Three Parks and Recreation Commission positions are on the ballot this year. Steve Gordon is running unopposed for a one-year term; and Anne McWaters, Steve Victorson, and Wyona Lynch-McWhite are competing for two three-year seats.
The Parks and Recreation Commission is made up of five members elected to staggered three-year terms. Patricia Nelson and Joseph Schmidt are current members of the board whose terms expire in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Anne McWaters is running for re-election, as her term expires this year.
A broad mandate
The Parks and Recreation Commission is responsible for overseeing and maintaining public green spaces and directing recreational activities in town. The commissioners directly manage the Hershey track program, a national clinic designed to introduce track and field competition to youths; the ski program; and the beach and pond programs. These programs are funded through revenue generated by registration fees and other usage fees, such as the sale of beach parking stickers, the rental of canoe and kayak storage, mooring and slip storage, boat launching fees, and field usage fees.
Parks and Rec is also responsible for managing the winter and summer recreational programs, hiring lifeguards and other safety personnel, and maintaining a schedule of events for the fields, the pond, the tennis courts, and the outdoor basketball courts.
This past year the commission funded a project to upgrade the Pond Road baseball field, had the Civil War Memorial professionally cleaned and restored, and initiated a major project to redesign the parking and boat ramp area at Bare Hill Pond.
Here are profiles of the three candidates who are competing for the two three-year seats on the commission.
Anne McWaters
Anne McWaters (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
“I bring an interesting perspective,” says Anne McWaters as she prepares to run for Parks and Recreation Commission. “I grew up here and it’s very important to me; this is a town that fostered my real love of recreation and athletics.”
McWaters has been on the Parks and Recreation Commission for three years, but while she was working with the Harvard Family Association, she went as a guest to the open meetings, as well. Her “many and varied” duties have included spreading wood chips underneath the playground equipment, stringing lights on the Christmas tree on the Common, picking up trash, and collecting and maintaining the public beach toys. She describes how Parks and Rec is in charge of many of the green spaces in town and scheduling and coordinating events on the fields, the pond, the tennis courts, the basketball courts, and the trails. “We even raise and lower the flag on the Common,” she says.
McWaters says running for Parks and Rec is a “natural fit.” She has been involved in athletics her whole life, is a registered dietician, and has worked with the men’s basketball teams at Duke University and University of Missouri on sports and nutrition. On the weekends she and her family go on hikes and use the pond, and “we just use so much of the recreational stuff, so it’s important that we give back,” she says. As a mother with two small children, “I’m going to the playground every day and can speak to the programs, like the swimming lessons.”
Passionate and full of ideas
McWaters is full of ideas about ways to tackle challenges and make improvements to Harvard’s green spaces. She says, “Maintenance needs to be a push, as there are a lot of things that start to show their wear,” citing the McCurdy Track’s need for resurfacing.
She also says the town needs to find more field space and continue to make improvements to the playing fields. “There is a just a constant time demand,” she says, to accommodate activities that take place on the fields, including all levels of youth soccer (with a newly added league for 4- to 5-year-olds), lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee, school sports, recreational leagues, out-of-town leagues, and events.
She would also like to see improvements to the beach playground and more parking for boat trailers, which is something Parks and Rec has been working on. McWaters says additional moorings and slips would classify the pond as a marina, which invites a new set of regulations. She says, “Boating is an awesome thing that we can offer, but the demand is definitely greater than what we have.”
“I am passionate about [Parks and Rec], because I really care and I want to work hard. It’s a privilege to come back [to Harvard] and offer the knowledge that I have,” says McWaters. “It’s a fun job—time consuming, but it’s worth it.”
Steve Victorson
Steve Victorson (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
“This is a chance for me to be involved in a town where I live and give something back to the community,” says Steve Victorson, owner of Swymfit in Boxborough. “I feel that if there is one person who has the background in sports and experience, I would be on that short list.”
