BALTIMORE COUNTY — It takes thousands of volunteers to run recreational sports programs in Baltimore County. And they've largely operated the same way for the Department of Recreation and Parks' 75 year history. Now, the county wants to "modernize" the system, so it hired a national consulting firm to suggest some changes.
"I think you would struggle to find anyone on a rec council who's in favor of this,” Anthony Hammond, volunteer program coordinator for Perry Hall Boys Youth Lacrosse, told WMAR-2 News.
"We weren't asked [about] any of the program implementation - zero,” Paul Amirault, treasurer for the Perry Hall Recreation Council, said. He’s been a volunteer since 1981. He says using the county’s fields has always been free. That would change under the new plan; recreation councils would be charged to use the fields their taxes pay to maintain.
"That's the craziest thing. They won't tell us how much the fees are going to be. This is to be implemented July 1. We've got budgets and registrations already going on, without knowing what the fees will be. You can't do that,” Amirault said.
You can read the announcement about the changes here.
Hammond and Amirault - even if some teams aren’t priced out, they could lose access to their fields anyway. The new plan gives permit prirority to teams outside a Council’s boundaries, over local travel and adult teams.
“That is the biggest concern - that we will lose programs because they won’t have a field,” Amirault said.
"I think it'll change the ability for rec and travel teams to get access to their local teams. It'll likely reduce the number of volunteers because many volunteers are parents and if the kids leave, the parents will leave with them. So we're very concerned about the health of the programs,” Hammond said.
A lot of people are. An online petition started over the weekend has more than 700 signatures, most of which came in the past 24 hours.
Another issue the group is concerned about is liability coverage.
“Without getting too complicated, the way it’s gonna run is, they’re gonna require all of the Rec Councils to provide certificates of insurance, in other words, proving that we have liability insurance. There are 43 Nature and Recreational Councils, and you can imagine, that’s a lot of insurance, and that alone will be an enormous drain on us,” Amirault said.
Previously, he explained, "The Rec Councils have been liable for some things; the county protected our volunteers, they would indemnify them if something happened, a slip, a fall, anything like that. Now it’s gonna be - we have to protect everybody, and that’s very concerning.”
"Most volunteers are here just to help the kids, and to put the burden on insuring them on the rec council, would add further cost to the players,” Hammond said.
Hammond expressed his concerns in an email to the department director, Bob Smith. He showed us the response, which stated: "The Department wanted to share the following information. In light of the requested legal review related to previous questions as well as several recent inquiries sent in by Councils, the Department Leadership will be postponing meetings with Councils related to the “Reimagining Recreation Plan” at this time. Once the Department is in possession of the review the meetings will be rescheduled. It is our intent that this will prevent any misunderstanding, misinterpretation and any confusion on the Department’s stance related to the issues that have been raised."
Hammond and Amirault say they want a seat at the table, and they don’t feel like their voices are being heard.
"We're happy to help the county try to solve problems, but we don't want to see new ones created,” Hammond said.
“Work with us, that’s all that we’ve asked. There’s work groups that they’re starting to create, but by the time all of that happens, it’s in the budget. It’s baked in,” Amirault said.
Director Smith responded to the concerns in a statement to WMAR-2 News:
In a step toward ensuring that the public has equal access to County-maintained fields and facilities, the Department of Recreation and Parks in December 2023 issued an updated policy [baltimorecountymd.gov] about priority permitting.
In this updated policy, council recreation-level programs are permitted access prior to council travel, club, or adult programs. Outside groups, (non-recreation/nature council entities and the general public) are permitted use after both the council recreational and travel/club levels.
The County remains committed to working with recreation councils to address concerns and are in the process of convening work groups with stakeholders, including those who offer travel and adult rec programming.
For 75 years, the Department of Recreation and Parks has cultivated a rich tradition of volunteer-led programming. As Baltimore County continues to make record investments in recreation and park assets, we have a responsibility to modernize the Department by standardizing and streamlining processes. Recreation and nature councils will continue to be a vital partner as we work together to build a more inclusive and efficient system that more equitably serves residents across Baltimore County.
