Recreation & Parks Commission - Minutes - 04/22/2025

Waterford Recreation and Parks Commission
April 22nd, 2025 @ 4:30 pm
Waterford Community Center
The Recreation and Parks Commission held a regular scheduled meeting on April 22nd, 2025 at the Waterford Community
Center. Meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m. by Chairman, E. Murphy and a quorum was established.
Members in attendance:  E. Murphy, R. Erricson, N. Scheiber, T. Stino, T. Santos, M. Chiappone
Members Absent:   M. Sheehan, J. Gregg
Staff:  R. McNamara (Director), T. Cieplik (Program Coordinator), E. Sullivan (Office Coordinator)
Other:  B. Kyne, L. Wolfley
Approval of Meeting Minutes:
Motion by R. Erricson and seconded by N. Scheiber to approve the March 25th, 2025 meeting minutes.
Vote:  6-0-0
Motion:  Approved
Public Comment:
Laura Wolfley, Waterford RISE, is looking to use the senior lounge to have a book discussion on One Book, One Region
which will be open to the public.  They would then like to follow up on the book series thru the summer.
Motion by M. Chiaponne and seconded by R. Erricson to approve the use of the senior lounge within working hours of
operations thru out the summer.
Vote:  6-0-0
Motion:  Approved
Correspondence:
Shaun Donahue submitted a complaint to have some type of safety measure taken for the speeding cars that are picking up
and dropping off at the friendship school especially on the senior services side and around the back of the building. Director
R. McNamara spoke with Traffic Officer Devine to have speed bumps installed on the side and the curb in the back of the
building. 
Staff Reports:  
Director - R. McNamara – All the courts (Town Hall Basketball and Leary Park Tennis/Pickleball and Basketball) are coming
along great. The Eagle Scout projects will take place in the summertime and are picnic tables and repair and replace bat
houses. Grooming and prepping ball fields for games and practices of the athletic fields with mowing and painting are in full
swing and the Robo painter is a great asset and getting the job done. An electrical trench was dug for the Utilities and
Emergency Services for electronic sign on Boston Post Road. FY26 Budget successful defense against BOS and BOF.
RTM early May for final budget review. Assistant Director position will be posted the week of 4/27. Aquatic operation review
and updates – Molly Podeszwa has been offered the Aquatics Director job. There will be new programming in FY26. There
will be a zoom meeting on 4/29 to discuss the CityData software for park usage and tracking. Budget forecasting looks
promising this year but will have a few transfers towards the end of the FY. Beach sticker sales online started on 4/1 and in
house sticker sales will be 5/1.
Beach opens on 5/24 weekends and holiday and 6/21 begins the full operations with
lifeguards. Athletic field rental discussion with Health & Recreation sub-committee of RTM – will be proposing a new revenue
stream for youth sport organization complex clean up. Developing bench and picnic table plan throughout the Civic Triangle,
Waterford Beach Park, and Leary to submit for use of Waterford’s alcohol nip revenue fund. Plans will be submitted to the
First Selectman for approval. There will be a ceremony at the War Park recognizing Memorial Day on Friday, May 23rd at 6
pm.
Project Coordinator:
T. Cieplik - Summer hires are underway and interviews will begin the week of April 28th.
There seemed to be less
applications this year. The BOE has informed us that Aquatics and Pool will be closed for a month beginning May 22nd for
about a month for annual maintenance and fixing a leak. The Easter Egg Hunt was a fantastic turnout with over 4,000 eggs
and prizes –the golden ticket idea for a special prize was well received. The August parade meetings have begun and
planning is in the works. Summer Concert series are lined up and we are focusing on sponsorships to target at 30K to cover
the costs.  T. Cieplik will email out the sponsorship packet to the commission members.
Committee Reports:

Personnel – Assistant Director position will be posted week of 4/27.
Youth Sports Council – Fields are getting ready for the spring season – T. Stino has offered to be the representative for the
Youth Sports Council in place of L. Beaney.
Page 2
Commission Meeting Minutes
April 22nd 2025
Long Range Planning – no update
Policies and Procedures – These are moving forward - R. McNamara, T. Santos and E. Murphy meet prior to the committee
meeting and go thru page by page and update the commissions policy and procedures.
Representative Reports:
Board of Education – No update
Board of Finance – B. Tuneski shared that R. McNamara did a great job with the organizational budget.
Historical Society – No update
O’Neill Theater – R. Philips has left and Emma Brown will be the new contact. T. Santos thought we should get a room to
meet for one of our meetings at the O’Neill.  
Senior Services – No Update
Adjournment:
Motion by R. Erricson and seconded by T. Stino to adjourn the meeting at 5:08 pm.
Vote:  6-0-0
Motion:  Approved
Respectfully submitted,
Eileen Sullivan
Recreation and Parks Commission