Parks and Recreation Board - Regular Meeting

Good morning everyone. I'd like to call the meeting of the Hancock County Parks and Recreation Board to order. Today is March 19th, 2026 and the time is 10:00 a.m. This meeting is being recorded and streamed live. By participating, you acknowledge that your image, voice, and comments may be captured and made public. This meeting was properly noticed in accordance with Indiana code 5141-5. So I, Mary Morales, is going to call the uh roll call for attendance. Please acknowledge as I call your name. I'm going to start with Jenny Shively who is via teams. Jenny, are you present? Present. Thank you. Heather Van Djk here. Kelly McLaren here. And Terry Gotchock, present.

Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present. We have the minutes from our last meeting on February 19th, 2026 as presented. Are there any corrections or discussions? Make a motion to approve. Okay, Heather. Thank you. Second. And thank you, Terry. All in favor say I.

Motion passes. Minutes are approved. Okay, moving on. Under new business, the first item is the reappointment of two of our board members in accordance with ordinance 2024 C. section three in Indiana code 361035. Each appointment is now for a full four-year term. We are really moving through this board. It's great. I love it. Um Terry J Godshock has completed her initial term and has agreed to continue serving. Her appointing authority is the county surveyor Chad Cookenower who will complete her reappoint at the next board of commissioners meeting on March 31st, 2024. And then Jenny Shiveley who's via teams uh has also agreed to serve on our parks and recreation board. Her appointing authority is the board of commissioners and her reappointment for a fouryear term will also be confirmed by the uh the board meeting on March 31st by the commissioners. Sorry. So Terry and Jenny, on behalf of the board, we want to um say a big thanks to you guys um for everything you do. your time, energy, and commitment to our parks really makes a difference, and we're excited um to see what we can accomplish together moving forward. So, that's forward to it.

Yay. Okay. Public input and the survey results. Um in your packets, there's quite a bit of information today. Um I gave you slides and um the survey results and article from the daily reporter and things like that. So, um, I'd like to begin by, uh, recognizing a few individuals who were especially helpful in the session and the outreach. Our Purdue Extension, Lace McCartney. She facilitated the input session, and we really appreciated her guidance. And I also want to thank our GIS team,

John Milbour, and Caroline Adams, who created the survey and the maps, along with Dusty Wicker, um, who supported our media. So, thank you guys for making the process smooth, productive, and even a little fun, and for helping the community share their ideas. So, the session was held on February 19th of 2026. Hi, how are you? And um the survey remained open through March 6th and we had over 200 participants. Their feedback has been incredibly valuable as we plan our park. A PowerPoint summary is available on our Park County website and was emailed to those on our parks eblast. So, anyone that's interested in updates can email me at miriam.is hancockin.gov. That contact information is also available at the bottom of our agenda and on our web page. Anyway, one topic that came out of the session was a portion of the park's name. Originally, the location was referred to as at Spring Lake, and based on community input, we quickly communicated with both um the conveying parties of the land and officially updated the name to Ninstar Park at Sugar Creek. Listening in regarding the proposed reszoning of the parkland to institutional, there was some confusion. Someone wrote down industrial, so I wanted to make it clear that it was institutional for the zoning. Anyway, that request has been withdrawn by the board of commissioners and the planning commission. There's no rush. Our focus right now is creating a safe, peaceful, and accessible space for everyone. So, Ninstar Park will remain a nature preserve in perpetuity. This is a long-term commitment. It will be dedicated to outdoor recreation, conservation, and uh multi-trail constructions with conservation guiding every decision we make. So every trail, every program and amenity will be designed with that

