Jim Gartland Share

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A Mar­i­on busi­ness own­er who spurred improve­ments to Mat­ter Park’s fish­ing pond is see­ing results and will see more take place lat­er this sum­mer and fall as the project evolves.

Atlas Foundry own­er, Jim Gart­land, who rou­tine­ly takes walks at the park, noticed the pond and its steams need­ing sig­nif­i­cant main­te­nance. In 2019, he approached the Parks Depart­ment and shared thoughts on improv­ing the pond sys­tem, clean­ing up the creek, and adding plants. The park board approved his ini­tia­tive, and they began work­ing on it. 

Gart­land donat­ed his time and resources, and the help of his fam­i­ly toward the project. ​“When crews began work­ing,” Gartland’s wife, Janet, shared, ​“he bought boots, rakes, and gloves for him­self and our grand­kids, and helped the crew get the job done along with the community.”

There are vis­i­ble improve­ments to the pond, and more are on the way lat­er this year.

Janet said she and her hus­band are thank­ful to see ​‘the squeaky wheel get­ting the grease.’ She explained, ​“The Park is pretty…why stop at the Gar­dens? We have a good thing start­ed and just need to work to keep it main­tained.” Janet said she is proud of her hus­band for many things with the pond being one exam­ple. ​“He cares for Mar­i­on and wants it to be the best it can be.”

Mar­i­on Parks Depart­ment Main­te­nance and Oper­a­tions Assis­tant and pond project leader, Taylere McCoy, expressed grat­i­tude for Gartland’s time and resources to help the pond be the best it can be for every­one. ​“The ren­o­va­tion of the pond and con­nect­ed streams will have a sig­nif­i­cant pos­i­tive impact on the park. It will not only improve recre­ation­al fish­ing, but bring more life and beau­ty to the area. Native birds, fish, and more will thrive there, and our com­mu­ni­ty will have more oppor­tu­ni­ties for out­door edu­ca­tion and well­ness. We are grate­ful to Mr. Gart­land for his pas­sion and com­mit­ment to our parks, and for being the dri­ving force behind this project.”

Jim Gart­land is a Mar­i­on native who grad­u­at­ed from Ben­nett High School, then St. Joseph’s Col­lege in Rens­se­laer, IN, before work­ing for the fam­i­ly busi­ness that his great-grand­fa­ther began. Gart­land is active to improve Mar­i­on in many ways. He has served on many boards includ­ing the Grant Coun­ty Eco­nom­ic Growth Coun­cil, cur­rent­ly serves on St. Paul Catholic Church’s finance board where he is a mem­ber, and recent­ly joined the board for Meals on Wheels. He is also active with enrich­ing the lives of Marion’s youth through the Kin­well Academy.