A parks and recreation committee that was created four years ago to improve village parks is being restructured.
Lake Orion Village Council members have agreed with LO Village Manager JoAnn Van Tassel’s suggestion to change the group of volunteers into a task force. They would meet with Van Tassel three to four times a year to discuss the parks, look at the need for purchasing more equipment and figure out an annual budget request.
Since its inception, the committee has drafted a Recreation Master Plan that was eventually adopted and selected a large amount of playscape equipment and other park amenities.
Van Tassel said she would be forming recommendations to the council based on advice she received from members of the task force. She believes the task force will be a more effective way to deal with parks and recreation matters.
Committee members had been meeting once a month.
“However, there have been times when it wasn’t possible to have a quorum to conduct business,” Van Tassel said. “This year the committee set as its goal developing plans for finishing the improvements to Green’s Park.
“To date, there have been no recommendations to accomplish that and no input for the Capital Improvement Fund budget as a result. There needs to be more focus.”
“I heard they’ve been frustrated on how long it takes to move things forward. We owe it to the community to try another approach,” councilman Harry Stephen said.
Van Tassel had been at the meetings until earlier this year, when committee members decided she didn’t need to attend any more.
“I found out that when I don’t attend, the actions/recommendations of the committee didn’t get communicated to me or other village staff members.
“This results in more time being taken to try to get in touch with committee members to discover what took place and what needs to be done,” Van Tassel said.
Current committee members are being appointed to the task force. If any of them choose not to continue, the village manager would appoint new members with the approval of the council.
According to Van Tassel, she hasn’t gotten any feedback from any of the committee members on the restructuring.
“I don’t know if meeting three or four times a year is enough,” councilman Tom Albert said. “A lot has gotten done. I don’t want things to go backwards.”
Van Tassel felt the task force would meet as needed, probably mostly in the late winter/spring.
“I don’t know if we want to hold meetings just to hold meetings,” she added.