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Recreation and Parks budget level‑funded; department highlights grant‑funded youth programs and biennial goose management plan
Summary
The Parks Department presented a level FY26 budget and said programs remain largely grant‑funded, enabling free or reduced‑fee youth programming. Director Mary Raposa described new and returning programs, partnerships, geese management costs through US Department of Agriculture contractors and current staffing vacancies.
Mary Raposa, director of Recreation and Parks, told the City Council on May 21 that the department’s FY26 budget is level funded and that a biennial enhancement would continue funding a contracted geese‑management program.
Raposa described a portfolio of longstanding and new programs — summer food, Kennedy Summer Day, arts in the park, weekday rec center hours, the Ricketson Nature Center, and programming at the Ashley Community Center — and said more than half of programs are grant‑funded so they can be offered free or at low cost to youth. "Because of that, we're able to offer more than 50% of our programming for free to our youth and our residents," Raposa said.
She said the department recently received two grants to support a youth mentorship program and that past grant‑funded projects have included comic‑book development and a youth podcast program focused on vaping and smoking harms.
Councilors asked about the geese management program. Raposa explained that geese are a migratory, protected species and that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has authority to manage geese, contracting the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to perform field work. She described biennial egg addling and, in August, larger capture and removal actions as part of the USDA/Division program.
Councilors also asked about contractor details for portable toilets, playground cleaning, and other service lines. Raposa said the portable‑toilet contract is competitively quoted annually and that the playground cleaning contractor has a set schedule (about three times a week) and a per‑visit fee; detailed spending history was requested by councilors.
Raposa said the department has open positions — an Office Assistant 3 and an administrative coordinator (finance) — and that interviews were underway for candidates. She offered to meet with any councilors for detailed budget reviews.
Ending: The parks director invited individual follow‑ups and line‑by‑line reviews to answer councilors’ questions on vendor contracts and staffing.
