The March 15 regular Eureka Springs Parks meeting held a short agenda, with commissioners deciding whether to charge fees for athletic uses of the ballfields at Lake Leatherwood.
Executive Director Scott Miskiel said that fees charged for use of Parks property was up to commissioners to set, and this would be one of the last items that could have a fee structure applied if so wished. The second and third items on the agenda, waiving the fee for the local soccer league and the fee structure, were predicated on fees being established.
Whether the commission should make a negative motion to not charge fees was most of discussion, commissioners generally agreeing they did not want to have the soccer league or other youth athletic events paying a fee for ballfield use.
Specific verbiage of a motion not charging a fee was a stick in the mud as well, with the motion made by commissioner Jonathan Tiegen including “organized athletic event.” Commissioners Sue Hubbard and Pat Costner pointed out Fat Tire Festival could be considered an organized athletic event. Miskiel said that Fat Tire Festival would be charged event fees as established by commissioners in the past.
The issue was tabled pending Miskiel drafting language to exclude fees for public athletic events. Miskiel said a Special Meeting would not be needed as no fees are charged currently and waiting a few weeks wouldn’t change what had been happening for years.
Other Items
- Pat Matsukis, in public comments, said that while she is supportive of “not putting the cart before the horse” that the Parks tax was predicated on a Master Plan. She said she saw that parks is wanting to combine elements before presenting a plan, but that they needed to maintain what they have and formulate a plan to present to citizens.
- In Director’s Comments, Miskiel said that the stairs at Magnetic Spring were being worked on and voiced his hope the project will be completed in the next few weeks. He also said that it would be several weeks to months to get engineers to inspect the fallen walls at Crescent Spring. Public Works will have the culvert at Harding Spring completed soon and work to repair the gardens will begin in the next two weeks.