Expanded role sought for Portsmouth Rec Department

Council seeks to make director’s job full-time, establish 7-member committee

By Jim McGaw
Posted 3/12/19

PORTSMOUTH — The town has vowed to pay a great deal more attention to its parks and recreational facilities going forward.

The Town Council Monday unanimously passed a series of motions …

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Expanded role sought for Portsmouth Rec Department

Council seeks to make director’s job full-time, establish 7-member committee

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — The town has vowed to pay a great deal more attention to its parks and recreational facilities going forward.

The Town Council Monday unanimously passed a series of motions made by council member Daniela Abbott to expand the Recreation Department’s role, which includes making the director’s position full-time and establishing a seven-member Parks and Recreation Committee. 

The council also asked Town Administrator Richard Rainer, Jr. to include money in next year’s budget for a professionally conducted parks and recreation community needs/goals assessment. 

The town is currently served by a part-time parks and recreation director, Wendy Bulk. But Ms. Abbott, whose children have taken part in camps and other activities run by the Recreation Department, said she’s seen for herself how much a full-time director is needed.

“The list of responsibilities is quite extensive and there’s a lot of work to be done,” said Ms. Abbott. “I see how hard the recreation director is working. To be quite frank, she’s earning a 20-hour-a-week salary and she’s working longer than that.”

Ms. Abbott pointed out the recreation director is in charge of facilities, parks, beaches and trails including Melville Park, Glen Park, the Gardner Seveney Sports Complex at Glen Farm, Coggeshall School, the senior center and Sandy Point Beach. Most comparably sized towns have a full-time director yet don’t have nearly as many recreational facilities as Portsmouth, she said. 

The position will be made full-time “as soon as possible within our budget constraints,” Ms. Abbott’s motion stated. It will be up to Mr. Rainer to decide on a salary and when the position would become full-time, she said.

The council also voted to establish a Parks & Recreation Committee consisting of seven members representing “a diverse range of community stakeholders and to coordinate with existing town committees.”

“This will ensure we continue to have a good idea on what residents want us to do,” said Ms. Abbott. “We’re lacking for volunteer and we need to reinvigorate our parks and recreation.”

Local resident Nancy Grieb said while she’s always been in support of a full-time parks and recreation director, the committee should have more than seven members. A quorum of only four people could end up making decisions that may not represent the interests of most residents, she said.

Ms. Abbott said seven members is a good start, and that the council could decide to expand the committee in the future if it so chooses.

Needs assessment

Another vote was to request money in next year’s budget for the community needs assessment for local parks and recreational facilities. Ms. Abbott pointed to a recent Facility Conditions Assessment on municipal buildings that was prepared for the town by Jacobs Engineering (see related story).

The report identified $5.84 million in current needs plus an additional $6.85 million in “projected life cycle renewal” needs over the next five years. It also said a community needs assessment is required in order to develop sound strategies and priorities on managing and maintaining town properties, including recreational facilities, Ms. Abbott said.

A local needs assessment study will help the town develop a plan “on how to deal with $12 million hole that’s addressed in the facilities report,” Ms. Abbott said.

Council Vice President Linda Ujifusa and council member J. Mark Ryan agreed that the community assessment is needed. “The Jacobs report tells us what the facilities need,” said Dr. Ryan, “but it doesn’t tell us what the town thinks.”

Mr. Rainer said some money is already programmed into the budget for a community survey, and that additional grant money may be available as well. Council member Keith Hamilton noted that a similar study was carried out by the town in 2012 or 2013, the results of which may still be useful.

Revenue-generator?

Finance Director Lisa Mills said it’s important for the council to look at how much revenue a full-time director would generate for the town. According to the Jacobs report, she said, the town owns $37 million in buildings, but they’re generating very little revenue.

“A lot more can be done to generate revenue,” Ms. Mills said.

Mr. Rainer cautioned he’s projecting the Recreation Department to generate about $85,000 in revenue next year, although it costs nearly twice that to run the operation, he said.

“I don’t want to give you false hope,” Mr. Rainer said, noting that the town’s goal is for the Recreation Department to eventually be self-funding. “We’re not there yet.”

Ms. Abbott replied she was confident a full-time recreation director would produce additional revenue.

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Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.