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FAIRMONT - At the last Fairmont Park Board meeting of the year on Tuesday, a new opportunity for the board was presented.
Public Works Director Matthew York handed out a packet to each of the park board members, containing an information sheet and a fill-out sheet for every park and green area in Fairmont.
"One of the things we have discussed in the past is a park master plan," he said. "We started looking at what is going on in some parks, and there were some issues with paying $75,000 for that. One of the suggestions was you guys as volunteers. In the packet is a sheet that was made up, and each of them are individualized per the park. It shows you where they are, how big they are, what day you were there, what time you were there, what was going on, what you saw, what you didn’t see."
The sheet includes an inspection checklist, a place to list grounds conditions, note any areas of the grounds not inspected, leave detailed notes and attach photos. There are also numbers for them to call if they spot something urgent that needs to be taken care of, that cannot wait for a report to be read.
This is completely voluntary for the board members. York said some had voiced their excitement and others had not, and that was all fine. With the submitted sheets, York said that information will then be compiled and used.
"If you say the shelter house needs to be painted, we’re not going to run out there and paint it," he said. "We’re going to take that information. We’re going to bring it back. We’re going to put it in with all of our other information and put it in our plan of attack for how we’re going to go out and do things."
Board Member Vicky Schulte asked for clarification on whether or not they already have a city employee doing this. York clarified that they do, but he thought it's good to have eyes on issues and problems at city parks and also get ideas for potential plans, killing two birds with one stone.
"I get the idea behind it, but I don’t think we should be paying somebody the workload if people are doing that voluntarily for free," Schulte said.
"The people that are going out there on a daily basis are going out there and doing 100 different jobs," York replied. "We’re not cutting hours of work because you guys are doing this task. If you don’t want to do the task, you don’t have to do the task. We’re just giving it to you as an opportunity to go out and look at the parks."
In addition, York said it will give a chance for the board to be forward-thinking and have everything ready and laid out for the park department by the time park board meetings roll around again in April instead of getting bogged down right at the beginning.
One of the new board members, Joni O'Brien, was a driver in getting this volunteer program off the ground.
"Coming on to this committee I asked, 'What are my responsibilities?'" she said. "I’d never been on a committee before. I had to do something besides come to the meetings. I wondered about the usage of the parks. I didn’t even know the term; we have some parks that are just green space. I had never heard of that, and there are a number of parks that I didn’t know existed."
York said board members can oversee parks as many or as few times as they would like, and it is a program they would like to do multiple times a year, including when the park board comes back next year.
In other news
-- Board Chair Jodie Whitmore asked what is happening regarding an e-bike and scooter safety ordinance. York said the police department is currently working on that, specifically on clarifications between e-bikes, scooters and motorcycles.
-- City council liaison Randy Lubenow asked about the timeline for the pickleball courts at the soccer fields. York said they are bringing forward a discussion item to city council next week to discuss whether to use asphalt or high-tension concrete, as there are differences in cost and maintenance between the two.