Garden City hears results of Big Pool community input survey

The Garden City Commission heard the results Tuesday of a two-month process to gauge public opinion regarding the future of the nearly 100-year-old Big Pool, taking in a summary of thousands of resident comments and, surprisingly, what the input said about the city itself.

Assistant City Manager Jennifer Cunningham, who spearheaded the process, spent weeks holding in-person presentations about the upcoming project for more than 6,000 people, including every student from third to 12th grades in Garden City, high school students in Holcomb, Lakin, Deerfield and Cimarron, the Garden City USD 457 Board of Education, Finney County Commission, Neighborhood Learning Center, Spanish radio station, over a dozen local organizations and the public.

“This is the results of the Big Pool community input process. Obviously, that sounds really simple. It was not simple, but it was enlightening,” Cunningham told commissioners. “I can’t say that there’s probably too many other people who’ve had that much exposure to that many people across our community that quickly, and so I got to learn a lot about a lot of different people.”