The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department’s Board of Directors met via Zoom, Monday evening. Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen said he plans on meeting with a contractor to get the bathroom for the Sunnyside Park Tennis Court opened-up, soon. There were issues with the facilities that required it to be closed, last year.

Rasmussen said some of the dog park equipment that’s been in storage for the Winter, was installed over the past week or so. He said “Everything that’s out there, we were able to [put into place] because of the donations that came in through the donation post” located at the dog park. The only piece of equipment that has yet to arrive, he said, is a hoop that is being built by Curtis Welding. There are numerous tires of various heights and styles that are partially sunk into the ground for dogs to play on. They’ve been painted in a colorful and whimsical way, to make them attractive and fun to look at.

Rasmussen said the response has been phenomenal, and “The donations keep coming, so we’re starting to look at what other things we can continue to add out there.” He said also, he was contacted by the City of Creston late last week. They were looking for advice on putting in a dog park, as well, and wondered how the attractions for the Atlantic Dog Park were obtained. The Park Board members praised the way the Dog Park has turned out. Park Board Member Jolene Smith said “It was really used Sunday,” when the weather was just about perfect.

Rasmussen said he and Foreman Kyle Welter are working on plans for summer programs, including the possibility of incorporating “Jazzercise” into the parks through Jazzercise, Atlantic. “Hopefully this summer we’ll be able to roll [that] out,” and maybe hold the class three or four times over the Summer.  Rasmussen said they’re looking to have the cost of most Summer Programs the same as last year, except for Slow Pitch softball. There is also the possibility of Co-Ed slow pitch, since it wasn’t available last year. The final decision on SP will come later this Spring. Swim Team, Tennis and Pickle-ball would all be the same, and some events will be free.

In other news, the Campground Kiosk at the Schildberg Rec Area has been updated to include the requirement that campers have evidence of having paying for your spot. That must be with you at all times, whether that’s in the window of your camper, or whether Parks Staff knock on the door and ask for proof of payment. Rasmussen said they’re trying to eliminate “The go-between that we get into, running back to City Hall,” to see if a person had actually paid and then running back to see if the camper has evidence for it if they haven’t paid for their spot. Rasmussen said the Campground Hosts are in-place. They will help to make sure spaces are being used by PAID campers.

Rasmussen said there are some questions that have been raised with regard to parking at the Little League/Soccer Complex (across from KJAN), which the City rents from AMU. The question, he said, boils down to “How that area is used. The issues right now is, during Little League days, they don’t have enough parking, so they are wanting to have overflow parking go onto the soccer fields.” He said the Soccer Association obviously doesn’t want that to happen, “Because they’re wanting to make sure their fields aren’t getting torn-up.”

Parks Board member Ashley Hayes said the problem is that people aren’t parking smartly out there. “You should be able to get four rows of parking on the west side, and two rows of parking on the east side.” There really hadn’t been an issue with parking until Soccer began to grow in popularity over the past five-years, the Board said. The complex is owned by AMU (Atlantic Municipal Utilities). Rasmussen will try and coordinate a meeting between the respective parties and AMU, to come to some sort of compromise on the matter of parking.

The Parks and Rec Board voted to return to City Hall for their regular monthly meetings, beginning May 17th at 5:15-p.m. Up until now, their meetings had been held electronically, due to concerns over COVID. Increased vaccinations and a reduction in Cass County cases prompted the decision to return to in-person meetings for the foreseeable future.