Charles City Parks & Rec Board begins work on comprehensive plan

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Parks and Recreation Board has a long list of accomplishments and improvements that it says it can be proud of — and an equally long list of goals and issues ahead of it, leading off with improvements to playgrounds and addressing the deteriorating municipal swimming pool.

The members of the board sat down for a special strategy meeting last week, with the major item on the agenda to go over a questionnaire that each board member had filled out regarding what the board and the city Department of Parks and Recreation had done in the past several years, and how their efforts and funds should be focused going forward.

It was one of the first steps in coming up with a comprehensive plan for the Parks & Rec Board and the city department.

Department Director Tyler Mitchell said some people came up with the same items, but put them under different sections of the questionnaire, and others combined items, so tallying the votes to come up with top items in each category required a little interpretation.

At the top of the list of issues facing the board was improving playgrounds, tied with addressing the issue of the municipal swimming pool’s aging condition as well as the possible addition of a splash pad.

Next on the list were addressing the poor condition of the Wildwood Golf Course clubhouse, maintenance on the riverfront and finding help at current pay levels.

The issue of playgrounds covered several things, Mitchell said, from updating existing facilities to creating playgrounds in areas of the city that are not well-served now.

“We don’t have a true ADA playground,” he said, referring to a playground that meets the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“The school has a partial one, but there’s no true ADA playground,” he said.

Some of the people at the meeting, which included City Council liaison Phoebe Pittman and Mayor Dean Andrews as well as Mitchell and the board members, said they usually went to a school playground for their kids to play, rather than to a city park.

“It would be nice to make an ADA compliant park near the pool, and make the pool fully ADA compliant,” said Pittman.

The discussion was wide-ranging, including where would be the best location for an ice skating rink, how to best organize city ball diamonds into baseball and softball fields to get the best use and to be fair to boys and girls, and even an idea brought up by Charles City resident Sue Ayers in a Letter to the Editor published in the Press that parking for the city sledding hill should be at the bottom of the hill instead of along busy Gilbert Street at the top of the hill.

Board members even discussed potential recreational uses for the former Kmart building, but Pittman said the building owners showed no inclination to talk to the city about anything regarding the building.

The questionnaire included a number of categories under the headings of “Major Accomplishments,” under “Issues” and under “Solutions.”

Under Major Accomplishments were these categories and top five answers to each:

Programming accomplishments:

1) Activities at the pool.

2) Hiring Nate Knecht as the new city park superintendent.

3) Increased activities at Wildwood Golf Course.

4) Hiring of Tyler Mitchell as department director.

5) Whitewater course festival and challenge events.

Facilities accomplishments:

1) Wildwood course and clubhouse improvements.

2) Pool repairs and renovations.

3) Waverly Hill Dog Park.

4) Whitewater Course.

5) Tennis court resurfacing.

Equipment accomplishments:

1) New mowers

2) Refurbished waterslide at pool.

3) Expanded number of golf carts at golf course.

4) Installation of wayfinding signs.

5) New truck.

Policies accomplishments:

1) Working on ways to reduce mowing

2) Revised party rental policy at Wildwood clubhouse.

3) Pool and Wildwood membership agreements.

4) Band shell rental agreement.

5) Reservation of facilities.

Amenities accomplishments:

1) Charley Western Trail bright.

2) Whitewater course and amenities.

3) Lounge chairs at pool.

4) Basketball hoops at pool.

5) Upkeep in playground equipment.

Under Issues, the top five items were:

1) Improving playgrounds.

2) Pool/splash pad.

3) Wildwood clubhouse.

4) Maintenance on the riverfront.

5) Finding help at current pay.

And under Solutions, the top five answers were:

1) Lighting and extending the bike trail.

2) Reducing spraying.

3) Finish updating playground equipment.

4) Review and edit job descriptions.

5) Look into mowing amount and schedule.

As a result of the comments made last week, including adding a skate park to the list of issues and/or solutions, Mitchell said he would edit the lists and bring them back for the next meeting, where the board would begin to establish its priorities for the next five years.

Also at the meeting:

• The board briefly discussed a presentation made at the last board meeting by a representative of Burbach Aquatics Inc., of Platteville, Wisconsin, about seeking requests for proposals from companies regarding repair or replacement of the swimming pool.

Board members agreed the presentation had been longer than expected, but that it provided lots of good information, and that Burbach could be a possibility for doing the pool feasibility study and potentially other work on a pool project, depending on what other companies said in response to the request for proposals.

Mitchell said he was putting together the request for proposals (RFP) to send to companies that do municipal pool planning, studies and designs, and the board directed him to request information including studying the current pool for possible repairs as well as how companies would go about doing studies for a new pool.

• Board member Cory Mutch said the trail group was talking about using the overnight stop of RAGBRAI in Charles City this summer as an opportunity to raise funds for maintenance or even expansion of the city recreational trail.