By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — It’s the second winter of having activities limited due to COVID-19, and everyone is going a little stir crazy.

Town officials have decided to open the gymnasium in the Casco Community Center to families, people living together or individuals. 

Just like signing up for computer time at the library, people will be required to preregister for 45-minute to one-hour long slots. In between uses, the gym will be cleaned.

The Casco Board of Selectmen on Tuesday gave the Casco Parks and Recreation Director Beth Latsey the green light to allow people to once again use the gym. 

“All people, not just kids, need a place where they can go to be active and not be out in the cold,” Latsey said. 

She already had a game plan.

“What I am looking at is small groups. A single person or a family can come in and throw the ball around and get some exercise,” she said, stressing that it would be strictly for single person use or for family members who live together.   

“We will take temperatures,” she said. 

There will be a sign up. Members of the public will be required to register for time slots that would be between 45 minutes and an hour. There would be time allotted for cleaning in between uses.

“There would be a 15-minute overlay so we can sanitize. I want to keep it safe. We want to make sure it is clean,” Latsey said.

The proposal is that the gym use would happen Tuesday through Friday, between 

9 a.m. to 4 p.m., she said. 

“Not inundated with weekend use. At the very most, one bathroom facility would be available. People would not wander around. They are going to come in one door and go out one door,” she said. 

“We need to start slow and safe and see where it goes,” Latsey said. 

Everyone has been patient about the closure of the community center’s gym during COVID-19, she said. However, residents have been asking: If municipal meetings can be held there, why can’t the gym be open to small groups of people who are related or live together? 

“The community as a whole has been extremely respectful about not being allowed in the center,” Latsey said.

With the exception of Election Day, the community center has been off limits to the public. So far, only board meetings have been held in the gym, which provides plenty of space for social distancing.

On Tuesday, when the agenda item was introduced, Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish advised against opening the gym to the public until such time the numbers of COVID cases go down. He said he would prefer the status quo because it is safer. 

Selectman Scott Avery said the benefits of physical exercise are great, and it could be done safely. 

“I think we are getting to a point, children are sitting at home and if they are doing remote learning, they are not doing anything (physical). Friends of mine who have younger kids — this is really taking a toll on the kids,” Avery said. 

“With small groups of people, I don’t think it is really an issue,” he said. 

Mary-Vienessa Fernandes agreed. 

“There are 10 of us here now, and we’ll be here for a few hours,” she said. 

“I can understand that people are getting stir crazy,” she said.

Fernades said, “I have the utmost faith” in the personnel in the recreation department to conduct the gym re-opening in the safest manner possible. 

Chairman Thomas Peaslee said he would prefer to error on the side of caution. However, he favored testing out the idea as long as there were some ground rules.  

“It would be nice to see some guidelines and protocol,” Peaslee said. 

Gerrish summed it up, saying, “Maybe, we try it for two weeks, and come back and report what happens — if the board wants to give it a try.”