City officials may divert ARPA funds from skate park, tennis and pickleball courts, upsetting some residents

By Tony Boom for the Rogue Valley Times

Repeated failures in the reading of water meter radio signals have Talent city officials looking to replace both the signal devices and the meters.

What that will cost has yet to be determined, and the city has not decided how a meter-replacement effort would be funded, according to City Manager Gary Milliman.

Suggestions have included using $825,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds that were originally budgeted to rehabilitate the city’s skate park and to move the tennis and pickleball courts in Chuck Roberts Park.

Skate park advocates are not happy with the suggestion.

“About five months ago a more critical priority arose,” Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood said. “We think the greater need in our community is a good, functioning water meter system. We know that our top priority is to deliver fresh water to our community and being able to bill correctly.”

Talent issued a request for proposals to replace the meters. Most units these days incorporate both a meter and radio signaling capability. Until proposals come back, the city doesn’t know how much funding it will need for a replacement project.

“It needs to go before the City Council,” Milliman said. “At that point they will discuss the means of finding the funding. We are not sure how much the water meters will need from the ARPA funds.”

The city received a total of $1.4 million in ARPA funds during the coronavirus pandemic.

After funds for the skate park appeared firm, Clarkie Clark, a Phoenix resident with experience in the skate industry in California, said she was surprised to hear Milliman speak at a council session about seeking a grant from the state for the skate park work. That’s when she learned about the water meter issues.

“Why should kids suffer? To pull all the money from a parks and recreation program is just a little crazy,” Clark said in an interview. She said skaters have been injured due to ruts in the surface. Many skaters go to Ashland or Medford rather than use the Talent skate park.

“The community spoke loud and clear on putting the skate park in as a top priority,” Clark said of an effort that started in 2017 to develop the Parks Master Plan. She was asked by then-City Councilor Stephanie Dolan to serve as an advisor due to Clark’s expertise.

Clark suggested that work on the water system should be put into next year’s budget. Grants are usually available for water projects, she added.

Clark and Deric Manzi, a Talent resident active in town politics, met with Milliman, Public Works Superintendent Robert Slayton and Finance Director Tessa DeLine on Feb. 16 to discuss the issue.

Talent has 2,200 water meter hookups. Most meters are past their useful life of 15 years. The radio signal equipment was installed in 2015, and the company that provided the handheld metering device is no longer servicing that technology.

Usually between 300 and 500 meters per month do not send signals that can be picked up by city employees driving by with a handheld device, Slayton said. With no signals, crews must get out to manually read meters. This can stretch a one-day task up to three days, he said.

Problems with the reading system first began to appear in larger numbers in May of last year, Slayton said. In addition to not sending signals, sometimes inaccurate information is sent, which also results in a need to reread the meters manually.

Ayers-Flood acknowledged that the skate park and tennis and pickleball courts had been a top priority for the ARPA funds, but said the emerging issue has changed city officials’ thinking. She said they are actively seeking solutions to fund both of the parks upgrade projects.

City officials have already pivoted to find funding sources for the skate park renewal. The city will submit a grant application to the Oregon Parks & Recreation Department to help fund work at the skate park. The application is due April 1 and would fund up to 60% of the project. The awards will be announced in August.

Talent’s skate park, officially known as Old Town Park, was constructed in 1998 and was one of the first in the region. Repairs have been done over the years, but a full “overpour” of the surface is needed to make it safer. The city’s Parks and Recreation Commission recommended the upgrade, and a request for proposals was prepared but never issued.

In 2020, when the new master plan was still underway, the idea of moving the skate park to Chuck Roberts Park came up, but skateboarders opposed it. Skateboarders said they like the park because it has deep bowls and other desirable features.

“The park is like a monument to local skaters,” Clark said. “The statue is a monument to two skaters who died in a car accident. Anytime a skater in this area passes away they scatter the ashes in the park. A group of older skaters have a reunion there every summer.”

Cost for the skate park rehab has been estimated at between a quarter- to a half-million dollars. The city planned to seek a contractor experienced with working on skate parks.

The Parks and Recreation Commission also recommended moving the tennis and pickleball courts elsewhere in Chuck Roberts Park. The current courts have large gaps caused by settling of the subsurface. Attempts to remedy the issue have failed.

In the 2023-24 budget, adopted by City Council on June 21, capital funds totaling $440,000 were allocated for the skate park, while $385,000 were allocated for the courts.

Reach Ashland freelance writer Tony Boom at [email protected]. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.