Council approves Bay Oaks transfer
By Lee Melsek
lmelsek@gmail.com

Wednesday Aug. 19 - Despite hours of confusion and some fear of the future the Town Council today approved an agreement with Lee County to assume ownership of Bay Oaks Park.

Some council members voted for the deal despite initial claims that they weren't ready to do so yet.

After more than two hours of discussion on whether they can afford to operate the center beyond next year Mayor Larry Kiker said "all this is telling me we're not ready yet," to accept the agreement.

But less than an hour later Kiker led the charge to accept the agreement.
Kiker said the town will at least have the money to operate the park for next year but beyond that the council would have to find ways to keep it going after first learning how to run it.

Councilman Tom Babcock had strong concerns about funding maintenance of the park and about continuing all of the programs but, he too, eventually voted to accept the county's offer of $490,000 to the town to help with repairs and operations.

Only Herb Acken voted against taking ownership. He said he wouldn't do so unless the other council members could tell him how they would fund the park beyond next year and guarantee all of the programs would continue. None were willing to do so, saying they didn't know yet how that would be done.

The town's structural engineer informed the council that, in his opinion, a new roof for the recreation center is not needed but repairs to the roof are. Town officials estimate that will cost as much as $90,000.

Deed restrictions on the park that were wanted by some of the county government's staff were withdrawn by the county. The town would get the land with no restrictions.

Cost to operate the park and pool for the coming year: $725,000. None of the council could guarantee they could keep it open past next year because they don't know yet where the money will come from or what the increased expenses might be. The town also will need $672,000 to repair, maintain and operate Newton Park next year. The council believes $500,000 of that will come from the tourist tax dollars.

The town is looking for nine full and part time employees to run Bay Oakes, which will increase the size of the town's workforce from 39 to 48 people. What those salaries will be isn't clear at this time.


Want to respond to this coulumn? E-mail Lee Melsek with your own opinions. lmelsek@gmail.com



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