New recreation director has an abundance of experience
Cynthia Brunelle has been working in recreation in some capacity since she was 15. Her newest position is the director of recreation, tourism, culture, and community life for the Town of Brome Lake. She took over on July 3 following Johanne Morin’s retirement after 27 years.
“It’s all new,” she said in an interview in her office at the community centre. “I still need to learn a lot about this job.”
The 29-year-old Cowansville native became a swimming teacher and a lifeguard when she was 15. By age 19 she was an aquatic center staff coordinator. Brunelle then studied kinesiology — the science of the mechanics of body movement — at the University of Sherbrooke. After graduation she moved to Alberta where she worked in physical re-adaptation with people who had been injured. But after four months, she said, “I decided it was not for me.” Aside from being away from her family, she said, the work was not always in a happy environment. “People didn’t always want to get help.”
Brunelle returned to the Eastern Townships and became the coordinator of recreation and community life in Sutton. It was along the same lines as what she’s doing in TBL, she said, but on a smaller scale.
She now has eight people working under her and the department has been transferred to the town. It was formerly a non-profit organization. Moving the department to the town, she said, is a good thing.
“The town will do the paperwork and the volunteers will do the fun stuff.”
Residents will not see any changes because of the transfer, she said. “Activities will be as they have been.
Brunelle and her crew coordinate activities for TBL residents. “We meet as a team to exchange ideas,” she said, and decide if they should make changes or not.
Brunelle is easing into the position. Her immediate priority is to merge smoothly into the town “to make sure nothing is lost in the transition.”
For the long term, Brunelle plans to meet with the public and get a feel for the vision of the town council.
“I’m still getting information,” she said. “It’s hard to say now.”
Two issues she doesn’t have to worry about are the upkeep on the town’s many public parks, which is handled by the public works department, and the finances, the concern of the town treasurer. Brunelle had nothing to say about the former proposal of installing a pool at the community centre, but she said she’s not sure whether the issue is completely dead.
“People work hard to work together,” she said. They have so many ideas, and they put a lot of energy behind those ideas.”