The Paulding Parks board met on Tuesday, August 11 at LaFountain Park pavilion, discussing the future of the parks in Paulding. Paulding village residents were there to discuss changes needed and to see what could or should be done. While at the meeting Dale Goebel, Village Administrator, introduced plans with security cameras and lighting to make sure the park and the kids stay safe. The old cameras still function and may be able to be used in a location that doesn’t require as a high of resolution. The 25’ poles are going to be installed in a place that will allow the new LED lights to illuminate the park for the cameras and safety. Todd Schweller already replaced some of the lights from the pavilion side and it is much better. The cost to install the pole, 2 cameras and lights is about $7500.
The village received a Community Block Development Group grant up to $50,000 in matching funds through MVPO and this will be put to use in the Mary (Sal) Hench Skate park where the old equipment is deteriorating. City Councilman Tim Boss said he travelled to several skate parks and looked to see what would work well. Some were made of concrete and others were metal. The metal parks were galvanized to keep the equipment from rusting. The price that was given to Dale was just under $100,000. Andrea Schlueter, Parks Board, asked if would be possible to sell the old park equipment to interested parties and recoup some of the monies and apply them to the new equipment. Andrea stated that she had investigated the parks in Van Wert and Defiance and had sent ideas to Dale.
The playground equipment was also discussed. Some of the wood has rotted and split with age. Dale pointed out the necessary repairs to make the rails safe from splinters and screws. He also suggested to the parks board to concrete the pathway from the pavilion to the playground and put the sponsor bricks in a wall and keep people from walking on it. This would make the path smooth rather than rickety bricks now.
