Recreation
Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
March 10, 2005 7:00 p.m.
Hunt Community Center
Board Members Present: Mary Beth Healy-Henrick, Randy Adamson
(arrived at 7:10 pm), Kathy Hamilton Brown, Mark Phelps, Libby Wilhelmson, Patty Glembocki, Matt
Clifton, and Hank
Dickson
Board Members Absent: Adrienne
Willingham, Jeff Bateman,
Staff Present: Len Bradley
& Sarah Kennedy - Parks & Recreation, Carl Dean - Town Manager,
Chuck Simmons - Asst. Town Manager
Visitors: Maureen
Doetzer
Call to Order
The meeting was called to
order by Vice-Chair Mary Beth Healy-Henrick.
Minutes
The minutes from the 02/09/05 meeting were reviewed by members. Kathy
Hamilton-Brown made a motion to approve; Mark Phelps seconded. All other members were in favor and minutes
were approved.
SeptemberFest
The Holly Springs Chamber of
Commerce has relinquished control of SeptemberFest back to the Town of Holly
Springs. The event was supposed to be a fund raiser for the Chamber; however,
they were not making a profit. A committee will be formed to determine the
direction the festival should take and will be comprised of members from the
Chamber, civic groups, churches, Town Staff, and the business community.
Hunt Center Fitness Room –
Saturday Hours Of Operation
The fitness center is
currently open Monday – Thursday 6:00 am to 9:00 p.m., Friday 6:00 am to 8:00 pm and Saturday 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. The hours
coincide with the hours employees are working in the building so the room can
be monitored. The fitness room is a self
directed program and staff is not stationed in the room. Currently from 6:00 am until 8:00 am when the Hunt Center opens, maintenance staff are rotating days in order
to keep the fitness room open during these morning hours.
A request has been made to
extend hours beyond 12:00 pm on Saturday. Currently funding
is not available to cover cost of hiring additional staff which is why
maintenance staff is being utilized for morning hour coverage.
The Advisory Committee
suggested staff send a short survey to fitness room participants to determine
if there is an interest in extended Saturday hours and if so would they be
willing to pay an extra fee for an increase in hours.
Athletic Division Issues
& Concerns
Resignation of Athletic
Supervisor
The Parks & Recreation
Department’s former Athletic Supervisor resigned February 14, 2005 due to accusations of alleged embezzling, forgery
and identity theft. Due to the
circumstances of his resignation and legal issues, Town administrators released
only limited information to the press via the News & Observer and local TV
stations. As a result, participants
registered in various athletic programs have been concerned and questioning the
status of youth athletic programs due to rumors and speculations surrounding
his departure. Several members of the
advisory board have been approached and questioned about their knowledge of the
events happening in the Parks & Recreation Department. The Parks & Recreation Department staff
when questioned by the public would reply that the matter was a personnel issue
and could not be discussed. The Advisory
Committee feels that a public explanation of the situation and a statement
regarding the direction of the parks and recreation department is needed to address
any misconceptions and alleviate the public and participant’s concerns,
questions and fears. Carl Dean and Chuck Simmons agreed the Town would write a
letter to the public to be placed in the Holly Springs Sun and on the Town’s website. The letter would then be forwarded to the
Recreation Advisory Committee members for their review. The Advisory Committee
would then issue a letter in support of the Parks & Recreation Department
to be published the week after the letter from the Town is published in the Holly Springs Sun.
Athletic Programs
With the abrupt departure of
the Athletic Supervisor, the athletics division was left with limited knowledge
of projects, programs, etc. that were under his direct supervision. Staff has been working to keep things running
as smoothly as possible; however there have been some problems and staff is
resolving them as they become known. Two of the programs affected were Spring
Soccer and Baseball.
Spring Soccer
Randy
Adamson received an
email regarding soccer commissioners for spring soccer, specifically if there are any for the spring season. Len Bradley stated that each age group with the exception of the Intro to Soccer division has a
commissioner.
Select Baseball
One of the things the former athletic supervisor neglected
to do was register Holly Springs Parks
& Recreation select baseball teams into the local tournament league. By the
time the omission was discovered, it was too late to register HSP&R
teams. An alternative tournament league has been located and the select
teams will participate. Len Bradley
stated this tournament league appears to be a better league than the original one.
