The Clinton County Recreation/Park Board held its regular meeting last Thursday night, March 28, and, for the first time in several months, there was a clear majority of members on hand to constitute a full quorum to conduct business.

The meeting was the first regular meeting of a revamped board which has seen several new members appointed by both the county and board of education over the past few weeks.

For the past several months, business had to be conducted by an “executive committee” made up of about a half dozen members who attended to take care of needed business.

That has not been the case for the last two sessions (one being a call meeting the week previous) after new members were appointed, along with some re-appointments.

Last week, some 13 (of 15 total) members were on hand for the just under half-hour meeting, which saw routine items of business either discussed or voted on.

The board did vote, on a motion by Randy Speck, to retain the executive committee to take action in any situation in which a full quorum of eight or more members could not be present. Those members include Speck, Leland Hicks and the three board officers, Chairman Wayne Glover, Vice-Chair Paula Little, Treasurer Gina Poore and Secretary Gary Guffey.

Board chairman Glover opened the meeting by welcoming the new members to the recreation/park board. He also, on behalf of the board, thanked the Clinton County Woman’s Club for their recent $100 donation to the park.

The board also voted to approve the monthly treasurer’s report and discussed making repairs to the swing set on the park’s playground.

Following a brief discussion about the possibility of a donation from Tyson Foods (Keystone LLC), a motion was made by board member David McIver to have Paula Little send a written request to the company in regards to possibly funding to help the park.

Some other buildings and grounds issues were also discussed, including that the new dugouts are practically completed. There has been a lot of positive feedback about the assets of having the new dugouts in place, as well as repairs recently made to the playing fields.

Board member Todd Messer then discussed the feasibility and of adding a safety net between ball fields and the stand areas, which would be placed between the north side field and dugouts.

The board will proceed to get some cost estimates on the project.

The board also discussed a problem with vehicles getting onto the basketball courts at night and the continuous problem of illegal trash dumping at the park.

Although no official votes were taken on either of the aforementioned matters, the board was ofa consensus that anyone caught dumping trash anywhere at the park would be prosecuted or suspected illegal activity would be thoroughly investigated to find the perpetrators.

Finally, the board discussed shelter fees at the park, which board member Matt Smith noted had not been raised for several years. However, the board, without a vote, agreed to keep the shelter fee at $25 and Farmer’s Market rental fee at $35.00.

Also noted during the meeting was the upcoming Youth Baseball/Softball opening.

This year, the annual kick-off parade will be held on Friday, April 12 with no actual games being played. The first games will be played the following week to start the season.

The next regular meeting of the Clinton County Rec/Park Board is scheduled for Thursday, April 25 and is open to the public.