This photo by Sam Blinn won the grand prize in the 2023 Fall Photo Contest, presented by the Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District and sponsored by Susie Jarvis with The Photo Booth. Participants were tasked with snapping pictures at one of the district’s 15 parks to capture the colors of autumn in Ohio. (SAM BLINN PHOTO)
As voting wrapped up across Ohio, the Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District (BJRD) board of trustees conducted their regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 7. And they started by praising the efforts of the community toward an income tax levy to better the city’s parks, whatever the result.
But though the levy failed by barely 100 votes, the district was, nevertheless, encouraged.
“No matter what the outcome of the election tonight, I’ve been humbled by the outpouring of support from this community,” Kris Myers, parks superintendent, stated Tuesday night. “Thank you for caring.”
Justin Dinovo, Vote Yes! for Parks committee chair, was also at the meeting.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and this gave me a chance to see what this community has to offer,” he said. “That support gave us the energy to keep going.”
Myers then asked Tim Hales, recreation coordinator, to give the regular programs update. With fall sports wrapped up, Hales had a good report on how the teams had done.
The Chieftain Black middle school soccer team claimed the Logan County league title with a win over Calvary Christian School. In football, the JV and tackle teams qualified for the CBC division championship games of the Mad River Valley League and both teams came in second. The cheer team placed third in the same league competition.
As for winter sports, Hales said, “Basketball is off and running, but the numbers are more spread out this year.” For instance, Little Dribblers are down while more participants registered for the fourth through sixth grade recreational basketball leagues.
Wrestling numbers, however, are still coming in as the district decided to extend the registration deadline another month. Finally, Hales told the board they have 10 participants in the adaptive bowling league so far, but he expects that number to lap last year, which had 19 players.
Hales then spoke about this year’s second annual fall photo contest, which was sponsored by Susie Jarvis with The Photo Booth. They received 18 photos from 12 contestants. The grand prize — a photo package from The Photo Booth — went to Sam Blinn. Runners-up were Michael Stachler and Dennis Schaub.
Other board action:
- A Letters to Santa box will go up after Thanksgiving. Children can “mail” their letters through Dec. 17.
- The 2024 winter walking program will start in January and go through March 14. A master calendar with the schedule will be ready soon.
- According to Myers, they have “maximized every penny of the budget so far this year.” The temporary budget for 2024 will be presented to the city council on Tuesday, Nov. 14, with the permanent receiving official approval in March.
- Efforts are underway to move two disc holes at the Rutan Park disc golf course. They are also working to anchor a permanent porta-john near the Play at the Peek playground.
- The department plans to repair sidewalks throughout the parks.
- Winterization is mostly done. They are now preparing to chop and mulch leaves.
- The invasive species project at Myeerah has been wrapped up for the year. “We used contractor and volunteer help,” Myers said, adding, “And Myeerah was packed with fall colors two weeks ago.”
- Flags in honor of local veterans will go up near the southeast corner of Blue Jacket Park over Veteran’s Day weekend. These will carry the names of 439 members of the armed services who are related to Bellefontaine City School students. This visible remembrance will be lit 24/7.
The next BJRD board meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5.
The Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District board of trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, Nov. 7. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)