Following group discussion
concerning athletics, the committee made the following points:
·
Each sport
should have a parent handbook. The
Football and Cheerleading program have a handbook in place and this would be a
good model for the rest of the sports to use.
·
The handbook
should list out an organizational chart/chain of command for parents, coaches,
commissioners, and athletic staff. Each
position should have assigned duties and responsibilities.
·
Each handbook
should contain a procedure and hierarchy for lodging complaints. For example
all complaints should be written and some situations/issues may require a
waiting period of 24 hours. Procedure
should also clarify how parents can change/challenge a decision by a
commissioner.
·
All sports
commissioners should be given training and a handbook specific to commissioner
responsibilities for each sport.
·
Coaches should
be given guidelines to follow and a checklist of duties. A requirement for all coaches would be to
hold a parent meeting before the start of the season to disseminate information
to parents.
·
For each sport,
all practice/games schedules should include the contact name of the
commissioner.
·
At the end of
sport season, have a post season meeting with volunteers and staff to discuss
any issues or concerns. This meeting
would be a requirement and would also be open to the parents of participants.
Kathy Hamilton-Brown made a
motion that committee recommends to the parks and recreation department that
all sports provide parents with a handbook similar in caliber to the Football
parent handbook. Randy Adamson seconded. The
vote was unanimous.
Mark Phelps made a motion
that a formal post season meeting between staff, volunteers and parents be a
requirement for every sport. Kathy
Hamilton-Brown seconded the motion. The
vote was unanimous.
Athletic Supervisor
Position
Len Bradley has reviewed applications for the positions and will
be interviewing beginning March 11. The
Asst. Town Manager and Libby Wilhelmson representing the Recreation Advisory Board will sit in on the interviews.
Soccer Booster Club
Len Bradley was contacted by Sean Loftis about starting a
booster club for soccer similar to the Holly Springs Football Booster
Club. Len said he suggested the idea of one
athletic booster club to encompass all sports which led to discussion on the
topic. Combining the multiple sports
groups together would make the organization stronger which would benefit the
group as far resources, manpower, applying for grants, etc. Also if you have separate booster clubs for
each sport, all would be targeting the same prospective businesses for
sponsorships and funding. However, if the Town is not involved in the booster
clubs and there are no complaints from the other clubs, what does it matter how
many booster clubs are formed. All kinds
of questions would have to be answered before an organization such as this
could be started, for example, how it would be run, how funds would be
allocated, etc. Len said Mr. Loftis is
supposed to get back in touch with him to discuss further.
Advisory Board
Organizational Items
Public Forum
Randy
Adamson would like for
the recreation advisory board to hold a public forum for questions and
communications from the public and also to publicize the existence of the board
and their role.
Email
Sarah
Kennedy will contact
the IT department to set up an email account for the advisory board to receive
correspondence from the public. The
email account will be listed in the letter the Town sends to the HS Sun and
will also be listed on the Town’s website.
Meeting Minutes
After minutes are approved
by the Recreation
Advisory Board, they
will be posted on the Town’s Website.
Libby Wilhemson will send a summary of the minutes to the Holly Springs Sun to be posted under Town Notices after each
meeting.
Meeting Location
Randy
Adamson made a motion
to move Recreation Advisory Meetings to Council Chambers at Town Hall starting
with the April 2005 meeting forward.
Kathy Hamilton-Brown seconded.
Vote was unanimous.
Update on Parks &
Recreation Projects
Community Center
Letter concerning location
of community center presented to and acknowledged by Town Council.
Womble Park
Working on completing baseball/softball
quadraplex before the fall. Will start work on entrance and parking problem
along Grisgsby. Widen Grigsby and
install curb and gutter. Try to eliminate people parking on the grass. Dog
signs have been replaced with new ones.
Holly Springs High School
Town Council approved budgeting of $350,000 for high school
outdoor athletic facility enhancements.
HSES
Joint Use Agreement in place
for Holly Springs Elementary School.
HRMS
In the process of a drafting
a joint use agreement for Holly Ridge Middle School. The Town is
currently using the softball field at the middle school.
Adjourn
There being no further items
for discussion the meeting was adjourned.