Warsaw Parks & Recreation Maintenance Director Shaun Gardner and Superintendent Larry Plummer review plans.

WARSAW —  Sue Priest, mother of the late two-time USAC National Sprint car champion, Tony Elliott, was in attendance at the Warsaw Parks & Recreation board meeting Tuesday, July 18,

Elliott died in October 2015 in a plane crash near the Georgia-South Carolina border. Elliott won 26 national races and was the Indiana Sprint Week champion in 1999. He holds the record for sprint car race wins and track championships at Kokomo Speedway, which he long considered his home track. Elliott also headed Elliott’s Custom Trailers and was considered a top ambassador for USAC and for sprint car racing.

Warsaw Parks & Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer had informed board members at the June parks meeting that Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer had been approached regarding a request for placement of a Tony Elliott memorial in an area park. The Indiana Racing Memorial Association would bring the plaque and place it at an agreed upon location. Several board members were appointed to a committee to gather information and explore options for the memorial.

Board member Bill Baldwin said he contacted 12 area parks departments and approximately 10 of those responded to him. Baldwin said not one of the parks he contacted allowed freestanding signs.

“What they do allow is, if it’s attached to one of the tree programs, you can put a small ’In memory of’ plaque at the bottom of the tree – or a lot of them have bench programs,” said Baldwin.

Baldwin said he then went on a nationwide search of parks and found that none of them would approve a freestanding sign.

“A lot of them referred to precedent. Once you allow it, you have to do it again and again,” Baldwin stated.

Council Representative Diane Quance said she checked with cities and parks in Indiana and all responded in the negative, stating that they do not allow any memorial signs in parks.

“We took this much time looking into this because we would all like to see something done to honor Tony and to figure out whether or not the park is the correct venue for something like this,” said Quance.

Board member Michelle Boxell added, “We are in agreement that we want to see something in Warsaw, but we are not comfortable with putting it in the park. It  almost seems like it would require having another committee to oversee reviewing markers and deciding who is worthy for additional markers. Because of the precedent, not because of the individual, we questioned whether the park is the appropriate place for something like this.”

“Our recommendation is to turn it back to the mayor to explore appropriate places in the city for the memorial to be placed,” said Quance.

Plummer asked if Priest would like to add anything to the discussion. Priest said IRMA reps she had been in contact with stated they have done this for all drivers who have been deemed worthy, and this is the first one they’ve had a problem with.

Priest was visibly emotional and said IRMA is disappointed, as they’ve never had a problem before.

Board members assured Priest that there is a commitment to having a memorial placed and that all are in agreement that Elliott is worthy of a city memorial, explaining they are simply questioning if it should be in a park or in another location.

Plummer said, “We all feel that Tony is well worthy of this. He’s been an ambassador for Warsaw and all over the country. It comes down to whether it should be in the park or in another location in town.”

Motion was made to officially refer this matter back to Mayor Thallemer so that further options can be explored for an appropriate location for the memorial. This motion was approved.

Activities Director Sheila Wierenga gave an activities report. She discussed the difficulty in making the decision to cancel the blues concert in the park two weeks ago.

“It ended up being a beautiful evening, but the park was just too wet,” said Wierenga.

Plummer added. “When making the decision to cancel something like this, there are things we have to consider. The sun can be out, but when the infrastructure is that wet you risk electrical shock and other issues, and we can’t put the public at risk.”

Plummer referred to a concept for Kelly Park in the 5-year plan for a sledding hill near the soccer field backstop.  Plummer described the hill as currently being, “very wavy and treacherous to mow.”   According to Plummer, due to the stormwater project south of town in the Eisenhower detention basin, 7,800 cubic feet of dirt will be removed from the basin. Plummer said he was approached by James Emans, Warsaw Planning Department. Emans advised Plummer they could potentially obtain approximately $175,000 worth of dirt to start this phase of the Kelly Park project. Plummer said it would help to give them a good base for the hill area in Kelly Park.

A meeting has been scheduled with G & G Hauling & Excavating, Warsaw, to discuss this matter further. Plummer requested permission from the board to pursue this opportunity. Board members unanimously approved this request.

Other news:

• The next regular meeting will be at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, August 15.
• Maintenance Director Shaun Gardner gave a maintenance report. Gardner said a pole barn extension has been completed, which has given them additional storage room for equipment.