At tonight's annual business meeting for the Ross Park Zoo, zoo members get a chance to talk about the plans and elect new board members.

"Our members will be electing our board of directors for the coming year. So it's an opportunity for them to kind of help shape the direction and future of the zoo by electing the board that provides the governance and sets the policy for the organization," says Ross Park Zoo Director Phillip Ginter. 

The latest project on the radar is a brand new learning center, set to break ground in the spring.

Ginter says, "Our creekside playing learning center. We've currently secured $300,000 to begin that project this spring, so we'll be breaking ground sometime early this spring on our new nature play experience. So we're excited about that."

They also celebrated some of their accomplishments from the past year, including the new expansion of the red panda exhibit.

Ginter says, "With our Red Panda Wild Encounter program, we now have an encounter building so folks can participate in that program safely without compromising the well-being of our pandas or without putting themselves at risk. "

With plenty of new opportunities each year, Ginter says he looks forward to the success ahead in the next 150 years.

"We're looking forward to engaging with the community and kind of getting a sense of what people would like to see happen with the zoo moving forward so that we can incorporate community ideas into our new master plan," says Ginter.

The zoo is open year-round so if you are interested in attending any events or checking out the red panda wild encounter exhibit, you can visit the Ross Park Zoo website.