The village’s parks and recreation committee is back in business.
Lake Orion Village Council members agreed on Aug. 11 to rescind its July decision to restructure the group into an advisory task force.
“We made a hasty decision without knowing all the facts,” council president Bill Siver said
LO Village Manager JoAnn Van Tassel had suggested having a task force would be more efficient. She claimed getting specific information from the committee was difficult, recommendations on Green’s Park improvements and budget suggestions were slow in coming and there was often a lack of quorum at meetings.
Councilman Harry Stephen asked several weeks ago to have the council be given 18 months worth of committee minutes. Village administration prepared a packet of two years worth of minutes and other committee information. The packets were given to the council and committee members.
“The council was led to believe things were going on that weren’t substantiated by what was given you,” committee member Lisa Simpkins said.
According to Simpkins, Green’s Park recommendations and funding for capital improvements were discussed at a March 23, 2003 meeting and a memo was passed along to administration.
Van Tassel denied ever receiving the memo.
Councilman Tom Albert said he’s been involved with the committee for years and refuted some of Van Tassel’s reasoning for wanting to restructure the committee.
“I think they did an admirable job. I never saw a lack of quorum. I have a problem with the manager lying and deceiving us. She fooled me. We based our decision on what she said. If it’s a task force, she’s got all the control,” he added.
Simpkins warned the council that there were people in the community “working on another form of government that will be effective.”
Stephen suggested everyone involved should be responsible for the committee’s problems that developed.
“We all have our crosses to bear — us, the staff the committee. No bylaws were created (in 1999) on how to act. There was no definition of what a quorum was.
“There was no mention that a member of the staff had to be there. Organization was poorly directed. If the manager hadn’t stepped forward, where would we have gone?”
“How do we move forward? I’m throwing that challenge out to all of us.”
Several members of the committee were also upset they hadn’t been notified that Lake Orion Village Manager JoAnn Van Tassel was going to suggest the change to the council.
Committee member Rosemary Ford told council members Van Tassel had approached her.
“JoAnn asked me about a task force and told me it would mean fewer meetings. I was a little burned out When she mentioned fewer meetings, it sounded good to me.
“She told me it would expedite things and still be a recommending body. She did tell me she was going to contact the others. I know others felt blindsighted.,” Ford added.
Ford admited that after looking at past minutes of committee meetings that there had been many discussions on Green’s Park and recommendations, “but we didn’t carry anything forward.”
Van Tassel said she didn’t have a problem with the committee being reinstated. “I only suggested the task force. I felt we should focus on one item, not three or four.
“When parks and rec was enacted, the DDA wasn’t as active as it now with the Main Street program. There’s a lack of communication between groups. I thought this (task force) would help.
“There wasn’t one person (on the committee) that I didn’t want to be on the task force.”
Councilman Bob Hollenbeck, who is a member of the Main Street design committee, said there hasn’t been good communication with the parks and recreation committee.
Council members agreed the design committee and the parks and recreation committee should attempt to work together when making decisions on park improvements so there isn’t any overlapping.
“At one time it was recommended that a parks and rec person go to design committee meetings, but they were at 9 a..m and it was hard for any of us to get to them,” Ford said.
“There’s a lot of arm wrestling going on among the groups. I think the DDA group should report to parks and rec,” councilman Doug Dendel said.
All the committee members who were at the council meeting said they would like to continue to work on the committee.