CROTHERSVILLE — Planting trees at two Crothersville parks is among the projects underway by the town’s parks board.
Board member Steve Plasse recently presented a spending request for 13 trees to the Crothersville Town Council and received approval for the $2,930.37 quote from Schneider Nursery in Seymour.
Eleven trees will provide shade for the playground area at Bard Street Park, and a poplar tree and a magnolia tree will be planted at Veterans Park.
“We’ll put a callout to the community for volunteers to help us with that labor as soon as we know when the trees are ready,” Plasse said.
In other parks news, Plasse asked about a QR code being placed on town residents’ utility bills that would connect them to a long-range plan survey for the parks. The council also told him a survey could be created on Survey Monkey or Google Form and pinned to the town’s Facebook page.
Plasse also said the board is looking at installing electricity on the gazebo at Veterans Park to provide lighting and the possibility of amplifying music for events. A fountain similar to the one at Bard Street Park will be added, too.
The board also wants to educate people about the town’s three parks with signage. Information would include the established date, acreage, history, rental information and encouraging people to take care of the parks by putting trash where it belongs.
“We’re looking for help as far as verbiage and history if anybody has that information,” Plasse said.
Work also is planned on the shelter house at Bard Street Park.
“The upper walls are pretty rotten,” Plasse said. “I don’t know if there’s actually any holes yet through the roof, and then the structure itself is really rusting, so we wanted to see if there’s some way to get the most for our buck as far as if we were resheathing it, cleaning that up, painting the structure. We’re hoping the (town’s) engineer could help us with getting a plan there to make the most out of money spent.”
Dan Wright with FPBH Inc. said his company would be willing to assess the shelter house.
Plasse said the parks board is seeking funding from the Community Foundation of Jackson County for that project.
“We’re hoping to make that happen in 2024 if we can get funding,” he said. “(The shelter house) is looking pretty bad.”