Huntingburg Park Board discusses new playground, dog park safety issues, pickleball, League Stadium lease
Huntingburg City Park will have a new playground area ready for when the warmer weather returns.
The playground replacement near the girls’ softball field will be prepped for installation by the end of February, with workers already digging footers and preparing the site despite challenging weather conditions, according to Park Director Jace Merkel.
The project includes reusing a swing set from the previous playground that the equipment company deemed to be in good condition, adding more value to the installation beyond just the main playground structure.
Once the groundwork is complete, the playground company will install the equipment and attach turf to the prepared curb system.
Merkel said this was a priority project due to its high usage during the softball season and its condition. Much of the existing equipment, including wooden playground structures, is approximately 40 years old, and replacement parts are no longer available for many pieces.
“We took the playground company. What can we reuse? What can we buy parts for and repair. They gave us a list of those things. What we’re able to use was very little,” Mayor Neil Elkins said during the meeting.
According to the mayor, with donations to the project, they were able to get $44,000 worth of equipment for approximately $21,000.
“A lot of these projects that we are doing either have donation time, donation money, or a donation of something to help these go on. This is not just straight from our budget. Our budget can’t afford to do something like this without the help from the community,” Merkel said.
He added that this update was planned before he was appointed parks director.
The city is also evaluating other park equipment in the large park to determine what can be repaired, reused, or replaced. According to the mayor, the goal is to evaluate what kids will actually play on and make decisions based on what they really enjoy.
Pickleball court update
The board also heard an update on the planned pickleball courts located next to the tennis courts in the park.
Merkel reported that the project is moving forward with Cash Waggner and Associates, which is now working on designs to increase parking in the area and add one more court to the plans.
Merkel said they don’t have a construction contract in place yet.
“We don’t have any contracts signed yet, but we do have a lot of movement with a company to come in and pave it in the spring,” Merkel said during the meeting.
The pickleball project has faced significant delays over the past year due to contractor issues following the city’s preparatory work on the site. Three companies have withdrawn from the project, creating frustration among board members and prompting public criticism over the lack of progress.
According to Mayor Elkins, the original contractor, CalCar, withdrew after a fire at its asphalt facility last year limited the work it could take on. A second company walked away after determining the site’s slope didn’t meet their standards, while a third company simply decided not to proceed with the work.
Merkel said the company they are in discussions with to do the work has said it can work with the site’s slope.
The updated design aligns the courts with the existing tennis courts, accommodates three courts instead of two, and includes additional parking. Adding the new parking area at the same time as the courts are constructed helps save money on the project since it will all be done at one time, according to Merkel
“I proposed from the beginning that we take the parking lot all the way up to where you drive into the parking lot because it’s going to be so much cheaper to do it,” Board member Dustin Schmett said. “I feel like the pickleball courts, once we get them done, they’re going to be pretty popular and you’re going to have all them cars right there by the tennis court.”
The board aims to have a signed contract by the February 16 meeting, providing a clearer timeline for the project’s completion.
Dog park concerns
The city is reinstating fees and access controls for the south side dog park after receiving multiple complaints about aggressive dogs and an incident where a police officer was bitten by an abandoned dog.
“We’ve had a lot of phone calls on aggressive dogs. Aggressive people with dogs that are aggressive,” Merkel told the board. “And then we actually had a police officer that just got bit by a dog that was left there.”
Merkel told the board they would likely have to close the park if they didn’t reinstate the card access and registration system.
The decision, which passed unanimously, reinstated a $25 annual fee and implemented a key or card access system to track facility users. Each additional dog costs $5, and replacement keys run $10.
With the decision, they will be adding an electronic card reader system similar to what was used in the park when it first opened.
The park previously ran on a fee-based system but switched to free public access after the card reader broke down. The cost to replace it at the time was considered too expensive to justify, said board member Mike Fulkerson.
But there were fewer complaints about the dog park when it was in place.
“The people that were paying and being a part of that were responsible dog owners that kind of police themselves,” Mayor Elkins said. “We never had an issue at that dog park. I don’t care what breed it was that was there. We never, we had zero issues during that time.”
“Now I hear a lot of issues,” he added.
The city acknowledged it currently has no data on park usage since the free-access model provides no way to track visitors. Adding electronic access back will help them collect that data.
Additionally, Schmett noted that charging fees will require the city to prioritize maintenance issues more than when the park was free. He said he has heard complaints about its maintenance.
Merkel plans to present the board with quotes for the electronic access system at the February meeting.
League Stadium lease agreement with the Bombers
The board discussed the ongoing lease negotiations with the ownership of the Dubois County Bombers. A city-imposed lease increase prompted owner Justin Knepp to speak to the board in December.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Merkel stated that though they didn’t have an agreement yet, he felt they had a workable contract.
In introducing the contract proposal, Merkel explained that he thought it was important to point out that the city didn’t receive any money from food or beverage sales, advertisements in the flyers and in the park sold by the Bombers, or ticket sales.
Merkel presented a contract that better aligns with the Bombers’ requests. It included eliminating the 5 percent the city received from gift shop sales and adding a more manageable lease rate increase under a multi-year contract with the Bombers.
The new lease would start at $14,000 annually and increase by $1,500 each year.
The mayor advocated for a five-year term, citing stability benefits for both parties. “If you have five year lease with them, you’ve got a team for five years. It’s a good league, it’s a great team,” Elkins said. “From a tourism standpoint, people who come to the games spend a lot of money here in the city.”
Team ownership responded positively to the proposal, said Merkel.
According to an email shared at the meeting, the owners said they “appreciate the city working with us on the renewal” and called the terms “more reasonable,” allowing them to “budget and plan for” the future.
Several operational details remain to be finalized outside the lease agreement, including practice schedule accommodations before the May 28th season opener, visiting locker room usage and restroom cleaning responsibilities. These items will be addressed in a separate operating agreement that can be adjusted annually without modifying the entire lease.
The board emphasized the need to generate revenue to maintain the facility. “We have to be able, at least be able to put some money back into the field and back into the possession. All the other stuff we do there that keep that park up the field,” Fulkerson said.
The motion to approve the five-year lease was approved unanimously. Merkel plans on meeting with the Bombers’ ownership next week to finish the process.
