As Slatington, Walnutport and Washington Township worked toward the possibility of establishing a regional recreation organization, they delved into greater detail about what it would take to form such an alliance at a meeting Tuesday at Slatington's borough hall.

Representatives of the three municipalities have been meeting since last October and are now at a point where "project committee meetings" are taking place.Lancaster Recreation Commission executive director Susan Landes, who is serving to guide these meetings, said the main role of each committee member is to communicate what happens at each meeting back to his or her entity in such a way that there are constant back-and-forth questions, answers and other feedback shared between the committee and those entities.Landes said it is "particularly (important to do so with) borough council and the township supervisors because, ultimately, to put an intergovernmental agreement in place, it's going to have to be approved by those entities."She also encouraged representatives to be completely open with their questions, comments and concerns "because we have to get to a point where we come to some consensus on things," or no agreement of cooperation may be reached.Landes said such an agreement would constitute a 501(c) 3 organization that would include a governing, not advisory, board that is appointed by the municipalities.She added that the number of future board members from each municipality could be equal or population-based but that she recommended population-based because Washington Township has as many residents as Slatington and Walnutport combined. Plus, she said, financial contributions, based per capita, would then be lower for the two smaller boroughs.But Landes' big suggestion of the night was that the Northern Lehigh Community Center be restructured so it becomes the home of this future intermunicipal organization, including where its offices are located.She said that by doing so, not only will the community center get finished, which she noted was a top priority on recent "key person surveys" she had received back from all three municipalities, it would also allow the entire group to qualify for the largest pool of funding from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources."You want to qualify for (the big funding)," Landes said, noting that the very first grant of $300,000 is then almost guaranteed.She said it will then not be "Slatington Borough's community center" but rather, officially, all three municipalities' community center. She also suggested the name of the organization itself be the "Northern Lehigh Recreation Commission" so as not to single out any of the three municipalities."One of the things that I don't want to do is have this regional recreation (organization) take over anything that already exists," said Landes, "like the canal association, the playground association, youth sports groups, any of that. That's all functioning well. The community center, though, is a different story because it's still trying to get its doors open and get itself off the ground.""I'm agreeable to it," Walnutport Borough Council President Matthew Newhard said. "It's not just the community center now, it's going to be actually all three municipalities."He also added that though he is agreeable with representation on the organization's board being population-based, he would ask that any budget decisions require unanimous approval."I'm OK with it right now," said Washington Township Supervisor Chairman Josh Friebolin, "but I'm only one of three."He said his biggest concern is "what the cost will be three years down the road."Landes said she will prepare a five-year budget for initial consideration that will include different scenarios of each municipality's financial contribution. She also said she will prepare a preliminary draft of a possible intergovernmental agreement.Lastly, though most similarly organized groups are commissions, Newhard suggested they organize as an "authority" to gain some of the financial and other benefits afforded to authorities that are not available to commissions.Landes said she will look into that suggestion.Though any of the municipalities can still pull out at any time before an agreement is reached, Landes said, "I'm really optimistic that we'll be able to make something happen here."