Starke County Park Board
November 12, 2024
Meeting Minutes
Present: R. Ballard, T. Busch, K. Swihart & D. Sinn
Amie Flora presented an update on the timber sale on behalf of B. Wakeman who was unable to attend. The Starke County Forest was briefly closed during the active logging stage. Pallet One of Indiana was the winning bid, and Bruce felt they did a very good job. They put the logs in the front parking lot to be picked up for transport soon. This logging project brought in $14,500 which was deposited into the Starke Co. Forest account, along with another $1,325 which is an annual stipend the forest gets from the federal government. The Forest has spent $5,000 this year on gravel. The balance in the Starke County Forest account is just over $31,000.
Christa Hurley-King was present to open the bids for the Bass Lake renovation project. (insert bid tab here)
Christa then discussed that she would review the bids for compliance and make sure there were no discrepancies, and she would get back with the board the next day. A representative from Brown and Brown attended the meeting. L. Schoon asked what would be included in the base bid. Christa then explain that the grant monies coming from the federal government had to have certain components met to receive the funding. The base price will cover the beach house, including bathrooms which must be ADA compliant, handicap-accessible parking, walkways leading to the beach house building from the parking area, and ADA accessible playground equipment on the beach-side. The base bid does not include the bathrooms on the North end of the beach, that is reflected in Alternate #1. It does not cover the camp-side bathhouse, which is Alternate #2, but that this is a priority for the project and very important to the patrons of the camp. Alternate 4 is the camp-side playground, which was added to make the campground better, but not part of the base bid. And Alternate 3, not covered in the base bid, is both gatehouses, proposing to repair the doors and electrical service in the buildings, and beach-side will get new siding. The board will need to decide whether to cut some or all of the alternates or find other ways to fund them as there is not enough money in the grant monies available to do all the proposed work.
G. Laiter asked the board to purchase one more section of aluminum pier for the south-end pier walkout. Purchasing the aluminum pier walkout was voted on and passed in the October meeting, but there was an unintentional miscount. 12 sections, not the 11 that was voted on in October, will need to be purchased. It is a difference of around $940. A short discussion took place around the need to reapply for a new permit from the DNR, due to the change from wood to aluminum walkout. D. Sinn made the motion to buy the other section of aluminum pier, and K. Swihart seconded the motion, vote passed 4-0
T. Busch made the motion to accept the minutes of the October 8, 2024 meeting, seconded by D. Sinn, with K. Swihart abstaining due to his absence at the October meeting, passed 3-0. T. Busch asked that we make a correction to a statement made at the October meeting, where it was mistakenly asserted that our Cash balance went into the County General fund, but that is incorrect as the Cash balance stays in the Park Board fund, and we just need to ask the Starke Co Council to access the funds for a specific purpose.
Superintendent Report by A. Flora:
Superintendent report:
- Completed and got a grant for some new signage for our properties from the Starke Co CVC board. One for each kayak launch, some for the Bass Lake campground to direct our guests to their site numbers, and proper signs for “Kramer’s Beach”, as the old signs said “Kramer Beach”
- Presented “List of Priority” projects to the commissioners. They were receptive and helpful. They suggested getting some quotes on electricity upgrades for the campground, and another place I may be able to look for grants for some of the projects as well.
- Will be attending the County Council meeting on Nov 18 to ask for an appropriation to move some money from one section of the budget to repair and maintenance and office supplies to cover the deficit. Will also be presenting them the same “List of Priority” projects.
- Tentative fundraiser~Sports Unlimited is going to put together an apparel fundraiser using our logo. Hoping to have it together before December. Also, hoping to use other county businesses for logo printing ideas in the future.
- Bass Lake~
- a tree fell at the campground, taking out a power box, knocking out the electric on several sites.; we used two local businesses: Mike’s Electric and Two Brothers Tree Service. Both businesses have helped us in multiple emergency situations this season and both do excellent service. There is a big need to take down more trees and stumps at the campground. We also had a couple of electrical boxes burn up this week as well.
**Mike Berron will be winterizing the campground this Friday, Nov. 15
**I’ve re-formed the Bass Lake Renovation committee as we are heading into the construction phase of the project. The new committee so far consists of Tom Busch, Donny Binkley, Rick Green, Rick Yover, and Lisa Shone.
- Kayak launches~
**English Lake is 99% complete
KYRBC (kankakee yellow river basin commission)
Starke co is becoming part of the “blue trail”, which is kayak launches all allong the Yellow and KankaKee River. Those rivers converge (confluence) at English Lake. The “blue trail” includes a launch in Bremen, one to be constructed in 2025 in Jasper county, and the lauches in Starke Co.
Kankakee (English Lake) pending final expectation by Bob Aloi, once complete:
Paid $35,000 out of DONATIONS–CVC donated $30,00 and
$$5000 from Starke Co Community foundation; the rest of the cost is being incurred by KYRBC. The KYRBC will being paying 100% of the cost of the HW 23 launch. This launch must be completed by April 1, due to the beginning of bat season.
Financial Report: Oct. 9-Nov 11 2024
Campground rental and Storage: $3,745.28 $168,660.28
Pier rentals and storage: $200 $66,139.00
Beach gate/pavillion $16,886.00
Kayak rentals $690.00
Year to date:
Receipts: $312,162. 68 (amount of money we’ve taken in)
Appropriation: $228, 120.00 (budgeted amount)
Expenditure: $200, 880.73 (what we’ve spent)
Unexpended: $27,239.27 (how much we have left from the budget to spend)
Cash: $111,281.95 (available for appropriation upon request from the council)
T. Busch made a motion to accept the Superintendent and Financial reports and D. Sinn seconded this motion, which passed unanimously.
Other Business:
D. Sinn discussed some of his ideas for additional kayak launches for the county. There was some discussion of the current kayak launches and launches being built in 2025 and where there could be other launches that would make kayaking in Starke county easier, more safe, and more organized. D. Sinn is interested in investigating a launch at Davis on the Kankakee River, which we share banks with LaPorte county.
K. Swihart made motion to adjourn the meeting and D. Sinn seconded the motion.