Present: J.P. Hall (president), Brad Polk (vice president), Brad Marshall (treasurer), Lisa Goodpaster (secretary), Donna Catron (Kennedy Branch, Muncie Public Library), Anne Eliades, Peter Gitman, Troy Ingram (City Council), Jim Ong.
President Hall opened the online meeting at 7 p.m.
The minutes from the February and March meetings were tabled. Since our May meeting will be a community forum with the mayor, we will conduct our next regular business meeting in June, at which time the minutes will be presented.
Brad Marshall announced that the Patronicity campaign funds have been deposited into our account. Additionally, we received a $25,000 check from the Zeigler Foundation grant we applied for, which will be used for a pavilion and landscaping. Our current account balance is $55,592, of which $30,000 is committed to the final payment for the playground equipment, leaving an approximate balance of $25,000. Once the Zeigler check is deposited, we will have nearly $50,000. Not accounting for any service fees or credit card fees, our grand total of all fundraising efforts was nearly $112,000.
We need to make some decisions soon regarding a pavilion and landscaping. Future discussions will be held to make decisions on the type and placement of the pavilion.
Demolition of the pool house has begun. We will determine where the playground and splash pad will be located once the demolition is complete. CRG anticipates the playground being completed no later than the second week of June. Brad Marshall will continue ongoing discussions with the city in an effort to stay on target. Some concerns were raised by the city regarding a property survey which had recently been completed. It was discovered that a few had some personal storage sheds located on park property or in the easements, which will need to be moved. The city will address these issues with the homeowners.
Discussion continued regarding the tennis courts. The initial plan was to remove the tennis courts and replace them with one multi-use court. After further investigation, it was decided to retain both courts and resurface them as a cost-saving move. To accommodate the walking trail, the tennis courts will instead become pickle-ball courts. This seems to be a sport which is growing in popularity. Other suggestions were corn-hole and bocce ball.
We will begin working on getting thank-you letters out to the remaining donors to our Patronicity campaign. There were approximately 132 donors in total.
President Hall discussed the need to get price quotes for some outdoor banners which will be needed for the ribbon cutting/park reopening. We should make certain all improvements scheduled for this year are complete before we schedule an event of this type. We will use the $500 grant received from the Building Better Neighborhoods grant for this type of expense.
Discussion focused on website updates on the overall park project fundraising efforts. We should include the donation from Mike and Lisa Brown ($10,000) as well as the Sherman and Marjorie Zeigler Foundation grant ($25,000).
We need to make sure we do some press releases. J.P. mentioned an article which appeared in the Ball State Daily News recently. We will make sure this is posted on the website as well.
President Hall announced that the mayor has dedicated approximately 20-26 trees from his “1,000 trees in 1,000 days” campaign to be planted in Halteman Park. Once the site is ready, they will stake out the trail, playground, splash pad and pavilion. From there, they will decide where to plant the trees, focusing on better defining the park’s borders, especially on the east and west sides, hopefully preserving the empty green space in the middle. Everyone thanked Brad Marshall for his work as president of the parks board, and working on behalf of Halteman.
President Hall reported on the Land and Traffic Committee’s public forum held April 20. We will need to decide collectively what recommendations to make and submit directly to Councilman Robinson on behalf of the entire neighborhood association. It will take two months to pass an ordinance. Once it is passed, then changes will begin.
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.
In lieu of our regularly scheduled meeting next month, we have decided to reschedule for Thursday, May 27, from 6-7 p.m. at Halteman Village Baptist Church, 4100 N. Oakwood Avenue. During this time the mayor will hold the next Dream With Dan 2.0 community forum, where we will hear from the mayor, the city engineer, and the parks department. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Respectfully submitted by Lisa Goodpaster, secretary
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