LANCASTER : Council Votes to Scrap Parks Panel
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The Lancaster City Council has voted 4 to 1 to disband the city’s Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission, a five-member advisory panel that has been dogged by controversies and a lack of clout at City Hall.
Councilman Frank Roberts, who prefers temporary, council-appointed ad-hoc committees to deal with specific tasks, sought the change Monday night. Mayor George Root cast the lone dissenting vote. The council is set to take a final vote on disbanding the commission in two weeks.
Because the parks commission has no authority under the city’s system, members had often complained of being bypassed.
In the past year, member Judy Schwabacher was criticized for her handling of the city’s new public art-acquisition program. Colleagues accused her of running the program in a secretive and highhanded manner. And commission member Arvid Orbeck Jr. unwittingly became entangled with an alleged con man.
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