HILLTOWNS — Two of the Hilltowns are looking to receive grant money to revive their free summer recreation programs.

County legislator Chris Smith, whose district covers most of Berne, part of Knox, and the towns of Westerlo and Rensselaerville, said he submitted an application for a $3,000 grant from the Albany County Legislature Majority and Minority Office to start a shared summer recreation program between the towns of Westerlo and Rensselaerville. A decision on whether it will be awarded will be made in late April, but should it not come through, Smith said he will give up two months of his legislator’s salary to fund the program.

The request was made through a special application in early March, said Smith, as it normally would be given to not-for-profit organizations.

Smith said he was unaware of how the program would be carried out, but said he thought the towns could alternate between each town park if they so chose.

“When our kids get out of school, they don’t see some of their friends until September,” he said, of the need for places in the Hilltowns to have summer recreation. Berne and Knox each have a youth council with summer recreation programs.

Westerlo has two town parks: Westerlo Town Park on Route 401 in the Westerlo hamlet, and Blaisdell-White Memorial Town Park on Route 401 in South Westerlo. Rensselaerville also has two town parks: Bayard Elsbree Memorial Park on Route 145 in Preston Hollow, and Medusa Park on Route 351 in the Medusa hamlet. There is also the Katharine Huyck Elmore Playground on Route 351 in the Rensselaerville hamlet.

In Rensselaerville, the E. N. Huyck nature preserve offers its own summer youth programs, but charges tuition.

At the Westerlo Town Board meeting on April 4, the grant was brought up as the town seeks someone to coordinate the recreation program.

“We need someone to basically organize the Westerlo share of that plan,” said Councilman William Bichteman. It was agreed to advertise for the job.

Councilman Joseph Boone had offered at the meeting to head the search for a program director, but declined to comment later to The Enterprise on the search.

Boone asked at the meeting if there would be any liability in having high school students volunteer as counselors or in other positions in the program. Bichteman said that, if they were town employees, there would be no liability, and it would be possible that that would be the case for volunteers, but he wasn’t certain.

Westerlo had had a summer recreation program until about seven years ago, when the town could no longer find someone to run the program, said town Supervisor Richard Rapp.