Elimination of rec. commission called ill-advised move
I am responding to the article in the Jan. 30 News Transcript, "Rec. Commis-sion Will Give Way to Advisory Board." It is unfortunate that the Manal-apan Township Committee is abolishing the recreation commission and replacing it with an advisory board.
I was involved with the original transition in 1976 when the recreation commission was formed. The Township Commit-tee at that time had the wisdom to listen to recommendations from many areas, and because they felt the benefits far outweighed their concerns, they endorsed the proposal. The main reason was to keep politics out of the recreation programs and assure that everyone in the township benefited.
It eliminated exactly what is happening right now, that some disgruntled faction would appeal to the political interests of the elected body to get their own way.
The impact on programs, outside of the major sports programs, that have been so successful for many years could be affected. Will the summer program employees now be political appointments? Will the Township Committee have the time to oversee specialty programs like special education and the cultural programs, to name a few?
It would seem that the committee’s time would be better spent controlling the personal problems in the administration, like the long, involved court battle with the financial director that will cost the taxpayers of Manalapan excessive amounts of money, instead of meddling in a very successful long-running organization.
Mike Sullivan
former chairman
Manalapan Recreation Commission
Long Branch