Plaques memorializing or honoring individuals or organizations will soon adorn restored benches in Basin Spring Park.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, Aug. 20, the Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Commission approved a new program that will allow the placement of plaques on 12 benches in the popular park. A plaque honoring the Eureka Springs Preservation Society, which funded the restorations, now adorns a 13th bench in the park.

“We had 13 benches redone at Basin Park this last winter and that was paid for by the Preservation Society, so we put a plaque on one of the benches honoring that donation,” said parks director Sam Dudley. “There’s a lot of stuff that we’d like to do in Basin Park and one way I thought of to raise some money to get those projects completed was these plaques. I really like the look of those plaques and I think they’re classy.”

Throughout the month of September individuals can be entered in a lottery and on Oct. 1, the names of 12 people will be drawn to have plaques made for a bench.

Each plaque will require a minimum donation of $1,000, but additional donations are welcomed, commissioners discussed.

“The plaque costs $275, the installation is $100, plus time and effort from my team to go get the bench and take it [to have the plaque installed],” Dudley said, adding that the remaining funds will be used for projects at Basin Spring Park.

The plaques cannot be used for advertising or contain any inappropriate language, Dudley said.

“This will be for residents who would like to donate one of the benches in honor of someone,” Dudley said. “… I don’t want to say strict, but there will be some very specific, non-wavering guidelines. … We’ll make sure it’s in dedication of an individual, or it could be a group, like for example, if Main Street Eureka Springs wanted to buy one, I’m not opposed to that. I’ll come up with the verbiage and kind of the rules.”

Parks commissioners liked the idea of the plaque project.

“I like the idea of the $1,000 for two reasons,” said commission chair Mark Ingram. “One, it’s doable. Two, it’s enough [money] where it’s a big deal to do it. If it’s much less than that, it’s just sort of not a big thing. But, if it’s a certain amount, to me, it’s a real commitment to do something for the park and for the person that you’re honoring. And, it also gives back to the park, so it’s kind of a good double whammy.”

Using a lottery-type system is the most fair process for the project, Dudley said.

“Not trying to overcomplicate it either, but … how do we make sure it’s fair for everyone in terms of if you want it, there’s a fair process for getting it?” Dudley said. “It did occur to me we could leave the window open for, let’s say, 30 days. You have 30 days to come in, put your name in the hat, and then after 30 days, we draw 12 names. If you’re one of the names you get chosen to do that.”

According to a post on the Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Facebook page on Wednesday, Aug. 21, those interested can enter the plaque lottery during the month of September by visiting the parks and recreation office at 532 Spring St. or by calling the office at 479-2532866, extension 2.

FOUNTAIN REPAIRS

Dudley told commissioners that he recently met with various city officials, including staff of the city advertising and promotion commission, the historic district commission and public works regarding needed repairs to the fountain at Basin Spring Park.

“Let’s put our heads together,” Dudley said of the meeting. “Let’s put our pocketbooks together. Let’s fix this fountain. It’s sinking. It’s been sinking for 20 years.

“There’s a letter from McClelland Engineers back from 2011 stating that if you don’t do something, in 10 to 20 years, you’re going to lose the integrity of the park. I don’t know exactly what that means, if it means it’s going to cave in, or if it’s just going to be so far gone that you’re going to tear the whole park up. But, it’s time we do it. And, if we combine our efforts and our pocketbooks it won’t hurt any one department so hard. … We can do it if we work together.”

Dudley said he would like to have a plan so that work could be done on the fountain after the Christmas season.

“The plan would be to maybe attack it right after we take the Christmas decorations down,” he said. “So, whatever New Year’s celebrations happen, we get everything out of the park in terms of Christmas stuff. We move the benches … and then we start pulling [the fountain] up. We don’t have to tear the whole park up. We can still leave a portion of it open for a walkway.”

AT-LARGE POSITION

Commissioners voted 5-0 to recommend that city council to change one of the parks commission positions to an at-large position, meaning it won’t be a requirement to live in the city limits.

Currently, two of the commission’s seven seats are at-large, with the remaining five having the requirement of living inside the city limits. Adding a third at-large seat would better align with those who use the parks regularly, commissioners said.

“It’s hard to get people to serve,” Ingram said. “… Another at-large allows us to get to western Carroll County residents.”

Many people who live just outside the city limits still pay the sales tax that helps fund parks, Dudley said.

“… There’s a lot of people who live just outside city limits who still do all their shopping in the city,” the director said. “… They still shop at Hart’s, they still go to all the stores and shops in town and they pay the sales tax just like all the rest of us do. It’s not a property tax funding, it’s a sales tax. So, people who live just outside city limits on Pivot Rock or down Oil Springs Road, or whatever, the fact they are limited in participation even though they’re paying into the same thing we residents are paying into, it seems not exactly fair.

“We’re still keeping it majority Eureka, but it seems nice to add one more seat for people who might be not included into the mix.”

The city council will have to approve the change.