Time for a close look at town's recreation

This is a time of change for the Manalapan Recreation Department and a time that demands a serious evaluation of the way things have gone in the past few months and how township officials and residents want the future to shape up.

Within the past month the longtime director of the recreation department has retired. This gives officials a chance to select a new director or to place the operation of the recreation department under the direction of another municipal employee.

And, the conductor of the Manalapan Battleground Symphony left her position after seven years amid a disagreement concerning the funding of the symphony.

In what municipal officials said are difficult financial times, the Town-ship Com-mittee cut funding for the symphony from $35,000 in 2006 to $10,000 in 2007 and said the balance of the symphony's budget would come from fundraising efforts.

Upon hearing about that fundraising plan, we are concerned that the money will be donated by individuals and firms who often give money to municipal causes and expect something in return - like public jobs and public contracts. That situation would not be a fair trade for taxpayers.

There is also a declining registration for Manalapan's summer recreation program to contend with. Statistics provided to the News Transcript by Township Administrator Tara Lovrich show that in 2005 there were 1,046 children enrolled in the summer program. That number dropped to 869 registrants in 2006. As of last week, registration for 2007 stood at 692 children.

Why the drop-off?

One township official has suggested that the lack of a municipal pool or water facility is turning people off to the recreation program. But there has never been a municipal pool or water facility and registration has been high in the past. What has really happened over the past two years to cause hundreds of people to abandon the six-week summer recreation program?

If municipal officials care enough to find out the reasons behind the drop in registration, they should call everyone who has left the program in the past few years and ask them why their children did not return.

Can the youth population of Manalapan suddenly be dropping? Can the wealth level of Manalapan residents be increasing so much that people can afford to send their children to more expensive summer camps? Is it possible that the cost of living in Manalapan has risen to a point where people can no longer af-ford the $510 summer recreation registration fee?

That is just the type of information municipal officials should seek out if they plan to continue offering a summer recreation program. Who knows? After decades of running a summer recreation program, perhaps it is time for Manalapan to bow out of the summer camp business. That, too, should be a matter for public discussion.

Several years ago the Township Committee did away with its recreation commission and changed it to a recreation advisory board. There were subtle, but important differences in making that change. Perhaps it is time to review that decision and assess whether that switch had a positive or negative impact on recreation in the community.

Clearly, this is a municipal department that is undergoing change and public scrutiny. Attention must be paid to what is happening in Manalapan recreation and why it is happening at the present time.