GREENVILLE — A total of $45,525.02 was granted to Darke County communities for their annual grant requests, according to Darke County Park District’s Administrative Assistant Deb Shiverdecker.
The announcement was made during a Darke County Park District Board of Commissioners Meeting, July 10. The listing of grant recipients is as follows: Arcanum, $4,930 to install an asphalt walkway in the Community Ball Park; Bradford, $2,800 toward the cost of installing a new roof on the shelter in the Y Yard Park; Gettysburg, $3,400 towards the cost of mulch for the playground equipment and seating area; Greenville, $3,800 towards the cost of fixtures to replace eight night lights with LED fixtures, $378 for a bench near Memorial Drive and $599.80 for resurfacing and repainting the skate park ramps; Hollansburg, $3,686 towards the cost of replacing the concession stand roof; New Madison, $1,850 towards the cost of replacing the top half of the ball diamond backstop; New Weston, $321.07 towards the cost of replacing the lighting at the volleyball court with LED fixtures and $311.40 for repairs to the volleyball court; Osgood, $2,500 towards the cost of removing and replacing the dugout fence; Palestine, $1,500 towards the cost of repairing and lining the tennis and basketball courts; Pitsburg, $5,000 towards the cost of installing new backstop fencing on Diamond #1; Rossburg $273.75, towards the cost of installing safety protectors to the tops of the chain link fence and $2,175 for a new see-saw in the park area; Union City received a conditional award of $5,000 toward a restroom facility in Railroad Park, on the condition that it gets the Nature Works grant it applied for and complete the project as presented; Versailles, $3,000 towards the cost of replacing the roof on shelter house #3 in Ward Park and Wayne Lakes, $4,000 towards the cost of two fountains/ pumps, to improve aeration in the lakes. Shiverdecker said a total of $801,077.77 has been given in community grants since 1995.
In other news, the board was working on its tax budget. According to Darke County Parks Director Roger Van Frank, the district receives about a half million dollars per year on the tax levy.
“Our goal is to continue to make this an award – winning park district,” he said. “There are some exciting things coming in the next three years. Some of those things are the expansion of the Tecumseh Bike Trial, the construction of a Raptor Mews and the development of the old Spencer Landscape property. The board entered into a lease it with Bish Properties, LLC, with an option to buy the 2.883 acres of land.
“We’ve been notified that as long as we meet the 50 points needed for a greenspace acquisition, and we believe we will, we will receive the requested grant funding for that area,” Van Frank said. “The grant amount is for $354,000; receiving $200,000, with the remainder of that in-kind labor and other partnering funds.”
In other news, the 5K Raptor run has been canceled, as only two people have signed up. The purpose of the run was to raise money towards the approximately $9,700 cost for the Raptor Mews project.
To find out more about the park district, visit http://www.darkecountyparks.org/
