Essex Junction Recreation and Parks

Dear EJRP Families,

We are pleased to inform you that the Village of Essex Junction Board of Trustees and the Essex Junction Prudential Committee have reached an agreement, dismissing the lawsuit, and putting forward a shared plan to maintain the quality recreational programs that we offer.  The Essex Junction School District will continue to conduct the recreation programs in the Village of Essex Junction.  All scheduled summer programs will proceed as planned.

Thank you for your patience in dealing with this situation.  We look forward to returning our focus to people, parks, and programs, and continuing to serve our community in a meaningful way.

We appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

Brad Luck, Director

Visit the CCSU website for more details on the resolution.

Essex Junction school and village officials are headed to court-ordered mediation Thursday in an effort to resolve the ongoing dispute regarding ownership of the Recreation and Parks Department in the community.

Village trustees and the Prudential Committee, which serves as the school board, will meet at 9 a.m. with mediator Michael Marks of Richmond at the Park Street School.

The school board plans to have a public meeting at 8:15 a.m. Thursday but expects to move into secret session, according to the proposed agenda.

Linda Waite-Simpson, the school board chairwoman, and Village President Deb Billado said Monday that they are hopeful common ground can be found.

Read the full article.

A Chittenden Superior Court judge has ordered Es­sex Junction school and vil­lage officials to try formal mediation by April 4 to solve the longstanding bick­ering over ownership of the Recreation And Parks De­partment in the community.

The court has scheduled a hearing for April 13 on a re­quest from the Essex Junc­tion Board of Trustees for a preliminary injunction to block the school district from holding recreation pro­grams at village-owned parks unless a new operat­ing agreement is reached.

Judge Helen Toor, in a conference call with lawyers from both sides Monday, said the school board and trustees need to sit down with a mediator and try to talk things out before turn­ing to the court for a ruling.

Read the full article.

Dear EJRP Families,

We are writing to inform you that a request for a preliminary injunction has been filed in Chittenden Superior Court by the Village of Essex Junction against the Essex Junction School District. If granted, the effect of the injunction would be that the Essex Junction School District would have no right to use the village parks property and would be trespassing as of July 1, 2011.

Since Essex Junction Recreation and Parks employees are employed by the Essex Junction School District, if the injunction is upheld, our summer staff would not be able to operate summer programs (Camp Maple Street, swim lessons, Skate Camp, etc.) at Maple Street, Cascade, or Stevens Park.

We have a historical dependence on the parks and pool for summer programming and we hope to run things as scheduled, however, we are currently working to think creatively on contingency plans if the injunction is granted. It is certain to say that camps and programs would look drastically different if our personnel did not have access to the parks and facilities at Maple Street Park. If we are unable to offer these programs at another location with the same level of quality, then we will issue refunds accordingly.

We cannot predict the outcome of the injunction or how things will proceed, but wanted to inform you of this possibility as early as possible.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Brad Luck, Director

On Friday, March 4, the Village of Essex Junction Board of Trustees (BoT) filed a legal motion requesting the Superior Court to grant the Village a preliminary injunction against the Essex Junction School District (EJSD) barring it from entering onto any of the Village-owned parks property. The motion was filed in a lawsuit in which the BoT challenges the right of EJSD to continue operating the Essex Junction Recreation and Parks (EJRP) programs, as it has for the last four decades.

The EJRP has been operated and administered by EJSD since 1970, and currently utilizes the Village-owned parks as its location for many EJRP programs and activities, including Maple Street Park and Pool. Recently, the actual governance of EJRP has been questioned by the BoT.

In effect, the BoT's requested injunction would declare EJSD to be a trespasser, and would ban EJSD from entering the parks property, upon which most of the EJRP programming and facilities sit. The filing of this motion for a preliminary injunction is pending approval by the Superior Court Judge and, if granted, would presumably be effective July 1, 2011. In the meantime, EJSD has been required to file an answer and its own counterclaims. EJSD seeks to continue operating the EJRP programs. Alternatively, if it is deemed a trespasser, EJSD has raised the question of how it should be compensated for the improvements to the park properties its taxpayers have paid for over the last several decades.

