Select Board Chairman Mark Gold said he hopes the meetings will help the board understand what each board's needs are.
LONGMEADOW - In the next several months the Select Board will be meeting with department heads and the chairmen of town boards to get a sense of what their needs are.
Select Board Chairman Mark P. Gold said he hopes the meetings will help the board understand what each board's functions, needs and goals are.
The board met recently with Parks and Recreation Department Director Bari Jarvis and Park Board Chairman James Brennan to discuss the needs of the town's parks and recreational facilities.
Brennan said one of the issues facing the department is the Town Charter's requirement that the Department of Public Works handle the maintenance for all of the department's fields, pools and facilities.
"In a perfect world, I would like to see the maintenance duties brought back to the parks department. The Department of Public Works has needs that are more pressing then some of our priority projects," he said. "When it is someone else who is doing the work, they are not going to necessarily go based on your priorities."
Jarvis said the problem is communication. She said Public Works Director Michael G. Wrabel does an excellent job of addressing the department's needs when he hears about them.
Select Board member Marie Angelides said she noticed a drop in the sale of pool passes this summer. She asked Jarvis if the drop had anything to do with maintenance issues.
Jarvis said that while initially she thought the economy lowered the sales, she now believes it has to do with the condition of the pools.
"I understand why people would be upset if they buy a pool pass and the pool is not open, or the baby pools are closed, or there is too much chlorine in the water, or not enough," she said. "We have lost a lot of people to private country clubs because of that."
Town Manager Robin C. Crosbie also said Wrabel has done a good job of improving all the fields.
"When the charter had the department take on the maintenance of all the fields they were in really bad shape," she said. "The department has worked very hard to bring them back and improve them."
Jarvis and Brennan said some of the goals of the department include looking at the open space plan for the town as well as the possibility of a dog park.