News: March 2022

Adam Moore, the longtime DPW Buildings and Grounds employee who was extremely valuable to Recreation operations, put in his notice after several years.  In order to make sure that the transition with a new DPW employee would go as smoothly as possible, I provided our annual Buildings and Grounds spring planning document to the new director, Chris Kaufman, as soon as possible

Summer camp registrations were scheduled to open on March 6th, but the town manager requested that we delay the opening until they reviewed the fees and explored an increase in the cost of each program.  We will open 10 camps, collaborating with the Historical Society, the Marion Cross School teachers and staff and World Story Exchange.  Spring sports opened on time.

The ice rink – We hosted a final event on the ice rink this month, then began dismantling the rink.  We  asked volunteers to assist taking down the rink.  Unfortunately, the inconsistent weather made it difficult to plan, and we ended up taking advantage of the warmer days, working with the after school kids to remove boards, create a channel to direct the water towards the stormwater drain and store as much as we could.  Tony Daigle (SAU70 Facilities Director), his son and a few parents helped to flip the liner over, and our Hosers were able to fold the rink liner for removal by the DPW.   The brackets and boards remain in the ground until a ‘true thaw’, since I cannot use the after school kids to remove rebar from frozen ground.

Nordic at Night – we cancelled the final Nordic at Night, due to the presence of far too much ice, and not enough snowfall.

Youth Advisory Council (6th grade) – This program is going very well.  The 6th graders have planned a pizza party and field day; inviting RMS students to the latter.
Foraging – the Historical Society presentation given by Recreation and the Conservation Commission invited the participants to a series of follow-up field trips.  We will start these in April, during ramps season, and keep them going until summer camps begin.
Safe Zone training ended this month.  Norwich Recreation will serve on the Northeast group of Safe Zone facilitators, representing Norwich and the Upper Valley in the Vermont group.