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Wayne work session probes governance, oversight and insurance for Ladd Recreation Center
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Summary
Select board and Ladd Recreation Center (LRC) board members debated whether the center should operate as a town department, an independent nonprofit or a hybrid operating arrangement; the session produced requests for clearer ordinance language, legal review, and clarification of insurance and supervisory roles.
Henry Stack, a member of the Town of Wayne Select Board, opened a 6:30 p.m. work session with the Ladd Recreation Center board and the town manager to review a draft ordinance aimed at defining the relationship between the town and the center.
Stack pressed the group to be explicit in the ordinance about whether LRC programs are a town department, an independent organization, or a hybrid arrangement. He said, "If the town is liable for this, it's run through the town," and asked that the draft clarify who hires and supervises the director and whether the town manager exercises the supervisory authority required under a town-department label.
Eric Stineford, chair of the LRC board, told the meeting the board has discussed three options and "doesn't think it makes sense to pursue independent incorporation" because incorporation would add cost and administrative overhead. He said the draft ordinance was written to reflect advice from town counsel and to document the operating arrangement the board prefers.
Board members and town staff debated the meaning of several draft provisions. Henry Stack urged replacing or qualifying words such as "approve" with "recommend" where the ordinance describes the board's role on budgets, maintenance and capital improvements. Stineford said the intent is that the board develops program policy and recommends budgets and projects while a town employee (the director) implements them.
Town manager Shannon McDonald raised practical management and risk issues tied to the employment status of LRC staff. McDonald said LRC employees are on the town payroll and that routine employment costs (unemployment, workers' compensation) have been billed through town systems; she flagged uncertainty about whether existing municipal insurance covers all LRC activities and said Maine Municipal Association risk staff had described coverage as "kinda fuzzy" for some programs.
Participants discussed liability and the need to identify who is the named insured on the LRC insurance policy and whether the town should be named an additional insured. Stack said that because the town owns the building and has historically paid for some operating costs, those matters affect whether the arrangement can be presented to town meeting as acceptable.
The meeting did not produce formal action. Attendees agreed the ordinance text should be clarified to: define the relationship between the town and the LRC programs; state explicitly what the LRC board may recommend versus what the town approves; document fiscal-agent arrangements; and address insurance and personnel policy questions. The board agreed to make wording changes and to send the revised draft and explanatory material to municipal attorneys or the Maine Municipal Association for legal review before the select board considers a warrant article for town meeting.
The next procedural step is the LRC board's regular meeting the following Monday at 6:30 p.m., where board members planned to review proposed edits and then return a draft to the select board for lawyer review.
