December 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 16

Front Page

Briefly Noted
and studies, from navigational infrastructure to stream revitalization,
at federal, state and local levels. For
more details on this legislation, visit
www.parksandrecreation.org/2013/
July/Water-Resources-Develop
ment-Act-Providing-Opportunitiesfor-Parks-and-Recreation.

Sharon Prete

Clement Lemire

Q The park and recreation community celebrates the lives of two individuals who dedicated themselves
to the field and made immeasurable
impacts on its development. Sharon
Prete, longtime park and recreation
director for the City of Round Rock,
Texas, from 1980 until her retirement
in 2005, passed away on September
11 at age 70. Throughout her career,
Prete served in leadership positions
with organizations such as the Texas
Municipal League, Texas Amateur
Athletic Foundation and Texas Recreation and Park Society. She was
also an active member of NRPA.
Upon her retirement, she founded
the People and Parks Foundation to
continue giving back to her profession, and in 2012, the Round Rock
City Council honored her lifetime of
service by naming the park plaza on
Main Street after her.
Clement Lemire, 90, of Manchester, New Hampshire, passed away on
November 3. Lemire's career included leadership roles throughout New
England; he was the first recreation
director in Franklin, New Hampshire, the first recreation director in

the Town of Newington, Connecticut, and the first Superintendent of
the Manchester, New Hampshire,
Parks and Recreation Department,
serving the city for 29 years until his
retirement in 1995. He was a member
of NRPA and the New Hampshire
Parks and Recreation Association
and an Honorary Lifetime member
of the Connecticut Recreation and
Parks Association (CRPA). He also
served as president of CRPA in 1962
and won a CRPA annual citation in
1969. NRPA presented him with a
Meritorious Special Service Award
in 1995, and the New England District Council of NRPA awarded him
Outstanding New England Recreation Director in 1972.
Both Prete and Lemire will be missed
and remembered by their nationwide
network of colleagues and friends.

Parks & Recreation

Q The House of Representatives
passed the Water Resources Reform
and Development Act (WRRDA),
H.R. 3080, by a vote of 417-3 late on
October 23. The Senate approved its
version of the bill in May. The act will
provide support for water projects

| D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

Q On the one-year anniversary of
Hurricane Sandy, Secretary of the
Interior Sally Jewell launched a
$100-million Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Program (www.nfwf.org/hurricanesan
dy) to fund science-based solutions
to restore natural areas along the
Atlantic Coast, helping to deliver
on the Administration's commitment in the Climate Action Plan to
make local communities more resilient against future storms. The grant
program, which will be administered
by the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation, will provide funding to
continue the $480 million in investments that the Department of the Interior has already made in Hurricane
Sandy response and recovery efforts
since the storm hit last October.
Q After months of heated debate,
Detroit's beloved Belle Isle Park is
now no longer under the supervision
of the city's recreation department.
In early November, the state's emergency loan board approved a deal for
the state to operate the park, accepting a 30-year lease from the bankrupt
city. As of February 2014, Belle Isle
will be operated as a state park, the
102nd state park in Michigan.
For more news from around the industry, visit www.parksandrecreation.
org/2013/December/Briely-Noted.

December 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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