New Executive Director Announced For Trails
Chad Jonsson announced Megan McClellan will be the new executive director of the Syracuse-Wawasee Trail. The announcement was made during the trail committee’s regular board meeting Monday.
McClellan was one of six candidates considered and currently lives in the Cincinnati area, but is in the process of relocating to Syracuse.
McClellan has worked on trail projects in upstate New York and will begin in her new position sometime in August. Already she plans to meet with area homeowners and lake associations. McClellan will also be taking over posting for the Syracuse-Wawasee Trail Facebook page.
Jonsson stated he felt her presence would definitely benefit the trail committee.
Tour des Lakes was a success, according to Erick Leffler. He stated 175 riders, largely from outside the Syracuse area, turned out for the event with 15 to 20 riders participating in the smaller Tour des Parks ride.
Leffler stated they received a lot of good feedback and the bike ride’s committee would be meeting soon to discuss the feedback, in addition to divvying up the proceeds.
The trail committee also discussed getting Share the Road signage, costing a little under $100 for each sign. Potential locations for the signage would include Southshore Drive, Eli Lilly Road and Waco Drive.
Marsha Carey, grant writer, recommended they pursue funding for the signs via a grant offered by the Kosciusko County Community Foundation. Carey also noted other grant opportunities that exist stating she just needs to know what the committee’s priority list looks like.
Progress reports were heard on all the projects, too. Mike Buhrt will be meeting with the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation about what the trail committee might be able to do along SR 13 near its property. Afterward, the committee will approach INDOT about what the committee has to do in order to build in its right of way. At this time, the committee has no plans to reapply for funding from INDOT.
A constructability review will be underway yet this week in regards to bringing the trail to the area of North CR 800E toward Tri-County Fish and Wildlife Area. Additionally meetings have been held with Eli Lilly Road homeowners to gauge interest in expanding or adding on to the trail in that area.
The possibility of co-funding, along with the town of Syracuse, a sidewalk to the Syracuse sign on the south side of town was also mentioned.
Next trail committee meeting is at 6 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Syracuse Community Center.