Commission wants $150,000 annual commitment to help fund recreation at center.
Richardson Community Center will soon be Columbia County property.
Maybe.
The Columbia County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted Thursday to accept the deed to the facility on the north side of Lake City from the City of Lake City. However, that acceptance came with a condition on the city government: funding $150,000 annually to help run programming at the community center, matching the amount the county was willing to give the city to run recreation there.
“The city has just as much responsibility to the kids in that area,” Commissioner Robby Hollingsworth said at Thursday’s commission meeting after supporting Commissioner Ron Williams’ motion to accept the facility. Williams amended his motion to make it contingent on the city financial support.
“But I do not feel that it’s just our responsibility to provide recreation for the children in that area and the children all over the county. Since it’s in the city also, they have a responsibility to help the children also.”
The Lake City Council will hold its next meeting April 5, the day before county staff had been planning to turn over the keys to the facility. When the commission voted in January to terminate its tenancy at the center and released the city from an interlocal agreement deeding the property to the county upon completion of a grant, it provided a 90-day notice, which runs through April 6.
But after the commission voted to terminate those agreements — which followed reluctance by the city council to indeed provide the county he facility — the city council decided to still send the lease to the county after all. It arrived March 16, leading to Thursday’s discussion and action.
“I was all for doing what we did,” Hollingsworth said about terminating the agreement. “You’ve got to call somebody’s hand.”
It was an action that was supported by the entire board, although most expressed concerns with taking over the center without a plan.
Commissioner Tim Murphy said he wouldn’t support taking Richardson back if recreation was going to be run out of the facility like it had been previously. Everett Phillips also questioned whether it would be operated like previously.
The county, though, has removed its recreation department from Richardson, now being housed near the Southside Sports Complex, instead treating Richardson like any other community center in the county.
“I don’t want to get caught up in the political side of things and rush into this thing,” he said, also saying he believed it would take $1 million annually to properly run recreation throughout the county. “Us taking that deed today and deciding that it’s Columbia County’s, I don’t see what the advantage is there without a solid plan.”
Rocky Ford, the board chairman, said he believed accepting the deed to make sure recreation opportunities were provided at the facility was “something we have to do.”
As discussion continued, as well as during public comments, Hollingsworth encouraged the community to attend the city’s next meeting to urge the council to support providing financing for programs at the center.
“We’re letting them off easy at $150,000, that’s all there is to it,” Murphy said.