By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Decatur still has approximately $1 million in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds and Mayor Dan Rickord is hoping to use some of those funds on several quality-of-life improvements and additions around the city.
Meanwhile, the city has just launched a crowdfunding program for the Kekionga Project, which includes a dog park, stocking the pond beside the dog park, and making much-needed improvements to the Kekionga Park ball diamond used by adult men and co-ed teams.
It was announced Tuesday that the city has received the okay from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA)’s CreatINg Places program for a $50,000 matching grant. However, $50,000 must be raised locally by August 5 in order to obtain the match.
In a discussion at Tuesday night’s Decatur City Council meeting, the mayor also tossed out a new idea: improving the skateboard area across Fifth St. from the city swimming pool.
Rickord said he has talked with a group of skateboarders and found them to be “a great group of kids who would just like a nice place to ride. What they have down there is insufficient (see photo).”
The young people like the location, but improvements to the skate park are definitely needed, he remarked.
Operations Manager Jeremy Gilbert said some of the projects in mind “are maybe $5,000, $15,000 qualify-of-life projects.” Some of them, he added, could be completed in two, three days.
Rickord is particularly interested in shaping up the ball diamond. The men’s slo-pitch league, he noted, was moved out of its Hanna-Nuttman park location when the park was converted into what is now the REV Sports Complex. “They were told that they would have another nice to play, but that was three or four years ago,” the mayor said.
He added that the men’s league and the co-ed teams are already doing some fundraising on their own.
Currently, the city and county are teaming up to add pickleball courts and a new sand volleyball court at Riverside Center.
At the same time, the two pickleball courts at the REV Complex are being turned into three.
Lots of projects, lots of funds needed. How much money might be needed from the ARPA pot? The mayor said that at this time, there just no way to know. “It really depends on getting the Kekionga Project done before we can really know,” he said.
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