ABSTRACT
The physical maintenance of recreational properties and equipment is one of the major concerns of any recreational service operation.1 In the public sector this function is not always performed by personnel of the system.2 In many cities the public recreational service system is responsible only for the activity program; maintenance is done by a separate department. The coordination of recreational activities with maintenance is difficult even when both functions are performed by a single department. The difficulty is increased sharply when coordination must be effected between two departments. The maintenance of all buildings, grounds, and facilities is subordinate to the activities program from the standpoint of the fundamental purposes of the system. The requirements of the program should dictate the kinds of facilities to be provided and, to some extent, the manner in which they are to be maintained. The recreational program is too often subordinated to details of maintenance with disastrous results. A recreational service system that does not control its own maintenance work is usually subjected to severe handicaps in bringing about the proper relationship between maintenance and program functions. No matter how a city is organized, however, the problem of detailed management of infrastructure and maintenance is fundamentally the same. A department responsible for the maintenance of the system of recrea-
tional areas, structures, and other facilities located in different parts of the city views the problem of management as having both local and general aspects. If only one recreational place is to be maintained, all duties of maintenance may be localized. In an extensive system certain maintenance duties may be economically and efficiently decentralized. In this chapter, routine maintenance refers to that performed by the staff of a recreational center or place, and general maintenance refers to that performed by a staff organized to serve all units of the system.
