Marshall County Park Board hears updates on different parks
On Thursday, March 7 the Marshall County Park Board met and heard multiple updates on different area parks.
The meeting got underway as Park Board Secretary Deborah Vandemark explained two invoices the board received. The first was from Marshall County Fiber for $51.55. The second was from NIPSCO for $24.04. The board approved paying both of these invoices.
an update was then given on the Mill Pond Trail. It was shared that they are almost out of trail space after recently getting new rough cut.
a trail day at Mill Pond is scheduled for april 6. This is a volunteer workday. General cleanup will be done and one wooden feature will be added.
a section of Mill Pond also need to have a larger bench cut done. This adds a bench to the trail. The board was asked if a mini excavator could be rented to do this work, it is believed that this would cost a bit over $300 for a weekend rental. Everything up to this was done by hand, this section would be a little more difficult to do this way.
Park Board Member Richard Markley said he thinks this is acceptable to do. Vandemark agreed, she added that the trails fund had $3,000 in it. She asked if the cost for the excavator would be more than $1,000, she was told that it would not be over $500.
It was approved that an excavator could be rented for up to $500 to finish the work on the trail.
Park Board Member adam Thada asked how the soil conditions were at Mill Pond. He was told that it was wet out in the pines. The high grounds are dry. The trails have been receiving activity. While work has been done at Mill Pond, the workers have seen many people doing through the trails.
The meeting then transitioned to focus on Memorial Forest. a logo has been made for Memorial Forest.
A lady who had made the logo was supposed to come to the meeting but was not present. Thada said that she could keep doing work on it as she is doing it with her own funds and had previously been told that she could do the work.
Vandemark brought up a no hunting ordinance that was discussed at last months meeting, she said that she did not know if the Marshall County Commissioners had made a decision about this.
Park Board Member Brian Main then gave an update about the progress of making a sign for the Memorial Forest. He said that he had spent time talking with Kurt Garner, an expert on local history, about the sign.
Garner said that there is discrepancy with the historical facts around the cabin. He does not want the park board to put information in metal that they cannot be completely sure about. He recommended that they keep the sign brief and simple. They can use the sign to tell that it is the trustees cabin, but if they want to list history on it then they should focus on the immediate history.
The history that could be listed is how it was moved to its new location and who it was moved by.
Main said that if a sign was made that was not metal then they could modify the history as more information is found out.
Markley added he wants part of the sign to mention who did the restoration of the cabin.
Main said he would finish writing out his suggested wording and he would share this with the rest of the board and they could go over it further. A ceremony will eventually be held for the cabin.
Markley then asked to discuss kayak launches. He recently had gone around to look at the different sites of kayak launches. He said that he went from Plymouth to the Starke County line and on.
He described how one of these launches is set up and said that he believes they are setting their plans a little too high for a launch.
Vandemark said that there have been a few people that said they would allow people to use their land for parking for launches. She wants to see if they are still willing to do this.
Markley asked Main how many vehicles a launch in Bremen has on a given day at one time. Main said that this changes through out the year. He said that the busiest he has seen was four vehicles.
Vandemark asked if their launch needed to be fancy. Thada spoke about getting one in having it get used to build up interest and then work can be done.
Thada also asked if there was a place online for people to look up launch spots in our area. He suggested getting something put online that has the official putins listed.
The next Marshall County Park Board meeting will be Thursday, April 4 at 6 p.m.