PAXTON — The Paxton Park District’s Board of Commissioners agreed Tuesday, March 12, to open the public swimming pool at Coady Park this summer, with an opening date to be determined.
“I think we have to,” the board’s president, Denver Piatt, told fellow commissioners during their monthly meeting at the Paxton Civic Center, 601 S. Fall St. “We’re all here for that.”
The aging outdoor pool is expected to continue to operate at a deficit this summer, as it has in the past, Piatt noted.
“It’s going to be expensive,” Piatt said. “Our biggest expenses will be chemicals and lifeguards.”
The board also voted to leave all pool fees unchanged from last year, when individual season passes cost $60 each — with a $20 senior citizens discount available — and family passes cost $100, $130 or $160 each for two-, three- or four-member families, respectively, with the cost rising by $20 for each family member exceeding four. A family of eight, for example, paid $240. Daily admission for those without a season pass cost $5, with free admission offered for kids ages 2 and under.
Piatt said that he and a co-worker at the University of Illinois with 11 years of experience in sewer lines, drain lines and water lines will use a camera line to inspect the pool for potential needed repairs prior to its opening for a cost $268.
Team Dream Chasers seeks partnership
Also at the park board meeting, Preston Kyles, owner and chief executive officer of Team Dream Chasers Basketball Academy, and Andrea Fuoss, coach of the Paxton-Buckley-Loda eighth-grade basketball team who is also involved in the newly formed basketball academy, offered the academy’s help in supporting the park district’s youth basketball program.
The basketball academy, based out of Roberts, provides individual and small-group training, plus boys’ and girls’ travel teams.
Last month, parents and coaches raised concerns about a competitive disbalance in the park district’s youth basketball programs.
Piatt said he had since spoken with Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School boys’ basketball head coach Quinton Hatfill and girls’ basketball head coach Jeff Sinn about the park district’s youth basketball program.
“Coach Sinn seems really focused on building a program from the top down to the bottom, and I think it’s our place and our responsibility to offer that to the kids,” Piatt said. “Our main focus is youth sports. We have an obligation to provide the recreation side of it and also the tools and opportunity for the kids that want to take it more seriously. One thing I’ve heard this year is we need a competitive side.”
Board tables retention pond discussion
The board tabled discussion regarding the potential digging of a retention pond at Coady Park.
At February’s meeting, Paxton Alderman Kristen Larson shared information with the park board about a potential retention pond or wetland project at the park district-owned park — a project that would require the park district’s cooperation — but Piatt said he had not since heard anything more from city officials.
Piatt said the park board is willing to consider the project, which would help alleviate drainage in the southeast part of town as part of more than $7 million in drainage-related improvements proposed.
“We have land out there that’s not useful to us, so if it benefits the city of Paxton and its residents, to me, it’s a no-brainer to do it,” Piatt said.
The board was asked who would pay for the proposed pond, and the board said the city would have to cover most of the cost.
“Financially,” Piatt said, “it can’t be a burden on everything else (the park district provides).”
Other business
In other business at the monthly park board meeting:
— The board discussed upcoming events, including a proposed mother/son event, a tea party and a back-to-school hoedown dance at Pells Park, to be held on dates to be determined.
— The board discussed obtaining bids for the repair or replacement of the Civic Center’s double security doors. Piatt said he would contact local businesses and hopes to have bids ready for the board to consider at its next meeting on Tuesday, April 9.
— The board discussed the upcoming renewal of its yearly agreement with the PBL school district. The park district pays the school district $7,000 per year to use school facilities for park district programs. The agreement is the same as it “has been the past couple of years,” Piatt said. Both the park board and school board are expected to approve the agreement next month.
— The board approved the payment of bills totaling $8,845.
— New swings will be installed at Coady Park, the board learned.
— The board tabled discussing about the city of Paxton’s financial responsibility for a new scoreboard at the city-owned Nelson Field, which the park district uses for youth baseball games.
— The board tabled the hiring of an outside certified public accounting firm to complete the park district’s annual audit and financial report to be filed with the state.
— The board tabled discussion on whether to pursue a tax referendum on a future election ballot.
