By JONATHAN SNYDER
Susan Campbell has won the Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award from the Indiana Parks and Recreation Association.
Campbell has served on the Bluffton Park Board for approximately 22 years. During her tenure, she has overseen the addition of five new parks, including Pickett’s Run, Kehoe and Lancaster Parks. Campbell has also been a major factor in promoting the department’s events. Campbell said that she hopes her abilities can drive people towards the “phenomenal” park properties.
Campbell’s win marks the third current Bluffton Park Board member to win the award, with Rick McEvoy and John Gerber also being awarded. Campbell said she was honored to receive the award, and promoted the park board and other department employees as the main factor into the parks department’s continued success.
“It warms my heart that our community is so involved in volunteering and maintaining our beautiful parks,” Campbell said. “From the police department to individuals that call when things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be … we live in a wonderful community. We have a phenomenal parks department, and park properties, and I want to get as many people as we can involved in them.”
Before she was involved in parks, she helped out in local Junior Girl Scout and high school band programs. While volunteering at Washington Park one year, former superintendent Pam Vanderkolk asked Campbell if she wanted to serve on the board, as one member was unable to fulfill their term. Campbell accepted, with a desire to ensure park properties were maintained well.
“She’s the eyes and ears for us in the community,” current Parks Department Superintendent Brandy Fiechter said. “So if she sees something that could be fixed, she’s quick to bring it to me so I can handle things like that.”
Fiechter noted that Campbell’s background in construction also helps with connecting the parks department with relevant experts on different projects. Campbell’s work with record keeping and statistical data has also been invaluable for Fiechter and the board’s decisions.
“She has all kinds of past data and stats that help me to guide the way that our department’s going to move,” Fiechter said. “I really appreciate her keeping that history for us at her fingertips, because it’s definitely something I wouldn’t know in my four years of transitioning here. She’s got a lot of knowledge for how things were.”
Campbell’s ability to find out what the community wants from its parks has been a key factor for the department as well. Campbell has collected community feedback for multiple park properties and helped the department find designs that will be effective for the whole community.
“She is somebody who will consider the pros and cons of everything,” Fiechter said. “She’s good at listening to the community. She can say that there’s a concern amongst this group for these items.”
Campbell’s ability to motivate and be a mentor has been important to Fiechter. In a nomination letter, Fiechter said that Campbell’s encouragement has given Fiechter confidence in her role.
“There are a lot of challenges in the job that I have, a lot of pressures and weights,” Fiechter said. “I feel like when I communicate with her, my burdens are divided, and when I share something that’s great, my joys are doubled. Sometimes things seem overwhelming, and she’s somebody that would believe in me before I believed in myself.”
jonathan@news-banner.com
