The Trenton Park Board on February 1st approved the city purchasing a lawn mower and advertising a dump truck.
The city will be allowed to purchase a mower from the Park Department for $6,000.
Park Superintendent David Shockley reported the Park Board previously talked about advertising two mowers on the Purple Wave auction website. He had not yet advertised the mowers on Purple Wave.
He asked the city if it would like to buy the mowers, and the city expressed interest in buying one of them for $6,000.
Shockley said the mowers were bought in 2015 or 2016 for about $11,000, and he felt like $6,000 was a good price.
Park Board President Curtis Crawford said he would not be opposed to the mower being sold to the city if another city entity could use it. He noted the city had purchased mowers from the Park Department in the past.
The other mower will be advertised on Purple Wave.
The board approved Shockley also advertising a 1985 dump truck on Purple Wave.
Shockley reported the Park Department does not use the vehicle much, and he would like to look into a dump trailer.
Park Board Member Gary Schuett said if the Park Department did not use the dump truck, he thought it was okay to advertise it. Other board members agreed.
The Park Board also approved Shockley advertising for pool employees and summer help for the Park Department.
Crawford said he wanted to be proactive and did not want to worry about having enough pool employees.
He noted information has been sent to schools in the past, and he thought it was okay to advertise on social media.
Board Member Andy Cox said he thought some pool employees from last year would come back this year. Shockley said he thought the manager would return and contact employees from last year.
Crawford encouraged board members to consider projects they wanted to be accomplished in the coming year and things that might improve park areas. That way it can be determined how much projects might cost, and the costs can be figured into the 2023-2024 budget.
Crawford said ideas would likely be brought back in March, and Shockley could go over the numbers.
Shockley said he had started to work on the budget and come up with a project list to present to the board.
Crawford noted one thing that should go into the budget was replacing the fence by the diving board at the pool. Shockley said he thought it was the original fence.
The Park Department budget has to be approved before the fiscal year starts in May.
Shockley gave an update on the Griffin Field press box. He said work is in the tear-down process to prepare for the builders to start on the new structure next week.
It was previously reported that a Region 16 National Junior College Athletic Association Tournament was being planned in Trenton.
In September, North Central Missouri College Athletic Director Nate Gamet said he wanted to build on top of the current press box to make it bigger and nicer for broadcast media. The Park Board approved the project at that time. Most of the project is being funded by North Central Missouri College. The rest of the project will be funded by a memorial fund in tribute to Howie Lynch.
Shockley reported all of the trees have been removed and cleaned up that were marked for removal in the fall. He thanked the Street Department for its help.
Schuett said he did some pruning on some newer trees. He thinks a good job has been done on watering the trees when needed, and he thinks the trees have done well for taxpayers.
Schuett said he plans to clean up Sesquicentennial Park when the weather improves.
Shockley reported the Park Department has removed snow from the fire safety center, airport, and walking trail three times in the last two months.
The Park Department has gone through its overstock supplies in the shop to see what needs to be ordered and what it has plenty of for the spring and summer. The department has also completed the yearly maintenance of its equipment.