priority in mind. Ideas like kayaking and a dark sky park are being explored thoughtfully and this type of planning will help us decide what to implement. So from the data, we recognize that some neighbors have concerns that parks can attract unsafe activity. However, evidence consistently shows the the opposite. So, a wellactive maintained park helps make communities safer by keeping the space vibrant and well cared for. And we can discourage misuse and create a secure, welcoming environment for nearby residents if it's active and we're participating and we're taking care of the park. That should be um safer. So, in short, we're going to transform what was once vacant and active land into a welcoming place where where trails, programs, and natural spaces are preserved so our community can safely enjoy them for years to come. So, with that, I'm going to move into the survey results. Um, a summary handout is in your packet. And looking at the feedback, uh, we had a few key themes that stood out. So we had park usage is high. Over 60% of the respondents visit parks at least once a month if not every week. Conservation does matter. Residents emphasized protecting wetlands, flood planes, and the creek area. And then there is a strong interest in creek access. So that it would include, if feasible, kayak or canoe launches, fishing area, shaded seating, and I love the idea of the boardwalk observation points and walks. Those would be super pretty in the marshlands over there. Um, educational programming and stargazing were also popular with strong interest in the dark sky events and opportunities for community learning. So overall, the feedback strongly supports uh creating a

nature focused park that emphasized con conservation, quiet re uh recreation, education, and night sky preservation. So I'm going to open it up to the board. Um were there any survey results that stood out as surprising, encouraging, or particularly meaningful meaningful to you, or is there any additional discussion about the survey results? One of the topics that came up during the meeting, I hadn't thought of was designated um fishing versus slashkaying um for safety reasons. I had never that had never just crossed my mind. So that that

yeah so well always we're going to you know look at safety first and um fishing we do have a pond there. So that pond can be maybe turned into a nice little rain garden pond uh for, you know, conserving the water. And then I don't I'm not sure if there's fish in it, but if not, we can contact DNR. I think they're um open usually to the idea of stocking that. Um with [clears throat] regards to the kayak at this point, we don't even know if this it's navigable. So um that's part of the feasibility study. Yeah. What else about that?

Thought it was a great first step. Lace McCartney did a great job mediating everything and yeah, kind of a different way to look at things. Give everybody a fresh perspective. And I mean a lot of respondents. I wouldn't have expected that many. That's great. Yeah,

I I was really happy um because even our first input session that we had, it was a full room, you know, and uh that just means that, you know, a lot of people are interested in supporting our parks system. So, that's going to be great. Um I hope we we do a good job for the community. So that's um any other additional discussion about the the survey those results or anything? Okay. So I'm going to move on then to our actually I have these backwards, but I'm going to move on to our five-year master plan real quick since we were already talking about the park. Um, as we're finalizing our park and recreation plan, it's worth noting that NinStar Park at Sugar Creek is going to play a key role in shaping the future of our park system. Um, the data from our parks input session and community survey was submitted to Pros Consulting and um, that's to be incorporated into the plan. So, we have a meeting scheduled with Pros Consulting on March 26th to review the data and finalize the plan. And the goal is to submit it to DNR by April 15th. I'd like to get it to DNR before April 15th. Um, they're, you know, they've critiqued it, they've asked us for some changes, and this will be those changes. Um, so by integrating Ninstar Park into the master plan, we can ensure every trail, amenity, and program aligns with our priorities. And we are listening to our community and using feasibility studies to help guide smart decisions regarding like the water access that you mentioned, um, observation points, signage, um, using Ninstar Park as a model. Our plan will also guide how we approach future parks across the county. So, I think it's going to be great once we can get it done and approved. Um, I'm happy to open

the discussion. Is there any questions about our five-year parks and recreation master plan that you guys have for me to ask the consultants or Okay. So, I will look for you guys to attend quietly um at the meeting so you can listen into any of those changes that are going to be going into our master plan. So, uh I just want to make sure the whole board knows what's happening. Week from today, say that again. week from today. Yeah. 26th. Yes. A week from I believe. Is that a week from today? [laughter] That's the question. Sorry. It is. Was it a I don't remember the time. I don't I What time is it? I feel like it's afternoon.

