Park Board

The Cameron Park Board met on Thursday February 22 at Cameron City Hall. Public Works Director Drew Bontrager offered the board a few updates to begin the meeting.

Work is progressing on the Dog Park, with two benches having been donated by Dr. Mark Carr at a cost of $1,576. After consulting with the City Attorney, there is a plan for the Beavers Park property where the fence is located. Both parties will quit claim their respective interests in the fence to line up with the current fence. According to Bontrager the property owner has been very cooperative and understanding during the entire process. The matter should be on the March City Council agenda. There has been some damage at the ice rink at Recreation Park, including some trash thrown into the ice rink which then became stuck in the ice as it thawed and refroze. Bontrager said he doesn’t think people realize how many man power hours it takes to break the ice, remove the trash, refill the holes, and repair the rink. The park video camera system caught all the individuals involved, which the Police Department was then able to identify and the matter is being handled by the Police Department.

Some discussion then commenced about how staff could entirely pick up all the litter in a park, resulting in many man hours spent and before they left the park, there would be more litter because people simply do not think about what they are doing and leave litter where they have been.

The YMCA and the Park Board have agreed to continue the agreement for pool management for the 2018 season. The only change from the previous year’s agreement is the $2,500 increase in management fees.

Vireo, who created the Parks Master Plan for the Park Board has presented a proposal to the Park Board to conduct a feasibility study to go along with the master plan. Vireo would conduct a study to identify financial solutions to the proposed plan and how to implement them. Vireo will study similar structures in various cities and study how those projects were funded. Some of the information Vireo would collect includes information on the types of accommodations other cities offer, staff and maintenance, information on how the facilities are being used – by leagues, by tournaments, by practices; how the facilities were funded; the costs to operate, staff and maintain; what kinds of profits they generate; and the service area/population served. Vireo would then create a report to establish facility priorities and develop a phasing plan to go along with the financial planning. The total cost of the study would be $7,500. The Park Board voted to go ahead and hire Vireo to do the study.

Bontrager then turned the discussion of the Park Board toward the possilbity of having individual/private Christmas Lighting Displays added to the current holiday displays in Recreation Park. Other cities allow similar displays, allowing businesses and individuals to place lighting displays along side city displays. Bontrager was asking the Board for some guidance and opinions on what the guildlines for such displays should be. The displays would be treated similar to a shelter rental with a form outlining what is allowed. The city would provide the electricity and may even have a limited amount of electrical cords to provide. There would be no insurance required, but indemnification would be. The board suggested an early deadline on the submission of the forms for the displays so city staff could have time to plan the lay out of the displays. The board also expressed their desire to keep signs identifying the business or individuals sponsoring the displays to a uniform size so as to not overshadow the displays themselves. Bontrager will be coming back to the board with more information on the proposal at the next Park Board meeting.

Baseball season began February 26 and the same agreement the parks had with the school for the past softball season was proposed, the board voted unanimously to approve it.

The next meeting of the Cameron Park Board will be Thursday March 22 at 6 p.m.  

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