On March 10, Interim Director Scott Miskiel, commissioner Kevin Ruehle and structural engineer Bill Hathaway made a visual inspection of Lake Leatherwood Dam to follow up an inspection made by Bill Hathaway and Grounds and Natural Resources Manager David Renko. During that inspection Hathaway and Renko had seen “significant deterioration and damage to the dam railing.” This and safety issues became a major topic during the Parks Commission’s March 16 meeting.
Ruehle described the extent of the damage as “shocking” and explained that much of the damage was vandalism but voiced the vandalism was exacerbated by severe deterioration already present. The dam railing has pockets where the railing has fully failed and there is no railing present along the walkway.
Access to the dam had been closed with temporary barriers. Hathaway is to provide the commission with options on how to repair and restore the railing. Ruehle said that Hathaway’s initial findings for a company that could do the work was located in Texas and that the wait time would be a year.
“It’s likely public access will be closed for some time,” Ruehle said, adding that the dam is inspected annually.
He said that fixing the railing would not be inexpensive and that they would need to start looking for grants to help offset cost.
Newest commissioner Sue Hubbard asked whether signage was up to inform visitors that the dam was closed and Ruehle said that Renko was making signs to be placed along trailheads. Hubbard suggested that signage be included at the Pointe as well so that visitors would know how far they could go before not being able to cross the dam.
Dire maintenance needs require budget rethinking
Miskiel explained where dead trees were located in parks around town. Two are in Basin Park, one above the bandshell and another at the roadway. Miskiel also said there was one between Sweet and Harding Springs that leans over a residence, as well as a pine tree at Harmon Park that was so rotten that the tree companies providing bids would need to cut it at various levels to bring it down.
It will take $6,000 in order to fully remove all the trees.
Miskiel said that the reason he came to the commission was to bring new trees to Basin Park. He described the department’s plan to redo stonework at the plant beds in Basin Park. He also said that the budget would need to be revised with some items needing to be reallocated.
Miskiel also said that a total rebuild of the holding basins at Magnetic Spring would be required. He described how you can “feel” the stone on the upper basin turning to clay and that any work to reseal it would “be putting a Band-Aid over a compound fracture.” He estimated cost of a rebuild would require $7,000 – 10,000.
When Miskiel referred back to the replanting of trees at Basin Park and that the commission needed to give direction on how to prioritize and budget. Hubbard asked if the department had policies to planting native species of trees. Miskiel went over some of the plants and trees Parks would be planting in the near future including dogwoods and redbuds as well as other bush plants.
He said for the maintenance and repairs of gardens that $15,000 was already budgeted.
Ruehle said that the commission, for the night, needed to focus on the lack of appropriate maintenance that “is starting to rear its head beyond what anyone suspected.” Ruehle lamented that many of retaining walls were not “structural” and had no reinforcement.
Miskiel suggested that he and the finance committee meet to begin looking at readjusting the budget, and that commissioners go out with him so he could point out where problems are.
Other Items
- Commissioners voted to make Renko and Miskiel exempt employees. Parks hired them as exempt salaried employees. Commissioner Ruth Hager made the motion with Carmen Burden seconding.
- The commission discussed the possibility of taking over payroll responsibilities from the City’s Finance Department.
- The March 2 makeup meeting minutes were approved.
- Cole Lakeview of Good Shepherd Humane Society thanked Parks for help with the dog park and fundraising work. Mickey Schneider voiced concern over parks cabins not being cleaned properly, citing that her family had to move multiple times during their stay due to it.