Union Lions Club begins park renovations despite trustee’s objections
The continuing saga of the battle between Union Township Trustee Nathan Mihm, the Union Township Lions Club, and the Union Township Advisory Board continued on Monday night spilling out onto the playground area of the township park at which the Lions were ready to start a work night.
The Union Lions Club has received three different grants totaling $8,000 that will go for their proposed renovations of the park. Club member Scott Marbach explained that a professional crew will do the actual installation of equipment but the Lions Club was simply getting the grounds ready. The material was purchased from Backyard Family Furniture, a county firm south of Monroe, and it was hoped the items would be able to be shipped to the Union Township location on CR 800 N just off SR 101 perhaps as early as next week.
The grants received came from the Adams County Community Foundation, the Indiana State Lions Club organization, and the Lions Club International. Marbach estimated the total cost of all work to be done would be in the $9,000 range and the local Lions Club would cover the costs not taken care of by the grants.
The local group had invited representatives from the media to attend the work session as it was explained they had heard Mihm may stop by and threaten legal action against the Lions Club with documents that would stop the Lions Club members from doing any type of volunteer work at the park.
The work session was slated for 6 p.m. and the Daily Democrat arrived at 5:45 p.m. only to learn Mihm had already been there and said work was not to be done as the liability insurance in case of an accident would not cover a worker.
An attempt to contact Mihm Tuesday morning was not successful and he did not return a phone message.
Marbach noted Mihm’s concern about liability insurance was not valid as the Lions International organization provides liability insurance up to $2 million for official projects being done by a club as was the situation in this case. Marbach said he gave Mihm a copy of the certificate of liability insurance the club had for the work being done. The trustee left the scene shortly thereafter.
The Union Township Park Building was constructed in 1977 by township residents and the camaraderie developed during the work led to the organization of the Union Township Lions Club in 1980. Ever since, the group has been very active in philanthropic work throughout the community and was honored as the 2023 Grand Marshal of the Decatur Callithumpian Parade. They will once again be present at the North Adams Community Schools’ kindergarten round-up tonight providing free hearing tests for new students.
The park and building are owned by the township.
Upon arriving at the park Monday evening, it was discovered a key the group had to the building (meetings are held inside the Township
Building) would no longer work as all the locks to the building had been changed making restroom facilities not an option.
All of the labor Monday was donated by club members. Club members remained on the scene to perform scheduled work that included nearly doubling the size on the playground of mulched area by first placing a layer of stone down and then covering it with mulch. Lions Club members had inspected the current playground equipment (swings, merry-go-round, etc.) and had removed any item deemed dangerous to children from a lack of repair. All of the current devices on the grounds now will remain and will complement the new items coming next week.
It was also noted that the stone and mulch had been donated to the Lions Club for us in the project.