Little League practice for several teams was canceled Monday afternoon so parents and players could attend a town hall meeting with Gilmer County commissioners.
Several speakers told a packed room and commissioners they felt Gilmer County Parks and Recreation facilities and staffing are inadequate for the needs of youth sports.
Gilmer County Chair Charlie Paris called the town hall for Monday, April 10, at the courthouse because of a post on social media which started with Heath Thompson’s post.
“I just wanted to give them their own agenda,” said Paris. “There were a lot of people that made a lot of good points.”
He began the meeting asking for speakers and those in attendance to be respectful of each other. Paris had some comments before the floor was opened to speakers.
Paris said from what he could tell, Thompson’s post began with a comparison of Gilmer County facilities with Lumpkin County facilities. Lumpkin County recently broke ground on a multiuse sports building which will house two basketball courts.
Going piece by piece, Paris pointed out Gilmer County has most of the facilities Lumpkin County currently has and is building a competition pool.
The only thing Gilmer County does not have is a multiuse sports complex, he said. Something like that would take some time to plan, fund and build. It would cost several million, he estimated.
Paris also pointed out the county is still paying off a $96 million debt for construction done in the past including for the courthouse.
“Every year we have to pay $4.25 million dollars toward the debt service for all this building that was done,” he said. “And we will have to do that again for the next 11 years.”
He also pointed out he reviewed the millage tax rates for all the counties in Georgia, and Gilmer County has the ninth lowest tax rate.
Thompson was the first to speak.
“I grew up playing park and rec sports,” he said.
He has three daughters playing park and rec sports.
“I’ll never believe that our surrounding counties young athletes are somehow inherently more talented than ours,” he said. “I do believe that surrounding counties youth have had more opportunities through their parks and rec programs.”
A Gilmer County multi-use sports complex would benefit everyone in the county, he said.
Thompson advocated for a Parks and Recreation board.
Les McDaniel said the county needs a plan for the future of the Parks and Recreation department and for youth sports.
He said the meeting should serve to show the commissioners there is frustration among parents with the parks and rec system in the county.
“I think the citizens just want to know what is the plan,” he said. “And be more transparent with what the plan is, what money is being allocated to park and rec and where is it going.”
McDaniel said he understood changes would take time and the parents didn’t want the moon.
“We want to see progress,” he said.
Several other speakers pointed out it was hard to maintain all the facilities with the amount of employees the county has for the park and recreation department.
They said a lack of facilities — gyms and fields — makes it hard to get practice time for youth sports teams. It affects the development of the youth athletes, they said.
Also, there were comments about poorly maintained facilities, fields and bathrooms throughout the system.
“I think you should all leave here with the knowledge you have been heard,” Paris said.
Commissioners have set aside $100,000 to develop a professional plan for the parks and recreation department. Paris said he was in the process of gathering quotes for the creation of the plan.
Paris said the board is committed to creating a parks and recreation advisory board, the question was what form it would take.
At the end of the meeting, some audience members started asking why the county was going to spend $100,000 with someone from outside the county to develop a plan.
Others wanted to know if the new parks and recreation board would be able to take control of the department from the county.
Others wondered aloud why the pickle ball courts were built so quickly and a gym could not be built sooner.
“A master plan is the key,” said Post Commissioner Hubert Parker.
He said the advisory board could be created at the next meeting.
‘We want to do what you want done,” Paris said.
The door was left open for future town halls to discuss developments with the park and recreation department. Paris asked the crowd to give the board time to make some progress.