By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The mixed message about staying home and spending time in parks has the Wood County Park District very busy this spring.
When Gov. Mike DeWine ordered Ohioans to stay home, but also said they could visit parks, the local park district saw the effect.
“When he said that, our park attendance went through the roof,” said Neil Munger, director of the Wood County Park District.
“The parks have been busy,” Munger said Thursday during the first in-person meeting of the park district board in two months. “If there’s any positive to come out of that – people have discovered parks they didn’t know existed.”
But just because people can visit parks, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some limitations.
The park district first canceled shelter rentals until mid-May, and then extended that until June 22. On Thursday, the closure of all indoor park buildings was extended again – this time until Aug. 1.
Until recently, the maximum number of people allowed to gather together was 10. The governor announced this week that wedding receptions would be allowed as long as people maintained 6-feet social distancing and overall attendance was restricted to half of the number normally allowed.
But other than weddings, the 10-person rule remains.
The park board struggled with the fact that the picnic tables in the shelter houses at William Henry Harrison Park, the Bradner Preserve, and Cedar Creek Preserve, would not allow for 6-feet social distancing.
So park board member Bill Cameron suggested that some of the tables be removed from each shelter.
Munger pointed out that asking the park district police to patrol gatherings could be difficult, and require a lot of overtime.
“It’s going to be really tough on our people to police that,” he said.
The board debated the continued closure of park buildings.
“The taxpayers should have use of this under the guidelines,” Kim Rose said.
“I don’t want to shut our parks,” said Sandy Wiechman.
So the board struck a compromise of closing park buildings until Aug. 1, and opening shelter houses with some tables removed and a 6-foot distance requirement. The park district will not charge for shelter use during this time.
The park board agreed to revisit the park building closures in July.
In other park business, Munger said the district’s programming staff has been working from home. He praised the creative ideas from the staff.
“We’re getting a lot of positive feedback. A lot of people are tuning into that,” he said.
