Stormwater pipe has been installed at Hire Park, located at 750 E. Arthur St., Warsaw. InkFreeNews photo by Lasca Randels

By Lasca Randels
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Forty-two trees have been planted at local city parks during the past month.

That information was shared by Warsaw Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer at the Warsaw Parks & Recreation Board meeting Tuesday, Oct. 20.

In June, Plummer announced that the parks department received a $3,000 grant through the Kosciusko County Community Foundation from an anonymous donor for work performed by recreation staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and by maintenance staff for assisting with the placement of the new art sculpture at Warsaw City Hall. Plummer expressed intent at that time to use the money for tree replacement.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Plummer told board members that 30 trees were placed in area parks with the grant funds. Five trees were placed at Ker Park, five at Richardson-Dubois, two at Kiwanis Park, six at Lucerne, two at Hire Park, three at McKinley, two at Krebs Trailhead Park, two at Bixler and three at Central Park. 

Plummer said the Community Foundation seemed “really pleased” that the grant money was used for that purpose.

The parks department also purchased 12 additional trees, which were put in at Hire Park to replace trees that were lost when a tornado went through the area years ago. 

“Overall we put 42 trees in over the last month in our parks,” Plummer said. “We try to plant one for every one we take out and I think we’re on course for that.” 

Plummer also provided updates on local parks. A stormwater pipe has been installed at Hire Park, at 750 E. Arthur St., Warsaw. The work is being done in-house, with collaboration between the parks department, street department and wastewater pipe crew. Plummer said by doing the work in-house they were able to expand the project. Work is currently being done on the drainage pipe in the parking lot. Once completed, there will be a defined parking lot at Hire Park with defined parking spaces. 

Regarding the Ker Park project, Plummer said the perimeter has been set, new sidewalks have been poured and picnic tables and three new bench swings have been placed.

New playground equipment for the park is currently in storage and will be installed in the spring. The park is located at 1220 E. Market St. in Warsaw.

Plummer also presented board members with handouts containing information about facility and lease fees.

“A lot of these were redone in 2017, so it’s been three years, almost four years, since we’ve had increases on any of these and set these rates, so I would ask that you strongly take a good look at these and see if there is any place where you feel there’s a deficiency in the charges,” Plummer said. 

Plummer said the lease contract with Kosciusko Community Senior Services has not been raised for approximately 10 years and commented they may look at increasing that to ensure that the rate is adequate to keep up with maintenance, repairs and utility costs, with the understanding that the organization is providing a great need in the community.

“I’d like for you guys to take these and study them and be ready to make some recommendations at our next meeting,” Plummer said.

Recreation Director Sheila Wieringa provided a list of programs and fees with information about the charges for each program in 2020 and additional programs for 2021 for board members to review.

“Anything that we charge a fee on as far as programs, we try to keep that as close to our actual cost as possible because we want people to participate. We want to keep things affordable — so I do watch really closely what we spend and I try to keep that program fee as close to covering costs as what I can,” Wieringa said.

Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer addressed the board near the end of the meeting to discuss the $1.5 million grant awarded to the town of Winona Lake for an ice rink.

Mayor Thallemer said he recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Winona Lake Town Manager Craig Allebach about the project.

“I looked at their plan and I think it’s a fantastic plan. I think it’s in a great spot. I think everybody in this community is going to get use out of it,” Mayor Thallemer said. “I was not disappointed because at the end of the day we got a skating rink in our community.”

Mayor Thallemer told the parks board he appreciated their “thoughts and honest reactions” to proposed locations in Warsaw.

“Central Park is our park and we wanted to make sure that if we put something in, it fit,” Thallemer said. “While anything shiny and new looks great and you get a little excited, but when you sit back and look at how it’s going to impact the park overall, I think there was a lot of good, honest discussion amongst the park board members and it helped me. It really helped me make a decision. I wasn’t going to do anything unless it fit and looked good and at the end of the day I just don’t think we found that spot down in the park.”

“I think the recreational opportunities are as good as it gets around here in the winter and having a facility now, I told Craig that we’d offer any expertise that we can and assist them as they get started and get set up and I meant that,” Mayor Thallemer told the board. “Again, this is truly a collaborative venture. They are taking on obviously the lion’s share of that project, but I told them we would be supportive and helpful and at the end of the day I think we’re all gonna win on that deal, but I did want to personally stand up here and thank you all for that guidance and tough decision making.”

In other matters:

• Phend & Brown recently replaced 150 feet of curbing at the Indiana Street lot at Central Park where curbing sank almost a foot over the years. There are plans for similar work to be done next month at the west shelter lot.
• Because the traditional “Light up the Night” event will not be possible this year, the parks department is making arrangements for virtual Santa visits.
• Plummer was recently contacted by a representative of Municipal Magazine who said they are looking at communities with great Christmas light displays and requested information about the Central Park display.
• The next regular meeting will be 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 17.