Officials trim number of rec board members
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - The Township Committee has voted 3-2 to adopt an ordinance that establishes a new number of members on the recreation advisory board.

Mayor Andrew Lucas, Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth and Committeeman Richard Klauber voted to adopt the law which sets the number of appointees to the recreation advisory board at seven regular members and two alternates.

That is a reduction from the present roster of 11 regular members and two alternates on the recreation advisory board.

Committeewoman Susan Cohen and Committeeman Anthony Gennaro voted against adopting the ordinance.

Cohen asked how many of the present members of the advisory board are affiliated with a particular township sports organization.

Mona Cholowinski, the acting head of the Recreation Department, said four or five present members are affiliated with sports organizations.

Cohen said she opposed reducing the number of volunteers on this panel because there is already a problem attracting volunteers to serve on Manalapan's boards and committees. She said she does not want a recreation advisory board that only includes representatives of sports groups.

"We need ordinary citizens promoting recreation too," the committeewoman said.

Lucas said the intent of the ordinance was to ensure efficiency by having the recreation advisory board move forward with "fewer volunteers who get more work done."

In March 2002 an ordinance was adopted by the Township Committee that changed the existing recreation commission into a recreation advisory board. The change allowed Manalapan's elected officials to have more oversight over matters related to recreation.

According to Manalapan's Internet Web site, the members of the recreation advisory board are Michael Gross (chairman), Rebecca Ginsberg, Helene Johnson, Dennis Bruzzi, Butch Budai, Diana Cochran, Richard Cohen, Richard de Pierro, Glenn Essner, Jeff Ohlstein, George Rothweiler, Paul Sagnelli and Drew Shapiro.

All of the members of the present board are appointed to one-year terms, according to the information posted on the township's Web site.

The ordinance that was just adopted by the committee will provide staggered three-year terms to all of the recreation advisory board members regardless of whether they are a regular member or an alternate.

Roth said the staggered terms will "afford a continuity" on the panel. She reiterated a previous statement that the ordinance was developed at the behest of Gross. Roth said the reason given was that there is a lot more to being a member of the panel than attending meetings or saying that one is a member of a municipal board.

"Too many can spin it out of control. It's not what's discussed at meetings, but what's done in between meetings. That's what's valued most in any volunteer," she said.

A public hearing on the ordinance was held at the committee's Nov. 7 meeting prior to the vote on the change.

Budai spoke against reducing the number of members.

"I think this is a big mistake," Budai said, adding that to his knowledge Old Bridge, for example, has a 15-member recreation advisory board. "We can use all the help we can get. Why go from 11 and two to seven and two?"

Township Attorney Caroline Casagrande said if Budai's numbers were correct, Old Bridge, with 15 members, would be in violation of a state statute which allows for no more than 11 regular members and two alternates serving on a recreation advisory board.

According to information posted on the Old Bridge Internet Web site, that township's recreation advisory board has 15 members, all appointed by the Township Council for one-year terms.

Rothweiler also spoke during the public hearing. He said he was in favor of reducing the number of members on the board. He said a poll of the board's members indicated that a majority was in favor of seeing the ordinance adopted.

Rothweiler said the committee members should look at the attendance records of the advisory board members when deciding who to keep on the panel.