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Long Co. rec asks for funding to expand
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Long County Recreation Department Assistant Director Randy Simmons went before the Long County Commission recently to request that work begin on the addition of two planned football fields at the park.
 Simmons said the park is at maximum capacity, and with the wide variety of program offerings, the expansion is necessary.
“We are totally overcrowded now, and soccer is about to kick off … What I would like to see done is the board get on these (two football) fields,” the assistant director said.
If the seeds for the football fields are not planted by April 2011, Simmons said, the rec department won’t be ready when the season begins.
Simmons asked the commission whether SPLOST funds could be used for the project. Commissioner Wallace Shaw said the board doesn’t have enough SPLOST funds to cover the expansion.  The commissioner said the next phase of the project would cost about $1.2 million, and only about $200,000 is available.
“People need to know that,” Simmons said. “They think that there should be plenty of money in there (SPLOST).”
Shaw said, “If people would start spending more money in Long County, then we’ll have more money.”
Simmons replied, “Well I don’t know, but what I do know is we are totally overcrowded and something has to be done. When we start getting more complaints about the park, we’re referring them to ya’ll.”
Commissioner Cliff DeLoach said Long County requested remediation funding from the cancellation of Fort Stewart’s planned fifth brigade. If that money is approved, he said, funds for the recreation park would be available.
“If we get that money from the government, then we’ll finish this project,” DeLoach said.
After a discussion, commissioners decided to put together a proposal for the expansion.
In other business:
• Shaw said he would have city workers repair the hole to the entrance of the recreation park.
• Commissioners heard a report from planning engineer Whitney Shepherd on the sustainable mobility plan/long range transportation plan for the region.
• Commission Chairman Bobby Walker reported that the majority of the E-911 addressing numbers are up and the addressing is going well.
• At the September Long County Development Authority meeting, Shaw was elected chairman, replacing exiting chairwoman Christy Wingate. Lillian Simmons was elected vice chair.
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