Parks scraps plan to move pickleball courts to Hayswood…staffing at Rhoads Pool uncertain for summer 2022…
nate adams - reporter
The Parks Dept will soon be able to offer game licenses on behalf of the Indiana DNR. The Parks plan is to make them available at the Wright Center, Buffalo Trace & South Harrison parks.
A soon-to-be Gold Scout, Emily Bruce, sought approval for a project to plant a native species garden in the lower part of Hayswood near the basketball courts. She is working on the design in coordination with the Extension office. After the garden begins to thrive, the Parks will take over all maintenance of it. Given the native species involved, this will place little burden on Park’s personnel. (Gold is the highest award offered in Girl Scouts, comparable to the rank of Eagle in Boy Scouts.) Keep up the good work Emily!
The non-profit group that supports baseball & softball at South Harrison park was on hand to ask the board to approve a fix for the failing lights on the park’s diamonds. In 2015, some of the members fixed what lights they could in an operation that may not have been “safety first”. Following more than five years of consultation with the Park’s Superintendent, Larry Schickles, they presented to the board a plan that will cost about $10,000. Theresa Sutton, president of the Parks board and Friends of South Harrison Park board member, helpfully supplied that the Friends group has had $14,000 on hand for years and that they are looking to spend it. After her offer to fully fund the project, Schickles suggested that a request for half the funds be made from the Friends and he will go to the Harrison County Council for the other half of the funds.
The discussion of the project starts at 10:40. The Friends’ contribution is discussed at 20:45.
Lifeguard staffing is discussed starting at 28:05 with several contradictions made in regards to Rhoads Pool in particular. It’s possible the pools’ openings may be delayed until after school’s out, but Shickles is confident the pools will open on time. However, low staffing may restrict the number of swimmers at the pools, on busy days and especially at Rhoads. There are no staffing issues for South Harrison or Buffalo Trace, but the few candidates for Rhoads pool have not “committed” as of yet.
At Morvin’s Landing, an unusually high river is not cooperating with the installation of the pylons for the boat dock. The dock itself will be delivered in the next few weeks and will be an easy install once the pylons are in. The board feels ready to open the camping areas in spring of next year, and so will be accepting reservations and annual rentals soon.
The plan to move the pickleball courts to Hayswood is financially infeasible, so they will stay at Rhoads pool. The accompanying low impact sports complex plan is moving there as well. The Parks Dept has recently done some repairs to existing courts and presented to the board a plan for expansion. The board found the current plan for expansion too modest and has tabled the issue until revised plans can be presented.
The Indian Creek trail is discussed at 1:15:30. The destruction of the upstream dams has caused an unusual amount of debris to accumulate on the Doolittle section of trail this year and has accelerated erosion and undermining of that very low section of trail. Shickles is concerned that returning any of the washed up materials to the creek would constitute an illegal discharge of materials, and so all that material needs to be carted out. Since the trail is very narrow at that point, it cannot be directly accessed by any of the heavier moving equipment they would need to move the large blockage. They will need to drive through the creek to access the area and must get permits to do so. They will need to acquire permits to reclaim enough of the bank to expand the path for vehicle access. No plans or requests were brought to the board.