Commission Enters the Agri Park Discussion

Last week, the Agri Park property was mentioned as a site for a new ambulance station and even a new high school.

The commission’s budget committee tackled the much-debated topic last week, starting with the obvious issue of what the park and property are and how they are governed.

The Giles County Agri Park is located on more than 40 acres of land owned by Giles County off Highway 31 South.

Since the 1970s, the park has been operated and governed by an incorporated non-profit board that is currently made up of five county commissioners and four members from local civic clubs — Pulaski Lions Club, Rotary Club of Pulaski, Pulaski Civitan and Giles County Cattlemen’s Association.

Over the past few months, the Agri Park Board of Directors has created new bylaws, new rules for use of the park and a new application for using the park.

District 5 County Commissioner Matt Rubelsky is the chairman of the Agri Park Board, and asked the budget committee to start the discussion within the county commission as to what the county wants to do concerning the Agri Park.

Rubelsky said he sees the county having two options: 

• Keep operating the Agri Park as a non-profit, which would require the board to take over accounting for the park’s finances and is currently costing the county an estimated net of $15,000-$25,000 per year to keep it operating.

“The Ag Park survives through county funds,” Rubelsky said. “Does the county want to handle the funds of this non-profit?”

• If the county does not want to continue to pay to operate the park, the non-profit should be dissolved, Rubelsky said, which brings up the question of how to use the property. 

Does it remain a park for recreational use? Does it stand by itself and clubs participate with more money?

Rubelsky also noted that if the county is putting funds into the operations of the Agri Park, it’s not fair to the county commission for only five members to have a say in how the money is spent, when all 21 need to be involved in spending county money.

The issue was approached at last week’s budget committee meeting as the beginning of the inner-commission conversation concerning the Agri Park.

“I am here to ask for help and to brainstorm,” Rubelsky said. “It’s extremely important for all 21 of us. It affects the clubs and affects our community.”

Several commissioners weighed in with opinions and County Executive Graham Stowe said he believes the commission’s goal should be to allow the Agri Park board to determine what its future should be. 

Also meeting and continuing the discussion last week was the Agri Park Board of Directors.

Board member Jason Doggett, who represents Pulaski Civitan Club on the board, expressed some frustration with the duplicity the Agri Park Board has experienced because the county commission tends to move back and forth on what it wants the Agri Park to be.

“This goes back to the discussions we were having before,” Doggett said. “You either want it to be a public recreation area, or you want it to be an event center. The waffling back and forth is difficult. I’m fine either way, just pick a direction and go with it.”

Board Vice Chair George Witt, who was presiding over last week’s meeting, acknowledged that the direction the board had taken over the past four years was more toward an event center.

County Executive Graham Stowe said how the Agri Park is used remains something that needs clarity. He mentioned a suggestion Rubelsky has made that the county commission give the Agri Park board the chance to decide if it wants to try to run the Agri Park as an independent non-profit organization or not.

That would help the commission determine what the best use of Agri Park can be moving forward.

Possible uses for the Agri Park property pivoted during last week’s meeting of the commission’s Property Committee as it turned its attention back to where to build a new EMS station and other emergency services facilities as they are needed in the coming years.

Front and center in that discussion is the Giles County Agri Park, which is one of two properties the committee recommended sending to the full commission for architect and engineering studies.

Included in both committee discussions was District 1 Commissioner Erin Curry’s suggestion that the Agri Park is the best place to potentially build a new high school in Giles County. 

The county commission was expected to consider moving forward with studies of the Agri Park property and two other potential properties for a new EMS station at Monday evening’s full commission meeting. The results of that discussion and potential vote were not available at press time. 

The full county commission meeting is available to view on the Pulaski Citizen Live YouTube Channel. Look for an article on Monday’s full county commission meeting in next week’s edition of the PULASKI CITIZEN and this week at PulaskiCitizen.com.