Reporter Ann Marie Ames here to answer your question, officerfriendly1.

Here is a quote from Rock County Administrator Craig Knutson's notes in the 2008 recomended budget:

"An item included in the 2008 budget request is $11,000 to do an update of the Parks, Outdoor Recreation and Open Space Plan. (POROS)

This plan must be updated every five years to remain eligible for state grants. The planning department wrote the current plan.

However, given the deadlines which they must meet to complete the comprehensive plan, they may not have the staff time needed to update the POROS plan.

Therefore, $11,000 is included to retain a private firm to assist with this effort."

maybe they could make rotary gardens a park the county pays for so they wont have to charge admission, I would think everyone in the county would benefit

Indianford Dam is in the top 3 most used county parks. People fish for sustenance there. We should improve the area and drill a new well there. The existing well is contaminated by leaking septic systems around the lake.

As far as hiring out of state consultants to assess the entire county's need for outdoor recreation and open spaces, several companies bid on the project, and the one with the best offer (not the best price) got hired for the job. It's too bad a WI company did not have the best offer.

As far as the parks needing to be policed, the County recently gave them authority to enforce the county park rules. They did not have this authority before last month.

Harvest Hop was a success. Thank you to the many people who attended and generously donated to our cause. Misty Swift and Two Left Feet were fantastic. Again, thanks to all who attended and participated. We hope to see you all in the future.

What was the cost to hire these two companies to tell us that we need to spend more money on our county parks?

What about preserving some natural areas that do not need much (if any) maintenance? Forests, Oak savannahs, prairies....Have you ever been to the Chicago suburbs? It is sprawling so much down there, but there are NATURAL forests everywhere. Preserved. And people can explore them, fish in the lakes, etc. We need some more of that in Rock County. Just acquire the land and set it aside. Let nature take care of it. That's what our children and future generations need...Maybe we could see less subdivisions and more green. It would attract tourism, and big money, not cheap developments.

janesvillian...You are correct - the bike trail IS a city project, however the County should know that trails are the current trend, if not their employees should be in touch with those who pay their salary. As for salaries, check out what we pay our Parks Director. I know she makes over $55,000 in salary alone, which doesn't include state retirement paid 100% by us, family health insurance, paid continued education, etc. to total $20,000+. We are paying her around $80,000 to introduce private consultants-which, in many cases, I have no problem paying for - just not paying them to compare us to others and tell us we need to spend more money on parks...we already knew that & if we didn't, a Parks Director - no matter how inexperienced - should be able to tell us that. Especially one who we pay $80,000 a year for. (Roughly 15% of the budget!)

Long_Time_Gone, the bike tunnel is a CITY OF JANESVILLE budget item. The county has nothing to do with it.
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If we are not to hire professional consultants, then yes, we should hire permanent employees with advanced degrees and commensurate knowledge to the outside experts. Let me warn you, though, such professionals do not come cheap. $100,000 annually could be removed from the parks budget to pay for someone (salary, benefits, continued education). Maybe we could close a few parks to pay for this person.

All great posts - I only hope the County Board is listening, or at least someone lets them know what taxpayers think. I'm still waiting to hear what the Parks Director does. Was she hired to just introduce outside consultants to do her job? So many comparisons to other counties having better parks...look at their Park Directors! They actually do what they were hired to do! Our director was hired to do a job she's not qualified for, or experienced in doing...so we, the taxpayers, have to pay for her to "learn on the job". Unfortunately, that's not gonna get our parks fixed up anytime soon.

Stop hiring outside firms to tell you the obvious. Is it that we don't feel we can talk directly to the citizens about our needs? So, we need to establish an outside entity, paid thousands of dollars, to tell us the obvious?

rockresident - great post. Those were my thoughts exactly when the Parks Dir introduced the 2 consultants, then stepped aside. (I was at the meeting) Isn't part of the Rec degree she has learning how to promote and increase usage of a parks system ?

LTG - I agree, put the money in where it will be used. I hope the Park Director is at least in touch with the people to know where trends are - everyone knows that trails are only gaining in popularity. We also need to preserve our natural areas, but this emphasizes my point that current park director has no knowledge or experience in the area. Was the pool of candidates for the position that bad that she was actually considered the best? At the very least, she should be doing this survey work so that we (taxpayers) aren't paying her to do nothing as well as paying a consulting firm from outside of the state.

