Montour Area Recreation Commission

The following are some of the rumors and misconceptions that were created during the time of heavy press coverage:

Q.    Is MARC proposing new taxes?

A.    No.  MARC is not and was not proposing a new tax (as described in the newspapers) but advocates better, more efficient use of existing tax dollars.  MARC is a product for sale to municipalities (no different than a snow plow or new truck).  If you need us, buy us.  If you don’t we will be there when you do.

Q.    Is MARC hiring an expensive Executive Director to be paid for by tax dollars?

A.    No.  MARC has secured fund for a Director of Recreation through the state organizations of DCNR and DCED.  These funds are for start-up only and will decrease over the next 4 years.  Once funds are depleted, MARC will have to examine this position and determine if the Director of Recreation job is continued.

Q.    Is MARC charging money to people that want to use the area parks?

A.    No.  MARC believes that parks need to be well maintained and open to the public. Sounds simple, but with little or no municipal support, where does the money come from to keep parks open and maintained?  Based on what others around the country had done when faced with this same problem, MARC concluded the following:

        - Users Fees were shown to be the most fair

            way to have users pay for what they used.

        - Events and programs could be used to offset        

            maintenance costs.

MARC is in the process or utilizing both of these methods to keep parks open to the public, clean and safe.

Q.    Is MARC some new concept organization?

A.    No, Recreation Commissions are already successfully operating in many Counties in PA.  MARC monitors and reports on the recreation successes and failures of other Pennsylvania communities and asks our municipal leaders to work together to establish a framework for pursuing some of the opportunities others have already used to create successful parks and recreation programs.

Q.    How do I get involved in MARC?

A.    MARC meetings are open to the public and take place on every second Monday of each month.  Attending a meeting might be a good place to start.  If you like what we are doing, you can join our “Friends of Recreation” group by CLICKING HERE and sending an email.

Or

If all that seems like a lot of work, you can simply CLICK HERE to make a donation that will come directly to MARC and be used for improved recreational facilities and programs in Montour County.

MARC FAQ’s

Success / Challenges

MARC began to operate as a Commission upon the signing of the Intergovernmental Agreements by our partner municipalities and DASD on May 18th, 2005. 

Since that date MARC has been primarily concerned with organizational issues and creating the best possible organization for partner municipalities.  In the meantime, Projects and programs continued to move forward under the joint supervision of both MARC and MCRA.  Here are a  few things that were accomplished:

The fence and Kiosk at Hess Field

Pictured below, the fence serves field users by keeping vehicles from “turfing” the fields while allowing foot traffic to freely flow.  The kiosk presently contains flyers for the River Towns Race Series, the local Montour County Trails and some Audubon birding brochures. 

Displays in the Kiosk show the Lucille Roberts bridge in it’s conceptual form, some history about Robbins trail and some posters for Earthday.

The Merck Bird watching blind & trail

The Hess field park is about 1/3 wetlands.  These wet areas are home for a multitude of plants, animals and wildlife.  Unfortunately, this delicate environment was inaccessible to all but the most motivated visitors since it is completely overgrown.  Using he Pennsylvania Conservation Corps crew and a grant from Merck,

MARC set out to change that condition.  By building and installing the bird blind (shown above) and a series of boardwalk type walkways, the crew was able to provide access and viewing areas to the wetland, without disturbing the delicate ecosystem.

The long awaited Hess Field Bathroom Using a grant from both DCNR and PennDot, MARC and MCRA were able to complete the bathroom project shown below.  To this point, field users were forced to use port-o-potty type facilities.  With the completion of this forced main, water bathroom facility, MARC hopes to be able to expand usage of Hess Field to a whole new group of users.

This summer we hope to use the bathroom for our Tour de Tykes mountain bike festival.  It’s stainless steel fixtures and rugged construction promise to deliver durability.  The addition of outdoor showers and a water fountain allow the possibility of camping at the park. 

At the very least, existing users will be pleased with the upgrade. 

Get involved Join “Friends of MARC” today!

If you would like to volunteer or be a member of the “Friends of MARC” group, simply press the “Email Me” button above.  Membership in the Friends of group only costs $20.00/year and entitles you to some special benefits like, discounts to events, special bulletins and news, service project opportunities for individuals and groups, and two newsletters a year. 

With your paid membership you will also receive a bike path replica pin (shown at right) to wear and proudly display your support of Montour County Recreation!

Montour Area Recreation Commission (MARC) is a group of mostly volunteers, committed to providing the best possible recreation facilities for the people of Montour County and the area serviced by the Danville Area School District (DASD). We are people who live and work here and recognize the vast resources the area has to offer. We are interested in helping to create a great place to live, work and raise a family. We hold monthly meetings, every second Monday, that are open to anyone and we are always looking for new ideas and perspectives.

MARC grew out of the Montour County Recreation Authority (MCRA).  MCRA was originally created as a funding mechanism for the Danville Area Community Center (DACC) over 20 years ago. Long after that original purpose was accomplished, it was re-formed to pursue ideas and dollars to improve recreation fields, programs, and facilities in Montour County and the Danville Area School District. For many years, Danville Borough dollars funded most of the recreation in our area - not all, but most. This inequitable funding of community facilities and programs was finally posed as a question, "Why aren't all municipalities participating in funding recreation?" And, "Why do we build things and never provide for maintaining them?"

In 2002, Ann Toole, Montour County's recreation consultant and county comprehensive plan author, proposed a change in organizational structure which would move the responsibility for recreation from an appointed authority to a commission which would be composed of representatives of every participating municipality. These recommendations follow statewide trends in recreation and, more importantly, recreation funding. DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) has moved toward a system of rewarding regional partnerships with grant opportunities. Growing Greener alone has made more than 260 million dollars available to regional partnerships.

In 2003, MCRA assembled a team of volunteers to travel around the state to observe other communities to learn how they ran their organizations. DCNR provided a list of successful, sustained programs that were similar in size to our region for this study. The team found the common thread among successful organizations was partnerships and wide-based community support.

Because MCRA was a volunteer group with a small budget, we could not launch a full-scale public relations campaign. All we could hope to do was present our findings in a logical, thoughtful, and respectful way. To that end, MCRA began the education process by speaking with public officials. Every idea for funding the commission and creating a commission was an idea - a model, a framework. The actual commission, its funding, and the scope of responsibilities is decided by the representatives of the voluntarily participating municipalities.

A large group meeting on March 10, 2004, followed the small group discussions. The goal of this meeting was to insure that all municipal leaders received a consistent message.

After the March 10th meeting MCRA had planned to meet with organized sports teams and ultimately hold a series of public meetings. Unfortunately, the press coverage of the meeting created many questions in the minds of the public before MCRA had an opportunity to complete the program.

As a result some municipalities decided to join with MCRA in the creation of MARC.  Other took more of a “wait and see” approach.  Today, MARC is composed of Montour County (with full support of the Commissioners), Danville Area School District (contributing with in kind services rather than tax dollars) Riverside and Washingtonville Borough.

Organizational History