The plan to bring a public ice rink to Hales Corners has languished for years. A recent donation might be the kickstart it needs.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
A sign that reads "The Future Location: The Alyson Dudek International Ice Center" has sat in Hales Corners Park for eight years. It's been a long journey, and the president of the friends group for Hales Corners Park and Pool, Don Schwartz, isn't ready to give up on his vision.
After Hales Corners native and speed skater Alyson Dudek won a bronze medal in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Schwartz proposed a seasonal ice rink in Dudek's name, along with a shelter. Fundraising for the rink began in 2012, and the most recent donation came in this month — $10,000 from the Olive I And Eunice J Toussaint Foundation.
"We're hoping to use it as a catalyst to gain momentum to raise the rest of the funds," Schwartz said.
About $180,000 has been raised so far, and $150,000 to $175,000 is still needed, he said.
The recent grant has Schwartz, also a former Hales Corners Village Board trustee, hopeful that the project can be completed within the next couple years.
The bureaucratic process with the Milwaukee County Parks system, followed by the pandemic, kept halting plans, he said. As years passed, some donors began to pull out funds, losing hope in the project.
After most of the money was raised in 2013, Milwaukee County put the friends group through a "financial due diligence" process, he said, which took two-and-a-half years.
"They examined all of our books, donations, everything, which is normal procedure," Schwartz said.
By April 2017, Milwaukee County approved the rink. But, before Schwartz could get too comfortable moving forward, the county began to conduct an audit of the friends group.
Questions of transparency and conflicts of interest rose when the audit was completed in 2019. The audit found that the group awarded bids to Schwartz's employers, purchased a truck from Schwartz's family member without the county board's authorization and approved reimbursements of their own expenses.
As a result, the Milwaukee County Comptroller's Audit Division recommended "written policies and procedures for the handling of cash and disbursement of funds, proper record keeping, and established segregation of duties."
Erica Goblet, contracts manager for Milwaukee County Parks, worked with the Audit Division to close out the investigation. All concerns have been addressed, and she meets with the friends group annually "to keep updated on their fundraising efforts and financials," she said.
"(Schwartz) was very responsive during the audit and made all changes and updates that were requested and provided all financial documents needed to verify accounts, funds, and the groups' budget," Goblet said.
For the group's small size, made up of all volunteers, they are doing a "good job following the reporting requirements and are always transparent in their work and funding," she said.
The group formed in 2002 to save the Hales Corners public pool that the parks department recommended closing. It's one of the "more active friends groups," making them the guinea pigs of how such groups should work, Schwartz said.
In September 2019, the Milwaukee County board voted in favor of the Milwaukee County Parks to continue to work with the friends group.
Then the pandemic hit.
"That kind of threw everything into disarray," Schwartz said.
Milwaukee County Parks has a development agreement with the friends group for the ice rink that expires in 2024. They still have time to fundraise until then, Goblet said.
The friends group successfully saved the pool, put in a volleyball court and made more improvements to the park, Schwartz said, and he's optimistic that the rink will add to their list of accomplishments.
"I'm confident," Schwartz said. "It's been a long road, but we've come out of all of the challenges, and I just think that success breeds success."
Quinn Clark can be emailed at QClark@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Quinn_A_Clark
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Public ice rink still stuck in the planning phase in Hales Corners
