Park district discusses levy
The Auglaize County Heritage Trails Park District held its first official park levy planning meeting Tuesday as it moves to identify needs and how to communicate those needs to potential voters.
Park district officials have not yet calculated an official millage ask as they are in the very early stages of their discussions.
In 2014, officials had asked for six-tenths of one mill in an attempt that failed, although the request for additional funding gained about 48 percent of the vote. In 2023 they plan to try again.
Park Commissioner Dave Stillwell recalled the creation of Heritage Trails Park District in 1996. He said at the time there was land that was up for grabs to public entities.
“We realized that Auglaize County did not have a vehicle to accept some of this public land. So we thought it would be a good idea to form a park district,” he said.
Canal lands were being transferred from Ohio Department of Public Works to the Department of Water.
“There were rumors that they were going to dispose of all the canal lands, and we thought,
what a shame it would be to sell it to farmers and plow up all that beautiful green space,” Stilwell added.
Part of their original purpose was to accept the Deep Cut park property that was part of an ODOT rest area.
Currently, the part district oversees more than 40 acres of land. They do share some management with the Johnny Appleseed Park District due to the size of their budget, which they hope to address at a later date with levy funds.
“There’s tremendous opportunities out there right now,” Stilwell said, alluding to potential land opportunities. “Nothing that we can get into detail about.”
He said the last thing the park district wants to do is take on a bunch of land and not be able to maintain it.
“Fort Amanda and Deep Cut park are exceptional parks in the Johnny Appleseed inventory,” Executive Director Allison Brady said. “They are looking forward to the day that Heritage Trails Park District can share in a more equitable way.”
She recognized a good share of those parks are in Auglaize County, including nine-tenths of Deep Cut.
“It is being kept up by the one park district that has funding to do so,” Brady said.
State and local government funds come through the county budget commission. For years they’ve operated on about $25,000. Stilwell said many townships and agencies simply tell the commissioners to give them the same amount as the prior year based on the formula.
“In Auglaize County nobody likes to complain,” Stillwell said.
He said costs for liability insurance have increased along with maintenance costs.
“That $25,000 doesn’t go very far,” Stillwell said.
Often times grants will have to be matched, which the park district struggles with on its minuscule budget.
They do receive grants through ODOT to pave parking lots, and the Bloody Bridge parking lot is set to be paved next. Those grants are limited to the needs for vehicular traffic.
Park officials want to be able to develop new parks, trails, and public spaces. An example would be maintaining shelter houses and restrooms on park lands. They want to increase recreational and educational opportunities.
Stable funding would allow the district to operate and maintain safe and well-maintained parks.
They potentially would be able to increase recreational and historical programming.
Additional monies could provide funds for matching grants to leverage state and federal grant opportunities, educational programming for schools, youth and adults
as well as grants for political subdivisions within Auglaize County to assist with developing parks.
While some may be asking why, Brady is asking why not.
“We have so much to preserve in Auglaize County, why don’t we,” Allison Brady said.
Attendee Aaron Schmidt said he wanted to see more involvement with waterways, possibly incorporating fishing. Brady said according to their 2013 survey, 75 percent of respondents said they wanted to walk in their parks, but acknowledged that a desire for access to waterways has increased.
Attendee Jessica Muhlenkamp borrowed from retired Wapakoneta economic development director Greg Meyer’s “three-legged stool” approach, suggesting a social media campaign, a print campaign and a speaking tour to area groups.
One of the group’s barriers they are working to address is how to incorporate the eastern side of the county as most of the park district land is to the western part of the county. Park Commissioner Matt Teeters suggested one possibility could be a partnership with a working farm that the public could visit.
The levy remains a work in progress. Those with suggestions can reach out to allisonbrady2@gmail.com.