No, stop it. Um [laughter] I'm going to make sure I can resend that to you. Your invite. Oh, I have it. Okay. Okay. I'll look at it. I was thinking it was 11. I thought it was in the afternoon. It It must be. I'm sorry. I have so many meetings, y'all. I'll find it. I'll get my calendar. I'll be there. It's upstairs on my desk. I can I [laughter] can tell you. It's in here somewhere. I can find Okay. [snorts] Oh, I want to show you guys this. Hang tight. Survey. Wait, where is it? There it is. It's actually at 1:30. Okay.

Okay. I was close. So I and we're moving on to benches. I recently had lunch with Lisa Knight. She's the executive director of the Indiana Parks and Recreation Association. She told me about these these Indiana 988 park bench program and these are for our veterans and uh anyway part of it's part of the state community challenge to promote mental health and suicide prevention. And these benches are placed like in parks and public spaces and they carry that message. You are not alone. Call 988 as a visible reminder that help is available. So our park board can participate by ordering these benches uh through the program. It requires a minimum of 10 benches, but they're only $75 a piece rather than 6,000. That's just amazing. Um, but you can order about 25 at a time. So, I would like the board to consider recommending to the board of commissioners that we approve ordering 10 benches not to exceed $900. Um, so we can brea bring these important mental health resources into our parks and along our trails. Um, before I approach our commissioners, we should talk about the potential locations. So, I wrote down a few um including Ninstar Park, the town of Shirley's Heritage Trail that I'm going to talk about here in a minute. Uh we could put them along points along the Penzy Trail, um and the memorial building because these can be used inside or out according to the website. Um it looks like we could use like a polyurethane on them that could be applied maybe every other year or every

So, they are wood. They are solid wood. We actually have one of these. This picture I took um is along the Pinzy Trail over uh I believe by the depot on the trail um in between uh Pennsylvania and Nine. Did the city by that one? I'm not sure who if it's by the depot, it's the city. I mean, it could have been an organization, but it's their part of the trail.

I mean, even Ring Green, I'm not sure who did it, but I was like, "Oh, there's one of those benches. I've got to get a picture of that." Um but um I can present these options of these locations um on behalf of the board and explain that those locations have to be finalized by when I place the order because they want the locations of the benches on the actual order. Um so what are your thoughts? Do you do you like these benches? Do you have any um additional locations in mind? What do you think about these? Do they look like they're going to be hard to take care of? assembled, right? Yes. [laughter]

Yes. I They They should because we're asking them to create them for us. So, they better come assembled. I guess I should check into that. I think that $75 is very reasonable. But, I mean, I I could I could see getting a box of wood. [laughter] I will look into that uh to see if they come assembled because we will have to coordinate, you know, someone to go pick them up and all those things, but Okay. Okay. So, and I'll I'll be working with [clears throat] um our maintenance facility. Well, if they get picked up, then they're probably assembled. Yeah. Um what do you think? Is this something we should do? I think it's a great idea.

Yeah, I think I think they're great. May I have a motion to make a favorable recommendation to the board of commissioners for this purchase not to seek uh not to exceed $900? I will make a motion Heather for a favorable motion. Okay. Is there a second? I will second that. And Terry. Okay. Um any opposed? All in favor of the favorable recommendation [clears throat] to request the board of commissioners to purchase the 988 for park and trail benches say I. I.

Motion passes and I will ask to be put on a future board of commissioners agenda to proceed, but I'm going to find out about those assembled um first. Okay. You about ready, Dusty? I'm ready.

Okay. So, social media and outreach in your packets, um, not in this packet. In your packets, uh, we have a handout of the Hancock County social media policy. And, um, I've invited Dusty Wicker to help us develop strategies to better research and engage with our community. So, one idea we're exploring is adding a contact us button on the parks and recck page, which could either populate as a form or let users sign up for our eblast. Um, I'd love the board's input as Dusty walks us through this and his ideas and his recommendations for outreach. So, let's welcome Dusty to the podium.

