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Recreation director seeks part-time office manager, expanded summer programs and aquatics training in FY26 budget
Summary
Director Kevin Bailey presented a FY26 recreation budget request that adds a 0.5 FTE office manager, increases part‑time staffing and training funds, and highlights program expansions including field trips using a newly acquired 10-passenger van, adaptive swim lessons and an intramural middle-school program.
Kevin Bailey, Recreation Director, presented the department's FY26 operating request and described accomplishments and goals for program growth and accessibility.
Bailey said the department received a 10-passenger van with OPE (formerly OPER?) funding and that the van enabled more field trips and a redesigned summer park program with daily 10-person field-trip groups. He said partnership funding from the Tufts Community Fund will provide financial aid for summer park participants and that the Friends of Medford Recreation (a newly established 501(c)(3)) has raised roughly $5,000–$10,000 year-to-date to subsidize financial assistance across programs. Bailey said the department has distributed $2,410 in program financial aid so far and expects more funds from recent grants and in-kind donations.
On staffing and the budget, Bailey outlined a proposed FY26 increase from $607,787 to $641,373 (net increase $33,586) that includes fixed-cost growth, step increases, stipend and training costs for part-time employees and a new 0.5 FTE office manager under part-time employees. Bailey said he had hoped for a full-time office manager but the 0.5 position is intended immediately to handle intake, scheduling, invoice processing and basic administrative work so program staff can focus on program delivery—particularly therapeutic recreation. He said a recently resigned program manager had been a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and that the office manager would help free time for therapeutic programming by handling administrative tasks.
Bailey described aquatics priorities: he wants to offer free swim lessons at the Tufts Pool using nationally recognized water-safety curricula; he said Mary Judge, a local Water Safety Instructor trainer and Tufts-area swim coach, will run a WSI class the week of June 9 to certify staff. He said adaptive swim lessons and a sensory-friendly open swim at Tufts Pool have full enrollment and that therapeutic recreation collaborations with Malden and Somerville are underway to expand capacity.
Councilors asked about part-time staffing levels, training budgets for lifeguards and long-term electric costs for the hockey rink (the rink's compressor consumes significant electricity during some months). Councilor Scarpelli suggested exploring a solar canopy at the Hormel parking lot to offset rink electricity; Bailey said rink electricity is a major fixed cost and that part-time employees who staff pools and ponds are subsidized from program revenue and revolving funds. Councilors asked for clarification on program hours; Bailey said the summer park runs roughly 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. with optional extended coverage to 6 p.m. through an outside partner (SNL) or in-house staff if necessary.
Bailey said the department expects to fill the program manager vacancy and post the position promptly and that part-time employee budgets will be supplemented if needed from the recreation revolving account.
