More than two years after Columbus and Lowndes County started working toward a joint study of their recreation departments, the results are almost ready for the public.

Both departments are hosting a public review meeting from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the lower level of Trotter Convention Center downtown. Neel-Schaffer Landscape Architect Manager Russ Bryan, along with other consultants with DD Consulting and RE-Create QOL Consultants, will present their findings during the meeting.

“I’ll … have kind of the key findings and recommendations displayed on easels,” Bryan told The Dispatch on Thursday. “I’m expecting to have four of those. One for recommendations tailored toward the county, one tailored toward the city, one that shows the economic impact components of it… and several of them will actually be shared recommendations.”

The study was funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Grant worth about $97,000, which the city and county voted to pursue in January 2023. Once those funds were in place, the city hired Neel-Schaffer to in February 2024 to conduct the study.

Bryan said information from the study includes departmental assessments of both the city and the county – including existing facilities, staffing, programs, budgets and events. The consulting groups also held 14 stakeholder meetings, including everyone from elected officials to volunteer coaches, to understand the recreation departments’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The study also includes the economic impact of the departments and market analysis, identifying why some citizens currently leave the area for recreation, Bryan said.

After presenting those findings, Bryan said he and his fellow consultants will address their recommendations, including those for the city, the county, and the recommendations the two could work together to implement in the future.

The majority of the recommendations, Bryan said, are about using facilities the city and county recreation departments currently have more efficiently, rather than building new facilities.

‘We don’t want to be stepping on each others’ toes’

The city and county once jointly funded the Columbus Lowndes Recreation Authority, which managed recreation countywide. The county pulled out of the CLRA in 2017, and the city and county have managed separate recreation departments since.

The county opened its $12 million sports complex off of Highway 82 West in October 2023, which includes eight baseball/softball fields and a playground. A $4.4 million parks overhaul is underway in the city, $3 million of which is funded with bonded debt. The bulk of the money earmarked for Propst Park, where the old youth softball fields have been converted into baseball fields and the old baseball fields were reoriented as softball fields. Propst will also add pickleball courts and a splash pad, among other amenities.

Lowndes County Supervisors Board President Trip Hairston said he hopes the study will help the city and county avoid overlapping offerings – like those at BankFirst Yards (the county complex) and Propst – again in the future, along with helping both entities utilize their current parks even better.

“We really don’t need to duplicate a lot of those offerings from the county or the city, but we do need to work together on the offerings we do have,” Hairston said. “I’m excited about that partnership going forward, where we can increase the recreational opportunities for people who live in Lowndes County and the city.”

Lowndes County Recreation Department Deputy Director Tom Velek agreed, saying the study will help each department to work toward their strengths.

“I think for everybody in this space, that’s something we’re very much focused on. We don’t want to be stepping on each others’ toes,” Velek said. “We don’t want to be doing stuff that somebody else is already doing really well.”

Columbus Mayor Keith Gaskin said he wishes the study had been completed before BankFirst Yards was constructed or the bonds were issued for Propst Park. He said he was against the CLRA split in 2017, and working on the grant and the study proves that the two are more effective together.

“At the end of the day, I’ll be surprised if they’re not saying that we need to work together, and giving us some best practices on how to do that,” Gaskin said. “I hope that people will come out from the city and the county, look at this, study it, and realize that’s the best use of our resources … when we’re working together on these types of things.”

All of the entities involved agreed the study is not one they intend on reading and then shelving, as both Gaskin and Hairston said the recommendations should help with strategically guiding the city and county departments in the future.

Lowndes County Recreation Director Jennifer Claybrook also said she hopes the meeting draws as many members of the public as possible, to hear their input.

“We really want as many people in the public to come, because again, we want to serve our public,” Claybrook said. “Getting their feedback and seeing what they think about this study and us moving forward is essential to us as well, at the highest level.”