Jennifer Savage speaks Tuesday evening at the Farmington selectmen meeting at the Municipal Building. The Chesterville resident was named director of Farmington Parks and Recreation Department. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

FARMINGTON — The Parks and Recreation Department has a new director, Jennifer “Jenn” Savage, of Chesterville, according to Town Manager Erica LaCroix.

Previously the assistant director, she succeeds Matthew “Matt” Foster who resigned in October to take a position with state Bureau of Parks and Lands.

At the selectmen meeting Tuesday evening, LaCroix also announced Michelle Dowd of Farmington was hired as the assistant director for the Parks and Recreation Department.

“She has a degree in sports fitness, she has spent a lot of years working with YMCA with their fitness and health program. She’s got a fantastic personality,” LaCroix said.

Dowd works for Wiles Remembrance Centers in Farmington and will start her new position no later than Jan. 27, LaCroix said.

Savage told selectmen she was looking forward to bringing something new to the director role.

“I just want to say thank you guys for letting me continue my journey here in the town of Farmington, whom I have enjoyed working for part time, full time for the last almost six years,” Savage said. “I am just really excited to continue to bring more culture and community to everyone here. I am looking forward to adding some new health and wellness and specifically socially and emotionally. I am very excited for this new opening.”

LaCroix said the interview panel included Selectman Matthew Smith, Public Works Director Phil Hutchins, resident Tyler Brown, a Skateboard Park Committee member and Regional School Unit 9 teacher, and Winslow Parks & Recreation Director Amanda McCaslin. LaCroix noted McCaslin contracted norovirus and did not attend the interviews.

In other business

Selectmen approved a rollover of $3,000 from the 2024 Parks & Recreation general repair and maintenance line to the 2025 budget to be used for the following:
• $600 to supplement the Peter Mills Trust Fund for Hippach Field funds to replace the bleachers at Hippach Field.
• $1,686 to replace the pingpong table at the Community Center.
• $714 to establish a Recreation Equipment Capital Reserves Account.

“Part of that is transparency,” Savage said. Purchasing the pingpong table is not really maintenance, she said.

“This one has a metal base, has a better structure,” she said. “We want one that’s going to have longevity.”

“They don’t give those pingpong tables away,” Selectman Dennis O’Neil said.

Savage said the pingpong table gets a lot of use during birthday rentals and after-school programs, by families and other groups.

Establishing an equipment reserve account would allow for replacement of larger items — such as the air hockey table — that make the Community Center a place for people to go without having to increase the budget, LaCroix said.

The Peter Mills Trust Fund for Hippach Field is short a little for replacing the bleachers, Savage said.

“We are moving away from the wooden structures that are splintering and not safe,” Savage said.

Selectmen also approved moving $1,000 from 2024 to 2025 for rekeying all doors at Parks & Recreation facilities, and the purchase of two lock boxes and 10 keys stamped “Do Not Duplicate.” Any money remaining will be used to establish a capital reserve account to fund security measures for the department.

A risk management assessment done at the Community Center identified access control as an issue, Savage said.

Eleven baseball teams use town fields, she said. “We want to keep things more secure and under wraps,” she said, and “make sure we are taking care of what we have.”

Having lock boxes and changing the codes would help decrease risk, Savage added.

“It’s something that we have to address everywhere and this is a good start,” O’Neil said.