WINONA LAKE - An ordinance establishing a fund for the ice rink and a memorandum of understanding with the Winona Lake Park Board both were given approval by the town council Tuesday.
On the ordinance, Council President Rick Swaim said, “Even though we’ve incorporated and budgeted for the ice rink, we still need to establish a 24-15 account for the ice rink.”
Resident Jerry Nelson asked for an explanation of the fund, how much money was in it and any other details.
“We don’t have anything in it right now, we have to establish a fund,” Town Manager Craig Allebach said.
“I take it it’s going to be tax dollars,” Nelson said.
Allebach said not all of it was as the fund would include the revenue the ice rink takes in so the fund can be spent as needed. Swaim said there was about $88,000 from last year and $15,000 so far for this year.
The council approved the establishment of the fund.
On the MOU with the Park Board, Park Board President Kristie Maiers explained, “The MOU that we have before you here is part of the final step with NPS and the DNR to get our signature in September for the half million dollar grant. Upon review two weeks ago, NPS determined that the greenway, which all of us love coming through the park property, is not listed as an asset over the past 15 years on the park for the town. So it is just a legal agreement that states that going forward the town maintains the greenway, but the Park Board does give permission for it to go through.”
Town attorney Adam Turner said it’s just part of the grant process and they just want to establish for the record that the Park Board owns the real estate and the town put in and maintains the greenway. He said, technically, the Park Board and the town are two different government entities.
The MOU with the Park Board was approved unanimously.
The Heritage Trail East agreement between the town and Global Paving was then presented to the council. With the agreement, Global Paving will extend Heritage Trail between Lakeland Christian Academy and Raccoon Run. Swaim said the contract was awarded in 2021 but they were waiting for the water line to be placed and hopefully the project will begin soon.
Allebach said, “This is the one last month we thought was going to be quite a bit more than what we anticipated. There’d be some miscalculation on the part of the contractor, and we talked with our county engineer and think we can stick pretty close to that original bid, so we’re requesting approval.”
The cost is about $328,936.
The council approved the agreement.
Winona Lake Police Department DARE officer Phillip Hawks requested and received permission to purchase football tickets.
“We’re keeping on with tradition that Chief (Joe) Hawn started. We take the Lakeland eighth-grade DARE class to a football game at the Indianapolis Colts. They do a ‘Faith and Football’ program one time a year, and they allow - after the football game - whoever you bring to go down on the field for 45 minutes to an hour, and then they bring out certain players, coaching staff and other members of the team to come out and talk about their faith and how they live their life every day,” Hawks explained.
He said it’s a “really great event” that he’s attended in the past.
“The Miller Foundation has always blessed us with the ability to go do that because tickets are not cheap,” Hawks said.
This year, they will be taking 31 students on Oct. 8 to the Colts game against the Tennessee Titans. A number of chaperones will be going on the trip, too.
“It’s a great thing for these kids to go out and see what faith is like out in the real world and in sports,” Hawks said.
The Miller Foundation donated funds for the trip. The cost of the tickets is $5,680.
The council approved the purchase of the football tickets.
In other business:
• Allebach said the upcoming events in Winona Lake include the Jazz Festival at the Miller Sunset Pavilion, Saturday, July 22, noon to 5 p.m.; Splish Splash Winona at the Winona Lake Limitless Park, Saturday, July 22, noon to 4 p.m.; Family Fest at Miller Sunset Pavilion, Aug. 5, 3 to 6 p.m., with a pork menu; Back to School Lunch with the Winona Lake Police Department at the Winona Lake Limitless Park, Aug. 7, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Sidewalk Sale in The Village at Winona, Aug. 12.
Park Director said the Splish Splash will include inflatables, water inflatables covering the park grounds. Cost is $2 for a wristband for unlimited play.
To the list of events, Allebach added a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the roundabout at the intersection of Argonne Road, Winona Avenue and Kings Highway will be at noon Friday.
• Approved designating July 21 as Park and Recreations Professionals Day, as requested by Hummitch. July is Park and Recreations Professionals Month.