The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Department Board met Monday evening and received updates on various projects and grant applications. During their meeting, the Board approved a contract with Snyder and Associates Engineers conceptual design and cost estimates, for improvements to the Schildberg Recreation Area. The information, when compiled, will be submitted to Vision Iowa along with other supporting documents, in an attempt to receive grant monies for the project. Snyders’ fee for the work amounts to $2,550, which can be paid for through the Local Option Sales Tax or available funds in the Schildberg Rec Area Fund.

Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring stressed the need for letters of support from the community and businesses for inclusion in the Vision Iowa grant application. He said some people, as evidenced by a letter written to the local paper, don’t understand the importance of the Schildberg Rec Area to the economic vitality of Atlantic. He said he intends to work harder to make it clear how important having the Rec Area is, not only to Atlantic, but to Cass County.

In other business, the Parks and Rec Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the City and Nishna Valley YMCA for a Pool Manager and Aquatics Director. The agreement also incorporates organized Pickleball, Adult Tennis, Horseshoes and Active Older Adults, activities, along with the advertising of those available activities. The agreement, which must also be approved by the YMCA Board, would cost the Department $11,329, or about $800 more than before.

And, Parks and Rec Assistant Director Seth Staashelm said the new online reservation system for park shelters in Atlantic is up and running. There are some tweaks they’d like to make to the system, but that would cost more than the original contract amount, so it’s something they could look at doing in the future.