The Town of Southborough Personnel Board voted to provide $1,000 toward Recreation employee Christina McCarthy’s attendance at the National Recreation and Park Association director school.

Travis said the director school is selective — admitting roughly 30–40 participants nationwide each year — and that the program is valuable for professional development in budgeting, staff management and new park capital projects. He called Christina’s acceptance “a great opportunity” and said departments planned to cover the remainder of the program cost from revolving funds or departmental budgets next year.

Board members discussed customary practice: Personnel Board training money typically funds town‑wide, cascadeable training that benefits multiple departments. The NRPA director school is a two‑year commitment costing $3,400 per year. The chair and several members said they were comfortable partially funding the program given available workforce development funds in the FY27 request. Dorianne moved to fund $1,000 for Christina McCarthy; the motion carried on a roll call recorded as 4–0–1 with one recusal (the transcript records a recusal but does not consistently map the abstention to a single member by name during the roll call).

The board asked finance staff for additional budget context (workforce development balance and impacts) as they finalize FY27 non‑salary line items.

Next steps: Personnel staff will note the approved $1,000 contribution; departments will identify additional funding sources for remaining costs for the second year.