01/27/1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

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"THIS IS IT$' PARKS RECREATION & FORESTRY DEPARTMENT WEEK OF JANUARY 3 1994 PARKS• Steve has been suffering from the "crud" since last week, but has been diligently maintaining the parks through it all. We have had trouble with the Hillview Park building heater. These are old ancient electric heaters. Parts are not even available anymore for replacement parts. Steve and Bacon Electric tackled the heater on Tuesday and came to the conclusion that making our own heating element is the most feasible way to keep heat in the building until the heater can be replaced. A heating element is being purchased and Steve will be using his metal working skills to adapt the element to the heater. At some time soon all the heaters in the park buildings will need to be replaced, preferably with gas furnaces. Steve will be working on this throughout the week. The heater is not only functioning on 1-2 elements, where there should be four elements working. Jeff has been working the night shift since before Christmas, so he is our "fantom park crew". Every evening at 9:00 p.m. (after rinks close) Jeff comes in and floods the rinks. He is able to quickly sweep the rinks and then follow up with many coats of water during these night-time hours. He works until approximately 4:00 - 5:00 a.m. at which time Steve comes in and works until 12:00 noon. He too can put on some water if the weather is conducive. Because of this split shift, our rink ice is great! Weather has a lot to do with the condition of the ice, but we have been very lucky to have excellent weather the past week and a half. Too cold is bad because the water freezes too quickly and cracks, and too warm is bad because the ice becomes slushy. But this weather of 15 to minus 10 degrees is really perfect temperatures for flooding rinks. Any snow will slow things up because not only must the rinks be swept but also plowed and shoveled along the boards. However, since the rinks are already well established any postponements of floodings due to snow removal will not be a detriment at this time. In the occasion of snow Steve will be plowing each of the park parking lots with Random Park having first priority because of the daily use with preschool activities and evening group meetings. The trash at each park location is collected several times a week, and equipment is worked on. Steve also is in charge of City Hall sign message changes. So, the parks crew continues to be very busy even during these