Successful Summer Rec Program Leads To Restructuring, Potential Expansion

BREWSTER – For recreation director Mike Gradone, the vision for a summer recreation program at the Sea Camps properties started the moment the purchase was approved at town meeting. Now, after a successful first year, town officials are hoping to expand the program, while also continuing to offer residents access to the property’s amenities. 

At the Dec. 15 select board meeting, Gradone and assistant recreation director Andy Havens spoke about the success of the first municipal-run summer recreation program, including expansion options for next summer. Officials also went over statistics and revenues of the community pool, now in its third year, and indicated that they will continue next year’s pool openings and fees in a similar fashion. 

“As we all know, the…Sea Camps summer camp set a great foundation for us, and we wanted to see if our summer rec program would succeed,” said Havens. “And of course it did. We received strong feedback from our parents and children indicating the program and location met a clear community need.”

This past year, the recreation department offered a morning session and an afternoon session. According to Havens, around 250 kids participated in the morning session while just under 100 kids stayed as part of the afternoon session. The partnership with Food4Kids provided 120 free lunches per day for kids who were not able to come with their own. 

Havens said while access to amenities like the fields, basketball courts, pool, cabins, amphitheater, beach and the dining hall made it easier to allow diverse programming, staff was stretched thin. 

For the upcoming summer, Havens and Gradone proposed segmenting the kids by age with experienced division heads. The divisions would be split between pre-kindergarten and kindergarten ages, elementary ages and sixth- and seventh-graders. They also proposed hiring a summer recreation director to oversee all division heads and camp operations. 

Support staff will alleviate the load on the recreation department during the summer. They proposed compensating them using the recreation department revolving fund. Gradone noted the plethora of other programming that they are running simultaneously to the summer recreation program, including events and other programs for all ages. 

The middle school division, once it is segmented out, will benefit from more opportunities to experience field trips, off-campus activities and community service projects. The recreation department proposed a $200 increase in fees for full-summer participants to cover the costs of increased transportation fees, estimated to be around $5,000. That means fees for the half day are proposed at $625, fees for the full day are proposed at $1,025 and fees for a full day for only half of the summer will increase by $100, putting the total at $325. The afternoon session will stay the same at $400. 

For the other two segments, fees will stay the same as last summer’s.

Havens said that providing dedicated staffing for each age range will allow for more pool programming as there will be more staff to oversee the kids in the pool. This will not affect public pool hours, Havens noted. They will be doubling up the amount of kids allowed in the pool during their already slotted times. 

Gradone presented findings from the third year of the community pool, noting few changes for the upcoming season. There will be no changes to the schedule which has the pool open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, aside from Wednesday mornings. The season will continue from June 13 to Aug. 16, with the possibility of an extension through the end of August. They will also continue private rentals on Friday and Saturday nights. 

Fees will stay the same for residents who want to use the pool as well. The only change proposed was an addition of lifeguards that could work at both the pool and the pond. 

As staff begins to develop the programming for summer recreation, Havens said they are taking into consideration the role of a part-time nurse onsite, as well as what the location lacks. This includes air conditioning, indoor gym space, a functional cafeteria and a playground for elementary-aged kids. 

“So just to summarize,” said select board Chair Mary Chaffee, “you moved a complicated program to the Sea Camps, you expanded that complicated program, hundreds of children had safe, supervised fun all summer, neither of you quit and there was no impact on the Brewster taxpayer.”

“I think that’s a pretty good summary,” responded Gradone. 

Amanda Bebrin, vice-chair of the select board, noted how incredible it is to see kids walking and biking to the fields on the newly installed Millstone Road sidewalk and crosswalk across Route 6A. Gradone said they had to get another bike rack installed for the amount of bikes, including those of the counselors and youth leaders. 

They also spoke about making the program resident-only, due to the volume of kids who signed up. This past year, participation from residents was so high they weren’t able to open the program up to nonresidents.