MANSFIELD — Temperatures outside Tuesday evening dipping below zero offered a perfect time to contemplate a sunny, summer afternoon in the park.
That was seemingly the case during a Mansfield City Council meeting which included a presentation from Parks & Recreation Supt. Mark Abrams.
Public Works Director Louis Andres uses council meetings to have his department leaders discuss their various operations.
Saturday in the Park
“Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
“People talking, really smiling
A man playing guitar (play the song)
(Play the song, play on)
And singing for us all.”
— Chicago, 1972
On the coldest night of the winter thus far, it was Abrams’ turn to talk about improvements in the city park system.
Abrams, who has worked for the city since 1995 and took over the parks department in 2014, praised the work of Andres, who spent 40 years in the parks and recreation field beginning his career in 1978 with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as a park naturalist.
Taking over his new post in January 2024 when Mayor Jodie Perry took office, Andres made an improved city parks system a high-priority item. It made an immediate impact on Abrams.
more coverage of mansfield city park improvements
“Last year was a completely different year for the parks department in the 10 years that I’ve been down there. Director Andres has forgotten more about parks than I will ever know,” Abrams said.
“All of his knowledge and his mentoring has been great and we’ve been able to get a lot done,” he said.
(Below is a PDF of the presentation City of Mansfield Parks & Recreation Supt. Mark Abrams made to City Council on Tuesday evening.)
“I think we had somewhere close to 50 projects that we were working on at one time.
“It was a very busy year to kind of get through that, but we did, and we’re going to continue pushing on and doing more things in 2025,” Abrams said.
A list of completed and planned improvements in the parks can be found on the city’s website.
Councilman Aurelio Diaz, who represents the 5th Ward, congratulated Abrams and the department, adding he believes the improved parks system helped to decrease violence in the city by giving people recreational spaces.
“You’ve always been under a lot of scrutiny throughout the years … from myself as well. But it’s a lot of work and people don’t understand that. Last summer, all the hard work you’ve been doing and the team, it’s been transformed,” Diaz said.
“The violence has decreased.”
Public/private partnerships that dramatically improved Liberty Park on the city’s northeast side helped to spur efforts around the city, Diaz said.
“People are proud and all the work happening at Liberty Park has had a snowball effect (with) other parks (as) the neighbors are saying, ‘We want to do that’ and they’re learning that they can do it when they partner with you and everyone else.
“I think you’re doing a great job,” Diaz said.
Perry also complimented the work done by Andres, Abrams and the parks department.
“I think that the enthusiasm for the parks has been contagious within the city itself, as well. The work at Liberty, too, in addition to the (other) parks involved our (city Service Complex) crews and that was something that Louie and Mark got going,” the mayor said.
“That was some of the comments we heard. ‘Hey, we’ve got folks that can do this work in-house. Why don’t we ever do that?’ Perry said.
“I think some of that cross pollination between departments has been a good start, as well,” the mayor said.
