Letter to Editor
To the Editor:
In this open letter to the Marion County Commission, I discuss several issues concerning the Marion County park and Lake.
First, I want to thank Dale Snelling for his dedication over the years to making the park a safe and comfortable facility that the county can be proud to have. As a result of the park rules and their enforcement, the park has an excellent safety record, there are no abusive activities, and it has been well maintained.
I encourage the commission to continue to provide a full-time manager with full budget, maintenance, and enforcement authority such as the park has enjoyed for many years. Without this management approach, I feel that conditions will deteriorate drastically, particularly in the area of water activities.
I also feel the bait shop and manager's home should continue to be a part of the manager's package. As a separate private enterprise, the bait shop would not survive due to the highly seasonal nature of the business. If the manager does not live at the park, he cannot provide the full attention needed to maintain compliance with all the park rules. The new manager should be fully dedicated and committed to maintaining the high standards of safety and order that we have enjoyed over the years.
I understand the need for the park to be self-supporting. There are other ways for it to support itself than through user fees. Increasing user fees very likely will be self-defeating, resulting in lower usage of the park. Many of the users come from outside the county and have many other parks and lakes they can go to. The major way to become self-supporting is for the park to be used more, but that will have to be achieved with the proper approach. The following suggestions are not necessarily in any sequence of priority.
The increased use should be by people who also will use other facilities and businesses in the county and cities. To get more people to use the park, there must be reasons for them to come. Some ways to do this are:
Add more RV sites with full hook-ups. Compared to tent campers, RV campers pay a higher fee for the site, stay longer, and take better care of the camp site. They also are more prone to visit area towns and use local businesses. Tent campers and day users bring everything they need and seldom go out of the park. RV campers often restock their units, go sightseeing, eat out, and buy fuel locally. While doing this they also will do some shopping. RV campers are also less active in boating which is already close to the peak capacity of the lake on weekends and holidays. We must be careful about increasing boating activity in these periods.
Add more yearly lot rental sites for mobile homes and RVs. Many of these treat the area like their second home by paying Marion County taxes on their units and boats that are stored here, using natural gas, telephone, cable TV, stock their kitchens locally, and doing the same things RV campers do as mentioned above. They also bring relatives and friends that contribute to the local economy. As a former mobile home owner for seven years in the campground, I even subscribed to the local newspaper. Also many like me have become full-time residents thus adding more to the local economy.
More shelter units also will increase usage and should be included with the additional RV and annual lot sites.
The county should work with Wildlife and parks to develop a specific plan to improve the fishing at the lake. This lake used to provide quality fishing for crappie, bass, and walleye. These species now provide only marginally good fishing while only channel cat and wipers can be classed as good to excellent.
Every visitor to the park is a potential user and even a potential full-time resident. When they come to the park, it should be very evident that the county cares for and is proud of the park. The general view of the park and lake suggests an excellent facility but poor maintenance can be a turn off to the visitor.
Two of the major areas that need immediate attention are roads, including the residential roads, and the heated dock. I understand the issues with the residential roads, however they exist as they are as a result of the lack of forward vision of previous commissions (which is a common problem all over the state) but must be rectified in some way by the current commissions.
Portions of Lakeside Drive and the heated dock are at a point they must receive immediate attention or the catch-up expense will become almost prohibitive. These two are very critical to making a good impression on the visitors and the dock is a significant attraction. Grounds maintenance is really good now and must continue to be so.
Advertising in various travel and other magazines would draw people here. It works for others so why not the park? It is a very attractive area for vacations, a travel stop, camping/fishing, and for full-time living. The ads should emphasize the local events, businesses, and other attractions in the county. Local businesses could possibly share in the advertising costs.
I do not think county-owned rental cabins will contribute favorably to the park income. The initial construction cost will be very high, on-going maintenance and housekeeping costs will be high, and the occupancy rate will be low on an annual basis resulting in a very long payback period. The users will contribute very little to local businesses as they will bring everything they need with them. Since they will have no vested interest in the unit, they will have little incentive for keeping one nice.
Organized activities could attract users but there is an expense to them. Water equipment rental is another possibility but again the investment, on-going maintenance, and usage rate would likely result in very low benefits.
There are no easy answers to these issues, but I feel very strongly that we need a full-time live-in manager dedicated to keeping this park going in the right direction and aggressive county government support.
Paul White
Marion County Lake
