By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The candidates vying for St. John the Bapist Parish’s top job told members of the Recreation Board Monday the parish needs a more comprehensive and better funded recreation department in order to better serve the needs of the citizens.

Prior to the board’s regular monthly meeting, candidates Perry Bailey, Buddy Boe, Gerald Keller, Natalie Robottom and Dale Wolfe were each given three pre-determined questions pertaining to the current state of parish recreation and possible goals for the future. Each was given equal opportunity to voice their answers at the hour-long forum.

The candidates emphasized the importance of broadening the recreation program’s concentration beyond just organized sports that only target a select number of residents.

“We don’t focus enough on the underutilized passive elements of our recreation department,” Boe said. “We need to do a better job of promoting our parks, our fishing piers, our walking trails and our boat launches. The pieces are there. We just have to fit them all together.”

In a statement read by Recreation Board President Mike Tregre, Bailey, who was absent from the forum but submitted responses, said the recreation department needs to look at promoting a high standard of structured programs that focus on “the whole person.” He stressed healthier eating habits and more activities that go beyond a few organized sports.

All agreed funding for the department, which comes from the parish’s video poker revenue, is insufficient and not even close to where it needs to be for future development and sustainability.

“We are at the whim of the gamblers,” Keller said. “We can’t always count on it. We need to consider corporate sponsorships and industry help. We need to look at grants and other federal aid.”

The annual budget for recreation in St. John stands at about $725,000 – a meager amount when compared to neighboring parishes like St. James and St. Charles, which use millages and sales taxes to back recreation. Their annual budgets are $1.5 million and $3.5 million, respectively. St. John has also supplemented the annual budget with $2.9 million in bond revenue from the 2009 bond issue passed last spring. The lion’s share of that money is going to improvements at the East Bank and West Bank park complexes, as well as construction of a long-awaited gymnasium at Regala Park in Reserve.

“We need to examine a possible public/private partnership,” Robottom said. “The school system, the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America need to be involved. We need to work as a team and develop a plan and a stable funding mechanism.”

In his statements to the board, Wolfe spoke of a “history of neglect” when it comes to recreation in St. John Parish. He said he would consider calling in help from the St. John Sheriff’s Office and the parish’s bond attorney and also mentioned the possibility of asking for a new millage.

“We need to find out what is available and how we can get it,” Wolfe said. “The people of our parish put us here, and we need the people’s input. You as a board need to put pressure on the parish administration and the parish council to make something happen. Our funding source should be something you can count on every year.”