As the City of Warsaw Parks & Recreation Dept. continues preparing for the winter season, it will have to begin looking for a new recreation director. Recreation Director Liz McKinley submitted her resignation Monday, providing her 30-day notice to the city. Her family is relocating to North Carolina due to her spouse taking on a new job. After the meeting, she said she’s been with the park department since July 2014. “It’s been a really successful year,” she said, noting that the aquatics programs have been the most successful. She said the paddleboarding activity was packed each time they had it, with people on a waiting list to participate. “They really want to do stuff on the lake,” she said. Superintendent Larry Plummer thanked McKinley for her service and everything she accomplished. “You’ll be missed,” board member Rick Paczkowski told her. During her report to the board, McKinley said there is some concern at the beach piers regarding fishing hooks being left behind and getting onto swimmers’ clothing or bodies. “We don’t allow fishing, we don’t allow hooks, we don’t allow any kind of rods and reels anywhere near a beach or swimming area. We’re just real advocates of beach and water safety,” she said. She said she knows it’s a concern because the two large cement piers at Pike and Center beaches are the also popular fishing spots. When the beaches were open for the summer, she said she saw pictures where fish hooks were either in a lifeguard’s or kid’s fingers or in swimming trunks. She said safety at the beaches is her primary concern. If down the road the parks department could advocate for no fishing at the pier, McKinley said they would just have to give fishers an alternative. She suggested the department could eventually pursue grants for fishing piers. Superintendent Larry Plummer said a lot of the concern has to do with maintenance and having the lifeguards check the area when it opens. “I’ve been here for 31 years and I haven’t seen any major problems with this. I think it’s just a matter of policing the area,” he said. Plummer said there’s been fishing at the piers after swimming hours for years and the parks department probably didn’t want to shut the piers down for fishing. McKinley also said there is some asphalt at Mantis Skate Park creating some hazard for the skaters. The ramps in one area are sunk, just slightly, under the asphalt. She said Maintenance Director Shaun Gardner has some new ramp pieces to install there to make it safer. A decision will have to be made on some of the cracks in the actual asphalt, she said. “Thank goodness it’s not near the ramps, but it’s away from that area and skaters tend to avoid that area,” McKinley said. She also noted that there is no directional sign letting the public know where Mantis Skate Park is. Assistant City Planner Tim Dombrosky is going to help McKinley with the sign possibilities and she will bring the ideas back to the park board for consideration. Board member Michelle Boxell mentioned the Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau might help with signage. “I think we need that exposure,” McKinley said. “We’re losing that first population of skaters where they move on. They started out little, they’re now in high school. We’re ready to start our new feeders, but the skaters and the parents need to know where to come.” In another matter, Plummer reported the disc golf course at Lucerne Park is being well-received by the public. “The course is now complete, with signage, team markers, tees and baskets. It’s being well-received by the public and it’s being heavily used,” Plummer said, noting that every day he’s been out there someone was using it. There are 250 score cards available at the parks office that Dombrosky printed out. They also are available online on the city’s website under parks and recreation for people to print out. A map of the course is on the website, too. The course was made possible through a Kosciusko CVB grant, and organized by Dombrosky and his disc golf club. Plummer said Gardner and staff implemented it and installed it. “I think it’s a real asset to our facilities and a lot of people have used it so far,” Plummer said. Board President Bill Baldwin said the course was a pretty big deal. Initially, when the course was presented to the board, Baldwin said some members of the board were skeptical, but based on the feedback, it’s fantastic. Gardner reported on the playground installation at Richardson-DuBois Park on East Market Street. “The playground itself is complete. We’re finishing up the grade work around the playground as we raised the elevation of it so we can shed some of the rain water and keep that from flooding out stuff,” Gardner said. Today, grass seed will be put down at the park, and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks have been installed, connecting the shelter to the playground area. In other business, the board heard: • The Pike Lake campground has been shut down for the season and all park bathrooms have been closed. Water lines to them have been shut off. Plummer added the courtesy pier at Center Lake is coming out today. Unbeknown to the park department, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources pulled the pier out of Pike Lake Thursday. Plummer said he will contact the DNR and ask them to give the parks department a heads-up next year. Council Representative Diane Quance said Pike Lake will be lowered either Oct. 31 or Nov. 2, weather dependent. Plummer said the DNR has already started drawing Center Lake’s water level down. • Fall Family Fun night Oct. 9 was successful. McKinley said they ran out of 300 goodie bags in 60 minutes, while last year she had 75 left over. “It just turned out really, really well,” she said, estimating there were 450 to 500 people there. She also provided the board with a quick recap of numbers from the summer’s activities. There were three primary concerts at Central Park and nine concert series events. Attendance ranged from 124 for the Bel Airs July 17 to 6,000 at the country concert July 18 featuring Wade Hayes, Bryan White and Mark Willis. Other activities over the summer included family and youth programs, partnership programs and Mantis Skate Park programs. There also were adult fitness programs. Upcoming events in December include Letters from Santa, Nov. 16 to Dec. 14; Light Up the Night, Dec. 4; Christmas Countdown, Dec. 11; and Central Park Holiday Light Display, Dec. 4 to Dec. 31. Corporate sponsorship for programs totaled over $41,000. • The Kiwanis Memorial Garden dedication is finished and the dedication is at 11 a.m. Oct. 29.
