County Parks Department Seeks Public Input into Master Plan

The Jefferson County Parks Department is seeking public input into its Master Plan to guide parks development and recreation programs.

The department has scheduled a series of town hall meetings and is conducting an online survey.

Jefferson County Parks Director Mike Ginger said the comments and survey results will be used by the county parks board to guide future development, grant applications and programming.

“The whole focus of this is to gather public input from the citizens of Jefferson County, so the decisions the park board makes reflects those values,” Ginger said. “Do they want more park land? Do they want more programming? What kind of amenities do they want in the parks? Do they want changes in policy that we’re currently operating under?”

One thing that residents have already expressed a desire for is playground equipment in county parks.

“There are grants out there that we can apply for,” Ginger said. “But if we don’t have that kind of development in the Master Plan as something people said they wanted, it makes it more difficult for us to get funding.”

The town hall meetings are scheduled for the following dates
and locations:

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22–North Jefferson Ambulance District, 2820 Horrell Ln., High Ridge

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29–Festus Library, 400 West Main St., Festus

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13–, 1701 Missouri State Rd., Arnold

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20– Jefferson County Administration Building, 729 Maple St., Hillsboro

County residents are also encouraged to take an online survey, available on the parks department website.

Ginger said the hopes to have the town hall meeting and survey process completed by January 2012.

For more information, contact the county parks department at
636-797-5334.