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Oct. 26—At the Vigo County Parks and Recreation Board’s meeting Monday afternoon, discussions centered on increasing camping rates and combating vandalism.
South Seventh Park was the victim of extensive vandalism last week, with the ultimate indignity being that the camera intended to capture such misbehavior was stolen.
Since securing off-duty police officers would be an expensive proposition, Vigo County Parks Superintendent Adam Grossman recommended offering citizens a free week of camping in exchange for serving as intermittent park patrol officers to chase miscreants away when they’re lingering after parks are closed.
The camera will be replaced, with the new one more securely concealed.
Campgrounds at Fowler, Prairie Creek and Hawthorne parks have increased revenue needs 100% over the past two years, so Grossman suggested raising rates for electrical and water hookups during holidays that lure the most campers in order to ease the burden of operating the areas.
Vigo County campgrounds are among the cheapest in the state, with electrical hookups costing $20 per day and water hookups going for $25.
Decisions on both issues will be decided by vote in a future meeting.
Grossman also discussed obtaining appraisals for about a dozen properties that the Parks Department would like to obtain using federal grant money, but the appraisals must be conducted before the grant money will be released.
“We’re working towards a federal grant and with those funds, any property you acquire has to go through a [Urban Redevelopment Authority] certification process,” Grossman said. “So we’re starting that process, hoping we get those funds.”
Yellow Book appraisals are a costly proposition involving reams of paperwork — Grossman could only locate one company that provides the service nearby, and it charges $35,000. “We’ll get the money to purchase [the properties] and you have to have that Yellow Book appraisal to get to that price,” he said.
It was reported that Fowler Park’s Pioneer Days celebration earlier this month was an enormous success. Cars were counted, not individual attendees, and 1,100 vehicles traversed the festivities, with food vendors running out of food after the first day.
The park board is anticipating similar good fortunes for the Pancake Breakfast at Prairie Creek Park in February.
“It’s not been around for a couple of years, and people keep asking about it,” Grossman said.
David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.
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