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LEWISBORO, N.Y. – If Lewisboro Supervisor Peter Parsons gets his way, the town will merge its Open Space Advisory Council with its Preserves Committee.
“The truth is, I think the committees should be changed to fit the needs of the times,” Parsons said. “There’s no money to buy open space, so we’re not active in that market right now.”
The Preserves Committee is primarily responsible for managing the town’s nature preserves, such as establishing and maintaining trails. "We're not managing them very well,” he said.
Consequently, Parsons feels that by combining the two entities it will give one committee a lot to do, rather than have two committees with little to do.
“If you give a committee a full load, it will start enjoying it and do its job and get things done,” he said.
The two committees are similar in nature, Parsons contended, so a merger would be a natural thing. “They’re kind of joined at the hip,” he said. “So, with the likelihood of the town purchasing any open space in the near future highly unlikely, the bigger concern should be managing what we have.”
Deputy Supervisor Peter DeLucia said if the town does combine the two, the new entity will have to be renamed. He suggested the Open Space and Preserves Advisory Committee.
“I’ll call it whatever you’d like,” Parsons said.
There was some debate among town board members as to who would be responsible for overseeing the new committee if such a merger happens. Some thought it should be the Parks & Rec Department, but DeLucia thought that agency has enough on its plate.
“Shouldn’t it be the town board’s responsibility to police these committees?” he asked.
The board decided to table further discussion about any possible merger for a later date. “I’d like to bring up again soon,” Parsons said. “Possibly at a work session where we’d have more time to go into it.”
Comments (2)
We originally thought this was a promising idea and praised Mr. Parsons since it seems that government hardly ever shrinks in size voluntarily. But his comments at the last town board meeting indicated that he wants to take the Preserves Committee away from oversight by The Parks & Recreation Department.
This would be an unusual an ill-advised move. It seems like he is caving in to pressure from Lewisboro's open space-left. These are passive recreation parks should not be under the unbridled control of splinter enviro groups. Cleaning up these preserves will take an ecumenical approach with everyone, hikers, horseback riders, day camp kids, scouts and the greenies all on board. Learn more about this at Sons and Daughters of Lewisboro on Facebook.
What is the issue? It is called the Parks AND Recreation Department