First Meeting to Draft Forks Recreation Board Ordinance on Tap Tonight

The first meeting for drafting a new Forks Township Recreation Board ordinance will finally be held tonight.

The meeting will be held at 7pm in the township municipal building located at 1606 Sullivan Trail.  The meeting was slated for Jan. 27 but was rescheduled due to bad weather.  Township Supervisors, the township Parks and Recreation Director, two representatives from the current recreation board and two members of the Forks Township Youth Sports Organization will weigh in on what should be included in the new draft ordinance.

Just last week, supervisors voted 3-2 to reduce a previously granted $10,000 petty cash fund to the board down to $5,000. Among other stipulations the account that was opened for the board at Lafayette Ambassador Bank will also be closed and funds will now be withdrawn from a PNC Bank account. Voting against the measure were supervisors Erik Chuss and Robert Egolf.

The decision came as a surprise after board members appeared before supervisors in January. During that meeting supervisors voted down, 3-2 to introduce the new draft ordinance and voted unanimously in favor of providing a petty cash fund of $10,000.

Supervisors C. David Howell and Lilly Gioia brought the issue to the table last year. Both have expressed the need to revise the 1960 municipal ordinance that created the recreation board. Officials say the ordinance is outdated and does not fulfill the needs of the current municipality which now has several park lands, a community center and newly acquired parcels.