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Upcounty residents say that having two different county departments each offer recreation programs is confusing and often difficult to navigate.

The county parks department and recreation department offer similar activities such as camps, classes and special events, and representatives of both agencies are studying ways to streamline and potentially consolidate recreation services at the request of the Montgomery County Council.

Stan Fisher, 64, of Boyds said at a public forum June 17 that the departments should merge, an option not under consideration by the council. He described the time his senior baseball league played at a field in Olney and the bathrooms were locked —they walked to a nearby facility operated by the recreation department for assistance but were told that staff couldn't help because the field was managed by the parks department.

"I'm afraid it's not going to work very well. It'd be easier to be like everybody else in the world who has parks and recreation together," Fisher said, adding that there are not enough recreation facilities in the upcounty. "…It's done that way almost everywhere else — there's got to be a reason for that."

More than 90 percent of U.S. counties have consolidated parks and recreation departments, Recreation Director Gabe Albornoz said at a public forum in Boyds on June 17. The departments have different registration systems and in some cases charge different prices for similar activities, Albornoz and Parks Director Mary Bradford said.

"It's a little unusual that our agencies are separated," Albornoz said. "…What we're finding is there's a lot of low-hanging fruit and just by sitting around looking at the issues we're finding a lot of cost-neutral savings."

Several of the roughly 20 attendees at the forum said they regularly participate in parks department activities and did not want the quality of the programming to suffer. Others said they would like to see all county recreation programs listed in the same place.

It has not yet been determined which agency, if any, would absorb the other's recreation programs, Albornoz and Bradford said. Under the County Council's proposal, the Department of Parks, part of the bi-county Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, would continue to oversee planning functions, park stewardship and natural resources management, park police, horticulture and arboriculture functions, historic properties and some park facilities like playgrounds and trails.

"It'll be interesting to see how it'll work out," said Sandy Kahn, 72, of Darnestown, who said she goes to many parks department events. "It's been this way for years, and maybe there's something they can improve on."

Have your say

Speak out on county recreation programs at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Gwendolyn E. Coffield Community Center, 2450 Lyttonsville Road, Silver Spring.