Community members are invited to give their input on the direction of Washington Twp. recreation programs at a public open house set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Rec West Enrichment Center, 965 Miamisburg-Centerville Rd.
The open house is the ideal place to express ideas because the information collected will be used to help develop a new strategic plan for recreation services, according to Recreation Director Mark Metzger.
“We want to hear from everyone, but we particularly want to hear from individuals who do not currently use our programs,” Metzger said. “This ensures that we calibrate programming to best serve our residents. We also hope people will invite their friends and neighbors — especially if they are not frequent users of the recreation center, the Rec West Enrichment Center or Town Hall Theatre.”
He said the challenge in executing a successful public recreation program is that you are trying to find activities that serve everybody, and that isn’t an easy task.
“Your trying to find something for everybody as best you can,” Metzger said.
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He said the recreation department provides a broad range of services — ranging from sports and fitness to the arts and special events — for people of all ages, including people of varying abilities.
“I would say that if there is an area of potential growth for us it would be in serving the 20- to 40-year-old age group,” he said. “We have a lot of kids and youth in our camps and programming and a lot of seniors in our programming.”
The Washington Twp. Recreation Department is working with Berry-Dunn consultants on the strategic plan.
“The purpose of this open house project is to reach out to people in the community who aren’t members and get a dialogue with them to focus on how we can create programs for them,” he said. “It would be nice to have a little bit more data and it is a good chance for people to be heard.”
Dale Berry, president of the Washington Twp. Board of Trustees, said it is important to engage the community.
“Involving the community in a conversation about how their recreation center can best serve them is vitally important,” Berry said. “It’s essential to hear from all segments of our community and from people with a broad range of interests.”
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