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Commission has never been involved. There was a consensus by the Commission that it would be <br />nice to have a Commissioner with experience in both fields, but that financial and administrative <br />experience would be preferred, assuming there is a qualified second tier of program supervisors. <br /> <br />Mr. Gareau ended the discussion by stating he would bring up the questions of nepotism, the <br />“We Care Program” and the hiring of the Recreation Commissioner with Mr. Dubelko. Unless <br />we schedule a special meeting, we’ll bring this up again as old business at the next meeting. In <br />the meantime, Mr. Dubelko and I will draft a statement and get it to the Commission members <br />before the next meeting. <br /> <br />Claire Hayes then brought up the consultant contract issues with Betsy Drenski. Ms. Drenski <br />stated that we have instructors for programs, such as cartooning, horseback riding, and karate <br />hired from a one-page form contract. It’s been noted that they are all different, i.e., the <br />cartooning consultant gets paid on a percentage, the horseback riding consultant gets paid on the <br />number of students, the karate consultant gets paid hourly. It’s a concern that if we’re calling <br />them a “contract” they should pass Council. We’re basically creating a purchase order off these <br />contracts in order to pay them. The questions are: how are these based; who is making the <br />determination on the fees; and is there a better way to make them more uniform? One of the <br />problems, e.g., is that the horseback riding consultant, being paid on the number of students, is <br />getting his fee before students were being refunded for dropping out of the course. Betsy said <br />that the question of consultant contract issues has been presented to the Law Department. Mr. <br />Gareau asked the number of contracts issued at this time, to be told that there are quite a few. <br />There is an entire drawer of consultant contracts. Two with major issues are the Music Man and <br />Horseback Riding. The concern is that because there are so many contracts, do they all need <br />Council approval, e.g., the Santa for the Santa Skate is employed one day a year. There should <br />be a dollar limit, say up to $500, on contracts or appropriation line items that can be approved by <br />the Recreation Commissioner without Council’s approval, so that Council is not bogged down <br />with numbers of contracts. Mr. Gareau reiterated that uniformity in the contract issues is key and <br />that liability issues should be on the table for discussion. Another aspect we should be looking at <br />would be attracting independent contractors to compete for consultant contracts. Ms. Hayes <br />asked if the independent contractors are required to have background checks. This was unknown. <br />Mr. Brooks asked if there was a sample contract available. Mr. Gareau suggested that he would <br />make this available otherwise. Ms. Hayes was asked, as example, about the contracts at the <br />School Board, who indicated that some were paid hourly and others on a percentage basis, with <br />the contracts being approved by the School Board. <br /> <br />SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT <br /> <br />None. <br /> <br />OLD BUSINESS <br /> <br />The construction work at the park has been set back, but the horseshoe pits are done, and the <br />fence was installed. Tennis courts and basketball courts have been set back. The fencing has <br />been torn down around the old tennis courts, and the courts have been torn up. Mr. Gareau said <br />that there have been cutbacks to the Recreation Department, particularly the swimming pool <br />bleachers. He recommended to Todd to put in for the bleachers as soon as possible; this was put <br />Page 3 <br /> <br />