On July 1, a new agency will be responsible for the local recreation program. As part of a long-announced reorganization of functions at the county level, the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District will take responsibility for County Service Area 36 (Idyllwild) recreation functions.
“We’re planning on keeping it consistent with the past. No changes are planned,” said Kyla Brown, chief of Parks and Recreation. “If anything needs to be changed, we’ll meet with the community.”
Funding for the program will be transferred from the county Economic Development Agency to Parks and Recreation, but the current staff will remain with EDA, according to CSA Manager Bill Brown.
Parks and Recreation will hire its own staff, but is still in the process initiating this step. “We’re still working out the details,” Kyla Brown (no relation to Bill Brown) said.
This will be the second management shift in three years. In the summer of 2011, the county’s Economic Development Agency canceled its recreation contract with the former Idyllwild Community Recreation Council. In assuming full responsibility for the CSA 36 recreation program, EDA also committed to assuming and eventually purchasing Town Hall from the Johnson family.
Despite extensive negotiations, the transaction has never consummated. Now the county is transferring CSA 36 responsibilities to the Park and Open-Space District. The transfer of recreation functions was announced last summer and the agencies are now close to implementing the decision, Bill Brown said.
CSA 38 (Pine Cove) was formed to provide fire and emergency medical services. It does not provide recreation activities, so it will remain with EDA.