Good morning. First and foremost, great job you guys um on your Ninstar Park. That was fantastic. So, I'm really excited to see that come to life. Um, as Miriam mentioned, my name is Dusty Wicker. I'm with the county IT department. Um, and as you guys are starting to explore, um, putting together a social media page that kind of starts with us. So, I'm here just to kind of go through the process. Um, the current social media, uh, policy that you guys have. Um, we are in the process of revamping right now, so that will change, but um, right now that's what we've got. Um, as we mentioned, it does start with the IT department. So, I will help get everything set up and then from there, um, Miriam as the president of the board can choose who will have access to actually post, moderate, do any of that stuff, uh, handle everything online. Um, so just a few of the benefits of having a social media page. Um, it allows for a greater community engagement. You know, social media is kind of where people are going nowadays to get their news. So, um it's a great way to communicate and get um engagement from the community. Um it can be used to promote programs or events or park updates when those new benches if you guys go forward with those, you could announce that right on there. Um you can provide a free and accessible communication tool. I mean, how easy is it to post something on Facebook, get comments, get messages, and communicate no cost all the time, 247. So, um, it supports volunteer recruitment. So, if you guys ever have something going on at the park that you really need people to come out, you can throw that on there. Might get some people that'll be willing to join join your forces. Um, and then it helps attract new visitors to the parks and the facilities that we have here in in Hancock County. Um, a few other things to keep in mind as we look

at it. Um, social media pages for government entities are considered limited public access forums. Um, so the Facebook page, even if um, let's say Miriam were the president of the board and she wanted to keep it, she can't. It becomes a government asset at that point because it's been used for communication purposes by the government. Um, if the board members are granted access to manage the page, um, just make sure that when someone, um, you know, if you have board turnover, make sure that you're notifying the IT department and obviously Miriam as the board president because we can revoke the access of whoever it is that has access to it. Um, and then remember to follow retention policies and public access requirements when you're posting. So that's always something I don't know if parks and wreck that's something we might look into Miriam if there's a specific retention schedule for parks and recreation. Um generally the basic county retention policy is three years. Um so if it if there is one that pertains to parks and recreation and it's longer than that three years we would have to make sure that we retain everything for that long. Um, another thing, uh, we talked about is alerts from the county website. Um, so right now it's several departments have the ability to let the public go in and schedule different department notices that they want to get. So that is something that we could set up for parks and wreck. Um, and then we can also use, we have like a county generic one. Um, so that could be used to push it out to everybody with an alert just kind of saying, "Hey, this is new. this is something you can participate in and sign up for. Drive a little more uh communication goals that way. Um and then the contact us on the county page that Miriam mentioned earlier. You guys do have an awesome Facebook page or I'm

sorry a awesome county page on the website. Um awesome videos on there. Miriam's done a fantastic job of getting that all put together. So, um, we can add a contact us button there, which would let it let them contact you guys directly instead of contacting the county as a one-off and then we pass it on. So, any questions? Anything I can help with? [clears throat] Go ahead. Sorry. Go ahead.

Do you monitor the like all of those social media sites? I'm just saying, you know, like if somebody not not somebody but like a comment or something, you know, like I mean is somebody or would that be the responsibility of the board to that would be the responsibility of the board? Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah. So, if we see something, we'll want to inappropriate or figure out who or delete. I don't know if we can delete. Um you can delete um depending on what it is. Um so keep in mind uh first amendment rights you know you cannot

under a certain guideline of inappropriateness we can delet and uh the public access Indiana public access counselor has a really good um document that's put together with some some highlighted items for that. Is it possible to then like if there's like kind of a repeat offender is it possible to block that person or is it not okay?

Yep. Yeah. if you're getting spammed. Um, and and I would recommend uh reaching out to some of the other departments that already have social media pages. Um, I met with uh the 911 center last week. They have done a fantastic job of getting information out. Um, I mean, the amount of followers that they have compared to, uh, let's say the Greenfield Daily Reporter, just a couple thousand difference between followers. So you can really really use that to push things. So Greg manages that, right? Yes. Greg Duda. Yep. Yeah. Yep.

