Warsaw commissioner encourages businesses to sponsor kids’ sports

WARSAW — Marbella Ascencio was among the residents who signed up for public comment at the Warsaw town hall meeting last week.

Ascencio addressed the board voicing her concerns about the recent increase in registration fees for sports at the Parks and Recreation Department.

“As a parent and a long-time resident of Warsaw, I’ve been proud of the community and the opportunities it provides our children. However, the fee increase has raised significant concerns among parents,” said Ascencio. “I was able to speak to a few town leaders and members of our community who regularly use the Park and Recreation facilities. These conversations were insightful, but I must express that at times my efforts have been misunderstood. I’ve occasionally encountered responses suggesting that the fee increase is set in the annual budget and therefore unchangeable. While I fully understand the constraints of the budget, it’s disheartening to feel that my activism may have been perceived as an attack rather than an effort to collaborate and improve our community. My intent has always been to work together toward solutions to serve all the families, ensuring that no child is left out due to the financial barriers.”

Ascencio stated that she has been going door-to-door, speaking to neighbors — many who were unaware of the fee increases but showed support for her efforts.

“The issue is about more than just the fee increase. It’s about ensuring that our town’s recreational programs remain accessible to all families.”

Commissioner Jack Hawes later explained that the town costs have gone up significantly and they weren’t breaking even with the way their fees were set.

“One reason why fees were low, and we can’t continue to depend on this, is that the department head, the manager over there, her friends and family were doing a lot of volunteer work that we can’t expect them to continue to do. They were doing all the cleaning, all the washing of uniforms… everything,” said Hawes.

“Growing up I used to play Dixie Youth Baseball, Little League. We had business sponsors. And I challenge business leaders to start sponsoring kids to play,” said Hawes. “I already did the first step. I paid for every child to play basketball, the girls, I paid all their fees. And I challenge every single business owner to do the same… Even parents, where you work, challenge your employer to help the kids play ball.”

In other business:

The board moved to postpone the deadline for the code of ordinances draft response to Oct. 31, the ordinance was due for legal review by American Legal Publishing on Sept. 1. The new date will allow time for the planning board to meet and provide an update to the town board by the Sept. 9 meeting.

“The review that the consultant did takes a stab at updating the language and getting it into compliance with the laws that exist today,” explained Commissioner Al Searles. “I think if we would all really emphasize looking at that first, get it legal, and then if we want to change it, start that process as a secondary step. My gut tells me that if we try to do both of those things, we will never complete the task. “

Searles suggested updating the ordinance language, getting it into compliance with the state’s general statutes before making any changes. He explained that the process of changing ordinances is a very cumbersome one, as there are legal requirements implicated with changing it.

During the town manager’s update, Lea Turner, Warsaw town manager provided a brief recap from Tropical Storm Debby.

“For the most part, Warsaw fared very well. We had a few trees that were down in a few areas with some flood concerns. However, the flood water was down by the end of the day,” said Turner, explaining that if the outfall is full the water doesn’t have anywhere to go. “As soon as our outfall started going down, our water receded.”

Thanks to the town’s forward vision preparing ahead of the storm, the flooding was more manageable.

According to Mayor A.J. Connors, Public Works cleaned ditches on both sides of South Gum Street, North Cross Street, and from Hill Street to College Street.

Commissioner Ebony Wills-Wells shared that she had the opportunity to ride across town during the storm to observe the challenges they were experiencing.

“I will say that it was very eye-opening. And we do have a lot of work to do within our town… It truly takes a village to be able to conquer the challenges,” said Wills-Wells.