Much-needed renovations and improvements to Basin Spring Park had the Eureka Springs City Council’s full attention at its regular meeting Monday, July 11.

Parks director Scott Miskiel shared with the council the needs for the popular park in downtown Eureka Springs and the frustration that comes with trying to figure out how to pay for all the needed work.

“We have so much to do, so much to accomplish,” Miskiel told the council. “And it’s one of those things that if we do one thing, we have to pretty much do everything. And so that’s the dilemma that we have.”

Miskiel told the council that discovering the gravity of the issues at Basin Spring grew when the parks department received a grant to replace stonework underneath the fountain at the park.

“When we tried to get an engineer to engineer the foundation that we would need, we ran into some serious issues,” he said. “McClelland Engineering back in 2011 indicated that this problem with the foundation … There’s an underground channel for the water to drain out a culvert of sorts.

“But it was built with stone basically that was just placed there. And then the concrete was poured over the top of it. Well, from 100 years plus of water flowing through there, it has collapsed. And [engineers] had identified back in 2011, they said in 10 to 20 years we would see failure and we’re seeing that. And so that that’s the tail that wags the dog.”

Tackling a project to fix that issue would be so expansive that it makes sense to go ahead and take care of other issues at the park at the same time, Miskiel said.

“If we’re going to dig up all of that concrete to fix what’s going on underneath, then we might as well go ahead and redo all of the concrete on that that plaza, which kind of needs to be done anyway,” he said.

“Not all of these things have to be done at once, but they really should be. For instance, we don’t want to do that plaza, redo that and then decide, well, now we’re going to do the bandshell and then you have equipment coming in, driving over your fresh concrete and other such things. So, we need a comprehensive plan.”?The bandshell, a popular place at the park for live music and presentations, is also leaking water, Miskiel said.

“One of the big discussions that has come up is how do we pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars of the repairs,” he said. “We don’t know that yet. We don’t know how we would get to that point of being able to pay for such a huge project.”

Throw in ongoing needs at Lake Leatherwood Park and Crescent Spring Park and Miskiel said funding sources are going to be a challenge.

“I’m sure you know all of the projects that we have … funding is going to be a real issue,” he said. “We’re going to have to look hard at grant opportunities and I think that’s where we are right now, is go ahead and get the planning started because it’s going to have to be done. It’s going to take a good six months or longer to get design work done, possibly a year. At that point, we can start getting bids and know what it’s actually going to cost us.

“We’re looking, I’m sure, at least at around a half million dollars to do that and do it right. It’s just one of those things that there’s so many layers to that onion that when you start peeling it, you come to another layer that’s costing more and more.”

Many council members gave input on the issues and stressed that Basin Park work needs to be a priority.

“I’m tickled to death that you’re on top of this,” council member Terry McClung said. “It really means a lot to me because [Basin Spring Park] is this town.”

Commissioner Nick Roberts told Miskiel that he feels since the park is used by events promoted by the City Advertising and Promotion Commission, funds from that commission could be used to help with the project.

“The CAPC has the funds to do it,” said Roberts, one of two council members who serves on the CAPC.

Other funding sources talked about by council members included a bond, grants, fundraisers, and donations from businesses.

“It’s going to take a real community effort, you know, by businesses ponying up, the lending institutions and such as their fundraisers or whatever we would need to do to help generate revenue,” McClung said. “And this city council or who’s ever on the council at the time and the city administration certainly needs to do whatever it has to do as well.”

Miskiel said the issue of signing a contract with an engineer to begin the initial surveying of the issues was to be discussed – and likely approved – by the parks commission at a special meeting on July 12.

The council also heard updates on speed tables that were recently installed, and Mayor Butch Berry discussed plans to refurbish public restrooms in the downtown area.

In the only action taken during the meeting, the council approved Kate Dryer to fill a vacant seat on the hospital commission.