Park Dept. hopes second maintenance person restored

Over the 15 years that Rod Weinschenk has served as director of the Greencastle Parks and Recreation Department, he has seen city park acreage and programs grow by leaps and bounds.

Yet perhaps in the vein of the theory "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," the park maintenance staff has been cut in half over recent years.

But an optimistic Weinschenk told the Greencastle Park Board Thursday night that he has asked the City Council to restore the department's second fulltime maintenance person and the possibility looks good. That request came during his appearance before the group at the recent City Council retreat.

In fact, Steve Fields, City Council liaison to the Park Department, recalled the discussion with City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar as indicating funding appears to be available for a second park maintenance worker this year but she remains uncertain about its funding in future years.

When he took on the position and moved here from Iowa, Weinschenk noted the Park Department essentially consisted of two parks, Robe-Ann and Jaycee.

"When I took over," he said, "we had two parks and two recreation programs, SPARK and youth basketball."

Big Walnut Sports Park was still privately operated then but is now part of the city's park system.

Currently the city has 10 parks and 24 pages of recreational programs as Weinschenk showed Thursday in presenting the 2016 program and events guide.

In addition to Robe-Ann (28 acres), Jaycee Park (22 acres) and Big Walnut Sports Park (78.8 acres), the Park Department is responsible for tending to Maple Berry Park (one acre), Calbert Way Park (1.5 acres), Mary Rogers Field Park (half-acre), Micayla Cancilla Park (one acre), Walter and Eleanor Ballard Family Park (one acre), Rokicki Community Park (40 acres) and the West Side Park adjacent to old Jones School (one acre).

Park personnel also mow the center strip of Northwood Boulevard and tend to the grassy triangle at Shadowlawn and Highfall avenues adjacent to where the crossing guard waits to escort students to and from Tzouanakis School.

With all that to do and the numerous programs in the park, at the pool and at other venues like the library, Weinschenk stressed the need for the added maintenance help.

"We have the money in the budget," he said, suggesting he'd rather use the funds to pay for added help than allocate them to a purchase of some kind.

Meanwhile, in presenting the 2016 park programs and events guide to the board, Weinschenk suggested all rental fees and pool prices remain the same as last season. The board unanimously approved that request.

Among new items in the guide are an early bird men's softball season starting April 26, a Putnam County Swim Meet at the park pool June 3-5 and the introduction of pickle ball on the new courts being created on part of the Robe-Ann tennis courts, which will mean elimination of the adult tennis program.

Weinschenk also reminded everyone that the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Robe-Ann Park is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, March 19, which is the first Saturday of spring break. It is open to youngsters ages 1-11.

In other business, the board:

-- Updated the Parkfest schedule to run Tuesdays, May 31-July 19 at Robe-Ann Park with an Aug. 9 make-up date in case of bad weather.

-- Approved use of Big Walnut Sports Park for an 11 a.m. Saturday, March 12 Easter egg hunt put on by Bethel Baptist Church.

Board members Beva Miller, Tim Trigg, John Hennette and Cathy Merrell were all in attendance along with ex-office members Wayne Lewis and David Taylor.

The Park Board will next meet in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7 at City Hall.