The Fannin County Board of Commissioners (BOC) have not agreed to anything regarding a joint aquatic center with the City of Blue Ridge, contrary to statements made by Blue Ridge officials.
“I have not committed to anything with the City of Blue Ridge regarding the aquatic center,” Chairman Jamie Hensley said during a board meeting Tuesday, March 23. “There was a presentation made, but it was left as I would need to see some numbers before we even look into anything. I have not been shown anything other than that.
“I know at the last city council meeting there was some other things that said, ‘Yeah, we’re jumping right into that with them.’ I can honestly say that I haven’t, and I can’t speak for the other two commissioners, but I feel that they’re on the same page when it comes to that.”
He explained that the board would need to see additional numbers and cost information before they could even consider moving forward with a joint project.
Hensley’s statement was made in response to a question during public commentary from resident Donna Thompson regarding the county’s involvement in the joint aquatic center following statements made at a recent Blue Ridge City Council meeting.
While the public commentary portion of the meeting is not typically held as a “Question/Answer” period, Hensley felt compelled to respond to Thompson’s question and clear up the misconception because his phone had “rung off the hook since the last city council meeting.”
Acting Post One Commissioner Earl Johnson took the opportunity of his last meeting with the board to encourage the other commissioners and officials from cities within the county to present information in the board’s public meetings.
“This goes all the way back to the annexation and two or three issues before this,” Johnson said. “When something gets said in another council meeting, whether it be McCaysville or Blue Ridge, or wherever, Nebraska, just because it gets said there, doesn’t mean it’s true here. If the city was going to propose something, I think the most reasonable thing to do would be to come and propose it here (BOC meeting). Because, that’s where all of these problems are coming in when they talk to individuals or whatever. It doesn’t matter what they say individually to any of us. That doesn’t matter, but when you say it right here, everybody knows what you’ve said.
“In my time serving as commissioner, the biggest problems are these deals that are getting talked about outside this room. When they’re talked about right here it’s real simple. We can all remember, we have video evidence, we have tape recording evidence, we have all of the things that if any of us agree to that, a swimming pool, a pie in the sky, whatever, we have it right here.”
Post Two Commissioner Glenn Patterson agreed with Johnson and explained that he had also not been formally contacted.
“I have not given support informally or formally about the aquatic center,” Patterson said. “I haven’t heard that much more than just preliminary hearsay. At this time, just like the gentleman (Hensley) said, we don’t know anything about it, and there’s a lot of work that’s got to be done before we even think in those lines.”