At Monday night’s council meeting, John Makley of the Park Board presented a new park to be constructed in Shelby. Councilman Steven Schag also provided an update with the Utilities and Street Committee that noted special awards received and Mayor Marilyn John made note of a “A Night of Christmas Magic” that will take place in downtown Shelby on Sunday.
Makley provided members of council with a conceptual budget, a schedule, and a drawing for the new park, Blackfork Commons. “Basically, through the twists and turns of this park, we decided we wanted to just get an imprint that we can add onto. With that we designated $375,000 from the park fund to do that next year,” said Makley.
“We have grants to help with this and total about $150,000. Except for the Shelby Foundation grant, the other grants are reimbursement grants which means that the project needs to be completed. This is why we have allotted that much money to get the park completed. The park board has approved the conceptual budget and construction will start in mid-July of 2014,” said Makley.
Councilman Schag added support for the project. “This is a first look at conceptual drawings and it looks like it is a good starting place. I like the way it is coming in piece by piece and the building block style that you can continue to expand on. I think it is an excellent approach with an enhancement for downtown,” said Schag.
Schag provided council with an update on the Utilities and Street Committee. He commended John Ensman’s report covering some important and timely topics of utilities: that the city’s electric telecommunication division received some special awards.
“The awards recognized the stellar efforts of our workforce in safety and service,” Schag noted.
Councilman Garland John Gates brought the city’s light plant to the discussion. “We had what was labeled as option number one and option number two. In option number one, it was to make repairs to the damaged equipment from boilers one, two, and four. The price is huge of that option. The second option involved retiring the boilers and to look at quick start natural gas,” said Gates.
A motion by Mr. Gates and a second from Mr. Hoover passed to accept the administration’s second option.
Mayor John reminded council that “The Polar Express” will be arriving in downtown Shelby on Sunday, November 24 at 5:30 p.m. “A Night of Christmas Magic will be in Shelby on Sunday and you all will want to be downtown to see the train,” said John.
In legislation, substitute ordinance number nine, ordinance number 41, and ordinance number 42 were passed by council.
