Tom Henihan
Express Staff
@SmokyRiverExprs
McLennan Recreation Board held its AGM at Ecole Providence on March 16 with twelve people in attendance.
There are a few changes and additions with the appointment of the new board, with Marie-Anne Jones continuing as President, Daniel Blais (Vice President) Maggie Gervais (Treasurer) and Rhonda Beggs (Secretary).
The directors are Armand Valiquette, Kayla McNeil, Carol Stenhouse, Margaret Jacob, Ashley Sherbanuk, Chantal Drouin, Krista Veitch, April Larocque, Sharlene Lambert and David Campbell.
The president’s report highlighting the fulfilled objectives and accomplishments of 2015 was certainly positive and encouraging regarding the direction and initiatives the board has taken recently.
Some of those 2015 initiatives were the organization of Family Day, the Biggest Loser weight loss program that is presently in progress and has 39 registered participants.
The Kicks for Kids Soccer Club had a greater than anticipated demand with approximately 70 kids last season with a tentative plan of keeping it going again this year.
The largest undertaking of 2015 was the opening of the McLennan Fitness Gym last fall, which now has over 50 members. The Rec Board acquired new equipment recently and the facility is now equipped to cater to all member’s diverse regimens.
Trucking in sand and upgrading the playground is complete. Looking to the future, a Facebook survey addressed to McLennan residents showed that there is a strong consensus for the creation of an outdoor multi-sports facility to replace the disused tennis courts by the W.H. Fish Arena.
One of the primary goals of 2016 is to mobilize in making the multi-sports park a reality and to instigate that plan a sub-committee, with the sole focus of establishing the park, will be created.
After an extremely busy year, in which the Rec Board members managed almost every aspect of programming such as 6-week Pond Hockey, 4-week Soccer, 8-week Running Club and 12-week Biggest Loser contest to name just a few of the undertakings and programs. Understandably, members of the board found the demands and pace of volunteering untenable.
In many instances the Rec Board was called upon to operate beyond its mandate with the members of the board overseeing and volunteering their time to maintain projects the Board was supposed to setup for others to take over and operate.
In order to clarify its role, the Recreation Board moved at the AGM to make a small change to the wording of its mandate, changing “Our mandate is to provide meaningful, safe and educational programs to our community…” to “Our mandate is to support meaningful, safe and educational programsto our community…” removing any ambiguity as to the board’s directive.