Aug. 31, 2009

Parks & Rec. requests $75K for improvements

By Scott Wright

CENTRE — Cherokee County Parks and Recreation Board member Gary Banister tried the dramatic approach in his presentation to the Cherokee County Commission last week.

Banister spoke to county commissioners Carlton Teague, Wade Sprouse, Kimball Parker and Elbert St. Clair from the podium in the commission chambers during the Aug. 24 meeting. County Commission Chairman Melvyn Salter was also present.

Banister said that since the Park & Recreation Board was created in 1985, members have been extremely limited by a lack of funds.

“Due to that lack of funding, virtually very little has been done” in almost 25 years, Banister said.

Banister said part of the four properties controlled by the Board – Pratt Park, Morrison Park, Cornwall Furnace Park and Cherokee Rock Village, also referred to as Little Rock City Park – only recently came into the legal possession of the Board, as they should have been since 1985.

“That's all thanks to you good people,” Banister told the commissioners. “But the whole time Cherokee County has been in existence, we have never taken advantage of our natural resources.”

Banister addressed the status of Little Rock City Park, which he said could be “a potential huge revenue producer.”

“We are the most blessed county in Alabama,” he said. “But we can't make [the parks] produce revenue unless we have some funding to develop a master plan and then put it into place. We need you four county commissioners to fund us on a level that will at least get us started.”

Banister then requested that the County Commission provide $75,000 to implement the plan. He reminded the commissioners that amount is less than what was recently spent on engineering fees for the new Cowan Creek bridge on County Road 22.

After making his request, Banister pointed out that approximately 25,000 people live in Cherokee County. Compared to other items on the county budget, Bannister said, the $75,000 is “miniscule.”

“It's a fraction of one percent,” he said as the commissioners looked on. “It amounts to a total of three dollars per every citizen in this county, who you were elected to represent.”

At that point, Banister scattered three dollars worth of quarters on the table in front of commissioners Teague and St. Clair, and continued his presentation.

“We're just asking for a dividend out of our own taxpayers' money,” Banister said. “That's twelve little-bitty quarters, coffee change. There's still a little bit of silver left in them, so just 12 pieces of silver.”

He said once the money is budgeted and the plan implemented, the park at Little Rock City will no longer be a den of criminal activity and will produce revenue after a user-fee system is put in place.

“An inordinate number of criminal cases … are filed every month, and the problem starts at Little Rock City,” Banister said.

“Is that a true statement?” Banister asked Sheriff Jeff Shaver, who was sitting in the gallery.

“Yes, sir, it is,” Shaver confirmed.

“We can stop that, and our very capable sheriff and his very capable deputies will reap the benefit of it immediately,” Banister said. “In some magazines Little Rock City is listed among the ten most desirable locations for rock climbing in the United States.”

He added: “We're competing with the Rocky Mountains, folks. And we're not doing anything about it.”

County Commissioner Wade Sprouse said he agrees it would be wise for the county to take advantage of its natural resources.

“I'm willing to work hard with the other commissioners and see if we can come up with the amount he wants,” Sprouse said. “Mr. Banister impressed me with his presentation. He brought up a lot of things about our county that I wasn't aware of.”

Banister said the only other regular funding his organization receives is from the county's one cent lodging tax, which typically generates around $6,500 annually.

“We can't do much of anything with that,” he told the commissioners.