Winamac Town Council approves park board

After months of discussion and in anticipation of the community pool, the Winamac Town Council gave the go ahead for a park board to be formed. 
During a special meeting on April 28, the council again hashed out the pros and cons of a park board. 
Councilwoman Judy Heater reminded the council that the Winamac tax base isn’t increasing and “we are going to have to get innovated on ways to find money on different projects. The park board opens up a whole lot of areas for grants. Sometimes to move ahead you have to take a little leap of faith.” 
Councilman Tom Murray said he’s concerned that the council will lose a say in what’s happening with the park.“I don’t want to see something happen to our employees.” 
As per a park board being established, the board would have the responsibility of hiring and firing park employees including the superintendent. 
Heater said if the employees are doing their job then there shouldn’t be a worry. 
The council also has the opportunity to appoint the members of the board. 
Councilman Dan Vanaman questioned if the park board would only oversee the parks and not the pool. He wants the town council to have the overseeing of the pool. 
Town manager Brad Zellers said one of the advantages to having the pool managed by the park department is grant funding. Zellers said the other town departments help with the pool maintenance. 
He has also spoken with other municipal park boards, who say there is a large amount of funding available for different projects.
Heater made a motion to establish a park board with four members. It was given a second by councilman Jim Watkins. 
Heater then asked for clarification regarding the pool and whether it would be part of the park board. The answer was that the pool would be overseen by the park board because it is a parks and recreation board. 
The motion passed with opposition from Vanaman. 
Along with establishing the park board, the council discussed the community pool project. Town clerk Melanie Berger questioned if the town is going to “own, operate and maintain the pool.” She said that decision has not been clarified.
The reason for her asking is because it will affect the town budget or the park budget. She also questioned who is going to oversee the building of the pool. 
Murray said he expects Zellers to oversee the building of the pool. 
As further discussion ensued regarding the pool, there was a question of whether the town should hold the $150,000 that was promised to the pool from the town instead of giving it to the community foundation. 
Berger said it doesn’t make sense for the town to give the $150,000 to the community foundation when the money will come back to the town that will be paying the bills. She questioned if the community foundation would accept a letter stating that the town is putting forth the money. 
She also said when the town applies for a grant to build the pool, the $150,000 the town already has can be used as a grant match. 
It was estimated that the $150,000 that is invested with the other funding is earning about $2,500. With the total invested funds there is approximately $25,000 earned in interest.
Berger said she is unsure how much interest the community foundation is receiving. 
Council president Ken McFarland said he would like to see the money stay in the town funds in case the project comes to fruition. He wants the money to stay in Winamac. 
Heater said the community foundation has been very generous and the community foundation board is outstanding. She believes that if the pool is not built that the community foundation board would ensure the funding is used for a community project such as toward the town parks. She said with the park board being established and the potential grant funding she “don’t see how the pool cannot be built.”   
It was decided that the town will speak with community foundation executive director Wendy Rose because there are rules the foundation must follow.