Most notable among the items discussed at last week’s Waterloo Park District board meeting were changes at the Waterloo Optimist Skate Park – though the board also touched on progress with the ongoing splash pad project and encountered some drama at the end of the meeting.

Discussion surrounding the skate park on North Library Street took up a substantial chunk of the meeting, with the first of two relevant items on the agenda concerning the skate park’s rules.

This item was ultimately tabled as the board decided to conduct further research on the rules of other communities’ skate parks, though discussion centered around registration and the appropriate age for young people to play at the skate park without supervision.

Receiving more discussion was an action item to adjust skate park hours – a topic that had been briefly discussed at the previous meeting though it had received greater attention in September.

Commissioner Mary Gardner recommended changing the winter hours for the park by one hour. With the skate park typically being open until 9 p.m., it would close and the lights would turn off at 8 p.m.

Discussion at the September meeting touched on apparent requests from residents to make the hours for Waterloo parks more consistent. Commissioners also talked about numerous complaints received concerning the skate park and the impact of its late hours on nearby residents.

At the latest meeting, Gardner suggested making the change as a compromise between skate park neighbors and those who use the facilities later in the evening during the week.

“By doing that, we’re kind of making a compromise during the winter time, which isn’t a time when many families are out anyway,” Gardner said. “People tend to go in their houses during the cold weather. So it gives the neighbors and those living by the park quiet hours for work and school. Weekend, of course, you’ve got all those hours of daylight. The hours coincide with daylight savings time fall to winter and would return to normal hours at 9 o’clock in April.”

Commissioner Shelby Mathes objected to the change, pointing specifically to adult residents who go to the skate park to play hockey late in the evening as a demographic impacted by the change.

Mathes additionally contended that the park board should hear more from those who would be affected by this change in hours before making a decision.

“If that’s gonna be until 8 o’clock, there’s no sense in them even coming down there,” Mathes said. “And that’s why they play is because it’s cooler where they have the heavy equipment on because they’re not gonna go down there in the summer time because they have all their hockey equipment. That’s all I’m telling you is you need to get more people here to tell you what’s going on that use it in the wintertime.”

Discussion continued with Mathes noting the adult taxpayers who use the skate park late, Commissioner Michael Nolte asking about statistics regarding who uses the skate park and Gardner saying the skate park is the only one in the community which stays open late.

Waterloo Park District President Gina Pfund disagreed with Mathes’ point about public input, saying the agenda was available for residents to attend the meeting and voice their opinion.

“You got the agenda,” Pfund said. “It was posted up at the office. It was posted here at City Hall. It was posted on the city’s website. So you can’t use the excuse that nobody knew because it wasn’t posted. It was posted.”

Recently, park district board meetings have been posted online through the City of Waterloo’s community calendar.

Waterloo resident Alan Mitan was in attendance and was given time to voice his opinion during the discussion. Mitan, who lives next to the skate park, has previously expressed issues he and his family have encountered with youngsters at the park.

“I don’t think the lights are gonna solve the problems that are there. Let’s be clear about that,” Mitan said. “But also, the people that live around the park are taxpayers as well, and they deserve to be able to put their kids to bed at a decent hour, go to bed at a decent hour for work.”

Early in the meeting, Zach Bond also spoke regarding the change in hours, describing how he goes to the park several times a week to play hockey with his son and sees a substantial number of young people playing there.

“I understand if maybe there’s something I could do as an adult to maybe help whatever nuisance is being created for the need to want to push this time back before it closes,” Bond said. “In my opinion, a lot of these kids are going out there, and it’s a healthy outlet for them. I know in our society right now we’re dealing a lot with people being unsocial, being on screens, texting each other, apps. These kids are going out, they’re socializing.”

Ultimately, Nolte moved to amend the skate park hours from November through March, remaining the same for the rest of the year.

Commissioners Nolte, Gardner, Pfund and Keith Buettner voted in favor with Mathes voting against.

Regarding the ongoing splash pad project at William Zimmer Memorial Park off Rogers Street, it was reported that the bathhouse structure had been put up with the roof soon to be installed.

Pfund spoke positively about the project’s progress given the fair weather.

Splash pad talk also involved maintenance and care during the winter as well as rules and hours and procurement of a free bubbler accessory for the facility.

The board also briefly discussed a temporary restroom to be placed at Konarcik Park as the bathrooms were recently closed because of the cold weather.

Regarding procedural items, the board approved a tax levy ordinance for the year, establishing that funds raised by the county for the park district do not exceed 105 percent of what was raised last year – amounting to $354,121.

The board also approved a policy concerning district meeting procedures, outlining rules for remote attendance and other matters.

Toward the end of the meeting, Nolte voiced a notable contribution during the section for commissioner comments.

He opened by noting he wanted to address an item which had “been looming over this body,” also “setting the record straight on previous accusations” against him.

Nolte said each commissioner receives the Illinois Parks and Recreation magazine. In the most recent edition, President and CEO of the Illinois Association of Park Districts Peter Murphy asks what the most important duties and responsibilities of a park district board member.

Nolte pointed to a few of the responses featured in the magazine, among them open-mindedness, setting aside personal opinions, establishing goals and vision and respecting other board members.

He went on to note that Mathes had criticized him at a number of previous meetings, pointing to his apparent absences from board meetings.

Nolte said he has only missed one meeting in the last year and in the last two years has missed the same number of meetings as another commissioner, with each of these absences being due to work.

He further said it is up to voters rather than commissioners to decide whether or not a commissioner is fit to be on the board.

“We as a park district board should seek to provide the best for our constituents,” Nolte said. “We should create a strategic plan with defined goals and vision and attempt to follow such plans. We should be open-minded and set aside our own personal opinions and think about what benefits the community. We should have respect for other board members. And we should aim to provide the best for the voters in this district.”

Mathes responded, saying he had called two special meetings during his time as park district president that Nolte was unable to attend, though he was unable to further explain as Pfund closed the discussion.