Marathon moves to next phase of park project
By Kevin O’Brien
Marathon City officials are preparing to move on to the next phase of the village’s ballpark project by seeking bids for playground equipment and pickleball courts.
At their monthly meeting on Feb. 5, trustees voted to solicit bids after reviewing graphic renderings of playground equipment to be installed at the park using $175,000 in donated money and an anticipated state grant.
This work will be done as part of Phase 1C of the project, which will focus on amenities beyond the three newly established ballfields and concession stand building.
Village administrator Steve Cherek said the village is obligated to spend the $175,000 in donations on a playground and pickleball courts based on the donors’ wishes.
“If we don’t build them, then we would have to give them that money back,” he told the board.
Cherek said he worked with the donors to select a vendor, Play & Park Structures, which provided options for the village to consider. One of the donor’s priorities was to include handicap accessible equipment, he said, so that was incorporated into the initial designs.
The designs presented to the board includes separate structures for younger and older kids, along with a base of playgroundcertified wood chips for safety.
Cherek said the village is also planning to apply for a 50 percent matching grant from the state.
“In my budgeted amount, the only way it works is if we hit that match,” he said. “Otherwise, we won’t be building a playground.”
Trustees also approved a $24,000 budget increase for Phases 1A and 1B of the project, which will be used to pay for bases, padded backstops, concession stand sinks, signage and planting grass on empty land that is slated to become a fourth ballfield in the future. These expenses will be covered by money raised by the Marathon Lions Club, which provided an original $5,000 contribution and then matched other donations that came in from Nov. 24 through Jan. 31.
Village president Kurt Handrick wondered if it would be better to hold off on planting grass on the future site of the fourth field and allow that area to be used for parking instead. Cherek, however, said something needs to be planted there to prevent soil erosion.
“If we don’t plant grass there, all of that dirt’s going to wash away and erode our ditches and our settling ponds,” he said. “It needs to have some type of surface on it; otherwise, we’re just going to be fighting erosion.”
Cherek said he envisions the area as a place where people can put up pop-up tents and warm up for games during tournaments.
“The village is going to find that very useful to have that as a grass field in the park,” he said. “I just can’t see it being a parking lot.”
To date, just over $4 million has been raised for the project, which includes a $450,000 federal park grant, $370,555 in proceeds from the sale of the east field at Veterans Park and roughly $3.7 million in donations. Of those donations, $175,000 is reserved for the playground and pickleball courts, leaving a shortfall of about $19,700 for Phase 1A and 1B.
“I remember several months ago that our shortfall was a lot larger, in the couple hundred thousand range,” Cherek said. “I’ve been working with a lot of donation sources, and we’ve definitely shortened that up.”
In a related matter, Cherek said he and village attorney Shane VanderWaal are drafting recreational use agreements with local baseball and softball groups that will use the new ballpark and Veterans Park. Trustees have agreed that the village needs to start charging fees to recoup the cost of running the ballparks, but they have not settled on how much to charge.
“We plan on having meetings with the groups,” Cherek said.
Other business
■ The board voted to have someone from Vierbicher retest the water pressure in local fire hydrants after the Insurance Services Office (ISO) docked the village points for having low hydrant pressure. Cherek said the insurance inspector who tested the hydrants may have used the wrong pressure gauge, resulting in an inaccurate reading.
The village’s ISO rating, which measures its ability to effectively put out fires, went from 4 to 6 in the latest report, which is considered a downgrade within the ISO rating system. Trustee Keith Paul, a local insurance agent, said it was his understanding that the true ISO rating was changed to 5. A change from 4 to 6 could increase local insurances rates by hundreds of dollars, whereas a change to 5 would translate to less than $100 increases, he noted.
Trustees questioned whether the village’s water pressure could have dropped that significantly since the last time the hydrants were tested in 2018, so they agreed to have Vierbicher test the hydrants again.
Cherek said he has also been working with the local fire chief on things the department can do to improve the village’s ISO rating and keep insurance rates down.
“I believe there are many ways we can improve,” he said.
■ The board renewed the village’s contract with the Edgar Ambulance Service for $10,913, an increase of about $3,000 over last year. Cherek and village board members agreed that the village has a good working relationship with the neighboring village’s EMT service.
■ Cherek said it cost $14,470 to replace a fire hydrant on Chesnut Street that was struck by a vehicle. He said the village has received a payout from its insurance company and the police department is trying to track down the driver who left the scene of the accident.
■ Cherek said the village received a check from K.C. Industries, which agreed to pay the village $24,721 to settle a lawsuit related to the company’s faulty fluoridation system. A decision still needs to be made about whether the village will go back to fluoridating its water in the future.
■ The board took no action on issuing an alcohol operator’s license for Rennee Crotteau at the Home Bar & Grill, citing concerns with recent alcohol-related offenses.
ONE POSSIBILITY - The graphic rendering above, developed by Play& Park Structures, shows one possibility for playground equipment to be purchased for Marathon City’s new ballpark facility on the east side of the village. The village board voted last week to solicit bids for playground equipment and pickleball courts to be built near the new ballfields.
