$600,000 Press Box At Taxpayer expense?

Who owns/ maintains the park across from the high school. They have a couple ballfields there and for some reason i thought there was a concession faciity. I know at one time it was a very nicely maintained field and seems they played adult baseball and travel ball.

Who owns/ maintains the park across from the high school. They have a couple ballfields there and for some reason i thought there was a concession faciity. I know at one time it was a very nicely maintained field and seems they played adult baseball and travel ball.

In North Walton? Cecilia Jones office is located there. Of course its nice...she surrounds herself in nice...remember that 60 thousand dollar office furniture?

In North Walton? Cecilia Jones office is located there. Of course its nice...she surrounds herself in nice...remember that 60 thousand dollar office furniture?

Think that park has been there at least 10 years.

Freeport Regional Sports Complex doesn't have a concession stand at their one football field. The restrooms are across the parking area from the field next to the basketball and tennis courts.

Think that park has been there at least 10 years.

What's your point Bob?

Freeport Regional Sports Complex doesn't have a concession stand at their one football field. The restrooms are across the parking area from the field next to the basketball and tennis courts.

Prior to that, football used to be played at the middle school which did have a concession stand. To be fair, I would like to see a concession stand and bathrooms at the facility. Wasnt that park paid for by Jay Odom?

What's your point Bob?

It is a county facility.

It is a county facility.

And grant money and plat fees have kept it nice under C. Jones.

The big point is not Mrs. Bishop, it's what Cecilia wants that matters, many of us spent years in Helen McCall and when Cecilia took office all she cared about was a "splash pad for her grandson."(I heard her say it out loud!) Now her family is involved out there and she cares because of the votes and it's her grandson. Helen McCall definitely needs redoing, hell it did in 1995, but if all the money spent on corruption caused by Mrs. Jones, Phony Tony and the likes were spent on our youth and purchasing more public land, no kid in Walton from paxton to inlet would be without a place to play. Sadly most of it goes to fix corruption and to pay for lawyers to defend the BCC. No, Mrs. Bishop is not the problem. It's her mother in law who uses her as a spokesman for votes and her position to do personal favors and projects. So tell us Ashley, when Cecilia was the commissioner in District 5 would you take a lie detector that she lived in district 5 full time????

So tell us Ashley, when Cecilia was the commissioner in District 5 would you take a lie detector that she lived in district 5 full time????

Or that she lives in her current district full time?

The peewee football still plays at the middle school. They practice at the Freeport park. The land was donated by Jay Odom but the park itself was a joint development by the City of Freeport and Walton County, I believe.

The peewee football still plays at the middle school. They practice at the Freeport park. The land was donated by Jay Odom but the park itself was a joint development by the City of Freeport and Walton County, I believe.

Thanks

I would be willing to bet most children who play at this park do not live in a 600,000 house. And I know this is true for the average citizen in Walton County. If we needed this then why did you not have fund raisers to raise part of the money.

Did we have this type press box and fields in other areas of Walton County Ashley where your kids do not play.

Ashley is wrong about the DFS football league they play on a city owned field maintained by the county. The buildings are owned by the city and operated by the football league. Walton County Employees never have to step a foot inside their concession stands because they clean up behind themselves. If they want an improvement to the buildings they buy their own material and the county provides the labor

Now explain to me Ashley why do you think we deserve a palace taken care of by the county when other areas of our county have to finance their own recreation activities.

Oh yes your children do not play there do they.

Ashley you said in your post you were asked to attend the meeting can you tell us who ask you ?

Freeport didn't get a Taj Mahal either. In fact Chapman wasn't even willing to discuss the funding they need.

Freeport Regional Sports Complex is a city owned park, not county. And every year the volunteer board members for football, little league, and whatever else league, have to go sit through sometimes three to four city council meeting and beg for a waiver to not have to PAY TO PLAY on the fields. A few years ago little league had to pay over $5000 for the lights at the park.

At $120 bucks a kid to play baseball/softball in south Walton, south walton little league should be pitching in to help pay for the concession stand.

Freeport Regional Sports Complex is a city owned park, not county. And every year the volunteer board members for football, little league, and whatever else league, have to go sit through sometimes three to four city council meeting and beg for a waiver to not have to PAY TO PLAY on the fields. A few years ago little league had to pay over $5000 for the lights at the park.

At $120 bucks a kid to play baseball/softball in south Walton, south walton little league should be pitching in to help pay for the concession stand.

Admittedly, I have no children in the school system here anymore but I think its a sad state of affairs when children are neglected because of adult greed while others (particularly south of the bay) get all the golden eggs dumped in their basket while those north of the bay go without.

