From left, Warsaw Parks & Recreation Board Member Michelle Boxell, board member Jill Beehler, Warsaw Parks Recreation Director Sheila Wieringa and Warsaw Common Council Member Diane Quance. InkFreeNews photo by Lasca Randels.

WARSAW —  At the Warsaw Parks & Recreation board meeting Tuesday, Feb. 18, Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer shared the 2019 year-end report, which touched on various five-year master plan projects. 

Those included the Kelly Park playground, the amphitheater at Lucerne Park, renovating another Lucerne cabin to bring it up to ADA compliance, replacement of tables and concrete at Kiddie Land and completion of the parking lot at Kelly Park. 

“We’ve accomplished a lot of what we set out to do,” Plummer said. “We’ve got a lot of excitement about the next five-year master plan, which will be in next year’s budget, so we’ll have another five years to plan out and look forward to — a lot of things on the table.” 

Plummer also provided an update regarding the Central Park Master Plan.

As far as the renovation of the Central Park Pavilion, Plummer said Design Collaborative of Fort Wayne has already done the schematic drawing and the construction phase is expected to start in April.

Surveys and soil borings have already been started for the future maintenance garage facility, west of Central Park.

“Due to some change in the Buffalo Street project, we’re looking at the corner of Indiana and Fort Wayne streets, that block where we had bought the two lots and we’ve acquired a third lot, so we’re looking at that plot right there for the maintenance building,” Plummer said.

Maintenance Director Shaun Gardner told board members that park employees performed a yearly audit of the playground areas. 

“Overall, the playgrounds were in pretty good shape,” Gardner said. 

Gardner explained the levels of priority hazards related to a playground audit, with a priority one hazard, meaning that the hazard may cause loss of life or body part or permanent disability and should be corrected immediately; a priority two hazard, meaning the hazard may result in temporary disability and should be corrected as soon as possible; and a priority three hazard, which means the hazard may cause a minor injury and should be repaired as time permits.

“Having said that, we had zero priority one or priority two hazards in the parks,” Gardner said. “We had 14 priority three’s, most of which were due to safety surfacing.”

Gardner explained that most of the area playgrounds have an engineered wood fiber surface. 

“It’s kind of the nature of the beast in the wintertime — it gets packed down and the surfacing is low and we have to top it off every year,” Gardner said.

Other hazards included a couple of loose bolts, which have been addressed, and a cracked tube slide at Rarick Park on South Washington Street. Gardner is checking with the manufacturer about having the slide replaced.  

Board members also approved a request by Warsaw Community Schools Food & Nutrition Services Assistant Director Stacie Light to continue offering the summer meal program at Bixler Park this year. 

“We are coming upon our 14th year of offering a summer food program for students in Warsaw,” Light said. 

The only change this year, Light said, is that Goshen Health has asked to come once a week and set up a table and distribute handouts for parents and students. The handouts will have information related to different topics, such as exercise and healthy eating.

The free meals are provided to anyone 18 and younger through the USDA Summer Feeding Program.

In Other News: 

• Recreation Director Sheila Wieringa went over the 2020 proposed program and event dates and fees, with the board approving the proposed fees for 2020 programs. 
• A lease with Kosciusko County Council on Aging and Aged was renewed. Plummer said the lease amount is the same as last year and he feels that amount is adequate for another year. 
• The next regular meeting will be held at 5:15 p.m. March 17.