“We understand that people think there are things more important than where kids play ball, but things are going downhill at the complex, and we are crying out for the county to help us,” said Board Member Stacy Futrell. “I mean no disrespect to the Fiscal Court, but we feel like the forgotten few here.”
Pictures were distributed showing buildings at the complex with leaky roofs, holes in the wall and broken windows.
Democratic Candidate Doug Taylor is running for the District 1 seat. “What we need is a city and county park and recreation board. This committee is burdened with taking care of little league, school soccer and archery among other programs. The community as a whole has failed to see that we need to make an investment in the future,” he said.
Republican Candidate for District 2 Barry Littlejohn said, “It seems that the city and school district are not doing their part.”
Futrell said that the board was alone in its stewardship of the Recreation Complex.
Recreation Complex Director Jerry Radford observed that the complex still had excellent facilities that needed maintenance to remain in operation. “We had a state inspector in here who said that our concession stand was one of the best in the country.”
Democratic Judge Executive Candidate speculated about moving some of the complex’s facilities within the city limits of Cadiz. “There aren’t many drawing cards out here to bring people to the facility.”
His Republican opponent Stan Humphries agreed that action was in order. “Something needs to be done to keep the facility from falling down. It needs some great improvements.”
Taylor said, “The first step is to partner with the city and the schools. We can look to the future by seeing what other communities have done with their park and recreation programs.”
Radford said that he had found a number of grant programs offered, though many required matching funds. He hoped that new members of the Fiscal Court would be more sympathetic to the complex, which operates on an annual budget of $45,000. “It feels like the county has let us down.”
In other action, the board voted to approve continued operation by the Trigg county Arrowcats, the school archery club, despite reservations by Radford.
“We’ve had some complaints from other renters. Someone spilled orange soda on the stage, and the bathrooms have been left running. Sometimes the targets are in the way of people who need the space of the entire complex for a wedding,” said Radford. He also noted that other school groups, such as the soccer team had been forcing open locked doors to use indoor bathroom facilities.
Program sponsor Dennis Adams said that the targets had white tarps to cover them, though moving them outdoors could ruin them. He assured the board that greater supervision would be placed on club members to ensure cleanliness of the complex.
For the rest of the story, read this week's Cadiz Record.