I've seen comments from Dan Curry (Freeport) about the sad state of affairs going on with their fields and I see them up here in DFS first hand but OUR representation (C. Jones) couldn't be bothered with the peons because she has her nose so far up the backside of Sowal she can smell breakfast and yes she thinks she can win the election with only Sowal votes and yes, this $600,000 press box was all about the votes. If the only reason you vote for someone is to showcase where your children play ball..please don't vote. Curry also has a facebook page about Freeport Concerns and video about the need just for restroom facilities along with allot of other good information. www.facebook.com/freeportconcerns/

It's gotta get better and a great start would be to vote her out!

Ashley is wrong again

Defuniak didn't have a team meeting room built on to the facility. They knocked out an interior wall to make that old block building one big room and then did a lot of cleaning and painting. The existing building that Ashley thinks is brand new was built back in the 60's and used as the old field house for Walton High School football

The league took an old building and made it better for a lot less than 600,000.00

The reason they had a bunch of roaches and rats is because they were not cleaning up after themselves and leaving food out.

As for Bob Hudson being told it is storage for baseball and soccer whatever. Ashley and the football group wont let soccer even practice on the football field. Baseball has their own storage at the baseball fields

Lastly the county was asked by Ashley to clean their concession stand during the season and The county said no because they were using it free of charge and had food and drinks and if something went missing didn't want their people accused. Besides they should take responsibility for cleaning up after themselves. Well just about an hour after This was told to Ashley a Cecilia Johnes called and said the county employees would be cleaning it with our custodians.

This is the only league the county employees have to clean their concession stand for. Wonder why....surely it isn't because of who Ashley is

No not lastly Suzanne...4-H in DFS cannot even get the county to clear their lot for a horse arena.

here comes the Anderson spin...


SOUTH WALTON, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - The lack of recreational space for youth sports is coming to a head in South Walton and now county officials are hoping renovations to one park will help alleviate some of their scheduling issues.


"Obviously countywide we have a need for sports parks but especially in the south end of the county where we have such a large population," Walton County Programs and Projects Manager Rick Wilson said.

While there is a new multi-million dollar sports complex in the making, Walton County officials say they are looking for ways to solve the problem now.

"We still don't have enough fields and our commissioners are aware of that, so we're working to improve Helen McCall [Park], build our new sports park and even look into the future with additional fields because it's very badly needed in the south end of the county," Wilson said.

"From my understanding, for the first time in South Walton's history, kids were turned away from little league. That's unacceptable," District 5 Walton County Commissioner Tony Anderson said.

That's why Anderson said he wanted to donate $600,000 of his recreation plat fee money to improving Helen McCall Park.

"The plat fee money can only be spent on parks, so this is a great project for that. I also donated $300,000 to the new sports park for their lighting," Anderson said. "So, it's something we have to do. Yeah, it's expensive, but not as expensive as losing our youth.

"This is a great resource for South Walton. There is only this one park as far as ballparks right now," said Nathan Brown, who frequents Helen McCall Park. "We've got one softball field, couple baseball fields, and a T-ball field. So other than the high school field this is the only field I can practice with my daughter on a regular basis."

Wilson said he believes these projects are critical to encouraging kids to stay out of trouble.

"We all know that we want our children to have something to do, some sort of outlet to get that energy out, to socialize, to meet new people, to learn to play as a team and all the things that come along with sports and we want to keep the kids off the streets and from getting in trouble," he said. "So it's a focus for our board to provide the property and the amenities that these kids and the residents need and we're working diligently to do just that."

"We definitely need some youth organizations to keep the kids busy outside of school," Brown added. "Some kids may not be on the school softball team or the school baseball team because they have band or other athletics or academics, but they like to use their rec leagues to keep playing so we definitely need this facility to keep everyone here involved in some type of sport."

The main plan is to turn the current field from east and west to face north and south so they can add another field to the space they already have.

"We're going to add two fields, build a new press box. It will help solve, alleviate the problem of too many kids in too few of places," Anderson explained.

Between the Helen McCall fields, the new sports complex, and the Boys & Girls Club fields leased by the county, officials say that will bring their total number of lit multi-use fields up to seven, which they believe are still not enough.

"We really need to step up to the plate and I don't think this is the total answer, you know, this is the problem we're solving now," said Anderson. "Walton County is growing, it's 42nd highest growing county in America, so we can't fall behind in youth sports."

maybe there's a salary the BCC could adjust downward or eliminate. here's a hint, 23 days later this remains on site

@Bob Hudson the problem with this image in my opinion is, its current for 2017/2018. It does not reflect the money Tony Anderson inherited from Cindy Meadows when he took office or where those plat fees actually went. Its the current accounting and does NOT include new development plat fees.

It includes $303,000 of Plat fees collected in year beginning 10/1/2017 thru 12/31/2017 which is the first 3 months of the current fiscal year. Your assessment is WRONG.

Recreation Plat fees don’t belong to any Commissioner. They are collected for the residents of the area they represent. The commissioner in must secure the approval of the full board to expend them.

The report does include any unexpended funds left from a prior Commissioner.