The Viroqua City Council's Park and Recreation Committee has decided to not to add more committee members and not to pick up the tab for the Viroqua Middle School athletic programs being cut next year.

The committee met Wednesday, Sept. 24, and several committee members and Mayor Larry Fanta said the committee structure should be left alone.

"I would be totally against adding more committee members," Fanta said. "These meetings are totally open to the public and if anyone has any input they are able to come to the meetings. The people sitting right here are already elected by the people. I think anytime you add input from the outside you muddy the waters."

Alderman Gary Krause said he agreed with Fanta.

"Anyone who has any input can do the research and come here and present it," Krause said. "We would be fools not to listen."

The committee had been presented with a proposal to add five citizen members to the committee. Alderman Terry Noble said he had no problem with the current structure of the committee, but had asked for the discussion to consider more input.

"I felt five more voices would be good just because there are so many programs and we don't have kids in all of those programs and it might be good to allow input from parents in those programs," Noble said.

Fanta and Krause said the input comes from the park and recreation director, who is involved in all the programs.

"I see no reason to change just because one or two people are unhappy," Fanta said.

"Without the other voices you are filtering everything we hear through one person," Noble said. "Everything we know comes from one person."

"You don't trust me?" park and recreation director Dan "Boone" Stalsberg said. "I have to know what is happening with all the programs."

Noble said he did trust Stalsberg, but said he did not have the ability to know everything about every program.

"And you can say the meetings are open, but how many people are here?" Noble said. "People are busy and if they are not on the committee they just aren't going to come here."

"If they aren't coming and raising a concern they must be happy," Fanta said.

Committee chairman Roger Hatlem said there are many calls he and Stalsberg get that are resolved and never get to the committee level.

Alderman John Bjerke said he agreed that the committee could use more input, but saw no need to change the committee structure.

"I think we would lose some control with a commission," Bjerke said. "We don't want that."

"I think the message we should send people who are interested is to come and talk to us," city administrator Jeff Gohlke said. "Let us know how we are doing."

In other action, to committee:

n Decided not to help fund a traveling middle school softball and baseball program. Stalsberg and former Viroqua High School athletic director Pete Swanson said the Viroqua School District will be cutting the programs in the upcoming year and would like to have some city help to replace the programs.

Swanson said there are about 52 children currently involved in the programs and if they are to continue they will have to be privately funded. Stalsberg said the school district spends about $8,200 to run the program with $3,200 going to coaches and the rest to transportation.

Swanson said they have already received about $1,000 in donations and would like to see the city help with some of the cost. Stallsberg said the school district offered to let the jerseys go with the program and each participant would be required to pay a $30 participation fee.

Gohlke said one possible approach might be to offer matching funds for the amount of money raised through fundraising. Alderman Gail Frie said he was concerned that once the city takes on a school program there would more programs cut with the expectation that the city will take them on.

"I would like to see these programs continue, but I am not sure it should be our responsibility," Hatlem said. "Next year we will have basketball and wrestling and we just can't afford it."

"We certainly aren't in any better shape financially (than the school)," Krause said.

Noble said he didn't see how we can subsidize one sport and then decide next year not to subsidize another.

"We may have to force these to go to the private clubs," Noble said. "If there is a will, there is a way, but we are in no position to take them on."

n Approved a tentative budget for the park and recreation department. The budget is down by about $25,000 or a 10.8 percent decrease from last year. The overall expenditures return to the 2007 level at around $212,000.

The budget includes money for increasing a park employee from half-time to full-time and reduces the capital expenditures. Last year's budget included $45,000 for new bathrooms in Eckhart Park. The bathrooms were tentatively approved last year, but the money was later used to repair flood damage to the ball fields at the Park Bowl.

Alderman Jeff Clifton asked if FEMA money received by the city covered those expenses. City Clerk John Severson said the FEMA money had covered a portion of the repairs, but not all. Severson estimated the repairs to cost about $90,000.

"The money from FEMA was for bare bones repairs and we don't have bare bones ball fields," assistant city administrator Matt Giese said.

The committee approved a proposal to move the boards for the hockey rink to the same area as the recreational skating area this winter. The boards will be set up on one end of the gravel parking lot instead of on the basketball court like last year.