Starke County Park Board
July 8, 2025
Meeting Minutes
Present: R. Ballard, T. Busch, S. Byer, D. Sinn, & T. Trout
R. Ballard called meeting to order.
T. Busch made the motion to accept the minutes of the April 8, 2025 meeting, S. Byer seconded. Passed 5-0.
Discussion for Indiana pump contract. Proposal was submitted to the board from Indiana Pump for a yearly service contract for the sum of $2000 annually.
K. Berry asked if any of the existing pumps are still under warranty.
D. Ballard suggested we reach out to get some more quotes on this kind of service.
T. Busch suggested to reach out to Tom Jordan to get his advice on pump service contracts, as he is in charge of the BLCD.
The board tabled the topic for now.
Bass Lake Beach & Campground gutters and garage siding: The board was presented with quotes from the companies that are currently doing work at the renovation for gutters on the camp restroom and siding for the garage. HB Gutters quoted $1900 for the gutters. T. Busch made note that a new roof really should have new gutters but wanted to make sure these gutters would have downspouts. D. Sinn agreed. T. Busch made a motion to accept the bid from HB Gutters, contingent on having downspouts, D. Sinn seconded the motion. Passed 5-0.
Button Construction quoted $7,800 for the metal siding on the garage and for adding gutters to the camp bathrooms. Discussion was held about adding gutters to the new camp bathroom roof. It was discussed and decided that it would be best and make the most financial sense go ahead and add the gutters to the project now. T. Busch made a motion to accept the quote for the gutters from HB Gutters for $1,900, contingent on the plan that they will be adding down spouts, D. Sinn seconded the motion. Passed 5-0.
Discussion was held about the extremely poor condition of the exterior of the garage walls. D. Sinn made a motion to accept the quote for metal siding from Button Construction for $7,800, that they will be contingent on the plan that they will be adding down spouts, T. Busch seconded the motion. Passed 5-0.
T. Busch reminded the Park board that we need to be mindful of our spending for the rest of the year to make sure we get into our 2026 budget to make sure we have enough carry over revenue to get through the year.
Bass Lake Beach Renovation Update: A. Flora told the board that the mulch around the playground has to be finished by Starke co, and the work will be done by our teenage employees. Hill Excavating is supposed to be coming out to finish the landscaping work they started in June. They are supposed to be moving parking blocks and filling holes in the parking lot. The beach gate house is scheduled to get all new windows, but no new door; and the camp gatehouse is scheduled to get a new door, but no new windows. This may be something we should address ourselves in the future. The biggest concern we have so far are the two concrete handicap parking areas. These two areas are not draining well, especially on the “south” side. Troyer came up with a solution to dig a swale for drainage, to mimic the flow of the water to flow toward the water; so they are intending to try this as a solution to the drainage issue on the parking lots. We have been told they will not be planting seed in the “rain garden” but will be using live plants, this work has not been done yet. The camp bathrooms soap and toilet dispensers are not ideal, as they are small. The soap dispensers keep falling off the wall, but we are not going to screw into the wall until we decide what direction we want to go. The camp bathroom floors are not going to be redone, as it may void the warranty on the bathroom stalls. We are discussing whether we want to have volunteers paint the floors, as this may be submitted for the grant reimbursement program. The painters will be scrapping more paint off the beach house and adding a third coat of paint to the back and side of the beach house. Brown and Brown are down the finishing work. The older windows were refurbished and installed.
Discussed the upcoming Soft opening/Ribbon Cutting on July 19. The building will be cleaned up and open for the day. We are having 10-56 and a DJ at the ribbon cutting as well. R. Ballard encourage the community to reach out to Superintendent Flora with ideas and questions regarding the renovation.
R. Yover mentioned to the board that the handicapped parking can’t be used until lines are painted on by Brown and Brown.
K. Berry asked if the vents in the bathrooms could be covered so people wouldn’t be cold when the seasons change. The board discussed the importance of ventilation in the bathrooms.
2026 Budget discussion—T. Trout, T. Busch, and A. Flora attended the budget workshop together. T board discussed separating job descriptions into Camp host/groundskeeper, Harbor Master, and Bass Lake Beach and Campground part time staff. Superintendent Flora would like to give the camp host/grounds keeper a raise to $18 and hour and Harbor Master to $16.25. The new job descriptions will have to be introduced to the commissioners before they can be approved by the council. The board felt Superintendent Flora should ask for the 3% standard raise as well. T. Busch reminded Superintendent Flora to be mindful of spending as the council has been supportive believes as long as we remain responsible, we will continue to get that support.
Superintendent’s Report:
Fourth of July #’s: Beach entry- $2,920
Campground was completely full; electric got too hot and some spots lost power for a while on Saturday due to overheating.
Kid’s crafts—July 5, 12 and Aug 2 to see how they go. First one was well received.
Will be selling Bass Lake t-shirts for $20 and Starke Co Parks t-shirts for $25 and tote bags for $17
Ribbon Cutting—July 19; will someone speak at the event; want to send out the agenda this week.
HW 23 Kayak Launch—construction has begun; Dr. Fritz believes the best name for the launch site would be the 900 E site, as HW 23 was formerly known as 900 E, and it is consistent with the other primitive launches on 1100 and 700 N.
Other business-
R. Yover suggested that out of state/county beach patrons make up a lot of the beach going population, and he believes they should be charged more to get into the beach. T. Trout asked if those people weren’t still property owners in the county. Some discussion was held over the issue.
D. Ballard adjourned meeting.
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Richard Ballard-president Tom Busch-vice president
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Sam Byer-member David Sinn-member
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Teresa Trout-member