But yes. Um and that's all spelled out in the public access counselor documentation as well. So I'll make sure that I get that over to Miriam. Great. Anything else? I think we're good. Okay. We look forward to it. I'd like to be able to get information out to everybody timely. And currently, um, like I mentioned earlier that I do have an eblast list on my email. Um, so if anyone wants to receive those, they can email me. Um, and at the bottom of the agenda is my uh email address. If you're not currently on that, you should have received a few updates on the park already. So, okay.

All right. Thanks, Justine. Appreciate your time. And then now we're going to go on to um some old business um the ITP grant which is the uh we applied for the Indiana trails program in partnership with the highway department. The DNR is still reviewing our $400,000 application for a 3/4 mile multi-use trail and parking lot to connect Ninstar Park to the Kenzie Trail. [clears throat] and we're hoping to hear back within the next few months, but they've had some uh changes going on at DNR and so they're they're just still in the the review stage of that. We had thought they were going to let everyone know in January, but that has been postponed. So, um hopefully we'll hear from them soon. Um are there any questions about the ITP grant from the the board? [snorts]

Everybody good? Okay. So, the Shirley Heritage Multi-use Trail. This is so exciting. So, the trail is um going to be in Shirley at the Octagon House. It's going to be installed soon. The trail is supported by the Ignite Grant that the Community Foundation of Hancock County awarded us. And we have a playful village of Groundhogs.

Yeah. So, um they they've added this local charm uh to the area, but it's time for the village to find a new home. [laughter] And um the groundhog removal begins today for um they're going to safely rehome as many as they can. So, we do have a place that they're going to rehome them here in the county uh way far south. And the animals um are part of the site preparation. they're rehoming um to um this is just a a great uh milestone, you know, to get this project off and running. So, I'm very excited about that. So, we're having a shovel ready groundbreaking photo opportunity. It's scheduled for next week, March 24th, and that's the 11:30 time I was remembering. Um with construction of the multi-use trail set to begin shortly thereafter. Are there any questions about the groundhogs or um the trail construction or anything regarding Shirley Trail? So, that moves us on to the um oh, the Sarowski Memorial Plaque. So, the Sarowski Memorial Plaque. In November of 2024, Mr. Sarowski sold the Shirley, Indiana Railroad Corridor property to the county. And this is um where our trail is being placed. So as part of the purchase agreement, it was requested that the memorial a memorial plaque be placed um in honor of the Sarowski family. So the agreement on the purchase agreement, it specified that the plaque should be installed within six months of the multi-use trail um installation. So, I'm currently gathering quotes and placement options to present to the commissioners for approval and we're considering what the best locations

need. So, um options are do we attach them to a bench uh mount them on the slatted fence that we're installing with our landscaping or placing it maybe on a large rock nearby. So, we don't have a rock nearby, but we could buy a rock and put it on there, you know, and put it on the trail somewhere or I bet Gary probably has a rock we could have for probably. [laughter] So, um but I I plan on reaching out to the town of Shirley because this is their town, right?

And I want to see how they handle memorial plaques and ensure we follow any placemaking um guidelines that they might have. Uh since it is their town, even though it's our property, we want to be cohesive and make it look really nice for them. I like the idea of a rock inscribed or like a plaque mounted to a rock. Yeah. [clears throat] You know. Yeah. Something that's secure, right? Because I think something on a fence could be torn off and or damaged or the fence gets damaged.

I think that's permanent. So, um, Signworks, I've been working with them and given, you know, ask them their thoughts because I, first of all, we need to know what we're looking at regarding how much the cost is going to be depending on place it. And then I'll take all that information to the commissioners because it is their property and they have the final say on what goes where and and you know, how much they're wanting to spend. So, but um so are the commissioners buying this or is this something that comes out of like the impact fee?

