Board of Park Commissioners

Board of Park Commissioners Meeting Minutes of April 19, 2021 Call to Order: Mrs. Galka called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. followed by the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Commissioners in attendance: Mrs. Galka, Mr. Kara, and Mr. Weinman. Common Council Representative Mr. Huddlestun. School Board Representative Mrs. Hillan. Also present: Park Board Secretary Ms. Montes, and Park Director Mrs. Goodpaster. Absent: Mrs. Sills Approval of Agenda: Motion by Mr. Weinman, seconded by Mr. Kara to approve the agenda as presented. All aye, motion carried. (3-0) Approval of Minutes: Motion by Mr. Kara, seconded by Mr. Weinman to accept the minutes as presented. All aye, motion carried. (3-0) Approval of Special Minutes: Motion by Mr. Kara, seconded by Mr. Weinman to accept the minutes as presented. All aye, motion carried. (3-0) Approval of Register of Claims: Mrs. Goodpaster stated that the MZKE Design is the final payment for the pool house completion. Motion by Mr. Kara, seconded by Mr. Weinman to accept the register of claims as amended. All aye, motion carried. (3-0) Correspondence: The Friends of Robinson Lake is looking forward in assisting the Hobart Park Director and Park Board in working with the Lake County Parks to enhance Hobart Robinson Lake Park. The new 40 acre County Park joins the city’s park with a common property line. This combination offers new opportunity to make connections to the Oaks Savanna trail and other areas in the Hobart Nature Area. They are thankful for the city’s letter to the Little Calumet River Basin Board supporting the contribution needed to facilitate the purchase of the GEO property by the Lake County Parks. In addition to expressing support, The Friends of Robinson Lake made a monetary contribution for the purpose by Lake County. Two of the members, Sandy O’Brien and Theresa DuBois made a special contribution to increase the Friends of Robinson Lake donation. Park Board thanked The Friends of Robinson Lake for their unwavering support for Robinson Lake Park and all their work they do to enhance the area and the nature preserve in the area. Director Report: Mrs. Goodpaster reported that the community clean-up took place Saturday April 17th. Even though it was a cold day, it was a great turn out. Food trailer was picked up and is now being worked on for small upgrades to get it to where it needs to be. Parks is still continuing hiring part-timers for the season. The guys have started mowing the parks and will start the process of opening the bathrooms. Mrs. Goodpaster is working on getting the website up and running. She is also working on getting kayak rentals so that people have the ability to rent kayaks themselves through lockers right at the Lakefront at Festival Park. There was a discussion on the kayak rental on how it would work and the revenue that it would bring. Mrs. Goodpaster stated that she will have more information and answers as she moves forward with the idea of kayak rentals. Plan Commission Report: Nothing under plan commission report. Common Council Report: Mr. Huddlestun reported that the federal government has issued an American Rescue Act and in that rescue act the City of Hobart got back 5.8 million dollars, which will be used for numerous of things such as infrastructure, any revenue loses and tourism. Tourism falls into parks so the Mayor is going to put together an idea of what he thinks the money will be used for. Mr. Huddlestun said it will be liberating to get some more money to be used towards upgrades to the parks. School Board Report: Mrs. Hillan reported that the school is doing their preparations for the end of the school year as in graduation. There will be a senior parade June 10th, it will begin at the high school and run through town and end up at Festival Park. Graduation is going to be outdoors and if it rains it will be held indoors. They are watching numbers and how tickets will be distributed. Good news for students is that May 15th there will be a prom. There will be restrictions in place and it will take place high school with social distancing. Students are happy they are getting their prom. The purchase of the land is final south of the high school. It has been purchased for preparation for down the road as we see population in the neighborhoods going up. Teacher appreciation is May 4th. Teachers have put in the time this year working all day. Old Business: Mrs. Galka opened up the public hearing for the consideration of adopting master plan for 2017-2021. There were some comments via email a letter from Ericka McCauley from the Friends of Fred Rose Park and information from Sandy O’Brien. Sandy O’Brien came forward to reiterate information from page 139: 1. Protect and enhance Indiana’s natural and outdoor recreation resources. Protect Indiana’s natural heritage by identifying and preserving significant natural areas, including wildlife/fish habitats for endangered, rare threatened or species of special concern. She stated that this statement applies to a lot of our parks particularly Fred Rose Park and we really have good stuff and is very important to take care of it and protect. Motion by Mr. Kara, seconded by Mr. Weinman to adopt the Master Plan for 2017-2021. All aye, motion carried. (3-0) New Business: Last year the old basketball courts at Pennsy Park were turned into pickleball courts. It has been a huge success for the community. Some members of the pickleball group have been working together to upgrade the courts and in hopes to having a new home for outdoor pickleball. Hugh Harshbarger and Mrs. Goodpaster have met to talk about the opportunity to upgrade the pickleball courts at Pennsy Park. Hugh Harshbarger submitted a proposal to the board to upgrade the pickleball courts at Pennsy Park in addition to adding three more pickleball courts. Their goal is to have a nice pickleball courts to play in and being able in the near future to further the sport and provide tournaments. Mrs. Goodpaster believes this can be a great partnership and a good fit to the community. Arthur Kraft also came forward to the board with great ideas in getting tournaments to Pennsy Park and he is happy to be able to play here in his home town. The proposal shows the estimated breakdown of the cost for a new infrastructure: $2100.00 nets and posts, $4100.00 resurfacing materials and paint, $400.00 tools and rental, $100.00 concrete and $1000.00 for misc. Labor will be supplied by themselves with few volunteers. They are requesting the park department to help by providing access to running water, electricity, cones or barricades and removal of spoils during the project. Announcements: Mrs. Goodpaster stated that small section of the bike trail behind Kate Corgan Field will be closed because they will be fixing two humps that the tree roots have grown under. Sandy O’Brien expressed that thanks to the fish & wild life grant that the park department was part of, the trees that were planted looks really nice and you are able to see the lake from that area. Adjournment: adjourn by Mrs. Galka. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________