(The Pierce County Recreation Board discussed and/or voted on the following during their monthly meeting Tuesday, May 5.)
Patterson field rentals: Fourth District County Commissioner David Lowman addressed the board regarding fees being assessed for use of the Patterson Recreation Fields. The rec board leases the fields from the City of Patterson. Lowman said his grandson’s travel ball team uses the facility and the team has been charged. Rec department employees Constance Drew and Derrail Moore said they applied the standard fee for field rentals for teams that are not a part of the recreation program. Lowman said nine of the 12 boys on his grandson’s team are Pierce County residents. Recreation board members voted 3-0 to waive the fee if 70 percent or more participants of the travel team are Pierce County residents. Chairman Chris Wright and Members Brad Arington and Jake Stewart voted in favor of the policy. Board members Anna Saucedo and Trey Thompson were not present. Chairman Wright asked if the board’s schedule of fees has ever been approved by the county commission and discovered the answer is no. The county commission will approve the recreation board’s schedule of fees at one of their future meetings.
Post game prayer: Chairman Wright expressed concern coaches were asked not to hold on field prayer/devotions after games. Arington said he was asked to move his team off the field during post-game prayer last week. While no one directly took responsibility for the action, it was implied that omitting the prayer was a scheduling issue, not opposition to the prayer itself. “We should make it mandatory,” said Board Member Jake Stewart. “No one should ever get in trouble for having prayer. We need all the prayer we can get.”
New recreation complex: Plans for the proposed new recreation complex on County Farm Road and the renovations at the Ware Street Park remain at a stand still and have been since last summer. Wright said Carter and Sloop Architects have projected plans for the project will be ready in the next two months and will be advertised for bids sometime after that.
Update on Tiger Field project: Bids on the Tiger Field project were expected to be opened and awarded at the May county commission meeting but was delayed and re-bid. The work will include field and lighting improvements, re-paving of the track and additional parking at the facility. The county received a $343,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Matching Grant for the work. Additional improvements will put the final price tag at just over $1 million.
Freedom Fest: Arington invited everyone to come to Freedom Fest at Mossy Pond near Offerman June 19 and 20. He pointed out that while there are admission fees for the concert, he stressed there will be a venue where fireworks can be viewed free of charge. A portion of the Freedom Fest proceeds will be donated to the recreation department.
Director’s report: Recreation Director Maureen Brown updated members on spring sports schedules, nothing there were a number of cancellations and reschedules due to the wildfire in neighboring Brantley County. She announced the schedule for district and state competitions. Brown also gave board members the financial reports for spring sports. Total gate for baseball, softball and soccer was $13,933 and total concession sales for the three sports was $6,501.25. Registration fees collected for the three sports was $18,120. The department’s track and field team was slated to compete at the state meet in Carrollton last week. Brown also announced plans for various summer camps this year to include football, soccer, volleyball and basketball and possibly more. She announced the department would sponsored senior bingo in May and also announced the Pierce County Gym was closed May 16-20 for use by the Pierce County Board of Elections for the upcoming primary. The recreation office was closed for Memorial Day May 25. Brown announced the new date for the Southeast Cancer Unit’s walk will be May 29.
Next meeting: The next monthly meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 2, at the Southeast Georgia Regional Agriculture Center (SEGARAC) on College Avenue.
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