Commentary: Open Letter to the Recreation Committee

The Following is a Letter I sent to the Recreation Commission Earlier today:

My comments last night were brief and unremarkable but I felt the need to expand on my points in the interest of tomorrow’s Commission Meeting.

First, there is nothing wrong with an audit. My issue with what the Council did was attaching the audit practice to a restructuring, thereby making it appear intentional and political rather than a normative part of organizational oversight. 

However, the Township was absolutely correct to audit the Commission; it should happen every year, and the report should be public. It should not be folded into a larger audit (which I was informed is the practice) in a manner that prevents the public from seeing the specifics.

But the results should be tools to train and enhance the current system – not used as a basis to throw something out that has been so vital to the culture of our town. It should also be understood that an audit only speaks to technical compliance – it does not comment on many meaningful items residents would have concerns about – in other words it is the bare minimum.

Will the Commission commit to the practice of a publicly available annual audit?

Second, leadership over the past three years has been hostile. This behavior became apparent during the turf field discussions where dates were removed from letters, BOE members were threatened by attorneys, students were locked out of courts, and environmental concerns that have been evident for years were met with feigned ignorance, among much more. This all occurred while the Commission remained silent, and the Mayor and Council either remained silent or cheered it on.

Mr. Medeiros was not part of the Council at that time; that should be mentioned out of fairness.

This needs to change, in my opinion and my feeling from last night is that a few former and current members of the Commission acknowledge that.

What does the Commission plan to do to fix this?

The Township should not control the Recreation Commission but the Commission needs to be accountable to someone – and it is perfectly reasonable in my opinion for the Township to initiate audits, publish them and intervene in matters comfortably when they arise. The same should be true of the BOE and the public at large.

Given the leadership change within the Commission, I am hopeful that things will move in a better direction.

Submitted directly by the author; content reflects their own views