The special meeting between the Town Council & The Oakland Recreation Commission was held in the council chambers in a round table discussion format.
Descending from the dais, council members, recreation commissioners, and borough officials sat together at tables arranged for an in depth work session related to Oakland’s recreation program.
A recent report authored by borough administrator Richard Kunze called for the hiring of a full-time recreational director and disbanding the volunteer commission. The Recreation Commission, supported by significant public protest at a previous council meeting, had argued that the proposal was an overreaction to procedural problems that they were continuing to address. This was the backdrop for the first full meeting between the council and the recreation commission in over six years.
The majority of the initial discussion focused on the failure of the Recreation Commission to comply with the “48 Hour Deposit” rule (N.J.S.A. 40A:5-15) which requires funds to be deposited within 48 hours of receipt and/or delivered to the appropriate official who would then have 48 hours to deposit the funds. The primary purpose of the law is to protect municipalities from carelessly losing revenue from interest bearing accounts. Hence, the case of Sharon Kennedy in Burlington, NJ who was fined $500 for failing to deposit $700,000 dollars within 48 hours.
Oakland’s situation is very common and like that found in many towns throughout New Jersey where less substantial funds fail to be deposited within 48 hours. It is a problem in Oakland with respect to other areas beside recreation. Audits for 2008 & 2009 show this to be a continuing problem with the municipal court, and recently with revenues collected by the municipal construction official in 2009. The meeting between the council and recreation led to the review of new processes that would allow recreation programs to function pragmatically while abiding by the “48 hour rule”.
Another substantial portion of the meeting was devoted to past grievances the borough administrator and the borough CFO have had with the recreation commission. Richard Kunze, the borough administrator, and James Mangin, the borough CFO, are relatively new in their positions and expressed frustrations with trying to instill processes for financial and administrative purposes. Acting as mediator, Mayor Szabo proposed at the meeting that a policy manual be developed so that all parties going forward have a documented process that can be shared and distributed to existing and new members of recreation. The goal in developing the policy manual will be to avoid miscommunication in the future.
The proposal for hiring a salaried recreation director was tabled in favor of creating a part-time position that would assist the recreation commission as an administrative assistant. This new position would report to the borough administrator, Richard Kunze, and assumedly devote the majority of their time to the administration of recreation in Oakland. The full-time recreation director was expected to cost over $100,000 annually, but the cost of the part-time person was not defined during the meeting. Without the additional benefits involved, participants at the meeting discussed $15,000 to $20,000 as an expected salary range.
The recreation commission originally budgeted $15,000, but council member DiPentima suggested that he did not want to underfund the position and put the plan in jeopardy of failure. Dipentima’s comment that the position could always be scaled down elicited a guffaw from out going council member Don Burns. Burns expressed his belief that it’s much harder to scale government down and too easy to scale it up; suggesting they might budget for the larger salary but only implement a plan for the smaller number and then track the progress.
Concerns about background checks was another topic under discussion during the special meeting. The recreation commission expressed reservations about implementing a fingerprint requirement, while council member Visconti believed it was a critical safety net. While fingerprint programs have been implemented in Oakland in the past, background checks presently to do not involve fingerprinting coaches.
The recreation commission expressed concerns that requiring fingerprint checks from the hundreds of coaches could discourage volunteers. No definitive plan of action was decided on, but the recreation commission agreed to abide by whatever process the council believed prudent.
I watched the entire meeting and was impressed by the professionalism expressed by everyone around the table. Yes there were a few pointed comments here and there which was expected when you consider the history. Overall, I was very impressed with the presentation of facts by the Mayor, Borough Attorney, and the Auditor that framed the discussion. It was clear to see the frustrations with the volunteers in having to deal with so many late registrations and still comply with the 48 hour law. Wow, 10% of basketball applications were late. What a burden that is on the commissioners. Any parent who signs up late should send in their payment in a “Thank You” card. I think the Auditor summed it up best when he said the process is not difficult, it just needs to be clearly defined and then followed. I was very proud at seeing these leaders of our community working together to make a great program for our youth. Great job!