WINONA LAKE – While the Winona Lake Town Council approved the job description for a director-level position and a request for proposal (RFP) for ice operations Tuesday, they tabled a decision on the appointments for the Miller Sunset Pavillion Committee.
The council decided to table the committee membership after a disagreement on who should serve on it from the Winona Lake Park Board.
Council President Jim Lancaster said the list that was in front of the council Tuesday had Austin Reynolds and Ashley McGinnis as the two representatives from the council, Town Manager Craig Allebach, Clerk-Treasurer Heather James and Meghan Smith as the representative from the Park Board to the committee. Lancaster said for the facility director representative to the committee, Lancaster said he volunteered to fill that position until a director was found.
McGinnis brought up the wording of who would be on the committee, saying it was worded as the Park Board president or their representative. She thought a representative would be appointed if the park board president couldn’t be on the committee. It was the same wording for having the clerk-treasurer on the committee, it was either the clerk-treasurer or a representative.
Lancaster said his nomination of Smith for the position comes from her being listed as responsible for community outreach and fundraising on the Park Board. He thought that would appropriate to have someone like that on the committee.
Councilman Barry Andrew said he wasn’t disagreeing the appropriateness of having Smith on the committee, but he has never met Smith. What he does know is Park Director Holly Hummitch and Park Board President Kristie Maiers have been attending council meetings. Andrew said he is just going off what he has seen as time invested in the park and people can see what they’ve brought to the park and the board. Councilman Rick Swaim agreed.
Lancaster said he has not spoken with Maiers. He did some research on who has what roles on the Park Board. He asked Smith if she was willing to be on the committee and she said yes.
Reynolds said he thinks the Park Board president should have a say who is part of the Miller Sunset Pavilion Committee. McGinnis said Maiers should be given the same opportunity as James does of deciding if she will be on the committee or deciding who the representative is.
The council tabled the committee appointments until the council’s July 16 meeting so they can approve the entire list at once. McGinnis said the Park Board has a meeting July 8, so they should be able to have a decision by July 16.
Earlier in the meeting, McGinnis said she did email the job description for the facility/activity director to council members with edits she made from feedback she received. She said she did combine some bullet points and change some things grammatically, but there were basically no changes to the responsibilities to the position.
Resident Jerry Nelson asked, since there will be three council members initially on the committee, if there will be any issue with the Open Door Policy. Lancaster said all the meetings will be public.
Key responsibilities include overseeing the maintenance needs and operations of the pavilion, manage facility needs within the pavilion budget and ensure cost-effective operations and maintenance; developing and implementing pavilion facility asset management and maintenance records, policies and standard operating procedures; and plan, organize and coordinate diverse recreational activities, events and programs for community members of all ages including the winter rink season and the summer farmers market.
McGinnis said she knows the job description is a pretty long wish list, but hopefully there will be some interest. Swaim said he’s already had someone contact him with interest, but how that relates to actual interest, he doesn’t know.
Allebach said for a position like this, the town usually posts the job on the town website and out in the front hall of Town Hall. He said they probably should do a legal advertisement. He said he didn’t know if there were places they could check “that deal with this specific area.” McGinnis suggested Aim.
One change was made to the RFP for ice operations. The responsibility for equipment maintenance was changed to say the person or persons would regularly maintain all ice rink equipment unless the work has to be outsourced.
Other responsibilities include the installation of dasher boards, creation of the ice surface, ice painting, ice resurfacing and temperature monitoring.