P & R Advisory Committee tours Creekside

P & R Advisory Committee tours Creekside

By DONNA BRAYMER

dbraymer@harrisonar.gov

The Harrison Parks and Recreation advisory committee met Tuesday, Feb. 6, in the Kiwanis Room at the Creekside Community Center.

Parks and Rec director Chuck Eddington was excited to have this meeting room set up and ready for the committee to tour the facility.

Mayor Jerry Jackson told the group, “I wish we were another month further along, so the first time you saw the Community Center, everything would just pop with the wow factor. But we are getting close. We’ve got a lot of cleaning, murals to add to the walls, and more furniture. It is looking great.”

Out of last year’s Park and Rec budget, $90,000 went toward the building of Creekside and $140,000 toward new equipment for the facility. The city has added $2 million from the general fund.

Jackson said, “The Creekside project is costing around $23 million. We borrowed $20 million at 1.7%, which was the perfect time to borrow money.

Committee member Scott Tennyson said, “We wouldn’t have been able to build this facility at today’s interest rate and prices combined.”

Jackson agreed. “The city has been able to absorb the increase in materials.”

Eddington discussed the upcoming tournament schedule with the group. “We are loaded to the max with tournaments and events this year. We will have baseball, softball, and soccer state tournaments all on the same weekend. On Thursday, May 9, 64 buses from different schools will be in town.”

Eddington said he had been approached about an additional flag football league. “We are open to anything if we have the participation. So I’ll ask the public if they would like that.”

Volunteers are needed at the 1A State Basketball Tournament at Northark between Tuesday, Feb. 27 through Saturday, March 2. The civic clubs and several businesses are having a contest to see who can have the most volunteers. Call 870-741-1789 to sign up.