Winamac Park Board President Courtney Poor came before the town council during their most recent meeting to inform them about a work session held by the Park Board.
Poor said the session was attended by several representatives of the various entities that utilize the parks’ facilities. He said one of the goals of the Park Board is to encourage those individuals who utilize the park to participate in focused clean-up days. He said the people who attended the work session had some valuable input related to that initiative.
Poor elaborated, “We’ve only had one and the consensus of the folks was ‘Why are you only having one?’ Yeah, it really does a lot of help, especially after the flooding we had, picking up debris but they suggested we have specific work days.”
He noted that one day could be dedicated to picking up leaves, another could focus on river-bank cleanup and any other efforts that would help maintain the 38 acres.
He said the reason he was bringing it up to the council was to see if they’d consider assisting the Park Board with the cost of advertising these types of events.
On the topic of community participation, Poor mentioned that the Board has been considering the possibility of forming a “Friends of the Winamac Park” group. He said there has also been some public interest in this possibility as well.
He mentioned that Park Board member Jon Chapman has some experience with the ‘Friends of the State Park’ group and noted that he’ll be a valuable resource during this process.
Councilman Dan Vanaman noted that he was also involved with the ‘Friends of the State Park’ and said members pay dues and that helps fund the organization. Poor said that is something they could look into and added that if the council had any other suggestions, the park board is open to hearing them.
The information in this article was gathered thanks to meeting minutes provided by Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger and audio from Town Manager Brad Zellers.
