ROCHELLE — The Flagg-Rochelle Community Park District Board of Commissioners held a public hearing for and unanimously approved the sale of $850,000 in general obligation park bonds at its Monday meeting. 

"We do this yearly to pay our capital projects for things like the Helms roof, the VFW and Cooper Park shelters, sealcoating projects, marina decking, Spring Lake, etc.,” Board Vice President John Dobbs said. “We did lower the bond amount this year because of the capital fund reserve as well as there being a smaller number of projects for the coming year." 

During her Executive Director comments portion of the meeting, Jackee Ohlinger discussed those projects for the upcoming year and more. After a fire damaged the pool heater at Spring Lake towards the end of its season, the district will have to put a new one out for bid and get a permit from the Illinois Department of Public Health in time for next season. 

An insurance adjuster recently came to review the pool heater and the district will find out soon if it will be covered. The decking at the Spring Lake Marina will also be replaced and the park district recently sent out a request for bids. A pre-bid meeting will be held Jan. 3 to make sure bidders know exactly what the project is. The bids will be reviewed at the board’s February meeting. 

The district is looking to replace the shelters at VFW Park and Cooper Park. They would be similar to what has been done at Powers Park. 

The park district is working on replacing the Skare Park trail markers as a lot of them have rotted off. It’s looking at redoing some of the trails and adding more and redoing the markers and map, which all should be ready to go for next season, Ohlinger said.

When discussing recent projects. Ohlinger said the Spring Lake lift station was completed about two weeks ago and some work was done inside the filter room. A new fishing pier has also been installed at the facility. 

Concrete sealing was recently completed at The REC Center. Signs detailing prohibited activities at each park have been replaced.

Helms roof

The board unanimously approved a $32,400 bid from Top Roofing to redo the roof at Helms Field over the winter. 

“When I was talking to different businesses and companies, they were concerned with supplies,” Ohlinger said. “Top Roofing has the supplies already and can meet the deadline. It will be good to get that done this winter.”

2nd Street property

Ohlinger said the district has seen “a lot” of interest in its former office and storage buildings on 2nd Street after starting a sale period at last month’s meeting. The bid submission is due Jan. 10 at noon. 

At last month’s meeting, Board President Tim Hayden said the property has been appraised at $140,000. The property would likely have to be rezoned upon sale. He said the park district had already received inquiries about the property that has been vacated by a move to the newly-constructed REC Center.