Jo Paczkowksi, Commission Vice-President, listens to the conversation at the meeting Wednesday, Jan. 8. InkFreeNews photo by Kory Stoneburner-Betts.

WARSAW — The Kosciusko County Convention, Recreation and Vistors Commission denied a grant request from the City-County Athletic Complex at its meeting Wednesday morning, Jan. 7.

The commission denied a $62,988 grant proposal from the City-County Athletic Complex. The funds would have gone toward the construction of new restrooms on the east side of the CCAC.

The CCAC currently has one restroom facility that has one toilet, one urinal and a sink in the men’s restroom. The women’s restroom has one toilet and one sink, according to CCAC Program Director Eric Townsend.

The amount of available restroom facilities underserves the number of sporting events hosted at the CCAC.

The restrooms, “have been the biggest complaint we’ve received in the 30 years we’ve been in business,” said Townsend. “It’s why teams don’t come back.”

The current restrooms, “can’t take all these people,” Townsend said.

At the facility, “baseball teams run about 10-15 people and softball does about the same,” he said.

In the past, Townsend said the CCAC accommodated athletes and spectators by opening the men’s restroom to women only during events while bringing in portable toilets for men. When they haven’t made such accommodations, the line for the women’s restroom would be “20-25 people deep,” said Townsend.

The lack of sufficient restrooms, he said, frequently causes delays due to members of sports teams and spectators waiting to use the restrooms during events.

The proposed expansion would have added one sink, two toilets and one urinal to the men’s restroom. Three toilets and one sink would be added to the women’s facilities, said Townsend.

The total facilities for men would have been expanded to three toilets, two urinals and two sinks. The women’s facilities would be upgraded to four toilets and two sinks.

“Why do the men have more?” said commission member Jo Paczkowski. Townsend said that the number of toilets and urinals were based on the proposed plans from Ideal Construction.

Townsend speculated that the larger number of urinals and toilets for men is based on the fact that men’s and boy’s activities draw larger numbers of people.

According to Townsend, the CCAC received only one bid for $62,988 from Warsaw-based Ideal Construction. Commission member Mark Skibowski said the cost was too much to accommodate and that money is already earmarked for the Syracuse-Wawasee Trials. The funds were granted to Syracuse-Wawasee in 2018. “Those funds are coming due,” he said.

The commission denied the proposal and suggested the CCAC seek more competitive bids along with a layout that affords more equal distribution between the men’s and women’s restrooms.

Other business included:

• Kathy Ray, General Manager of Hampton Inn, Warsaw was sworn in as the newest member of the commission.
• The commission elected Tammy Kratzer to be the president of the commission. Kratzer was not present at the Jan. 7 meeting due to medical issues. Paczkowski was elected vice president. Skibowski was elected treasurer. Gustafson was named commission secretary.
• The commission granted $500 to Casey Jones and the Tippecanoe Audubon Society to cover the cost of a new projector and marketing materials.
• The commission granted Elerene Yentes and Syracuse-Wawasee Trails $500 for marketing materials ahead of its Winter Warm-Up 5K, Saturday, Jan. 25.
• The commission granted $2,500 to Jill Boggs and the Kosciusko County Visitors Bureau for developing meant for a mural festival in Kosciusko County. The location has yet to be determined, according to Boggs.
• The commission’s next meeting is 9 a.m., Wednesday, March 11.

Swearing-in of Kosciusko County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission members by County Auditor Michelle Puckett, far left. From left, Dave Gustafson, Jo Paczkowksi, Kathy Ray and Mark Skibowski. InkFreeNews photo by Kory Stoneburner-Betts.