City of Mount Carmel Parks & Recreation Board Met March 16.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
Chairman Tom Meeks brought the meeting to order.
Present on Roll Call: Chairman – Tom Meeks, Members- Rick Andrews, Alyssa Hopper, MC Deming
Also, Present: Mayor Joe Judge, City Administrator Ryan Turner
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chairman Tom Meeks requested a motion to approve the minutes of the last council meeting. Member Rick Andrews motioned and Member MC Deming seconded to approve the minutes of the meeting held on March 16, 2021. All present voted Aye by voice vote.
CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS
Chairman Meeks brought the meeting to order.
VISITOR COMMENTS
Ryan Turner speaking on behalf of the Kiwanis explained they were trying to raise funds through a 50/50 drawing so once a year they would replace one of the small shelters at the city park. Ryan explained they have been working with architect Tim Raibley for the plans.
Mayor Judge speaking on behalf of the Rotary Club, explained that each year the Rotary does a service project in Wabash County. This year they were looking at some of the issues with the slides at the city park and decided this year’s project would be to donate a new triple slide for the city Park. Joe said it would be similar to the one that is already existing at the park. The slide they have chosen is $6,500. Joe explained that Rotary of Mount Carmel has the ability to go after a Rotary International matching grant for up to $2,000. He explained Rotary of Mount Carmel has been raising funds to match the grant and also the additional cost for the new slide.
Board member MC Deming asked if the new slide was going to replace an existing slide. Mayor Judge explained how the city was going to preserve what we have out at the park and the new slide would be in addition to existing. Chairman Meeks explained we would be taking the existing slides to the park and refurbishing the equipment and would then place it back in the park.
Mayor Judge also stated some equipment such as the little backhoe would need to be relocated since they are too close to the new restrooms. Mayor Judge asked the advisory board to think about upgrades to Kiddy Land. Mayor Judge said he has been looking at a Cunningham’s website, a supplier of playground equipment for ideas to upgrade and get more equipment for the kiddy land area. While on Cunningham’s website he found a piece of equipment that has three slides, climber area, bubble panels for the kids, along with telescopes, and also an area to crawl through to access the slides. He explained this piece of equipment normally sells for $26,000.00 but is on the discount page for $16,000.00. If the board recommends, he said he and Chairman Meeks could take this before the council for approval. This equipment would make Kiddy Land larger and more things for the kids to do.
Member MC Deming said she felt we needed to relocate the entrance to kiddy land to make it flow better with the Butterfly play area. Chairman Meeks and Mayor Judge said they agreed we needed to replace the existing fencing around kiddy land. Chairman Meeks said he had been getting complaints that people are getting stung by wasps in the kiddy land area. Mayor Judge said we have been working with the crew that is taking care of the park about spraying the weeds and we could get him to look for issues like that.
Member Andrews said he knew that at the Allendale school park they had used a covid grant to fix the area. He wanted to know if this is a grant, we could try to get for the renovations at the city park. Mayor Judge explained the grant Allendale used was for the schools and that municipalities could not go for this grant. He went on to say there are other grants that we would need to try to pursue.
Member Andrews asked if the City Council has approved the new equipment the mayor was talking about. Mayor Judge explained this board hears the requests and ideas first then makes recommendations to the City Council for a vote. Chairman Meeks said the great thing about this advisory board is the fact that each member of the advisory board gets bring more ideas from the community to get their input on what needs to happen.
Member Andrews asked about the time frame for the discounted equipment. Member Andrews asked if we need to have a special meeting after they had a chance to look at the Kiddy Land area so they could make a recommendation to the council while it was still on discount. It was decided to have a special meeting on July 12, 2021 at 6:00 PM.
Member MC Deming asked how hard it would be to relocate Kiddy Land. She stated that parents feel they don’t get to utilize the new shelter area because of kiddy land being so far away. Mayor Judge said because of utilities running through that area by the shelter house it would be very difficult to move kiddy land to that area.
Member Deming asked what additional expenses would need to be covered to enlarge kiddy land and if more funding than just the $16,000 would need to be raised. The mayor stated the company would supply an installer for 8 hours and we would use city employees to help with the installation and enlargement. Chairman Meeks said he believed it would not require more than 8 hours for this project.
Chairman Meeks asked if the Rotary could use the $6,500 to offset the cost of this other play area equipment on discount and not use it for a new slide. Mayor Judge the Rotary representative said he would see if the Rotary could change the grant to use toward the new equipment instead of the slide.
Member Deming said she wanted to update everyone on equipment that is waiting to be put into the park. She stated she had received donations for 3 new baby swings and 2 new belt swings all with coated chains which are ready to be installed on existing frames at the park. She also stated she had volunteers that would replace existing swings with the new equipment and wanted to know if this would be allowed. She went on to say they have funding to purchase a nest swing to replace a couple of the older belt swings. It is commercial grade and with shipping it is $2,200.00. They should mount to the existing A frame. Chairman Meeks said the hooks these swings mount to would need to be inspected to ensure they are still in good shape.
Chairman Meeks asked if there were any other new business to discuss and board member Andrews asked if everyone could go to the park and look at low hanging limbs that might need to be trimmed back. Member Andrews stated he would supply the lift if the city would supply the man power. All agreed to look at the issues.
Board member Andrews then asked about the old tires at the city park. The Mayor and Chairman Meeks explained we are looking at solutions to remove these tires but there is a considerable cost to get a company to take these tires.
Board member Andrews then stated the brush area off to the right needs to be cleaned up. Member Andrews asked about community service people to accomplish this growth. City Administrator stated community service people are regulated by the county not the city. Mr. Turner stated he would look at the issue and advise the board at the next meeting.
The mayor updated the board on the progress of the new restrooms. Board Member Deming asked if there were going to be a sidewalk to the new restrooms. Mayor Judge stated yes from the little parking area to the restroom area. Member Andrews asked if the sidewalk was going to be concrete or asphalt. Chairman Meeks explained it would be concrete.
Mayor Judge stated the Rotary were going to purchase 8 cameras for the park. There would also be signs stating the cameras were in the park.
City Administrator brought up a need for signage stating wrong way and another speed sign. The speed limit around the park is 10 MPH.
The Chairman Meeks asked if any other members had any comments or questions with no further questions a motion was made by member Andrews, and seconded by member Alyssa Hopper to adjourn all members present voted Aye.
Meeting adjourned at 6:00 pm
https://www.cityofmtcarmel.com/sites/default/files/fileattachments/city_council/meeting/11021/06-29-21_parks_board_minutes.pdf
Alerts Sign-up