By GLEN WERLING
Ball diamond refurbishing may be the next big project to be tackled by the Ossian-Jefferson Township Park Board.
Board members Wednesday night approved paying town engineer, Engineering Resources, to perform preliminary engineering services to:
• Create two to three unique conceptual site plans showing up to four ball fields (used for baseball and/or softball) and the location of proposed parking lot improvements, amenities, pedestrian walkways and drive connectivity.
• Provide the board with an opinion of probable costs for each of the conceptual plans.
• Create a colored site plan that can be used for marketing or fundraising of the selected conceptual plan.
• Create a proposed design and construction schedule.
Since the services provided are preliminary, the amount of engineering involved will be minimal and will not include:
• Site lighting design.
• Architectural design.
• Land surveying services.
• Underground utility locating or “potholing” — a process that uses vacuum excavation to dig precision holes over and around utility lines to expose them.
• Right of way or utility easement agreements or recordings.
The total fee for the services is $7,500. The work will commence pending approval by the Ossian Town Council. The council meets at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9.
Martin recommended — and the board members agreed — to delay any action on proceeding with an engineering study for a LaFever Street access to Archbold-Wilson Memorial Park until at least the baseball preliminary study is done. The results of the baseball study could have a significant impact on a LaFever Street entrance to the park, she observed.
Because $7,500 would put a major dent in the parks department budget, the board members brainstormed ways to seek donations to assist in offsetting the cost.
As town council liaison to the board, Stephanie Tucker observed, any donations would help.
In other business, board members Meagan Luce, Tim Rohr, Gary Guenin and Jared Kurtz:
• Agreed to a recommendation from Kurtz to lower — for one year — the fee the town charges for the use of the baseball diamonds from $17.50 to $10 per child participating in the Northern Wells Junior Baseball League. Kurtz and fellow baseball league advisory committee members Joe Huffman and Ben Jones believe that lowering the fee will assist them in developing the brand new league and, they hope, attract more children back to Ossian to play. The lowering of the fee will be re-evaluated by the baseball committee and the park board after the conclusion of the 2023 season.
• Learned from Kurtz that the Northern Wells Junior Baseball League will include baseball for five different age groups and will include T-ball, either coaches or machine pitch, 10U, 12U and Koufax teams. The league will also utilize the ball diamonds at Zanesville and Uniondale.
• Learned from Kurtz, Jones and Huffman that they would like to see a little extra dirt work done to the smaller diamonds to get them in shape for play this spring. They agreed that parks superintendent Ron Privett does a good job of getting the ball diamonds ready.
• Discussed the fundraising potential of concession stands sales.
• Reorganized. Since the board has taxing authority, it is required by law to reorganize annually before Jan. 15. After some discussion, the members agreed to keep Luce as the board president, Guenin as the vice president and Rohr as the secretary. Luce explained that she would remain president for Wednesday’s meeting only as she intended to tender her resignation at the conclusion of the meeting.
• Accepted Luce’s resignation. Luce, who has been a very active board president, is expecting to give birth in February and she did not believe that she would be able to devote the time she feels is necessary to the board once the child is born.
• Accepted the resignation of board member Jenni Milholland. She was unable to attend most of the meetings in 2022.
• Approved recommending to the Ossian Town Council the appointment of Jones and Jay Esparza, both Ossian residents, to the park board to fill the vacancies created by the resignations of Luce and Milholland. Jones has lived in Ossian 17 years and has been active in the local sports scene including the Ossian baseball leagues in the past — and as mentioned is currently a member of the baseball league advisory committee — a subcommittee of the park board. Esparza has lived in Ossian three years and is looking to become more active in the community.
Wednesday’s meeting was the first time the board has met since Oct. 3, 2022.
The next regular meeting of the board is set for 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6.
glenw@news-banner.com
