Lease agreements with the Whitehouse Library and Poco Piatti were approved by the Metroparks Toledo commissioners last month.
At the September 22 meeting, the park board entered into a property lease agreement with the Whitehouse Library committee. The library had contracted through the Village of Whitehouse, subleasing the northern portion of Blue Creek Metropark for the public library.
Metroparks and Whitehouse mutually terminated the original agreement several month ago, explained Joe Fausnaugh, director of special projects, necessitating a new lease between the library and the park system.
“Terms of the lease are consistent with the previous sublease,” he said. “Patrons and volunteers should not see any significant changes to their operations or services.”
Board president Scott Savage commended the administration for reaching a lease agreement. “I’m really happy to see this brief. I appreciate you making sure the transition is seamless.”
Board member Fritz Byers agreed. “You did terrific work on this.” He noted the library is in discussions with the Toledo/Lucas County Public Library in hopes of incorporating with them in the future.
The park commissioners also expressed their satisfaction with a lease agreement between the park district and Poco Piatti restaurant.
To enhance the visitor experience at Glass City Metropark, the board contracted with Poco Piatti to operate a restaurant, tentatively to be named Poco Piatti at the Park.
Carrie Haddix, chief administrative officer, said the fullservice venue will be located inside Market Hall, a new building that will be part of the second phase of development at Glass City.
She noted the eatery “met every requirement,” and added they “cast a really wide net to make sure we got what we wanted.” Reviewing the contract, Mr.
Reviewing the contract, Mr. Savage said, “I appreciate all the attention to detail. That detail includes 10 percent of the revenue that goes to Metroparks being put back into the parks.
“This is very well done,” Mr. Byers said. “Thank you for all your work.”
Other Business
In other business, the park commissioners:
•Contracted with Spieker Company of Northwood to construct a 1,077-foot boardwalk, 32,000-square-foot gravel parking lot and boat and kayak launches at Howard Marsh. Cost for the project is not to exceed $750,200. “We’re looking forward to working with them,” said Jon Zvanovec, Metroparks project manager.
•Rescinded a contract for miscellaneous paving awarded to Henry W. Bergman due to an addendum to the contract.
The board subsequently awarded the project to Geddis Paving and Excavating of Toledo for $365,333. Thework entails asphalt resurfacing and chip sealing at Wildwood, Pearson, Howard Marsh, Side Cut and Toledo Botanical Garden to be complete by June 20, 2022.
•Contracted with Stanton Constructability Services of Salt Lake City, Utah, to provide cost estimator services for the Glass City Riverwalk project. The contract for $175,530 will be paid using BUILD grant funds, said Mr. Zvanovec. This phase of development is to take place between March 2023 and June 2025, he added.
In a related issue, the park board contracted with Kokosing to provide construction manager at-risk services for Glass City Riverwalk at a cost of $163,554. The contract covers pre-construction services only.
“We went through lengthy requests for proposals,” Mr. Zvanovec said, adding, “We felt Kokosing had a slight edge.”
•Authorized Allen Gallant, director of community development, to seek grant funding from the France Stone Foundation. Mr. Gallant is seeking up to $30,000 to support silt removal from the mouth of the canal at Providence Metropark. “This will help with the mill and canal boat operations,” he explained.
•Amended revenues for 2021 to reflect receipt of grants and other funding sources. The new revenues are $61.81 million and appropriations are $51 million.
•Requested an advance of taxes collected for 2022 with the Lucas County auditor’s office.
•Paid bills for August totaling $1.98 million.
