Starke County Park Board Meeting Minutes
County Annex Meeting Room – 6:00 PM
July 11, 2017
- Call to Order: Debbie Mix, Roger Chaffins, Rosemary Rose, Butch
Gerstandt. Also in attendance, Martin Lucas, County attorney.
Absent: Chris Lawrence - Pledge of Allegiance
- Minutes Roger-Roesie. Carried.
- Starke County Forest – Beavers still in the marsh. One was trapped two
weeks ago. Need to trap more. Roger will call Bill Crase to remove
more. Rick will talk with the commissioners to use sand from the County.
Campagnia Excavating has agreed to dump the sand if the County
agrees to supply the sand. If commissioners agree, the Hwy dept. can
do that. The Park Board may want to participate to help pay for the
removal of the beavers but the Drainage board usually gets latitude to
remove beavers.
There’s a parcel of the forest ready for harvesting. It will be a selective
harvest. We may harvest up to 20%. This fall, Mr. Wakeland would like
to have a timber sale if markets hold up so it will be about $5000 income.
IDNR Forester, Steve Winnicker works with Mr. Walkeland to help with
the certified forest management plan. If the prices don’t go up after the
“summer they slump” he may wait. Mr. Wakeland explained how a
Timber sale works: trees get marked and then advertise to licensed
timber buyers and then they submit sealed bids at the PB meeting. - Beach & Campground update —
A. Meeting with S. Lucas, R. Rose and DNR rep. Jim Heibenstreit
Rick Anderson, a retired civil engineer, reported. He provided a
drawing of the beach house and seawall… two seams facing the
lake… north and south side. They are split. The beach house is
Starke County Park Board Meeting Minutes
County Annex Meeting Room – 6:00 PM
July 11, 2017
sound. Seams need to be filled and then use original specifications
to repair. Glacial stone should be put in against the seawall. No
permit is required per Mr. Heibenstreit of the DNR. Rick recommends
to get glacial stone…about 50 yards is needed. About $18/ton.
(110/yd…= $5000 of stone plus the cost of backhoe to spread.) A
ball park cost is $7-8,000 to protect the seawall. Right now the lake
is down 3 inches. 1900 ft of shoreline: the whole beach needs a plan
and would need to talk with DNR to help determine how to preserve
the whole beach. Once the stone is put in, it will help preserve the
seawall and the lakeshore. Ms. Rose who also attended the
meeting, stated there’s a need for an entrance to get to the water
where you don’t put in the rock on the shoreline. This will protect the
children as they swim. It was reported that a permit can be obtained
from the DNR to take the sand out of the beach but the sand can’t be
dragged onto the shoreline but rather removed so the sand doesn’t
go back into the water. The permit is a 2 yr term.
A letter from Mr. Steve Lucas was read with his report of the meeting
with Mr. Heibenstreit. He noted that Mr. Heibenstreit suggested we
get in touch with the Army Corps of Engineers to find what they may
have historically done and what they may require. The history of the
building may help especially if it was built —by CCC or other group.
We will need a committee to help determine a plan. Most important is
stone around the building and fixing the opening in the patio.
B. grant update — Carolla Heilstedt wrote two grants… one from the
Starke County Community Foundation and the OCRA Place-Based
grant. The grants are pursuing a river access point on the Yellow
River. Jerry White suggested to be competitive we needed to
propose an ADA accessible launch. Dan Plath with Kayak suggested
no metal due to scrappers in such a remote area. Matching funds 10,
669.50 from the County. Jerry needs to get a ruling of whether the
Starke County Park Board Meeting Minutes
County Annex Meeting Room – 6:00 PM
July 11, 2017
county tax funds are eligible as matching funds. Leaves us needing
$9,669.50. Lucas’s have agreed to help with way finding signs. The
grant depends on two factors… the SCCF grant approval and the
County funding entities. Roger Chaffins made a motion to approve
the signing of the grant paperwork for the Starke County Community
Foundation and Butch seconded. A vote carried the motion. Roger
Chaffins motioned and Rosie Rose seconded that the Park Board
approve to sign the OCRA Place-based grant application. With no
further discussion a vote carried the motion. Board is asked to get
supporters for the placed based grant.
C. Site visit by D Mix, R Rose — a report of the improved conditions of
the beach and campground’s inspection report issues were given by
both Ms. Rose and Ms. Mix. More work is being done. - Signage from SC Highway dept.- Tim Marker traffic supervisor and runs
sign shop and can be called. - Any other business that may come before the board. Kathy Carrier:
Final year of lease… is it possible to put together a paper of what’s been
done from on the inspection report and put it on the County website?
Larry from the BLBC: North end bathhouse…40 gal is too large to have
access and would like to replace with 5 gal. How is that determined.
Indiana plumbing code. Is possible to put on agenda until all issues
resolved. Colors: determine the colors from when it was built.. Is it
possible for the Park Board to put together a budget of the all the repairs
that need to be done at the Beach and Campground?
The well went out and had to be repaired on an emergency basis. Bill
Dalton-Davis and Bill Montgomery were able to repair right away. - President & Board comments. There were none.
Starke County Park Board Meeting Minutes
County Annex Meeting Room – 6:00 PM
July 11, 2017 - Adjournment Roger-Butch adjourned at 7:23pm
The next meeting will be held at the County Annex Meeting room on Aug 8,
2017 at 6:00 PM.