NB Council to review request for park manager

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NEW BREMEN- At a special meeting Thursday night, June 18, the New Bremen Village Council said they would follow up on the request made by resident Kim Prueter to fill a village park manager position.

The position has been vacant since September 2019. Prueter, who filled the parks manager position 10 years ago, provided pictures detailing areas she considered signs of neglect of village property.

One area of concern for Prueter was the ball diamond maintenance. She said that the diamond needed to be regularly leveled using the proper soil material.

In particular, she pointed out the importance of keeping the edge of the ball diamonds level with the grass field. She said without keeping that edge level, there was a risk of a ball taking a bad bounce and becoming a projectile that could hit the player.

As to proper fill material, Prueter said when soil was brought in, it was the wrong type, being soil from lake dredge that had stones and other material in it.

Prueter assured council several times that she was not interested in filling the manager position again, but wished to be a voice to make sure the village was aware of the problems and village residents had quality parks.

Other pictures she presented showed tennis court cracks repaired with black asphalt instead of matching green or red filler. She said when she left the position, there was ample supplies of red and green asphalt available.

She also pointed out overgrowth at the Bremenfest Park entrance and weedy landscaped areas along village streets as well as a shelterhouse in need of power-washing, a grill full of last year’s charcoal, and a peeling bench. Another picture shows a tree with mulch at its base but being surrounded by dead grass, indicating over-spray of the area.

Prueter urged the bouncil not only to fill the parks position but to be very selective about picking someone with proper experience and licensing in landscape management, forestry, ball diamond maintenance, etc.

Council member Jessica Lomakin, head of the council’s parks committee, said they would meet to understand the situation and make some decisions about actions they could take. She said they would discuss the results at the July 13 council meeting.

By Sandy Rose Schwieterman

For the Sidney Daily News

The writer is a regular contributor to the Sidney Daily News.

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