Argos Councilwoman Suzanne Umbaugh recently joined a group of Marshall County leaders on a trip to Georgia to attend a Walkability Action Institute workshop.
This was an opportunity that was available to individuals from all across the country.
When Argos Town Council members met last Wednesday, Umbaugh shared a bit about the event, noting that she joined representatives from Plymouth and Culver as well as MACOG and the Troyer group.
She explained the four-day long workshop would be difficult to sum up in three to five minutes because so much was covered but the main emphasis was having safe and accessible walking options within the community.
Umbaugh said they addressed installing safe routes to school, marking cross walks and conducting ‘walk audits.’
She shared what those types of audits would entail, “Walking throughout your town, checking the different intersections, the streets, the curbs, the cracks in the sidewalks, the roots that push up things and make it unwalkable so everyone, whether it’s a mother with a stroller or somebody in a wheelchair, so everybody had access to the town.”
She noted that the event was sponsored by the Center for Disease Control.
Umbaugh explained, “It’s sponsored by the CDC, one reason I was anxious to go, to me the CDC means disease – here they’re focusing on health. I like that idea. They’re focusing on healthy communities.”
Councilwoman Umabaugh emphasized one take-away that had a lasting impact on her.
She told members, “The one statistic that keeps sticking out in my head: The second leading cause of premature death is a sedentary lifestyle so we need to move. It helps people be healthier, happier and it encourages community”
Walkability projects will continue to be discussed by Argos officials in future meetings.
Umbaugh said she plans to bring the information and resources she gathered from the event to the Argos Task Force. She mentioned that they’ll be working in conjunction with the town’s Stellar Communities’ representatives to potentially implement some the ideas.
