Upgrades planned for Kimball parks

Kimball City Council

discussed the March 30

meeting of the Park Planning

Group. A number of

improvements were considered

and a plan was made to

complete them in the next

few months.

Two local companies

have been contacted to

replace the wooden post

perimeter fencing around

Gotte Park with painted

pipe, partially buried,

capped with concrete and

connected with cables.

Mark Green, recently appointed

council member,

asked why the City wished

to replace the posts and cable

at all.

“It looks like you are not

welcome,” he said. Council

member Kim Baliman added

that it looks uninviting.

Though the measure may

look a bit uninviting, some

council members were

more concerned with encouraging

drivers to stay

on the road surrounding the

park to protect plants and

those utilizing the park.

“There is too much inticement

from an open area

for (drivers) to utilize it as a

driving area,” council member

James Shields said. “I

am not opposed to this, but

30 years where I have been

living, I have seen plenty of

people decide they are going

to drive their car out behind

there and go through

the park and spin cookies.”

“You guys have talked

about cameras and stuff,

so maybe that is something

you guys can start holding

people accountable for?”

Green said. “The cable and

tubing looks trashy. You

can put that money into the

cameras.”

Shields maintained that

while he is open to more

discussion, the rotting

wooden posts also look

trashy and a number of solutions

have been tried over

the years.

Cameras have been discussed

at length, and some

concerns were considered,

including a surveillance

system of high enough

quality to catch a license

plate number in the dark,

with a secure space for

electronics and power to

the entire system.

That matter is still up for

consideration.

One citizen asked about

adding shaded areas as

well. Though trees have

been planted throughout the

parks, there are no stable

shaded areas outside of the

picnic shelters. Council discussed

canopies closer to the equipment as a potential

addition.

“This is an evolving

project,” City Administrator

Dan Dean said. “As

we were sitting here I was

thinking of grants as well.

It is well worth doing; it is

going to take a little more

time to do it.”

The costliest improvements

will be new playground

equipment in each

park at a total of $15,000.

“One of the concerns

is that there is nothing for

the extremely young kids,

ages 2 – 5,” Kimball Mayor

Keith Prunty said. “So that

is what we will focus on

and it will not be a major

increase in insurance.”

The new equipment is

not replacing current equipment,

but will be installed

as an addition to the current

park equipment.

Other improvements include

repairs to the horse

shoe pits, installing a frisbee

golf course, upgrading

lighting, installing animal

waste stations and installing

five new benches.

We are looking at upgrading

lighting particularly

at the basketball/tennis

courts,” Dean said.

A local grassroots group

led by local business owners,

Nate and Heather Entingh,

will focus specifically

on improvements to those

courts as well, with the exclusion

of lighting.

All the improvements are

expected to cost approximately

$39,000.

Prunty asks citizens to

call with any ideas for improvements

or attend an

upcoming meeting, which

will be announced soon. A

final request will be made

after further discussion

regarding fencing and surveillance.