Village Board KO's Citizen Input . . .

Lead by Mayor James Kinney, the village board by a vote of three to two denied requests by local residents to form a committee to study youth recreational activities.

The board ignored the request of several residents of the village who felt current programs were not reaching village children.

Voting against the formation of a study group was Mayor James Kenny and Trustees David Rosenberg and Monis Brafman. Trustees Michael Levinson and Gary Sommers supported formation of the committee.

Many in attendance expected Mayor Kenny and Trustee Rosenberg would not support a committee from remarks made at previous board meetings held on March 2 and 9. Brafman's vote was uncertain because he was absent from both meetings and said nothing prior to the vote.

Village recreation programs first surfaced as an issue at the March 2 village board meeting when several residents brought the subject up upon learning the Monticello Gymnastic Club was asking the village for an additional subsidy of $6,000 per year. The additional money was requested to enable the gymnastics program to relocate from the Neighborhood Facility to the former perfume factory building, now owned by United Way, on Bedford Avenue. The Village Treasurer calculated the program was presently running a deficit of $19,649.57.

The Monticello Gymnastic Program, which has been touted as the crown jewel of the village recreation program has been described by many as a total failure. By the villages own admission, the percentage of village residents participating in the program is only 24 percent. Some believe the figure is closer to 17 percent. Only 40 participants in the program have been identified as village children. The remaining 196 participants are out of village children from surrounding towns, with at least three from the State of Pennsylvania. The village gymnastic competition program has 27 members of which only one child is a village resident.

It has became apparent that since its inception fewer and fewer village children are in the program. This led to the call for a study addressing recreational needs within the village. Many non-village people who have children in the village program but do not pay village taxes attended the meeting speaking in favor of additional funding for the program.

Mayor Kenny in citing his reason for not supporting a committee felt that many committees (although he was not specific as to which committees he found fault with) form and become inactive or no one wants to participate. He stated the village board was elected to run the village and it was their responsibility to address this issue. Now that the board has axed a citizen committee, we hope they take a cold-sober look at this issue.

We will be reporting how the board addresses this issue and how it will affect village taxpayers and residents. To date, there has been open discussion on youth recreation only when it has been initiated by the public. Now the ball is in the Mayor's court.

The following are excerpts from minutes of the Village Board Meeting held March 2, 1998.

Village Treasurer Robin Seward . . .noted that after reviewing the entire gymnastic program she found it was running at a deficit, . . .

Local resident, John Barbarite, indicated that he is not here to speak for or against the gymnastic program, but a much broader issue that the Board should be addressing which is the entire recreation program that is available in the Village of Monticello, who it is reaching and what it is costing. He explained that he feels the gymnastic program should be known as the Sullivan County Gymnastic Program because after reviewing all the permission slips only 17% of the Village children are in the program. In the competitive program there are approximately 27 children and only 1 is from the Village. One of the concerns is if the Village taxpayer is subsidizing any program, is this the one that should be subsidized.. . . Mr. Barbarite indicated that after speaking to the Treasurer, he found that the gymnastic program has serious bookkeeping and management problems such as no master roster, as the Village is not the custodian of the team competition list, incomplete or no permission slips on file and whether physicals are required of the children before they participate. All of these items not being done puts the Village at risk. When 30 percent of the Village residents are minorities and there is only one minority in the gym program who is not a Village resident, the Village residents must ask who the Board is trying to reach with the youth recreation programs. The Board has to set policy as to whether tax dollars are being allocated back to the wealthiest of the community or back to those who can't afford it. He asked that the Board not make a decision this evening until . . . a commission formed of citizens who reside in the Village to study all of the programs that are offered and see how they fit in with the needs of the community. That commission would report back to the village after meeting with Village employees, residents, gym participants and other groups in the community, with facts and figures on their findings for a realistic decision to be made by this Board for the youth of Monticello.

Mayor Kenny . . .noted that many committees form and become inactive or no one wants to participate.

Trustee Levinson noted that he has spoken to a representative of the Foothills Community Center who is interested in meeting with the Village to discuss the gymnastic program and the use of their pool instead of the Village pool which appears to be a duplication of services. Myrna Ginsberg was concerned about the chemicals in the building and felt tests should be done.

Thomas Mack also was concerned about the safety factor regarding the chemicals at that building, and he asked that the Board form this committee to investigate all the issues raised this evening, especially when citizens are willing to give of their time. He also noted that the Drum & Bugle Corp consisting of at least 50 Village youths was put out of the [Neighborhood Facility] building because they could not afford the insurance, however, if the Village sponsored them they would be able to use the NFB without any charge.

Betty Freidland explained that she is not against the gymnastic program, however, many of the village children are not attending this program either because they are not interested or because they do not know about it. She felt the village has the responsibility to find out why such a small percentage of the village youth are not participating in this activity.

The People's Voice is funded by donations from concerned residents. It does not accept paid advertisements.

Many articles are supplied by readers. If you would like to add your voice as a taxpayer, feel free to do so. All attempts are made to publish accurate information. If inaccurate information is printed, and the inaccuracy is brought to our attention we will publish a correction.

This issue of The People's Voice is copyright, © March 17, 1998. Permission is granted to reprint provided the entire article is printed and credit is given to the People's Voice.
The People's Voice is on the Internet: http://rdz.stjohns.edu/lists/sullcounty/peoplesvoice/. E-mail to: PeoplesVoice@bigfoot.com

We will be obtaining a Monticello post office box. Details on how to reach us will appear in the next edition. Watch for announcement for taxpayers rally.

UP ONE LEVEL \ HISTORY INDEX