Trent Opstedahl

40th Avenue South in south Grand Forks, one the newest parks in the district.

 

“More people are going out to (parks) because they are more userfriendly, and we’ve been focusing on more recreation at them,” Ziegelmann said.

 

 Other shelters like the one at Masonic Park have been constructed this summer at various parks, said Brent Vigness, a fulltime carpenter for the district for more than 11 years.

 

 “We enhance lives,” he said. “There’s not too much pressure with this job, but things are done very efficiently.”

 

 Aside from construction projects, the district’s other big task is mowing grass.

 

 Bill Palmiscno, Park District director, said the district’s fleet is fairly expansive with 12 mowers, among them 6-foot, 10-foot and 16-foot mowers, along with other minor equipment.

 

 “A lot of it is mowing and general upkeep on the playgrounds,” he said.

 

 Thicker patches of grass and dandelion control have been some of the more cumbersome issues the crew has been battling lately, Ziegelmann said.

 

 “This year I could have used four more mowers, but we’ve been keeping up,” he said. “One of the beauties about what we do is every season is different. I’ve been here (at the district) for 25 years and have never experienced a wet season like this year.”

 

 Don Lovcik has been part of the full-time staff for 10 years and has spent much of his time mowing parks around the city this summer.

 

 “We go through the park system in about a week,” he said. “Being outside is one of the perks to this job.”

 

 During the winter months, the full-time staff maintains parks and golf courses, primarily removing snow and maintaining ice rinks.

 

 The Park District’s winter budget is about $500,000, Palmiscno said.

 

 “We try to deal with everything the best that we can,” Ziegelmann said. “The growth of the district has been the biggest change.”

 

Greenway workers

 While the Park District oversees most of the parks and golf courses in Grand Forks, a single person oversees maintenance of the Grand Forks side of the Greenway, the 900 acres of parkland along the Red River in between parks that are maintained by the district.

 

 Kim Greendahl is a city official who has been directing maintenance of the Greenway since 2002.

 

 While the Greenway is technically city-owned, she said the funds to maintain the land do not come from the city’s general fund. Formal parks, such as Lincoln Drive, that intersect with the Greenway space are still maintained by the Park District.

 

 “There isa fee on your utilities bill of $1.38, which goes for flood control and greenway upkeep,” she said. “The businesses (in Grand Forks) also pay afee based on their frontage.”

 

 In 2013, about $57,000 was spent to hire a contracting company to oversee the park’s mowing upkeep, Greendahl said. Additionally, about $150,000 was spent to maintain water lines, landscaping and bike paths. Overall, it takes about $166 an acre to keep the park maintained throughout the year.

 

 That’s a lot less than the Park District, but it’s because the entire Greenway is not mowed regularly, keeping parts of the trail system in a natural state.

 

 A seasonal worker is also hired to help Greendahl oversee the park, which is slightly larger than New York City’s Central Park. When staffing gaps need to be filled, she said city employees usually step in.

 

 With the park being as large as it is, Greendahl said vandalism and trash buildup is fairly minimal.

 

 “It takes a lot of power,” she said. “Since we’ve had so many wet years, the next couple of weeks we’re going to spend trimming trees, and it’s a struggle with the weather because you can’t get to everything all at once.”

 

 

Trent Opstedahl | Grand Forks Herald

Wednesday, July 30, 2014 | Page A1