By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH, Ind. – For the past year, officials with the inclusive park committee have been concentrating on fundraising.
Those efforts have paid off, for as of Dec. 13, the group has raised 80 percent of the funds for the $1.7 million project.
That’s what committee co-chair Shelly Myers told the Wabash Board of Parks and Recreation when she gave an update during its December meeting.
And while the committee has the vast majority of the funds either in hand or pledged, its members are not stopping until the entire total is raised.
“We have been super fortunate that we have not had much resistance,” Myers told the park board. “We’ve had a handful of people question location – why is the park going there?
“And we’ve had some say they like the project, but they’re tapped out (of money) for the year and to come see them again.”
In addition, the committee is continuing to seek grants for the remaining 20 percent of the funds. It will be applying for grants from the Christopher Reeve Foundation and from the AWS Foundation, she said.
When the fundraising campaign closes in on the last $100,000, the committee plans to launch a CreatINg Places Program Crowd Granting Matching Grant Program, which the committee will have to raise $50,000 to be matched dollar-for-dollar through Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority.
As far as the design goes, there is nothing new to report, Myers said.
The committee chose the Hagerman group to oversee the project, and officials there have promised to help cut expenses as much as possible, she said.
“The first thing that was required of them is that they reach out to local subcontractors,” Myers said. “We gave them a list with several on each so they could reach out to them.”
Sometimes, she noted, it could cost slightly more to do so, but committee members felt it important to use local firms for the work as much as possible.
For example, Hagerman was in contact with a Huntington-based landscaping firm. However, the committee opted for a Wabash-based firm, even though it was slightly more expensive, Myers said.
“We’re using Wabash dollars, so we want to spread them out with Wabash businesses,” she said.
Work is slated to begin in mid-March, and Myers said the committee hopes to have reached its fundraising goal by then.
“We don’t want to still be raising funds when the shovel hits the ground,” she said.
However, the committee is looking at things that can be cut at this time, if funds come up short.
“What if we get to February and we’re short?” she asked, rhetorically. “What do we do? Do we start pulling things out? What can we leave out that doesn’t take away from the integrity of the experience?”
One of the first things that could go, Myers said, is the restroom facility. That would save about $80,000.
Although, she told the board, the committee has asked the city to help fund the restrooms if the campaign comes up short.
In another cost-saving measure, she said the Wabash Park Department is considering ordering material to build benches and picnic tables during down time over the winter. That would save funding over ordering them already built.
In the end, though, committee members are hopeful to have enough to pay for the park, as well as to create a fund to help maintain it in the future.
Work on the park, part of the city’s Stellar Program, is expected to be completed by the end of July.