Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MENTONE — Mentone Town Council held a special meeting on Monday to discuss budgeting parameters for their future park.
The council met with representatives Zach Dripps from Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) and Magdalena Aravena from Troyer Group. Dripps serves the council as their grant administrator while Aravena works as their design consultant.
In the meeting, the council discussed whether to save some American Rescue Plan Act funds for a later project or to spend all of what they had into the park project. This discussion came after a presentation from Dripps posing this question to the council. Ultimately, the council decided to put all of their ARPA funds into the park due to them having to allocate the funds by 2025 and spend them by 2026.
The council approved allocating the estimated funds into their budgeting plan:
• $250,000 to the building of the pavilion
• $25,000 to lighting and security
• $30,000 to the resurfacing and new equipment of basketball hoops
• $45,000 for the paved sidewalks throughout the park
• $60,000 to the building of the bridge deck
• $170,000 to the playground equipment
In the planning, the council has included a disc golf course and pickleball courts, however, they moved to not include those in the current budget.
The next regular meeting will be Jan. 3 with a public hearing held prior to the meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Mentone Town Hall.
