Park board looks into hanging permits

The Hill County Park Board is taking up the suggestion of a Havre resident and looking into an easy way to display permits purchased for the use of the park.

At its monthly meeting Monday, the board listened to Lou Hagener's suggestion of switching to a permit that could be hung on the rearview mirror of a vehicle and displayed through the vehicle's windshield. That would make it easy for park personnel, such as Superintendent Chad Edgar and his assistant, Dana Pyette, to see if the person using the park has a permit, Hagener said during the public comment portion at the beginning of the board meeting.

Board Chair Steve Mariani applauded the suggestion.

"I do think it would make Chad's job easier, " he said.

The permits are required for all park use, with their term running from May 1 through April 31 of the following year. The permits, which cost $30 a season for county residents and $40 a year for nonresidents, are available at the Hill County Treasurer's office in the Hill County Courthouse, at the park office at Camp Kiwanis, at Stromberg's Sinclair and Bing 'N' Bob's.

Edgar said if he finds someone at the park without a permit, he can sell them a permit on the spot, but he will charge a $15 fee.

Single-day use permits also are available for $7 each.

Hagener said the rifle club to which he belongs uses the hanging tags to identify members, adding that the cost to have them locally printed is relatively low — $200 to $300.

The board listened to several suggestions during its discussion of the idea.

Although several board and audience members commented that stickers that go on bumpers and windshields have become unpopular because of problems in cleaning the adhesive off when they are removed, board member Robbie Lucke said that Glacier National Park uses a small sticker to be placed in the window.

"It's very unobtrusive and doesn't get in the way, and it's a good way of doing it, " Lucke said.

Audience member Blanche Kellam suggested researching using the clinging vinyl stickers such as are stuck on windshields by service stations to record the next recommended oil change date, which can be easily peeled off and re-applied.

"They're not as hard to get off your windshield from year to year, and they last, " she said.

The board agreed to research using hanging tags and put the matter on its May meeting agenda, and Hagener said he would invite some other members of the rifle club.

The board also listened to a history and description of the use of the park in Kremlin by Kremlin resident Judi Gomke.

Kremlin residents established the park in 1983, she said, with the town's commercial club donating lots at the north end of the town and area residents donating trees, other items and labor in its creation. It has been upgraded over the years.

The operations of the park are overseen by a five-member board of local residents.

Local groups work to maintain the park each year, and it is regularly used for events such as birthday or anniversary celebrations, with more than 300 people having supper in the park during Kremlin's 100th anniversary celebration last year. People bicycling along the park trail from Washington to Maine often stop to visit Kremlin's park.

"We've also had Easter egg hunts, we've had sleigh rides, whatever needs to be done in the community usually is done in the park, " she said "It truly is a community park. "

The county pays $950 a year in tax revenues for the park, which Gomke says usually about pays for the park's utility bills. Community members raise money for the rest of its expenses. Kremlin Homemakers pay for pesticides to control weeds and volunteer to take care of the flower beds

The county park funding foundation has never paid into its maintenance or operation, she said. The community received a grant from the Montana Department of Transportation in 2006 to replace the park's underground sprinkler system. Community members raised $3945.84 to cover the required match, Gomke said. The Kremlin Homemakers agreed to be responsible for the maintenance of the park at that time, she added.

Mariani thanked Gomke for the information, saying the board approves providing the funds to the park each year, but many members really don't know about its operations.

"I actually have never been there, " he said, adding, "I am going to change that. "

Board member Robbie Lucke suggested at a meeting earlier this year that representatives of parks across Hill County overseen by the board make presentations.

Lucke said he thinks the park board should hold a meeting in the Kremlin Park, then in other parks in the county.

Beaver Creek Park administrative assistant Dana Pyette said work is proceeding on the creation of a specialty license plate for Beaver Creek. The recently created Friends of Beaver Creek Park nonprofit corporation, for which she is the executive director, will apply for the plates the plates once the group's 501(c) 3 nonprofit status is approved, she said.

That should put the availability of the plates to the September release, she said.

The park board last fall approved creating a specialty plate using a photograph looking over Beaver Creek Lake at the Bear Paw Mountains on the eastern border of the park.

According to the Montana Department of Justice's website, sponsored specialty license plates typically return $20 to $30 to the sponsoring organization per plate.

Friends of Beaver Creek Park Board Chair Ursula Brese — who said before the meeting that the group had a very well-attended and productive strategic planning meeting Saturday — asked the park board to come to Camp Kiwanis, hopefully before Friends of Beaver Creek Park holds its all-day fundraiser event at the camp May 12, to meet with the group and discuss its plans and progress.

"If you're not able to it before the 12th, then I expect to see 90 percent of you out there May 12th, " she added, laughing.