NEW CUMBERLAND – After voting 2-1 just more than a week ago on an ordinance which proposed the dissolution of the county’s Board of Parks and Recreation, Hancock County commissioners met in a work session Friday morning to discuss the proposal before a second vote is taken at its next regular meeting.

“The change I’m proposing is structural,” explained Commission President Eron Chek. “It is ensuring that public dollars actually promote tourism and community activity.”

Currently, the Hancock County Board of Parks and Recreation is made up of volunteers from the community, approved by the commission, and tasked with the management of four recreational sites in the county – Clarke Field Playground in Newell, Cove Valley Park along Kings Creek Road north of Weirton, the Gas Valley Sports Complex and Playground in New Cumberland and Lawrenceville Park in Chester.

Under the proposal, as currently described, the board would be dissolved, with all oversight performed directly by the county. Funding, made available through the county’s hotel and motel tax, would be made available for events through an application process administered by the commission.

Under law, revenue derived from hotel and motel taxes are to be divided evenly between a governmental entity’s parks system and the local tourism bureau, such as the Top of West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Commissioner Tommy Ogden, who cast the lone dissenting vote to the ordinance during its first reading Feb. 12, continued to offer his support during Friday’s work session.

“I know we’re trying to do what’s right,” he said, suggesting better guidance could be offered to the board as to the commission’s expectations. “We all have the same priority; to have good parks.”

Erin Stoddard, a member of the board, also said she feels there has not been enough guidance, noting many of the members have only been serving for around one year. She said the board has been working on events for the community, but feels as though there has been a lack of understood structure as to who can do what and where.

“I want the fun part so badly,” Stoddard said. “We need the structure.”

Stoddard was the lone Park Board member in attendance Friday morning.

Ogden claimed members of the Park Board only received notification of the workshop shortly after noon on Wednesday, making it difficult for them to attend and express their thoughts on the proposal.

Commissioner Paul Cowey, who during the workshop expressed the potential of changing his vote and giving the board another opportunity, said he has not been contacted by any members of the board since the last commission meeting, but has reached out to some of them himself.

“My phone is always on. My door is always open,” Cowey said.

Cowey did, however, express concerns over the maintenance of some parks, noting one piece of equipment at Clarke Field is out of commission.

He explained the county already has had to use some of its employees to provide maintenance to the parks.

Chek, though, stood firm on the proposal, pointing to years of concerns with fiscal oversight pre-dating the current board members, as well as herself and Ogden as commissioners, while also saying she expects the current board to be on top of how to properly manage the parks.

“I try to hold myself to a very high standard,” Chek said, asking Stoddard how much time she though the board needs to get in shape. “It’s been a year. You’re not there.”

While the agenda is not currently set, it is possible for the Park Board ordinance to be presented for a second reading during the commission’s Feb. 26 meeting.

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com)