by Mari Radtke
A meeting of South O’Brien Community School District representatives, City of Paullina and the members of the Swanson Sports Complex Commission. This meeting was attended by Commissioners Kelly Top, Heath Reichle and John Beck; School Superintendent Wade Riley, Mayor Marlin Sjaarda and Councilpersons Nichole Jacobs and Steve Heeren. The meeting opened with a brief overview of Swanson Sports Complex history and prior meetings.
Jacobs opened with her view of a meeting last year about the complex held with Reichle. There was some reflection recognizing the wishes of the Swanson brothers who left the money for recreation in Paullina. She noted that the tennis courts are deteriorated, currently used for parking and that there “are a lot of people interested in a pickle ball court” in that area. She also noted she is following up for previous people before I took a Council seat. She ended with her meeting with Heath wanting to keep the tennis courts parking saying, “that opened up well, what interest does the city have then in the Swanson Complex if we’re not getting anything out of it.”
Reichle responded to the proposed use as a pickle ball court saying, “I think it’s a great idea. It would be great to have it. But it just doesn’t outweigh the problems we have out there. That is biggest issue we have out there. I don’t know where else we go with parking.” He began a conversation about what other options are available for a pickle ball court, mentioning the city park.
Mayor Sjaarda spoke to the recent experience of the study of getting out of the 28E. He noted a DNR grant on the complex. He explained the obligation of city to reinvenst the current market value of the space into another project to get out of the partnership that was begun in the 1980’s. He wrapped up with the city would like to get some recreational value out of the complex.
He addressed the parking issue with the suggestion that players park at the school and get bussed to the complex to free up parking. Superintendent Riley picked up there. He provided an overview of the parking efforts in the area since he took his position. He said he believed that the reorganizing of the space gained perhaps 15 parking spaces. He then went into describing the aesthetic needs of the area saying, “both the school and the city have done a poor job taking care of it.” He noted overgrown trees and the fencing condition. But his main point was the difficulty in parking. That was followed up with the natural condition of the area north of the tennis courts being simply way to wet to be trusted. But using it for parking talks continued with Steve Heeren jumped in with the suggestion that the city could help with graveling the area to help use the area. Some discussion of acquiring land south of Swanson Street was briefly held, going nowhere to the issue at hand.
The baseball and softball fields are used 12 -14 nights per year.
Sjaarda said, “There’s not going to be much money to devote to the sports complex, beyond what we currently do especially from a capital improvements standpoint and especially if it doesn’t benefit the residents, the taxpayers in Paullina.” He recognized that the commission annually prepares a minimal maintenance budget for both bodies. Sjaarda explained that the city is right in the middle of budgeting and every department is going to take cuts. He reinforced that the city is not able to assist with capital improvement projects.
Riley reflected on an early career here meeting with former city clerk Sandy Fritz and her request for a 5-year plan at Swanson. They did develop one that was not substantially kept to. Specifically he mentioned that lights were on that list, but there are no new lights. He spoke about the school’s budget limitations at this time as well, citing the building project. It was agreed that a 5-year plan would be a good guide.
Sjaarda reiterated that the area is most beneficial to the school district. He said, “From a taxing standpoint is it goes beyond the residents of the city limits of Paullina. Anything that Paullina contributes is just paid for by just the citizens of Paullina.” He went on to ask, “How do we broaden that out to spread the cost amongst the whole area?”