The Manteca City Council may reduce the number of Manteca Unified School District appointees to the city’s Park & Recreation Commission.

Several council members expressed the desire to do so Tuesday when they re-appointed Lori Tiago-Quintan to a four-year term. She was one of four applicants.

During the discussion of who to appoint, the council indicated they wanted staff to propose updates to the commission bylaws including how many of the five commissioners are appointed by the Manteca Unified School District board is allowed to appoint.

The City Council currently appoints three members and an alternate. The MUSD board appoints two members and an alternate.

The make-up of the commission reflects its roots.

The city more than 60 years ago lacked any recreational facilities except for a handful of parks.

They used school district gyms, playing fields, and swimming pools almost exclusively to operate programs.

Then, in the early 1960s, with the construction of the Lincoln Pool, the city started to provide recreational facilities to support the city programs.

Today, the district uses city facilities for its athletic programs and the city continues to use school facilities.

They had a quid pro arrangement where no money changed hands. That was before former City Manager Tim Odgen believed the city should be charging the district for using city facilities.

That ended up revealing, based on usage, the city would probably need to write the school district a significant check each year.

It then returned to a basic quid pro arrangement that is still in place today.

Odgen also wanted the school district to pay for school resource officers that went against authorizing language in the Measure M public safety tax that voters approved.

The school district, as voters mandated, does not currently pay for the SRO staffing.

Lori Tiago-Quintan is a retired recreation therapist with a degree in recreation administration from San Jose State.

She worked as a teacher/coach at Tracy High. In the past, she has worked for recreation departments in Tracy, Manteca, and Stockton.

Her involvement with recreational organizations is long, including service as athletic director and coach for the Catholic Youth Organization at St. Anthony’s School.

Lauren Koury and Eddie Marcel are the two other council appointed commission members with Jason Sohm being their alternate.

The school board appointees are Melanie Greene and Aaron Bowers with Victoria Brunn as their alternate.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com