California to form recreation authority
California Borough Council will create an authority to oversee its proposed recreation facility at the recommendation of the borough solicitor. Solicitor Michael Savona told council it would be most advantageous to create a recreation authority to oversee the proposed center and all recreational sites within the borough to provide maintenance and administration.
One of the main reasons Savona believes the creation of an authority will better serve the borough is because an authority will have the ability to generate revenue through bond issues and to exercise the power of eminent domain to fulfill its purposes.
He said, while the recreation authority will remain under the “borough’s umbrella,” the authority will relieve the borough of liability and maintenance costs.
In previous meetings, council members pondered on whether they should make the recreation center a non-profit entity or oversee the center themselves.
Savona said council can appoint no fewer than five members, but no more than nine, to the authority.
He said all members must be residents of the borough.
Savona said members will hold office until their successors have been appointed and that they may also succeed themselves.
He said authority members could receive salaries for their services, if council wished to do so and council members could also serve on the recreation authority.
Once created, the authority will be in existence for 50 years and cannot be dissolved by council before then, according to Savona. He said the authority will operate according to the Municipal Authority’s Act.
In order to establish an authority, Savona said council must conduct a public hearing, adopt a resolution and file Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
State Rep. Peter Daley (D-California) is spearheading the effort to build the new recreation/community center in California.
He has been working with Mayor Galvie Gardner and California Borough Council to gather input on what residents would like to see at the facility.
Gardner said that monthly Saturday meetings that are open to the public have been held since the summertime to lay the groundwork for the center.