A new Marshall County Park Board may be formed following discussion by the Marshall County Commissioners Monday morning.
Curtis Palmer and Deb VanDeMark came forward with the request to form a county park board. VanDeMark said there are areas in the county that could be designated as a county park. She highlighted the Memorial Forest as an area that could benefit from grant money under the direction of a county park board. Palmer added that he’s interested in walking and biking trails and a connection to the Plymouth kayak launch.
Palmer said the individual municipalities have their own park boards, but agrees that a county park board would be beneficial to the county.
“I think there are opportunities for grants to help us to do these things, but without a formal organization of a park board you can’t really access that on a county-wide basis.
Right now, Palmer said this would be a volunteer group to see if there are grants available to assist with projects once identified.
He added that the commissioners would have two appointments, the council would have two appointments, and then a county elected official would select the fifth member. They would be politically balanced. The commissioners decided to allow the Circuit Court Judge to appoint the fifth person to the board to get it organized.
County Attorney Jim Clevenger is expected to finalize an ordinance drafted by Palmer to be presented to the commissioners for approval at an upcoming meeting. The commissioners seemed to be in favor of the formation of the board so the ordinance is anticipated to pass.
