Woodhull Township park board weighs raising $10 ballfield rental fee

Reserving a ballfield at Woodhull Township Park still costs $10, but that number is on the table. At its June 9 meeting at the township hall on Beard Road, the Woodhull Township Park and Recreation Commission discussed raising the per-rental rate "to recoup costs," according to minutes posted this month. The commission did not vote. The minutes say the fee "will be revisited in the future to vote on."

Two of the five commissioners were absent. Chairman Katie Drury and Trustee Adam Witzel did not attend. Treasurer Chelsea Moore, Secretary Alyson Bawks and Trustee Keith Young were present, and every vote that night carried 3-0: the agenda, the May 11 minutes, the budget as it stands, and adjournment at 8:17 p.m.

The bigger item for anyone who uses the park is the township's five-year recreation plan. The minutes say a survey went out both online and on paper, and that a representative of the firm ROWE, identified in the minutes only as "Hri," asked for a map of the park, which Drury said she would work on. The public hearing the commission had planned for June was moved to the end of July. Michigan requires a current five-year recreation plan for a community to apply for state parks and recreation grants.

Park Facilities Manager Kirt Wilson reported that a tree had been removed and mulch put down in the playground area, and that the baseball fields are dragged twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. He told the commission he would get a price for replacing a wheel on the tractor used to drag the fields, and raised the need for weed control on the ballfields, to be done soon after the season ends. No cost figures appear in the minutes.

The minutes also record a personnel change: Jerry Bawks, the former park facilities manager, "is no longer actively working in this role," and the commission plans to hire him back as needed for special projects.

Summer programming at the park began the night of the meeting, June 9. The minutes list Art in the Park, the Harris Nature Center and two visits from a magician, with Moore having finalized and already distributed the schedule to the public. Under new business, Bawks said she has a contact at playground equipment maker GameTime whom she will ask about new playground options and costs, and that she would look into a portable pickleball net for the basketball area of the playground. There was no public comment at either opportunity.

The park commission is separate from the Woodhull Township Board, which has been moving on other fronts this summer. The Current reported in August that the township board approved the Rolling Hills planned unit development and $172,186.96 in bills on 5-0 votes Aug. 12, and set October public hearings on the ambulance assessment.

What happens next: the commission set its next meeting for July 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the township hall, 7315 Beard Rd. Minutes from that meeting and from the late-July recreation plan public hearing have not been posted, so it is not known whether the hearing was held, what the survey found, or whether the commission has settled on a new ballfield rental rate. The tractor wheel price and any playground equipment quotes are also still unreported.