A Chilmark committee has released its report on management of the Chilmark Community Center, which has become a sore spot in the up-Island town in recent years.
The report, released on Feb. 13, recommends programming changes at the community center to better serve year-rounders, and lays out how the town could require changes for managers of the center’s summer activities.
The Chilmark Community Center moderator’s committee that created the report was charged with doing so by a vote at last year’s annual town meeting. Voters, including members of the local tennis community at that meeting, criticized the nonprofit Chilmark Town Affairs Council, which currently runs the center’s summer programming, for a lack of transparency and for ignoring their programming concerns.
The 142-page report recommends expanding year-round uses of the Chilmark Community Center, reflecting what authors say is a strong opinion of the community that the center should offer more for residents to do year-round.
These possible uses include afterschool, evening, and weekend programming, and gathering spaces for elders in collaboration with the Up-Island Council on Aging.
The committee also recommends physical changes to the center in order to move toward a Chilmark “campus” concept in the area, which includes the town library, Chilmark School, and Chilmark Preschool. These recommendations include providing public bathroom access in the campus area, and creating a walking path at Beetlebung Corner.
The report also recommends changes in the town’s relationship with the Town Affairs Council, which has run summer programming at the center since 1957. The council runs programs including a playschool and day camp, and activities such as tennis, lectures, and picnics.
The report leaves open the option for the town to open a bidding process to choose a different manager for its summer programs.
The report states that the town’s relationship with the council has been mutually beneficial for decades, but it also echoes many residents’ concerns that the council has been less responsive to input in recent years.
“Based on extensive information we received as a committee, it is evident that there is a divide in the CCC community, and that CTAC has been operating in a manner that contributed to the alienation of a portion of the community, including members, past board members, and a large number of adult tennis players,” the report states.
The report points out a number of issues with the council’s management, such as its failure to maintain three of its committees, including a summer programming committee and a governance committee meant to ensure compliance with council bylaws and address conflicts of interest. The council also handed treasurer responsibilities to its former board president, Suellen Lazarus, the report states.
Whether or not the town chooses to put out a request for proposals for a new manager to run summer programs next year and beyond, the committee wrote, any future partner should meet a list of requirements. These include that the partner be a nonprofit, that it have a grievance and complaint procedure for campers, members, and staff, and that it create a broad, diverse committee of parents and other volunteers.
It also recommends that any partner have a board of at least 13 members. The council’s board currently has seven.
The report also recommends changes to public Chilmark committees to oversee seasonal and year-round programs. These include changes to the Chilmark Community Center advisory committee (not to be confused with the moderator’s committee), which is responsible for the center in the off-season. The advisory committee also took over responsibility for shoulder-season programming at the town-owned tennis courts as of last year. The report recommends increasing that advisory committee’s membership, and that it take on a member from the town select board and other stakeholders, in order to better represent the town community.
“CCAC is uniquely situated to become better utilized as a focal point for communication, planning, and implementation of uses for the town campus,” the report states.
The report recommends that the town consider transferring oversight for shoulder-season tennis programs to a new Chilmark parks and recreation department.
The Chilmark select board received the report of the moderator’s committee at its Feb. 18 meeting, and will discuss its contents on March 4 at 5 pm.
The Times has reached out to the Chilmark Town Affairs Council for comment.
Sounds like a well thought out, mindful, and pragmatic answer to a relentlessly conflictual saga. Congrats to the Town for its solid, collaborative judgment and actual responsiveness to the legit concerns of Chilmark’s year-round community.
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