From: Julie Lowe
Columbus
The Bartholomew County Park Board is responsible for managing and maintaining the park system’s 12 facilities and over 144.5 acres as well as to outline proposed goals and objectives, future land acquisition, development, and recreation programming. You might be surprised to know how many Bartholomew County Parks we have which include Anderson Falls, Azalia Park, Clifford Park, Dunn Stadium, Elizabethtown Park, Grammer Park, Heflin Park, Mt. Pleasant Park, Rock Creek Park, Owens Bend Park, Petersville Park and Wayne Park.
As local candidate for Bartholomew County Council, Michelle Carr has been out talking to residents about the parks as well as other issues affecting local residents. In support of her campaign, I’ve joined Michelle in these conversations to hear her talk about the help that our county parks need. Some residents had stories to share with us about good times and family at their favorite county parks.
One of the first things Carr did in researching the state of our county parks was to take Rich Day, Bartholomew County Park Director, up on a tour of every one of these parks! While the director has some assistance from the county auditor in handling the bills associated with the parks, Day is the only staff to care for all 12 parks.
Day talked with Carr about things needed to ensure the success of our county parks. What would be helpful and proactive would be to hire administrative staff who can write grants to obtain more funding options and to grow their budget and be able to plan effectively to sustain our county parks. One request that Michelle has heard from residents is about the lack of bathroom facilities. While some parks are near schools that offer restroom facilities, more remote county parks such as Anderson Falls have no facilities or limited facilities throughout the year.
Michelle Carr has this to say, “My work in the Sierra Club has shown that I am an advocate for everyone to be able to access and enjoy nature. I believe that where you live shouldn’t hinder that ability. Our county parks deserve the same amount of care, funding and accessibility that our city parks do. I will work to ensure that they will.”
Please vote for Michelle Carr for Bartholomew County Council.
Editor’s note: This letter is paid political content. Political endorsement letters are published with a $25 fee. They may be submitted to [email protected].
