Local News

Parks department sets sights on summer success

January 4, 2024

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The Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District board gathered for their first regular meeting of the year on Tuesday. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)

Warmer weather may still be months away, but the Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District (BJRD) board of trustees had baseball diamonds in mind during their regular meeting Tuesday, Jan. 2.

According to Kris Myers, parks superintendent, the community can expect an influx of visitors when they host five large baseball/softball tournaments this spring and summer.

“For three of those weekends we already have at least 50 teams booked,” Myers told the board. “We’d be shocked if we didn’t hit 60 teams.”

Though the BJRD has hosted many similar tournaments in the past, this will be the most in one season, bringing hundreds of people to the area over those five weekends. The district charges enough to cover expenses, plus they’ll receive all the proceeds from concessions.

Myers said this will be beneficial for area businesses too. One downtown restaurant has told him they need to plan ahead on tournament weekends by increasing staff and reducing their menu.

“They can’t keep up, and that’s a good thing,” Myers said. “It’s going to have a significant impact on our community.”

The first two tournaments will take place at the end of April and the beginning of May. Since Bellefontaine City Schools will still be in session then, Blue Jacket Park will not be available for tournament use.

In the meantime, the winter sports programs are ready to start back up with basketball games on Saturday. Tim Hales, recreation coordinator, told the board the full wrestling schedule has been finalized and kicks off this weekend as well.

Finally, according to Hales, a record number of players have now signed up to compete in adaptive bowling on Sunday afternoons.

In other board action:

Bellefontaine city council told Myers they’ve appointed Councilman Nick Davis as their parks board liaison. Davis’s experience includes working with the National Park Service under the Trump administration.
The winter walking program is again underway as of Wednesday, Jan. 3. This opens up four Logan County schools—Bellefontaine and Benjamin Logan elementary schools, Indian Lake High School and Riverside—for people to walk indoors during the cold winter months. It runs Mondays through Thursdays until March 14. The complete schedule can be found at bellefontaineoh.myrec.com.
Hales gave the board a final rundown on how Letters to Santa went in 2023, saying the “North Pole” sent back about 55 responses to children who’d included a self-addressed, stamped envelope or, at least, an address. The letters made it to Bellefontaine from a variety of locations, including one from the Cincinnati area.
The city council accepted the parks’ request to put a levy on the March ballot. They’re now waiting for final approval from the State of Ohio.
Plans are underway to widen the walking track at Blue Jacket Park so the whole length will be at least eight-feet wide. This will be especially helpful for students walking and riding bikes to school. The project is scheduled to be completed by June 15, 2024. Approximately $170,000 in the budget was earmarked for this with the understanding the State will reimburse $120,000 of it.
They will also add an outdoor exercise gym.
Myers said the department is putting numbers together for updating the restrooms at Ratleff and Rutan parks. This will include switching the men’s and women’s rooms at Ratleff for a better distribution of space.
A request for capital funds to purchase a pickup truck, a small tractor and a lawn mower for the cemetery was presented by Myers.
Multiple trees were planted in December through the Shade Tree Commission: nine on North Detroit Street, three memorial trees around town and five shade trees at Blue Jacket.
Myers stated the department is “prepped and ready for snow as we roll into the new year.”
Working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the district intends to apply for funds to add a wetland habitat at Myeerah Nature Preserve.
The board discussed candidates for the 2023 Volunteer of the Year. Their choice will be announced at the next meeting.
Projects at Hoffman Pool include work on the slide and some concrete repairs but, according to Myers, the biggest task will be redoing the “no diving” lettering around the pool, which, he said, isn’t tall enough. These fixes are built into the operating budget.
Myers informed the board they’re hoping to have the pool running longer this summer. “Our goal is to keep open until students go back to school, and we’ll hire people with that intention,” he said. They started looking to see how long they could stretch staff in 2023. “We feel close enough to set that goal and reach it now,” Myers concluded.