Park Board - June & July
The Park Board is a committee of the city, and I have been appointed to represent the city council on the board. I serve with 5 citizens appointed to the board and 2 staff members over Parks and Recreation.
June 12, 2025
In our June board meeting, we heard an update from Keith, a city employee who works in the Parks department. He shared information about the winter/spring programs that wrapped up in March and April, and the upcoming summer programs.
Youth basketball program wrapped in March with 1,000+ participants
Mason All Stars Basketball is an adaptive league for folks with disabilities and had 117 participants. The season ran from January - April. This year they had so many participants, they needed to hold 2 end-of-season banquets. The American Legion donated their hall for these celebrations.
Adult softball runs a recreational league of coed teams and a church league (men only). They’ve considered forming a competitive league but so far have not had enough interest. They’re also considered running a fall recreational league.
In May, the city hosted “Casting Freedom,” a fishing event for veterans. This is the 3rd or 4th year we’ve hosted the event, where we gave out more than 60 “American Hero” fishing poles to veterans, kids, and family members.
In mid-June, the city hosted a family fishing day. They received a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to purchase poles and equipment for this program, summer camps, and others.
Directors Report
The Parks and Recreation director gave a report on May activities.
Community Yoga on the front plaza during an upcoming evening is 1 of 3 free yoga classes being offered this year.
The 1st Music in Mason ended early because of weather.
The Municipal Aquatic Center had a slow open with the cool weather and cicadas.
They have begun hosting summer recreational swim meets along with team practices at the indoor community center pool. This 25-meter pool is less intimidating for new swimmers, they can use the high school locker rooms and large commons for team space (which allows the city to keep the community center’s locker rooms free for MCC members. New swimmers also get to use race timing equipment.
This summer, we will have a few combined Market on the Mile and Music in Mason events.
They hosted a sunrise yoga at aquatic center on the outdoor pool deck - another free opportunity to try it
International Day of Yoga - June 21.
Park Rules still being updated. Will have public information officer draft some signs for us to review at an upcoming meeting.
Old & New Business
The board members discussed whether the new tennis center might be usable for concerts, pickle ball, or other residential uses. This is still up for negotiation, and I reminded the board that all energy has been focused on getting the tennis center ready for the tournament in August. Any discussion of non-tournament uses will have to wait until late August.
A member observed that at Makino Park, the city should consider doing some different landscaping or adding pavers where people are cutting through the mulch.
I let the board know that one of the council members will present about the Art Park concept being worked on in the council’s Arts & Culture committee.
July 1, 2025
The Park Board heard from Char Pelfrey, a longtime Mason resident and former council member, mayor, and vice mayor. She shared some of the history of Gould Park, land originally inhabited by Native American tribes and then turned into an active farm.
Char lives on property adjacent to the farm, which was most recently owned by Richard and Eleanor Gould. They decided to take action to protect the land once they passed away, selling it to the city in 2003, during Char’s tenure on council, with specific deed restrictions designating the land to be preserved as a park.
The Gould family now live in Indiana and Kentucky and have asked Char to represent them. Char answers to them for how she speaks about the project.
The Gould Park Committee formed in 2022-2023 and is very invested in the future of the land as a park. In 2023, city council passed an ordinance to direct planning for the park.
At that same time, the city became immersed in the work of retaining the tennis tournament and had to put extensive energy/focus/resources into all the negotiations required to bring that deal to completion. The park committee has been patient to wait through that work.
The committee and Char believe that this park is key to adding walkability to downtown while also reducing traffic and avoiding creating additional parking issues.
I presented multiple concept plans for Gould Park that we’ve been working on in our Arts & Culture Committee.
Questions from board members:
Timing - where is this project in the pipeline of all projects? How long will it take to finish? How do we make sure it doesn’t take 10 years? I explained that we’re still waiting on a park master plan, which will help us to prioritize the needs of each park in the city and determine how and when to invest in them. Until we have that plan done, I can’t answer where this project fits into the larger plan.
Cost estimates - how much will it cost? Simply preparing the ground for a multi-use path across the park will need multiple millions of dollars. As long as we’re digging, we will be most cost effective if we also put in the infrastructure needed for a park, like water and sewer lines, electric/power, and grading. The rest of the park will go in much faster if we have private entities willing to contribute as well.
Integration into other park projects - can any of the Gould Park work be done along with another park project for money savings? Unlikely since it’s physically distant from the other parks and most efficiencies happen when working the same or proximal land.
Directors report
The city is hosting a large tri-county swim meet in early July, and then towards the end of the month, a Lakota high school band is renting the aquatic center for a big end-of-camp party.
Senior day July 23rd - aquatic center
The Aquatic Center hours are 11am-7pm. After 7, the lanes are used for team practices.
The city is hosting a fall pickleball league starting this year.
Old and New Business
A board member asked if there is a pump that’s supposed to irrigate the Sports Park grass from the sewer plant? People have heard rumors and wondered if they’re true. I had the chance to ask our Public Works staff about this. It is true that the city attempted to do this. However, the water from the treatment plant needs to sit inside the various treatment stages for a certain period of time to become safe and usable. The Sports Park is too close to the treatment plan to allow for this. They did also have a pump that failed.
