Public invited to help plan a healthier community

Abby St. George, representing the PedNet Coalition, gets input from local business owner Frank Adamson and Craig Campbell, member of the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team, as the three discuss a map of potential trails for Fort Scott at a public forum Tuesday at City Hall.

Jason E. Silvers

Community members, city officials and others were able to share ideas and hear more details about design of a bike and pedestrian plan in Bourbon County at a public forum Tuesday at City Hall.

Representatives of the PedNet Coalition, a nonprofit based in Columbia, Mo., were on hand to provide background on a grant the county received in 2016 toward creating a healthier county, as well as an assessment of the community’s sidewalks, trails and other infrastructure.

Maps of potential trails in Fort Scott and the county were available for attendees to view and add their input to. Some ideas shared by attendees involved connecting trails and sidewalks with existing hiking and biking trails at Gunn Park, a walking trail at Fort Scott Community College, as well as local street, sidewalk and highway projects.

In August 2016, Bourbon County was one of eight Kansas communities chosen as a grantee in the largest community grant program ever funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas. The Healthy Bourbon County Action Team, a subgroup of the Fort Scott Visioning Steering Committee, received a $100,000 coordination grant and has an opportunity to apply for non-competitive implementation and achievement grants the next few years. Total possible investment in grant dollars is $500,000.