I posted on the survey already, but i have to ask, is the county park at the Indianford Dam needed? Is it used? There is nothing there, other than a sign stating it is a county park.
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Also, what about Murwin Park, another quiet little county park that has no real facilities that one would associate with a typical park.
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Seems if you add the $500k needed for a bike trail tunnel to the $500k needed to expand and maintain the county park system, someone should do an accounting of which parks are being used vs. the bike trail that appears much more popular.

Be wary of governments or municipalities when they start comparing themselves to other governments or municipalities in terms of size or public services. Because you know they are trying to find excuses to either expand or upgrade themselves which always results in higher taxes.

The parks need to be policed better. I am embarrassed to take my kids to them because of the amount of broken beer bottles and used condoms littering the trails and grounds.

One of the problems is with the Parks Director. She doesn't seem to have much for ideas, or provide much for leadership. I think she has some advanced degree in recreation, but no knowledge or training in parks. It would be great to see her put some of her recreation knowledge to practice by providing more recreation programs in our parks. That could help get more exposure and visitors. Additionally, the county should require she get some parks training as this is a parks job...what are they paying her for?

I know someone will say with $500,000 budget, you can't do much - but part of her job should require her to find more efficient spending areas. Besides, the few decent county parks are there because of the great VOLUNTEER FRIENDS GROUPS - not because of the over-paid, under-qualified Park Director or the under-utilized park commission.

Urban areas provide a tax base. Parks require tax money. It is not an either-or equation GreenGina.
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Quit labeling parks as "city" parks and "county" parks - they all require taxes for labor and equipment and it should be the goal to reduce costs, not ask for more from the overburdened property taxpayers.

The intent is not to make more parks, but to increase the size of the existing parks, and to preserve and protect the natural places currently owned by the county.

The park budget needs to be increased for the existing parks, and the Green fund does not provide funds for maintenance or upkeep.

Would the readers rather see more urban development instead of protection of natural resources?

I whole heartily agree with public donations and fundraiser. Good on ya Harvest Hop volunteers.

Perhaps it should bring a sense of pride we are not aimlessly wasting county money and keeping up what we have to some degree. $571,000 is no small expenditure and should not be compared to any one.

typical consultants with a hidden agenda...I was at this meeting. And as one of the county supervisors pointed out, they were comparing dollars spent on Rock County parks to CITIES, not counties. And as the article states, when claiming much lower Rock County acres per capita to other counties, they were unable to give any figures.

I'm quite sure that the figure quoted for Beloit's parks budget is incorrect. According to their website, the 2008 operating budget for parks was $1.4 million which would translate to about $38 per capita.
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Also, while Rock County isn't exactly famous for its parks, we do have two larger municipalities with extensive park development and several smaller municipalities with very nice parks.
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We could do a better job of maintaining county parks, to be sure, but I'm not sure we need more of them.

"Forty-eight percent of the county residents would pay up to $5 more per month than they do now, according to the survey. The rest were undecided or would not pay anything more."
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52% - a majority - do not want higher property taxes.
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The county should reduce quantity, and increase quality.
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I see the Snappers Stadium is back in the news. Now that would be a QUALITY county park destination.
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And just maybe, with a new stadium/park complex, the Brewers would return to their A-ball home.
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Make it happen Beloit! Ta heck with my ole hometown.

I think the county parks are....maybe not a disgrace but I can't think of a better word right now. It seems the only one that is really kept up is the one on Hwy 51 with the deer. Happy Hollow park is really gross....I know it mainly because of the flood but even before then it was getting kinda run down. I would love to take my daughter down there and have a picnic by the water and do some fishing. But I think there is too much junk down there. But I will have to say that Janesville Parks are very nice....or at least the ones they pay attention to.

Tonight is the "Harvest Hop" at Beckman Mill County Park in Beloit, WI just south of HWY 81 on CTY H. It's a fundraiser for the Rock County Green Fund-a fund set up to accept cash donations for land aquisition projects to enhance and expand our existing county parks, preserving natural areas for future generations.

The fun begins at 5 PM with free hot dogs, brats and chips, soda for sale, and donations accepted for beer.

The music begins at 5:30 with Misty Swift, a local folk singer from Edgerton. And from 7:00 - 9:00 PM, Two Left Feet will take the stage.

The bonfire will be lit at sundown. Come join us and have a hoppin' good time for a hoppin' good cause!