Rochester Avon Recreation Authority to Oakland Township: Join Us

The (RARA) has a clear message for Oakland Township: We want you to join our interlocal agreement, and we want you to contribute.

"I know that there was a history there the last couple years of trying to bring Oakland Township on board," said , who became RARA's executive director in March.

Jewell said he wants to start talks with Oakland Township again.

“It’s near and dear to our hearts, having Oakland Township become part of the tri-community area," he said.

Why join RARA?

Joining the agreement — which already includes Rochester Hills, Rochester, Avondale Schools and Rochester Schools — would mean Oakland Township would become a full partner in RARA.

Township residents would have resident status when registering for RARA's programs, doing away with current nonresident fees (an extra $20 for children and $28 for adults per program – for program pricing, click here) and giving Oakland Township residents priority when registering for programs.

"Township residents are only allowed into the programs after the slots have been filled by Rochester and Rochester Hills residents," Oakland Township Manager Jim Creech said.

"When this was last brought up, it turned out the only real area of concern and debate had to do with some children’s dance classes, where they bumped some township residents out because of the size of the room." 

Joining the agreement would require the township itself to help fund RARA's programs, most likely through a millage. Then “they will become a fully vested part of our interlocal agreement," said Jewell.

"It’d be a better overall program," RARA board member and Rochester Hills City Council member Nathan Klomp said. "It makes a lot of sense. These days, with the economy the way it is, sharing services is far more efficient.”

Paying for RARA

Rochester Hills currently has a millage to fund RARA, and Rochester pays a similar portion based on Rochester Hills' contribution that year, Jewell said. In 2010, Rochester Hills and Rochester contributed $688,500 and $88,400, respectively; Oakland Township contributed nothing, according to the RARA website.

"Rochester and Rochester Hills pay for the overhead of RARA," Rochester City Council and RARA board member Kim Russell said. "Even though Oakland Township residents pay a higher fee for the programs, it doesn't compensate."

"The lion’s share comes from Rochester Hills — obviously, it’s a bigger city — but Oakland Township is very much a part of who we provide our recreation programs to," Jewell said.

In 2009, 13 percent of RARA's 15,000 registrations were Oakland Township residents, compared with Rochester's 16 percent and Rochester Hills' 61 percent. Jewell estimates the percentage of registrations from Oakland Township residents has gone up this year.

"We know who we provide service to," he said. "We provide a vast majority of it to Rochester and Rochester Hills, but 14 to 16 percent of it is Oakland Township. They’re very comparative to how much we provide to the city of Rochester."

Township not interested

Creech said this debate has come up "from time to time" and said the township was generally not satisfied with RARA's proposals.

"It turned out that they wanted the township’s money, but we wouldn’t have a say or a vote on their governing board," said Creech. "The township board didn’t feel that the $100,000-plus contribution was justified."

Creech added that the financial benefits of joining RARA were marginal.

"It just alleviates the fixed-cost burden, filling open slots and generating more revenue for their programs," he said.

The Oakland Township Board of Trustees felt that "the Parks and Recreation Commission would be the proper funding mechanism, and at that time, the (commission) did not have an interest in partnering with RARA," Creech said.

What's next?

Jewell said previous attempts to reach an agreement between RARA and Oakland Township may have "come to a stalemate" before, but he hopes to resume talks with the township in the next few months.

"It’s disappointing that it hasn’t come to any kind of fruition," Klomp said. "I don’t know if we’ve done a good job of presenting the case to them or not, but they haven’t really realized the value of it yet."

He added, "I would expect there’s a silent majority of support for it."

Creech said the township has been waiting for RARA to make the next move.

"The way we left it with them is to ask the citizens," Creech said. "They could go to the residents of Oakland Township with a request for a millage to fund and become members of RARA; they did not pursue that course."

“It’s a frustrating thing," said Klomp, "but at the end of the day, you can’t force Oakland Township to do what it doesn’t want to do.”