A group consisting of two committee members and three village council members will hammer out specific guidelines for the recently reinstated Lake Orion Parks and Recreation Committee.
Council members also agreed on Aug. 25 that it wouldn’t be a good idea for the committee to have a meeting until these new guidelines are in place.
Jerry Richards, committee member, had asked if a meeting could be scheduled because “we lost a lot of valuable time and we have lots of things to do.”
According to LO Village Clerk Arlene Nichols, notice was given that all the rest of the committee meetings were canceled when the council voted to restructure the committee into a task force.
Council members voted several weeks ago to reinstate the committee.
It was councilman Henry Stephen’s suggestion to create a subgroup to determine guidelines and bring the information back to a council meeting
“It (the committee) shouldn’t function until they have bylaws,” he added.
Besides suggesting establishing rules and regulations, village attorney Gary Dovre had some ideas to help the committee run smoother.
He felt there shouldn’t be an even amount of committee members. That would avoid tie votes and make it easier to determine a quorum.
Originally, the committee had five members. It was expanded to seven in 2000 with the addition of a council representative and an Orion Township Parks and Recreation representative. It increased to eight when a township representative was added.
Dovre said, since the township parks and rec position has never been filled, maybe that position should be eliminated.
“Council may wish to look at the appointment process, which currently calls for the manager to bring forward recommendations for council approval,” Dovre added. “While we believe someone should be primarily responsible for recommending appointees, there is no legal requirement that it be the manager.”
Dovre encouraged the council to provide for appropriate budget and staff support. — especially for someone to take the minutes.