Pictured during the Winona Lake Town Council meeting, from left are Winona Lake Town Manager Craig Allebach and Council members Jim Lancaster, Austin Reynolds and Ashley McGinnis.

By Jackie Gorski
Times-Union

WINONA LAKE – Winona Lake Town Council may be looking at setting up a Miller Sunset Pavilion Committee to oversee operations at the pavilion.

K & J Operations, which manages the pavilion, sent the town a letter in May letting the town know the company is ceasing its management of the pavilion effective July 31. K & J Operations is owned by Winona Lake Council President Jim Lancaster and Ken Nisly.

During a work session Tuesday, June 4, the council discussed operations at the pavilion.

Council Vice President Austin Reynolds said besides the cost of the current operations, he thought things were done well in how the pavilion has been maintained.

“So I don’t think we should throw out everything we’ve done,” he said, noting concern about some of the costs associated with the pavilion.

Councilman Barry Andrews asked Clerk-Treasurer Heather James if the town had a foundational start as far as a budget in regards to the pavilion. James said she did not have that information Tuesday as her office was still working on bank reconciliations. She said she might have more information later.

Councilwoman Ashley McGinnis said when the budget was set in June 2023, she was under the impression the pavilion was going to be funded by revenue it brought in. She said she was concerned if the pavilion brought in enough revenue.

Lancaster said there were two goals for the pavilion and they are to get a cash flow for the pavilion and to get revenue cash flow positive. Some of the costs associated with the pavilion are going to be relatively fixed.

Town Manager Craig Allebach said after the second year with the pavilion in operation, the council will have a better understanding of how much money it is bringing in and the expenses it is generally paying.

Lancaster confirmed with James that she was capturing revenue in three categories: ice operations, facility rental and vendor fees. He said the town should try to capture all of the expenses in those same categories, minus any overarching costs for the pavilion, which he suggested possibly putting in facility rentals. Lancaster suggested sticking with the categories of revenue James has already created.

The council talked about how the pavilion would be overseen.

McGinnis said she did a little bit of research of how similar venues are managed. She said all of the ones she was able to find were organized and managed under the town or city parks department. An ice rink in Valparaiso is very similar to what Winona Lake has as far as having an ice rink during the winter and a farmers market during the summer. The rink is under the parks department and is managed by a facility and maintenance director and also has an events and venue coordinator.

Town attorney Adam Turner said that facility holds a lot more concerts than the Miller Sunset Pavilion.

The Village at Winona Managing Director Nick Hauck talked about a facility in Fort Wayne. It was originally operated by an independent not-for-profit and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the facility was taken under the parks department jurisdiction. Hauck said the main difference between the facility in Fort Wayne and Miller Sunset is Fort Wayne’s is 20 feet bigger than Winona Lake’s.

McGinnis said she had a couple different ideas of how the Miller Sunset Pavilion could be operated. One idea was operations could be under the park board and have a pavilion director at equal level of Park Director Holly Hummitch.

Another idea would be to hire an assistant park director to handle operations and any other park work needed. The third would be operations would remain under the town council’s control with a Miller Sunset Pavilion committee formed, then a director would be hired.

Lancaster said one thing to think about on operation structure is the potential for revenue to be generated. He said he would prefer whoever is in charge of pavilion operations to report directly to Allebach because of that.

There was also some discussion of whether a director was needed.

Lancaster said he was thinking of organizing from the bottom up. He was thinking about figuring out what jobs were needed and go from there. He said if they did that, they might find they didn’t need a director.

McGinnis said she was thinking of possibly having an overarching person in charge instead of sectioned-off people or seasonal people.

Allebach said the pavilion during the winter was completely staffed by seasonal employees.

Lancaster said the most expensive headcount is going to be at the director level.

McGinnis said if they had a year-round person, that person could possibly look at programming and marketing to bring more people into the pavilion.

Lancaster suggested breaking down the job needs for ice operations, facility rental and vendor fees and see if they want multiple people for that or one person.

Lancaster also said the town could possibly consolidate town needs into one person. If the parks person needs a part-time marketing person, they could combine needs with other aspects of the town. He said the town didn’t need to add more expenses in to the pavilion if it wasn’t necessary.

He said there are organizations that could be contracted to do programming and marketing for the pavilion. Outsourcing the marketing and programming for the pavilion might be more cost effective in the short term.

Reynolds said if there was an active committee, maybe that body could oversee everything.

McGinnis said the council would have to establish that committee and their roles. She said there is already a section about a possible committee in the town’s handbooks that are being worked on to be updated.

McGinnis said the council could look at approving the committee at their next regular meeting June 18.

Lancaster also said he would volunteer to be the market manager of the pavilion at no cost to the town for the rest of the farmers market season to help with the transition from K & J Operations after July 31.

Future work sessions were tentatively set for July 5, Aug. 12, Sept. 3, Oct. 1, Oct. 8, Nov. 12 and Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. at Town Hall.