With the regular season concluded for local parks, the Waterloo Park District Board’s regular meeting featured talk of taxes, accessibility at Lions Park and the need to provide amenities for older children.

Chiming in early in the meeting during public participation was Peggy Dollard, a local mother who addressed the board and described how she and her kids regularly make use of the city’s parks.

“I’m a mom of two. I have a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old, and we frequent our wonderful Waterloo parks all the time,” Dollard said. “We are park people, playground people. We go all over South County, West County. I’ve been to every park you can possibly imagine.”

Dollard went on to speak about her “wish list” for potential new features in community parks as she has begun to feel her children are aging out of the currently available playground equipment.

She suggested items like a zipline or climbing wall which she has seen at facilities in other nearby communities.

Dollard further spoke to her desire for a wider range of playground equipment, pointing to how difficult it can be for parents to reduce screen time and get their kids outside.

“I just think that we have so many kids here and so many beautiful acres of parks, and I know that it’s obviously an expense and it’s gotta be in the budget and make sense, but I just feel like we’re missing that window of that next age bracket up,” Dollard said. “I’m sad thinking ‘Are my kids done with Waterloo parks now? We’re only, like 7 years old.’”

Waterloo Park Board President Mary Gardner thanked Dollard for her comment, acknowledging this is not the first time she has heard such a suggestion. 

Another key topic for the board last Wednesday concerned Lions Park and an offer from the Waterloo Lions Club to help with substantial renovations.

Gardner spoke about how she, along with park district superintendent Don Prater, had been in touch with Ron Mueller of the Waterloo Lions to discuss improving handicap access and stairs to the facility.

“If you’ve been out there, it doesn’t have that. It’s just a hill,” Gardner said. “So anyone who isn’t stable walking, who’s in a wheelchair, even a stroller with young children, it’s hard to get down.”

It was noted the club is currently in the process of having engineers draw up plans for renovations, with the Waterloo Lions further planning on working with other organizations to raise funds for the project.

Prater also spoke about the idea, describing the lack of accessibility features at the park as “a bad black eye for us” and recalling how he had brought up the idea of installing such features at Lions Park over a decade ago.

“My personal opinion – and I’ve been here a long time – this is probably one of the most important projects that I’ve seen anyone volunteer to do,” Prater said. “This is a great project. These guys wanna put stairs, up to code, and a ramp for wheelchair accessibility, and a sidewalk over to the restroom.”

Prater further said an estimated cost for the project stands at about $74,000, urging the board to assist the renovations with anywhere from $10,000-$20,000 given how assistance from the Lions Club and the rest of the community would help save the district money and bring all district facilities fully up to code.

Elsewhere in the meeting, the board approved a tax levy ordinance for the fiscal year, having established at last month’s meeting that they would not be levying for more than 105 percent of what was levied last year.

As Waterloo Park District Attorney Paul Schimpf said as he read the ordinance aloud, $371,857 will be assessed and levied, with $150,000 going toward salaries, $97,000 for operating expense, $45,000 for capital expense, and $10,167 for other items in the general fund. Other funding would go to the recreational program fund with $30,000 for operating expense, $4,700 for the annual audit and $35,000 for liability insurance.

Regarding the splash pad, park board commissioner Gina Pfund spoke about her continued efforts to keep in touch with Rain Drop Products in order to procure the major barn feature in time for next year’s opening of the facility. She has previously reported how the company has encountered apparent assembly delays and other issues that have prevented the delivery so far.

In her president’s report, Gardner spoke about how Schimpf has been in touch with Sen. Terri Bryant’s office as the district continues to reach out to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for the remaining $200,000 from the Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development grant.

Park district treasurer Julie Bradley, in her monthly report, shared that the first installment of property tax funds had been received at $88,000.

In Prater’s report, he made note of sidewalk settling at Lions Park which had been addressed in the past few weeks. He also said that fish had been stocked at Konarcik Lake, park district bathrooms had been closed for the winter and maintenance had been done to fix barbecue grills at Lakeview Park that had their bottoms rusted from use.

It was also noted during the meeting that the Waterloo Park District Foundation was ready to go, with only some additional work required on the part of foundation leaders.

Gardner and other board members also thanked Schimpf for his presence at the recent Veterans Day events.