MONTPELIER — The Montpelier Board of School Commissioners met last night to discuss oversight of the Recreation Department.
The School Board voted to accept a proposal put forward by School Board Commissioner Ken Jones. It basically states that the School Board likes the way things are currenly working.
It does however recommend creating a coordinating committee to fascilitate communication between the School Board, City Council and the Recreation Board.
The City Council has been raising concerns about its lack of involvement with the Recreation Department operations and budget.
At issue is what some city councilors see as a self-reappointing Recreation Board, a lack of counil oversight over the nearly $600,000 budget that's paid for with municipal taxes and what some councilors see as a lack of transparency of the Recreation Department budget.
According to Title 8, Section 7, sub-section 2 of the Montpelier city charter, the City Council "may delegate the conduct thereof to a recreational board created by them, or to a school board or to any other appropriate existing board or commission."
And then Title 8, Section 7, sub-section 4 of the charter says, "The recreation board budget shall be an integral part under the control of the legislative body."
The legislative body is the City Council.
So the ultimate authority to oversee and manage the Recreation Department rests with the City Council. The City Council has chosen to pass that responsibility onto the School Board, but now some city councilors are questioning the wisdom of that decision.
Two city councilors attended last night's meeting, Angela Timpone and Andy Hooper, but neither of them spoke to the School Board.
This issue is expected to be on the City Council agenda for next Wednesday.
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