By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
When Bowling Green residents can fully resume their park and recreation activities, park officials are curious about what they want to do.
As part of the master planning process, the city parks and recreation department held public meetings last spring, and was ready to send out recreational needs surveys to residents when COVID struck. The decision was made to hold back on the surveys.
Now, with the vaccination process begun, the parks and recreation department is getting ready to try again with the surveys.
The surveys will be mailed out to a random sample of Bowling Green residents in early February.
“If someone gets that in the mail, we hope they take the time to fill it out,” Parks and Recreation Director Kristin Otley said during a recent meeting of the parks and recreation board.
Among the requests Otley expects to see in the surveys is an appeal for an outdoor pickleball court.
“We agree there is a need in Bowling Green,” Otley said. “I am sure that will end up in our next master plan.”
Bowling Green City Council member Bill Herald asked the board to consider a dog park as part of the master plan.
Also at the meeting, the park board learned from Otley that a park and recreation levy will need to be on the ballot this November. The last levy was five years ago, and passed with 69% of the vote.
Otley also reported that the parks and recreation budget for this year is “in the black – just by a little bit.” The department started last year with a budget just a little in the red. And after COVID hit, much of the revenue for the department plummeted.
But the parks and recreation department cut corners where it could, and made do with no seasonal employees. The department was “very frugal,” Otley said.
So it was an accomplishment to start this year with a budget in the black, she told the board.
“It’s not a super exciting budget,” she said. “But it’s an exciting budget because it’s in the black.”
The city is also starting the year with all park facilities and services functioning.
“Everything we have is open,” with some limitations due to COVID, Otley said.
In other business, the park and recreation board learned:
- When former park board member Rob Spence passed away recently, his family asked that memorials be sent to the park and recreation foundation, of which his wife Nancy is a member.
- From City Council member Sandy Rowland that the park and rec staff need to be applauded for managing the parks with no seasonal staff last year.
- CARES Act funding helped pay for the sound system in the new Veterans Building in City Park, foot pulls on restroom doors, automatic soap dispensers, hand dryers, and security cameras.
- A $2,800 grant from the Wood County Park District will help pay to extend the half-pipe at the skate park in City Park.
- Many park trails are being mulched with trees that blew down during a big storm in November, said Chris Gajewicz, the city’s natural resources coordinator.
- Though no youth sports leagues are operating, basic fundamental sports training is being offered at the community center, said recreation coordinator Ivan Kovacevic.
- Modifications are being made to allow for fitness programs, by moving equipment like the spin bikes into the community center gymnasium, Kovacevic said.
- A rock climbing feature has been added to the community center.
