CLEVELAND — The White County Board of Commissioners received an update Thursday morning on the transition of county park and recreation activities from the Georgia Mountains YMCA to county-administered activities.
White County Parks and Recreation Interim Director Joe Gailey told commissioners things are going smoothly. Gailey said the current staff will remain and all but one of the instructors will stay.
Gailey said as much as possible they want to keep things running as in the past.
"All the adult programs, all the classes we have instructors for, we want to continue that, the operation of the pool in the summers, our programs for the youth, we want to continue that, and hopefully expand when the land across the creek at Yonah Preserve is developed," Gailey said.
Gailey admits it will take a few weeks to get everything smoothed out. He said the facilities are in good shape, but a big issue is replacing the equipment that was owned by the YMCA.
The commissioners agreed to spend $101,000 dollars to get new equipment, and Gailey said it will take two to three weeks to get all that in place.
Commissioners also voted during Thursday's meeting to approve a fee schedule for the activities at the park off Asbestos Road north of Cleveland..
Gailey said those fees are exactly the same as what the YMCA charged.
The commissioners also discussed future needs at the park, including expanding the parking area and constructing pickle ball courts.
Commissioner Edwin Nix said improving the operation at the park is the goal.
"We’re going to have to sit down and look at kind of an estimated cost as to how far we can go with each step," Nix said.
