Parks panel OKs camp pay hikes, event fee waiver

Parks Commission · Meeting of July 9, 2026

MENDON — The Mendon Parks Commission voted to raise three summer camp counselors to senior status at $16 an hour and to waive fees for a town-sponsored mock Declaration of Independence signing event. Parks and Recreation Director Dan told members a shift to tap-to-pay credit card processing could push annual third-party fees to nearly $2,000, up from $1,200. He recalled an earlier dispute in which a processor, Paysafe, "had $130,000 locked up" in town funds.

The commission also weighed a roughly $30,000 security camera project requiring Select Board approval to exceed the town's $10,000 procurement cap, and discussed a possible $250 tournament fee for baseball and softball groups, who currently receive a 75 percent field-fee waiver tied to a $25,000 lighting donation. A planned "Tennis in the Park" program is unlikely to run after only six people signed up against a 14-person minimum.

In the full story:

• Meeting Opening and Administrative Backlog
• Promotion of Summer Camp Senior Counselors
• Summer Program Operations and Alternative Rain-Day Space
• Tennis and Pickleball Programming
• Payment Processing and Point-of-Sale Upgrade
• Capital Improvement Requests for FY27
• Mock Declaration of Independence Signing Event
• Fall Field Use and Lighting for Youth Football
• Generators, and Baseball/Softball Fee Waiver and Tournament Scheduling
• Next Meeting and Adjournment
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 3,193 words

Source: the Parks Commission meeting of July 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.