HHCC looking at launching bike-sharing program in MP

By MEGAN COOPER

Mt. Pleasant News

Healthy Henry County Communities (HHCC) is working hard to make Mt. Pleasant and surrounding communities healthier places.

During Tuesday?s HHCC meeting, board member Lindsay Remick, wellness coordinator at Henry County Health Center, and HHCC coordinator Kelly Carr discussed different activities that HHCC is working on in order to improve the built environment.

?It?s a different way to look at the environment, it?s human interaction,? said Carr. ?We recently learned that our Community Transformation Grant (CTG) funding would end after this year, year three. We don?t know much more than that and they left it open, there may be more opportunities for funding. Lindsay (Remick) has been working on quite a few projects and we have some time to get these projects finished before it runs out.?

According to Remick, there are four different issues that needed attention in Henry County.

?Mike Wells, superintendent of schools in Mt. Pleasant, approached me and he, along with Rich McNamee, attended a meeting in Johnston on the built environment,? explained Remick. ?He came up with a lot of different ideas we could implement in Henry County from working with Iowa Wesleyan College (IWC) on programs and classes that high school students could take.

?He came across the International Professors and Students, which are around 30 to 35 people who don?t have access to get around town, no transportation or drivers? licenses,? said Remick. ?I began working with Chris Peckover from IWC and came up with and idea on how to start bike sharing on the IWC campus and then we thought it could be more community wide.?

Remick then set up a meeting with the Mt. Pleasant Police Department, Ft. Madison prison, City of Mt. Pleasant, Chamber of Commerce and the Mt. Pleasant Community School District and discussed if the idea of bike sharing was even feasible.

?We had to define the key partners and their roles,? explained Remick. ?The Mt. Pleasant Police Department has over 100 bikes they could possibly donate to us and the Ft. Madison prison has a bike program where their offenders will refurbish and do anything you would like to the bikes, maintain, repair and what not. It?s a free service.

?The only thing we would have to provide is any equipment we would need, like spare parts. We would need the City of Mt. Pleasant to take over the program and supervise it,? said Remick.

An example Remick provided of the use of the bike-sharing program would be people from the train depot here in town. They would be able to travel uptown to get something to eat if they have to wait for a couple of hours for their next train.

?We could even have bikes with baskets on them so they could take their luggage,? said Remick. ?Mike Wells is very involved and said that if there were bikes that needed to be maintained or repaired they had a trailer to take them to Ft. Madison and could find students to help put the bike racks in. We are at the point where we need to bring it up to the city council and other groups to see if we have support on it.?

Mt. Pleasant Chief of Police Ron Archer added, ?The prison in Ft. Madison has already contacted me and said they were ready for the bikes. I told them we weren?t quite ready yet, that city administrator Brent Schleisman was checking on the liability. He wanted to see where the city would stand if the city was involved and someone got hurt. We hate to think of that, but kind of have to.?

According to Remick, CTG would be able to purchase the bike racks, signage to explain the program, maps and the bike racks.

?On a side note, the bikes would be a bright green color, noticeable so they city and police department would recognize them and be able to get them back to where they belong,? said Remick. ?The bike rack would be the simple black, wave racks and would be placed around town. Some big cities use checkouts, but ours would be based on the honor system and if it doesn?t work, it doesn?t work. It?s low-cost and would cost approximately $4,500.?

Other activities through the CTG include, in New London: Two flashing rollout pedestrian stop signs, install curbs, install pedestrian crosswalk by daycare. The cost would be around $4,200 for these projects.

In Winfield: Work in the activity park like curb cuts alongside new sidewalk and appropriate routes to other activity destinations in town like the school park, city park, community track, swimming pool, golf course and ball diamonds. Also use funding to purchase a kiosk to have a map to find where the locations are and to explain the route. HHCC also bought bike racks for them last year. The cost would be around $2,800 for those projects.

Finally, the fourth issue to work on is at Oakland Mills Park.

?We would like to make a smart trail,? explained Remick. ?You would use QR codes and basically what would happen is on the grounds, we would pick points where they can involve conservation, education and wellness information. We would have someone create a video that would educate on those topics and you would continue on the hike using your cell phone.?

Remick explained that if someone didn?t have a smart phone they could get a pampleht that would have the same information on it. The stopping points would also include information on distance and would also incorporate how many calories would be burned on the trail.

?The total cost for the project would be around $2,500,? said Remick. ?It would help to increase wellness and it?s another way to incorporate physical activity at the park.?

According to Carr, these are the projects going on through the CTG. The intention of the grant is for the environmental changes and lasting, sustainable changes to make the county a better place.

?In reference to the recreational trails in Mt. Pleasant, the city does have a plan,? said Carr. ?There will be at some point trails all around Mt. Pleasant. They are in different stages and some will require bigger grants to complete. Talking with them (the city) it seems they have everything covered and they just need our support when it comes time to get the grants. In the meantime we could look at doing signage and keep looking into using our rec trail funds for opportunities to enhance our existing trail system.

?As for the skate park that we have talked about, it?s still there and we will hold onto the money as long as we need to. The city council did discuss this and set aside land at East Lake Park, but they won?t commit any funding to it. If we raise the money, the city will put it out there. Now it?s up to whoever wants to take the lead and to see if there is still enough of a push to make this happen.?

Healthy Henry County Communities will meet again on Tuesday, May 6, at 1 p.m. in the HCHC Health Education Center.