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HOWLAND -- Three local entities met recently to discuss improvements to the township's aesthetics and future project opportunities.
While no action could be taken, the March 23 joint work session between the Howland Local Schools Board of Education, township trustees and the board of park commissioners was proposed to explore collaborative strategic planning initiatives that foster a shared community vision of leadership.
"The park board is working on a plan," Trustee Matthew Vansuch said. "And we are considering a contract between the township and the park board that would allow the park board to accept donations from community members who are interested in donating to refurbish and refresh Orwig Park."
Present for the meeting were Trustees Frank Dillon, James J. LaPolla Jr. and Vansuch; board of education President Wendy Miller and members Julie Altawil, Ken Jones, Jeff Pegg and Brianne Perry; and park board Commissioners Jessica Gault, Shawn Pompelia and Allen Seman. Howland Local Schools Superintendent Kevin Spicher also attended the meeting.
Using its expertise, the park board would lay out and take care of the landscaping changes that are being considered, Vansuch said.
"In my mind, my model that I'm looking at is similar to the Howland Community Scholarship Foundation," Vansuch explained.
The scholarship foundation is a separate 501(c)(3) that operates solely for the purpose of generating funds to provide scholarships to Howland High School students, Vansuch said, and is similar to what he envisions for the entire township.
"It's good to have the same goals in mind," Miller said. "The school is ready and willing to help with whatever they need us to help with."
Miller added that, when it comes to community events, the school always is willing to collaborate on programming. Though limited by Ohio Revised Code as to what the district can and can't participate in, Miller said collaborating on community events is not something that has been discussed previously.
"But it would certainly be something that we are willing to be a part of," she said.
"I'd like to see a 501(c)(3) that would work together for planning community events and be organized on doing that," Vansuch said. "There are places, like in Canfield, that have their Fourth of July organized and funds raised by a separate entity. That is my model longterm. I think it would do a lot for the community and wouldn't put the responsibility solely on individual people, and it also doesn't put it on the government. We can help out, but it would be good to bring together people in our community who are good at those types of things, interested in doing them, and putting them in a more structured and formal entity."
Orwig Park frequently is used as a community event space, and it has hosted the annual Christmas tree lighting festival, Food Truck Fridays, the Howland Farmers Market, Fourth of July Celebration, and more.
"We're also going to look at improving the lighting at the park, year-round," Vansuch said. "We're probably going to consider that at our next meeting, but that's something our lawyers will have to work on."
Howland Township Park is owned by the school district and leased to the park board. Morgandale Park and Bolindale Park are owned outright by the park board.
Vansuch added that a meeting of this kind was the first in his 14 years as trustee.
The parties may meet again on June 6 in the high school media center for a follow-up session among all of the entities to keep the lines of communication open for discussing new projects.
"It was a very positive meeting, to begin to open the lines of communication and find ways we can work together to do good for our community," park Commissioner Jessica Gault said.
She also explained that the park board sometimes runs into issues in finding grant money because the school owns the Orwig Park land, but the park board leases the land from the school.
"We're going to work with the school and see if we can find any ways to work around some of those barriers, and try to procure some grants, or figure out ways to better move forward to be able to do more stuff with the park," Gault said.
Gault said the groups want to "make Orwig Park something the town can be proud of, and a great place that's more functional to host all of the events that go on there."
"The parks are involved in this to really transform Orwig Park into a centerpiece of the township," said park Commissioner Shawn Pompelia. "The township maintains it, and then we interject, and help fundraise for revitalizing the area."
"We have new officials this year, and it was a good opportunity to reset the tables amongst the board, and improve those lines of communications," Vansuch said. "So that's what the first joint session was aligned to do."
MAIN IDEA
"We heard a lot during the campaign last year that there was a lack of communication between the boards," Vansuch said. "I disagree with that, but I want to acknowledge that people had that view. So by getting all of us together around one table, we can look each other in the eye and talk to each other about those issues and be able to communicate on a more personal level."
Beautification was just "one small thing," as a talking point during the meeting, Vansuch said.
"We're working together on projects and making sure we're all aligned in doing what we each individually do. We have not had one organization in our community that plans community wide events. It's fallen on either the schools, the township, or active volunteers, like Jessica Gault, who put together the Tree Lighting Festival.
"One thing that we talked about was that we'd like to see the community come together to create an entity that will help plan community wide events like that, so that they're not just one-off events, or fall solely on one person, but so that they can be continuous," he said.
In June, the group of community leaders would like to identify others in the community who would be most helpful in such an entity.
OTHER PLANS
"The purpose of the meeting was to have all of our township officials sitting around a table, being able to talk to each other," Vansuch added.
Along with the Orwig Park plan to improve landscaping, usability and the aesthetics, another item discussed was the America 250-Ohio celebration in 2026.
America 250-Ohio is the state commission for the U.S. Semiquincentennial. Through the nonprofit Ohio History Connection, formerly known as The Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society, the 29-member commission is "charged with preparing the state to participate in the United States of America's 250th anniversary which culminates on July 4, 2026," according to the Ohio History Connection website.
"Using that (America 250) as an example, we did discuss having collaboration within the schools," Miller said. "Maybe in the history department, or bringing the students in for some programming, as far as that goes. So that might be a good jumping-off portion. I know that we've offered to host the next meeting, so maybe that will be on the agenda, to see what kind of resources we can bring in and what kind of partnerships we can form."
"During this multiyear commemoration, Ohioans from our local communities in all 88 counties will be the spotlight of the impact that has / is / will be made on our nation's story. From the many 'firsts' that came from Ohio, to the sacred stories of our residents, and the unique areas of the state that continues to evolve, the rich content of our state will be an opportunity for all people to connect and see themselves in Ohio's story … as well as the story of our nation," the Ohio History Connection website states.
Vansuch explained that America 250-Ohio is "encouraging and looking for 250 communities to sign up to be an 'A-250' community."