Parks & Rec Minutes June 1, 2022
Parks and Recreation Committee Minutes for 6/01/2022 Approved July 6, 2022
In attendance: Brian Apley, Jim Gurr, Bonnie Robbins, Ruth Smith, & Barry Snyder.
Absent: Steve Dell & Jan Loveland.
Non-members in attendance: Butch Peeples
1. Meeting called to order at 7:03pm
2. The meeting minutes from 05/04/2022 were approved & will be published on the HT website.
3. Information from the May HT Board Meetings: The 7-16-’22 date for the Celebration of Coy was mentioned.
4. No public comment.
OLD BUSINESS:
5. Soil Erosion at the Ball Diamond Park. Butch is pursuing possible funding for work needed for erosion control.
6.Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Brian presented the results of his search on programs that might help with our CIP set up. There was discussion on what was presented. The decision was made to try to set up an excel spreadsheet that will work for Helena Township’s CIP needs.
Brian will work on this and assign P&R members to help gather information in various parks +.
7. Recognition of volunteers who worked on Coy Mtn. Trail redo and a celebration of the completion of the trail update project and purchase of additional land. Sat., July 16th at 10 am.
Ruth will review the notes from the planning meeting and review progress on assignments.
8. Update on Federal Covid rescue money coming to HT.
The township will receive $103,000 from the state. ½ has been received and they expect the rest of the money fairly soon. There have been no decisions made on how to use these monies. The township wants to look into the possibility of other monies that might be available, such as grants, before making a decision. This will remain on the agenda for July.
9. MSU Cooperative Extension service is a resource available to help the township develop a master plan for the Ball Diamond Park.
After discussion the decision was made that we not work with MSU Cooperative Extension Service to develop a site plan for the Ball Diamond Park.
There was group discussion and the P&R Committee’s vision for the Ball Diamond Park is to make sure the ball diamond is in safe condition, provide a picnic area, add a ‘high land’ beach, work on safe and adequate parking, provide an accessible pathway to the shoreline, and provide an accessible viewing area near the road. Repairing or replacing the bleachers was discussed as well.
Barry Snyder is going to provide a site plan showing this vision for the park. There will be further discussion on Ball Park plans after Barry shares this site plan.
This item will remain on the agenda for July.
NEW BUSINESS:
10. Tri-fold brochure about our parks and community events.
The plan is now to update the HT Website to show what is available at our parks and also to list local events. Bonnie and Jan will also do a one-page sheet with information about our parks and community events.
Respectfully submitted by Ruth Smith 06/06/2022