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Teacher presents county-funded 'Explore Wasika County' app; city asked to help distribute rack cards
Summary
Sean Hansen showed the council a county-funded website and phone app with a dozen tours of Wasika County. He said the county will cover subscription and promotional materials and asked New Richland to provide a local point of contact for distributing rack cards and helping with updates.
Sean Hansen told the New Richland City Council on May 11 that a county-funded tourism and local‑history project called "Explore Wasika County" is live as a website and a smartphone app and includes a dozen individual tours covering history, schools, attractions, restaurants and parks.
Hansen, a Wasika teacher who led the project with student support, said the platform aggregates material that is already available across local historical societies and organizations and centralizes it for visitors and residents. "It's a dual platform — it's a website as well as an app … the county is picking up the tab on the annual subscription and promotional materials," he said. He said the project currently lists 12 tours, four history tours, 16 school‑related stops, 34 attractions and events, 37 restaurants and bars, 10 accommodations, and extensive park and trail content.
Hansen asked the council to identify a local point of contact to help place rack‑card holders (he said he has 200 holders and about 2,000 rack cards ready) and to coordinate updates when residents note missing or incomplete material. He said his long‑term plan is to transition management to Wasika County and that the county has budgeted for the subscription and promotion; he emphasized there would be "no obligation or responsibility by the city of New Richland financially."
Council members noted the Economic Development Authority (EDA) will meet June 3 and suggested distributing rack cards at that event. Staff also noted an incoming county‑funded intern who could help update content during a transition to county administration. Hansen said the site and app remain editable and welcomed additions from local volunteers and historians.
The council did not take any formal action to provide funding. Next steps recorded in the meeting were to identify a local staff liaison to coordinate rack‑card placement and to connect Hansen with the EDA so he can drop off materials.
