By Dave Snyder
The Parsons Advocate
The City of Parsons received a prestigious award recently at the the annual West Virginia Municipal League Conference, Mayor Dorothy Judy, Recorder Bruce Kolsun and City Administrator Jason Myers were present to accept the award given at the Waterfront Hotel in Morgantown.
The award – in the form of a plaque – is called the All-Star Community Award. This award fell under the “enrichment” category as defined by the West Virginia Municipal League. The completion of the splash park at Mill Race Park led to the City of Parsons receiving this honor.
Myers said, “In our community, we have lacked extracurricular resources for our children. A survey was conducted and the overwhelming majority of the community wanted a pool. In a town as small as ours a pool was not tangible. With this in mind, feasible alternatives were explored.
After researching creative alternatives it was obvious that Parsons needed a splash park. An engineer/consultant was secured. Splash pad companies were contacted and finally narrowed down to The city council chose a company and the project proceeded from that point.
Factors such as target audience, features, system type and surfacing were taken in to consideration. The Parsons Park and Recreation Commission, Friends of the Parks, Parsons City Council, Parsons City Administrator, the Thrasher Group, Aquatic Recreation Company LLC, Huffman Corporation, Region VII Planning and Development Council and the Parsons City staff worked as a unit to construct the splash park.
Myers said, “It took a little over three years, but City Council successfully secured enough funding through the William Mahan Harman Memorial Fund to construct a three thousand two hundred square foot splash park with over twenty-five different aquatic features. Our splash park is one of the largest in the state of West Virginia. I stand with the Mayor and echo her comments,” said City Administrator Jason Myers. ” We sure do have a great team here at the city. We all work great together and for the same common goal; to make Parsons the best it can be! ” City AdministratorMyers also wanted to thank his wife Beki Myers and Dr. Cindy Kolsun for helping him prepare the nomination packet to the West Virginia Municipal League.
We were honored to be recognized by the West Virginia Municipal League for our Splash Park, said Mayor Dorothy Judy. ” I’m truly blessed to have had the opportunity to work alongside a great group of people to make the Splash Park a reality for our people.”
The West Virginia Municipal League chose Parsons under their “enrichment” category. The League defines enrichment as follows: Any program improve the quality and quantity of city service delivery. Also, any programs or projects that improve physical or economic vitality of the community, such as business development, construction projects, housing projects, urban renewal, downtown revitalization, historic preservation or neighborhood development, public/private partnership.
For Parsons to be chosen for this type of award is quite an accomplishment. Two new businesses have actually opened because of the park.
The park operates daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. the operating season runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Mayor Judy said, “It is wonderful that our city received this award. I hope we can add more things to the park so the children and people of our community can participate in more activities.”