No, the commissioners um own the land and um our impact fees are not something that could be used for the signage. Okay. I just didn't know where

Yeah, the commissioners own it and they they promised to do that on the purchase agreement. So, I just want to make sure that we're helping them to remember and supporting the project. So, yeah. Um, we can move on to impact fees now if you want. So, I'm going to take a moment to recognize our newly appointed members of the Hancock County Impact Fe. So, we have Sarah. Sarah Joe Acre. Is that how you say her? Ac ho. Acre. And she's a realtor. We have Bob Joerger and he's an engineer. And we have Alexander Huth. He's CPA. and they bring valuable expertise to their roles and they're going to help ensure that we have a dedicated team reviewing our impact fees and guiding how the new development contributes to county infrastructure. Um, you'll find their contact information in your board packets and I've also I've got a handout that kind of highlights those impact fees again to just give you a little bit of a reminder on that and um it also provides an overview of the current fee schedule. So, the current fee is $412 for any new development in the unincorporated areas of the county.

Residential. Uh, what did I say? You just didn't add the word resial. Oh, yes. Residential development. Yeah. In the unincorporated areas of the county. And the great news is

that February 6 is when the fee took effect and our new fund has already collected $1,236 in impact fees. It's a strong start to um towards supporting our county's infrastructure and our park projects. That's exciting. Are there any questions from the board regarding the impact fee review board members, the handouts, or the current impact fee fund? Nie do. So, now we're going to go to board discussion. And um I had sent an email. So, thank you for reviewing the email and the summary of the officer roles and the proposed committee structure. Um, I'd like to take a moment to discuss what makes the most sense as we get started. Really, um, there should, like I said, be an outline in your packet of that. It's very brief. I highlighted little three little things on there. Um, with our recent reappoints.

Thank you. Is this more money?

It is more money. Thank you, Dennis. So, I need to retract the amount I just gave you. It appears that we actually because I just ran this yesterday, so this must just come in. We have $2,60 in our impact fee funds. So, that's amazing. Okay. Okay. So, with our reappoints in the new park board fund in place, this is a good time to talk about our board structure, specifically electing a secretary and a treasurer and forming a few key committees that align with our five-year master plan. And I picked these out. You guys might not agree. And after talking with Dusty today, I'm wondering if we also need a social media committee. So, I've picked out implementation. I picked out finance and grants and community engagement and partnerships, but I guess that would be considered social media, right? So, we could just put that in a little basket.

So, those are the three that I thought would be most important to us. Um, but I'd like to hear your thoughts. So, if anyone's interested in leadership role of any of these or anything that we can do for committees, um, I encourage you to think about this ahead of our next meeting. that way we can formalize roles. Um, so, so is a committee two people because with with five people on the board, three makes a quorum. Three makes a quorum and you can't have So, you can be on more than one committee, right? But there can be two on the committee. We have to be

people from outside the board to come be on it with you. Got it. Okay. Yeah. So, if you have a person that's super great at writing grants that works for the highway department, [laughter] you can have her come be on your committee. Yeah, she's really good.

She's really good. Um, so anyway, these these committees will will help us stay organized and focus on our key priorities and they're going to allow us to get work done more efficiently. Um, I need help. It's just hard meeting all the things. So if we have these committees, we split out with committees and the committee heads come back and we talk about it at our board meetings to make things great. Um so you know implementation it ensures that projects from our master plan move forward smoothly and on schedule. And then the financing grants they that would help us manage funding, track resources and identify new opportunities to support support our parks. And then um the community engagement partnership and social media we'll say um is going to strengthen our connection with residents, stakeholders and uh partner organizations to help us gather and um input and promote participation because we want participation for sure. Are you guys comfortable with all these um primary starting committees or what are your thoughts? We can just open that for discussion.

It's a good start. The three highlighted Mhm. Yeah, that's a good start. Okay. As things proceed and develop, you know, perhaps add another and those that were highlighted were the ones that I I read out loud. So, um Okay. Do we have any other board discussion items from the members that aren't on the agenda? Do you guys want to talk about anything else?

Okay. Um, I don't see any action items listed. So, is there anyone from the public who would like to address the board? If so, please approach the podium, state your name, and spell your last name for the record, and then limit comments to three minutes in case others would like to speak. Anybody? Oh, hi Paul. Say your last name and spell it.

