Well, for those who stopped by Loomis Park on Thursday morning, what they got was a new connection with a few of their local elected officials.

Community Connections is a new initiative spearheaded by Fort Dodge City Councilwoman Megan Secor, who aims to give community members more opportunities to connect with those who represent them in local government. The idea, she said, came from a National League of Cities webinar she participated in.

“I thought let’s make an active time for us to listen to the people in our city and make them understand that we are just as accessible as we claim to be as elected representatives,” she said.

At any given meeting of the Fort Dodge City Council, there’s never more than a few members of the community in the audience to observe or share their input on city matters. At most Webster County Board of Supervisors meetings, unless there’s a hot ticket item on the agenda, there’s almost no public attendance. This initiative gives members of the community a casual, more neutral venue to meet with their elected officials.

“It’s intended to meet people where they are instead of making them come to us,” Secor said.

Aligning it with the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department’s Park and Play events, Secor launched Community Connections this summer. On Thursday morning, Loomis Park played host to Park and Play, as well as Community Connections. While young kids learned martial arts from Faiferlick Martial Arts, parents and other interested community members sat at the nearby park shelter and chatted.

“They can talk to us about anything, it doesn’t have to be a city thing or a county thing, it could be about anything,” Secor said. “We just want them to understand that we care and that we do want to hear what they’re saying.”

Nearly every elected official in Webster County has signed up to participate, Secor said. Because she doesn’t want to overwhelm the conversations that happen at the events, she schedules just a couple to be there at a time. On Thursday, the elected officials were Secor, Fort Dodge City Councilman Terry Moehnke and Webster County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Niki Conrad.

“This is right in my wheelhouse,” Conrad said. “I love getting out and talking to folks and seeing what’s important to them. And piggybacking off an event with little kids is just the icing on the cake.”

Moehnke said that often, people will comment on Facebook about their complaints or issues with the City Council instead of actually going to council meetings to address their concerns.

“They say things like that we’re this elitist government that doesn’t take input from anybody,” he said. “This is a good opportunity for them to come and talk to us one on one. I think it’s important for the community to be able to reach out and express what they feel needs to be done differently.”

Secor plans for Community Connections to be a monthly event and as the fall and winter start, she’s looking for indoor spaces to meet in. Future Community Connections will be announced on the city’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/fortdodgeiowa.