Jaycee Park improvements may only be the beginning

Jaycee Park has long been considered a hidden jewel of the Greencastle Parks and Recreation Department.

Situated on a country road along the back side of the Putnam County Regional Airport, the 22-acre property, although not even within city limits, offers the only fishing lake in the city park system, along with a shelterhouse, bike trails and picnic areas in a remote setting.

The old Jaycees building out there has fallen into disrepair with a water problem taking out some interior walls and requiring the removal of restroom facilities and leaving use of a port-a-potty in its wake. Park Director Greg Ruark hopes to nurture the park and its facilities back to health.

First up, he told the Park Board Wednesday night, was treating the pond for duck weed and algae “for the first time in a long time.”

Shane Floyd, director of Hanum Wagle and Cline’s Water and Land Resources division was out at the park Wednesday, administering the final chemical treatment in an effort that cost $2,400.

“We’re all agreed that the park itself needs some attention,” Ruark reasoned. “The treatment is the first step.”

Meanwhile, Ruark has also been talking with a Rose-Hulman Institute professor about a potential project at the park, which was created in the 1970s by the Greencastle Jaycees and turned back over to the city in 2004 when the Jaycees disbanded.

The idea being presented is a way to get people, particularly those in wheelchairs, from the parking lot down to the fishing area. Creation of a pier was one idea, while conversations “kept adding components,” including a roof over it, Ruark said.

The project will be among a number of enterprises presented to the Rose-Hulman class for a year-long endeavor. The students will have the final say in choosing what project they will undertake, Ruark said.

Ruark believes that the Rose-Hulman group would likely approach the project by removing the old building and rebuilding it.

“That’s not necessarily how we’ll do it, but how they’ll present it,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Park Board also tabled a decision on restroom renovations at Robe-Ann Park after only one bid was received and it was substantially higher than the $49,500 engineer’s estimate on the project.

The lone bid came from Bill Mentgen of Energy Conservation Solutions, Greencastle, who did the renovation of the bathrooms at the aquatic center. Mentgen submitted bids of $132,000 and $162,000, “depending on which route we take,” Ruark said of the project.

“Nothing in the bid tabs leaps out at me as crazy,” Ruark said, noting that restroom pipes will not be exposed but hidden behind a wall “so people can’t just take a sledgehammer to it.”

“It’s a serious upgrade,” he added

Basic work was listed at $73,498 with $3,500 extra for painting the exterior, an item considered necessary but somehow not listed in the bid package.

Other alternates “above and beyond the grant application,” include gutters on the restroom building, a $2,750 option city official deemed necessary to ensure the life of the building.

City Council liaison to the Parks Department Stacie Langdon asked if the restroom project was the result of “vandalism or just being in lousy shape.”

“Both,” Ruark responded, adding that keeping the restrooms clean will be much easier with stainless steel fixtures.

Langdon said she would hate to see “all this money spent there and not be able to use to use it or have it vandalized.”

“We’re not trying to create the Taj Mahal of bathrooms,” Ruark said, “but do a nice upgrade.”

While no cameras are allowed in bathrooms, the park does have part of its surveillance system pointed at the building to show who enters and leaves in case of an incident.

“So you can see who comes and goes,” Ruark said, “unless they pull a hoodie over their head.”

Mayor Bill Dory agreed the camera can be a little bit of a deterrent.

“We can’t afford to put a bathroom police officer there,” he assured.

Dory said to do the restroom renovation as hoped will likely require finding an additional $88,000 in the budget. He planned to consult with City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar to see what other sources could be tapped into.

Ruark pointed out that one change in the Phase 2 design is parking on only one side of the street east of shelterhouse No. 1 (on the hill overlooking the bandshell) because of the grade involved. So there is a potential source of savings there.

The park director said he would like to use some of those apparent savings there to create an ADA/handicap access to the lower bowl as a way of getting wheelchair-bound people down there to see shows in the bandshell.

Mayor Dory indicated that about $200,000 was left in the bond issue on the Robe-Ann Phase 2 project.

“There may be some things we put off and not do,” Dory said, noting that a new tin roof on the restroom might be delayed in lieu of adding the guttering to keep the water away from the facility.

The restroom renovation bid was tabled on a motion by Doug Hutchison.

In other business, the Park Board:

• Learned that longtime Park Maintenance Director David Bault has resigned. No timetable was made public for his replacement.

• Heard Ruark note that the architect on Phase 2 of the Robe-Ann Park reconstruction project has recommended that the wooden fencing in front of the Emerald Palace Playground be removed to open up the site and more seating be installed in the playground area. Ruark reminded the architect that the wooden planks bear the names of financial and in-kind donors to the Emerald Palace project. If they are removed, a different way to display them would be necessary, he said.

Park Board members Tim Trigg, Joanna Muncie and Hutchison were joined for the 45-minute meeting by Ruark, Snellenberger, Mayor Dory and City Councilor Langdon.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Park Board is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6 at the park office at Robe-Ann Park.