Village youth summer program still on ice

Any chance the Village of Fredonia restarts its own youth summer recreation program is on hold, at least for now.

The Village Board last week determined the most logical step would be to seek a partnership with the City of Port Washington’s program.

The board last year asked Village Administrator Christophe Jenkins to investigate bringing back the village’s program.

The last time Fredonia had its own program was in 2022 when it was designed to provide constructive, supervised outdoor activities for children and served as a companion to the Northern Ozaukee School District’s half-day summer school program. But it suffered from staffing problems when the village didn’t have enough people to supervise it.

That led to complaints from parents who told officials at a Parks and Recreation Committee that the program was plagued by disorganization and children were being bullied because of a lack of supervision.

In 2023, the village advertised to find someone to run it, even paying $20 to $25 per hour, but couldn’t find a qualified applicant.

Jenkins last week told the board that bringing the program back would be difficult. The village would have to determine if the position would be part time for summer or full time and include working for the Department of Public Works the rest of the year. It would require paying salary and benefits, insurance coverage, supplies for the activities and for field trips.

“So very quickly that number added up to like a $100,000 commitment for us to do our own rec program. And sure, we’d love to say we could cover this cost with registration fees, but I don’t know if that’s realistic, either,” he said.

The board agreed.

“It’s not viable,” Trustee Rich Abegglen said.

Jenkins said he asked neighboring municipalities how they handle summer rec programs and found none run their own programs by themselves.

Saukville partners with Port to offer village residents the Port resident rate and pays to make up the difference in cost, an idea “I thought was kind of cool,” Jenkins said.

“I don’t know if Port Washington would be willing to extend that program.”

Trustee Jessica Franck said Fredonia is too small to run its own program and supported contacting Port to seek a partnership.

Trustee Natalie Eippert said even a reduced pool pass would be nice.

Jenkins agreed to look into the possible partnership.