New recreation director hopes to provide magic touch

C. Roger Moss of Berlin is the city's new recreation director. Photos by Janice Steinhagen.

As C. Roger Moss tackles his new job, he may find occasion to pull a few surprises from his sleeve. Moss, who came on board as the city’s recreation director on Jan. 3, has been moonlighting as a magician since age 11. He learned the craft from his great-uncle as a kid, and after putting an ad in the paper, began doing weekend magic shows for spending money before he even reached high school.

“I like ‘kid tricks,’ ones that tell a good story and fool the kids at the end,” Moss said. Being up on the stage helped him learn to speak confidently to a crowd – a skill that comes in handy today when he’s coaching youth wrestling or making a presentation to a city council.

Moss, a Berlin resident who formerly served as Parks, Recreation and Senior Services director in East Hartford, knows he has some big shoes to fill in Norwich. He replaces Luis DePina, who until his untimely death Sept. 14 had served for 25 years in the post. Recreation Department administrative assistant Vicki Abele said that DePina “really made the department grow. He really changed the whole department completely.”

During De Pina's tenure, the department developed summer camps, skateboard parks, a youth basketball league, fun runs and a walking club. He was instrumental in establishing the skating rink and had been working toward re-opening the YMCA at the time of his death. The Norwich Free Academy Foundation has established a student-athlete scholarship at NFA in his name.

Moss said that he intends to continue the department’s progress, though he admits it won’t be easy. When city money gets tight, “it’s the Rec. Department that has to do more with less,” he said. “We get good at that. I’m ready to look at that challenge.”

He said that East Hartford’s Recreation Department was housed in a former school that also served as home to a theater, the city’s WIC program, a youth center, a non-profit dance troupe and an artist-in-residence program. It’s not too far off from what Norwich’s former YMCA building could become, he said.

“It’s a matter of determining if the [city] can afford to purchase and renovate it. I think it would be a referendum question,” he said.
Moss said he’s been working on familiarizing himself “with the who, what, where, when” of the city. The local Rec. Department manages some 20 athletic fields and playgrounds throughout the city, as well as sports and recreation programs that run throughout the year.

Among his immediate goals are maintaining parks to a good standard despite budget cuts, keeping ahead of graffiti and implementing an April recreation program to provide a safe place for city kids on spring break whose parents work during the day.

Moss said he hopes to host a “meet and greet night” with the recreation advisory board to further connect with community members.

Moss earned his master’s degree in recreation administration from Southern Connecticut State University in 1992 and his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Springfield College. He has also served as recreation director in Redding and as a recreation supervisor and assistant director in Orange.