Attendance dipped slightly

Portland Water Park’s numbers were down a little compared to last year. 

But the city’s employees still consider it a successful season. 

Portland Park Board heard the final tallies for the water park’s attendance and income as it shut down after Labor Day. 

Street/parks employee Matt Shauver presented the numbers provided by pool manager Missy Bader, who couldn’t attend the Tuesday meeting. 

This year, total attendance was 24,364. That’s down 1,424 from 2017, Shauver said. Income from rentals this year was $4,162.99 compared to $4,288.36 in 2017, but income from water aerobics increased to $5,058 this year, up from $4,086 last year. 

Altogether, income was $130,722.50 for 2018, a 2.35-percent decrease from 2017’s $133,873.85. 

“I was happy, this year was successful,” Shauver said. “I didn’t see anything bad this year … good turnout.” 

The next step is to winterize the water park, which will start soon. Shauver said he’ll drain the pool and get some tile repaired in the coming weeks, as well as clean out the chlorinator. 

As far as the city’s parks, Shauver said the department is likely done with projects for the year. City employees will begin working on winterizing. 

In other business, park board members Rod Ashman, Giles Laux and Chris Compton, absent Shauna Runkle: 

 •Discussed purchasing larger mowers for the parks department. Since the board is planning to replace two of its four mowers each year, Shauver suggested putting two 72-inch mowers into the rotation. Right now the city has four 60-inch mowers, which can get in tighter spaces but aren’t as useful for open fields. 

Shauver will test out a 72-inch mower from Bryant Combine Parts and report back to the board. 

•Heard that employees may receive training in how to re-coat the city’s playground equipment when a repairman comes to fix the Swing of Faith at Hudson Park. 

•Were told that the dugouts at Portland Memorial Park have been repainted and cleaned out. 

•Approved a 5K run in Hudson Park which will be hosted by the 4-H Junior League on Oct. 13.