By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
The breakup of Rumson and Fair Haven’s recreation alliance may turn out to have been brief.
After a few sit-downs, the neighbors have come to an agreement to keep two of its three sports partnerships intact, and are potentially on track to work out a sports trifecta, Mayor John Ekdahl said.
At the end of September, Rumson officials decided to cut ties with Fair Haven recreation, which had shared flag football, lacrosse and crew programs, citing capacity issues and an imbalance in field sharing.
The move outraged residents from both boroughs, who impelled the Rumson council to work with Fair Haven to try and work out a solution.
On Tuesday, the two came to an agreement to maintain the flag football and lacrosse programs, Ekdahl said. Fair Haven will now offer more fields for the teams to use. The council had felt Fair Haven hadn’t previously offered enough, while Rumson fields took the beating from practices and games and taxpayers shouldered the upkeep costs.
“They offered a bunch of fields,” Ekdahl said, “some of which I didn’t even know about.”
As far as crew goes, the two continue to hash out a compromise, he said. So far, all indicators point toward one.
Rumson dropped Fair Haven from its crew program, officials said at the time, because it had gained so much popularity that it came to a point where Rumson athletes were on the beach while Fair Haven kids took to the water. The details of a potential agreement to keep crew are still being worked out, Ekdahl said.
“We didn’t totally resolve it, but we made a lot of progress,” he said. “I feel certain that we’ll come to an agreement.”
Ekdahl said he anticipates a resolution regarding crew at the council’s next scheduled meeting on November 23.
