LAHARPE — Having successfully assisted with a number of projects in Iola, Humboldt, Moran, Elsmore and Savonburg, Thrive Allen County is setting its sights on LaHarpe.
Thrive officials met with LaHarpe PRIDE committee members in a “community conversation” Monday.
The discussion focused on LaHarpe’s hopes to upgrade its city park with new equipment and a walking trail.
PRIDE has about $6,900 in the bank — $4,500 brought in through donations and other fundraisers and another $2,500 in a city playground equipment fund.
PRIDE members have solicited opinions from local residents, with limited success, to determine the wants and needs of the community.
And while they’re eager to continue gearing up for any park improvements, the goal is to have the work be part of a concerted plan, and not a “piece-meal” approach, PRIDE member Savannah Flory said.
The money is a good start, responded Thrive Executive Director David Toland.
“Now, what can we do to help?” Toland asked.
The consensus from Monday’s meeting was to formulate a park
improvement plan, by reaching out to students at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University for assistance.
With the startup money and plan in place, PRIDE can then seek out more assistance from the city, as well as grants to fund park upgrades.
The discussion also centered on generating more participation in PRIDE ventures, perhaps by reaching out to the larger LaHarpe Day Committee to build a spirit of cooperation of the two groups, which have for years operated largely independent of each other.
ALSO AT Monday’s meeting, audience members were given their first glimpse of plans for the new Allen County Hospital.
Hospital Trustee Karen Gilpin showed renderings of what the new hospital will look like on North Kentucky Street; and of the interior of the patients’ rooms and other major components of the medical facility.
Construction is slated to begin on the hospital in April and should take about 17 months, Gilpin said.
