By Tim Schmidt Record Managing Editor The Warrenton Recreation Department is moving in a new direction and city officials have scheduled a meeting to discuss those changes. The city has eliminated the recreation department with the exception of one position and has reached an agreement with Gametime Tournaments to manage and oversee the athletic programs moving forward. A wide range of issues encountered in recent months led to the changes. Those included the departure of Recreation Director Dottie Phillips. Phillips took a medical leave of absence in April on the same day the games were scheduled to begin for the summer youth baseball and softball leagues. In her absence, city officials scrambled to recruit and hire more umpires and find and schedule teams for divisions that were short on opponents. The meeting on the recreation department changes will be Tuesday, July 8, at 6:30 p.m. It will be held in the council chambers at Warrenton City Hall, located at 200 West Booneslick Road. Representatives of Gametime Tournaments will be in attendance, city officials said. The meeting is open to the public. “The purpose is not so much to discuss again all the problems we had in the past,” said Terri Thorn, director of operations/finance officer. “We certainly realized we’ve had some, but this will allow participants to visit with Gametime and ask those representatives questions about what they see as the leagues move forward and to start to develop some positive communication.” Warrenton has turned over management of the athletic programs to Gametime Tournaments, a St. Charles County-based company. The company will handle hiring game officials, scheduling games and other details related to running the athletic programs. Signups for a fall youth soccer league are ongoing. A fall baseball and softball league is planned as well. On Tuesday, Warrenton aldermen finalized agreements with Gametime Tournaments on separate management and field use contracts. As part of the agreements, Gametime Tournaments will keep all of the registration fees, while paying the city $4,200 this year and $15,000 in 2015 to use the athletic complex. Last month, the city and Phillips reached an agreement on a severance package. Dyer confirmed the move, though he declined to release financial details of the agreement. Phillips had been employed with the city since December 2012. “We realized we weren’t going in the right direction,” Dyer told The Record. The city is in the process of hiring an employee who will be in charge of special events, a position that will focus on the non-athletic programs that previously had been handled by staff in the recreation department. City officials hope the changes in the recreation department lead to a more desirable experience for program participants in the future. Last month, the city agreed to refund half of the registration fee for participants in the summer tee-ball, softball and baseball leagues. The amount the city expected to refund was approximately $13,500. Earlier this year, participants in the Jr. Warriors basketball league received a full refund of their $45 registration fee. City officials expected to refund around $5,355. “We can scale back and get things under control,” Dyer said. “They (Gametime Tournaments) are experts in the field. We want to put a better product on the field.”City officials hope for a good turnout at next Tuesday’s meeting. “I am interested to see what comes out of that meeting,” Dyer said.
Public invited to learn about changes to rec department
