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Recreation Department seeks contracts manager and Rapback fingerprinting to shore up oversight
Summary
Montgomery County Department of Recreation asked the PH&P Committee to add a program manager FTE to handle hundreds of contracts and a one-time $23,305 FBI Rapback fingerprinting upgrade; committee placed the contracts manager and the EBB expansion on the reconciliation list for full-council negotiation.
The Montgomery County Department of Recreation asked the Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee on April 13 to add a contracts program manager to its FY27 operating budget and to fund a one-time FBI Rapback fingerprinting system upgrade.
Director of Recreation (Director Albornoz) framed the request as a basic capacity need, saying the proposed budget is “the cost of doing business” and that recent audits showed risk from concentrating contract oversight among very few people. Carmen Barrios, who leads Recreation administration, told the committee that one program manager currently “is responsible for administering all 608 contracts that we have,” a caseload she called unsustainable and out of line with peer agencies.
Council staff’s summary shows the county executive’s recommended Recreation budget rises by $2.9 million (4.27%) to $71,442,894 and that two items — the program manager (annualized cost about $104,098) and a $23,305 one-time Rapback background-check system — were proposed for the reconciliation list. Director Albornoz and Barrios said the contracts role would shift complex, high-risk monitoring (for example, the Arts & Humanities Council grant and noncompetitive grants) to specialists so program outcomes and contracting compliance are tracked to completion.
Committee members expressed sympathy for the need but hesitated because of tight county finances. Chair Friedson said the contracts manager is an operational need that should be placed on the reconciliation list for the council president’s budget process; Council President echoed concern that the county’s fiscal hole makes survival on the rec list uncertain. The committee did not adopt the items as base budget additions but advanced them for the reconciliation process.
Next steps: Committee staff requested a written breakdown of the contracts covered by the proposed manager before full-council deliberations and placed the FTE request on the reconciliation list.
