News you can use

High usage of Beaver Creek Park so far

The Hill County Park Board heard a myriad of issues discussed during its monthly meeting this week, including that use is high on Beaver Creek Park this spring, and things are underway to finish getting ready for the summer and for maintaining it through the year.

Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said he is still looking for at least one more seasonal employee but may have that filled by the end of the week.

Edgar said usage is up, and the use over Memorial Day weekend was high.

He said he is seeing good compliance with park permits, and only is ticketing a few people for not having permits.

Edgar said new siding for some cabins, purchased with insurance proceeds from a 2014 hail storm, is on the way.

County commissioners Mark Peterson and Diane McLean asked Edgar about the proposed budget, which is $10,000 above expected revenue. Peterson said the spending will have to be cut to match funds and asked if Edgar and the rest of the board had any suggestions.

Edgar said he expects the park to be sitting well with cash on hand as the park saved some money last year, including on utilities. He said he is waiting for final budget figures to see where the revenue will sit exactly.

He also agreed when Peterson suggested setting up a contingency fund for the park, which is fully self-funded and takes no tax revenue from the county. Edgar said if the park makes more money than it spends, he would like it to go into a fund to be held in reserve in case of budget issues or emergencies.

Edgar said many government agencies spend every penny to exhaust their funding before the fiscal year runs out.

"It does not help the park to do that. We are our own fund," he said.

Lou Hagener said the first step in setting up some monitoring studies was set for today. A group of volunteers were meeting at the park to look at the proposed areas. The areas being studied will be catalogued and tracked using a Natural Resources and Conservation Service protocol, he said.

The plan is to track resources at 13 sites if enough people can be found to help, he said.

Hagener said after the meeting that water, vegetation and other natural resources have been tracked at the park, but the new effort will try to more formally and scientifically monitor those resources.

The board also discussed - along with some proposed upgrades and some problems at cabins - conducting the annual cabin inspections.

Board chair Steve Mariani said he would like to hold the inspections as suggested by board member Renelle Braaten. Mariani said the cabins could be divided between the members, about 14 each, and then each member would have a defined responsibility of cabins to inspect.

Edgar said he is interviewing the last applicants for a finance and claims committee that will comprise two board members and three members of the public. He said the committee should be in place and able to work by the start of the next board meeting.

The board also heard that Tony Filler has taken the required actions to discuss liability with the county attorney and to have insurance coverage for his Bears Paw SupFest event planned for June 24 at Beaver Creek Reservoir. The event is planned to include tandem racing, backward paddle racing, sup dodgeball, night paddle and paddle yoga, with registration of $20 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the reservoir.

Aubrey Williams also reported on her research on a grant that could leverage funding at the park. She said she is talking to representatives of the state Department of Commerce and Triangle Telephone about the tourism-related grant, which could be used with matching funds for projects such as new outhouses, trails or work on Camp Kiwanis cabins.

 

Reader Comments(0)