Sunday, June 11, 2023–5:45 p.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

Discussions are continuing over who should be running the pavilion near the ECO Center at Ridgeferry Park. 

Construction on the pavilion has brought the issue to the forefront.

“I think it has been a desire to pull the pavilion into the ECO Center and let it be part of that,” said Floyd County Manager Jamie McCord. “It is a city asset but it is currently in the joint recreation agreement and is managed by the county.” 

McCord believes the issue can be worked out but there has been kind of a disconnect as it pertains to hosting school field trips. 

“We get 10,000 to 20,000 kids though there a year, which is awesome,” McCord said. “We hope it goes to 30,000, but there is an operational expense with the bathrooms and we just have to get that worked out.” 

McCord added that he doesn’t have a problem with the pavilion going to the ECO Center.  The main issue is the maintenance of the outdoor restrooms in the park.

“The revenues are really irrelevant at the end of that day,” he said. “I think we budgeted $4,000 for the whole year. It’s not a big deal to me and it’s a nice amenity to go with the ECO Center, but it’s in the current agreement as being managed by parks and recreation. If you run ten buses there in a day, you have to somebody full-time for the bathrooms.”  

McCord said that giving the pavilion to the ECO Center makes sense. Still, there needs to be an operational plan on how they handle exterior restrooms as opposed to interior restrooms. 

“The ECO Center is handling their stuff, but everybody goes out and eats at the pavilion and goes and plays on the playground,” McCord added. 

The next step is for all of the involved parties to get together and try to devise a solution.