New Recreation Director Steers Department in New Direction

James Wioland, the new recreation director for Lacey Township is calling this a transition year.

“My main goal is to view how the department has been running and to continue the tradition that we have in place with the shore and parks program,” Wioland said. “Mr. Kilmurray [the former recreation director] worked many, many years to get that program to be the centerpiece that it is and I want to continue on his work and move forward in the same direction.”

Wioland has plenty of tricks up his sleeve to transform the recreation department into one that is more viable and broad in scope.

Partnering with Local Businesses

Wioland sees partnering with the local business community as vital to the success of the recreation department, he said.

“Lacey has a lot of talented people throughout the residential and business community and my goal and my job is to tap their strengths and really bring them into the recreation department.”

Wioland plans to partner with local businesses such as restaurants, gyms, and dance studios to help market their companies as well as bring a greater variety of programs to the community.

“Being able to partner with the business community is vital. It provides us with the stability of offering programs that provide the business community a much needed marketing push that will help us both be viable throughout these tough economic times,” Wioland said.

For example, a restaurant could offer a cooking demonstration or a gymnastics or dance studio could offer short eight to 10 week courses rather then requiring a long-term commitment.

“Being able to bring people to their facilities for that opportunity in return, the businesses would offer a reduced rate to the community for an introduction to their programs,” Wioland said.

A Self-Sustaining Recreation Department

Wioland would also like to make the department self-sustaining by decreasing the burden on the taxpayer through instating user fees.

“The idea behind that is that we want to provide the service to the community but we do need to charge a user fee for that,” Wioland said.

Lacey Township began to make this shift throughout last year’s summer arks program as they charged participants for the first time, Wioland said.

This spring, the department began to charge a small fee, which is typically $6, for senior bus trips to offset the cost of the bus driver and staff needed.

“My goal is to take the services that we have traditionally provided and just assess a user fee to that so we’re pulling away from the tax burden,” Wioland said.

While instating fees on some programs may be more difficult than others, the transition will be gradual, Wioland said.

The estimated savings has yet to be determined and will be available by the end of the summer but Wioland is looking to reduce the cost on the taxpayer by 20 percent each year so that the department will be self-sustaining in approximately five years, he said.

Wioland does not believe addressing a small fee with each program will decrease the number of participants.

For the senior trips, some residents would back out last minute due to the weather or a change in plans but with a small fee attached, they will be invested in the trip, Wioland said.

“I think people understand the financial crisis that we’re in. People have stopped in and said they wouldn’t mind paying towards the trips because it is something they look forward to and enjoy,” Wioland said.

Programs

The summer parks program will remain the same but Wioland also plans to implement new programs.

“The summer parks program is a longstanding staple of the Lacey Township Recreation Department. It’s one of the reasons why people live in town,” Wioland said.

In addition to the parks program, he plans to utilize the conference room in the recreation building for education, yoga and fitness programs. He will also start specialty camps for robotics and science.

Where the summer parks program has a $100 fee attached, specialty camps would range from $125 to $140 because they are more material and labor intensive, Wioland said.

Other programs he is looking into include a multi-sport camp that focuses on non-traditional sports and an equestrian camp that is geared towards horsemanship and grooming.

Wioland also hopes to install more adult and family oriented programs by working with the Municipal Alliance to incorporate all ages, he said.

Background

Wioland grew up in Lacey Township and is a 1994 graduate of Lacey Township High School. He went to The College of New Jersey and majored in Technology Education, with a minor in Recreation.

He started his recreation career coaching and volunteering for the parks program in Trenton, where he taught tennis to inner-city kids.

While he was still in college, St. Francis Community Center in Long Beach Island was looking for an assistant recreation coordinator. Although Wioland planned to become a teacher and a coach, he took the job while completing college and stuck with the career ever since.

“I decided that I would impact the lives of children better at a recreation center than I would in a classroom. They wanted to be there and were having fun. I just stayed with that course. It was kind of by accident,” Wioland said.

Wioland has ten years of experience in municipal government and about 14 years in recreation. After working at St. Francis for a couple of years, he moved onto Ridgewood in Bergen County as a recreation supervisor for five years.

In 2006, Wioland became the director of recreation in Cherry Hill, where he worked until his current position in Lacey Township.

Part Time vs. Full-Time

There was some controversy behind Wioland’s hire as some residents argued that Lacey Township should employ a part time recreation director.

“It’ not a 9 to 5 job. We run programs during the day, we run programs at night. And when we run an event on a Saturday morning, we want someone who would be available.  We didn’t want someone counting hours,” Mayor Gary Quinn said.

A major reason for hiring a full-time recreation director was to maintain the legacy of the department, Quinn said.

“We have a very unique situation here because Kilmurray and John Parker really established the program. It’s an outstanding program and people love it and people are proud of it. We have to make sure that legacy continues and that it doesn’t fall back,” Quinn said.

Wioland took the position with a salary of $48,000 and is not taking any benefits.

The previous recreation director, John Kilmurray, who retired at the end of last year, made $94,000 plus benefits.

But Kilmurray had been a part-time recreation director for over 20 years before he retired from his teaching position with the school system. He was full-time since 2006.

The committee decided to look for a full-time employee as long as they did not need benefits, Quinn said. Forty-five people applied by the majority needed benefits, he said.

“When Wieland was able to take the job full-time without the need for benefits we decided that was the way to go,” Quinn said. “It’s a major savings to the town.”

Quinn said he was impressed by Wioland’s ideas and knows the program will be successful.

“His way of looking at the recreation department is very similar to what we were trying to get in touch with in Lacey Township- running it as a business, making it more self-sufficient so the programs are covered by the cost of the youth. He certainly is going to put Lacey recreation back into the mode where it should be,” Quinn said.

Quinn also noted that Wioland has licenses needed to do certified inspections on playgrounds and will be able to partner with Casey Parker, the director of Public Works to help oversea the parks.