Victorson is motivated to run for Parks and Rec because of his life-long commitment to athletics, recreation, and sports. “At college, I took every class in the P.E department…then made up my own,” he says. He taught at a private ski school in Tahoe for 15 years, worked as a conditioning coach for the U.S. ski team from 1987 to 1991, and earned his doctorate from Boston University in exercise science. He published a book, “The Champion’s Way,” and now runs Swymfit, where many town residents go to stay fit.
Working for Parks and Rec would be “another way to promote health fitness and sport activity,” says Victorson. “There is year-round opportunity here. This town has many assets, it’s open for so many activities, there are trails for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, hiking, walking and cycling.”
Maximizing use of town green spaces
One thing Victorson feels passionate about is maximizing the use of Harvard’s green spaces. “I look at promoting and encouraging kids to enjoy the environment, and keeping them away from electronic devices. It pains me when I drive by tennis courts and wonder, ‘Where are the kids?’” Victorson wants to throw some energy behind encouraging people to use the fields and the forest. “Maybe there are some nature hikes, or we can find a local professor to lead one.”
If elected to the commission, Victorson wants to address the rowing program. He wants to ensure that kids involved with the rowing program have access to the pond, while keeping in mind the needs of other beach-goers. “I would be very supportive of any program that keeps our kids active and involved in recreation and sport.” However, he acknowledges, “I am open to people’s points of view, but we have to look at the big picture, and figure out how we can maximize this use to make it a great place for our kids.”
He also believes in the importance of maintaining green spaces. “If something needs to be fixed, you don’t put it off,” he says, adding that delay of maintenance causes repairs to double and triple in price. “If the base structure is in place, then you can build programs on top of things. Taking care of the infrastructure, for safety and usage, keeps the future cost down.”
If elected to Parks and Rec, Victorson would “look forward to the challenge and the potential and creating more and more recreation opportunities and taking what we have and improving it.”
Wyona Lynch-McWhite
Wyona Lynch-McWhite (Courtesy photo)
“I have a willingness to do the work,” says Wyona Lynch-McWhite. “Towns that are dependent on volunteers need people to step up and do the work.”
Wyona Lynch-McWhite moved to Harvard a year and a half ago as the executive director of Fruitlands Museum. Her second day on the job aligned with Harvard’s annual fireworks, which had just been named by the Boston Globe as a “hidden gem,” drawing an unprecedented crowd. McWhite quickly realized “how much volunteer effort is needed to coordinate such an event.”
Her decision to run for Parks and Rec was inspired by the citizens of Harvard. After sitting in on the Master Planning sessions, McWhite was “amazed at what goes on in a small town.” Though she said she was in the learning phase while at the Master Plan sessions, she was “amazed at how much gets done and the complexities of what gets done” by volunteer effort.
She calls the volunteer spirit “part of the New England tradition, and when you get connected you want to do your part.” Volunteering for this position “is a testament to how convincing the people from Harvard are.” She says, “I heard Parks and Rec needed help, needed people to run, and I raised my hand.”
Stewards of public green spaces
She sees Parks and Recreation as “stewards of the public green spaces.” She says concerns regarding the use of the track, the beach, and the trails are not very different from concerns she has for the Fruitlands property. “We are stewards of the largest green space in Harvard, and I think we can be partners in interests.” McWhite says that she would love to have an open dialogue about how the 210 acres of Fruitlands can more closely partner with the town of Harvard.
“Fruitlands is a place of inspiration and education,” she says, “and recreation is part of that. There are areas where we can work together and room for opportunity to grow.”
“I may not know Harvard as well as I would like to, but I know the municipal side,” says McWhite. She has had her share of working in public spaces when she ran the art gallery at Purdue University in Indiana, as an art curator at the Columbus Museum in Georgia, and as chief curator at Hollins University’s Eleanor D. Wilson Museum in Virginia. She also reminisced about her two summers before college when she worked for the Parks and Rec office in Indianapolis.
“Everyone who has served [on Parks and Rec] was new at one point,” says McWhite. If elected she “would want to get my hands around the work of the committee and make a good contributing difference right away.”
“I think the most important thing is humor. I am serious about my work, but I don’t take myself seriously.” For McWhite, “What matters is that the position is filled, and the town benefits in a good way.”
