Interview Audio
Interview Transcript
McAuliffe Interview:
This is Jean McMillen interviewing Lisa McAuliffe, Recreation Director for the Town of Salisbury. The time is 9:00. The date is Nov. 28, 2012. This is file 36.
JM:Lisa, may I have your full name?
LM:Lisa Colette McAuliffe.
JM:Your birthdate please.
LM:2/20/1970
JM:Birth place
LM:Quincy, Massachusetts
JM:Your parents’ names
LM:Ann and David.
JM:Do you have any siblings?
LM:Yes, one brother Russell.
JM:What is your educational background?
LM:I graduated from Hull High School in 1988 and Springfield College in 1992 with a degree in Physical Education, a PE degree / Bachelor of Science.
JM:How did you come to this area, and I want the long story.
LM:Camp Sloane brought me to the area in 1992. I was coaching field hockey and one of my player’s dads was on the Board of Directors. He asked me to come to Camp Sloane for a summer job as the Girls Athletic Director which then turned into a full time job as the Assistant Director of Education and Training under Mike Beck. (See Mike Beck #138A)
JM:How did you get this job, and again I want the long story.
LM:We go back to 1998 and the volunteer ambulance. In 1998 I had to take EMT classes for part of my job at Camp Sloane which turned into a part time job at Sharon Hospital in the Emergency Room. Then in 2001 life got a little crazy at camp and I decided to leave the camping world and ended up at Sharon Hospital in the Emergency Room full time and going to nursing school; then Jackie Rice (See Jackie Rice, File #40) approached me about the Recreation Director job in Salisbury. She knew that Art Wilkinson was retiring. I applied for that job and took that in July of 2005.
JM:Well done, you had all the right answers! What do you actually do? What are your responsibilities?
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LM:Basically I am responsible for all recreation programs within the town of Salisbury. I work with other recreation directors throughout the region; we plan senior activities, family activities. What takes the bulk of my time are youth sports in town: soccer, baseball, basketball. I am also responsible for maintaining all of the recreation areas in town and organizing fun in recreation for everyone.
JM:Do you have one venue or several?
LM:Several, the town Grove in the summer where I run swim lessons, kayaking, and sailing lessons, swim team and several other activities. In the winter we offer public skating and we also offer year round public swim at Hotchkiss, so I spend quite a bit of time at the Hotchkiss pool. Then I spend a lot of time in my office because all of this requires a lot of paperwork. Finally I work throughout the athletic fields in town and the school.
JM:Where are the athletic fields in town?
LM:There are athletic fields at Trotta Field on Salmon Kill Road in Salisbury; there is community Field in the center of Lakeville by the Patco Station; then there are the fields at Salisbury Central School, their recreation fields by the Upper Building.
JM:What about new programs?
LM:Since I came to the job, I have created a few new programs; the paddle tennis program is new since 2005 when those courts were built. We offer some adult programs such as sailing and kayaking lessons; we also offer a doubles basketball. We have expanded our baseball program and had a new field built in 2010. We also started a regional youth La Crosse program for both boys and girls in grades one through eight which is a great thing as it is a nice connection with both private schools: Salisbury School and Hotchkiss School. We also offer an adult water aerobics class in conjunction with the Hotchkiss School.
JM:Soccer or field hockey?
LM:I coach field hockey at the high school, but that is not part of my recreation job, but youth soccer is. That is a huge part of my job as we have over 150 children participate every fall.
JM:Just to clarify the Salisbury Central ski program is run by SWASA.
LM:Yes.
JM:How about the Youth hockey, is that also run by you?
LM:Salisbury Youth Hockey is its own organization, and they run who ever skates through.
JM:Tell me about the Recreation Committee. How many members are on it and what do they do?
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LM:The Recreation Commission is made up of 7 members; currently there is one member who is appointed by the Board of Education, the other 6 are appointed by the first Selectman. Lou Bucceri is currently the Chairman, Pat Kelly is the Treasurer, Kim Sinclair is the vice Chair, Rick DelPrete is on the board, Jennifer Weigle is the board’s education representative, and Becky LaChaine is the Secretary. The commission meets once a month at the Town Hall and we discuss what is going on each month and talk about developing new programs and any issues that may has arisen since the last meeting. They supervise me.
JM:Is the relationship a good one?
LM:Oh it is excellent.
JM:What are some of the future programs or plans that are in the thinking stage?
LM:Long term the dream I have would be to have a centered community recreation area. Right now everything is kind of spread out; the Town Grove has the swimming, fishing, kayaking and everything associated with the lake, then we have baseball fields and soccer fields spread out in different locations through the town. I would love to be able to find enough land where we could essentially have all the soccer fields, the tennis courts (together). What I would really like to do is to have a walking track that would surround that whole area. So that the soccer moms instead of having to sit and watch soccer practice and have nothing to do could actually exercise while their kids are participating in soccer, or baseball or whatever the activity was that day.
JM:Have we covered your job fairly well?
LM:I think so.
JM:What civic activities do you do outside of your job?
LM:I am the field hockey coach at the Housatonic Valley Regional High School, and I am also a volunteer EMT with Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service.
JM:Do you have any spare time?
LM:NO! You know the old saying: if you want something done, find a busy person.
JM:Do you have anything that you would like to add to this interview about the community, or things that mean a lot to you?
LM:Actually my family means a lot to me; my husband Paul and I met at Camp Sloane. He is from Australia. My two boys Jack and Colin are great and make life interesting and fun. We just enjoy being here. Paul and I did buy a house in Salisbury because of the sense of community and that is really important to me about the town of Salisbury. We have fantastic neighbors. It is a community that is
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there to support each other. It is safe and we have wonderful schools so it is a great place to raise a family.
JM:It is a win-win situation.
LM:Absolutely.
JM:Thank you Lisa very, very much.
LM:You’re welcome.
