What should be the mission of the Martin County Park and Recreation Department?
Their mission statement proclaims: “In partnership with Martin County residents, the Park and Recreation Department cultivates programs, parks, and services that improve quality of life, preserves national resources, and satisfies the community needs for recreation, fitness, and leisure.”
Under that statement the County has created a water park. It has created a campground and an RV park, a venue for weddings and other affaires, and is in the process of building a magnificent golf course with clubhouse and a “Top Golf” type driving range. The Department has created a nice restaurant at the beach in Jensen Beach and is creating a dining space with tiki hut and full bar at Stuart Beach.
These are all wonderful and beautiful accomplishments. Yet, at some of our functional parks and fields, there are drainage problems, fences in disrepair and inadequate rest and storage facilities for the teams that use them. The new and the shiny always trump the needed expenditures for mundane and boring maintenance. Even though these “bread & butter” facilities are used by most Martin County residents.
Mission statements are fine, but it is the services provided to the greatest number of residents that count the most. Should we be involved in a water park better suited to the private sector? For the money it cost to build Sailfish Splash, we should have provided county pools in the CRA areas. That would have been a better use of tax dollars.
Why is the department again bypassing the private sector by creating a much more luxurious experience at the golf course than what is necessary to fulfill the need of providing a place for residents to play golf? The same can be said for campgrounds for RVs. And since when should governments be running restaurants?
The Board of County Commissioners claim to be free-market, pro-business, and fiscally conservative shepherds of tax dollars. When it comes to the running of this department, that is far from a true statement. The Commission has allowed themselves to be carried away by using tax dollars to fulfill their fantasies.
Their fantasies should include the use of tax dollars to make sure existing recreational parks are well maintained and that there are programs that benefit the broader community and the needs of children and adults to recreate. Trying to compete with the private sector is not what government should be doing nor does it do it ultimately very well.
If you think that people need more than a hamburger to enjoy their beach experience, sign a lease with a private restauranteur. If an electronic driving range is needed in Martin County, then put out an RFP or RFQ to see if anyone in the private sector will respond. If not, that should tell you something about what you are planning.
I would bet that most parents who have kids involved in a sports league would rather have a reseeded field with a working score board and bleachers than a place to have a margherita at a beach. Our poorest residents would much rather have a community pool than a water park where they cannot afford to go. It is time the Commission stop this government overreach and spending of tax dollars. Just provide those programs that most taxpayers want and use at well-tended facilities.
What the Commission fails to ever grasp is the 100 people that complain, champion, and cajole on any one item are not the broad swath of constituents, they need to please. Business comes to an area not because of an electronic driving range or a water slide. They locate to places that have good schools, various types and prices of housing, and decent amenities. The private sector can handle the razz-ma-tazze.