Daviess County approves grant application to repair golf-course fairways; West Boggs Park reports large visitation and improved lake health

The Daviess County commissioners approved a staff request to apply for a Memorial Hospital "Being For Others" grant to cover part of a golf-course fairway repair after park staff and the course lessee paid to re-sod damaged Bermuda grass.

Nathan Rhine, representing West Boggs Park, told the board the park documented 245,000 visits and about 60,200 individual visitors last year using Placer AI data obtained through the chamber. He cautioned the data do not identify whether visitors live inside Daviess County and noted the figure excludes children and Amish visitors that are not captured by the vehicle-count method.

Rhine said the golf-course lessee paid the vendor for immediate re-sodding and that the park applied for $37,461.75 through the Being For Others grant; after the work occurred the final cost came to $33,375, he said. The board voted to approve the grant application. "If you don't get the grant, it's paid for through the golf course," Rhine told commissioners.

Rhine also described recent lake-management work. He said the park used a natural enzyme product that consumes phosphorus — the nutrient that fuels algal blooms — and reported markedly lower algae and no fish kills this season compared with recent years. "We haven't had a fish kill, which is the first year in a long time," he said, adding that upstream agricultural runoff remains a major nutrient source into West Boggs.

Commissioners approved a motion to authorize the grant application 2-0. Rhine said he will provide additional campground- and camping-site usage data to staff on request to better understand how park visitors translate into tourism dollars.

The board did not appropriate new county funds in the meeting; Rhine said the golf-course repair is already paid for pending any awarded grant funds.