McKenzie Parks Hears Input, Narrows Recommendations

McKENZIE (October 8) — McKenzie’s growth opportunities were the topics at Wednesday night’s Parks and Recreation Public Input Session, facilitated by Carroll County Chamber of Commerce President Brad Hurley. Hurley urged community attendees to search their wildest hopes and dreams and share ways McKenzie’s Parks and Recreation department could improve and expand, helping the department map its five-year master plan.

By the end of the night, attendees filled two poster-sized pages with recommendations, and a vote helped narrow the three favorites.

The meeting began with a SWOT analysis of McKenzie, mapping the city’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Attendees decided McKenzie’s strengths include its community, its schools, its industries, its local government, the revitalization of its downtown, its public safety units and its upcoming soccer complex; weaknesses include community, drug issues, a lack of recreational activities for youth aged 12-18, weak infrastructure and a lack of integration with Bethel University students; opportunities include community growth, a hotel with an indoor conference center and increasing affordable housing; and threats include a lack of funding and community division.

The room then went into a brainstorming session as Hurley urged attendees to “dream big” as if funding wasn’t an obstacle. City Recorder Jennifer Waldrup took the floor to write down attendees’ recommendations.

By the end of the meeting, attendees filled over two full sheets of poster-sized paper with their ideas to improve McKenzie’s Parks and Recreation department and ultimately provide more community activities for all ages.

Ideas included constructing a par-three golf course, erecting a youth community center, paving and lighting a new walking trail, building a shaded pickleball complex for potential competitions, planting additional trees to provide shade in the parks, adding grills to the parks, updating all of the parks’ facilities, fencing in the playground, building a football field at the high school, building a bowling/go-kart facility, constructing new outdoor basketball courts, putting public restrooms downtown, building community tennis courts, building a permanent amphitheatre, putting additional parking at McKenzie’s City Park, adding WiFi to the parks, putting speakers downtown, adding early lightning warning detectors to all parks, upgrading the farmer’s market area, adding new playground equipment to the elementary school, and constructing a public pool.

After the input session, Hurley gave each attendee three round stickers and one star sticker to use in a vote. The star sticker equaled two votes and would be used for each attendee’s favorite idea.

Attendees narrowed down their three favorite ideas: building a youth community center (nine votes), updating all facilities at the parks (six votes) and paving a lighted walking trail (five votes).

This was McKenzie’s second public input meeting regarding parks and recreation; the first session surveyed McKenzie students. Following the meeting, Hurley said the department would combine recommendations from both sessions and place them on a tier-ranking list to help draft the department’s five-year master plan.

The plan’s draft will be sent to the state for processing. Once approved by the state, which Hurley said he hoped would happen by December, the draft becomes McKenzie Parks and Recreation’s five-year master plan.