Hoping to spark interest around the community, resident Terry Lunz and his wife, Judy, have determined to commit $20,000 to the improvement of Fred Carter Park. Terry shared their pledge with the Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District (BJRD) board of trustees at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 5.
“I don’t know if the park adopted me or I adopted the park,” Lunz said, his voice heavy with emotion as he expressed his intention to have the money go directly to dredging the lake at Fred Carter. “I hope it will spur others to chip in.”
With that in mind, Tuesday’s meeting was held at the aforementioned park, with Lunz serving as a tour guide to what has been done there and what still needs work. During the walk, Lunz told the board they currently have a family of mallard ducks living at the lake.
“Come out here in the morning, around seven-thirty, eight o’clock,” he said as the group listened to bird calls across the lake. “It’s pretty tranquil.”
Before the tour, though, Kris Myers, parks superintendent, had an agenda to get through. He started with MacKenzie Fitzpatrick, Bellefontaine council member and parks representative, who didn’t have much to report on the city council’s behalf.
Instead, Fitzpatrick took the opportunity to update the board on the recent enrichment camps and nature hikes she helped facilitate at Myeerah Nature Preserve. Fitzpatrick, who’s the program director at Journey Nature School, said they had 15 children in the two camps. The guided nature hikes, geared toward families, were also well-attended.
“We’ll step up our side to get the word out,” Myers said. In response, Fitzpatrick stated sponsorships help offset the cost of the program so “families aren’t paying an arm and a leg to be in nature.” Brentlinger and Associates helped sponsor some of this summer’s activities.
The money not only goes to materials, but lets them bring in trained staff. “They know what they’re doing and make sure the experience is a positive one,” Fitzpatrick added. “So many children don’t have a connected relationship with nature.”
Other board highlights:
- Myers said the soccer, youth football and flag football programs are “up and running” with great numbers in football.
- Danny LeComte, the recreation program coordinator, is “really settling in” after his first year with the department.
- The BJRD is in the process of developing a scholarship program, which they hope to roll out in 2026.
“We’ve always had a policy to never turn a kid away, but there hasn’t been a process,” Myers admitted, adding, “I think we finally have a system.” - Regarding the weather this summer, Myers stated they “haven’t mowed this much in 20 years.” Factoring in vacations and other issues that come up in the summer months, the department is “doing everything we can to keep up with that.”
- They are moving forward with the wetland water quality project on the east end of Myeerah. Though they had to push it back due to the weather, Myers reminded the board the work has been fully funded by H2Ohio.
- Due to staff challenges as students head back to school, the department has decided to move the last day of this summer’s pool season up a week, to Saturday, Aug. 23.
- The department has received three proposals from firms to provide construction supervision of the new pool project. Interviews will be scheduled in the next few weeks with the hope of finding the firm that’s the right fit by mid-September.
Then, once a design is chosen, the BJRD will open up bidding for a contractor. They will have a short 2026 pool season, closing in July to break ground on Aug. 1. If all goes well, the pool will be ready for people to enjoy by the summer of 2027. - Myers anticipates having bids for fixing up Harmon Park well before the next BJRD board meeting in September, with completion of the project in the spring.
- The restroom renovations still have some plumbing work to finish up but are now in use.
- Though the Oakland Square Park work isn’t coming along as fast as they had hoped, Myers said volunteers from the Harwood youth group and Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Bellefontaine helped get things started on Tuesday, Aug. 5. They tore out the old playground equipment and installed a swingset that was moved there from Harmon Park. The rest of the renovation is scheduled to be completed in October.
The volunteer labor force also took care of mulching at three Bellefontaine parks and spent Wednesday, Aug. 6, building 12 new picnic tables for Southview Park. - Resurfacing and striping at the Rutan Park pickleball courts will be on Aug. 18.
- The east and west entrances to the ballfields at Southview, which Myers described as “the worst we had,” were paved in mid-June.
- During an “eye-opening” hiking meeting with Myeerah management group members, Myers and a few BJRD board members received insights into some of the poisonous flowers and invasive species at the nature preserve. This was the first such meeting since the covid lockdown.
The next BJRD board of trustees meeting will be Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 7 p.m.
