All 12 parks in the Bartholomew County Parks Department system are set to receive either equipment replacement or facility upgrades in the future.
The improvements will begin in early to mid-summer with the replacement of playground equipment at Grammer Park, located near the intersection of County Roads 1000E and 300S, and Petersville Park, off County Road 550E, just north of East 25th Street.
Along with the new equipment, the playground areas will undergo site preparation work and be made compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, county parks director Rich Day said.
Every year, the county plans to replace or update amenities in one to two parks until all planned improvements are completed, Day said. Besides Grammer and Petersville, the other county parks are Anderson Falls, Azalia, Clifford, Dunn, Elizabethtown, Heflen, Mt. Healthy, Owens Bend, Rock Creek and Wayne.
The announcement marks an expansion of improvement at county parks. In 2019, the 12-park system operated on an shoestring budget of $210,659. Money was so tight that members of the county parks board did much of the physical work themselves. There were no full-time employees, nor programming.
But after the county raised local income taxes in early 2018, elected county officials learned that Dunn Stadium and Heflen Park were creating operational revenue. That prompted the county council and county commissioners to begin investing more into their parks by first creating a five year master plan.
This year, the Bartholomew County Parks budget climbed to $659,471 – more than three times more than what it was just five years ago.
Admittedly, that figure pales in comparison to the $7.43 million general fund budget for the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department, which has three other budgets for financial support.
Hover, the influx of new revenue has allowed the Bartholomew County Parks to take some significant steps forward.
In May 2020, Day became the first county parks director in Bartholomew County history.
In March 2023, the parks board made a decision to invest $726,170 on a new LED lighting system to illuminate all four ball diamonds at Dunn Stadium. It was also announced that more than $1,800 will be spent to make practice ball diamonds in Wayne, Petersville and Rock Creek parks safer and more playable.
Last summer, the county parks paid $80,422 to get a handle on soil erosion at Heflen Park. In autumn, a decision was made to spend more than $600,000 on an illuminated 12-court pickle ball complex at Dunn.
Funds from the federal American Rescue Plan were used when legally permitted for some of these upgrades.
When Day’s office posted about the upcoming county park upgrades on social media, a number of individuals asked when their neighborhood park might be improved.
“Purchasing playground equipment and site preparation work are an expensive endeavor,” a county parks official wrote. “Our budget allows us to do one or two parks at a time during one fiscal year. It’s a slow process, but it’s the best we can do within the budget we need to work with.”
