The Williams County commissioners Thursday received updates on several county parks and discussed proposals for future plans.
The commissioners met with Williams County Engineer Todd Roth, Rod Miller and Bob Tressler of the Williams County Park District.
Roth told the commissioners the district has been putting in work at Goldie Newman Park near Bryan, and suggested it could be the location for a future dog park.
“We’ve been working on it in preparation for what we’re hoping that you will consider a dog park,” Roth said.
He added a study recently showed the park had an issue with invasive species of plants, and workers have been busy clearing those out.
“So we physically removed quite a bit of it from the front of the park and it looks good,” Roth said. “And we’ve had requests for a dog park, and we would like to pursue funding, go out to the citizens of Williams County and maybe some organizations and see if we can raise some money, and have some fencing and some benches and some stands for being able to get the bags to pick up dog poop.”
He added the project would not be cheap, estimating it at around $50,000 to $60,000, including a six-foot high fence and a concrete pad at the entrance.
The commissioners gave their approval to pursue the project.
“I’ve seen them in other areas and they’re usually well received,” Commissioner Bart Westfall said.
Roth also discussed future plans for the Wabash Cannonball Trail. He pointed out the Village of Montpelier is pursuing grant funding for design work, but he feels the village and the park district should be working together to make sure they are all on the same page.
“I feel there’s some drainage things that we need to look at as well as what we are going to do with the trail itself, surface wise,” Roth said.
He said the village and park district have discussed the trail, but he would also like there to be an overall cohesive plan since the trail likely would include other parts of the county. He also said it can be difficult to request money when plans are not known.
Commissioner Lew Hilkert said he has had conversations with Montpelier officials and has been told the engineer the village is using is at the point where they are going to know what they need for funding, but Roth expressed doubt.
Roth said he would like to see the trail built out from near West Unity because there is a parking facility near County Road 17 that would be helpful.
He said there have been numerous ideas expressed on how to build the trail, and the fact that it will be in a rural area means it likely would be used for walking and biking, as well as equestrian. That could affect what kind of surface is used in different locations.
“So we probably should somehow develop a long-term plan, and then from that what our timeline should be,” Westfall said.
It was suggested a commissioner could try to attend future meetings of the park district, which are the third Thursdays of the month at 1 p.m. Meeting location is usually at the engineer’s office, though the board sometimes visits a park to see what needs done.
Hilkert said Montpelier plans on applying for funding through the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program for part of the trail.
Tressler said he has been in contact with someone from the North Country Scenic Trails, which includes 4,800 miles of federally-designated trails, as well as someone involved with Toledo Metro Parks and added there are additional funding sources available which could allow for variations in design.
The commissioners also committed up to $8,000 to complete an aeration project at George Bible Park. The county recently secured a $20,000 grant for the project, but Roth said estimates have it at $28,000 total.
However, Commissioner Terry Rummel pointed out that while the commissioners are committing to those funds, volunteer labor by the park district on other projects in the past have often resulted in the county not needing to pay for what they have committed to on those.
“I think we have to commit to that $8,000 for you to make application, but you usually don’t tap into that, so thank you for all your time and dedication that you do for that,” Rummel said.
The commissioners will pass a resolution soon committing those funds.
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