Volunteer Public Works Team Proposed

The Township Council is exploring a proposal to form a volunteer group to aid public works crews in maintaining local parks.

Councilman Mark Schwartz likened the proposal to New York City’s Central Park Conservancy, where volunteers help with work ranging from landscape maintenance to litter pick up.

“What I’m looking to do is something along the lines of having an auxiliary DPW,” Schwartz said. “I believe there are quite a bit of people in town that garden, that like the outdoors and the parks, and want to volunteer.”

A volunteer team could help ease the manpower and budget impact of park maintenance, he said.

Councilman Elie Y. Katz suggested the town review a program allowing organizations to “adopt” local parks. Katz said he was unsure how active the program was and if organizations were still involved with the parks they agreed to sponsor.

The projects for any potential park volunteer program in Teaneck were not yet defined and the township manager was asked to gather a list of tasks the proposed auxiliary maintenance team could handle.

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