February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 64

NRPA Update

Member Spotlight: Janet Bartnik

ike many in her field, Janet Bartnik stumbled onto her career path
by chance. Now the director of parks and recreation in Liberty,
Missouri, the Virginia native first fancied a career as a veterinarian.
She enrolled at Virginia Tech with that goal in mind, but during
the summer after her freshman year, Bartnik's mother, who worked in campus recreation at the college, secured a spot for her daughter as an officiant
for various intramural leagues and sports. " I loved the sounds that accompanied the games, being outdoors and the sense of community built around the
programs. The campus recreation director suggested I stay in the field and
offered me a graduate assistantship a couple of years later - I never looked
back, " she recalls. Three years into her directorship in Liberty - Bartnik
previously served more than 10 years as director of parks and recreation in
nearby Raymore, Missouri - Bartnik paused to talk with Parks & Recreation
about how her career has evolved and about her approach to community engagement and collaborative partnerships.

Parks & Recreation: Last year, you
took a unique approach to planning rejuvenation projects in some
of your parks, leaving aside expensive surveys and design charrettes
in favor of community meetings
to gauge residents' feelings about
the proposed improvements. Why
did you decide to go this route, and
what did you learn from doing so?
Janet Bartnik: So often, we do our
duty of hosting public meetings that
just don't get to the heart of what our
citizens think. We schedule an open
house and hope folks will attend. We
mail out a survey and hope to get
enough returned to receive statistically significant data for solid decision
making. While appropriate for some
projects where statistical significance
is key, these park planning projects
allowed us to take the meetings to the
people. Wherever there was a gathering of citizens, we brought our input
boards and voting dots. We attended civic group and PTA meetings,
stopped by churches after their Sunday services, held a neighborhood
meeting in one of the subject parks
under one of its shelters, and includ62 Parks & Recreation

ed an online input opportunity for
those who couldn't connect with us
otherwise. Not only did we receive
more input than if we had followed
the traditional meeting process, but
we were also able to make personal
connections and build relationships
with those folks who spoke with us.
It is those open and personal relationships that will allow us to continue a
two-way dialog, build trust and create grassroots advocates toward developing the best park and recreation
system possible for Liberty.
P&R: What is one of your favorite
aspects of Liberty Parks and Recreation?
Bartnik: Several years ago, Liberty
Parks and Recreation engaged three
public partners in a Healthy Communities Research Group project. The
Clay County Public Health Center,
Liberty Public Schools and Liberty Hospital joined us in a review of
community policies, practices, programs and the built environment to
learn how we might create a community where the healthy choice is
the easy and preferred choice. That

| F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 6 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

effort has resulted in the creation of a
community health coalition that now
has become its own entity and has
allowed our department to be seen
as an important player in the health
system. Even more, we have built
strong relationships with original
public partners as well as the private
partners who have joined our project.
Together we're better!
P&R: What advice/tips can you give,
as director of a park and recreation
department in a state known for
its punishing winters, to motivate
people to get outside and enjoy the
colder weather?
Bartnik: It's not just about vigorous physical activity. If we can encourage our citizens to get out into
nature in the winter, they'll be surprised at how much more they can
see and hear in the quiet, boosting
not only heart health but mental
health as well. Tell everyone to go
take a hike!
- Samantha Bartram, Executive Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine

February 2016 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2016 - Parks & Recreation