The Meridian Service Metropolitan District held its monthly meeting June 4. Increased summer use of the recreation center and the upcoming opening of Londonderry Drive were discussed.The district extended the hours of the snack bar and is looking at a new before-and-after-school child care program for Meridian Ranch Elementary students, said Marti Wallner, senior director of the Meridian Ranch Recreation Center. ìWe had tons and tons of requests for this,î Wallner said. ìWhy will we be different from Champions? Because when the school closes, theyíre closed. If the school closes, then weíll be open and it will move to all-day care.îNegotiations with school district transportation officials need to be completed before center staff finish the child care permitting process, she said.Recreation center usage has continued to increase, Wallner said. ìOur swim classes are filling up, and our group exercise has grown 140 percent since last year,î Wallner said. Total admission to the center increased 30 percent compared to last year.Board member Larry Rodgers asked the district to discuss wear and tear of unpaid guests usage on the facility. ìWhen I looked at the differential between guests signed in by residents versus paid guests, I was struck by the number with no offsetting income,î Rodgers said.Decreasing the number of unpaid guests allowed per visit has helped make sure unpaid guests donít overwhelm resources, Wallner said. Communicating and enforcing the new policy has been a challenge. ìMonday, we had a nice young lady who was age 14 or 15 sign in two or three friends and then come back up an hour later and sign in two more,î Wallner said. ìWe talked with her about our core value of honesty, and the next time their friends decided to split the costs evenly among all of them.î About 10 percent of the total attendance to the center are guests, Wallner said.Summer weather and the outdoor pool have brought more young people to the center, with some of the behavior issues that reappear each year. ìWe want to be known as a safe and welcoming place,î Wallner said. ìBut we have teenagers doing teenage things. We enforce what we need to and have them call their parents. Ninety percent of the time that stops that behavior.îFinal arrangements for Falcon Freedom Days were discussed. ìWeíre continuing to seek donations and book everything for the event,î Hunker said. ìItís going to be a fun event with lots of stuff for families to do and look at.îìLondonderry will be open by Aug. 1 for the beginning of school,î Hunker said. The road connecting Meridian Road to Eastonville Road had been left unfinished until more homes were built at the east end of the development. The Stonebridge neighborhood is adding enough units to meet that goal.The next district meeting is July 2 at 10 a.m. at the Meridian Ranch Recreation Center community room.