Hello. I'm Paul Galley. G- A L L Eyee from the Pensy Trails of Hancock County. Um I think you know we've got a a vibrant uh set of volunteers for the Pensy Trail and um you know both our normal Tuesday workg groups and then especially in April as Honeysuckle comes into bloom. Um, we've got a lot of Saturday groups going on here. Uh, I guess I would just ask uh with the five-year plan uh with uh I guess it's pro consulting. Uh if you take a look at roles and responsibilities on maintenance, um that will certainly help us align when we're doing our 10-year plan as well. Um and uh I would also say uh I can contact Maryanne and we can give you, you know, two or three spaces that benches could be placed. That would be wonderful.

We would really love to see that uh additionally on the trail. There are some that we've had, but we've also been talking about um you know, the need for more. So, thank you so much for uh everything that you're doing. We would love to partner with the Pensy Trails so we can, you know, take better care of our trail system and work together on that. So, that would be great to go long term. How's the staffing come with that? and then you know what uh exactly what roles that we have uh with our volunteer groups and what would be you know longer term taken care of by the parks board. So thank you. No thank you. We appreciate your hard work. Um hi there.

My name is Paulouser. I just have a couple Can you spell your last name Paul? O V E R H A U S E R. Thank you. And I had just a couple questions. They also happen to relate to the Pensy Trail in in the uh Sugar Creek Park. Uh when I was on the Pensy Trail last week, I noticed that there appears to be a place where there's a big long thing of gravel that looks like it goes from the Pensy Trail into where the new park will be. And in front of it, right along the trail, there's a big mound of dirt. Uhhuh. It's not open yet. It's what? Not open yet. Okay. Does the does the county own the land yet for the park?

Yes, we uh took acquisition on December 17th of 2025. Okay. And uh but right now people are not supposed to go in there. Is that um it's public. Uh we would recommend that you would tread safely around that um area that they're constructing. And due to the weather constraints, we've not been able to complete the the trail yet. So the trail is is has been started at the south end and it meanders north but it stops and then it at the north end it meanders south and stops. It is not yet connected because of the wetland and all of the the weather we've had. Okay. When you say I think you said the trail is not open. I mean is it okay to go past the mount of dirt and walk?

I would say yeah. Okay. It's a public it's public park now and you can get on it. I would be cautious during you know the wet season right because it is a lot of flood plane there and uh on the where the trail will go in the park will a part of the trail go over to 300 west and will that trail be accessible from 300 west we we even though there will be um roadway there's an easement there with for Ninstar's um driveway per se so Ninstar will have a facility on that north uh acreage. Mhm.

And they have a driveway there at 300 West. Um we are working with the highway department to create a turnaround for Mr. Spilman. Um he is kind of in a situation where he's the only one at that end of that dead end. So we're we're working to try to help them with that. We do not want the entrance to the park at the north end. The address is at 100 South. So, the entrance to the park is at 100 South and it will the trail will meander up to the Pensy Trail to connect. And can you just give us an update on what the status is of extending the Pensy Trail from 300 over to 150 is uh

that is nothing I can speak of because that is our highway department and it's under their jurisdiction and I as a park um board member I don't have any authority on the trail itself because we we don't have any funding and we are simply a navigable uh board. We just navigate and I mean do do you know if uh easements have been got have been obtained by I don't even know where they are with that project at all because that is through the highway department. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

You can contact them and and see if they'll give you any updates. I believe that um the highway has information on their web page about all projects. So you might check the highway department's web page and see what their current projects are. Thanks, Paul. All right. Um, any other from the public? Okay. So, our next meeting um is scheduled for April 16th at 10 a.m. If there's no further questions or comments, may I have a motion to adjurnn? I'll make at 10:40. Second.

And who was the second? Kelly second. Kelly, we are adjourned at 10:42. Thank you for joining us online and in person at the community uh commissioner's court. Your time, energy, and passion are truly appreciated. All right.