Owensville aldermen on Monday completed their transformation of the Owensville Park Board from an administrative board to one with advisory capacity as a Parks Commission.

With approval of Ordinance No. 1308 on a 3-0 roll call vote, “the existing Park Board is altered to become an advisory commission to the city.”

Elected aldermen will now control spending of all park funds allocated through the city’s fiscal year budget process. Previously, since 1945 voter approval created the Owensville parks system and authorized a mill tax for its operations, members of the appointed Park Board controlled spending.

Owensville voters in April 2019 narrowly approved a ballot question to create an additional quarter-cent sales tax for park operations to go along with a 2006 quarter-cent sales tax for parks. The measure also eliminated the personal property and real estate tax levied annually for city residents to fund park operations.

That levy was listed at 33.58 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for the 2018 local tax assessment.

The increase to the parks sales tax went into effect Oct. 1.

Approval of the question in April, on a 121-111 vote, essentially gave aldermen the authorization to begin the process of taking over complete control of park spending.

The ordinance approved Monday also shrinks the current park group from nine members to five. Ruth Rebmann and John Gaska both stepped down from the Park Board, announced Mayor John Kamler at the city’s Oct. 7 meeting. Kamler said Monday the newly designated Parks Commission will operate with six members until someone’s term expires and then will go to a five-member group.

Pat Sexton stepped down from the park board in June at the end of her term. The vacancy created with her departure was not filled in anticipation of the reduction approved this week.

Ward 1 Alderman Rob Borgmann, president of the board, was also named by Kamler as the commission’s new “ex-officio” member who will sit with the commission. He will serve in a non-voting capacity, according to the ordinance.

He replaces Ward 1 Alderman Cathy Lahmeyer who has served in that capacity for the past couple of years. Kamler cited Borgmann’s “knowledge of construction” issues and his ability to help with projects as a reason for the appointment.

Lahmeyer, Kamler said, will work with him on a plan to help develop a downtown revitalization project in which he hopes to incorporate tax increment financing (TIF) options. A citizen’s group has also been meeting to discuss proposals which include improvements to overhead street lighting.

“People are interested in buying downtown buildings but don’t like the taxes afterward,” said Kamler. “There are ways to get around that.”

Kamler said Lahmeyer brings knowledge and “expertise” in these areas so he opted to pull her off the park group to work on this downtown group.

The newly designated Parks Commission is scheduled to conduct its first meeting at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, at City Hall. The group will begin meeting on the last Monday of the month. Their meetings will precede the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission sessions.

Peggy Farrell, the city’s deputy clerk, will serve as the commission’s recording secretary as she does with P&Z. Members of the newly formed Parks Commission include Dana Hampton (chairman), Larry Tayloe, Larry Geisler, Manny Medeiros, Tom Hengstenberg, and Frank Brocato. Medeiros said the park system’s Milford Winter fund of $1,060,000, invested with Wells Fargo Advisors, is now overseen by the city administrator and city clerk.