ORWIGSBURG - The Blue Mountain Recreation Commission Board could discuss this month ways to fill the $7,520 monetary hole created by the Schuylkill Haven Borough Council not participating in a plan to update the Comprehensive Park and Recreation Plan.
"I think what we need to do is talk about it at our rec meeting," Mark Palerino, recreation director, said Friday. A decision could be made at that meeting about how the board will come up with the money.
Last updated in 1975, the plan deals with recreational facilities, conditions and could also address a recreational trail in the area.
Public participation is one component of the plan, which is scheduled to be put into effect this fall.
The cost to update the plan is based on population. Schuylkill Haven's cost to participate in the plan would have been $7,520.
Palerino said previously the cost for Landingville would be $240; Port Clinton, $440; Schuylkill Haven, $7,520; and South Manheim, $3,480. Palerino received letters from municipalities included the Blue Mountain Recreation Commission Board except Schuylkill Haven saying they would participate in the plan.
All municipalities in the Blue Mountain School District take part in the commission and contribute through earned income taxes. They include Auburn, Cressona, Deer Lake, New Ringgold and Orwigsburg boroughs and East Brunswick, West Brunswick, North Manheim and Wayne townships.
Palerino said he will not ask for additional money from the aforementioned municipalities.
Blue Mountain school district contributes money to the recreation commission through its collection of the earned income tax, a tax levied on earnings. People also pay to take part in more than 50 recreation programs provided by the commission.
The municipalities that are part of the Blue Mountain Recreation Commission would not incur an extra cost to participate in updating the plan because an amount is already in the recreation budget, Palerino said.
The commission was awarded a $50,000 grant from the state to update the plan. The grant requires matching funds from the county and the municipalities making up the commission. The Schuylkill County Commissioners previously approved $10,000 from the Marcellus Legacy Fund, which supports conservation and environmental projects and efforts for the effort.
When the grant was applied for by the recreation commission April 2013 through the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, a recreation focused effort of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, it was listed as a "comprehensive park, rec, open space, and trail network plan" for the south Schuylkill area.
Schuylkill Haven borough council member and borough recreation member Ruth Tucci said the borough recreation board discussed the Blue Mountain recreation plan recently. Borough council members Tom Gordon and Kurt Montz are also members of the borough recreation board.
The borough declined to participate in the update at its April 2 meeting. At the time, Tucci said the board felt it was not "beneficial" to the borough.
She said a evaluation of the parks and playgrounds was done recently. Friday she said the evaluation was conducted "probably near the end of last year" and borough employees looked at what needed to be done to the playgrounds in the borough.
Palerino said he reached out to people in Schuylkill Haven whom he declined to name, though Tucci said she was not one of those people.
"In my mind, it's more than facilities. When did they talk to the residents about what they want? It goes beyond just your playgrounds," he said.
The Blue Mountain recreation commission could absorb the cost, he said.
"Worst case scenario: we give the money back to the state," he said, adding he didn't think that was likely.
The Blue Mountain Recreation Commission Board public meeting is 7 p.m. April 23 at the recreation office, 669 Red Dale Road, Orwigsburg.