The Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department has a number of special projects planned for 2021.
At Tuesday’s Parks and Recreation Board meeting, Superintendent Larry Plummer presented a matrix of those projects he hopes his department can accomplish this year.
All the park name signs at all Warsaw parks will be replaced when the ground thaws out, which Plummer expected to be in the first or second quarter. Estimated budget for that is $20,000. The current signs are wooden and made of telephone poles, but are rotting.
The office printer will be replaced for $8,200. Plummer said that’s been needed for a couple of years now.
“Continue our wood fiber replacement at all of our parks. Keeping up with our playground safety inspections and fall protection,” he said. Estimated cost is $5,000.
He said he wants to purchase new playground equipment for Beyer Park. Cost is approximately $50,000.
“We have looked at some designs already, preparing to bring those to the board to look at,” Plummer said, adding that the playground equipment was installed in 1993 and is due to be replaced.
A five-year master plan will be done this year, for an estimated $15,000. Plummer said they’ve always done a five-year master plan in the past, but some park departments have gone to three-year master plans.
“However, to apply for the DNR grants that (Recreation Director) Sheila (Wieringa) is going to apply for, for the (Mantis) Skate Park move, we have to have a DNR five-year master plan. So I think we’ll go for a five-year master this year just so we can apply for those grants,” Plummer said.
The playground equipment purchased in 2020 for Kerr Park will be installed by Park Department laborers in the first or second quarter. Through the grant program, Plummer said they got about $100,000 worth of playground equipment for about half that cost.
On the plaza and Glover Pavilion stage, Plummer said they’ve got to keep up the maintenance for them. The amount budgeted for that in 2021 is $15,000.
“We did a little bit of that last year as well and we’ll continue to do that through the new year,” Plummer said.
A new pickup truck/snow plow for $46,000 will replace the water truck the Parks Department has. He said the water truck gets a lot of use and needs replaced.
The department’s Bobcat is being upgraded to a track machine for $18,500, Plummer said.
“This will allow us to have a machine that we can use when the soils are soft and wet. We don’t have anything like that right now. We just have a wheel machine, so they sink,” Plummer said.
When the Parks purchases the track machine, the department can trade it in annually for $2,500 and get it redone.
“I think that’s a big improvement on our equipment and our usage for that equipment. All of our attachments will still fit that machine,” Plummer said.
A new lawn mower will be purchased for $8,400 with trade-in.
Plummer said Wieringa is applying for grants to move Mantis Skate Park to Richardson Dubois Park.
“This is something Sheila has been working on and continues to work on. She got some good news the other day from K21 (Health Foundation). They would like to back this project, so now it’s kind of dependent on the DNR grant, which she’ll (apply for) here shortly,” Plummer said.
Wieringa said she’ll know if they got the grant around September or October.
Later in the meeting, Wieringa said K21 said it would provide $150,000 toward the skate park, contingent on getting the DNR grant that goes in June 1. Another $50,000 is needed for the match to fully fund the project.
“That’s something we’re really looking at. We’ve got a great design. She’s done great work on that, so we’re just trying to secure all the funding on that,” Plummer said, adding that would be in the 2021-22 season.
Installing a drinking foundation on Kerr Park also was on the list, but Plummer said they received a donation from Indiana American Water for $2,992.75 for that. The fountain was ordered and is due to arrive Thursday. It will be installed when the playground equipment is installed in the spring.
“So we’d like to thank Indiana American Water for that donation and their support of the Kerr Park project,” Plummer said.
The update to the restrooms at the Senior Activity Center has been started. They’re ADA accessible with handrails. “It’ll be a real plus when the Senior Center gets back to activities in there,” Plummer said. Estimated cost for that work, to be done in-house, is $2,800.
Finally, the west shelter lot at Central Park will be have curb work and new asphalt. Cost for that is budgeted at $39,298. The work will be done in the spring when the weather breaks, Plummer said. The Indiana and west shelter lots will then be completed, but Plummer said they’ll have to take a look at the east shelter lot.
“We look to hopefully someday get back to our rentals and things of that. We hope to do deliveries this year to try to make revenue on that. I think we’re a little smarter with the COVID on our rentals, and I think that’s something that can be done as far as picnic tables and sawhorse tables to allow people to access those and rent those,” Plummer said.
As soon as Kosciusko County is out of the “red,” he said they’ll go back to renting their facilities. The limit of people in a facility is 25 under the red, but Plummer said they’d like to get people back into the department’s facilities once 50 or more people are allowed so the revenue stream can be created again. “But we want to do it in a safe manner,” he said.
Mayor Joe Thallemer said with the challenges the community has faced with COVID, he knows the Parks has lost some revenue with not being able to rent the facilities.
“But I just want to assure everybody that the facilities have been assets as we work our way through COVID,” Thallemer said.
As examples, he said the bloodmobile has been down at Central Park many times with more scheduled visits to come. Blood is at a critical shortage right now. He also said the Pavilion may be a potential vaccination shot location, should the county get more vaccinations.
Over the next few months, the Central Park site will be utilized should the need arise.
“Our facilities, while they may not be generating revenue, they have been used in many great ways,” Thallemer said.
To start the meeting, Thallemer said he was very excited to swear in longtime member Steven Haines and new member Noemi Ponce. Ponce is a mother, school teacher and ran for county council in 2020.
“I think she’ll add a great perspective to the board, looking at our parks and recreation opportunities in the community. I’m really excited to have her join (the board),” he said, before giving Haines and Ponce the oath of office.
Plummer told them he was glad to have them on the board.
For election of officers for 2021, member Larry Ladd nominated Haines to serve as president again. Haines nominated Ladd to stay as vice president. They were approved.