The village has requested a preliminary injunction in Chittenden Superior Court against the village school district in an effort to try to resolve the ownership dispute over the Parks and Recreation Department.

Village Trustee George Tyler took exception to the latest legal move during a trustees meeting Tuesday, saying the tactic had not been brought to the board.

Village Manager Dave Crawford said the injunction was a move determined by the village’s legal team in response to the trustees’ stated wishes to try to resolve the issue quickly.

Last month, the village requested a declaratory judgement from a Chittenden Superior Court judge to determine who owns the department. Crawford said the injunction is designed to help move the case in front of the judge more quickly.

Under the current recreation operating agreement, the notice to either continue or terminate it must be given by April 1. After July 1, the school district would have no right to use the village parks and would be trespassing, according to the injunction request. The village would be free to operate the department or contract with another party, including Essex or another community.

Read the full article.

An Essex Junction trustee who has kept silent for 10 months in the battle over the control of the village Recreation Department said Tuesday that he wants officials to hammer out an agreement before the issue divides the community more.

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The village has gone to Chittenden Superior Court to seek a declaratory judgment about who is responsible for recreation. That lawsuit did not sit well with about at least a half dozen residents who asked the trustees Tuesday to drop the action.

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Gustafson, in his letter and in comments during the meeting, said he fears the negative tone on the issue will spill over when it comes time to vote on the village, school district and recreation budgets in April.

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Gustafson chaired the meeting in the absence of Village President Deb Billado, who he said was sick. The board has been locked in a 3-1 split in favor of trustees' having more control, with Gustafson abstaining. Trustee George Tyler has favored the school district.

Tyler made a motion that the village sign a proposed agreement drafted by the school district to oversee operation through 2019, but it died for a lack of a second.

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ESSEX JUNCTION -- The Essex Junction School District has proposed that the current operating agreement for the village Parks and Recreation Department be extended until 2019.

The Prudential Committee, which serves as the school board, forwarded the three-page agreement to the village of Essex Junction in the latest volley between the two municipal governments regarding the operation of the Recreation Department.

The two sides are at odds over who owns or controls recreation in the village. Both sides agree the village owns the three parks. They disagree whether the village turned over fully to the School District the Recreation Department in 1970. The School District believes it owns and controls the program after a 1970 vote by the trustees. The village maintains the trustees had no authority to give away the program. They believe the School District is running the department on the village's behalf.

Superintendent Mike Deweese said Tuesday that he hopes the trustees will sign the proposal. He said the idea of having it extended to 2019 was to cover the bond obligations the School District is paying for upgrades to the municipal swimming pool and upgrades at the Maple Street Park.

Essex Junction Village Manager Dave Crawford said he expects the proposal will be on the Tuesday agenda for the Board of Trustees.

Read the full article.

At its February 10, 2011 school board meeting, the Prudential Committee (PC) authorized and signed an extension of the Essex Junction Recreation and Parks (EJRP) Agreement.  This Agreement would extend the relationship between the PC and the Village of Essex Junction from the current expiration date of June 30, 2011 through June 30, 2019.

A recent petition signed by over 800 citizens urged the PC and the Village to extend the current agreement through 2019 to match it up with when the school district’s voter-approved bond obligations for the swimming pool and Maple Street Park upgrades will be complete.

“We are grateful for the advice and counsel of citizens who took time to inform us of their thinking,” PC Vice-Chair Charlee Day said.  “The action by the PC honors the wisdom of the citizens’ petition.”

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"During a School Board meeting Wednesday, Superintendent Michael Deweese outlined the history of the governance of the Parks Department in the village since 1970, when control switched from the village to the school district.

Deweese used 101 slides of letters, newspaper clippings, surveys and minutes of public meetings to document the transfer in 1970 and a charter change in 1985."

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