Parks and Rec Commissioners Pitch Further DPW Study, Eye 2012 Ballot

Under a proposed plan by Town Administrator William Keegan, voters would decide next April if the would take over the maintenance of town parks, a job currently under the .

In a presentation prepared for the joint meeting between the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Board of Selectmen, Keegan said the plan would make the system of maintaining parks more efficient.

“[This would] allow the Recreation Department to concentrate its attention for the development of recreation programs,” Keegan said.

Town Meeting will consider a warrant article next month that approves the move, however several steps would remain.

The town would have to negotiate with the involved unions, iron out policies, and receive voters’ approval for a town charter change.

“Town Meeting only starts the process,” Keegan said.

If ultimately approved, the four parks workers would be transferred to the DPW, and paid and directed by that department. The Recreation Commission would retain ownership of the fields.

Parks and Recreation commissioners have .

“I don’t feel it is right and I think it is a bad practice to go to Town Meeting and not have answers to questions and tell them to vote on something to push it forward,” said commission chairman John Maida.

Maida and the commissioners suggested launching an ad-hoc sub-committee that would study the change and if still deemed appropriate, a Special Town Meeting in November could vote on the issue.

Selectmen Carmen Dello Iacono and Jim MacDonald agreed that a study could be done and an article at Special Town Meeting in the fall would not delay the plan.

“When I look at the timeframe, I’m not convinced that we should do this now, and not in the fall,” MacDonald said. “I don’t know if I want to go to the end first.”

Selectmen will formally take a stand on all warrant articles, including this one, at their next meeting on April 28.

Commissioners questioned what priorities a DPW director would have come springtime – fixing potholes or readying fields for playing.

“I’m wondering how that process is going to take place if it is under the DPW. It is going to be very difficult,” Parks and Recreation director Bob Stanley said.

Stanley told selectmen that he spent all of Thursday making sure the athletic fields were ready for the high school teams to play on them after Wednesday’s rain. “I’m just concerned about the priority the park department would take when it goes over [to DPW].”

Keegan said that work orders wouldn’t only rest on the DPW director’s shoulders, but he would have a foreman in charge of the department and have others to make sure services are provided.

“There clearly are questions. I didn’t come to this with a mindset that this is completely packaged with a neat bow around it. There are things we need to work on together,” Keegan said.