Princeton Park Board says no
Board will not pursue soccer tournaments at this time
PRINCETON — The Princeton Park Board will not authorize a special committee to work on getting soccer tournaments at the new Zearing Park expansion site.
At Monday’s meeting of the Princeton Park Board, board member Dennis Nink said he’d like to see more forward movement in getting soccer tournaments played on Zearing Park’s eight new soccer/multi-purpose fields. In his opinion, a special committee, consisting of a park board member, park district management and members of the community could focus on that goal and help get it accomplished.
As an update, Elaine Russell, executive director, said she had met earlier with Nink and fellow board member Carl Pacunas to discuss their concerns about the new 40 acres, specifically the soccer fields not being used for tournament play.
Pacunas did not attend Monday’s meeting.
The development of tournament play on the new fields takes time and money, Russell said. The new acreage is always on the mind of the staff, but there is not money in this year’s budget to get the necessary goals and other equipment needed for tournament play, which she estimated at a cost of $35,000, not including personnel or maintenance costs. The only way to get that extra money in this fiscal year is for the board to amend the budget, she said.
Considering the fact there is not money in this year’s budget, Russell questioned the usefulness of a special subcommittee. As far as a special committee looking at plans for the soccer fields, that’s something the staff can do and will do, when there is money in the budget, she said.
After further discussion, Gene Englehart, board president, said he didn’t think the board needed to get involved in developing the soccer program, but leave it to the staff. At this time, there is no money to develop the program, and the park district cannot spend money which it doesn’t have, he said.
After further discussion, Nink’s motion to authorize a special committee to look at how to better utilize the soccer/multi-purpose fields died from the lack of a second.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the board adopted a preliminary tax levy determination for the 2012 year, which would be payable in 2013. The 2012 tax levy is based on an estimated equalized assessed valuation of $149,000,000, which is a projected slight increase over the 2011 EAV of $148,632,159.
Reviewing a fact sheet on the 2012 tax levy, park district attorney Bob Russell said the proposed 2012 total tax levy is about $509,900, which is an increase of $17,694 over the tax extension received this summer for the 2011 year. The total proposed 2012 levy, including the $800,000 in bonds to be issued, would be $1,342,175, which is an increase of $37,258 over the prior year.
The board is expected to adopt its tax levy at its Nov. 5 meeting.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board accepted a bid of $31,788 from County Wide Paving of Princeton to repair cracks on the Zearing Park walking path and original parking lot and driveway.
Superintendent of Parks Keith Scherer said six persons expressed interest in the Zearing Park job, but only one returned a bid. The County Wide Paving bid came in under the $35,000 budgeted for the work, he said.
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