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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-11-09-CCPAC-min `pus moo? pp 1775 tiC Town of Lexington o Lexington Community Center Program Advisory Committee APRIL 19' S FX INCIII Nancy Shepard,Chairman Tel: (781) 698-4870 Nancy Adler Fax: (781) 862-2747 Alessandro Alessandrini Daniel Palant Lisah Rhodes Archana Singhal John Zhu Community Center Program Advisory Committee Minutes of Meeting November 9, 2017 A meeting of the Community Center Program Advisory Committee (CCPAC)was held on Thursday, November 9, at 7:00 p.m. at the Lexington Community Center, 39 Marrett Road, Lexington. Meeting Attendees: Members - Alessandro Alessandrini, Nancy Adler, Dan Palant, Lisah Rhodes Ex-Officio Member Attendees: Charlotte Rodgers (Director of Human Services), Christine Dean (Community Center Director), Doug Lucente (Board of Selectman) Unable to attend: John Zhu, Archana Singhal, Nancy Shepard (Chair), Melissa Battite (Director of Recreation & Community Programs) The meeting was called to order at 7:02pm. 1. Minutes of June 222017 The minutes from the July 13 and September 14 meetings were reviewed and unanimously accepted. 2. Citizens and Other Boards A question was posed to clarify what Citizens and Other Boards represents. There were no citizens or other boards present at this meeting. 3. Community Center Director Updates • New Yamaha Littles Musicians (6months-3years) and Yamaha Youth Guitar Class began. • 15 Families (max)showed up and played Family Bingo on September 22 • 196 responses to the New Brochure Layout, scored an average of 3.25 out of 4 in the categories of"Easy to read""Ease of finding a specific program" and"Overall Look" • A survey was sent out about new fall programs and 681 people responded. This effort drew attention to the program offerings and in turn, 18 programs were at minimum enrollment weeks before their start date. • The CEL(community Endowment of Lexington) grant for the CPR/First Aid/AED course was full with 8 people enrolled and a waitlist of 25+. Another class will be offered in either April or May. The teacher of the course is Peter Ricci,of the Lexington Fire Department 0 The LABBB Boxing group had 14 participants this session. • Thomas Romano, Youth and Family Program Coordinator, attended the National Recreation and Parks Association Conference from Sep 25-29 in New Orleans. • The LCC is undergoing a lighting project to replace bulbs and fixtures which will result in an annual savings of$11,454. • LHS SADD Club and Human Services helped to sponsor the Community Center Haunted House on October 2Th. We went into Friday evening with approximately 100 individual child registrations and had an additional 73 sign ups that evening by phone or drop in. It was so fun to be a part of this community event that hosted an estimated 500 people. We look forward to providing this tradition for years to come! • 20 Kids registered for the Half Day of Fun. They participated in a Yamaha Ukulele group, martial arts with Charlie Crayton and Zumba kids with Renae. They also played bingo, ate lunch with seniors and wrote cards to veterans. Doug Lucente asked for clarification about the survey in which 681 people responded. This is a great response and indicates a good support for the building and department. Dan Palant opened discussion about the response to the CPR/First Aid and train the trainer classes. The positive response illustrates the need for more low-cost training. Doug Lucente suggests finding money to fund the dummies that are used during the class. Charlotte Rodgers presented an update from the Human Services Department,including LexConnect taxi vouchers (over$37,000), Lex Eat Together,the upcoming Narcan training, and a production of"The Teen Bedroom." 4. Recreation and Community Programs Capital Update The Community Center campus expansion project will be split into three phases(FY2019- FY2021) rather than two phases as initially proposed (FY2019 and FY2020). 5. Community Center Expansion Update Mr.Alessandrini asked if the carriage house would be included in the overall planning of the property, which was confirmed. Ms.Adler stated that she had attended the override meeting that morning. She stressed that private funding is going to be important moving forward,that we will need to create a mechanism and opportunity to raise money, perhaps a friends system. 681 responses to a survey shows that there is support and interest. How do we go about forming a partnership with other departments,the Town Manager's Office,and the Selectmen? Michelle Ciccolo was the chair of the committee to create the community center and a network was formed but nothing happened at that time. She suggests creating a group of interested people who will become advocates for the expansion. Mr.Alessandrini notes that there were 500 people at the Haunted House,which again illustrates an audience. He suggests making it an agenda item for December,to create language to bring to Recreation and then forth to the Selectmen. Ms.Adler suggests checking with the library to see how they build financial support. Ms.Rhodes stresses the importance of having the data to backup the need for expansion. Mr.P alant suggests using the brochure as a place to request a constituency that will advocate. Ms.Adler adds that the board should make sure that they are as representative of the community as they think we are. Are there specific contingencies that we should be reaching out to? The charge is broader than the committee name may suggest. Mr.P alant stresses the need to let people know about the programming that taking place at the community center. He adds that a suggestion box is an important tool and perhaps the computer at the front desk could be used to take comments. All agree that they would like to see the results of the survey. 6. Liaison Reports Mr.Palant reports that the Youth Services Council has become dormant. Ms.Rodgers explains that with the growth of the Coalition for Youth, services are becoming redundant. Although it is not a Town recognized committee, there are duplicated services which dilutes what is done in the town. Ms.Rodgers adds that in 2015 the Human Services Department lost a social worker from their staff to the Recreation Department. She states that one of the best tools in prevention is a strong recreation department. It was suggested that there be a Teen Advisory Board at the Community Center;have the teens connected to the programs they want to see here. The library has an active group. There are 35 youth in the Youth Commission which currently meets at the community center monthly. Ms.Rhodes,Vice Chair of the Recreation Committee, gave a review of the September joint committee meeting where the tiers of priority of use were presented. 7. Closing Comments Members from the Field and Garden Club came to the Community Center on November 31 to volunteer their time working in the garden beds. Pruning, edging and raking were among the accomplished tasks. Mr.Palant questioned the appropriateness of Our Revolution meeting at the community center. Currently, politically focused groups are allowed to use space so long as they are not actively campaigning, soliciting or fundraising on site. This illustrates the need for prioritization so that these types of requests can be triaged and charged a fee when appropriate. The next meeting of the Community Center Program Advisory Committee is scheduled to take place on Thurs day,December 14th,2017 at 7:OOpm in Room 237 of the Lexington Community Center. The November 9, 2017 meeting of the Community CenterProgramAdvisory Committee adjournedat 8:45pm. Respectfully submitted, Christine Dean Community Center Director