The City Council shook up the Parks and Recreation Commission
Wednesday by not reappointing Commission Chairman Craig van
Keulen.
The City Council shook up the Parks and Recreation Commission Wednesday by not reappointing Commission Chairman Craig van Keulen.
Instead, they chose two new members, Jim Green and Katharine L. Hardt-Mason, to replace van Keulen and Tom Madalena, who did not reapply. Laura Hagiperos was reappointed to another two-year term. John Reese applied but was not appointed.
Council members ranked the applicants with five as a perfect score. Hagiperos received a 7, Hardt-Mason 13, Green 14, van Keulen, 16, and Reese 20.
The seven-member PRC advises the council on matters of planning and development of parks, cultural facilities and recreational programs.
Councilman Greg Sellers said it was a difficult decision, especially because van Keulen is a friend. He said council wanted the commission to go in a new direction.
“We need more activists to roll up their sleeves and get into details,” Sellers said. “This is easily the most difficult job I ever have had to do as councilman, especially when all five were eminently qualified.”
Sellers said council will be looking at upcoming Planning Commission appointments in the same light.
van Keulen, a local attorney and commissioner for eight years, said he wanted to finish what the commission started.
“To get the PRC back on track (it and the recreation department had been disbanded during an early 1990s financial crisis) and get the new facilities up,” he said. “Especially now with the discussion of who will manage and use the outdoor recreation center, the commission needs a particular type of objectivity to deal with those issues.”
van Keulen said he was surprised at the vote and thought his experience and knowing the ins and outs of sports programs gave him a good perspective.
“It is a little painful,” van Keulen said, “I don’t know the reasoning behind the votes; it seems like the worst possible time to change horses in midstream.”
Mayor Dennis Kennedy explained that, after the interviews and having read the applications, each council member ranks the candidates and City Clerk Irma Torrez totals them up with the winners earning the highest scores.
“I was surprised that that the scoring came out the way it did,” Kennedy said. “Craig has done outstanding job and would have continued to do so.”
Councilman Steve Tate said he, too, was surprised at the outcome.
Kennedy said he will consider finding a way to allow experience to add weight during the selection process.
Hardt-Mason has lived in Morgan Hill for four years, has 8-month-old twins and is a real estate and land use attorney. She approves of Morgan Hill working to become a family recreational destination.
“While shopping and large organized events can do the same thing, I don’t believe such activities speak to the character of Morgan Hill and its residents,” Hardt-Mason said in her application.
Green is athletic director at Britton Middle School and director of the South County basketball academy. He said in his application that he was primarily interested in youth activities and has kept up to date on the proposed sports facilities in several ways.
“I have attended meetings, had conversations with current members and I subscribe to The Morgan Hill Times,” Green said.
Hagiperos is athletic director for middle school students at Morgan Hill Charter School and has served on the PRC since 1999.
Other members on the PRC are Jeff Bernardini, Mark Frederick, Marilyn Librers and Don Jensen.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
