JAY — The Recreation Committee would like selectpersons to give additional guidance on its charge to develop a plan for recreational areas and how much money it will have, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said Monday.
The committee met July 21 with two selectpersons and LaFreniere attending.
Selectpersons had asked the committee to develop a plan for the recreation areas when they entered into a 40-year lease for the French Falls Recreation Area from Androscoggin Land Trust.
The committee would like to know if selectpersons want it to focus on certain areas or to look at all town property and to look at collaboration with Regional School Unit 73, LaFreniere said.
Other questions the committee has are if it should focus on improving or maintaining the current property/facilities or look at new options. The committee also wants to know if the board has specific ideas, projects, or goals and if there are priorities they should focus on, she said.
The committee would like maps and plans or other informational material available on the recreation sites, Selectperson Terry Bergeron said.
LaFreniere asked if the board wants the committee to look at all the areas, including the East Jay gravel pit area.
“This is a group that is going to have some really good ideas but they just need to know how broad the board wants them to go,” she said.
The board will decide at its Aug. 10 meeting about the goals for the committee and the budget.
The town has a tower reserve fund of $100,000 dedicated to recreation. The fund includes money from a timber harvest of the recreation land and monthly lease money from a cell tower company.
One of the issues mentioned at the meeting was the committee would like to have an area like Kineowatha Park in Wilton, Selectperson Tom Goding said. The park was not always like what it is today, he said. Jay can work toward that goal as Wilton did, he said.
He would also like to see a gazebo at French Falls.
Selectperson Steve McCourt said another idea he heard is tennis courts. The courts owned by the school district are in disrepair.
“It is a good committee. They have some good ideas,” Bergeron said.
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