Fort Scott visioning process is in transition

Clayton Tatro, community contact for the Public Square Communities, Inc. and leader of the Youth Activity Team, said the visioning process is in transition.

"We are in a transition with that group...trying to figure out what to retire. It wasn't intended to be going on forever."

Since 2006, the community of Fort Scott has been engaged in a community visioning process, and many have participated in this effort to cast a vision for possibilities for Fort Scott's future.

Often referred to as the Public Square process, the Community Visioning involved all four corners of the public square, connecting business, education, health/human service and government, according to the Public Square Communities website.

Through the community visioning process, Fort Scott has reaped the benefits of several action teams and tangible products: Heritage Park (First and Main Street), the Good Neighbor Action Team, and the Fort Scott Riverfront Authority. It also included the Community Health and Wellness Team, and the Youth Activities Team.

"The Health and Wellness committee got the pool done and that group is retired," said Tatro. "The Riverfront Authority came out of visioning and doesn't need the assistance they once needed.

"The youth group part sprang out of the visioning as a focus on listening to the youth, to get them involved...youth leadership."

"The YAT doesn't need the same connection with the visioning committee."

"The coffee shop team is a part of the public square, and the Downtown Action Committee is a part of the public square. They are not answering to (the Community Visioning), but a network and a connection...a resource."

Following the YAT meeting last Sunday, the group is researching trail grants for Ellis Park, through the Sunflower Foundation.

The Sunflower Foundation is a longstanding foundation program designed to help communities and schools promote healthy living for Kansans of all ages. The Sunflower Trails program provides grants for construction, expansion and enhancement of community- and school-based trails as a way of supporting the concept of a 'built environment;' that is, a living space where the healthy choice is the easy choice. The goal of the Sunflower Trails program is to help communities and schools create safe and accessible places for people to connect to physical activity, a healthier lifestyle, the great outdoors and each other. Sunflower Trails is part of the foundation's Healthy Living initiative, and since its inception in 2005, it has funded more than 85 trails across the state, according to the Kansas Recreation and Park Association website.

"This could be a potential grant for the trail. It would be one-half to three-fourths mile long."

"We are also researching getting playground equipment for Ellis Park, and researching light poles for the ballfields."

The group is anticipating a golf tournament fundraiser in the summer, to raise match monies for the grants, he said.

The YAT group has completed the following work at Ellis Park: "excavation and dirt work, a lot of work on the south end; concrete work, pads for the pavilion and basketball court; rock work for parking areas and worked on getting underground utilities."

"The YAT has put $160,000 into the renovation of Ellis Park," Tatro said.

The group is currently composed of Diana Mitchell, Laura George, Carolyn Sinn, Tom Robertson, Eric Bailey, Larry Fink, Paul Martin and Tatro.