Park board declines potential grants over local control concerns

In their monthly meeting Monday, members of the Hill County Park Board voted not to participate in an upcoming watershed assessment by the state, potentially forgoing significant grant funding for Beaver Creek Park, in fears that it would give up local control.

Board member Lou Hagener said the state is looking at doing a wide-ranging watershed assessment, including Beaver Creek Park, and if they participate in and support the assessment they could gain access to a significant amount of grant funds to improve the park.

The board's agenda for that night listed the matter of possibly setting up an ad-hoc group to review the matter, but Board Chair Jeff Jensen said he is opposed to the idea and wanted to take a vote from the board as to whether or not they even want to establish a group to further look into it.

Board member Tony Reum said participating in the assessment, which would include the creation of new best practices for the park, and accepting any of this grant money would effectively cede management of the park to the state's Natural Resources Conservation Service, and they are "not easy to work with."

Hagener said that is a significant exaggeration.

He said every grant has rules for how its funds can be used. He said the assessment would help create a list of best practices that the park should take into account, but the idea that the state would take over management of the park is incorrect.

Board member Pam Wilson echoed Reum's sentiments, saying they already have the best practices and they don't need non-locals telling them what to change.

"These people that don't live in this area ... they don't know our culture," she said.

Board member Larry Kinsella said he wants no part in it either.

Jensen said the board already manages the park on behalf of the taxpayers, who can come to them with grievances if they think they aren't doing things right.

Hagener said even if they don't participate in the assessment, it's going to happen eventually, and they might as well take advantage of some of the funding that is on offer.

Board members, and Hill County commissioners, Mark Peterson and Sheri Willams said the board can still keep track of what is going on with the assessment, but that doesn't mean they have to participate in it.

After a great deal of discussion and debate the board voted not to pursue the matter any further. Hagener was the only dissenting vote.

During the meeting the board also discussed revisions to a document being drafted that will lay out the rules for their new Finances and Rules Committee.

The board voted late last year to dissolve their Rules and Regulations Committee, along with the Finance Committee to combine them into one, primarily due to concern over the difficulty of finding applicants and not having enough work to keep members engaged.

Hagener presented a revised draft of the policy to the board, which Jensen said he'd looked over and thought was good.

Wilson proposed a number of revisions to the document, including making the language about the dissolution of the previous two committees clearer, and that members will need to reapply if they want to keep their seats for more than one term, which were accepted.

One other, more contentious, suggestion was to lay out the kinds of interests and expertise the committee is looking for more clearly, recreation, camping, day use, hiking, biking, fishing, fee structure, campground maintenance, natural resource management, grazing, human encounters with wildlife, finances, budgets, accounting, investment, lease agreements and long-range planning, among other things.

Hagener and Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said that seems a little excessive to put in the policy, and proposed instead keeping the language more general, and including that kind of list in advertisements for open positions and applications.

Edgar said they are trying to get a diverse set of backgrounds and interests on the board and if there is a hole they need to fill they can send out advertisements tailored to the expertise they need at any given time, while keeping the board policy more concise.

He did, however, suggest they include a line making it clear that selection may be based on a diversity of interests and expertise, which the board agreed to.

The board did not vote to accept the policy, opting to let members consider it for another month before voting on whether to approve it or not.

The board also discussed progress on designing the new Camp Kiwanis Beaver Lodge, establishing a meeting of their Lodge Committee at 4 p.m. this afternoon in the Hill County Courthouse Timmons Room to discuss the structure's heating system.

Jensen said they've received estimates on the cost of various heating systems, and the one they want, a geothermal heating system, looks like it will be infeasibly expensive.

He said geothermal is the best system for the building, but it will cost $296,000 compared to $87,000 for propane-based floor heat which would allow the structure to remain open for the winter months, or $78,000 for a forced air system, which likely couldn't.

"We're already hurting for money, so I think I know which way we are going to have to go," he said, referring to the propane system.

Wilson asked whether it was worth it to have the lodge open during the winter if only a few people use it.

Hagener said he thinks the structure will have a lot of potential for winter use so he thinks it's worth it, and Jensen agreed.

Peterson said the difference in price between a propane and forced air system isn't that big, and he thinks it would be worthwhile to go with propane, not just for the sake of winter use, but because the system is easier to upgrade, which will save them money down the road, especially if geothermal ever becomes more feasible.

During public comments, former board member Ranelle Braaten asked why the lodge planning process hasn't tried to solicit more public comment.

Jensen said every one of their meetings has been open to the public and they have sought out public opinion on what they want for the structure.

"I don't know what more we can do," he said.

Hagener said the contractor working on the design has been hesitant to draw up full plans and renders until some of the budget details get worked out, because they don't want to disappoint people if some elements end up being too expensive.

Board members said once they've nailed down more specifics they will be able to give people a clearer picture of what the lodge will look like.

Jensen said he knows it will be a great facility that people will be happy with.

"How do you know that?" Braaten asked.

During the meeting board members also heard a report from Edgar on park usage, which he said has been low for the most part, though they have seen some ice fishing going on.

He said the park is still mostly clear even with the snow over the weekend.

He said the cattle are now off the park, but this year's weather made for an excellent grazing season.