LAURINBURG — A joint meeting between the Laurinburg City Council, the Scotland County commissioners, Board of Education and Scotland Health Care System to discuss a potential recreation center on Tuesday ended without much action — but everyone seemed to agree they wanted to have a recreation center.
The early portion of the gathering was marred by several pointed comments between Mayor Matthew Block and County Chairman Bob Davis concerning statements by Block about other council members’ thoughts on a city versus county rec center.
Once that tug-o-war was dissipated, the meeting moved on.
The idea for the meeting was brought up by the City Council after the sales tax referendum failed on the November ballot. Block suggested that the city take the lead with a centralized city recreation center, but Councilman Andrew Williamson suggested that everyone meet together since there was so much momentum for a county recreation center.
During the meeting, Block started off the conversation with his idea on what should happen — the city could have a centralized community center, possibly downtown, that would allow for the needs of the city residents, while the county added an outdoor water feature to the SplashPad at the Morgan Center and the Health Care System build an indoor pool at its facility for seniors to use and for the school to rent out.
There was plenty of disagreement on that plan.
Many of those at the meeting wanted to continue with the plan similar to that of what Director of Parks and Recreation Bryan Graham had come up with and continue on with something not just for one entity but for the entire county.
Councilman Curtis Leak said that, while the city isn’t in the recreation business, Scotland County is and that they are all “One Scotland County.”
Leak also suggested that each board select two members to represent them and those representatives get together and work out a plan on what the center should be and how it could become a reality.
One of the key stumbling blocks is the fact that neither the city or the county have the money on its own to get the project started and completed.
“I think we’re not true to ourselves if we don’t put our true feelings out there,” said Board of Education Chair Rick Singletary. “To say one thing at the group meeting and later on tomorrow it’s a different thing … we have to be honest enough and transparent enough to say this is how I feel about it.”
Block commented after the meeting that it appears those at the meeting “just want to meet and plan” without much getting done.
Those in attendance agreed to go back to their boards and discuss it with all members before deciding what exactly to do for the process.
Katelin Gandee can be reached at 910-506-3171 or [email protected].
