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FAIRMONT - A new project conceived by the Kids Just Want to Have Fun committee has been postponed until further notice, it was announced at Tuesday's Fairmont Park Board meeting.
For the last three months, Kids Just Want to Have Fun has sought the board's approval to add a musical playground somewhere in Fairmont. The committee was fundraising and had half the money needed for the project, but wanted the park board's approval before they went forward with grant writing.
At May and June's meeting, the committee had been unable to attend the meeting, so the issue was tabled until the next month's meeting. Tuesday, the project was pushed off until further notice, and Board Member Jodie Whitmore provided an explanation.
"They’ve had a few setbacks with the bikes," she said, speaking about the bike share program the group introduced last year. "They’re being vandalized, and they’re also vandalizing the playground in the mall. Kristy [Olson] talked to me last night and said they’re so sorry, but they are so busy they don’t get here. She thought maybe fall, but she also said we’re kind of running out of funds for the [bikes]."
Whitmore then asked if the city is meant to foot the bill for the bikes once they are put in. Public Works Superintendent Nick Lardy and Public Works Director Matthew York confirmed it's up to Kids Just Want to Have Fun to do repairs as needed.
The meeting also included discussion regarding the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) funds workshop, as York mentioned a community survey regarding pickleball courts had just been launched and is available from the city’s Facebook page. Whitmore said she was disgusted with the potential plan of going with another community center.
"It’s like get off of it," she said. "We’re done with it. We don’t need the community center as much as we could do small projects and bring so much more opportunity to more people without the fighting. I’m tired of them comparing us to other towns because all they do is compare the town and the population. They don’t look at budget."
She also spoke about comments made by Randy Lubenow, the city council's liaison to the park board, who was not able to attend Tuesday's meeting.
"He’s a liaison to the park board, and he gets up there and says, 'We have too many parks, and we need to let them all go to taller grass so we don’t have to mow,' Whitmore said. "That isn’t the answer. We have 32 parks in this town. We’ve been maintaining them, but we need more money in the park board."
Joni O'Brien gave credit to Matt York for his actions during said meeting.
"I was so impressed with the fact that you said to the council, 'We just want to know. We just want to have the location approved,'" she said. "That’s all that was being asked of them. But they can’t. I was disappointed, frustrated that they couldn’t say, 'Yes, we’ll do it at the soccer fields, but we’re not approving eight courts.'"
In other news:
-- York gave an update on Veterans Park, stating that they are working with the US Environmental Protection Agency on a potential Brownfield Grant. They are doing historical analysis and some geotechnical services as part of phase one and two of the grant process to see if it will qualify for phase three.
-- A letter submitted by concerned citizens Robin and Kermit Carlson asked for the board to push for indoor pickleball courts that could be used year-round, instead of the limited window provided by outdoor pickleball courts.