By GLEN WERLING
Calling all volunteers, the Ossian-Jefferson Township Park Board wants to hear from you.
At Monday night’s regular meeting of the board, president Jay Esparza asked fellow board members Tim Rohr, Ben Jones, Jared Kurtz and Gary Guenin to put out the word that the park board is looking for volunteers to assist with the town’s free concert series.
He also asked the board members to consider volunteering for the events as well.
In a related matter, Esparza asked the board members how they would feel about making the concerts free-will donation concerts. They are free and they will stay free, Esparaza said, but there may be some people who would like to donate toward the concert series to help cover the expenses.
If that’s the case, Kurtz, Jones and Esparza said that it might be best to set up an electronic option for donations since so many people no longer write checks or use cash.
The board members agreed that would also be a good option for anyone who wished to make a donation to the parks department.
Guenin volunteered to contact area businesses about sponsorships for the concert series. He said that his profession used to include cold call sales, so he believed he would be a good fit for contacting businesses.
Esparza is using Facebook as a means of letting the public know what the park board is doing. He asked the board members to send him a head and shoulders shot of themselves to post with their contact information on the parks Facebook page.
Esparza said he has reached out to Bluffton Parks Department director Brandy Fiechter and has received a lot of positive ideas for the parks and events for the parks from her.
Esparza also posited the best way to get information for what’s next for the parks would be a survey. Town Manager Luann Martin suggested possibly using Survey Monkey in a form of a list of ideas from the park board on which people could vote.
She added that if the survey is vague and just asks people for suggestions on what could be added to the parks to make them better the board will receive all kinds of suggestions that will be far beyond the scope of the parks department’s budget.
In other business, the board members:
• Learned from Jones and Kurtz that nearly 200 children are signed up to participate in the Northern Wells Junior Baseball League this spring. The divisions will be 10U and 12U at Uniondale and T-ball, coaches’ pitch and Koufax League at Ossian.
• Discussed work that needs to be done to prepare the ball diamonds for the spring.
• Discussed composing the new five-year plan. The major project, the board members agreed, will be the reconfiguring and perhaps even moving the baseball diamonds. Once the board has back a baseball diamond study and recommendations from the town engineer, the board members will focus on what all is involved in extending a drive from the end of LaFever Street into Archbold-Wilson Memorial Park. The board members also discussed the drainage problems at Melching Park and ways to possibly better utilize the wide open spaces of Melching and Sandalwood parks.
• Learned from Martin that following events have been booked at Archbold-Wilson: Ossian Church of the Nazarene Easter Egg Hunt; Ossian Baseball Opening Day April 29; Bethlehem Lutheran Church 5K walk-run May 6; Bridges Community Independence Day Celebration July 1; Hope Missionary Back to School Bash Aug. 5. Martin said that there is also a disc golf tournament at Archbold-Wilson, but she was not sure when it was planned. Last year it was held on July 23.
The next regular meeting of the board is set for 7 p.m. Monday, April 3, at the Collier’s Comfort building, 215 N. Jefferson St.
glenw@news-banner.com
