By Amy Filippone, Dept. of Parks & Recreation
The Moorestown Recreation Advisory Committee is an integral part of the Parks & Recreation’s success in planning programming and events. This is a volunteer based committee that is appointed by the town council. The committee members are selected to provide a good cross section of the community. They serve four-year terms with a two-term maximum. They provide input on programs, capital projects and budgets — basically everything that goes on within the department helps guide the department to best serve the community. There are 11 members plus one Board of Education member, one town council member and Theresa Miller, the Director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
The Rec. Advisory Committee meets 10 months of the year (July and August are off). Theresa Miller works with the chairperson, Ben Blank, to draft each month’s agenda. These meeting are valuable sounding boards for the Rec. Department. There is a representative from the school board, one member that represents Athletic Associations, the senior citizen segment, the special needs community, MoorArts (a local non-profit arts organization) and two high school students. Agenda items can cover anything from summer camp to future projects.
“We talk about new ways of doing things — how we can reach more people,” Miller said.
In turn, the committee members keep the department up-to-date on what is happening at the schools, special needs programs and the other segments of the community.
“We work very closely with the schools throughout the year with our programs and summer camps,” Miller said. “So these meetings are a wonderful way to keep the lines of communication open.”
The committee also reviews plans from residents with ideas for potential community events and various other committees that work with the Parks and Rec. Department. For example, the Open Space committee often participates and if an Eagle Scout has a pending project it would be presented at the monthly meeting.
These working relationships are essential to have a real-time understanding of what is happening in the community and to continually refine and develop programs for everyone.
