The Ashland County Parks District will be getting some much needed funding after the voters of Ashland County approved a 0.5-mill levy on Nov. 8. 

The ACPD is composed of sixteen different parks spanning all across Ashland County and on their website they thanked the Ashland County voters for saying “yes” on the ballot. 

In an interview with 88.9 WRDL, Ashland Mayor Glen Stewart talked about how grateful he was for the passing of the levy and how much it was needed.

“It means a lot for the whole county, in the city we have a lot of city parks, but the county is put together from thousands of acres of really really nice natural land,” Stewart said. “It has not been cut, there is walking paths, there is wild life, it is just a great way to get out and see nature. They needed this support because it has been all run by volunteers. They have a lot of parks around the county that need more than volunteer work.”

Besides the volunteer work that is put in, the park district has run on donations and grants since its founding in 2002. 

The volunteers at the ACPD are not the only ones who are happy about the levy passing, members of the Ashland and Ashland University community are also glad to see the new funding. 

“The parks are a great opportunity to just spend time with someone and not have to worry about the distractions of life,” Ashland University junior, Daniel Fioritto said. “I love just walking down the trails and enjoying scenery, it’s a nice escape.”

The parks district will look to community members for recommendations on improvements to the different parks across Ashland County.