The future of Winamac’s park facilities will be discussed tonight when the town council and park board meet for a joint work session. It’s the first formal meeting between the two groups since the town council established the park board nearly a year ago.
Since then, the park board has overseen the creation of a five-year park and recreation plan and is now eligible to apply for grants from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. But how much local funding is available ultimately depends on the town council.
Park Board President Courtney Poor told the town council last week he wants to make sure everyone’s on the same page before moving forward. “What we want to do is to tell you some of the things that are on each of the board members’ minds because some of them, the ideas cost money,” he explained, “and now that we are authorized for grants, we want to make sure that we are heading in the direction that the town board wants us to.”
One possible project that will likely be discussed tonight is the rebuilding of the town’s swimming pool. “There were some concerns expressed at our last park board meeting about maintenance funding for the pool – not for building the pool, but maintenance funding,” Poor said. “I know that there had been a figure discussed, and I’m not asking for any guarantees now. But I can tell you that that will be one of the things that will be brought up at the work session because that is on the forefront of the members of the park board’s mind.”
Adding some urgency to the discussions is the fact that the park board is under a few time constraints. Over $200,000 raised by the Winamac Pool Committee through the Community Foundation of Pulaski County needs to be used in a certain amount of time. Otherwise, that money goes back to the Community Foundation.
On top of that, Poor says the park board has been told by DNR officials that if the town wants to get grant funding this year, it needs to start applying soon. “We need to have applications filed by June 15 to have a decent chance of getting a grant for whatever project for 2017,” he said.
Tonight’s joint work session begins at 6:00 p.m. at the Winamac Municipal Utility Complex.
