Town of Pittsford, Vermont

Recreation Director’s Report 

March 10, 2006

            On Friday, February 10, 2006 the Pittsford and Brandon Recreation Departments cosponsored our annual Valentines Day “Teen Dance” at the VT Police Academy. 188 teens in grades 7 – 10 from the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union attended this event, not to bad a turn out considering there was a varsity Boys Basketball game at OV going on at the same time. I’d like to thank all the volunteer chaperones who helped out, I realize that their children don’t always want them to attend but someday they’ll appreciate the fact that their parents were involved with their activities.

            Back in early January I was approached by members of the Marble Valley Grange #567 of Pittsford to help them with a Mardi Gras program. When they came into my office they were feeling a bit dejected because they were having difficulties securing a venue in town to hold a Mardi Gras celebration they wanted to put on for the families of Pittsford. They had just taken a tour of the VT Police Academy gym and felt like that would be the perfect site to hold their event and they were feeling disappointed because the grange didn’t have the means to pay for the Liability Insurance the State of VT requires for outside organizations to use the facility. June Kelly, Site Coordinator at the VT Police Academy knew this and so suggested that they, the grange, come talk to me, the Recreation Department, since we all ready have an open invitation to use the site perhaps we could help them out. After talking with the representatives of grange and listening to their proposal I couldn’t help but agree to cosponsor the event. Except for the lack of space issue they had almost all of the other details planned out. They offered an overall pleasant family program that I knew the Recreation Department could justify supporting. On Saturday, February 25, 2006 at the VT Police Academy the Pittsford Recreation Department and the Marble Valley Grange cosponsored a “Family Mardi Gras Party”. The grange members did a fantastic job decorating the gym; the balloons, streamers, and piñatas certainly did give the gym a festive feel to it. I must say I was very impressed with the costumes each grange member was dressed in. You could tell most of them were home made and a lot time went into making them. However with all the preparation and planning that went into the program the one thing that was uncontrollable was the weather, so it snowed, only about 4”, but it snowed all day long, sometimes very hard, therefore attendance was a very disappointing low with perhaps 30 kids in all showing up. I felt bad for the grange members because I know how much work goes into pulling an event like that off, not to mention the grange had food, prizes, & activities set up for approximately 200 children. Another piece to consider was the fact that the kids where out of school (Winter Recess) for the entire week leading up to the event, I’m sure this played a role in the lack of participation also because kids and parents weren’t able to talk it up among themselves to create an “I WANT TO GO BECAUSE MY FRIEND IS GOING” buss. Next year I’ll be more involved from the beginning and we’ll definitely try to choose a more practical date.

            On Friday, March 3, 2006 in the VT Police Academy gym the Recreation Department and the Maclure Library hosted the third and final “Family Fun Night” of the winter. I’m delighted to report that we had a record crowd of close to 185 people from mostly Pittsford in attendance. Both Bonnie Stewart, Maclure librarian and I were very pleased with the turnout and support shown by the community. The main attractions of the night were the two bounce houses from Funny Business Entertainment, LLC. Why have two bounce houses one might ask? Well we do it for a couple different reasons, the most import one being for the overall safety of everyone; because of the large number of children that typically attend we like to have one house set up for the little younger kids and a second house set up that’s designed more for the older participants. This keeps a natural age separation to some degree that really works well for us. Two it makes economical sense to have a second apparatus because it doesn’t cost that much more to have the second house brought in at the same time, since the contractor is already there. One interesting fact that we did notice looking at the registration sign-in sheet was that more than a few out of town folks are taking advantage of our free program. If the trend continues and we see increase of non Pittsford residents attending B. Stewart and I will have to look at different ways to handle the situation. Typically we get one or two out of town folks per event, that’s not a real impact on the program, but when we have large number of residents attending these events the out of town folks may begin to take services away from other Pittsford residents who would otherwise attend.

            Another spring session of Kripalu Yoga with Petra O’Neill began on Monday night, March 6^th. This is the second consecutive year that Recreation Department has offered this particular program, but unlike last year we did manage to get the minimum number of 6 participants needed to run this first session. It’s important to note that the class consists of a 50/50 make up of retuning and new applicants. Similar to last spring the second session, for whatever reason seems to be much more popular and already has enough pre-paid registrations to make certain that program will also run.

            Another very important event that took place on evening Monday, March 6, 2006 and that was our annual Town Meeting. I am excited to report that this year’s Town Budget, which includes the Recreation Department’s operating costs, passed with overwhelming support. The Recreation Department looks forward to continuing to serve the community the best we can. I’d like to take a minute to thank the residents who attended Town Meeting and for passing the overall budget. As a Pittsford resident I feel honored to have such great group of people overseeing, running, and maintaining this wonderful town of ours, I certainly feel privileged to be part of such an elite group.

            The Recreation Department’s very popular Gymnastics program has kicked off another spring season for the Recreation Department. There are 37 kids registered in grades 1^st – 6^th to take part in this basic introduction program. Lynn Gee, Physical Education teacher at Lothrop Elementary School is the long serving instructor of this popular program. Kids have fun learning about the all different equipment and how to be safe when using it. The program is designed to give the kids a small taste of gymnastics in a fun and supporting atmosphere.

            Youth League Baseball/Softball registration began on March 1^st. Parents can register their children anytime between now and Friday, March 31^st. Registration forms have gone home with every child at Lothrop School and are available at Town Offices. Parents must fill out these forms and return them to me by the end of this month. Again this year the Recreation Department will NOT be offering any “SPECIAL REGISTRATION” dates or times because in previous years the vast majority of folks weren’t taking advantage of them, plus with the way the regular office hours are now and the drop box available in the parking lot it is rather simple for parents to get the paperwork in on time.

            Based on the comments I received after my Employee Evaluation last summer I took the opportunity to attend a class offered through VT Panurgy Corporation in South Burlington. The class Leadership: Becoming Management Material was full of great information, strategies, and exercises for anyone who works in a leadership role. I learned a lot about myself and what type of manager I am. I was particularly impressed with Empowering and Motivating Employees portion of the class. I’ve known for some time that the more motivated employees are the more productive they’ll be, but this part of class taught us several guide lines how to keep people motivated and engaged in what they are doing. Most of the information gained I’ll be able to apply to my Recreation Department employees, volunteers, and to the residents of Pittsford.

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