Great Bend Recreation Commission Monthly Board Meeting
Date: 1/12/26
Old Business Items:
Reports
ENRICHMENT REPORTS- Garet Fitzpatrick, Enrichment /Activity Center Director
The following is a list of enrichment classes that were held during the month of December:
Pre-School: Little Elf Workshop
Family: Imagination Playground and Mom & Me Christmas Gift
Elementary: Santa Elves, Deck the Halls, Mrs. Claus’ Kitchen, and Holly Jolly Canvas
Adult: Christmas Jam & Butters, Christmas Craft, and Canvas for Christmas
Our annual Facebook My Christmas Tree contest was held during December. This year we had 36 photos entered. The three randomly picked winners received a Ferrero Rocher chocolate candy Christmas Tree and a $20 Starbucks Gift Card.
The 29th Annual Santa’s Workshop was held on Monday, December 8th, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. I would say it was another successful event with great weather and a tremendous crowd. A couple of new things this year were a live Reindeer we brought in from Towanda, Kansas and we had the StoneLion Puppets from Kansas City come in and do a roaming puppet program. We ordered 700 sugar cookies for the event, and this is the first time I can remember that we ran out of cookies. Great Bend High School students were on hand to help with the activities we had for the children to do, and this event wouldn’t be possible without them. I’d like to thank the entire Rec staff for helping with this event once again. I couldn’t offer this program without them. On a side note, we ended up with 188 letters to Santa deposited in Santa’s Mailbox during Santa’s Workshop.
December was a busy month with planning the Winter / Spring Activity Guide, Santa’s
Workshop and helping Chris with the golf course project.
Our exciting programs for the Winter & Spring will start up the last week of January.
The after-school programs will begin the first week of February.
ENRICHMENT REPORTS: Enrichment, Aquatic, Marketing Director-Megan Hammeke:
December Adaptive Activities:
12/2-12/16 – SN Bowling. Bowling met 3 times and had 90 participate in the weekly bowling program. We had a small Christmas celebration with the bowling participants on December 16th.
12/11 – Easy Cooking – Christmas Cookie Decorating. We had 16 enrolled in our monthly cooking class.
12/17 – Holiday Ornament. We had 22 enrolled in this holiday craft class.
12/19 – SN Christmas Dance. We had 68 participants in our annual Christmas dance.
December 50 Plus Activities:
12/16 – Coffee & Craft – Christmas Joy. We had 4 enrolled in this holiday craft class.
12/18 – Senior Center Christmas Dinner & Open House. We arranged for the GBMS Woman in Harmony and Music in Motion to perform as the afternoon entertainment.
January Adaptive & 50 Plus Activities:
1/6-1/27 – SN Bowling.
No other Adaptive or 50 Plus Activities take place in the month of January while we prepare for Spring Programs that begin in February. Spring Enrollment kicks off January 12th.
December Activities:
12/1-12/29 – Fit for Life exercise Class met 11 times and had 254 participants.
12/1-12/18 – Midday Stretch met 12 times and had 159 participants.
12/1-12/22 – Yoga met 6 times and had 36 participants.
12/1-12/22 – Cardio Blast met 6 times and had 28 participants.
12/1-12/18– Gentle Yoga met 6 times and had 64 participants in the 3pm class and met 6 times and had 52 participants in the 6:30 pm class.
12/1-12/17 – Chair Yoga met 6 times and had 110 participants.
12/1-12/17 – AM HIIT Suspension Training met 6 times and had 49 participants.
12/2-12/18 – Sunrise Yoga met 6 times and had 29 participants.
12/2-12/18 – Tai Chi Intermediate met 6 times and had 26 participants.
12/4-12/18 – Tai Chi Beginners met 3 times and had 12 participants.
12/1-12/17 – Rhythm Ride (PM) met 6 times and had 29 participants.
12/1-12/17 - Spin Strength Stretch met 6 times and had 20 participants.
12/2-12/18 – Rhythm Ride (AM) met 6 times and had 41 participants.
January Activities:
The last session of Fall Fitness classes began the week of December 6th. We took a break from all classes during the holiday break. A special January session will kick off the week of January 5th for those wanting to start 2026 with a Fitness resolution.
Spring Fitness classes will begin the week of February 2nd.
December Activities:
The last session of Fall Fitness classes began the week of December 1st. We will take a break from all classes during the holiday break. A special January session will kick off the week of January 5th.
SPORTS REPORT-Shane Sandberg- Sports Director:
The holidays are over and adult volleyball, adult soccer, and youth indoor soccer have started back up.
There are 7 teams in the adult soccer league, and 4 teams still have a chance at the top seed in the postseason tournament with 1 week to go in the regular season. The playoffs start Thursday 1/15. We also have 2 high school boys teams playing in a league of their own and so far, the teams are tied at 2 – 2.
Youth indoor soccer will play postseason games on January 17th and 18th in the
auditorium. Despite having a lot of new staff, we have had a smooth operating regular season.
Fall session 2 of adult volleyball wraps up on the week of January 12th. We are going to crown new champions in 4 of the 5 leagues.
We will be hosting our first youth travel basketball tournament of the year on January 17th and 18th in coordination with KS Roots Basketball. The HS PAC is unavailable so we will be using both gyms at GBMS, our activity center gym, and both gyms at Ellinwood HS. Ellinwood was kind enough to let us use their gyms at no cost since we were able to help them out last year and let them use the Great Bend Sports Complex when their high school fields were not playable due to rain.
Youth basketball registration ended on 1/11. Coach’s meetings will happen in the last week of January and practice starts on February 2nd. We have no new rule updates for youth basketball this season.
Esports drop-in hours will be back in February. Each Tuesday and Thursday in February we will have Nintendo Switch and PS5 games for kids to play after school until 5pm.
Attendance Report- Joe Henry, Business Director:
In the month of December, there were 2,860 people enrolled in programs sponsored by the Recreation Commission. Total participation for the month was 12,919 and of that total, 5,482 were spectators. For the month, a total of 1,317 hours of supervised activities were offered.
Last year there were 2,851 people enrolled in programs with total participation of 12,407 of which 4,680 were spectators.
NEW BUSINESS: Chris Umphres, Executive Director
1. Election of Officers: Action Item
In accordance with the Great Bend Recreation Commission’s By-Laws; the Commission shall annually elect officers at their January board meeting.
The term of these positions are for one year in length commencing on January 12, 2026 until their respective successor have been duly elected and qualified in 2027.
The nominating positions are: Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and Secretary. A motion should be made to appoint the appropriate officers for the calendar year of 2026.
2. Annual Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form: Information Item
As an annual process for our internal audit procedures, the Recreation Commission Board Members should review the Conflict of Interest Statement and agree to comply fully with its terms and conditions during service as a member of the Great Bend Recreation Commission Board.
Enclosed documents: Acknowledgement and Disclosure Forms for Related Party Questionnaire and Conflict of Interest Document
3. Board Meeting Calendar: Information Item
4. GBRC Foundation Partnership: Action Item
The GBRC Foundation is set up to receive private funds for community recreation needs. At this time the GBRC Foundation is concentrating on the community golf course project. There will be times that the Foundation will need to act on certain phases of the golf course project. Timing of these decisions may be before or after GBRC Commission meetings. Ultimately the approval will still need to be brought to Commission meetings throughout the golf course project. I would like to at least get approval to
have the GBRC Foundation make some decisions using private money on the Commissions behalf and then brought before the board.
Other Business:
Adjournment