Park board discusses work on new Beaver Lodge

Members of the Hill County Park Board discussed updates to policies, park conditions and ongoing conversations about the new Camp Kiwanis Beaver Lodge at their monthly meeting Monday.

Board Chair Jeff Jensen said the lodge's committee is still discussing what they want to see in the new lodge, with the latest conversation centering on the kind of heating system they want, with the group seeming to lean toward ground-based heat if possible.

Jensen said the committee's current priority is to find a suitable architect who will be able to render plans for the building based on the group's ideas as well as cost estimates on the building's various elements.

He said they're trying to get as good a building as they can with the money they will be provided through the recently passed levy.

During the meeting, board member Lou Hagener also presented a draft of the board's procedures for requesting new agenda items and discussion of those items.

He said the policy largely reflects what the board is already doing, and the purpose of writing the policy is ultimately for the sake of clarity for the public.

Jensen said he has already looked at the draft and noted some suggested additions and rewrites and advised Hagener to send the draft to the rest of the board so they can do the same if they feel necessary.

The suggested additions to the policy included some approximate time limits to individual comments and clarification that all comments and suggested agenda items must be actionable and within the purview of the board to prevent them from getting sidetracked with conversations on things they can't actually affect.

He said they will keep the matter on the agenda for next month's meeting so Hagener has a chance to integrate some of the board's suggested changes.

The board also unanimously appointed Hill County Commissioner Sheri Williams to their Grazing Committee.

Board members said the commission representative on the committee has always been the commissioner from William's district, but Hagener said that is not reflected anywhere in the board or committee's policy.

Hagener, who made the motion to appoint Williams, said he has no issue with the board continuing this practice, but it really should be written down in their procedures somewhere.

The board also heard from Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar, who talked about park usage, which he said has been minimal this past month, outside of some ice fishing, snow machining and some hiking, pretty typical for this time of year.

As for park conditions, Edgar said the southern half of the park has gotten a lot of snow, while the northern half has seen less, though it has been considerably windier.

In addition to ongoing work on new trash receptacles and regular park maintenance, he said, he's also been working on setting up a new kiosk at the northern entrance of the park.

He said they have plans for the kiosk to be comprised of three 4 foot by 4 foot panels containing a map of the park with highlighted hiking trails and information on attractions and amenities.

Edgar said he would also like the kiosk to have a bulletin board for notices about things like cattle in the park, toxic algae warnings and other similar situations.

Before the end of the meeting Hagener again talked about the ongoing drought and asked that grazers be aware of how that will affect the availability of resources in the park.

Board members said this year's precipitation should help the drought but Hagener said the manner in which that precipitation arrives will have a significant effect on how useful it will be in combating the drought.