Arcadia still puzzled on how to rent parks

Arcadia officials have not yet found a clear answer for how to rent city park facilities and assure they are clean.

To be able to rent parks on both weekend days, council members last Wednesday considered hiring a cleaning service, high security deposits, using water utility or pool staff to monitor and asking candidates for pool manager whether they would check the shelters on the weekends. Officials may ask other cities how they handle the condition of their parks and could, as one member suggested, lock the shelters as large cities do.

The city has previously limited rentals to Saturday because of the difficulty of assuring a clean shelter for Sunday renters. Angela Berg, city clerk and treasurer, said a cleaning service working on the weekend would likely charge between $30 and $35 an hour.

“We should try a security deposit of, say, $200,” suggested council member Kyle Myhre. “We would hold the check or cash until Monday, and if the shelter is clean, refund the money. Let’s try it and see if it works.”

Member of the council Dan Sonsalla said the county has instituted high security deposits for use of the shelter at Pietrek Park.

City operations director Roland Conrad noted, however, that a renter could leave the shelter clean and “hoodlums would come in later and trash it.”

Council member Paul Anderson said Deer Park is frequently “trashed” with broken glass. “The River Street corridor is glass central,” Anderson said. The city’s contract for shelter rental forbids glass.

A city park that won’t be rented is Vilas Hanson Park, which is locked because of persistent damage, Conrad said. “All the soffit is smashed,” Conrad said. “If we hired someone to fix it, it would cost us $5,000.”

In other park action, the council approved a $5,900 proposal to plant trees around and in Deer Park. The approval is contingent on the vendor, Legacy Trees, guaranteeing the apple trees to be planted in the shelter and protected by fences. Mayor Kevin Mayzek said the state department of natural resources has cited a lack of shade as a problem with the park.