TEESWATER – South Bruce Council approved the hiring of Catherine Simpson as the new Manager of Recreation and Facilities effective May 12 of this year.
Simpson, who worked with the South Bruce Nuclear Exploration Team for over two years, takes over for Shawnette Crouse who left the municipality earlier this year.
Council approved Simpson’s hire by motion during its May 13 regular council meeting.
Past programming updates
South Bruce Recreation Programmer Amanda Watson said, in a report to council, that the municipalities’ LEGO Club finished on March 26 after extending the program due to weather cancellations. Six of the eight slots for the club were filled and the next session will be in Mildmay in the fall.
Watson also reported the March Break camp’s registration numbers were just below capacity, with 13 of 15 spots being claimed. Seventy-seven per cent of parents provided a survey regarding the program responded with 100% saying they would be participating again next year.
The municipality’s Movie and Activity Day programs, held during professional development days where students aren’t in school, has been met with mixed responses, Watson reported. One held during March Break brought out 20 participants, she said in her report, while one held last month had half as many. The last event scheduled for this school year is set for June 6 after which staff will evaluate whether the program’s continuation if feasible for the next school year.
The municipality’s senior spring social was a success according to Watson, with 50 attendees enjoying a complimentary lunch followed by card games and crokinole. The program is supported through a Senior’s Community Grant from the provincial government. Watson said the feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive” with numerous attendees saying they would like to see this event run annually if funding is aavailable.
“Attendees indicated they would be open to contributing a reasonable fee to cover costs, ensuring the tradition can carry on,” she said in her report.
Coun. Ron Schnurr asked if the program would be feasible without the grant money, and Watson said she believed it would be. She said, previously, the municipality was able to host a holiday senior social which included a meal that cost $25 per person. She said that dollar amount might be feasible, however it was for a full turkey dinner. Utilizing local caterers for a less extravagant meal could mean the events could be held with tickets costing less than that $25 mark.
“If we can hit under that, I think it would be reasonable for people to attend,” she said. “Hopefully, we would have the same numbers.”
Summer programming update
With the exception of the first week of summer camp, which is a part-week due to a holiday, the Municipality of South Bruce has less than five openings remaining in each other week of its summer camp program.
Watson reported that, through the Univerus recreation registration software, parents were able to easily register youth without waiting in line for hours at the municipal office on registration day.
Watson explained, when asked by council why the first week had 14 vacancies out of 30 spots, that it was a three-day program versus the five-day programs offered the rest of the summer. She hypothesized that parents may have decided to take time off work, or that youth may be involved in other vacation activities for that short week.
Watson said weeks two and five of the program are full, while weeks three, four, six, seven and eight all had less than five vacancies.
Coun. Mike McDonagh asked if the municipality was advertising those remaining spaces, and Watson said they were.
Watson was frustrated, however, that only 14 surveys were returned following registration. She said that 134 registrants were sent a survey to gauge the ease-of-use of the Univerus system.
Coun. Ron Schnurr asked Watson how she felt about it, with her saying she wasn’t satisfied.
“It would have been great to see more people respond to those surveys,” she said. “We did send it to registrants with the email they registered with.”
Watson noted this wasn’t like previous years where people had to line up to register where they had a more captive audience for surveys.
Deputy Mayor Nigel van Dyk pointed out this isn’t the first survey the recreation and facilities department had put out with poor uptake, and asked if there was anything the department was doing to remedy that.
Watson had explained, earlier in the evening, that there were more modules coming to the Univerus system that would make sending out surveys easier, but she mentioned that in-person survey options are always going to be great opportunities, and said that such options, such as sending surveys home with attendees to bring back the next day, might also present an opportunity for greater feedback.
Council received Watson’s report.
