MINUTES
WATAUGA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOONE TOWN COUNCIL
HIGH COUNTRY RECREATION TASK FORCE
SPECIAL MEETING, MARCH 27, 2001
The Watauga County Board of Commissioners along with the Boone Town Council and the High Country Recreation Task Force held a joint meeting March 27, 2001 at 6:00 P.M. in the large conference room at the Human Services Building, 132 Poplar Grove Connector. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the proposed community recreation center.
The following parties were present:
Watauga County
Jimmy Hodges, Chairman
James Coffey, Vice-Chairman
Jack Lawrence, Sr., Commissioner
Sue Sweeting, Commissioner
Pat Wilkie, Commissioner
Jeff Hedrick, County Attorney
Robert E. Nelson, Jr., County Manager
Darcy Moore, Substitute Clerk to the Board
Boone Town Council
Velma Burnley, Mayor
Lorreta Clawson, Council Member
Graydon Eggers, Council Member
Dana Folk, Council Member
Max Schrum, Council Member
Greg Young, Town Manager
Freida Van Allen, Town Clerk
High Country Recreation Task Force
Brian Crutchfeild
Jim Deal
Dr. Bill Horn
Pat Morgan
Velma Burnley extended Council Member Dempsey Wilcox’s regrets at being unable to attend the meeting.
Chairman Hodges opened the meeting at 6:00 P.M. welcoming those in attendance. He then turned the floor to over Brian Crutchfield, mediator for the High Country Recreation Task Force.
Mr. Crutchfield came before the Watauga County Board of Commissioners and the Boone Town Council to request joint support to achieve the Task Force’s goal of developing a community recreation center.
Following is a list of the requests that Mr. Crutchfield submitted to the County and the Town of Boone in behalf of the Task Force:
- Joint participation in the formation of a working committee with representatives from the Town of Boone and the County to continue discussion of the combined recreation center, hereinafter referred to as “the Project”;
- Public endorsement to solicit federal funding;
- Pursue some type of revenue for the project i.e.: occupancy tax, entertainment tax, wheel tax, etc.;
- Support of a revised schedule that would allow completion of the project in phases dependent upon the recovery of the State’s budget shortage;
- Endorse the efforts of the Parks & Recreation Department’s staff to work with the Task Force to pursue and seek funding for the proposed facility.
Members of the Task Force stated that they felt that the formation of a combined working committee would reduce duplication and costs of the project. Also, they felt that endorsement by the local government officials might make receiving federal funding and grants more successful.
Concerns raised during the meeting included the State’s current budget shortage and how it will affect local governments’ finance, the burden an entertainment tax would place on the area tourist industry and difficulty in attending meetings of the proposed combined working committee due to bus schedules.
After discussion, several members of the Town Council and one County Commissioner indicated that they would be agreeable to attending a future meeting to further discuss the Task Force’s requests. By consensus it was agreed that the Town Council Members and County Commissioners discuss the recreation Task Force’s requests among their own groups and make their ultimate decisions.
Meeting adjourned at 6:10 P.M.
Jimmy Hodges
Chairman
ATTEST:
Darcy Moore
Substitute Clerk to the Board