A program started in 2001 by the South Lake Tahoe Parks and Recreation Department as a means for people to earmark a donation is now under the purview of the City Council.

The change that took place this month is because there aren’t enough people to form a board of directors the old way. Members had primarily been parks and rec employees and now that arrangement doesn’t work with staffing levels.

Greg Ross, parks supervisor and board member of Great Ideas For Tahoe (GIFT), lobbied the council to essentially be the board of directors.

The council agreed to this.

Staff will come back at a future council meeting with the appropriate documents to solidify the changes. It’s also possible this nonprofit could encompass more than donations related to parks and recreation. That will be up to the new board of directors and how the bylaws are written.

City Manager Nancy Kerry said the reason to have something like GIFT is because “community members don’t feel comfortable donating to the city. They want to have a nonprofit where it cannot be absorbed by the general fund.”

Donations could be for a bench in the dog park, improvements at ball fields – things like that.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report