005 DYC Program Allocations Freeville Youth Jobs $6028 Youth Conservation Corps $13357 V. Dryden Youth Jobs $2028 Cornell Cooperative Extension RYS $490581 V. Dryden Police & Communi $4000 Municipal Jobs thru CCE $628 Brooktondale Day Cam $1000 Coddin ton Community Center CIT's $800 Finding Our Strength/Voices $1000 were not Village Suggested proiects for YCC - Kris had spoken with Allen Green from the Ithaca Youth Bureau; he requested that the DYC approve the 4H Acres footbridge project for the 2005 summer YCC before his staff goes out to look at the project to give CCE an estimate for materials, The DYC voted unanimously to approve the project. Kris will contact Allen so he can arrange a meeting with the appropriate CCE person. An additional project for YCC is to clean up the Montgomery Park area the morning after the summer concerts. This should be easy since the YCC meets at the Park. Recreation Updates - Tracy reported that the Town received a $2500 member item from Sen. Seward and the Town is contributing $7500 for the Wall St. ball fields (backstops and safety fence). The Town is hoping this will happen this spring /summer, it could be another project for YCC. Basketball, a b, ball tournament and other rec, offerings are underway or starting soon. On Jan. 8 "Club Dryden' will be starting. It will be open for Dryden middle schoolers on a Friday night and offer access to the gyms for basketball, volleyball etc. No fees but kids will have to pay for refreshments. The goal is to have supervised hang -out time once a month for Dryden youth. The Jan. time was funded by the Dryden Youth Opportunity Fund ($200); the Rec. Commission will see how it is received before planning additional times, Jennifer Staton will be responsible for hiring staff. Tracy also reported that the Town is still considering whether to continue as part of the Recreation Partnership; it would prefer to pay for each town resident who participates in a Rec. Pt. offering, rather than the current "flat fee ". Nominations for 2005 - Tracy was nominated to be chair of the DYC for 2005, Alan was nominated as vice - chair, Elections will take place in Jan. Review Draft Calendar for 2005 - Kris distributed a draft calendar, suggests rescheduling the April meeting (to avoid the Dryden Schools vacation week) and Dec. (close to Christmas), It was decided that meeting times for Jan. - Mar, will be at 6:30. A decision about the April meeting date and time will be made early in 2005. Tracy suggested including at the bottom of the monthly meeting agenda the meeting dates, topics, visitors for the next 3 months. Kris will make this addition. It was agreed to leave some months without guests for other work and discussion, such as our goals. Draft calendar shows each program visiting once, CCE visiting 4 times, according to each program's preferred month. Other - Nita reported that she has researched the tern expirations of all DYC members. Kris said there is still a vacant seat for the Village of Dryden; the inquiries she's gotten as a result of the newspaper ads were not Village residents. Tracy town 12 -31 -06 Eric town 12 -31 -05 InShik V. Free. 12 -31 -05 Patty (town) 12- 31 -04, All be Alan (V. Dry.) 12 -31 -05 Kristen (V. Free.) 12- 31 -04, reappointed thru reappointed thru 12 -31 -07 12 -31 -06 Plan for Jan. meeting - The Jan. meeting will be on Jan. 18 at Town hall at 6:30 pm. At the request of the DYC Kris will ask Paul Streeter from the Dryden Youth Opportunity Fund if he would come to the Jan. meeting. She will also ask CCE and Finding Our Strength. Tracy suggested creating a phone tree in case we need to cancel a meeting because of snow. Since she and Kris would be in touch to make this decision, they agreed to divide the list and make any calls to DYC members. We all reviewed and shared our contact info., including home, work and cell phone numbers to make it easier to do this. Commission members were reminded they could also call Kris or Tracy if they wanted to check to see if a meeting had been cancelled. Meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm. DYC Minutes Page Two December 14, 2004