A Fond du Lac Lakeside Park exploratory committee has met for the first time, elected a chair and vice chair and voted in favor of asking the city council to hire a facilitator. The committee voted to elect UW Fond du Lac dean Dr. John Short to be chairman. “Its not something that I sought,” Short told WFDL news. “I have a leadership role in a number of different organizations right now but I feel so strongly about the importance of parks, Lakeside Park and Lake Winnebago, about parks to the quality of life that I accepted the nomination and am very pleased to do so.” The committee was formed to decide if the park can be better utilized, to brainstorm ideas and to report back to the council no later than next June. But Short says he doesn’t think the committee should feel pressure to make a recommendation if it feels the park is fine as it is. “I don’t think there’s any pressure whatsoever. I hope where we would see pressure is to look at alternatives and to look at the whole notion of access,” Short said. “How much do people have access to Lakeside Park to Lake Winnebago and are there ways that we can increase access?” Short says hiring a facilitator will help make sure that everyone is involved and that there are different points of view. The committee also took a bus tour of Lakeside Park. Their next meeting will be at 6pm Tuesday September 23rd. All of the committee meetings are open to the public.
