Cherokee County parks director outlines 2025–2028 strategic plan, seeks board adoption

Jay Worley, director of Cherokee County Recreation and Parks, presented the department’s strategic plan for 2025–2028 at the board’s March 18 work session and asked the Board of Commissioners to adopt the plan at the upcoming meeting.

The plan, which Worley described as “strategic plan 2,” carries forward five priority areas from the county’s 2019 comprehensive parks, trails and master plan and lists 33 action items for the four-year period. Worley said the department completed 34 action items under the 2020–2024 strategic plan and expects a similar pace over the next four years.

Worley emphasized grant-seeking and staffing as critical components. He noted the county secured a $600,000 grant for the Long Swamp Creek park project and recurring grants up to $75,000 to support summer camps. He also said two additional parks workers are budgeted to coincide with Long Swamp’s expected opening in May: “When we open up Long Swamp on Friday, May 2 … we actually get to add 2 new parks workers to the budget,” Worley said.

Key project and program items Worley listed include opening northeast parks (Long Swamp, Yellow Creek and Cochran Park), developing a southwest Cherokee recreation and parks plan (including Woodworth Park permitting), completing Cherokee Veterans baseball/softball complex conceptual design, field renovations at Sequoia Park and Badger Creek, and adding inclusive playground components countywide.

On maintenance and operations, the plan calls for expanding a turf-management program, increasing covered indoor storage for equipment, creating a 20-year revolving playground replacement plan and maintaining a staffing ratio of roughly one parks worker per 12–15 maintained acres. Worley said the department believes it has reached that staffing-to-acreage level and will sustain it with the upcoming hires.

Programming and community services items include expanding therapeutic and adult job-skills programming (Worley described a vision that could include a woodworking or maintenance shop and hands-on classes), converting some rec concession kitchens into programming kitchens, adding pickleball courts to the inventory, and increasing arts programming.

Organizational items include preparing for reaccreditation by the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies, developing new marketing and branding to make park facilities and programs more recognizable to residents, completing conversion of park signage to county standards, and forming a nonprofit parks foundation to support youth associations and families.

Worley closed by restating the department mission adopted by staff: “making life better by cultivating communities through recreation while preserving our parks and facilities.” The Recreation and Parks Advisory Board approved the plan unanimously at its Feb. 12 meeting, and the county manager identified the item on the evening agenda for formal adoption by the Board of Commissioners.

Ending: The presentation concluded with questions from commissioners and informal concurrence to place the plan on the agenda for formal action later in the meeting. The board recessed to an executive session later in the evening; no formal adoption vote occurred in the work session.