Ortonville Park Board Looking to Revisit the National Parks Student Presentations

The Ortonville Park Board met last night at their regularly scheduled meeting – I’m writing to cover just a couple of their agenda items.

In new business, Scott Simmons announced he would be stepping down from the Board – but stressed he would be happy to help on projects and assist in an advisory role when the Board calls on him. I’m covering this item to take a moment to extend a HUGE THANK YOU for the work that he has done on the Park Board – and his many volunteer hours planning and creating Ortonville Central Park’s new Disc Golf course last summer (you can follow their updates on the Central Park Disc Golf Facebook Page) I’ve added a few photos of their work to reflect what a major undertaking this was by Scott and the many awesome volunteers. Scott is the Manager of the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge and Wetland Management District and also serves as the Coordinator/Manager for the Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge – just a little extra note on the expertise Scott brings to our parks as a volunteer!

Scott Simmons

And also under new business – I was very excited to hear – the Board plans to review the work and presentations that were previously compiled from the National Parks along with the community survey that had been collected to review park usage and ranking input for the City park system.

The Ortonville City Council, the Ortonville Planning Commission, and the Ortonville Park Board had voted unanimously to support the City’s application to the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Community Assistance Program (with staff assistance provided by the Ortonville EDA) for the preparation of an overall Park and Recreation Plan for the City.

The assistance came through the National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program.

I am posting information from this previous work/research so that we can all take a refresh on the presentations that they will be reviewing. The students who had prepared the presentations did so through new eyes on the parks and from information about our community that had been provided before they arrive in Ortonville. Their work is intended to spark thoughts on what can be created within our park system. There is more information that they provided and I will be gathering that and including it on this post at a later date. Enjoy the review of information – and if you feel so moved – attend a future Park Board meeting and share input or offer assistance! Summer Rec is already organizing for the 2021 season and it sounds like there could be some new and interesting activities – keep a watch out for more information on that! The Parks Board meets the first Wednesday of the month at 6:15 p.m. in the Community Center.

During this process, there was a Community Survey taken in regard to the Parks. Below are the results.

Results for those from just Ortonville 1 Just Ortonville
Results for all surveys received 2 All Survey Results
Results for Q7, Is there a park use not available that you would like to see added? Q 7
Results for Q11 City’s top 3 priorities should be when it comes to the Ortonville Park System? Q 11 three priorities
Q14 Is there a Park that you think could be a greater asset to Ortonville if upgraded or was re-purposed? Q 14 greater asset w_upgrades
Q17 Other Comments Q 17 Other comments