Fairfield’s Jeff Fitz-Randolph honored for service to Jefferson County Trails Council

FAIRFIELD — The City of Fairfield honored Jeff Fitz-Randolph for his 26 years of service on the Jefferson County Trails Council.

Fitz-Randolph, who was a founding member of the trails council when it was formed in 1997, is stepping down from the council this year. To recognize his more than quarter century of service, he received a Certificate of Appreciation signed by Fairfield Mayor Connie Boyer and Jefferson County Conservation Director Shawn Morrissey on Aug. 24, 2023.

Fitz-Randolph said it felt good to see his hard work on the trails council acknowledged by city and county officials.

“I was very honored,” he said.

Fitz-Randolph is a native of New Jersey, and moved to Fairfield with his brother decades ago. He became interested when Ron Blair talked about putting together a committee to create more trails in Fairfield, and ultimately a loop trail. Fitz-Randolph said there were bits and pieces of trails in the mid-1990s but nothing that was a continuous loop like there is now, where the Fairfield Loop Trail extends nearly 16 miles through the town and just outside it.

Fitz-Randolph said he was interested in joining the new trails council in 1997 because he saw that a loop trail would be good for bicycles, and he liked to ride his bike.

Fellow trails council members Kent Rice and Kathy Peck said Fitz-Randolph was the secretary of the council from the beginning, and that he was always consistent and reliable.

“Bad weather, illness, or even a worldwide pandemic were not enough to cancel a Jefferson County Trails Council meeting,” Rice and Peck said. “Jeff took notes and then wrote the minutes, in detail, for every meeting.”

Rice and Peck estimated that Fitz-Randolph has produced 308 monthly secretary reports during his tenure as secretary. Fitz-Randolph was responsible for developing the trails council’s website.

“As the loop trail was being planned, designed, and constructed, Jeff was always there to write special pieces for the web page about a grand opening of a section of the trail, the results of grant applications, honoring landowners that donated land, maintenance needs, etc.,” Rice and Peck said.

Frank Broz, a member of the trails council since 2015, said he was glad to see Fitz-Randolph honored for his contributions to the trails council.

“Jeff authored and updated the website for the trails constantly, and always volunteered for things nobody else wanted to do,” Broz said. “We will miss his wisdom on the council.”

Rice and Peck noted that Fitz-Randolph researched and wrote articles about locations along the trail, such as a history of the rail lines that serve as a trail corridor. He wrote about the nearby wetlands, prairie, and other pieces of local history, and these articles were published not just on the website but also on the kiosk trail heads.

Rice and Peck said Fitz-Randolph did more than take meeting minutes and record history. He volunteered his labor to clear trail corridors and build bridges, like the first bridge built on the loop trail, over Pleasant Lake Spillway.

Rice and Peck said the bridge was built by the U.S. Army National Guard, but it got off to a slow start.

“On the first day on the job, a National Guard member was trying to start their generator,” Rice and Peck recalled. “He pulled and pulled on that cord without success while Jeff watched. Jeff then said, ‘I don't know anything about building bridges or using a generator, but on my computer, the switch needs to be turned this way’ as he clicked the switch on the generator. The next pull, the generator started. I don't think the Guard ever thanked him for that tidbit of information.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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