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Proposed park house repairs prompt debate
Whether or not to renovate the park house just outside the main Robe-Ann Park entrance at 405 Bloomington St. remains up in the air following a lengthy August meeting of the Greencastle Park Board.
The park house has been used as the residence of the city park director for that past 50 years or more, affording the city the luxury of having the director basically reside in the park as a deterrent to vandalism and other problems, while offering the director rent-free housing as part of his employment package.
But all that might end as the Park Board grapples with the decision on repairing a 2,100-square-foot house for which maintenance obviously has been neglected for a number of years, resulting in bids of $142,225 from Energy Conservation Solutions (ECS) and $202,796 from John David Roofing. The proposed cost of those repairs pushed the Park Board to send the matter to the City Council to see what can be worked out.
By a 3-1 vote, the Park Board favors keeping the house with the goal of repairing it and allowing Park Director Greg Ruark to live there as promised when he began his employment back in March. In hopes of settling how to fund that goal, the Park Board has sent the matter on to the Council.
Board member Pete Meyer cast the dissenting vote, noting “I just don’t see an investment of that much money for a house we don’t need. We can take it down and make a beautiful entrance to the park.”
City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar, who said she doesn’t have $142,000 anywhere in the city budget to fund the renovation, suggested borrowing money and repaying it over five years is one option to be considered. First National Bank offered the best option, a 2.8 percent rate with $30,470 annual payments.
Overall, Dunbar said, “the city has not been good homeowners,” noting that one of the houses at Forest Hill Cemetery had to be torn down due to similar disarray as the park house.
“I’ve been here (in office) 12 years and I don’t recall anybody going in to see about the status of the park house,” Dunbar said.
The city could spend “a fraction of that $142,000 and put in cameras and monitor it (the park) from home anywhere,” the clerk said.
“Or over your phone,” Meyer interjected. “I’m all for security cameras. We have no business sending our employees out to do police work anyway.”
Ruark agreed he didn’t want to “be Matt Dillon,” but having the lights on at the house would be a deterrent, he said, indicating that “lighting the park up” will help deal with vandalism.
“When I accepted this position, I didn’t think we’d still be talking about it (the park house) in August. I really don’t want to walk out of here tonight without a decision. If not, where do I go? I’ve been very patient and willing to wait until the house is fixed or we do something else.”
City Councilor Stacie Langdon, the City Council liaison to the Park Department, was in the audience and said of Ruark, “We need to do right by him,” noting he has been working since March without the promised housing portion of his compensation package.
“I would like the lights on,” Langdon said of the park house, “but would rather find some way to pay for it without borrowing money.”
“It’s comforting to me,” Park Board President Cathy Merrell said, “that there’s someone there.”
Assistant Park Director Chrysta Snellenberger noted that since former Park Director Rod Weinschenk vacated the premises, “almost daily we have to come in and fix something in the park” that’s been vandalized overnight.
Meanwhile, contractor Bill Mentgen of ECS said the house is structurally fine but needs major bathroom and kitchen upgrades, calling the kitchen a “non-functioning space.”
“Most of what’s wrong,” he said “is cosmetic stuff. It’s 20 years of neglect at today’s prices. That’s the challenges we’re facing.”
“A big concern,” Mentgen said, is that the home had plaster walls initially, which have been drywalled over. Those could collapse during interior work, he said, noting that the project would take 90 days once it commences.
Saying he was “flabbergasted when the bids came in,” Mayor Bill Dory said he anticipated something in the $80,000 range.
“Is it worth the long-term benefit to have a staff member live there?” Dory asked. “I’m torn. I understand the value of having someone there as a deterrent, but I’m not sure that deterrent is as strong as it used to be.
“There’s not a good answer to this,” the mayor continued. “There’s pros and cons and benefits on each side.”
The house is gothic revival in style, Mayor Dory said, noting that a porch was probably removed long ago. “It’s been modified over the years,” he said, indicating that any “hint of historical fabric is long gone.”
The park house is not the family homeplace associated with the acreage donated to the city for the park by John W. Robe. The historic John W. Robe House, a Greek revival built circa 1914-17, sits north of Robe-Ann Park at 605 E. Anderson St.
According to the Eastern Enlargement pamphlet created by the Heritage Preservation Society of Putnam County, Robe was a Civil War veteran, lawyer, livestock breeder and organizer of Central National Bank who donated the land for the city park that bears his last name and the first name of his wife, Ann Gillespie.
Park Board member Tim Trigg, who made the motion to send the park house matter to the City Council, suggested the Council could approve the bid and take out the loan to pay for the renovation or perhaps find another way of funding it.
Trigg, Merrell and Joanna Muncie voted in favor of the measure, while Meyer voted against it.
The Park Board will next meet in regular session at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7 at City Hall.